Migrate Single-Instance Oracle Databases

In this configuration option, you migrate an application and a single-instance Oracle Database running on VMware on-premises with Oracle Database backup to an on-premises location. Oracle Database management and operations are usually manual and you have full responsibility.

The following architecture shows a single-instance Oracle Database deployed on-premises:

Description of the illustration migrate-single-instance-premises-oracledb-arch.png

You have the following options to ensure database high availability when migrating this deployment to OCI:

• Migrate to Oracle Base Database Service
• Migrate to Oracle Autonomous Database Serverless
• Migrate to Oracle Cloud VMware Solution

Migrate to Oracle Base Database Service

Oracle Base Database Service runs Oracle Database Enterprise Edition and Standard Edition workloads on flexible virtual machine (VM) shapes in OCI. The service provides automated database lifecycle management that reduces administration, built-in low-code application development that accelerates new application deployment, and compute scaling with pay-as-you-go pricing that lowers costs.

Oracle Base Database Service provides Oracle Restart capabilities, Oracle Clusterware-managed database services, Oracle Automatic Storage Management (ASM), and storage redundancy, and complies with the Oracle Maximum Availability Architecture (MAA) Bronze Level by default.

The following architecture shows a single-instance Oracle Database on Oracle Base Database Service:

Description of the illustration migrate-oracle-basedbsrvc-oci-arch.png

This architecture consists of the following components:

• VCN with two subnets and a Service Gateway to access OCI-managed services.
• Application on OCI Compute VM running in the application subnet.
• Single-instance Oracle Database deployed on Oracle Base Database Service in the database subnet.
• Oracle Database Autonomous Recovery Service for database automatic backups.
• (Optional) OCI Object Storage service as an alternative solution for database automatic backups.
• (Optional) OCI Vault for Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) key management.

This architecture benefits from:

• High availability with Oracle Grid Infrastructure.
• Enhanced data protection with Oracle Database Autonomous Recovery Service.
• Automated database provisioning and lifecycle operations.
• TDE is enabled by default with the option to use OCI Vault for key management.
• Automated migrations using ZDM.
• Oracle Cloud licensing models.

Recommendations

• Configure automatic backup to Oracle Database Autonomous Recovery Service to minimize the backup workload on the database by implementing the incremental forever backup strategy that eliminates weekly full backups. Additionally, it enables a faster restore and recovery by providing a virtual full backup copy and eliminating the need to recover incremental backups.
• Enable Oracle Database Autonomous Recovery Service real-time data protection to synchronize your transactions in real time to the recovery service. Real-time data protection minimizes the possibility of data loss to achieve a sub-second Recovery Point Objective (RPO).
• Consider configuring automatic backup to the OCI Object Storage service as an alternative, which provides three-way mirroring across Availability Domains or Fault Domains.

Migrate to Oracle Autonomous Database Serverless

Oracle Autonomous Database provides an easy-to-use, fully autonomous database that scales elastically, delivers fast query performance, and requires no database administration. You don't need to configure or manage any hardware or install any software with Oracle Autonomous Database Serverless. Oracle Autonomous Database handles provisioning, backup, patching, upgrading, and growing or shrinking the database.

Oracle Autonomous Database runs on Oracle Exadata and Oracle RAC and benefits from high availability, scalability, and redundancy, and also complies with the Oracle MAA Silver Level by default.

The following architecture shows Oracle Autonomous Database Serverless:

Description of the illustration migrate-autonomousdb-serverless-oci-arch.png

This architecture consists of the following components:

• VCN with two subnets with access to OCI-managed services.
• Application on OCI Compute VM running in the application subnet.
• Oracle Autonomous Database Serverless with private endpoint access through the database subnet.
• (Optional) OCI Vault for Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) key management.

This architecture benefits from:

• Built-in high availability and redundancy provided by Oracle Exadata and Oracle RAC.
• Application protection from interruptions during outages and maintenance operations with Application Continuity.
• Enhanced data protection with Backup-Based Disaster Recovery.
• Online and automatic scalability of compute and storage resources.
• Automated database provisioning and autonomous lifecycle operations.
• TDE is enabled by default with the option to use OCI Vault for key management.
• Automated migrations using ZDM.
• OCI licensing models and Enterprise Edition options are included at no additional cost.

Recommendations

• Use Backup-Based Disaster Recovery to create a new database from the backup at the time of switchover or failover and to achieve lower RPO, which is 10 seconds for local, and 1 minute for cross-region Backup-Based Disaster Recovery.
• Enable Application Continuity to mask database outages during planned and unplanned events from end-users to ensure uninterrupted applications.

Migrate to Oracle Cloud VMware Solution

Oracle Cloud VMware Solution (OCVS) provides a customer-managed, native VMware-based cloud environment, installed within your tenancy and offers complete control using familiar VMware tools.

Similar to on-premises deployments, database provisioning and all database maintenance and lifecycle operations are usually manual and your responsibility. You must consider Oracle Database licensing on OCVS and the separation of OCVS clusters for Oracle Databases. Compute VMs use a local file system without restart capabilities provided by Oracle Grid Infrastructure.

The following diagram illustrates a single-instance Oracle Database on OCVS.

Description of the illustration migrate-vmware-service-ovcs-oci-arch.png

This architecture consists of the following components:

• VCN with a Service Gateway to access OCI-managed services.
• OCVS Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC).
• Application on OCI Compute VM provided by OCVS.
• Single-instance Oracle Database on OCI Compute VM provided by OCVS
• OCI Object Storage for database backups.

Recommendation

Use the Oracle Database Cloud Backup Module to configure database backups to OCI Object Storage and benefit from three-way mirroring across Availability Domains or Fault Domains.

Options Comparison

OCI provides various options for your VMware-based workloads with different features for high availability, disaster recovery, migration, automation, and more.

The following table compares single-instance Oracle Database migration options with Oracle Autonomous Database Serverless, Oracle Base Database Service, and Oracle Cloud VMware Solution:

Feature	Oracle Base Database Service	Oracle Autonomous Database Serverless	Oracle Cloud VMware Solution
Database deployment	Comanaged	Autonomous	Manual
Lifecycle operations	Automated	Autonomous	Manual
Licensing	BYOL and license included	BYOL and license included	BYOL
TDE encryption	Default and included	Default and included	Manual, paid option
TDE Key Store	Local wallet and OCI Vault	Local wallet and OCI Vault	Local wallet
Database migration	Automated with Oracle ZDM	Automated with Oracle ZDM	Manual
Oracle MAA Level	Bronze	Silver	Bronze (customer responsibility)
High availability	Oracle Restart and ASM	Oracle Exadata and Oracle RAC	VM restart
Disaster Recovery	Fast restore from backup with Oracle Database Autonomous Recovery Service	Backup-based DR	Restore from backup
Backup operations	Automated	Autonomous	Manual
Restore operations	Automated	Automated	Manual
RPO (local outage)	Zero with Oracle Database Autonomous Recovery Service	10s with Backup-Based DR	Last backup
RTO (local outage)	Time to restore	Zero (or 1h + 1h/5TB)	Time to restore
Application Continuity	No	Yes	No