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Consolidate into high performance
and high availability architecture
with Exadata
Managing a mass of disjointed database servers,
storage devices, and networks is no way to run a
database shop. Consolidating your database and
storage into a single database machine simplifies
management and drives down costs. Exadata
provides Capacity on Demand computing through
high performance and reliable Oracle RAC databases
and optimized storage server architecture. Stop
struggling to meet requirements and start excelling
with Exadata!
Understand Exadata architecture find out
how Oracle RAC database servers integrate
with storage servers to provide speed and
reliability
a
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Learn to:
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Machine architecture
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ISBN 978-1-118-14780-1
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About Oracle
Oracle provides the worlds most complete, open, and integrated business
software and hardware systems, with more than 370,000 customers including
100 of the Fortune 100 representing a variety of sizes and industries in
more than 145 countries around the globe. Oracles product strategy provides
flexibility and choice to our customers across their IT infrastructure. Now, with
Sun server, storage, operating-system, and virtualization technology, Oracle
is the only vendor able to offer a complete technology stack in which every
layer is integrated to work together as a single system. In addition, Oracles
open architecture and multiple operating-system options give our customers
unmatched benefits from industry-leading products, including excellent
system availability, scalability, energy efficiency, powerful performance, and
low total cost of ownership.
Runs Oracle
10x Faster
*
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Exadata
FOR
DUMmIES
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dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
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dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
About This Book......................................................................... 1
Icons Used in This Book............................................................. 2
Where to Go from Here.............................................................. 2
Publishers Acknowledgments
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Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:
Acquisitions, Editorial, and
Vertical Websites
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Editorial Manager: Rev Mengle
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Introduction
If you see an icon that says remember, you may want to, uh,
remember the information. We wont have deep meaning-oflife stuff, but it may be good to know for later.
This icon usually denotes something the author wishes someone had told him before he learned it the hard way! Keep
these items in mind to make life easier.
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Chapter 1
Todays Database
Challenges
In This Chapter
Modeling current database architectures
Identifying database challenges
Finding a better solution
odays business challenges dictate fast, agile, and reliable IT solutions, but those solutions must be secure
and within the budget. At the core of any IT solution is the
data, and that data is stored within the database. It stands
to reason, therefore, that the database is the most important
part of any IT solution.
Database technology has evolved over several generations of
architectures due to both technological advancements (hardware and software) and business drivers. Today, it is often the
needs of business that determine the direction of database
technology and architecture to meet those needs.
In this chapter, we examine todays database architectures
and the challenges they face.
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User. Very often a human sitting in front of a keyboard
interface using a computer system. That user may be a
customer or an employee. The interface may be a client
side program or it may be a web browser, but that isnt
always the case with the growth of smartphone technology and similar devices.
Increasingly, however, the user is another computer
system interfacing with the application. It is not uncommon to have automated system-to-system interfaces such
as web services.
Application. The program or application that executes
logic to present the data to the user and implements the
business logic to manipulate that data. The application
can execute on the clients workstation or device, on a
dedicated application or web application server, or on
the database server.
Often the application is distributed between components
with a visual component at the user interface level, business processing on the application server, and heavy
data-manipulation functions at the database server level.
Database. The software component that stores and
manages the systems data. Data is organized in logical
containers called tables. Each table is mapped to a physical storage device, which is often a disk. User accounts
are created with security and business rule logic implemented to dictate what data a user can see and how that
data is created, updated, and deleted.
Database processing is often very intensive because
enormous amounts of data are processed as part of each
application request. Because of this, database software
itself is often a specialized component that exists on one
or more dedicated database servers.
Storage. Data physically stored on a storage device and
accessed by the database. The storage device itself is
often disk, but it can also be a solid state flash drive for
fast access or tape storage for archival access.
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In the Cloud
A recent architecture gaining visibility is cloud computing. Cloud
computing is an approach in which
instead of the client accessing a
specific set of servers to perform a
specific application function, that
function is accessed as a service
on the Internet or intranet. The
cloud is the network to which the
user sends an application request
and from which the user receives a
response.
