This article is an inspiration from some of the questions that I get asked by customers every day.
1) We have made a lot of on-premise Oracle investments - especially database. How can Oracle help us with our cloud transformation initiatives?
2) How does Oracle DB Cloud Service compare to AWS RDS, Oracle software on Azure? Why should we choose Oracle cloud over competition?
3) What is Oracle's strategy and vision for enterprise customers who have made significant investments over the years on-prem?
4) Other than price-point TCO benefits, what other benefits does Oracle Cloud offer?
In my job role as an enterprise cloud architect, I engage with my customers by bringing in a point-of-view that helps nurture long-term strategy discussions, enrich ideas, propose solution & options to further their cloud/digital transformation endeavors.
In this article, we will analyze a typical customer scenario with various cloud options, inherent PaaS advantages, cost comparisons and non-quantifiable benefits.
Before we delve deep into the details and cost comparisons, I want to state a safe harbor disclaimer that all views (including data points, pricing and options) expressed in this article are my own, based on experience and does not necessarily reflect the views of Oracle. As an Oracle enthusiast and evangelist, this article is purely intended to present a point-of-view, analyze options, value and benefits.
Okay.. Let's take a quick peek at the Oracle database cloud offerings. Built on the basic premise of offering "complete choice", customers have the option to subscribe to the smallest standard DB instance on a VM for development, 2-node RAC cluster DB instance on bare metal for high performance production workloads or opt for the subscription based extreme performance Exadata in the cloud.
Unique to Oracle Cloud, for customers with existing on-premise database licenses, it's an understatement to say the BYOL PaaS pricing model is "attractive". Just for quick comparisons, at published Pay-as-yo-go pricing;
License included DBCS Enterprise Edition (1 OCPU / Hour) is $0.8064
BYOL to Oracle DBCS Enterprise Edition (1 OCPU /Hour) is $0.2903
That is 64% savings right off the bat.
1 OCPU is equivalent of one physical core of Intel Xeon processor with hyper threading enabled - equivalent of AWS' 2 vCPUs and 1 Azure Core.
Let's now look at how this compares to Oracle database on AWS, Azure and GCP. This list is not exhaustive but a selection of a few key considerations for enterprise mission-critical workloads.
AWS and Azure are authorized cloud environments. Google Cloud Platform is not an authorized cloud environment for Oracle Database (predominantly because of how GCP virtualizes their servers).
However, should customers choose AWS or Azure cloud to host Oracle Database? - depends on a few factors;
First and foremost consideration when customers move workloads to cloud: IaaS or PaaS? Database on IaaS only offers "IaaS" benefits like saving datacenter costs. PaaS options like Oracle Database Cloud Service offers higher level of service benefits in the cloud including automated provisioning, elastic scaling, patching, rollback etc..
a) High Availability (HA): For customers with HA needs, this could be a deal breaker as neither Azure nor AWS support RAC (Real Application Clusters). At best AWS RDS offers replication and Multi-AZ deployments but not with zero-downtime.
b) PaaS / Fully Managed: If you are looking for a fully managed, elastic, seamlessly scalable, full-stack patching capabilities, AWS/Azure may not be right fit.
c) License Cost: Although AWS and Azure are authorized cloud environments for running Oracle database, when counting Oracle Processor license requirements, the Oracle Processor Core Factor Table is not applicable. This basically makes it 2x more expensive for customers to run Oracle database on AWS/Azure than on-premise.
d) Provisioned IOPS: Costs can quickly add up if customers choose "provisioned IOPS" SSD for storage. By default, for all workloads Oracle Cloud offers high performance NVMe based SSD storage.
e) Data Security & Encryption: TDE (Transparent Data Encryption) is included and enabled by default in the Oracle Cloud for all Oracle editions and options (including database standard edition). For eg., with AWS customer must buy the "Advanced Security" option.
f) Database Options: Oracle cloud bundles database options into 4 broad offerings. Standard, Enterprise, Enterprise High Performance & Enterprise Extreme Performance. For BYOL customers, even the basic Enterprise Edition comes included with database options such as Diagnostics Pack, Tuning Pack, Real Application Testing, Data Masking & Subsetting Pack. This means, customers with Database EE license can leverage these features in the cloud even if they are not currently licensed on-premise - thus presenting a huge advantage.
g) Backup & Restore: Oracle offers in-place restore for your database backups. This means, you can choose from any of the available backups (automated / point-in-time / most recent) and perform a restore on the same database instance. In contrast, AWS allows restore from backups but creates a "new" database instance - potentially impacting application connectivity, VPC, security group re-configuration.
