Oracle Database Express Edition: what you need to know about its license rights and limitations

Transcription

1 Oracle Database Express Edition: what you need to know about its license rights and limitations Author: Iuliana Donisa Many things are said on a daily basis about licensing rules and their implications related to Oracle Database Standard or Enterprise Editions, but what do you know about Oracle Database Express Edition? In this whitepaper you will find out more about Oracle Database Express Edition, its technical limitations and license rights when it is used stand-alone and in conjunction with a Siebel application.

2 Contents Introduction... 3 Database Express Edition... 4 Siebel... 5 Requirements for Installing and Using Oracle Database XE... 6 About Installing the Local Database or Sample Database... 7 Software Upgrade & Uninstalling Oracle Database XE... 8 How to check if Oracle Database XE is installed... 9 License Rights Conclusion... 12

3 Introduction Many things are said on a daily basis about licensing rules and their implications related to Oracle Database Standard or Enterprise Editions, but what do you know about Oracle Database Express Edition? Does it require a license when it s installed separately? What about when it is used in conjunction with a Siebel application? These are questions many customers ask themselves which we will answer in this whitepaper. You will find out more about Oracle Database Express Edition, its technical limitations and license rights when it is used stand-alone and in conjunction with a Siebel application.

4 Database Express Edition Oracle introduced the Database Express Edition (Database XE) with Database 10g Release 2, in The target audience included developers and students for whom Oracle developed a strategy: stimulate them to use Oracle s products and make their entry into the small and medium sized enterprise space. "There is definitely a market there (for low-end databases) and a demand. And we want them to be using Oracle and not MySQL or SQL Server Express" Andrew Mendelsohn, senior vice president of Oracle's server technologies division, told CNET News.com. "Even though the database is initially free, standards progress and those university students who are playing with the database today will eventually be working at corporations and making product decisions" he said. Mendelsohn believed that even though the beginning would be difficult, it would be only a matter of time until the users would get familiar with Database XE and earnings would follow. Up until today, the use of the Oracle Database XE is subject to the following limitations: A single instance of Dabase XE on any server. Can be installed on a multiple CPU server, but can only be executed on one processor in any server. Can only be used to support up to 4GB of user data (not including Express Edition system data). Can use up to 1 GB RAM of available memory. Besides Express Edition, Oracle Database comes in the following editions: Oracle Database Enterprise Edition (EE). Oracle Database Standard Edition 2 (SE2). Oracle Database Personal Edition (PE). Up to (and including) Oracle Database 12c release , Oracle also offered the following: Oracle Database Standard Edition (SE). Oracle Standard Edition One (SE1). Oracle Corporation discontinued SE and SE1 with the release, and stopped offering new licenses for these editions on December 1st, For more details on the most common issues seen for the above listed Database editions, please see our whitepaper. For more details on the licensing implications of Oracle s decision to only sell Oracle Database Standard Edition TWO licenses going forward, please see our article.

5 Siebel Siebel Systems was founded in 1993 and became the most popular CRM software available in the market. For Oracle, it represented the main competitor in the sales automation program industry. In 2005, Oracle acquired Siebel Systems. In case you install Siebel Tools or Siebel Web Client, Oracle Database XE is also installed as the database platform for the local database. Siebel Tools installer installs Oracle Database XE and provides the option to install the local database. Alternatively, the installer installs a database template, and you initialize the local database through the Siebel Remote server. Siebel Tools is an integrated environment for configuring all aspects of a Siebel application to meet the business requirements. Siebel Web Client installer installs Oracle Database XE and provides the option to install a database template or a sample database. The local database is initialized through the Siebel Remote server. Support for the local database for this client was added in Siebel CRM 16.0 and later. This local database is also called the remote database. Oracle's license for Java SE enables it to be freely used for general purpose desktops or servers. If Java SE is bundled as part of a dedicated solution that involves or controls hardware of some kind, then it's likely an embedded application and it s subject to modest royalty payments.

6 Requirements for Installing and Using Oracle Database XE In order for you to be able to install the local or sample database on client computers, you must pay attention to the following: include the necessary JAR file in the Siebel image for Siebel CRM. When you create the Siebel image, you can select the options that will support users of 64-bit versions of Microsoft Windows. Install the 32-bit Oracle Database Client. The software installers prompt for the installed location of this database client, which must be installed at the location you specified in order for the users to be able to access the local or sample database. Because Oracle Database XE is always installed for Siebel Tools or Siebel Mobile Web Client, the same Oracle Database Client requirement also applies if you plan to initialize a local database through Siebel Remote. you might need to disable antivirus software while installing Oracle Database XE and the local database or sample database for Siebel Tools or Siebel Mobile Web Client.

7 About Installing the Local Database or Sample Database Something you should know is that the installation of the database is done silently: no separate screens are displayed for this purpose. If Oracle Database XE is already installed, then it is not installed again, but the local database or sample database is still installed. You can optionally install Siebel software and the local or sample database in unattended mode, as described in Installing Siebel Web Clients and Siebel Tools in Unattended Mode. Another important thing to know is that if Oracle Database XE was previously installed for any non-siebel use, then you must uninstall it before proceeding. Otherwise, the existing Oracle Database XE installation will be used and the local or sample database files will be created under that existing installation (overwriting any existing database). Similar to the above, keep in mind that only one instance of Oracle Database XE and one database are allowed to be deployed on a single computer. Installing a new database overwrites an existing database. For example, on the Siebel Mobile Web Client, if the local database or the sample database is already present, then this database's DBF files are overwritten if you add the other database. However, you can support multiple instances of Oracle Database XE databases by using the OracleXEConfig.bat utility. Don t worry if you did not install the local database or the sample database when you installed Siebel. You can add it to the existing installation later.

