07

Migrating Oracle
Databases to Google
Cloud

Damon here again. Let's talk about migrating Oracle databases to Google Cloud.
Objectives

Explain why running Oracle on Google

01 Cloud makes sense.

Review the technical specs of the Bare

02 Metal Solution.

Define common use cases for running

03 Oracle on Google Cloud.

In this module, you learn why running Oracle on Google Cloud makes sense.

You review the technical specifications of the Bare Metal Solution.

And you define common use cases for running Oracle on Google Cloud.
Why Run Oracle on
Google Cloud

You may have one or more Oracle servers on-premises and want to migrate them
off-premises to the cloud. Google provides an excellent solution for this scenario.
You want the innovation of Google Cloud, but your
business-critical apps rely on Oracle with no limitations

Innovation of Google Cloud

Business-critical apps need Oracle Database

No limits on features, versions, etc.

You may have existing applications that are heavily dependent on Oracle backends,
and uncoupling them might be difficult. Using Cloud SQL or a SQL Server instance
may not be an option.

However, you want to benefit from many of Google Cloud’s features, such as off-site
servers and scalability. Google has a solution that allows you to keep your Oracle
database and also migrate to the cloud, with no restrictions or limitations on the
Oracle side of things. It is truly a best-of-all-worlds solution.
Bare Metal Solution offers advantages

Google’s commitment to Google Cloud supports enterprise Oracle workloads, with

Oracle workloads hundreds of ex-Oracle engineers.

Allows customers to run applications in Google Cloud, taking

Enterprises have
advantage of Google innovation, while still using the enterprise’s
business-critical Oracle DBs
Oracle databases.

Some Oracle workloads Some applications require features or versions not supported by
require Bare Metal Solution managed database services like Amazon RDS.

Oracle licenses are more expensive when running on cloud

Oracle licenses are too
services. Bare Metal Solution runs directly on physical hardware
expensive to run in the cloud
in a third-party data center.

Some apps cannot migrate Apps that use Oracle often require major rewrites to use another
to the cloud without Oracle database. These apps cannot move to the cloud without Oracle.

Bare Metal Solution offers many advantages over a traditional on-premises server.

Google is fully committed to integrating Oracle workloads into its cloud environment
and employs many ex-Oracle engineers.

Many enterprises depend on Oracle databases for their mission-critical applications.

Google's solution allows customers to run applications in Google Cloud, taking
advantage of Google innovation, while still using the enterprise’s Oracle databases.

Some features of Oracle require bare metal servers. So even though Cloud-based
services like AWS RDS support Oracle, many Oracle features are not supported on
that service.

There is also a license penalty when running Oracle on virtual machines. When you
use virtualized services like RDS, Oracle charges for licenses by the virtual CPU. That
makes the licensing twice as expensive. On Bare Metal Solution, licenses are
charged per physical CPU.

Many times you can't migrate your applications until you also migrate your Oracle
database, and moving to a different database might require expensive rewrites that
are not practical.
Google’s objectives for Oracle workloads

● Support all licensable Oracle database options, including RAC (Real

Application Clusters) and Database In Memory.
● Allow all Oracle database features without limits imposed by Cloud
managed services.
● Support all applications that use Oracle databases (in Google Cloud or
Bare Metal Solution), including SAP on Oracle.
● Avoid 2x license fee penalty imposed on Cloud services by Oracle.
● Provide a solution that is compatible with written Oracle license policies.

Google has several key objectives for Oracle workloads.

● There must be support for all licenseable Oracle database options, including
Real Application Clusters and Database In Memory.
● All Oracle database features must be supported without the limits imposed by
Cloud-managed services.
● All applications that use Oracle databases, including SAP on Oracle, must be
supported.
● There should be no 2x license fee penalty imposed on Cloud services by
Oracle.
● Finally, Google's solution must be compatible with Oracle's license policies.
There are no limitations to Oracle on
Bare Metal Solution
Same license cost as on-premises
(no 2x cloud penalty).

