Oracle Database Service for Azure (ODSA) 1 – Fundamentals

Major cloud providers have begun to offer a plethora of services tailored to meet the demands of various industries. Oracle Database Service for Azure is a collaboration between Oracle and Microsoft, providing a fully managed, high-performance, and scalable platform for running Oracle databases linked to Azure cloud infrastructure.

Oracle Database Service for Azure (OracleDB for Azure) is an Oracle-managed service delivering Oracle Database services in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) directly to Microsoft Azure customers through the OCI Azure Interconnect.

How will Azure administrators/developers access these OCI database services?

Please note that the Azure console is not updated to show OCI Database services and also OCI console is not updated to show the Azure connection.

Instead, an intermediate portal is created by Oracle where the Oracle Database Service for Azure will reside.

ODSA Portal: https://console.multicloud.oracle.com/azure/home

To perform basic database and infrastructure management tasks you need to go to the above link.

You can optionally federate the Azure tenant’s Azure Active Directory (AAD) with an OCI identity domain so that users can log into this OCI Console using the same Azure credentials used for Azure and the OracleDB for the Azure portal.

So, OracleDB for Azure databases reside in OCI but Azure administrators and developers will still work mainly in Azure, connecting their applications to Oracle databases using connection strings like Azure’s standard way of exposing Azure resources to applications.

Is any Learning needed for Azure Administrators/Developers?

Nothing as such. Azure administrators and developers don’t have to learn OCI. They work in this OCI Multicloud portal for Oracle databases that looks and feels like the Azure tools they’re already familiar with.

With OCI multi cloud’s OracleDB for Azure, your database resources reside in an OCI account that is linked to your Azure account through Oracle Interconnect for Microsoft Azure, an Oracle-managed tunnel connection.

How are these two clouds connected?

Communication between the two cloud environments happens through the peering of an Azure Virtual Network with OracleDB for Azure’s Virtual Cloud Network. You choose the Azure Virtual Network you want to use when you provision OracleDB for Azure database systems. Network traffic moves over the OCI Interconnect for Azure. OracleDB for Azure configures DNS on both sides of the Interconnect to enable bi-directional communication between applications in the Azure tenancy and database resources in OracleDB for Azure. The below Diagram from Oracle Diagram shows how these are connected.

What are the available Database Systems in this service?

Oracle Database Service for Azure offers the following products:

Oracle Exadata Database: Flexible Exadata systems to add database compute servers and storage servers to your system at any time after provisioning.
Autonomous Database on shared Exadata infrastructure: A fully autonomous database that scales elastically, provides good performance, and is said to require no database administration.
Base Database: Oracle Enterprise Edition or Oracle Standard Edition 2 databases on virtual machine DB systems. You can deploy single-node systems or 2-node RAC systems.
MySQL Database with HeatWave: Fully managed Oracle Cloud native service. Optionally, you can add a HeatWave cluster to a MySQL DB system. HeatWave is a distributed, scalable, shared-nothing, in-memory, hybrid columnar, query processing engine designed for extreme performance.

How is an Azure administrator or developer will monitor the databases running in the other cloud?

Database metrics from this database system will be streamed to Azure Application Insights. Developers can use these metrics in Azure when creating application dashboards to monitor database performance.

Database events are also to be streamed to Azure Log Analytics. Azure Developers can monitor events there and create alerts.

Custom Azure dashboard for each database. Azure users will have information about the database resource, connection strings, a link to the database in OracleDB for Azure, and graphs for the standard database metrics.

Few other key Features of Oracle Database Service for Azure:

Integration is Seamless: Azure services and tools, such as Azure Active Directory, Azure Monitor, and Azure Backup can be seamlessly integrated to Oracle Database Service for Azure.
High-Performance Databases: You will get Oracle’s best-performance databases like Oracle Exadata and Autonomous Database linked to your Azure with very less latency.
Scalability: Oracle Database Service for Azure allows users to scale their database deployments up or down as needed.
Security: With features such as encryption at rest, encryption in transit, and Azure Private Link for secure access to your database instances.
Automated Backup and Recovery: The service includes automated backup and recovery capabilities, with the option to store backups on Azure Blob Storage for long-term retention. Users can also schedule and manage backups using familiar Azure tools.
Oracle Support: Oracle Database Service for Azure is fully supported by Oracle, ensuring that users have access to Oracle’s world-class support and expertise when they need it.
Licensing Options: Can either utilize their existing Oracle licenses (Bring Your Own License or BYOL) or purchase new Oracle licenses as part of the service (Pay-as-You-Go, or PAYG).
Monitoring and Management: Customers can use Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM) or other third-party tools to monitor and manage their Oracle Database instances in Azure. In addition, Azure Monitor can be used to monitor and analyze database performance, resource usage, and other operational metrics.
Oracle Database Migration Service: Customers can use Oracle’s Database Migration Service to simplify and automate the migration of their on-premises Oracle databases to the Oracle Database Service for Azure.

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Brijesh Gogia

I’m an experienced Cloud/Oracle Applications/DBA Architect with more than 15 years of full-time DBA/Architect experience. I have gained wide knowledge on Oracle and Non-Oracle software stack running on-prem and on Cloud and have worked on several big projects for multi-national companies. I enjoy working with leading-edge technology and have a passion for Cloud architecture, automation, database performance, and stability. Thankfully my work allows me time for researching new technologies (and to write about them).

Oracle Database Service for Azure (ODSA) 1 – Fundamentals

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