The Oracle partitioning policy in 2026. What counts as hard partitioning, and what it costs.

Oracle's partitioning policy accepts 12 technologies as hard partitioning, and VMware is not one of them. Everything else is licensed on every core the workload could reach, a two page document that routinely decides seven and eight figure numbers.

Oracle's partitioning policy is a two page PDF that routinely decides seven and eight figure license numbers. Anything it does not accept as hard partitioning is licensed as if Oracle could run on the entire physical host, and on a modern cluster that host is one of many.

The document has never been part of your Oracle Master Agreement, and VMware sits on its soft list by name. Below we cover what the policy accepts, how Oracle's auditors apply it to vSphere, what the boundary costs at list price and which records bring a count down. More Oracle guides are in our Oracle knowledge hub.

What does the Oracle partitioning policy say?

It sorts virtualization into two groups. Hard partitioning physically segments a server, and you license only the cores allocated to the partition. Under soft partitioning the hypervisor can shift resources around, so Oracle counts every core the workload could reach.

The current English version is dated February 14, 2022. It names nine hard partitioning technologies, plus three Oracle hypervisors that qualify only when configured as their own Oracle documents describe, 12 in total. No other technology or configuration qualifies, and every approved partition must have a capped or maximum number of cores.

Why does the capping condition change the count?

Five of the nine named technologies qualify only when capped: Solaris Zones, Micro Partitions, vPar, Integrity Virtual Machine and Secure Resource Partitions. An uncapped Solaris Zone or Micro Partition is soft partitioning under a hard partitioning name, and the auditor reads the configuration rather than the brochure.

Oracle VM follows the same logic. It sits on Oracle's own soft list until its vCPUs are pinned with the utilities covered further down this page.

What about Hyper-V, Nutanix and platforms the policy never mentions?

They count as soft partitioning, because nothing outside the list qualifies. Our Nutanix analysis compares the isolation options on that platform, and our Oracle on Hyper-V guide covers the Microsoft hypervisor.

Does the policy cover containers and Kubernetes?

Yes. Once a container image with Oracle programs has been pulled to a host or Kubernetes node, physical or virtual, that host or node must be licensed for the number of processors on it. The policy ties the count to the node, so a CPU limit on the container does not reduce it. Keep Oracle images on dedicated nodes.

Is the Oracle partitioning policy contractually binding?

No, and Oracle says so. The closing paragraph states the policy is for educational purposes only, may not be incorporated into any contract, and does not constitute a contract or a commitment to any specific terms. Oracle redates that sentence at each reissue.

Print the page, highlight the disclaimer and file it. But your ordering document already defines Processor as the processors where the programs are installed and running, and the policy is simply Oracle's reading of what installed covers when a virtual machine can move.

How can one signature make the policy binding?

Through boilerplate that incorporates Oracle's "then current policies" into an amendment, an ordering document or a ULA certification letter. Sign one and the self disclaiming policy becomes a term you are bound by, including whatever the next reissue says.

What contract wording should you ask for?

• No incorporation by reference. Delete "then current policies" language, or limit it to named documents attached as dated exhibits. That keeps the partitioning policy advisory.
• A named licensed environment. List the hosts or the dedicated cluster where Oracle programs are licensed to run. A written boundary gives the next audit a reference point that a diagram cannot override easily.
• A frozen version. If Oracle insists on referencing a policy, cite the February 14, 2022 text by date, so a later reissue cannot widen your scope.
• An agreed baseline for existing vSphere clusters. Record the host count both sides accepted at the last audit or purchase, so the next review starts from it.

Oracle will resist some of these, the first most of all. Each clause you win removes one way for scope to grow between audits.

How does Oracle count VMware environments?

As soft partitioning, with the boundary set by your vSphere version. Oracle's auditors license every host an Oracle virtual machine could reach, so each release that widened vMotion widened the claim. The rungs come from audit practice; the policy says only that VMware is soft.

Why do the database options raise the stakes?

Every option and pack is licensed at the database's Processor count. RAC, Partitioning and the Diagnostics Pack all multiply by the boundary Oracle draws, so one boundary decision reprices the whole stack. Storage matters too, as our note on storage vMotion scope explains.

Does pinning a virtual machine on vSphere count?

No, Oracle ignores VMware CPU affinity for counting. What narrows a VMware count is provable isolation: a dedicated Oracle cluster, storage other hosts cannot reach and DRS rules that keep workloads in place. Our dedicated cluster design guide sets out the build, and the DRS audit argument covers how to present it.

What does the partitioning boundary cost in a worked example?

On a fourteen host vSphere environment, the gap is 48 Processors against 336: $2,280,000 against $15,960,000 at the Enterprise Edition list price of $47,500, before any option. The table uses one host configuration that produces those counts, with Oracle's 0.5 core factor for current Intel Xeon and AMD EPYC chips.

The left column assumes Oracle is held to 96 cores, by approved hard partitioning or a dedicated two host cluster with records. Option prices are Oracle list per Processor: RAC $23,000, Partitioning $11,500, Diagnostics Pack $7,500.

The right column is seven times the left. Even at a 70 percent discount its license total is $9,021,600, more than double the contained position at full list, and support repeats every year on whatever you buy. Our core factor analysis covers the Processor arithmetic.

How does the count change in AWS, Azure or Google Cloud?

