Oracle 12c - A Tamable Monster of Data Management
June 21, 2017
Oracle 12c - A Tamable Monster of Data Management
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Oracle Database 12c
Oracle 12c is used as the back end database that supports all the data being used and stored by Banner ERP. But it also manages data used in other applications such as IBM Cognos, Discoverer, Sales Point, and a few others. It solves complex issues such as scalability, security, user administration, and integration with other applications such as VMWare and NetBackup.
- Oracle 12c has improved its ability to move data by its improved version of data pump, as well as monitoring of data pump jobs.
- It's improved Cloud Control monitoring tool that gives you more ability and tools than the former 11g grid control.
- Improved documentation and installation of critical patch updates, with the use of Opatch, has helped maintain a fully patched and secured environment for us.
- As in 11g, there wasn't much improvement on ORA-*** error messages in 12c. This was somewhat of a disappointment, there still isn't much information provided for problems that arise for certain oracle issues.
- Documentation for Oracle still can be somewhat murky and hard to navigate. This is not always the case, but there still seems to be a myriad of irrelevant data in the search results.
- Oracle DBCA creates databases with extra cost options enabled by default, which could be detrimental if a user accidentally uses the extra cost option, such as OLAP or Active Data Guard. We often have to run scripts to turn these options off manually, if they can't be turned off using the DBCA.
- The ease of accessibility, as well as security, has made it an ideal database for our students and faculty. Very few of our help desk tickets have been made due to unavailability or poor performance of our Oracle databases.
- The monitoring capabilities of 12c Cloud Control have made is much easier to quickly and effectively respond to issues. Graphics have shown us issues such as blocking locks or hung applications that have caused us to get the ball rolling prior to a user contacting us about a problem with another application.
- Being able to clone a database or replicate data quickly and efficiently has caused us to quickly respond to requests for test or training systems, without much effort. With the use of RMAN or Flex Clone, we have been able to have a working copy of our production database in under two hours.
Coming from a MSSQL server background to an Oracle shop, there is much to be said about the differences between the databases. While MS SQL Server is a robust database, the features are somewhat inferior to Oracle. One is that Oracle can be run on other OS platforms, particularly Linux, which makes it much less CPU intensive. Oracle has better scalability, much better backup and recovery tools, can be monitored much easier with the use of 12c Cloud Control, as well as can be administered from cloud control. While I do like working with SQL Server, I prefer 12c since I am able to work with it across multiple platforms, and administer it easier in any way I choose. While with SQL Server, you are limited to how it is administered, particularly only with SSMS (Although I think there's a plugin for TOAD that is an option, I can't speak on the performance of using TOAD for MS SQL Server).