Product manager at Metrodata Electronics Tbk PT
Real User
Great for building disaster recovery systems, very stable, and offers good scalability
Pros and Cons
  • "On-prem, Oracle is the number one database technology."
  • "Oracle needs to improve its cluster technologies. They need to improve in the cluster technology using ARC due to the fact that sometimes people think that they have a redundant server when they are using ARC with the cluster and think that will increase the performance. In reality, if they are using ii with a big workload, sometimes the performance is not increasing, and can sometimes actually impacts it in such a way that there's some degradation in the performance."

What is most valuable?

The best feature on Oracle Database is the Data Guard. It's great if you want to build some sort of disaster recovery solution.

ARC is one of the best features. It's quite simple and flexible. It offers really simple guidance that helps make using it a breeze.

On-prem, Oracle is the number one database technology.

What needs improvement?

Oracle needs to improve its cluster technologies. They need to improve in the cluster technology using ARC due to the fact that sometimes people think that they have a redundant server when they are using ARC with the cluster and think that will increase the performance. In reality, if they are using ii with a big workload, sometimes the performance is not increasing, and can sometimes actually impacts it in such a way that there's some degradation in the performance. 

Oracle has covered all the aspects of the market requirement. Let's say someone who searches for a security solution that has high availability, security, manageability, and performance. That's all of the IT requirements, basically, and they are all covered by Oracle. There aren't features lacking, in that sense. That said, while that's a true statement in terms of on-premises deployments, and Oracle really is is the number one database technology, when it comes to the cloud, it's still a question about how good Oracle really is. Most of our customers are using Azure or maybe AWS. Not Oracle. That's the one area that Oracle should improve.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been working with the solution for 11 years. I mostly only handle the core technology.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Right now, I would say that Oracle is one of the best solutions for our customers in terms fo stability. If they handle big productions or process a lot of paper, this is the perfect choice for them.

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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

If they need to, companies can easily add more nodes to the cluster. It's easy to use its cluster technology to scale. I would say it's rather easy to expand the solution if you need to.

How are customer service and support?

If we talk about the MOS, My Oracle Support, it's more of a self-service. Currently, sometimes it's not as reliable as we wish it was. Mostly, our internal team handles support as we can't really rely on Oracle. We'd only go to them if the problem is related to the product, for example, if it's got some bugs or something like that. For troubleshooting, our customers come to us for assistance. From a technical aspect, we are quite confident that we can support all of the customer's needs ourselves without using Oracle.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We previously used MySQL, although that too is an Oracle solution. It's part of our portfolio alongside Oracle DB.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

When people talk about Oracle, especially Database, most of them mention that Oracle is an expensive product. However, if it's suitable or not or if it really is "expensive" depends on their requirements. Today, Oracle is one of the best choices, regardless of pricing. 

Even though on paper their pricing looks expensive, everything can be negotiated. Companies may be able to come to an understanding with Oracle at a price point they can accept.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

In our market, there are a lot of open-source products like EnterpriseDB. There are also commercial products like PostgreSQL. With Postgre you have to have MySQL with it right now. 

If a customer prefers to use an open-source product, I'm quite confident with MySQL.

What other advice do I have?

We are an Oracle Platinum Partner.

I'd first advise any company considering Oracle to learn the benefits first before they talk about the pricing. We like to do an assessment with the customer right away. The first thing we need to know is their pain points and basic requirement and also if they have a common problem in their system. I will judge that against the benefits of Oracle's technology, which is in the database. At the end of the day, if the features can solve your problem, then money comes as a secondary concern. 

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten. There isn't a perfect solution on the market, however, this comes pretty close.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
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Storage Solutions Expert at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 20
It enables us to comply with our security guidelines
Pros and Cons
  • "It enables us to comply with our security guidelines, and it is automated."
  • "The product could be cheaper."

What is our primary use case?

Oracle Database is a database for electronic channel. We use the solution to collect transaction data from banks, financial institutions, and potential customers.

How has it helped my organization?

It enables us to comply with our security guidelines, and it is automated.

What needs improvement?

The product could be cheaper.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Oracle Database for 15 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is like a real application cluster.

I rate the solution’s stability a ten out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution’s scalability is good from a technical perspective. We are shifting to other products because of the basic cost.

Around 4,000 users are using this solution.

How are customer service and support?

