Oracle Database as a Service Reviews

We primarily are using the solution for clients who want to migrate their applications. We have an on-premises version for testing to see how that would work.

The most valuable aspects of the solution are the general database system resilience and security.

The improvements we require are mostly regarding the documentation and compatibility with other systems or with other non-Oracle technologies. 

Documentation is difficult to find. Since we're experienced with Oracle technology, we have also found many errors in it. Not everything is 100% accurate.

The solution should add functionalities, like database system functions, to speed up the query processing type. Any sort of functions or commands that would give you a faster result would be a welcome improvement. Microsoft Azure, for example, has some building functionalities to fetch big chunks of data and in a very fast way. I haven't seen a similar feature from Oracle. 

Technical support is not very good. Oracle's attitude toward customers, with increasing prices and a general lack of recognition of other technologies, is not ideal.

The level of difficulty in the initial setup varies. Sometimes it's very straightforward, but sometimes it is not. 60% of the time it's pretty straightforward.

Sometimes, for example, we might have previously installed the database in the same environment and there were some dependencies left which damaged the next installation because it was not a fresh install. If you want to uninstall the database, the cleaning of the database and everything associated with it gets a bit tricky. There is no automated process for that.

Deployment is quite fast. You can probably manage a deployment in an hour or less.

We're an integrator. We implement the solution for our clients.

We use the on-premises deployment model. We're currently experimenting with Oracle at the moment.

Currently, customers are looking for and experimenting with various databases. The clients that I've talked to have asked about MySQL or Amazon Aurora Database as well Microsoft Secret Server.

In terms of Oracle, what I've heard from some clients was that the cloud database was a disappointment for them compared to the on-premise database. Some of them were regretful about doing that sort of migration. They told me they were over-promised, and the cloud database didn't deliver. The on-premise databases are quite solid, however. They are very good.

I'd rate the solution seven out of ten. 

I'm personally not happy with Oracle, but from a technical standpoint, they have a very solid product.

So from the database perspective, we usually are talking about three important things. So the obvious ones are the multitenancy in the pluggable databases. The second category, I would call it performance, making sure that we are getting the right value from the databases in terms of data access. And the third one is obviously the security. So, we are more interested in implementing solutions that, we are actually excited to see Oracle come in with release two with all the issues we have, from 11g and on. So, 12.1 is there, but we want to see what's coming up in 12c at release two, and we are really excited about multitenancy. The whole security aspect, and then the performance as such.

So from the cloud perspective, I think there are too many vendors out there. One of the things we are excited from the Oracle perspective is their ability to take us off of our backups, the database backup. Using that, they can take us to the cloud and we want to try that out, mostly on their test end, as of now. And once we see how the ROI is, and what kind of a performance we are getting and then also check on how the security is, then we might probably consider going a little bit deeper into low-level production applications, all the way into the business applications.

So right now we are evaluating their trial period with Oracle on migrating in their databases, and we are also excited to use some of their backup and recovery solutions, which basically, you take your database and you run your backups, right now it is running on your local disk, but then we are configuring that to go into the cloud. So one of the cool features we are using from Oracle is the RMAN. It takes a second set of channels, and just take it as a destination and that goes into the cloud. So we can restore it at the same time from either of the options, on-prem or from the cloud. So we are excited to see how that works, because that is something that Oracle has recently come up with.

So we want to see, obviously, besides Oracle databases, what other databases can be provisioned and integrated in the cloud. So if I have to have an application running off of a non-Oracle database, and I have an application and the database running in cloud, which is an Oracle, I want to see if I can integrate them through what kind of a web service, how can I transfer the data? How do I move my processes without having to come back into my on prem and then go back into the secondary cloud? So those are some of the integration points I'm looking at.

And the second important thing I'm looking at is, the overall governance. How Oracle can provide their cloud control and give use the ability to manage the on prem and the off prem cloud services, combined in a single view.

So obviously we did an ROI analysis and a TCU. So, we have seen that the cost is definitely a factor. And security is more important, so that's why we did not press the button on the production yet. So we are piloting with the non-prod to see what kind of security we're going to get, what kind of threats are we going to be exposed to. And once we are satisfied, once we get our sign-off from the management, we might probably pull the trigger. But we are in the evaluation period.

Onboarding: so the Database Cloud, the way we have seen is, so you have a cloud control and you go in and, based on your subscription, you actually get the environment. So once you get the environment, you generate the security keys to establish the network connectivity between the on prem to the public and once we have the provision done, then you can actually encrypt the data on the source side, and move them into the cloud through their cloud control utility. So that's how we migrate them. Now, we haven't done a lot of the big databases yet. So we are piloting on the small ones. So, so far, the pilot ones look good which are close to about 300 to 400 GB databases. But we want to see how that goes with couple of terabytes of databases.

