All language subtitles for [SubtitleTools.com] Oracle Database Options - Learning Oracle 12c [Video]

In this lesson, we'll examine
some of the database options

available in Oracle 12c.

Options are features that are
available for the database

at an additional cost.

It's possible that
a DBA might work

the majority of their
career and not even use

any of these pay-for options.

However, these options can be
extremely useful and sometimes

essential depending on the
business needs of the company.

So it's important to understand
what's at our disposal.

Oracle offers more options
than we can cover here,

but we'll look at some
of the more common ones.

We'll examine Oracle Advanced
Security, Partitioning,

Advanced Compression Option,
and Oracle Multitenant.

One of the most important
options available to us

is Oracle Advanced Security.

Oracle Advanced
Security or OAS adds

some very important security
aspects to the Oracle database.

Let's think of an example.

Even though the client-server
model isn't as common

as it once was, let's say
that we're administering

a client-server configuration.

We have remote
users in Canada that

use a homegrown
application to connect

to our database in
the United States.

Of course, that kind of distance
means that, at some point,

the network traffic
involved will

be running across the internet.

So that company data will
be running over lines that

are exposed to the internet.

You might think
that, by default,

all of the traffic between
the client and server

would be encrypted,
but you'd be wrong.

All of that company data crosses
the internet in plain text.

If an attacker can get
a fix on your traffic,

your data could be
intercepted, stolen,

or tampered with unless that
is you use Oracle Advanced

Security OAS.

With OAS, you can
set up encryption

between clients and
database servers

or between multiple
databases themselves.

In situations where
data is synchronized

across multiple geographic
locations, OAS is crucial.

OAS also provides for
other security features

such as transparent
data encryption, TDE,

which can encrypt data at rest.

It also provides
data redaction, which

allows you to selectively
hide sensitive data

from unauthorized users.

Oracle Partitioning is
an impressive feature

that allows you to split a table
into more manageable pieces.

So why would we need this?

For small tables, we probably
wouldn't gain anything

from partitioning.

But partitioning was created
for very large tables.

Let's say we have a table that
contains 100 million rows.

That may sound like a lot,
but it's far more common

than you might expect.

This table contains
customer transactions

that go back 10 years.

The data is distributed
fairly evenly so each year has

about 10 million rows.

It is likely that the
most important data

is the most recent data, say
the last two or three years.

But every time a query is
executed against the database,

it has to look through
all of the data,

including the older
less used data.

What if there were a way
to separate the newer

data from the older
data but still allow

it to look like a single table?

That's what partitioning
enables us to do.

We partition or
separate the data

based on a key column value for
when the transaction occurred.

So one partition would
be this year's data.

Another would be last year's.

So on and so forth.

Now, when we query
for recent data,

it searches based on the
underlying partitioning scheme

and ignores the data from
every year except the one we're

interested in.

In our case, that's
a 90% reduction

in the amount of data
that must be scanned.

While optimal databases
don't necessarily

use a lot of CPU or memory,
they can use tremendous amounts

of disc space.

Databases are storage
mediums for data,

and companies keep
a lot of data.

So one of the things that
a DBA can struggle with

is maintaining enough
free space for data.

On home computers, sometimes
we can free up space

by zipping up or
compressing old files.

Oracle offers an
enterprise solution

for this with the advanced
compression option or ACO.

ACO offers a number of
different ways to compress

and uncompress data on the fly.

ACO is capable of
significantly reducing

the amount of disc space
required for your database.

However, you might think
compressing and uncompressing

data takes time.

Wouldn't this affect the
performance of data retrieval?

If this was the kind of
compressed and uncompressed

utility that we're
familiar with for home use,

we'd probably be correct.

But there's a reason that
Oracle charges extra for ACO.

It is an extremely advanced use
of "on the fly" compression.

The key reason that ACO can
compress and uncompress data

without interfering
with normal processing

is that its compression
algorithms work in memory, not

on disc like we're
familiar with.

Thus, the compress
changes occur in memory,

which is an order of magnitude
faster than working on disc.

As a result, ACO
allows us to operate

with a compressed database
without significantly impacting

performance.

It can even use
intelligent compression

to determine which data
should be compressed

and which should be left alone.

If data hasn't been accessed
in a certain amount of time,

it considers it a
candidate for compression.

With ACO, we can
also create policies

that specify our own condition
as to when data should

be compressed and for how long.

This works with table
data, backup data,

and exported data as well.

Finally, ACO can even compress
data in network connections

such as copying data
from one database

to another over a network.

As a result, the amount of
time required to copy the data

can be significantly reduced.

The most impressive new
option for Oracle 12c

is certainly Oracle Multitenant.

Oracle Multitenant
is a major advance

that basically adds
a virtualization

layer to the 12c database.

Why is this useful?

Server virtualization can
be very useful in situations

where an organization wants
to better utilize the server

assets that they control.

In a situation where
an organization has

10 physical servers that they
can only utilize at about 10%,

they may be able to reduce that
number to two or three servers

and create virtual machines
that represent the 10

servers they used to have.

Oracle Multitenant does a
similar thing for databases.

One of the most
frustrating problems

that an Oracle DBA can deal
with is the requirement

for more and more databases.

An organization keeps
creating new applications.

And those applications
need additional databases.

When you include the requirement
for each application,

to maintain a development,
test, and production database,

the number of databases
you're managing

can quickly spiral
out of control.

Every one of those new databases
must be maintained, patched,

and upgraded regularly.

With Oracle Multitenant, we can
reduce the amount of management

needed for these databases.

Multitenant lets
us create what's

known as a container database.

We can think of this
as a super database.

Within the container
database, we

can create pluggable
databases or subdatabases

inside the super database.

To the user, a pluggable
database or PDB

looks just like the
database it expects to see.

But under the hood, the PDB
lives inside the container

database or CDB.

A lot of benefits arise
from this architecture.

Databases can be patched
either separately or together.

Databases can be cloned
easily, either within a CDB

or between different CDBs.

An entire database can be
migrated somewhere else

by simply unplugging
it from its container

and plugging it into another.

Overall, the amount of
administration required

is greatly reduced
since the DBA can

manage all of the
pluggable databases

from the container itself.