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Data warehousing
While OLTP systems deal in real-time, active data, data warehouses store archival data to be used in data mining, trend
analysis, and meeting audit and regulatory requirements. As
data in OLTP systems grows older, it is used less often. That
older data is often moved into a data warehouse where specialized processing that requires a history of data occurs.
Data warehouses are commonly used to ask business-related
questions, the answers to which require the ability to collect
years of data. A business analyst may ask, How many cases of
product X are sold on Super Bowl Sunday and can you determine the growth rate over the last 10 years? both of which
are the types of questions reserved for data warehouses.
Characteristics important to a data warehouse include
Storage. The size of data warehouses is huge! Terabytes
of data are common, and specialized processing and storage techniques to optimize performance are required.
Rather than using high performance disk, data warehouses
use capacity disk or tape storage because it would be
cost prohibitive to store all data on high performance
storage devices.
Processing capability. OLTP systems support thousands
of users running small quick transactions, but data warehouses support a handful of users executing very long
running queries. It is possible for a data warehouse query
to run many hours or even days to get an answer.
Business Intelligence (BI) tools allow management and data
analysts to perform what-if scenarios against historical data.
This allows business trends to be identified and complex
relationships between data to be seen that otherwise may go
unnoticed. This technology has occurred in situations ranging
from increasing company profits to catching criminals and
scientific research.
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Hybrid systems
The hybrid is a combination of OLTP and data warehousing
systems. Often, hybrid systems start as OLTP systems, which
over time introduce data warehousing requirements.
The ideal design characteristics of OLTP versus data warehouses are often at odds for each other. For example, an
OLTP system is optimized for fast data access by multiple
users whereas data warehouses are optimized for fewer users
with long running queries. Different database design considerations and parameters which are often mutually exclusive
are used for both systems.
One compromise is to run a hybrid database in OLTP mode
during the day and data warehousing mode at night. However,
as systems are increasingly used at all hours, that compromise becomes less effective. Be sure to evaluate your capability to support both OLTP and warehousing requirements.
IT System Challenges
Regardless of industry, IT organizations face similar challenges. Supporting complex systems with increasing requirements is at odds with never having enough time or resources.
The following sections discuss common issues faced by IT
management.
High availability
Few systems are only open during business hours; most need
to be available 24x7. Given that any component itself will
eventually fail, a system needs to be engineered to support
fault tolerance and eliminate single points of failure.
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Security
Security is not a just a product you buy once or something
that is added at the end of program development. Security
needs to be an attitude and mindset that occurs at all levels
of IT and management from the beginning of a project until a
project is finally decommissioned. Products and techniques
used to implement security are merely means to an end.
Unfortunately, security is often poorly implemented and managed and is deemed a burden to IT systems. Managing configuration settings, access controls, and monitoring audit logs
does require resources. Testing and applying security patches
also require staff time and is usually after hours.
Keeping a handle on security issues and coordinating with
management, customers, and technical folks is a never-ending
process, but it is a critical process.
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Disk
Disk
Disk
Disk
Customer
Database
Disk
Disk
Web
Browser
Web
Browser
Web
Browser
Network
Cloud
Web
Application
Server
Database
Server
Disk
Disk
Customer
Database
Storage Area
Network
Database
Server
10
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11
Multiple vendors
With every hardware device in a system, every software product installed, and every service or interface partner, there is
another vendor or group to work with. Over time, the list of
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12
Server consolidation
Every time a new database server or storage server is added,
the cost for hardware, software, licensing, and administrative support increases. While a large server room is visually
impressive, it is also excessively expensive!
Where possible, IT organizations are consolidating as many
components to as few servers as possible in an effort to
reduce costs. For example, simply combining development
and test applications onto one server is server consolidation.
Reducing from several test and development servers into a
larger single server is a great way to reduce costs.
Technology such as virtualization is a great tool in the server
consolidation initiative. Virtualization allows a single server to
be partitioned or subdivided into smaller servers that appear
as one server to the user. Placing systems into shared environments, but appearing to be on a dedicated, self-contained
environment is the goal of virtualization. Adding resources on
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13
demand as systems grow with minimal downtime is an additional benefit. As you review hardware and software, be sure
to determine their support for virtualization.
