Navigating the Cloud: My Transition to Oracle's Autonomous Transaction Database - Part 1

Over the past 15+ years, we have developed database applications in two distinct environments.

Our larger customers provide on-premise environments and handle their own database administration tasks. For our smaller customers, we rely on an independent cloud provider for hosting, allowing us to focus on development.

Both solutions have their limitations.

In the second case, we also use Oracle XE, which is an extra limitation. Still, we were able to operate without Oracle Cloud Infrastructure for a very long time.

But because of a new project we had, I made the decision to go ahead with our own Autonomous Transaction Database (ATP) subscription.

This seems like a good decision for the following reasons:

1. No need to handle maintenance.

2. Although it's not cheap, once we purchase the license, the cost of further growth is significantly lower.

3. Dynamic processor count and cheap storage space.

4. I can consolidate multiple Oracle XE databases under a single ATP subscription.

5. Scheduled backups and quick restoration.

6. Local (Hungarian) support.

7. Access to the entire ecosystem in the cloud.

The move

However, the transition to OCI and learning how to use it were slower and more challenging than I expected. One thing that became clear was that it's better to work with Oracle through a key account manager, as this provides better support. This process takes more time (for us, it was two weeks), and you need to pay in advance for about a year (5000 EUR + VAT). You can start the process on the Oracle website.

Another important point is that it's not worth subscribing without immediately upgrading to a paid plan. Unfortunately, there was a data loss that support could not (or would not) resolve because the environment was free.

When estimating the cost, remember to select "license included" for the license type if you don't have your own license (BYOL option). This way, you won't face unexpected charges later. Currently, I'm looking at a cost of 500-600 EUR per month, which is worth it if I can move two or three clients. With the current provider, there is no license fee because they use Oracle XE, but there is a significant cost for support and operations.

In the next section, I will talk about database administration and how to manage users.