Oracle Instances

FlexNet Manager Suite 2022 R2 (On-Premises)
Note: Limitations:
  • The operator must have the List devices role to view this page. See Roles.
  • You cannot create an Oracle instance manually.
The Discovery & Inventory > Oracle Instances page (in the Inventory group) lists active inventory devices with one or more Oracle database instances installed on them. These Oracle database instances may also have other Oracle applications (or options) installed on them.
Note: Any Oracle Database instances known to be running in Amazon Relational Database Service are included in this listing. However, because database inventory is collected from these instances using direct connection from your chosen inventory beacon, any other Oracle applications (or options) running on that AWS device cannot be included in inventory.
FlexNet Manager Suite offers multiple methods to collect Oracle inventory, each collecting a different level of detail. For more information, see the Oracle Discovery and Inventory chapter in the FlexNet Manager Suite System Reference PDF, available through the title page of online help.
Important: If the Status of the inventory device has been set to Ignored (in the General tab of the inventory device properties), the inventory device is excluded from this listing, and any Oracle instance(s) running on the device are therefore hidden. Only Active inventory devices, and their Oracle instances, are displayed in this listing. Inventory devices that have been ignored can be found in the All Inventory page (and similar listings).

Inventory from stand-by instances

Using a locally-installed FlexNet inventory agent (or at least the tracker core component, however it may have been deployed) on the target Oracle server allows collection of inventory from Oracle database instances when they are in standby mode (that is, MOUNTED but not in READ mode). A common case of this is the standby database instance in an Active Data Guard configuration. (This functionality is available only from version 12.4 of the tracker, shipped with FlexNet Manager Suite 2017 R3.) Notice that there are natural limitations in the inventory that can be collected in this mode. For instance, on a standby database instance:
  • No Oracle users can be collected
  • Some Oracle options are not visible
  • It is not possible to tell whether the Advanced Compression option is in use.
If an Oracle database instance switches from standby to active, the missing data appears from the next inventory collection and compliance calculation. Conversely, if an Oracle database instance switches from active to standby, on the next import some data is removed from the instance record to make it consistent with the most recent inventory.
Tip: If you use pluggable databases (supported from Oracle 12c onwards), only the container instance supports inventory in stand-by mode. The pluggable databases only support collection of inventory when they are in READ ONLY or READ WRITE modes (but not in MOUNTED mode).

Missing instances

As noted above, one case where Oracle instances are hidden from this listing is when the Status of the inventory device is set to Ignored.

Database instances are also omitted here when inventory could not be collected from them. This can happen when all of the following are true:
  • The database instance is running on a UNIX-based machine
  • It was started using a path that contained a symbolic link
  • Inventory collection is planned using a locally-installed FlexNet inventory component (the tracker, or ndtrack), which may have been delivered:
    • As part of the installed full FlexNet inventory agent
    • Through deployment of the lightweight FlexNet Inventory Scanner (which on UNIX-like platforms is the ndtrack.sh script)
    • Through operation of Zero-footprint inventory collection, whereby an inventory beacon has temporarily installed the tracker on the target Oracle Database server.
    (Read more about these various deployment methods in the Gathering FlexNet Inventory PDF, available through the title page of online help.)
The use of symbolic links 'hides' the database instance from the tracker, so that no inventory can be collected from it, unless you use one of the following defenses:
  • You can ensure that the Oracle home specified in the /etc/oratab file represents the ORACLE_HOME path used to start the database instance
  • The account running the database instance (say OSUser4Oracle) may set an environment variable within its login profile specifying the ORACLE_HOME path (including the symbolic link) which was used to start the database instance. To test this setting, the following command should display the correct ORACLE_HOME path:
    su -OSUser4Oracle -c "echo \$ORACLE_HOME"
    Tip: If this environment variable is set for any account on the database server, it is applied to all database instances started by the same account on this server. Any mismatch between the (non-empty) environment variable, and the actual path used to start any of these database instances, prevents the collection of database inventory from the mismatched instance by the locally-installed inventory component (ndtrack). Conversely, you can prevent the environment variable option being used for all accounts on the target Oracle server by setting the UserDefinedOracleHome preference (details of this preference are included in Gathering FlexNet Inventory.
When either (or both) of these approaches is (or are) implemented, the database instance can be inventoried, and it appears in this list following the next scheduled inventory collection, import, and full compliance calculation.

