SUN Oracle Database Machine and SUN Oracle Exadata Storage Server
Frequently Asked Questions
Exadata V2 (Sun) -- Sun Technical
- What is the Sun Oracle Database Machine?
- What is the relative performance of the Sun Oracle Database Machine models?
- What functionality and performance improvements does the Exadata Smart Flash Cache provide?
- What is the size of the Exadata Storage Server Smart Flash Cache per cell?
- The Flash technology used in the Exadata Smart Flash Cache has an endurance of 100,000 write/erase cycles. Does this limit the expected life of the Flash for write intensive applications?
- Is my database application or database tool certified for use with Oracle Database when I use Exadata storage?
- What application certification is required before deploying an application, (i.e. Peoplesoft, Siebel, Retail, EBS or other), on a Database Machine or Exadata Storage Server?
- How do I migrate my Oracle Database to Exadata Storage?
- Does Golden Gate work with Sun Oracle Database Machine?
- What are the considerations when setting up Stretch Clusters with Database Machines?
- When should I use EHCC?
- How does EHCC impact performance?
- What high availability features are available in the Exadata solution?
- What are the power and cooling requirements for the Sun Exadata storage and Oracle Database Machine hardware?
- Where do I get more information on Exadata storage?
- What is the Sun Oracle Database Machine?
- Can I have multiple database environments, with different software or patch levels, within the same Sun Oracle Database Machine? For example, is it possible to test the Exadata and Database patches/upgrades first in the test environment before rolling it out to the production environment in the same Database Machine?
- What is the Sun Oracle Exadata Storage Server?
- What is the Oracle Exadata Storage Server Software?
- What components make up the Sun Oracle Exadata Storage Server Hardware?
- Is there an entry level version of Exadata available for testing and development?
- What versions of the Oracle Database support the Sun Oracle Exadata Storage Server?
- Is the Oracle Exadata Storage Server Software preinstalled on the Sun Oracle Exadata Storage Server Hardware?
- Will Oracle continue to support traditional non-Exadata storage products?
- What InfiniBand protocol is used by the Exadata Storage Servers to communicate with the Oracle Database?
- Why are you using InfiniBand rather than Ethernet?
- What is the function of the Cisco Ethernet switch with the Database Machine?
- What is the maximum length of the 4X DDR InfiniBand Copper cables that I can use with the Sun Datacenter 36-port Managed QDR InfiniBand switches?
- What is the minimum number of Exadata storage servers needed in a RAC environment?
- How does EHCC impact storage?
- Is there a way to estimate the storage savings for EHCC?
- How can EHCC and the Advanced Compression Option be used together to manage data in large tables?
- What additional software can be installed on the database servers in an Oracle Database Machine?
- Will there be new versions of the HP Oracle Exadata Storage Server or HP Oracle Database Machine based on the G6 version from HP?
- What are the consequences of making Database Machine hardware modifications, beyond swapping the 48-port Cisco 4948 Ethernet switch?
- How do I backup my Oracle Database using Exadata storage?
- Can the Sun Oracle Exadata Storage Server hardware or software be modified or customized?
- Can the Oracle Database use Exadata Storage simultaneously with traditional non-Exadata storage products?
- Can I use Optical cables with the Sun Datacenter 36-port Managed QDR InfiniBand switch?
- Can I use EHCC on a non-Exadata system?
- Can the Database Machine hardware be modified or customized? For example, can I add more Ethernet Cards or Fibre Channel HBAs?
- Will we allow a multi-racking from HP Oracle generation and Sun Oracle generation?
- Can a customer add additional storage cells to an existing Quarter or Half Rack Sun Oracle Database Machine?
- What are the possible Sun Oracle Database Machine upgrade options?
Exadata V2 (Sun) -- Sun Sales
Exadata V2 (Sun) -- Sun Support
Answers
Oracle is also offering a fully integrated platform for all your database applications. The Sun Oracle Database Machine is an easy to deploy out of the box solution for hosting the Oracle Database. A fully integrated solution ready to be turned on day one takes a lot of integration work, cost and time, out of the application deployment process. The benefit of a common infrastructure to deploy any application on, whether OLTP, DW of a mix of the two, creates tremendous efficiencies in the datacenter.
See the Sun Oracle Database Machine data sheet for more information.
See the Sun Oracle Database Machine data sheet for this information.
Every Exadata Storage Server comes with 384 GB of Exadata Smart Flash Cache. The Exadata Smart Flash Cache stages frequently accessed data to avoid doing physical I/O and enable the system to efficiently do the random I/O common to OLTP systems. It significantly increases the I/O rate the system can deliver.
