In this post, I’m going to cover which is the right Cloud choice for a beginner or DBAs already working on Oracle applications like E-business Suite, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, or Fusion Middleware like Weblogic, SOA, OBIEE, etc.
Is it Amazon AWS, or Microsoft Azure, or Oracle’s Gen 2 Cloud (OCI)?
It is the most common question which I have been asked frequently in our DBA To Cloud DBA FREE Masterclass or in our FREE Facebook Community so I think of discussing the same with our Trainer & Cloud Expert Rajeev.
“I am an Oracle DBA/Apps DBA and “Confused between Oracle Cloud, Amazon AWS & Microsoft AZURE” which platform to learn or where should I focus?”
Well, If you would have asked this question to me a few years back, I would have said AWS without a doubt.
A lot has changed since then especially in the last 2-3 years where Oracle introduced its Gen 2 Cloud – OCI (Oracle Cloud Infrastructure) & also Oracle Exadata on Cloud (ExaCS), Autonomous Database for DBAs.
Note: To know more about Co-managed databases click here
Note: To know more about Oracle Exadata on Cloud click here
Note: To know more about Oracle Autonomous Database for DBA’s click here
Exadata is available on Cloud and Cloud@Customer. Read our blog to know more about Exadata Deployment Options: Cloud Service (ExaCS) vs Cloud at Customer (ExaCC) vs Exadata Machine
Database is one of the 5 pillars of cloud computing and it is a managed platform as a service (PaaS) offering from Oracle in which your databases are hosted on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). In Database Cloud Service, you can choose from three different infrastructure options—Bare metal, VMs, or Exadata.
Cloud for DBAs: AWS | Oracle Cloud | AZURE
In order to get the right answer for you, first, you need to understand what offerings we are getting from these Cloud Vendors.
If we look at the Cloud Offerings (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS). IaaS is Amazon’s Strong area, PaaS is AZURE’s strong area, but there is no vendor that can provide all three IaaS, SaaS & PaaS as good as Oracle.
Note: If you look at the database management system analysis run by Gartner, In the market share, Oracle is the number 1 player & The Future of Database Management Systems is Cloud!
Cloud Service Models
The very first thing you should know before starting your Cloud DBA journey is the Cloud Service Models i.e. SaaS, PaaS & Iaas. As a DBA, you will work closely on PaaS & Iaas.
1. SaaS:
Stands for Software as a Service, where almost everything is handled by Cloud vendors like Oracle, SalesForce or Google (for Gmail), etc. All clients need is to buy a license and start using Service. Example of SaaS from Oracle includes Fusion Applications, ERP Cloud.
2. PaaS:
Stands for Platform as a Service, where a platform like a Database or Application Server or Web Server is provided by Cloud Vendor on Cloud with all the tools necessary to manage these.
Clients (and You as Cloud Administrator) still need to patch or do backup & recovery or Upgrade or Clone specific platforms like Database or Application Server in PaaS. You will get the necessary tools from Cloud Vendor (like DBaaSCLI to patch & Restore, bkup_cli for Backup) so that you as Cloud Admin can do these tasks by a click of a button or using REST API.
There is a lot of work for DBA’s in Oracle PaaS, for a full list of Roles/tasks performed by DBA’s in Cloud3. IaaS:
Note: Read our blog to know more about Cloud Service Models
Oracle Leads in 2020 Magic Quadrant for Cloud Database Management Systems
Gartner recognizes Oracle Autonomous Database in its recently published cloud database market reports. Gartner defines Cloud Database Management Systems (DBMS) as a fully provider-managed public or private cloud software system that manages data in cloud storage.
Oracle Autonomous Transaction Processing (ATP) ranked highest in the 2020 Gartner “Critical Capabilities for Cloud Database Management Systems for Operational Use Cases” report in the following four Use Cases: traditional transactions, augmented transaction processing, operational intelligence, and stream/event processing. Additionally, Oracle Autonomous Data Warehouse (ADW) ranked first in Operational Intelligence.
