Businesses nowadays are finding database consolidation in the cloud an attractive option. For one, consolidation cuts down the costs by reducing floorspace, power consumption and licenses needed. It also delivers cloud-based agility, wherein a business can take advantage of the benefits including simpler and easier management, fast provisioning and self-service.
Different Approaches to Consolidation
There are different approaches to consolidation. First, there is using virtual machines, then there are dedicated databases, and then, with Oracle Database 12c, there’s multi-tenant database.
With a virtual machine, you can use one physical server to run different applications. But since you are just reducing the physical machines and replacing these with virtual machines, it is still very complicated. Dedicated databases, on the other hand, share servers and the operating system. But the problem is that you will be duplicating resources, files and process for all the databases you create.
So what you can do to achieve the highest degree of consolidation is to host all of your applications in a single server. And this is where the pluggable databases of Oracle Multitenant comes in handy.
Introduction to Oracle Multitenant
A pluggable database is a self-contained Oracle database that is fully functional. Because of Oracle Multitenant, you can plug these databases in one multi-tenant container database. This way, you can manage all the pluggable databases you have as if you are managing just one database. For instance, you only apply a patch to one multi-tenant container database and this patch is applied to all the tenants. This allows you to simplify database consolidation and lower your costs because you only deal with one multi-tenant database, unlike other database consolidation methods you have.
The Use Cases for Oracle Multitenant
There are several use cases wherein Oracle Multitenant is just perfect.
- Development and testing. Oracle Multitenant allows you to get rapid provisioning and recycling, features that you need in the development and testing of database.
- Consolidating separate applications. You simply plug in two pluggable databases containing two different applications into a container database and your work is done.
- Software as a service. In SaaS, you have multiple copies of the same application systems that you let your own customers use. You can use Oracle Multitenant to manage these different customers all at once. It also helps you maintain isolation and security requirements set forth in your service level agreements between you and each of your customers. This is because your customers will be connecting to these services as if they were using a single database.
- Software vendors. Software vendors can easily install their software at a client site by putting everything they need in a pluggable database and then have the customer plug that database into a multi-tenant container database they have onsite. The new software would be ready to use.
Key Takeaways
Here are some of the things you need to know about Oracle Database 12c and Oracle Multitenant.
Oracle Database 12c is the first to be designed for the cloud. And it is made more powerful by Oracle Multitenant. Oracle Multitenant gives you all the benefits of database consolidation without having to deal with the drawbacks of other consolidation approaches.
You can cut a significant level of capital expenses because you are spreading the database overhead between a lot of different databases in the single multi-tenant container database. You also get to significantly cut on operating expenses because you can manage a number of databases as one, even while you remain to have granular control when it is needed.
Lastly, you do not need to change the applications you are currently using in order to use Oracle Multitenant.
Call Four Cornerstone today and find out how Oracle Multitenant and Oracle Database 12c can help you and your business.
Photo by Oracle.
