ex a data for dummies

7/31/2019 Ex a Data for Dummies

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Michael Wessler, OCP & CISSP

Understand Exadata Database

Machine architecture Maximize database and storage

server capabilities

Consolidate complex systems

onto a single database machine

Learn to:

Exadata

DLTSolutionsSpecialEdition

MakingEverythingEasier!

Brought to you by


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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 inmore 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, andlow total cost of ownership.

About DLT Solutions

Through the partnership with Oracle, DLT Solutions provides all the key

components database, middleware, and applications necessary to

transform the operations of government organizations. With Oracle and DLT,government organizations can consolidate information, streamline operations,

and provide excellent constituent services. As one of Oracles largest government

resellers, DLT offers Oracles entire information technology portfolio.

For twenty years, DLT Solutions has been the IT software and solutions provider

of choice for federal, state, and local government and education customers.

By hand selecting its manufacturer partners, including Autodesk, Google, NetApp,

Oracle, Quest Software, Red Hat, Solarwinds, and Symantec, DLT fulfills its mission

to be a value-added reseller of only the best software and hardware products

and services, as well as a premier provider of technical support, through its many

government contracts. The company specializes in carefully selected solution

areas Cloud Computing, Data Center Consolidation, Geospatial Data Systems,

and Computer-Aided Design for Transportation, Utilities, and Manufacturing.

For more information, contact DLT Solutions at 800-262-4358, e-mail

[email protected], or visit www.dlt.com.

These materials are the copyright of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and anydissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictl rohibited.


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ExadataFORDUMmIES

DLT SOLUTIONS SPECIAL EDITION

by Michael Wessler, OCP & CISSP

These materials are the copyright of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and anydissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.


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Exadata For Dummies, DLT Solutions Special Edition

Published byJohn Wiley & Sons, Inc.111 River StreetHoboken, NJ 07030-5774

www.wiley.com

Copyright 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in anyform or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise,except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without theprior written permission of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should beaddressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ

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ISBN: 978-1-118-14780-1

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1



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Table of Contents

I n t r o d u c t i o n 1

About This Book ........................................................................ 1

Icons Used in This Book ............................................................ 2

Where to Go from Here ............................................................. 2

Chapter 1: Todays Database Challenges 3

Current Database Architecture ................................................ 3

IT System Challenges ................................................................. 8

Need a Better Solution? ........................................................... 14

Chapter 2: Exadatas Unique Architecture 15

What Is Exadata? ...................................................................... 15

The Exadata Database Machines ........................................... 20

Exadata Storage Server ........................................................... 25

Chapter 3: Exadatas OLTP and DataWarehousing Capabilities 29

OLTP Processing Requirements ............................................ 29

Data Warehouse Processing ................................................... 30

Enterprise Manager Grid Control .......................................... 31

Exadata Smart Flash Cache..................................................... 32

Exadata Smart Scan ................................................................. 34

Exadata Hybrid Columnar Compression .............................. 34

High Availability, Backup, and Recovery .............................. 35

Chapter 4: Benefiting from Shared Servicesand Server Consolidation 37

Why Server Consolidation? .................................................... 37

How Exadata Supports Server Consolidation ...................... 38

Exadata I/O Resource Manager and

Quality of Service Management.......................................... 40

Chapter 5: Ten (Okay, Five) Things to Look Forin an Exadata Solution 43

Unified Hardware and Software ............................................. 43

Preconfigured Components .................................................... 43

Scaling for Large Applications................................................ 44

Reducing Infrastructure Costs through Consolidation ....... 44

Agile Infrastructure to Meet Changing Requirements ......... 44

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Publishers AcknowledgmentsWere proud of this book and of the people who worked on it. For details on how to

create a customFor Dummies book for your business or organization, contact [email protected]. For details on licensing theFor Dummies brand for products or services,contact BrandedRights&[email protected].

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Introduction

Database applications are the heart of any IT system,and it is critical that they run at an optimum level.

Unfortunately, we often see IT shops littered with databaseservers, storage networks, and network infrastructure

all running on a hodgepodge of hardware, software, andconfiguration settings. These systems struggle to providethe performance and high availability necessary.

Oracle Exadata takes that mash of database servers, storage,and network infrastructure and places it in a single databasemachine. By running Oracle RAC databases in a tuned andoptimized high availability configuration, your database per-formance will soar. Integrated Oracle storage servers using

high-performance technologies support your largest data-bases while reducing storage requirements. You can achieve aconsolidated, high-performance database and storage serverinfrastructure without breaking your IT budget.

About This BookThis book consists of five short chapters, each written as astand-alone chapter, so feel free to start reading anywhereand skip around throughout the book!

Chapter 1: Todays Database Challenges. We look at howdatabase systems are currently architected. Then we lookat the technologies and techniques currently in use and whythey arent sufficient for the future.

Chapter 2: Exadatas Unique Architecture. Here, we get intothe nuts and bolts of Exadatas architecture, how it works,and why Exadata is a better solution.

Chapter 3: Exadatas OLTP and Data WarehousingCompatibilities. This chapter looks at Exadatas extensivefeatures and optimizations for OLTP and data warehousingsystems.



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Exadata For Dummies, DLT Solutions Special Edition2

Chapter 4: Benefiting from Shared Services and ServerConsolidation. We delve into how Exadata supports shared

services and drives down costs via server consolidation.

Chapter 5: Ten (Okay, Five) Things to Look For in anExadata Solution. Here, in that famousFor Dummies style, wegive you the Part of Tens detailing benefits you will experi-ence by implementing Oracle Exadata in your organization.

Icons Used in This BookThroughout this book, we occasionally use icons to callattention to important information that is particularly worthnoting. Heres what to expect.

If you see an icon that says remember, you may want to, uh,remember the information. We wont have deep meaning-of-life stuff, but it may be good to know for later.

Sometimes you just have to know a term or technical detailsto understand a larger topic. Or, it could just be that we wantto throw in cool terms to try to impress people. Either way,this icon identifies techie stuff.

