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Tushar Rahatekar - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Systems Analyst at a maritime company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Is robust, bug-free, and highly flexible
Pros and Cons
  • "It's very stable and highly available. I also like the row-level locking feature. It can manage billions of rows of data."
  • "The initial setup could be easier."

What is most valuable?

It's very stable and highly available. I also like the row-level locking feature. It can manage billions of rows of data.

The performance is pretty good, and the maintenance is very low.

Oracle Database is easily scalable and has so many enterprise benefits.

The product is so robust and bug-free. It handles anything that is thrown at it. If there are any issues, it's easy enough for our people to identify and fix them ourselves.

What needs improvement?

The initial setup could be easier.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Oracle Database for around 30 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's very stable.

Buyer's Guide
Oracle Database
March 2025
Learn what your peers think about Oracle Database. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2025.
848,716 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's very highly scalable.

We currently have three users.

How was the initial setup?

The Initial setup is tough. It's not a common off-the-shelf product. It's a very highly engineered product that caters to billions of records every year. As a result, you need a qualified person to do the installation.

It can take a whole day for the installation. 

What about the implementation team?

We have Oracle Certified engineers who do the installation. You do not need a consultant. Oracle's website is pretty good and has a lot of documentation.

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

There are licensing costs.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We have implemented PostgreSQL Server, but we use it for non-critical systems.

What other advice do I have?

Oracle Database is highly parameterized and is so flexible. You can design the databases the way you want to. A lot of parameters are there, and the documentation is perfect.

I would recommend Oracle Database and rate it at nine on a scale from one to 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.
PeerSpot user
it_user284961 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Product Manager at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Video Review
Vendor
One of the new features I've been using lately is the In-Memory column store.

Valuable Features:

If you remember the old Saturday Night Live skit by the baseball player, Oracle's been very, very good to me. I chose to work with databases and specifically Oracle right out of college, the 80s. It was a right career decision. It took me this far. I'll probably get to my retirement on it. That's a pretty sound technology. Had I picked some other technology to bet on, I probably would've had to go through several different learning iterations. The Oracle Database scales well. Every time there's a new version they add the features that you are wishing they would add or finding that you need. They stay ahead of the game. A lot of times you'll talk to one of their product managers and you'll say, "Well, partitioning is great, but if it only did this," and they'll say, "Oh, well if you sign an NDA, I'll tell you." Legitimately, they've already thought of it and they're developing it, and a lot of times if you get into the beta program, you can participate in the development of those features. That's really unique. It's much better than say a community preview edition like other vendors would do.

The beta program, you sign up for and you're very proactive with it and you have direct access to people who are working on the beta itself. You can help drive the product direction and that's kind of fun.

Improvements to My Organization:

Right now, one of the things I've been using a lot of is the In-Memory column store, which is a new Oracle 12c feature and it's gotten a lot of press. It's a great feature. If you remember a few years ago, Vertica and some other column oriented databases came out and it was all the hot rage. Now, lo and behold, starting in Oracle 12, I can have column oriented data storage and it makes my memory more efficient so I can fit more In-Memory. It makes the queries faster and it makes more queries faster because of the memory being more efficient, there are more queries that can benefit from the same amount of memory. It's literally you turn on a configuration parameter and you say alter database or table and say that that table was In-Memory, and you're done. The database does everything. It's very simple to use, very powerful, and it's exactly what people were asking for a few years ago.

The same is true, I attended some of the Oracle 12c R2 sort of pre-announcement sessions and while we're not allowed to talk about what we heard, I can say for a fact that some of the stuff that they talked about was exactly the same type of things where there's a feature that was introduced late in 11 or early in 12 and you thought, "Boy, I hope this is step one and they're going to do step two and step three." They have. Now it's not public yet, but it's very reassuring to know, again, they understand the database market and well enough to develop the features just in time.

Room for Improvement:

I know that a lot of people like Oracle Enterprise Manager and it's capable and it's great, but for a lot of tasks it's overkill. They came out with this new tool in 12, the OEM Express. I would like to see that tool persist. Oracle does on occasion have a bad habit of developing a tool, I'll go back to Oracle 8 on Windows, they had a really cool little GUI for developing DBA and then it was gone a version later. I'm hoping OEM Express sticks around. I'm not saying that it competes with OEM, but a lot of times, if all I'm doing is going in and adding some space to a table space or creating a user or do something simple and easy, that flash interface local on my web browser runs 100 times faster and it's easier to find stuff because there's less features in it, so you don't have to look as far.

