Savvy, talented and knowledgeable database professionals are always in demand. This article covers some of the best, most in-demand certifications for database administrators, database developers and anyone else who works with databases. 

During the past three decades, we’ve seen a lot of database platforms come and go, but there’s never been any question that database technology is a crucial component for all kinds of applications and computing tasks. 

Database certifications may not be as sexy or bleeding-edge as cloud computing, storage, or computer forensics. That said, there has been and always will be a need for knowledgeable database professionals at all levels and in a plethora of database-related job roles. 

To get a better grasp of the available database certifications, it’s useful to group these certs around job responsibilities. In part, this reflects the maturity of database technology and its integration into most aspects of commercial, scientific and academic computing. As you read about the various database certification programs, keep these job roles in mind: 

• Database administrator (DBA): Responsible for installing, configuring and maintaining a database management system (DBMS). Often tied to a specific platform such as Oracle, MySQL, DB2 or SQL Server. 

• Database developer: Works with generic and proprietary APIs to build applications that interact with a DBMS (also platform-specific, like DBA roles).
• Database designer/database architect: Researches data requirements for specific applications or users, and designs database structures and application capabilities to match.
• Data analyst/data scientist: Responsible for analyzing data from multiple disparate sources to discover previously hidden insight, determine meaning behind the data and make business-specific recommendations.
• Data mining/business intelligence (BI) specialist: Specializes in dissecting, analyzing and reporting on important data streams, such as customer data, supply chain data, and transaction data and histories.
• Data warehousing specialist: Specializes in assembling and analyzing data from multiple operational systems (orders, transactions, supply chain information, customer data, etc.) to establish data history, analyze trends, generate reports and forecasts, and support general ad hoc queries. 

Careful attention to these database job roles highlights two important technical issues for would-be database professionals to consider. 

First, a good general background in relational database management systems, including an understanding of Structured Query Language (SQL), is a basic prerequisite for database professionals of all stripes. 

Second, although various efforts to standardize database technology exist, much of the whiz-bang capability that databases and database applications deliver come from proprietary, vendor-specific technologies. Serious, heavy-duty database skills and knowledge are tied to specific platforms, including various Oracle products (such as the open-source MySQL environment and Oracle itself,) Microsoft SQL Server and IBM DB2. That’s why most of these certifications relate directly to those enormously popular platforms. 

It’s important to note that NoSQL databases – referred to as “not only SQL” and sometimes “non-relational” databases – handle many different types of data, such as structured, semi-structured, unstructured and polymorphic. NoSQL databases are increasingly used in big data applications, which tend to be associated with certifications for data scientists, data mining and warehousing, and business intelligence. Although there is some natural overlap, for the most part, we cover those certs in our annually updated “Best Big Data Certifications.” 

Before you look at our featured certifications in detail, consider their popularity with employers. The results of an informal search on several high-traffic job boards show which database certifications employers look for most when hiring. Though these results vary from day to day (and by job board), such numbers provide a useful perspective on database certification demand in current job listings.

Job board search results (in alphabetical order by certification)*

*See our complete methodology for selecting top five certifications in the “Best Certifications” series.

**Combined totals for MCSA: SQL Database Administration (540), MCSA: SQL Database Development (569), MCSE: Data Management and Analytics (640) and MTA: Database (503).

If the sheer number of available database-related positions isn’t enough motivation to pursue a certification, consider average salaries for database administrators. SimplyHired reports $86,415 as the national average in the U.S., in a range from $60,960 to over $128,000. Glassdoor’s reported average is somewhat higher at $93,164, with a top rung for experienced, senior DBAs right around $135,000.

Top 5 database certifications

Now let’s look at the details of our top five database certification picks for 2020.

1. IBM Certified Database Administrator – DB2

IBM is one of the leaders in the worldwide database market by any objective measure. The company’s database portfolio includes industry standard DB2, as well as IBM Compose, Information Management System (IMS), lnformix, Cloudant and IBM Open Platform with Apache Hadoop. IBM also has a long-standing and well-populated IT certification program, which has been around for more than 30 years and encompasses hundreds of individual credentials. 