Google Customer
Cloud Persistent App Compute
Kubernetes All Oracle database options are licensable,
Storage Disk Engine Engine
Engine including RAC.
Customer Managed
Dedicated
VPC Network Interconnect
or internet Oracle OVM hypervisor can be
VPC Cloud
pre-installed.
<2ms RTT US West
Peering Interconnect

Google Cloud applications perform

Region Monitoring / Logging
Google Managed
extension
like they are in the same data center
VPC Network as Bare Metal Solution.
Hardware Installation
and Maintenance
192.168.1.0/27

OS Installation /
All access to Bare Metal Solution is through
Oracle DB
DB Tier Bare Metal Provisioning Google Cloud with Google security.

Bare Metal Solution has no limitations regarding Oracle versions, features, or

configurations and has the same license costs as an on-premises server.

Because of the close proximity of the physical Oracle servers to the Google facilities,
you get the high performance you would expect as if the servers were in the same
data center. Additionally, Google handles the security through Google Cloud.
Bare Metal Solution works with
managed partner services
● Bare Metal Solution provides customer-managed Accenture IBM managed
Managed service P Series
bare metal for Oracle workloads. for Oracle DB (AIX)
● Accenture, Atos, and other partners provide a
managed Oracle as a service.
● Non-x86 platforms are also provided by partners
(e.g., IBM POWER / AIX).
● The customer signs a separate contract directly
with the partner. Costs of managed services are Atos managed Any partner
typically higher than self-managed offerings. Oracle DB service

Bare Metal Solution can also be used by applications running in other clouds.

Bare Metal Solution is the only solution that provides a colocation data center with a
connection to Google Cloud of less than 2 milliseconds of latency.

Plus, vendors also offer high bandwidth connections to AWS, Azure, Oracle Cloud,
and other colocation facilities. Thus, you can host applications and appliances in
another partner data center or on-premises and have a high bandwidth network to
Google Cloud and Bare Metal Solution.

Bare Metal Solution leverages other partners for managed Oracle services and
hardware. Other partners like Accenture and Atos provide managed Oracle
databases. Non-x86 platforms are offered by partners like IBM.
What about Oracle support and licensing?

● Bare Metal Solution is bare metal in a subprocessor-managed data center, NOT cloud.
○ Hundreds of customers do this with Oracle in Equinix, Atos, Rackspace, etc.
● BullSequana S is officially certified by Oracle.
● The solution meets Oracle's requirements for RAC support.
○ Native storage device supported by the storage vendor (NetApp)
● We recommend engaging a third-party Oracle license compliance firm such as
Palisade Compliance.
● Rely on Oracle License Management Services (LMS) or Palisade for licensing policies.
○ Not Oracle sales teams

Because Bare Metal Solution uses Oracle-certified bare metal servers, there is no
problem with Oracle licensing and support.

Bare Metal Solution is not a virtualized cloud solution. Thus, all Oracle versions and
features are supported.

You need to provide your own Oracle licenses and ensure that you are in compliance.

You might consider using a third-party compliance firm to help ensure that you
conform to license policies from Oracle.
Technical Specs

So far we have been talking about running Oracle databases on Google Cloud using
Bare Metal Solution.

Now, let’s look into some of the technical details about how the solution is architected,
some of your options, and how you connect to and administer the servers.
Bare Metal Solution provides physical hardware with
a high-speed connection to a Google Cloud region

Regional Extension

App Tier Backups

Google
Compute Cloud Dedicated Oracle RAC DB SAN
App Engine Kubernetes Filestore
Engine Storage Interconnect on Bare Metal Storage
Engine
10 to 100 Gbps

Bare Metal Solution hardware is traditional physical hardware, except it is located

close to the Google hardware and has high-speed connections to the Google Cloud
region where it’s located. This allows the App layer and backups to perform with the
same high speed as if they were other Google-provided database solutions.
Bare Metal Solution provides physical hardware with
a high-speed connection to a Google Cloud region

Regional Extension

App Tier Backups

Google
Compute Cloud Dedicated Oracle RAC DB SAN
App Engine Kubernetes Filestore
Engine Storage Interconnect on Bare Metal Storage
Engine
10 to 100 Gbps

The Oracle servers are housed in a Google partner data center. A high-speed
interconnect is set up between the partner and your Google region with
<2-millisecond latency between them.
You select the operating system to be
pre-installed on your machines
● Operating system choices include:
○ Red Hat Linux 7.7, 8.1
○ Oracle Linux 7.7
○ SUSE 15
○ Windows 2016 Enterprise, 2019 Enterprise
○ Other versions of Windows and Linux can run in a hypervisor
● Hypervisors can be pre-installed
○ Oracle OVM 3.4.6 or Oracle OLVM
● OS and hypervisors are configured, managed, licensed, and
patched by the customer.
● Bring your own license.