Stability Issues:

Oracle stability's a funny thing. I know companies who do not have any database administrators. Stability in those shops is sporadic, and it should be. You need a database administrator to oversee your databases, just like you need a manager to oversee your people. It's an asset. In fact, your data's your most important asset. You sure as heck should have a specialist.

Oracle's a very powerful, robust, capable database. However, in order to be powerful, capable, and robust, it's a little complex. You need a database administrator. I'm not saying you have to hire a six figure guy, but you've got to have somebody. I know a lot of SQL server shops where they also don't work with database administrators. They can get away with it because the database isn't quite as industrial. I'm not going to build petabyte databases in SQL server but I am going to build it in Oracle. If I've got that size, it helps to have a DBA around.

Scalability Issues:

You can start with the basic database, so the Oracle single instance. You can scale that pretty much to whatever size, symmetric, multi-processing processor you want to put it on. If that's not going to scale large enough for you, then you can do RAC clusters and you can build basically a little database mainframe. If you've got extra money to spend, I've got this wonderful solution called Exadata. I wish that Exadata was it, that that was the only thing Oracle had to offer. It's that far superior to the standard database, but it requires both hardware and software and there's special licensing. You can't build an Exadata at your own and just get the software. It is just standard Oracle with some hardware tricks. That's impressive, that you can make a database machine that outruns anything and it's still the standard database. They didn't have to really change it.

Other Advice:

Rating: I would give it a nine. The only reason I don't give it a ten is because they do keep inventing and adding more stuff. The stuff that they told me yesterday and today that'll be available in the next release, let's say next year, not only is it stuff I wanted, it's stuff I didn't even dream of. I'll be excited. If I had those features today it'd be a ten, but they're on top of it.

Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Oracle Database
March 2025
Learn what your peers think about Oracle Database. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2025.
848,716 professionals have used our research since 2012.
reviewer1089354 - PeerSpot reviewer
System/Security Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Mature, stable, and easy to deploy
Pros and Cons
  • "It is a mature product. It is pretty stable. I've got a lot of experience with it, so it is pretty easy to use."
  • "The software really doesn't need any improvement, but the way they do the billing should be improved. They charge by all the chips on the server, whether you use them or not. If you have a server that has 64 chips on it and you use one chip, they charge you for 64, and that's a terrible business model."

What is our primary use case?

We are using it for inventory control. We have about 220 servers running Oracle Database, but we're migrating from Oracle to Postgres.

How has it helped my organization?

We've had it for a very long time, and up until they changed the way they do the billing, we were happy. A few years ago, they changed the way they charge for the product, and they hit us with a $6 million bill for one year, and that was it. People got very unhappy.

What is most valuable?

It is a mature product. It is pretty stable. I've got a lot of experience with it, so it is pretty easy to use.

What needs improvement?

The software really doesn't need any improvement, but the way they do the billing should be improved. They charge by all the chips on the server, whether you use them or not. If you have a server that has 64 chips on it and you use one chip, they charge you for 64, and that's a terrible business model.

Their support is terrible and should be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using Oracle Database for probably 20 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is very stable. It has been around for a very long time, and it is stable now.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It scales vertically. So, the more stuff you want to do, you have to get a bigger server. That's okay if you can do that, but the strategy now is that everybody is scaling horizontally because you can buy a ton of cheap servers and spread them out all over the network.

We have about 10,000 users, and they're doing inventory control. We don't plan to increase its usage. We are planning to decrease its usage and go to Postgres.

How are customer service and support?

Their support is terrible. I stand a better chance talking to my four-year-old grandson than talking to them. At least, he pays attention.

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

They weren't using any other product previously. They have been using Oracle for maybe 20 years.

How was the initial setup?

It is very straightforward. It takes about three or four hours.

What about the implementation team?

We do it ourselves. For its maintenance, there are probably seven or eight people.

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

Its cost is astronomical. They charge by the size of the server rather than what you're actually using. It is just a terrible business model.

