Oracle Real Application Cluster support 'nonexistent' on VMware

Oracle Real Application Cluster (RAC) is a popular feature of the company's database software. But if you want to run Oracle RAC on VMware, you're out of luck. Oracle won't support it.

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This Week in Virtualization
Some Oracle Real Application Cluster users say the support policy prevents them from realizing the benefits of running RAC on VMware, such as more flexibility and reliability. The lack of support is also a major roadblock for shops on the road to 100% virtualization.

Oracle won't say why it doesn't support Real Application Cluster on VMware, which has led to much speculation. Although there are some technical reasons why the company would oppose running RAC on VMware, many observers say the decision is a political one: Oracle wants customers using its own virtualization software, not VMware, and RAC's per-processor licensing could cost the company money if deployed in virtual environments.

In this edition of This Week in Virtualization, Mark Fontecchio, site editor for SearchOracle.com, discusses the Oracle Real Application Cluster support issue.

This Week in Virtualization

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Oracle Real Application Cluster support 'nonexistent' on VMware
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This was first published in August 2010

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