NoSQL Database Cloud Service FAQ

FAQ topics

General questions

What is Oracle NoSQL Database?

Oracle NoSQL Database is a fully managed database cloud service that offers predictable low latency, dynamic scalability, high performance, and reliable data storage for document, key-value, and fixed-schema data. It is easy to start using the service in a matter of minutes. Since it is fully managed by Oracle, developers focus only on application development and data store requirements without the hassle of managing the underlying infrastructure, software, security, and high availability.

What are Global Active Tables?

Global Active Tables can easily scale global and/or multi-national business application data. They automatically replicate data across the business’ choice of regions and supports local read/writes, irrespective of data origination. Customers benefit by focusing on running their business rather than maintaining data consistency across multiple geographic regions, eliminating data duplication and data inconsistency issues. The solution has built-in conflict resolution if a record is updated simultaneously in different regions. They also improve business continuity with seamless disaster recovery capabilities.

Where do I find more information on Oracle NoSQL Database Cloud Service?

Learn more at the Oracle NoSQL Database home page.

How do I get started with application development using NoSQL Database Cloud Service?

Learn more on the Oracle NoSQL Database Cloud getting started page.

What does Oracle NoSQL Database manage for me?

Oracle NoSQL Database manages the underlying infrastructure, software, security, capacity scaling, operations, and maintenance. You receive guaranteed high availability of the database service and elastic scaling to meet your application workloads.

What are the typical use cases?

Some typical use cases for Oracle NoSQL Database:

  • User experience personalization
  • Persistent session management
  • Internet of Things (IoT)
  • Mobile applications
  • 360-degree customer view
  • Digital advertising
  • Online gaming
  • Social networking
  • Real-time big data
  • Anomaly detection

How does Oracle NoSQL Database cloud service compare with the on-premises enterprise edition?

High-Level Features Comparison

NoSQL Database Cloud Service NoSQL Database Enterprise Edition (EE)
Infrastructure and software management/maintenance (servers, storage, networking, security, OS, and NoSQL software) Managed by Oracle Managed by customer
Database deployment Oracle Cloud only Customer on-premises data centers or BYOL in Oracle Cloud or other cloud vendors.
Licensing/Edition Paid subscription or always-free service Enterprise Edition (paid) or Community Edition (free open source)
Throughput Throughput capacity is managed at each NoSQL Table level through NoSQL APIs or Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Console. The capacity is measured in Write Units, Read Units. Throughput capacity per table can be adjusted to meet the dynamic workloads. When the limits for a table is exceeded, users are notified. At the tenancy level, there are maximum service limits. More details here. Throughput capacity is managed at each NoSQL cluster. The capacity depends on the size of the NoSQL cluster deployed. Larger cluster size provides more throughput capacity for user tables.
Storage Storage capacity is managed at each NoSQL Table level through NoSQL APIs or Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Console. The capacity is measured in gigabytes (GB). Storage capacity per table can be adjusted to meet the dynamic workloads. When the limit for a table is exceeded, users are notified. At the tenancy level, there are maximum service limits. More details here. Storage capacity is managed at each NoSQL cluster. The capacity depends on the number of disks and specific configuration in each storage node deployed in the cluster. Larger cluster size and disk capacity provide more storage for user tables.
Interoperability Interoperates with NoSQL Database Enterprise Edition through a single programmatic interface with no application code modification. Interoperates with NoSQL Database Cloud Service through a single programmatic interface with no application code modification.
Installation No customer installs. Customers start using the service right away by creating NoSQL Tables. Customers download and install the software to set up the NoSQL cluster in multiple storage nodes.

Is it possible to have a dedicated NoSQL environment for my organization?

Yes – Oracle NoSQL Database Hosted Environment is a NoSQL cluster environment that is dedicated to your tenancy, with all of the read and write units as well as the local attached storage are dedicated to your tenancy.

Where do I get official help and documentation on Oracle NoSQL Database?

Learn more at the Oracle NoSQL Database help center.

Security

Where can I find more information about authentication and authorization?

