AWS Database Migration Service vs Oracle GoldenGate comparison

AWS Database Migration Service, also known as AWS DMS, is a cloud service that facilitates the migration of relational databases, NoSQL databases, data warehouses, and other types of data stores. The product can be used to migrate users' data into the AWS Cloud or between combinations of on-premises and cloud setups. The solution allows migration between a wide variety of sources and target endpoints; the only requirement is that one of the endpoints has to be an AWS service. AWS DMS cannot be used to migrate from an on-premises database to another on-premises database.

AWS Database Migration Service allows users to perform one-time migrations, as well as replications of ongoing changes to keep sources and targets in sync. Organizations can utilize the AWS Schema Conversion Tool to translate their database schema to a new platform and then use AWS DMS to migrate the data. The product offers cost efficiency as a part of the AWS Cloud, as well as speed to market, flexibility, and security.

The main use cases of AWS Database Migration Service include:

• Migrating from legacy or on-premises databases to managed cloud services through a simplified migration process.
  
  
• Reliable replication of backup files to minimize downtime and data loss.
  
  
• Improvement of integration through building of data lakes and performing real-time processing on change data from users' data stores.

AWS Database Migration Service Components

AWS Database Migration Service consists of various components which function together to achieve users’ data migration. A migration on AWS DMS is structured in three levels: a replication instance, source and target endpoints, and a replication task. The components include the following actions:

• Replication instance: AWS Database Migration Service provides users with a variety of replication instances, allowing them to select the optimal configuration for their use case. Depending on the instance class an organization selects, their replication instance provides a different amount of data storage.
  
  
• Endpoint: AWS DMS uses an endpoint to access users' source or target data stores. The connection information is different and depends on the specific data store, but it usually consists of the following information: endpoint type, engine type, server name, port, encryption, and credentials. This information can easily be managed through the AWS DMS console.
  
  
• Replication tasks: AWS Database Migration Service replication tasks can be used to move a set of data from the source endpoint to the target endpoint. The creation of a replication task is the last required step before starting a migration. Each replication task requires the following settings to be set: replication instance, source endpoint, target endpoint, and migration type options.
  
  
• Ongoing replication or change data capture (CDC): AWS DMS also has the capacity to capture ongoing changes to the source that is stored while users migrate their data to a target.
  
  
• Schema and code migration: The product requires assistance from tools such as MySQL Workbench, pgAdmin III, and Oracle SQL Developer to perform schema or code conversion, as it cannot do it on its own.

AWS Database Migration Service Benefits

AWS Database Migration Service offers its users a wide range of benefits. Among them are the following:

• The solution ensures minimal downtime, as it continuously replicates the changes to the user’s source database during migration.
  
  
• AWS DMS provides users with flexibility, as it supports many commonly used databases, including commercial and open-source ones.
  
  
• The product is user friendly, as it offers an easy set of tasks in the AWS Management Console.
  
  
• Users of Aurora, Redshift, DocumentDB, and DynamoDB can benefit from the free use of AWS DMS.
  
  
• AWS Database Migration Service is very reliable because it is a self-healing service that automatically restarts in cases of interruptions.
  
  
• The product supports both homogenous migrations and heterogenous migrations.
  
  
• AWS DMS accelerates business growth, as it scales businesses at an affordable price.

Reviews from Real Users

Vishal S., an infrastructure lead at a computer software company, likes AWS Database Migration Service because it is easy to use and set up.

Vinod K., a data analyst at AIMLEAP, describes AWS DMS as an easy solution to save and extract data.

Oracle GoldenGate is a real-time data integration and database replication solution. It can detect data events and route them across networks at very low latencies and integrates well with 100s of combinations of non-Oracle databases, data stores, and clouds.

Oracle GoldenGate Features

Oracle GoldenGate has many valuable key features, including:

• Simple to use web interface
• Fast and easy installation or provisioning
• Command line access via AdminClient that can run anywhere
• RESTful APIs for DevOps
• Offers built-in monitoring but also can be easily adapted to roll your own monitoring
• APIs are protected by Cross Site Request Forgery (CSRF) authentication.

Oracle GoldenGate Benefits

Some of the benefits of using Oracle GoldenGate include:

• Oracle GoldenGate is deeply integrated with the Oracle Database (logging, redo, backup and recovery layer, security, administration, data guard, data vault, autonomous database etc.).
  
  
• It is the most stable, performant, and reliable CDC / replication solution for Oracle.
  
  
• High performance: Oracle GoldenGate is capable of sub-second latency for data movement. featuring low impact capture, routing, transformation, and delivery of transactional data.
  
  
• GoldenGate is the only CDC / replication tool that keeps pace with new and emerging innovations (security, features, data types, etc) in the core Oracle Database.
  
  
• The solution supports a wide range of use cases, from conventional OLTP data replication and high availability to data lake ingestion or multi-cloud ingestion, SaaS application replication, and messaging replication.
• GoldenGate is the only CDC / replication technology certified for Exadata, Exadata Cloud Service, and Exadata Cloud at Customer.
  
  
• For fault-tolerance, GoldenGate has its own mechanism to keep track of how much work is completed and how much is pending. This mechanism is independent of any database and ensures, with the help of automatic gap-resolution, that no data loss occurs.
  
  
• GoldenGate uses its own proprietary format files for keeping the committed data coming from the source database, making it independently functional irrespective of the database in use.
  
  
• To maintain the performance and consistency, only committed data is sent. Uncommitted data is captured by GoldenGate, but is discarded after receiving a Rollback.
  
  
• With GoldenGate, data sending is in “near real time,” which reduces the possibility of latency.

Reviews from Real Users

Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by Oracle GoldenGate users.

PeerSpot user Steve-J., Cloud Migration Software Consultant - UK & EMEA at 1PLACE, says, "What I have found the most valuable about GoldenGate is that it does real-time and no-downtime migrations. Its migrations are fast. There are not many tools like it on the marketplace."

Pinak S., Senior Manager of System and Database at ESL, mentions, “We like how in GoldenGate the heterogeneous database is supported. Sometimes the client actually needs a schedule and needs to ensure the state of databases for reporting purposes. With that in mind, we have been able to configure GoldenGate for certain schema. The solution is quite stable. They've recently improved the ease of implementation.”

A Database Administrator at a manufacturing company explains, "It moves the data as you set it up, and it works. I am also very impressed with its stability and scalability. It is not super feature-rich, but the new releases have more functionality. It recently had more native integrations with Oracle Database. If you are using it against an Oracle database, it has a lot more functionality."

An Oracle ERP DBA Consultant - Oracle Super Cluster T5-8 Admin at a government comments, "GoldenGate can connect and collect data from multiple sources, such as SQL Server."