If you haven’t yet seen the news, Oracle recently announced that several popular software versions are now eligible for something called “Oracle Market Driven Support (MDS).” Unlike the standard three stages of Oracle Lifetime Support, MDS is a rarely used and limited support option for select products that are about to leave Extended Support and move to Oracle Sustaining Support. Customers buy MDS for additional time and features as a pseudo-extension of Extended Support.
For which products is Oracle offering the MDS option
At the time of writing, Oracle is actively offering the MDS option for these products:
- Oracle Database 11.2.0.4 (Extended Support ending Dec’2020)
- Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) 12.1.3 (Extended Support ending Dec’2021)
Who is Oracle Market Driven Support for?
If you have no compelling business reason to upgrade to the latest software version in the near future and are petrified at the thought of transitioning to Sustaining Support at the end of year, then this offering is aimed at you. This applies only to the two specific versions listed above.
Is MDS the same as Oracle Extended Support?
Obviously not. After reviewing the key features and benefits, I would describe MDS as a “neither-here-nor-there” offering. I’ll explain why for each product further down.
How much does MDS cost?
MDS is not a free offering, but Oracle does not openly advertise the pricing. You will have to contact your Oracle Sales Representative to find out. Based on the language in the official announcements and the fact that this offering is under the purview of Oracle’s ACS (Advanced Customer Services) division, we expect the cost to be similar to Oracle Extended Support.
What are the limitations of these offerings?
Let’s break them out by product, starting with Oracle Database.
Oracle Database 11.2.0.4
Oracle previously offered MDS for 10g databases. When it calculated the sheer number of firms still on 11.2.0.4, Oracle must have decided to bring back MDS. Note that this relief is specifically offered to customers on 11.2.0.4, not 11.2 or 11gR2. The devil is in the details.
We see this as purely a time-buying and revenue-generating tactic designed to keep Oracle 11g customers happy and on the hook while account managers entice them to move to the cloud offering. By offering a direct upgrade path from 11.2 to 19c, Oracle will likely use the included ‘planning workshop’ and ‘technical account manager’ to push for this upgrade and further lock you into Oracle products.
When you dig into the details, you’ll see that’s Oracle MDS is not necessarily the panacea that the press announcement makes it. Here are a few limitations (and my comments in italics) for this offering:
- SEVERITY: You can only log Severity (Sev) 1 SRs, which implies that the issue or problem ticket has to satisfy Oracle’s “Production Environment Down/Unavailable” criteria.
So, no Severity 2, 3, or 4 tickets allowed. Unfair? Tough luck! - FIXES: Oracle MDS only includes workarounds or fixes for newly discovered Sev 1 problems.
What does Oracle mean by ‘newly discovered?’ I’m still searching for the definition. You could interpret this as meaning that not every Sev 1 issue will end up getting a fix or workaround. - SECURITY: Oracle MDS does not include standard security patch updates (SPUs), so you will no longer receive the same quarterly-released bundles. Oracle solely creates MDS security patches or updates at its discretion and on a schedule it determines, including for Sev 1 issues described above.
This likely means that a patch for your specific problem or exposure may not be available in a limited release. This leaves you entirely at Oracle’s mercy to provide you with a security patch only if and when Oracle believes that the time, money, and effort are worth spending. - VERSION: This MDS is only for 11.2.0.4 databases.
Versions like 11.2.0.3/2/1 are a no-go. Support is limited to the Database component and not the whole Database, which means that many associated components like Java (in DB), DB Firewall, TLS, TimesTen, MySQL, SQL Developer, and Audit Vault are not supported. - CERTIFICATIONS: There is no support for certifications with new versions of third-party software.
Are you planning to upgrade your third-party software to make integrations smoother and need support to assist that upgrade? Sorry, you’re not covered.) - PRICING: MDS is offered by the ACS division of Oracle Support, so I suspect the pricing would be based on the number of production databases. One blog says the price would be the same as Extended Support (i.e., a 20% uplift of support fee).
You are not likely to receive any discounts or have any room to negotiate with MDS, as Oracle would prefer you upgrade or migrate to the Cloud.
Oracle EBS 12.1.3
MDS for this version of Oracle EBS is very similar to what I described above, with these minor changes to compensate the product family dependencies:
- SEVERITY: Sev 2 SRs are allowed along with Sev 1 if they are for “newly discovered” issues.
- SECURITY: Security updates are once again at Oracle’s discretion, making it extremely frustrating for customers despite paying for support.
- LOCALIZATIONS: Product Localizations are at Oracle’s discretion, only for the applicable contract year, and limited to updates backported from 12.2.
- CUSTOMIZATIONS: The MDS excludes customizations, of course.
