IT Director at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Reseller
Top 10
An affordable solution offering a moderate level of scalability for its users
Pros and Cons
  • "The main feature is the management and manageability of the tool. We can create a VM on a laptop within a couple of clicks."
  • "Since we don't have the room to scale up, I rate this solution a six out of ten for scalability."

What is our primary use case?

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

How has it helped my organization?

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.

What is most valuable?

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.

What needs improvement?

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.

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For how long have I used the solution?

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

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

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

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

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

How are customer service and support?

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

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

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.

What other advice do I have?

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.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: implementer
PeerSpot user
Senior Software Engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Has drastically reduced the amount of processing time from seven days to one day
Pros and Cons
  • "The Oracle database is able to get the data, process it, and return it to the company's CEO's and CFO's within a single day, and thus they are able to find out yesterday's P and L by today. It has drastically reduced the amount and time of processing from seven days to one day."
  • "In terms of what can be be improved, I'd say Artificial Intelligence, AI. It would be really helpful if AI was incorporated within the solution."

What is most valuable?

I use Oracle databases with multiple clients mainly for analyzing financial transactions. They use it to find the profit and loss for each and every day of trading activity.

Finding out out a single day's profit and loss used to take them almost seven days to calculate. For example, if they wanted to find out something new, they could find the profit and loss of the day's data only by the following week. So we introduced Oracle Database Appliance for the extra data and to gather all the information we have across all the systems. We built a warehouse database that will accommodate all the information and we reduced the time to determine the entire transactions of P and L into a single day.

The Oracle database is able to get the data, process it, and return it to the company's CEO's and CFO's within a single day, and thus they are able to find out yesterday's P and L by today. It has drastically reduced the amount and time of processing from seven days to one day. This is our main use for Oracle. The business intelligence and data warehousing features are the best part of Oracle Database Appliance.

What needs improvement?

It could be that we may not be using Oracle and GoldenGate in the way we are supposed to be using them. We have faced a couple of issues with GoldenGate. Whenever we have issues, the Oracle support will take the time to understand how GoldenGate works. The stability of the GoldenGate could be improved, although it is pretty stable.

In terms of Database Appliance, the important thing is how you design it. If the underlying design is good, then Oracle will perform exactly how we want it to perform. But if the underlying design or the underlying architecture is bad, then Oracle is not going to give the expert the results he needs. It all depends upon the developer who designs it. I haven't seen any drawback with the Oracle database assets, and for the past five years I've been using it in our team.

In terms of what can be improved, I'd say Artificial Intelligence, AI. It would be really helpful if AI was incorporated into the solution.

On a scale of one to ten, I would rate Oracle Database Appliance an eight.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using Oracle Database Appliance for five years. I moved to AWS Cloud Platform and now we are migrating the Oracle appliances to the Cloud Platform, which is an AWS platform as a service.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Oracle Database Appliance is really reliable. The stability and scalability of Oracle Database are reliable. I would say that it is more reliable than scalable. With the 19c, I've seen that it is stable in most cases but we had certain issues when we tried to create scale on 12c. We had issues when we used the previous, older version of Oracle, 12c. It was not that easy to use 12c because we had to get certain hardware. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

In terms of scalability, it is not bad. It was not that easy to scale. I don't think it's easily scalable.

I think more than 400 or 600 people are using it in the company.

How are customer service and technical support?

Their technical support is really good. It has really good products and I'm pretty satisfied.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of Database Appliance is straightforward. But It depends upon the applications that you're using.

If you want to use it on top of the database, it's going to be straightforward. But if you want to do it at some other part of the process the third party client has to do an APA call. It depends upon the way they implement it. If it's going to be a third party vendor using it he'll have to make APA calls, then it's going to be a bit complex.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend Oracle Database Appliance. Oracle is the benchmark in the field. Still, I would recommend you doing a proof of concept with Oracle Database first and then consider the other databases.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Oracle Database Appliance
April 2024
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Enterprise Solutions Architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Puts our storage, server, and database all in one box; it's more cost effective for us
Pros and Cons
  • "I give it a nine out of 10 because it gives the customer easy access to a complete database solution within 30 minutes."

    What is most valuable?

    In regards to licensing, it is cheaper to maintain for Oracle applications, and it's an all-in-one solution.

    How has it helped my organization?

    We had been using a separate server, separate storage, and a separate switch for our Oracle Database, which was costing us a lot of money, because you have to have licenses for each of those devices. But now we have all of them in just one box. We don't have to buy a separate switch. We don't have to buy separate storage. We have everything in just one box.

