Oracle has long been a top choice for relational databases, but migrating those workloads to the cloud usually requires a lot more effort than a simple lift and shift.
Oracle databases are typically large and complex, so if you’re looking to migrate to the cloud, you’ll need to take into consideration everything from architectural changes and database upgrades, to possible consolidation, license portability and migration downtime.
You may want to migrate Oracle for one or more reasons:
- You need to modernize your Oracle software stack, potentially including consolidation along with software upgrades
- If you’re using out-of-date or out-of-support technology
- If you’re overprovisioned on Oracle hardware or Oracle Engineered Systems
- If it’s a relatively small footprint compared to other services moving into Google Cloud
- You’re going to exit your local data center and take advantage of Cloud regions for geographic redundancy and protection
- To leverage AI/ML, IoT and other Google Cloud services
- To simplify your IT environment and leverage a cloud managed database service
- To integrate new technologies that can drive innovation
Whatever your reasons, moving this complex (and expensive) environment into the cloud can seem overwhelming. And you may think your only real option is to move to Oracle’s Cloud. But you have several options, from the new Google and Oracle partnership allowing you to continue to use Oracle Database, to cloud-native open source databases.
When your requirement is to continue with Oracle Database, the new partnership between Google and Oracle will allow you to combine Google Cloud technologies with Oracle Database in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) to accelerate application migrations and modernization.
But you also have other options: Google’s Bare Metal Solution (BMS) and cloud-native open source databases may be viable destinations for Oracle cloud migrations, offering SLA-based solutions to protect your applications and reduce database management.
Looking for more reasons to consider migrating to Google Cloud? We've got you covered with benefits, migrations scenarios and real-world success stories in our Google Cloud Migration Handbook. Download your copy today
Choose your way forward
Primary migration strategies for Oracle on Google Cloud include new Oracle Database @ Google Cloud offerings, or rehosting with Bare Metal Solution (BMS); re-platforming with Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL or AlloyDB for PostgreSQL.
Oracle Database @ Google Cloud
Oracle Database @ Google Cloud gives you a variety of new options. Starting with direct access to some of Oracle’s marquee database services including the Exadata Database Cloud Service and Autonomous Database platform, all running on Oracle infrastructure deployed in Google Cloud data centers. Allowing you to bring your import Oracle Database workloads close to Google Cloud infrastructure, tooling, and AI services, including data and analytics, Vertex AI, and Gemini foundation models.
Additionally, a new Oracle supported bring-your-own license option allows you to provision and manage your own Oracle database on Google Cloud compute-infrastructure which includes Google Compute Engine (GCE) and Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE). So when controlling the exact Oracle configuration and version is important, self-managed infrastructure based solutions are now a possibility.
And when you already have an OCI presence, the Oracle Interconnect for Google Cloud gives you the ability to deploy workloads across both OCI and Google Cloud regions with no cross-cloud data transfer charges. This service combines OCI FastConnect and Google Cloud Partner Interconnect, which allows you to innovate using a combination of Oracle and Google Cloud services.
Benefits: Deploy Oracle Databases in Google Cloud in a choice of configurations. Whether it’s the fully managed Oracle Autonomous Database, the extreme power of the Oracle Exadata Cloud Database service, or the flexibility of self-managed Oracle Database running on cloud compute infrastructure (virtual machines), the choice is yours.
Bare Metal Solution
Rehost: Google’s Bare Metal Solution (BMS) gives you the ability to provision bare metal infrastructure using Oracle-certified hardware, via regional extensions connected to Google Cloud by a managed, high-performance connection and low-latency network fabric. That means, with the help of a Google Cloud Partner, you can lift and shift your most demanding Oracle Database workloads into the cloud with minimal risk and change.
Benefits: You can provision infrastructure using Oracle-certified hardware with faster migration times, since no application rewrites are required and you can maintain the familiarity of using your current stack.
Challenges: If you have a massive source Oracle Database, then server sizing and configuration could be a challenge, possibly involving operating system changes and/or database upgrades.
Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL
Re-platform: If you’re looking to reduce your licensing fees and maintenance costs while keeping your core database capabilities, then consider a cloud-native open source database such as Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL. It’s a fully managed relational database service that allows you to set up, maintain, manage and administer PostgreSQL relational databases on Google Cloud with out-of-the-box high availability, replication, encryption and automatic storage increases. And you can offload analytics-centric workloads to data warehousing solutions like BigQuery.
Benefits: By adopting open source database technologies, you can reduce your reliance on a single database vendor, modernize your database architecture and lower your TCO.
Challenges: It can be difficult to completely eliminate vendor lock-in, and it could affect application support down the road.
Google AlloyDB for PostgreSQL
Re-platform: For the most demanding workloads that require high availability, scalability and performance, Google AlloyDB for PostgreSQL could be a good option. This fully managed, enterprise-grade database provides a four-fold performance boost against native open-source PostgreSQL and can scale both vertically and horizontally. It also has capabilities to support analytics workloads, rather than just transactional workloads, which PostgreSQL supports by default.
Benefits: When migrating Oracle databases into a PostgreSQL-type database engine, you’ll get support for logical and native streaming replication, free open-source extensions and free security authentications.
Challenges: Complex Oracle environments require significant preparation and planning to migrate to AlloyDB or any PostgreSQL environment.
Migrate with confidence
No matter which migration strategy you choose, a detailed assessment can help you understand not only the complexity of effort required, but the value you’ll receive from migrating.
With Pythian, you’ll maximize your investment with our 25 years of experience in managing the world’s most complex Oracle systems. And as a Premier Google Cloud and Specialization Partner, we provide end-to-end consulting services for all Google Cloud solutions.
Find out more about the unique considerations of Oracle to Google Cloud migrations in our latest eBook.
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