Now, let's take a typical customer scenario as we walk through various options;
Current Install Base (8 Processor Licenses):
Licensed Database Options:
In this scenario, this means customer can deploy Oracle software on 16 cores - which typically is equivalent to 32 vCPUs in a virtualized environment (Assumption: 1 physical core -> 2 threads).
At list price, initial cost of the above configuration would be $1.27 M (including software license acquisition & support). Pragmatically, @ 60% discount, this could be $500 K.
Now, let's pivot this on-premise database to PaaS (Database as a Service)...
Customer has 2 options;
Clearly BYOL option is a winner with ~89% savings over license included PaaS.
That's not all. The above is based on published PAYG pricing. Further discounting available on monthly commits.
Of course, no one size fits all !! Customers have a wide range of options to choose their deployment on VMs, Bare Metal or Exadata. Engage your Oracle team for value add services including portfolio analysis, TCO & tailored roadmap.
Please leave your feedback and thoughts.
1) We have made a lot of on-premise Oracle investments - especially database. How can Oracle help us with our cloud transformation initiatives?
2) How does Oracle DB Cloud Service compare to AWS RDS, Oracle software on Azure? Why should we choose Oracle cloud over competition?
3) What is Oracle's strategy and vision for enterprise customers who have made significant investments over the years on-prem?
4) Other than price-point TCO benefits, what other benefits does Oracle Cloud offer?
In my job role as an enterprise cloud architect, I engage with my customers by bringing in a point-of-view that helps nurture long-term strategy discussions, enrich ideas, propose solution & options to further their cloud/digital transformation endeavors.
In this article, we will analyze a typical customer scenario with various cloud options, inherent PaaS advantages, cost comparisons and non-quantifiable benefits.
Before we delve deep into the details and cost comparisons, I want to state a safe harbor disclaimer that all views (including data points, pricing and options) expressed in this article are my own, based on experience and does not necessarily reflect the views of Oracle. As an Oracle enthusiast and evangelist, this article is purely intended to present a point-of-view, analyze options, value and benefits.
Okay.. Let's take a quick peek at the Oracle database cloud offerings. Built on the basic premise of offering "complete choice", customers have the option to subscribe to the smallest standard DB instance on a VM for development, 2-node RAC cluster DB instance on bare metal for high performance production workloads or opt for the subscription based extreme performance Exadata in the cloud.
Unique to Oracle Cloud, for customers with existing on-premise database licenses, it's an understatement to say the BYOL PaaS pricing model is "attractive". Just for quick comparisons, at published Pay-as-yo-go pricing;
License included DBCS Enterprise Edition (1 OCPU / Hour) is $0.8064
BYOL to Oracle DBCS Enterprise Edition (1 OCPU /Hour) is $0.2903
That is 64% savings right off the bat.
1 OCPU is equivalent of one physical core of Intel Xeon processor with hyper threading enabled - equivalent of AWS' 2 vCPUs and 1 Azure Core.
Let's now look at how this compares to Oracle database on AWS, Azure and GCP. This list is not exhaustive but a selection of a few key considerations for enterprise mission-critical workloads.
AWS and Azure are authorized cloud environments. Google Cloud Platform is not an authorized cloud environment for Oracle Database (predominantly because of how GCP virtualizes their servers).
However, should customers choose AWS or Azure cloud to host Oracle Database? - depends on a few factors;
First and foremost consideration when customers move workloads to cloud: IaaS or PaaS? Database on IaaS only offers "IaaS" benefits like saving datacenter costs. PaaS options like Oracle Database Cloud Service offers higher level of service benefits in the cloud including automated provisioning, elastic scaling, patching, rollback etc..
a) High Availability (HA): For customers with HA needs, this could be a deal breaker as neither Azure nor AWS support RAC (Real Application Clusters). At best AWS RDS offers replication and Multi-AZ deployments but not with zero-downtime.
b) PaaS / Fully Managed: If you are looking for a fully managed, elastic, seamlessly scalable, full-stack patching capabilities, AWS/Azure may not be right fit.
c) License Cost: Although AWS and Azure are authorized cloud environments for running Oracle database, when counting Oracle Processor license requirements, the Oracle Processor Core Factor Table is not applicable. This basically makes it 2x more expensive for customers to run Oracle database on AWS/Azure than on-premise.
