Consumers demand a lot from enterprises today, and businesses are struggling to keep up with the pace. It’s no wonder why enterprises have moved 82% of their IT workloads into cloud solutions like Oracle Cloud.
In fact, 67% of all enterprise infrastructure is based in the cloud, allowing applications to run faster and more securely while reducing costs.
Enterprises can choose from several cloud providers, but Oracle is the clear forerunner in the market. Through a global network of secure data centers, Oracle Cloud makes it possible to run applications more efficiently.
If your organization is making the switch to Oracle—or just wants to make the most of its Oracle Cloud subscription—follow these 50 best Oracle Cloud tips and tutorials:
Oracle Cloud Tips
1. Enable single sign-on.
Single sign-on (SSO) makes OCI a breeze for your users. Enable SSO so that your users don’t have to memorize separate usernames and passwords for all of their applications.
2. Focus on continual improvement.
Your data recovery processes won’t be perfect the first time you use them. Work with your team to improve your incident responses over time.
3. Define your operating procedures.
Don’t let your team flounder. Define how you’ll operate by creating procedures for OCI from the start, including documentation, disaster recovery, and maintenance.
4. To stay secure, encrypt your data during migration.
Ensure that Oracle Cloud is set up to encrypt your information, especially for information that’s coming from an unprotected on-site database.
5. Audit your Oracle database.
How much data does your current Oracle database hold? Conduct an audit with your team to clarify which assets you own.
6. Consider a multi-cloud environment.
If Oracle Cloud can’t offer everything you need in one package, consider using other cloud environments. It might require more work, but integrating OCI with AWS could be the key to improving your infrastructure.
7. Carefully conduct a data transfer.
Data transfers are difficult, especially during large-scale OCI migrations. Make a plan for careful transfers so you don’t lose critical data.
8. Create a migration strategy before moving to Oracle Cloud.
Every OCI migration should follow a predefined plan. Assess your needs, define your targets, create an execution schedule, and strategically deploy according to your roadmap.
9. Retire previous systems.
It’s difficult to retire old systems, but it’s necessary to keep your organization moving forward. Consider retiring the systems you’re currently using once you move to OCI so there’s no confusion among your team.
10. Set role-mapping rules.
Did you know that Oracle Cloud will automatically provision roles for you? As long as you set role-mapping rules ahead of time, the system will automatically assign roles for users, saving your team a lot of time.
11. Know the difference between HCM and FSCM.
Human Capital Management (HCM) and Financials & Supply Chain Management (FSCM) applications work differently within Oracle Cloud. Understand the differences between these roles so you can implement the correct design for these roles based on your scope.
12. Configure security settings by organization size.
Oracle Cloud allows you to configure your security settings based on your company size and auditing requirements. Make sure your business goals and audit objectives are clear within Oracle so you stay compliant.
13. Integrate Oracle with other systems.
As long as you use Active Directory, OCI will integrate with your other on-premise solutions, giving users a better experience.
14. Detail user job role assignments.
Create job roles in OCI based on your team’s roles as well as their data access. It might take extra time upfront, but defining user privileges from the start ensures there’s no confusion—and it keeps your sensitive data safe, too.
15. Ask employees to review after launching the new system.
After migrating to Oracle Cloud, ask employees to check their data. This will help you catch any migration issues as soon as they happen, improving data accuracy from the start.
16. Define training needs early on.
Whether your users are Oracle pros or completely new to the platform, make sure you understand your training needs before you migrate. This way, you can help users make the most of the new system with fewer growing pains.
17. Clear your cache in an upgraded environment.
If you’re accessing an upgraded Fusion Applications environment, you need to clear your cache first. This ensures that all of the upgrades are available without any issues.
18. Enable popups.
Certain features in Oracle open as popups. If your browser doesn’t allow popups by default, make sure you allow them for Oracle.
19. Complete your work in the same session.
OCI is finicky about how users complete work. To get the best performance, avoid clearing your cache or starting a new browser session mid-task.