Available actions

You can perform the following actions on this page:
  • Search for an inventory device with Oracle Database installation: use the search field (top right above the listing) to enter part of either a server name or a database instance name, and hit Enter/Return (or click the magnifying glass to the left of the search field). If the text you entered is matched in either field, the record(s) of server and instance are listed. For more information about using lists, filters, and other UI options, see the topics under Using Lists in FlexNet Manager Suite.
  • View or change the properties of an inventory device: Ctrl-click the Oracle server name. See Inventory Device Properties.
  • View or change the properties of an Oracle instance: either Ctrl-click the name in the Instance column, or select the row and click Open. See Oracle Instance Properties.
  • Download a GLAS archive to complete for Oracle, provided that you have adequate permission. Scroll down in this topic for details.
  • Create a management view: The Save view as feature of FlexNet Manager Suite enables you to create customized management views of a page by saving the applied user interface settings. For more information, see Creating Management Views.

Available properties

The following properties (listed alphabetically) are available for display (remember to check the column chooser).

Table 1. Properties listed on the Oracle Instances page:
Property Description
Audit evidence
Indicates whether or not the GLAS audit evidence data has been collected for each Oracle database instance.
Tip: The name of the Oracle instance is amongst the data collected as part of inventory. Therefore, when the Audit evidence value for a row is No, the correct name of the database instance is not yet available, and the Instance value displayed is the Oracle Database (including version and edition) or Oracle option found in discovery or perhaps from Oracle Enterprise Manager (through the OEM adapter). This value is automatically updated when the full inventory evidence becomes available.
Device role

The role assigned to the inventory device, such as Development, Test, and Production. Device roles (where permitted by the product use rights on a license) can exempt devices from consuming entitlements on a license to which they are (and remain) attached. For example, some license agreements may grant an exemption for devices used exclusively for testing. For more details, see Exemptions.

This may be helpful, for example, for filtering out database instances on 'cold' backup devices, or test systems.

Hosted in
Shows whether the Oracle Database is on-premises (the default, meaning the device is within your enterprise), or in a cloud operated by a particular service provider. Values may include:
  • On-premises when the Oracle Database instance is known to be running within your enterprise (for example, in your own data center)
  • Amazon Web Services for an Oracle Database running in Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) or (less commonly) on an AWS EC2 instance
  • The name of another cloud service provider that is hosting your Oracle Database.
Instance
The name of the Oracle database instance, which may take one of the following forms:
  • The instance name returned in database inventory
  • Where this name is not yet available, a placeholder formed from the Oracle Database application name, including version and edition
  • The Oracle option identified during discovery or from other inventory sources
  • For an Oracle Database running in Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS), an entry of the form
     Amazon.RDS.Model.DBInstance.DBName
    where DBName is replaced by the Oracle System ID (SID) returned in inventory.
You can click the value displayed to view the properties (so far available) for the Oracle instance.
Tip: If an instance name ends with ~CDB_ROOT, this means the instance is a container database that can include additional pluggable databases (supported from Oracle 12c). Each of the included pluggable databases is displayed in this format, in the Instance column:
instanceName~pluggableDatabaseName
(that is, the instance name and pluggable database name are separated by a tilde character). The pluggable databases in a related set are all prefixed with the same instance name, and of course are all hosted on the same Oracle server.
Last inventory date
The most recent date when detailed inventory was collected for each Oracle instance (blank when Audit evidence is No).
Tip: When the inventory source is the locally-installed FlexNet inventory agent, this normally matches the last inventory date for the host server (inventory device record). If this date is older, it may indicate recent problems in gathering inventory from this database instance, or perhaps the database instance no longer exists. (For automatic clean-up of stale inventory, navigate to System Settings > Inventory.)
Managing OEM
This column remains blank when the relevant database instance is not reported as centrally managed by Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM). On the other hand, if any installation of OEM within your enterprise reports that it manages a database instance, this column shows the server where that copy of OEM has its own storage (the "OEM repository").
Tip: Typically this server hosts both the OEM console and its management repository. If you have configured your OEM so that it has its management repository on a remote database server and the OEM console on a separate server, be aware that this is the name of the server hosting the management repository (the database instance from which FlexNet Manager Suite collects inventory information about the instances that OEM is managing).
This column allows you to identify which installations of OEM are reporting on which database instances and their related Oracle options (for example, try filtering on the OEM server name in this column to display all the database instances known to that installation of OEM). You may also click (or Ctrl-click) on the OEM server name to examine its properties.
Tip: This column displays the installation of OEM most recently reporting management of the database instance. This means that, if you have multiple installations of OEM, and management of a database instance moves from one OEM to another, the next inventory import and license compliance calculation automatically updates this column to the current value(s). The record of Oracle options applicable to the database instance is also updated to remove options reported only by the first OEM and add those reported only by the second OEM.
Oracle server
The name of the device on which Oracle Database has been installed. When the Oracle Database is running in Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS), this takes the form
Amazon.RDS.Model.DBInstance.Endpoint
where Endpoint identifies the connection endpoint (effectively, the cloud device) running the Oracle Database. You can click the device name to view its properties. For more details on inventory device properties, see Inventory Device Properties.

