Resource Control in Exadata

We can check enabled resources (CPUs, RAM) with below command on exadata.

Sample output from one storage cell of Exadata 1/8th Rack

[root@cell01 ~]# /opt/oracle.SupportTools/resourcecontrol -show

[INFO] Validated hardware and OS. Proceed.

[SHOW] Number of cores active per socket: 3

[SHOW] Number of harddisks active - 6.

[SHOW] Number of flashdisks active - 8.

1/8th Exadata Rack comes with same hardware as quarter rack, but only half of the resources would be enabled on each 1/8th storage cell So, if in future if we need to upgrade 1/8th rack to quarter rack then we can use this utility to enable rest all the resources.

Above example shows all the enabled resources on one storage cell.

Useful Oracle Exadata Metalink Notes

Thought to list down some Exadata Document metalink which you can keep as a reference for lifetime.

Doc ID	Document Description
888828.1	Exadata Database Machine and Exadata Storage Server Supported Versions
1270094.1	Exadata Critical Issues
1353073.1	Exadata Diagnostics Collection Guide
1187674.1	Master Note for Oracle Exadata Database Machine and Oracle Exadata Stororage Server
1483344.1	Exadata Platinum Customer Outage Classifications and Restoration Action Plans
1571965.1	Maximizing Availability with Engineered Systems - Exadata
1262380.1	Exadata Testing Practices and Patching Explained
1306814.1	Oracle Software Patching with OPLAN
1110675.1	Oracle Exadata Database Machine Monitoring
1070954.1	Database Machine Healthcheck (Exachk)
1094934.1	Best Practices for Data Warehousing on the Database Machine
1269706.1	Best Practices for OLTP Applications on the Database Machine
1071221.1	Oracle Sun Database Machine Backup and Recovery Best Practices
1054431.1	Configuring DBFS on Oracle Exadata Database Machine
1084360.1	Bare Metal Restore Procedure for Compute Nodes on an Exadata Environment (Linux)
1339769.1	Master Note for Oracle Database Resource Manager
960510.1	Data Guard Transport Considerations on Oracle Database Machine
1551288.1	Understanding ASM Capacity and Reservation of Free Space in Exadata
401749.1	Shell Script to Calculate Values Recommended Linux HugePages / HugeTLB Configuration
1009715.1	Integrated Lights Out Manager (ILOM) CLI Quick Reference
1070954.1	Oracle Exadata Database Machine exachk or HealthCheck
1317159.1	Changing IP addresses on Exadata Database Machine
1244344.1	Exadata Starter Kit
1537407.1	Requirements and restrictions when using Oracle Database 12c on Exadata Database Machine
1551288.1	Understanding ASM Capacity and Reservation of Free Space in Exadata
1459611.1	How to Calculate Usable_FILE_MB / REQUIRED_MIRROR_FREE_MB
361468.1	HugePages on Oracle Linux 64-bit
761868.1	Oracle Exadata Diagnostic Information required for Disk Failures and some other Hardware issues
10386736	Documentation for Exadata 11.2 & 12.1

You can follow  our   Exadata Certification Question   to   achieve   maximum success in your Exadata exam.

Exadata Monitoring Command

Additional monitoring commands which are required with usual DBA skill set on DB and CELL server.

Database Server

    Linux: top, mpstat, vmstat, iostat, fdisk, ustat, sar, sysinfo

    Exadata: dcli

    ASM: asmcmd, asmca

    Clusterware: crsctl, srvctl

Cell Server

    Linux: top, mpstat, vmstat, iostat, fdisk, ustat, sar, sysinfo

    Cell management: cellcli, cellsrvstat


                                    Exadata Monitoring Tools

Study Guide for 1Z0-027 Certification

Exadata Database Machine Overview

• Identify the benefits of using Database Machine for different application classes
• Describe the integration of the Database Machine with Oracle Database Clusterware and ASM
• Describe Exadata Storage Server and the different Database Machine configurations
• Describe the key capacity and performance specifications for Database Machine
• Describe the key benefits associated with Database Machine

Exadata Database Machine Architecture

• Describe the Database Machine network architecture
• Describe the Database Machine software architecture
• Describe the Exadata Storage Server storage entities and their relationships
• Describe how multiple Database Machines can be interconnected
• Describe site planning requirements for Database Machine
• Describe network requirements for Database Machine

Key Capabilities of Exadata Database Machine

• Describe the key capabilities of Exadata Database Machine
• Describe the Exadata Smart Scan capabilities
• Describe the capabilities of hybrid columnar compression
• Describe the capabilities and uses of the Smart Flash Cache
• Describe the capabilities of the Smart Flash Log
• Describe the purpose and benefits of Storage Indexes
• Describe the capabilities and uses of Exadata Secure Erase

Exadata Database Machine Initial Configuration

Oracle Exadata default passwords

When Exadata get deployed,  by default it configured with Oracle standard username and password. As per good practice you should always change default password once Exadata handed over to you from Oracle. Below is the list of default Users and Passwords for Exadata.