20. Use Firefox.
While Oracle will run on any browser, it’s designed to work with Mozilla Firefox. Ensure that your team uses the latest edition of the Firefox browser to enjoy peak Oracle performance.
21. Automatically launch Guided Learning as needed.
It’s a good idea to offer support to your users, especially after a migration. Oracle allows you to launch guides directly from an email campaign or knowledge base article to help your users stay productive.
22. Manage where you see multiple widgets.
Oracle allows you to customize what you see when you launch dashboards. If your pages contain iFrames, you may need to embed specific JavaScript code to prevent unwanted widgets from appearing.
23. Improve operational efficiency.
Oracle is a valuable tool, but technology alone won’t solve procedural issues. Through ongoing support, workload monitoring, and OS management, organizations can continue to improve operational efficiency with OCI.
24. Look for performance and cost optimizations.
You want Oracle to continue to be an effective, cost-saving platform. Through storage strategy, cost tracking, and network tuning, you can ensure you aren’t paying for more than you need.
25. Architect for resilience.
The last thing you need is a security breach or disaster to take your workloads offline. Use data backups and fault-tolerant architecture to stay resilient.
26. Use fault-tolerant data centers.
Uptime depends entirely upon your data center. Design data centers for fault tolerance so they’re resistant to devastating network attacks.
27. Isolate your data.
Breaches happen, and that’s why data isolation is so important. Protect your OCI infrastructure by isolating applications, data, and resources from other tenants.
28. Use zero-trust principles.
Never assume a device, user, or application is “safe.” Build Oracle Cloud on the principles of zero-trust, verifying every endpoint, every time.
29. Design for cyberattacks.
What does an attacker see when they breach your systems? Conduct regular attack simulations to see how you can decrease your attack surface.
30. Have an auditing strategy in place.
Every organization using OCI needs to audit its cloud infrastructure regularly. This includes checking incident reports, simulating attacks, and monitoring workloads on an ongoing basis.
31. Isolate resources with compartments.
How do you keep your Oracle resources separate? Control access by using compartments within your architecture.
32. Follow the OCI Best Practices Framework.
Oracle provides a Best Practices Framework that you can use to stay one step ahead. Follow Oracle’s advice for security, cost optimization, operational efficiency, and more.
33. Manage user access risks.
Don’t offer the same level of access to every user in your organization. Oracle doesn’t guarantee access risk, so your organization needs to manage user roles carefully to stay secure.
34. Always work with a roadmap for OCI ERP.
Enterprise resource management (ERP) is a great addition to OCI, but additional functionalities mean you should create a detailed roadmap before implementation. Define the project, create teams, design your solution, roll it out, and communicate it effectively to your team.
35. Communicate with users.
Migrating to Oracle Cloud won’t be as effective if you don’t communicate the what, why, and how to your users. Work with marketing to get your team excited about these new changes—that’s the key to encouraging long-term adoption.
36. Check against project requirements.
You defined project requirements at the beginning of your OCI migration. But did you achieve them? Check your implementation against your requirements to make sure you ticked all of the boxes.
37. Evaluate OCI first with a sandbox compartment.
Is your leadership not sold on Oracle Cloud yet? Get proof of concept by creating a sandbox compartment first.
38. Automate your deployments.
Make sure you’re automatically updating and patching your systems. This will make maintenance a breeze and keep your infrastructure fast and secure over time.
Oracle Cloud Tutorials
39. Tutorial – Launching Your First Linux Instance
Your team’s experience with Oracle Cloud will differ depending on their operating system. If you’re running on Linux, follow this tutorial to see how you can launch instances for your infrastructure.
Some of the topics you can expect to find in this tutorial include:
- Key pairs and compartments
- How instances work
- How to create cloud networks
40. Tutorial – Launching Your First Windows Instance
Oracle Cloud requires robust infrastructure to run properly. In this tutorial from the Oracle Help Center, you’ll learn about the basics of launching an OCI instance with the Windows operating system.
