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Senior Oracle Database Administrator at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
Real User
Good performance and scalability
Pros and Cons
  • "One of the most valuable features of Oracle Database is the performance."
  • "Oracle Database's migration capabilities could be improved because it's very difficult. So even if you migrate where you host your data, be it on Windows SQL Server, there is a problem because migrating the package is highly complex. The technical support could also be faster."

What is our primary use case?

We use Oracle Database to host data. We use versions 11g, 12c, 19c, and 21c, but it depends on the application. The use does not depend on us, it depends on our editors because the application is totally built on Oracle Database. 

This solution is deployed on-premises, but it's highly probable that it will move to the cloud. 

What is most valuable?

One of the most valuable features of Oracle Database is the performance.

What needs improvement?

Oracle Database's migration capabilities could be improved because it's very difficult. So even if you migrate where you host your data, be it on Windows SQL Server, there is a problem because migrating the package is highly complex. The technical support could also be faster. 

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Oracle Database since the company was created, so for more than 15 years. 

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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Oracle Database is 100% stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This solution is very scalable. 

In our organization, there are over 300 users. 

How are customer service and support?

Oracle's technical support could be faster. 

How was the initial setup?

The installation is straightforward, but you need to have technical abilities. I maintain the system myself because I installed it myself. For deployment and maintenance, we have two or three administrators. 

What about the implementation team?

I implemented this solution myself. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We pay for an annual license as well as monthly support. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Before using Oracle Database, I also evaluated MySQL and PostgreSQL. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate Oracle Database an eight out of ten, according to performance and scalability. In terms of migration abilities, I would rate it a six out of ten because it's very difficult. 

I would recommend Oracle Database to others, especially for their new cloud policy and their subscription amount for the resources. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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PeterKrall - PeerSpot reviewer
Freelance Software Engineer + Director of a company at Peter Krall Consulting
Real User
Top 5
Highly reliable, perfectly stable, and scalable
Pros and Cons
  • "It is one of the most reliable database systems."
  • "With the new version, we never came across any important limitations. There was nothing that needed improvement. However, in versions 9 and 10, we sometimes had problems, and big and complicated queries did not get through. In versions 11 and 12, I did not experience any problem. There could be some more information about load balancing and all these things. For me, it was just a part of the infrastructure maintained by other people. So, I cannot really say what they need."

What is our primary use case?

In the last project, we had a big warehouse. It was a logistics company, and we had all company data stored in this. We also had insurance use cases. We had all contracts, customer data, and all kinds of stuff.

What is most valuable?

It is one of the most reliable database systems. 

What needs improvement?

With the new version, we never came across any important limitations. There was nothing that needed improvement. However, in versions 9 and 10, we sometimes had problems, and big and complicated queries did not get through. In versions 11 and 12, I did not experience any problem.

There could be some more information about load balancing and all these things. For me, it was just a part of the infrastructure maintained by other people. So, I cannot really say what they need.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for decades. I worked for a company developing insurance software in the nineties, and we used Db2 and Oracle.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is perfectly stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is scalable. The number of users differed a lot. There were not that many who used it directly. It was mainly was used by programs written by me. There might be around 100 users who used these programs.

How are customer service and technical support?

I have not interacted with them recently. I don't know whether our database administration team contacted Oracle. I just know it was usable from our layout or view.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We have used Oracle, SQL Server, and Db2, and all of them were okay for our purposes. In the new project, we will probably use Oracle, but we might also use SQL Server. I'm pretty neutral this way, as long as it works.

How was the initial setup?

I am not the one who does the database administration and installation.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution. It is certainly a valid option.

I would rate Oracle Database a ten out of ten. It is one of the best solutions.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
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Buyer's Guide
Oracle Database
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Oracle Database. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
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Cloud Expert | DevOps | Oracle Consultant at confidential
Consultant
The most valuable feature for me is the pluggable database because it provides database consolidation and the solution for utilizing your resource.

What is our primary use case?

I have been working with Oracle products for more than 10 years, and as a consultant, I did a lot of implementations that include different database vendors. To be honest, Oracle Database provides you with different features that don't exist in any database, or you can find relevant features in other vendors, but it will not give the same capability Oracle Database has. Let's take for example RAC or real application cluster that provides HA for Oracle Database, it's considered as one of the best solutions for the database.

I have worked on different environments for different big client names since it's my job role, and Oracle provides a different solution for DR, performance tuning, security, and HA.

How has it helped my organization?

Talking about this will be unfair because regarding my experience (which is on related services), Oracle Database improved client solution by discussing what they want first, and then finding what database is the best solution for them. Most of the time an Oracle Database license is so expensive if you want to compare it with different vendors, but on the other hand, if you're looking for the best features that a database could provide to you, then Oracle is considered as the number one database of all time.

What is most valuable?

  • The most valuable feature for me is the pluggable database because it provides database consolidation and the solution for utilizing your resource. On the other hand, I find security products that are provided by Oracle very strong and not in comparison with any database vendor.
  • The encryption, database reduction, audit vault, database firewall: All of these products provide an extra layer of security when they are implemented in the right way.
  • Let's also mention real application cluster, and disaster recovery solution.

