Oracle license review – Best practices in 2023

As an Oracle licensing expert with extensive experience navigating the complexities of Oracle’s licensing landscape, I understand the importance of ensuring compliance and optimizing your software investments.

In this article, we will delve into an Oracle License Review. This critical process enables organizations to take control of their Oracle software licenses and maintain a solid foundation for their IT infrastructure.

An Oracle License Review is a proactive and self-driven evaluation of an organization’s Oracle software licenses, aiming to identify compliance, risks, and opportunities for cost optimization.

Undertaking this review independently from an audit provides organizations more flexibility in addressing licensing gaps and positions them for more favorable negotiations with Oracle.

What is an Oracle License Review?

Understanding Oracle License Review: Taking Control of Your Licensing

An Oracle License Review refers to a process initiated by Oracle customers to assess their Oracle software licenses and ensure compliance. This review is typically conducted independently without vendor involvement.

Key points about Oracle License Review:

• Flexibility and Compliance: Conducting a license review independently allows for greater flexibility in addressing licensing gaps and ensuring compliance.
• Negotiation Advantage: Customers can establish a stronger position with Oracle by proactively reviewing and addressing license shortfalls. This can result in more favorable discounts than purchasing licenses to rectify deficiencies.
• Specialized Oracle Expertise: Engaging experts is crucial for an effective license review. Generalist firms may not possess the specialized knowledge required to achieve accurate results.
• Mitigating Financial Risks: Even a minor miscalculation of just 5% can potentially lead to significant licensing risks, amounting to millions of dollars. Collaborating with recognized experts in Oracle licensing is vital to mitigate such risks.

By undertaking an Oracle License Review and working with reputable Oracle licensing experts, customers can take control of their licensing situation, ensure compliance, and minimize financial liabilities.

This proactive approach empowers organizations to optimize their Oracle software usage effectively.

How to conduct an Oracle License Review

Oracle License Review Planning

Step 1: Review Your Oracle Contracts

• Obtain a copy of your Oracle contracts to understand the licenses you own and the license metrics applicable.
• Online definitions may not capture specific licensing metrics unique to your contract, so rely on the information within your contract.
• Depending on your licensing metric, you can determine how to measure your licensing. Some metrics may consider factors like annual revenue or the number of employees, reducing the need to count individual processors.

Recommendation: If you don’t have a digital or hard copy of the Oracle Ordering Documents, request them from Oracle.

Step 2: Evaluate Oracle Software in Virtualized Environments

• Oracle’s licensing policies may not align well with virtualized environments, mainly when using VMware.
• Deploying Oracle software in virtualized environments without proper licensing can lead to significant financial risks.
• Identify the virtualization technology you use, understand Oracle licensing implications, and assess your options to mitigate risks.

Step 3: Review Oracle Database Licensing

• Determine if your contract specifies processor or named user plus licensing for Oracle Database.
• Check for any “database options” licensing and note that Enterprise Edition is required for options licensing.
• Enterprise Edition licensing is based on the core factor of processors, while Standard Edition is licensed per occupied CPU sockets.
• Ensure compliance with hardware deployment limits to avoid unexpected license requirements.

Step 4: Evaluate Database Features and Options

• Familiarize yourself with the Oracle Database Options and management packs available.
• Review the features used within your databases, both currently and historically.
• Engage an Oracle expert to analyze the results of Oracle LMS scripts to identify feature usage and assess any licensing risks.

Step 5: Consider Test, Development, and Disaster Recovery Environments

• Remember to license production environments and test, development, and disaster recovery environments.
• Oracle requires licensing for these environments as well.
• Refer to Oracle’s guidelines on licensing disaster recovery solutions for detailed rules and information.

By following these steps, you can ensure compliance with Oracle licensing requirements, mitigate financial risks, and optimize your Oracle license usage effectively.

Seeking expert assistance can provide further guidance throughout the process. We strongly recommend you do not work with an Oracle license reseller.

Oracle License Review: Optimal Tools for Accurate Results

When conducting an Oracle license review, using the right tools is crucial for achieving accurate and reliable results.

