Oracle Exadata (Oracle Exadata Database Machine) is strictly a data processing solution offered by Oracle. Initially conceived and promoted as a solution for mainly large data warehouse data load processing, Oracle now boldly proclaims that Exadata is suitable for high concurrency OLTP applications as well. It’s important to understand that Exadata isn’t something you use in addition to your current Oracle databases – rather, it comes with its own prepackaged Linux based Oracle database. Exadata is a prepackaged box that consists of the Oracle Exadata Storage Server software , Oracle Database 11g software, in addition to Sun branded hardware (RAM and CPUs) and Infiniband network technology software. Oracle’s claims of ultra fast data processing with Exadata are well supported by actual field experience of several companies, making this a really big success for Oracle Corporation. In addition to enabling fast processing of heavy amounts of data, Exadata also helps you consolidate multiple Oracle databases into a single easily manageable system. It’s important to note that the Exadata package (servers, software, network and storage) is completely preoptimized and preconfigured by Oracle.

If you’re running high volume, mission critical OLTP applications, or if you are having problems making sure that your current Oracle databases can crunch through heavy loads of warehouse data, it’s time to take a close look at Exadata – it’s more than likely that you’ll be surprised at the ease with which you can transition to Exadata from your current Oracle database based applications. Oracle claims that you’ll need fewer CPUs to run Exadata as compared to a non-Exadata solution. Exadata is configured in a balanced format, in units of “Racks” that are similar to standard data center rack configurations – you can purchase a quarter, half or a full rack and you can easily upgrade to more processing power by ordering additional Exadata racks.

Oracle Exalogic (Oracle Exadata Elastic Cloud) is also an “engineered system” and is similar to Exadata in the sense that it’s also a prepackaged hardware plus software solution, designed to be managed and monitored as a single stack. However, the main purpose of Exalogic isn’t data crunching – it’s an engineered system designed to provide high performance for Oracle middleware using custom Java EE applications, Oracle Applications and similar enterprise level applications.

Both Exadata and Exalogic are part of Oracle’s new paradigm of “purpose built systems” that provide pretested and preconfigured standardized sets of hardware, smart storage, and network and software components. The key goals are easy implementation, high speed processing and easy scalability on demand. The fundamental idea behind Oracle’s engineered systems – that standardizing and optimizing al the components will provide a higher performance through the exploitation of the synergies among the various components seems to be borne by the experience of users..

What do they get for free you ask? Patent licenses. That’s right, costly patent licenses don’t apply to French developers. How did this information all of a sudden come to light? With the anticipation of Windows 8 being shipped by Microsoft, minus the popular Media Center installed, the blogs are a chatter about an alternative to Media Center. A French developer has created a completely free program called VLC Media Player. It comes highly recommended and is completely 100% free. VLC Media Player is not subject to MPEG-2 licensing fees…nice huh?

This kind of thing would never fly in the United States, but because the developer is French and considered a non-profit (as it began as a student project), it is out of the reach of lawmakers in the U.S.

While this goes against everything Copyright law was created to prevent – what does it mean for us? Free Media player for Windows 8!

We’ll be participating in the MS Bike Tour once again this year, please support Team Miro!: http://bit.ly/ImIhIX

Year-end is upon us and we always get the question….what can I do to make sure I have the best deal at year-end? As you’ll hear from Eliot, it’s not really about the timing.

Does Oracle audit specific products and different operating systems?

Wondering if Software Assurance is a worthwhile investment? The Veteran Affairs Department asked that question of themselves, and decided to get rid of their SA, which actually ended up saving them a pretty penny (or I should say pennies). Our Microsoft expert, Tim Hegedus weighs in on the decision, you can check out the article here.

Gartner recently put out their annual report: The Software Vendors That Are Auditing Now and What to Do About It. Based on survey data from their IT Financial, Procurement and Asset Management Summits, the research firm found software vendor audits have, once again, gone up. The percentage of respondents who said they had been audited in the last 12 months rose from 61% to 65% in 2011. Also interesting was the top five vendors doing the auditing: IBM, Adobe, Microsoft, Oracle and SAP (which is a new entrant to this list).