A separate authorized cloud policy replaces the partitioning question with a vCPU conversion, covered in the FAQ below. Our Oracle on Azure guide works through the cloud counting rules, and the authorized cloud policy note covers the edge cases.

How do you check your own partitioning position?

Pull the configuration data Oracle will ask for before it asks. These tools show whether a partition is capped, pinned or free to move.

• VMware vSphere. Export hosts, clusters and VM locations from vCenter, and list linked vCenters. In PowerCLI, Get-Cluster, Get-VMHost and Get-DrsVMHostRule give the cluster membership and the DRS rules that hold Oracle VMs in place.
• Solaris Zones. Run zonecfg info for each zone and look for a dedicated CPU or capped CPU resource, or a pool bound to a processor set. Oracle's zones document uses psrinfo to convert hardware threads to cores.
• IBM Power. The HMC partition properties, or lshwres, show whether each partition uses dedicated or shared processors and whether shared ones are capped.
• Oracle Linux KVM. Oracle requires the olvm-vmcontrol utility to set and read vCPU bindings, and virsh on the host confirms the affinity.
• Oracle VM Server for x86. On Oracle VM 3, ovm_vmcontrol reads and sets the binding. On Oracle VM 2, the cpus line in vm.cfg holds it.
• Oracle's own scripts. Run Oracle's audit collection scripts, still widely called the LMS scripts, yourself first and read the output, using our LMS script analysis as a guide.

What goes in the audit binder?

Five artifacts, all assembled before the first call with Oracle:

1. The policy PDF with its disclaimer highlighted, in the version dated for your contract period.
2. The isolation architecture: which hosts, clusters, storage and networks Oracle can reach.
3. The pinning or capping configurations, exported from the systems themselves.
4. The change records that show when each configuration was set and that it has held.
5. A dated inventory of every Oracle installation and the host under it.

Our VMware evidence pack guide goes through the vSphere records in more detail.

What have we seen in Oracle virtualization audits in 2024 and 2025?

I ran roughly 30 to 40 Oracle virtualization engagements across 2024 and 2025. In soft partitioned environments, the cores Oracle billed came out at a median 3.5 times the cores running a database. No claim turned on the policy wording; every one turned on a diagram of where a virtual machine could move.

• The opening document. Oracle started from a vCenter inventory export rather than a host list, which put every host in the export into the claim.
• What reduced the count. In every case where the count came down, a machine generated record did it: pinning configurations, cluster definitions and the DRS rules that showed where Oracle could and could not run. Arguments about intent never changed a figure.
• The unused option. Hard partitioning was available on the hardware in most environments and configured in almost none. The pinning was an afternoon of work that no one had been asked to do.

Why is arguing that the policy is not binding the wrong place to start?

The usual advice is to open an audit by arguing the policy is not contractual. We think that is the wrong first step. The disclaimer already settles it, and buyers who spent their first month there conceded the core count and negotiated a discount on a number they should have contested. Spend that month on the records.

The pinning is an afternoon of work, and the binder of machine generated records is what separates a contained count from a vCenter wide one.

What will Oracle's auditors say, and how should you reply?

The lines below come up in most virtualization reviews. Each reply points the discussion back to the contract and the records.

• "VMware is soft partitioning under our policy, so every host in the vCenter must be licensed." Reply that your agreement licenses processors where the programs are installed and running, and hand over the records showing exactly where that is. Keep the discussion on those records rather than on the policy's status.
• "Your vSphere version supports cross vCenter vMotion, so the linked vCenters are in scope." Ask Oracle to identify any Oracle instance that ran outside the licensed hosts, and supply the storage, network and permission records that show it could not.
• "Your partitions are uncapped, so the shared pool counts." If the export shows capped partitions, send it. If it shows uncapped ones, fix them now and settle the historical period separately.
• "This amendment is our standard paper." Standard paper is where the "then current policies" clause lives. Strike it before signature.
• "We can close this quickly with a good discount on cluster licenses." Decline until the count is agreed; the worked example above shows why a discount on the wider count still costs more. Our guide to challenging Oracle audit findings covers the sequence.

Should you configure hard partitioning or contain Oracle another way?

Configure hard partitioning wherever your platform supports it, and contain Oracle on dedicated hosts where it does not. The right route depends on what you run today.

What does pinning cost you in operations?

Oracle's KVM and Oracle VM documents forbid live migration of pinned virtual machines, so host maintenance means a planned outage or a licensed standby. Most database servers rarely move anyway. Our hard partitioning implementation guide walks through the configuration step by step.

Size the partition to what the database needs. Our Oracle licensing guide gives the wider orientation, including the finding that sizing to policy documents had bought license that was never owed in six of ten environments.

What to do next

1. This week. Read the two pages yourself before anyone's summary, including this one, and file the dated copy with the disclaimer highlighted.
2. Within a month. Check the capping or pinning state of every Solaris Zone, Micro Partition, vPar, Integrity VM, Secure Resource Partition and Oracle hypervisor you run.
3. Where the hardware supports it. Configure the pinning or capping, then export the configuration as a record.
4. For vSphere. Map every cluster, vCenter and vCenter link that hosts Oracle, and decide whether a dedicated cluster is cheaper than the claim Oracle would make.
5. Before any audit call. Build the five part binder of machine generated records.
6. Before any signature. Search amendments, ordering documents and certification letters for "then current policies" and strike it. Our Oracle advisory practice can work through the position with you.

Frequently asked questions