I'm a system solution architect and we are Oracle customers.
System Admin at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
Very stable and mature; great at solving the I/O issue by offloading data to the SIM
Pros and Cons
- "The offloading of data to the SIM is a valuable feature."
- "The solution lacks a visualized console."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The offloading of data to the SIM is the most valuable feature because it solves the issue of I/O.
What needs improvement?
I'd like to see a visualized console as part of the solution.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for seven years.
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Oracle Exadata
December 2024
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The product is very, very stable and mature. It's a strong and successful product.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup takes time and is complex. Implementation is generally carried out by the vendor.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is expensive and the license is paid annually. It includes the database, clustering and the software for data, so you're paying for three or four software licenses plus the hardware license. If you activate any of the options, that will incur additional payment.
What other advice do I have?
It's important to be specific with your requirements, otherwise you'll be up for added costs. It's worth using the Capacity-on-Demand feature, start small and expand from there. It's easy to expand than contract so if you've taken on added resources that you don't need or won't use, it will cost you.
I rate the solution eight out of 10.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Software Engineer with 501-1,000 employees
In the past we used traditional RAC database architecture. The switch was straightforward using the OneCommand tool.
What is most valuable?
- Exadata Storage Server software
- Smart Scan
How has it helped my organization?
- Sped up SQL response time
- Easy to get support from the vendor
What needs improvement?
The ASR needs to be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used it for three years, from 2012 to 2015.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
No issues encountered.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
No issues encountered.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Oracle support provided the necessary information to scale the system.
How are customer service and technical support?
Customer Service:
It's good, 8/10.
Technical Support:8/10.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
In the past we used traditional RAC database architecture. We switched because this type of solution has many drawbacks, and Exadata is the best system for Oracle databases.
How was the initial setup?
It was straightforward using the OneCommand tool that is designed for Exadata deployment.
What about the implementation team?
We used an ACS engineer (advanced customer service) and the field delivery engineer did the implementation.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It is little bit expensive compared to other solutions, but very useful. You just pay for one license which covers all the components within Exadata.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
It is a new level of server designed for Oracle database software, so you cannot find any other options with Exadata storage software.
What other advice do I have?
If you have OLT and are working 24/7 on an Oracle database, Exadata is the best solution for you. Before implementing this product you need to define your requirements clearly as this will help you to avoid future issues.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Our company ITZone LLC is an Oracle Field Delivery Partner in Mongolia.
Buyer's Guide
Oracle Exadata
December 2024
Learn what your peers think about Oracle Exadata. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2024.
824,067 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Analytics Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
High performance, good technology, and reliable
Pros and Cons
- "The storage capacity and the performance of Oracle Exadata are good. When comparing the performance to other technologies it is very good. I am satisfied with the management of the solution."
- "Oracle Exadata compatibility with the analytics could be better and the OBIEE could improve. Oracle BI to Exadata needs to be improved. Even if the full analytics practice for Oracle should be improved and when compared with other solutions it is weak."
What is our primary use case?
We are the first site in the Middle East that's using Exadata as a cloud service. My data is on-premise, but my service is on cloud.
What is most valuable?
The storage capacity and the performance of Oracle Exadata are good. When comparing the performance to other technologies it is very good. I am satisfied with the management of the solution.
What needs improvement?
Oracle Exadata compatibility with the analytics could be better and the OBIEE could improve. Oracle BI to Exadata needs to be improved. Even if the full analytics practice for Oracle should be improved and when compared with other solutions it is weak.
For how long have I used the solution?
I used Oracle Exadata within the last 12 months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very stable and has good performance.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Oracle Exadata is scalable.
Our clients are mostly small to medium-sized companies.
How are customer service and support?
I have been satisfied with the technical support.
How was the initial setup?
The installation is a medium level of difficulty. You need a skilled person to do the installation.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price of the solution has been expensive to implement.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Oracle Exadata an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
President of the Board at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Has good storage optimization, hardware actualization and internal communication network
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature is that you have the same familiar environment of an Oracle database but with the additional performance you get from this architecture."