Database Server

root/welcome1

oracle/welcome1

grid/welcome1

grub/sos1Exadata

Database server ILOMs

root/welcome1

Exadata Storage Cell Server

root/welcome1

celladmin/welcome1

cellmonitor/welcome1

Download Free Oracle Exadata Certification Exam Dumps

Exadata Storage Cell Server ILOMs

Exadata Installation Activities

Implementation of Exadata done by Oracle ACS team so many time we are curious to know that what exactly they are doing so here we have listed down the list of activities which can be done by Oracle in various phases.

1.  Configuration worksheet

2.  Pre-delivery Survey

(ACS Team Activity)

3.  Generic Config Files based on Configuration Worksheet

4.  Run checkip.sh

(Oracle H/W Team Activity)

5.  Power on and validate all the components

6.  Configure KVM

7.  Configure Infiniband Swithces

8.  Configure Cisco Switch

9.  Configure IP to PDUs

10. Storage Cell validation

11. Compute Node validation

(ACS Team Activity)

12. Transfer configuration files from USB to DB node

13. Execute firstboot and applyconfig.sh

14. Stage Oracle Software on Node 1

15. Run OneCommand

                                           ASR Installation

Exadata Interview Questions - Part 1

Get an e-book of Exadata Interview Questions and Answers to stay miles ahead of your competition..!!!

• What is Exadata?
• Key components of Exadata
• Features of Exadata
• Exadata Sizing
• Difference between ordinary database setup and Exadata
• What is storage index and how it works
• Use of Flash Cache
• Background services of Cell Server
• What is cellcli?
• How to replace faulty HDD in Exadata?
• How to remove and add cell storage to running system?
• How to migrate database from normal setup to Exadata ?
• Exdata Shutdown procedure
• Which OS is supported by Exadata?
• What is ASR?
• How to integrate Exadata with OEM 12c?
• How to upgrade firmware of Exadata components?
• How to upgrade Exadata?
• Where we can define which cell storage can be used by particular database server?
• How to check Exadata health check?
• What is EHCC?
• Options to configure backup and recovery for Exadata
• What is offloading and how it works?
• What is cellcli and dcli?

Get Questions with answers HERE....

You can follow our Exadata Certification Question Bank to achieve maximum success in your Exadata certification.

Exadata X2-3 Sizing

Eighth Rack

2 x Database Servers

Includes:

-  2 x Eight-Core Intel® Xeon® E5-2690 Processors (2.9 GHz)

-  256GB Memory

-  Disk Controller HBA with 512MB Battery Backed Write Cache

-  4 x 300 GB 10,000 RPM Disks

-  2 x QDR (40Gb/s) Ports

-  4 x 1/10 Gb Ethernet Ports (copper)

-  2 x 10 Gb Ethernet Ports (optical)

-  1 x ILOM Ethernet Port

-  2 x Redundant Hot-Swappable Power Supplies

-  16 CPU cores and 512 GB memory for database processing (8 CPU cores per Database Server are enabled with 256 GB  memory per Database Server)

3 x Exadata Storage Servers X3-2

Includes:  

- 36 CPU cores for SQL processing (18 cores enabled)

- 12 PCI flash cards (6 cards enabled) with 2.4 TB Exadata Smart Flash Cache

- 18 x 600 GB 15,000 RPM High Performance disks or 18 x 3 TB 7,200 RPM High Capacity disks (6 disks per storage Server enabled)

2 x 36 port QDR (40 Gb/sec) InfiniBand Switches

Quarter Rack

2 x Database Servers

Includes:

-  2 x Eight-Core Intel® Xeon® E5-2690 Processors (2.9 GHz)

-  256GB Memory

-  Disk Controller HBA with 512MB Battery Backed Write Cache

-  4 x 300 GB 10,000 RPM Disks

-  2 x QDR (40Gb/s) Ports

-  4 x 1/10 Gb Ethernet Ports (copper)

-  2 x 10 Gb Ethernet Ports (optical)

-  1 x ILOM Ethernet Port

-  2 x Redundant Hot-Swappable Power Supplies

- 32 CPU cores and 512 GB memory for database processing (16 CPU cores and 256 GB memory per Database Server)

3 x Exadata Storage Servers X3-2

Includes:

-  36 CPU cores for SQL processing

- 12 PCI flash cards with 4.8 TB Exadata Smart Flash Cache

-  36 x 600 GB 15,000 RPM High Performance disks or 36 x 3 TB 7,200 RPM High Capacity disks