It has got a ton of features that are great, but you have to pay for them, and we don't want to spend a lot of money.

If you use any of their additional products, you have to pay for those. Almost everything extra is at an additional charge. We also use RAC, and there is an additional charge for that. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I guess they did evaluate other products, but I wasn't there.

What other advice do I have?

If money is no object, it is a great product, but if you're worried about your budget, find another solution.

I would rate it a 10 out of 10. It is a great product. It has been around forever. It works, but it is too expensive.

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.
PeerSpot user
SAM Consultant at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Consultant
High-performance solution with lots of options for security, diagnostics and tuning
Pros and Cons
  • "Most of our customers have been using multitenant options. Advanced Compression and Advanced Security are the most valuable features in most customer environments."
  • "The primary concern is that Oracle is highly restricted in terms of the approved technologies where we can freely deploy Oracle Database or any other Oracle product."

What is most valuable?

It depends on the environment. Most of our customers have been using multitenant options. Advanced Compression and Advanced Security are the most valuable features in most customer environments. And many customers are also leveraging Oracle Diagnostic and Tuning Packs to enhance the performance of the database. 

What needs improvement?

The primary concern is that Oracle is highly restricted in terms of the approved technologies where we can freely deploy Oracle Database or any other Oracle product. So, for example, if we deploy Oracle products on VMware vCenter or any virtualized environment using VMware technology, we need to license a complete cluster and a complete vCenter. So that is the costliest option for us. And since Oracle doesn't approve of Google Cloud infrastructure, that means we cannot leverage the dynamic and flexible features of Google Cloud. We have multiple offerings from Oracle and our side on this one. So if we want high performance, we have to get packs or options already bundled with Oracle Database at a slightly higher price. But they are cheaper if we purchase them separately.

Also, Oracle provides the Extreme Performance Database options where you have all the features already included with the database, which will overcome all the limitations that I mentioned earlier. So we can leverage different options, but the most important is to know what we need and how much we are ready to invest in setting up the Oracle solutions. Considering certain limitations on storing big data, so that's where Oracle lacks some features. But otherwise, it is one of the best databases available.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been working on Oracle Database and the complete Oracle Stack for the past six years. I'm not doing any implementation development work on Oracle products. I'm only managing their compliance part.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Oracle Database is pretty scalable. And if you are planning to implement or leverage the containers, Oracle has recently added enterprise containers into their stack, so we can leverage that technology to enhance the scalability of the database.

How are customer service and support?

So with Oracle, technical support is provided mainly by the technical teams who are actually working on the packaging and deployment of the Oracle Database or other products.

How was the initial setup?

Installing Oracle Database is pretty simple, and Oracle also provides a starter database, which will allow you to evaluate whether you meet the specifications or not. Then you can go ahead and deploy the other features and management packs.

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

Oracle Database has two different types of licenses. One is the Named User, and the other is the Oracle Processor. So Oracle Named User will cost you about $950 per license, and Oracle Processor will cost you around $47,500 per processor. And on the Named User part, you need a minimum number of users to ensure that you'll buy the minimum number of licenses. So for Enterprise Edition, the minimum requirement is 25 Named Users.

And you need to pay to add options and packs. All the options and packs are available at extra cost, but Enterprise Edition includes Spatial and Graph at no extra cost. Starting last year, Oracle offered Spatial and Graph for free with the Enterprise Edition. Then there is Standard Edition, a minimal deployment option. So you can deploy Standard Edition on a server with a maximum of two sockets. That's why Enterprise Edition is typical in most cluster and complex environments.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Oracle Database has various remarkable features like Advanced Security and Advanced Compression. Oracle Database has high availability and high performance. So in those terms, Oracle Database is much more reliable than its competitor. That's why most large enterprises choose Oracle Database technologies over others. But there are other databases with some features that Oracle doesn't have. For example, with MongoDB, you can store multimedia file content and anything, and they can hold a greater amount of data. So that's where they have an advantage on Oracle Database. And most of the social media sites, like Facebook, have implemented MongoDB as the database supporting their applications.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Oracle Database at eight out of 10. For those thinking about deploying the solution, my advice would to implement Oracle Database on physical servers to avoid noncompliance. And it will be less work to manage or calculate the required licenses on the physical server. If the customer wants to leverage the virtualization technology and has a more scalable environment, I would suggest having a dedicated cluster for Oracle products for licensing purposes. For example, if you keep five physical servers in a cluster, you need to license them only once. But if those five servers are running are part of five different clusters, you need to license all the five clusters. So having a dedicated cluster can save millions of dollars.

