FAQs for Autonomous Database

This section includes a list of frequently asked questions that relate to Oracle Autonomous Database, i.e. the questions and answers cover both Autonomous Data Warehouse and Autonomous Transaction Processing. Below are sections covering each of these specific services.

GENERAL

What is the Oracle Autonomous Database?

Oracle Autonomous Database is the world’s first autonomous data management in the cloud to deliver automated patching, upgrades, and tuning—including performing all routine database maintenance tasks while the system is running - without human intervention. This new autonomous database cloud is self-managing, self-securing, and self-repairing, which helps to eliminate manual database management and human errors.

The Oracle Autonomous Database is fully elastic: You simply specify the number of ECPUs and the storage capacity in either GB's or TB's for the database. At any time, you may scale up or down the ECPUs or the storage capacity.

Autonomous Database supports four main types of workload:

 

Click here for more information.

What is the difference between Dedicated vs. Severless deployments?

Serverless: With this option, you provision and manage only the Autonomous Database, while Oracle deploys and manages all the underlying infrastructure. Oracle autonomously operates all aspects of the database life cycle from database placement to backup and updates.

Dedicated: this offers a private cloud in the public cloud. A completely dedicated compute, storage, network and database service for only a single tenant. This offers a multitenant database architecture, allowing you to create and manage multiple Autonomous Databases within a single database system. Autonomous Database Dedicated is also available in customer's data centers with Exadata Cloud at Customer.

Where is Oracle Autonomous Database available?

The full list of data centers is shown here: Oracle Cloud Data Regions for Platform and Infrastructure Services.

What tools, applications and services can I use with Oracle Autonomous Database?

In some cases, tools, applications and services etc. have been extended specifically for Autonomous Database. In general, tools etc. that are certified with Oracle Database should work successfully against Autonomous Database, whether the tool is on the list or not. For a detailed list of tools, applications and services etc. that work with Autonomous Database, click here.

How can I learn more about Oracle Autonomous Database?

There's plenty of material to help you get started and be successful with Autonomous Database. Click here for more information.

PRICING AND LICENSING

What is the price of Oracle Autonomous Database?

Pricing details can be found on the Autonomous Data Warehouse (ADW) or Autonomous Transaction Processing (ATP) page of oracle.com.

What are the provisioning options for Oracle Autonomous Database?

You can provision a License-included version of ADB, or you can provision a Bring-Your-Own-License (BYOL) instance. If you wish to use BYOL, then you must apply current database licenses to your ADB service. The BYOL requirements for ATP are described on ATP's pricing page. The BYOL requirements for ADW are described on ADW's pricing page.

Where can I get more information licensing requirements for Oracle Autonomous Database?

 This document describes the licensing requirements for ADB.

Does Oracle Autonomous Database support per-second billing?

Yes, ADB does support per-second billing although certain restrictions apply. There is more information available here

Can auto-scaling help reduce my bills?

The auto scaling features within Autonomous Database provide the ability to automatically scale in real-time in response to workload. Auto scaling immediately gives 3x more CPU/IO resources with no downtime. But you only get charged only for actual usage - you only pay for those additional compute resources when they are needed, which gives you a true pay-as-you-go model. There is more information available here

Can I turn off Oracle Autonomous Database CPUs to save money?

Yes. You can do this by stopping the service from the cloud console or from the command line using the OCI APIs. This operation closes your ADB database, keeps your data in place, and stops charging for CPUs. You can also define a schedule to automatically stop and start your Autonomous Database, for more information click here.

Does ADB offer trial licenses?

Yes. ADB offers 30-day free trials. There is a sign-up process on oracle.com. For more information click here.

Does ADB offer a completely free service?

Yes. ADB offers a completely free service. For more information click here.

SECURITY

Can a customer manage their own encryption keys?

Yes, Autonomous Database allows customer manages the encryption keys. More information is provided in the documentation, click here.

Is there a plan for any 3rd party companies to assess the service for vulnerabilities?

