Solution for Migrating from Oracle RAC to GBase 8c

As database technology advances rapidly, database kernels and architectures continue to evolve. Distributed architectures and multi-model integration are emerging as key trends—becoming the core technologies for addressing diverse user scenarios. However, due to varied data usage patterns and the demands of high-concurrency reads and writes on massive datasets, some traditional-architecture database products can no longer meet the requirements of specific use cases.

Specific Issues

1. For large data volumes (hundreds of TB to PB) and high-concurrency workloads, traditional database architectures often fall short. As digital transformation accelerates, enterprises demand not only strong performance and stability but also the flexibility to adapt to diverse, complex business scenarios.

2. Core business systems commonly rely on Oracle RAC deployments. However, the RAC architecture imposes stringent requirements on server, storage, and network hardware. When migrating to Chinese domestic servers, organizations frequently encounter degraded performance and stability.

3. Growing business demands expose node-count limitations in traditional database clusters like Oracle RAC. Although Oracle RAC has long been a trusted, industry-recognized solution, evolving business needs and market dynamics are pushing enterprises toward more efficient, cost-effective alternatives.

4. Certain internet-scale businesses require elastic scaling capabilities that traditional database products typically cannot provide.

In these situations, the best path forward is a shift to a distributed database. GBase 8c, GBASE’s multi-model, multi-state distributed database, has emerged as a compelling migration target thanks to its exceptional performance, high availability, and strong cost-effectiveness. GBase 8c delivers enterprise-grade capabilities by distributing workloads across multiple servers for parallel processing, dramatically improving system throughput and response times. Its architecture supports automatic node addition for horizontal scaling and elastic expansion, providing higher performance, fault tolerance, and reliability. Driven by a new kernel engine, it offers superior compatibility, multi-model and multi-state support, elastic scalability, strongly consistent distributed transactions, and comprehensive data migration toolkits that enable smooth transitions from other databases to GBase 8c.

Yet migration is far more than a simple data transfer. In production environments, the greatest challenge lies in harmonizing data consistency, migration efficiency, and system stability. Architectural and functional differences between Oracle RAC and GBase 8c make it critical to complete the migration without data loss or corruption—a major undertaking. Meanwhile, minimizing business downtime and ensuring stability throughout the migration remain top concerns for any enterprise.

GBase 8c provides robust support for Oracle RAC migration through its in‑house migration tools and services. The following aspects ensure an efficient and reliable migration:

1) GBase 8c offers high compatibility with Oracle data types and SQL syntax, significantly reducing learning and adaptation efforts.

2) The GBase 8c migration toolkit covers assessment, object migration, data migration, business SQL migration, real‑time synchronization, and data validation – delivering a complete, turnkey migration service.

3) The high‑availability architecture of GBase 8c combined with the built‑in failover capabilities of the migration tools doubly safeguards system stability during and after migration, minimizing business disruption even while the migration is in progress.

Here's an overview of the migration solution from Oracle to GBase 8c.

For migrating from Oracle RAC, GBase 8c delivers comprehensive data migration guidance and a seamless end-to-end solution. The main phases are:

1) Preparation: source environment analysis and migration assessment;

2) Solution design and testing: environment setup, functional testing, migration rehearsal, etc.;

3) Execution: finalizing the plan, migration operations and monitoring, performance tuning, and cutover;

4) Post-migration services: ongoing operational management and technical support.

GBase 8c was built with extensive object and syntax compatibility, encapsulating compatible components that provide a solid foundation for migration. The actual migration process relies on GBase 8c command-line tools (such as gs_dump) and a graphical migration tool, GBase DMT. GBase DMT features a browser/server architecture, is deployed via Docker, and simplifies deployment, reducing the client footprint and making maintenance and upgrades straightforward.

1. Object migration process

In GBase DMT, users first add source and target database connection details, then create a migration task based on their needs. During this step, they can adjust conversion rules, run pre-checks, and save the task configuration—migration then starts automatically. After completion, DBAs and operations staff can view task details or examine a comprehensive assessment report.

Key operations:

• Database configuration — set up connections for source and target databases to use during migration and synchronization.

• Create migration — choose the data source, then configure the migration objects, tables, parameters, and conversion rules to define the task.

• Migration assessment — after migration, download the assessment report for a detailed breakdown of migration outcomes and any object errors. Use this report to manually adjust the preceding configuration items and re-run the migration.

• (Optional) Data sync — keep data synchronized between heterogeneous databases during production. Uses change data capture (CDC) technology with real-time log parsing and streaming to detect data changes with low latency.

 2. Business SQL migration process

A business capture tool samples and analyzes application data and systems, collecting statistics on data volumes, wide tables, real-time SQL, and performance metrics, to deliver an optimal migration approach.

• High Concurrency: GBase8c uses a shared-nothing architecture with compute-storage separation, allowing concurrent multi-user access to acquire resources faster and enhance I/O processing.

• High Availability: Unlike traditional RAC shared storage, GBase8c distributes data across multiple nodes. If a node fails, the system automatically switches to another available node, ensuring continuous data availability.

• HTAP Capability: Handles both transactional and analytical workloads simultaneously to meet diverse application scenarios.

• Elastic Scalability: Supports online scale-out and scale-in to better accommodate changing data volumes and user counts.

• Linear Performance Scaling: The distributed architecture scales with additional nodes, achieving near-linear performance improvement as nodes are added.

• China Ecosystem Compatibility: Fully compatible with China-built servers and operating systems, delivering performance and stability on domestic platforms that equals or exceeds previous foreign systems.

As a leading provider of database and data management solutions, GBASE (General Data Technology Co., Ltd.) consistently adheres to its customer-centric philosophy. It emphasizes not only technological innovation but also user experience. Migrating from Oracle RAC to GBase 8c is a logical move for enterprises to cut costs and boost efficiency, while adapting to market changes and embracing innovation. The GBase 8c data migration solution provides ease of use, high security, high performance, and complete data integrity, ensuring that enterprises can easily overcome various challenges during migration and achieve a seamless business transition and upgrade.