● You can create an Oracle server just like you would on-premises.
● You can choose the operating system you want on your bare metal servers
when you place the order. Red Hat, Oracle, SUSE, and Windows are all
supported.
● You can also choose whether to install hypervisors. If you do, you can also run
other operating systems.
● You manage and patch your machines as you would on-premises.
● You bring your own existing licenses.
Select the server configuration that
meets your database workload

Compute Machine Type Monthly Price* (3 Year CUD)

16 Cores, 384-GB RAM Xeon Gold 3.2GHz $2,000
24 Cores, 768-GB RAM Xeon Gold 3.0GHz $2,400
56 Cores, 1,536-GB RAM Xeon Platinum 2.2GHz $3,400
112 Cores, 3,072-GB RAM Xeon Platinum 2.7GHz $6,800

*Pricing for Bucket I locations, (Bucket II to have a 10% premium)

Bucket I: Virginia, Los Angeles, Frankfurt, London, Netherlands, Sydney, São Paulo
Bucket II: Tokyo, Singapore
(Pricing subject to change)

You can choose the hardware that fits your needs. Several standard machine
configurations are supported. These servers use the latest hardware and CPUs.
Details are in the table shown here, but check the documentation for the latest specs
and pricing.
Data storage is tuned for Oracle

● Storage is provisioned and tuned as per NetApp’s best practices for Oracle database.
● Single capacity-driven metric for simplified sizing:
○ Customer specifies desired IOPS, storage requirements, and LUN configuration.
○ Quality of Service assurances of up to 400,000 IOPS.
● Use Cloud Storage for low-cost blob storage and backups.
● All data over the network and at rest is encrypted.
● Coming soon: protocol support for NFS and CiFS

Storage Type Monthly Price (3 Year CUD)

All Flash NVMe Storage/TB $115
All Disk Storage/TB $60

Data Storage uses NetApp best practices for tuning the storage. You specify your
desired IOPS, storage requirements, and LUN configuration. Up to 400,000 IOPS is
guaranteed.

You should use Cloud Storage for low-cost blob storage and backups.

All data is encrypted at rest and over the network.

Use Cloud Storage for inexpensive
backup storage

Backups can be stored in inexpensive Cloud Storage buckets,

including Coldline and Archive storage classes.
Cloud Storage
Automated periodic snapshots for database binaries and OS
● Daily snapshots with three-day retention
● Weekly snapshots with one-month retention

Local disk-based storage for hot backups and blobs

Use the Oracle backup tool of choice (RMAN, etc.)

You can backup your databases to Cloud Storage for an inexpensive solution. You
pick which Cloud Storage class makes sense for your backups. You can automate
snapshots for the database binaries and OS and set a retention period in Cloud
Storage, and you can use lifecycle rules to automatically clean up storage over time.

Hot backups can be written to local disk-based storage.

You can use any traditional Oracle backup tool.

Dedicated Interconnect provides high-speed
connection from regional extension to Google
● Interconnect between Google
Cloud and Region Extension:
$247.00/month per 10 Gbps.
○ Up to 100 Gbps
● Network egress between
Regional
Google Cloud and the Regional Dedicated Interconnect
Extension
Extension is free. Up to 100 Gbps per customer

● Network egress for data that

leaves a Google Cloud region is
billed at normal egress rates.

There is a dedicated high-speed interconnect between the Google data center and
the regional extension where the Oracle machines are located.

You choose how fast your interconnect has to be. Interconnect between Google Cloud
and the Regional Extension costs $247.00/month per 10 Gbps, up to 100 Gbps.