Go to the following links:

Upon termination of your subscription, you will have 60 days to transfer your data for the terminated service from Oracle Cloud to a local system. After 60 days, Oracle permanently deletes any remaining content and software related to the terminated service.

Is my data safe if there is an issue with a data center?

Oracle NoSQL Database stores multiple copies of the data across availability domains for redundancy. If one availability domain (within a region) goes down, the data is still available to the application from the other availability domains. Oracle NoSQL Database guarantees 99.995% availability for your data.

Is my data encrypted on disk ("encrypted at rest") and what type of encryption?

Yes. Data is encrypted at rest with Advanced Encryption Standard (AES 256).

Is my data encrypted between my application and Oracle NoSQL Database?

encrypted in motion (transferring data between the application and Oracle NoSQL Database Cloud Service) with HTTPS.

Is my data safe if there is an issue with a data center?

Oracle NoSQL Database stores multiple copies of the data across availability domains for redundancy. If one availability domain (within a region) goes down, the data is still available to the application from the other availability domains. Oracle NoSQL Database guarantees 99.995% availability for your data.

Is it possible to isolate my data from other tenants?

Oracle NoSQL Database Hosted Environment offers a NoSQL cluster environment that is dedicated to your tenancy with dedicated direct attached storage. You control the access from your tenancy.

Application Development

Can I determine the number of shards or any other topology layout?

No. Oracle NoSQL Database manages the cluster and topology for you.

On which Oracle Cloud Infrastructure sites will Oracle NoSQL Database be available?

Learn more at the Oracle NoSQL Database data regions and service endpoints page.

Can an application request cross-regional replication for Oracle NoSQL Database data?

Data is replicated across availability domains within a region. Global Active Tables is a Cross Region Data Replication feature that allows customers to create a set of table replicas across a choice of cloud regions for local read and write performance of the globally distributed data. It also protects in a disaster recovery scenario.

What servers do I need to purchase for my application to run on?

The application should run in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure for the best performance. There are different instance shapes available for your application depending on its complexity and the workloads. A list of different shapes can be found on the Compute Pricing page.

You can also deploy your application on Container Engine for Kubernetes ( OKE) or Oracle Cloud Functions.

Where can I run the application that connects to Oracle NoSQL Database?

It is advisable to run the application using Oracle Cloud infrastructure for the best user and customer experience.

What software do I need to install on the client server?

Software development kits (SDKs) are available for the following programming languages. Follow the steps on download and installation in the links below.

SDKs work on either the cloud service or an on-premises NoSQL database.

What are the Oracle NoSQL Database data models?

Document, fixed schema, and key-value.

What happens if my throughput exceeds my provisioned limit?

If the provisioned throughput limits are exceeded on read/write operations, Oracle NoSQL Database will throttle the requests and throw a ThrottlingException error to the application. The provisioned throughput limits can be increased if needed.

Does Oracle NoSQL Database Cloud Service offer on-demand capacity?

Yes - Oracle NoSQL Database Cloud Service offers on-demand capacity that automatically manages the read and write capacities to meet the needs of dynamic workloads.

Can I develop an Oracle NoSQL Database application without purchasing the service?

Yes. You can use Oracle NoSQL Cloud simulator which is a standalone, local copy of the cloud service. It can be used for testing. It is not intended for production deployment. You can download it from the Oracle Cloud Downloads page. You can also use the Always Free Oracle NoSQL Database Service.

How to I provide feedback or report issues with an Oracle NoSQL language SDK?

Send email to: oraclenosql-info_ww@oracle.com, or contact us at Cloud Customer Connect. We monitor both regularly.

How can I move data that I have stored in my on-premises Oracle NoSQL Database implementation to Oracle NoSQL Database?

You can use the migrator tool to upload data. Download Oracle NoSQL Database Migrator.

Are there REST services available for Oracle NoSQL Database?

Yes. Please refer to the documentation for additional information.

Can I deploy NoSQL Tables using terraform, OCI cli, OCI console or API calls?

Yes.

Can I change what I provision for the number of read units, number of write units or the amount of storage?

Yes. Your application can change the provisioned number of read units, write unites or storage capacity through the TableLimits API.