Scalability is number one. Data transfer is number two. And security actually tops, on top of that. And the ability to move the workloads between on-prem and off-prem. So that's one of the big things you are looking at, and if we don't like things, and if you want to push back, and we want to come back to our on-prem, what options do we have? So, can we migrate easily from a public cloud to a private cloud and private cloud to an on-prem cloud, and vice-versa. So, having that ability is a big thing, because we don't want to invest in something where we go to the cloud but we don't know how to come back. So we don't want it to be a one-way street, we want to choose a product that can give us an opportunity to not only go into the cloud, but also in a worst-case scenario, come back out.

So initially we started with Amazon. We tested a little bit, but the security was a big thing for us and the way they handle security is a little different I don't necessarily say it is wrong or bad, it's just that I was not very comfortable having the keys being shared versus in Oracle, the security keys are owned by the customer which is us, as opposed to with the vendor, and that was a prime difference for us. And second thing was, Amazon cloud is more on the infrastructure provisioning and metered. They don't give a database as a service. They do have some options, but being an Oracle customer, we know what Oracle can provide, which is totally a value-add kind of a service, with a lot of different shaders, compared to the others like Amazon or Rackspace or a hundred different partners. But I think it's because we are very close with Oracle, we can see how they can give us those value add services.

So the Database Cloud on Oracle right now, I think it's there, but there is some room to grow. So I wouldn't give them 10 yet. I would hold on to that. Probably eight would be a better option. But I want to see the growth in terms of, not only on the vertical side, I want to see the horizontal growth, in terms of how they can leverage, as I said earlier, integrating with other systems. So, if they can grow both horizontally and vertically, then probably I can give them a 10. But at this time, they are not there yet.

So I would say, anybody who wants to get into the cloud, evaluate your options. Check out your dev and test environments first. Check out your backup as a service, because it's very easy. You just have to set your targets and push your database backups. So try with those two first, and see the difference, and compare that with your other vendors. And see what kind of a response latency you're getting from the cloud. And make the call. I mean, that's what I did, and it was clear.

Our customers use the solution as a new business tool.

They should add more integration to the solution.

I have been using the solution for 20 years.

I rate the solution's stability as a nine.

It is a scalable solution. I have 100 customers using this solution.

The solution's deployment and maintenance processes require two or three executives.

The solution's price is reasonable, but it depends upon the negotiation.

It is a good solution and has a large community. I recommend it to others and rate it as a nine.

We value the single data run that the solution provides.

The stability of the product can be improved.

We have been using the solution for approximately fifteen years.

The solution is not very stable.

The solution is scalable. Approximately 100 people utilize it in our organization. 

We do not have experience with customer service and support.

The initial setup is straightforward. It's included in our server, and we have a data center with several devices.

I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

We use the solution to manage applications like Office. 

The solution is fast and easy. 

The tool needs to improve its pricing and stability. 

I have been using the product for two years. 

I would rate the product's stability a seven out of ten. We had faced an issue with the Oracle system. 

The solution is scalable. My company has twenty users for the product. 

The tool's setup is easy. 

Our local partner helped us to configure the database. 

The solution is worth its money. 

The tool's licensing is on an yearly basis. 

I would rate the solution a seven out of ten. 

We use Oracle Database as a Service primarily to load data and for reporting purposes.

This solution is deployed both on-premises and on the cloud.

The analytics features are the most valuable.

The performance needs improvement.

I've been using it for more than four years.

It is a stable solution, and I'd rate the stability at nine out of ten.

I would rate the solution's scalability at six out of ten.

I'd rate Oracle Database as a Service's technical support at eight on a scale from one to ten.

Positive

The initial setup is not too difficult, and on a scale from one to ten with one being the most difficult and ten being the easiest, I'd rate it at eight.

The initial deployment can be done in an hour.

The cost for Oracle Database as a Service is higher than that for other similar solutions.

I would recommend Oracle Database as a Service to those who are considering it and rate it at seven on a scale from one to ten.

Oracle Database as a Service is used for business and financial systems. It's an enterprise business solution.

I have been using Oracle Database as a Service for approximately six years.

Oracle Database as a Service is stable.

The scalability of Oracle Database as a Service is easy to do.

We have approximately 2,000 people using this solution.

I have had some incidences in the past months using Oracle Database as a Service and I used the support. The support escalation was in a timely fashion.

Oracle Database as a Service is difficult to set up. They should make it easier.

I recommend Database as a Service to others over other similar solutions, such as Microsoft Dynamics or SAP.

I recommend this solution to others.

I rate Oracle Database as a Service an eight out of ten.

We are using Oracle Database as a Service only development environments and QA or UAT environments. We do not have it in production.

The most valuable feature of Oracle Database as a Service is its use as a provisioning database.

I have had a hard time finding some documentation. There should provide easier accessible documentation for Oracle Database as a Service.

I have been using Oracle Database as a Service for approximately three years.

Oracle Database as a Service is stable.

I have found Oracle Database as a Service to be scalable. It can scale easily.

We have approximately 30 people using this solution.

I have never used the support.

The initial setup of Oracle Database as a Service is easy. There were only a few things that needed to be set up.

The price of Oracle Database as a Service could be better.

My advice to others is that they need to know how to administer the solution.

I rate Oracle Database as a Service a nine out of ten.