This post covers one of many questions discusses during our  Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Architect Associate Training i.e. Why DBA’s & Apps DBAs need to learn OCI or How learning OCI will help DBAs & Apps DBAs in their professional career. This question has been asked repetitively so I thought I should write about it.

(Note: If you are just starting on Cloud or new to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), then I would suggest you check my previous post on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) basic concepts i.e. Region, AD, Tenancy, Compartment, VCN, IAM, Compute, Storage Service, etc)

Why DBAs & Apps DBAs Needs to Learn OCI

Databases & Applications (EBS R12, Peoplesoft & JDE, etc) are moving to cloud to run in PaaS & IaaS. With this, the role of DBAs & Apps DBAs will not be limited to just database or application management but you’ll be performing other tasks like

• Where to deploy these databases/applications in Cloud (Region, Availability Domain, Fault Domain, etc)
• What network to configure these Databases/Applications in to (VCN, Subnet, Security List)
• How to secure these Databases/Applications (Compartment, IAM Groups & Policies, Encryption, Federation)
• How to Architect for High Availability (HA) & Disaster Recovery (DR) (RAC, DataGuard, Clustering, Load Balancer (Public & Private))
• How to Manage these Databases & Application on Cloud  (Provision, Patching, Cloning, Backup & Recovery, Performance Tuning) including Cloud Tools for both UserManaged & Autonomous Databases
• Migrating (Lift & Shift) Databases & Applications from On-Premise to Cloud or Vice Versa

 Learning Path for DBA & Apps DBAs in OCI?

Based on things DBAs & Apps DBAs needs to perform in Cloud and after teaching Cloud to 100s of DBAs & Apps DBAs, here is order in which you should learn Oracle Cloud Infrastructure & become Oracle Certified Cloud Architect [1Z0-932]

• As you will be deploying databases & applications in OCI in different Regions, AD & FD, you need to understand these concepts first, to know more about Regions, AD, FD check our post on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure: Availability Domains & Fault Domains
• Then within Region/AD, databases & applications are deployed inside subnet which is part of VCN so you need to understand VCN & Subnet, to know more about VCN, check my Video blog post on Oracle Cloud Networks: VCN, FastConnect, DRG, IGW
• Then databases run on top of  Compute (BM or VM) so understand different compute shapes & types, to know more about Compute check our post on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Compute CPU & Memory
• Then depending on the functionality of databases/application and response time, there can be a different type of storage like Block, Object, File Storage Service, and Archived Object Storage so you need to know different File System Types On OCI, More on this at Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) | Storage Object, Block | File Storage, Data Transfer Service|
• Then there are two main categories of Oracle Databases in the cloud, UserManaged or Self Managed (Autonomous) so DBAs need to know different options within these two database types including Single Instance, RAC, Dataguard, Exadata and how to provision/manage them. More about Database in OCI at  Oracle Cloud Infrastructure: Database Offerings
• Then comes configuration/management of these databases like provisioning, patching, cloning, backup & recovery, security, and Performance Tuning. You should know these operations on Cloud & Cloud Tools used to perform these operations.
• Once the Database is created, you must know how to allow connection from selective clients using Security List or allowing only a set of users with specific access using IAM Groups & Policies in OCI.
• Once you know Security List & IAM Policies in OCI to protect databases & Applications, then you need to know Disaster Recovery (DR) set up on the cloud within the Region (AD) or across Region (with or without remote VCN Peering)
• As a DBA & Apps DBA, you should be familiar with how applications & database with connections to both within Cloud or from On-Premise Applications using VPN or FastConnect.
• Overall DBAs & Apps DBAs need to know OCI very well if running and managing applications/databases on Oracle Cloud.

FREE Masterclass: How To Be Oracle Certified Cloud Architect?

Join Me for a FREE masterclass on How to Be An Oracle Certified Cloud Architect Associate in 8 Weeks even you are beginner, Register Here FREE. This is approx 2 Hours Master Class covering

• Cloud For Beginners:

1. What is Cloud Computing
2. Cloud Service Models: SaaS | PaaS| IaaS
3. Oracle’s Cloud Reference Architecture

• Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Architect

1. Common Services & PaaS Offerings
2. Core Services: Network, Compute, Storage Database, Security
3. Who Should Learn OCI & Why Now?

• Cloud Architect Certification

1. What, Why & How To Clear in 8 Weeks, Even If you are a beginner
2. Common Exam Mistakes & How To Avoid Them

• Job Opportunities 
• Q/A 

Related/Further Readings

• Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Availability Domains & Fault Domains
• Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Architect Live Training

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