Some of the topics you can expect to find in this tutorial include:
- Creating a cloud network and subnet
- Launching and connecting to instances
- Adding and attaching a block volume
41. Search and visualize data using OCI Search Service with OpenSearch
Do you need to sift through a huge volume of data? OCI Search Service is a feature that allows you to analyze a lot of data and visualize it in real-time. Check out this tutorial to learn how to save time with OCI Search Service and OpenSearch.
Some of the topics you can expect to find in this tutorial include:
- Creating search clusters
- Visualizing data in OpenSearch Dashboards
- Running sample search commands
42. Create a Web Application in Oracle Visual Builder
This free workshop from the Oracle Help Center will teach you how to build your own web-based applications using Oracle Visual Builder. For starters, you’ll learn how to use simple drag and drop components to build a two-page application.
Some of the topics you can expect to find in this tutorial include:
- Creating web applications
- Adding data and navigation to a web app
- Adding pages
43. Get started with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Database Management
A well-managed database can often make the difference between masterful data analysis and total chaos. This tutorial from Oracle Cloud will show you how to get started with managing your OCI database.
Some of the topics you can expect to find in this tutorial include:
- Creating SSH keys
- Setting up on-premises environments
- Setting up pluggable databases
44. Provision an autonomous database
OCI includes a self-repairing cloud service called Oracle Autonomous Database. Oracle bills it as the “world’s first autonomous database,” which means it can simplify the cloud environment with real-time data, fraud detection, and more.
Some of the topics you can expect to find in this tutorial include:
- How autonomous database works
- Connecting to the database with Oracle SQL Developer Web
- Creating an autonomous database
45. Get started with Audit
Every Oracle Cloud subscription includes access to OCI Audit, which automatically records data about your API calls. Check out this tutorial to see how Audit automatically logs and organizes this essential data.
Some of the topics you can expect to find in this tutorial include:
- Creating VCNs
- Find and view specific API calls
- Auditing events in sandbox compartments
46. Get started with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Data Catalog
In this tutorial, you’ll get a full tour of the OCI Data Catalog product. Learn how to create catalogs, connect to data sources, and enrich that data with more information. You’ll also learn how to use the search feature to understand your available data.
Some of the topics you can expect to find in this tutorial include:
- Creating a data catalog
- Harvesting metadata
- Enriching metadata
47. Configure public DNS for Oracle Cloud VMWare Solution SDDC workloads on VMware NSX-T overlay
This tutorial is a mouthful, but it’s essential for any organization that’s running workloads on VMware NSX-T. Follow this tutorial to learn how you can allow VMware to access your DNS.
Some of the topics you can expect to find in this tutorial include:
- Deploying a test VM
- Configuring a public DNS zone
- VMware NSX-T configuration
48. Create and configure a virtual cloud network
Virtual Cloud Networks (VCNs) contain important network assets like instances, load balancers, and more. Check out this quick tutorial to see how you should create and configure a VCN in Oracle Cloud.
Some of the topics you can expect to find in this tutorial include:
- Overview of networking
- How to create a VCN on OCI
- Configuring VCN settings within OCI
49. Get started with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure basics
This tutorial is ideal for users who are new to Oracle Cloud and database topics. Learn how cloud infrastructure can make your business more efficient and how to configure an open-source Apache instance as practice.
Some of the topics you can expect to find in this tutorial include:
- Creating a virtual cloud network
- Deploying virtual machines in the cloud
- Remote access
50. Load and Analyze Your Data with Autonomous Database
Are you building an Autonomous Database on Shared Infrastructure? Check out this free workshop from Oracle to see how you can provision your Autonomous Database, load data, and query data.
Some of the topics you can expect to find in this tutorial include:
- Running queries on sample data
- Uploading files to OCI Object Storage
- Querying files without loading them into your database
Oracle Cloud is a widely used platform among today’s enterprises. These tips and tutorials will help you maximize value and get the most out of your investment.