After redesigning its certification programs and categories, IBM’s major data-centric certification category is called IBM Data and AI, which includes a range of database credentials: Database Associate, Database Administrator, System Administrator, Application Developer and more. It’s a big and complex certification space, but one where particular platform allegiances are likely to guide readers straight to the handful of items that are relevant to their interests and needs. 

Database professionals who support DB2 (or aspire to) on Linux, Unix or Windows should check out the IBM Certified Database Administrator – DB2 certification. It’s an intermediate credential that addresses routine administration, basic SQL, and creation of databases and database objects, as well as server management, monitoring, availability and security. 

This certification requires candidates to pass two exams. Pre-exam training is recommended but not required.

IBM Certified Database Administrator – DB2 facts and figures

2. Microsoft SQL Server database certifications 

SQL Server offers a broad range of tools and add-ons for business intelligence, data warehousing and data-driven applications of all kinds. That probably explains why Microsoft offers database-related credentials at every level of its certification program. 

Microsoft has taken significant steps over the last year to change its certification program from technology-focused to role-centric, centered on the skills one needs to be successful in specific technology jobs. With these changes in mind, Microsoft now identifies four job tracks in its certification program: Developers, Administrators, Solution Architects and Functional Consultants. You will find a wide variety of skills and technologies within each of those categories, but we’ll concentrate below on the company’s SQL Server certifications.

MTA: Database Fundamentals

The MTA program includes a single database-related exam: Database Fundamentals (98-364). This credential is ideal for students or as an entry-level cert for professionals looking to segue into database support.

MCSA

Microsoft offers several SQL-related credentials at the Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA) level:

• MCSA: SQL Server 2012/2014 (three exams)
• MCSA: BI Reporting (two exams)
• MCSA: SQL 2016 BI Development (two exams)
• MCSA: SQL 2016 Database Administration (two exams)
• MCSA: SQL 2016 Database Development (two exams)

MCSE

There is one SQL database credential at the Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert level: Data Management and Analytics. This certification has the MCSA as a prerequisite (a list of valid items follows in the table) and then requires passing one elective exam.

Microsoft SQL Server database certification facts and figures

3. Oracle Certified Professional, MySQL 5.7 Database Administrator 

Oracle runs its certifications under the auspices of Oracle University. The Oracle Database Certifications page lists separate tracks for Database Application Development (SQL and PL/SQL), MySQL (Database Administration and Developer) and Oracle Database (versions 12c, 12c R2, and 11g, and Oracle Spatial 11g). 

MySQL is perhaps the leading open-source relational database management system (RDBMS). Since acquiring Sun Microsystems in 2010 (which had previously acquired MySQL AB), Oracle has rolled out a paid version of MySQL and developed certifications to support the product. 

A candidate interested in pursuing an Oracle MySQL certification can choose between MySQL Database Administration and MySQL Developer. The Oracle Certified Professional, MySQL 5.7 Database Administrator (OCP) credential recognizes professionals who can install, optimize and monitor MySQL Server; configure replication; apply security; and schedule and validate database backups. 

The certification requires candidates to pass a single exam (the same exam can be taken to upgrade a prior certification). Oracle recommends training and on-the-job experience before taking the exam.

Oracle Certified Professional, MySQL 5.7 Database Administrator facts and figures

4. Oracle Database 12c Administrator

Most Oracle DBMS credentials require candidates to attend authorized training classes to qualify for the related exam, but MySQL (and Sun-derived) credentials often do not. Oracle certifications also represent a true ladder, in that it is generally necessary to earn the associate-level credentials first, professional-level credentials second and master-level credentials third, culminating with the expert level. 

Oracle Database 12c R2 is the latest version, which includes enhancements to Oracle Database 12c. Oracle 12c certifications are currently offered at the associate, professional and master levels. 

