Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Documentation

About Oracle Base Database Service

Oracle Base Database Service enables you to maintain absolute control over your data while using the combined capabilities of Oracle Database and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

Oracle Base Database Service offers database systems (DB systems) on virtual machines. They are available as single-node DB systems and multi-node RAC DB systems on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). You can manage these DB systems by using the OCI Console, the OCI API, the OCI CLI, the Database CLI (DBCLI), Enterprise Manager, or SQL Developer.

Note

This documentation is intended for Oracle Database administrators and assumes familiarity with Oracle Database and tools.

Supported Database Editions

Oracle Base Database Service supports the following Oracle Database editions:

  • Standard Edition
  • Enterprise Edition
  • Enterprise Edition - High Performance
  • Enterprise Edition - Extreme Performance
Note

Oracle Enterprise Edition - Extreme Performance is required for multi-node RAC DB systems.

Supported Database Versions

Oracle Base Database Service supports the following Oracle Database versions:

  • Oracle Database 23ai
  • Oracle Database 21c
  • Oracle Database 19c

About Oracle Database 23ai

Oracle Database 23ai is the next long-term support release of Oracle Database. It includes over 300 new features, with a focus on artificial intelligence (AI) and developer productivity. Features such as AI Vector Search enable you to leverage a new generation of AI models to generate and store vectors of documents, images, sound, and so on; index them and quickly look for similarity while leveraging the existing analytical capabilities of Oracle Database. This, combined with the already extensive set of Machine Learning algorithms, enables you to quickly create sophisticated AI-enabled applications.

For more information about the new features, see Oracle Database New Features.

Limitations

The following are currently not supported on the Base Database Service when using Oracle Database 23ai:

  • Database upgrades to 23ai from earlier versions are not supported.
  • Grid Infrastructure upgrades to 23ai from earlier versions are not supported.
  • Arm-based Ampere VM.Standard.A1.Flex shape is not supported.

Upgrade the DB System

You can upgrade the DB system that uses earlier versions to the current version. For more information, see Upgrade a DB System.

Update the Operating System of a DB System

You must update the operating system (OS) of your DB systems periodically. You must back up your database before performing an OS update. For more information, see Update a DB System.

Upgrade the Database in a DB System

You can upgrade database instances that use earlier Oracle Database versions to later Oracle Database versions. For more information, see Upgrade a Database.

Update the Database in a DB System

You must update the database in your DB system periodically to ensure proper functioning. Oracle recommends updating the DB system before you update the database within that DB system. For more information, see Update a Database.

Oracle Database Preview Version Availability

OCI periodically offers preview software versions of Oracle Database for testing purposes. You can provision a DB system using preview version software to test applications before the general availability of the software in the Database service. When you provision a DB system with preview version software, the DB system remains available to you until you decide to terminate it.

Preview version DB systems are provisioned in the same manner as generally available DB systems. If available, preview version software is displayed as one of the choices in the database version selector.

Oracle Database Preview Version Restrictions

Preview version software cannot be used for production databases. The following restrictions apply to preview version software:

  • Preview version software is not available for DB systems using RAC.
  • Uses Logical Volume Manager (LVM) storage management software only. Automatic Storage Management (ASM) is not available.
  • Patching and database version upgrades are not available.
  • You cannot upgrade the preview version software to its generally available release.
  • You cannot create a new DB system from a backup of a database that uses preview version software.
  • Standalone backups cannot be created.
  • Data Guard is not available.
  • Preview version software DB systems cannot be created from backups.
  • In-place restores are supported.

Per-Second Billing for DB Systems

OCI uses per-second billing. This means that OCPU and storage usage are billed by the second, with a minimum usage period of one minute for the DB systems.

Customer Managed Keys for Databases

OCI provides customer-managed keys that enable you to encrypt your data using encryption keys that you control using the OCI Vault service. The Vault service provides you with centralized key management capabilities that are highly available and durable. For more information, see Manage Encryption Keys.

Backup and Recovery

OCI enables you to create and store automatic daily backups and on-demand full backups. You can store backups in your DB system's local storage or in OCI Object Storage.

You can recover a database from the following sources:
  • Object Storage using RMAN backup.
  • OCI Classic Object Store.
You can create a DB system from the following sources:
  • Daily automatic backups or on-demand full backups.
  • The last archived redo log backup. Requires that you have automatic backups enabled. This backup combines data from the most recent daily automatic backup and data from archived redo logs, and represents the most current backup available.
  • Daily automatic backup data used to create a point-in-time copy of the source database based on a specified time stamp.
  • Standalone Backups.

For more information, see Back Up and Recovery in Base Database Service.

Move Databases to Oracle Cloud Using Zero Downtime Migration

Oracle now offers two new solutions for migrating Oracle Database workloads from on-premises and OCI Classic to a variety of Oracle Database Cloud Services: Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Database Migration Service and Zero Downtime Migration.

Zero Downtime Migration (ZDM) is an installable tool that provides you with a simplified and automated migration experience, providing zero to negligible downtime for the production system.

OCI Database Migration Service is based on the ZDM tool, and as a managed OCI service, it provides you with a user interface to move Oracle Databases to Oracle Cloud.