Downloading Oracle GLAS audit evidence

Regardless of the inventory collection method selected for discovery and inventory, FlexNet Manager Suite collects Oracle Global Licensing and Advisory Services (GLAS) data for every licensed Oracle database instance, grouped into CSV files.
Tip: The ability to download data for submission to Oracle Global Licensing and Advisory Services (GLAS) is available only for operators in a role that has the Troubleshooting: Advanced access and log downloads administrative privilege (and not in any role with a Deny setting on the same privilege). If your account does not have this privilege, the feature described in the following steps is hidden. (For more details about changing permissions for roles, and assigning operator accounts to roles, see Account Properties and Creating a Role.)
For operators with the appropriate privilege, this feature allows you to download a standard set of spreadsheets and other data that you may finalize and submit to the Oracle Global Licensing and Advisory Services (GLAS) team as audit evidence.
A report covering your entire enterprise is automatically generated with each compliance calculation (by default, nightly).
Tip: Evidence for Oracle Fusion Middleware may be optionally included in or excluded from your generated report. For details, see System Settings: Inventory Tab.
You may also generate the Oracle GLAS data for an appropriate subset of your enterprise. If your operator account has adequate permissions, and is both:
  • In a role that limits your access to enterprise data (for example, to a specific business unit), and (because scoping between roles works as a logical-OR)
  • Not in any other role(s) that allow(s) unrestricted data access
then you may use this Oracle Instances page to generate a GLAS report just for your business unit, as described below.
Tip: Before accessing this page to download the Oracle GLAS evidence report, ensure that you are logged in as an operator with appropriate data access. The scope of data available to the current operator account automatically determines the functionality available on this page, and this cannot be changed for a given operator account. If you have access to enterprise-wide data, then the audit evidence available for you to download is enterprise-wide, as normally required by Oracle GLAS. If you have some limitations (scope) on the data available to you, the same limitations are reflected in the GLAS report you may generate. A custom report with data restrictions is acceptable to Oracle only if matches the scope of a current Oracle agreement. For example, if Conglomerate Corp recently acquired TMNIS Corp, and TMNIS still has a current agreement with Oracle, it is appropriate for Conglomerate Corp to submit a separate GLAS report for that subsidiary. When the TMNIS agreement with Oracle expires, and Conglomerate Corp folds them into their own agreement renewal, a separate GLAS report is no longer appropriate.
The GLAS data is collected by scripts that are provided by Oracle GLAS, and distributed as part of the InventorySettings.xml updates provided through the ARL downloads (provided that you have licensed the FlexNet Manager for Datacenters product). For installed inventory components being managed through policy (such as an installed FlexNet inventory agent automatically communicating through an inventory beacon), the latest version of InventorySettings.xml is downloaded automatically. If you have manually deployed inventory components and are managing them manually, you need to update your deployed copy of InventorySettings.xml each time the version is updated.
Tip: Changes to InventorySettings.xml are normally mentioned in the email announcing ARL updates. You can also check the version of InventorySettings.xml by inspecting the first line of the file, and seeing the value of the RevisionNumber attribute. This revision number is updated for each change in the Oracle GLAS scripts, but also for any changes in other (non-Oracle) specialized queries delivered through InventorySettings.xml; and therefore the file version is updated more often than the Oracle GLAS queries are updated. Because the Oracle queries are encrypted within InventorySettings.xml, there is no way to tell from this file which version of the Oracle GLAS queries is embedded. As well, since your enterprise may combine manual and automatic updates to InventorySettings.xml, and it is possible for these to get out of sync, it may happen that inventories uploaded from different Oracle inventory devices include GLAS data collected by different versions of the GLAS scripts. For this reason, you can check the Oracle GLAS script versions only by inspecting the properties of each Oracle database instance (navigate in the web interface to Discovery & Inventory > Oracle Instances, open the properties of your chosen instance, and in the Attributes tab, scroll down to the LMS_DETAIL_RL_SCRIPT_VERSION attribute). Also notice that:
  • The scripts are kept backward compatible, such that earlier versions of the inventory component(s) are able to run later versions of the scripts in InventorySettings.xml without danger.
  • Where a change in script functionality requires an updated version of FlexNet inventory agent (or the core inventory tracker component), legacy versions simply ignore the new and (for them) unrecognized functionality. This is rare, compared with the frequency of script updates in general. One example of this is the collection of inventory from standby Oracle database instances, which (as described above) requires version 12.4 of the tracker (shipped with FlexNet Manager Suite 2017 R3) or later. Versions of the tracker prior to that can run later GLAS scripts, but cannot collect inventory from standby database instances.
  • The scripts provided automatically are for audit of your database licensing, and do not include other products like Oracle EBS or middleware. Currently Oracle requires that you manually complete an EBS Questionnaire tab on an Oracle Server Worksheet (obtained separately — this tab is not included in the Oracle GLAS export from FlexNet Manager Suite). The tab includes details of your Oracle EBS implementation, whether you have created custom features, and the like. You may use the inventory information gathered by FlexNet Manager Suite as source material in completing the EBS Questionnaire.
Attention: The method of direct collection of Oracle Database inventory by an inventory beacon can collect only the database properties needed for the GLAS audit report. It does not collect the additional hardware properties needed for calculation of certain license types. For a complete GLAS audit report that includes both software and hardware details, use a locally-installed FlexNet inventory agent on the target Oracle server.