A Foundations Junior Associate certification (novice level) is also available for Oracle Database 12c, as are three specialist designations: the Implementation Specialist, the Oracle Database Performance and Tuning 2015 Certified Implementation Specialist, and the Oracle Real Application Clusters 12c Certified Implementation Specialist. 

Available expert-level credentials include the Oracle Certified Expert; Oracle Database 12c: RAC and Grid Infrastructure Administrator; Oracle Database 12c Maximum Availability Certified Expert; Oracle Certified Expert; Oracle Database 12c: Data Guard Administrator; Oracle Certified Expert; and Oracle Database 12c: Performance Management and Tuning. Oracle still offers 11g certifications as well. 

Note: Although premium support for Oracle 11g Database ended on Dec. 31, 2014, extended support lasts until December 2020, so it’s probable that Oracle Database 11g will remain in use for the short term. 

We focused on requirements for Oracle Database 12c certifications. One important consideration is that Oracle 11g is forward-compatible with Oracle 12c, but Oracle 12c is not backward- compatible with the prior version. Because Oracle 12c is a newer version, IT professionals with Oracle 11g certifications should consider upgrading their 11g credentials.

Oracle Database 12c Administrator facts and figures

5. SAP HANA: SAP Certified Technology Associate – SAP HANA (Edition 2016)

SAP SE has a large portfolio of business application and analytics software, including cloud infrastructure, applications, and storage. The foundation of the SAP HANA platform is an enterprise-grade relational database management system, which can be run as an appliance on premises or in the cloud. The cloud platform enables customers to build and run applications and services based on SAP HANA. 

SAP offers a comprehensive certification program, built to support its various platforms and products. We chose to feature the SAP Certified Technology Associate – SAP HANA cert because it aligns closely with other certifications in this article and is in high demand among employers, according to our job board surveys. This certification ensures that database professionals can install, manage, monitor, migrate and troubleshoot SAP HANA systems. It covers managing users and authorization, applying security, and ensuring high availability and effective disaster recovery techniques. 

SAP recommends that certification candidates get hands-on practice through formal training or on-the-job experience before attempting this exam. The SAP Learning Hub is a subscription service that gives certification candidates access to a library of learning materials, including e-learning courses and course handbooks. The annual subscription rate for individual users on the Professional certification track is $3,048. This online training program is designed for those who run, support or implement SAP software solutions. Though this may seem like a steep price for online training, you will likely be able to pass any SAP certification exams you put your mind to by leveraging all of the learning resources available to SAP Learning Hub Professional subscribers. 

Typically, SAP certifications achieved on one of the two most latest SAP solutions are considered current and valid. SAP contacts professionals whose certifications are nearing end of life and provides information on maintaining their credentials.

SAP Certified Technology Associate facts and figures

Beyond the top 5: More database certifications

Besides the ones mentioned in this article, other database certification programs are available to further the careers and professional development of IT professionals who work with database management systems. 

While most colleges with computer science programs offer database tracks at the undergraduate, master and Ph.D. levels, there are few well-known vendor-neutral database certifications. The Institute for the Certification of Computing Professionals (ICCP) is part of this unique group, offering its Certified Data Professional and Certified Data Scientist credentials. Find out more about ICCP certifications here. 

EnterpriseDB administers a small but effective certification program, with two primary certs: the EDB Certified Associate and the EDB Certified Professional. PostgreSQL was the fourth-ranked relational database management system in October 2019, according to DB-Engines. 

Credentials from Google, MarkLogic, Teradata and SAS may also be worth considering. All of these credentials represent opportunities for database professionals to expand their skill sets – and salaries. However, such niches in the database certification arena are generally only worth pursuing if you already work with these platforms or plan to work for an organization that uses them. 

Ed Tittel

Ed is a 30-year-plus veteran of the computing industry, who has worked as a programmer, a technical manager, a classroom instructor, a network consultant, and a technical evangelist for companies that include Burroughs, Schlumberger, Novell, IBM/Tivoli and NetQoS. He has written for numerous publications, including Tom’s IT Pro and GoCertify, and is the author of more than 140 computing books on information security, web markup languages and development tools, and Windows operating systems. 

