Oracle Database Appliance Reviews

It's a typical client-server architecture where we host databases on a Linux server, and we have an Oracle client that allows connection to the server. We allow connection to dev, test, and UAT environments with different databases, where the production server is on a Linux server.

The availability of Oracle Database Appliance definitely helps, but you cannot go beyond a certain capacity of server if you are storing a large amount of data. You will need new infrastructure, as it's not as scalable as it's a monolithic system and not distributed.

Oracle offers ETL with PL/SQL as a programming language for SQL programming, which is majorly used in data engineering. Shell scripting and Informatica are useful for loading data into the Database and creating, manipulating, and transforming data. It's also good for reporting purposes and can parse semi-structured data like JSON and XML.

The scalability part is missing. It isn't as popular as AWS, GCP, or Azure as it lacks scalability and cloud-native services like containerization. The Oracle cloud hasn't reached the level of offering all cloud services that the competitors do.

I have been familiar with Oracle Database Appliance for close to 14 years.

Clients are hesitant now because it's on-prem, and the scalability factor is an issue. Oracle doesn't offer modern features available with cloud solutions.

It's not as scalable because it is a monolithic system. I would rate its scalability as four out of ten due to some limitations.

Most companies are moving away from Oracle to cloud-based solutions like Databricks and AWS due to more advanced features fit for modern analytic solutions.

The initial setup involves having a server and infrastructure. Oracle DB takes care of the installation, so it's not particularly difficult.

I have heard from colleagues that Oracle is very costly compared to open databases like PostgreSQL. I cannot personally comment on it.

I have experience with competitors like AWS and Microsoft Azure, and they offer more advanced components and benefits as a package compared to standalone systems.

With current developments, Oracle attempts to incorporate the latest technologies like Azure and AWS, but it must ramp up its offerings to match the capabilities competitors provide in cloud services.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

The tool is a specific and effective system. I am impressed with its usability. 

The tool's setup can be easier. 

The solution is stable. 

The product is scalable. 

The tool's setup is little complex. 

I would rate the product an eight out of ten. 

We usually provide insurance operations software. Therefore, we sell applications to insurance companies, and we use the ODA to configure them to run the application.

I think one of the reasons I was looking for a comparison between the SPARC and the Oracle Database Appliance is because, with most other services, we can't get everything combined as we can with the Oracle Database Appliance. We would have to get a server, extra storage, and other devices to set up shop. With the Oracle Database Appliance, once we put our application on the solution, it is enough.

The most valuable feature of the solution is the ability to combine all the data without the need for additional devices.

I am certain that Oracle Servers do not have RAM, not even the usual RAM, or usually obtain OCP. It would be beneficial to have dedicated RAM included in the Oracle Database Appliance.

I have been using the solution for four years.

Oracle Database Appliance is extremely stable.

Although we have not needed to scale the solution yet, Oracle Database Appliance is scalable.

The initial setup is straightforward. The deployment takes one business day.

We implement the solution in-house with the assistance of Oracle technical support when required.

The solution may be expensive, but when we consider the problems it solves, the stability it provides, and the fact that we don't have to buy separate parts and assemble them into a system, it becomes more affordable. Otherwise, we would have to purchase components from different sources, assemble them, and then pay to resolve any stability issues that arise.

I give the solution an eight out of ten. 

There are no other solutions similar to Oracle Database Appliance on the market. I've been looking for others to have compared, but there are none.

Oracle Database Appliance is a good solution and I recommend it.

Database consolidation and for X6-2L also database performance improvement due to NVMe storage being used, which dramatically increases I/O performance

We value the appliance architecture with its “everything-in-a-box” highly standardized setup.

For the new ODA X6-2 models there is a possibility to deploy also SE/SE2 databases in a bare-metal deployment as well as the boosted I/O performance due to NVMe Flash disks.

For one customer it consolidated several databases from several Windows physical servers into one single ODA and resulted in increased stability.

For another customer it was used to “isolate” the last Oracle database system on one single ODA, thereby freeing-up SAN storage and rack server slots used by an old Linux cluster.

The following issues need some attention:

• Ease of administration and deployment. With ODA X6-2 there are different “OAK” administration commands for the S/M/L models (e.g. “odacli”) compared to the HA model ("oakcli").
• In my opinion only one single command should be used for all ODA models, as it’s confusing.
• Some of the new commands have limitations/restrictions, though I assume they’ll be improved over time.

We have been using the solution since 2012. We implemented 2x ODA V1 systems.

With the X6-2L we had a couple of early replacements, e.g. PCI card and battery

We only had a stability issue with the ODA V1 due to an ASM disk mount issue (“ORA-600 [KFDJOIN3]”, bug). This issue delayed the go-live for production databases, but was fixed with the assistance of Oracle Support relatively fast.

We only had a scalability issue regarding local storage, especially on the ODA V1.

I would rate the technical support as six out of 10. Over the past couple of years, I’ve found that the quality of Oracle Support first-level has decreased.

We used custom-built single-server or cluster solutions. The ODA provides a high degree of standardization.

The initial deployment of 2x ODA V1s was accomplished in one day, including unpacking and rack-mounting.

Leverage the Pay-As-You-Grow licensing, and consider using the ODA X6-2 S/M/L models also for SE2/SE.

We evaluated Exadata, which often is overkill for many small and medium sized databases.

