DBaaS Goes High on Demand

Database as a Service (DBaaS) is emerging as one of the most promising technologies, with its potential to remove complexities, lower operational cost and increase efficiency in database management . In an interaction with Sundar Ram, Vice President, Technology Sales Consulting Oracle Corporation, Asia Pacific, we understand what are the key forces driving the trend and how enterprises can reap benefit out of it. Excerpts

What trends are driving DBaaS in the domestic market?

As cloud computing gains traction, there is a growing interest among enterprises to deploy and manage Database as a Service (DBaaS). Market analysis firm 451 Research estimates worldwide revenues from DBaaS providers to rise from $150 mn in 2012 to $1.8 bn by 2016. The results of a survey by the Independent Oracle User Group (IOUG), further indicates that 47% of respondents are either using a private (or enterprise cloud) cloud or considering using a private cloud for database services.

DBaaS is gaining traction as it provides the ability to quickly develop data-based critical applications and enables businesses to achieve faster speed to market.

A corollary driver is cost. Normal virtualization models help increase hardware utilization by consolidating many databases on to fewer machines. However, they can’t reduce the memory or CPU needs for each database. With Oracle Database 12c multi-tenancy, we can do more than just improve hardware utilization with consolidation, which is now a given for most companies and not really a hot topic any more. Oracle Database 12c is the world’s first database designed for the cloud. The key is whether in the process we can improve efficiencies. Let’s take a simple example—imagine you have 10 databases running on 10 servers at about 20% utilization on an average. Consolidating to say 4 servers with virtualization with about 50-50% utilization (allowing for some virtualization overheads) is a relatively straightforward task. However we have not reduced the memory or CPU needs of any of the 10 databases.

With Oracle Database 12c, we can do just that. We can, depending on the type of applications and other factors, increase the consolidation density (in other words number of databases that can be consolidated on a given server) by 2-5 times. Now, that is where huge capex and resultant opex savings start to come beyond what virtualization can give. Add to that the simplification of management which we will shortly talk about and we are talking of a dramatic reduction in DB capex and opex costs.

How does it transform the traditional way of database management?

DBaaS reduces database sprawl because organizations can shift from administering a complex collection of silos—each requiring their own care, feeding, and patching—to a business powered by an agile and flexible database cloud. At times it takes IT departments literally 3 to 4 months to create a database. All too often, these long delays lead impatient executives to bypass IT and set up new databases on their own using non-standard technologies. This saddles the actual IT department with a host of new challenges and risks. The siloed, roll-your-own databases make the already difficult job of managing and securing information all but impossible

DBaaS helps spin up a new database rapidly. In fact if enterprises are using Oracle Database 12c (DB12c), then they can clone an existing database in minutes while 11g permits the same in a matter of just hours compared to days or weeks. Managing Oracle Database 12c is dramatically different from any other database in the market because 12c allows for multi-tenancy natively, ie, have a container database with multiple tenants within. This allows DBAs to administer just the container and all the changes automatically apply to all tenants. For example, imagine a group company hosting multiple lead management applications, one each for individual group companies. In normal circumstances they would have to have as many databases as there are group companies and manage each separately but with 12c multi-tenancy they can put each group company’s database as a tenant in a single container database and manage just the container. Imagine taking a single back up across instances, patching all the instance in one go, upgrading all instances in one go, etc.

At the same time, multi-tenancy ensures companies can ensure data for each tenant stays separate while getting the benefits of reduced management. This was a key impediment to consolidation on private clouds but that impediment disappears in Oracle Database 12c.

Moreover, IT departments can bill business groups a more accurate and fair chargeback because they only get charged for what they are actually using during those rises and dips. DBaaS offer best-of-both-worlds solutions—the business units get the speed and flexibility they want while IT department gets the control and efficiency it needs to meet its responsibilities.

Can you name some of the most promising sectors in terms of adoption?

Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI), government, energy, healthcare and life science, media and entertainment, professional services, academic, and telecom verticals are some of the sectors who are the leading adopters of cloud computing and in effect would benefit, to a large extent, from DBaaS.

Any organization that has double digit number of databases or more will see definite value in reducing from so many databases down to a few container databases and managing just the containers.

DBaaS works well in such instances. Many IT organisations are finding it very cost effective as far as manageability is concerned. With the release of Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c, Oracle now delivers deep management and automation capabilities that span the entire database cloud lifecycle—from configuration and change management, to performance diagnostics and tuning. It lets administrators identify and consolidate pooled resources, setup role-based access, define the service catalogue, and related chargeback plans for compliance and reporting purposes.

Do you see any challenges in the domestic enterprise space that impede widespread adoption?

There are no major challenges as such. It’s a matter of customers realising under-utilization of their IT resources. In fact DBaaS can be considered as ‘IT-in-a-box’.

What are the key considerations for CIOs in implementing DBaaS?

There are a number of factors companies need to consider in adopting DBaaS. Some of the key ones are:

• What is the objective? Reduce costs? Increase agility? Reduce dependence on too many vendors? Each objective will drive adoption in different ways.
• Do they want to use DBaaS merely to drive better cost / agility in databases or do they want to use this exercise as a precursor to a larger shared services model where more than just databases are involved?
• Will user departments who may have become used to taking decisions on their own and have budget control agree to a centralized model with better SLAs in return for surrendering control and accepting greater standardization?
• Will the C level of the company expect IT to go into a cost center or even a profit center model in the near future? If yes, DBaaS is a great step in the right direction. If not, CIOs need to get agreement on whether costs need to be apportioned and if yes, how.
• Are they looking for just short term hardware utilization improvements to get CFOs off their backs or are they looking at longer term agility that will fundamentally alter the way companies do business?

Technology choices will derive automatically from answers to the above questions.

Does it have a direct impact on cost?

Databases form a critical component of any business application, and data is arguably the most permanent and visible link between IT and the business. The delivery and management of database services are therefore adversely affected by latencies, often arising from infrastructural and organizational silos. DBaaS is a paradigm which attempts to eliminate these barriers and make it easier to deliver business services on time while leveraging consolidation to reduce delivery costs.

With DBaaS solutions enterprises can lower their hardware, power, cooling, and administrative expenses. They also conserve valuable datacenter floor space and free up equally valuable DBAs to spend less time provisioning databases and more time contributing to strategic IT initiatives.