Exadata and Autonomous Database in the cloud

Oracle has been constantly improving its cloud technologies, and companies moving to the cloud now have several Exadata-based options to consider. These include the Autonomous Database Dedicated (ADB-D), a fully autonomous and isolated private database running on Oracle’s cloud infrastructure; Autonomous Database Shared (ADB-S), where multiple users share the same cloud infrastructure; and the Oracle Database Exadata Cloud Service (ExaCS), where Oracle owns and manages the infrastructure, and the customer company can access database features and operations.

To help companies understand these offerings, Accenture looked at how they compare in terms of deployment, scaling, management, high availability, backup and restore, functionality and licensing, and costs. Looking at these factors, it is possible to develop some general recommendations about the use of these Oracle database options:

• ADB-D will often be appropriate for companies that want to run their mission-critical systems in a secure isolation zone, on a highly available platform, and take advantage of Exadata performance; those looking for the benefits of automated database operations that also want to have more control over maintenance schedules; and those wanting to move critical workloads from on-premise systems to the cloud, consolidate operations, renew their IT architecture or rethink their database landscape.
• ADB-S can be attractive to companies that want to move to the cloud quickly; do not want to maintain any infrastructure; and do not require full isolation or control over maintenance schedules for their workloads. It can be useful for new projects, because it provides instant provisioning. And data scientists will be able to use ADB-S features such as machine learning.
• The ExaCS platform can be an especially good option for companies wanting to consolidate multiple databases on a highly available system. In addition, ExaCS works with many traditional applications, such as Oracle e-Business Suite, PeopleSoft and JD Edwards, that are not yet supported on the Autonomous Database platform.

With these offerings, Oracle is providing a range of ways for companies to take advantage of Oracle Database and Oracle Exadata in the cloud. Companies should monitor Oracle’s evolving offerings in this area, as it continues to leverage both autonomous operations and the cloud to help companies take full advantage of their data.