Oracle Enterprise Manager Reviews and Pricing

Enterprise Architect at Revenu Qubec

Oct 20, 2016

It automates alerting. I would like to see better support for Oracle GoldenGate.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is the automation of the alerting. We can be proactive when we use that program instead of being called in the middle of the night because something’s wrong. You get the alert and the warning before. You can customize every threshold to meet your needs, and have different settings for different database groups.

How has it helped my organization?

The company spends less money over time because we are not working overtime hours at the office.

What needs improvement?

I would like to see better support for Oracle GoldenGate. Right now, it doesn't work well with Oracle GoldenGate. You still have to use GoldenGate monitor if you want to take advantage of the product.

There are some bugs and often we cannot debug the product right there and we have to reconfigure some things. It does the job, as long as you don't encounter a bug.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability's not so bad. It's a stable product, a mature product. When we change versions, there are some problems there.

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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability's good. We went from two databases to over 250. It's working fine.

How are customer service and support?

We have used technical support many times; it is very bad. We often had to dig down ourselves into the source code to find out why it’s not working on our platform. Every time we conferred about that, it became a little more complicated. Their answer is often to just delete the target, rediscover it and it should be fine.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We were pretty much doing our own thing with an in-house script. Since we were growing fast, we could not continue like that.

How was the initial setup?

Out of the box, initial setup is pretty straightforward: You install it, you discover your target and it monitors them. If you want to go further and do custom monitoring, for example, it can become quite complicated. On the other hand, it's very flexible. That's good.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

It's been a long time, so I don't remember which other products we were considering. Probably from the beginning, we were considering Oracle because they let us experiment with it first and we saw that it worked. Also, because we kind of expect our versioning to follow the version of the database.

What other advice do I have?

Go only with the out-of-the-box configuration first. Let it run for a while like that to learn the product. Learn a few things before trying to configure everything in it.

When I’m selecting a vendor, price is a big factor. Licensing is a big factor. It has to do the job we need it for. Those are the most important criteria.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user436107

Sr DBA at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees

May 29, 2016

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I can drill down to the user level or the SQL level and see what was happening at any point in time. The UI is not good and is still pretty ugly.

Valuable Features

I like the performance tuning features, particularly since it gives me a good glimpse of what has been happening. We maintain the data for 31 days, so I can graphically go back and see what exactly happened during that time. I can drill down to the user level or the SQL level and see what was happening at any point in time. That's a pretty good feature, and because it's more graphical, I don't have to analyze a whole bunch of rows.

Improvements to My Organization

In terms of the user response time, if I were to do a lot of queries, and analyze it, we can quickly provide the result to the end user or the developers, and then quickly come back to solving a lot of performance problems.

Room for Improvement

With any Oracle protocol, and Enterprise Manager is one of them, as far as the interface is concerned, it's not good and is still pretty ugly. I would like to see a decent UI because there are a lot of tools on the market that also give good drill-down capabilities. For example, with Enterprise Manager's drill down to database blocking logs, you can no longer see that in the UI, whereas other tools allow that. I need to be able to do this type of drill-down in one tool without having to manage different tools that do different things.

Use of Solution

I've been using Oracle products for 22 years.

Deployment Issues

We've had no issues with deployment.

Stability Issues

You should go with the latest version as it's more stable, and that's one of the reasons I like it. It's a pretty stable platform.

Scalability Issues

We have a pretty good number of database with Oracle Enterprise Manager. You can scale it as much as you want. We have about 1,200 databases that we manage using it.

Customer Service and Technical Support

I have not used technical support because I am not the one who administer it. Technical support is good, I've heard.

Other Advice

If you're using one or two databases, Enterprise Manager is not something you want to use because Oracle has other products that can make it simpler. But ff you are using more than five or six databases, Enterprise Manager is the way to go.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

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it_user82773

Database Expert at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees

Jan 23, 2014

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Gives us the real monitoring and alerting we need to monitor our database ecosystem from one tool

Valuable Features:

Real-time monitoring we can quickly find the session or queries that are causing issues.

Improvements to My Organization:

With our different platforms running our databases like UNIX, Linux and Windows it becomes difficult to support manually with different type of scripts. With different types of database versions like 9i, 10g and 11g it helps to have one tool that can support them all.

Room for Improvement:

One thing I would like to see is the option of agent less monitoring. I would also like to see monitoring only at LDOM level so if you are using Solaris zones you only monitor at LDOM level.

Use of Solution:

I've been using OEM since version 10g which would have been since 2007.

Initial Setup:

The setup is straightforward the installer guides you during the installation. The installer also has pre-checks to make sure your system is ready for installation or upgrade. For upgrades you have the option of a 2 step system for if you want to move to another server and OS at the time of your upgrade from older versions.