Gartner suggests that organizations look more closely at Software Asset Management, and start taking these threats seriously, as changes are increasing that you will, at some point, face an audit by one or all of your vendors. Many respondents also noted that they vendor had to have lengthy discussions with those being audited to explain licensing rules and clarify why they were not in compliance – this tells us one thing – if the customers don’t understand it, they need to be less confusing! You shouldn’t need an expert or an in-house person to explain the licensing to you, but unfortunately you do in order to stay compliant!

We have often addressed the BSA and their piracy fighting tactics here on this blog as a warning sign for those who aren’t taking compliance as seriously as they should be. PC Pro Magazine recently wrote a story about a small business that was targeted by the BSA and the exact tactics that were used to strong arm them into an audit. Admittedly, the business owner did not know if he was in compliant, but blamed the recession and trying to keep his business afloat as to why licensing fell to the wayside. You can read about the entire ordeal here.

It gives good insight as to what exactly happens when a disgruntled employee turns you in, and how far the BSA will go to validate the claim, which they say are where 20% of their leads come from. Something to think about! And yes, we are in a recession, but what many businesses do not realize, is that managing your software assets can actually save you money- which is a thing of beauty in a recession!

Check out our archived events section, we have several resources on audits and SAM to get you started!

SQL Server 2012 will be available this April. What does this mean for SQL server users? Current holders of Microsoft Software Assurance on SQL Server have until the end of their current term to trade-in Per Processor licenses for Per Core licenses as the new license model is introduced for SQL Server 2012. The following scenario affects only SQL Server deployments in the Per Processor license model covered by Software Assurance.

So……If you have a SQL server deployment using the Per Processor license modeled AND you are covered by Software Assurance, you can get more value from your core licenses by doing a self-inventory.
Step 1: By using the Microsoft Assessment & Planning (“MAP”) Toolkit or another suitable inventory tool that timestamps the report, the company can identify the number of cores per server for each qualified server. If the customer does not perform this self-inventory, they will receive the minimum:

o 4 Core licenses for each Enterprise Edition or Standard Edition Processor licenses in their inventory
o 8 Core licenses for each Datacenter Edition Processor license in their inventory

Step 2: Microsoft will then provide the customers with the appropriate number of core licenses that allows them to continue their current deployment with no additional licensing required. Microsoft has imposed a limit of 20 cores per server.

• Example 1: A server running SQL Server Enterprise Edition is configured as 2 processors, each with 2 cores. The required licensing under version 2008 R2 is two (2) Processor licenses. The customer would receive four (4) Core licenses (i.e., 2 processors X 2 core).
• Example 2: A server running SQL Server Standard Edition is configured as 2 processors, each with 1 core. The required licensing under version 2008 R2 is two (2) Processor licenses. The customer would receive four (4) Core licenses. Though the number of total cores in the server is two (2), the customer would receive four (4) Core licenses because this is the minimum.
• Example 3: A server running SQL Server Datacenter Edition is configured as 4 processors, each with 4 cores. The required licensing under version 2008 R2 is four (4) Processor licenses. The customer would receive sixteen (16) Core licenses (i.e., 4 processors X 4 core).
• If the customer has SQL Server Processor licenses in an existing Enterprise Agreement, they may continue to purchase Processor licenses throughout the end of the term. They will then perform the self-inventory as described above.

So, in this case, Software Assurance arguably is tangibly beneficial because the customer can actually receive more Core licenses than their Processor licenses are worth. That is, Core licenses will cost one-quarter of the Processor license price. So, for example, if the a server has two (2) processor licenses each with eight (8) cores running SQL Server Enterprise Edition, then the customer receives sixteen (16) Core licenses, which would equate to four (4) Processor licenses.

I know it can be confusing, but the end result is a scenario where you get more for you money.