In the IT asset management industry, it is widely recognized that leveraging the same tools and scripts employed by Oracle LMS (License Management Services) during audits yields the best outcomes.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Replicating an Oracle License Audit: Oracle customers can use Oracle LMS scripts to measure their licenses. By employing these scripts, you can replicate an Oracle license audit process.

Using the Oracle LMS scripts ensures:

1. Consistency: Employing the same tools as Oracle LMS promotes consistency and alignment with their auditing processes.
2. Accurate Measurement: The Oracle LMS scripts are designed to capture essential data required for accurate license measurement.
3. Reliability: By using the recommended tools, you can increase the reliability and credibility of your license review results.

By leveraging the Oracle LMS scripts, you can confidently perform an Oracle license review and obtain reliable insights into your licensing status.

Remember, using the proper tools aligned with industry best practices ensures that your license review process is comprehensive, accurate, and aligned with Oracle’s standards.

Oracle License Review Process: Simplified and Easy

Performing an Oracle license review process can help you ensure compliance and mitigate financial risks. Here’s how the process typically works:

1. Running the Oracle LMS Script: Execute the Oracle LMS script on your Oracle software servers. This script gathers essential information about your Oracle deployments.
2. Sharing Script Output: Provide the output of the LMS script to an Oracle licensing expert. They have the expertise to interpret and align the output with Oracle licenses.
3. Analysis Duration: The analysis of the LMS script output usually takes around 4-6 weeks to complete. This timeframe allows for a thorough examination of your Oracle entitlements.

Important Points to Note:

• High Chance of Non-Compliance: There’s a 99% chance that you might be out of compliance with your Oracle entitlements. However, it’s crucial to understand that over 90% of non-compliance cases are not due to intentional over-usage but deployment mistakes.
• Remediation Options: When conducting an internal software license audit under a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), you have multiple options to rectify any financial risks identified during the review.

In summary, conducting an Oracle license review is essential to ensure compliance and minimize financial risks. By following a simple process and seeking expert guidance, you can effectively address any non-compliance issues and optimize your Oracle software usage.

Ex-Oracle LMS Auditors

The best Oracle licensing consultants are all ex-Oracle LMS. They worked at Oracle for several years and understand how Oracle interprets licensing policies.

They know the weaknesses and strengths of Oracle license audits. They are also the best people to help you perform an Oracle license review.

It’s valuable for end customers who can draw on that expertise to assess the license compliance findings of the Oracle license review.

The reason is Oracle licensing is not always black and white – many grey areas are open for interpretation.

Importance of Independent licensing experts

If the licensing firm has partnership agreements with Oracle, they are contractually bound to report sales opportunities to Oracle in quarterly sales meetings. Not every Oracle reseller or partner is sharing information with Oracle.

However, if you want to be assured that your Oracle licensing advice is in your best interest, find an independent Oracle licensing company, as many Oracle customers have been burned by Oracle resellers sharing licensing review data with Oracle.

Redress is staffed by ex-Oracle employees who have decades of experience auditing customers on Oracle’s behalf and are now using their knowledge and expertise to help customers to conduct Oracle license reviews.

How Redress Compliance Can Help You Review Your Oracle Licenses

• Oracle Licensing Assessment: Our team of former Oracle license auditors will conduct a comprehensive review of your Oracle licensing usage, including databases, middleware, applications, and Java. We will provide a detailed report on compliance issues or potential savings opportunities.
  
• Review of Oracle License Contracts: We will review your current contracts to ensure they align with your usage and identify potential discrepancies or issues.
  
• Support Renewals: We will assist in renewing your Oracle support contracts, including identifying and negotiating cost savings opportunities.
  
• Remediation Recommendations: If any compliance issues are identified, we will work with you to develop and implement a plan to address them.
  
• Licensing Optimization: We will help you optimize your Oracle licensing to ensure you are only paying for the necessary licenses and are using them efficiently.
  
• Reducing Annual Support Fees: We will guide how to reduce your annual Oracle support fees and negotiate cost savings opportunities with Oracle sales.

Call To Action

Contact us today to arrange an online meeting if you need help reviewing your Oracle licensing position.