Oracle Database Reviews

The solution is the main database storage for the application that we have. We offer an online purchasing system to our major customer, which is a government. They deal with their purchasing through the solution.

The organization can't function without it working properly as there would be a lot of upset people complaining. It's fairly integral to the overall functionality of the company.

The solution's most valuable aspect is its reliability. In about 17 years, I believe I may have lost about 15 minutes worth of data.

Overall, the solution works very well. It has excellent performance. 

The solution is very stable.

Especially with VMs, the solution can scale well.

I'm not crazy about their new version plan that they've just started. It seems like it turns over too quickly. We may have to upgrade within the year, and I really am not crazy about that. I don't want to upgrade so soon. We may not have a choice.

The initial setup is a bit complex.

Technical support could be more consistent.

They used to have something called a database console in version 11. That was very good. It seems like they reduced its functionality over the past couple of versions. I'd like to see that back to the way in which it used to be.

I've been using the solution for 17 years. It's been over a decade - in fact, it's almost been two.

The solution is very stable. There aren't bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's quite reliable.

The scalability of the solution is quite good. If a company needs to expand, it can do so relatively easily. 

When you were just with bare metal, it wouldn't be as good as it is now with virtual machines as it does not take a lot to spin up another virtual machine and put Oracle on it and have it working. In the old days, when you had a piece of metal, you had to find another piece of metal, get it installed, and then start scaling up from there. With the VM, it's a lot better.

I'd rate technical support seven out of ten. They could improve it a bit.

There've been times in which it's been absolutely tremendous. Then there've been other times where it just seemed to take too long. Either the person didn't know enough and had to go to other people and such, and it just took way too long. It's been mixed in terms of results. It's not exactly consistent.

It's my understanding that the company has always used Oracle. The company I've been with has been with Oracle for pretty much all of its life. I haven't seen any other solutions.

The initial setup isn't straightforward. It's a bit complex. 

With the setup of it, you need operating system people, whether it be Linux or Windows or whatever operating system, and they need to be coordinating with you. Usually, we're just putting the software on top of an operating system. However, with this, it's just not something that you can just throw out there. You need to have some preparation done, whether it be a VM or a piece of metal.

In implementing the product, the product has gotten simpler to implement over time. Whether you choose to use the cloud or whether you choose to have it on-premises, it has gotten simpler to install. However, that doesn't mean that there isn't preparation that you need to do in regards to the operating system and having everything ready for it.

We have two DBAs, myself and another person. As far as mainline support, we have a couple of units admins that manage the VMs and the hardware that we still have at the moment. And we have some Windows admins, which help with the web interface to the database with the application.

It's best to have some professionals assist with the setup.

We're just a customer and end-user.

I've used various versions of the solution, starting with 10 and moving to 18. We're still a few versions back, and therefore aren't using the latest. The latest is 20 and they are about to release 21.

I'd advise those considering implementing the solution to do some preparation beforehand. This will help ensure a successful setup.

I would rate the solution nine out of ten. There are some improvements that can be made here and there. However, it's largely stable and works well.

We use it for our business purposes.

The concurrency, consistency, and security features are the most valuable. It is also a very robust solution.

There are plenty of options and features in this solution, but they are, somehow, not being used very well. Therefore, training and support should be increased and improved for this solution. 

They can make people aware of how to make proper use of their server so that people can optimize it because its cost is just too much. They can provide training on the policies and procedures to be used for archiving and all such things.

There should be some kind of segregation in licensing. With a full license, all options should be available. There should also be a basic license with limited functionalities. This kind of basic license would be useful for us because we don't use most of the functionalities.

I have been using Oracle Database since 1988. 

It is absolutely stable.

It is scalable. We have around 2,000 users, and they use it daily on a 24/7 basis.

We don't use Oracle support. There is an administration team, and they get in touch with Oracle. I only get in touch with our administration team.

We are also using Microsoft SQL Server. Oracle Database has more advantages, but Microsoft SQL Server provides value for money.

I don't set it up, but from what I know, it is not very difficult.

We take the help of the agents from whom we buy the support. For its maintenance, we have two people. One person is from our company, and the other person is provided by Oracle.

It is very expensive. We pay in dollars, so the inflation and conversion cost is also there for us. They charge on a yearly basis for the license.

They are coming up with lots of features that will allow a lot of work to be done with respect to the database. They are going to give JSON storage, where JSON objects can be directly stored.

I would rate Oracle Database an eight out of ten.

Some of the valuable features are Oracle Wallet and Data Guard. We are also using the GRANT feature for high scalability.

It has helped us in terms of the higher scalability, higher response time, and good performance with the other features. It is also stable.

The I would give the stability a rating of 8/10.

It's highly scalable, I would say.

We did use technical support. You just call Oracle support and they are good.

We have been using Oracle database for a long time. We prefer Oracle database, because it is more stable and has lot of support for most of the application. When looking for a vendor, I look to see if it a stable solution, if it has good support, and if the initial installation is well-documented.

The setup gets complex sometimes, when you don't use the products that are supported. If I used REL, versus Oracle Linux, you get no support on Oracle Linux, rather than REL.

