The Practical, Authoritative, 360-Degree Technical Guide to Oracle Exadata: From Setup to Administration, Optimization, Tuning, and Troubleshooting
The blazingly fast Oracle Exadata Database Machine is being embraced by thousands of large-scale users worldwide: by governments, the military, enterprise organizations, cloud service providers, and anyone who needs extreme performance. Now, Oracle Exadata Expert’s Handbook provides authoritative guidance to running Oracle Exadata with maximum reliability, effectiveness, performance, and efficiency.
Six renowned Oracle technology experts have brought together core technical information, experience, best practices, and insider tips in a concise reference. Covering both 11g and 12c versions of Oracle Exadata software, they deliver hands-on coverage of best practices, setup, migration, monitoring, administration, performance tuning, and troubleshooting. Whether you’re an Oracle Exadata DBA, DMA, architect, or manager, you need these insights.
- Get a 360-degree overview of the Oracle Exadata Database Machine
- Efficiently deploy RAC within the Oracle Exadata ecosystem
- Fully leverage Storage Cell’s extraordinary performance, via Offloading, Smart Scans, and Hybrid Columnar Compression
- Manage Exadata with OEM 12c: perform setup, configuration, asset/target discovery, and day-to-day administration
- Tune Oracle Exadata for even better performance
- Perform Exadata Backup/Recovery/DR with RMAN and Data Guard
- Migrate to Oracle Exadata from other platforms
- Use Oracle Exadata with the ZFS Storage Appliance
- Consolidate within the Exadata Database Cloud
Table of Contents:
Preface xvii
Acknowledgments xix
About the Authors xxiii
About the Technical Reviewers and Contributors xxvii
Chapter 1: 360-Degree Overview of Exadata 1
An Exadata Synopsis 2
Hardware Architecture 5
Software Architecture 7
Models and Configuration Options 9
Examining an Exadata Machine 35
Summary 37
Chapter 2: Real Application Clusters (RAC) in Exadata 39
The Significance of RAC in Exadata 40
An Overview of RAC 41
Setting Up RAC Clusters in Exadata 43
Operational Best Practices 45
Managing RAC with OEM 12c 49
Common Utilities and Commands 50
Troubleshooting and Tuning RAC 55
Summary 59
Chapter 3: The Secret Sauce: Exadata Storage Cells 61
An Overview of Exadata Storage Server 61
Storage Architecture and Formulation 72
Disk Architecture in Non-Exadata 74
Disk Architecture in Exadata 74
System Users for Cell Administration 77
Managing the Cell Server 82
Troubleshooting the Cell Server 83
Storage Cell Startup and Shutdown 85
Solving Disk Problems 87
Enforcing Cell Security 89
Summary 92
Chapter 4: Flash Cache, Smart Scans, and Cell Offloading 93
Concepts of Exadata Flash Cache 93
Storage Server and Flash Cache 95
The Database and Flash Cache 99
Summary 120
Chapter 5: Exadata Compression: HCC Demystified 121
Columnar Storage Models 122
Oracle Implementation of DSM–Hybrid Columnar Compression 125
HCC and Performance 131
HCC and DML 140
HCC and Locking 144
Practical Uses of HCC 147
Summary 148
Chapter 6: Oracle Database 12c and Exadata 149
12c Partitioning Features 149
New 12c Optimizer Features 157
Information Lifecycle Management 164
Application Continuity 167
Multitenant Architecture 168
Exadata Software Updates 183
Summary 183
Chapter 7: Exadata Networking: Management and Administration 185
Exadata Network Components 185
The Role of the InfiniBand Network 186
Network Architecture 187
Network Setup Requirements 188
Troubleshooting Tools and Utilities 190
Log Files Collection 194
Integrated Lights Out Manager 195
OEM Cloud Control 12c 197
Summary 199
Chapter 8: Backup and Recovery and Data Guard 201
