I’ve started putting together some information about the Oracle Database Appliance in question-and-answer form. If you have an unanswered question, ask away in the comment section below.
(Update: Oracle has come out with their official FAQ as well)
Why ODA?
ODA offers the benefits of engineered, pre-configured systems for environments too small for Exadata. These benefits include fast deployment, simple configuration, and a tested and certified combination of hardware and software.
What database versions can I use with ODA?
At this point, only Oracle 11.2.0.2 enterprise edition. I’d expect future Oracle versions to run on the ODA as well.
How is the software licensed?
The Oracle database appliance is licensed on a per-processor basis at the same rate as for other platforms. Existing Oracle per-processor licenses can be used with ODA. It’s possible to license a subset of processors, but after the initial sizing, the processor count cannot be decreased, only increased.
What kind of HA (high availability) options exist with ODA?
The ODA hardware is completely redundant internally. ODA can participate in the same HA configurations as other Oracle database servers, including Oracle Data Guard and Oracle GoldenGate.
How is the flash memory used?
ODA comes configured with flash storage in a REDO diskgroup, holding database redo logs
Why should I store redo logs in flash memory
Traditional enterprise storage infrastructure uses battery-backed memory caches to buffer writes, significantly improving commit latency for Oracle databases. Since ODA doesn’t have such a cache, it uses flash memory for this purpose instead. (As of version 11.2.2.4.0, Exadata does this too)
Can the flash memory be used as a read cache?
No; the flash storage is optimized for redo caching only. It uses a different ASM block size through an ODA-specific version of ASM.
Can I hook the ODA up to my SAN?
ODA does not have a fiber HBA card so can’t connect directly to fiber channel fabrics. However, ODA can access SAN disks via IP protocols like iSCSI or NFS, though they have higher overhead than ODA’s own direct-attached disk.
Can I connect multiple ODA units together?
Each ODA device is self-contained, and communicates externally with comparatively slow network access, so you would typically want to separate databases between ODA units. If you’re looking at a larger configuration, consider Exadata instead
Can I store regular files on the ODA’s shared storage?
Yes. Since it has direct-attached disk, ODA can use Oracle’s ASM cluster filesystem (ACFS) filesystems to store regular OS files in ASM, accessible to both system controllers in the ODA.
21 Comments. Leave new
Hi Marc,
Great FAQ. Just wondering where you obtained the details on Named User Licensing. We have received advice that you can only install Processor Licenses, so I am keen to verify that you can utilise Named User licensing based on the number of cores activated.
Would be great if you can provide a link to some Oracle documentation that verifies this.
Regards, Rob
@Rob: You’re right: the licensing guide (https://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E22693_01/doc.21/e25375/chapter1.htm) lists licensing as being tied to CPU cores, so you might have trouble with named users. Another interesting tidbit from that chapter: you can reduce the number of licensed cores only once, and subsequent changes must all be increases. So it looks like this licensing metric isn’t designed to temporarily add capacity for a short period of time.
[…] Unofficial Oracle Database Appliance FAQ […]
Hi Mark,
Great information here – finding some of these answers is still difficult due to the “newness” of ODA. I am curious on the iscsi point you make. Is that information present in Oracle-provided documentation or internal resources at Oracle? I have heard NFS but have not seen/heard iSCSI information yet.
Thanks for any info.
@JMIZE: there are no specific software certifications for the Oracle database appliance: software is supported in much the same manner as is running an Oracle database on non-Oracle hardware. That having been said, iSCSI is a high-overhead protocol because of the need to encapsulate all data in IP packets, so I’d expect higher latency than the build-in direct-attached storage in the ODA itself.
Thanks for the info sharing. Since you mentioned about data guard and goldengate as a HA option to ODA, how about database security option? Are they workable when sit in ODA?
Another question was surrounding my mind is that can data guard or active data guard work between Exadata & ODA? Say Exadata at production and ODA at DR.
Appreciate for any feedback. Thanks.
@Wilix: The Oracle Database Appliance runs standard Oracle 11g software, and can run the Advanced Security option. If you’re using transparent data encryption, you should be able to use the AES-NI crypto offload features in the ODA’s Xeon 5675 to reduce CPU impact of data encryption/decryption. (https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E11882_01/network.112/e10746/whatsnew.htm#ASOAG10115 for more info)
And yes it’s possible to run data guard and active data guard with an Exadata primary and an ODA standby with a few caveats:
– Tables compressed with Hybrid Columnar Compression will not be accessible on the ODA until they are rebuilt without HCC using ALTER TABLE MOVE
– Keep in mind that, unlike Exadata, the processing and direct-attached storage capacity of ODA are not expandable. So you would need to manage database size so that it fits on an ODA standby, and has sufficient spare capacity for rebuilding those HCC-compressed tables if necessary.
