Oracle ULA Maintenance and Support Explained
An Oracle ULA is an Unlimited License Agreement, but what does unlimited mean?
In principle, a ULA is a right by a customer to deploy an unlimited amount of software programs that have been agreed upon for a predefined period. However, there are certain limitations which are framed by the terms and conditions, clauses and specific policies mutually agreed by both parties, (the licensee and Oracle) in a ULA. Some clauses are software program-related, some are customer-defined, and others are support clauses.
This article will focus on the support and maintenance element of a ULA and what you are entitled to do regarding support.
Total Support Stream
When signing a new ULA, Oracle requires the roll-in of your existing licenses to the ULA. Oracle converts and replaces your old licenses — any usage covered by the pre-ULA licenses is covered by the ULA rights. The support element of these pre-ULA licenses is added to the overall support cost of the ULA — this combined ‘old’ and ‘new’ support is called the Total Support Stream.
The Total Support Stream must be maintained by you during the Unlimited Deployment Period, or an immediate certification must take place — this is a clause in generic ULA agreements and one that not many customers pay attention to.
Converted licenses will be mentioned in the ULA ordering document as ‘Converted & Replaced Licenses’. For example, if a customer buys a new ULA for $2M (license) for Database Enterprise, Partitioning and Tuning and Diagnostics for a three-year term, the associated support costs would be ~$440,000 (22% of license fees). However, Oracle will add the existing license support currently paid (for example $240,000): therefore, the Total Support Stream after converting existing license and support would be $680,000 ($240,000 + $440,000).
Something to bear in mind when dealing with a new ULA is that existing licenses are in effect cancelled and replaced with the ULA quantity but that their existing support value is normally rolled into the total support stream.
During a ULA, typically, indexation is no longer applied to the support costs so you know the exact amount per annum of Total Support Stream to pay will not change during this time.
During the Unlimited Deployment Period (UDP) Oracle will waive Extended support fees for products that require it — however once certification takes place, you will begin to be charged for Extended Support (this can cause issues if you need Extended Support immediately after declaration and Oracle haven’t ‘verified’ your ULA declaration).
Support Costs After Certification
If you have a ULA and would like to certify (which is your right in general and should be your default choice unless there’s a good reason to renew), you must understand the implications on support costs after the certification.
When a customer declares to Oracle that they are not renewing and certifying their unlimited licenses, the customer must fill in a certification form that outlines exactly what products they are using and at what quantity. Thereafter the customer would be out of the UDP and would have to have the same number of licenses as their deployment — however, if a customer later goes over the certified quantity then they will be in a noncompliant situation unless more licenses are purchased.
Generally, what happens on the certification date is that you certify for a number of processors on declared software programs (that were part of the ULA). The Total Support Stream is renewed on an annual basis thereafter. So, on an ongoing basis in my example, you would have to pay $680,000 annually BUT indexation would be applied on an annual basis (unless you agreed otherwise with Oracle in your ULA agreement), as you would be out of the UDP.
Look at the diagram below to see how that works out. Indexation is applied on an annual basis — at the moment Oracle is charging an 8% increase in support costs.
This scenario is compounded for those who renew their ULA — as the existing support stream is rolled into the new ULA and again this would incur indexation if those combined ULAs are certified!
Summary
It is imperative that you get the most appropriate advice on signing Unlimited License Agreements, as the support costs can increase over time. This is a concern that I have experienced in many customer situations, and they were not fully aware of this.
An unlimited license agreement can be good in certain situations, but you must know the support intricacies of signing one and what the future holds if certifying or renewing.
As experts in Oracle Licensing, we are deeply familiar with Oracle ULAs; how to negotiate a new ULA, manage your ULA ongoing and what to do at the end of the ULA deployment period.
Visit our website or contact us confidentially.
About the Author:
Johnny Cree is an Oracle SAM Licencing Consultant at Version 1.
