Prepare for your Oracle Java Audit
What do we as humans learn from history? It is that history has a way of repeating itself — whether that is hereditary, circumstance or just plain bad luck…but we have seen things in our personal and work life happen time and time again.
As a software asset management consultant, I can attest that indeed when licensing Oracle based applications and technology, history repeats itself, sometimes at the same company and sometimes the same department.
“If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience.” — George Bernard Shaw
But there is a new threat potentially coming and it is not something that has happened before — Oracle Java Audits. Bear in mind, we have not seen any formal Oracle audits on Java yet and we have thoughts on how valid any such audit request is.
I have seen Oracle Corporation do audits on Hyperion, Database, Applications, E Business Suite, WebLogic, JD Edwards, Siebel, Fusion SaaS, Primavera — you name it, Oracle has audited customers using it. So why would Oracle Java be any different? History could be repeating itself.
Oracle Corporation bought Sun Microsystems back in 2009 — here is an excerpt from the purchase:
“There are substantial long-term strategic customer advantages to Oracle owning two key Sun software assets: Java and Solaris. Java is one of the computer industry’s best-known brands and most widely deployed technologies, and it is the most important software Oracle has ever acquired. Oracle Fusion Middleware, Oracle’s fastest growing business, is built on top of Sun’s Java language and software. Oracle can now ensure continued innovation and investment in Java technology for the benefit of customers and the Java community.” (Oracle, 2009)
Fast-forward 10 years (nearly to the day) and Oracle Corporation changed the rules on ‘licensing’ Java. In 2019 Oracle brought in a rule that if using a certain release of Oracle Java and/or commercial features (which were always extra cost) then a subscription would be needed for desktops and servers … meaning it was no longer free! You must have a valid Oracle account to access the most up to date versions, to be able to download.
Move forward another 3 years and I can tell you that many customers large and small across the world are either in a state of noncompliance or are migrating to other Java vendors such as Azul, OpenJDK etc.
But there is some scaremongering in the marketplace — you do not always require a subscription!! You must first find out where your commercial usage is and investigate if a migration to another vendor is possible and the most cost effective. For server architecture, be careful not to fall foul of deploying Java in a virtualised environment without having a proper understanding of the potential impacts and detailed knowledge on your approach to licensing Oracle on VMware (see my other post on this area).
So what does this mean about history repeating itself? Well, it would be folly to not heed the warning signs.
No one in the Oracle world likes to receive an audit letter — so it would be best to get informed on your Java usage prior to an Oracle approach. If you have the information at hand, you will be more empowered and informed, and be able to respond in a position of confidence. This document is a good introduction to Oracle Java subscriptions.
As independent experts in Oracle Java subscription optimisation and vendor audit defence, our Oracle license experts can help to design and implement a vendor audit strategy ready to deploy when a request is received. Or, if you are in the process of being audited and need help, we can provide vendor audit support where our independent approach aims to achieve the best possible outcomes for your business.
For further information, please contact myself or the Version 1 SAM team via your usual channel.
About the Author:
Johnny Cree is a SAM consultant working for Version 1 in the UK and Ireland with over 15 years in Oracle license management. He has a wealth of experience and knowledge across all Oracle product categories. He especially likes audit defence, negotiation and Oracle applications and technology. Johnny is a technical wizard also and has many years experience in a lot of programming, project management and face to face customer interaction. Prior to working for Version 1, he headed up the UK and Ireland Oracle delivery for SoftwareONE. He has worked across implementation projects and managed services coupled with sound knowledge of Software Asset Management tools such as ServiceNow, Snow and Flexera.