Earl Follis

Earl is also a 30-year veteran of the computer industry, who has worked in IT training, marketing, technical evangelism, and market analysis in the areas of networking and systems technology and management. Ed and Earl met in the late 1980s when Ed hired Earl as a trainer at an Austin-area networking company that’s now part of HP. The two of them have written numerous books together on NetWare, Windows Server and other topics. Earl is also a regular writer for the computer trade press, with many e-books, whitepapers and articles to his credit.

The Veterans Health Administration's rollout of its Oracle-Cerner EHR system will not continue until patient safety concerns are addressed, according to Sept. 26 reporting in FedScoop.

VA Secretary Denis McDonough confirmed the news Sept. 26, responding to questions at an event hosted by the Defense Writers Group. Mr. McDonough confirmed that the VA is working through an implementation checklist with each hospital setting up the new EHR system.

The rollout was paused in June after a federal watchdog alleged that a flaw in Cerner's system caused harm to 148 veterans at Spokane, Wash.-based Mann-Grandstaff Medical Center.

"I think we've been clear that we have to be confident that these risks to patient safety are addressed before we go live. So we're not just focused on the passage of time between now and next year; we're focused on improving the system," Mr. McDonough said.

Becker's has reached out to Cerner and will update this report if more information becomes available.

Naomi Diaz - Wednesday, September 21st, 2022

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October 12, 2022, 06:37 PM EDT

The cuts affected workers at Oracle offices in Redwood City, Calif., home to the tech giant’s former headquarters. The jobs that were affected included data scientists, application developers, marketing specialists and software developers.

Oracle has laid off more than 200 of its workers in California months after reports surfaced that the tech giant was considering “thousands” of job cuts on the heels of its $28 billion Cerner acquisition.

The Austin, Texas company cut 201 jobs in total on Oct. 3 from its Redwood City, Calif. office, according to its Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) filed in California. The job cuts took effect Oct. 3 and was received by the California Employment Development Department Sept. 30, according to the WARN.

In a letter to the state obtained by CRN, Oracle said the layoffs would be permanent and said that its Redwood Shores campus would not be closing as a result of the job cuts. Oracle formerly housed its headquarters in Redwood City, but moved it to Austin at the end of 2020.

Among the jobs cut in this round, according to the Aug. 4 letter to the state from Anje Dodson, senior vice president of human resources at Oracle: data scientists, application developers, marketing specialists and software developers.

CRN has reached out to Oracle for comment.

As of this past May, Oracle employed approximately 143,000 full-time employees, of which about 48,000 are based in the U.S. and the rest internationally, according to a regulatory filing.

Oracle closed its acquisition of healthcare digital information system provider Cerner in June. The company began to notify employees of layoffs in early August, according to a report in The Information at the time. That matches with the date on the WARN notice, which states that this crop of employees received notification about the layoffs on August 4.

The company is the No. 1 employer in Redwood City, Calif. with over 6,500 workers there, according to the city.

As transformational IT has increasingly become a business imperative, implementation partners have been looking to strengthen their value proposition for their customers. To differentiate themselves from transactional service providers, the more proactive partners are evolving their offerings and approaches, thereby becoming more strategic than they had been in the past.

While IT leaders can maximize the opportunity arising out of this shift by leveraging the partners’ strategies and advanced capabilities, it’s important for them to maintain focus on the risks. Here’s a look at how implementation providers are evolving and how CIOs should approach partnering with them for mutual success.

Shifting to a transformation approach

There is a perceptible change in the way implementation partners are now approaching their clients as compared to earlier, and it is all about becoming a strategic partner for transformational change.

“A partner now enters an account with a broader area of engagement in mind. The discussions may be around a specific project with a CIO, such as implementing a typical solution like Oracle or SAP ERP, but the partner’s core agenda is to bring about an extensive and comprehensive transformation of the client’s IT infrastructure,” says Harnath Babu, CIO at KPMG.