Performance
If you look at the price for performance, you would see that most of the other vendors are having a greater possibility in terms of taking more money from you as a customer, but from Oracle, you would get a better price to performance
Note: Local NVMe SSD that Oracle provides for DBaaS are superior to the storage Amazon provides for RDS.
Oracle for Great Experience
In terms of Great Experience, You don’t have all the applications certified in AWS or AZURE, you don’t have RAC certified on AWS, you don’t have Exadata on AWS.
If you want to have a Great Database Experience, Better Performance & wanted to have Great Pricing, All these included in Oracle Cloud that is on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure(OCI)
AWS Aurora RDS vs Oracle Database Cloud Service
There is no doubt that Amazon is the leader in IaaS (followed by Microsoft Azure, Oracle is catching up with next Generation Bare Metal Cloud Service now called Oracle Cloud Infrastructure) but if you look at Database Market, Oracle is Leader (No. 1) in Database (Source: DBEngine).
I am a DBA: Should I go for Amazon AWS, AZURE, or Oracle Cloud
Now to the actual question, If you look at all the above points, Oracle being a leader in Database and given Oracle’s huge investment in the last 2-3 years in Cloud, and your existing experience as Oracle DBA, you can decide the right option for you.
Think from the Client’s point of view, would they be comfortable running Oracle Database on Oracle Cloud (with all DBCS features & Tools) or Oracle Database on Amazon AWS (IaaS Offering) with very little Cloud Benefits.
If you trust and believe me, Oracle Cloud (Database Cloud Service – DBCS) is a much better option for DBAs & Apps DBAs (Once you learn and become an Expert in Oracle Cloud for DBA’s then, by all means, pick AWS IaaS).
What’s your suggestion for DBA’s thinking of Cloud? What would you do?
Join the discussion in our Private Facebook Group for Cloud (Note: Your Reply can change someone’s Future)
Cloud Service Mapping
Different cloud vendors provide different cloud services using this cloud service mapping you can easily compare the different cloud services on a different cloud.
If you are a beginner in Cloud then I will highly recommend you to check our previous posts :
- Databases In Oracle Cloud (OCI) – VMDB | BMDB | ExadataCS
- [Video] Roles & Responsibilities of Oracle Cloud DBA: Tasks
- Oracle Cloud for DBAs: 9 Things Every Beginner Should Know
- [Video] Oracle Cloud Database Deployment Options (VMDB, BMDB, ExaCC, ExaCS & Autonomous (ADW, ATP)
Next Task For You
If you want to upgrade your career from an Oracle DBA to Oracle Cloud DBA, and wants to clear Oracle Cloud Database Service Specialist[1Z0-1093-21] & Oracle Cloud Autonomous Database Certification[1Z0-931-21] with 18 Hands-On labs, then register for a FREE class, and don’t miss an opportunity to gain a plethora of insights on becoming a certified Oracle Cloud DBA.
yunus says
cloud is just a service what ever cloud you can still be able to manage the databases the same way on both
Atul Kumar says
Yunus, True if you are deploying Database on IaaS but if you are on PaaS like Oracle DBCS (DBaaS) then you get different tools on cloud to manage like dbaascli, dbcscli, bkup_api, REST APIs etc check more at https://k21academy.com/1z016005
What do you think?
Brahma says
Hello Atul,
For FMW Admins which one will be good AWS or Oracle Cloud. Why because I thought for long term career learning only JCS wont be sufficient.
Please suggest
Brahma says
I forgot mention that I am working as SOA Admin now.
Rohit Pathak says
Hi Brahma
As you have gone through the blog, you have already found that running Oracle on Oracle Cloud is always preferred this is suggested by Oracle itself. As per my suggestion, Oracle Cloud is better than AWS Cloud when it comes to deploying and managing Oracle related technologies. As you are saying you are working as SOA Admin, Oracle Cloud has another offering which is SOA Cloud Service please check “https://docs.oracle.com/en/cloud/paas/soa-cloud/index.html”
Things you will get an advantage over AWS Cloud
1> You will get automated tools for migration of On-premise data to Oracle Cloud
2>Full support from Oracle
3>Templates of Oracle Software
Thanks & Regards,
Rohit (TeamK21)
Brahma says
I agree with you Rohit…. But I have to learn JCS and SOA Cloud Service as well. and amount also more.