Other Advice:

I would recommend that you try OEM, it can monitor many different products and it has been well designed. When monitoring database performance in real-time I have yet to see another product that can do it as well as OEM.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user3876Database Manager at a tech company with 51-200 employees

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Mar 3, 2014

What alternative solutions you have used beside OEM and in which area of customer support you are seeking improvement?

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it_user522240

Healthcare Operations Supervisor – Optum Health San Francisco at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees

Nov 8, 2016

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I can see the whole picture and analyze the data.

What is most valuable?

I can run the database, run queries, run reports, see the whole picture, and analyze the data.

How has it helped my organization?

I can see the whole picture and analyze the data; I rely on that a lot. I feel like I can see the whole entire database.

What needs improvement?

It could be faster; sometimes it takes a while to make the connection. Sometimes, it's complicated, too.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is very stable. Once in a while, I see IT involved in a ticket but I don't think it happens all the time.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I think we used to use Sybase and then we transferred to Oracle. Now they no longer use the Sybase servers. I’m not so sure why we switched from Sybase to Oracle; maybe the technology made them move from Sybase to Oracle, maybe it was more stable, more space or something like that.

What other advice do I have?

I like it. I would encourage a colleague or friend looking for advice to use Oracle.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user97683

Database Senior Manager at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

Mar 17, 2014

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Excellent in monitoring and the ability to quickly drill down, see and identify issues. Smooth initial deployment.

What is most valuable?

Monitoring and the ability to quickly drill down, see and identify issues. Also provisionning is an interesting option as long as it works.

How has it helped my organization?

We have set up a lot of alerts which can notify us immediately when something arises and this is keeping our SLA's kept. Additionally we have made customized reports on KPI's in order to quickly get the whole picture and keep management apprised - also so we can show how a change has made an impact.

What needs improvement?

Setting up provisioning can be a challenging. Also there are a lot of bugs and some specific to platforms. Not every platform is equally supported.

For how long have I used the solution?

Personally 6 years, in the company more than that (from version 9 up to 12c)

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

With the initial deployment no, went smoothly for the last version. In the previous there were some issues that were frustrating but in the end not so hard to overcome.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Initially after the upgrade/installation of every version we have had issues with stability and performance. After a couple of weeks tuning and tweaking it stabilizes and then we have no more trouble - till the next upgrade.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No, we have not had any issues. That is probably because at a point we decided to set up a second installation for our test environments and we have divided the workload between the two installations.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Before using OEM we had a lot of scripts to check database health, also we have and use some other solutions for monitoring. OEM provided everything in a single package and has a lot more options, plus it is a lot better at monitoring databases then anything else.

How was the initial setup?

With every version it becames easier to set it up. Depending of course on the platform, but still with 12c it is really straight forward.

What about the implementation team?

We tried to involve Oracle for a upgrade and migration project from version 11g to 12c. After more than a year finally they gave up and said it cannot be done. We then did it in-house, workaround it (with their support of course) we migrated the 11g version and then upgraded it. Every other upgrade/installation was done in-house.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Sorry can not say about the cost, we have always used as little hardware as possible.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Not a lot. Mainly we looked at what we have and then went for OEM as most of our DBs are Oracle. We have monitoring from HP BAC/Mercury.

What other advice do I have?

It is a must if you have more than a couple of databases to monitor and manage, it can also do a lot of other stuff and monitor various types of targets. It has a good system for testing applications. It has a lot of potentials but best advice is read through the documentation and know what you are getting, check with somebody who is already using it to get the best idea.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user90537

Database Manager at a energy/utilities company with 501-1,000 employees

Feb 16, 2014

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Valuable reporting and tuning features. Improved my companies central reporting and management tool for Oracle database

What is most valuable?

Reporting and tuning

How has it helped my organization?

Central reporting and management tool for Oracle database and middle-tier products

What needs improvement?

BI Publisher integration; EM CLI commands

For how long have I used the solution?

Four years

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

Agent deployments are easy

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Not with 12c OEM

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Home-built shell scripts required maintenance, incurred higher overhead, and exposed the company to risk if a key employee left

How was the initial setup?

Initial installation of 12c OEM is convenient and straightforward

What about the implementation team?

In-house implementation

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

OEM required 1.5 full-time employees during setup and still requires that much support in production

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

What other advice do I have?

There are several sources of information including IOUG and communities.oracle.com

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user83301

Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Jan 28, 2014

OEM makes sense for my customers’ needs and makes it easy for me to immediately resolve any problems that arise

Many of our company’s customers have multiple databases. Thus they often need help determining how to consolidate them, monitor them and move forward with their business plans. I bring insight to these customers by showing them how to optimize their IT environments. When it comes to helping customers identify best practices, 90 percent of the time I end up talking about Oracle Enterprise Manager. Many of these customers have adopted Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c as their primary monitoring platform.