See the Exadata Smart Flash Cache and the Sun Oracle Database Machine white paper for more information.
Each Exadata cell is populated with four 96GBb Smart Flash cards for a total of 384 GB of Smart Flash cache per cell.
See the Exadata Smart Flash Cache and the Sun Oracle Database Machine white paper for more information.
No, there are sophisticated "wear leveling" techniques implemented in the Flash controller hardware to rotate the write/erase cycles among all the blocks on the device by remapping data on often-written blocks to blocks that are written less frequently. The goal of this approach is to get the entire device to wear at approximately the same rate.
Using these advanced techniques, it is possible to write 25 TB/day to Flash per Exadata Storage Server, (or 350 TB/day per Database Machine Full Rack), for 5 years and still not exhaust the limit of 100,000 write/erase cycles per block
Database applications and tools need to be certified against the release of the database and OS. No special certification for Exadata based systems is required. V2 of Database Machine runs OEL 5.3 and Oracle Database 11.2. If the application or tool is certified for OEL 5.3 and Oracle Database 11.2 it can be deployed on a Database Machine.
All features of the Oracle Database 11g Release 2 operate and behave the same with or without Exadata storage including: RAC, Data Guard, Streams, RMAN, Optimizer, Partitioning, etc. Methodology and tools for performance tuning of the Oracle Database remain the same. Exadata is transparent to SQL and all Database applications. No modification of SQL or database applications is required to get the performance advantages Exadata delivers. Users and database administrators may leverage their existing knowledge of the Oracle Database and use the same tools they use on non-Exadata systems.
No certification is required to run applications on the Database Machine or Exadata.
Implementers must ensure that the application is certified and tested for the database release used on the Database Machine. If the application works with the Database Machine database release, (Enterprise Edition 11g R2 for Exadata V2) than it will work on Exadata and the Database Machine - just faster.
Migration to Exadata is a straightforward process and is done using any of the tools or techniques available to move the data to a new system. This includes: RMAN, Data Pump, Data Guard, GoledenGate, etc.
For more information on the best practices for migration to Exadata storage, please refer to the whitepaper at (See 'Migration to Exadata').
GoldenGate 10.4 has been tested for both source (Extract) and target (Replicat) with a Database Machine running Oracle Database 11.2 software.
For high availability, GoldenGate requires a shared file system to store checkpoint and trail files on any RAC installation. Oracle Clusterware is recommended to automate GoldenGate failover.
For the Database Machine, customers may either use an external NFS server for the shared filesystem, or Database File System (DBFS). If DBFS is used, procedures must be written to ensure that GoldenGate accesses the files within DBFS by only one node in the RAC. This can also be automated through Oracle Clusterware..
Customers must ensure that GoldenGate handles the data types, operations, and performance requirements of their production database.
Refer to the GoldenGate documentation for data type constraints. In particular in a Database Machine environment, customers should be aware that the current GoldenGate release does not support capture of direct load operations or compressed tables.
Stretch Clusters may be set up with Database Machines but there are a number of considerations:
- The distance between the clusters is limited by InfiniBand wire length (currently 50 meters for Exadata V2).
- An ASM failure group should be created at each site and the Exadata disks should be added to the local failure group. This ensures that mirroring of data files will occur across the two sites and not within each site. (There must be enough free disk space at each site to allow for recovery of a failed disk and/or a failed cell).
- A third failure group of type 'quorum' should be created on separate shared storage (such as an NFS filer) to hold the third copy of the cluster voting disk. Triple mirroring of critical files like online and archive logs will also require a third failure group to be set up.
- Since there are two failure groups for the main data files, ASM will keep 2 copies of disk group metadata rather than 3 for a normal redundancy disk group.
- ASM Preferred Read should not be used in this configuration. Since the cluster is a maximum of 50 meters apart, (due to InfiniBand cable restrictions), local and remote latencies are equal and this adds complexity without a benefit.
Exadata Hybrid Columnar Compression, EHCC, is a feature of Exadata storage. It saves storage and enhances performance.
See the Exadata Hybrid Columnar Compression white paper for more information
EHCC not only delivers storage savings but can also increase query performance. The improvement in performance comes from the reduction in I/O as a result of the storage savings. For example, a table that achieves a 10x (10:1) compression ratio will typically see a 10x (10:1) reduction in I/O for scan-oriented queries. Compressing and decompressing the data may moderately increase CPU utilization.
In addition to enhanced query performance, the performance of backups will run much faster and more economically because the amount of data backed up will be dramatically reduced and when Data Guard is used, it becomes much faster because direct loads generate much less redo.
