Today we are going to dive into Database as a Service offered from Oracle. This product is the same product offered by Oracle as a perpetual processor license or perpetual named user license for running database software in your data center. The key different is that the database is provisioned onto a Linux server in the cloud and rather than paying $47,500 for a processor license and 22% annually after that, you pay for the database services on an hourly or monthly basis. If you have a problem that needs only a few weeks, you pay for the service for a few weeks. If you have a problem that takes a very large number of processors but for a very short period of time, you can effectively lease the large number of processors in the cloud and purchase a much smaller number of processors in your data center. Think of a student registration system. If you have 20K-30K students that need to log into a class registration system, you need to size this server for the peak number of students going through the system. In our example, we might need an 8 core system to handle the load during class registration. Outside the two or three weeks for registration, this system sits idle at less than 10% utilization because it is used to record and report grades during the semester. Rather than paying $47.5K times 8 cores times 0.5 for an x86 or Sparc server ($190K), we only have to pay $47.5K times 2 cores times 0.5 for x86 or Sparc cores ($47.5K) and lease the additional processors in the cloud for a month at $3K/core/month ($24K). We effectively reduced the cost from $190K to $71.5K by using the cloud for the peak period. Even if we do this three times during the year the price is $119.5K which is a cost savings of $70.5K. The second year we would be required to pay $41.8K in support cost for the larger server. By using the smaller server we drop the support cost to $10.5K. This effectively pays for leasing a third of the cloud resources by using a smaller server and bursting to the cloud for high peak utilization.
Now that we have looked at one of our use cases and the cost savings associated with using the cloud for peak utilization and reducing the cost of on servers and software in our data center, let’s dive into the pricing and configuration of Database as a Service (DBaaS) offered by Oracle in the public cloud services. If we click on the Platform -> Database menu we see the following page.
If we scroll down to the bottom we see that there are effectively three services that we can use in the public cloud. The first is Database Schema as a Service. This allows you to access a database through a web interface and write programs to read and present data to the users. This is the traditional Application Express interface or APEX interface that was introduced in Oracle 9. This is a shared service where you are given a database instance that is shared with other users. The second service is Database as a Service. This is the 11g or 12c database installed on a Linux installation in the cloud. This is a full installation of the database with ssh access to the operating system and sqlplus access to the database from a client system. The third service is Exadata as a Service. This is the Oracle database on dedicated hardware that is optimized to run the Oracle database.
The Schema as a Service is also known as Application Express. If you have never played with apex.oracle.com, click on the link and register for a free account. You can create an instance, a database schema, and store upto 10 MB or 25 MB of data for free. If you want to purchase a larger storage amount it is sold in 5 GB, 20 GB, or 50 GB increments.
The 10 or 25 MB instance is free. The 5 GB instance is $175/month. The 20 GB is $900/month, and the 50 GB is $2,000/month.
Tomorrow we will dive a little deeper into Schema as a Service. In summary, this is a database instance that can contain multiple tables and has an application development/application web front end allowing you to access the database. You can not attach with sqlplus. You can not attach with port 1521. You can not put a Java or PHP front end in front of your database and use it as a back end repository. You can expose database data through applications and REST api interfaces. This instance is shared on a single computer with other instances. You can have multiple instances on the same computer and the login give you access to your applications and your data in your instance.
The Database as a Service (DBaaS) is slightly different. With this you are getting a Linux instance that has been provisioned with a database. It is a fully deployed, fully provisioned database based on your selection criteria. There are many options when you provision DBaaS. Some of the options are virtual vs full instance, 11g vs 12c, standard edition vs enterprise edition vs enterprise edition high performance vs enterprise edition extreme performance. You need to provide an expected data size and if you plan on backing up the data and a cloud object repository if you do. You need to provide ssh keys to login as oracle or opc/root to manage the database and operating system. You also need to pick a password for the sys/system user inside the database. Finally, you need to pick the processor and memory shape that will run the database. All of these options have a pricing impact. All of these options effect functionality. It is important to know what each of these options means.
Let’s dive into some of these options. First, virtual vs full instance. If you pick a full instance you will get an Oracle Enterprise Linux installation that has the version of the database that you requested fully installed and operational. For standard installations the file system is the logical volume manager and the file system is provisioned across four file systems. The /u01 file system is the ORACLE_HOME. This is where the database binary is installed. The /u02 file system is the +DATA area. This is where table extents and table data is located. The /u03 file system is the +FRA area. This is where backups are dropped using the RMAN command which should run automatically every night for incremental backups and 2am on Sunday morning for a full backup. You can change the times and backup configurations with command line options. The /u04 area is teh +RECO area. This is where change logs and other log files are dropped. If you are using Data Guard to replicate data to another database or from another database, this is where the change logs are found.
If you pick a virtual instance you basically get a root file system running Oracle Enterprise Linux with a tar ball that contains the oracle database. You can mount file systems as desired and install the database as you have it installed in your data center. This configuration is intended to mirror what you have on-premise to test patches and new features. If you put everything into /u01 then install everything that way. If you put everything in the root file system, you have the freedom to do so even though this is not the recommended best practice.
