Maximising value while migrating your Oracle Estate to Microsoft Azure

Maximising value
while migrating
your Oracle Estate
to Microsoft Azure
> >>

Contents
3 Executive summary
4 Introduction
6 Oracle support on the Microsoft Azure platform
• Which operating systems are supported in Microsoft Azure?
• Which Oracle licences can be migrated to Microsoft Azure?
8
Migrating Oracle workloads—strategies
• Understand the service levels and availability you really need
• Understand fully your current licensing position
• Understand whether you are using the right Oracle edition
• Consider Standard Edition for Microsoft Azure cloud migrations and transformations
• Optimise CPU utilisation
• Understanding and optimising software licensing and support costs
• Right-sizing Microsoft Azure cloud server virtual machines for Oracle workloads
• Use of proactive future software asset management strategies
• The role of automation when migrating Oracle workloads
• Conclusion: Leveraging the suitability of Microsoft Azure cloud
16 Appendix

[ ]
2

There is often a misconception that migrating Oracle workloads
to public cloud will be expensive, difficult and unsupported.
What are the main concerns of the business decision-makers?
The key concerns of organisations seeking to migrate Oracle
workloads to the Microsoft Azure public cloud environment
are as follows:
• Can the same service levels and scalability still be obtained?
• Will licensing costs for my solution increase?
•
Will my Oracle implementation still be supported, and
can we obtain relevant patches?
This white paper aims to provide organisations moving to the
Microsoft Azure cloud with the necessary knowledge and business
strategies to navigate these issues. It aims to explain the common
misunderstandings and challenges in this area, and reassure
enterprise organisations that Oracle workloads can be moved to
Microsoft Azure cloud in an equivalent and cost-effective manner.
Executive summary
3

Introduction
Public cloud technology provision can take a range
of forms but is largely based on the use of highly
commoditised infrastructure to achieve scale, availability
and resilience. Solutions can be easily deployed, scaled,
and reinstated to achieve scalability and service levels.
Increasingly, enterprise-scale organisations are putting in place strategies to
assess and maximise the advantages and benefits of the public cloud, and it
is becoming more commonplace for business decision-makers to progress a
cloud-first strategy.
While a cloud-first approach can offer transformative benefits for the business,
there is a common challenge that the majority of enterprise organisations share.
It is very likely that an organisation of enterprise scale will be highly dependent on
a range of established and mature, mission-critical applications that provide their
core business and operational capabilities. These solutions are usually the most
complex and highly integrated systems in the business technology landscape. This
also means they are also often the most challenging to migrate to the public cloud.
Unless these critical business solutions can be successfully migrated for the
enterprise organisation, the full financial and scalability benefits of the public
cloud cannot be realised. Alongside other enterprise technology vendors
(e.g. SAP, IBM), Oracle-based technology provides a significant element of
many corporate enterprise solutions.
4

In the following white paper, we will address these concerns
and explore the key areas for consideration when specifically
migrating Oracle workloads to Microsoft Azure.
Version 1 is a leader in enterprise cloud services, specialising in migrating and
running complex enterprise applications in Public Cloud. With broad and deep
expertise across the Microsoft stack, Version 1 can look beyond specific requirements
to underlying customer issues and identify integrated solutions that leverage the
entire technology stack. As a leading Azure Fast Track enabled Microsoft partner,
Version 1 possesses end-to-end Microsoft capability with demonstrated Microsoft
expertise, awards and accreditations across a wide number of competencies. With
a track record and in-depth experience in Oracle which extends back to Version 1’s
inception in 1996, Version 1 works closely with Microsoft to help customers maximise
value while migrating their Oracle estate to Microsoft Azure.
www.version1.com
Due to the factors outlined above, migration to such cloud native solutions can be
considered too risky or difficult to provide a suitable business case to justify the level
of business and technology change required. We believe, however, that there are
many ways to reduce expense and mitigate the relevant risks and support scenarios.
5

