By Joseph McKendrick, Research Analyst
Produced by Unisphere Research,
a Division of Information Today, Inc.
October 2013
FROM DATABASE
CLOUDS TO BIG DATA
2013 IOUG SURVEY ON
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary . . .
3
Top Challenges . . .
4
Challenge: Fast-Growing Data Environments . . .
7
Challenge: Database Lifecycle Management . . .
11
Challenge: Performance Management . . .
16
Challenge: Role of the DBTA . . .
19
Challenge: Database as a Service . . .
22
IOUG Recommends . . .
25
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
For many organizations, embracing new technology and methods such as database as a service (DBaaS) or big data is more than an academic concept discussed at conferences and in the trade press: it is a tangible part of everyday business. Many organizations are already providing faster delivery of applications, differentiated products and services, and some are building new customer experiences through mobile technology.
Organizations need to prepare for rising levels of big data streaming into their organizations. The ability to manage and assure 24x7x365 database performance, regardless of workloads and user demands, is key to agility and growth. Faster delivery of databases requires automated packaging and deployment processes, both at the initial instantiation and throughout the entire lifecycle of the databases in question including decommissioning. As data environments grow larger and consumers increasingly expect “on-demand” access, the ever-increasing complexity in governance requirements can potentially slow the roll out of database services. Database administrators face uphill challenges to address these challenges in today’s multi-layered and globally diverse data centers. Those who succeed are able to adapt and evolve by translating database services into critical services the business can depend on.
This survey also provides valuable information for IT managers and decision makers who are concerned with meeting demand for database services in a world where both the number of requests as well as the associated data volumes are steadily climbing. The survey has discovered that the database as a service (DBaaS) delivery model has started to take root in IT, helping the early adopters to address agility and cost challenges of increasing database demand.
The opportunities and challenges for database manageability are addressed in a survey of 160 data managers and professionals who are part of the Independent Oracle Users Group (IOUG) and currently running Oracle Databases. The survey was underwritten by Oracle Corporation and conducted by Unisphere Research, a division of Information Today, Inc.
Survey respondents hold a variety of job roles and represent a wide range of organization types and sizes and industry verticals. The largest segment (36%) of respondents hold the title of database administrator, followed by that of director or manager. Close to one-third work for very large organizations with more than 10,000 employees. By industry sector, the majority of respondents come from IT service providers, financial services, education and government agencies. (See Figures 29–31 at the
As demand for IT services and data volumes grow, so do the challenges with managing databases. Overall, data environments are not consolidated—enterprises are still running many separate databases for applications. During the twelve months preceding this survey, business demand for database services as well as the associated data volumes grew by more than 20% on average. In contrast, most IT organizations are experiencing flat or shrinking budgets. Other factors such as substantial testing requirements and outdated management techniques are all contributing to a cost escalation and slow IT response.
Close to two-fifths of enterprises either already have or are considering running database functions within a private cloud. At least 50% will use non-production systems for database as a service deployments.
As the growth of data accelerates—both in terms of number of databases and in data volume—database administrators need to know how it will impact their systems. In these fast-expanding environments, most respondents have management responsibility at the database level of the technology stack in order to address issues. As private, hybrid and public cloud adoption increases, the challenge of being able to manage data moving into virtualized environments will accelerate as well.
Enterprises are beginning to get a better hold on managing database changes, leading to shorter cycle times throughout the database lifecycle. However, the work that goes into managing the database lifecycle is still the greatest consumer of respondents’ time. A majority still overwhelmingly perform a range of tasks manually, from patching databases to performing upgrades. Compliance remains important and requires attention. As databases move into virtualized and cloud environments, there will be a need for more comprehensive enterprise-wide testing.
Episodes of unplanned downtime are trending upward at many enterprises. When an outage does occur, respondents admit that it’s difficult to tell what the root causes may be. Only a quarter of respondents can tell, if cross-tier components are affecting database performance.
Close to half the respondents say they need visibility into the entire technology stack in order to do their job effectively. It includes everything from the database applications that encompass the service being provided to the business, down to the storage layer. The ultimate responsibility for
n n n n n n n
What best describes respondents’ organizations’ current database environments? The largest segment of respondents, 43%, report they have many separate and individual databases for each of their critical business applications. Another 36% of respondents are either looking to standardize (17%) or have already consolidated (19%) their critical business application onto a single common database platform. A developing trend may be taking hold, as many IT organizations move towards database consolidation onto shared and/or cloud environments —with 16% of respondents already making the journey. (See Figure 1.)
