Oracle Competitive Analysis

Oracle Database Product Licensing

 Second Source Pricing
Feature Oracle EnterpriseDB

Core Database (Enterprise $40,000 per CPU $1,000 - $5,000 per CPU
Edition)
Diagnostic/Tuning Pack $2,000 - $3,000 per CPU Included at no charge

Partitioning $10,000 per CPU Included at no charge

Geo-spatial $5,000 - $10,000 per CPU Included at no charge

Maintenance 22% of list price Included in yearly fee

 Why Oracle Licensing?
• Understanding WHAT features/options Oracle is
selling allow us to quantify cost/benefit analysis
by feature for each Oracle database edition
• Understanding HOW Oracle prices their different
database editions.
• Understanding Oracle’s feature/configuration
dependencies and limits which force Oracle’s
customers to increase their licensing costs
 Oracle Database Licensing
Semantics
• To minimize confusion and before discussing
product, I need to identify and define the
nomenclature that Oracle uses in their Database
licensing practices.
• Many expressions must be qualified in different
scenarios, these shall be identified and
examples provided
 Oracle Licensing Metrics –
Named User Plus
Named User Plus
• A person/Thing (noun) which can access the DB
e.g. non-human barcode reader (on a production line), each is a NU
human using a barcode reader connecting to the Oracle DB is a NU
non-human & human-operated devices connecting to an Oracle DB
and are mutually exclusive, all human & non-human need to be
licensed
• Used when one can identify a human/non-human ‘user’
• When the environment includes multiplexing hw/sw (e.g. TP
Monitor, Web server); one must count at the multiplexed end.
• Only licensing method for Personal and Lite Editions
• Minimums apply (but differ) depending on the Database Edition
• If user population often changes, this method is cumbersome
 Oracle Licensing Metrics -
Processor
• Oracle counts ALL processors on a server unless the
server is HARDWARE partitioned (not usually possible
except in Very high end servers)
• Oracle recognizes Each Core of a Processor as a
separate Processor. This is a significant cost/value
differentiator.
• Used in environments where users cannot be identified
and counted (e.g. Providing data to a web service which
is externally facing to the Internet)
• Not offered for Personal or Lite editions of the DB
 Oracle Licensing Metrics –
Processor (EE)
• Oracle recognizes each Core of a Processor as a separate
processor. The factor changes by Processor type:

Oracle Processor Cores Processor CPUs for SW

Licensing: Factor Licenses
UltraSPARC T1 8 0.25 2
AMD/Intel 4 0.50 2
All other Multi-core 2 0.75 2
Chips
Single Core Chip 1 1.00 1
 Oracle Licensing Metrics -
History
• Oracle Metrics have changed over time.
• Oracle provides conversion rates (@ usurous rates)
• Unless very carefully negotiated, the client may find
themselves w/ a higher licensing cost after conversion.
Concurrent Users: The number of connected users.
Universal Power Units: Tried to normalize performance of
different processors.
 Oracle Licensing Metrics –
Break-Even Analysis/Factors
• The Break-even (cost) between Named User Plus Licensing and
Processor based licensing is 50 users per Core.
• i.e. when an Oracle client has more than 50 users per processor
core it is cheaper to use processor based licensing.

• The Named User Plus minimums (which increase by Edition) make

it difficult to support a small # of users per server.
• i.e. distributed implementations with small number of users per
implementation are NOT cost effective from a license perspective.