Oracle support on the
Microsoft Azure platform
Oracle solutions usually consist of a specific mix of
underlying operating systems, native Oracle technology
elements and corresponding business applications
that consume the relevant data and outputs. Many
different combinations of these operating systems
and technologies are fully available to run on the
Microsoft Azure cloud platform.
Microsoft Azure is deemed by Oracle to be an Authorized Cloud Environment
and therefore Oracle technology software solution elements can be run either
individually (e.g. standalone Oracle Linux Virtual Machine Images or Java
applications) in Microsoft Azure or in combination with other Oracle business
application technology platforms e.g. Oracle E-Business Suite. A range of hybrid
cloud deployment scenarios may also be possible. It should be recognised that
this is because Oracle certifies operating system/product combinations, not
platform/product combinations for compatibility, patching and support purposes.
To run specific Oracle workloads in Azure, it may be necessary to use specific
operating system variants in order to be supported and certified by Oracle. For
example, Oracle 12.1 is only certified by Oracle for use in a Microsoft Azure Cloud
environment when using Oracle Linux as the base underlying operating system.
A partial list of Oracle programs eligible for use in Authorized Cloud Environments
is provided at http://aka.ms/OracleAuthorizedCloudEnv.¹
Whilst specific compatibility, suitability, licensing terms and associated costs
should always be assessed and validated before any migration, the majority of
common Oracle software workloads should be capable of being run in Microsoft
Azure. Given this baseline Microsoft Azure suitability, many Oracle solution
migration scenarios (especially those involving legacy versions or technologies),
can rapidly move towards balancing the required levels of solution functionality,
customisation, integration, licensing and specialist behaviour needed against
the future cost, effort, timescales and business impact involved in migrating,
implementing, securing and supporting them.
6

Despite the above, many people still believe that Oracle solution technology
will not run successfully or in a performant manner in environments such as
Microsoft Azure. With the exception of very specific Oracle technologies that
have dependencies on native features in underlying specialist infrastructure
(such as Oracle Exadata) and which do not have a direct Microsoft Azure
equivalent (and so may prove more challenging to migrate), the majority of
Oracle software workloads can be migrated and run successfully in a manner
which matches the relevant business requirements.
Such migrations can either be achieved natively or, as in the case of Oracle
RAC, can (subject to support considerations) be run on Azure with the potential
addition of third-party product solutions, such as FlashGrid. Even in these specialist
infrastructure scenarios, challenges can often be overcome when the solutions
move away from trying to replicate the existing on-premises solution approach,
and instead focus on delivering to business requirements through the use of native
and best practice cloud architecture.
The majority of Oracle software workloads can be migrated
and run successfully in a manner which matches the
relevant business requirements.
7

Migrating Oracle workloads—strategies
There are several key strategies to successfully assess,
migrate and optimise the migration of Oracle workloads
to the Microsoft Azure cloud environment in a way that
delivers the full range of enterprise business benefits
obtainable from cloud computing provision models.
These potential strategies are as follows:
Understand the service levels and availability you really need
Many organisations utilising Oracle technologies cite the scalability, availability
and performance offered by such Oracle technologies as some of the key reasons
for their retention and continued use in public cloud. These organisations believe
that deployment of Oracle workloads to public cloud cannot match on-premise
or private cloud service levels and associated non-functional characteristics.
For many Oracle workloads however, in terms of actual current business
requirements, this is not the case. Often the current technology provision level
is based on historical business and service level requirements, which may no
longer apply or be needed. In addition, the nature of the current provision may
not meet the future provision needs of the organisation, or enable suitable
enterprise transformation to support future digital strategies.
To address these challenges, it is essential to understand the current service
level agreements and non-functional requirements that apply to the targeted
Oracle solution, rather than those that were originally derived to build and
implement it. As part of this, it is imperative to focus on how to meet the current
business requirements and the actual SLA requirements of each individual
or collective workload. This understanding will then allow an appropriate
Microsoft Azure public cloud infrastructure and deployment strategy to be
defined, which in turn enables Oracle workloads to be easily migrated with
an appropriate match to service and availability needs.
Often the current
technology
provision
level is based
on historical
business and
service level
requirements,
which may no
longer apply or
be needed.
8

