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Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) is Oracle's cloud computing platform, offering a comprehensive set of infrastructure and application services. OCI is designed from the ground up as a second-generation cloud, learning from the limitations of first-generation cloud platforms to deliver better performance, security, and pricing.
Unlike other providers that evolved from consumer services, OCI was purpose-built for enterprise workloads — particularly Oracle Database and enterprise applications.
OCI is the only cloud designed and optimised by Oracle for running Oracle software:
OCI is known for aggressive pricing:
OCI was built with security isolation as a core principle:
OCI provides 100+ services:
| Category | Example Services |
|---|---|
| Compute | Virtual Machines, Bare Metal, Container Instances, OKE |
| Storage | Object Storage, Block Volume, File Storage |
| Database | Autonomous Database, MySQL HeatWave, PostgreSQL, NoSQL |
| Networking | VCN, Load Balancer, FastConnect, DNS |
| AI / ML | OCI AI Services, Data Science, Generative AI |
| Security | Cloud Guard, Vault, Bastion, WAF |
| Observability | Monitoring, Logging, APM |
| Feature | OCI | AWS | Azure | GCP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2016 (Gen 2) | 2006 | 2010 | 2008 |
| Strongest area | Oracle DB, price-performance | Breadth of services | Enterprise / hybrid | Data & AI |
| Network virtualisation | Off-box (hardware) | Software overlay | Software overlay | Software overlay |
| Free egress | 10 TB/month | 100 GB/month | 100 GB/month | 200 GB/month |
| Always Free Tier | Permanent (no expiry) | 12-month + always free | 12-month + always free | 90-day + always free |
When you sign up for OCI, you receive a tenancy — the top-level container for all your cloud resources. A tenancy is tied to a single home region but can access resources in all subscribed regions.
Compartments are logical containers for organising resources:
| Model | Description |
|---|---|
| Pay As You Go (PAYG) | No commitment, billed per hour or per use |
| Monthly Flex (Universal Credits) | Commit to monthly spend for discounts |
| Annual Flex | 1-year commitment with deeper discounts |
| Bring Your Own Licence (BYOL) | Use existing Oracle licences on OCI |
| Always Free | Permanent free resources with no time limit |
OCI's Always Free Tier is one of the most generous in the industry:
| Resource | Always Free Allocation |
|---|---|
| AMD Compute | 2 VMs (1/8 OCPU, 1 GB RAM each) |
| Arm Compute | 4 OCPUs, 24 GB RAM (Ampere A1) |
| Block Volume | 200 GB total |
| Object Storage | 20 GB |
| Autonomous Database | 2 instances (1 OCPU, 20 GB each) |
| Load Balancer | 1 flexible load balancer |
| Outbound Data | 10 TB/month |
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure is a second-generation cloud platform built for enterprise performance, security, and cost efficiency. It excels at running Oracle workloads but provides a comprehensive set of services for any cloud use case. In the following lessons, we will explore OCI's global infrastructure, identity management, and core services in detail.