RMAN Disk-to-Disk Backups 202
Data Guard 216
Far Sync 233
Switchover Considerations 242
Summary 244
Chapter 9: Managing Exadata with OEM 12c 245
Exadata Targets Discovery 246
Oracle Exadata Plugins 248
Exadata Database Machine Discovery 250
Exadata Components 260
Summary 265
Chapter 10: Migrating to Exadata 267
Exadata Implementation Lifecycle 267
Phase I: Architectural Strategy 268
Phase II: Planning and Design 277
Phase III: Migration Testing 287
Exadata Migration Best Practices 290
Summary 291
Chapter 11: Upgrading and Patching Exadata and ZFS Storage Appliance 293
Planning an Exadata and ZFS Upgrade 294
Quarterly Full Stack Download 297
Patching Tools and Processes 297
Oracle Patch Types 302
Exadata High Availability Upgrades 305
Reviewing Settings with Exachk 306
Exadata Full Stack Upgrade 307
ZFS Upgrade 333
Summary 336
Chapter 12: ZFS Storage Appliance for Exadata 337
ZFS Family Line 338
Increased Storage Capacity 340
ZFSSA Browser User Interface 342
Creating NFS Shares 343
Preparing Exadata for Direct NFS 345
Other Industry Use Cases 355
Learning on the Simulator 355
Summary 356
Chapter 13: Exadata Performance Tuning 357
Oracle Performance Tuning 357
Application Design for Exadata 362
Database Design for Exadata 364
SQL Tuning for Exadata 372
Exadata RAC Tuning 374
Optimizing Exadata I/O 386
Summary 388
Chapter 14: Database Consolidation on Exadata 389
Database Consolidation Models 389
Exadata Consolidation Planning 390
Grouping Applications 391
Evaluating Sizing Requirements 393
Setting Up Exadata for Consolidation 394
Isolation Management 405
12c Pluggable Database 410
Summary 411
Chapter 15: Exadata Smart Flash Cache in Depth 413
Solid-State Disk Technology 413
Exadata Flash Hardware 422
Exadata Smart Flash Cache 423
Exadata Smart Flash Logging 433
Smart Flash Cache WriteBack 439
Summary 443
Chapter 16: Advanced Exadata Flash Configuration 445
Using Flash as Grid Disks 445
Flash Tablespace versus Flash Cache 451
Storage Tiering Solutions 458
Summary 463
Chapter 17: Exadata Tools and Utilities 465
Exadata Diagnostic Tools 465
InfiniBand Network Diagnostic Tools 469
Other Useful Exadata Commands 475
Monitoring Exadata Storage Cells 484
Summary 491
Index 493
About the Author :
Tariq Farooq, Oracle ACE director and Oracle RAC certified expert, has spent more than twenty-four years working with Oracle technologies in highly complex environments. He was the founding president of the IOUG Virtualization and Cloud Computing SIG; founded the BrainSurface Social Network; and is an award-winning speaker, author, forumizer, blogger, and active community leader/organizer.
Charles Kim, Oracle ACE director, Oracle certified DBA, Certified RAC expert, and VMware vExpert, is co-founder and president of Viscosity North America. He specializes in Exadata, RAC, and virtualization.
Nitin Vengurlekar, co-founder/CTO of Viscosity North America, is a seasoned systems architect specializing in highly available Oracle systems. He spent seventeen years at Oracle, primarily in RAC engineering.
Sridhar Avantsa, associate practice director at ROLTA Solutions/Americas and EMEA. He was formerly senior DBA/database engineer at Amazon.com.
Guy Harrison, a world-renowned database expert, is executive director of R&D at Dell Quest Software. There, he leads development for the Toad family of database and BI tools.
Syed Jaffar Hussain, DB architect at Alinma Bank, is an Oracle certified master (10g); Oracle ACE director; Oracle RAC certified expert; and OCP v8i, v9i, v10g and v11g DBA. He has spent a decade consulting on Oracle with international clients and was Oracle Magazine’s 2011 DBA of the year.
