Oracle Database Appliance Reviews

We use the solution for our enterprise applications.

Oracle is a stable database.

The setup is a bit complex.

I have been using the solution for many years.

The tool is stable.

The tool is scalable. All my key applications are on Oracle. We might increase the usage depending on the business growth.

I have contacted support. We have a good relationship with the team.

We have used MySQL and PostgreSQL.

The solution can be deployed in-house.

We have seen some value in the solution.

Oracle’s pricing is ridiculously high.

I would recommend the product if someone is using very data-sensitive applications. Overall, I rate the product a seven out of ten.

We use the solution for operational purposes. It is the core app built on top of it.

I like the solution’s performance.

The solution requires improvement regarding scalability and artificial intelligence.

I have been using Oracle Database Appliance as a customer for eight years.

I rate the solution’s stability an eight out of ten.

Around 100 people are using this solution daily.

I rate the solution’s scalability a four or five out of ten.

The initial setup is easy.
I rate the solution’s setup an eight out of ten.

The solution requires six or seven in-house people to deploy.

I rate the solution’s pricing a seven out of ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive.

We need three people, including a Linux expert, for the solution’s maintenance.
I recommend the solution for operational purposes with performance on-prem.

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

Database consolidation and for X6-2L also database performance improvement due to NVMe storage being used, which dramatically increases I/O performance

We value the appliance architecture with its “everything-in-a-box” highly standardized setup.

For the new ODA X6-2 models there is a possibility to deploy also SE/SE2 databases in a bare-metal deployment as well as the boosted I/O performance due to NVMe Flash disks.

For one customer it consolidated several databases from several Windows physical servers into one single ODA and resulted in increased stability.

For another customer it was used to “isolate” the last Oracle database system on one single ODA, thereby freeing-up SAN storage and rack server slots used by an old Linux cluster.

The following issues need some attention:

• Ease of administration and deployment. With ODA X6-2 there are different “OAK” administration commands for the S/M/L models (e.g. “odacli”) compared to the HA model ("oakcli").
• In my opinion only one single command should be used for all ODA models, as it’s confusing.
• Some of the new commands have limitations/restrictions, though I assume they’ll be improved over time.

We have been using the solution since 2012. We implemented 2x ODA V1 systems.

With the X6-2L we had a couple of early replacements, e.g. PCI card and battery

We only had a stability issue with the ODA V1 due to an ASM disk mount issue (“ORA-600 [KFDJOIN3]”, bug). This issue delayed the go-live for production databases, but was fixed with the assistance of Oracle Support relatively fast.

We only had a scalability issue regarding local storage, especially on the ODA V1.

I would rate the technical support as six out of 10. Over the past couple of years, I’ve found that the quality of Oracle Support first-level has decreased.

We used custom-built single-server or cluster solutions. The ODA provides a high degree of standardization.

The initial deployment of 2x ODA V1s was accomplished in one day, including unpacking and rack-mounting.

Leverage the Pay-As-You-Grow licensing, and consider using the ODA X6-2 S/M/L models also for SE2/SE.

We evaluated Exadata, which often is overkill for many small and medium sized databases.

If you go with 1x ODA then at least establish a Data Guard standby system on a Linux server, e.g. Public Cloud. I suggest to use 2x ODAs in each DR setup.

Nowadays, we migrate midsize EBS environments (EBS 11i, 12.1 and 12.2) to these machines. We use the machine as a consolidation environment and we also see a performance increase in the database layer.

Customers with limited licenses prefer this machine, as it has capacity-on-demand features which are completely aligned with Oracle licensing policies.

It is an easy-to-deploy database environment, which does not need much maintenance work. A DBA with knowledge of Oracle technologies, such as ASM and database, can manage it.

The system resources of this machine are quite enough for running midsize Oracle databases but, if there is a need, customers can expand their disk and memory resources.

This machine is also used as a standby database environment, especially for customers who have ODA HA or Exadata in their primary sites, and want to have an affordable engineered system for their standby sites.