Diagnosing performance and identifying SQL statements that may be taxing systems remains an ongoing challenge, the survey finds. As data volumes grow, and more parts of the business demand greater access to data for analytics, there is increased pressure on data professionals to maintain high availability and performance on a 24x7 basis.
Troubleshooting performance related issues leads the list n the most recent survey, cited by 47% of respondents—up from 42% in the previous survey. General performance diagnostics surpassed maintaining patch levels—which dropped from 45% to 33% from the last survey. Another 39% cite the challenge of keeping databases at current patch levels. (See Figure 2.)
There has also been a substantial increase in the percentage of respondents citing difficulties with dealing with too many manual repetitive tasks and processes—rising from 13% to 31%.
This is happening at the same time as a leveling off of lifecycle concerns (patching, provisioning), perhaps indicating that more DBAs are using “sweat equity” as the primary means for ongoing lifecycle management of databases—which is not sustainable over the long term. As the role of data increases in the business, the complexity and segregation of these environments is growing as well. Attempting to achieve data integration amongst various and rapidly multiplying data sources with hand-coded scripts will not adequately address these pressing needs.
More than one-fourth of respondents, 28%, indicate that resource and capacity planning are challenges for them. (This is the first year this topic has been added.) These are issues that arise most keenly with the rise of big data, even though data management and storage budgets continue to be limited. This puts the onus on database administrators to better plan their data storage requirements, as well as use their existing resources more effectively.
Interestingly, there is less concern around data security and compliance in this survey’s results compared to a year ago. For example, while 29% see security threats as an overriding issue, this is down from 35% a year ago. Likewise, concern about tracking data for compliance purposes is down from 25% to 21%. While these are still top-flight issues, the growth in the economy is shifting many organizations into expansion mode, and the ability to employ data to grow the business is taking greater precedence.
TOP CHALLENGES
As demand for IT services and data volumes grow, so do the challenges with managing databases. Diagnosing ongoing performance issues remains the topmost reported challenge, while lifecycle challenges are starting to be dealt with through automation. Overall, data environments are not consolidated—enterprises are still running many separate databases for applications.
Figure 1: Respondents’ Current Database Environments
We have many separate and individual
43%
databases for each of our critical business
applications
We have already consolidated our databases
19%
and infrastructure onto a single technology
platform for our critical business applications
We are looking to standardize our
17%
databases and infrastructure for our critical
business applications
We have already moved our databases
12%
and infrastructure onto a shared services model for
our critical business applications
We have already deployed our critical
4%
business applications using a database as
a service model
Other
5%
0
20
40
60
80
100
0 20 40 60 80 100
Figure 2: Leading Database Administrative Challenges
(Total percentage of respondents answering “4” or “5” for each choice, based on a scale of 1 to 5,
with “1” meaning little to no challenge, to “5” meaning extreme challenge.)
2012/13 2011
Diagnosing database performance problems
47% 42%
Identifying resource-intensive SQL statements in real time
44% 33%
Keeping databases at current patch levels
39% 45%
Dealing with too many manual repetitive tasks and processes
31% 13%
Managing larger number of databases with same resources
31% 33%
Increase in security threats
29% 35%
Resource and capacity planning
28% —
Promoting database changes from development or test to production
24% 21%
Tracking system configurations for compliance purposes
21% 26%
Rapidly growing database structures
20% 17%
Provisioning test or development systems
20% 22%
Database growth is accelerating, the survey shows. For example, there has been a noticeable increase in the growth rate of databases that DBAs are managing over the past two years. Twenty-eight percent report their growth rates have been exceeding 20% annually—up from 16% in the 2011 survey. In the last survey, 77% estimated that the number of databases under their management have been expanding at a slightly lower rate of less than 20% a year—down to 60% in this survey. (See Figure 3.)
Likewise, data volumes are also growing at a faster rate than previously. Forty-six percent report that their data volumes, as measured in gigabytes or terabytes, are expanding at more than 20% a year—up from 34% in the 2011 survey. Those
experiencing subpar growth—expanding at a rate of less than 20% a year—dropped from 61% to 43% over the two-year period. (See Figure 4.)