This icon usually denotes something the author wishes some-one had told him before he learned it the hard way! Keepthese items in mind to make life easier.

Where to Go from HereHey, its your book so feel free to jump around whereveryoud like, or simply turn the page and just start reading.



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Chapter 1

Todays DatabaseChallenges

In This ChapterModeling current database architectures

Identifying database challenges

Finding a better solution

Todays business challenges dictate fast, agile, and reli-able IT solutions, but those solutions must be secure

and within the budget. At the core of any IT solution is thedata, and that data is stored within the database. It standsto reason, therefore, that the database is the most importantpart of any IT solution.

Database technology has evolved over several generations of

architectures due to both technological advancements (hard-ware and software) and business drivers. Today, it is often theneeds of business that determine the direction of databasetechnology and architecture to meet those needs.

In this chapter, we examine todays database architecturesand the challenges they face.

Current Database ArchitectureTo understand the role of a database and what the key factorsfor a successful database are, you need to understand the roleof the database in an IT system. Essentially, a computer appli-cation provides a user with the ability to perform some task



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(such as ordering a product or service). All the data used tosupport that task is stored in the database.

A modern IT system is generally composed of the followingcomponents:

User. Very often a human sitting in front of a keyboardinterface using a computer system. That user may be acustomer or an employee. The interface may be a clientside program or it may be a web browser, but that isntalways the case with the growth of smartphone technol-

ogy and similar devices.

Increasingly, however, the user is another computersystem interfacing with the application. It is not uncom-mon to have automated system-to-system interfaces suchas web services.

Application. The program or application that executeslogic to present the data to the user and implements thebusiness logic to manipulate that data. The application

can execute on the clients workstation or device, on adedicated application or web application server, or onthe database server.

Often the application is distributed between componentswith a visual component at the user interface level, busi-ness processing on the application server, and heavydata-manipulation functions at the database server level.

Database. The software component that stores and

manages the systems data. Data is organized in logicalcontainers called tables. Each table is mapped to a physi-cal storage device, which is often a disk. User accountsare created with security and business rule logic imple-mented to dictate what data a user can see and how thatdata is created, updated, and deleted.

Database processing is often very intensive becauseenormous amounts of data are processed as part of eachapplication request. Because of this, database softwareitself is often a specialized component that exists on oneor more dedicated database servers.

Storage. Data physically stored on a storage device andaccessed by the database. The storage device itself isoften disk, but it can also be a solid state flash drive forfast access or tape storage for archival access.



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Storage devices are frequently attached to the databaseserver over a network rather than being an internal diskwithin a server. This is because storage requirementsexceed what a single server can hold internally, or thestorage is shared to support multiple database servers.Storage devices themselves are often smart devices thathave their own memory components, management tools,and processors to assist in performance and reliability.

Network. Communication between the user and appli-

cation server is the first network component. Withinthe system itself, there are many network connectionsbetween components. Between the application serverand the database server is another connection. Fromthe database server to the disk storage array is anothernetwork connection. Other connections between compo-nents and subsystems are common.

The technical details for a network connection dependon which components are communicating. For example,the connection between a clients web browser to theweb application server is different than between a data-base server to its disk storage. However, common net-work requirements exist regardless of the network type;the network needs to be fast, secure, and reliable.

In the CloudA recent architecture gaining vis-ibility is cloud computing. Cloudcomputing is an approach in whichinstead of the client accessing aspecific set of servers to perform aspecific application function, that

function is accessed as a serviceon the Internet or intranet. Thecloud is the network to which theuser sends an application requestand from which the user receives aresponse.

Cloud computing is an advancedarchitecture that promises to lowercosts and improve service becausethe same application is shared byeveryone in the cloud; softwarebecomes a shared service. Oracle

is highly interested in cloud comput-ing, and in later chapters we discusshow Oracles products support thisarchitecture.



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Database systems fall into three general categories: OLTP,data warehousing, and hybrids.

On Line Transaction ProcessingOn Line Transaction Processing (OLTP) systems are used toprocess transactions and perform work in a real-time, onlinemanner. These are the most common database systems andare what often do the work for a business. OLTP meansthousands of users simultaneously executing small, quick

transactions.

A prime example of an OLTP system is a call center applica-tion where customers call or order online a companys prod-uct or service. This system may entail order entry, billing,customer data, shipping, and inventory components.

Characteristics important to an OLTP system include

Availability. If the system isnt available, the companywont generate revenue and will lose customers. Systemuptime is very important to OLTP systems; every minuteof downtime has a dollar value of lost revenue associ-ated with it. Architectures that allow the OLTP systemto remain available even during computer failures arehighly desirable.

Performance. If customers have to wait excessively forprocessing to occur or if their process fails due to a time-

out error, theyll go to a competitor. At a minimum, fewercustomer orders will be processed in a given time period.Poor performance leads to frustrated customers and asa result, high throughput performance and low latency iscritical for OLTP systems.

Agility. New business opportunities or regulatoryrequirements must be met in a rapid manner. Failure toanticipate and react to changing needs can be disastrous.

A computer system must be able to be modified to meetchanging requirements in an agile manner.

Security. OLTP systems are prime targets for thieves andcompetitors due to the nature of the data they contain.Security breaches are costly beyond just what is stolen;loss of customers, damaged public image, fines, and legalaction are likely.



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OLTP systems are the focal point for IT organizations becausethey are critical to the success of the business. The system

availability, performance, agility, and security are key char-acteristics to be considered when designing and evaluatingOLTP database systems.

Data warehousingWhile OLTP systems deal in real-time, active data, data ware-houses store archival data to be used in data mining, trend

analysis, and meeting audit and regulatory requirements. Asdata in OLTP systems grows older, it is used less often. Thatolder data is often moved into a data warehouse where spe-cialized processing that requires a history of data occurs.

Data warehouses are commonly used to ask business-relatedquestions, the answers to which require the ability to collectyears of data. A business analyst may ask, How many cases ofproduct X are sold on Super Bowl Sunday and can you deter-

mine the growth rate over the last 10 years? both of whichare the types of questions reserved for data warehouses.

