OracleNotes

Tag: #Multicloud

  • Oracle GoldenGate and Microsoft Fabric: Better Together for Oracle Database@Azure

    Oracle GoldenGate and Microsoft Fabric: Better Together for Oracle Database@Azure

    For years, “multi-cloud” often meant siloed cloud — some workloads in OCI, others in Azure, stitched together with fragile integrations, added latency, and plenty of operational pain.

    With the rollout of Oracle Database@Azure, those walls are finally coming down.

    Oracle databases now run directly inside Azure data centers, with native networking, identity, and billing integration. And quietly — but critically — one of the most powerful additions to this ecosystem is the managed Oracle GoldenGate service, now available natively alongside Oracle Database@Azure.

    Naturally, this raises a question:

    “If I already have Microsoft Fabric for analytics, why do I need GoldenGate? Aren’t they competing?”

    The short answer is no.
    The longer — and more interesting — answer is that GoldenGate and Fabric together form one of the strongest enterprise data architectures available today.

    The End of “Siloed” Multi-Cloud

    Before Oracle Database@Azure, replicating Oracle data into Azure typically meant one of two things:

    • Hairpinning traffic through interconnects
    • Managing your own GoldenGate infrastructure on IaaS

    Both approaches worked, but neither was elegant — and latency was always part of the story.

    With the managed GoldenGate service running physically inside Azure data centers, right next to Oracle Exadata, that changes completely.

    The Latency Game Changer

    GoldenGate now operates co-located with Oracle Database@Azure, allowing:

    • Sub-millisecond latency
    • No public internet traversal
    • No cross-cloud data gravity issues

    Changes are captured and applied without ever leaving Azure’s network backbone. For the first time, Oracle-to-Azure replication feels native — not bolted on.

    GoldenGate vs. Fabric: The Ingestion Misconception

    It’s easy to see why GoldenGate and Fabric get compared.
    Both move data. Both talk about real-time.

    But they solve very different problems.

    • Microsoft Fabric is an analytics and data platform
      Its job is to unify storage (OneLake), compute, governance, BI, and AI. It is where insights are created.
    • Oracle GoldenGate is a data replication engine
      Its job is transactional fidelity, zero-downtime movement, and deep understanding of database internals.

    Fabric’s native mirroring and ingestion tools are excellent for general-purpose scenarios. But when you’re dealing with mission-critical Oracle workloads — complex schemas, high redo volume, strict consistency requirements — a specialized replication engine matters.

    GoldenGate reads Oracle redo logs natively. That’s not just faster — it’s fundamentally more precise.

    A “Better Together” Architecture

    Here’s how these services naturally coexist in a modern Oracle Database@Azure architecture:

    1. The Source
      Mission-critical systems — ERP, core banking, supply chain — run on Oracle Exadata within Oracle Database@Azure.
    2. The Pipe (GoldenGate)
      Managed GoldenGate captures changes in real time with full transactional fidelity.
      It can filter, transform, and even mask sensitive data before it leaves the operational layer.
    3. The Destination (Fabric)
      GoldenGate streams data directly into OneLake or Azure Data Lake Storage, where Microsoft Fabric takes over.
    4. The Insight
      Fabric handles transformations, Spark workloads, semantic models, Power BI dashboards, and AI experiences.

    GoldenGate ensures the data is timely and accurate.
    Fabric ensures the data is usable and valuable.

    Why Not Just Use Fabric Mirroring?

    For simpler use cases, Fabric’s native mirroring is absolutely sufficient.

    But many enterprise Oracle environments demand more:

    • Bi-directional replication (active-active patterns)
    • Conflict detection and resolution
    • Fine-grained filtering and transformations
    • The ability to replicate out of Azure when needed

    GoldenGate has decades of production pedigree in exactly these scenarios. That maturity still matters.

    The Strategic Value

    Beyond architecture, there’s a broader strategic upside:

    • Unified Billing
      Managed GoldenGate consumption counts toward your Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC).
    • Best of Breed
      DBAs get the industry standard for Oracle replication.
      Data engineers and analysts get Microsoft Fabric.
    • Future-Proof Multicloud
      Data can move freely — without locking analytics or operations into a single platform.

    Final Thoughts

    Oracle Database@Azure is more than a hosting option — it’s a bridge between two ecosystems.

    In that bridge:

    • GoldenGate is the high-fidelity data movement layer
    • Fabric is the analytics and intelligence layer

    They are not competitors. They are complementary — and together, they finally make integrated multi-cloud real.

    For organizations running critical Oracle workloads on Azure, this isn’t an either/or decision. It’s the blueprint for a modern data estate.

  • Oracle Database @ Azure Secret to Speed

    Oracle Database @ Azure Secret to Speed

    How “OCI Pods” Bring Sub-Millisecond Latency to Azure

    If you’re running mission-critical apps in the cloud, you know that speed is everything. Traditionally, “multicloud” meant connecting two different clouds over a distance, which always added a delay. Oracle Database@Azure fixes this by physically changing the map.

    Here is how the unique OCI Pod architecture makes sub-millisecond latency possible.

    1. Bringing the Cloud to the “Room Next Door”

    The biggest reason for the speed is physical proximity. Oracle and Microsoft have partnered to build “Child Sites” directly inside Azure data centers. We call these sites OCI Pods.

    Think of an OCI Pod as a physical extension of the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). It isn’t a “light” version of the cloud; it contains the exact same hardware and software found in any other OCI region, including:

    • Gen2 Network Stack for ultra-fast data movement.
    • RDMA Networking to power the massive performance of Exadata and Autonomous Database.
    • Off-box Virtualization to ensure your database doesn’t compete for resources.

    2. Direct Local Links: No Detours Allowed

    In a typical setup, data travels through multiple gateways to get from one provider to another. Oracle Database@Azure uses a direct private network link between the OCI Pod and the Azure network in the same building.

    When your Azure app talks to the database, the packets don’t leave the building. They travel through a local link to an edge gateway in the OCI Pod, which hands them directly to your Exadata instance. This “short-circuit” ensures your traffic never leaves the Azure data center, keeping it secure and lightning-fast.

    3. Behind the Scenes: Virtual Mapping

    When you provision an Oracle Database in your Azure VNet, a bit of “cloud magic” happens under the hood:

    • Azure Side: A private IP address is created in your designated Azure subnet.
    • OCI Side: Corresponding Virtual Network Interface Cards (VNICs) are created in a private OCI network.
    • The Link: A virtual mapping is created between the two. Your Azure app thinks it’s talking to a local resource because, for all intents and purposes, it is.

    4. Managed by Oracle, Controlled by You

    Even though the hardware lives in an Azure data center, the OCI Control Plane still manages the show. When you click “Create” in the Azure portal:

    1. Azure sends the request to the Oracle Database@Azure resource provider (hosted in an OCI region).
    2. OCI validates your identity (often using Identity Federation, so you can just use your Azure login).
    3. The OCI Control Plane reaches into the pod inside the Azure data center to build your database.

    Read more: First Principles: Powering mission critical applications with Oracle Database@Azure | cloud-infrastructure

    The Result: High Performance, Zero Friction

    By using the OCI Pod architecture, you get the best of both worlds. You can use Azure’s AI and app services alongside the world’s fastest database, all while enjoying the same security patching, updates, and operational controls used across all of OCI.

    It’s not just two clouds working together—it’s two clouds living together.