Interestingly, while databases are growing in size, there also appears to be a trend toward database consolidation taking place as well. In the current survey, 25% of respondents report overseeing more than one hundred Oracle Databases— down from 33% a year ago. (See Figure 5.)
There are a considerable range of data environment sizes represented in the survey—from 22% running less than 10 databases, to 12% running more than 500. (See Figure 6.) For the most part, respondents run between two to five databases on each server. (See Figure 7.)
CHALLENGE: FAST-GROWING DATA ENVIRONMENTS
As the growth of data accelerates—both in terms of number of databases and in data volume—database administrators need to know how it will impact their systems. In these fast-expanding environments, most respondents have management responsibility at the database level of the technology stack in order to address issues. As private, hybrid and public cloud adoption increases, the challenge of being able to manage data moving into virtualized environments will accelerate as well.
Figure 3: Rate of Annual Growth—Oracle Databases
2012/13 2011
<10% per year
25% 37%
10% to 20% per year
35% 40%
21% to 40% per year
20% 12%
41% to 60% per year
2%
1%
61% to 80% per year
5%
1%
>80% per year
1%
2%
Don’t know/unsure
12%
5%
Figure 4: Rate of Annual Growth—Database Sizes
(Gigabytes or terabytes)
2012/13 2011
<10% per year
10% 15%
10% to 20% per year
33%
46%
21% to 40% per year
28% 25%
41% to 60% per year
13% 6%
61% to 80% per year
1%
1%
81% to 100% per year
2%
1%
>100% per year
2%
1%
Don’t know/unsure
11%
5%
Figure 5: Total Number of Managed Oracle Databases
(Year-Over-Year)
(Includes development, testing and production)
2012/13 2011
<10
22% 18%
11 to 50
32% 28%
51 to 100
14% 17%
101 to 500
13% 21%
501 to 1,000
6%
6%
>1,000
6%
6%
Don’t know/unsure
8%
3%
Figure 6: Total Number of Managed Oracle Databases
<10
22%
11 to 25
20%
26 to 50
12%
51 to 75
8%
76 to 100
6%
101 to 500
13%
501 to 1,000
6%
>1,000
6%
Don’t know/unsure
7%
0
0 20 40 60 80 100
20
40
60
80
100
(Does not equal 100% due to rounding.)
Figure 7: Number of Databases Per Host/Server
1
12%
2 to 5
55%
6 to 10
15%
11 to 15
3%
16 to 20
4%
21 to 25
0%
26 to 30
0%
>30
3%
Don’t know/unsure
8%
0
0 20 40 60 80 100
20
40
60
80
100
Administrators surveyed say they are learning to perform testing for database changes in a much more rapid fashion compared to a year ago, primarily due to the “on-demand” consumer awareness that is the primary driver for DBaaS. When conducting database changes, migration or upgrades, it typically takes respondents up to a week to perform the necessary database testing. About a third, 35%, report it takes more than a week to get the testing done with many tasks being performed manually. Conversely, 29% are able to accomplish such testing within one business day, more than twice the level reported from previous years. (See Figure 8.)
In terms of database lifecycle and change management administrative activities, testing before rolling out changes still takes up the most time for respondents. The largest segment, 37%, say migrating schema changes from test to production is their most time-consuming activity—ranked a “4” or a “5” on a scale of 1 to 5. Another 24% report they spend most of their time troubleshooting configuration issues. (See Figure 9.)
While database administrators have played a key role in automating many tasks across the enterprise, there are a range of functions a majority of respondents still do manually. This includes patching databases for patch set updates (PSUs) and one-offs, which 59% perform manually. As far as upgrading databases to a newer version, 57% also report that they carry out this process using traditional methods. Another 56% still manually validate compliance to standards, while 53% manually troubleshoot configuration issues. (See Figure 10.)
Which compliance standards do respondents’ databases need to comply with? The largest segment, 33%, report they need
to comply with the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and another 26% need to comply with the Payment Card Industry (PCI) standard. (See Figure 11.)
There are a range of methodologies and tools used for database cloning, the survey confirms. Close to two-thirds employ RMAN Scripts, making this the leading and most prominent solution for database cloning. (See Figure 12.)