We couldn't go for Oracle Linux, because we have everything on REL. That took time to setup.

We chose Oracle because it has more features than the other products. The integrations points are easy. It is better than many other products because it has better integration.

I think they'd need a little bit of training, but once they know the ins and outs, it is more robust. As long they have the training, and understand the basic architecture, and then it is easy to use.

The most valuable feature we have found is the multi-tenancy. You can set up background processes and memory at the container level, not at the pluggable level. he second thing is, I can set up a disaster recovery solution for the container database, not at the pluggable level, so that if I have more pluggable databases, I do not need to worry about disaster recovery setup at the pluggable database level. I only have to set it up one time at the containment level. I can reduce my time, effort, cost, everything. I feel this is one of the best features in 12c, multi-tenancy.

Another valuable feature Oracle has released is the Flex ASM in RAC. In 10g and 11c, if something goes wrong for you with A, some instance, your database will go down. But in 12c, if something goes wrong for you with A, some instance, your database will not go down. You automatically use the next two machines, A, some instance. These are two wonderful features that we have used in database 12c.

One more very cool feature is called Information Lifecycle Management, ILM. It is one of the best features right now.

Instead of maintaining multiple servers, multiple databases, multiple disaster recovery solution setups for several levels, if you implement the 12c multi-tenancy, I only have to set it up for one container, not for all of the pluggable databases. I can reduce my support, my time, my effort, my cost, my server cost.

Upgrades.

We have been using 12c for 10 months.

We have been using it for the past 10 months. We have not had any stability issues, at all. We updated the PSU patches, just the CPU patches; it's up and running for months.

We haven’t exactly scaled it right now. Once we upgrade the remaining databases, we can go ahead with scaling it.

We raised a couple of SR requests with the Oracle team, and they responded quickly. We have successfully upgraded one database to 12c.

We are really pretty happy. In the coming months, we are going to upgrade three to four databases to 12c. I attended an Oracle OpenWorld conference to get some information about how I can upgrade with nearly zero down time. I was looking for that.

Upgrading it is not easy, because application to application could be different architecture. Before upgrading to 12c, we have to go into QA and development, from us to QA and development. Once that is successful, you can go ahead with production. Until now, out of six databases, we have upgraded to 12c on one platform; it was smooth.

When you upgrade from 11g to 12c, consider your execution plans. Before upgrading, check it out in the QA and development environments. The third thing is, when you go about upgrading from 11g to 12c, plan how many databases you are going to make as pluggable, and how much memory it requires, and what flat file from exactly you are moving to upgrade. These are the three things you have to keep it mind when it comes to upgrading from 11g to 12c.

Although it is smooth coming into production, you have to be careful. Until now, it has been very smooth. We didn't raise any issues, but we have raised a couple of SR requests. Oracle has provided a smooth solution.

Active Data Guard: This feature is useful for all organizations, I believe, as it provides you the comfort of routing your reporting requirements to a standby site while at the same time redo application is done.

Tablespace Encryption: This feature helps in protecting your data whenever you share it. It prevents unrestricted access to data, no matter whether you are DBA or OS guy.

Data Masking: This feature helps in hiding the confidential information from unauthorized users, such as customer phone#, email, account balance, credit card#, etc.

Database Replay

Active Data Guard has been pretty handy in managing the real-time reporting requirements from our core systems. Tablespace Encryption has also been very helpful in implementing security to ensure that our data is secured.

Data Guard: We face issues while configuring standby sites using Data Guard. The error messages reported do not match with the actual reason for failure. So, proper error logging should be developed so that users can reach the exact root cause.

I have used it for five years.

I did not encounter any deployment issues.

I did not encounter any stability issues.

I did not encounter any scalability issues.

I rate customer service 6.5/10.

I rate technical support 6.5/10. The reason for such a low rating is that we are located in Asia and whenever we open a SR during daytime, it is routed to an Indian engineer who doesn't provide a lot of support. However, when I open a SR during nighttime, we are assigned some American engineer who helps in resolving the issue pretty promptly. So I think Oracle needs to look into this. It’s my opinion only.

We have been using Oracle from day one.

Installation is pretty simple and user friendly.

In-house implementation.

That’s pretty much financial stuff myself being a DBA can't answer. However, when Oracle is keeping things up and running, then ROI would be good.

License cost for Oracle Database and other products seems to be on the higher side, but even then, more than half of the market is captured by Oracle.

We evaluated MS SQL Server.

Just go for it and explore its features. You will find a pretty easy way to manage your routine tasks.

Cloudera Hadoop provides the scalable data architecture organizations need to manage increasing data volumes, though not the intuitive GUI for business users. Oracle Big Data Discovery (BDD) provides business users the ability to explore and analyze that Hadoop cluster to uncover data of interest.

The scalable data storage of Hadoop is the most critical feature, but without Oracle Big Data Discovery that data is difficult for business users to access without significant IT support. BDD relies on Spark and Hive to function so those are the next most valuable features of Cloudera Hadoop for me.