The Database Machine has been designed to be a highly available system. Besides redundancy at the hardware level, such as hot swappable disks and redundant power supplies, the software architecture delivers HA. Real Application Clusters (RAC) protects against server failures and Automatic Storage Management protects against disk and cell failures. The Exadata Storage Software enables queries to continue operating even after a disk failure and rebuild disks that are replaced.
See the Sun Oracle Exadata Storage Server and Database Machine white paper for more information.
Please refer to the Sun Oracle Database Machine Datasheet for detailed information.
You can find more information on the Exadata Storage technology at: http://www.oracle.com/exadata.
The Sun Oracle Database Machine is a complete pre-optimized and pre-configured bundle of software, servers, and storage, built for Online Transaction Processing (OLTP), Data Warehousing (DW) and consolidation of mixed workloads. The Sun Oracle Database Machine is built upon the Oracle Database, Oracle Exadata Storage technology and hardware from Sun.
Delivered as a complete pre-optimized and pre-configured package of software, servers, and storage, the Sun Oracle Database Machine is simple and fast to implement and ready to tackle your large-scale business applications.
Yes, it is possible to have multiple environments, each with different software or patch levels, within the same Sun Oracle Database Machine, as long as these environments are physically partitioned and do not share database servers or Exadata Storage Servers.
As long as your your test and production environments do not share any Database servers or Exadata Storage Servers, it is possible to test any new Exadata and Database patches or upgrades . First test them in your test environment before rolling them out to the production environment. This is our recommended approach to apply patches and perform upgrades.
The Sun Oracle Exadata Storage Server is an Oracle storage product which is highly optimized for use with the Oracle Database. It is a combination of Sun-supplied hardware and the Exadata Storage Server Software. The Exadata Storage Server Software runs on the Exadata Storage Server. The Exadata Storage Server is used to store one or more Oracle Databases and attaches, through an InfiniBand network, to database servers running the Oracle Database. It delivers extreme performance for Oracle Database processing by offloading database processing from the database server to the Exadata storage, providing advanced compression technology and through the use of solid-state Flash technology.
See the Sun Oracle Exadata Storage Server data sheet for more information.
The Exadata Storage Server Software runs within the Exadata Storage Server. This software imparts the database intelligence to the storage and works in concert with the Oracle Database. The Oracle Exadata Storage Server Software is the software component of the Oracle Exadata Storage Server that provides the enhanced Exadata storage services like Smart Scan offload functionality, I/O Resource Management, (IORM), Hybrid Columnar Compression, Storage Indexes and Exadata Smart Flash Cache management.
There are four models of the Database Machine - Database Machine Full Rack, Database Machine Half Rack, Database Machine Quarter Rack, and Database Machine Eighth Rack - are offered. The system chosen the machine is based on the processing and I/O bandwidth required for the database application.
Each Database Machine runs the same software, is upgradeable and includes common hardware components. Common to all Database Machines are:
- Exadata Storage Servers, either SAS or SATA.
- Industry standard Oracle Database 11g database servers with: two Intel Xeon dual-socket quad-core E5540 processors running at 2.53 Ghz processors, 72 GB RAM, four 146 GB SAS drives, dual port InfiniBand Host Channel Adapter (HCA), four 1 Gb/second Ethernet ports, and dual-redundant, hot-swappable power supplies. Oracle Enterprise Linux is pre-installed on the these servers.
- Sun Quad Data Rate (QDR) InfiniBand switches and cables to form a 40 Gb/second InfiniBand fabric for database server to Exadata storage server communication and RAC internode communication.
- Cisco switch for remote administration of the system
- KVM for configuration and local administration of the system
See the Sun Oracle Database Machine data sheet for more information.
The best approach for testing and development of applications being deployed on Exadata based systems is to allocate a portion (database servers and Exadata storage) of a Database Machine for this testing, Separate versions of the software can be maintained in separate homes and directories to allow independent patching. Another approach would be for the customer to purchase a small Database Machine Quarter Rack dedicated for testing. Lastly, a Sun Oracle Database Machine Basic System could be purchased and deployed for this as well. But be aware the work required to install and deploy a Basic System is significant and the customer is responsible for the installation and deployment.
The Sun Oracle Exadata Storage Server requires the Oracle Database Enterprise Edition version 11.2 or higher. It also requires the Oracle ASM Instance version 11.2 or higher.
Yes. However the Oracle Storage Server software must be separately licensed.
Yes. Oracle will continue to support the Oracle Database on traditional non-Exadata storage products.
