Off Oracle, off SQL Server, off the licensing treadmill — without a downtime weekend.

For a single application database in the 200GB–2TB range with a few hundred stored procedures, plan on 4 to 7 months end-to-end. The schema and data move is rarely the long pole — procedure rewrites, application query compatibility, and performance tuning are. We front-load the inventory in week one so you get a defensible timeline before committing to the full engagement.

Packages map to schemas with grouped functions. Oracle Advanced Queuing typically gets replaced by pgmq, a real broker like SQS or RabbitMQ, or LISTEN/NOTIFY for low-volume cases. CONNECT BY rewrites cleanly to recursive CTEs. The honest answer is some features require app-side changes, and we flag those in the inventory phase before you commit to a cutover date.

We capture production query patterns from the source — V$SQL on Oracle, Query Store on SQL Server — and replay them against Postgres with realistic data volume. We compare p50, p95, and p99 latencies per query, not just averages. Anything regressing gets fixed before cutover: better indexes, partitioning, query rewrites, or occasionally a JIT or parallel-worker tweak in postgresql.conf.

Oracle Enterprise Edition with options like Partitioning, Diagnostics, and RAC commonly runs $47K+ per processor list, often six to seven figures annually for a mid-size workload. SQL Server Enterprise is similar. Postgres license cost is zero. Your real ongoing spend shifts to managed hosting (RDS, Aurora, Cloud SQL) or self-managed infrastructure plus DBA time. Most clients see 60–85% reduction in database TCO over three years.

Yes. VooStack is SDVOSB-certified and we've done modernization work in environments with FedRAMP, IL4, and ATO requirements. Postgres has strong precedent in federal — it runs in GovCloud, Azure Government, and on-prem in classified enclaves. We can subcontract under prime vehicles or work directly through SDVOSB set-aside contracts. Compliance documentation and STIG alignment are part of the deliverable, not an afterthought.

Postgres HA is different but mature. For self-managed, Patroni with etcd handles automatic failover and is what most serious shops run. On managed services, RDS Multi-AZ or Aurora handle failover natively with sub-30-second RTO. For DR, pgBackRest gives you point-in-time recovery with parallel restore. We document RTO and RPO targets up front and prove them with game-day exercises before handoff.

Both, when needed. Applications using ORM layers (Hibernate, Entity Framework, SQLAlchemy) often need only connection string and dialect changes. Apps with raw SQL — especially T-SQL or PL/SQL embedded in code — need real work: NVL becomes COALESCE, SYSDATE becomes NOW(), TOP becomes LIMIT, and so on. We can do the application-side migration as part of the engagement or hand a detailed change list to your team.

You shouldn't have to. With CDC-based dual-running via Debezium or AWS DMS, both databases stay in sync continuously for weeks. Cutover becomes a sequence of: stop writes briefly, drain the CDC lag (usually seconds), flip the connection string, resume writes. Total downtime is typically under 5 minutes. If something goes wrong, you flip back — the legacy DB is still authoritative and current.

You lose Oracle Enterprise Manager and SQL Server Management Studio dashboards. You gain pg_stat_statements, auto_explain, pg_stat_activity, and a strong ecosystem of open tooling — pganalyze, Datadog DBM, or self-hosted with Prometheus and the postgres_exporter. We wire this into your existing observability stack during the engagement so your on-call team isn't flying blind on day one of cutover.