Characteristics important to a data warehouse include

Storage. The size of data warehouses is huge! Terabytesof data are common, and specialized processing and stor-age techniques to optimize performance are required.Rather than using high performance disk, data warehouses

use capacity disk or tape storage because it would becost prohibitive to store all data on high performancestorage devices.

Processing capability. OLTP systems support thousandsof users running small quick transactions, but data ware-houses support a handful of users executing very longrunning queries. It is possible for a data warehouse queryto run many hours or even days to get an answer.

Business Intelligence (BI) tools allow management and dataanalysts to perform what-if scenarios against historical data.This allows business trends to be identified and complexrelationships between data to be seen that otherwise may gounnoticed. This technology has occurred in situations rangingfrom increasing company profits to catching criminals andscientific research.



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Data warehouses are fewer than OLTP systems, but by theirvery nature, they are much longer. Their design characteristics

are different than OLTP systems as well, because they processlong running queries rather than multiple fast queries.

Hybrid systemsThe hybridis a combination of OLTP and data warehousingsystems. Often, hybrid systems start as OLTP systems, whichover time introduce data warehousing requirements.

The ideal design characteristics of OLTP versus data ware-houses are often at odds for each other. For example, anOLTP system is optimized for fast data access by multipleusers whereas data warehouses are optimized for fewer userswith long running queries. Different database design consider-ations and parameters which are often mutually exclusive are used for both systems.

One compromise is to run a hybrid database in OLTP modeduring the day and data warehousing mode at night. However,as systems are increasingly used at all hours, that compro-mise becomes less effective. Be sure to evaluate your capabil-ity to support both OLTP and warehousing requirements.

IT System ChallengesRegardless of industry, IT organizations face similar chal-lenges. Supporting complex systems with increasing require-ments is at odds with never having enough time or resources.

The following sections discuss common issues faced by ITmanagement.

High availabilityFew systems are only open during business hours; most needto be available 24x7. Given that any component itself willeventually fail, a system needs to be engineered to supportfault tolerance and eliminate single points of failure.



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Fault tolerance is the ability of a system to suffer a componentfailure, yet still continue processing and remain available for

the users. Any individual component will eventually fail, butthe overall system must continue to function. Designing asystem to have redundant servers so when one fails the otherservers will continue processing is an example of fault toler-ant design.

Having only a single component (which will eventually fail)to perform a function is referred to as a single point of failure,which is something to avoid. If your system has a single point

of failure, its simply a matter of when, not if, it will fail.

Figure 1-1 shows how multiple database servers provide bothincreased processing capabilities and fault tolerance. If oneserver fails, processing continues on the remaining server.You also see how the single web application server is a singlepoint of failure, making the web application server the mostlikely weak link in this system.

Be sure to identify the fault tolerant components and singlepoints of failure in any system or product you are evaluating.

SecuritySecurity is not a just a product you buy once or somethingthat is added at the end of program development. Securityneeds to be an attitude and mindset that occurs at all levels

of IT and management from the beginning of a project until aproject is finally decommissioned. Products and techniquesused to implement security are merely means to an end.

Unfortunately, security is often poorly implemented and man-aged and is deemed a burden to IT systems. Managing con-figuration settings, access controls, and monitoring audit logsdoes require resources. Testing and applying security patchesalso require staff time and is usually after hours.

Keeping a handle on security issues and coordinating withmanagement, customers, and technical folks is a never-endingprocess, but it is a critical process.



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Network

Cloud

Web

Ap

plication

Server

Customer

Database

Database

Server

Customer

Database

Database

Server

Web

Browser

Web

Browser

Web

Browser

StorageArea

Network

DiskStorageA

rray

Disk

Disk

Disk

Disk

DiskStorageA

rray

Disk

Disk

Disk

Disk

Figure 1-1: Fault tolerance and single point of failure.

Increasing storage requirementsAn undeniable direction in IT is the requirement to store moreand more data, often growing at an accelerated rate. Businessrequirements force the storage of more data to support cus-tomers or develop data warehouses. Changing technologyor social media storing images, maps, and audio/video also



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increase storage requirements. Finally, government or legaldata retention requirements force data to be stored for years.

Many choices regarding storage are available:

Internal or attached storage

Storage Area Network (SAN) or Network AttachedStorage (NAS)

Media options such as flash, performance disk, capacitydisk, and tape

Unified or tiered storage

Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) levels andreplication

Despite improvements in storage technology, effectively man-aging storage is often a full-time job for one or more trainedprofessionals.

Multiple, complex subsystemsA real-world IT system is a complex environment composedof multiple subsystems or components. User management,application servers, web servers, database servers, network-ing, and storage are just some common components with spe-cialized needs.

Within each subsystem, further components exist. For exam-ple, the application itself may have credit card billing, inven-tory control, and auditing functions. Each of these functionshas dependencies and subcomponents with further compo-nents as you drill down into the details.

Managing these varied components is a challenge. In largesystems, just being aware of where the vital subsystems existis often difficult. Interoperability with these subsystems needs

to be established and maintained.

Multiple vendorsWith every hardware device in a system, every software prod-uct installed, and every service or interface partner, there isanother vendor or group to work with. Over time, the list of



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vendors to evaluate, purchase support and license agreementswith, and work patch and upgrade issues with is daunting.

Best of breedis an approach in which you purchase the verybest technology product. It allows you to have the industry-leading product for a specific hardware or software compo-nent, which is sometimes a great benefit. The downside ishaving more vendors to manage and interoperability betweencomponents is often an issue as well. In a worst-case scenario,a customer is caught between two vendors who will not worktogether to solve a customers problem; finger-pointing then

becomes a frustrating problem.

Single source is an alternative approach in which all productsfor a system or subsystem are purchased by a single vendor.You may not have the best individual product, but yougain not having to manage interoperability issues betweencomponents because your vendor has already done that.Issues with patches and upgrades between subcomponentsare already identified and resolved before they go to the cus-

tomer. Finally, although you may not have the best individualcomponents, the components you do have are optimized towork together in a more efficient manner than a series of best-of-breed components operating inefficiently.