• Complexity of counting Named Users Licenses induces

maintenance and administration cost for this model.
 Oracle Database Products
• Now we shall discuss the different database Product
Offerings that Oracle Offers
• For Each we shall
– Identify the Edition Name
– A brief Overview/description of the product
– Minimum Cost factors for both Named User and Processor
• [$per User, $NU Min, $per Core]
– A short description of Target Audience
– A list of Limitations for this Edition (if any)
• Note that All Editions are sourced from the same code
Base
• Shall provide a feature availability by Edition Matrix
 Oracle Database Product –
Oracle Express Edition
• Oracle Express Edition (XE) [FREE]
• XE is an entry-level, small footprint database. Free to
develop, deploy, distribute
• A good starter database for:
– Developers working on Java, PHP, .NET, XML, …
– DBAs requiring a starter db for training, deployment
– ISV’s HW Vendors who want to distribute free of charge
– Education Institutes/Students need a free db for curriculum
• Limitations: 1db/machine, 4GM user data, 1GM mem, 1
CPU used per machine
• Dependencies: None
 Oracle Database Product –
Oracle Standard Edition 1
• Oracle Standard Edition (SE1)
[$149,$745, $4995*]
• A NOT Fully featured database for small to medium
business environments.
• Target
– Organizations supporting 1-400 users
– Databases up to 500 Gb
• Limitations:
– 5 NU Min
– *Max 2 Sockets (i.e. cost max)
– No Data or RAM Limitations
• Dependencies: None
 Oracle Database Product –
Oracle Standard Edition
• Oracle Standard Edition (SE) [$300,
$1500, $15000]
• A NOT Fully Featured database for small-medium sized
business. Includes Real Applications Clusters (RAC).
• Target
– Organizations supporting 1-1000 users
– DB’s up to 500 GB
– Single System Failure Avoidance
• Limitations: Max 4 Sockets, No MEM or Data Limits
• Dependencies: Dictates RAC Implementation method
– Must use Oracle’s Cluster Ready Services
– Must use Oracle Auto Storage Management (ASM)
 Oracle Database Product – Oracle
Enterprise Edition
• Oracle Enterprise Edition (EE) [$800, $20000, $40000]
• A fully featured Database (Oracle’s Flagship) supporting
OLTP, DSS and Warehouse workloads.
• Target
– Larger Organizations ($ barrier to entry)
– Up to 8 Exabytes in size (2^60, 10^18)
– Feature Rich
• Limitations: None
• Dependencies: None
Oracle Database Product – Oracle
Personal Edition
• Oracle Personal Edition (PE) [$400, $400,
N/A]
• A Full Featured version of the database for
Individuals who require full compatibility
• Target
– Single User Development/Test purposes
• Limitations: Single User Only, No deployment
• Dependencies: None
 Oracle Database Product – Oracle
Database Lite Ed
• Oracle Database Lite Edition [$100, N/A, N/A ]
• A small footprint database to be embedded in
mobile/lightweight environments (PDA, Laptop,
Phone…). Synchronizes to centralized Oracle DB.
• Target
– Developers/Corporations with embedded/disconnected mobile
applications
• Limitations: Size of the device
• Dependencies: Oracle (EE) DB, Oracle Application
Server
 Oracle Features by Edition
Analysis - General
• HA: is for EE, others don’t match
• Scalability: EE, SE (to the Core Maximums)
• Security: EE
• Development: XE !support Java, 64 bit
• Management: EE (+options),
– XE no OEM, ASAM or Bu/Recovery to Flash
Recovery Area
– SE1, SE, XE: No Database resource Mgr.
• VLDB/Warehouse: EE only
• Integration: Replication: EE as source only
• Networking: XE no Oracle Names support
 Oracle EE Options
• All the following Options REQUIRE the Enterprise
Edition of the Oracle Database. i.e. There is no using
these options on an SE1 version w/out upgrading to EE.
• OLAP
• Oracle Data Mining
• Real Application Clusters
– SE is SE1 with RAC added. See previous pg. on this Product
• Partitioning
• Advanced Security
• Label Security
• Spatial
 Oracle EE Options Costs
Option Option Name Option Description
Cost (%
EE)
+50% OLAP (Online Multi-Dimensional Engine + Datatypes
Analytical Processing) ( MOLAP )

+50% Data Mining GUI on top of ETL from multiple systems

+50% RAC Node Fault Tolerance

+25% Partitioning Range, Hash, List Partitioning of data

+25% Advanced Security Data encryption (in DB, on Network)
+25% Label Security PPO
+25% Spatial Managing manipulations of space
Oracle Option Pricing Analysis
Because of the requirement of EE for these options, let us
revisit the pricing relative to the SE1 version ( e.g
upgrading to use the Partitioning Option)
 Management Packages
• Similar to Options, Management Packs are units of
software. The purpose is different in that Packs aid in the
management of Oracle Database implementations.
Packs include:
– Change Management Pack
– Diagnostic Pack
– Tuning Pack
– Configuration Management Pack
– Provisioning Pack
– Each are at an additional cost of 7.5% of the price of the EE
option.
– As with the Options, the price of using the Package is nothing
compared to the price of the requirement to use EE
– Usually Oracle will ‘Throw these In’ at some point during the
negotiation phase.
 Database Software
Environments
Typical Database Software Environments
• Development
• Test
• Performance
• Production
• Backups/Failover/Standby Environments
 Development Environments
• In a single user development environment (1 user, 1
server installation); then one can download the Full Use
licenses and use them. They may not use this software
for training, internal data processing, commercial or
production use.
• When multiple developers wish to develop against the
same server, then they must be properly licensed
 Test/Performance/Production
Environments
All programs used in a test environment must be licensed
under an Oracle License and Services Agreement
(OLSA) or an Oracle re-seller agreement.

This includes Performance environments used prior to

Production.

All Production environments must be licensed under an

OLSA or an Oracle re-seller agreement.
 Backup/Failover/Standby
Environments
• Backups [database files of the primary database stored on tape
media] may be stored without purchasing additional licenses.
• Failover (Active/Passive): Nodes configured in a ‘cluster’ with the
first installed node as primary. If the primary fails, one of the nodes
in the cluster acts as the primary.
• Oracle allows the database to be run on the unlicensed spare
computer for up to a total of ten separate days in any given calendar
year. Any other use requires the environment to be fully licensed in
the SAME metric as the primary.
• Standby: One or many copies of the primary database are
maintained on separate servers at all times (for disaster recovery). If
the primary fails, the standby is activated.
• Oracle requires that both environments be fully licensed in the
SAME metric as the primary