The organization provide top-notch support.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is neither easy nor complex. With DB experience and product support, it is quite easy. It would be complex for a new guy.

What was our ROI?

Oracle Database is a very expensive solution, but it is very stable. Financial institutions are moving to online channels. It can handle traffic very well.

What other advice do I have?

I recommend leveraging Oracle's logging capabilities, as it can efficiently offload tasks such as reporting, backups, and more. This allows for utilising commodity platforms, reducing reliance on proprietary systems and enabling the adoption of internal IMD platforms.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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System/Security Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Consultant
Mature, stable, and easy to deploy
Pros and Cons
  • "It is a mature product. It is pretty stable. I've got a lot of experience with it, so it is pretty easy to use."
  • "The software really doesn't need any improvement, but the way they do the billing should be improved. They charge by all the chips on the server, whether you use them or not. If you have a server that has 64 chips on it and you use one chip, they charge you for 64, and that's a terrible business model."

What is our primary use case?

We are using it for inventory control. We have about 220 servers running Oracle Database, but we're migrating from Oracle to Postgres.

How has it helped my organization?

We've had it for a very long time, and up until they changed the way they do the billing, we were happy. A few years ago, they changed the way they charge for the product, and they hit us with a $6 million bill for one year, and that was it. People got very unhappy.

What is most valuable?

It is a mature product. It is pretty stable. I've got a lot of experience with it, so it is pretty easy to use.

What needs improvement?

The software really doesn't need any improvement, but the way they do the billing should be improved. They charge by all the chips on the server, whether you use them or not. If you have a server that has 64 chips on it and you use one chip, they charge you for 64, and that's a terrible business model.

Their support is terrible and should be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using Oracle Database for probably 20 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is very stable. It has been around for a very long time, and it is stable now.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It scales vertically. So, the more stuff you want to do, you have to get a bigger server. That's okay if you can do that, but the strategy now is that everybody is scaling horizontally because you can buy a ton of cheap servers and spread them out all over the network.

We have about 10,000 users, and they're doing inventory control. We don't plan to increase its usage. We are planning to decrease its usage and go to Postgres.

How are customer service and support?

Their support is terrible. I stand a better chance talking to my four-year-old grandson than talking to them. At least, he pays attention.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

They weren't using any other product previously. They have been using Oracle for maybe 20 years.

How was the initial setup?

It is very straightforward. It takes about three or four hours.

What about the implementation team?

We do it ourselves. For its maintenance, there are probably seven or eight people.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Its cost is astronomical. They charge by the size of the server rather than what you're actually using. It is just a terrible business model.

It has got a ton of features that are great, but you have to pay for them, and we don't want to spend a lot of money.

If you use any of their additional products, you have to pay for those. Almost everything extra is at an additional charge. We also use RAC, and there is an additional charge for that. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I guess they did evaluate other products, but I wasn't there.

What other advice do I have?

If money is no object, it is a great product, but if you're worried about your budget, find another solution.

I would rate it a 10 out of 10. It is a great product. It has been around forever. It works, but it is too expensive.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Group DWH and BI Senior Manager at Virgin Mobile Middle East and Africa
Real User
Constantly innovating with good performance and reliability
Pros and Cons
  • "The stability has been good so far. It's reliable."
  • "The pricing needs to be improved."

What is our primary use case?

The solution is primarily used as a relational database, or we can use it for certain kinds of AP integrations.

What is most valuable?

The performance is much better than the Microsoft SQL in some ways. The stability has been good so far. It's reliable. 

What needs improvement?

The pricing needs to be improved. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

There are only certain people who use the solution. Not many users have access to much of it. We only have real access to some of the databases. I would say there are only one to five of us who can access Oracle at the moment.

How are customer service and technical support?

I've never spoken to technical support. Therefore, I cannot speak to how helpful or responsive they are. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I'm also familiar with Microsoft SQL. However, we do not currently use anything else as a relational database at this time. 

How was the initial setup?

While I can still query the database and then access it, I was never involved in deployment or installation.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing could be better. It would be nice if they could offer a one-year subscription package or something similar. 

What other advice do I have?

I cannot speak to which version of the solution we're using at this time. 

I'd rate the solution at a nine out of ten. I've been pretty happy with its capabilities overall. 

