Oracle License Assessment and Amazon RDS Migration
Results in Significant Cost Savings and Operational Improvements
A leading financial institution located in the Southern U.S. has been utilizing Oracle databases hosted on Amazon EC2 instances. Their team recognized an overly-complicated Oracle license held by the firm was both expensive and difficult to unravel. After talking to TekStream, the primary engagement began as an assessment of their Oracle licensing, to identify cost-saving opportunities and ensure compliance. The second goal was to migrate their databases to Amazon RDS to leverage managed services, improve scalability and reduce operational overhead.
TekStream Solutions engaged with the bank to conduct an Oracle License Assessment, aiming to demonstrate a valuable return on investment. Following the successful assessment, TekStream is in the process of migrating their Oracle databases from Amazon EC2 to Amazon RDS. This case study outlines the project background, findings, recommendations, and the migration strategy.
Technologies Involved
Amazon RDS
Oracle License Assessment Insights
Several Oracle licenses were not fully utilized and contributed to extraneous expenses with no benefit to the bank.
Compliance and audit readiness was reviewed in order to ensure compliance and mitigate audit risks.
Optimal utility of the licenses in use significantly reduced costs.
Findings and Recommendations
The TekStream Oracle License Assessment (OLA) revealed two primary findings that the bank could enact immediately to mitigate loss:
License Optimization
Current annual Oracle license renewal cost was in excess of $586K. Many licenses were identified as underutilized or unused, and by dropping unnecessary licenses and renegotiating terms, potential savings of up to $1Million annually were identified.
Migration to Amazon RDS
Implementation of Multi-AZ deployments for critical databases to ensure high availability and automatic failover. Utilization of Amazon RDS automated backups and point-in-time recovery to enhance data protection. Adoption of encryption for data at rest and in transit, along with advanced auditing capabilities uncovered security and compliance improvement points .
Migration Strategy
The subsequent migration involves several phases to ensure a seamless transition with minimal downtime.
Phase One: Planning and Preparation
- Assess current database configurations and performance metrics.
- Prepare target RDS instances with appropriate sizing and configurations.
Phase Two: Migration Execution
- Use Amazon Data Migration Service (DMS) for data transfer from EC2 to RDS.
- Continuous monitoring of migration progress and resolution of any issues.
Phase Three: Testing and Validation
- Conduct functional and performance testing on the migrated databases.
- Validate data integrity and consistency post-migration.
Phase Four: Post-Migration Optimization
- Resize EC2 instances for applications and obtain new licenses as needed.
- Optimize the performance of the RDS instances.
ROI and Cost Savings
The migration to Amazon RDS is projected to save the bank approximately $4.7 million over five years, with annual savings exceeding $1 million. These savings are attributed to reduced licensing costs, optimized infrastructure, and lower operational overhead. TekStream’s comprehensive approach ensures a smooth transition, leveraging AWS managed services to enhance scalability, security, and compliance.
Industry: Banking
Size: Total assets of $35.4 billion (2024)
Employees: 1,600
As one of the largest independent depository institutions in the south, this bank provides a broad range of consumer and commercial banking products and services to individuals, small businesses, middle-market companies, large corporations and institutions. With a commitment to an equitable and diverse workplace, the institution provides a venerated set of benefits to it’s employees, and serves the communities it does business in via charitable and financial education initiatives.