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Oracle Java Software Recognition

Introduction

Licensing of Oracle Java always have been quite complicated, being subject to a paid subscription in many cases. After long years of tolerance regarding violations of license terms by customers, Java is now officially included in Oracle's software licensing audits.

Unfortunately, the criteria to differentiate between free use on one side and paid use on the other side often depends on very detailed technical data that must be collected by a precise inventory scanner so that a valid evaluation can be made. Unfortunately, most common inventory solutions are not collecting sufficient information.

If you are interested in determining the license requirements for Oracle Java in your environments, you must ensure that the used scanner gathers all necessary data. Ideally, use a scanner that has been verified by Oracle, so that you can rely on the collected information.

Classification of Fingerprints

The precise classification of Java Fingerprints for software recognition primarily depends on the Java executable version down to the build level. Beside that, it is important to differentiate from Java deployments between server and desktops and as well, considering the Oracle Partitioning Policy for virtualized and partitioned server systems. Finally, commercial feature usage must be detected.

License Intelligence Service follows the goal, proving the most accurate picture so that you can rely on the consolidated information. With that objective, all Oracle Java Fingerprints collected by inadequate scanners will be set to "ignored". Instead, Fingerprints collected by the Matrix42 "Oracle Compliance for Java" extension are assigned to the appropriate Software Products.  This scanning solution has been verified by Oracle Corporation. With this approach, the License Intelligence Service avoids wrong assumptions based on imprecise inventory data.

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