Likelihood to Recommend Definitely would recommend this unit or this family of units into most peoples organizations. Especially if you're starting fresh with a whole dedicated SAN and dont have to move a ton of data over to these (though that is possible, it is very messy). If you're moving from existing storage, then you will have to be prepared for some sore spots!
Read full review First, get the database on Oracle. If you are in an Oracle stack, it would be much better to use the Oracle products. If you are driving a Ferrari, you wouldn’t put a Mercedes engine in it. If you are writing a query, you cannot rely on other brands. Since I'm an architect, when I look for a product, I look for performance. The installation is easy because it comes out-of-the-box and you just start using it. Previous to Oracle Exadata, we were using a normal Oracle RAC service. We were just waiting for this product to come out. I'm currently writing a data warehouse on Exadata. Before this solution, we were aiming for this to be completed by 8 a.m., when our ETLs would finish. With the help of Exadata's special features, this was reduced to 3 a.m. This solution allows us to bring more data within the same time period. It provides us with more subject areas that provide more reports to our users. Our ETL times reduced to 65%, then to 50%. Read full review Pros Gets all your (SAN) ducks in a row, and makes it easy with a single pane of glass The usual good dell support if you're paying for the right support level It can get expensive with options added but base price is pretty competitive Read full review Customize-able for specific functionality optimized for combination of online transaction or analytical processing. Ability to serve mix workloads with resource management feature enables prioritizing allocation for certain workload. Scale-able on-premise with compatibility for cloud deployment offers flexible solution for organization considering to transition from on-premise solution. Read full review Cons Costs are high, especially when having to replace multiple old SAN's with the one type There is alot of down time when you have to push updates out to the units Not sure we still have the full hang of all the functions as there's some pretty deep functions that are not explained well Read full review Patching can often become quite involved and convoluted. It should be more transparent and straightforward. Storage metrics can be difficult and time consuming to obtain. Basic administrative functions can be hard to repair when discovered. Vendor support can take a while to obtain. Generally several attempts are necessary to reach the right area of vendor expertise. Read full review Alternatives Considered Oracle Exadata Database Machine had the best performance overall hands down. It clearly beat the competition and we were seeing 1000X improvement on
SAP HANA . Oracle Exadata Database Machine beat that without us refactoring our code. To achieve that in HANA, we had to refactor the code somewhat. Now this was for our limited POC of 5 use cases. Given the large number of stored procedures we had in Sybase, we need to capture more production metrics but we are seeing incredible performance.
Gene Baker Vice President, Chief Architect, Development Manager and Software Engineer
Read full review Return on Investment Money saved in having a bunch of other competing storage units All kinds of time saved for our admins that have to deal with storage The units look good and give you that futurey data center vibe! Read full review Single support from a single vendor with both machine and database from Oracle, which is costing us less. With Exadata, we need less technical manpower and less technical support. A business transaction with the integrated and centralized database helps us focus on other business needs. We don't need to buy additional licenses and Hardware for the next 3 to 5 years. Habeeb Akbar Sr. Product Manager/Consultant for Software Technologies and Infrastructure
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