As part of our overall security approval process, Oracle uses an external company to perform penetration testing.

How does Oracle Autonomous Database provide data security?

Oracle Autonomous Database protects against both external attacks and malicious internal users:

All data is encrypted at rest using transparent data encryption. Network connections from clients to ADB are also encrypted to provide the highest level of security.

Oracle automatically applies all security updates to ensure data is not vulnerable.

Customers are not given OS logons or SYSDBA privileges to prevent phishing attacking.

Additional in-database features such as Database Vault, Virtual Private Database and Data Redaction are also available.

Is data redaction available with Oracle Autonomous Database?

Yes, data redaction is part of ADB.

Is it possible to leverage Database Vault with Oracle Autonomous Database?

Yes, the current version of ADB includes Database Vault. This can be combined with other PaaS offerings such Data Safe which is free to use with ADB to create a comprehensive security layer within ADB. Click here for more information

What audit reports will be available to the customer?

Oracle Data Safe provides a large selection of audit reports For more information click here.

AVAILABILITY

What is the current availability SLA for Oracle Autonomous Database?

The current SLA for ADB is 99.95% availability during any calendar month. For customers that need higher levels of availability, the Autonomous Data Guard feature provides failover protection, via a standby instance, with an SLA of 99.995%. You can monitor the availability metrics of your Autonomous Database from the console, click here.

To learn more about how to enable Autonomous Data Guard for disaster recovery, click here.

Does Oracle Autonomous Database have a standby feature?

Yes. The Autonomous Data Guard feature enables a standby instance in the background which provides automated failover protection. For more information see here for ADW and see here for ATP.

The pillar document provides more information about the specific definitions of key terms relating to the "Service Commitment", see here (PDF).

What happens if you cannot access Oracle Autonomous Database, i.e. the whole service is down?

Oracle is responsible for the service availability. Therefore, if the whole service goes down it is Oracles responsibility to get the service back online ASAP. Customers can create a standby database using Autonomous Data Guard, which provides automated data protection and disaster recovery for an Autonomous Database instance.

Is it possible to clone production databases for development/test/QA environments?

Yes, ADB provides the ability to clone a database and you can choose to clone either the full database or only the database metadata.

Can the dev/test/QA cloned instances be masked?

Yes it is possible to use Oracle Data Safe data masking capabilities with cloned instances of ADB. For more information click here.

CONNECTING TO ORACLE AUTONOMOUS DATABASE

Does ADB provide a web-based tool for end users?

Yes, Autonomous Database has a built-in web toolkit called Database Actions. This provides development tools, data tools, administration, and monitoring features for Autonomous Database. Using Database Actions you can run SQL statements, queries, and scripts in a worksheet. For more information, click here

Does ADB support VPN and/or FastConnect?

You can connect your on-premises network to ADB using VPN or FastConnect.

Using Private connectivity to Autonomous Database is supported.

Are private Endpoints supported?

Yes, Private Endpoints are supported with ADB.

Does Oracle Autonomous Database support database links?

Yes, database links are fully supported in ADB.

ADB supports both regular TCP (non-wallet) and TCPS (wallet based) SQL*Net connections. Inbound database link connections to ADB Dedicated can be TCP or TCPS, however, outbound database link connections from ADB Dedicated can only be TCP based.

More information is available in the documentation click here.

Does Oracle Autonomous Database support access to non-Oracle Databases?

Yes. Autonomous Database provides Oracle-managed heterogenous connectivity to non-Oracle Databases such as PostgreSQL, Amazon Redshift, Snowflake, MySQL, DB2, Teradata, SQL Server etc. More information is available in the documentation, click here.

Does Oracle Autonomous Database support database directory objects?

Yes, directory objects are supported within ADB. This makes it even easier to migrate existing applications to ADB.

More information is available in the documentation, click here.

Does Oracle Autonomous Database include support for Oracle Rest Data Services?

Yes. Oracle Rest Data Services (ORDS) is supported by Autonomous Database.

