While AWS dominates the cloud market, OCI has been gaining significant traction with its innovative approach to cloud services, competitive pricing, and enterprise-focused solutions.
This comprehensive comparison will help you leverage your existing AWS knowledge to accelerate your OCI Foundations certification journey. Rather than starting from scratch, you'll discover how OCI's services map to familiar AWS counterparts, while understanding the unique advantages and differentiators that make OCI compelling for modern enterprises.
Core Compute Services
Virtual Machines
| AWS | OCI | Key Differences |
|---|---|---|
| EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) | Compute Instances | • OCI offers bare metal and VM instances on same hardware • OCI provides custom images and bring-your-own-license options • OCI has dedicated VM hosts for isolation |
Container Services
| AWS | OCI | Key Differences |
|---|---|---|
| ECS (Elastic Container Service) | Container Engine for Kubernetes (OKE) | • OCI focuses primarily on Kubernetes • OCI provides managed Kubernetes with automatic updates • AWS has both ECS and EKS options |
Serverless Computing
| AWS | OCI | Key Differences |
|---|---|---|
| Lambda | Functions | • Similar serverless compute model • OCI Functions supports multiple languages • Both offer event-driven execution |
Storage Services
Object Storage
| AWS | OCI | Key Differences |
|---|---|---|
| S3 (Simple Storage Service) | Object Storage | • OCI offers Standard, Infrequent Access, and Archive tiers • OCI provides automatic tiering • Both offer REST APIs and lifecycle management |
Block Storage
| AWS | OCI | Key Differences |
|---|---|---|
| EBS (Elastic Block Store) | Block Volume | • OCI offers higher performance options • OCI provides volume groups for management • Both offer encryption and backup capabilities |
File Storage
| AWS | OCI | Key Differences |
|---|---|---|
| EFS (Elastic File System) | File Storage Service | • Both provide NFS-compatible shared file storage • OCI integrates with compute instances seamlessly • Similar performance and scalability features |
Database Services
Relational Databases
| AWS | OCI | Key Differences |
|---|---|---|
| RDS (Relational Database Service) | Database Service | • OCI supports Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL • OCI offers Exadata Cloud Service for high performance • Both provide automated backups and maintenance |
NoSQL Databases
| AWS | OCI | Key Differences |
|---|---|---|
| DynamoDB | NoSQL Database Cloud Service | • Both offer managed NoSQL solutions • OCI provides flexible data models • Similar scalability and performance features |
Autonomous Databases
| AWS | OCI | Key Differences |
|---|---|---|
| Aurora (partial automation) | Autonomous Database | • OCI's Autonomous Database is fully self-managing • Automatic tuning, patching, and optimization • OCI offers both transaction and warehouse workloads |
Networking Services
Virtual Networks
| AWS | OCI | Key Differences |
|---|---|---|
| VPC (Virtual Private Cloud) | Virtual Cloud Network (VCN) | • OCI uses subnets within VCNs • OCI has regional subnets by default • Both support private and public subnets |
Load Balancing
| AWS | OCI | Key Differences |
|---|---|---|
| ELB (Elastic Load Balancer) | Load Balancer | • OCI offers flexible shapes and bandwidth • Both support Layer 4 and Layer 7 load balancing • OCI provides built-in SSL termination |
Content Delivery
| AWS | OCI | Key Differences |
|---|---|---|
| CloudFront | Content Delivery Network | • Both offer global edge locations • OCI integrates with Object Storage • Similar caching and acceleration features |
Connectivity
| AWS | OCI | Key Differences |
|---|---|---|
| Direct Connect | FastConnect | • Both provide dedicated network connections • OCI partners with multiple providers • Similar bandwidth and latency benefits |
Identity and Access Management
Identity Services
| AWS | OCI | Key Differences |
|---|---|---|
| IAM (Identity and Access Management) | Identity and Access Management | • OCI uses compartments for resource organization • OCI has policy-based access control • Both support federation and MFA |
Single Sign-On
| AWS | OCI | Key Differences |
|---|---|---|
| AWS SSO | Identity Cloud Service | • OCI provides comprehensive identity management • Both support SAML and OAuth • OCI includes user lifecycle management |
Security Services
Key Management
| AWS | OCI | Key Differences |
|---|---|---|
| KMS (Key Management Service) | Vault | • Both provide hardware security modules • OCI Vault integrates with all OCI services • Similar key rotation and access controls |
Security Monitoring
| AWS | OCI | Key Differences |
|---|---|---|
| GuardDuty / Security Hub | Cloud Guard | • OCI Cloud Guard provides unified security posture • Both offer threat detection and compliance monitoring • OCI includes built-in remediation capabilities |
Monitoring and Management
Monitoring
| AWS | OCI | Key Differences |
|---|---|---|
| CloudWatch | Monitoring | • Both provide metrics, logs, and alarms • OCI includes application performance monitoring • Similar dashboard and alerting capabilities |
Resource Management
| AWS | OCI | Key Differences |
|---|---|---|
| CloudFormation | Resource Manager | • Both use infrastructure as code • OCI uses Terraform-compatible templates • OCI Resource Manager is Terraform-based |
Key OCI Concepts Not in AWS
Compartments
- Unique to OCI: Logical groupings for organizing and controlling access to resources
- Purpose: Multi-tenancy, billing, and access control
- Benefit: Better resource organization than AWS resource groups
Fault Domains
- Unique to OCI: Hardware and infrastructure groupings within availability domains
- Purpose: High availability within a single availability domain
- Benefit: Additional layer of fault tolerance
Bare Metal Instances
- OCI Advantage: Direct access to physical hardware
- Use Cases: High-performance computing, legacy applications
- Benefit: No virtualization overhead
Exam Focus Areas
Critical OCI Differentiators to Remember:
- Autonomous Database - Fully self-managing database service
- Compartments - Resource organization and access control
- Bare Metal Computing - Non-virtualized compute options
- Regional Subnets - Subnets span availability domains
- Flexible Load Balancer Shapes - Pay for what you need
- Integrated Security - Built-in encryption and security services
Cost Model Differences:
- OCI: Predictable pricing, no data egress charges for same region
- AWS: Complex pricing with various data transfer charges
- OCI: Universal credits system for all services
- AWS: Service-specific pricing models
Study Tips:
- Focus on OCI-specific terminology (VCN vs VPC, Compartments, etc.)
- Understand OCI's approach to high availability across fault domains
- Know the autonomous capabilities that differentiate OCI
- Memorize the core service names and their AWS equivalents
- Practice with OCI's always-free tier services
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