Network egress between Google Cloud and the Regional Extension is free, and
egress for data that leaves a Google Cloud region is billed at normal egress rates.
You create a VPC and peer it to a Google-managed
VPC for communication to the database

Provisioned and managed by Google

Regional Extension
Customer Google Managed VPC
Managed VPC

Subnet Subnet
(192.168.1.0/24)
(10.1.1.0/24)
VPC
Peering Oracle DB SAN
Dedicated on Bare Metal Storage
Interconnect
10 to 100 Gbps

Clients connect to your Oracle instance via a Google-managed VPC. As you did in an
earlier lab, a network peering is created between your Google Cloud VPC and a
Google-managed VPC that provides access to the bare metal servers.
Access your Oracle Bare Metal Servers using a
jump server (Bastion host) in your VPC

SSH to Jump Server via Cloud

VPN or Cloud Interconnect
Customer Managed VPC Google Managed VPC

Compute Engine Oracle RAC Servers

SSH SSH

Admin
Jump
Server 192.168.1.4 192.168.1.4

Cloud VPN Dedicated VPC Peering

Interconnect

Connect to a jump server in your customer managed VPC via SSH through Cloud
VPN or a Dedicated Interconnect.
Access your Oracle Bare Metal Servers using a
jump server (Bastion host) in your VPC

SSH from Jump Server to

SSH to Jump Server via Cloud database via Network Peering
VPN or Cloud Interconnect
Customer Managed VPC Google Managed VPC

Compute Engine Oracle RAC Servers

SSH SSH

Admin
Jump
Server 192.168.1.4 192.168.1.4

Cloud VPN Dedicated VPC Peering

Interconnect

From the jump server, you can use SSH to connect to your Oracle servers through
the VPC peering provided by Google. Google will provide the IP addresses and
connection information to your servers. You can request specific IP address ranges
when placing the order for the servers.
Use a NAT to provide access from the
bare metal servers to the internet

Customer Managed VPC Google Managed VPC

Compute Engine Oracle RAC Servers

Internet

NAT 192.168.1.4 192.168.1.4

VPC Peering

If the Oracle server needs access to the internet, that can be provided through NAT.
The Oracle servers themselves have no internet access or external IP addresses.
Use the most appropriate tool for migrating
data to Bare Metal Solution

Oracle Native Migration Tools Google Native Migration Tools Partners

● RMAN Data Pump ● Oracle backup → Cloud ● Leverage partner for lift and
Storage bucket shift tools
● Transportable Tablespaces
● Oracle backup → Google ● Striim for live data
● Data Guard/Active Data Guard
Transfer Appliance → Cloud migration
● GoldenGate Storage bucket
● Customers often have their
● Bare Metal Solution servers
own migration scripts and
can be configured to connect
to Cloud Storage buckets procedures

Use the most appropriate tool for migrating data to Bare Metal Solution.

To get your data into the Oracle server, you can use a variety of tools, such as
Oracle-native tools you may be familiar with already.

Google-provided tools can also be used to move Oracle backups into Cloud Storage
buckets. Depending on how much data you have, you can use Google's Storage
Transfer Service. For very large amounts of data, you can order a Transfer Appliance.

You can even use third-party partner tools if they offer a better solution than Oracle or
Google provides. Striim is a commonly used third-party migration tool, or maybe
you've written one yourself that will do the job.
All Oracle tools, features, and options are available
and work the same as on-premises
● Connect to Oracle using preferred tools:
○ SQL*Plus client
○ SQL Developer/Toad SQL*Plus SQL*Plus
EM Express
○ Oracle Enterprise Manager Oracle Client
Application SQL Developer
(oracle-demo
○ Etc. (oracle-demo-client)
-windows)

● Connect from any VM in your VPC using App Tier

<2ms
SSH or RDP.
DB Tier
Bare Metal Co-Lo
● Create new applications using Google
Cloud services and connect them to your
Oracle Database. SQL*Plus

● View Oracle OS processes and alert logs. DB on

Bare Metal

All your familiar tools can be used to connect to the Oracle server just as if it were
on-premises.

You can connect any VM in your VPC, using either SSH or RDP.

You can also create new applications using managed services and connect them to
your Oracle server.