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.
PeerSpot user
it_user436173 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Oracle Database Administrator at a pharma/biotech company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Vendor
Oracle is our product of choice because of its stability, scalability, reliability, and flexibility.

Valuable Features:

RDBMS, we still believe, is Oracle's core product. Hence any time we are looking at any database features or building a new database, Oracle is always our product of choice because of its stability, scalability, reliability, and flexibility.

Improvements to My Organization:

It would be the stability that's improved our organization the most. We are a 24/7 manufacturing plant. We take one day off a year, Christmas Day. Other than that, we're building and creating drugs and the stability of the Oracle database enables us to have near 100% uptime 24/7/364.

Room for Improvement:

It's so expensive, particularly Enterprise Edition, and that would be my number one gripe. It's very, very expensive. Also, Oracle makes a big show of its new features and enhancers with each new release, but it's very rare that any of those enhancements come with Database by default. You have to pay for each of those enhancement -- and pay heavily at that.

Deployment Issues:

In the latter versions of the 12c product, I've actually found it a little bit more difficult to set up than it was before. I find that Oracle is introducing many, many, many new features with each part of the database. Sometimes I think they're losing focus of the core components and what customers actually need. I think if they concentrated on the core elements of RDMS, which, for me, is their number one product, I think before going on the periphery and looking at small enhancements or additions to the product, they should look into making it even more stable before they do these major releases.

Stability Issues:

It's been very stable for us.

Scalability Issues:

I would say the scalability sets it apart from others. We run a big manufacturing plant and the database is growing at a very very, high rate, but we know with the Oracle RDBMS, it can sustain growth from now and into the future.

Initial Setup:

I actually found that the earlier versions of RDBMS were actually easier to set up, so I've been working with the Oracle product right from Oracle 7, and I obviously will in 12c. I find now in 12c, I would expected laying out Oracle Database to become easier, but I actually think it's a little bit more complicated now in these later versions. I can categorically say that the joining up with the Oracle agent between RDBMS and Oracle Enterprise Manager is an extremely complicated process. When we were on TNG before we'd done any upgrades, the agent to get the database to talk to Enterprise Manager was a really, really simple thing to do. In fact, right now it's extremely complicated.

Other Advice:

For installing the database or looking at the database, I would say look at the components that you need within the database. What we generally find is that most of the features that we want, or most of the features that are available in Enterprise Edition, we actually wouldn't use, so take time and you might actually see them only by using Standard Edition.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user517692 - PeerSpot reviewer
it_user517692Works at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees
Real User

Oracle Database has been the most easy adaptable and robust product. Oracle database has gone a long way in their journey from 7 to 12C.

Independent Consultant at Unaikui
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
A hybrid solution for ETL and real-time data analytics
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is easy to use. It also offers a Database Vault."
  • "The pricing could be improved."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution for ETL and real-time data analytics.

How has it helped my organization?

We use the solution for the ERP system, which utilizes dynamic APIs, SQL, and ETL processes.

What is most valuable?

The solution is easy to use. It also offers a Database Vault.

What needs improvement?

The pricing could be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Oracle Database for five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The product is stable.

I rate the solution’s stability a ten out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Depending on where you deploy, Oracle is also scalable. Sixteen sites with 50 users each are using this solution.

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

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward and took a couple of weeks. You can set up a new instance, import/export databases, or a new blank database. For on-premise, we use Jenkins. We set it up for the cloud so we can receive alerts using Jenkins or any other suitable tool.

What about the implementation team?

Deployment was done in-house.

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

The solution is very expensive.

We had an annual subscription, but Oracle only recognizes certain VMs. Eventually, we had to migrate to Oracle Linux and allocate a specific number of CPUs to a product to reduce the price.

What other advice do I have?

Four people are required to maintain the solution.

