Re: QUESTION: Oracle Pricing

In article <32FF7146.3DFB_at_icchip.wes.army.mil>, Shannon Thornton <thornton_at_icchip.wes.army.mil> writes
>I'm trying to setup a web site using Oracle's Webserver and DBMS v7.x.
>I'm going to put it on a Sun3000. I called Oracle and talked to their
>Govt rep who asked for the following:
>
>* Machine type
>* Number of concurrent users (for the database)
>
>They quoted me $2495 for the Webserver and the DBMS depends on the
>number of concurrent users. What is a normal answer for this question?
>It seems somewhat absurd to me b/c it's a web application. I will use
>authentication to restrict access, but with that, I still will have 200
>- 1500 users per server. The odds on all of them being on-line at the
>same time is very remote, but what number do you tell Oracle so they can
>quote you a price. The info I got from the Oracle rep was the
>following:
>
>* 32 users per cpu Enterprise @ $1329 per user
>* 20 users per cpu Worker @ $415 per user
>
>Suppose my Sun has 2 cpus and I want to support 100 users. Does this
>mean it is not possible? She talked like I could only go in increments
>of 32 users per cpu. That doesn't make sense. On a fast enough
>machine, I should be able to support 50-100 users per cpu.
>
>This is the first time I've tried to price out a setup for a server.
>Some of this seems odd to me. I'm looking for info/advice from other
>folks who have done this before.

Normal oracle licencing is based on the either named or concurrent users, the class of machine, and recently the CPU count. They specify a minimum number of users per CPU, typically 8 concurrent or 16 named. You can buy as many as you like above that. I have never heard of them restricting you to blocks of 8 or whatever.

Licencing for use with Webserver is a special case. With web connections the ratio of concurrent to total users is much lower, so they have increased the minimum level. If you expect a 100 users then you buy 100 licences.

(It follows from all the above if you add an extra CPU to your system you have to tell Oracle and buy some more licences. Interesting!)

If you have no idea how many concurrent users you will have, there are some parameters (something like LICENCE_MAX_USERS) which help you monitor it. It doesn't help before your application is up and running, but if you find out afterwards that you are underlicensed you can always pay oracle some more money later.

I hear that Oracle intend to start enforcing licencing restrictions in the near future, presumably when Oracle 8 is out.

-- 
Jim Smith