Migrating Oracle Databases to Database

Cloud Service
You can migrate your on-premises Oracle Database database to an Oracle Database Cloud
database using a number of different methods that use several different tools.
Not all migration methods apply to all migration scenarios. Many of the migration methods
apply only if specific characteristics of the source and destination databases match or are
compatible. Moreover, additional factors can affect which method you choose for your migration
from among the methods that are technically applicable to your migration scenario.
Some of the characteristics and factors to consider when choosing a migration method are:

On-premises database version

Oracle Database Cloud database version

On-premises host operating system and version

On-premises database character set

Quantity of data, including indexes

Data types used in the on-premises database

Storage for data staging

Acceptable length of system outage

Network bandwidth

To determine which migration methods are applicable to your migration scenario, gather the
following information.
1. Database version of your on-premises database:

Oracle Database 11g Release 2 version lower than 11.2.0.3

Oracle Database 11g Release 2 version 11.2.0.3 or higher

Oracle Database 12c Release 1 version lower than 12.1.0.2

Oracle Database 12c Release 1 version 12.1.0.2 or higher

2. For on-premises Oracle Database 12c Release 1 databases, the architecture of the
database:

Multitenant container database (CDB)

Non-CDB

3. Endian format (byte ordering) of your on-premises databases host platform

Some platforms are little endian and others are big endian. Query
V$TRANSPORTABLE_PLATFORM to identify the endian format, and to determine whether
cross-platform tablespace transport is supported.
Oracle Database Cloud uses the Linux platform, which is little endian.
4. Database character set of your on-premises database and Oracle Database Cloud Service
database
Some migration methods require that the source and target databases use compatible
database character sets.
5. Database version of the Oracle Database Cloud database you are migrating to

Oracle Database 11g Release 2

Oracle Database 12c Release 1

Oracle Database 12c Release 1 databases created on Oracle Database Cloud use CDB
architecture. Databases created using the Enterprise Edition software edition are singletenant, and databases created using the High Performance or Extreme Performance
software editions are multitenant.
After gathering this information, one may see which migration methods apply to migration
scenario.
Advantages of On-Premise:

Security
In my opinion, one can make the case that cloud security has surpassed the security measures at
most private data centers. But certain companies are dealing with data that requires more
advanced security than what cloud providers can offer. Or perhaps, the executives in the IT

department simply feel more comfortable shouldering the risk themselves. In either case, security
can be a legitimate determining factor in choosing to store data and apps on premises.

Regulations
Depending on your industry sector, vertical market, or geographical location, you may have to
abide by an array of government regulations determining how you use and store sensitive data.
The healthcare and financial services industries are common examples of verticals in which IT
has to take extra steps to prove to the government that sensitive data is secure. And, in some
cases, that means keeping sensitive data stored in private data centers.

Visibility
Do you really know where your data is? That's one question that continues to haunt early
adopters of public clouds. The fact is, once sensitive data is moved or generated on a public
cloud, it becomes very difficult to see exactly where the data resides. Eventually, technology will
overcome these cloud visibility hurdles. Until then, this is a very real concern for many of the IT
professionals I speak with on a regular basis.

Accessibility
In a perfect world, all users in all locations around the globe will have high bandwidth and
unfettered access into any of the various public cloud providers with which you choose to
partner. We're not quite there yet. The issue is especially problematic when you are operating a
global company with remote sites in multiple countries. Access to cloud resources can become a
problem due to bandwidth constraints at the last mile. Another factor to consider is situations in
which certain countries restrict access to all sorts of Internet content. In such cases, accessibility
using private WAN connections to private data centers can be more reliable and consistent
compared to using public cloud offerings and relying on the Internet as your primary access
method.

Latency
Latency within private data centers and across private WAN connections is easily controllable.
On the other hand, when you are leveraging the Internet to access cloud resources, latency can
become a major problem. If access to your data requires low and predictable latency times as is
the case with many audio and video data repositories -- it's usually much easier to manage and
distribute this type of data when you control the network end-to-end.

Lack of Trust
Trust in a cloud provider is difficult to quantify. It depends on the specific needs of your
enterprise, the cloud provider's overall reputation, and the kinds of service-level agreements you
have in place. Your organization's level of trust with a specific cloud provider might transition
multiple times throughout your relationship, depending on these and other factors.
When you're considering the idea of housing sensitive data inside a public cloud, you should
assume that, at some point, you will lose faith that your provider is keeping your data secure to

the degree you have deemed appropriate. Trust issues are often the most difficult to overcome for
IT executives when considering whether or not to move data and apps into the cloud.

Full control over the entire stack

Ability to performance tune hardware

Advantages of Cloud

Time-to-Market
As the pace of business rapidly increases, while at the same time internal IT resources remain in
short supply at most companies, business managers are discovering an array of cloud solutions
they can easily apply to their business operation without requiring the steps to acquire, install and
maintain software. They can simply sign up for the solution and begin using it right away.

Economics
Cloud computing lowers technology costs in two ways. First by significantly reducing the need
for IT experts and staff. The other is by efficiencies gained through shared multi-tenant cloud
environments that eliminate purchasing hardware equipment and software licenses. Additionally,
many services are month-to-month without long term contracts, allowing businesses to easily
apply these technologies just-in-time and drop them when no longer needed.

Scalability
When a technology is custom-built or brought in-house, the IT managers must build an
infrastructure that can withstand the highest point of usage or they risk their reputation not being
able to deliver at peak times. In contrast, cloud services typically allow for on-demand scalability
for peak times or sustained periods. IT no longer needs to over-engineer solutions and
infrastructure or sacrifice quality of service.

Empowerment
Cloud solutions typically have a web-based interface for users. They can be accessed by
employees, customers and partners no matter where they are. With a cloud computing database,
everyone gets to work with the same set of information and spreadsheet chaos is a thing of a
past.

Reduced Administrative Burden

A database with fewer features is less flexible but its far more manageable. A cloud-hosted,
mostly self-managed database doesnt eliminate a database administrator, but it can eliminate
unnecessary features that typically consume much of a DBAs time and efforts. That allows a
DBA to focus his or her time on more important issues. It can even allow a company to get
started without a dedicated or full-time DBA, avoiding specialization that can cause team
bottlenecks.

Best Practices
To the extent that reputable service providers are utilized, customers can be assured that best
practices in terms of security, reliability, and monitoring are in place. The grade of service
offered by leading cloud vendors is expensive and difficult to implement on your own.

Go Green
In addition to all of the business benefits, cloud computing is all about virtualization, multitenancy, and shared resources that provide more service for the amount of energy expended when
compared to in-house, single tenant solutions.

Improved Security (in most cases)

If youre running your databases on in-house servers, its your job to think seriously about
security. Youll need to ensure your database has an updated kernel and other critical software,
and youll need to keep up with the newest digital threats. This is perfectly possible to do, but the
reality is that most companies either dont do it or do it poorly. Leave databases to the cloud
company, and youll buy yourself some peace of mind.

Comparison of On-premise and Cloud

References:

1. Table from GFI [https://www.gfi.com/whitepapers/Hybrid_Technology.pdf]

2. Oracle Documentation [https://docs.oracle.com/cloud/latest/dbcs_dbaas/CSDBI/toc.htm]
3. Various blogs