    That's the advantage. It has been cost effective. They have really helped us on that line.

    What needs improvement?

    Currently in Ghana, where I work, there are just a few companies that can afford it, because the price is a little bit high. Even though for the private sector it's not that high, if this would come in much smaller boxes, and much cheaper, it would be much more affordable for SMBs, that's small and medium businesses. That would be helpful.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    It's very, very stable. From the day of installation we did not have any challenges with this product.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Scalability is not limited. It's scalable because you can add a standard device to the storage space. You are just looking at storage space. You are not looking for memory, because the memory range is high enough. And the capacity is also very fast.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    I've worked with HPE, I've worked with other vendors' support. In terms of phone support, I get faster response from Oracle. The support is the highest standard I've seen. They will get to you by all means, and attend to you, the challenges that you have, and in a timely manner. They have the expertise and they have the know-how. The first time we contact them, our issue is solved.

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

    The reason for our switching is that we wanted an all-in-one solution across databases, and we need to implement an all-in-one solution for our customers' databases. This is very simplified, it's easy to use, you can be in production immediately when you buy the product. That's why we went that direction.

    If you work with other companies, you often see a lot of challenges because the storage is usually separate. If they have all-in-one, the licenses are too expensive. What Oracle did was they reduced the price because we are buying their solution. They reduced the prices for the Oracle licenses.

    How was the initial setup?

    I can set it up in a matter of a very short time. The worst case scenario is an hour, and that happens only if I don't have the information from the customer, That's when it would take an hour. But if I have all the information in front of me, the box can be set up and ready to use.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    We had two products in mind. We had a product from HPE, but we did not go with that product because it required us getting extended storage. We were looking at space in the datacenter; we don't have a lot of rack space in the data center. So, we factored all of that into our decision, and then we decided on Oracle.

    In addition, it was the licenses, because we use Oracle, and when you buy their product they reduce the cost for you. So, I could use an Oracle database and buy an HPE product where I will not have a reduction in price for licenses. You have to leverage that opportunity from Oracle.

    What other advice do I have?

    I give it a nine out of 10 because it gives the customer easy access to a complete database solution within 30 minutes. That is, someone can go live with in 30 minutes of buying the product, it's very fast to use. For instance, if you have a small company that you want to set up, and you don't need to put your infrastructure on the cloud, you buy this product and you are ready to go in the next 30 minutes. That's one of the reasons why I give it that rating. 

    As well, it's easier to manage, because you have a central point of management which is the Oracle ODA. You can manage it by using the browser interface. 

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user

    How many Oracle Database License required by ODA?

    CFO at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees
    Real User
    Easy to implement and handles a lot of data but is too expensive
    Pros and Cons
    • "The product is very light."
    • "Even though the solution can handle a lot of data, it's just too expensive currently."

    What is our primary use case?

    We are using it in our companies. We work with others, especially at the enterprise level.

    What is most valuable?

    The product is very light. By that I mean, in terms of response rate, it's light. 

    Oracle can handle a lot of data.

    The implementation process is easy.

    What needs improvement?

    There are more freeware options out there these days that are less costly if you are a company that can work in the cloud environment. They are much better than Oracle in the price to value ratio.

    Even though the solution can handle a lot of data, it's just too expensive currently.

    There should be more analysis for debugging. Right now, this is only available in the Enterprise Edition. If you have the Standard Edition, like us, you're stuck with some limited functionalities. In order to access the best features, you need to level up to the Enterprise Edition.

    The software comes with only four cores, which is not really very advisable. It doesn't really help in terms of the modern way of working. While the machines are getting better, at the same time they tend to run a lot of test databases, like virtual machines, and Oracle doesn't work well with all of that. It's only JBM that they work well with.

    Technical support is not very helpful if you only have the Standard Edition.

    They should work ell with other machines. If it could integrate better, it might be more user-friendly for businesses. 

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I've been using the solution for more than five years. 

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    It's stable. We've had hitches, however. We have been been using the Standard Edition, so there have been many hitches in that due to the fact that you need the Enterprise Edition and a diagnostic pack to do what we need in order to investigate. That's where we find most of our issues. It's very hard to populate. If you look at the other DBs in the same price range, the functionality is a lot more in terms of diagnostic tools, in terms of helping in resolving issues. The Standard Edition does not solve those problems.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The solution is scalable to an extent. If you look at the Enterprise Edition, yes, it's scalable at the cost, not scalable per se, just scalable at a huge cost. If you're meeting the revenues, if you're large enough to afford it, that's fine. Otherwise, no, it does not scale well.