Rohit Pathak says
Hi Brahma,
Thanks for your update!
I would suggest you, reach out to us at contact@k21academy.com
Thanks & Regards,
Rohit (TeamK21)
Janardhan says
Hi,
Currently working as Oracle Apps Technical Consultant. I would like to know which one I should choose out of Oracle Cloud and AWS.
Could you please suggest me which one I should go for and also let me know the benefits.
Thanks,
Janardhan.
Atul Kumar says
Janardhan,
What you work on technical as on Oracle ?
If working as technical developer or techno-fucntional then I suggest to stick to Oracle and look at Oracle Integration Cloud (OIC) , check at https://k21academy.com/oic11
Why to waste your existing knowledge to move anything outside Oracle Cloud ?
Atul
Raihan Afsar says
HI,
currently working as Oracle Dba (fresher with OCA and OCP certified) . I overthink about my future and want to stick to the Database administrator line only since I dont like coding. so cloud is the next step for a Dba and am confused on how to approach plus whether to go for aws or oracle cloud as per the demands in the coming future plus will moving to cloud will help me to get a decent hike as compare to normal dbas ?
Thanks
Raihan
Rohit Pathak says
Hi Raihan,
I do understand your concern, since you are coming from oracle background, so going for Oracle Cloud will be always the better choice, as running Oracle on Oracle is always preferred by customers and since Oracle Cloud Expanding so quickly and by 2020 they will be having almost 30+ datacenter across globe, so I would suggest you go for Oracle Cloud infrastructure.
To know more about Oracle Cloud Infrastructure check https://k21academy.com/oci11
Thanks & Regards,
Rohit (K21Academy)
Larbi E. says
Atul,
Do you have any customer running Oracle EBS in Azure? We are planning to move to Azure Iaas Cloud for EBS.
Thanks.
Surbhi Sharma says
Hi Larbi,
No, we don’t but please do post the specific question you may have in our free Private Facebook community and tag Atul so he can help.
https://k21academy.com/community
Regards,
Surbhi
Team K21
Preethi says
Hi Atul,
We are planning to migrate ebs r12 on-premise to oracle cloud as PaaS.
Could you please share any specific document releated to PaaS.
Rohit Pathak says
Hi Preethi,
I would suggest you to check the free masterclass on EBS R12 On Cloud , where we have covered all things needs to be done to migrate EBS R12 on Cloud.
Link: https://k21academy.com/ebscloud02
Link: https://k21academy.com/ebscloud15
Thanks & Regards,
Rohit (TeamK21)
gouthamraj says
Good Blog, well descrided, Thanks for sharing this information.
Oracle Fusion Financials Online Training
Amit Sanghvi says
Good article, Atul.
I liked your comparison of the terminologies used in various cloud offerings towards the end.
We are all in the same boat.
I got certified for AWS first and now OCI.
Avinash singh says
HI,
currently working as Oracle Dba (fresher with 1.7 years experience) . I overthink about my future and want to stick to the Database administrator line only since I dont like coding. so cloud is the next step as a Dba for me
As of now i am pretty clear that i want to do AWS..but i am confused from where i will start i mean what is the 1st step for in AWS course.
Help me out
Surbhi Sharma says
Hi Avinash,
Since you are coming from oracle background, so going for Oracle Cloud will be always the better choice, as running Oracle on Oracle is always preferred by customers and since Oracle Cloud Expanding so quickly and by the end of 2020 they will be having almost 30+ datacenter across the globe, so I would suggest you go for Oracle Cloud infrastructure.
To know more about Oracle Cloud Infrastructure check https://k21academy.com/oci11
Why waste your existing knowledge to move anything outside Oracle Cloud?
Regards,
Surbhi
Team k21
KRISHNAKANT NIRALA says
Hi Atul,
As an Oracle DBA, is it a good option to shift the career from DBA to OCI Architecture or should continue with DBA path. It is relevant to future demand and career in Cloud, especially considering the growing trend of cloud adoption, career and money.
Regards,
KK
Regards,
KK