You can also change the provisioned number of read units, write units, or storage capacity using the service UI.

Additionally, you can change the capacity mode of your table from provisioned to on-demand, and vice versa.

Do I need to have the same model and provisioning configuration in all regions participating to a Global Active Table?

Global Active Tables offers flexibility. You can switch existing regular on-demand/provisioned tables to remote replication tables without any application code changes. You can also change the number of read units and the number of write units configuration in each region.

How do I determine the amount for each read or write unit that I am planning?

Determine the size in bytes and round up to the next KB.

What is the maximum storage per tenant?

5 terabytes (TB) per tenant. This is the sum of all storage capacities of the tables provisioned within a tenancy. For more information, refer to the limits page or contact Oracle.

What is the maximum throughput that can be provisioned for writing or reading for a single table?

Oracle NoSQL Database is subject to the following usage limits. A tenant may create multiple tables up to these limits.

Per Table Limits

  • The maximum number of write units that can be provisioned per table is 20,000 per second
  • The maximum number of read units that can be provisioned per table is 50,000 per second

Per Tenant Limits

  • The maximum number of write units that can be provisioned per tenant is 40,000 per second
  • The maximum number of read units that can be provisioned per tenant is 100,000 per second
  • The maximum amount of storage per tenant is 5 terabytes (TB).

Customers to contact Oracle if they need more write/read units or storage above the maximum usage limits. For more information, refer to the limits page.

Is there a limit on how many tables I can provision?

The maximum number of tables per tenant is 30. Learn more at the service limit page.

Can I increase my usage beyond the documented limits?

Yes, you may submit a request to increase your limits by following the steps outlined in the documentation. This can also be done from the OCI console, see section “Requesting a Service Limit Increase”.

Will I have to stop using the service when there is an upgrade to a newer version of Oracle NoSQL Database?

No. Latest software updates will take place behind the scenes. Your applications will run without a noticeable effect.

Does Oracle NoSQL Database support ACID transactions?

Yes. Oracle NoSQL Database provides ACID compliant transactions for full create, read, update, and delete (CRUD) operations, with adjustable durability and consistency transaction guarantees.

Pricing and Billing

What is the pricing of the service?

Please refer to the pricing section on the Oracle NoSQL Database Cloud Service page.

Is there a way to estimate my monthly bill?

Yes. Please refer to the online calculator. Select Presets - Oracle Databases, then select Oracle NoSQL Database Cloud.

What are the read and write capacity units?

Read Unit per Month is defined as the throughput of up to one kilobyte (KB) of data per second for an eventually consistent read operation (i.e., where the data returned may not be the most recently written data to the database; if no new updates are made to the data, eventually all accesses to that data will return the latest updated value) over a one-month period, or approximately two million six hundred thousand (2.6 million) reads. Each month is deemed to have seven hundred forty-four (744) hours or approximately two million six hundred thousand (2.6 million) seconds. So over a one-month period, one (1) read unit will provide you with approximately 2.6 million reads. To achieve the throughput of up to one kilobyte (KB) of data per second for an absolute consistent read operation (i.e., where the data returned is expected to be the most recently written data to the database), the equivalent of two read units per month need to be provisioned.

Write Unit per Month: is defined as the throughput of up to one kilobyte (KB) of data per second for a write operation over a one month period, or approximately two million six hundred thousand (2.6 million) writes. Each month is deemed to have seven hundred forty-four (744) hours or approximately two million six hundred thousand (2.6 million) seconds. So over a one-month period, one (1) write unit will provide you with approximately 2.6 million writes.

What is a replicated write?

A replicated write occurs when a write from a local region is applied in a remote regional table replica. The replicated write metric for billing is Write Unit Per Month. Billing is based on the effective writes consumed during the replication.

How do I determine the size of an item?

Please refer to the detailed description in our documentation.

How do I estimate read and write capacity units?

Please refer to the detailed description in our documentation.

If I am not using all of my provisioned read or write units, do I still get charged?

Yes. Since the throughput can be scaled up or down programmatically at any time, make sure to provision the throughput accordingly for the workloads. In the provisioned model you are charged for what you provision.