“As the project progresses, the partner discusses the CIO’s pain points and what could alleviate them. This could invariably lead to the partner’s scope getting expanded into, but not limited to, managing emerging technologies, enhancing cost and operational efficiencies, bringing about automation, application development, or improving the system of records,” he says. “Implementation partners are clearly moving from the earlier point approach to a transformation approach.”

Sharing an example of this as it unfolded at KPMG, Babu says, “We engaged with a system integrator to help us with L1/L2 support. In a short time, we scaled it to L3. We found that we could also leverage the partner for managing our infrastructure. Next, we asked the partner to help us with POD development as it was a big challenge to find skilled resources,” says Babu. “So, what started as an L1/L2 service engagement, eventually led to infrastructure management and resource augmentation.”

The POD, or product oriented delivery, is a software development model that entails building small, self-sufficient cross-functional teams that take care of specific requirements or tasks for a project.

Takeaways for CIOs from this trend: Leveraging one partner instead of many frees up CIOs and their teams from more boilerplate deployments, allowing them to focus on what is core to the business. “An implementation partner looks at the total value generated from an account. Therefore, if a CIO gives value to the partner, the latter will reciprocate. This will give CIOs the confidence of having a strong partner behind them. There can then be a project director to manage the project on a day-to-day basis and the CIO can intervene only when there is budget or strategy involved,” says Babu.

Building Centers of Excellence 

With the aim of adding value to their customers, implementation partners are increasingly realizing the importance of building technological expertise.

“To keep pace with the market and stay relevant, implementation partners are building on human capital and expertise. For instance, most partners lacked competency in cloud as there wasn’t much requirement related to it in the past. However, as cloud is gaining a strong traction, they have also upped the ante,” says Subramanya C, global CTO at business process management company Sagility (formerly HGS Healthcare). 

So, when Subramanya decided to move the company’s SAP, SharePoint portal, intranet, and other applications to the cloud, he roped in a partner who had a Center of Excellence on cloud and 12 to 15 subject matter experts (SME) on the technology.

“Partners with such capabilities were not seen in the past,” he says. “More than 100 servers had to be migrated in a few weeks. Immense planning, resources, and mitigation of risk were involved in the project. However, the partner’s strong technical expertise, which formed the basis of the center of excellence, made sure that the project got completed smoothly and as per the scheduled plan,” says Subramanya.

Takeaways for CIOs from this trend: Although implementation partners can provide deeper expertise than they could in the past, IT leaders should not be complacent when enlisting it. “For complex projects, like ours, strong governance is required from the enterprise technology leader’s end,” Subramanya says. “IT leaders can outsource a task or an activity to a partner and their SME, but they can’t outsource their responsibilities. Therefore, we ensured a strong governance framework was in place while implementing this project. We also had our own SME working in close collaboration with the partner’s experts.”

Collaborating with other partners

The evolution of technology, driven by modernization of applications and services, is catalyzing collaboration among system integrators.

As Archie Jackson, head of special initiatives, IT, and security at digital transformation company Incedo says, “I have seen system integrators coming together to offer solutions, a trend that wasn’t visible in the past. Today, products don’t work in silos. One product has multiple linkages with other products, and it orchestrates and expands into other areas. For instance, a security solution today is not limited only to the network. It is connected to end point and applications, too. Therefore, one project could spill over to another. A partner, however, may not have the expertise or the bandwidth to execute everything, which leads to collaboration with other partners.”

Incedo was in talks with a partner some time back for implementing managed links for connectivity. The end-to-end managed service would have offered remote connectivity to access corporate network from anywhere in the world.

“During the conversations, the partner suggested he could bring another implementation partner to enhance the cybersecurity of the links. It came across as a logical fit because the links had to be secure, but I had not seen a partner collaborating with another one like this in the past,” says Jackson. Takeaways for CIOs from this trend: One implementation partner bringing another partner may help a CIO, but it could also increase the cost of the project. “This is a good option only if a CIO wants to build capability. The primary partner will build his margin into the project for which he is getting the second partner, thereby increasing the cost for the CIO.  If CIOs have the capacity to architect a solution more efficiently, they should do so in-house,” says Jackson.