Sustaining growth
Sooner or later, if a system is growing, the existing server will
need more processing capabilities to handle the increased
workload. Few things are worse than having a server too small
to support your customers. Often, either CPU or memory
needs to be increased to support the processing demands of
the application. A server can grow up (vertical) or it can grow
out (horizontal) to increase processing capability.
Vertical scaling is making an existing server bigger so that it
can support increased processing requirements. Starting with
a smaller, expandable server and adding more CPUs, memory,
and storage as needed is a common, economical practice.
One potential issue with vertical scaling is whether you need
downtime to add more resources. An even larger issue is that
eventually your server will hit its maximum number of CPUs
and memory; vertical scaling does have an upper limit for how
large a server can grow.
Horizontal scaling is adding more servers to a computing
environment to increase processing capability. Adding more
servers to support increased workload is a common solution;
it improves fault tolerance and is theoretically unlimited in
the number you can add. The downside is that you have more
servers to manage, which adds to hardware costs, software
and licensing costs, and administrative overhead.
Time constraints
Because business requirements move fast, so must support
structures such as IT. Seemingly, there is never enough time
to set up the perfect system. The problem is increased when
the IT system itself is complex with many customized components and subsystems from different vendors. Adding in security, documentation, testing, and performance concerns, it is
easy to see why IT systems struggle to keep up.
IT systems inherently have complex components, but where
possible they should be simplified and streamlined. The fewer
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14
Chapter 2
Exadatas Unique
Architecture
In This Chapter
Understanding Exadatas architecture and components
Unveiling the Exadata Database Machines
Detailing the components of Exadata Storage Server
reaking the mold of traditional database server environments is the key to expanding performance while
reducing cost and complexity. Legacy database systems
architecture lacks the agility, scalability, and performance to
meet business needs. The solution lies with what is offered in
the Oracle Exadata Database Machine and how it is fast, agile,
and scalable.
In this chapter, we examine how the Exadata Database
Machine and Exadata Storage Server are architected in terms
of hardware and software components. We discuss the various server configurations that are used to support small,
medium, and large applications. We also discuss how servers
can be expanded to meet increased processing requirements.
Finally, we take a look at the relationship between the Exadata
Database Machine and the Exadata Storage Server.
What Is Exadata?
Enclosed in a single physical cabinet, Oracles Exadata
Database Machine is a complete package of preconfigured
and integrated database servers, storage servers, network
infrastructure, and all supporting software. As a database
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16
InfiniBand Network
Network communication between the Exadata Database
Machine and the Exadata Storage Servers is handled by dual
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17
Software
All the software needed to run Exadata is installed, optimized,
and configured. Two operating system choices are available at
installation time for the Exadata Database Machine: Oracle Linux
or Solaris 11 Express. Exadata Storage Server uses Oracle Linux.
Oracle 11g R2 Enterprise Edition with Oracle RAC is the
standard for database software. All database features and
software options remain available. Key database management
products including Enterprise Manager (EM) Grid Control and
Recovery Manager (RMAN) are also available.
Architecture
It is important to understand that Exadata is an appliance that
contains the database and storage servers supported by the
network and software. Figure 2-1 shows the architecture of a
single Exadata appliance.
As you can see in Figure 2-1, within a single Exadata Database
Machine X2-2, there are four database servers in an Oracle
RAC configuration connected via the InfiniBand network to
seven storage servers. The database servers form the database server component connected via InfiniBand to seven
storage servers to form the storage server component.
Just as Oracle Exadata supports database technology, Oracle
Exalogic supports the application server tier. Oracle Fusion
Middleware and Oracle Fusion Applications are key components
within Exalogic and Oracles Exalogic Elastic Cloud environment.
Configured, optimized,
and ready to use
A common problem in IT is that it takes too long to implement
new hardware and software solutions, but Oracle makes it
easy to jump aboard the Exadata train by offering the following features to help the customer get started quickly.