I recall a situation with an Atlanta-based tax services company that required extremely high availability during the busy tax season (approximately December 15 and April 15). We had to uphold very strict service level agreements that carried serious penalties and huge financial implications. An unscheduled outage of one hour leads to a $1 million fine. Previously this company used five separate monitoring tools, which was causing extra effort for system administrators and was a source of concern regarding unplanned down time. I spent a few days helping these administrators understand the full potential of a centralized monitoring and management solution based on Oracle Enterprise Manager. It took some convincing and it came down to setting them up with a prototype for the next tax season. Using the new system, they had zero problems and were impressed with the stability. After that, they decided to standardize on Oracle Enterprise Manager as their system management foundation going forward.

I implemented the Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Lifecycle Management Pack, complete with the configuration and change management features, simplifying the Sarbanes-Oxley compliance work necessary for this company’s large government customers. Now they can see what is changing in their environment all the time, which gives them a real-time glimpse into the security of the database. This company’s senior management admitted that without Oracle Enterprise Manager their tax season would not have gone successfully. Day and night, if there were issues, we were notified and we resolved problems immediately.

My take on OEM 12c is that I especially like the performance tuning features since they let DBAs identify problems very quickly. The real time ADDM (Automatic Database Diagnostic Monitor) and associated reports let me drill down into these issues without having to prepare snapshots. I can identify and resolve issues immediately. I also likes the Oracle Enterprise Manager Consolidation Planner, which I find to be an extremely flexible and valuable tool. For example, if a client wants to move to an Oracle Exadata system, you can use the Oracle Enterprise Manager Consolidation Planner to identify precisely how big of an engineered system that client will need. This tool simplifies requirements gathering when you are consolidating to engineered systems.

I recommend Oracle Enterprise Manager because today’s DBAs are being asked to do more with the tools and resources that we are given, to drive change within the organization so that IT teams are more knowledgeable and efficient. Oracle Enterprise Manager empowers database administrators to resolve problems quickly—to identify bottlenecks and pinpoint performance issues. Many DBAs still like the command line, but in my experience the GUI makes it twice as fast to resolve issues. This insight is especially helpful at the outset of a project. Too often DBAs don’t get called in until the end of the development cycle, as somebody who can run the database. But ideally they should have input on the front end of that cycle, while there is still time to identify issues with the SQL code or with other aspects of the hardware or software infrastructure. DBAs can drive the changes that optimize applications and make databases run better.

I believe some Oracle customers are slow to adopt cloud models simply because they don’t realize that Oracle Enterprise Manager can help pave the way. It’s an enterprise tool, not just a database tool. Once organizations understand that Oracle Enterprise Manager can help them manage their whole stack they will realize how much it can help in the context of deploying and managing clouds. Deploying a private cloud is often the first step towards a database as a service environment in which developers can provision databases themselves via a self-service portal. This model has the potential to fundamentally change the way developers do things. You can click a button and clone a database. This will shorten the development cycle, especially with Oracle Database 12c, which lets you provision a pluggable database quickly from a multitenant architecture. Developers can provision what they need and move on. I believe that championing these database as a service environments will elevate the role of DBAs. They can lead their organizations to embrace a new type of fast, efficient provisioning. This will make DBAs more important to the development cycle and push them to the front-end of many projects.

Disclosure: PeerSpot has made contact with the reviewer to validate that the person is a real user. The information in the posting is based upon a vendor-supplied case study, but the reviewer has confirmed the content's accuracy.

it_user83598IT Manager at a tech services company

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Feb 1, 2014

Hello Bobby Curtis,

Nice Article, very well explained, through this article I came to know how OEM can solve complex business process.
And I request you to provide some more information on OEM Consolidation Planner.

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it_user522057

DBA at a pharma/biotech company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Nov 22, 2017

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Monitors all our Oracle infrastructure and as a DBA I also use it for SQL monitoring

Pros and Cons

"It's user friendly."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily using this for the monitoring, it monitors all our Oracle infrastructure. As a DBA I also use it for SQL monitoring and for performance tuning analysis.

What is most valuable?

It's user friendly.

How has it helped my organization?

We have Oracle Accelerator. We heard this is a better tool for monitoring Accelerator. But it's more than monitoring just that, we have extended the monitoring to DB2 and SQL Server platforms.

What needs improvement?

I think they have already listed some things in 13c. I heard it includes a couple of features we are looking for like monitoring templates. I want to explore those features. Probably they will be included in 13c.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using it for the last three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is pretty stable. There are some pros and cons, but we compared it to other tools which are available for monitoring Oracle databases and other products, and what we found is this is one of the best.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's scalable. Currently, we are monitoring close to 3000 targets and it's pretty well scalable.

How is customer service and technical support?

I'm a bit skeptical of it. I personally experienced a little longer time than I would like to get the right solution for issues. They have good support. It depends on the person with whom you are interacting.

How was the initial setup?

I would say setup is moderate, actually. It's not that difficult. If you have a good background in web logic and servers then I think it's easy. They have very good documentation in place so you just have to follow the documentation and it can be installed easily.

What other advice do I have?

This is one of the best tools we've had. I would advise others to go for it.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.