As more and more companies are moving to public clouds, we’ve been receiving an increasing number of inquiries around Oracle’s support policies. Specifically, companies are asking, “Will Oracle support me if I move to a 3rd party public cloud?” Initially, I thought this was a strange inquiry because the answer is obviously YES. Oracle will support you in a non-Oracle public cloud.
After I did some digging, however, I learned why companies are confused. It appears there are Oracle sales people telling their customers Oracle will not support them in the cloud. Think Google Cloud, AWS, Azure, etc. For purposes of this writing, I’m going to give Oracle salespeople the benefit of the doubt. I will assume they are not lying; they just don’t know the reality and are simply repeating what they hear at the Oracle sales water cooler.
To help clear up this Oracle-inspired FUD, we’ve highlighted what our clients have been told and what is reality.
False: Oracle will not support me if I move to a 3rd party public cloud
Oracle will support you in the cloud. In fact, Oracle support document 2688277.1, titled “Oracle Database Support for Non-Oracle Public Cloud Environments” specifically states that “Oracle Support will assist customers running Oracle products on non-Oracle public cloud environments”. The document goes on to detail how Oracle will provide that support. Oracle is using the same language in this support note that they used for customers running Oracle on VMware. If you have an issue and Oracle has never seen it before, they MAY ask you to recreate it on a different platform. In 10 years running Palisade Compliance, I’ve never had a client come to us and say Oracle did not provide support because of this caveat.
False: My cloud is not “certified” by Oracle and they will not support me
Oracle does not “certify” any 3rd party public clouds. If certification were required to receive Oracle support, then every single company running Oracle in a non-Oracle cloud would be without support. We know companies are moving to the cloud, and taking their Oracle with them. They are doing it because they are getting support from Oracle.
False: Oracle will not support my RAC licenses in the cloud
This one is true in policy but often not in reality. Oracle does indeed have a policy of not supporting RAC in a non-Oracle cloud. This, however, does not stop companies from moving to the cloud of their choice. First, despite Oracle’s protests, many companies are indeed running RAC in a non-Oracle public cloud and getting support from Oracle. Second, RAC is typically not required when you are running in a cloud environment. Features and functions in RAC are available in alternative solutions. Good news, if you move to the cloud you can drop your RAC and replace it with something else. You have options!
False: I can’t use Google Cloud because it’s not an “authorized cloud provider”
I know this is not related to support, but it is the biggest whopper of them all, and so I had to include it here. You can absolutely use Google Cloud, or any other cloud provider you want. Oracle does have a non-contractual “policy” document that discusses AWS and Azure being authorized. This document is not part of your contract and has no impact on the license rights you have memorialized in your contracts with Oracle. In fact, using an “authorized cloud provider” may put you at a disadvantage, because Oracle can always change that document and attempt to require you license even more of their software. We’ve seen Oracle do this before as they tried to double the number of licenses you need to run on AWS and Azure. Google Cloud customers don’t have to worry about these Oracle tactics.
We can help you make the best cloud choices
Moving to the cloud was supposed to make your life easier. Unfortunately, Oracle keeps trying to push you to their cloud, rather than allowing you the freedom to choose the cloud that is best for you. Wherever your cloud journey takes you, you must take the lead on both the technical side and the contractual side. Palisade Compliance can help you understand Oracle, your contracts, and your options, so you can make the best cloud choices for your organization. Whether you move to Google, AWS, Azure, Oracle, or any other cloud, reach out to us for a free consultation.
