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ITAM Handbook: Vendor Specific Rules

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Learning resource: migrated from the LICENSEWARE Notion wiki (ITAM Handbook, Vendor Specific Rules, last edited 2024-10-12). It is training material, not a cited encyclopedia article; for the cited reference see Oracle Database licensing, SQL Server licensing, Windows Server licensing and IBM Passport Advantage licensing.

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This chapter of the ITAM Handbook collected short, vendor-specific counting rules. It had three entries: Oracle, Microsoft and IBM. The Oracle and Microsoft entries give high-level counting procedures; the IBM entry only points to IBM’s licensing pages and is kept as a separate archived page, IBM (ITAM Handbook vendor rules).

Oracle

  • Oracle Partitioning Policy[1]
  • Oracle Software Investment Guide (the original link no longer resolves)
  • Oracle Support Policies (the original link no longer resolves)

The high-level process for counting processor licenses

  1. Identify your IT infrastructure setup (physical servers, virtualised environments, or cloud services).
  2. Determine the hardware partitioning type used in your environment:
    • Soft partitioning: Includes Oracle VM, VMware, and other virtualisation technologies.
    • Hard partitioning: Includes Oracle LDOM, IBM LPAR, and other dedicated hardware partitioning technologies.
  3. Identify the processor type and count your infrastructure’s total number of processor cores.
  4. Refer to the Oracle Core Factor Table to obtain the core factor for your specific processor type.
  5. Calculate the number of cores for licensing:
    • If you use soft partitioning or no partitioning, multiply the total number of cores by the core factor obtained from the Oracle Core Factor Table.
    • If you use hard partitioning, identify the number of cores allocated to each partition running Oracle software. Multiply the allocated cores by the core factor obtained from the Oracle Core Factor Table.
  6. Sum the results from step 5 for each partition or server running Oracle software to obtain the required processor licenses.

Microsoft

Microsoft SQL Server core-based licensing

  1. Identify your SQL Server edition (e.g., Standard or Enterprise).
  2. Determine if your SQL Server is running on a physical server or a virtual machine.
  3. Count the total number of physical cores in your server or the total number of virtual cores allocated to your virtual machine running SQL Server.
  4. Calculate the number of core licenses needed:
    • A minimum of 4 core licenses is required per physical processor or virtual machine, regardless of the actual number of cores.
    • If the number of cores is more than 4, licenses must be purchased in packs of 2 (called 2-pack core licenses).
  5. Round up the total number of cores to the nearest even number, as licenses are sold in packs of 2.
  6. Divide the rounded number of cores by 2 to determine the number of 2-pack core licenses required.
  7. For SQL Server Enterprise edition, you can license all physical cores on a server and run an unlimited number of instances within virtual machines (VMs). The handbook calls this the “License Mobility” feature.

Microsoft Windows Server core-based licensing

  1. Identify your Windows Server edition (e.g., Standard or Datacenter).
  2. Determine if your Windows Server is running on a physical server or a virtual machine.
  3. Count the total number of physical cores in your server or the total number of physical cores of the host the virtual machine running Windows Server is on.
  4. Calculate the number of core licenses needed:
    • A minimum of 16 core licenses is required per physical server, regardless of the actual number of cores.
    • If the number of cores is more than 16, licenses must be purchased in packs of 2 (called 2-pack core licenses).
  5. Round up the total number of cores to the nearest even number, as licenses are sold in packs of 2.
  6. Divide the rounded number of cores by 2 to determine the number of 2-pack core licenses required.
  7. Account for the number of virtual guest OS instances allowed per edition:
    • Windows Server Standard edition: Each license covers up to 2 virtual machines (VMs) or 2 Hyper-V containers. If you need to run more VMs, additional Standard edition core licenses must be purchased.
    • Windows Server Datacenter edition: Each license covers unlimited virtual machines (VMs) and Hyper-V containers, which is useful for high-density virtualisation scenarios.

IBM

The IBM entry contains only a pointer to IBM software licensing[3]. See the archived page IBM (ITAM Handbook vendor rules) and the encyclopedia article IBM Passport Advantage licensing.

References

  1. Oracle Partitioning Policy (PDF, partitioning-070609.pdf)Linked from the Notion page; resolved 2026-09-26 (redirects to https://www.oracle.com/a/ocom/docs/it-infrastructure/partitioning-070609.pdf)Retrieved 2026-09-26.
  2. Microsoft Licensing DocumentsLinked from the Notion page as Microsoft Licensing Guides; resolved 2026-09-26 (redirects to https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/docs)Retrieved 2026-09-26.
  3. IBM software licensingLinked from the IBM entry of this chapter; resolved 2026-09-26Retrieved 2026-09-26.

See also

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