Database Reference
In-Depth Information
Oracle Database Appliance X3-2
The next release of the ODA resulted in some major networking changes. The X3-2 model no longer includes a fiber
network card. This change caught quite a few ODA customers—and even a few people inside Oracle, as well as its
partners—by surprise, since some customers only support fiber for their 10G networks.
In the end, some customers settled on a solution of bridging 10G copper from an ODA to a network fabric
extender or switch. From the switch, 10G fiber could be deployed to their data center fiber network. Oracle even
started selling switches for this purpose. This workaround to 10G fiber support can be a little pricey, so you will need
to account for the costs.
Oracle can change the supported networks as new models are released, so it's possible that 10G fiber support
may come back in the future. You need to check the Oracle manuals for every new release to review any changes to
the number or types of networks included.
The X3-2 ODA model migrated from a single encapsulated box with two server nodes and a set of disk drives to
a modular design with two servers from the general Oracle X3-2 server line, with one or two separate storage units.
The new, modular X3-2 ODA comes with support for four external network interfaces. The networks can be 100M,
1G, or 10G. The connections are copper only, and the network speeds are autonegotiated.
Oracle's release of multiple products with the X3-2 name was a little confusing at first. You could order an X3-2
server as a standalone ASR server or as an Exadata Platinum Support Gateway, and you could order an X3-2 Oracle
Database Appliance and also an X3-2 Exadata machine.
The networks available for the X3-2 ODA model are listed in Table
5-2
. The X3-2 ODA has two server nodes,
and each server will contain the network interfaces listed in the table.
Table 5-2.
Networks Deployed on the Second-Generation ODA Model
Network
Bond / Ports
Usage
100M/1G/10G Copper
Bond: bond0 - Ports: eth2,
eth3 (labeled as net0, net1)
Two 100/1000/10000 copper ports that can be used for
the public network. The ODA deployment process will
target bond0 as the public network.
100M/1G/10G Copper
Bond: bond1 - Ports: eth4,
eth5 (labeled as net2, net3)
Two 100/1000/10000 copper ports that are typically
used for the backup or other network of your choice.
Management
NetMgt
This is the 10/100 Mbps RJ45 network connection
for the ILOM connection. This is a single, unbonded
connection.
Serial connection
SerMgt
This connection is used to support either a serial
connection from an external KVM (keyboard, video,
mouse) appliance or device, or from your laptop to
deploy the ODA.
The Oracle Appliance Manager Configurator utility used to deploy an ODA will assume that the network
connections are bonded. However it is possible to deploy networks as standalone nonredundant connections by
skipping the bonding. In order to do this, some manual work is involved and the process is not included in the
standard ODA documentation. You'll probably need to ask an experienced sysadmin to give you a hand if you decide
to deploy the networks outside the process that comes out-of-the-box with an ODA.
The X3-2 ODA network details are covered in Part Two of the Oracle Database Appliance Owner's Guide in the
chapter titled “Attaching Cables and Power Cords, and Powering On Oracle Database Appliance X3-2.” This chapter
is mainly focused on the implementing the cabling shipped with an ODA to connect all of the ODA components
together. You have to read the chapter closely to find the details on the external network connections. Additional
reference information can be found in Chapter 1 and Appendix A of the ODA Getting Started Guide.