Respondents’ database environments suffer the effects of unplanned downtime as a result of database changes. These include, changes to configuration parameters, application schema objects, PL/SQL-based business logic or application data, and application of patches. For the most part, 51% report that they suffer unplanned downtime about 1% to 5% of the time due to authorized changes. (See Figure 13.)
A majority of respondents say they can automatically tell if a system problem was caused by someone making an unauthorized database change, though 33% say this can be done only some of the time, and in many cases, only via manual methods. This would include database changes such as changes to configuration parameters, application schema objects, PL/SQL-based business logic, or application data. (See Figure 14.)
During peak demand periods, many respondents are not able to automatically provision new database systems in a repeatable and efficient manner. Close to half of respondents, 46%, report that they can only do this some of the time, or not at all. This is not surprising given that 18% admit they can deploy databases quickly but it is done manually for the most part. (See Figure 15.)
CHALLENGE: DATABASE LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT
Enterprises are beginning to get a better hold on managing database changes, leading to shorter cycles. However, the work that goes into managing the database lifecycle is still the greatest consumer of respondents’ time. A majority still overwhelmingly perform a range of tasks manually, from patching databases to performing entire upgrades. Compliance remains important and requires attention. As databases move into virtualized and cloud environments, there will be a need for more comprehensive enterprise-wide testing.
Figure 8: Amount of Time for Testing Following Database Changes,
Migration or Upgrades
2012/13 2011
<1 day
29% 12%
2 to 5 days
30% 33%
6 to 10 days
18% 22%
11 to 30 days
11% 15%
31 to 60 days
5%
8%
>60 days
1%
5%
We don’t do database testing
0%
3%
Don’t know/unsure
6%
2%
Figure 9: How Time is Spent for Database Lifecycle
and Change Management Administrative Activities
Migrating schema changes from test to
37%
production
Troubleshooting configuration issues
24%
Patching databases for PSUs and one-offs
22%
Upgrading databases to the newer versions
21%
Validating compliance to standards
20%
Creation of new databases
14%
0
20
40
60
80
100
0 20 40 60 80 100
(Total percentage of respondents answering “4” or “5” for each choice, based on a scale of 1 to 5,
with “1” meaning least amount of time spent to “5” meaning significant amount of time spent.)
Figure 10: Methodologies Applied to DBA Activities
Manual Automated Automated Automated through customized through Oracle through other
scripts Enterprise Manager non-Oracle tools
Creation of new databases
38% 45% 13% 3%
Patching databases for PSUs
59% 25% 15% 1%
and one-offs
Upgrading databases to the newer
57%
29%
11%
3%
versions
Validating compliance to standards
56%
27%
13%
4%
Troubleshooting configuration issues
53% 22% 20%
4%
Migrating schema changes from
50%
37%
9%
4%
test to production
(Multiple responses permitted.)Figure 11: Required Compliance Standards
Health Insurance Portability and
33%
Accountability Act (HIPAA)
Payment Card Industry (PCI)
26%
Security Technical Implementation Guide
22%
(STIG)
Center for Internet Security (CIS)
15%
Figured 12: Methodologies and Tools Used for Database Cloning
RMAN scripts
64%
Sun ZFS-based cloning
7%
NetApp-based FlexClone
4%
Don’t know/unsure
2%
Other
14%
0
0 20 40 60 80 100
20
40
60
80
100
(Multiple responses permitted.)
Figure 13: Length of Time Database Environments Suffer from
Unplanned Downtime as a Result of Database Changes
Authorized
Not Authorized
None
18% 39%
1% to 5% of the time
51% 39%
6% to 10%
18%
6%
11% to 20%
6%
6%
21% to 30%
0%
3%
31% to 40%
0%
0%
41% to 50%
1%
1%
>50%
2%
1%
Don’t know
3%
5%
Figured 14: Automatically Tell If System Problem Caused by
Unauthorized Database Change?
Yes, all the time
23%
Yes, most of the time
24%
Yes, some of the time
13%
Yes, some of the time, but it is manual
20%
No, not at all
20%
0
20
40
60
80
100
0 20 40 60 80 100
Figured 15: Able to Automatically Provision New Database Systems
During Peak Demand Periods?
