Recently there was some discussion on Twitter about if infrastructure databases such as RMAN and OEM databases required licenses. I always figured they had the same licensing requirements as any other Oracle database.

However, I was incorrect.

If you read Oracle® Database Licensing Information 11gR2 it has this section:
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Infrastructure Repository Databases

A separate Oracle Database can be installed and used as a Recovery Manager (RMAN) repository without additional license requirements, provided that all the Oracle databases managed in this repository are correctly licensed. This repository database may also be used for the Oracle Enterprise Grid Control repository. It may not be used or deployed for other uses.

A separate Oracle Database can be installed and used as a Oracle Enterprise Manager Grid Control (OEM Grid Control) repository without additional license requirements, provided that all the targets (databases, applications, and so forth) managed in this repository are correctly licensed. This database may also be used for the RMAN repository. It may not be used or deployed for other uses.
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Good to know. For my clients who use VMware clusters to limit what hosts Oracle VMs can run on for licensing purposes, you do not need to restrict your Oracle RMAN and OEM Grid Control DBs / VMs. This allows me to free up those CPU / RAM / Network resources on my Oracle-only hosts for other license-restricted databases.