Oracle Big Data Service

What Oracle Big Data Service is

Oracle Big Data Service is a managed cloud service for building Hadoop-based data lakes and processing large volumes of data. It includes Oracle Distribution for Apache Hadoop, with Apache Ambari, Hadoop, HBase, Hive, Spark, and related services. Cluster sizes can range from small development environments to large production clusters on dedicated hardware, using OCI compute shapes. Customers can select high-performance NVMe or lower-cost block storage, and expand or reduce clusters as workloads change. Oracle describes both temporary clusters for specific tasks and persistent clusters for managing large data lakes. Secure, high-availability clusters are available as an option.

Oracle Cloud SQL lets users query data in Hadoop, Kafka, NoSQL, and object stores with Oracle SQL. For machine learning, Oracle describes SparkR for working with HDFS, Spark DataFrames, and JDBC sources, including building models in R. Users can access the service in the browser-based OCI Console, through OCI CLI, REST APIs, or SDKs. Block Volume data is encrypted at rest by default, with OCI IAM managing authentication and authorization. Cluster release updates must be applied to keep clusters current and supported. The service fee is $0.02 per OCPU per hour; compute shapes and Cloud SQL have separate charges, and storage charges apply separately.

Who it suits

It suits teams building Hadoop data lakes that need to size clusters for development or production workloads, and those handling either short-lived data tasks or long-running lake operations. It may also suit teams that want to query several listed data sources with Oracle SQL or use SparkR for model building in R.

Limits

The listed service fee is $0.02 per OCPU per hour, while compute shapes and Oracle Cloud SQL are priced separately and storage charges also apply separately. OCI's 30-day trial provides $300 in credits for eligible services; Big Data Service is not specifically identified as eligible.

Getting started

1. Open the Oracle Big Data Service website.
2. Use the OCI Console, OCI CLI, REST APIs, or SDKs to access the service.
3. Choose OCI compute shapes and a storage option for a cluster.
4. Select a cluster size for a development, production, or specific-task workload.
5. Apply cluster release updates to keep the cluster current and supported.

Verdict

Choose Oracle Big Data Service if you need a managed Hadoop data lake with flexible cluster sizing, several storage choices, and SQL access across the listed data sources. Consider the separate compute, storage, and Cloud SQL charges, and account for applying cluster release updates to keep the service supported.