Benefits of Licensing Oracle on AWS

• vCPU-Based Licensing: More flexible than physical host-based licensing.

• Virtualization Policy: No need to license all physical hosts on AWS.

• Compliance Considerations: Adherence to Oracle’s territorial and usage restrictions ensures compliance.

AWS EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) Licensing for Oracle

AWS EC2 is a cloud computing service offering flexible computing capacity. When running Oracle databases on EC2, licensing depends on the occupied sockets on the instance. 

• Core Factor Table: Specifies licenses required for different CPU architectures.

• Licensing Policy: Based on the number of vCPUs for EC2 instances running Oracle applications and databases.

• License Transfer: Existing Oracle licenses can be transferred to AWS, but Oracle’s policies may change, so stay updated.

• Licensing Options:

  • Standard Edition: One CPU per virtual core.

  • Enterprise Edition: Four processor licenses per eight vCPUs.

AWS RDS Licensing for Oracle

AWS RDS for Oracle offers full control over your database infrastructure, environment, and operating system.

License Models

• Bring Your Own License (BYOL): Use existing Oracle licenses on Amazon RDS, ideal for customers with current licenses.

• License Included: AWS provides the Oracle license, included in the hourly RDS rate, perfect for customers without Oracle licenses or who prefer not to manage them.

Oracle Support

• Adherence to Oracle’s technical support policies is required when using AWS RDS.

Availability

• License Included: Available for Oracle Database Standard Edition One and Two.

• Bring Your Own License: Available for Oracle Database EE, SE2, and SE1.

Disaster Recovery

• Fully license all Oracle instances at both the primary and DR sites.

Java Licensing

• Required per vCPU on AWS.

• Territory Clause: Verify the Oracle Ordering Document to ensure your deployment is permitted in the chosen AWS region.

• Licensing Agreement Restrictions: Review your licensing agreement for any restrictions on AWS deployment.

• Standard Edition 2 Limitation: Oracle Database Standard Edition 2 is limited to AWS instances with a maximum of 8 vCPUs.

• Unlimited License Agreement (ULA): AWS deployments may be excluded from ULA exit numbers. Refer to the certification clause in your Oracle ULA for specifics.