Using Oracle Endeca Information Discovery has enabled our clients to search and explore unstructured data so they can answer unexpected questions as soon as they come up. This has been a game changer since it dramatically reduces the delay when new data volumes are introduced, or when new business questions are identified and need to be answered.

Hadoop as a big data repository is difficult for non-technical users to access but provides a potential gold mine of data insight. Oracle Big Data Discovery's ability to let business users explore that large volume of data gives them a significant advantage.

Oracle Big Data Discovery allows business users to interact with data in Hadoop and to transform it into a different format on the Hadoop cluster. This proprietary format can sit within the Hadoop cluster, but is not fault tolerant and query load is not distributed using native Hadoop technologies.

The more BDD can leverage those technologies the more robust and responsive it’s analytics will be. The second point is that when users identify and transform data of interest they do so directly, meaning they do not need to wait on IT development. However, the transformations are not especially complex.

Leveraging R at some point as a user drive interface within Oracle Big Data Discovery would allow them to do more advanced data analysis. Currently this depends on Hadoop programming which is not a technical barrier, but is not accessible to business users.

There are some details around BDD's configuration that should be improved as the product is refined. The main technical constraint is that Oracle Big Data Discovery is designed to work with subsets of the data on Hadoop. Although the record numbers can be increased it’s performance is impacted.

This means if you have one billion records in your Hadoop cluster, you might still only ingest a few million for analysis at a time. The positive thing is that analysis can be throwaway so you can do this multiple times.

I've used BDD for more or less six months, since v1.0 was released. Its predecessor, Oracle Endeca Information Discovery I've used for approximately four years. Cloudera Hadoop, which I've used for just over a year, sits underneath Oracle Big Data. This product provides business users with a web browser interface to the Hadoop cluster which I think is a critical gap in the Hadoop offering. BDD leverages Hive and Spark to provide users with the ability to search, explore, and visualize data from a Hadoop cluster. This is the area we are most engaged with as a professional services company.

Oracle Big Data Discovery depends on either Cloudera or Hortonworks Hadoop which are both stable and scalable base deployments.

As with most big corporations engaging with Oracle on technical support can be challenging. As a new product that seems to have a higher priority hopefully their support and development of Big Data Discovery will improve from what it was with Endeca Information Discovery.

Tableau as a tool for business users to visualize data is very popular, but the ability of Oracle Big Data Discovery to provide built in text enrichment, native support for unstructured data, and a very robust engine for search gave it some advantages to support data discovery that superseded the strengths of Tableau for data visualization. Solr provided excellent search, but not the same ease of support for text enrichment or interactive visualizations.

The initial setup is relatively straightforward, but as a new product in the market the support community is not very evolved so only a few organizations possess any real product knowledge.

As a professional service company implementation work on client sites is done by us. Regardless of who does the implementation, be sure it aligns to how your organization strategically intents to use the product. And be prepared to include training as part of the implementation to enable your target audience to take advantage of it.

Licensing costs are currently very competitive as Oracle looks to establish a market presence for BDD. Organizations that are not seeing tremendous return value on their Hadoop investment or are struggling with accessibility should take advantage of the early pricing options.

Aim to roll it out to a large cross section of your business users and structure the procedures to encourage throwaway analytics. Creating traditional dashboards and static reporting can be done with it, but this depends on the structure which makes them inherently inflexible to change. The strengths of Hadoop to store unstructured data and the ability of it to explore, search, and visualize that data means users can be rapidly exploring their data.

Its reliability and security are the features most valuable for us. We know we can depend on it and that it keep our data secure.

It's also a ubiquitous solution. It seems that OBD is everywhere. I know that knowing how to use it in one company will help me in my career at another company.

The biggest improvement to our organization is from a security perspective. It just keeps all our data safe as an integral part of the company. It's our go-to database solution.

Although we're not using the latest version, there are some ODB tools that are quite cumbersome to use. For example, we often use the standard backup tool and have found it to be pretty cryptic. It's needs improvement in usability as it takes a lot of effort to use.

We've been using it since 1992.

We've had no issues with deployment.

It's stable. We haven't had any issues with instability.

We don't. I know it does, but we don't. We are a pretty small shop. Our data's small, so not really.

This is one of our favorite things about ODB. The support is pretty good.

I used another database and data storage system as a developer in a prior role.

It's a very complex product, and it takes a lot of skill and experience to implement it. It's a lot easier now, but back then it was like 75 floppy disks for setup.

Consider an open source solution as well.

We are using Oracle Database for financial applications.

One of the most valuable aspects of Oracle Database is the maturity of the solution.

I have been using Oracle Database for approximately five years.

Oracle Database is a highly stable solution.

The workloads of Oracle Database are scalable.

We have approximately 50 people using the solution. We do have plans to increase the number of users but not at the moment.

The support from Oracle is fairly good. They have knowledge-based articles that you can consult before you need their direct support, we're happy with the support.

The initial setup of the Oracle Database is straightforward. However, it does require some skills and knowledge. The process takes approximately two hours.

We used two internal engineers for the implementation of the Oracle Database.

The Oracle Database licensing price could be less expensive. We pay annually for the use of the solution.

We are happy with Oracle Database.

I rate Oracle Database a right out of ten.