Oracle Java on VMware Hybrid Cloud Platform – Dispelling the Oracle Java Licensing myths

Posted on February 19, 2021 by Sudhir Balasubramanian

This is just another blog (JAB) about Dispelling the “Galaxy Licensing” Oracle Java on VMware FUD  perpetuated by overzealous licensing and sales teams, which is in complete contrast to the reality of the actual Contractually Impactful documents.

 This blog intends to clear up the reality of how to effectively license Oracle Java workloads on VMware Hybrid Cloud ( vSphere, vSAN , VxRAIL , VMware Cloud on AWS and other VMware Cloud Platforms) and to make it a cost effective one as well.

 

 

 

Java Licensing Model – 2023

 

January 23rd 2023, Oracle made significant changes to how they license Java.

There are three main points in Oracle’s announcement:

First, Oracle no longer offers subscription Java on a Processor or Named User Plus model.

Second, going forward, the only model available is an employee-based license. If you want to license Java from Oracle you have to license all of your full time, part time, temporary employees, and contractors. This is the policy regardless of whether they are actually using the software.

Finally, Oracle announced that existing Java subscription clients can renew their Java contracts under the same “terms” and “metrics.”

 

The nuances of the what’s changed, what does it mean and what do I do is well articulated in Oracle Java Licensing Changes – January 2023 and  The New Oracle Java Pricing: What You Need to Know

Please review the above blogs for the steps you can take to protect yourself NOW and get the most from Java.

 

 

 

Java Licensing Models – 2019 and earlier

 

Starting this section onwards – all of the information below is relevant ONLY for Java Licensing Models 2019 and earlier and the steps to be compliant with the Java licensing rules are also relevant for Java Licensing Models 2019 and earlier.

Prior to 2019, there were three Java SE products known as

  • Java SE Advanced
  • Java SE Advanced Desktop
  • Java SE Suite

 

These models required commercial users to purchase upfront licenses and pay annual support.

 

Starting 2019, the above three models was replaced by two new subscription-based models

  • Java SE Subscription
  • Java SE Desktop Subscription

 

As per this model, one no longer needs to purchase licenses upfront and pay annual support for Java SE.  Instead, one would have to pay a monthly subscription fee under one to three-year terms for server or desktop licensing and support.

 

 

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No downtime Storage vMotion of Oracle RAC Cluster using shared vmdk’s with multi-writer attribute from one vSAN to another vSAN Cluster using VMware HCI Mesh

Posted on February 12, 2021 by Sudhir Balasubramanian

The previous blog post “Around the “Storage World” in no time – Storage vMotion for Oracle Workloads (RAC & Non-RAC) within same vSphere Cluster” addressed the following use cases of Storage vMotion of an Oracle RAC Cluster with shared vmdk(s) using multi-writer attribute .

 

The following uses cases were addressed by the previous blog post for Oracle RAC clusters within the same vSphere Cluster –

  • Migrate Oracle database storage from one Tier to another Tier within a storage array
  • Migrate Oracle database storage from one array to another array (within and between data centers) for the same datastore type [ VMFS . NFS, iSCSI, vVOL, vSAN]
  • Migrate Oracle database storage from one array to another array (within and between data centers) across different datastore types [ VMFS , NFS, iSCSI, vVOL, vSAN]

 

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Backing up Oracle Workloads (RAC & Non-RAC) with VMware Snapshot Technology

Posted on January 29, 2021 by Sudhir Balasubramanian

 

In computer systems, a snapshot is the state of a system at a particular point in time. To avoid downtime, high-availability systems may instead perform the backup on a snapshot—a read-only copy of the data set frozen at a point in time—and allow applications to continue writing to their data. [ Wikipedia ]

This blog addresses how one can take VM level snapshot of Oracle Single Instance / RAC workloads using VMware snapshot technology, keep certain caveats in mind.

 

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Oracle Real Application Cluster (RAC) Support on VMware Clouds

Posted on December 14, 2020 by Sudhir Balasubramanian

Oracle Real Application Cluster (RAC) Support on VMware Clouds

 

As of December 9th, 2020, VMware recommends that anyone currently running OR planning to run, an Oracle Real Application Cluster (RAC) in a VMware Cloud environment, reach out to Oracle Corporation for any Oracle support related matters with RAC on our cloud platform.

 

Please reach out to your VMware representative for any clarifications on the below guidance’s.

 

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PVSCSI Controllers and Queue Depth – ASM SAME and Oracle Workloads

Posted on September 21, 2020 by Sudhir Balasubramanian

The previous blog post ’ PVSCSI Controllers and Queue Depth – Accelerating performance for Oracle Workloads’ purpose was to raise awareness of the importance of using PVSCSI adapters with adequate Queue Depth settings for an Oracle workload.

