I'm having difficulty getting this answered by Oracle sales so I thought I'd
try the user community.

I'm running OpenVMS on a single Alpha-Server-DS20e with 2-CPUs (SMP) and I
need to get a quote on Oracle Rdb licensing for this machine for a business
case. I've learned that Oracle Rdb is licensed on a "per processor" basis
and this is where the confusion comes in.

Some companies consider "processor count" to be the "CPU count" while others
consider "processor count" to be the "cluster node count".

So do I need one license or two?

Neil Rieck
Kitchener/Waterloo/Cambridge,
Ontario, Canada.
http://www3.sympatico.ca/n.rieck/lin...l_openvms.html

p.s. On my first day working with "Oracle Marketing" I always used the
phrase "Oracle Rdb" but later discovered that everything I had been quoted
was only related to "Oracle 10i". What a mess...

Neil Rieck wrote:
Kerry is correct in stating that Rdb licencing is the same as Oracle
(Classic) Enterprise Edition without the Clustering (RAC), Partitioning
and Security Options. Since Rdb generally already comes with these
capabilities (and more) built-in, Rdb is actually allowed a considerable
price advantage over Oracle's bread-and-butter product. This advantage
becomes even more clear when considering the long list of original Rdb
technical features and design advantages for massive mission-critical
systems, compatibility to most Oracle Tools, along with Rdb's high level
of integration with OpenVMS architecture and feature advantages.

That being said, the complete picture explaining the licensing of Rdb
has not yet been explained here. The Licensing form also depends on the
software environment in which the database is installed. And within
defined limits you can decide between two different Licensing Metrics;
Named User Plus Licensing or Per-Processor Licensing.

This is all explained in the document titled "Database Licensing" at...

http://www.oracle.com/corporate/pric...elicensing.pdf

Also, If you qualify for the OTN Development License then you can
install and use all the Rdb Family products for *free*. Here...

http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/index.html

you can see the following statement...

"All software downloads are free, and each comes with a development
license that allows you to use full versions of the products only
while developing and prototyping your applications. You can buy
Oracle products with full-use licenses at any time from the online
Oracle Store or from your Oracle sales representative."

This is a separate license with it's own conditions explained here...

http://www.oracle.com/technology/sof...cs/devlic.html

The latest Rdb Family products can be downloaded here...

http://www.oracle.com/technology/sof...db7/index.html

Remember, when reading, that Rdb qualifies as an Oracle "Enterprise
Edition" Product for licensing.

When Licensing using the Per-Processor Metric, you can also limit the
number of processors to license with hard partitioning. The conditions
for this are explained in the document titled "Partitioning" at...

http://www.oracle.com/corporate/pric...rtitioning.pdf

The current price list (last updated Sept. 17th) for Oracle's Database
products is here...

http://www.oracle.com/corporate/pricing/eplext.pdf

There you will find the following prices in US Dollars for Rdb
on page 4...

Named User Plus (price per user)

(Version)
License Update Support
800 120.00 56.00

Per-Processor
(Version)
License Update Support
40,000 6,000.00 2,800.00

"5-Year Term License available at 70% of Perpetual License; 4-Year Term
License at 60% of Perpetual License; 3-Year Term License at 50% of
Perpetual License; 2-Year Term License at 35% of Perpetual License;
1-Year Term License at 20% of Perpetual"

Named User I understand to be a license tied to a specific named user
and not a "concurrent user license". There is also some minimum user
constraints for using this metric, please see the "Database Licensing"
document for details. I also believe that the version update price drops
out if you have a currently active "metals" grade support contract for
that installation with Oracle.

If you still have questions and want an Oracle Representative that
understands Rdb Licensing, or want to complain that their licensing
model doesn't make it possible for you to select Rdb products, I suggest
you make use of the contact information here...

http://www.oracle.com/technology/pro...cts/index.html

I'm sure that Mike Turnill or Bill Gettys can help you, or find some one
who can work-out the issues with you.

By the way, the official Rdb Forum is not on Usenet but is provided by
JCC. See the following URL for details...

http://www.jcc.com/jccs_oracle_list_servers.htm

Cheers!

Keith Cayemberg

Disclaimer: I'm just an Rdb Customer who thinks he's understood most of
Oracle Rdb Licensing. Go to Oracle for contractually coherent Rdb
financial transactions. :-)

"Keith Cayemberg" <keith.cayemberg (AT) arcor (DOT) de> wrote

[...snip...]
Thanks for your detailed reply regarding this matter.
I was hoping for such a response from a knowledgeable licensee because I was
getting no where with Oracle Sales. Thanks again.

