Oracle Database is the #1 database management technology (DB-Engines rank), and it powers many of the world’s most critical operations. Azure customers can harness the combined power of Azure Virtual Machines, FlashGrid Cluster, and Oracle RAC or Oracle Failover HA to achieve uptimes as high as 99.999%.

Yes. FlashGrid Cluster for Oracle RAC was available on Azure before Oracle introduced a DBaaS offering for their own cloud, OCI. Multiple availability zones in each Azure region coupled with FlashGrid Cluster and Oracle RAC enable high availability and fault tolerance exceeding a typical on-premises Oracle Database deployment.

Oracle Database can technically run in almost any cloud, but because it often underpins the backend of mission-critical applications, a mature CSP (Cloud Service Provider) is the preferred choice for reliability. Azure and AWS are the top two most mature and enterprise-ready clouds to run Oracle Database. FlashGrid Cluster with Oracle RAC leverages the Multi-AZ capabilities of Azure and AWS to achieve maximum fault-tolerance and 99.999% database uptime SLA.

Asynchronous replication to another Azure region using Oracle Data Guard is typically the best solution for Oracle Database DR on Azure. For maximum availability, run identical Oracle RAC clusters, each with multi-AZ configuration, in both primary and secondary regions.

For lower budgets and requirements, it may be sufficient to have a single Oracle RAC cluster spanning multiple AZs in the primary region and either replication to a single-instance database in the secondary region or regular database backups to the secondary region. FlashGrid Cluster with Oracle RAC in a multi-AZ configuration provides protection against outages localized to a single data center, such as loss of power, cooling, or storage access.

No, FlashGrid Cluster is compatible with these, as well as most backup and disaster recovery tools.

Numerous enterprise organizations run Oracle Databases, including RAC, successfully in Azure. For expert advice on this matter, consult with an Oracle licensing advisor or begin by reading this insightful article from Palisade Compliance.

No. Oracle licenses and support must be purchased directly from Oracle.

FlashGrid does not replace or emulate any part of the RAC software stack. FlashGrid provides storage, network, and automation capabilities for running Oracle RAC in public clouds. In some cases, an affordable alternative to Oracle RAC could be Oracle Failover HA.

FlashGrid fees are billed by Azure through Azure Marketplace and consolidated into your monthly Azure invoice. The marketplace software fees include FlashGrid software license and technical 24/7 support.

We have a comprehensive knowledge base, and we can guide you through the process step-by-step. Contact us to schedule a screen-sharing session with one of our engineers.

Yes. For cloud deployments, FlashGrid Technical Support Services cover the entire infrastructure stack and are included in the Marketplace fees.

For database nodes, Oracle Linux 7 and 8 or Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 and 8. Application servers and other database clients can run on any operating system, including Linux and Windows.

Oracle Database versions 19c, 18c, 12.2, 12.1, and 11.2 are supported.

The FlashGrid architecture does not limit the number of RAC nodes. However, in most cases, we recommend two or three nodes. To reduce network overhead, we recommend increasing the size of the nodes (up to 108 cores) before adding more nodes. 2+2 redundancy across two availability zones may be used for extra HA. Clusters with 4+ nodes are possible for extra-large capacities. For more details, please see the Typical Cluster Configurations in the Architecture overview.

The FlashGrid architecture does not impose any strict limits on the database size. With 2 or 3 hyper-converged nodes, up to 300 TB is practical. 300+ TB database sizes can be supported with separate storage nodes. FlashGrid customers are running RAC databases on Azure ranging from 1 to 100s of TBs.

FlashGrid Cluster by itself consumes a negligible amount of system resources. Compared to a single-instance database, a Real Application Cluster database has overhead for communication and data mirroring between the nodes. However, clustering adds CPU, memory, and disk resources that speed up parallel operations.

The main alternative to Oracle RAC on Azure is failover HA for Oracle databases. FlashGrid Cluster enables both Oracle RAC and Failover HA clustering on Azure. However, FlashGrid recommends Oracle RAC (with multi-AZ) for the most critical databases requiring uptimes of 99.99% or 99.999%.

Oracle RAC and single-instance databases can be migrated from Oracle Exadata to Azure. FlashGrid Cluster enables the infrastructure capabilities required for running Oracle RAC and Failover HA databases on Azure Virtual Machines. The Azure VM infrastructure provides up to 108 cores, up to 8 GBPS of storage throughput, and up to 100 Gbit/s of network bandwidth for each database node. This allows matching or even exceeding the performance capabilities of Oracle Exadata.

Testing performed at FlashGrid and by our customers demonstrated performance levels matching or exceeding that of high-end on-premises systems. See the Performance Considerations section in the whitepapers for Azure. Our engineers can help you analyze your application performance needs and size the database cluster accordingly – request a demo.

The migration process is similar to migrating a database between two data centers. Depending on the size of the database and tolerable downtime, you can use one of the regular migration tools, such as RMAN backup/restore, export/import, or Data Guard replication. If required, FlashGrid can recommend a suitable partner with experience in complex migrations.

Use FlashGrid Cluster to deploy and run Oracle RAC in Azure, perform a lift-and-shift from on-prem, and migrate your existing data. In most cases, zero coding or refactoring is required. FlashGrid Launcher simplifies the process of configuring database clusters and enables repeatable, fully automated deployments in Azure within two hours or less.

Contact the FlashGrid team to access pre-sales technical consultations, customer system assessments, proof-of-concept support, and round-the-clock production support. In addition, we collaborate with a comprehensive network of partners that can support you further with technical implementation, data migration, and digital transformation initiatives.

For single-instance Oracle databases FlashGrid Cluster enables better uptime (up to 99.99%), increased reliability, failure prevention, automatic failover, and reduced engineering overhead of designing and maintaining a robust HA solution for the database.

Maximum uptime with zero RTO and RPO. FlashGrid Cluster for Oracle RAC on Azure enables active-active high availability with zero downtime patching. Spreading the RAC database nodes across availability zones (Multi-AZ) also protects against data center failures.

Yes. FlashGrid Cluster enables Oracle RAC on Azure Stack Hub virtual machines.

Technically, yes, but there are multiple reasons why it is unpractical in most use cases. A more viable alternative is to run Oracle RAC on Azure’s native Virtual Machines environment using FlashGrid Cluster.

Yes. Since 2017, Azure customers have been running Oracle RAC on Amazon Virtual Machines using FlashGrid Cluster. Azure recommends FlashGrid Cluster for running Oracle RAC. The Multi-AZ capability of FlashGrid Cluster enables database uptime of 99.999% and fault-tolerance exceeding typical on-premises Oracle RAC deployments. The latest generations of Virtual Machines and Premium SSD v2 disks provide sufficient performance even for the largest Oracle RAC databases with capacities over 500 TB. For more information, watch this 1-minute explanation video.

FlashGrid offers HA database architecture for mission-critical applications that allows full control and flexibility to meet database and infrastructure requirements:

• Active-active or Fail-over database clustering using proven FlashGrid and Oracle clustering technologies.
• Full control of sizing, patching/updates, and database features. You have the root@ access.
• Portability between cloud providers.
• Ease of deployment similar to DBaaS.