- "It's too expensive per terabyte. It's complex."
What is our primary use case?
We are service providers and provide this solution to our customers. We deploy the on-prem deployment model.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is that you have the same familiar environment of an Oracle database but with the additional performance you get from this architecture.
What needs improvement?
There is no room for improvement because everything that they could solve, they have. It has good storage optimization, hardware actualization, and internal communication network. They made improvements in whatever they could.
The problem with the Oracle Exadata is that it is a dead-end of technology. The supplier's market is dying, so they have no future. For analytical purposes, companies are now using analytical databases. So they're using databases like MPP, multi-parallel processing databases, things like Greenplum, and Teradata. Exadata has no future. It is going into history. Five years ago, it was top technology. Now, they don't have a future.
It's too expensive per terabyte. It's complex and hard to expand.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for seven to eight years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability is really tough because it's scalable as much as an appliance is scalable. If you want to scale it, you need to add an appliance itself. You can buy one-eighth of a rack, one-quarter, one-half of rack. If you still want to extend capacity, you need to buy another module that is another eighth or quarter or half and you need to install it into a rack. It's quite complex. This is one of the reasons why appliances are not that popular anymore because modern databases are on hardware and you just put on another server, another node. It's quite expensive, compared to the commodity hardware.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is quite complex because it's an appliance. It's a big box with all the processing power and storage that you need to order and get installed. It's pretty complex.
You need to do the installation which is done by Oracle. It's not just software, it's an appliance. When customers want to buy it, I need to order it. They want it a lot faster and it's actually quite expensive. If Oracle or Oracle partners have this appliance in stock it can be quick but if it's ordered through a manufacturer it can be lengthy.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate it an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Database Expert at a tech company with 51-200 employees
If you have resources to integrate your own hardware and Software, you don't need Exadata
Valuable Features:
Exadata is Oracle's solution for a fully Engineered Integrated Hardware and Software platform for Oracle Databases. Extensive Storage level features such as Smart Scan, Flash Cache and Hybrid Columnar Compression. The Infiniband Switch is very fast for all communication channels. Excellent performance gains especially for large data warehouse types of applications.
Room for Improvement:
OLTP applications with smaller data footprints don't tend to gain too much from Exadata hardware. The majority of benefits are reaped by applications which are i/o bound and caching helps a great deal with that. Oracle manages the entire hardware and software including database and OS patches but companies need to pay heavily for that service. It is expensive hardware compared to integrated commodity hardware and software.
Other Advice:
The Infiniband switch has some distance limitations and a true DR (Disaster Recovery) site cannot be setup with Exadata, The operating system allowed is ONLY OEL (Oracle Enterprise Linux) which is a big limitation. One has to go through Oracle's support system - tickets and service requests to make any changes to the Exadata machine.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
President of the Board at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Just as stable as the cloud version
Pros and Cons
- "On-premises Exadata is just as stable as the cloud version. It's a very stable platform."
- "Setting up Exadata is complex. You need an Oracle vendor or someone who is Oracle-certified to set it up."
What needs improvement?
The technology in the on-premises version of Exadata is pretty much the same as the cloud edition. However, the cloud version is much more flexible when it comes to sizing and pricing.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
On-premises Exadata is just as stable as the cloud version. It's a very stable platform.
How was the initial setup?
Setting up Exadata is complex. You need an Oracle vendor or someone who is Oracle-certified to set it up.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Exadata eight out of 10. If you are considering this solution, I recommend first seeing what other options are available for Oracle and MPP databases. If you are familiar with Oracle and are accustomed to working with it, you should stay with Oracle. For a better price-performance ratio, I would suggest other options and MPP databases.
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: Implementor
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Whoever is the "Oracle Support" that does the initial setup seems to think that one-size-fits-all it the solution to every application environment. Still seems to be the approach of the 1980s that if the menu comes up then the setup is complete. For all the money and hoopla it is a disappointment to have to struggle with memory issues when doing simple tasks like adding large numer of partitions.