Rarexa vs SolarWinds DPA for Oracle
SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer and Rarexa both watch Oracle databases without agents — and that's roughly where the similarity ends. One is a performance-forensics suite priced per instance; the other is a flat-priced health dashboard for your whole fleet. Here's how to tell which problem you actually have.
What each tool is actually for
DPA's core idea is wait-time analytics. It continuously samples what sessions are waiting on, stores that history in its repository, and lets you slice response time by SQL, wait event, program or time window. When someone asks "why was the ERP slow last Tuesday between 2 and 3 p.m.?", DPA is built to answer — across Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL and more. It's a tuning investigator's tool, with anomaly detection layered on top.
Rarexa's core idea is the daily health answer. One screen per fleet: is every database up, is storage safe (with days-to-full forecast), is anyone blocked, did last night's RMAN backup run, where is memory and I/O right now. It reads only always-licensed V$/DBA_ views, keeps its own lightweight history, and alerts you by email or Telegram when a threshold trips. It deliberately does not try to be a tuning workbench.
Side by side
| Rarexa OHD | SolarWinds DPA | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary job | Fleet health monitoring | Performance forensics / tuning |
| Platforms | Oracle only (deep focus) | Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL, more |
| Agents on DB hosts | None | None (remote polling) |
| Server footprint | One native binary, embedded store | Central server + its own repository database |
| Pricing model | Flat per machine: $390–$2,900/yr | Per monitored instance, quote-based |
| Cost at 15 databases | $2,900/yr total (Server edition) | 15 × per-instance license |
| Storage days-to-full | Built-in | Not its focus |
| RMAN backup freshness | Built-in | Not its focus |
| Historical wait forensics | Basic trends only | Its signature strength |
| NOC / TV wall mode | Built-in | Dashboards, not wall-first |
| Deployment | On-premise (Windows/Linux) | On-premise or cloud images |
| Time to first value | ~15 minutes | Hours–days (server + repo setup) |
Pricing note: SolarWinds sells DPA per monitored instance through quotes and periodic promotions — confirm current numbers with the vendor. Rarexa's prices are public: pricing page.
The licensing angle DBAs ask about
Any Oracle monitoring tool must answer one compliance question: does it touch pack-gated data? Rarexa's answer is structural — it queries only always-licensed views, never DBA_HIST_*/ASH, so there is nothing to audit. DPA takes its own approach, building wait history through its own external sampling rather than Oracle's AWR. Whichever tool you evaluate (ours included), make the vendor state in writing which Oracle views it queries — here's why that matters.
When DPA is the better choice
- Your recurring pain is "why was it slow?" — post-incident forensics, workload regressions, tuning campaigns.
- You need one performance tool across Oracle and SQL Server/MySQL/PostgreSQL, with consistent methodology.
- You have the budget for per-instance licensing and a server + repository to run.
When Rarexa is the better choice
- Your recurring pain is "is everything OK?" — availability, capacity, backups, blocking, at fleet scale.
- You want a flat, approvable price instead of a per-instance negotiation.
- You want to be live this afternoon, with nothing new to operate: no central server, no repository database.
- You want a NOC wall that rotates through the fleet on its own.
Or use both
These tools answer different questions, and some teams run both: a forensics suite for the tuning quarter, Rarexa for the other 350 days of "is everything OK?". Both are read-only toward your databases, so they coexist without conflict — the only real cost of overlap is the DPA invoice.
Frequently asked questions
Is SolarWinds DPA good for Oracle monitoring?
What is the difference between Rarexa and SolarWinds DPA?
Can Rarexa and DPA be used together?
Compare with your own fleet
The 15-day trial is the full product — connect your databases and judge side by side.
Download the trialSolarWinds and Database Performance Analyzer are trademarks of SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. Rarexa is not affiliated with SolarWinds. Product characteristics summarized from public vendor materials; verify current specifics with the vendor.