Comparing FlashGrid Cluster and Oracle Database@Google Cloud for running mission-critical Oracle databases on Google Cloud

Well suited for mission-critical transaction processing workloads that require 99.99%, 99.999%, or higher database uptime targets.

Active-active Multi-Zone database clustering can protect against data center and zone outages.

Reduced operational complexity by using native and elastic Google Cloud resources such as Compute Engine VMs, Hyperdisk block storage, VPC networking, IAM, and Cloud Monitoring.

All-flash Google Cloud disk storage and Oracle ASM mirroring provide predictable storage performance without dependence on caching.

Available in all Google Cloud regions since 2019.

Strong fit for very large Exadata migrations, analytics/DWH workloads, and workloads that benefit from Exadata-specific capabilities such as Smart Scan and Hybrid Columnar Compression.

Lower cost per TB may be possible for capacity-heavy workloads because the primary storage consists of high-capacity spinning disks (with flash cache acceleration).

Exadata infrastructure managed and supported by Oracle.

Software-defined virtual cluster appliance hosted on native Google Compute Engine VM instances and Hyperdisk block storage.

A jointly delivered Oracle/Google Cloud service that provides OCI-managed Oracle Exadata infrastructure inside Google Cloud data centers.

Customer manages database software, Grid Infrastructure, OS, FlashGrid software, and Google Compute Engine VM instances.

Customer manages database software, Grid Infrastructure, OS, and VMs, with Oracle cloud automation.

Google Cloud infrastructure software updates are managed by Google Cloud and are transparent to the customer.

Exadata infrastructure software updates are managed by Oracle. Exadata infrastructure updates may require patching or upgrading Grid Infrastructure and/or Oracle Database software; Oracle documents this dependency in the Oracle Release Schedule of Current Database Releases (Doc ID 742060.1) footnote 1.

Deployed using native Google Cloud resources such as Compute Engine VMs, Hyperdisk block storage, VPC networking, IAM, and Cloud Monitoring.

Uses Google Cloud resources plus OCI-managed Exadata infrastructure, OCI parent/child site concepts, GCP Oracle zones, ODB networks, ODB subnets, VPC Network integration, and cross-service IAM/access-management.

Yes

Yes

RAC One Node

Single-instance Enterprise Edition database failover

Standard Edition HA (SEHA)

RAC One Node

A single active-active Multi-Zone database cluster protects against data center and zone outages within a Google Cloud region with zero RPO and near-zero RTO.

A single Exadata VM Cluster is deployed within one GCP zone. For protection against zone failure, Oracle’s recommended architecture uses two separate Exadata infrastructures/VM clusters in different regions (with asynchronous Data Guard replication and non-zero RPO).

Some functionality, such as control plane operations, Autonomous Recovery Service, and OCI Vault, also depends on OCI parent region availability.

Predictable storage performance with all-flash Google Cloud Hyperdisk volumes, without dependence on caching.

Full-table scan acceleration with Smart Scan and storage offload. Random-access acceleration with Smart Flash Cache and XRMEM cache. Performance may depend on how much of the active dataset is served from memory/flash versus high-capacity spinning disks.

All-flash Google Cloud Hyperdisk storage combined with additional 2-way or 3-way Oracle ASM mirroring across cloud zones.

Google Cloud documents disk-type durability as better than 99.999% for Hyperdisk Balanced, before additional Oracle ASM mirroring across cloud zones.

Exadata High Capacity storage uses Oracle ASM mirroring across three storage servers and a tiered architecture with disk, flash, and memory acceleration. Oracle does not publish a directly comparable per-volume durability percentage for Exadata Database Service.

Flexible capacity from 1 TB to 500+ TB usable.

With very large (>100 TB) databases, higher cost per TB may result from the exclusive use of flash storage.

Minimum Exadata X11M infrastructure configuration is 2 database servers and 3 storage servers, with 240 TB total usable disk storage capacity.

Lower cost per TB may be possible for very large (>100 TB) databases because high-capacity spinning disks are used with flash/memory acceleration and because Hybrid Columnar Compression can reduce storage consumption for suitable analytics/DWH data.

On-demand deployment, usage, and resizing using native Google Compute Engine VM instances and Google Cloud disk volumes.

Requires provisioning of Exadata hardware resources, with a minimum of 2 database servers and 3 storage servers. Storage scale-down is constrained: removing storage servers is subject to Oracle service limitations and whether the added storage has already been allocated for VM cluster consumption.

Generally available in all regions since 2019.

Generally available in select regions and zones since September 2024. See Google Cloud’s current regional availability list.

Supported.

No. Current documentation lists Oracle Database 19c and Oracle Database 26ai for Exadata Database Service.

Google Cloud expertise only.

Oracle Cloud expertise in addition to Google Cloud expertise.