RE: Practice of using chopt to disable database options
- From: "MacGregor, Ian A." <ian@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2013 11:56:24 -0800
Perhaps they are apocryphal, but there are reports of people being in
violation of their license agreements because they had not turned off an option
even though the option was never used. During the installation there is a
screen which allows you to pick your options. I've always turned off options
for which we are not licensed unless it is for an Oracle Corp application such
as Grid control.
The problem with the list shown by the installer is that it is not complete.
I didn't now about chopt, I've alway used make to switch off unlicensed
products not in the list. However occasionally there is a notice saying not to
turn off certain options such as spatial. Also this is sometimes not done
immediately.
My question is: If you have an option turned on and available for use, but the
data show the option has not ever been used by anyone, is it a license
violation???
Ian A. MacGregor
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
________________________________________
From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of bill thater [shrekdba@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, November 14, 2013 5:17 AM
To: pete.sharman@xxxxxxxxxx; niall.litchfield@xxxxxxxxx
Cc: ORACLE-L; NJN@xxxxxx; justin@xxxxxxx
Subject: RE: Practice of using chopt to disable database options
Typos, I think I've taught everyone to read typo;-), wish my body would work
again,:-(.
sent from my Windows Phone
Bill"shrek" thater Oracle DBA
Shrekdba@xxxxxxxxx
"one ping to rule them all
One ping to find them
One ping to bring them all
And in the mutex bind them!"
________________________________
From: pete.sharman@xxxxxxxxxx<mailto:pete.sharman@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: 11/13/2013 11:35 PM
To: niall.litchfield@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:niall.litchfield@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: ORACLE-L; NJN@xxxxxx<mailto:NJN@xxxxxx>;
justin@xxxxxxx<mailto:justin@xxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: Practice of using chopt to disable database options
Yup, totally agree, thanks Niall!
Pete
Sent while mobile, please excuse my typos!
On 13 Nov 2013, at 7:55 pm, Niall Litchfield
<niall.litchfield@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:niall.litchfield@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Just to add to this, in my view 'license compliance' is often pushed down to
the DBA team when it is properly a financial management function for IT
management. Certainly technology professionals need to be aware of the area of
licensing, but an organization that relies on tech fixes alone for license
management is quite likely to have a nasty surprise sooner or later. Pete's
example is just one illustration of this, you'll need to engage support to
determine what technically needs to be enabled to make things work, you won't
engage them for license advice, that's an account management discussion.
On Nov 13, 2013 1:54 AM, "Peter Sharman"
<pete.sharman@xxxxxxxxxx<mailto:pete.sharman@xxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Sorry for being late to the party on this one, I’ve been travelling with the
APAC OTN Tour and haven’t had as much time for looking at email.
Let me raise a caveat here.
PLEASE do not do this without checking with Support first. There are times
where Oracle uses functionality internally that you do not need to be licensed
for, and disabling that functionality can cause major problems. As an example,
behind the scenes we use partitioning in the Oracle database for the EM
repository. If you remove that partitioning functionality EM will not be
happy, as a customer I know here in Australia found out when they relinked the
kernel without partitioning. If my understanding is correct, a similar thing
will happen in Database 12c if you relink without XDB, which EM Express uses.
Bottom line, just ask first. It won’t hurt to ask, and it may save you a lot
of work.
Pete
<image001.jpg>
Pete Sharman
Principal Product Manager
Enterprise Manager Product Suite
33 Benson Crescent CALWELL ACT 2905 AUSTRALIA
Phone: +61262924095<tel:+61262924095> | | Fax: +61262925183 | | Mobile:
+61414443449<tel:%2B61414443449>
________________________________
"Controlling developers is like herding cats."
Kevin Loney, Oracle DBA Handbook
"Oh no, it's not, it's much harder than that!"
Bruce Pihlamae, long term Oracle DBA
________________________________
From: Justin Mungal [mailto:justin@xxxxxxx<mailto:justin@xxxxxxx>]
Sent: Tuesday, November 12, 2013 12:18 AM
To: NJN@xxxxxx<mailto:NJN@xxxxxx>
Cc: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: Practice of using chopt to disable database options
I've only ever turned features on, such as when customers licensed new features
but they weren't enabled at the binary level.
You can also use make, as chopt became available with 11.2 and is simpler. See
How to Check and Enable/Disable Oracle Binary Options (Doc ID 948061.1).
You can surely turn off features as needed. I'm not sure how common it is but I
personally see nothing wrong with doing so.
-Justin
On Mon, Nov 11, 2013 at 7:08 AM, Niels Jespersen
<NJN@xxxxxx<mailto:NJN@xxxxxx>> wrote:
Hello all
I’m wondering whether it is common practice to use the program chopt (resides
in $ORACLE_HOME/bin) to disable certain non-licensed database options (11g
onwards) (on 12c you can even disable partitioning) .
The advantage being that disabled options cannot be inadvertently used (which
may hit you license-wise later).
The disadvantage being (I think) that patches applied will not be applied to
disabled options, which when later enabled will leave your oracle-home partly
patched, partly unpatched.
We try to remember to do it immediately after install.
What do you do?
Regards Niels Jespersen
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