The Zero-loss Zero-copy Datagram Protocol (ZDP) InfiniBand protocol is used to communicate between the Exadata Storage Servers and the Oracle Database and is based on the Reliable Datagram Sockets (RDS) OpenFabrics Enterprise Distribution (OFED). Oracle's InfiniBand interconnect protocol uses DMA, (Direct Memory Access) to ensure very low CPU overhead by directly moving data from the wire to database buffers with no extra data copies being made.
InfiniBand is significantly faster than traditional LAN or Fiber Channel connectivity. The faster bandwidth of Infiniband is required to deliver the optimum performance for the product.
The Cisco 4948 Ethernet switch is provided to ease deployment and management of the Database Machine. It is used to segregate the management and administrative traffic from user client traffic to enhance security and management of the system
You may use 1m, 2m, 3m, and 5m 4X QDR InfiniBand Passive Copper Cables with QSFP connectors. If you require longer cables, then we recommend that you use 4X QDR InfiniBand Optical cables. (Up to 50m).
If you are using Real Application Clusters (RAC) with Exadata Storage Servers, a minimum of 3 Exadata Storage Servers are required to host the Oracle Clusterware OCR and voting device and provide the redundancy
EHCC is a storage savings technology used by two features: Warehouse Compression and Archive Compression. These features reduce the amount of storage required to store the data in your database. The amount of storage savings depends on which EHCC feature you use and the characteristics of your data. The average storage savings, measured using compression ratios, for Warehouse Compression is 10x (10:1). For Archive Compression, customers have seen storage savings up to 50x (50:1), while the average savings is 15x (15:1).
Yes, a Compression Advisor is included in Oracle Database 11g Release 2. The Compression Advisor is a PL/SQL package named DBMS_COMPRESSION that can estimate the EHCC storage savings for individual tables or partitions. The compression advisor can be run on Oracle Database 11g Release 2 on non-Exadata platforms to help estimate storage savings for customers that don't have immediate access to Exadata.
In large tables, it can be beneficial to partition data based on timestamps to separate data into different partitions. This allows users to apply different compression features on different partitions based on the access patterns to that data. For example, if a single large table holds all sales orders in an OLTP database, that table could be partitioned by order date. The most recent data could be compressed using OLTP Table compression (an Advanced Compression Option feature), older data that is mostly queried could be compressed with Warehouse Compression (an Exadata Hybrid Columnar Compression feature), and finally the oldest data that is rarely accessed could be compressed with Archive Compression (an Exadata Hybrid Columnar Compression feature).
For optimal performance and supportability, Oracle recommends only the Oracle Database, and database options, be installed on the Database Machine. Other than the Oracle Database software we recommend that only agent software, for services like backup or system management, be installed on the Database Machine.
No, there will no new product versions based on the newer HP server versions. However, the software on the existing systems can be upgraded to Oracle Database 11g release 2 and the new version of the Exadata Storage Server Software. There are many new features in these two pieces of software that make this upgrade valuable.
Modifications to the Exadata Storage Server hardware and Exadata Storage Server Software are not supported. If the customer modifies the Exadata Storage Server hardware or software in any way, or installs any additional software on the Exadata Storage Servers, then the Exadata Storage Server Software cannot be supported.
If the customer modifies the database servers in a Database Machine, for instance adding an additional card, then the Database Machine becomes a custom Exadata configuration. It will be similar to the case where the customer purchased the Database Servers on their own and built their own Exadata based configuration. In this case, the customer is responsible for obtaining the hardware support for the Database Servers from Sun and the hardware vendor of the additional hardware. The customer will be responsible for all the driver, firmware, and BIOS compatibility issues. Customer can continue to receive support directly from Oracle for the Oracle Database software, Oracle Exadata Storage Server, Oracle Exadata Storage Server Software and Oracle Enterprise Linux.
In addition, if these hardware modifications are made prior to the ACS installation, then the standard ACS installation will not apply. The customer must work with ACS to arrange for a custom installation at an additional cost.
Recovery Manager (RMAN) is the backup tool for an Oracle database using Exadata storage. (See Backup and Restore for Sun Oracle Exadata and Sun Oracle Database Machine (PDF))
Customization or modification of the Sun Exadata Server Hardware or the Oracle Exadata Server Software is not allowed or supported. If a customer modifies, customizes, or installs additional hardware or software on the Exadata Storage Server, the Sun Oracle Exadata Storage Server will no longer be supported.