    We have three people, off and on, who work on the product. It doesn't have that many user requirements. We are still not such a huge company, so three people off and on are enough. We have one person on it during the day, one at night, and one extra that can cover.

    How are customer service and support?

    We need technical support sometimes, however, not much help is covered with the Standard Edition. The best advice we get is "Move to Enterprise, then we can solve all your problems." That's where it is. I wouldn't rate technical support that high.

    How was the initial setup?

    The implementation process was easy in terms of deployment, however, it's a physical installation which just adds to the overall cost of the solution. 

    It's not just the solution that's expensive, it's the resources you need to think about that are expensive. In COVID times, these costs were especially rough. It's hard to justify a huge cost, especially in an enterprise. 

    What other advice do I have?

    I'm a customer. I'm not a partner or a reseller of Oracle.

    I would advise potential new users to make a good business plan. Think about the cost, especially the per-transaction cost. And what size of database that you're going to need. Oracle is a Ferrari. A Ferrari is an unreliable and expensive machine. It's an expensive purchase. As you scale, the Oracle costs will also go up. It's not like you have a fixed cost now and you not going to have a fixed cost later. You will have a fixed cost on the Oracle and it will keep on increasing. From that perspective, the business plan needs to be right. 

    There are some regulatory areas that we happen to be in that means we can't move to the cloud. That is why we are still with Oracle. If we could move to the cloud, we would not be with Oracle. 

    My biggest consideration is the price/value ratio, especially nowadays. Oracle was good when the only other alternative was IBM, and now, not so much. I would say if you're a large business then maybe it's a seven out of ten. If you're a small business then maybe a four out of ten. In general, I would rate it a six out of ten.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    it_user515112 - PeerSpot reviewer
    Oracle DBA at a transportation company with 1,001-5,000 employees
    Real User
    It hosts many applications and deploys ODA. Patching cycles have many bugs that need to be addressed.

    What is most valuable?

    Offers easy deployment and setup.

    How has it helped my organization?

    It hosts many applications and deploys ODA quickly.

    What needs improvement?

    Patching cycles have many bugs that need to be addressed.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Kenan Çiftçi - PeerSpot reviewer
    Corporate Database Architect at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
    Real User
    Top 10
    Easy to manage, stable, and excellent support
    Pros and Cons
    • "The most valuable feature of Oracle Database Appliance is the ease of management."
    • "Oracle Database Appliance is stopping support for the standard edition and only continuing support for the RAC One Node. They did not inform us and we are having problems with our customers. We are not having to change our systems from standard to something else."

    What is our primary use case?

    In Turkey, there are some highway toll collection systems that use Oracle Database Appliance.

    What is most valuable?

    The most valuable feature of Oracle Database Appliance is the ease of management.

    What needs improvement?

    Oracle Database Appliance is stopping support for the standard edition and only continuing support for the RAC One Node. They did not inform us and we are having problems with our customers. We are not having to change our systems from standard to something else.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using Oracle Database Appliance for approximately five years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    We did not have any stability issues with Oracle Database Appliance.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Oracle Database Appliance is scalable according to the license purchased. We didn't need any extra storage, but if we need storage we can add it.

    We have many systems and toll collection systems using the solution. The call centers that use the solution have approximately 100 people using each environment.

    How are customer service and support?

    The hardware support of Oracle Database Appliance was not good five years ago, but now it is.

    The support is responsive and solves the issues. Most of the support is automated, and when we send the snapshot automation fails they are easily solved.

    I rate the support from Oracle Database Appliance a five out of five.

    How would you rate customer service and support?

    Positive

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

    I have not used another solution similar to Oracle Database Appliance.

    How was the initial setup?

    The Oracle Database Appliance has an easy installation. It took approximately four to five hours. If we do not do a re-image it can be done in one to two hours.

    What about the implementation team?

    We did the implementation of the solution in-house with one person.

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

    I don’t know ODA and alternative system prices. But Oracle the database license is quite expensive and a lot of my customers plan to migrate to open source databases like PostgreSQL.

    I rate the price of Oracle Database Appliance a four out of five.

    What other advice do I have?

    I would recommend people to use this solution it is good.

