Whether you’re already using Oracle or currently considering database solutions for your business needs, Markus Michalewicz, senior director of product management at Oracle, recently identified five reasons why Oracle Database is the best option. They are:
- Flexible standards
- Scale-on-demand
- Highest availability
- Cost & consolidation
- Secure future
Reason 1: Flexible Standards
The flexibility of Oracle Database is based on strong fundamentals including:
- Structured Query Language (SQL)
- Multiversion read consistency
- Non-blocking queries
- Non-escalating row-level locking
- Transactions
- Programmable database features
For many years, Oracle Database has received the highest ranking in the industry. In 2019, Gartner analyzed database vendors and published a 1-to-5 ranking of critical capabilities. All but one of Oracle Database’s results came out between 4 and 5. See below for each ranking.
- High Availability—5.0
- Security—4.5
- High-Speed, High-Volume Processing—4.5
- Cloud/Hybrid Deployment—4.5
- Administration and Management—4.5
- Consistency—4.0
- Multiple Data Types/Structures—4.0
- Automated Data Distribution—4.0
- Programmability for HTAP—4.0
- Continuous High-Speed Ingest—3.5
Over time, businesses progress through different versions of Oracle Database. A startup may begin with Oracle Database (Personal Edition) Express Edition. As the business grows and capacity needs increase, it may transition to the Oracle Database Standard Edition. Eventually, when the business expands and reaches maturity, it can upgrade to Oracle Database Enterprise Edition.
Reason 2: Scale-On-Demand
With Oracle Database, your database will always be the right size for your business needs due to:
- Single Instance Oracle Database online vertical scaling
- (Single Instance) Database with Oracle Sharding linear horizontal scaling for sharding-aware applications
- Oracle Real Application Cluster (RAC) transparent, near-linear horizontal scaling
Oracle Sharding capabilities offer many inherent benefits. By adding sharding online, you can increase the database size and throughput and complete an online split with linear scalability. Since the architecture is based on shared-nothing hardware, the failure of one shard has no impact on any others. Furthermore, you can easily use sharding for a set of data by geographic distribution and ensure local customers get the best out of local shops.
Reason 3: Highest Availability
Highest availability has always been the standard for Oracle Database. As shared earlier, Gartner ranked availability at 5 out of 5. Availability includes converged single instance database, Oracle Multitenant/pluggable databases (PDBs), Oracle Sharding/RAC, and Oracle Active Data Guard.
These architectures protect the database and data. However, they don’t ensure the continuation of a session. This protection is provided by Application Continuity.
Application Continuity works for both planned and unplanned outages. It reads and replays in-flight database requests and is 100% transparent to users and applications. This tool is unique to Oracle and available with Oracle RAC and Active Data Guard.
Reason 4: Cost and Consolidation
Within your Oracle Database, there are ways to use multitenant-based consolidation to optimize your costs. In fact, you receive three PDBs free of charge per Oracle Database. Costs increase from there as you purchase three container databases (CDBs) with three PDBs each on one server or increase to nine PDBs in one CDB.
Choose between three general licensing models:
- Classic License—Upfront CAP (once) + Support (continuous)
o Supported by Oracle
- Subscription—No upfront CAP + Subscription (Support/Usage)
o Supported by Oracle
- Open Source—No/little upfront CAP + Support (continuous)
o Not supported by Oracle
You may also benefit from cloud sizing. You don’t have to tailor for the peak. Size your cloud for normal conditions, and if the peak occurs on an occasional basis, you can use cloud bursting for temporary significant increases. In on-premise deployments, it’s common to pay for the peak. In the cloud, it is safe to provision for normal workloads and burst up as needed.
Additionally, you can add Oracle Compute Units (OCPUs) for a hybrid DR and size for development. Adjust OCPUs for performance testing or oversubscribe using Multitenant.
Reason 5: Secure Future
Traditionally, Oracle Database provided strong security through these capabilities:
- Core Database Security (users, roles, authentication, etc.)
- Encryption of Network Communication
- Transparent Data Encryption (TDE)
- Column-Level Encryption
- Oracle Key & Database Vault
- Database Auditing
- Oracle Audit Vault
- Oracle Database Firewall
- Label Security
- Real Application Security
- Virtual Private Database (VPD)
- Data Masking and Subsetting
Now, when it comes to mission-critical security, there is a full architecture that considers:
- Data encryption: Advanced Security
- Prevent admin data access: Database Vault
- Key management: Key Vault
- Centralized auditing: Audit Vault
- Testing security: Data Masking and Subsetting
- Centralized security: Data Safe
Oracle Database also secures your future by offering technologies you can use to build a complete and integrated analytics warehouse with:
- Disruption-free modernization to Autonomous
- Limitless predictions
- Self-service with governance
- Enterprise-grade with compelling price
To learn more about the reasons you should leverage Oracle Database, check out Michalewicz’s Quest Forum Digital Event: Database & Tech Week presentation (https://questoraclecommunity.org/learn/videos/why-use-an-oracle-database).