Server consolidationEvery time a new database server or storage server is added,

the cost for hardware, software, licensing, and administra-tive support increases. While a large server room is visuallyimpressive, it is also excessively expensive!

Where possible, IT organizations are consolidating as manycomponents to as few servers as possible in an effort toreduce costs. For example, simply combining developmentand 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 serverconsolidation initiative. Virtualization allows a single server tobe partitioned or subdivided into smaller servers that appearas one server to the user. Placing systems into shared envi-ronments, but appearing to be on a dedicated, self-containedenvironment is the goal of virtualization. Adding resources on



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demand as systems grow with minimal downtime is an addi-tional benefit. As you review hardware and software, be sure

to determine their support for virtualization.

Sustaining growthSooner or later, if a system is growing, the existing server willneed more processing capabilities to handle the increasedworkload. Few things are worse than having a server too smallto support your customers. Often, either CPU or memory

needs to be increased to support the processing demands ofthe application. A server can grow up (vertical) or it can growout (horizontal) to increase processing capability.

Vertical scalingis making an existing server bigger so that itcan support increased processing requirements. Starting witha 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 thateventually your server will hit its maximum number of CPUsand memory; vertical scaling does have an upper limit for howlarge a server can grow.

Horizontal scalingis adding more servers to a computingenvironment to increase processing capability. Adding moreservers 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 moreservers to manage, which adds to hardware costs, softwareand licensing costs, and administrative overhead.

Time constraintsBecause business requirements move fast, so must supportstructures such as IT. Seemingly, there is never enough time

to set up the perfect system. The problem is increased whenthe IT system itself is complex with many customized compo-nents and subsystems from different vendors. Adding in secu-rity, documentation, testing, and performance concerns, it iseasy to see why IT systems struggle to keep up.

IT systems inherently have complex components, but wherepossible they should be simplified and streamlined. The fewer



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unnecessary components in a system, the more agile a systemwill be and the faster it can react to changing requirements.

The key to having an agile system is being able to add ormodify components rapidly.

Need a Better Solution?It seems that every system is growing rapidly with chang-ing business processing requirements and increased systemavailability demands. Unfortunately, IT budgets are not grow-ing to at the same rate as these demands.

Complex database applications can be designed to accom-plish almost any task given enough time and resources; theproblem is that organizations do not have infinite time andresources.

A better solution would have the following characteristics:

High availability stressing fault tolerance and void ofsingle points of failure

High-performance, flexible and expandable storagecapabilities

Security implemented seamlessly across all components

The ability to increase processing capability both verti-cally and horizontally

Virtualization capabilities to support consolidated sys-tems and provide resources on demand

Support for OLTP, data warehousing, or hybrid systems

An architecture that can support cloud computing

Simplified configuration with fewer unnecessary compo-nents and subsystems

Optimized configuration between components and singlesource integration, patching, and upgrade issues

Agile design and configuration to allow for rapid stand-upof new systems and reconfiguration of existing systemsas requirements change

It is the Oracle Exadata database and storage product thatpromises to be the better solution to the challenges of IT.



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Chapter 2

Exadatas UniqueArchitecture

In This Chapter Understanding Exadatas architecture and components

Unveiling the Exadata Database Machines

Detailing the components of Exadata Storage Server

Breaking the mold of traditional database server envi-ronments is the key to expanding performance while

reducing cost and complexity. Legacy database systemsarchitecture lacks the agility, scalability, and performance tomeet business needs. The solution lies with what is offered inthe Oracle Exadata Database Machine and how it is fast, agile,and scalable.

In this chapter, we examine how the Exadata DatabaseMachine and Exadata Storage Server are architected in termsof hardware and software components. We discuss the vari-ous server configurations that are used to support small,medium, and large applications. We also discuss how serverscan be expanded to meet increased processing requirements.Finally, we take a look at the relationship between the ExadataDatabase Machine and the Exadata Storage Server.

What Is Exadata?Enclosed in a single physical cabinet, Oracles ExadataDatabase Machine is a complete package of preconfiguredand integrated database servers, storage servers, networkinfrastructure, and all supporting software. As a database



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machine, the intent is for a customers databases to behosted entirely within the Exadata Database Machine without

the need for additional, external storage, networking, or soft-ware components. Truly a database in a box, Exadata con-tains all components to host a customers database needs forOLTP, data warehousing, and database consolidation.

Core Exadata componentsA single Oracle Exadata appliance is composed of the follow-

ing components:

Exadata Database Machine

Exadata Storage Server

InfiniBand Network

All necessary database, storage, and management software

Exadata Database MachineAt the heart of each Exadata appliance are multiple (2 to 8,depending on configuration) database servers. Preconfiguredwith Oracle 11g R2 database software, the software comes inan Oracle Real Application Cluster (RAC) configuration. OracleRAC is an advanced database architecture where multiple data-base instances simultaneously operate against a single physicaldatabase. Oracle RAC configuration provides for high availabil-ity and horizontal scaleable growth to increase performance.

Exadata Storage ServerStorage responsibilities are intelligently handled by theExadata Storage Server. Composed of multiple (3 to 14,depending on configuration) storage servers, Oracle has takenstorage beyond simply being a disk array. Each storage serveris a multi-CPU device with memory, flash storage, and eithercapacity or high-performance disk. Intelligent Oracle stor-age software offloads data intensive SQL processing from the

database server to the storage server to improve performanceand reduce data transfer. Thats right; your SQL processingtakes place at the storage (not at the database) server!

InfiniBand NetworkNetwork communication between the Exadata DatabaseMachine and the Exadata Storage Servers is handled by dual



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40 Gigabit InfiniBand links that provide very fast and reliableconnectivity. InfiniBand is also used when adding additional

Exadata appliances to increase capacity. Redundant andreliable, Oracle uses an interconnect protocol to move datadirectly to database buffers reducing CPU overhead.