Yes, all the time
14%
Yes, most of the time
26%
Yes, some of the time
11%
Yes, some of the time but it is manual
18%
No, not at all
17%
Don’t know/unsure
14%
When it comes to unplanned downtime due to performance issues, outages are trending upward at many enterprises. While the overall number of respondents experiencing no outages improved slightly, the percentage of respondents experiencing outages five or more times a month grew by more than double, from three percent in the previous survey to eight percent today. This is an indication that growth and user demands are outstripping the uptake of technology to stay reliable. Organizations are faced with increasing workloads, but many have been reducing or even deferring capital acquisitions.(See Figure 16.)
Are respondents able to tell if other cross-tier components such as operating systems, middleware, and applications are affecting their database performance? For more than two-thirds of respondents, they are only able to tell less than half the time. For almost a third, 31%, their abilities are even more diminished —they can only tell 10% or less of the time. (See Figure 17.)
Respondents take a range of actions when experiencing episodes of unplanned downtime due to database or system performance. The most popular remedy, cited by close to half, 48%, is SQL tuning. Another 38% adjust system or database configurations. One-fourth will provision additional hardware— server or storage. Another 24% will temporarily reduce/restrict user access. (See Figure 18.)
After a service outage due to performance degradation, 41% of respondents are less likely to perform validation before introducing the required fix back into production. Close to half, 46%, say they perform these procedures less than 50% of the time. For one-fourth of respondents, these procedures only take place less than 5% of the time. (See Figure 19.) About 39% will perform the validation within testing environments, While 35% conduct the activity in the staging environment, and 10% validate the performance fix in production. (See Figure 20.)
CHALLENGE: PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
Episodes of unplanned downtime are trending upward at many enterprises. When an outage does occur, respondents admit that it’s difficult to tell what the root causes may be. Only a quarter of respondents can tell if cross-tier components are affecting database performance.
Figure 16: Frequency of Unplanned Downtime Due to
Performance Issues
2012/13 2011
We don’t experience unplanned downtime from database/system performance issues
16% 13%
<1 to 2 times a month
59% 69%
3 to 4 times a month
10% 11%
5 to 10 times a month
6%
2%
>10 times a month
2%
1%
Figure 17: Able to Tell if Cross-Tier Components Affecting
Database Performance?
<5% of time
22%
6% to 10% of time
19%
11% to 20% of time
9%
21% to 30% of time
9%
31% to 40% of time
4%
41% to 50% of time
5%
>50% of time
19%
Don’t know/unsure
13%
0
0 20 40 60 80 100
20
40
60
80
100
(i.e., Hardware, OS, Middleware, Applications)
Figure 18: How Unplanned Downtime Due to Database
or System Performance is Addressed
2012/13 2011
Perform SQL tuning
48% 60%
Adjust system or database configurations
39% 50%
Provision additional hardware—server or storage
25% 31%
Temporarily reduce/restrict user access
24% 27%
Reversing transactions/updates
11%
8%
Activate shadow copies of data with synchronization later
6%
5%
Figure 19: Perform Validation Before Introducing Required
Fix into Production?
<5% of time
23%
6% to 10% of time
6%
11% to 20% of time
6%
21% to 30% of time
5%
31% to 40% of time
1%
41% to 50% of time
5%
51% to 60% of time
4%
61% to 70% of time
2%
71% to 80% of time
4%
>80% of time
31%
Don’t know/unsure
13%
0
20
40
60
80
100
0 20 40 60 80 100
Figure 20: Environments in Which Validation is Performed
Test
39%
Staging
35%
Development
10%
Production
10%
Don’t know/unsure
7%
0
20
40
60
80
100
0 20 40 60 80 100
Close to eight out of 10 respondents say that troubleshooting application problems is the job of the DBA. Half of those surveyed report the applications administrator has this duty. In addition, 37% of respondents say developers also have troubleshooting responsibilities and 32% say systems administrators are involved in this task. (See Figure 21.)
Into which portions of the hardware and/or software technology stack does the ultimate responder need to have diagnostic visibility? Seven out of 10 respondents say this occurs at the database tier, while another 52% say it happens at the application tier. (See Figure 22.)
