WebLogic Licenses – Three Weblogic Licensing options

This article provides a comprehensive guide to Oracle WebLogic Licensing, offering valuable insights into the different editions and their respective licensing models.

Key points to consider include:

• WebLogic Editions: Oracle WebLogic Server has four editions – WebLogic Basic, WebLogic Standard Edition, WebLogic Enterprise Edition, and WebLogic Suite. Each edition has its unique features and licensing models.
• Licensing Oracle WebLogic Server: The licensing model varies depending on the edition. For instance, WebLogic Standard Edition is licensed per occupied CPU socket, while Enterprise Edition and Suite are licensed per core factor.
• Cost of Oracle WebLogic Licenses: The cost of licenses can be based on either processor or user. The article provides detailed pricing for each edition.
• Common WebLogic License Compliance Issues: It’s crucial to be aware of common compliance issues to avoid pitfalls. These include using Cluster support without the appropriate license, miscalculating Oracle licensing on core factors, or licensing minimums.
• Oracle WebLogic follows the same licensing rules as other technology products if you wish to deploy on VMware, AWS, or Azure.

Weblogic Licenses – Four Editions

1. WebLogic Basic edition, which is not available on the Oracle price list. It is included in other Oracle products, such as Oracle Internet Application Server and Oracle Forms and Reports. This edition includes the core WebLogic application server, Java EE, management tools, basic JMS messaging, deployment, and high availability functionality.
   
2. WebLogic Standard Edition. This edition includes all of the features of WebLogic Basic, plus additional development and management tools and basic clustering support. The Standard Edition is licensed per processor occupied.
   
3. WebLogic Enterprise Edition includes all of the features of the Standard Edition, plus advanced clustering support, Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder, and Oracle Java SE Advanced. This edition is licensed per core factor.
   
4. WebLogic Suite. This edition includes all of the features of the Enterprise Edition, plus Oracle Coherence Enterprise Edition, Oracle Forms, Reports, and Portal, Oracle Enterprise Manager Pack for Oracle Coherence, Oracle Verrazzano Enterprise Edition, Oracle Java SE Suite, and Oracle WebLogic Server Zero Downtime Patching. This edition is also licensed per core factor.
   

How to license Oracle Weblogic Server

• Weblogic licensing varies depending on the edition you are running.
  
• Weblogic Basic is not available for purchase; it is a restricted-use license that ships with other Oracle products.
  
• Weblogic Standard Edition is licensed per occupied CPU socket, with a minimum of 10 user licenses per processor.
  
• Weblogic licensing for Enterprise Edition and suite is based upon Oracle’s core factor table calculation. You can read about this here.

Oracle WebLogic License Models

• Oracle Full-Use Licensing is the most common license model, where the end customer only purchases its licenses for internal use.
• Oracle ISV license models include Prop Hosting, where you build a SaaS offering using Oracle WebLogic to external entities. Oracle ASFU is a license model where the solution partner resells WLS with its solution.

The Cost of Oracle Weblogic Licenses

The cost of Oracle Weblogic licensed (processor licenses):

• Oracle Weblogic Standard Edition – $ 10,000 per processor license (not counting cores)
• Oracle Weblogic Enterprise Edition – $ 25,000 per processor license (counting cores)
• Oracle Weblogic Suite license – $ 45,000 per processor license (counting cores)

The cost of Oracle Weblogic licenses (Named User Plus ):

• Oracle Weblogic Standard Edition – $ 200 per user (10 users minimum per processor)
• Oracle Weblogic Enterprise Edition – $ 500 per user (10 user minimums per processor, counting cores)
• Oracle Weblogic Suite license – $ 900 per user (10 user minimums per processor, counting cores)

How to purchase Oracle Weblogic

• You can purchase Weblogic on a stand-alone purchase (quantities) with a discount you negotiate with Oracle. The second option is to include WebLogic in an Oracle ULA or Oracle Pool of Funds.

What is Weblogic Basic?

• WebLogic Server Basic is a license-constrained version of WebLogic Server that is available in licenses for the following Oracle products: Oracle Internet Application Server Standard Edition, Oracle Forms and Reports, and Oracle Business Intelligence Standard Edition.
  
• Each edition of Oracle Internet Application Server and Oracle Forms and Reports enables the right to full use of the WebLogic Server Basic license.
  
• It is only for running components provided within these products, such as Forms, Reports, Discoverer, and Portal, and also for custom Java applications like those developed for Oracle Containers for J2EE.
  
• The WebLogic Server Basic license includes usage rights to the following features:
  • Core WebLogic application server
  • Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE)
  • WebLogic Server management tools, including the Administration Console and WebLogic Scripting Tool
  • WebLogic JDBC Drivers, WebLogic Server Clients, and WebLogic and Apache Web Server Plug-Ins
  • Basic JMS messaging, deployment, and high availability functionality
  • Transactional business logic with persistence with the support of JPA and EJB
  • Basic WebLogic Server clustering support, including load balancing, failover, and cluster management
    
• It has limitations on usage rights and is not applicable for products outside of Oracle Internet Application Server and Oracle Forms and Reports with licensing dependencies on any edition of Oracle Internet Application Server or Oracle Forms and Reports unless explicitly stated within their licensing documentation.

