Cut your risk by automating Oracle database management

What do we mean when we talk about automation? Automation solutions replace manual processes with automated workflows. Personally, I’d like to automate the laundry, cleaning up after dinner, and submitting my weekly update report.

Cognizant states the benefits rather succinctly:

Within business operations, automation solutions help companies work more efficiently by streamlining workflows and replacing error-prone manual processes with accurate automated ones. Within IT operations, they streamline processes such as application development and testing to simplify workflows and management of complex technology landscapes. With greater efficiency and fewer obstacles, companies can move faster and focus time and energy on mission-critical priorities.

There are plenty of prognosticators who state that automation is the destroyer of both jobs and civilization. Deloitte mentions in their Deloitte Review, issue 21:

There may well be more jobs created in the short term to build, maintain, and enhance the technology, but not everyone will be able to gain the necessary knowledge, skills, and experience. For example, it seems unlikely that the majority of truck, bus, or taxi drivers supplanted by robots will be able to learn the software development skills required to build or maintain the algorithms replacing them.

But there’s hope: “History teaches that automation, far from destroying jobs, can and usually does create net new jobs, and not just those for building the technology or training others in its use. This is because increased productivity and efficiency, and the consequent lowering of prices, has historically led to greater demand for goods and services.”

Being an optimistic bunch here at NetApp, we see the bright side of automation—especially when it comes to provisioning Oracle databases. Provisioning a database is, typically, a tactical and reactive process that can take weeks to months. Oracle depicts it as such:

I should note that most of the time required to process the database administrator’s request is due to process—not technology. I should also note that, sometimes, improving process requires appropriate technology.

Fortunately, NetApp has a better way:

NetApp makes it simple to shrink the time involved in provisioning an Oracle database from weeks/months to minutes/hours. Striking, eh? Think about how much more quickly new products and services could be brought to market. Think about how you could respond to changes in customer demand—and to changing competitive landscapes.

This is another great example of how NetApp is integrating with Oracle databases to speed your business (see my previous post for an earlier example). To learn more about how NetApp automates provisioning of Oracle databases, see this post by Allen Cao in the NetApp^® Community. For the technically inclined, there’s an introductory video by Brandon Agee. It’s also posted on the NetApp documentation page Automated Deployment of Oracle19c for ONTAP^® on NFS.

Along with the Quest Oracle Community, the amazing Jefferey Steiner (former database administrator with Oracle and now database expert with NetApp) presented “Oracle Database Performance & Storage: The Real Story” on Wednesday, June 30. You can catch the replay.

To learn more about how NetApp can help you get the most out of your Oracle investment, visit the NetApp and Oracle webpage.