More visibility across the stack for troubleshooting purposes will reduce “finger-pointing” and therefore decrease the Mean
Time to Recovery (MTTR), a majority of respondents agree. It should be noted, however, that an opposing 21% say having greater visibility will have no impact on recovery time one way or another. (See Figure 23.)
Enterprise private clouds and the rise of database as a service (DBaaS) is changing the equation for many data shops. But one thing is certain—administrators need just as much, if not more visibility, than ever before. With database as a service beginning to take hold in many organizations, having visibility into applications and services in the cloud is critical. The key to an effective management strategy is to open up the visibility of the entire technology stack under one solution, 49% of respondents agree. (See Figure 24.)
CHALLENGE: ROLE OF THE DBA
Close to half the respondents say they need visibility into the entire technology stack in order to do their jobs effectively. This includes everything from the database applications that encompass the service being provided to the business, down to the storage layer. The ultimate responsibility for troubleshooting application problems typically falls to database professionals, the survey finds.
Figure 21: Executives/Professionals Responsible for
Troubleshooting Application Problems
DBAs
79%
Applications administrator
48%
Development/QA
37%
System administrator
32%
Middleware administrator
17%
Business analysts
17%
Help desk
14%
Figure 22: Where There is Diagnostic Visibility
Database tier
71%
Application tier
52%
Operating system tier
43%
Middleware tier
36%
Host/server tier
35%
None of the above
2%
Don’t know/unsure
12%
Other
1%
0
0 20 40 60 80 100
20
40
60
80
100
(Multiple responses permitted.)
Figure 23: The Benefits of Greater Visibility
Reduce “finger-pointing” and therefore
52%
decrease the Mean Time to Recovery (MTTR)
Reduce finger-pointing but not affect the
11%
recovery time
Not change the amount of finger-pointing
10%
and the recovery time
Increase finger-pointing but decrease
4%
the recovery time:
Increase finger-pointing and increase
1%
the recovery time
Don’t know/unsure
21%
Figure 24: How Much Visibility DBAs Require
Everything including the database that
49%
encompasses the service being provided
to the business
Database and the underlying storage/
17%
network tier
Database and the applications it is
16%
providing data to
Database tier only. Everything else is not
9%
my responsibility or problem.
Don’t know/unsure
9%
0
20
40
60
80
100
With more executive focus being placed on IT operations, it now has a much larger and more visible role in driving the business. The push is on for greater transparency in IT, as well as accountability for compliance purposes. This represents a move away from seeing IT as just a cost center to viewing it as driving the business and providing competitive advantage. As system usage increases, so too does the need to track line of business and user consumption.
Database as a service (DBaaS), or running databases and managing data within an enterprise private cloud setting, offers data managers and executives a means to employ shared services to manage their fast-growing environments. The potential advantage of DBaaS, is that database managers need not recreate processes or environments from scratch, as these resources can be pre-packaged based on corporate or compliance standards and made readily available within the enterprise cloud. A number of respondents, 37%, are using or considering using an enterprise private cloud for deploying their database services and/or applications. Seventeen percent already say they use an enterprise cloud for database services or applications, while 20% plan to do so. (See Figure 25.)
What do respondents see as the greatest challenges for deploying their databases to public and private clouds? Data
security is top of mind for almost half—49% say lack of control for sensitive data is a major challenge. In addition, more than a third, 34%, say they lack the expertise or knowledge to move forward into the cloud. Where as close to 29% of people surveyed, experience having a flat or limited budget for database cloud deployments. (See Figure 26.)
A number of enterprise cloud functions or capabilities are most important to respondents. Close to half, 46%, say they would like to see capacity planning services offered through private clouds, while 40% look for shared database resources.
A similar number would value cloud-based services providing automated database provisioning. (See Figure 27.)
An emerging trend developing is evidenced by close to half of respondents that are taking steps toward deploying non-production systems in a DBaaS model. Development and testing are key areas, with 48% of respondents reporting plans to use the cloud in these capacities. (See Figure 28.) However, overcoming the challenges to DBaaS adoption could still be a barrier for some. This may explain why only 4% of those surveyed consider the DBaaS to be their main deployment model for critical business applications, as shown in Figure 2 in the previous section of this report.
CHALLENGE: DATABASE AS A SERVICE
Close to two-fifths of enterprises either already have or are considering running database functions within a private cloud.
Figure 25: Considering Using Private Cloud for Database Services
or Applications?