    I rate Oracle Database Appliance an eight 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.
    PeerSpot user
    Chief Information Officer at a insurance company with 1,001-5,000 employees
    Real User
    All-flash has helped reduce our report processing time
    Pros and Cons
    • "The performance due to the all-flash of ODA is very nice."
    • "The main thing would be to make ODA more affordable, to make it a more economical machine. Also, I would like to see virtualization, so you could implement all of your functions on one machine. Finally, improvement in the speed and performance would be good."

    How has it helped my organization?

    Report processing time has been reduced. We can use it in the future for our BI tool.

    What is most valuable?

    The performance due to the all-flash of ODA is very nice. 

    What needs improvement?

    The main thing would be to make ODA more affordable, to make it a more economical machine. Also, I would like to see virtualization, so you could implement all of your functions on one machine. Finally, improvement in the speed and performance would be good.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    One to three years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Stability is very good. There has been no downtime.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Scalability means you can increase the storage. 

    How are customer service and technical support?

    ODA support is very good. Oracle support is very good. Online support is very good. Our local partner is also very good.

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

    Previously I was using Exadata. Our technical team was already familiar with Oracle products so that's why we choose ODA. We had a license for Oracle Database.

    When selecting a vendor the main criterion is support. Oracle support is very good.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup was very easy.

    What other advice do I have?

    My advice would depend on the needs of the company. If the need is like ours, number of transactions per day, number of transactions per year; and whether the operation time is 24 hours, eight hours; these are the types of things to consider when deciding. Also, what is the downtime you can afford?

    ODA performance has been very good for our requirements.

    I would rate it at eight out of 10 because the product is stable, it has very low downtime, and the support of Oracle is very good.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Deputy IT Director at a comms service provider with 501-1,000 employees
    Real User
    Let a product do what it does best and this product is very good with its base purpose
    Pros and Cons
    • "The database is solid."
    • "Oracle could improve its capacity for built-in visualization."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use the histories to make reports like the MIS (Management Information System) reports. Mainly it is a database.  

    What is most valuable?

    I think the most valuable part of the Oracle Database Appliance is just the ability to use the database. We make the reports on our own and let Oracle do what it does best.  

    What needs improvement?

    We try to operate through the ODI, or Oracle Data Integrator, to maintain data integration. We have plans to use Visual I/O for data mapping, data flow, and things like that. Oracle could improve the capabilities for visualizing without other, third-party tools. But it is OK.  

    We are not looking for any new features in the product. Whatever additional utility we need we have been able to do using Hadoop for now. For us, the product can stay the same. The only way it can improve is by doing even better with integrations to other products like Hadoop.  

    For how long have I used the solution?

    The company has been using this product since before I came here. It has been in use for a very long time. I would say it is maybe 10 years or more.  

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Over the course of these ten years, I would say that this product has been stable.  

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    We have recently moved the Oracle Database to work with SAP (Systems Applications and Products in Data Processing). We did this because we are planning to start now to scale up. We have a very good profile now to work with. I think scalability is good.  

    I think we already have 100 users working with this product in their organizations. We are planning to scale up.  

    How are customer service and technical support?

    Most of the time we are doing the technical support by ourselves. When Oracle does not offer much support, we have to do it by ourselves.  

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

    We started with Oracle. We did not use another product before that.  

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup is easy to do because we have the ability to do it in house. We are able to deploy this product by ourselves, without an integrator. That suggests it is easy enough to do.  

    We have a team of six people that we need for deployment and for maintenance.  

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

    There are no additional costs beyond the standard licensing fees.  

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    It is not a product we evaluated to use instead of Oracle, but we have some small products we use with it to enhance the functionality and capabilities. For example, we use Hadoop for data modeling and other things. We plan to keep on using Oracle Database Appliance and we will do our data mining with Hadoop. We saw there was reason to use Hadoop with Oracle to have a better overall solution.  

    What other advice do I have?

    I think for people interested in using Oracle Appliance the main thing is to rely on Oracle for the bigger stuff that it does. Maybe it cannot provide the kind of reports that we want. This is how we have determined the importance of Hadoop to our processes. Hadoop is part of my recommendation to other users who try this product. Oracle can do what it does best and Hadoop can help with reporting on the data. For other use cases, companies may need a different solution to enhance what Oracle provides — to complete one small part of the picture. When you find it, you should use it.  

    On a scale from one to ten (where one is worst and ten is best), I would rate Oracle Database Appliance as an eight-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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