• Capacity on Demand: Valuable because we can configure the machine according to our licenses. When there is a need, we can directly increase or decrease the CPU cores of this machine.
• NVM Express (NVMe) solid-state drives: This technology brings outstanding I/O performance for midsize databases. We have tested it by doing POCs on customer sites and the results were quite satisfying.
• Virtualization: Using the KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine), we can virtualize this machine and run both databases and applications on it.
• Affordable price: When we think about the technology and the features that this machine delivers, the price seems to provide a lot of value.
• Engineered system: This machine is a 1U engineered system optimized, tested and delivered by Oracle. It is a ready-to-use, easy-to-deploy environment for running Oracle products.
• Support for multiple database versions: Both 11.2.0.4 and 12c databases are supported with this machine.
• Support for multiple database editions: Both Standard edition and Enterprise edition databases are supported with this machine.
• ODA X6-2 is easy to manage: It delivers management utilities such as odacli and virt-manager (for virtualization management).

Oracle ODA is a fixed server appliance. It would be improved if it were an engineered system with scale-out capabilities.

Virtualization features could also be improved. A web-based GUI would be a good start.

Also VM-specific features, which provide VM-level fault tolerancy, could be added to this product. (This improvement would depends on the scale-out capabilities).

I have used ODA X3, X4 and X5 models for three years. This ODA X6-2M is a new ODA model and I have used it the last six months.

None.

No issues, but there is room for improvement here. Currently, there is no scale-out option for any of the models in ODA family.

Quite good. When you buy this machine it is registered with Oracle. Any service request is created using this registration. SR creation and updates are fast.

Conventional systems. Most of the time, the reasons for switching are the optimal price and the promising features.

Straightforward. The whole environment is built in one hour by following the Oracle documentation and using the related utilities.

Get benefit from the capacity-on-demand features. License your cores according to your licenses.

Standard HP servers and other members of the ODA family (such as ODA X6-2S, L and HA).

To others looking into this product I would recommend they take a look at ODA X7, which has been released.

ODA X7 delivers more system resources and it also delivers Standard Edition Oracle Database support for the HA (High Availability) model.

We support their warehouse and we are looking into the network data warehouse product, which is tightly integrated. This is pretty much the go-to product for that process due to the fact that it's all in one box, and is pre-packaged. It's all Oracle servers, and Oracle hardware, and Oracle software and it's all in one.

We used to have different vendors and servers. Everything was all over the place. Now that we are on Oracle, everything is centralized, removing a lot of complexity.

The deployment is super-simple as everything is pre-packaged. There's very little configuration to worry about.

We manage everything through the appliance. It's easier to manage from our side of the managed databases and add more storage, et cetera. It's very easy to mimic what we need. we can easily add more storage whenever we want. The scalability is great.

We had Commodity servers - those bales servers on-premises - and there was a lot of maintenance going on with that. After moving to RDA, life is much easier because everything is managed through those deployed solutions. It's easier to manage this way.

From a maintenance point of view and from an upgrade and migration point of view, it is very easy because most of the upgrades are fast. We can take one down and finish the upgrade and move onto the next as necessary. It's easier to manage the patches and upgrades.

The solution is pretty automated, which takes out the possibility of human error.

The pricing is great. It's much better than what the competition is offering.

The product is pretty user-friendly.

There aren't really any features that the solution is lacking.

The product is quite complex to set up, initially. It would be ideal if it was simpler.

Any limitations within the solution are case by case. The solution may work for some, but it isn't for everyone.

The product is still evolving. It could still, for example, be more user-friendly. It's not quite perfect yet.

I've been using this solution since last year.

The solution is pretty stable. I don't recall bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash. I find it pretty reliable overall.

The solution can easily scale. We've found that if we need to add more storage, it's very straightforward to do so. If a company needs to scale, it's not a problem with Oracle.

In our case, because we are on-premises, there are some limitations due to the fact that we only have two servers. We understand our limitations and we know it will work well for us over the next five years or so. And then, if we need to expand, we can plan for that.

We have about 500 active users within our company on the solution. We have reporting applications and a lot of data manipulations, and all that going on, on this database. It's mostly IT personnel on it currently.

We've worked with Oracle a lot, compared to other previous solutions. The company sells it with support and clients get account managers that they can reach out to. Overall, technical support has been good. I'd rate it a nine out of ten. They are very knowledgeable and responsive. They are very good. We've been satisfied with the service provided.

We used to have similar databases on different servers, and we had to work through different vendors. We had different storage, then different servers, then different vendors and the backup solution was on another vendor as well. There was a lot of coordination required. It added a lot of complexity to everything. With this kind of a solution, everything is on one kind of a black box. We don't have to worry too much and the level of coordination required has dissipated.