2 x 36 port QDR (40 Gb/sec) InfiniBand Switches

Half Rack

4 x Database Servers

Includes:

-  2 x Eight-Core Intel® Xeon® E5-2690 Processors (2.9 GHz)

-  256GB Memory

-  Disk Controller HBA with 512MB Battery Backed Write Cache

-  4 x 300 GB 10,000 RPM Disks

-  2 x QDR (40Gb/s) Ports

-  4 x 1/10 Gb Ethernet Ports (copper)

-  2 x 10 Gb Ethernet Ports (optical)

-  1 x ILOM Ethernet Port

-  2 x Redundant Hot-Swappable Power Supplies

-  64 CPU cores and 1 TB memory for database processing (16 CPU cores and 256 GB memory per Database Server)

7 x Exadata Storage Servers X3-2

Includes:

-  84 CPU cores for SQL processing

- 28 PCI flash cards with 11.2 TB Exadata Smart Flash Cache

-  84 x 600 GB 15,000 RPM High Performance disks or 36 x 3 TB 7,200 RPM High Capacity disks

3 x 36 port QDR (40 Gb/sec) InfiniBand Switches

Full Rack

8 x Database Servers

Includes:

-  2 x Eight-Core Intel® Xeon® E5-2690 Processors (2.9 GHz)

-  256GB Memory

-  Disk Controller HBA with 512MB Battery Backed Write Cache

-  4 x 300 GB 10,000 RPM Disks

-  2 x QDR (40Gb/s) Ports

-  4 x 1/10 Gb Ethernet Ports (copper)

-  2 x 10 Gb Ethernet Ports (optical)

-  1 x ILOM Ethernet Port

-  2 x Redundant Hot-Swappable Power Supplies

-  128 CPU cores and 2 TB memory for database processing (16 CPU cores and 256 GB memory per Database Server)

14 x Exadata Storage Servers X3-2

Includes:

-  168 CPU cores for SQL processing

-  55 PCI flash cards with 22.4 TB Exadata Smart Flash Cache

-  168 x 600 GB 15,000 RPM High Performance disks or 36 x 3 TB 7,200 RPM High Capacity disks

3 x 36 port QDR (40 Gb/sec) InfiniBand Switches

Additional Hardware for all the rack

Includes:

-  Ethernet switch for administration of the Database Machine

-  2 x Redundant Power Distributions Units (PDUs)

-  42U rack packaging

Exadata X-2 Sizing

Quarter Rack

1. 2 x Database Servers, each with: 

Includes:

- 2 x Six-Core Intel® Xeon® X5675 (3.06 GHz)
- 96 GB Memory (expandable to144GB)
- Disk Controller HBA with 512MB Battery Backed Write Cache
- 4 x 300 GB 10,000 RPM SAS Disks
- 2 x QDR (40Gb/s) Ports
- 2 x 10 Gb Ethernet Ports based on the Intel 82599 10GbE Controller
- 4 x 1 Gb Ethernet Ports
- 1 x ILOM Ethernet Port
- 2 x Redundant Hot-Swappable Power Supplies 

2. 3 x Exadata Storage Servers X2-2 with 12 x 600 GB 15,000 RPM High Performance SAS disks or 12 x 3 TB 7,200 RPM High Capacity SAS disks

Includes:

- 36 CPU cores for SQL processing
- 1.1 TB Exadata Smart Flash Cache
- 2 x 36 port QDR (40 Gb/sec) InfiniBand Switches 

3. 2 x 36 port QDR (40 Gb/sec) InfiniBand Switches

Half Rack

1. 4 x Database Servers

Includes:

- 2 x Six-Core Intel® Xeon® X5675 Processors (3.06 GHz)
- 96 GB Memory (expandable to 144GB)
- Disk Controller HBA with 512MB Battery Backed Write Cache
- 4 x 300 GB 10,000 RPM SAS Disks
- 2 x QDR (40Gb/s) Ports
- 2 x 10 Gb Ethernet Ports based on the Intel 82599 10GbE Controller
- 4 x 1 Gb Ethernet Ports
- 1 x ILOM Ethernet Port
- 2 x Redundant Hot-Swappable Power Supplies

2. 3 x 36 port QDR (40 Gb/sec) InfiniBand Switches

3. 7 x Exadata Storage Servers X2-2 with12 x 600 GB 15,000 RPM High Performance SAS disks or 12 x 3 TB 7,200 RPM High Capacity SAS disks

Includes:

- 84 CPU cores for SQL processing
- 2.6 TB Exadata Smart Flash Cache

Full Rack 

1. 8 x Database Servers

Includes:

