RE: License Management Services
- From: "Marquez, Chris" <cmarquez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "stephen booth" <stephenbooth.uk@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 17 Oct 2005 13:33:02 -0400
>> a lot of companies setting up little Oracle servers
>> (often on desktop PCs) for 'a quick test' or similar
>> The problem is that such boxes have a tendency to hang
>> around and become an essential part of the business processes.
>> Unlicensed, unmaintained, unsupported by IT and unknown to the DBA/DBA team.
My experience exactly.
Chris Marquez
Oracle DBA
-----Original Message-----
From: stephen booth [mailto:stephenbooth.uk@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Mon 10/17/2005 1:07 PM
To: Marquez, Chris
Cc: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: License Management Services
On 17/10/05, Marquez, Chris <cmarquez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >>(and pick up a bounty if any over use is discovered]).
> Interesting...true???
I don't know about LMS but last I heard BSA were offering $2000 for
tip offs that lead to discovery of significant usage of unlicensed
software. I.E. $2000 or more of extra Microsoft licenses sold, plus
civil damages, as I recall licenses have to be bought at retail 'box
off the shelf' prices direct from Microsoft rather than bulk
discounted from a regular supplier so a few unlicensed desktops
running office can soon hit that.
>
> >>I've yet to come across any company of a reasonable
> >>size that could be sure it was correctly licensed.
>
> Ahh...I think that is by (Oracle Corp. Sales Dept.) design!
> :o|
> You are "correctly licensed" when quota's have been met.
> ;o)
>
The aim is, of course, to sell more licenses.
The problem with any organisation of a reasonable size is that it's
very difficult, almost impossible, to accurately track usage. All it
takes is one manager to forget to tell the complaince manager/section
about a new server or that they've added another 5 users to an
application and it all falls apart. Procedures, such as those
mandated under ISO9000, can help but if people don't follow the
procedures then you're lost. From what I've seen a lot of companies
have problems with teams or their managers setting up little Oracle
servers (often on desktop PCs) for 'a quick test' or similar not
realising (or caring) that that is a processor worth of license
they're using an not paying for. If it really was a 'quick test',
over and wiped in a few days, then there probably wouldn't be a
problem. The problem is that such boxes have a tendancy to hang
around and become an essential part of the business processes.
Unlicensed, unmaintained, unsupported by IT and unknown to the DBA/DBA
team. At one of my previous employers I once ran some network
scanning software that basically went through every IP address in the
range the company used and tried to connect to port 1521 (a quick and
dirty test for if an Oracle Listener was running). As I recall, out
of the thousand or so boxes about 40 reponded that shouldn't be
running Oracle.
Stephen
--
It's better to ask a silly question than to make a silly assumption.
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