Understand fully your current licensing position
Put simply, many organisations may not fully understand their current Oracle
licensing position or existing terms and conditions. This can range from the
number, type and products licensed, through to the structure of support
agreements. To effectively manage the journey to Microsoft Azure, it is essential
to be fully aware of your relevant licensing position, support agreements and
associated terms and conditions.
Having full visibility of where you currently stand provides a solid basis for
understanding your options going forward and how to effectively manage
your Oracle licences and support. Version 1 provides a range of assessment
options around Oracle licensing and support, from rapid engagements to
in-depth analysis.
Understand whether you are using the right Oracle edition
As of Oracle 12c, the Oracle database product family consists of four different
database editions: Standard Edition 2, Enterprise Edition, Express Edition and
Personal Edition. Typically, Enterprise Edition and Standard Edition 2 are
preferred for most business workloads.
It is not unusual for an organisation to have adopted, consciously or
unconsciously, a single edition as the default for all Oracle database deployments;
typically, Oracle’s database flagship class Enterprise Edition (EE). However, in
some cases the features of EE may not be required by the currently deployed
solution. At one time, the solution or scale of implementation may have been
appropriate, but it no longer meets the functional needs of the solution. This
scenario is often due to historical benevolent licensing procurement arrangements
that may once have been in place, or may be due to over-provisioning by third
party solution providers as part of support for bespoke solutions.
Oracle Enterprise Edition is highly suitable for mission-critical applications such
as high-volume online transaction processing (OLTP) applications, query-intensive
data warehouses, and demanding Internet applications. Typically, however,
this description fits only a fraction of most organisations’ average database
estate needs or business use cases. There are other variants of Oracle database
technologies that are still highly capable, but which potentially provide the
required level of capability for these remaining workloads in a more
cost-effective manner.
9

Consider Standard Edition for Microsoft Azure cloud migrations
and transformations
Whilst many organisations or solutions will need the features and scale of Oracle
Enterprise Edition (EE) in their Microsoft Azure migration, a careful appraisal
of whether the needs of a given database workload could also be satisfied by
Standard Edition (SE) with minimal solution impact should be actively considered.
This could achieve significant licence efficiencies, potentially up to five times your
annual maintenance fee.
There are a number of key differences between EE and SE, which should be fully
explored in order to optimise any migration to the Microsoft Azure public cloud.
For example, the restrictions of SE currently include:
•
It cannot utilise Enterprise Edition ability to utilise any of the extra optional
packs such as partitioning, or performance-tuning packs.
•
It is limited to a maximum of eight Azure vCPUs for DBSE1/2 or
16 Azure vCPU for SE.
•
It does not support the Oracle Data Guard feature, which is a product used
to create, manage and monitor one or more standby databases.
However, with extensive experience in conducting licence audits, Version 1 has
witnessed that typically more than 60% of databases are not fully exploiting
Enterprise Edition extra cost optional packs or features, and the average database
DBSE1/2 is using considerably less than the equivalent of 8 Azure vCPUs. In
addition, whilst Data Guard is not an option, there are ways in which many
companies can create, manage and monitor standby databases with SE whilst
providing 24/7 support and business critical SLAs.
Oracle Standard Edition 2 is the current offering and covers all SE deployments,
as well as release 12.1.0.2 and above (which the legacy Standard Edition/Standard
Edition 1 do not).² At a high level, SE licensing is based on the number of vCPUs,
and Oracle defines the maximum server instance sizes which are permitted to run
Standard Edition. However, the approach in counting usage is somewhat different
to that used to license EE. SE is capped at a maximum of 16vCPU and Standard
Editions 1 2 have a maximum of 8 vCPU. In turn a Processor (for licensing
purposes for Standard Edition) is counted as 4 vCPU.
10