New release delivers seven JDK Enhancement Proposals to increase developer productivity, Improve the Java language, and enhance the platform's performance, stability, and security

Java 19's key capabilities to be showcased at JavaOne 2022 in Las Vegas on October 17-20

AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Oracle today announced the availability of Java 19, the latest version of the world's number one programming language and development platform. Java 19 (Oracle JDK 19) delivers thousands of performance, stability, and security improvements, including enhancements to the platform that will help developers Improve productivity and drive business-wide innovation. Oracle will showcase the latest capabilities in Java 19 at JavaOne 2022, taking place October 17-20 in Las Vegas, and via a keynote broadcast airing on dev.java/ at 9:00 a.m. PT on Tuesday, September 20.

"Our ongoing collaboration with the developer community is the lifeblood of Java. As the steward of Java, Oracle is steadfastly committed to providing developers and enterprises with the latest tools to help them create innovative apps and services," said Georges Saab, senior vice president of development, Java Platform and Chair, OpenJDK Governing Board, Oracle. "The powerful new enhancements in Java 19 are a testament to the monumental work across the global Java community."

The latest Java Development Kit (JDK) provides updates and improvements with seven JDK Enhancement Proposals (JEPs). Most of these updates are to be delivered as follow-up preview features improving on functionality introduced in earlier releases.

JDK 19 delivers language Improvements from OpenJDK project Amber (Record Patterns and Pattern Matching for Switch); library enhancements to interoperate with non-Java Code (Foreign Function and Memory API) and to leverage vector instructions (Vector API) from OpenJDK project Panama; and the first previews for Project Loom (Virtual Threads and Structured Concurrency), which will drastically reduce the effort required to write and maintain high-throughput, concurrent applications in Java.

Story continues

"Java developers are increasingly seeking tools to help them efficiently build highly functional applications for deployment in the cloud, on-premises, and in hybrid environments," said Arnal Dayaratna, research vice president, software development, IDC. "The enhancements in Java 19 deliver on these requirements and illustrate how the Java ecosystem is well-positioned to meet the current and future needs of developers and enterprises."

Oracle delivers new Java Feature releases every six months via a predictable release schedule. This cadence provides a steady stream of innovations while delivering continuous improvements to the platform's performance, stability, and security, helping increase Java's pervasiveness across organizations and industries of all sizes.

The most significant updates delivered in Java 19 are:

Updates and Improvements to the Language

• JEP 405: Record Patterns (Preview): Enables users to nest record patterns and type patterns to create a powerful, declarative, and composable form of data navigation and processing. This extends pattern matching to allow for more sophisticated and composable data queries.

• JEP 427: Pattern Matching for Switch (Third Preview): Enables pattern matching for switch expressions and statements by permitting an expression to be tested against a number of patterns. This allows users to express complex data-oriented queries concisely and safely.

Library Tools

• JEP 424: Foreign Function and Memory API (Preview): Enables Java programs to more easily interoperate with code and data outside of the Java runtime. By efficiently invoking foreign functions (i.e., code outside the Java Virtual Machine [JVM]), and by safely accessing foreign memory (i.e., memory not managed by the JVM), this API enables Java programs to call native libraries and process native data via a pure Java development model. This results in increased ease-of-use, performance, flexibility, and safety.

• JEP 426: Vector API (Fourth Incubator): Enables superior performance compared to equivalent scalar computations by expressing vector computations that reliably compile at runtime to vector instructions on supported CPU architectures.

Ports

Project Loom Preview/Incubator Features

• JEP 425: Virtual Threads (Preview): Dramatically reduces the effort of writing, maintaining, and observing high-throughput concurrent applications by introducing lightweight virtual threads to the Java Platform. Using virtual threads allows developers to easily troubleshoot, debug, and profile concurrent applications with existing JDK tools and techniques.

