Licenses

This section describes the licensing for Exasol databases.

Exasol provides a Raw Data license based on your contract with Exasol and your business requirements. The license specifies the maximum size of raw data that you can store across all databases in the cluster. This is the default license type.

The raw data volume corresponds to the data volume that is comparable to the size the data would have if stored as CSV files. If you exceed the licensed capacity, you cannot import any additional data unless you delete the data inside the database.

Audit data is not counted towards the raw data license limit.

For more details about how raw data size is determined, see Sizing for Data Types and Object Types.

For more information about licensing, contact your account manager or Exasol support.

Exasol previously offered a license type that specified the total amount of RAM that could be assigned to the databases in the cluster. This license type is now deprecated.

License model

Bring your own license (BYOL)

The bring your own license (BYOL) license model lets you choose a static license for Exasol software and dynamic billing for the cloud resources. With the BYOL model, you need to purchase a license from Exasol and add it to your cloud instance. You pay only for the cloud resources through the cloud platform’s billing cycle, and there is no billing for the Exasol software. You can change your setup later to scale up or down your system, and the billing changes accordingly. However, there is a limit for the maximum scaling allowed based on your license.

When you purchase Exasol, you will receive one or more license files. You need to deploy and activate the license files. For more information, see Upload a License.

License limits

Exasol periodically checks the size of the data. If the size limit exceeds the value specified in the license, the database does not permit any further data insertion until the usage drops below the specified value.

For information on how to check the limits of your license, see Check License Limits.

License limits on data storage size apply to all databases in your system. If one database has a license problem, all database instances will be affected.

Audit data is not counted towards the license limit.

Restricted mode

If the data storage limit in the license is exceeded, all databases will enter a restricted mode that affects the following statements:

  • IMPORT
  • INSERT
  • CREATE TABLE AS
  • MERGE
  • SELECT INTO

In restricted mode, any attempt to execute one of these statement types will result in an SQL exception: 

[R0010] Statement currently not allowed because latest cumulative database 
raw sizes of 10.6 GiB exceeded raw size license limit of 10.0 GiB (106.2%).
Please increase your license or delete some data and FLUSH STATISTICS.

All the statements mentioned above are blocked in restricted mode, even those that would not result in an actual insertion of data (MERGE and SELECT).

Technical limits

If an Exasol system exceeds any of the defined technical limits, the database will fail to start. For more information about these limits, see System Limitations.

Recommended actions

If you have exceeded the limits in your license, clear some large data (DROP or DELETE tables) and perform FLUSH STATISTICS to update the current database sizes. Make sure that you clear sufficient data to bring the volume below 100% of the license limit.

To view information on database sizes, check the EXA_DB_SIZE_LAST_DAY table. To view information on license events, check the EXA_SYSTEM_EVENTS table.

Because the license limit is checked periodically, it may take a few minutes for a database to recognize the changes and leave restricted mode.