Does Oracle Autonomous Database support SODA

Yes, Autonomous Database supports Simple Oracle Document Access (SODA) for REST.

More information is available in the documentation, click here.

LOADING DATA

What are the options for loading data into Oracle Autonomous Database?

There are multiple ways to load data into ADB:

ADB is integrated with multiple object storage services for data loading. You can upload your source files to one of the supported object-stores and this is the recommended method for loading large data sets. SQL Developer also provides a data loading wizard that can load data from these object stores.

You can use Data Pump Import to load data from dump files. Data Pump Import is integrated with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Object Storage, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Object Storage Classic, AWS S3, Microsoft Azure Blob Storage. You can upload your dump files to one of these object-stores and import from those dump files.

You can also use client-side tools like SQL*Loader, or your in-house scripts to load data from files residing on your client machines.

Another option is to use Oracle tools and cloud services like GoldenGate, ODI, GoldenGate Cloud Service, and Oracle BI Data Sync.

Any 3rd party ETL tool that can connect to ADB can also be used to load data.

What types of data loading tools are provided?

Autonomous Database provides wizard-driven data loading tools for non-technical users and APIs for scripting.

What types of data files are supported?

Autonomous Database is able to load a wide range of file types:

Loading data from local files: You can add files in these file formats: AVRO, CSV, JSON, TSV, delimited TXT, XLS, XLSX, XML.

Loading data from cloud storage: You can load data from a cloud store (Oracle Object Storage, Amazon S3, Azure Blob Storage, Google Cloud Storage, and Wasabi Cloud Store) to a table in your Autonomous Database. The following file formats are supported: AVRO, CSV, JSON, Parquet, ORC, and delimited TXT.

What support is there for accessing a Data Lake?

Oracle Autonomous Database can synchronize metadata directly with OCI Data Catalog. The data catalog is a metadata management service that helps data professionals discover data and support data governance. Designed specifically to work well with Autonomous Database by providing an inventory of assets, a business glossary, and a common metastore for data lakes. For more information click here.

SCHEMA DESIGN AND QUERYING

Does ADB automatically create and manage indexes?

Yes, however, note that auto-indexing is not on by default. For more information, click here.

Can ADB automatically manage partitioning strategies?

Yes, however, note that auto-partitioning is not on by default. For more information, click here.

Does ADB have full PL/SQL support?

Yes, customers can utilize nearly all the PL/SQL capabilities. For more information, click here.

Can ADB take advantaged of partitioned object store sources?

Yes. Autonomous Database provides an easy way to efficiently setup access to these organized sources. Queries can take advantage of the partitioning structure to minimize scans and maximize performance. For more information click here.

MANAGING AND MONITORING

Is there an option to delay or reschedule patches?

Autonomous Database Serverless uses predefined maintenance windows to automatically patch your database. You can view maintenance and patch information and see details for Autonomous Database maintenance history. When you provision your database you can select a patch level. You can view the maintenance event history for details about past maintenance events, such as the title, state, start time, and stop time. For more information, click here.

With Dedicated deployments, you have the option to change the maintenance windows to control when the Exadata environments and the databases are updated.

If a patch has an adverse effect, who will notice (does Oracle monitor)? Will rollback be offered?

Oracle operations will monitor patching and rollback a patch if it cannot be applied successfully according to basic sanity tests. However, there is always a chance that the adverse effect is only observable from the application. In that case, you will have to notify Oracle via a Service Request(SR).

Can I access the database server's operating system?

No. ADB does not allow access to the operating system.

MIGRATION

Does Autonomous Database offer a pre-migration check tool?

Yes. Oracle Autonomous Database uses a free tool called Cloud Premigration Advisor Tool (CPAT). This is a light-weight utility that analyzes the existing Oracle Database schemas and makes recommendations to ensure a successful migration to the Autonomous Database. For more information click here.

How can I migrate my existing Oracle Database to Oracle Autonomous Database?

Oracle recommends using a logical migration approach to migrate existing Oracle Databases to Autonomous Database. For more information click here.