SoftwareAll the software needed to run Exadata is installed, optimized,and configured. Two operating system choices are available atinstallation time for the Exadata Database Machine: Oracle Linuxor Solaris 11 Express. Exadata Storage Server uses Oracle Linux.

Oracle 11g R2 Enterprise Edition with Oracle RAC is thestandard for database software. All database features andsoftware options remain available. Key database managementproducts including Enterprise Manager (EM) Grid Control andRecovery Manager (RMAN) are also available.

Architecture

It is important to understand that Exadata is an appliance thatcontains the database and storage servers supported by thenetwork and software. Figure 2-1 shows the architecture of asingle Exadata appliance.

As you can see in Figure 2-1, within a single Exadata DatabaseMachine X2-2, there are four database servers in an OracleRAC configuration connected via the InfiniBand network toseven storage servers. The database servers form the data-

base server component connected via InfiniBand to sevenstorage servers to form the storage server component.

Just as Oracle Exadata supports database technology, OracleExalogic supports the application server tier. Oracle FusionMiddleware and Oracle Fusion Applications are key componentswithin Exalogic and Oracles Exalogic Elastic Cloud environment.

Configured, optimized,and ready to useA common problem in IT is that it takes too long to implementnew hardware and software solutions, but Oracle makes iteasy to jump aboard the Exadata train by offering the follow-ing features to help the customer get started quickly.



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InfiniBandNetwork

ExadataDatabaseMachineX2-2

HalfRack

DBRAC

Instance

DBServer

DBRAC

Instance

DB

Server

DBRAC

Instance

DBServer

DBRAC

Instance

DBServer

Storage

Server

Storage

Server

Storag

e

Serve

r

Storage

Server

Storage

Server

Storage

Server

Storage

Server

Figure 2-1: Exadata architecture.

Install standard, optimized configurations

All software is installed with a standard, optimized configura-tion. The customer doesnt have to guess what features toconfigure or how to set up software; configuration and tuningsettings are predetermined.

Oracles top tuning experts have determined and tested theoptimal settings for the hardware and software components



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within Exadata. These configurations prevent potentiallyinefficient configuration settings from being imported by sys-

tems coming from non-Exadata environments. This practiceallows for faster, less error prone configuration. Furthermore,because it is a standardized build, Oracle Support Servicesare already familiar with the environment.

Implement common systems without changesThe most common database environments are OLTP, datawarehouses, or consolidated database systems. Oracle real-izes this and has designed Exadata to allow these systemsto be deployed directly to the Exadata server. No specialExadata product certifications are needed; the idea is to allowthe conversion to Exadata in days/weeks not months/years.

Leverage existing Oracle expertiseThe learning curve for IT administrative staff is reducedbecause theyre still using familiar software. Oracle 11g R2Enterprise Edition is already commonly used in non-Exadata

environments. Key database and server functions are man-aged by Oracle Enterprise Manager Grid Control, whichis standard in most database environments. Oracle soft-ware such as partitioning, Data Guard, Automatic StorageManagement (ASM), and Recovery Manager (RMAN) are stillused as they were in non-Exadata environments.

At the Operating System (OS) level, enterprise-grade OracleLinux and Oracle Solaris use all the features and utilities of

those OSs and are already familiar to Database Administrators(DBAs) and System Administrators (SAs) alike.

Working with Oracle expertsExadata Start-Up Pack and Support Services take an activerole in ensuring that the migration to Oracle Exadata is a suc-cess and provide support after the migration is complete.Several packages are available with Oracle Exadata Start-UpPacks:

Oracle Exadata Start-Up Advisory Service. Oracle engi-neers are in contact with the customer to identify needs,objectives, and provide recommendations and an actionplan to achieve the desired result.



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Oracle Exadata Production Support Readiness. Oracleexperts work with the customer to develop an implemen-

tation plan and work with the customer through the planto ensure success. Oracle takes an active role in workingwith the customer during the installation, migration, andpost-migration project phases.

Oracle Exadata Installation Service. Oracle engineersinstall Exadata components and validate that all hard-ware, software, and operating system functionality iscorrect and documented.

Oracle Exadata Configuration Service. In accordancewith Oracle best practices, Oracle engineers configureoperating system parameters, database software, net-work settings, and storage. All settings are validated anddocumented for the customer.

Oracle Exadata Quarterly Patch Deployment Service.Quarterly patch requirements are identified for thecustomer and are applied by Oracle. High-level systemchecks are performed to ensure that the Exadata serveris still compliant with Oracle best practices.

Additionally, Oracle Support Services provides support forthe multiple components of Exadata. The hardware has a war-ranty and support for operating systems, devices, and con-figurations; upgrades are available in addition to the databasesupport thats so well known. Oracle Support Services areavailable 24x7, and Auto Service Requests (ASR) automate thecreation of trouble tickets.

The Exadata Database MachinesExadata Database Machines are available on two models: theX2-2 and X2-8. Common to both machines is the choice of eitherOracle Linux or Oracle Solaris 11 Express. The same databasesoftware options are common to both server types. Additionally,

the same Exadata Storage Server architecture and version isused although the number of storage servers and capacity vary.

The primary difference between the Exadata X2-2 and X2-8 isrelated to capacity in terms of processor type, number of pro-cessors, memory, and underlying server type. These equateto different processing capacities and types of workload thateach server best supports.