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Storage
Server
Storage
Server
Storage
Server
Storage
Server
Storage
Server
Storage
Server
InfiniBand Network
DB RAC
Instance
DB RAC
Instance
DB RAC
Instance
DB RAC
Instance
DB Server
DB Server
DB Server
DB Server
Storage
Server
18
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19
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dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
20
Oracle Exadata Production Support Readiness. Oracle
experts work with the customer to develop an implementation plan and work with the customer through the plan
to ensure success. Oracle takes an active role in working
with the customer during the installation, migration, and
post-migration project phases.
Oracle Exadata Installation Service. Oracle engineers
install Exadata components and validate that all hardware, software, and operating system functionality is
correct and documented.
Oracle Exadata Configuration Service. In accordance
with Oracle best practices, Oracle engineers configure
operating system parameters, database software, network settings, and storage. All settings are validated and
documented for the customer.
Oracle Exadata Quarterly Patch Deployment Service.
Quarterly patch requirements are identified for the
customer and are applied by Oracle. High-level system
checks are performed to ensure that the Exadata server
is still compliant with Oracle best practices.
Additionally, Oracle Support Services provides support for
the multiple components of Exadata. The hardware has a warranty and support for operating systems, devices, and configurations; upgrades are available in addition to the database
support thats so well known. Oracle Support Services are
available 24x7, and Auto Service Requests (ASR) automate the
creation of trouble tickets.
21
Quarter Rack
The entry-level Exadata Database Machine is the Quarter Rack
configuration composed of 2 database servers and 3 Exadata
Storage Servers. Each server has 2 Intel Xeon X5670 6 core
processors at 2.93 GHz. Total processing capacity is
24 CPU cores (12 per server)
192 GB memory (96 GB per server)
4 x 10GbE ports (2 per server)
2 InfiniBand 36 port switches
3 Exadata Storage Servers
1.1 TB Exadata Smart Flash Cache
21 TB raw disk on high-performance disk
72 TB raw disk on high-capacity disk
Up to 5.4 GB/second of uncompressed raw disk bandwidth on high-performance disk
Up to 3 GB/second of uncompressed raw disk bandwidth
on high-capacity disk
Half Rack
The mid-level Exadata Database Machine is the Half Rack
configuration composed of 4 database servers and 7 Exadata
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22
48 CPU cores (12 per server)
384 GB memory (96 GB per server)
8 x 10GbE ports (2 per server)
3 InfiniBand 36 port switches
7 Exadata Storage Servers
2.6 TB Exadata Smart Flash Cache
50 TB raw disk on high-performance disk
168 TB raw disk on high-capacity disk
Up to 12.5 GB/second of uncompressed raw disk bandwidth on high-performance disk
Up to 7 GB/second of uncompressed raw disk bandwidth
on high-capacity disk
Full Rack
The fully loaded Exadata Database Machine is the Full Rack
configuration composed of 8 database servers and 14 Exadata
Storage Servers. Each server has 2 Intel Xeon X5670 6 core
processors at 2.93 GHz. Total processing capacity is
96 CPU cores (12 per server)
768 GB memory (96 GB per server)
16 x 10GbE ports (2 per server)
3 InfiniBand 36 port switches
14 Exadata Storage Servers
5.3 TB Exadata Smart Flash Cache
100 TB raw disk on high-performance disk
336 TB raw disk on high-capacity disk
Up to 25 GB/second of uncompressed raw disk bandwidth on high-performance disk
Up to 14 GB/second of uncompressed raw disk bandwidth on high-capacity disk
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23
As the need for capacity grows, the X2-2 can be scaled vertically to either Half Rack or Full Rack configuration at the
customer site to reduce downtime. This scalability allows
customers to grow into a larger Exadata configuration as their
needs dictate. The ability to support capacity on demand is a
key to supporting customers in growing environments.
Exadata capacity can also be expanded by adding memory
and disk-only expansion racks. Exadata Expansion Racks can
add from 4 to 18 additional Storage severs to any Exadata
Database Machine. The Exadata Memory Expansion kit allows
you to increase the memory on X2-2 machines.
Additional Quarter Rack, Half Rack, and Full Rack X2-2 appliances can be added to scale a system horizontally, as shown
in Figure 2-2.
InfiniBand networking allows for the connection of up to eight
Exadata or Exalogic appliances to allow maximum computing
capability. Such a configuration would be capable of supporting very large systems!
