Oracle licensing on Sun Solaris explained Author: Adrian Cristache Virtualization solutions on Sun are classified as soft or hard partitioning solutions, meaning that some Sun technologies can be used as a technology to license the sub capacity of a server. But not all of them. What Sun technologies are considered soft partitioning and what technologies are considered hard partitioning? And how do you need to configure these technologies to make sure that you are eligible for hard partitioning or sub capacity licensing? This whitepaper aims to provide an overview of the ins and outs you should be aware off.
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Oracle licensing on Sun Solaris explained Author: Adrian Cristache
Virtualization solutions on Sun are classified as soft or hard partitioning solutions, meaning that some Sun technologies can be used as a technology to license the sub capacity of a server. But not all of them. What Sun technologies are considered soft partitioning and what technologies are considered hard partitioning? And how do you need to configure these technologies to make sure that you are eligible for hard partitioning or sub capacity licensing? This whitepaper aims to provide an overview of the ins and outs you should be aware off.
Sun technologies: hard or soft partitioning ......................................................................................... 4
Dynamic System Domains ................................................................................................................. 5
Solaris Zones ..................................................................................................................................... 6
Solaris LDOMs and Oracle VM Server for SPARC ............................................................................. 9
How to license Oracle VM on Oracle’s Engineered Systems (Oracle Trusted Partitions) and how to license Oracle VM on other hardware (non-Oracle Engineered Systems)? ...................................... 10
Oracle licensing position .................................................................................................................. 13
PROs and CONs ......................................................................................................................... 14
How to license Oracle VM on Oracle’s Engineered Systems (Oracle Trusted Partitions) and how to license Oracle VM on other hardware (non-Oracle Engineered Systems)?
The below section will provide an overview on how to license the Oracle software programs if and when
Oracle VM is being used in conjunction with Oracle Engineered Systems or other hardware (non-Oracle
Engineered Systems).
Oracle Engineered Systems (Trusted Partition)
The below table provides an overview of the so called “approved” Oracle Engineered Systems:
Approved list of Oracle Engineered Systems eligible for Trusted Partitions
Oracle permits the use of Oracle VM Server (OVM) as a means to limit the number of Oracle Processor
licenses required, i.e., to license a sub-capacity of total physical cores on these environments, as long as a
number of conditions are met, including:
• You need to count two (2) virtual CPUs (vCPU) as equivalent to a physical core. Licenses must be
procured in increments of 2 physical cores.
• You are required to license the highest number of vCPUs running at any given time (highwater
mark), however they are not required to license more than the total number of physical cores in the
machine.
• You are required to enable Hyper-threading for processors when using Trusted Partitions.
• You are required to maintain a minimum for all other engineered systems of two (2) physical cores.
• You need to monitor the assigned cores to the virtual machines with Oracle Enterprise Manager
12.1.0.2 and run this either in a connected or a disconnected mode:
ORACLE LICENSING ON SUN SOLARIS EXPLAINED
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1) Connected mode: In Connected mode, Enterprise Manager will be connected to My Oracle
Support. Enterprise Manager would report on usage locally and also upload to My Oracle Support (requires
a current Oracle support contract and valid CSI number).
2) Disconnected mode: In disconnected mode, there is no Internet connectivity. Enterprise
Manager would run locally, and customers are required to run collections quarterly and maintain a backup
of the report. Such reports must be maintained for at least two (2) years, and reports must be provided to
Oracle upon request.
For more details regarding OVM partitioning, please check the policy.
OVM on non-Engineered Systems
Oracle VM Server for x86 can be considered hard partitioning (only the allocated cores will be considered
for licensing) only if the vCPUs are bound to a specific number of cores – which in the end will represent the
number of licensable Oracle cores.
Before setting up the OVM environment, a command needs to be run to understand what are the hardware
capabilities of the server.
Get a summary of the server hardware
On an Oracle VM Server, you can run the xm info command to print out the basic CPU configuration of the
server hardware. Look for the lines below in the output for details on your system’s CPUs.
The xenpm command prints out the thread/core/socket topology on a given server:
# xenpm get-cpu-topology
Get the CPU topology for vCPU bindings to physical CPUs:
The xm vcpu-list command shows a summary of which virtual CPUs are running on which physical CPUs.
# xm vcpu-list
The CPU affinity needs to be set to a specific number/range of physical cores in order for hard partitioning
to be considered. If it is set to any CPU the entire server will require to be licensed.
Oracle VM Server for SPARC refers to using CPU whole cores as constraints when setting up the LDOM’s.
Beginning with the Oracle VM Server for SPARC 2.0 release, hard partitioning is enforced by using CPU
whole core configurations and specifying the maximum number of cores that can be assigned to the domain.
To conform to the Oracle hard partition licensing requirement, you must use at least Oracle VM Server for
SPARC 2.0 release and must use CPU whole cores as follows:
About the author - Adrian Cristache, Technical Specialist "Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today."- James Dean
Adrian is one of B-lay's Senior Technical Analysts. In his previous role as Senior Technical Analyst in Oracle's License Management Services department, Adrian was involved in more than 1000 customer engagements. He is now using his Software Asset and License Management experience and knowledge to provide valuable licensing advice, helping end users to maximize the efficiency of their software entitlements. Adrian holds a master degree in IT - Database development for business support - from the Academy of Economic Studies of Bucharest.
We share our knowledge, so you can focus on the facts! Do you want to know more about different related license management topics, we have a selection of white papers available through www.b-lay.com. If you are in need of extra expertise and a structured approach, feel free to contact B-lay. We will help you make software compliance an exciting opportunity to improve your business!
About B-lay B-lay is a specialist in software license management and provides services around software compliance, software audits, software asset management tools and insight in software spend. Our services offer organizations worldwide insight into the risks associated with software licenses, help prevent license compliance issues and help create considerable cost savings by optimizing their licensing position. B-lay was founded in 2008 and has offices in the Netherlands, Romania and the US.