The main migration tool for migrating to ADB is Data Pump. You can export your schemas and import them into ADB using Data Pump. To sync up the additional/incremental changes on the source database during the export/import process you can use GoldenGate or GoldenGate Cloud Service to replicate those changes to ADB.

In the current release you cannot use physical migration methods like backup/restore, Data Guard, database clones, and transportable tablespaces to move your existing database to ADB.

Can I import an existing Oracle Database schema into Oracle Autonomous Database?

Yes. You can use Data Pump to export the source schema, move the dump files to the object store, and use Data Pump Import to load them into your ADB database.

PERFORMANCE

How does Oracle Autonomous Database isolate different customers for performance and how does it make sure a customer's workload does not impact others?

ADB uses Database Resource Manager and IO Resource Manager to isolate resources for all databases. CPUs, memory, and IO resources are not over-provisioned in ADB, this makes sure every customer gets their assigned amount of resources at all times.

FAQs for Autonomous Database Serverless

This section includes a list of frequently asked questions that relate specifically to Oracle Autonomous Database Serverless.

GENERAL

What is Autonomous Database Serverless?

Oracle Autonomous Database Serverless provides a fully-managed database that is tuned and optimized for different types of workloads: data warehousing ana analytics, transactional/mixed, APEX, and JSON. With serverless infrastructure customers have a fully elastic database where Oracle autonomously operates all aspects of the database life cycle from database placement to backup and updates.

More information about Autonomous Database is available on oracle.com and via the documentation

Is there a technical forum where customers can post questions relating to Autonomous Database?

Oracle uses stackoverflow.com for technical questions about Autonomous Database, click here. Please use the tag oracle-autonomous-db when you post a question.

Is it possible to construct a TCO report for Autonomous Database Serverless?

Yes. There is a publicly available, personalized TCO report builder for Oracle Autonomous Database Serverless for Data Warehousing which allows you to calculate the value of automation in three quick steps and see how much you can save with the Autonomous Database Serverless for Data Warehousing. Click here for more information

ARCHITECTURE

How does Autonomous Database Serverless configure parallelism and what pre-defined database services are available with ADB?

Autonomous Database Serverless comes with 5 preconfigured database services, HIGH, MEDIUM, LOW, TP and TPURGENT. The services control the priority of the sessions when the system is under resource pressure and some control the parallel degree used. By default, queries will execute serially when connected to the TP, TPURGENT and LOW services.

Users can specify a parallel degree on an object or uses optimizer hints to trigger parallel execution to be used when connected to the TPURGENT services. Queries will be automatically executed in parallel when sessions are connected to the HIGH and MEDIUM services.

Autonomous Database Serverless configures parallelism out of the box based on the number of CPUs you provision. This means there is no need to explicitly configure parallelism.

Is Database In-Memory option available in Autonomous Database Serverless?

Yes. Customers can use the features of the database In-Memory option, as part of Autonomous Database. to optimize performance. Click here for more information.

MIGRATION

Can non-Oracle databases be migrated to Autonomous Database Serverless?

Yes, SQL Developer provides a migration wizards for AWS Redshift, MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, Sybase Adaptive Server, and IBM DB2 (UDB). The migration wizards connect to the source database, exports the metadata and the data and imports them schema objects and data Autonomous Database. It also allows you to save the migration scripts and run them outside of SQL Developer anywhere you want. Click here for more information.

PRICING AND LICENSING

Can I reuse my existing Oracle Database licences with Autonomous Database?

Yes, if your organization already owns Oracle Database software licenses then you can bring your existing database licenses to Autonomous Database. See Autonomous Database Serverless pricing for information on Bring Your Own License (BYOL) and other licensing options for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure cloud service pricing, click here.

Can a customer use the machine learning features Autonomous Database Serverless if they choose the BYOL option but have not previously licensed Oracle Advanced Analytics?

Yes. Licenses for Oracle Advanced Analytics are not required for BYOL.