Re-evaluating your database edition choices should be considered as a viable
option given the performance, availability and scalability of Standard Edition 2
backed by Azure cloud, combined with the significant potential financial savings.
Optimise CPU Utilisation
According to leading technology analysts, less than half of the available
on-premises CPU performance capacity is typically in active use. Through our
Oracle licensing asset management activities, Version 1 has witnessed that most
Oracle clients typically allocate (and therefore license) 60–80% more cores
than they need, to ensure appropriate performance and support for potential
maximum workloads. When this factor is combined with the flexible nature of
the Microsoft Azure environment (which allows small increments of resource
to be allocated), we believe that given suitable levels of workload analysis and
optimised Azure virtual machine matching and provisioning, these levels of over
provisioning can be reduced. A suitable strategy should be engaged to reduce
the over-provisioning as part of the migration to Azure.
Many organisations are running Oracle systems on old hardware and processors
which can be five years old or more, and these were often procured through
significant capital expenditure outlay. As hardware in the Microsoft Azure Cloud
is typically newer and is upgraded on a more frequent refresh interval than most
on-premises systems, it is likely that substantial performance benefits can be
gained in Microsoft Azure environments by using fewer processor cores/or CPU
in comparison to the existing on-premises provision. This level of overcapacity
is often being paid for on a ‘just in case’ basis, but is not delivering tangible
business value or capacity. Using new processors with higher processing capacity
and throughput often means that the same Oracle workloads can be handled
with reduced processor allocation volumes and so Oracle licensing costs can be
reduced further.
It should be noted that when migrating customer data
from on-premises to Azure cloud, the exercise of migrating
data from one Oracle Edition to another has very little
effect on the overall effort required to migrate the data.
11

The ability to manage your consumption on a ‘pay for what you use’ basis,
via an optimised public cloud reference architecture for Oracle in the Microsoft
Azure cloud, can often help to reduce over-provisioning and therefore negate
any additional increased licence costs. Although the number of licences needed
per processor core may increase due to Oracle’s licensing policy, the reduction
in CPU count, together with targeted Oracle edition selection, will potentially
significantly reduce the overall total cost of ownership (TCO).
Understanding and optimising software licensing and support costs
Oracle licensing and support can be a complex topic. Support arrangements are
unique for each organisation based on the contractual history, and relevant terms
and conditions may vary from customer to customer or agreement to agreement.
Understanding these terms and conditions, in conjunction with various Oracle
policies, is crucial to navigating a successful Oracle migration path to Microsoft
Azure. There is therefore a common misconception that moving Oracle database
workloads to the Microsoft Azure cloud will result in considerably higher software
licensing and support costs. This does not have to be the case. By maximising
a range of cost-effective measures, there are ways in which annual spend in
support on-premises fees (based on current list price) could cost an organisation
significantly less when on Microsoft Azure.
Right-sizing Microsoft Azure cloud server virtual machines
for Oracle workloads
When considering the migration of designated Oracle workloads, it is important
to choose a suitably sized and specified target server IaaS environment that meets
service needs and does not over-provision, particularly with regard to the number
of vCPUs required which drive applicable licensing. ‘Right-sizing’ in Microsoft
Azure terminology is an important cloud cost optimisation principle as part of a
best practice based to designing an effective Oracle-based solution. For Oracle
workloads and environments, choosing the right level of Microsoft Azure virtual
machine can deliver benefits such as faster processors and increased memory
levels. These in turn may reduce the physical processing count needed and
potentially yield corresponding reductions in the Oracle licence requirement.
By maximising
a range of
cost-effective
measures, there
are ways in which
annual spend
in support
on-premises
fees (based on
current list price)
could cost an
organisation
significantly
less when on
Microsoft Azure.
12

It is possible to reduce the level of processing load of Oracle systems by pursuing
targeted assessments in the following areas:
•
CPU Storage
If the workload is I/O bound, then consider the use of more performant server
instance types and faster premium SSD storage types in Microsoft Azure
environments as a method of increasing performance and reducing load.
•
Memory
If the Oracle workload is memory bound, then the available memory options
in the range of applicable Microsoft Azure virtual machine types should
be considered.
•
Caching
Caching solutions in Azure such as Azure Redis Cache or Azure CDN should be
considered for implementation to reduce applicable database query load. Use
of a cache could significantly reduce the number of reads from your database,
thereby reducing the overall processing power and high-speed storage required.
Appropriate virtual machine selection works well when considering the
performance of existing hardware provision alongside future desired performance.
Use of proactive future software asset management strategies
As part of any managed cloud migration or Azure-based cloud transformation,
it is likely that the resultant migrated Oracle workload will be running for a
sustained period. It is therefore highly valuable and important to have a carefully
coordinated plan to manage Oracle software assets and licences over time, with
a view to ensuring Microsoft Azure based service is maintained at the optimal
cost. Typically, this planning activity should also include proactive management
of the stated Oracle licence position and support agreements, to ensure that any
saving can be easily realised as the needs of your Oracle estate change. Version
1’s Software Asset Management teams, who provide independent advice to
enterprise organisations, have a wealth of Oracle licensing experience and are
well-placed to advise on relevant techniques, licensing positions and strategies.
13

