Oracle Database Capture Methods

Question

How does Fivetran capture from Oracle databases?

Environment

Oracle connector

Answer

Fivetran supports the Oracle Database through our SaaS connector. The connector captures data using either our proprietary Fivetran Teleport Sync method or Oracle's LogMiner capability that is included with the Oracle Database. LogMiner parses the transaction log and makes change data available through a database view. Fivetran reads this data and then loads it into your destination. Learn more in our Oracle connector capture methods documentation.

The HVA Oracle connector, like HVR, leverages a binary log reader to captures changes directly from Oracle's online and archived redo logs or from the archived redo logs only. Learn more in our HVA Oracle connector capture methods documentation and HVR 6 - Oracle Database Capture Methods documentation.

Context

Oracle is a very mature database technology. It continues to be used to host many organizations' most mission-critical databases. Because of its traditional market-leading position, the Oracle Database has also commonly been used storage for packaged applications' data.

To avoid impact on transactions, data replication technologies (including Fivetran) implement log-based Change Data Capture (CDC). Log-based CDC reads the changes from the transaction logs asynchronously based on the transaction making the change (and has no direct impact on the transactions). Learn more about CDC in the Fivetran blog's Change data capture: Definition, benefits, and how to use it article.

Oracle provides native capabilities for log-based CDC from the Oracle Database. However, to implement end-to-end replication in a heterogeneous setup, you must either build your own solution or license Oracle's GoldenGate technology.