Technical hardware specifics will change over time. To
see most up-to-date specifics on the X2-2 and X2-8, be sure
to review the Oracle Data Sheets at www.oracle.com/
technetwork/database/exadata/dbmachinex2-2-datasheet-175280.pdf and www.oracle.
com/technetwork/database/exadata/dbmachinex2-8-datasheet-173705.pdf.
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Full Rack
8 DB Servers
14 Storage Servers
100 TB Performance
336 TB Capacity
Full Rack
8 DB Servers
14 Storage Servers
100 TB Performance
336 TB Capacity
Full Rack
8 DB Servers
14 Storage Servers
100 TB Performance
336 TB Capacity
Exadata X2-2
Exadata X2-2
Full Rack
8 DB Servers
14 Storage Servers
100 TB Performance
336 TB Capacity
Exadata X2-2
Full Rack
8 DB Servers
14 Storage Servers
100 TB Performance
336 TB Capacity
Full Rack
8 DB Servers
14 Storage Servers
100 TB Performance
336 TB Capacity
Exadata X2-2
InfiniBand Network
Exadata X2-2
Exadata X2-2
Full Rack
8 DB Servers
14 Storage Servers
100 TB Performance
336 TB Capacity
Exadata X2-2
Full Rack
8 DB Servers
14 Storage Servers
100 TB Performance
336 TB Capacity
Exadata X2-2
24
Exadata For Dummies, DLT Solutions Special Edition
128 CPU cores (64 per server)
2 TB memory (1 TB per server)
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dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
25
16 x 10GbE ports (8 per server)
3 InfiniBand 36 port switches
14 Exadata Storage Servers
5.3 TB Exadata Smart Flash Cache
100 TB raw disk on high-performance disk
336 TB raw disk on high-capacity disk
Up to 25 GB/second of uncompressed raw disk bandwidth
on high-performance disk
Up to 14 GB/second of uncompressed raw disk bandwidth
on high-capacity disk
Because the X2-8 is already at a Full Rack configuration, more
hardware resources cannot be added to an individual machine.
However, as with all Exadata Database Machines, the X2-8 can
be scaled horizontally to where additional Exadata machines
are connected via the InfiniBand network to increase capacity.
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26
Oracle Automatic Storage Manager (ASM) software
handles storage management for Oracle databases and
is a long-used product to manage storage for Oracle RAC
databases. ASM provides volume management, data
striping, and disk mirroring for storage volumes. It also
manages the data distribution across available storage.
Database files can be encrypted for maximum security as
an additional security option.
Processing of many database operations occurs on the
processors of the storage server. Specific database queries are processed at the storage level so that only the
data requested is returned to the database server. This
enhancement results in greatly reduced network traffic
and offloads CPU processing requirements from the database server to the storage server. The result is an overall
boost in performance by distributing processing and
reducing data transfer and traffic.
Additional Exadata Storage Server technologies such as
Smart Scan, Smart Flash Cache, and Hybrid Columnar
Compression are covered in Chapter 3 to show how they
are used for specific environments.
Like Exadata Database Machines, the Exadata Storage Server
is composed of multiple, individual servers providing a unit of
capacity. A single Exadata Storage Server is composed of:
Two 6 core Intel Xeon L5640 processors at 2.26 GHz
24 GB system memory
384 GB Exadata Smart Flash Cache
12 x 600 GB 15,000 RPM High Performance SAS or 12 x 2
TB 7,200 RPM High Capacity SAS
HBA disk controller with 512 MB battery backed write
cache
Dual-port 40 Gb/s InfiniBand Host Channel Adapter
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27
Table 2-1
Storage Type
Full Rack
Half Rack
Quarter Rack
Performance Disk
100 TB
50 TB
21 TB
Capacity Disk
336 TB
168 TB
72 TB
Flash Cache
5.3 TB
2.6 TB
1.1 TB
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28
Automatic Storage Management controls the level of mirroring of storage on disk. Under a normal redundancy model
where a single mirrored copy is used, you can expect your
usable data to be cut in half, as shown in Table 2-2.
