9 Certifications

This document contains the following topics:

9.1 Certifications

Note:

For more information about certifications, including how to determine which combinations of products work together, refer to Knowledge Document 1945326.2, "How to Use My Oracle Support Certifications": 
https://support.oracle.com/rs?type=doc&id=1945326.2

9.1.1 What are certifications?

A certification is a combination of Oracle and third-party products, operating systems, or hardware that Oracle has tested and should work together. The Certifications tab provides access to product certification information. A product is certified for a specific release of an operating system on a particular hardware platform, for example, Oracle Database (11.2.0.3.0) on Oracle Solaris 11 (SPARC).

9.1.2 What is the difference between certified and supported?

Certified is not the same as supported. Each product has its own support policy and timeframe, completely separate to certification. For example, a product combination may have been certified by Oracle in 1995. However, one or more of the products in that certification may no longer be supported by Oracle or a third-party vendor.

For information about Oracle's Lifetime Support Policy, view the following URL in a browser:

http://www.oracle.com/us/support/lifetime-support

9.1.3 What is the Product Delivery link?

The Product Delivery link in the Quick Links region provides access to the Oracle Software Delivery Cloud web site where you can download Oracle products.

9.1.4 What is the Lifetime Support Policy link?

The Lifetime Support Policy link in the Quick Links region provides access to information about Oracle support policies.

9.1.5 Where can I learn more about certifications?

To see what's new, review the list in the Recent Updates to Certify banner at the top of the page then click View the Latest Additions.

For more information about certifications, review the following information under Certification Quick Links:

If you have questions about specific certifications or cannot find what you are looking for, log a technical service request (SR) with the appropriate product group.

9.2 Searching for Certifications

9.2.1 How do I find a certification?

To find a certification for a product on a specific platform and release:

Note:

Ensure that the Compare Releases and Platforms option is not selected.

  1. In the Certifications Search region, enter a product or partial product name in the Product box. As you type, a list of products that match your text appears. You can continue typing the product name or select a product from the list.

    Note:

    Certifications Search includes aliases for products. For example, if you enter iAS, Fusion Middleware appears in the list.

  2. Select a release from the Release list.

  3. Optionally, select a platform from the Platform list.

    The default Any returns results for all platforms that the selected product is certified against joined with all of the platforms for products that the selected product is certified against.

    For example, in the following scenario platforms P1 and P2 will appear in the Product A Platform list.

    • Product A is certified on platform P1

    • Product B is certified on platform P2

    • Product A is certified with Product B

  4. Click Search. The results appear in the lower half of the screen, grouped by category.

  5. Expand the Operating Systems list then select a platform and operating system version. The certification for the product on the selected operating system appears.

9.2.2 How can I check whether a product is certified for use with another product?

You can check for certified product combinations in two ways:

  • After clicking Search:

After you have searched for certifications for a product and release combination, product categories are listed in the results area in the Certified With column. To find what other products are certified with the specified product release:

  1. Expand one of the categories, for example Management and Development Tools.

  2. Select a release number link for a product, for example Oracle Internet Directory 10.1.4.2.0.

    If available, the list of platforms for the product combination appears with the certification status.

  3. Click a platform link to view the certification.

The certification for the first product in combination with the second product on the selected platform appears.

  • Before clicking Search:

Before performing the initial product search:

  1. Specify a product and release.

  2. Click Check Certifications With Another Product.

  3. Select Any, Product, or Product Category. If you select Any, the search will return all products and operating systems certified with the product specified in the first Product box. If you select Product, enter a product name or partial name in the second Product box or select a product from the list. If desired, specify a release and platform.

    If you select Product Category, select a category from the Category list for which you want to locate certifications, for example Operating Systems, Middleware, and so forth.

  4. Click Search.

  5. Expand one of the categories, for example Management and Development Tools.

  6. Select a release number link for a product, for example Oracle Internet Directory 10.1.4.2.0.

    If available, the list of platforms for the product combination appears with the certification status.

  7. Click a platform link to view the certification.

9.2.3 How do I compare certifications?

To search for certifications for multiple product, release, and platform combinations:

  1. In the Certifications Search region, select Compare Releases and Platforms.

  2. Enter a product or partial product name in the Product box. As you type, a list of products that match your text appears. You can continue typing the product name or select a product from the list.

  3. Select one or more releases from the Release list or select All to find all releases for the selected product.

  4. Select up to five platforms from the Platform list.

    The results appear in the Certification Results table. The product, release, and platform combinations are listed in each row, along with the status for each platform.

    Note:

    If you selected only one release and platform, the Certification Results page appears as it does if you had not selected Compare Releases and Platforms and had searched for a single product, release, and platform combination.

  5. If a platform has the status Certified, you can click the Certified link to view the certification details.

Note:

If you click the product link in the Product Release column, the Certification Results page appears as if you had searched for certifications for that single product.

9.2.4 What are the different certification statuses?

A certification has one of the following status:

  • Certified - the product combination is currently certified.

  • Planned - the product combination is not yet certified, but may be certified in the future.