(However you can expand non-direct-attached storage using iSCSI or NFS, but then you’d be losing a lot of the simplicity of the ODA model)
Can a client license only 2 core and work with the full hardware capacity (24 cores)
Hello Wael,
Think of it this way: if Oracle let you use all 24 CPU cores while only paying for 2, who would pay for the full amount?
If you license 2 CPU cores, the system will be restricted to using 2 cores only. Unlike other Oracle products where licensing is more or less on the “honour system” backed by audits, in the case of ODA it’s enforced in the system.
Cheers,
Marc
@Wael Just to add a little to Marc’s comment, when running ODA in physical mode the BIOS is used to control the number of cores enabled. I’m not sure 2 total is actually an option anyway (i.e. 1 core on each server) – I *guess* 4 is the minimum (1 core on each processor in each server). You have to wonder how well a 2 node cluster would run on 1 core though for a workload that would justify DB EE, RAC/RON and ODA.
However if you’re using the new virtual installation of ODA it limits the cores available to the database (in the ODA Base VM) with the OVM hypervisor and you could make use of the remaining cores, e.g. for middleware VMs – I blogged about it here: https://www.veriton.co.uk/roller/fmw/entry/middleware_on_the_oracle_database if you’re interested.
Hi Marc,
Is there any recommended document to set up DG for ODA(Rac one node).
Thanks
Hi Nisha,
I just saw your comment; apologies on the very late reply. The Oracle MAA team has published a whitepaper on using Data Guard with RAC One Node: https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/focus-areas/availability/maa-wp-11g-racone-standby-501088.pdf
Martin Bach has also written an excellent article on the topic on OTN: https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/articles/oem/raconenode-dataguard-435121.html
HTH!
Hi, nice FAQs,
I need to know how we can allocate the disk size to the database from the physical disk.
thnaks
Hello Heart Passions,
The internal storage of your Oracle Database Appliance is managed through Automatic Storage Management. Initial storage configuration is done through the ODA configurator tool during initial setup. More information: https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E22693_01/doc.21/e22692/chklist.htm#autoId14 (You can download the configurator tool from https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/database-appliance/overview/oda-configurator-1928685.html)
HTH!
Marc
Hi Marc
Thanks for the fast response and the links.
I have some other queries,
1)How many VMs we can create over Dom0 on the ODA virtualized environment?
2) if we want to install RAC or Enterprize Edition database, on these VM, it will also be automated or we have to do manual installation like on any other oracle server?
if you have any step-by-step instruction for ODA configuration with VM, kindly can you share with me
Thanks alot
regards
Hello Heart Passions,
1) You can create as many VMs as you can comfortably fit in the CPU, RAM, and disk space available
2) Oracle enterprise edition (and RAC if you choose) is installed as aprt of the initial buildout. You can then use the ODA management tools to update to newer versions; no need to run the installer manually.
As far as the step-by-step goes, I’d suggest the Practical Oracle Database appliance book as far and away the best resource.
Marc
Hi Marc
Thanks alot for the fast response of the quires, really appreciated.
The guide looks nice. Thanks for this :) cheers
Is there an unsupported way of re-allocate disks from RECO to DATA, as we are not using any of the disks in RECO (we use iSCSI to store RMAN files externaly) ? I have seen a few “HOWTO”s on EXA systems, but no ones for ODA. Oracle Support says it is not possible/supported, and that we need to reconfigure and wipe out the setup (even for an expansion storage). Which is already hard as we are in production.
Regards,
Tomas
I’m wondering about the specifics of the RAM that’s installed in the units. For the X5-2, it appears to be DDR4 (according their price list, anyway) and I’ve been told that the stock configuration is 16 of the 24 slots populated with 8GB DIMMs, but I can’t get anymore information about it. What speed is the memory? I assume it’s ECC, but what configurations are permitted? Does the RAM type change between X4 and X5, or can I move spare RAM from the newer one into the older unit?
Thanks!
Hi Ryan,
I actually don’t know what type of memory the X5s have. I can however say that DDR memory is designed to be backward compatible, so even if you install slower memory, it will probably work, just at a slower speed.
As to if it’s “permitted”, I’m afraid that’s a question only Oracle can answer :-).
hi Marc,please can I run MySQL on The ODA