Neil Rieck
Kitchener/Waterloo/Cambridge,
Ontario, Canada.
http://www3.sympatico.ca/n.rieck/lin...l_openvms.html

expensive and the forthcoming release (3.0) is to be open source.

"John Smith" <a (AT) nonymous (DOT) com> wrote

any Open Source info. Is Borland talking about putting it into an Open
Source model?

Neil Rieck
Kitchener/Waterloo/Cambridge,
Ontario, Canada.
http://www3.sympatico.ca/n.rieck/lin...l_openvms.html

Neil Rieck wrote:

See
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=e...&safe=off&q=in
terbase&meta=group%3Dcomp.os.vms

Neil Rieck wrote:

www.sourceforge.net/search "interbase"

John Smith wrote:

Although OpenVMS was once a major InterBase platform. I have never been
able to find any binaries for VMS within the last several years. And I
believe OpenVMS hasn't been actively supported by InterBase developers
for many years, and I'm nearly certain that this support stopped long
before InterBase was released to the open source community in August 2000.

This may mean that all available open source versions will need some
porting work before it runs comfortably on OpenVMS.

Please also consider the support user's have been getting for currently
supported platforms at the open source site...

http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid...62&func=browse

The "open" support requests go back almost to when InterBase was
released to the open source community.

I do not wish to FUD InterBase, but I do want to point out that one
should carefully consider the needs of their task and environment and as
carefully research how well the potential solutions cover those needs.
Certainly there are customers that would find InterBase fits their
unique set of needs.

Also, Database Technology is a highly complex world in itself, in which
the details can matter very much! Correct DB comparisons of fitness for
a job can require a great deal of tenacity. My experience Rdb has shown
me that a database can have a great deal more mission-critical
cleverness and sophistication than you will find described in any
marketing brochure or university textbook. (IMO only to be experienced
in an Rdb Internals class on this planet)

It may very well be that I have missed some significant InterBase
support sources (my last detailed search was a couple years ago), and I
would be very interested to know what I've missed as well.

To facilitate anyone else's research over InterBase, I'm providing below
my sources of info on InterBase...


_Potential Sources of InterBase Support_

InterBase 6.0 Open Source SQL Database - SourceForge.net
http://sourceforge.net/projects/interbase/

Borland InterBase Software Cross Platform Embedded Database
http://www.borland.com/interbase/index.html

IBDI - Die InterBase Entwickler Initiative - German
http://www.interbase2000.de/

IBPhoenix -
http://www.ibphoenix.com/


_InterBase History - interesting relationship to Datatrieve and Rdb_

How did Interbase appear? - Wayback Machine
http://web.archive.org/web/200308100...w_appeared.htm

Interbase: A Bedtime Story
http://www.frayernet.com/PC_Life/pc_life_2_2_92.htm

Die Interbase Entwicklungsgeschichte - in German
http://www.interbase2000.de/IBAbout/IbRoadmap.htm

Wie Interbase entstand - in German
http://www.interbase2000.de/hist/ah1.htm

Client Server NEWS 364 Sept. 1, 2000 - InterBase Rises - Wayback Machine
http://web.archive.org/web/200402272...x.com/a641.htm


Cheers!

Keith Cayemberg

Keith Cayemberg wrote:
eared.htm


I don't know whether any of the 'open source' contains any VMS-isms in it or
whether that was stripped out prior to release into the wild. It may be
worth someone's effort to e-mail or call Borland to find out.

I used Interbase (v3.3 I think, on VMS 5.5) for a short while and was very
impressed with it for the application it was used on.


DEC's sale of RDB to Oracle has to rank up there amongst the more stupid of
their decisions, especially if the NT/unix port was to be imminently
released as was thought at the time. As I have previously written here, DEC
could have spun-off the Rdb unit and sold 49% or more of the stock for more
money than they received from Oracle. The stock market would have been very
receptive at that time if the unix/NT port was real.

Another mistake was not ensuring that the deal with Oracle included an Rdb
run-time license included with each copy of VMS (if memory serves, that was
part of the NAS-200 and higher licences).

"John Smith" <a (AT) nonymous (DOT) com> wrote

....big snip...
if you want to run V5 or less.

That said, it certainly was shortsighted. Our Oracle RDB/DBMS support costs
went up about 50X from our Digital costs. Digital had no idea as to what it
was worth.