Can a customer use the in-database spatial and graph features of Autonomous Database Serverless if they choose the BYOL option but have not previously licensed Oracle Spatial and Graph?

Yes. Licenses for Oracle Spatial and Graph are not required for BYOL.

Can a customer use the database in-memory features of Autonomous Database Serverless if they choose the BYOL option but have not previously licensed the in-memory option

Yes. A license for Oracle Database In-Memory is not required for BYOL.

FAQs for Autonomous Database Dedicated

This section includes a list of frequently asked questions that relate specifically to Oracle Autonomous Database Dedicated.

GENERAL

What is Autonomous Database Dedicated ?

Autonomous Database Dedicated (ADB-D) is a deployment choice that enables customers to provision autonomous databases into their own dedicated Exadata cloud infrastructure.

ADB-D provides the customer customization over operational polices, including software and hardware isolation for the highest levels of performance and security governance; it is well suited for customers wanting to deploy Oracle Autonomous Database in cloud with common enterprise lifecycle controls and especially ideal for customers who want a self-service capability via their own database cloud. ADB-D is available in the Oracle Cloud and in the customer’s data center with Exadata Cloud@Customer.

What is the difference between Autonomous Database Dedicated and Autonomous Database Serverless?

Autonomous Database cloud services offer two infrastructure choices, serverless and dedicated:

With serverless (ADB-S), the simplest configuration, multiple customers share the resources of an Exadata cloud infrastructure. These customers can quickly get started with no minimum commitment, enjoying quick database provisioning and independent scalability of compute and storage. Serverless runs on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

With dedicated (ADB-D), the customer must first subscribe to a dedicated Exadata cloud infrastructure that is isolated from other tenants, with no shared processor, memory, network, or storage resources. This infrastructure choice offers greater control of the software and infrastructure lifecycle, customizable policies for separation of database workload, software update schedules and versioning, and availability policies. Dedicated infrastructure is available on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and Exadata Cloud@Customer.

Both Autonomous Database infrastructure options ensure high availability, exceptional performance, and multi-level security.

When should I use ADB Dedicated (ADB-D) versus ADB Serverless (ADB-S)?

ADB-S delegates all operational decisions to Oracle for the highest level of autonomous experience - think of a fully autonomous vehicle with no need for a steering wheel or cruise control. ADB Serverless (ADB-S) enables customers to quickly provision their own autonomous databases and become productive.

ADB Dedicated (ADB-D), on the other hand, is more like an autonomous vehicle that still includes a steering wheel and cruise control. ADB-D offers greater control and isolation starting at the Exadata cloud infrastructure level, with customizable maintenance schedules, software update versions, backup retention periods, etc. ADB-D allows customers to group and separates out databases based on organizational structure and criticality of application workload. ADB-D is ideal for customers looking to deliver a self-service database capability within their own database cloud environment running either on the public cloud or in the customer’s data center. Using this model, customer fleet administrators can use the steering wheel and cruise control (customized operational policies) to tailor an operational plan for different parts of their organization, then the organization consumes via a self-service experience similar to the vehicle with no need for a steering wheel or cruise control.

What types of database workload are best to run on ADB Dedicated?

You can run all your data warehousing (ADW-D), transaction processing or mixed workload (ATP-D) databases of any size, scale or criticality on ADB dedicated. As well as supporting databases that may require highest governance, consistent performance and operational controls.

With Exadata Cloud@Customer deployment, ADB Dedicated is ideal for on-prem customers desiring Autonomous Database but cannot move to the public cloud due to data sovereignty, corporate policies, network latency and security requirements etc.

Can I run both Autonomous Transaction Processing and Autonomous Data Warehouse databases on ADB Dedicated?

Yes, you can have a mix of ATP-D and ADW-D databases on the same ADB dedicated Exadata rack.

Are there any limitations on database features or functions with ADB Dedicated?

Not all features present in Oracle Database Enterprise Edition are available in ADB-D; for example, database administration features are not available. Please see Autonomous Database Dedicated documentation for the complete list.