Why should businesses migrate database Oracle to Microsoft SQL Server? While the performance and scalability of Oracle cannot be doubted, substantial licensing costs can cause a major dent in the profitability of an organization. This is felt more when there is a need to upgrade existing systems and infrastructure or modernize data implementation. Most enterprises are still using the traditional on-premises database version but with exponential growth in data handling loads, more processing power and storage volumes are required. This adds to the cost of data. Hence, database Oracle to SQL Server migration, either on-premises or to the cloud (Azure Cloud), is the most opted route for optimizing data costs and performance.
Benefits of Oracle to SQL Server migration
The licenses of SQL Server are more affordable than that of Oracle. SQL Server is very user-friendly and unlike Oracle, does not need the services of a DBA to be run. Further, costs can be kept under control and within the IT budget on the SQL Server through database consolidation, virtualizing servers, and compression of data. Finally, SQL Server is secure and ensures high data safety through a network of complex encryption algorithms.
Apart from these features, there are several advantages of the SQL Server.
- Easily installed: Unlike other database servers, SQL Server does not require command-line configuration and can be easily installed with a Setup Wizard. Updates are also downloaded automatically.
- High performance: Transparent data compression comes in-built with SQL Server that enhances performance. Sensitive data is protected with tools for permission management with control of user access.
- Several editions: SQL Server has several editions for various user profiles. These differ in costs and features. The editions available include the Enterprise SQL Server edition for large enterprises and the Standard SQL Server edition for small to mid-size businesses. There is also the free Express SQL Server edition with fewer features to be used by limited users. Finally, the Developer SQL edition, similar to the Enterprise SQL edition, is mainly used by developers to design test applications on the SQL Server.
- Security: This aspect is one of the key reasons for Oracle to SQL Server migration. There are several complex encryption algorithms and security mechanisms that provide fail-safe security layers, thereby making SQL Server almost impenetrable to attack.
- Restore and recover data: Sophisticated features in SQL Server helps to recover and restore damaged or lost data with cutting-edge tools and recovering complete databases if required. The core module of the database engine of SQL Server facilitates running queries and data storage of users including files, indexes, and transactions. Even before a transaction commits, log records are entered on the disk. For any failure of the operating system, database engine instance, or server hardware, transaction logs are used by the instance after the restart to roll back incomplete transactions to the starting point of the data crash.
- Affordable costs: On average, maintaining and running SQL Server costs less than an Oracle database. Among the more affordable features, case-by-case are data mining and partitioning. The data management tools to optimize storage and data maintenance are also more cost-effective. Licensing costs to are more reasonable in SQL Server than Oracle.
These are some of the advantages that make Oracle to SQL Server migration an economically viable option for organizations.
Challenges of Oracle to SQL Server migration
While there are several advantages of SQL Server, and Oracle to SQL Server migration process is largely automated, it is undoubtedly a complex one, throwing up several challenges during data transfer. Focus on these issues during and after migration.
- Checking database performance post-migration: Have a clear idea of the database volume before migration, especially key performance metrics and frequency of peak workloads. Rely on a mechanism to replay the workload namely the SQL Server Distributed Replay feature on the load harness to track the pressure created on the CPU, IO Operations, Memory, and network traffic.
- Indexes migration from Oracle to SQL Server: Even though an index appears apparently to be another object in the source database, there is a great difference in how it sits in the Oracle database and the SQL Server. Arrive at an optimized indexing strategy by examining the logical layout of the tables and the relationships to focus on the use cases and the business needs.
- Licensing cost optimization: This is another important aspect to be considered for Oracle to SQL Server migration. While the SQL Server Standard edition is generally enough for the process, some features of the higher Enterprise Edition like manageability, availability, security, and workload performance evaluation might be required.
- Conversion scope from Oracle to SQL Server: Users have a choice of conversion, either migrating each schema to a unique database or converting it into a single database with many schemas. Attention is to be given to the security needed for isolating the schemas.
- Converted code testing: The QA team has to review and verify the code conversions from Oracle to SQL Server to ensure that the data in the format is in the order that is used in the organization.
After Oracle to SQL Server migration is completed check for data type differences and mismatches. Also, verify numeric and date/time values which should not be stored in dissimilar precision and scale.
