Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 11
covers high availability considerations in much more detail. Depending on
business case, you might choose to simply deploy Real Application Clusters for high
availability or develop a complete disaster recovery plan that includes Data Guard. Dis‐
aster recovery distances for Oracle-engineered systems connected by InfiniBand were
limited to distances of 100 meters prior to the introduction of repeaters.
Part of such a strategy often includes additional hardware components including storage
expansion racks and backup devices. For example, Exadata Storage Expansion Racks,
holding up to 18 Exadata Storage Server cells, can be configured to support an online
ILM deployment scenario when connected via InfiniBand to the Oracle Exadata Data‐
base Machine or SuperCluster. The Sun ZFS Storage Appliance provides “near-line”
storage for RMAN-initiated backup and recovery and can provide over a petabyte of
storage. When connected via InfiniBand, it has demonstrated NFS-based backup per‐
formance of over 20 TB per hour and restoration rates of over 9 TB per hour. Where
larger capacities must be backed up, Oracle has tape libraries that can offer practical
solutions.
Justifying an Oracle Engineered System
Engineered systems are generally implemented during deployment of new projects, to
overcome issues caused by the current infrastructure, or for purposes of data center
consolidation. Applications deployed on other platforms running Oracle can move un‐
changed onto Oracle's engineered systems since the Oracle database versions are con‐
sistent and platform optimizations are transparent across the various Oracle-supported
hardware platforms. So, Oracle mandates no special certification process for applica‐
tions to run on the Oracle-engineered systems other than running on supported data‐
base versions for those platforms. A few applications providers have mandated their
own certification process, however, and it is a good idea to check with your application
providers regarding their policies and Oracle database versions supported.
Commonly cited reasons for choosing to deploy engineered systems instead of tradi‐
tional commodity servers, storage, and components include:
• Reduced time to system delivery
• Improved Oracle database performance enabling new business revenue growth or
cost savings
• Reduced total cost of power
• Reduced floor space footprint
• Reduced cost and complexity of management
• Improved time to problem resolution
