Oracle Server Worksheet (OSW)

By Piaras MacDonnell J une 25, 2014

Tags: Audit, Database, Oracle


How do you complete an
Oracle Server Work sheet
(OSW)





Whether its an Oracle Audit, ULA Certification or renewing support, when it comes
to reporting your deployment of Oracle products youll need to prepare an Oracle
Server Worksheet (OSW).
So what is an OSW, what goes into it and what do you need to be careful about
when preparing it?
An OSW, when fully complete, is a spreadsheet which represents a declaration of
the Oracle products you have deployed in your network, the license metric applied
and the infrastructure you have assigned the licenses too.
This spreadsheet is then submitted Oracle License Management Services (LMS)
and compared to the products that you have purchase to see if there is a gap in
licensing.
Depending on which version of the OSW you have been asked to fill, each line
represents either a database instance (older format) or a server instances and
details of what has been deployed, when, for what, the physical and virtual
environment.
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Below Ive listed the fields that typically must be filled in when completing an OSW.
Depending on the version of the OSW youve been asked to complete you may
not need to provide all of this information but you will need certainly need to collect
it for your own preparation.
This table covers the information typically asked for in relation to Oracle Database
and E-Business Suite. Additional information may be required for other products
such as Siebel, Middleware or J D Edwards.
Field Description
Physical Server
Name of the physical server
where the Oracle product is
installed
Virtual Server Name
Virtual server product is
deployed on
Virtualization Technology VMWare, LPAR, Xen, etc.
DB Instance Name Instance installed on server
Pluggable Database Name
(PDB)
For multi tenanted the root
container
Connect String The tnsnames.ora file entry
Product Version Version / Release of product
Product Edition Edition of product
Environment
Purpose (Status) of environment
UAT, Prod, etc.
Options and OEM Packs
List of Oracle Option or Pack
products
RAC Node Names
If server in RAC the other nodes
in configuration
Standby/Failover Server Names Standby server if appropriate
Batching To/From
Servers that send batches
to/from DB
Installation Date
When Oracle product was
installed
Application Name App using database
Application Vendor
Name of company who created
app
Application Type OEM, Oracle, MW, etc.
License Metric Applied Core based, NUP, etc.
Licenses in Use #used
Architecture Type 2, 3 Tier, HA, etc.
Web/App Server Name
Name of web server using
database
User Type Generic, Unique, etc.
Server Model Physical server manufacturer
Processor Model CPU manufacturer and model
ELP
GoldeGate
IBM
ITAM
Middleware
MySQL
Optimization
Oracle Options
Oracle Packs
OSW
podcast
Preparation
SQL Server
Suredatum
True-up
ULA
Virtualization
VMware
VPP
Whitepaper
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Processors (Sockets)
#sockets occupied by physical
processors
Cores per Processor #cores in each processor
Physical Cores #processors BY #cores
Threads per Core
If multi-threaded number of
virtual cores
Processor Speed Speed of processor in Mhz
Server Purchase Date Only relevant for Itanium 93xx
Operating System Windows, Linux, etc.
Notes
Anything of note e.g.
decommissioned, under PCI
restrictions, etc.

Most of the information requested can be collected by and experienced system
administrator and Oracle DBA. There are also a number of tools and services on
the market that will automate the process and significantly reduce the time and
potential errors but the final OSW will always need to be manually updated.
Particular care should be taken when providing details of virtualization as an error
here can result in very significant costs.
Where Oracle Options or Packs have been deployed your DBA should confirm if
the products are actually in-use (license required) or simply installed (no license
required)
It is strongly recommended that if you are not very familiar with preparing an OSW
that you get expert assistance.
It is common for Oracle or their reseller to offer the services of Oracle LMS
(license management services) to help you prepare your OSW. It is strongly
advised that you do not accept this offer as the scripts used to determine what has
been deployed collect more information than required and the interpretation of the
results by LMS is typically over conservative and never in favor of the client.
Although the OSW contains a significant amount of information on the deployment
of Oracle products it is only a starting point. You can expect many questions from
Oracle or their partners if there is any ambiguity in the details.
Never forget that any information you provide to a vendor or their representative
J anuary 2014
December 2013
October 2013
September 2013
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will be used to sell you more software. This is particularly true for an Oracle
Server Worksheet (OSW) so take the time to prepare and review it so you are
confident of its accuracy.

If youd like a sample Oracle Server Worksheet (OSW) or help in preparing
one simply contact me

Scripts to determine Options and packs http://www.oracle.com/us/products
/applications/10-questions-for-cloud-vendors-1639601.pdf
Definition of an Oracle ULA: http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/license-
management-services/lms-ula-1945174.pdf
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Unexpected costs when
deploying SQL 2014

Microsoft has
been doing this in audits for a
while. They mean that the
Negotiating license
agreements What the large

Great article
Piaras, particularly around the
advice concerning document
Oracle Audit, reason you
might be next

I agree
100% on the points above.
And if I can elaborate on the
Welcome to Suredatum Blog

What a
great post, even if I do say so
myself (test comment to make
Comments

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