Yes, databases can be concurrently deployed on Exadata storage and non-Exadata storage. Tablespaces can exist on Exadata storage, non-Exadata storage, or a combination of the two and this is transparent to database applications. However, Exadata Smart Scan offload processing is enabled only if the entire tablespace being queried resides on Exadata storage.
Yes, you can use 4X QDR InfiniBand optical cables with QSFP connectors with the Sun Datacenter 36-port Managed QDR InfiniBand switch. These cables have been validated for lengths up to 50 meters. They are not currently available from Sun and must be purchased from a third party.
No, EHCC is a feature of Exadata V2
The Sun Oracle Database Machine hardware cannot be modified or customized. There is one exception to this. The only hardware modification to the Database Machine that is allowed is to the administrative 48-port Cisco 4948 Gigabit Ethernet switch is included in the Database Machine. Customers may choose to:
a) Replace the Gigabit Ethernet switch, at their own expense, with an equivalent 1U 48-port Gigabit Ethernet switch that conforms to their internal datacenter network standards. This replacement must be performed by the customer after delivery of the Database Machine at their expense and labor. If the customer chooses to make this change, Sun and Oracle cannot make or assist with this change given the numerous possible scenarios involved and because it is not scoped as part of the standard installation. The customer must supply the replacement hardware and make or arrange for this change through other means.
b) Remove the CAT5 cables connected to the Cisco 4948 Ethernet switch and connect them to the customer's network through an external switch or patch panel. The customer must perform these changes at their expense and labor. In this case, the Cisco 4948 Ethernet switch in the rack can be turned off and left unconnected to the data center network.
Yes, we support the inter-connecting of one or more HP based Database Machines with one or more Sun based Database Machines. However, this would be a custom engagement requiring the purchase of additional CX4-to-QSFP InfiniBand cables, InfinBand switches and the purchase of an inter-rack cabling service. In addition, all the software versions on both the machines must be identical.
Additional Exadata cells should be added to a Database Machine by installing them in a separate adjacent rack. You should not attempt to add Exadata cells to a Half or Quarter rack as it will change the environmental characteristics of those Database Machines and prevent use of the standard Database Machine upgrades.
| |
Sun Oracle Basic System
|
Sun Oracle Database Machine Quarter Rack
|
Sun Oracle Database Machine Half Rack
|
| Upgrade Options |
There is no upgrade path for the Sun Oracle Basic System. |
There are two upgrade options:
Quarter Rack to Half Rack Hardware Upgrade SAS
or
Quarter Rack to Half Rack Hardware Upgrade SATA
|
There are two upgrade options:
Half Rack to Full Rack Hardware Upgrade SAS
or
Half Rack to Full Rack Hardware Upgrade SATA
|
The Advanced Compression Option includes several storage saving features including: OLTP Table compression, SecureFiles Compression and Deduplication, RMAN compression, Data Pump compression, and Data Guard Network Transport compression. (EHCC does not require an Advanced Compression Option license).
A common reason for purchasing the Advanced Compression Option are situations when data is loaded into your system using conventional DML operations, such as INSERT and UPDATE.
OLTP Table compression, a feature of the Advanced Compression Option, is the feature that compresses data loaded using conventional DML operations.
EHCC compresses data that is loaded using direct path inserts.
(It is important to understand that OLTP compression provides full row level locking for updates and EHCC does not).
An Oracle Exadata Storage Server Software license is needed in order to take full advantage of Oracle Exadata Storage. Oracle Exadata Storage Server Software is licensed per disk. For example, you will need 12 'disk' licenses of Exadata Storage Server Software for each unit of the Sun Exadata Storage Server. These Oracle Exadata Storage Server Software licenses can be purchased as a perpetual license or a term license. These licenses are transferable to other Exadata Storage Server units.
The Exadata Smart Flash Cache is an intergral component of the Exadata Storage Server. Database Machines and Exadata Storage Servers always come with Exadata Smart Flash Cache.
Patches and upgrades are delivered via Metalink
Oracle manages the overall support process and is the single point of contact for support of Exadata cells and Database Machines
- Oracle Exadata Storage Software
- Other Oracle software programs
Customer reports issues to Oracle Support
- Oracle Support will triage problem.
- If a hardware issue is suspected, Oracle will coordinate with Sun to have appropriate hardware resources assigned and dispatched as required.
- If a software issue is suspected Oracle will resolve it.
Yes, Oracle is the first point of contact for all hardware and software issues related to the Exadata Storage Server and Sun Oracle Database Machine, and will manage the problem through to resolution. Oracle will work with Sun to provide hardware support for the Exadata Storage Server Hardware and the Sun Oracle Database Machine.
|
Bookmark