I would recommend the solution to others. If you look at the progress being made in Oracle, they are coming up with and bringing up some new features. It sounds good. They are more into the cloud now, too, and getting into new features and stuff like that there. They're improving constantly.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Project Lead Performance Engineer & Automation at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Scalable, reliable, but installation could be easier
Pros and Cons
  • "I have been satisfied with the technical support from Oracle."
  • "I have been looking for a virtualization database engine from Oracle. They have third-party vendors that can do it but if Oracle comes with its own virtual engine, it would be helpful. Additionally, the solution could be more user-friendly and improve the Transparent Data Encryption."

What is our primary use case?

I work for an insurance organization and we have been using Oracle Database for our application architecture. We store all the user-level information in the Oracle Database that our company deals in, such as policy information. Before I joined this organization, they were only using the Oracle Database but now we are migrating from Oracle to the SQL Server Database. For any new applications that are getting built or designed, we are trying to use SQL Server instead of Oracle.

What needs improvement?

I have been looking for a virtualization database engine from Oracle. They have third-party vendors that can do it but if Oracle comes with its own virtual engine, it would be helpful. Additionally, the solution could be more user-friendly and improve the Transparent Data Encryption. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Oracle Database for approximately 10 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Oracle Database is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable.

We have approximately 2,000 users using this solution.

How are customer service and technical support?

I have been satisfied with the technical support from Oracle.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We use SQL Server.

How was the initial setup?

The installation was not a good experience it took a lot of time.

What about the implementation team?

We have a 10 person technical team which consists of administrators and managers that do the implementation and maintenance of the solution.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We have been paying for an annual enterprise license Oracle Database.

What other advice do I have?

If I had the choice to pick between Orcale Database or SQL Server, I would choose SQL Server.

I rate Oracle Database a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Associate Manager at a consultancy with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Good performance, good security, and user-friendly
Pros and Cons
  • "It is user-friendly. Its performance and security are also very good. There are 300 million records for our one-year data, and we can easily query this data. You can use Oracle Database as a source for easily integrating with different databases and applications. It supports Java platforms and other applications very well. It works with SAP products better than Microsoft SQL Server."
  • "It should have more monitoring features. There should be features to be able to analyze the performance with a query. In Microsoft SQL Server, when you are running any stored procedure, if you want to analyze the performance, you just run the query analyzer. You can easily find out that something is missing in a joint condition, or clustering needs to be added because of a delay. I can't find such features in Oracle Database. They should be added."

What is our primary use case?

We have started using it recently, and I don't have any use cases as of now. We are just taking the data from Oracle Database and pushing it to the further layers. We are using its latest version.

What is most valuable?

It is user-friendly. Its performance and security are also very good. There are 300 million records for our one-year data, and we can easily query this data.

You can use Oracle Database as a source for easily integrating with different databases and applications. It supports Java platforms and other applications very well. It works with SAP products better than Microsoft SQL Server.

What needs improvement?

It should have more monitoring features. There should be features to be able to analyze the performance with a query. In Microsoft SQL Server, when you are running any stored procedure, if you want to analyze the performance, you just run the query analyzer. You can easily find out that something is missing in a joint condition, or clustering needs to be added because of a delay. I can't find such features in Oracle Database. They should be added.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Oracle Database for the past three months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is scalable. Currently, about 30 people are using it. We don't have any plans to increase its usage.

How are customer service and technical support?

We have never interacted with them. We are just taking the data from Oracle Database and pushing it to the further layers. We don't find any issues over there, and technical support isn't needed as such.

How was the initial setup?

It was pre-installed. We were given virtual machines for our team, and we are able to just access it through them. We get the user id and password, and we just install that ODBC driver and easily connect to it.

We don't have any rights to install such solutions. We just raise a request for installation. We don't have any authority to install or configure anything. For its deployment and maintenance, there is no need for a technical team because it is pre-installed, and we just use it. No support is required for this, and there is no need for a technical team.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It was purchased by our client. It might have been a one-time payment. It doesn't seem to be very expensive.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution. Everything is good in Oracle Database. It is very good performance-wise, and that's the reason most people prefer Oracle Database.

I would rate Oracle Database a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Senior Hyperion Systems Architect at County of Loudoun Virginia
Real User
The advantage of using Oracle's RDMS solution is that it is integrated with Oracle's other products, including our ERP and EPM solutions.

What is most valuable?

