The first time I examined the Oracle Database 12c architecture, I wasn’t quite sure what I thought about the Container Database (CDB). In the current release of the Oracle RDBMS, the administrator now has a choice of whether or not to employ a CDB.

Bundling Databases Inside One Container

In today’s IT industry, consolidation is a common challenge. With potentially hundreds of databases to manage and maintain, an administrator will require a great deal of time and resources to upgrade and patch software. Why not consider deploying a container database to streamline this activity? By “bundling” several databases together inside one container, in the form of a pluggable database, we can save on overhead process resources and CPU time. Furthermore, we can reduce the human effort required for periodically patching and maintaining the software.

Minimizing Storage

Most IT professionals understand the concept of storage, as in solid state or non-rotating. Let’s take one-to-many databases and “plug” them into ONE designated container database. We can minimize many redundant pieces that would otherwise require separate storage and architecture, as was the case in previous releases of the Oracle RDBMS. The data dictionary can be housed and shared in one CDB, with individual metadata content for each pluggable database. We also won’t need as many background processes either, thus reducing the overhead cost of the CPU resource.

Improve Security Levels within Each Pluggable Database 

We can now segregate the CDB-administrator role from that of the pluggable-database administrator as well, achieving improved security levels within each pluggable database and within the CDB. And if the administrator chooses to use the non-CDB architecture, everything is backwards compatible, too.

 The bottom line: it's a good idea to at least consider using a CDB.

-Christopher Andrews, Senior Principal Instructor, Oracle University