8 Software Upgrade & Uninstalling Oracle Database XE Software Upgrade Before you perform any upgrade installation task, keep in mind that you must synchronize all the changes which need to be preserved. If you upgrade software on which Oracle Database XE and the local or sample database were previously installed, the instance of Oracle Database XE software upgrades to the new installation. However, no database from a previous release will be migrated. It will be created again under the new instance. Uninstalling Oracle Database XE When you want to uninstall Siebel Tools or Siebel Web Client, keep in mind that separate actions are required in order to uninstall the Database XE, the local or sample database and the Siebel software. For information about uninstalling Oracle Database XE, see Uninstalling Oracle Database XE.

9 How to check if Oracle Database XE is installed In order to verify if your installation of the Oracle Database is an Express Edition, you can follow one of the actions as listed below: Look for OracleServiceXE in SERVICES.MSC. Look for Oracle Database XE in Programs and Features under installed programs. Check for the existance of the oraclexe directory in the Siebel Tools or Siebel Mobile Web Client installation. Open the install.log file, which is available under the %temp% folder. Make sure that [ResultCode] is set to zero. Run the command below to find the entry for Oracle Database XE in the registry: reg query HKLM\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\KEY_XE /v ORACLE_BASE. Start Siebel Tools and connect to the LOCAL_XE data source, or start Siebel Mobile Web Client and connect to the LOCAL_XE or SAMPLE_XE data source.

10 License Rights When you install Oracle Database XE, you must accept the agreement from Oracle. It states there that your license allows you to develop, prototype and run your applications for your own internal data processing operations only. You can also distribute it with your applications or use it to provide third-party demonstrations and training. Finally, you can copy and distribute it to your licensees, provided that each such licensee agrees to the terms of the agreement. Keep in mind that there are no technology products included with Siebel licenses. However, there are some technology products with a Restricted Use right. Restricted Use licenses may be used only to run and install the licensed program they are included with. Specific restrictions for such licenses are described in the licensed Program's Documentation. You can find below which Siebel products have as Restricted Use of Oracle Technology programs: Oracle Business Approvals Connector for Sales Managers - includes a restricted-use license of SOA Suite for Oracle Middleware or SOA Suite for Non Oracle Middleware, Oracle Internet Application Server Enterprise Edition and Oracle WebLogic Suite. Oracle Self-Service E-Billing Business Edition and Oracle Self-Service E-Billing Consumer Edition - include a restricted-use license of Oracle Data Integrator Enterprise Edition. "ODI EE is to be used exclusively for loading and customizing the E-Billing bulk load file interface that is included with the Self- Service E-Billing application. Customers will require a full-use license for any other use case of ODI EE. However, Oracle Database Enterprise Edition with Oracle Partitioning are prerequisites for E-Billing 6.0 in all deployments. Oracle Policy Automation - includes a restricted-use license of Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher only to create and run reports via the provided Oracle Policy Automation Document Generation Server. In particular, this integration limits Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher reports to only use data passed to, entered into or generated by Oracle Policy Automation. If you want to create or run Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher reports for any other purpose, you must purchase a full-use license of Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher. In no event are Oracle Policy Automation customers licensed to use Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Server. ATG Web Commerce - includes a restricted-use license of Oracle WebLogic Server Standard Edition restricted to running applications in the ATG Web Commerce products. ATG Web Commerce, and applications in the ATG Web Commerce products, may be modified, extended, or integrated with external systems with the use of custom Java development. However, development of custom Java applications that do not extend, modify or integrate the ATG Commerce applications will require a full-use license. Note: If clustering is desired you must purchase or supply WebLogic Server Enterprise Edition.

11 WebCenter Sites for Oracle ATG Web Commerce - includes a restricted-use license of WebCenter Content restricted to managing documents, Web Content (WCM), Digital Assets (DAM), and other content management components for content delivery as part of a website.

12 Conclusion Oracle Database Express Edition is included in Siebel software and does not require a separate license as long as you are using it within its restrictions. The use of Siebel includes the right to make use of a number of technology programs which may be (part of) the Oracle Database Enterprise Edition. Nevertheless, Siebel customers could also still make use of any other relational database management systems like IBM s DB2 or Microsoft SQL Server. Also getting confused with all these terms, conditions, restrictions, included products/components with restricted and/or full-use use rights? Need help? Feel free to reach out to us and let us support you!

13 About the author Iuliana Donisa Since 2016, Iuliana has been working as technical analyst focusing on Oracle products. In her role she is busy with technical measurement and analyzing processes for Oracle Database and Middleware software programs in order to help customers to use their software entitlements in the most cost-effective way. Iuliana holds a bachelor and master degrees in Economic Cybernetics, Statistics and Informatics from The Bucharest University of Economic Studies. Contact Iuliana: iuliana.donisa@b-lay.com We share our knowledge, so you can focus on the facts! Do you want to know more about different related license management topics, we have a selection of white papers available through If you are in need of extra expertise and a structured approach, feel free to contact B-lay. We will help you make software compliance an exciting opportunity to improve your business! About B-lay B-lay is a specialist in software license management and provides services around software compliance, software audits, software asset management tools and insight in software spend. Our services offer organizations worldwide insight into the risks associated with software licenses, help prevent license compliance issues and help create considerable cost savings by optimizing their licensing position. B-lay was founded in 2008 and has offices in the Netherlands, Romania and the US. B-lay BV Maliebaan CG Utrecht The Netherlands info@b-lay.com B-lay BV. All rights reserved.