This blog is co-authored by Ravi Turlapati, Head of Strategic Products and Growth, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

The Microsoft and Oracle partnership is focused on giving customers choice and removing the hurdles faced when migrating mission-critical workloads to the public cloud where they can access the rich set of technology needed to accelerate innovation and compete more effectively. In September, Satya Nadella and Larry Ellison announced Oracle Database@Azure, a new offering that delivers Oracle database services running on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) inside Azure datacenters and gives customers more flexibility in where they run their workloads.

We are excited to share that Oracle Database@Azure is generally available in the Azure East United States region, with more regions coming in 2024. You can now use Oracle database services running on OCI hardware deployed in Azure data centers. This streamlines the migration of Oracle database workloads to Azure, where you can integrate and innovate with the breadth of Microsoft Cloud services like Azure AI and our application platform and developer services. You’ll be able to purchase this Oracle-managed service, running on OCI inside Azure datacenters, from the Azure Marketplace with the same features and pricing as Oracle Exadata cloud service on OCI. And, you can use your existing Azure and Oracle commitments, program benefits, and licenses to do so.

Exadata Database Service is the first service to be available along with support for Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC), Oracle GoldenGate, and Oracle Data Guard technologies. We plan to offer Autonomous Database Service in the near future. Microsoft Azure is the only hyperscaler other than OCI to offer these Oracle database services.

Many customers have shown strong interest in the product, and the Oracle and Microsoft product teams are working diligently to expand the availability of more regions in 2024, beginning with Germany West Central, Australia East, France Central, Canada Central, Brazil South, Japan East, United Kingdom South, Central United States, and South Central United States. We will continue to add more regions based on customer demand, and we encourage customers to share their requirements for additional regions with their Oracle or Microsoft account teams.

The benefits of Oracle databases in Azure

Oracle Database@Azure provides a host of benefits:

• Optimized performance and latency: Oracle database services in Azure are designed to offer high levels of performance, scale, security, and availability. By running OCI databases in Azure datacenters alongside other services in Azure, you can optimize latency and performance.
• Streamlined migration: You can use familiar and proven Oracle solutions like Oracle Zero Downtime Migration (ZDM) to migrate Oracle databases as is with no need for refactoring applications or databases.
• Application modernization: You can use the rich set of application services, development tools, and frameworks available in Azure to modernize your workloads and run cloud native applications with direct access to data in Oracle Database@Azure, with the same security and compliance across the entire solution.
• Data and AI innovation: You can unlock data insights and innovation when you apply Azure data analytics and AI services across your Oracle and non-Oracle data and applications between resources, and handle even mission-critical application.
• Simplified operations: You can deploy and manage Oracle Database@Azure infrastructure through the Azure portal and use native Azure tools to view metrics, events, and logs for all Oracle Database@Azure databases. You can also do database provisioning and management via OCI interfaces along with access to familiar tooling like Data Guard, GoldenGate, and others.
• Feature and pricing parity with OCI: You can enjoy the same features and pricing as Oracle Exadata cloud service on OCI with Oracle Database@Azure. And, you can use your existing Azure and Oracle commitments, program benefits, and licenses to do so.
• Simplified purchasing: You can purchase Oracle Database@Azure through the Azure Marketplace and take advantage of existing Azure and Oracle commitments and licenses. You’ll also be eligible for Oracle Support Rewards, a program where you can earn rewards that you can use to reduce your Oracle technology license support bill.
• Unified customer support: You can contact either your Oracle or Microsoft support team for a unified support process.  

Bringing the power of Oracle Exadata to Azure customers

Leading organizations in every industry have long relied on Oracle Exadata and Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) to make the most of their data and to power mission critical applications. Oracle Database@Azure customers will have access to Oracle RAC for high availability running on OCI hardware. The service will be deployable in multiple availability zones to ensure regional high availability and in cross-region pairs to support cross-geography disaster recovery scenarios.

Trusted migration and resilience

Migrating and deploying production-grade environments is straightforward when moving to Oracle Database@Azure. Oracle provides proven database migration strategies, including automated migration solutions like Zero-Downtime Migration (ZDM). Oracle Database@Azure also supports the Oracle Maximum Availability Architecture (MAA), which provides trusted high-availability architectures and configurations to meet a range of resiliency requirements.

Getting started

We are thrilled to offer Oracle Database@Azure as an exciting new option to run Oracle database services in Azure alongside your non-Oracle workloads, and use Azure cloud services to operate, manage, and innovate across them all. To learn more about Oracle Database@Azure, watch this video, or visit Oracle Database@Azure.