Effective October 14, 2025, Oracle and Microsoft have announced significant updates to Oracle Database@Azure, a service that lets customers run Oracle databases on Microsoft Azure. As of this date, Oracle Database@Azure is available in 28 Azure regions worldwide. It delivers new integration capabilities for data and security – including ways to unify data with Microsoft Fabric and deeper security integration with Microsoft Defender. The service supports the latest Oracle Database versions (19c and 23c) and runs on Oracle’s high-performance Exadata infrastructure within Azure data centers. This means enterprises can deploy Oracle databases in Azure with the same performance and reliability they expect on-premises, but with Azure’s global reach and services.
What is Oracle Database@Azure
Oracle Database@Azure is a jointly developed cloud service by Oracle and Microsoft. It brings Oracle’s managed database services into Microsoft Azure data centers. In practical terms, this service runs on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) hardware (like Oracle Exadata database servers) that is co-located in Azure. This architecture provides Oracle’s renowned database performance inside Azure, offering low-latency connectivity between Azure-based applications and Oracle databases.
With Oracle Database@Azure, Azure customers can procure and manage Oracle databases natively through the Azure portal and APIs. Oracle builds and manages the database infrastructure, but you operate it as an Azure service. Billing is integrated into Azure (a single Azure invoice covers the Oracle service), and customers get a seamless support experience for both Oracle and Microsoft as needed. In summary, Oracle Database@Azure provides an “OCI-in-Azure” experience: you get Oracle’s enterprise database technology with Azure’s convenience and global infrastructure.
Key Features
- Broad Global Availability: Oracle Database@Azure is available in over 28 Azure regions across North America, Europe, Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, with plans to reach 33 regions by end of 2025. This wide regional footprint allows organizations to deploy databases close to their users and applications, reducing latency and meeting data residency requirements.
- High Performance Infrastructure: The service runs on Oracle Exadata hardware inside Azure, Oracle’s flagship high-performance database platform. This gives you on-premises-level performance and low latency for your Oracle workloads in the cloud. Mission-critical applications can be lifted to Azure without sacrificing speed or throughput, since the database is running on optimized Oracle equipment directly in Azure data centers.
- Choice of Oracle Database Services: Oracle Database@Azure supports a range of Oracle database offerings. Customers can choose from Oracle Base Database Service, Oracle Exadata Database Service (on dedicated or Exadata Exascale infrastructure), or Oracle Autonomous Database (a self-driving database), depending on their needs. Both Oracle Database 19c and 23c (the latest long-term release) are supported, ensuring compatibility with modern Oracle database features. This flexibility means you can run anything from a single-instance database to a full Exadata cluster or autonomous database in Azure.
- Seamless Data Integration: New features enable real-time data integration with Azure analytics services. For example, Oracle Database@Azure can mirror data directly into Microsoft Fabric’s OneLake data lake in real time, with zero-ETL (no extract-transform-load processes needed). There is also native support for Oracle GoldenGate, Oracle’s high-performance data replication tool, to continuously replicate database changes with low latency. These capabilities let you unify your Oracle data with Azure’s analytics and AI tools (like Power BI and Azure AI services) more easily, enabling an AI-ready data estate across both Oracle and Azure environments.
- Enhanced Security Integration: Oracle Database@Azure integrates with Azure’s security and identity services for enterprise-grade protection. Microsoft Defender for cloud now supports Oracle Database@Azure, providing threat detection, vulnerability scanning, and compliance monitoring for your Oracle databases. It works alongside Microsoft Sentinel (Azure’s SIEM – Security Information Event Management system) for real-time security monitoring, and Azure Entra ID (Azure’s identity and access management, formerly Azure AD) for unified identity control. This means Oracle databases in Azure can be secured and monitored with the same tools that protect the rest of your Azure environment.
- Unified Management with Azure Arc: Azure Arc support is now extended to Oracle Database@Azure. Azure Arc allows you to manage on-premises or multi-cloud resources through the Azure control plane. With Oracle Database@Azure under Azure Arc, you can enforce policies, automate backups and patches, and oversee your Oracle databases in Azure alongside other resources, all from a single pane of glass. This unified management simplifies operations and governance across hybrid environments.
- Certified for Oracle Applications: Oracle has confirmed support for running its major enterprise applications on Azure when using Oracle Database@Azure. This includes apps like Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS), PeopleSoft, JD Edwards EnterpriseOne, Oracle Enterprise Performance Management (EPM), and Oracle Retail applications. In other words, if you migrate an Oracle application stack to Azure and use Oracle Database@Azure as the database, Oracle will fully support that configuration. This assurance removes a key barrier for enterprises looking to move Oracle-dependent systems to the cloud.
- High Availability and Disaster Recovery: The service offers Oracle’s Maximum Availability Architecture (MAA) features — up to the highest Platinum tier — exclusively on Azure. MAA is Oracle’s best-practice blueprint for fault tolerance, data protection, and disaster recovery. With Platinum-tier MAA, businesses get the highest level of availability, including capabilities like zero-data-loss replication and fast failover for their Oracle databases. This means even mission-critical workloads can achieve extreme uptime and resilience on Azure, comparable to the reliability of Oracle’s on-premises reference architectures.
Licensing
Oracle Database@Azure is consumed through the Microsoft Azure Marketplace, making procurement and billing straightforward. You will see Oracle Database@Azure charges on your Azure bill (no separate Oracle invoice). In terms of licensing models, customers have flexibility: you can bring your own Oracle Database licenses (BYOL), including existing enterprise agreements like Unlimited License Agreements (ULAs), or choose a license-included option (pay-as-you-go through Azure). This means if your organization already owns Oracle database licenses, you can apply them to Oracle Database@Azure; otherwise, you can pay for licenses as part of the service subscription.
Importantly, usage of Oracle Database@Azure counts toward your committed Azure spend. Any consumption of this service will apply against your Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC), helping you maximize your Azure spending agreements. Additionally, Oracle honors its Oracle Support Rewards program for this service. (Oracle Support Rewards allow Oracle license holders to earn credits that reduce Oracle Support costs when they use Oracle Cloud services – in this case, using Oracle Database@Azure can earn such rewards.)
We at SCHNEIDER IT MANAGEMENT have deep expertise in both Microsoft and Oracle licensing. We can advise you on how to optimize your licensing strategy for Oracle Database@Azure – whether to leverage BYOL or Azure’s pay-as-you-go model – and ensure you remain compliant with all requirements. Our goal is to help you make the most cost-effective and efficient use of this multicloud solution.
More Information
For more details, please refer to the official Microsoft Azure announcement: “Oracle Database@Azure offers new features, regions, and programs to unlock data and AI innovation” (October 2025) – available on the Microsoft Azure Blog: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/oracle-databaseazure-offers-new-features-regions-and-programs-to-unlock-data-and-ai-innovation/.
This source provides the full description of the latest Oracle Database@Azure capabilities and updates from Microsoft’s perspective.
For our Microsoft page, please visit: https://www.schneider.im/software/microsoft.
For our Oracle page, please visit: https://www.schneider.im/software/oracle/.
Please contact us for expert services on your specific Microsoft and Oracle software and online services requirements and to request a quote today.
