All major Cloud Service Providers follow the same best practices when building, managing, and delivering cloud services. So, how does one choose the right provider if they are almost identical? It all comes down to the workload you plan to move or create in the cloud.
Let’s take an example – you are tasked with moving a critical ERP application to the cloud. Questions you need to ask about this workload are the following:
- Is this an off-the-shelf application or a custom/homegrown application? – Let’s assume it’s an OTS application like SAP or Oracle EBS
- Does the vendor support this application on all Cloud platforms? – Let’s assume it’s Oracle and currently Oracle supports EBS on Azure and Oracle Cloud
- Which backend technologies do we need to be mindful of? – For our example, we need take into account that Oracle EBS runs on Oracle Database
Now that we have identified our workload and it’s backend technologies, we have been able to narrow our choices down to two cloud providers – Azure and Oracle Cloud.
Next step is to figure out which one is BETTER for running Oracle EBS and Oracle Databases. Here are some key questions to ask about your operational and business requirements –
- Do you want to minimize time spent on operational tasks like backing up your production databases or managing DR? – If yes, Oracle Cloud is the better choice for Oracle EBS and Database workloads. If no, Azure is still in the running. Check Running Oracle database on Azure for more information.
- Does your business have minimum performance requirements? – If yes, Oracle Cloud is the better choice since Oracle workloads have the highest performance on Oracle Cloud, whereas there’s a cap of 160,000 iops on Azure. If your business is comfortable with <160k iops, Azure is still in the running. Keep in mind though, pricing for Ultra Disks on Azure can quickly become cost prohibitive.
- Is total cost of ownership a deciding factor? – If yes, Oracle Cloud is the better choice since OCI currently provides the lowest TCO for running Oracle Applications and Databases on the cloud. Especially if you want to Bring Your Own Licenses to the cloud, OCI is 50% cheaper than Azure.
- Is automation key to your digital transformation journey? – If yes, Oracle Cloud is the better choice since Oracle provides automation tools like EBS Cloud Manager for migration and self-service clones and other lifecycle activities. If automation isn’t important, Azure is still an option.
- Does your business have high availability requirements? – If yes, Oracle Cloud is the better choice since OCI is the only cloud where customers can run advanced database options like scalability and high availability by leveraging Oracle RAC and Exadata. If no, Azure is still in the running.
- Do your workloads have sensitive information you need to secure? – If yes, both Oracle Cloud and Azure have capabilities that can support security and regulatory requirements. However, security services can become cost prohibitive on Azure, whereas Oracle provides security services like Oracle Cloud Guard and Security Advisor at no cost.
- Do you expect a lot of data movement across regions and between on-premises and cloud? – If yes, Oracle Cloud is the better choice since OCI has very low egress charges as compared to Azure.
- Finally, do you want to minimize cloud billing and consumption complexity? – One of the most common issues faced by Azure customers is the Azure billing surprise, in which a customer receives a bill and finds they owe more than they expected – and can’t easily figure out why. Oracle Cloud being a second-mover in the cloud space, took this into consideration and adopted simplified and transparent pricing.
I hope this example of a decision making flow for choosing the right cloud was helpful. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.