Table 2-2
Storage Type
Full Rack
Half Rack
Quarter Rack
Performance Disk
45 TB
22.5 TB
9.25 TB
Capacity Disk
150 TB
75 TB
31.5 TB
Flash Cache
5.3 TB
2.6 TB
1.1 TB
Full Rack
Half Rack
Quarter Rack
Performance Disk
30 TB
15 TB
6.25 TB
Capacity Disk
100 TB
50 TB
21.5 TB
Flash Cache
5.3 TB
2.6 TB
1.1 TB
High redundancy may not be necessary for many environments. By understanding the requirements of the specific application, you then can intelligently determine the mirroring level.
Exadata Storage Server is a scalable, intelligent component in
the Exadata Database Machine. Beyond only storing data, each
storage server uses hardware and software to reduce CPU
processing on the database server and reduce the amount of
data transferred over the network by executing some database
processing at the storage level. Familiar Oracle tools such
as Enterprise Manager and ASM combined with Oracle Linux
allow for easy Oracle Exadata Storage Server management.
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Chapter 3
SmartScan
30
High concurrency. Many people use an OLTP system at
the same time. Locking or contention or system bottle
necks are not acceptable.
Fast performance. The more sales transactions processed per hour, the more revenue generated. Therefore,
even a small-percentage increase in processing capability
can yield tangible benefits. Furthermore, if a system runs
so slow that it is a burden to the customer, that customer
may opt to take their business elsewhere.
High Availability (HA). If the system is down, revenue
cannot be generated. Furthermore, frustrated customers will take their business to competitors. A simple
cost-benefit analysis shows how investing in a High
Availability architecture saves an organization money
over time because unplanned downtime is eliminated.
For an OLTP system to be successful, it must support many
users simultaneously, provide fast performance, and be available when needed. Fortunately, Exadata effectively supports
those requirements.
31
32
Monitor real-time database activity and identify and troubleshoot database sessions causing issues.
Identify and tune SQL queries running long or causing
performance bottlenecks.
Modify or create new database tables, indexes, code, or
users.
Back up and recover databases via Recovery Manager
(RMAN).
Monitor OS and database health for potential issues.
EMautomatically sends alerts or takes corrective action
when issues are detected.
Upgrade databases and apply patches.
EM provides hooks into the Exadata environment beyond the
standard database and OS capabilities it already has; EM can
also monitor and manage storage servers. The greater benefit
of what EM provides is the capability to better manage OLTP
databases in an automated, error-free manner to promote performance, concurrency, and increased availability.
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33
Flash storage is historically too expensive to store entire databases on as a disk replacement. This is especially the case as
disk storage requirements continue to grow. However, it is a
wise strategy to store your most critical and frequently used
data on flash technology and leave your remaining data on
disk storage.
Given the large amount of flash storage available in some configurations, having an entire database in flash is not inconceivable.
Oracle Exadata Smart Flash Cache leverages the flash that is
available on each Exadata Storage Server for database caching
of high-use objects. As Table 3-1 shows, the amount of flash
available is dependent on your configuration.
Table 3-1
Storage Type
Full Rack
Half Rack
Quarter Rack
Flash Cache
5.3 TB
2.6 TB
1.1 TB
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34
35
36
Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) is installed by
default on Oracle Exadata Database Machines. Oracle
RAC allows for multiple database instances on separate
servers to access the same physical database.
Data Guard and Standby Databases allow a database
to be the primary database for OLTP activity but keep
another standby database located on a different server.
The standby database is kept in sync to match the content of the primary so if the primary goes down, the
standby can be used immediately.
Enterprise Manager Grid Control promotes HA by allowing the DBA to effectively monitor and manage the database and support infrastructure. Many potential issues
are automatically detected and fixed before they become
serious problems. Using EM also reduces some human
errors by administrators, which can cause downtime.
Recovery Manager is used via EM to schedule database
backup jobs and recover databases. Additionally, RMAN
can be used to move or clone databases to new server
environments.
Automatic Storage Management (ASM) manages the storage volumes supporting the database. ASM allows the
administrator to create disk groups, enforcing standard
disk mirroring and also triple disk mirroring. This provides fault tolerance in the event of a disk failure.