The best aspect of Oracle Database is that it allows integration of our ERP and EPM suite of applications and databases. It's integrated tightly together, and we prefer that, as we think it's best to stick with a single vendor as much as possible to avoid dealing with multiple vendors in case of any issue. We can scale it up, upgrade and it is supported by Oracle's customer support program. It is secure and reliable, which gives us peace of mind. If we went with a third-party tool, there's always the issues of compatibility. If we do upgrades and there are issues, we'd have to talk to both the third-party vendor and Oracle.

I think that avoiding complications and compatibility issues is the biggest advantage of keeping our Oracle ERP and EPM products together. I work with a lot of the compatibility settings, and Oracle has done a great job with the matrix inter-dependencies and patch-up ligation. For example, I just upgraded our Hyperion system so I had to got through all the settings and configurations for databases, browsers, Java, OS, and servers. I, as an administrator, have to have enough technical knowledge to understand all the inter-dependencies.

That's the advantage of using Oracle's RDMS solution -- we can use other Oracle products.

What needs improvement?

It needs a better, less technical interface. I'm not an expert on our RDBMS as we have our own database administrator, so especially on a Linux environment Oracle needs to make progress on the user-friendliness of the UI.

In my opinion, I've found Microsoft SQL Server to be more user-friendly than Oracle Database. Even though the latter is more complex, more robust, and has more capacity, from a user perspective, especially those who are naive or functional, it needs to be more user-friendly.

I've asked my DBA to do something for me so I can try to learn from him, but if it were more user-friendly with a more graphical implementation that tells you all the variation criteria and failure messages, that would be much better.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

We've had no issues deploying it. It's quite simple.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's quite stable for being capable of doing so many things. It's powerful, fast, reliable, and secure.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have had no issues scaling it for our needs.

What other advice do I have?

You should consider whether you're going to go physical or virtual, Windows or Linux, etc. You should do your due diligence and know what you want.

We decided to put Essbase and Database on Linux. We put everything else on Windows, the reason being that our databases needed more resources and liability. Linux provides more security for databases, and it's a more robust setup for a Linux admin. So be sure to consider this before jumping into an implementation of the Oracle RDBMS solution.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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it_user517677 - PeerSpot reviewer
it_user517677Senior IT Specialist at a government with 10,001+ employees
Real User

Good information.

Edward  Onyango - PeerSpot reviewer
Database administrator at OS Labs
Real User
Secure, scalable, stable, and easy to implement RDBMS, with good technical support
Pros and Cons
  • "RDBMS with good performance and technical support. It's a scalable, stable, secure, and easy to implement solution that can be deployed both on cloud and on-premises."
  • "The usage and security are okay for Oracle Database, but its pricing is more expensive when compared to its competitors."

What is our primary use case?

We use Oracle Database for running ERP systems and for managing clients.

What is most valuable?

What we like most about Oracle Database is its security, scalability, and ease of implementation. We also like the performance of the solution.

What needs improvement?

The cost of the license of Oracle Database is more expensive, so we have clients who chose to use a different solution, because of the cost. This is an area for improvement for Oracle Database. The usage and security are okay for Oracle Database, but its pricing is more expensive when compared to its competitors.

For how long have I used the solution?

We've been dealing with Oracle Database for 15 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Oracle Database is a stable solution, and I never had any incidence of instability using it.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Oracle Database is scalable, e.g. if your company is growing well, you can easily reach the requirements of the company according to the number of users and performance when using the solution. 

How are customer service and support?

The technical support for Oracle Database is perfect. Whenever we contact their support, it could take time to get feedback from them, or get the solution from them, but in the end, they're able to provide it.

How was the initial setup?

Setting up Oracle Database was straightforward.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The license cost of Oracle Database is more expensive, and this could result in some clients moving away from it. When it comes to the licensing for the processor, it becomes more expensive, but it could become cheaper when you know how to use an ODA. When you're using other servers, the licensing becomes more expensive.

Additional charges could also come from Oracle technical support, but there is a lot of documentation on the website, and you can also get solutions from the Oracle Community as a workaround.

What other advice do I have?

We are using Oracle Database and Oracle Storage, and those are the products we are mostly using. We are using the 12c version of Oracle Database, and it's on the cloud. The solution can be deployed both on cloud and on-premises.

Oracle is our partner, but not a full partner.

I would recommend Oracle Database, especially to financial institutions, e.g. entry-level or mid-level.

On a scale of one to ten, I'll give Oracle Database an eight.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
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