Oracle RAC 26ai – What’s New and Why It Matters

 The release of Oracle AI Database 26ai marks a significant evolution—not just for AI inside the database, but also for Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC). While the core RAC architecture remains consistent with 23ai, 26ai introduces AI-driven intelligence, automation, and resilience improvements that directly enhance clustered database environments.

This blog explores the key RAC-relevant innovations and how they reshape high availability, scalability, and performance.

1. AI-Native RAC – Intelligent Cluster Operations

Oracle 26ai transforms RAC into an AI-aware platform:

• Built-in AI models and vector capabilities run directly inside the database
• No need to move data to external AI engines
• Supports semantic search and embeddings across RAC nodes

his means:

• AI workloads can scale horizontally across RAC nodes
• Reduced data movement → lower latency and higher efficiency

Oracle calls this shift an AI-native database architecture, embedding intelligence directly into data processing.

2. Autonomous Performance Optimization Across Nodes

Performance tuning in RAC gets a major upgrade:

Key Enhancements

• AI-driven SQL plan optimization
• Self-learning optimizer across cluster workloads
• Automatic SQL rewriting and execution tuning

 RAC Impact:

• Better workload distribution across nodes
• Reduced interconnect contention
• Improved cluster-wide query performance

This effectively moves RAC toward self-optimizing clusters with minimal DBA intervention.

3. AI-Driven Security & SQL Firewall Enhancements

Security in RAC environments is now proactive, not reactive:

• AI-based anomaly detection across sessions
• Automatic blocking of suspicious activity
• Enhanced SQL Firewall capabilities
• Intelligent auditing and threat prediction

RAC Benefit:

• Cluster-wide security visibility
• Protection against lateral movement between nodes
• Stronger defense for multi-tenant RAC setups

4. Advanced Workload Management & Priority Handling

Oracle 26ai enhances workload control:

• Priority-based transactions
• Improved PDB-level prioritization in multitenant RAC
• Better workload isolation

Why it matters:

• Critical workloads get guaranteed resources
• Better SLA enforcement in shared RAC environments

 5. Improved High Availability & Data Guard Integration

While RAC already delivers HA, 26ai strengthens DR and failover:

• Enhanced Data Guard broker automation
• Faster standby synchronization
• Improved failover orchestration

Combined RAC + Data Guard = True active-active + active-passive hybrid resilience

6. Lock-Free Scalability Improvements

One of the most impactful changes for RAC scalability:

• Lock-free reservations reduce blocking
• Better handling of high-concurrency workloads

Result:

• Less contention between RAC nodes
• Higher throughput for OLTP systems

7. Multitenant & PDB Enhancements in RAC

Multitenant architecture becomes more RAC-friendly:

• Hybrid read-only modes for PDBs
• Read-only users within PDBs
• Improved PDB-level resource control

Impact:

• Easier consolidation of workloads
• Safer multi-tenant RAC deployments

8. Converged Data & JSON Enhancements

RAC now handles diverse workloads more efficiently:

• JSON-relational duality views
• Native GraphQL support
• Enhanced JSON performance

Benefit:

• Mixed workloads (OLTP + JSON + AI) run seamlessly on RAC
• No need for separate data platforms

9. Multicloud & Lakehouse Integration

Oracle 26ai extends RAC relevance beyond traditional deployments:

• Integration with AI Lakehouse (Apache Iceberg)
• Multicloud deployment support (OCI, AWS, Azure, GCP)

Meaning:

• RAC is no longer limited to on-prem or single cloud
• Fits into modern distributed data architectures

10. Developer & DevOps Enhancements

• New DB_DEVELOPER_ROLE simplifies access
• JSON-based metadata APIs
• Enhanced automation and CI/CD integration

Outcome:

• Faster development cycles
• Better DevOps integration for RAC-based systems

Key Takeaway: RAC is Becoming Autonomous

Oracle RAC in 26ai is no longer just about clustering for HA and scalability.

It is evolving into:

✔️ AI-driven cluster
✔️ Self-optimizing system
✔️ Autonomous security platform
✔️ Multi-workload engine

Final Thoughts

Oracle AI Database 26ai doesn’t reinvent RAC architecture—but it supercharges it with AI and automation.

For organizations running mission-critical workloads:

• RAC becomes easier to manage
• Performance tuning becomes automated
• Security becomes predictive
• Scalability becomes smarter

In short:
RAC 26ai = Intelligent Clustering for the AI Era