The question that you are not asked when you try to create a DBaaS is if this service is metered or non-metered. This question is asked when you create your identity domain. If you request a metered service, you have the flexibility to select the shapes that you want and if you are billed hourly or monthly. The rates are determined by the processor shape, amount of memory, and what database option you select (standard, enterprise, high performance, or extreme performance). More on that later. With the metered option you are free to stop the database (but not delete it) and retain your data. You suspend the consumption of the database license but not the compute and storage. This is a good way of saving a configuration for later testing and not getting charged for using it. Think of it as having an Uber driver sit outside the store but not charge you to sit there. When you get back in the car the charge starts. A better analogy would be the Cars2Go. You can reserve a car for a few hours and drive it from Houston to Austin. You park the car in the Cars2Go parking slot next to the convention center and don’t pay for parking. You come out at the end of your conference, swipe your credit card and drive the car back to Houston. You only get charged for the car when it is between parking lots. You don’t get charged for it while it is parked in the reserved slot. You pay a monthly charge for the service (think of compute and storage) at a much lower rate. If you think of a non-metered service as renting a car from a car rental place, you pay for the car that they give you and it is your until you return it to the car rental place. You can’t not pay for the car while you are in your convention as with Card2Go. You have to pay for parking at the hotel or convention center. You can’t decide half way into your trip that you really need a truck instead of a car or a mini-van to hold more people and change out cars. The rental company will end your current agreement and start a new one with the new vehicle. Non-metered services are similar. If you select an OC3M shape then you can’t upgrade it to an OC5 to get more cores. You can’t decide that you need to use the diagnostics and tuning and upgrade from enterprise edition to enterprise edition high performance. You get what you started with and have 12 months to consume the services reserved for you.
The choice of 11g or 12c is a relatively simple one. You get 11.2.0.4 running on Oracle Enterprise Linux 6.6 or you get 12.1.0.2 running on Oracle Enterprise Linux 6.6. This is one of those binary questions. You get 11g or 12c. It really does not effect any other question. It does effect features because 12c has more features available to it but this choice is simple. Unfortunately, you can’t select 11.2.0.3 or 10.whatever or 9.whatever. You get the latest running version of the database and have an option to upgrade to the next release when it is available or not upgrade. Upgrades and patches are applied after you approve them.
The next choice is the type of database. We will dive into this deeper in a couple of days. The basic is that you pick Standard Edition or Enterprise Edition. You have the option of picking just the base Enterprise Edition with encryption only, with most of the options in the High Performance Option, or all of the options with Extreme Performance Option. The difference between High Performance and Exterme Performance is the Extreme included Active DataGuard, In-Memory options, and Real Application Clustering options. Again, we will dive into this deeper in a later blog entry.
The final option is the configuration of the database. I wanted to include a screen shot here but the main options that we look at are the CPU and memory shape which dictates the database consumption cost as well as the amount of storage for table space (/u02) and backup space (/u03 and /u04). There are additional charges above 128 GB for table storage and for backups.
We will not go into the other options on this screen in this blog entry.
In summary, DBaaS is charged on a metered or un-metered basis. The un-metered is a lower cost option but less flexible. If you know exactly what you need and the time that it is needed, this is a better option. Costs are fixed. Expenses are predictable. If you don’t know what you need, metered service might be better. It gives you the option of starting and stopping different processor counts, shutting off the database to save money, and select different options to test out different features. Look at the cost option and a blog that we will do in a few days analyzing the details on cost. Basically, the database can be mentally budgeted as $3K/OCPU/month for Enterprise Edition, $4K/OCPU/month for High Performance, and $5K/OCPU/month for Extreme Performance. Metered options typically cross over at 21 days. If you use metered service for more than 21 days your charges will exceed this amount. If you use it for less, it will cost less.
The Exadata as a Service is a special use case of Database as a Service. In this service you are getting a quarter, half, or full rack of hardware that is running the database. You get dedicated hardware that is tuned and optimized to run the Oracle database. Storage is dedicated to your compute nodes and not one else can use these components. You get 16, 56, or 112 processors dedicated to your database. You can add additional processors to get more database power. This service is available in a metered or non-metered option. All of the database options are available with this product. All of the processors are clustered into one database and you can run one or many instances of a database in this hardware. With the 12c option you get multi-tenant features so that you can run multiple instances and manage them with the same management tools but give users full access to their instance but not other instances running on the same database.
Exadata cost for metered services
Exadata cost for non-metered services
In summary, there are two options for database as a service. You can get a web based front end to a database and access all of your data through http and https calls. You can get a full database running on a Linux server or Linux cluster that is dedicated to you. You can consume these services on a an hourly, monthly, or yearly basis. You can decide on less expensive or more expensive options as well as how much processor, memory, and storage that you want to allocate to these services. Tomorrow, we will dive a little deeper into APEX or Schema as a Service and look at how it compares to services offered by Amazon and Azure.
