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An iQuate Whitepaper
Contents
Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 2 What Exactly is a ULA?...................................................................................................................... 3 Keeping track .................................................................................................................................... 4 How to keep track ......................................................................................................................... 4 Work within the limitations ............................................................................................................... 5 How to keep within the limitations................................................................................................ 5 Using what you have paid for ............................................................................................................ 6 How to make sure you are using what you have paid for ............................................................... 6 Using ULAs to centralize procurement of Oracle licenses ................................................................. 7 How to manage a centrally-purchased ULA .................................................................................. 7 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 8 iQSonar: Oracle Edition Helping you manage your ULA ............................................................. 8
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Introduction
Oracle offers ULAs (Unlimited License Agreements) to its larger clients. Unfortunately, the use of the word Unlimited gives the impression that once a ULA is agreed, the customer no longer needs to concern themselves with the details of their Oracle deployment and usage. The reality is that a company that is entering into a ULA needs to proactively monitor their Oracle deployment. Failure to do this can result in customers failing to maximize the benefits of the agreement or, in a worst case scenario, lead to significant unexpected costs and potential liability to prosecution for non-compliance during or after the term of the ULA. This whitepaper discusses specific challenges surrounding the effective management of ULAs and how they can be addressed, focusing on four different aspects of ULAs: Keeping Track of the products Working within the limitations of the agreement Using what you have paid for Using ULAs to centralize Oracle license procurement
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Keeping track
A ULA will specify a maximum amount of licenses for the purchased product(s) as per the definition included in your agreement (e.g. Processor, Application User, Named User). The contract will state that in the event of more licenses than the maximum number specified in the agreement being deployed, additional licenses need to be purchased prior to such deployment. Therefore it is important that the actual, up-to-date deployment is tracked throughout the term of the ULA. If you dont do this, you have a compliance risk and are liable for damages including but not limited to fines and backdated support revenue claims from Oracle.
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How to make sure you are using what you have paid for
Before a ULA is agreed, it is critical that the customer has a true picture of their current Oracle usage and deployment. A key part of a ULA is to build in planned future requirements, but without an accurate view of current usage this will only be based on guesswork. An automated tool should be used to perform a full discovery of the entire estate before negotiations begin. The tool should be capable of matching up physical hardware (including CPU and core details) with any partitioned or virtualized servers. If possible, these results should be compared with previous records to see how accurate future requirements forecasts were in the past.
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Conclusion
ULAs can deliver many benefits to Oracle customers, but they must be proactively managed to maximize those benefits and avoid unexpected problems or costs. If a ULA is not managed it is likely to become a financial and contractual liability. To manage a ULA, you need to continually monitor Oracle deployment and usage. To do this you must have access to accurate and up-to-date information whenever you need it. The only way to guarantee accurate and up-to-date information is to use an automated Oracle software discovery tool. iQSonar: Oracle Edition is the worlds first automated Oracle software discovery tool to be verified by Oracle License Management Services (LMS) team as providing data which Oracle will accept as an alternative to their own LMS measurement tools.
iQuate acknowledges the assistance of iQuate partner License Consulting (www.licenseconsulting.eu) in the creation of this whitepaper. License Consulting enables large Oracle clients to independently gain and maintain control over their Oracle compliance. With over 15 years of experience, the company has become an independent innovator in resolving licensing challenges.
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