 

This blog focuses on the implementation of Oracle SAME (Stripe and Mirror everything) technology using Oracle ASM along with using multiple VMware PVSCSI controllers with queue depth for PVSCSI controllers and VMDK’s set to maximum to achieve maximum performance for Oracle workloads.

 

 

 

 

This blog

  • Is not meant to be any kind of performance study or bake off any sort
  • contains results that I got in my lab running a load generator SLOB against my workload, which will be way different than any real-world customer workload, your mileage may vary
  • remember, any performance data is a result of the combination of hardware configuration, software configuration, test methodology, test tool, and workload profile used in the testing. 

 

 

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PVSCSI Controllers and Queue Depth – Accelerating performance for Oracle Workloads

Posted on September 16, 2020 by Sudhir Balasubramanian

For readers who are familiar with the Asterix and Obelix series, the magic potion refers to the potion brewed by Getafix, that gives the Gaulish warriors superhuman strength.

 

 

 

 

 

One of VMware’s magic portion for Oracle workloads is the ‘Paravirtualized SCSI Controllers a.k.a PVSCSI Controllers’ which is accelerates workloads performance on a VMware vSphere Platform.

This blog is meant to raise awareness of the importance of using PVSCSI adapters with adequate Queue Depth settings for an Oracle workload.

This blog

  • Is not meant to be a deep dive on PVSCSI and Queue Depth constructs
  • contains results that I got in my lab running a load generator SLOB against my workload, which will be way different than any real-world customer workload , your mileage may vary

Remember, any performance data is a result of the combination of hardware configuration, software configuration, test methodology, test tool, and workload profile used in the testing.

 

 

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VMworld 2020 – Breakout Sessions , Expert Round Tables and Demos focused on Business Critical Applications (BCA)

Posted on September 16, 2020 by Sudhir Balasubramanian

Join us at VMworld 2020 to learn how Business Critical Apps benefit from our latest platforms  

 

 

 

 

VMworld 2020 will be a global online event starting September 29 – October 1, 2020. While the program will be adapted to fit the new digital format, VMworld will still be the place to learn about innovative new technology solutions, hear perspectives from VMware executives, dive into educational and technical content, and engage with experts across the industry ecosystem.

 

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To NUMA or not to NUMA – Oracle workloads and NUMA

Posted on August 28, 2020 by Sudhir Balasubramanian

 

 

To NUMA or not to NUMA – that’s the question that comes up when considering Oracle workloads and NUMA.

 

This blog

  • Is not meant to be a deep dive on ESXi NUMA constructs
  • Is not meant to be by any way, any final recommendation, whether to enable NUMA at the database level or not
  • contains results that I got in my lab running a load generator SLOB against my workload, which will be way different than any real-world customer workload
  • is meant to raise awareness of the importance to test one’s database workload with / without Oracle NUMA and then make an informed decision whether to enable Oracle NUMA or not

 

Remember, any performance data is a result of the combination of hardware configuration, software configuration, test methodology, test tool, and workload profile used in the testing. 

The blog assumes that the reader is familiar with the ESXi NUMA constructs. This blog focuses on the use cases around testing Oracle workloads with and without NUMA using a load generator SLOB.

 

 

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On Demand hot extend non-clustered Oracle Disks online without downtime – Hot Extend Disks

Posted on August 14, 2020 by Sudhir Balasubramanian

 

 

The first blog focused on how to Scale up CPU and Memory by hot adding CPU and Memory on the fly to an Oracle workload which can be found here.

This 2nd blog in the on-demand Scale up series focused on how to Hot Add / Hot Remove vmdk’s to / from a VM running an Oracle workload without any application downtime which can be found here.

This blog focuses on the OS and Oracle database steps to be taken once non-clustered vmdk(s) are hot extended while an Oracle database using ASM is running. Current restriction of shared vmdk’s using the multi-writer attribute is that Hot extend virtual disk is disallowed as per KB 1034165 & KB 2121181

 

 

 

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On Demand Scaling up / Scaling down Storage resources for Oracle production workloads – Hot Add / Hot Remove non-clustered Disks

Posted on August 14, 2020 by Sudhir Balasubramanian

 

 

The first blog focused on how to Scale up CPU and Memory by hot adding CPU and Memory on the fly to an Oracle workload which can be found here.

This blog is the 2nd blog of the on-demand Scale up series which focuses on how to Hot Add / Hot Remove vmdk’s to / from a VM running an Oracle workload without any application downtime.

This blog will not focus on the actual steps how to Hot Add / Hot Remove vmdk(s) / rdm(s) to / from the Oracle Database VM. 

This blog will focus only on the OS and Oracle database steps to be taken once non-clustered vmdk(s) are added or removed from a VM while the database is running.

 

 

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