Microsoft goes public with Oracle on Azure pricing, availability

Microsoft plans to make Oracle software generally available on Windows Azure as of March 12 and has shared publicly for the first time a planned price list.

Microsoft and Oracle announced back in June 2012 a deal via which Oracle apps would be certified to run on Windows Server, Hyper-V, and Windows Azure. Before the deal was cemented, Oracle's Weblogic Server and Oracle database were only certified to run on Windows Server. As part of the deal, Oracle Linux also was added to the list of Linux variants supported in Azure's virtual machines. And Oracle and Microsoft said they'd take Java support a step further, with Oracle certifying Java to run on Hyper-V and Windows Azure.

Microsoft hadn't been charging for Oracle software running on Azure because the combinations were considered "previews," and not final code. (Microsoft was charging for the Windows Server VMs that Oracle software was running on, but not for the Oracle software itself.)

But as of March 12, Microsoft will begin charging for "license-included" Oracle software running on Windows Server in Azure VMs, along with the VMs.

On a page detailing the planned hourly-rate pricing, Microsoft officials noted that Microsoft will be billing for Oracle software "based on the total number of minutes that your license-included Oracle VMs run during a billing cycle."

"'Bring-Your-Own-License' (or 'BYOL') Oracle VMs are Oracle Linux VMs made available in the Windows Azure Gallery in which Oracle software has been preinstalled. BYOL Oracle VMs have been generally available since September 23, 2013," according to Microsoft.

Here's the "pay-as-you-go" pricing for Oracle on Azure:

Microsoft officials also noted there will be a 20% to 32% discount under 6 or 12-month commitment plans available to customers for a limited time (March 12 to June 30) for Oracle software on Azure. "Starting July 1, 2014, Oracle software will not be eligible to be used towards 6 or 12 month monetary commitment usage."