You can monitor the Oracle processes and logs with standard methods.
Oracle Database RAC (Real Application Clusters)
can be configured for high availability

Shared Cluster File System

Node Node

Oracle instance 1 Oracle instance 2

RAC 1 RAC 2

Listener 1 Listener 2

Business
ERP Connection ERP Central ERP Connection Peoplesoft
Intelligence
Instance 1 Services Instance 2 Users
Apps

You can even configure Oracle Database RAC if you need high availability. It’s exactly
like doing it with your own hardware.
RAC provides automatic failover
if a node crashes

Shared Cluster File System

Node Node

Oracle instance 1 Oracle instance 2

RAC 1 RAC 2

Listener 1 Listener 2

Business
ERP Connection ERP Central
Intelligence
Instance 1 Services
Apps

ERP Connection Peoplesoft

Instance 2 Users

RAC provides an automatic failover if your node crashes.

Oracle RAC on Bare Metal Solution

RAC cannot run on cloud-managed database solutions in AWS or Azure.

RAC infrastructure can be configured when setting up the bare metal servers

RAC + Google Cloud HA and DR is a very reliable solution.

Superior to on-premises capabilities. Failover, rolling patches, scale-out.

Bare Metal Solution is compatible with the requirements of RAC.

Bare Metal Solution has native shared storage supported by the storage vendor (NetApp).

RAC can provide higher uptime

Default SLA for Bare Metal Solution is 99.9%. Bare Metal Solution + RAC + a DR site
can provide very high availability.

Because the Bare Metal Solution runs on physical machines and has shared storage
provided by NetApp, RAC can run just like it would on your own hardware. This can’t
be done running Oracle in AWS or Azure. This allows you to create a highly available
cloud-based Oracle solution.
Deploy to multiple regions for disaster recovery

Google
Google Network Google
Cloud Persistent App Compute Backbone Cloud Persistent App Compute
Kubernetes Kubernetes
Storage Disk Engine Engine Storage Disk Engine Engine
Engine Engine

App Tier Dedicated App Tier

Interconnect
or internet
Cloud Cloud
Interconnect
<2ms RTT US West Interconnect
<2ms RTT US East

Region Extension Region Extension

Reporting and Analytics Reporting and Analytics

Oracle RAC Development Sandbox Oracle RAC Development Sandbox

Bare Metal Bare Metal
DB Tier SAN storage Patch Testing DB Tier SAN storage Patch Testing

To make your disaster recovery solution even more robust, you can deploy the RAC
to multiple regions.
Use Cases

Now that you understand the technical details, let’s explore some use cases.
Use cases for running Oracle on Bare
Metal Solution

Dev/Test Disaster Recovery Backup/Recovery Migrate Production

1 2 3 4

There are many use cases for running the Oracle on Bare Metal Solution. These
include development and test environments, disaster recovery, backup and recovery,
and cloud migration.
Dev/Test

Sandbox ● Try new features and functionality (e.g., Multitenant)

● Integration with Google Cloud (BigQuery, ML, Containers)
Testing
● Modernization and migration testing

Application ● Increased productivity

● Give developers flexibility and performance
Development
● Iterate faster

Patching ● Upgrades (12c, 18c, 19c)

● PSUs, RUs, RURs, and critical one-off patches
and Upgrades
● Zero or Near-zero downtime patching and upgrade testing

Instead of building out a physical server on-premises for development and testing,
you can build out what you need on the cloud and use it for however long you need.
This allows you to prototype and test out building Google Cloud solutions.

The cloud can provide a great environment for testing and a sandbox for research
and development.

Application developers can use the cloud for increased productivity, flexible resource
allocation, and faster development cycles.

You can also use the cloud as a safe place for testing patches and new versions
before putting them in production.
Disaster Recovery

On-premises to ● Leverages Google Cloud native cloud features and Oracle functionalities
● Platform for migration of applications to Google Cloud
Google Cloud
● Backup databases to Cloud Storage; restore to Bare Metal Solution

● Geographic separation and isolation

Cross-Region ● Zero or near-zero downtime patching and upgrade testing
● Ensures governance and business continuity

Audit and ● Periodic testing of regular disaster recovery activities

Testing ● Instantiate and validate backups on a regular basis

Disaster recovery is also simplified in the cloud.

You can deploy Oracle in the cloud to get Oracle functionality combined with Google
Cloud cloud features, and backup and restore the databases to Cloud Storage.

You can create a cross-region solution that provides greater protection against failure
in a single region.

It is also easier to periodically test and validate the backups.