  • Not Certified - the product combination is not certified. Certifications with the status Not Certified are not searchable. They only appear in the Details page as exceptions to a hierarchical certification.

  • Withdrawn - the product combination was previously certified but the certification has been withdrawn. Typically this is because Oracle found issues which prevent this from being a certified combination. It could also be due to the end of support for a vendor product or platform.

9.2.5 How do I save a certification search?

To save a certification search, after you perform a search click Save in the Certification Search region then give the search a name. The saved search appears on the Saved tab.

9.2.6 How do I print or export a certification search?

To print certification search results, select Print from the View menu in the Certification Results window.

To export certification search results to a Microsoft Excel file (.xls), select Export to XLS from the View menu in the Certification Results window.

9.2.7 How do I share a link to a certification search?

To share a link to a certification search, click Share Link in the Certification Results region then copy the link displayed.

9.2.8 How can I find previously found certifications again?

The system maintains a list of the most recent searches in the Recent tab of the Certifications Search region. Click a search to find the certification again.

9.3 Understanding Certification Information

This section explains the information on the Certification Results page. The selected certification may not have all of the categories listed in this section.

9.3.1 What does it mean to have an operating system certification for Oracle E-Business Suite?

The platform and release which run the concurrent manager are shown in the Operating System category. Look in the Application, Database, and Middleware categories for those corresponding products and their supported platforms and versions.

9.3.2 What information is in the Notes section?

The Notes section contains information about the certification product combination. Where available, the section includes links to relevant documents including more details certification information.

9.3.3 What are required patches?

Required patches are patches that must be applied to the product or operating system for the certification to be valid. Each required patch is listed on the Certification Results page. Click the patch number link to go to the Patch Details page on the Patches & Updates tab to view the patch and options for downloading.

See the Patch Downloads help for information about downloading patches.

9.3.4 What is the Downloads section?

If the certification that you are viewing has software products associated with it that you can download, you will see the Downloads section.

9.3.4.1 How do I download software?

To download software from the Downloads section:

  1. Select a software product from the table, or select the box at the top of the selection column to download all software products available in the table. There may be only one software product available for download.

  2. Click Download.

    The File Download window appears with a list of available files. If the files require a license, the license agreement appears on the right side of the window.

  3. If the window includes a license agreement, click View More... to view the entire license, then click Accept to accept the terms of the license.

    You can now download the files.

  4. If desired, click Show Digest Details to view the MD5 message-digest hash value for each file.

  5. Click the link for each file to download that file.

9.3.4.2 What is the WGET Option?

WGET is a UNIX download utility. Click WGET Options to download a WGET script that you can save as a file or copy to the clipboard. For more information about WGET, see the "Download Using WGET" section of the Patches & Updates help.

9.3.4.3 Why do you recommend using a download manager?

Many customers feel it is the most effective way to download many files. The size of the files can be large, and if you need to download many of them, it could be easier and more convenient over time to use a download manager. There are many download managers available. Oracle has no specific recommendation on which download manager to use.

9.3.4.4 When I download a patch, why am I asked for a password?

Some software products have limited distribution. These products have the classification Controlled and are password protected. If you try to download a controlled software product, you are prompted for the password. Log a technical SR to request the password for a controlled software product.

9.3.5 What are the different types of support?

The Support Information section lists the dates, if available, that different levels of support end.

  • Premier Support: Provides you with maintenance and support of your Oracle Database, Oracle Fusion Middleware, and Oracle Applications for five years from their general availability date.

  • Error Correction: Provides updates through patches for the product. For more information about error correction, see the following documents:

  • Sustaining Support: Available for as long as you license your Oracle products. With Sustaining Support, you receive technical support, including access to our online support tools, knowledge bases, and technical support experts.

  • Extended Support: Provides you with an extra three years of support for specific Oracle releases for an additional fee.

For more information about Premier, Sustaining, and Extended Support, see the Lifetime Support Policy:

http://www.oracle.com/us/support/lifetime-support/index.html

9.3.6 What are exceptions?

The Exceptions area of the Certification page lists any products or components that are not included in the certification. This typically only occurs when a product line is mostly certified, but maybe one product within the line is not.

9.3.7 If a product is certified for plus releases, how do I know what releases the certification includes?

For some products, the certification includes a release plus higher releases, for example JRE 1.5_16+. In this example, the certification includes JRE 1.5_16, JRE 1.5_17, JRE 1.5_18, but not JRE 1.6. If the release number ends with an asterisk (*), any new release is certified. For example, JRE 1.6_* indicates that any release starting with 1.6 is certified and JRE 1.* indicates that 1.1, 1.5, or any 1.6 release is certified, but JRE 2.0 is not certified.

9.3.8 What is 32/64-bit compatibility?

Where appropriate, the Certification Results page explains that the product can be run in 32-bit or 64-bit mode and is certified on 64-bit operating systems to run in one of these two modes. You cannot run in 64-bit mode on a 32-bit operating system.

9.4 Video Training

For video training on Certifications, see Knowledge Document 1948539.1, "How to Use My Oracle Support Certifications [Video Only]":

https://support.oracle.com/rs?type=doc&id=1948539.1