Oracle database 21c new features

 Oracle 21c New features are as follows.

 

• Blockchain Tables
• AutoML
• Multilingual Engine – JavaScript Execution in the Database
• Binary JSON Data Type
• Per-PDB Data Guard Physical Standby (aka Multitenant Data Guard)
• Per-PDB GoldenGate Change Capture
• Self-Managing In-Memory
• In-Memory Hybrid Columnar Scan
• In-Memory Vector Joins with SIMD
• Sharding Advisor Tool
• Property Graph Visualization Studio
• Automatic Materialized Views
• Automatic Zone Maps
• SQL Macros
• Gradual Password Rollover

Version 21c of Oracle database has now been released for deployment on-premises. 21c is an innovation release; not LTS (Long Term Support) -so not expected for wide adoption, however it is helpful to keep track of license changes between LTS releases. The next LTS release is 23c (previous was 19c); expect another innovation release next year.

The following license changes have been introduced as part of 21c (as per the license guide here): this article is not a "New Features" comparison of 21c vs previous releases but looks at changes which have an impact on licensing. You'll need to evaluate how these changes affect your product usage and how they are manifested within the database in order to determine license usage.

In-Memory, increased support for PDB-specific utilities and "Authorized Cloud Environment" limitations are the main changes

Although there’s no major changes, as ever it is interesting to see the incremental changes to the features and license considerations through the releases. There’s a big increase in features specifically working with Multi-Tenant pluggable databases (PDBs) rather than at the container database level. Also, a number of changes have been added around In-Memory features.

• 21c is the first DB release to be CDB-only (i.e using multitenant architecture). You cannot have a non-CDB database now... but you'd have plenty of time to get ready for this! Remember that you can now have 3 PDBs in all editions at no extra cost.
• 21c XE has been seen in the wild; expect the same 'deal' as 18c -- limits on data, memory, full options available, no support, no patching.

Specific changes roughly in order of usage / interest:

• Automatic Index Optimization: combines existing data optimisation for indexing and compression including tiering. This requires the Advanced Compression Option. More info here

• GoldenGate per-PDB Change Capture for Multitenant Database: does what is says on the tin, allowing only the changes of a particular PDB to be captured rather than at the CDB level. No license impact except Multi-Tenant is likely to be in use. There’s also a note to say this is “Not available in Authorized Cloud Environments” --- see note after this section.

• Keystore for Each Pluggable Database; did exist previously but now requires Advanced Security, is not available in Authorized Cloud Environments (see below) and also now available for on-premises Enterprise Edition. See here
• Change Activity Plans are now no longer part of Database Lifecycle Management Pack. This actually looks like a big change, from what previous versions explain about what Change Activity Planner covered ---so treat this with caution; I’ve not seen any sort of announcement to suggest this is suddenly zero cost. We don't see much of this used 'in the wild'.

• Drift Management is now expressly called out as being part of Lifecycle Management Pack; caution if you were using this previously but not considering it part of this pack—though not many people use these features in our experience. See here

• Sharing of TDE Master Encryption Key Across Oracle Processes; not available in Authorized Cloud Environments (see note below), allows your encryption keys to be managed in OCI’s key management service. No license requirement except for the TDE-encrypted databases. Info here

• Automatic Zone Maps; an extension of zone maps which allow boundaries to be set for a particular column to enable table scans to automatically exclude certain data. Both Zone Maps and Automatic Zone Maps are part of the Partitioning option, however the manual isn’t clear on whether both variants are only available on Exadata

• Ability to Set Default Tablespace Encryption Algorithm; this could be a popular one for people who use encrypted tablespaces --- it does require Advanced Security as you would expect. It’s also not available in Authorized Cloud Environments (see below). Note here

• In-Memory: a number of In-Memory features added: Aggregation, Automatic In-Memory, In-Memory Deep Vectorization and In-Memory Full Text. Unsurprisingly all these need the In-Memory option. Info here

• Persistent Memory Database; available on Enterprise Edition, not available on Authorized Cloud Environments (see note at the end) --- requires hardware to support this. Allows you to store your database in non-volatile memory. Info here

• Text Index Support for Sharded Tables;  again, a self-explanatory feature, allowing applications written by you to query based on text---now allowing this type of indexing to apply to sharded databases. Requires the In-Memory option-I'm trying to work out why this would be the case.

• Buffer Cache RDMA-Read; fancy remote memory access between nodes in an Exadata environment. No license cost but a new feature only available on Exadata (on-prem or Cloud at Customer)

• Advanced Queue Shared Queues have been rebranded as Transactional Event Queues; basically allowing queues to be sharded (or segmented) across multiple instances of a database (i.e. using RAC); it has also been clarified that you also get a restricted use license for Partitioning for TEQ.

• Database Resident Connection Pooling: has evolved to allow DRCP specific to pluggable databases (PDB) rather for the entire CDB. It is included in Enterprise Edition database but its true value would need Multi-tenant. This feature has been added to the license guide along with a note to say "Not available in Authorized Cloud Environments" --- see note after this section.

• Reverse Connection Support Using CMAN Tunnels: the ability to connect to a database in an environment which only allows outbound network traffic using tunnels. Available only on Exadata (on-prem or Cloud at Customer only), no license cost. Info here

The following also have restrictions on Authorized Cloud Environment usage (see below note)

• Automatic Temporary Tablespace Shrink
• Automatic Undo Tablespace Shrink
• Active Data Guard DML Redirection
• Database In-Memory Base Level; this allows no cost 'experimental' usage of In-Memory with some restrictions.

 

========================================================================================

• Multilingual Engine - JavaScript Execution in the Database
• Binary JSON Data Type - Oracle 21c includes several enhancements to the JSON functionality in the database JSON_SCALAR function creates an instance of a JSON type from a SQL scalar value. JSON_TRANSFORM function was introduced in Oracle Database 21c to simplify the modification of JSON data.

• Per-PDB Data Guard Physical Standby (aka Multitenant Data Guard)
• Per-PDB GoldenGate (OGG) Change Capture
• Multitenant : Dynamic CPU Scaling - Resource Manager can control CPU usage in PDBs using the CPU_COUNT and CPU_MIN_COUNT parameters. Oracle calls this Dynamic CPU Scaling.

• Self-Managing In-Memory
• In-Memory Hybrid Columnar Scan
• In-Memory Vector Joins with SIMD
• Blockchain Tables & Immutable Tables in Oracle 21c Databases - A blockchain/immutable table is a tamper-proof, insert-only table with an associated table-level and row-level retention period.
• Sharding Advisor Tool
• Property Graph Visualization Studio
• Automatic Materialized Views
• Automatic Zone Maps

• Oracle 21c makes it easier to populate collections using qualified expressions.
• SQL Macros - to improve code reuse by factoring out common expressions and statements into reusable components.
• Gradual Password Rollover
• FOR LOOP iteration control has been enhanced in Oracle 21c, making it much more flexible.
• Oracle Database 21c introduced the ability to use expressions to set initialization parameters. These expressions can reference other parameters and environment variables.