- 2 x Six-Core Intel® Xeon® X5675 Processors (3.06 GHz)
- 96 GB Memory (expandable to 144GB)
- Disk Controller HBA with 512MB Battery Backed Write Cache
- 4 x 300 GB 10,000 RPM SAS Disks
- 2 x QDR (40Gb/s) Ports
- 2 x 10 Gb Ethernet Ports based on the Intel 82599 10GbE Controller
- 4 x 1 Gb Ethernet Ports
- 1 x ILOM Ethernet Port
- 2 x Redundant Hot-Swappable Power Supplies

2. 3 x 36 port QDR (40 Gb/sec) InfiniBand Switches

3. 14 x Exadata Storage Servers X2-2 with 12 x 600 GB 15,000 RPM High Performance SAS disks or 12 x 3 TB 7,200 RPM High Capacity SAS disks

Includes:

- 168 CPU cores for SQL processing
- 5.3 TB Exadata Smart Flash Cache 

Additional Hardware :

All the rack will includes:

- Ethernet switch for administration of the Database Machine
- Keyboard, Video or Visual Display Unit, Mouse (KVM) hardware for local administration
- 2 x Redundant Power Distributions Units (PDUs)
- 42U rack packaging

History of Exadata

First Oracle's exadata was released in 2008 known as hardware and software engineered to work together. Since than we have seen 6 release of exadata machine with improved the combination of hardware and software. Latest X5-2 released in 2015. Here we have given short history of each version from V1 to X5-2.

V1: The first Exadata was released in 2008 and labeled as V1. It was a combination of HP hardware and Oracle software. There were no flash cache used in this version. At that time Exadata was made specially for Data ware housing only. This product was not accepted widely as it was suffered from overheating. 

V2: After V1 Oracle has launched Exadata V2 in 2009. It was a combination of Sun hardware and Oracle software. Here in V2 Oracle has upgraded storage cell with 384 GB of Exadata smart cache. Many o the customer has changed the Exadata from V to V2 because of the overheating problem in Exadata V1.

X2: This is the third edition of Oracle Exadata released in 2010.There are two version X2-2 stands for dual core CPUs and X2-8 stands for 8 core CPUs database server. This version is supporting both OLTP and Data warehouse. Also this has massive features compare to older Exadata in terms of CPUs, Memory, Compression, Smart scan etc...

X3: This is the forth edition of Exadata released in 2012. There is no much more difference between X2 and X3 except in CPU and RAM. This version has more RAM and CPU power then the previous one.

X4: It was released in 2013. In this version processing was increased to 2×12 core CPUs. It had the capacity to upgrade memory to 512GB in a compute node. Flash and disk storage was also increased. It featured a new model of high-capacity disk. 600GB disks were retired, and included 1.2TB, 10,000 RPM disks. These disks were a smaller form factor (2.5” vs 3.5”). The other big change with the X4-2 was the introduction of an active/active InfiniBand network connection. On the X4-2, Oracle broke the bonded connection and utilized each InfiniBand port independently. This allowed an increased throughput across the InfiniBand fabric.

X5: It was announced in early 2015, the sixth generation of Exadata. The X5-2 was a dramatic change in the platform, removing the high-performance Disk option in favor of an all-flash, NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express) model. High-capacity disk sizes remain the same at 4TB per disk. The size of the flash cards doubled to 6.4TB per storage server. Memory stayed consistent with a base of 256GB, upgradeable to 768 GB, and the CPU core count increased to 18 cores per socket. With X5, customers are allowed to purchase X5-2 with any configuration required—a base rack begins with two compute nodes and three storage servers.

Exadata Certification Course Contents

Please go through below link to get the course contents for Exadata Certification.

                                                     Exadata Course

X2-2 Exadata Machine Overview

Exadata Machine

-Database Servers, Storage and Network in a Single Enclosure

-High Bandwidth Network Connects Database and Storage Servers

-Intelligent Storage Filters Data and Minimizes Network Traffic

-Optimized for Both Data Warehouse and OLTP Activity

-Available in two variants, X2-2 and X2-8

-Available Full, half and Quarter Racks

Machine Configuration 

-8 Intel-based Dual-processor Database Servers (Sun Fire X4170 M2)

-96 cores (12 per server)

-768 GB memory (96GB per server)

-10 GigE connectivity to Data Center

-16 x 10GbE ports (2 per server)

-14 Exadata Storage Servers X2-2 All with High Performance 600GB SAS disks OR All with High Capacity 2 TB SAS disks

-3 Sun Datacenter InfiniBand Switch 36

-36-port Managed QDR (40Gb/s) switch

-1 “Admin” Cisco Ethernet switch

-Keyboard, Video, Mouse (KVM) hardware

-Redundant Power Distributions Units (PDUs)

Grid 

Flash