What needs improvement?

The additional features that should be included in the database: I would like to see improvements for database security products.

For how long have I used the solution?

More than five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

one of the most stable database i ever seen, but to be honest the Support when you will have a bug or something it will make your life very hard.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The Performance for the database in general is good and the tools to analyze the performance in case you have some issue it's perfect and make it easier for you.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Yes, I used a different solution. The migration was to Oracle because we had to find the best for the client. It was a production database, and we needed 24/7 HA which other databases provided, but not as good as Oracle Database.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The cost of Oracle Database is so high if you compare it to other vendors. Therefore you have to study your solution and know exactly which features you want; this will minimize the cost and licensing price. For that, Oracle provides different types of DB such as EE, SE, SE1, etc. depending on what the clients want.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Yes, I worked on SQL Server, MongoDB, MySQL, and MariaDB.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Member of management at Cyprobes
Real User
Top 5
Comes with encryption features and security is good
Pros and Cons
  • "The tool's most valuable feature is data encryption. The security features are good. They include field-level security, role-level security, and easy access controls."
  • "The tool is costly, and migration is hard. We need tools like Database Migration Assistant for Oracle to migrate data between databases. Sometimes, older versions of Oracle are no longer supported, making the transition even more difficult."

What is most valuable?

The tool's most valuable feature is data encryption. The security features are good. They include field-level security, role-level security, and easy access controls.

What needs improvement?

The tool is costly, and migration is hard. We need tools like Database Migration Assistant for Oracle to migrate data between databases. Sometimes, older versions of Oracle are no longer supported, making the transition even more difficult.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the product for ten years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate Oracle Database's stability an eight out of ten. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The tool's scalability is fine. However, you need to pay for additional nodes. 
Scalability is an issue because expanding the system requires additional hardware and licenses for each node. There's no option for mirroring the initial license across different nodes, so each new node requires its license. My company has 300,000 users. We're planning to increase usage gradually, depending on customer demand and database growth, aiming for about a 10 to 20 percent increase annually.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I used Microsoft SQL Server before Oracle Database. 

How was the initial setup?

Oracle Database's deployment is fine. The deployment process for the Oracle database involves considering hardware compatibility. Licensing costs may vary based on the server model used.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The licensing cost is not based on a yearly subscription but rather on the number of devices used annually.

What other advice do I have?

I rate the overall solution an eight out of ten. Consider starting with an open-source database instead of Oracle Database, as the enterprise versions and licensing costs can be quite significant.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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reviewer2239944 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Infrastructure Lead at a transportation company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 20
With great stability and availability as its features, the tool also makes it easy for users to scale up if needed
Pros and Cons
  • "Stability and availability are the features I like the most in the solution."
  • "The product's price can be lower since it is a bit of an expensive solution."

What is our primary use case?

We use it for different applications in my company.

What is most valuable?

Stability and availability are the features I like the most in the solution. Transparent data encryption (TDE) is a feature I like the most in the product.

What needs improvement?

The product's price can be lower since it is a bit of an expensive solution.

Some engineers have the right skill set to resolve issues, but the support could be better.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Oracle Database for over ten years. I am an end user of the solution.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a stable solution.

The patching is an area that takes a long time, so we are trying to find another solution to minimize the downtime and do the patching.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Oracle Database is easier to scale up. The number of users using the solution in our organization depends on different applications normally, and it may be over a million being used by users for a customer.

How are customer service and support?

The support from Oracle is okay. I rate the technical support a seven out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

How was the initial setup?

The product's installation is difficult compared with other solutions since it can't support other platforms making the installation complicated.

The PoC phase to deploy the tool on-premises will take at least one week.

The solution is deployed on an AWS cloud.

Around two or three people were needed for installation.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

My company has opted for perpetual licensing. We only need to make payments toward the licensing of the product.

What other advice do I have?

It is not very easy to maintain Oracle Database. We need nearly twenty people in India to maintain the solution.

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

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Senior Chief Engineer at ministry of electricity
Real User
Reliable and stable with excellent features
Pros and Cons
  • "It is reliable. It's very stable."
  • "The solution can be quite expensive."

What is our primary use case?

I use Oracle in two systems. The first one is called the Complaint Management System, and the second one was for Human Resources for the Ministry of Electricity in Iraq. 

The Complaint Management System is related to a call center. There is a call center responsible for writing down the complaints from the customers about their network electricity. If there is an error they reach out to us. There is an operator there writing down this complaint using his terminal. There are many different call centers in the country and all of them write up these complaints using the Oracle Database.

What is most valuable?

Oracle has always been a wonderful database. 

It is reliable. It's very stable. 

The solution has everything you are looking for in terms of features on offer. It's very complete. 

What needs improvement?

The solution can be quite expensive. It would be ideal if they could work on the pricing model in order to figure out how to lower the licensing.

