Are you compliant with middleware licensing for E-Business Suite applications?
Oracle E-Business Suite applications still require licensing of Internet Application Server Enterprise Edition (iAS EE) as middleware technology (as per Oracle Application Licensing Table), providing you are making modifications to underlying technology and not running EBS “out of the box”.
Oracle R12 Applications are running on WebLogic though, right? Why would Oracle still require iAS EE licensing then?
The common misconception is that you need WebLogic Server Enterprise Edition license for newer releases of EBS. Yes and no. Let me explain.
There are actually two recommended options going forward:
- Keep using iAS EE license that includes WebLogic Basic.
- Upgrade your iAS EE license to WebLogic Suite.
WebLogic Basic:
Oracle included WebLogic Server Basic, which, as the name suggests, is the minimal functionality WebLogic product, with the iAS EE license for running the EBS-related functionality that requires WebLogic. If this functionality is sufficient for your use, you do not require any additional purchases.
WebLogic Basic is not licensed as a standalone product. Its functionality is restricted to the following:
- Core WebLogic application server
- Java EE 5/EJB 3.0
- WebLogic Server management tools, including the Administration Console and WebLogic Scripting Tool
- WebLogic JDBC Drivers, WebLogic Server Clients, and WebLogic and Apache Web Server Plug-Ins
- Basic JMS messaging, deployment, and high availability functionality
- Streamlined storing of important objects to data stores, available to all Java applications and a core component of EJB 3.0
WebLogic Suite:
WebLogic Suite is the bundle of two main products:
- Internet Application Server Enterprise Edition (iAS EE)
- WebLogic Server Enterprise Edition (WebLogic Server EE).
You are also get an additional benefit: access to Coherence functionality included with the bundle.
Why do I need to license WebLogic Suite? Why not just license WL Server EE?
There are two reasons:
- Oracle’s official requirement for EBS middleware technology when making modifications is still iAS EE, not WebLogic.
- Most Clients still utilize iAS EE components that are NOT included with any WebLogic license, like Forms and Reports (Discoverer is now obsolete and no longer included with iAS EE license, but used to be another component of iAS EE not available with WebLogic license).
I own iAS EE license, why not just purchase WebLogic Server EE in addition to it?
The answer is simple: it is not cost effective.
It is typically less expensive to upgrade iAS EE to WebLogic Suite than to purchase additional WebLogic Server EE license. It is common that a bundle of two products is less expensive than purchasing them both separately, especially when you already paid for one of them.
Oracle considers WebLogic Suite a “transitional” product, meant to ease Customers transition from iAS EE, that is being gradually phased, out to WebLogic.