Installing, configuring and Administering Oracle Database Software has been the domain and responsibility of Oracle Database Administrators (DBAs) for decades. The IT industry, with respect to providing IT services, support and software development are traditionally siloed organizations, meaning that specialist individuals and/or teams all adhere -only- to their specialist areas, such as DBAs look after, typically, databases in production (live) and test environments, system administrators would look after the OS and hardware environment where said databases would reside and so on.
A typical chain of events in a siloed style organization would be, for example, a Project Manager or a Developer would put in a request for a database or databases (usually via a change control system) to be installed and configure for development purposes or a project requirement. Requests of this type would ultimately become the responsibility of the DBA to implement. These sort of request would typically take a minimum of a week to months, in some cases, before a DBA has the approval to implement the request. However, with the advent of technologies such as Grid Computing (distributive systems), Cluster Computing (homogeneous nodes acting as one system) and computer Virtualization IT specialist have been finding it more and more necessary (and useful) to adopt a horizontal approach and mentality to practising their specialists craft rather than the long held vertical (siloed) mentality. With enhancements to the technologies mentioned above came Cloud computing and the dawning of the age of self-service, to be able to request a database on demand - by anyone - via a self-service portal.
The Promise of Database as a Service
The paradigm shift in mentality that supports rapid provisioning of databases at cost and on demand, the removal of intricate configuration and installation of the infrastructure and the database that reside in said infrastructure, and in so doing render the illusion of an unlimited supply by way of a cloud concept, is summarised below. In other words, database as a service seeks to be:
- A consolidated platform where databases can be provisioned (spun up) in a reliable and repeatable manner
- A self-service offering
- Allow scaling up/down
- Metered, ie, record resource usage for internal purposes and/or chargeback to external customers and/or inter-departmental organizations
- A standardized process coupled with robust security
The driving benefit, but not least, for organizations adopting a Database as a Service - Database Cloud solution is the reduction in Capital- (Capex) and Operating expenses (Opex). Not to mention, the flexibility of being able to provision databases in less than a day (40 minutes or less).
Database as a Service can be offered as a Public Cloud Database Solution or a Private Cloud Database Solution. Database as a Service in the Public Cloud benefits, include the customer not needing to administer or manage the cloud and short-term reduction in Opex expenses with Capex being avoided all together. Database as a Service Private Cloud benefits, include control over the data and information and reduced long term Capex. Both solutions benefit from Oracle's security built into the product.
A Public Cloud Database as a Service portal is illustrated in Figure 1 below.
Figure 1 - Provisioned 12.1 Single Instance Database - Database as a Service in the Public Cloud
Similarly, a Private Cloud Database as a Service portal using Oracle Enterprise Manager 13c, as the orchestration tool, is illustrated in figure 2 below.
Figure 2 - Provisioned Real Application Cluster (RAC) database - Database as a Service Private Cloud
The Objective of DBaaS
The objectives of Database as a Service (DBaaS) aims to streamline not only the database life cycle management process, but also the development and testing life cycle process. Typical use cases include.
- Agile 'Data Refresh' - based on source data - also referred to as aTest Master - that can be cloned from a backup or directly from the Test Master
- Hybrid cloud deployments to facilitate DevOps - where software development and testing can take place in the cloud while maintaining production (live) systems on-premise
- Automation - reducing DBA routine work
Conclusion
In summary and conclusion, for those seeking to modernize their database life cycle management process, for faster database provisioning and reduction of cost in delivery of database services, DBaaS as described above should be considered.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)
Gordon Greer
Gordon Greer is a Technical Architect at Oracle with over 20 years experience in Oracle database technology. Gordon joined Oracle in 2015 as a Principal Advanced Services Engineer. Prior to Oracle, Gordon worked as a Senior DBA at DXC Technology (formerly known as CSC - Computer Science Corporation). In Gordon's current role at Oracle he is typical the Technical Design Authority (TDA) on various projects for large customers in the domain of DBaaS using Enterprise Manager Cloud Control among other technical 'hats' that he wears.
The views expressed here do not reflect the views of the company(ies) Gordon has worked for (or have worked with) neither Oracle Corporation's. The opinions expressed by Gordon on this article are his. You are free to use this information but Gordon is not responsible if you ever happen to suffer a loss/inconvenience/damage using it
Published: 2021-05-28