ITAM Review Oracle Seminar NY Aspera Presentation

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Outwit, Outplay, Outlast:
How to Survive the Oracle
Odyssey
ITAM Review Oracle Seminar, New York January 29th 2015
Christof Beaupoil
Co-founder and President, Aspera Technologies

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Odyssey: a long journey or series of adventures filled
with notable hardships.
Navigating the legendary complexities of Oracle licensing and metrics
can be like journeying through a bewildering maze—with intricate
risks and hidden pitfalls galore. You need to know exactly what you’re
up against—and have an airtight plan of attack—if you want to survive
implementation and ultimately thrive in the Oracle environment.
“The Journey of a thousand miles begins with
a single step.”
-Lao Tzu
The Oracle Odyssey

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Overview
• Step One: Understanding The World According to Oracle
• Step Two: Understanding Complexities and Challenges in the
Oracle Environment
• Step Three: Understanding Oracle Licensing Options
• Step Four: Understanding Oracle Agreement Options
• Step Five: Implementing A Successful Oracle-Centric SAM
Program
• Step Six: Heed Advice
• Q & A

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The World According to Oracle
When it comes to Oracle licensing, the universal question is:
Why do they make it so hard?
The answer is simple:
Because they can.
IT experts agree about three things:
1. Oracle’s database and software applications are best-in-class
2. The rules governing Oracle’s licensing agreements are perhaps the
most complicated and difficult to grasp in the industry
3. Oracle frequently changes licensing parameters and does not
clearly communicate changes
When you’re at the top of the pile, you get to make the rules.

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The World According to Oracle
Business As Usual at Oracle means:
• Upfront discounting rather than ongoing contractual flexibility
• Oracle’s “honor system” means accessibility but also risk
• Complex, inconsistent licensing rules
• Maintenance fees are steep, increase annually and are difficult
to negotiate down
• More revenue is earned from maintenance fees and audits than
from selling software licenses
• Customers are red-flagged for audits based on “friendly”
conversations and surveys about purchasing habits
• Acquisition and integration of many potentially
unrelated vendors
Oracle Compliance is a Moving Target.

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Oracle Complexities
& Challenges
What must be licensed?
In a nut-shell:
• Oracle requires licensing when the software is used in
production or for development purposes that support a
production application
• Oracle does not differentiate between “installed” and “running”
• Oracle Database automatically installs with “management
packs”
• Each installed pack needs to be licensed (unless you can prove
the impossible: that the install is not used)

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Oracle Complexities
& Challenges
You need to license more than just the Oracle DB installation:
• Oracle’s honor system makes
it easy to use packs and turn
on features not covered by a
current license
• Developers must communicate
their usage, so admins can
uninstall unnecessary or
unlicensed packs, configure
features to off
• Associated applications using
Oracle functionality affect the
licensing requirement
• Oracle’s ongoing strategic
acquisitions of vendors create
licensing confusion; for a list:
www.oracle.com/us/corporate/acquisitions
Others use
those packs
Some developers
use these packs
Manual
batches
Flat file
import/export
Siebel
BEA
Peoplesoft
You will have to herd cats on your Oracle Odyssey.

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Oracle Complexities
& Challenges
Common Oracle Licensing Mistakes
Or How to Avoid Surprises:
• Standby databases must have the same metric as the primary server
• The same metric must also be used for the same product on a server
or single partition e.g. a management pack cannot be licensed by
NUP, but the database by processor
• Some management packs come turned on—must make sure these are
licensed or turned off
• Oracle Configuration Manager must be licensed in “connected” mode
and therefore should be configured in “disconnect” mode
• You must understand hard partitioning policies
• You must understand contractual definitions of metrics
• Acquisition of many vendors and absorption of their products drives
up support fees and increases the risk of non-compliance

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Oracle Complexities
& Challenges
Mindboggling Metrics and Arcane Agreements
Deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole:
• Oracle’s products are not licensed by installation, but rather are tied
to complex metrics, most commonly Named User Plus and Processor
• These metrics consider how software is deployed across a number of
users, as well as the type, manufacturer, and number of CPUs
• Users can include not only employees but also contractors, business
partners, and devices