• JEP 428: Structured Concurrency (Incubator): Streamlines error handling and cancellation, improves reliability, and enhances observability by simplifying multithreaded programming and treating multiple tasks running in different threads as a single unit of work.

Driving Java Innovation in the Cloud

The Java 19 release is the result of extensive collaboration between Oracle engineers and other members of the worldwide Java developer community via the OpenJDK Project and the Java Community Process (JCP). In addition to new enhancements, Java 19 is supported by Java Management Service – an Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) native service – that provides a single pane of glass to help organizations manage Java runtimes and applications on-premises or on any cloud.

Supporting Java Customers

The Oracle Java SE Subscription is a pay-as-you-go offering that provides customers with best-in-class support, entitlement to GraalVM Enterprise, access to the Java Management Service, and the flexibility to upgrade at the pace of their businesses. This helps IT organizations manage complexity, contain costs, and mitigate security risks. In addition, Java SE and GraalVM Enterprise are offered free of charge on OCI, enabling developers to build and deploy applications that run faster, better, and with unbeatable cost-performance on Oracle Cloud. 

Underscoring Java's popularity with the global developer community, Oracle is proud to recognize the one millionth completed Java certification. Java certifications help developers stand out as Java experts and raise their profiles with enterprises seeking to attract highly skilled Java professionals.

Additional Resources

About Oracle

Oracle offers integrated suites of applications plus secure, autonomous infrastructure in the Oracle Cloud. For more information about Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), please visit us at www.oracle.com.

Trademarks

Oracle, Java, and MySQL are registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation.

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SOURCE Oracle

Oracle recently announced the general availability (GA) of MySQL Heatwave, a service that combines OLTP, analytics, machine learning, and machine learning-based automation within a single instance on AWS.

The company first released the cloud database service on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) in 2020 to provide customers with a managed offering that integrates both online analytics and transaction processing capabilities. Later in 2022, autoML was added to the service. Now, it is available for the first time outside the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure – allowing users to run their transaction processing, analytics, and machine learning workloads in one service on AWS without needing ETL duplication between separate OLTP and OLAP databases.

Source: https://www.oracle.com/mysql/heatwave/

Peter Zaitsev, founder & CEO at Percona, tweeted:

Oracle finally admits nobody cares about Oracle Cloud and takes Heatwave to AWS, where previously it was one of unique "completing" features of OCI.

In a press release, Oracle announced several new capabilities for MySQL HeatWave on AWS. The service offers a native experience on AWS, the ability to monitor performance and the utilization of provisioned resources, and integration with MySQL Autopilot, which provides workload-aware, machine learning-based automation of the application lifecycle, including data management and query execution. In addition, it also offers comprehensive security features such as server-side data masking and de-identification, asymmetric data encryption, and a database firewall.

Sanjeev Mohan, a principal at Sanjmo, explains in a LinkedIn blog post:

The data plane, control plane, and console all run natively on AWS. The code base used for AWS is the same as the one used on OCI. However, Oracle has added several enhancements and integrated with AWS services, such as CloudWatch for monitoring resources and operational logs and metrics.

In the same press release, Oracle claims that MySQL HeatWave compared to other systems on AWS, provides better price performance. For instance, MySQL HeatWave on AWS delivers a price-performance seven times better than Amazon Redshift, ten times better than Snowflake, 12 times better than Google BigQuery, and four times better than Azure Synapse when running queries derived from the 4TB TPC-H benchmark.

Holger Mueller, VP and principal analyst, Constellation Research, said in one of the industry analyst statements on MySQL on AWS: 

The fact that the MySQL Engineering team can not only deliver the MySQL Heatwave offering on AWS but also provide architectural adaptations for better performance and TCO is another proof of the brilliance of the underlying software architecture.

In addition, Mueller told InfoQ:

Oracle is moving its software to the data on AWS, which will make potential adoption of customers on AWS with their data there - managed on competitive platforms - easier to migrate.

Lastly, MySQL HeatWave is now available in multiple clouds, OCI and AWS, with Microsoft Azure following soon.