The initial setup is not straightforward. It's quite complex. Once you get the hang of it and get it going, it's easier for others on our application team. It's also easier to manage int he long run. The main problem is that it's quite different from what we used to do, so there's a bit of a learning curve during the setup.

The pricing is really good for us. We have no complaints there. It's not as expensive as other products on the market. The excellent price point is one of the reasons we moved to RDA.

We're just a customer. We don't have a business relationship with Oracle.

Due to the current contractual agreements, et cetera, within our organization, we are not doing or considering anything on the cloud - from the database side at least.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. There are still some limitations. That said, it did simplify a lot of things for us, compared to our old setup.

End User response time for Core Banking Application

By adding ODA in our infrastructure, it helps to spare time for other Adminstration & Research activities..

The most valuable feature is the performance. Its a pre-configured device and you just plug and play..

It has limitations of Storage as well as network connectiivty over 10G Fiber. 

We have been using the Oracle Database Appliance for about six years, since 2014.

The appliance is pretty stable.

It is scalable, although it only has two storage shelves available.  The total usual storage after RAID dual parity is between 12 and 15 TB.

Technical support is very good and the people are nice.

Prior to using the appliance, we had our Oracle Database installed on a Dell server. We had some performance issues with the system, which is why we switched.

The initial setup is okay. We just have to plug in the machine and set up the applications.

Although, the purchase contract have engagement of the vendors for its deployment and in PAKISTAN we at ZTBL is the first who are deploying the ODA. since its a pre configured machine so no special training is required for its deployment. Moreover, the expertise level of the vendor is satisfied.

By deploying ODA in your infra, you can spare time for other activities instead of resolving issues of traditional system.

Should go wiht ODA , breakup the cost of hardware, setup & Licensing, you will find that ODA is much cheaper than any other solution in terms of setup and operational cost

we had reviewed traditional system configuration like servers attached wiht any SAN storage. But the performance benchmarks we have with ODA is not avavilabe in other options.

The Oracle Database Appliance is a product that I recommend. It is really good for small businesses where there are database-intensive applications that need high performance.

I would rate this solution a ten out of ten.

The Oracle Database Appliance offers a pay-as-you grow model for Oracle licenses. This model allows you to only license the CPU count that you need, rather than the entire capacity. When virtualized, this is supported for both the database and the application tier.

The solution has good stability and it is easy to work with. We quickly deployed both database and application workloads in a single appliance on a virtualized platform, based on Oracle VM

Customers cannot cluster multiple appliances together to create a larger cluster (beyond two servers), nor can they expand the internal disk storage of the system beyond two storage trays. This area can be improved.

I have used this solution for two years.

I did not encounter any issues with stability.

I would rate the level of technical support 8/10.

I previously used Fresh Install.

The initial setup was quite straightforward.

The pricing and licensing is worth it.

I did not really evaluate other options before choosing.

In my opinion, if your organization is constantly evolving and looking for less infrastructure support/planning for virtualization, then this solution is a one-stop-shop and a nice product. If you are a mid-pace organization and can handle regular databases or Exacta, then you can skip this step.

Oracle Database Appliance is for databases, specifically for Oracle databases.

My clients are experiencing benefits from the increase in functionality or productivity compared to their previous solution since they are running their RAC database on three dots. So, we migrated our referrals to Oracle Database Appliance as it is a good solution in terms of performance.

The main feature is the management and manageability of the tool. We can create a VM on a laptop within a couple of clicks. Additionally, regarding the graphical user interface, anybody can manage the VMs.

I feel that there are no features that need to be added to the tool since the tool is pretty much perfect the way it is.

I have been using the solution for five years. I am using Oracle Database Appliance Version 6 or 7.

In terms of stability, I rate this solution an eight out of ten.

Since we don't have the room to scale up, I rate this solution a six out of ten for scalability.

My experience with the support team of Oracle Database Appliance has been very good.

Compared to Oracle Exadata, Oracle Database Appliance is affordable. I don't think there are any extra features that you need to purchase to run the solution. Also, the solution is good for managing devices.

We always propose Oracle Database Appliance to our small and medium customers, so that they can run their Oracle Workflow from the Oracle Database Appliance while benefiting from Oracle licensing. I rate this solution a seven out of ten.