Yes, we are considering using an enterprise
20%
cloud for our database services and/or
applications
Yes, we already use an enterprise cloud
17%
for our database services and/or applications
No, we don’t plan to use an enterprise cloud
31%
for our database services and/or applications
Don’t know/unsure
27%
Other
4%
Figure 26: Challenges to Deploying Databases to the Clouds
(Public or Private)
Lack of control for sensitive data
49%
Lack of expertise or knowledge
34%
Need to comply with regulatory
33%
requirements
Limited budget
29%
Lack of end-to-end management
22%
Limited hardware and software resources
20%
Lack of executive commitment
17%
Hard to track resources for metering and
15%
chargeback
None of the above
11%
Don’t know/unsure
9%
Other
8%
0
0 20 40 60 80 100
20
40
60
80
100
Figure 27: Most Important Private Cloud Functions
Capacity planning
46%
Shared database resources
40%
Automated database provisioning
39%
Metering and chargeback for reporting
28%
Self-service access
28%
Policy based resource management
24%
None of the above
6%
Don’t know/unsure
22%
Other
3%
0
20
40
60
80
100
0 20 40 60 80 100
(Multiple responses permitted.)
Figure 28: Private Cloud Environments to be Deployed for Databases
Development environment
48%
Testing environment
48%
Staging environment
33%
Production environment
28%
Training environment
24%
Disaster recovery environment
22%
Don’t know/unsure
35%
Other
1%
Save time and effort with comprehensive testing. With
DBAs managing more and more databases—each one growing at more than 20% annually—adopting automated testing tools and processes is essential. Automation makes life easier by moving changes from development/testing to production faster and with less effort. The tools can help administrators automatically spot and fix performance differences before deploying to production and avoid impacting business users.
Gain more visibility into the application stack. When it
comes to supporting the business, understand the entire service the database application is providing. Performance problems may not stem from the database itself, but from other parts of the IT infrastructure or even the network. Avoid the “blame game” for performance-related issues by involving and cooperating with teams responsible for other parts of the infrastructure. Having the ability to quickly diagnose and remediate performance problems accurately, before issues impact business users, is vital.
Take advantage of automation for Database Lifecycle Management so you can eventually provide Database as a Service. If you’re patching and provisioning manually today, as
most are, how are you possibly going to be able to respond to the on-demand requirements of DBaaS? When it comes to managing many aspects of data environments, it may not be necessary to reinvent the wheel. Start with small steps. Look at non-production areas such as development or testing environments as potential candidates to start using automation.
Become a leader and strategic advisor. The trend in IT
is moving more and more toward the cloud. Administrators
need to start taking more of a leadership role. Don’t get bogged down in daily repetitive manual processes or activities, invest in education and training that grow personal and technical skills. Utilize management tools to free up time and put a concerted effort on becoming a strategic advisory to the organization— this adds higher value to the business.
Use tools that maximize the cloud’s potential to provide database as a service. Private database clouds offer new ways
to offload integration and processing work to a shared service. Leverage tools that allow you to perform the most important private cloud functions to the fullest. Solutions that offer complete cloud lifecycle management such as Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c, can help with functions that include capacity planning, policy-based resource management and provisioning, in addition to self-service access for cloud users with metering and chargeback reporting—all of these will help overcome the challenges of cloud adoption. However, be sure to continually seek out more education on DBaaS to really understand the technical advantages and benefits it can offer.
For big data, embrace engineered systems for database clouds. Big data is creating new opportunities for business with
its analytics but it can also add stress for IT. Delivering database as a service on a fully integrated and engineered system such as Oracle Exadata can help alleviate the pains of keeping pace with big data demands. Success means being able to provision pre-packaged database clouds, based on standards, quickly and efficiently. Spending unproductive time doing manual deployments is not an option anymore; speed and agility are what build competitive advantage.
IOUG RECOMMENDS
As we see a new paradigm shift toward technologies such as cloud computing and big data, many forward-thinking
organizations are adopting innovative management approaches to evolve their IT services in order to drive business value and revenue. Every database executive or IT professional is already dealing with some of the impact within their enterprises. To be able to manage the increase in demand and challenges successfully, IT organizations need to embrace automated tools and methods to alleviate the growing burdens placed on their staff.