Which products is WebLogic Basic part of?

• Oracle Internet Application Server, Standard Edition
• Oracle Internet Application Server Standard Edition One
• Oracle Internet Application Server Enterprise Edition
• Oracle Forms and Reports
• Oracle Business Intelligence Standard Edition.

What is Oracle Internet Application Server?

The Oracle Internet Application Server comes in several different editions and is licensed separately for the various installation types. The standard edition does not include Oracle Forms, Reports, and Discoverer. Other stand-alone components of Oracle IAS require separate licenses.

• Oracle Internet Application Server Standard Edition – processor socket based
  
• Oracle Internet Application Server Enterprise Edition – core-based licensing
  
• If you own IAS licenses, you can, at no cost, upgrade/migrate to Weblogic products.

What is Oracle WebLogic Standard Edition

Oracle WebLogic Server Standard Edition includes:

• Core WebLogic application server, with Administration Console, Configuration Wizard, and Upgrade Framework
• Oracle TopLink and Application Development Framework
• Oracle JDeveloper
• Oracle Enterprise Pack for Eclipse
• Oracle Security Developer Tools
• Java SE
• Oracle Web Tier
• Oracle Enterprise Manager Fusion Middleware Control
• Oracle WebLogic Software Kit for Oracle Database Appliance
• Oracle Licensing: You count the number of occupied processor sockets.

What is Oracle Weblogic Enterprise Edition

Oracle WebLogic Server Enterprise Edition includes:

• All of the functionality of the Standard Edition
• Clustering support
• Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder
• Oracle Java SE Advanced (restricted for Oracle WebLogic Server)
• Java SE is included for client applications that access these server components
• Oracle licensing is core-based; apply the Oracle core factor table.

What is Oracle Weblogic Suite?

Oracle WebLogic Suite includes:

• All of the functionality of Enterprise Edition
• Oracle Coherence Enterprise Edition
• Oracle Forms, Reports, and Portal
• Oracle Enterprise Manager Pack for Oracle Coherence
• Oracle Verrazzano Enterprise Edition
• Oracle Java SE Suite (restricted for WebLogic Server, Oracle Containers for J2EE and Coherence)
• Java SE is included for client applications that access these server components.
• Oracle WebLogic Server Zero Downtime Patching
• Oracle licensing is calculated with the Oracle core factor table.

Weblogic Suite is a pre-requisite product. To use Oracle SOA, you must also purchase a Weblogic Suite license to be correctly licensed.

What are the differences between Weblogic SE and Enterprise?

• WebLogic Standard Edition does not have clustering functionality.
  
• WebLogic Enterprise Edition allows you to use the OEM Diagnostic pack for Oracle Middleware.
  
• WebLogic Enterprise Edition is required to run additional licensable features, such as Coherence and WebLogic Management Pack.
  
• WebLogic Enterprise Edition includes Oracle Java SE advanced for both servers and clients.

What are the Oracle Weblogic license differences?

• WebLogic SE is licensed per occupied socket.
  
• WebLogic EE is licensed per core and uses the Oracle core factor table.

How is Oracle WebLogic Suite Licensed?

• It is core-based licensing; you need to count the number of physical cores in the server, then multiply it with  Oracle Core Factor.
  
• Licensing user minimum if licensing Oracle WebLogic with Named User Plus is ten users per Oracle processor.

Oracle Weblogic License upgrade options

• You can upgrade Oracle WebLogic Standard Edition licenses to WLS Enterprise and Enterprise to WebLogic Suite.

Most common WebLogic license compliance issues

• Oracle customers use Cluster support that would trigger Enterprise Licenses but are only licensed for WebLogic Standard Edition.
  
• Oracle customers using Oracle WebLogic Basic (restricted use license part of other Oracle products) beyond their license grants.
  
• Oracle customers miscalculate Oracle licensing on core factors or licensing minimums.
  
• Customers who have installed the wrong version of Oracle WebLogic and then need to license a more expensive version
  
• Oracle WLS editions include Java SE Advanced licenses, but Java can only run WLS-based applications, not third-party Java applications.
  
• If you have included Weblogic into your Oracle ULA – that often causes compliance issues.

Oracle WebLogic Licensing and WebLogic suite

How to audit Oracle Weblogic or Oracle Middleware products?

Oracle LMS scripts are the measurement tools all Oracle licensing experts and audit teams use to review Oracle Weblogic licensing.

FAQ on Oracle WebLogic Server Editions and Licensing

Oracle Weblogic Licensing Review

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