- ARCHITECTURE: Updates that require architectural changes to the application are not available.
- INTEGRATIONS: External integrations, products, and technologies used in conjunction with EBS are not covered.
- MODULES: Not every module of EBS is supported. You can find the list of exclusions by accessing the My Oracle Support article “Products Excluded from Business Critical Fixes and Limited Updates for Oracle E-Business Suite 12.1.3” (Doc ID 2658179.1)
- MINIMUM CODE LEVEL: If your EBS 12.1.3 environment is not at the minimum code level as detailed in “Minimum Code Level Requirements for Business Critical Fixes and Limited Updates for Oracle E-Business Suite 12.1.3” (Doc ID 2658189.1), then your environment will not be eligible for this support.
- COMPATABILITY: Updates to 12.1.3 are dependent on their compatibility with the later version 12.2. Anything that does not meet these criteria will not be entertained.
- PAYROLL TAX UPDATES: These are only for the applicable contract year. Payroll updates are limited to the United States, Canada, and United Kingdom. All other countries must pay extra if they want these updates.
- GTRC: Backporting of legislative or regulatory updates are once again offered only at Oracle’s discretion.
- CERTIFICATIONS: This MDS does not include new browser certifications or new certifications with other Oracle products or third-party products.
So, is Market Driven Support worth the investment?
That’s the million-dollar question. MDS is designed for a very specific clientele with limited needs. In our opinion, any Oracle customer considering this offering should dig deep into the option to assess the actual value as compared to its current oracle Expended Support. The above lists are just the beginning of what you should know.
A good question to ask your Oracle team is whether they envision needing any of the excluded features. If the answer is yes, then you may have to spend above and beyond the price of MDS for Oracle managed services or consulting.
What alternatives do you have?
Rather than acquiesce to Oracle’s Market Driven Support or Sustaining Support, Oracle customers have another choice: Oracle Database third-party Support and Oracle EBS Support. Organizations choose Spinnaker Support because we:
- Immediately reduce the cost of support fees by an average of 62%
- Deliver responses in less than 15 minutes, from Level 4 senior engineers in eight operations centres
- Supply comprehensive coverage, including for customizations and interoperability issues
- Help extend the life of stable, customized, and productive applications, for as long as you need
- Offer flexible commercial terms that match your licenses and business needs
- Provide a safe haven until cloud solutions become right for your business
For personalized and efficient support for your Oracle estate regardless of whether Oracle has declared an End of Life to a release, please contact Spinnaker Support today.
What We Are Hearing from the Market
Since Oracle announced MDS for these products, we have received an increasing number of inquiries regarding support for E-Business Suite 12.1.3 and Oracle Database 11.2.0.4.
Oracle customers are feeling the pressure from Oracle’s end of 2021 deadlines for this popular version of EBS 12 and Oracle 11g. Oracle MDS support is not appealing due to the reasons listed above. Our response is always to offer a transparent comparison of support features to help the prospective customer assess whether short-term MDS or longer-term third-party support is the best choice to meet their unique requirements.
Oracle MDS is a bandage, not a cure. Rehashing from above, this brief list shows a few of the features Spinnaker Support covers in comparison to MDS:
Because of its relative rarity, you may find MDS confusing. In this post, I’ll answer the most common questions about MDS and break down the details (as we know them) for the specific eligible products.
| MDS Feature | Spinnaker Support | Oracle MDS |
| Break/fix Assistance – standard code | Yes, all levels | Yes, but only P1 and newly discovered P2s |
| Break/fix Assistance – custom code | Yes | No |
| Interoperability and Middleware assistance | Yes | No |
| Certifications for most third-party products | Assistance offered | No |
| Limitless tax, legal, and regulatory updates (EBS) | Yes | No |
| Payroll country limitations (EBS) | Yes | No |
| Periodic critical security patches and updates | Full stack security | Yes, if Oracle decides necessary |
Time towards the deadline is passing quickly, but rather than settle for Oracle MDS or acquiesce to the aggressive (and costly) push to upgrade to 12.2, remember that you have other alternatives and enough time for proper planning and a cost/benefit analysis. If you’re considering moving to Oracle’s Sustaining Support instead, we’ve covered the pros and cons of that support stage as well.
We always recommend speaking to an analyst firm like Gartner or reaching out to us directly for details beyond what we share on our Oracle Database and E-Business Suite service pages.
References:
https://www.oracle.com/a/ocom/docs/ds-mds-database-11g-r2.pdf
http://www.oracle.com/us/support/library/057419.pdf
https://www.oracle.com/a/ocom/docs/market-driven-support-for-e-business-suite.pdf
http://www.oracle.com/us/support/library/tsp-soc-069318.pdf
