Item: Oracle Cloud Infrastructure
Rating: 9
Author: Lisandro Fernigrini

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I'm using Oracle Cloud Infrastructure to create POC (proof of concept) for different solutions and services in the projects I'm currently involved. I usually employ the Free Tier offer to create one or two Oracle Database instances, and also volume storage and compute instances to install and configure the components I need to test / demonstrate.

Pros and Cons

The Free Tier offer allows to test basic configurations for Free
Easy to configure and deploy. Takes less than 10 minutes to create an Oracle Database instance
Really wide range of services available

More integration with other cloud solutions (besides Azure) would be great

Return on Investment

We have been able to test at low scale complex solutions using OCI
The Free Tier option can be used to test easy of configuration and deployment
Since pricing is in U.S. Dollars, it can be a problem in countries with less stable currencies

Membership in Oracle User Groups

Yes - I'm a member of AROUG (Argentina Oracle User Group) and I really value the chance of sharing experiences with members of the group and with the entire community. I've participated since 2013 in former OTN Latin America Tour as a speaker, both in Argentina and Uruguay, and this year even at global level since the tour was done online

Oracle University Experience

I have used the free (due to COVID-19) exams on OCI this year. The free traniing material was a reduced version of the entire courses, but the chance of getting certified for free was really good. I have taken other courses and certifications in the past (OCP in DB Administration, OCE on Oracle SQL etc).

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft Azure

We use Azure for most of company deployments, since we use Microsoft stack, but since we also use Oracle databases we were able to test OCI and compare the usage. I use OCI to test new features and solutions.

Key Insights

Do you think Oracle Cloud Infrastructure delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure's feature set?

Yes

Did Oracle Cloud Infrastructure live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Oracle Cloud Infrastructure again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle Database

Likelihood to Recommend

Deploying Oracle [Cloud Infrastructure] databases are really straightforward, either choosing the Autonomous options (Autonomous Transaction Processing, Autonomous Data Warehouse or Autonomous JSON), virtualized servers or even Bare Metal. The Free Tier option allows to configure up to 2 Autonomous database instances.

Besides databases (that is Oracle strong point) there are plenty of compute and serverless options that allow easy deployment of any kind of applications into OCI

Powerfull, easy to configure, and you can get it for Free

Overall Satisfaction with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure