Amazon RDS Gets Oracle Database Support with Flexible Licensing

Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS), the database offering of Amazon Web Services (AWS), is now letting customers deploy Oracle Database 11g Release 2 in the cloud. Amazon RDS for Oracle Database, the on-the-nose name given to the joint offering, is promoted as enabling cloud service providers and other IT pros to run multiple editions of the database software on-demand while also automating time-consuming tasks such as provisioning, backups, software patching, monitoring and hardware scaling.

Amazon RDS already supported running, operating and scaling cloud MySQL databases. But what’s really intriguing about this partnership is that the companies aren’t leaving existing Oracle Database license holders out in the cold: Oracle licenses still can be had from AWS for 16 cents per hour of RDS time, or 11 cents per hour for licenses ported over. Amazon’s official blog entry calls it BYOL – Bring Your Own Licenses.

Those looking for a price break can prepay for one to three years of Oracle Database instances under the Amazon Reserved DB Instances program.

This move isn’t much of a surprise: Amazon Web Services and Oracle had a pre-existing relationship to run Oracle’s software in Amazon’s cloud. But offering Oracle Database natively within Amazon RDS makes a lot of sense – if nothing else, it saves Oracle from having to build its own cloud infrastructure to let customers run their databases in the cloud.

Follow Talkin’ Cloud via RSS, Facebook and Twitter. Sign up for Talkin’ Cloud’s Weekly Newsletter, Webcasts and Resource Center. Read our editorial disclosures here.