Oracle Licensing Script: Only the first step to Oracle License Compliance
Oracle License Compliance Scripts:
Only the first step to Oracle License Compliance
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Posted by Patrick Hamou on 2019:03:15 18:10:01
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Large and medium-sized organizations that run Oracle software are vulnerable to non-compliance. In the event of an Oracle audit or in an effort to stay compliant, many organizations will want to identify their Oracle software inventory. While this may seem simple enough, it is virtually impossible to identify all Oracle software license agreements without the help of validated Oracle scripts.
Oracle Compliance Scripts
Oracle has 2 official scripts that enable you to track hardware, database and servers:
LMS Processor Queries Measurement – The LMS Processor Queries Measurement is a hardware measuring tool for Oracle on Windows, Linux or Unix platforms. It is intended for system, database, and middleware administrators as well as anyone else who wants to perform LMS measurement process.
LMS Collection Measurement Tool - The LMS Collection Measurement Tool script measures actual usage of:
- Oracle Application Server (OAS) or Internet Application Server (iAS)
- Oracle Database
- Oracle E-Business Suite
- Oracle Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) Suite
- Oracle Tuxedo or BEA Tuxedo
- Oracle WebLogic Server or BEA WebLogic Server (WLS)
These scripts generate an inventory of all Oracle products and their underlying hardware within your organization, an essential first step towards compliance. RENAPS has made this script available for download below. If you are an IT consultant or company please contact us here for partnerships instead.
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Some experts in the field discourage organizations to use the official LMS inventory scripts which they claim reveals too much information. The first thing to know is that the information revealed by the scripts won’t be shared with Oracle if you don't send them the output. More importantly, the fact of running the scripts proactively ensures you are aware of all potential out of compliance risks and have a chance to mitigate those risks before Oracle is aware of them.
While running the script is important, it is only a first step. knowing how many Oracle licenses your organization possesses will only get you so far after which the real work starts.
Compliance
Once you’ve established the Oracle inventory present within your organization, you then need to determine your level of compliance for each licensing agreement among which includes:
- The types of Oracle licensing agreements (ULA, OLSA, OMA, Ordering Docs)
- The types of licensing metrics (Concurent Device, Named Users, CPU)
- The types of CPU / Hardware
- The types of Virtualization and specific configuration compliance variation
- Applicable licensing rules as per your Oracle agreement in place
- Licensing rules changes
- Minimum number of Named Users per CPU rules
Among several other factors that needs to be taken into consideration.
Considering the complexity involved, it is likely that you will unearth some non-compliance at which time the help of experts is needed in order to untangle the web, make sense of it all and develop a strategy for compliance.
Optimizing Software Utilization
93% of organizations waste money on under used software (shelfware). Working with compliance specialists can help you understand Oracle’s licensing policies and also identify areas of software under-utilization thus significantly reducing your software costs. You can also avoid unnecessary spending on new licenses.
Unless you are an expert, it’s very easy to be misled by technology license agreements. Licensing complexity, subtle licensing rule changes or price increases, lack of clarity can all lead to non-compliance. In a large organization with multiple licenses, the risk of non-compliance is very high and can lead to serious penalties.
In fact, our research uncovered 90% Oracle non-compliance in the cases we examined. (Thankfully, we uncovered these non-compliance cases before they turned into costly non-compliance penalties. Others have not been that lucky.)
Our 9 question Oracle Risk Assessment survey will give you instant insight into your compliance risk level. Simply fill out the form and you’ll receive your risk assessment results.