To download GLAS data, if authorized:

  1. Do one of the following:
    1. If you have unrestricted access to your enterprise data, click the Download the archive link, next to the label Oracle GLAS evidence archive.
      The OracleGLASEvidence.zip archive is downloaded. This unrestricted Oracle GLAS evidence report is automatically regenerated during every compliance import (by default scheduled overnight).
      Tip: If there are problems with the download, an error message is displayed: Failed to download the archive. Please refer to webui.log for more details. You may access this log file at %PROGRAMDATA%\Flexera Software\Compliance\Logging\WebUI\webui.log on your application server.
    2. If your access to data is restricted (for example, to a specific business entity), click the Generate the archive link. Wait while your custom report is generated (this can take up to 1 hour or more), and then refresh the web page (for example, press F5). A link for your most recently generated archive (matching your restricted scope) is displayed: click this new link.
      Your custom OracleGLASEvidence_operatorName_scoped.zip archive is downloaded (with the placeholder operatorName replaced with your account name).
  2. Extract the archive to any folder.
    Several .csv files are extracted, along with two folders of additional data.
  3. Open the ORCL_OVERVIEW.csv file in Microsoft Excel, and in the ORACLE_CSI column, add your Customer Support Identifier (CSI) number in each row (FlexNet Manager Suite does not have the data available to finalize this column).
  4. Save the modified file in .csv format.
  5. Rezip the entire content into a single archive.
You may now send the completed GLAS audit evidence to Oracle for their assessment.