Redundant hardware components are throughout the
Exadata Database Machine. Redundant network components, disk and disk subsystems, and servers provide
fault tolerance for when a hardware failure does occur.
HA and backup and recovery are critical to OLTP systems
because a failure equates to very expensive losses for a company.
The Exadata Database Machine and Storage Server are architected and support software to enhance HA for the OLTP system.
Data warehouse users also gain from the HA benefits because the
system will be available for their reporting processes.
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dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
Chapter 4
consolidation
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dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
38
Every server needs to be managed individually at the
hardware, operating system, and database level.
Differences in hardware and software versions require a
customized approach to every system, even though different systems are themselves relatively similar.
Enforcing configuration and optimization parameters are
at best a manual, labor-intensive task. Best practices are
difficult to uniformly implement across environments.
Worse yet, poor configurations may exist undetected.
Patching and upgrading heterogeneous customized servers and software is labor intensive and error prone.
Adding new capacity is a challenge because you must fit in
the new capacity into the current disjointed environment.
Servers and storage are often either over utilized or
under utilized in terms of capacity and performance.
Either youre over stressed or youre wasting resources.
Want to show your management a tangible way you are working to cut costs? Start your server consolidation initiative and
show the cost savings in terms of the few computing environ ments youll need to support.
All this extra customized work results in increased costs and
complexity, but provides no real benefit to anyone.
39
Optimized configuration settings. Exadata comes preconfigured based on Oracle best practices. Starting with a clean
configuration, you dont have to worry about antiquated
settings carrying forward into your new environment.
Segmentation of applications. Virtualization technologies and techniques allow applications to still operate as
if they were in their own dedicated environments.
Support for OLTP, data warehouse, and mixed workloads. Different applications have different processing
requirements. Exadata has optimizations for OLTP, data
warehouse, and mixed workload environments.
Easy and rapid implementation. Applications can move
to Exadata with little or no customization; Exadata is
designed for rapid implementation. Oracle Exadata
Start-Up packs provide Oracle staff to assist with migration and support.
Capacity on Demand (COD) computing. Once on
Exadata, applications are configured to only use the
capacity they need. Quarter Racks, Half Racks, Full
Racks, and multiple servers are options. As more capacity is needed, more resources are allocated.
Increased security. Software patching and configuration
is easier and more uniform. Removing undocumented
configuration settings and enforcing a consistency promotes security.
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dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
Storage Server #2
Storage Server #1
InfiniBand Network
Storage Server #3
Application #4
Application #4
Application #1
Application #2
Application #3
Application #1
Application #2
Application #3
After Exadata
Network Attached
Storage #2
Network Attached
Storage #1
Internal Disk
Storage
Application #1
OLTP DB Server
Application #2
OLTP DB Server
Application #3
Hybrid DB Server
Application #4
Data Warehouse
Before Exadata
40
41
42
Allowing databases with different levels of importance
toshare the same machine. Development, test, and production can coexist without risk of negatively impacting
production performance.
Preventing performance issues from noticeably impacting
applications by detecting bottlenecks and providing recommendations to fix them before they become real problems.
Providing automated, detailed, and end-to-end tracking
and monitoring of workloads and logging of corrective
changes.
Ensuring that resources are not over- or under-allocated
for a workload. This results in more intelligent management of shared resources.
Simplifying performance management for administrators
via Enterprise Manager and automated processes.
Enforcing Service Level Agreements in an automated
manner with logging and metrics to prove the SLA has
been met.
Exadata I/O Resource Manager and Exadata Quality of Service
allow mixed workload systems to be consolidated into the
same machine while ensuring performance is not hindered.
The end result is lower total cost to host multiple databases
while meeting processing and performance requirements.
These materials are the copyright of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and any
dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
Chapter 5
Preconfigured Components
You dont have to reinvent the wheel when you get an Exadata
Database Machine; it comes to you with the features preconfigured and optimized! Oracle uses their best practices and
lessons learned when configuring your Exadata system.
These materials are the copyright of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and any
dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
44
These materials are the copyright of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and any
dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
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