On VMware, Oracle counts the physical cores of every host your database can move to, not the vCPUs you gave it.
Oracle treats VMware as soft partitioning, and its partitioning policy says soft partitioning is “not permitted as a means to determine or limit the number of software licenses required.” In practice you license every physical core of every host your Oracle virtual machine runs on or can move to. Only approved hard partitions can limit the count.
48processor licenses for one 4-vCPU database on a 96-core VMware cluster
| Cluster | Licenses at list |
|---|---|
| Shared, 3 hosts, 96 cores | $2,280,000 |
| Dedicated, 2 hosts, 32 cores | $760,000 |
Core factor 0.5, $47,500 per processor on Oracle’s price list of 15 September 2026, before 22% a year in support.
Oracle calls server virtualization partitioning: “Partitioning occurs when the CPUs on a server are separated into individual sections where each section acts as a separate system.” Licensing Oracle in virtualized environments is among the top ten questions customers ask us, and Oracle’s auditors focus on Oracle on VMware.
The operating system or hypervisor divides the server into virtual machines, and resources can be changed easily when more are needed. Oracle’s examples include VMware, Oracle VM unless pinned, Solaris resource containers, AIX Workload Manager and HP Process Resource Manager. Soft partitions do not limit the license count.
A large server is divided into smaller, physically independent systems, each with its own CPUs, memory and operating system, and it does not take on more resources without manual intervention. Only the technologies Oracle approves count, and every hard partition must have a capped or maximum number of cores.
Oracle’s Partitioning Policy, in effect from 14 February 2022, lists the technologies it accepts as hard partitions, and says “no other technology or configuration qualify”:
Because VMware is a soft partition, the virtual CPUs given to an Oracle virtual machine do not limit the license count. VMware’s own features, such as host affinity rules, are soft partitioning features too, and the policy does not accept them. In audits, Oracle counts the physical cores of the hosts where the Oracle machine runs or can be moved to.
A VMware cluster has three hosts, each with two 16-core Intel Xeon processors: 96 cores. One Oracle Database Enterprise Edition virtual machine with 4 vCPUs runs on it. Counting the cluster, 96 cores × 0.5 core factor = 48 processor licenses. Moved to a dedicated two-host cluster with two 8-core processors per host, the count becomes 32 cores × 0.5 = 16 processor licenses.
The design of the cluster, not the size of the database, sets the bill
$47,500 per processor, Oracle price list of 15 September 2026, plus 22% a year in support. Core factors: Oracle core factor table.
Standard Edition 2 on VMwareStandard Edition products count a processor as an occupied socket, and the core factor plays no part. SE2 can be licensed only on servers with at most two sockets, so every host in the cluster it can run on must meet that limit, and their sockets are counted.
Java on VMwareOracle Java is priced per employee under the Java SE Universal Subscription, so the cluster design does not change the bill. Each price band carries a limit on the number of processors.
A dedicated Oracle clusterRun Oracle on a cluster sized for Oracle, with no other hosts it can move to.
A history of where it ranKeep records of where each Oracle machine has run, so the history supports your count in an audit.
A review at every changeCheck the count whenever hosts are added or a cluster is merged.
The VMware side tooSince Broadcom’s changes, VMware itself is licensed per core with a 16-core minimum per CPU. See Broadcom VMware licensing.
IBM PowerCapped LPARs, DLPARs and capped Micro-Partitions are approved hard partitions, so Oracle is licensed on the cores of the partition. Two exceptions catch people out: TurboCore mode, where all cores must be licensed, and Live Partition Mobility, where all cores on both the source and destination servers must be licensed.
Nutanix AHVNot on Oracle’s list of approved hard partitioning technologies, so it is treated like other soft partitioning: the physical cores of the hosts where Oracle can run are counted.
Trusted PartitionsOn approved Oracle Engineered Systems (Exadata, Exalogic, Exalytics and Private Cloud Appliance, at the versions Oracle lists), Oracle VM or Oracle Linux KVM can limit the processor licenses.
Exadata has its own minimums: see Oracle Exadata licensing.
Our baseline Oracle license review checks your VMware estate the way an auditor would, so you know the count before Oracle sees it.
Every host the Oracle virtual machine runs on or can be moved to, under Oracle’s partitioning policy. A dedicated cluster for Oracle keeps that number down.
No. On VMware the physical cores of the hosts count, multiplied by Oracle’s core factor. vCPUs count only in Oracle’s Trusted Partitions and in authorized public clouds.
Not under Oracle’s policy, which does not accept the features of soft partitioning technologies as a way to limit licenses.
The document itself says it is “for educational purposes only” and “may not be incorporated into any contract.” That matters in an audit and in negotiations.
Physical Domains, capped Solaris Zones, capped IBM LPAR, DLPAR and Micro-Partitions, capped vPar and Integrity VM, nPar, capped Secure Resource Partitions, Fujitsu PPAR, and Oracle Linux KVM, Oracle VM and Solaris Zones with specific cores allocated.
By occupied sockets, not cores, and only on servers with at most two sockets. Every host in the cluster the database can run on must meet that limit, and its sockets are counted.
Under the Java SE Universal Subscription, Java is priced per employee, so the VMware cluster does not change the bill. Each price band carries a limit on the number of processors.
No. It is not on Oracle’s approved list, so the physical cores of the hosts where Oracle can run are counted.
No. Rythium is independent and does not resell licenses or support, or earn income from Oracle or any support provider.
Tell us how Oracle runs on VMware for you. We will tell you how Oracle would count it, and where a cluster change would bring the count down.
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