DNS Server, Gateway and subnet mask

When installing some software on AWS, the software package may ask for the DNS server ip address, default gateway IP address and the subnet mask.   If you are running windows, you can simply log into the Windows instance running on AWS using RDP and issue an ipconfig command. When running on Linux, you need to issue three different commands to get the information:

1. ‘ifconfig eth0’ (Subnet mask)

2.   ‘route –n | grep ‘UG[ \t]’ | awk ‘{print $2}’ (Default gateway IP)

3.  ‘cat /etc/resolv.conf’ (DNS Server)

Application on premise and database on AWS

It is possible to run an application on premise and run your Oracle database on AWS on EC2 or RDS.  However, in in this scenario, the network latency is typically to high and network bandwidth to limited to support most database systems.  This is where AWS Direct Connect comes in. AWS Direct Connect provides speeds of 1 GBPS to 10GBPS where as a typical internet connection speed of 100MBPS (100Base-T connection) would be significantly slower.  Keep in mind that an internal dedicated network from application server box to database server which would be 10 GBPS to 100 GBPS. If the application server and database server on on the same box there is no network latency. There are customers that run Oracle applications on EC2 and Oracle RAC databases in a co location facility using Direct Connect.

EC2 instance comparison

http://www.ec2instances.info

AWS data movement and replication product

Attunity CloudBeam offers data movement and replication from on premise and AWS, and between AWS regions;
https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/pp/B00B5PB8IM/ref=srh_res_product_title?ie=UTF8&sr=0-2&qid=1359126283717

Disaster recovery in the cloud options

These are by all means not all the options, but at a high level these are the common options:

• Backup and restore - Have to set up security groups set up and set up Route53. Data is not being mirrored or replication. You are doing an import and export from database to S3. When system goes down then resource S3 data to the database. You also have to provision AMIs.
• Pilot light – In this case, you are doing Data mirroring/replication from source system to DR site. Could run GoldenGate. The EC2 instances are present but stopped. Have to prepare all required resources from automatic start – AMIS, network settings, load balancing etc.
• Fully working low capacity standby – Blurring lines between HA and DR. In this case have an issue with RDS as the data needs to replicated both ways as traffic could go to either configuration.
• Multi-site hot standby – production load on both sides. Cost and data sync are the biggest challenges.

AWS import export : When to use import export

This web page has some guidelines on when to use AWS import export and when to use a network connection:
http://aws.amazon.com/importexport/

Go down to this section: "When to Use Import/Export"

I often get asked this question when someone wants to move large Oracle database to the cloud.

Oracle Exadata DR to the cloud

Nice case study on using AWS to provide a cloud based DR solution for Oracle Exadata:
http://aws.amazon.com/solutions/case-studies/Sogeti/

Encrypting Oracle Databases on AWS

Cipher Cloud offers an alternative to Oracle Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) to encrypt Oracle database tables.http://www.ciphercloud.com. The product specifics can be found here: http://www.ciphercloud.com/database-encryption-and-tokenization.aspx.  It is an option for those customers running Oracle SE or Oracle SE One on EC2 or RDS as TDE is only for Oracle EE. 
Salesforce uses CiperCloud to encrypt the Oracle database. Salesforce runs one of the largest Oracle RAC implementations in the world.

Oracle licensing on AWS

Oracle licenses portability and support on AWS is a bit different between Oracle on EC2 and Oracle on RDS.  However, with both models you can Bring Your Own Licenses (BYOL). With RDS, you have the option of BYOL (Bring Your Own License) or License Included.  With Oracle on EC2, you can only BYOL. All Oracle licenses are portable to AWS as indicated here: http://aws.amazon.com/oracle/.   More details on how your Oracle licenses work on AWS can be found here: http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/pricing/cloud-licensing-070579.pdf.  The Oracle FAQ has more details on working with Oracle on AWS: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/cloud/faq-098970.html#Oracle_AWS. 

Oracle Linux AWS pricing calculator

For Oracle Linux, you should use “Linux”. Unlike Red Hat, Oracle Linux is free. Red Hat Linux cannot be bought without support hence the Red Hat instance price also includes support cost (like Windows Instance). Oracle Linux instance does not include any support cost. If you would like to buy support for Oracle Linux, you need to buy that directly from Oracle. Support for Oracle Linux is less expensive than Red Hat.

Submarine cable map

Interesting map of all the under water cables in the world:
http://www.submarinecablemap.com