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Exadata Database Machine X2-2The Exadata Database Machine X2-2 is based on the Sun FireX4170 M2 and is designed for OLTP and data warehouse imple-mentations of different sizes. The X2-2 comes in three differentcapacity configurations to support small, medium, and largecomputing capacity; these are referred to as Quarter Rack, HalfRack, and Full Rack. Each rack differs only in the number of data-base and storage servers within the Exadata Database Machine:

Quarter Rack: 2 database servers with 3 Exadata StorageServers

Half Rack: 4 database servers with 7 Exadata StorageServers

Full Rack: 8 database servers with 14 Exadata StorageServers

Quarter Rack

The entry-level Exadata Database Machine is the Quarter Rackconfiguration composed of 2 database servers and 3 ExadataStorage Servers. Each server has 2 Intel Xeon X5670 6 coreprocessors 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 band-

width on high-performance disk Up to 3 GB/second of uncompressed raw disk bandwidth

on high-capacity disk

Half RackThe mid-level Exadata Database Machine is the Half Rackconfiguration composed of 4 database servers and 7 Exadata



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Storage Servers. Each server has 2 Intel Xeon X5670 6 coreprocessors at 2.93 GHz. Total processing capacity is









Up to 12.5 GB/second of uncompressed raw disk band-width on high-performance disk

Up to 7 GB/second of uncompressed raw disk bandwidthon high-capacity disk

Full RackThe fully loaded Exadata Database Machine is the Full Rackconfiguration composed of 8 database servers and 14 ExadataStorage Servers. Each server has 2 Intel Xeon X5670 6 coreprocessors at 2.93 GHz. Total processing capacity is









Up to 25 GB/second of uncompressed raw disk band-width on high-performance disk

Up to 14 GB/second of uncompressed raw disk band-width on high-capacity disk



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As the need for capacity grows, the X2-2 can be scaled verti-cally to either Half Rack or Full Rack configuration at the

customer site to reduce downtime. This scalability allowscustomers to grow into a larger Exadata configuration as theirneeds dictate. The ability to support capacity on demandis akey to supporting customers in growing environments.

Exadata capacity can also be expanded by adding memoryand disk-only expansion racks. Exadata Expansion Racks canadd from 4 to 18 additional Storage severs to any ExadataDatabase 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 appli-ances can be added to scale a system horizontally, as shownin Figure 2-2.

InfiniBand networking allows for the connection of up to eightExadata or Exalogic appliances to allow maximum computingcapability. Such a configuration would be capable of support-

ing very large systems!

Technical hardware specifics will change over time. Tosee most up-to-date specifics on the X2-2 and X2-8, be sureto review the Oracle Data Sheets atwww.oracle.com/technetwork/database/exadata/dbmachine-

x2-2-datasheet-175280.pdf andwww.oracle.com/technetwork/database/exadata/dbmachine-

x2-8-datasheet-173705.pdf.

Exadata Database Machine X2-8The Exadata Database Machine X2-8 is based on the Sun FireX4800 and is designed for database server consolidation andthe largest, most intensive OLTP and data warehouse imple-mentations. The X2-8 comes in only one configuration, whichis a Full Rack of 2 database servers and 14 Exadata Storage

Servers.



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Inf

iniBandNetwork

FullRack

8DBServers

14StorageServers

100TBPerforman

ce

336TBCapacity

ExadataX2-2

FullRack

8DBServers

14StorageServe

rs

100TBPerformance

336TBCapacity

ExadataX2-2

FullRack

8DBServers

14StorageServe

rs

100TBPerforma

nce

336TBCapacity

ExadataX2-2

FullRack

8DBServers

14StorageServers

100TBPerforma

nce

336TBCapacity

ExadataX2-2

FullRack

8DBServers

14StorageServers

100TBPerforman

ce

336TBCapacity

ExadataX2-2

FullRack

8DBServers

14StorageServe

rs

100TBPerformance

336TBCapacity

ExadataX2-2

FullRack

8DBServers

14StorageServe

rs

100TBPerforma

nce

336TBCapacity

ExadataX2-2

FullRack

8DBServers

14StorageServers

100TBPerforma

nce

336TBCapacity

ExadataX2-2

Figure 2-2: Scaling horizontally via multi racks.

Each database server is a Sun Fire X4800 with 8 Intel XeonX7560 8 core processors at 2.26 GHz (giving 64 cores) and1 TB of memory. Total processing capacity is


2 TB memory (1 TB per server)



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Up to 25 GB/second of uncompressed raw disk bandwidthon high-performance disk

Up to 14 GB/second of uncompressed raw disk bandwidthon high-capacity disk

Because the X2-8 is already at a Full Rack configuration, morehardware resources cannot be added to an individual machine.However, as with all Exadata Database Machines, the X2-8 canbe scaled horizontally to where additional Exadata machinesare connected via the InfiniBand network to increase capacity.

Exadata Storage ServerDisk and flash storage are intelligently managed by theExadata Storage Server. More than just a simple disk array,each Exadata Storage Server is itself a server running OracleLinux with CPU, memory, and management software. Theintelligence of the storage server comes in the Oracle data-

base specific optimizations that occur to improve performanceand management capabilities.

All software and configuration items are pre-installed andoptimized to manage Oracle databases. Management soft-ware is also included. Administrators use the already familiarOracle Enterprise Manager tool with System Monitoring plug-in monitor and manage storage servers.

Fault tolerance is provided by dual port InfiniBand connectionsand redundant, hot-swappable power supplies. Disks are alsohot swappable in addition to mirroring, which is implementedby the volume management software. These features allowa system to tolerate failures more gracefully and result inhigher availability.



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Several key features of Exadata Storage Server include

Oracle Automatic Storage Manager (ASM) softwarehandles storage management for Oracle databases andis a long-used product to manage storage for Oracle RACdatabases. ASM provides volume management, datastriping, and disk mirroring for storage volumes. It alsomanages the data distribution across available storage.

Database files can be encrypted for maximum security asan additional security option.

Encrypting data at rest, which is data stored on a devicesuch as disk, is a hot requirement these days. Many gov-ernment agencies fear loss of sensitive data and mandatethat steps be taken to encrypt data at rest.

Processing of many database operations occurs on theprocessors of the storage server. Specific database que-ries are processed at the storage level so that only thedata requested is returned to the database server. Thisenhancement results in greatly reduced network trafficand offloads CPU processing requirements from the data-base server to the storage server. The result is an overallboost in performance by distributing processing andreducing data transfer and traffic.

Additional Exadata Storage Server technologies such asSmart Scan, Smart Flash Cache, and Hybrid ColumnarCompression are covered in Chapter 3 to show how theyare used for specific environments.