d) Provisioned IOPS: Costs can quickly add up if customers choose "provisioned IOPS" SSD for storage. By default, for all workloads Oracle Cloud offers high performance NVMe based SSD storage.
e) Data Security & Encryption: TDE (Transparent Data Encryption) is included and enabled by default in the Oracle Cloud for all Oracle editions and options (including database standard edition). For eg., with AWS customer must buy the "Advanced Security" option.
f) Database Options: Oracle cloud bundles database options into 4 broad offerings. Standard, Enterprise, Enterprise High Performance & Enterprise Extreme Performance. For BYOL customers, even the basic Enterprise Edition comes included with database options such as Diagnostics Pack, Tuning Pack, Real Application Testing, Data Masking & Subsetting Pack. This means, customers with Database EE license can leverage these features in the cloud even if they are not currently licensed on-premise - thus presenting a huge advantage.
g) Backup & Restore: Oracle offers in-place restore for your database backups. This means, you can choose from any of the available backups (automated / point-in-time / most recent) and perform a restore on the same database instance. In contrast, AWS allows restore from backups but creates a "new" database instance - potentially impacting application connectivity, VPC, security group re-configuration.
Now, let's take a typical customer scenario as we walk through various options;
Current Install Base (8 Processor Licenses):
- Oracle Database Enterprise Edition
Licensed Database Options:
- Partitioning
- Real Application Clusters (RAC)
- Active Data Guard
- Advanced Compression
- Database Vault
- Diagnostics Pack
- Tuning Pack
- OLAP
- Advanced Security
Quick note on Oracle on-prem license metrics - 1 Processor license typically has a 0.5 core factor multiplier unless customers have deployed on high horsepower systems such as Intel Itaniums or IBM Ps.
In this scenario, this means customer can deploy Oracle software on 16 cores - which typically is equivalent to 32 vCPUs in a virtualized environment (Assumption: 1 physical core -> 2 threads).
At list price, initial cost of the above configuration would be $1.27 M (including software license acquisition & support). Pragmatically, @ 60% discount, this could be $500 K.
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year n | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DB EE License | $1.27 M | $0 | $0 |
| Support | $358 K | $358 K | $358 K |
| Total | $1.63 M | $358 K | $358 K |
| @ 60% Discount | $508 K | $143 K | $143 K |
Now, let's pivot this on-premise database to PaaS (Database as a Service)...
Customer has 2 options;
- Subscribe to "license-included" DBCS (PaaS). This would preserve their on-prem licenses which could be re-purposed for other projects still on-prem
- BYOL (Bring Your Own License) option - Convert on-premise database investments to cloud with heavily discounted PaaS subscription costs (Credits applied since customer owns on-prem Oracle database licenses)
For the same configuration, closest option for license-included DBCS is DBCS Extreme Performance (support for RAC & Active Data Guard). Customer is also entitled for other database options like In-Memory, Advanced Analytics etc.. as they are bundled under Extreme Performance edition.
However, with BYOL, customers can bring their DB Enterprise Edition license along with the licensed options and run it on Oracle cloud as PaaS. In this case, customer also gains access to features like Real Application Testing, Data Masking & Subsetting Pack,
This is another unique Oracle cloud feature. For eg., AWS does not offer a "license-included" RDS for Oracle Database Enterprise Edition.
Irrespective of options, subscription cost includes underlying infrastructure (compute, storage & networking), infrastructure support, software (database) licence, software support and automations.
However, with BYOL, customers can bring their DB Enterprise Edition license along with the licensed options and run it on Oracle cloud as PaaS. In this case, customer also gains access to features like Real Application Testing, Data Masking & Subsetting Pack,
This is another unique Oracle cloud feature. For eg., AWS does not offer a "license-included" RDS for Oracle Database Enterprise Edition.
Irrespective of options, subscription cost includes underlying infrastructure (compute, storage & networking), infrastructure support, software (database) licence, software support and automations.
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year n | |
|---|---|---|---|
| License Included DBCS Extreme Performance | $360 K | $360 K | $360 K |
| BYOL DBCS EE | $41 K | $41 K | $41 K |
Clearly BYOL option is a winner with ~89% savings over license included PaaS.
That's not all. The above is based on published PAYG pricing. Further discounting available on monthly commits.
Of course, no one size fits all !! Customers have a wide range of options to choose their deployment on VMs, Bare Metal or Exadata. Engage your Oracle team for value add services including portfolio analysis, TCO & tailored roadmap.
Please leave your feedback and thoughts.