Overall, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Chinthake Ranasinghe - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Information Officer at Cjp
Real User
A capable and stable solution with good security and support
Pros and Cons
  • "The database capability and the security side of the database are the real valuable features. The cloud SaaS model is also valuable."
  • "They can simplify and make the deployment more user-friendly. Deploying Oracle solutions requires a lot of technical input. If that can be improved, it would really add value to the business."

What is our primary use case?

We are mainly using it for our business applications. Our main business application is the ERP application, and the other one is the payroll application. Both applications are developed on the Oracle platform. The ERP application covers our sales and marketing side, as well as manufacturing and finance.

What is most valuable?

The database capability and the security side of the database are the real valuable features. The cloud SaaS model is also valuable.

In terms of support, they are very supportive and always available.

What needs improvement?

They can simplify and make the deployment more user-friendly. Deploying Oracle solutions requires a lot of technical input. If that can be improved, it would really add value to the business.

There should be features related to business intelligence and business analytics. These features are not built into the database. They are separate. They can at least add basic analytics features to the database.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for a few years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Its performance depends on the data center you are connected to. At the moment, we are subscribed to one of the US data vendors. Other than that, it is very stable and highly available.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is scalable. Because we are using the cloud platform, it is very easy to scale it up. We have approximately 1,000 users.

How are customer service and support?

They're really good in terms of providing support and attending to the issues. I am satisfied with their support.

How was the initial setup?

Its deployment is quite complex, and it should be made simpler.

Its maintenance is minimal. You only need to take care of database patches, and you need to always follow up and update it on time. Other than that, when you configure it with the backup and all those things and automate, you don't need to worry much about the maintenance.

What about the implementation team?

We were doing it internally.

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

Its price is a little bit high in terms of competitiveness. It is a little bit expensive. For any additional features, there are additional costs.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend starting with the SaaS model cloud platform. You can start at a small scale, and then you can expand based on your requirements. You can start with a small investment and grow as your business is growing.

We are going to explore the autonomous part. It has already been improved. We'll start using that area, but because we are already using this one, and it is stable, we didn't try to use the autonomous side. That would be the area that would be most useful for us in terms of the SaaS solution.

I would rate it a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

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

Other
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1715652 - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Specialist at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Partitioning is most valuable, and it is stable and fairly easy to set up
Pros and Cons
  • "Partitioning is most valuable."
  • "The setup for Enterprise Manager Grid Control can be a bit easier."

What is our primary use case?

We use it for OLTP and data warehouses. We're using versions 10, 11, 12, and 19.

What is most valuable?

Partitioning is most valuable.

What needs improvement?

The setup for Enterprise Manager Grid Control can be a bit easier.

The additional options are expensive. If you want to buy a rack, partitioning, diagnostics, or tuning, those options are expensive, but it is difficult to say if it is a negative or not. We've bought the product, and we use it.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using Oracle Database for 30 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is really stable. Its stability is fine, but just don't make any changes. The more changes you make and the more developers you've got, the more unstable it's going to be. So, if you've got a stable environment in terms of development, then it has to be stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability depends on how much money you've got. It depends on the quality of your hardware. Scalability is not an Oracle problem.

In terms of the number of users, we have maybe 5,000 people who we can log on to one system and put in expense claims. We don't have plans to increase its usage.

How are customer service and support?

They're normal. We don't make many calls. We have maybe six calls a year with Oracle support, which is not a lot. Our environment is pretty stable. It is really stable, and we haven't had any outages. When it is smooth sailing, it is easy.

How was the initial setup?

I did the setup, and it was fairly easy. I have been doing it over the last 17 years.

What about the implementation team?

I did the setup. For its maintenance, one and a half people are enough.

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

You buy it when you need it, and then you pay the maintenance. We bought the licenses over 10 years ago. We haven't changed our licenses. We are not buying new licenses, and we are not looking at other devices. So, it is difficult to say whether it is cheap or expensive. There is nothing to compare to.

The additional options, such as a rack, partitioning, diagnostics, or tuning, are expensive.

What other advice do I have?

I would advise making sure that you train properly. I would rate this solution an eight out of 10.

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.
PeerSpot user
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Download our free Oracle Database Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: March 2025
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