The role of automation when migrating Oracle workloads
Technology automation is generally regarded as a significant enabler
of improvement in levels of solution implementation quality, efficiency,
accountability and predictability, whilst at the same time reducing implementation
timescales, costs, solution inconsistencies and associated levels of business risk.
Whilst the benefits are clear, large-scale automation has still been a challenge
for many companies to successfully implement in today’s modern world. With
some of the infrastructure in many organisations being at least one decade old
and wide differences in the hardware, operating systems, storage, databases,
versions and build standards that underpin their Oracle implementations; the
variations any automation process needs to be programmed for, typically make
it prohibitively expensive and unreliable to achieve in an on-premises context.
Higher levels of automation in Oracle environments therefore only become
practical to achieve once these workloads have been migrated to a standardised
and more flexible environment.
Unlike many customers’ on-premises Oracle environments, Azure cloud offers
a unified, standardised programmable platform offering the high levels of
automation sought by the customer. It is a scalable landscape that has been
built with automation in mind, enabling large-scale delivery provisioning that
also provides continuous management of systems on this platform. This helps
to realise all the automation benefits originally discussed (quality, accountability,
and predictability, whilst reducing time, cost, risk, inconsistency and materials).
A migration of suitable Oracle workloads to Azure cloud can successfully
integrate infrastructure facilities and services with automation code that can not
only deliver marketplace differentiators, but for many is likely to be substantially
less costly to implement.
14

Conclusion: Leveraging the suitability of Microsoft Azure cloud
With more than 100 services across 50 regions, Azure public cloud is suitable for
the most demanding and mission-critical enterprise workloads such as Oracle
solutions. Microsoft Azure cloud is secure, agile and offers unmatched savings
compared to on-premises or private cloud environment provisions. In the same
way that Agile software development differs from Waterfall methodologies,
deployments of enterprise workloads such as Oracle can be assessed, moved,
tested, fixed and delivered rapidly, thus increasing delivery certainty and
removing large, upfront assessment costs.
Via the use of expert, predefined cloud reference architectures by Microsoft and
trusted cloud partners such as Version 1, the movement of Oracle workloads is no
longer complex. With the right migration planning partner, dramatic savings can
be achieved. In undertaking this strategy, the organisation is making a conscious
decision to become more cloud native and will be working towards wider
business transformation, which can in turn be supported by cloud native services.
Depending on your organisation’s needs, cloud transformation benefits can be
leveraged in a way that complements the Oracle licensing plans you put in place.
Version 1 can accelerate these processes in conjunction with any applicable
licence management approaches.
Oracle can be
assessed, moved,
tested, fixed and
delivered rapidly,
thus increasing
delivery
certainty and
removing
large, upfront
assessment costs.
15

Appendix
¹
The full list of Oracle programs eligible for use in Authorized Cloud Environments
is provided in the Oracle Authorized Cloud Environments document on Oracle.
com available at http://aka.ms/OracleAuthorizedCloudEnv.
² Oracle solutions suitable for deployment on Microsoft Azure.
Oracle-Database-EE
Oracle-Database-SE
Oracle-Linux
Oracle-Linux
Oracle-Linux
Oracle-Linux
Oracle-Linux
Oracle-Linux
Oracle-Linux
Oracle-Database 11g
Oracle
Oracle
Oracle
Oracle
Oracle
Oracle
Oracle
Oracle
Oracle
Oracle
12.1.0.2
12.1.0.2
6.4
6.7
6.8
6.9
7.0
7.2
7.3
R2
Oracle Product Vendor Version
16

Maximising value while migrating your Oracle Estate to Microsoft Azure

Maximising value while migrating your Oracle Estate to Microsoft Azure

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