Dilemma: I want to move to Azure, but I have a lot of Oracle databases
Ise Douwes, Principal Consultant at AMIS: “It is now possible to combine the best of Oracle with the best of Azure. Truly the best of both worlds.”
Last month, Oracle and Microsoft announced closer collaboration to improve how their products work together. We spoke with Ise Douwes, Cloud Architect and Principal Consultant at AMIS Conclusion, about this partnership and its potential benefits for Oracle users.
What is new about this partnership? Weren’t Oracle and Microsoft already collaborating in the cloud?
“The Oracle Azure Interconnect service already existed. It provides a direct connection between Oracle Cloud and Azure, resulting in faster connectivity and lower latency. What is new is that data traffic between the two cloud environments is no longer charged. You can also use Oracle FastConnect and the Azure Connector at no cost. Azure Active Directory now connects directly to Oracle IAM, allowing you to use your Azure AD roles and accounts within Oracle Database. Finally, you can monitor Oracle Database through Azure monitoring: one dashboard for the operations team!”
That sounds promising, but what can you actually do with it?
“It means you can now more easily use Azure components such as Data Factory, Azure Data Lake, Databricks and Power BI alongside Oracle databases. This avoids a difficult migration or complicated licensing arrangements.”
Which customers would benefit?
“This is particularly attractive to customers who have decided to move to Azure but still have many Oracle databases. Moving an Oracle database to Azure can sometimes be a major undertaking. Other Azure database systems do not necessarily offer suitable alternatives to products such as Data Guard, Backup, Diagnostics, Tuning and Spatial. Converting existing PL/SQL code within the database also requires considerable effort. It is therefore useful to be able to migrate most of your infrastructure to Azure while continuing to make full use of your existing Oracle databases and moving them across on a like-for-like basis.”
What does this mean for licensing costs? Will they fall significantly?
“Within Oracle Cloud, you can use a licence-included model. For example, in a development, test, acceptance and production environment, you can choose to run the development, test and acceptance systems only during office hours. You then pay licensing costs for those environments only during those hours, potentially saving more than 60%. This is not possible when running those environments on IaaS in Azure.”
What about security, availability and performance when combining Azure and Oracle?
“In many environments, Azure provides data processing and visualisation, while business-critical data comes from Oracle systems. It is now possible to use the best of both worlds without complexity. Users often choose Oracle Database deliberately because they rely on specific options for partitioning, security, tuning and backup. Oracle is the best option for large, complex databases. You cannot simply switch these systems to PostgreSQL or SQL Server. Users need assurance that database security, availability and integrity are safeguarded. Oracle provides that assurance. This option makes connecting these systems to Azure easier.”
What does this mean for IT managers?
“This collaboration benefits IT managers because they no longer face a complex migration of Oracle databases to Azure. It also opens the possibility of moving to Oracle Autonomous Database over time, removing the need for dedicated DBAs. That is another advantage, given the shortage of skilled staff and the large number of DBAs approaching retirement.”
Which customers would you recommend this option to?
“For very large organisations, there is no suitable alternative to Oracle Database. Fifty years of Oracle Database legacy is extremely difficult to move to another system. Data volumes, geographical data and extensive business logic in PL/SQL make migration substantial and complex. There is also virtually no suitable alternative to Oracle for systems with very demanding recovery time objectives (RTOs) and recovery point objectives (RPOs).”
What role can AMIS play in Oracle Cloud and Azure?
“AMIS has established a unique position. We are the only company in the Benelux to hold both Specialist Cloud Data Management status and Azure Gold Partner status. This allows us to combine Oracle database specialisation with expertise in Azure data processing. We can therefore support our customers across different database deployment models, including bare metal, virtual machines, Autonomous Database and managed databases, alongside Azure data processing components such as Azure Data Factory, Databricks, Azure Functions, Azure Event Hubs, Azure Data Explorer and Azure Data Lake. Over the past few years, AMIS has completed numerous Oracle Cloud and Azure implementations containing large volumes of business-critical data. We work across sectors including energy, rail, agriculture, government, finance, facility management, manufacturing and retail.”
Finally, when should someone call you?
“You are always welcome to call. But particularly get in touch if you face one of the Oracle or Azure challenges many organisations are dealing with today. For example: my Oracle DBA is retiring, what should I do? How can I move to Azure when I have many Oracle databases? How do I connect numerous Oracle databases to my Azure data platform? I currently pay for on-premises Oracle Database licences and want to move to the cloud. What is the best approach?”