It takes time to learn Oracle. There's a bit of a learning curve. It's not easy to use at first, however, slowly, day by day, you can get and develop your skills. 

There are a lot of YouTube videos and tons of material on Google that you can access. You can also easily find so many training institutes all over the world if you really want to understand aspects of the product. It would be ideal if Oracle could initiate some sort of learning center in Iraq. Even if it's just on Youtube, if it can be catered towards Iraqis to showcase the technology in the form of online Youtube videos or webinars, it would be extremely useful for expanding the solution within the Iraqi market. Right now, competitors like Microsoft can easily come in and just say "here's what we do, and at less cost than Oracle".

The initial setup is a little complex.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for about ten years at this point. It's been around a decade, and therefore I've used it for quite a while.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable most of the time. Unfortunately, I faced a few different issues. I was luckily able to solve them.

It's very important, if you choose Oracle as a solution, to also get the support as well. You can technically live without it, however, if you run into issues, Oracle can help you when you have the support that they offer.

In my case, I didn't have support so I had to kind-of feel around for a solution. I made the mistake, after the first year, of not renewing my support and I really should have.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable. If a company needs to expand it outward, it can do so.

How are customer service and technical support?

While it's my understanding that technical support is good, frankly, for the first year, I didn't ask them for any help. Therefore, I don't have any experience with Oracle support.

That said, I have full faith that they will respond very well to any issues.

In my case, I had support for the first year of service and then did not renew it. You really should renew though. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was not really so straightforward. It's actually rather complex.

There are two ways to start with Oracle. You can go in by yourself and try to learn as you go or you can study a bit at an institute or school so that you can get pretty comfortable with the product. If you have some knowledge, there's less of a learning curve during installation.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The support does cost extra, however, it is worth the extra money. It really comes in handy if you run into problems.

What other advice do I have?

We're just customers and end-users. We don't have a partnership or special business relationship with Oracle.

I really enjoy using the solution. It is stable and reliable. 

It's more expensive than Microsoft's options, however, I personally prefer working with it. It's worth the extra money. 

Aside from stability issues and a certain level of complexity, it's quite a good solution. I would rate it eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Operations Engineering Manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 20
Very secure, Highly scalable and high performance enterprise database

What is our primary use case?


  • Security and Scalability
  • I have used Oracle technologies for last two decades apart from other similar vendors like MS SQL Server, IBM DB2, etc.


How has it helped my organization?

It helped build a strong core application layer

Its a natural choice for any complex enterprise relational system

What is most valuable?

  • Security and Scalability
  • I have used Oracle technologies for last two decades apart from other similar vendors like MS SQL Server, IBM DB2, etc.
  • Power of Oracle combined with robust Unix platforms like Linux or AIX makes it powerful and secure as compared to MS SQL on Windows 
  • IBM DB2 needs indepth technical expertise and lot of workarounds or automation to build a strong solution, MS SQL is on Windows and that makes it not the best choice

What needs improvement?

Support and Patching.

I found MS SQL Server support more helpful in many cases where in they internally rope in technology experts from different layers rather than pushing back on the clients, something Oracle can incorporate for sure.

For how long have I used the solution?

More than five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Multiple issues, but mostly triggered from lower layers like OS, Network, storage layers.

Oracle GRID is sensitive to underlying network and disk timeouts and node evictions may happen if disk and network systems are not optimized

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Oracle systems are highly scalable, Backup and Recovery strategy needs to be tweaked and is not as scalable as core database system. It needs some special attention to meet your RTO

How is customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

I would rate it 6/10. Many times the support is not able to solve the problems and they would put you into loops and escalate to their dev team which may take months to come back with a solution. Sometimes the solution never arrives and you are forced to upgrade to higher version.

Technical Support:

I would rate it 7/10.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user515592 - PeerSpot reviewer
it_user515592Operations Engineering Manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Top 20Real User

My experience with IBM support is that they rarely admitted a new bug but rather provided workarounds like updating internal tables, Putting scripts to clear locks etc.
Also we found layers like TSA and RSCT issues are not handled or fixed end to end

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MuhammadFurqan - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior consaltant at System Limited
Real User
Top 10
High availability, scalability, load balancing, but expensive
Pros and Cons
  • "It has good features for performance tuning."
  • "The price could be lower."

What is our primary use case?

We use the Oracle Database for applications such as sensor data management, banking tools, e-commerce forms, and similar functionalities. It is a data warehouse.

What is most valuable?

We have used the database in different production and environments. It has good features for performance tuning. I am using multiple environments for the Oracle web. The main functions are high availability, scalability, load balancing, and data integration.

What needs improvement?

The price could be lower.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Oracle Database for 7 to 8 years.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution’s scalability is good.

How are customer service and support?

The customer support is better.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is neither easy nor complex.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The product is expensive.

What other advice do I have?

Most customers use the stable version of the Oracle database. They should update it. Oracle V19 is the stable version.

Overall, I rate the solution a 7 out of 10.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
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