Licensing databases in your datacenter is a complex task. Remaining compliant with the licensing agreement is also complex. You need to figure out what is fact (and legally binding), vs what is FUD or fiction (of no consequence to your contractual obligations). When it comes to Oracle this is a topic I have covered a lot in the past and you can find references to it on my Oracle Page here. I haven’t really covered other databases in the past as they are more clear cut and their licensing policies and vendor sales teams are usually much more honest and transparent. But Oracle is really the ISIS of your datacenter when it comes to software licensing and it’s time every customer and their vendors stood united. It’s time we all started to give them what they deserve, which is less of your money, or more specifically, only what you owe them and not a penny more. Nothing will change until customers demand change and vote with their wallet. So it’s good to see there are some new resources that you can use to help you in the fight against the licensing terrorists in your datacenter.

So what prompted this renewed angst against the global villain, axis of evil that is Oracle Licensing? My good friends Dave Welch (other articles by Dave are here) and House of Brick have recently published a white paper on licensing databases in a virtualized environment. Although the paper specifically targets VMware and EMC technology it is applicable to all environments. Nobody would argue that Oracle doesn’t have great technology, but universally their licensing practices make them more like mob bosses or terrorists (spreading licensing terror), than a technology company. How this happened and why it continues to persist is beyond comprehension.

Chad Sakac, President of VCE, has lamented this same problem in his article here. My experience is very similar to what Chad is describing. While we may not agree in some areas, where Oracle Licensing is concerned, we certainly do. Everyone that is running databases in their virtualized environment needs to read the House of Brick white paper. Let’s fight the FUD and eradicate the technology terrorist threat from our data centers.

This post first appeared on the Long White Virtual Clouds blog at longwhiteclouds.com. By Michael Webster +. Copyright © 2012 – 2016 – IT Solutions 2000 Ltd and Michael Webster +. All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced for commercial purposes without written permission.