If you go with 1x ODA then at least establish a Data Guard standby system on a Linux server, e.g. Public Cloud. I suggest to use 2x ODAs in each DR setup.

We use the solution to implement the cloud infrastructure for the ISPs (internet service providers) in Thailand.

The solution's function we use to benefit the customers is database verification.

The solution’s flexibility could be improved.

I have been using Oracle Database Appliance for four years.

I rate the solution a nine out of ten for stability.

I would recommend the solution for enterprise businesses.

I rate the solution’s scalability an eight out of ten.

The solution's local in-house support team from Oracle Thailand is doing very well.

The solution's initial setup is neither very simple nor very complex.

On a scale from one to ten, where one is difficult and ten is easy, I rate the solution's initial setup a five out of ten.

The solution's pricing is very high.

I am working with both on-premises and hybrid models of the solution. We use Oracle Database Appliance for machine learning. The solution's main competitor is Huawei, which is trying to conquer the market with its competitive pricing. I would recommend Oracle Database Appliance to other users.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

We use the solution for our enterprise applications.

Oracle is a stable database.

The setup is a bit complex.

I have been using the solution for many years.

The tool is stable.

The tool is scalable. All my key applications are on Oracle. We might increase the usage depending on the business growth.

I have contacted support. We have a good relationship with the team.

We have used MySQL and PostgreSQL.

The solution can be deployed in-house.

We have seen some value in the solution.

Oracle’s pricing is ridiculously high.

I would recommend the product if someone is using very data-sensitive applications. Overall, I rate the product a seven out of ten.

We use the solution for operational purposes. It is the core app built on top of it.

I like the solution’s performance.

The solution requires improvement regarding scalability and artificial intelligence.

I have been using Oracle Database Appliance as a customer for eight years.

I rate the solution’s stability an eight out of ten.

Around 100 people are using this solution daily.

I rate the solution’s scalability a four or five out of ten.

The initial setup is easy.
I rate the solution’s setup an eight out of ten.

The solution requires six or seven in-house people to deploy.

I rate the solution’s pricing a seven out of ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive.

We need three people, including a Linux expert, for the solution’s maintenance.
I recommend the solution for operational purposes with performance on-prem.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

We support their warehouse and we are looking into the network data warehouse product, which is tightly integrated. This is pretty much the go-to product for that process due to the fact that it's all in one box, and is pre-packaged. It's all Oracle servers, and Oracle hardware, and Oracle software and it's all in one.

We used to have different vendors and servers. Everything was all over the place. Now that we are on Oracle, everything is centralized, removing a lot of complexity.

The deployment is super-simple as everything is pre-packaged. There's very little configuration to worry about.

We manage everything through the appliance. It's easier to manage from our side of the managed databases and add more storage, et cetera. It's very easy to mimic what we need. we can easily add more storage whenever we want. The scalability is great.

We had Commodity servers - those bales servers on-premises - and there was a lot of maintenance going on with that. After moving to RDA, life is much easier because everything is managed through those deployed solutions. It's easier to manage this way.

From a maintenance point of view and from an upgrade and migration point of view, it is very easy because most of the upgrades are fast. We can take one down and finish the upgrade and move onto the next as necessary. It's easier to manage the patches and upgrades.

The solution is pretty automated, which takes out the possibility of human error.

The pricing is great. It's much better than what the competition is offering.

The product is pretty user-friendly.

There aren't really any features that the solution is lacking.

The product is quite complex to set up, initially. It would be ideal if it was simpler.

Any limitations within the solution are case by case. The solution may work for some, but it isn't for everyone.

The product is still evolving. It could still, for example, be more user-friendly. It's not quite perfect yet.

I've been using this solution since last year.

The solution is pretty stable. I don't recall bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash. I find it pretty reliable overall.

The solution can easily scale. We've found that if we need to add more storage, it's very straightforward to do so. If a company needs to scale, it's not a problem with Oracle.

In our case, because we are on-premises, there are some limitations due to the fact that we only have two servers. We understand our limitations and we know it will work well for us over the next five years or so. And then, if we need to expand, we can plan for that.

We have about 500 active users within our company on the solution. We have reporting applications and a lot of data manipulations, and all that going on, on this database. It's mostly IT personnel on it currently.

We've worked with Oracle a lot, compared to other previous solutions. The company sells it with support and clients get account managers that they can reach out to. Overall, technical support has been good. I'd rate it a nine out of ten. They are very knowledgeable and responsive. They are very good. We've been satisfied with the service provided.

We used to have similar databases on different servers, and we had to work through different vendors. We had different storage, then different servers, then different vendors and the backup solution was on another vendor as well. There was a lot of coordination required. It added a lot of complexity to everything. With this kind of a solution, everything is on one kind of a black box. We don't have to worry too much and the level of coordination required has dissipated.

The initial setup is not straightforward. It's quite complex. Once you get the hang of it and get it going, it's easier for others on our application team. It's also easier to manage int he long run. The main problem is that it's quite different from what we used to do, so there's a bit of a learning curve during the setup.

The pricing is really good for us. We have no complaints there. It's not as expensive as other products on the market. The excellent price point is one of the reasons we moved to RDA.

We're just a customer. We don't have a business relationship with Oracle.

Due to the current contractual agreements, et cetera, within our organization, we are not doing or considering anything on the cloud - from the database side at least.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. There are still some limitations. That said, it did simplify a lot of things for us, compared to our old setup.