For these reasons, there is a high demand for the best technological platforms to help leverage and manage all these data. Cloud technology platforms are turning out to be the future for almost all organizations. These platforms enable organizations to eliminate and decrease the infrastructure cost required to maintain expensive servers.
In addition, cloud-based applications help ensure better scaling through the high-demand infrastructure and flexibility and, simultaneously, reduce the total cost ownership (TCO) through serverless computing.
An effective migration to cloud-based platforms such as Snowflake can help ensure a technological legacy. However, several obstacles may limit and hinder this migration; read through this article to learn more about these obstacles.
WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO MOVE TO THE CLOUD?
You will enjoy an array of benefits once you adopt a cloud platform for your organization. For example, you will enjoy high agility, data security, scalability, and reduced total cost ownership. However, to ensure you realize these benefits, you must provide thorough and well-informed planning.
For instance, you can adopt decision-making strategies such as the principle of 5 R’s (rehost, refactor, revise, rebuild, and replace) cloud migration by Gartner as a road map.
Regardless of the model you use in your business, adopting the appropriate cloud application will always have a significant effect. You should ensure that the cloud computing you choose can effectively help integrate all systems while consolidating and analyzing all crucial data.
Snowflake is one of the cloud-based platforms, which is remarkable due to its unique architecture. It allows you to mobilize all your data with almost unlimited scale, performance, and currency.
That said, the platform comes with its own set of challenges and often require professional partners to overcome Oracle to Snowflake migration challenges and ensure a seamless transformation.
THE ORACLE TO SNOWFLAKE MIGRATION CHALLENGES
SCALABILITY
As mentioned earlier in this article, scalability is just one of the benefits you are likely to enjoy by adopting Snowflake applications. However, scalability is also a challenge that most on-premises databases face. For example, an organization with limited in-house resources will fail to access the scaling power provided by the cloud data warehouse. For Oracle, scaling is only done on a minimal hardware investment undertaken by the organization. In contrast, Snowflake’s work is based on a pay-as-you-use model, which allows you to scale quickly for some moments without any CAPEX.
PLATFORM MODERNIZATION
Oracle is majorly concerned with the old premises technology which may lack the ability to allow the application of new generation tools. On the other hand, Snowflake uses AI/ML out-of-the-box support and other new generational technological tools. When migrating from Oracle to Snowflake platforms, a big challenge will be leveraging and ensuring a balance between the old platforms and the new generation’s tools.
MAINTENANCE OVERHEAD
Even though Oracle platforms are equipped with several HA and DR options, you will still be required to buy hardware to set it up. Similarly, the Snowflake platform, responsible for all administrative tasks such as automatically syncing data in different zones, allows HA and DR. However, Snowflake is more of a cloud data warehouse. The main challenge of this migration is that you will have to make the HA and DR options automatic to ensure a better maintenance overhead.
COST
Moving from Oracle to Snowflake will lead to some costs. For example, you will have to move from the original old CAPEX model to the OPEX model. This migration is costly at the initial stages, but during operation, you will enjoy reduced costs saved on CAPEX. Further, you will have to incur the cost of buying new software supporting Snowflake.
PERFORMANCE
To keep the performance requirements of an Oracle platform, you will have to do extra manual work such as indexing and stats maintenance. Although Snowflake will improve your computing performance by reducing the complexity using the in-built performance tuning, you might realize a stagnant performance in the initial stages of migration, especially if you lack the appropriate knowledge and skills to run your Snowflake well.
CLOUD PERSPECTIVE
Adopting a new normal after being used to the Oracle platform will not be easy. Moreover, Cloud-based applications such as snowflakes will lead to the adoption of different data sources and formats, unlike the Oracle platforms. These new adoptions mean you must learn to adapt to the changes.
LICENSING BURDEN
Oracle works based on licensing cost, while Snowflake is based on the pay-for-what-you-use model. The differences in these two licenses may not be a big challenge when migrating from oracle to Snowflake. However, you will have to understand the terms of each before the migration process.
BOTTOMLINE
Oracle to Snowflake migration is a worthwhile process. Even though there are several obstacles, as discussed in this article, there is always a better way to overcome them. With the adoption of Snowflake, there are numerous benefits you are likely to enjoy.
