DPA license types

License requirements depend on the type of SolarWinds DPA deployment:

• If you deploy DPA on a self-managed server or in the Azure Marketplace, you must have a license for each monitored database instance.

• If you deploy DPA in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Marketplace, the AWS Marketplace Metering Service is used to calculate DPA charges.

See the following sections for details:

License types

You can monitor database instances without allocating licenses during the 14-day trial period. After the trial period, you must allocate an license for each database instance that you want to monitor.

Licenses can be subscription or perpetual:

• Subscription licenses have an expiration date. When the subscription is current, users have access to all DPA functionality and they are entitled to technical support and upgrades.

  If a subscription license allocated to a database instance is not renewed before it expires, historical data is available for the instance, but DPA does not continue to collect new data.

  Some DPA features are available only for subscription licenses.

  The following license types are available as subscription licenses:

  • Database Self-Hosted (DBSH)
  • Database Self-Hosted DBaaS (DBSHDS)

  The following license types are available as subscription licenses in DPA 2024.3 and earlier:

  • Category 1 (Cat 1)
  • Category 2 (Cat 2)
  • Azure SQL Database
  • VM Option

• Perpetual licenses can be used to monitor database instances indefinitely. Perpetual licenses do not expire, but annual maintenance fees are required. When maintenance is current, users are entitled to technical support and upgrades.

  The following license types are available as perpetual licenses:

  • Category 1 (Cat 1)
  • Category 2 (Cat 2)
  • Azure SQL Database
  • VM Option

Database coverage by license type

Database type or environment	DBSH	DBSHDS	Cat 1	Cat 2	Azure SQL Database	VM Option
Oracle Enterprise Edition
Oracle Standard, Free, and Express Editions
SQL Server, all editions
MySQL, all editions
Percona, all editions
MariaDB, all editions
PostgreSQL, all editions
EDB Postgres, all editions
IBM Db2, all editions
IBM Db2 Express Edition
SAP ASE (Sybase), all editions
SAP ASE (Sybase) Express Edition
Azure SQL Database, all editions including databases in elastic pools
VM metrics

Database Self-Hosted licenses

SolarWinds offers two self-hosted database monitoring products: SolarWinds DPA and SolarWinds SQL Sentry. The following license types can be used with either product. These license types are subscription only:

• Database Self-Hosted (DBSH) licenses can monitor any edition of any supported database type.

  If a database instance runs on a virtual machine (VM), the DBSH license also collects performance metrics from the VM and the physical host on which the database instance runs. (An additional VM Option license is not required.) This information is displayed in the Virtualization view.

• Database Self-Hosted DBaaS (DBSHDS) licenses can monitor supported database targets running in a DBaaS environment, such as Azure SQL Database.

The ability to use these licenses with either DPA or SQL Sentry gives you flexibility. You can use licenses from the same license key across both products. For example, if you purchase a license key with 10 licenses, you can use 5 of the licenses to monitor instances with DPA, and use the other 5 to monitor instances with SQL Sentry.

Category 1, Category 2, Azure SQL Database, and VM Option licenses

The following license types are available as perpetual licenses. In DPA 2024.3 and earlier, they were also available as subscription licenses. However, after an upgrade to DPA 2024.4 or later, they will be migrated to DBSH or DBSHDS licenses:

• For Category 1 and Category 2 licenses, the license type specifies what database editions the license is authorized to monitor. The section Database coverage by license type indicates which database instances each DPA license type can monitor.

  Some database types require a Category 1 license, while others can be monitored with either a Category 1 or Category 2 license. For example, an Oracle Enterprise Edition instance requires a Category 1 license. But any other Oracle instance can be monitored with either a Category 1 or Category 2 license.

  No additional functionality is provided by a Category 1 or Category 2 license. The only difference between Category 1 and Category 2 licenses is the types of database instances they can monitor.

• Azure SQL Database licenses can be used to monitor Azure SQL Database instances.

• VM Option licenses can be applied in addition to a Category 1 or Category 2 license to monitor the virtual infrastructure hosting a database instance. When you apply a VM Option license, DPA collects performance metrics from the VM and the physical host on which the database instance runs. This information is displayed in the Virtualization view.

Migration from legacy subscription licenses to DBSH and DBSHDS licenses

After an upgrade to DPA 2024.4 or later, subscription Category 1, Category 2, VM, and Azure SQL Database licenses will be migrated to DBSH and DBSHDS licenses:

• DBSH licenses replace subscription Category 1, Category 2, and VM Option licenses.
• DBSHDS licenses replace subscription Azure SQL Database licenses.

When a user with subscription legacy licenses renews their subscription, DBSH and DBSHDS licenses are issued instead of the legacy license types. If there are enough DBSH and DBSHDS licenses to replace all previously allocated legacy licenses, the new licenses are allocated automatically. Otherwise, the new licenses must be manually allocated. For more information, see Automatic allocation of DBSH and DBSHDS licenses during a migration from legacy subscription license types.

All licenses are floating

You can register more instances than you have licenses for. On the license allocation page, assign the licenses to the instances you want to monitor.

DPA does not collect data from registered database instances that are not licensed. However, you can view previously collected data on those database instances.

Clustered environments

For information about registering SQL Server AGs and Oracle RACs, see Registration and licensing options for clustered environments.

If you are monitoring a database instance that runs in a virtual machine (VM) cluster, a user with at least read-only permissions is required on the hosts and VMs that will be monitored.

AWS Marketplace Metering Service

When you deploy a DPA server from the AWS Marketplace, DPA uses the AWS Marketplace Metering Service to calculate charges. You can register database instances and immediately begin monitoring them without purchasing or allocating DPA licenses. DPA charges are based on the number of database instances you monitor each hour, and the charges are billed through Amazon. See the AWS Marketplace for details and pricing.

With the AWS Marketplace Metering Service, you can monitor any supported database type (like the Category 1 license). However, you cannot access the VM-related information that is available with a VM Option license.

If you want to use DPA licenses in the Amazon cloud, you can deploy an EC2 instance, install DPA, and apply your licenses. You cannot use both DPA licenses and the AWS Marketplace Metering Service on a single DPA server.

Learn more

For more information about purchasing and allocating licenses, see:

• Purchase and view licenses
• Activate DPA licenses
• Allocate or deallocate DPA licenses
• Deactivate your licenses
• Troubleshoot over-allocated licenses