Database Freedom is a unique program designed to help companies move from traditional to cloud-native database engines on AWS.
In practice, it is a service that combines technical advice, migration support and financial assistance. With it, the migration of an expensive database like Oracle to PostgreSQL becomes much easier, faster and more efficient.
We caught up with Deivid Bitti, Chief Scientist at Flexa Cloud, who told us how AWS Database Freedom works, what benefits companies get, and how Flexa Cloud can help plan and execute.
Check it out!
PostgreSQL is a database open source, he is free. There is no licensing cost. The only cost that the company has, in case of growth, is with the infrastructure needed to run it. Many companies are demystifying the issue of free databases, especially when they experience a sudden growth, as they feel in their pocket how expensive maintaining an Oracle database, for example, can be. A very common feeling for this turning point is that database providers let the company 'build its castle' on top of a technology that is indeed good, but the cost of maintaining it is getting more and more heavy.
“Whoever is starting his business today and has chosen Oracle, SQL Server, or any other licensed bank, is very poorly informed, very poorly advised”.
—Deivid Bitti.
It's an interesting question. If going to a free bank is much cheaper and technically the same, why are there still companies paying Oracle? The answer is that there is a whole legacy, a whole universe created on top of these traditional benches, and turning 180 degrees is not so simple. There is also the cultural issue; there are people who are still not convinced or do not have enough information to make that decision. And, we cannot deny it, there is a very large lobby from the big players in the database industry. But, it's interesting to see that fintechs and startups in general, which are by far the most innovative organizations today, run workloads on free databases that many giants don't even dream of running. It's one thing to have a Vale, which has a local ERP for 5 people supported by an Oracle with millions of dollars in licensing; another is a startup whose core business is an online service that runs for 10 times that number, spending much less in a year than Vale spends in a month.
"Very soon all system vendors will allow their products to run on open source databases."
—Deivid Bitti.
Anyone who is starting their business today and has chosen Oracle or SQL Server, or any other licensed bank, is very poorly informed, very poorly advised. Why structure a business if when you're serving 100 people at the same time, you're going to be giving Microsoft and Oracle more money than you're making? The same is true for medium-sized companies, which started in traditional banks: it is important to migrate to free banking. Now, if the company bought an ERP that only runs on Oracle, unfortunately, it is stuck with Oracle. The good news is that very soon all system vendors will allow their products to run on open source databases. It is an irreversible trend.
The Database Freedom initiative aims to provide tools for the migration to be carried out in an automated way and with practically zero impact on the company's operation. It is, practically, a robot that enters the application that was made in a bank and rewrites it to work in another one. In other words, I go into everything that was written in Oracle and I can rewrite it in PostgreSQL; then this application 'won't know' that it's running in another bank. This greatly reduces migration costs. Another, I can migrate online data from a paid bank to an open source bank; I take, for example, the data from SQL Server and send it to PostgreSQL in real time, replicating. And there are many gains in this disruption; in this migration from traditional banking to open source. They range from self-scaling, replication, vertiginous cost reductions in the short, medium and long term…
Of course, I have already mentioned here the SAPS, which is a startup that provides systems for managing restaurants and bars to thousands of customers throughout Brazil. They are in Rio Grande do Sul and are currently the company that transacts the most orders with iFood, Uber Eats and Rappi platforms. Saipos started and created its products on top of Oracle, but the vertiginous growth began to generate unavailability — which, at peak times, can cause losses in the millions of reais. So, our challenge was to create a new Aurora PostgreSQL database and carry out several migration tests, to, at the same time, adapt the application to work in this new reality. Then, after these various simulations, we made the migration at dawn where we left the database replicating from Oracle to PostgreSQL and activated a replication from Postgre to Oracle; that way, if we had problems, we could go back to the previous scenario. We spent a week analyzing it and it worked very well. Today they are running 100% on open source. Everything was done remotely. In fact, today there are very few clients that we need to visit to apply a Database Freedom project.
→ Know, in detail, the case SAIPOS!
“Applications that don't have business rules written in databases and development technology is agnostic, are migrated in two sprints”.
—Deivid Bitti.
This depends a lot on the complexity of the application and how much this application needs to be revised. But, for example, applications that don't have business rules written in databases and development technology is agnostic, are migrated in two sprints. In the case of SAIPOS, they had tons of backend code written in the database, and then it was a project of about four months, because they needed to review the application; we rewrote all these parts of the backend and changed some data types, among other things. I also think it's important to say that more than 98% of the time, the client doesn't need to have any kind of action; and, on our part, only one professional acts, as Artificial Intelligence solutions are used, which are part of the AWS Database Freedom initiative.
Founded in 2008, Flexa IT started as a software development company. Then, always attuned to the market, in 2013 it entered into a partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS).
With a flag planted in the future, Flexa IT has become a national reference company in the cloud.
In 2017, it changed its name to Flexa Cloud, definitively consolidating its vocation to help companies on their journey to the cloud.
With a broad vision, Flexa's services always consider the following pillars:
Today, after hundreds of successful cases, Flexa Cloud has positioned itself as a company with the expertise to safely lead organizations on their journey to the cloud.
In the wake of the quest to provide the best experience to our customers, Flexa Cloud has made strategic partnerships over time that aim to complement its service portfolio, namely:
The experience accumulated in the various implementations carried out since 2013, shortens paths and brings a consistent robustness in the delivery of services.
The implementation stage is structured based on project management best practices and has ITIL as the basis for services in the support stage.
If that wasn't enough, our employees are trained and certified, which provides the necessary peace of mind on this journey.
Here at Flexa Cloud, our basic premise is the customer. Therefore, our services seek to enchant them, making them the biggest promoter of our brand.
make contact, we will be delighted to take your company to the clouds!
