Oracle Cloud Free Tier is a new offering from Oracle based on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. When using Oracle Free Tier, users get two free databases in the cloud, such as Oracle Application Express (APEX) and Oracle SQL Developer. In addition, two VMs are provided free of charge as well as object blocking and archive storage. In addition, Oracle provides free 30 day trial resources and a free $ 300 or $ 250 limit.
Currently, Oracle offers the following services free of charge in Oracle Cloud Free Tier, but with limitations: Autonomous Data Warehouse, Autonomous Transaction Processing, Computing, Block Volume, Object Storage, Archive Storage, Load Balancing, Monitoring, Notification, and Outgoing Data Transfer.
In addition to two free VMs, NVMe SSD based block storage, high bandwidth object storage, archive storage, and load balancing can be used. Because two VMs can be used, you can also test applications with high availability, test server cloning or other storage capabilities, and build object data pipelines. Databases are always autonomous free and Oracle Cloud Free Tier can be combined. APIs, SDKs for Java, Python, Ruby and Go and plugins for Jenkins, Packer and Grafana are also available. With Terraform, functions in the cloud can be automated.
Administration through a web browser
Like Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Google Cloud Platform, resources on Oracle Cloud are also managed through a web browser. The web-based interface already has all the features provided by Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. Free resources are tagged, and the budget provided by Oracle is also free. The web portal has all the resources offered by Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. Here you can also choose paid resources. If you change the default settings or use resources that are charged, you must oversee budget management.
Oracle Cloud Free Tier is ideal for test environments or developers who want to develop features for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, or to test its features. Because the duration of operation is unlimited, based on the free version it can operate a small cloud environment that is suitable for testing or development.
Because resources that can be ordered can be ordered, the environment can grow to requirements, but then not for free, because additional resources must be paid for. There is also no SLA for Oracle Cloud Free Tier. Support is only available through support forums on the Internet.
Always Free resources will not refresh paid resources until the account is upgraded to paid status for the first time. The administration interface shows which resources are permanently free and which resources are charged.
Making VMs in Oracle Cloud Free Tier
Oracle Cloud Free Tier registration is fast. Then the administration interface is available. Create via VM Instance starts the wizard, which allows you to configure the new VM based on the image provided by Oracle. The following are free Linux images. Change Image Source allows you to choose an image on which the VM is based.
The Advanced option allows you to control additional settings, such as server monitoring, error domains, network settings, and more. Finally, "Build" shows the VM based on default settings in the cloud. It may take some time for the VM to start, its status can be seen at the bottom of the window. The VM can be controlled via an icon in the top area.
Connection to a computer in the cloud can be done using a virtual Linux computer with traditional SSH tools. OpenSSH or Putty is possible here, for example. Those who rely on Windows can work with Windows tools. However, the Windows system is not available for free. If you want to access the VM on Oracle Cloud from a Windows computer, you can also use tools from the Windows Subsystem for Linux. This must be available on the appropriate computer. Also VNC is supported.
Create databases and automated data warehouses
One of the main reasons why Oracle provides a portion of its cloud infrastructure for free is the development of its Autonomous Database solution. This is a database that is managed entirely in the cloud. The database optimizes and waits independently and automatically. Oracle also wants to provide Linux systems independently in the same way. It also updates, manages and optimizes itself, both Linux and autonomous databases are available for free at Oracle Cloud Free Tier, as is the Autonomous Data Warehouse.