Like Exadata Database Machines, the Exadata Storage Serveris composed of multiple, individual servers providing a unit ofcapacity. 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 2TB 7,200 RPM High Capacity SAS

HBA disk controller with 512 MB battery backed writecache

Dual-port 40 Gb/s InfiniBand Host Channel Adapter



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As database servers are used, more storage servers are used,which results in capacity increases. Scalability of storage solu-

tions is important as storage requirements increase at a rapidrate.

Disk storage is available in two categories: High PerformanceSerial Attached SCSI (SAS) and High Capacity Serial AttachedSCSI (SAS). High Performance SAS runs at 15,000 RPM whileHigh Capacity SAS runs at a slower 7,200 RPM. Before selectinga type of disk, determine whether your database applicationsare large enough to warrant slower but higher capacity

storage, or whether the databases are smaller and can takeadvantage of faster disk. Be sure to also consider if your appli-cation requires faster disks, which is a common requirementin many environments.

Flash Cache is very high-speed solid-state storage. Becauseit lacks moving parts, Flash Cache is very fast and reliable.Generally too expensive to store an entire database, Exadataleverages technologies to keep the most-critical, frequently

accessed data on Flash Cache.

Different configurations of Exadata Database Machines aresupported by groups of 14, 7, or 3 Exadata Storage Serverscorresponding to Full, Half, or Quarter Rack configurations.Each configuration yields different storage capacity, as shownin Table 2-1.

Table 2-1 Raw Storage Server CapacityStorage 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

Table 2-1 shows raw storage capacity, which is the amount of

storage physically provided to the storage server. However,in actual use, not all of that storage is usable. Some of the rawstorage will be lost due to overhead, and much more will belost due to mirroring.

Mirroringis making redundant copies of data on disks. Thebenefit is that if one disk is damaged or lost, the data copyisnt lost and is therefore still available.



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The amount of raw disk provided is not the amount of diskyoull actually have available to store data.

Automatic Storage Management controls the level of mirror-ing of storage on disk. Under a normal redundancy modelwhere a single mirrored copy is used, you can expect yourusable data to be cut in half, as shown in Table 2-2.

Table 2-2 Mirrored Storage Server Capacity

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


Note: Flash Cache is not impacted by mirroring.

The most fault tolerant level of mirroring providing the high-

est level of redundancy is high-redundancy mirroring. As seenin Table 2-3, high redundancy uses triple mirroring to reduceusable raw disk to approximate one-third.

Table 2-3 High-Redundancy Storage Server Capacity


Performance Disk 30 TB 15 TB 6.25 TB

Capacity Disk 100 TB 50 TB 21.5 TB


High redundancy may not be necessary for many environ-ments. By understanding the requirements of the specific appli-cation, you then can intelligently determine the mirroring level.

Exadata Storage Server is a scalable, intelligent component inthe Exadata Database Machine. Beyond only storing data, eachstorage server uses hardware and software to reduce CPUprocessing on the database server and reduce the amount ofdata transferred over the network by executing some databaseprocessing at the storage level. Familiar Oracle tools suchas Enterprise Manager and ASM combined with Oracle Linuxallow for easy Oracle Exadata Storage Server management.



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Chapter 3

Exadatas OLTP and DataWarehousing Capabilities

In This Chapter Understanding OLTP and data warehousing environments

Examining tools for managing OLTP and data warehouse systems

Improving performance with Exadata Smart Flash Cache andSmart Scan

Reducing storage with Exadata Hybrid Columnar Compression

Providing High Availability and backup and recovery solutions

OLTP database applications are very common, yet to besuccessful, they have special requirements. Many best

practices have been developed for OLTP systems. Oracle hasimplemented these best practices with their database prod-

ucts for years and has a very successful track record for OLTPsystems.

Data warehousing systems have different processing charac-teristics. Instead of supporting many concurrent users, thesystem allows for fewer users, but they are users executingexhaustive, long-running queries.

In this chapter, we see how OLTP and data warehouse sys-

tems are optimized and supported on the Exadata DatabaseMachine.

OLTP Processing RequirementsOLTP systems are the systems people login to and use to gen-erate revenue. Often someone is buying a product or a service



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via a database application. If the transaction is fast and occurswithout errors, the company makes money, and the customer

likely returns for future business. On the other hand, if thetransaction processing is slow or fails or if the system itself issimply not available, you can lose revenue.

Businesses place a price tag on lost revenue based on thenumber of hours an OLTP system is down. It is not uncommonfor the price tag to be many thousands of dollars per hour if asystem isnt available. For these reasons, OLTP systems needto be available, fast, and execute without errors.

These characteristics are common requirements for OLTPsystems:

High concurrency. Many people use an OLTP system atthe same time. Locking or contention or system bottlenecks are not acceptable.

Fast performance. The more sales transactions pro-cessed per hour, the more revenue generated. Therefore,even a small-percentage increase in processing capabilitycan yield tangible benefits. Furthermore, if a system runsso slow that it is a burden to the customer, that customermay opt to take their business elsewhere.

High Availability (HA). If the system is down, revenuecannot be generated. Furthermore, frustrated custom-ers will take their business to competitors. A simplecost-benefit analysis shows how investing in a High

Availability architecture saves an organization moneyover time because unplanned downtime is eliminated.

For an OLTP system to be successful, it must support manyusers simultaneously, provide fast performance, and be avail-able when needed. Fortunately, Exadata effectively supportsthose requirements.

Data Warehouse ProcessingData warehouses (DW) are the largest databases used to sup-port long-running queries to identify patterns, trends, andwhat if analysis for the decision makers of an organization.While not as common as OLTP systems, DWs have processingrequirements which need to be met.



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Chapter 3: Exadatas OLTP and Data Warehousing Capabilities 31

Data warehouses are in many ways the opposite of OLTPsystems. To contrast against OLTP, a DW has the following

characteristics:

Low concurrency. Only a few people will use a DW at agiven time. Because these systems are used for analysisand what if analysis, the average user wont access it.However, the users in a DW are often power users whoare analysts and managers working to identify new busi-ness opportunities.