Backup/Recovery

Centralized ● Reduce backup administration costs

● Automate backups to remote site
Backups
● Take advantage of deduplication and incremental backups

Data
● Reduce backup costs by leveraging long-term storage classes
Lifecycle
● Storage classes: Standard, Nearline, Coldline, Archive
Management

Lifecycle ● Age: This condition is satisfied when an object reaches the specified
age (in days)
Conditions
● As objects age, move them to another storage class or delete

Backups can be centralized and stored in Cloud Storage buckets. Use the appropriate
storage class to reduce costs.

Automating the backups and taking advantage of deduplication and incremental

backups reduces admin costs. Plus, when you need to recover, there is lower latency,
which means you can afford to do more frequent validation of your backups to ensure
DR readiness.

Leverage lifecycle rules in Cloud Storage to move objects to different storage classes
as they age. At some point, backups become so old you would never restore them.
You can also use lifecycle rules to delete them.
Flow for hybrid backup and recovery
Cloud Cloud
Customer Interconnect VPN
Data Center
Cloud Storage

App Tier

RSync Database Backups

App Tier

Cloud Instantiate Test Cloud

Database from Backup Interconnect
Network Path < 2ms

DB Tier
Database Tier Region
Extension CI/CD Data Source

Database on
Bare Metal
RMAN Validation

SAN storage Offload Admin Tasks

For hybrid scenarios, you may be running your production workloads on-premises,
but you can securely copy your backups into the cloud using a Cloud Interconnect or
VPN connection, depending on the amount of bandwidth required.

Use a Bare Metal Solution in a regional extension to run a test database, or in the
event of a disaster, use it to spin up a failover server.
Migrate Production to Cloud

● Shift infrastructure and apps from on-premises and migrate them

Migration as-is into the cloud
Strategies ● Modernize your traditional on-premises applications by rebuilding
them in the cloud

Assess ● Determine use cases, explore migration solutions, and choose what
migration journey is right for you
and Plan
● Develop a detailed migration plan with tools, solutions, or partners

● Migrate according to your detailed plan created during the previous

Migrate phase
and Optimize ● After your migration, look for ways to establish operational best
practices and enhance existing processes

Another use case is to move away from an on-premises Oracle server to host it in the
cloud. Then you can continue to run your traditional apps as-is but also start to
develop new cloud-based apps to leverage Google’s innovations.

There are many options for migrating, so it is a good idea to develop a detailed
migration plan and pick the tools that work best for you.

Follow Google's Cloud Migration process. Start with a detailed assessment and
develop a detailed migration plan with tools, solutions, or partners.

Then, automate your migration. After your migration, look for ways to establish
operational best practices and enhance existing applications by moving to a
microservice architecture that leverages managed cloud services.
Use Oracle Data Guard for native database replication

Customer Cloud Compute

Interconnect Engine
Data Center

App Tier
Data Guard
/ Active
Data Guard
App Tier

Cloud
<2ms
Interconnect

DB Tier
Partner Co-Lo

Snapshot
standby
Standby DB
on Bare Metal Pluggable
clones
SAN storage CDB
Database Tier

During the migration phase, you will probably need to replicate your on-premises
Oracle databases with your databases running in Bare Metal Solution. You can use
Oracle Data Guard for native database replication.
Lab Intro
Deploying the Oracle on
Bare Metal Solution

This lab demonstrates what you will need to do when managing an Oracle database
running on the Bare Metal Solution. This is a simulation in that there is no bare metal
server for you to connect to. Rather, you will install Oracle on a virtual machine. The
lab architecture does replicate closely what you would do in a real BMS environment
however.

In this lab, you configure a VPC network. You download and install Oracle 18c on a
Bare Metal Solution server and connect to it from Google Cloud.
Lab Review
Deploying the Oracle on
Bare Metal Solution

In this lab, you configured VPC network peering between projects.

You downloaded the Oracle 18c Installer from the Oracle Technology Network, and
installed an Oracle 18c Database on a simulated Bare Metal Server.

Lastly, you verified connectivity to the Oracle 18c database from Google Cloud’s AI
Platform.
Module Review

In this module, you:

● Learned why running Oracle on Google Cloud makes sense.

● Reviewed the technical specifications of the Bare Metal Solution.
● And defined common use cases for running Oracle on Google Cloud.