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Oracle Licensing Options
Named User Plus (NUP)
• Measures unique users that receive or create data from Oracle Database,
regardless of if the user is actively using the application
• Inherently difficult / extremely hard to track
Processor Based Metrics
• All processors where Oracle products are running and/or installed
• Based on core factor, but you need to know which one to apply
• Hard partitioning is hard (see Oracle licensing policies for partitioned
environments)
• Cluster partitioning / Host Affinity is harder (No public statement from
Oracle)
• Oracle will often change rules and definitions through the “back door” so
constant monitoring of product use rights is mandatory
 Production environment? Go for fully Processor licensed hosts!
 No dedicated Oracle cluster? Track movements and negotiate an
agreement for Host Affinity rules!

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Oracle Agreement Options
Option One:
Enterprise License Agreement (“ELA”)
• Defines license price based on your company’s revenue or number of
employees
• An increase in revenue or staff will result in additional license fees
A difficult agreement to negotiate and manage as your enterprise
expands and contracts over time

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Option Two:
Unlimited License Agreement (“ULA”)
• Allowed to install as much as you want for one negotiated fee
• However, only “unlimited” for the specific products itemized
• Excellent internal communication is key to avoiding unintentional,
unlicensed installations
• When a ULA expires, a true-up is conducted where the number of
installs beyond the starting baseline is considered the “new” number
of licenses you own, and therefore for which you must pay
maintenance
Oracle Agreement Options
So, the license agreement you have in hand today is likely not
the one you negotiated two years ago.

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A Successful SAM Program
The Foundation:
• Discovery:
− Scan any Oracle Database Server
group-wide, regardless of platform
− Complete and correct data for edition,
version and installed and/or used
options
• Licensing, Entitlements and Metrics:
Record licenses, entitlements,
agreements, and important dates;
understand metrics
• Compliance: Reconcile licenses with scan results,
apply metrics and licensing rules

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Key Components:
Discovery
• The devices are highly secured and protected (ex. through firewalls) so
an advanced discovery tool (often agent-less) is required to gather all of
the required data
• The tool must gather data from multiple platforms, and understand low
level hardware details and physical and virtual mapping
• The resulting data is fed to a SAM tool
• “Oracle Approved” means only raw data collection has been tested by
Oracle, and Oracle only accepts that raw data for analysis

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Key Components:
Licensing & Entitlements
• A catalog of licensing terms and entitlements saves you tons of time
• Oracle changes rules without notice and these unexpected changes often result
in high financial risks due to expensive changes in the IT landscape
• SAM tool must have architecture to quickly add licensing rules to enable you to
comply, even as the target moves
Metrics
• Oracle’s metrics: processor-based and NUP:
− Take virtualized environments, clusters, CPU’s, variations in core types and
counts, etc. into consideration
− Includes all users or devices that use or create data from Oracle products
• SAM tool:
− Automates metric calculations to determine the number of licenses needed:
the Effective License Demand

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The Goal:
Compliance
• SAM tool can perform a gap analysis which compares entitlements with
Effective License Demand
• Advanced License Optimization: considers Oracle’s unique method of
licensing the same product with two different metrics and compares the
license demand for each metric to achieve strategic cost reduction

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Advice
Knowledge is power.
What to do next:
• TRANSPARENCY: You need complete and accurate discovery data right
out of the gate
• KNOWLEDGE: You need a dedicated team of internal and external
experts
• OPTIMIZE: Choose the right agreement for your needs, negotiate
favorable terms and pricing, and ensure accurate (and therefore cost-
effective) Oracle deployment
• MANAGE: Aim for an open, honest relationship Oracle, but do not give
away unnecessary insight they could use against you
• STRATEGY: A comprehensive SAM program can make all the difference
between success and failure

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Any Questions?
Good luck on your Oracle Odyssey!
Christof Beaupoil
Phone: +1 617-307-7733
Email: beaupoil@aspera.com
Aspera Technologies Inc. – 119 Braintree Street, Suite 602 – Boston, MA 02134
Homepage: www.aspera.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/aspera
Facebook: www.facebook.com/AsperaTech
Twitter: twitter.com/asperatech

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