Long-running queries. While an OLTP transaction needsto be complete within seconds, DW queries can runhours or days. This is due to processing large volumes ofdata that involves complex processing logic. SQL tuning,efficient execution plans, and increased processingpower are critical to DW performance. Any opportunitiesto reduce unnecessary processing need to be taken.

Large size. DWs are often built by data feeds from OLTPsystems. That means that a DW often dwarfs the OLTP

systems it was spawned from. Expect enormous and con-stantly expanding storage requirements.

Although a DW is in many ways the opposite of an OLTPsystem, Oracle Exadata is well suited to meet the unique chal-lenges of DW processing.

Enterprise Manager Grid ControlEnterprise Manager (EM) Grid Control is an administrativetool used by administrators to intelligently manage and moni-tor components in an Oracle environment. More than justmanaging Oracle databases, EM also can manage and monitorapplication servers and monitor operating system resources.

Plug-ins are available to allow EM to monitor non-Oracle com-ponents as well. Additional management and diagnostic packsprovide additional EM capabilities. In the Exadata environ-ment, not only are databases, database servers, and operatingsystems monitored, but so are Exadata Storage Servers.

EM is a tool very well known to DBAs; many would have a diffi-cult time doing their job without it. As part of Grid Computing,EM has agents installed on all the servers throughout an



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enterprise that collect data and monitor components. Thisinformation is sent back to a management server where it is

stored for analysis.

The DBA can monitor in real time or can set up automaticalerts that are triggered when an event occurs (such as a fulldisk or down database). This lights out management capa-bility is critical to running in a 24x7 environment.

EM offers the following powerful features (among many others):

Monitor real-time database activity and identify and trou-bleshoot database sessions causing issues.

Identify and tune SQL queries running long or causingperformance bottlenecks.

Modify or create new database tables, indexes, code, orusers.

Back up and recover databases via Recovery Manager(RMAN).

Monitor OS and database health for potential issues.EM automatically sends alerts or takes corrective actionwhen issues are detected.

Upgrade databases and apply patches.

EM provides hooks into the Exadata environment beyond thestandard database and OS capabilities it already has; EM canalso monitor and manage storage servers. The greater benefitof what EM provides is the capability to better manage OLTPdatabases in an automated, error-free manner to promote per-formance, concurrency, and increased availability.

Exadata Smart Flash CacheThe fastest storage media is solid state technology, also

known as flash storage. Even the fastest disk will never beclose to the speed of flash. Because flash storage is essentiallynonvolatile memory, it has no moving parts, which makes itvery fast and reliable. On the other hand, disk drives havemoving parts that, due to the laws of physics, will always beslower and less reliable. Additional issues with disk storageare I/O bottlenecks that can occur in the disk subsystem.



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Flash storage is historically too expensive to store entire data-bases on as a disk replacement. This is especially the case as

disk storage requirements continue to grow. However, it is awise strategy to store your most critical and frequently useddata on flash technology and leave your remaining data ondisk storage.

Given the large amount of flash storage available in some config-urations, 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 cachingof high-use objects. As Table 3-1 shows, the amount of flashavailable is dependent on your configuration.

Table 3-1 Raw Storage Server Capacity



Within the Exadata Storage Server, Oracle uses Sun FlashAccelerator F20 PCIe cards to provide flash. Each card pro-vides 96 GB of flash, and each storage server has 4 cards.Because these are flash cards, they avoid I/O bottlenecks ofdisk controllers.

You can use several methods to implement flash storage:

Oracle Database and Exadata Storage Server software,integrated to automatically place data that is likely tobenefit from caching in flash storage. For example, youwould not cache large table scans but you would cacherandom reads against tables and indexes in flash storage.

Database storage parameters are available to pin objects(such as tables) in cache in flash storage. The databaseadministrator can modify storage clauses for database

objects to be stored in flash cache. The database admin-istrator and developers would be responsible for know-ing which objects benefit the most, but tools such as EMcould make the job easier.

Database administrators using Oracle database 11g R2 shouldconsider Oracle Database Smart Cache. This is different fromExadata Smart Flash Cache.



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By increasing the speed for database transactions with toolslike Exadata Smart Flash Cache, you can process more trans-

actions per hour, resulting in greater revenue.

Exadata Smart ScanIn traditional database architectures, a full table-scan queryreturns all data blocks for a table from disk to the databaseserver for processing. In most cases, much of that data isntwhat was requested. Regardless, the database server stillmust use its CPU to process the data to find what it actuallywants. Furthermore, network resources are wasted by movingdata thats usually not wanted by the user.

Exadata Smart Scan offloads processing of queries from thedatabase server to the storage server. Processors on theExadata Storage Server process the data on behalf of thedatabase SQL query. Only the data requested in the queryis returned to the database server. Thus, the heavy liftingoccurs at the Exadata Storage Server, which results in reducedprocessing on the database server and less network traffic.

Using Exadata Smart Scan is transparent to the application andrequires no SQL changes. Some metrics for data warehouseenvironments indicate a 10X or more reduction of data sentto the database server over the network. Combined with thereduction of CPU processing on the database server, ExadataSmart Scan is especially valuable to data warehouse systems.

Exadata Hybrid ColumnarCompression

Compressing data to reduce the amount of storage required isespecially useful for data warehouse implementations where

reducing storage reduces costs. In other cases, it can actuallyincrease performance by reducing the size of data transferredover the network. Further savings are realized when youconsider the reduced space needed for backups, standby sys-tems, and production-sized test environments.

Exadata Hybrid Columnar Compression (EHCC) is a techniquewhere tables are organized based on similar columns and



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then compressed. The key is organizing data based on columnvalues; this keeps similar data together resulting in greater

compression factors.

Oracle Exadata Hybrid Columnar Compression provides twocompression modes: Query Mode for data warehouses andArchive Mode for seldom-used archive data. Oracle reportsa 10X compression factor for Query Mode and a 15X to 50Xcompression factor for Archive Mode data.

Compressed t

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