The Ease of Migrating to MariaDB TX Using New Oracle Compatibility Features

One of the central themes of MariaDB TX 3.0 is reducing the cost, reusing established skill sets and increasing the efficiency, speed and technical viability of migrations from complex, proprietary databases. We’ve added some amazing new features including SEQUENCE constructs, Oracle-style packages, and the ROW data type – making migrations dramatically easier and a true game changer for enterprise open source databases.

With SQL_MODE = ORACLE, MariaDB is now able to parse, depending on the case, approximately 80 percent of the legacy Oracle PL/SQL without rewriting the code. Using the core Oracle PL/SQL compatibility in MariaDB TX 3.0, the Development Bank of Singapore (DBS) has been able to migrate more than half of their business-critical applications in just 12 months from Oracle Database to MariaDB. In fact, vast parts of your Oracle PL/SQL code can be migrated seamlessly, including:

  • Stored Procedure Parameters
  • Non-ANSI Stored Procedure Construct
  • Cursor Syntax
  • Loop Syntax
  • Variable Declaration
  • Data Type inheritance (%TYPE, %ROWTYPE)
  • PL/SQL style Exceptions
  • Synonyms for Basic SQL Types (VARCHAR2, NUMBER, …)

MariaDB Red Rover Migration Practice:

We’re here to help with your database migration no matter the challenge. Our migration practice has created and maintained a number of best practices and technical solutions. In order to help customers save costs and untangle complexity, we aim at enabling database teams as quickly as possible. For critical migration steps such as planning, quality assurance, and conducting switchovers, we assist our customers in achieving a smooth and purposeful project scope with these six steps.

Migration Assessment: A solid analysis of 8-10 days is the basis of a well-founded, thoughtful and purposeful migration.

Proof of Concept: In the beginning of a migration project, we recommend proving the viability of all critical components of the target architecture and the migration process itself, such as:

  • Schema migration in a precise, automated and validated way.
  • Procedure migration with the desired goodness, degree of automation etc.
  • High availability with MariaDB according to SLAs of the customer.
  • Live data replication from the proprietary database to MariaDB.
  • Customer requirements to test and prove in order to achieve a solid decision basis and obtain a clear migration path.

Bootstrapping Migration: We enable customers to help save costs in the migration.

Migration Consulting: Where necessary and helpful, we accompany the migration project by:

  • Adding and sharing knowledge.
  • Helping to streamline and manage the migration.
  • Keeping the migration on the right track and helping to avoid pitfalls.

Switchover: Before the actual migration, we carefully plan, validate, train and conduct the following:

  • Forward switchover steps.
  • Rollback steps where short-term action may be necessary.
  • Points of no return in order to identify and plan for critical dependencies and appropriate solution paths for all eventualities.

Pilot phase: We assist with the first weeks of system operation in order to help deal with all aspects of operating, monitoring, optimizing and securing the new migrated system. This includes active support for:

  • DBA teams.
  • Application maintenance teams.
  • Software development teams.

For all these measures, our migration practice aligns with customer methodologies, frameworks, best practices and compliance requirements. This includes PRINCE2, ITIL, data protection and SOX /Euro-SOX, as well as other regulatory requirements.

How does this save?

Cost reductions of a migration project are achieved through a number of best practices:

  • Sharing migration knowledge directly with the customer teams and creating competence as early as possible.
  • Enabling multiplication structures such as “train the trainer,” which is also important for quality assurance.
  • Reusing established skill sets when migrating applications or deploying new ones.

In our approach, the migration effort is significantly reduced compared to manual migrations:

  • Efficient, but deep analysis done during the Migration Assessment.
  • Automation implemented in our tooling.
  • Core Oracle PL/SQL compatibility.

Now available: Migration Architect

In addition to our MariaDB TX Subscription, we offer a Migration Architect service in order to help initiate, conduct and finalize a successful migration:

  • Migration Architect is an extension of the MariaDB Red Rover Migration Practice
  • Migration Architect serves in an advisory capacity regarding:
    • Database architecture
    • Migration project planning and conduct
    • Applying best practices from the MariaDB Migration Practice
    • Quality assurance throughout the migration
    • Switchover planning, training and conduct

Want to learn more about Oracle compatibility features in MariaDB TX 3.0? Join our webinar on June 7 to hear what’s new. Register now.