What SAM and ITAM Are
Software asset management, IT asset management and the software license itself, as fields with their own history, standards and practice.
Software Licensing Encyclopedia
Every license term, traced to the vendor’s own documentation
A cited encyclopedia of software licensing. Browse vendor metrics, SKUs, programs and counting rules, then read how to compute an effective license position from them.
265Articles·63Vendors·990Products·1,491SKUs·890Metrics·403Programs·2,258Rules·3,007Evidence·1,237Sources
Start Here
Open the GlossaryHow License Positions Work
Entitlements against deployments: the effective license position, true-ups, audits and what compliance means in practice.
How Software Is Counted
Processor and core, named user, concurrent and device, subscription and consumption, and the virtualization rules on top.
Featured ArticleOracle Database licensing
On-premises Oracle Database licensing by edition, covering Processor and Named User Plus metrics, NUP floors, SE2 caps, partitioning, and Authorized Cloud Environment rules.
Read Article Start HereHouse RulesWhat counts as a fact, which vendor documents are allowed, and the section template every encyclopedia page follows.
Read ArticleAI Licensing
How AI Is LicensedSeat add-ons, token metering, committed capacity and open-weight model licences, from the vendors’ own terms.
Browse by License Model
Browse CatalogProcessor and Core
Count the hardware the software can run on: cores, processors, sockets or capacity units.
Catalog RowsArticlesNamed User
Count the people authorized to use the software, whether or not they use it.
Catalog RowsArticlesDevice and Document
Count endpoints, or the documents and transactions a system creates.
Catalog RowsArticlesVirtualization and Mobility
Which hosts, partitions and clusters must be licensed, and when licenses may move.
Catalog RowsArticlesCloud and BYOL
Bringing existing licenses to AWS, Azure, Google Cloud and Oracle Cloud, and how vCPUs map back.
Catalog RowsArticlesSubscriptions and Agreements
The commercial wrappers: enterprise agreements, subscription umbrellas, ULAs and volume programs.
Catalog RowsArticlesFree and Open
Built by the SAM and ITAM Community
Licensing rules change every quarter. Help keep the wiki accurate: fix a rule, add a vendor source, or write the article your team keeps asking for. Every change is reviewed against the vendor’s own documents.
From the Catalog
Browse RulesOracle · CountingActive Data Guard licensed on primary and using standbys
Oracle AI Database Licensing Information, Release 26: Active Data Guard must be licensed on the primary and on every standby using an Active Data Guard feature (for example real-time query, Far Sync, fast incremental backup on standby); standbys not using those features need no Active Data Guard license. Opening only CDB$ROOT of a standby read-only does not require it.
View Rule Microsoft · DefinitionAuthorized Outsourcer excludes Listed ProvidersGlossary: "Authorized Outsourcer means any third party service provider that is not a Listed Provider and is not using Listed Provider as a Data Center Provider as part of the outsourcing service." A provider that becomes a Listed Provider may continue to be used in its former capacity for one year.
View Rule Broadcom · PrerequisiteAdd-on licenses require a primary license on the vCenter instanceAdd-on Licenses Included in Your VCF Subscription (VCF 9.1): "To be able to use an add-on license, you must first assign a primary license to your vCenter instances." Add-ons "do not necessarily follow the same licensing model as VCF and vSphere Foundation"; from November 3, 2025 some VCF subscriptions also include a VMware Private AI Foundation with NVIDIA license.
View Rule