The Most Valuable IT Certification Skill - Oracle Exadata

Recently gone through the foote survey on top demanding IT certification skill by employer. Oracle Exadata certification is one of the hottest certification among them and it is the only from Oracle certification portfolio. If you're looking to improve your skills and possibly your salary, you should go with market trend.

Foote’s rankings are based on data from than 2,600 employers. Value is determined by cash premium, or money that is added to a paycheck in the form a bonus.

Using a bonus, instead of a salary increase, gives employers the flexibility to shift money around as demands for certain skills rise and fall, Foote said.

Foote’s list of the top 10 non-certified skills:

Non-certified skills reflect actual market demand by employers.

1. JavaFX
2. SAP BODI (Business Objects Data Integrator)
3. Business performance management (software/systems)
4. SAP GTS (Global Trade Services)
5. Predictive Analytics and Modeling
6. Oracle Exadata
7. Scrum
8. SAP FI - FSCM (Financial Supply Chain Management)
9. SAP MM (Materials Management)
10. Mobile operating systems

You can follow our Oracle Exadata Certification Exam Material to achieve maximum success in your Exadata certification.

Why You Should Be Oracle Exadata Certified?

What Is Exafusion ?

Exafusion allows database processes to read and send Oracle Real Applications Cluster (Oracle RAC) messages directly over the Infiniband network bypassing the overhead of entering the OS kernel, and running the normal networking software stack.

Benefits

• Lower latency
• Improve response time
• Higher throughput direct to wire block transfers between Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) instances
• Reduced CPU utilization and better scale-out performance
• Exafusion is especially useful for OLTP applications because per message overhead is particularly apparent in small OLTP messages. It helps small messages by bypassing OS network layer overhead. 

Parameter

• EXAFUSION_ENABLED parameter is used to enable or disable the Exafusion accelerate cache fusion protocol feature, which is available on the Linux operating system of Oracle Exadata Database Machine only.
• Exafusion is disabled by default.
• To enable Exafusion, set the EXAFUSION_ENABLED initialization parameter to 1. To disable Exafusion, set the EXAFUSION_ENABLED initialization parameter to 0.
• This parameter cannot be set dynamically. It must be set before instance startup.

Prerequisites and Limitations

• Oracle Storage Server Software release 12.1.2.1.1 or later is required.
• Mellanox ConnectX-2 and ConnectX-3 Host Channel Adapters (HCAs) are required.
• Oracle Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel 2 Quarterly Update 5 (UEK2QU5) kernels (2.6.39-400.2nn) or later are required.
• The Exafusion feature does not support mixed mode operation on an Oracle RAC cluster. Either all the instances in an Oracle RAC cluster must have the feature enabled or none.
• Rolling upgrades of a non-Exafusion enabled Oracle RAC cluster to Exafusion are not supported.
• Exafusion is available only on the Linux operating system of Oracle Exadata Database Machine
• It is not supported on any non-engineered system or SPARC Super Cluster (SSC). If you set the EXAFUSION_ENABLED parameter on a non-supported platform, then the instance will be prevented from starting up, and an ORA-00439: The specified feature is not enabled: string error message is generated.
• This initialization parameter is available starting with Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1.0.2) Bundle Patch 11 (BP11).

 Source: https://docs.oracle.com

Boost your earning with Oracle Certification

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.

Exadata OneCommand Utility Steps

Onecommand:

• Onecommand utility is used to configure the Exadata machine based on given information through OEDA by customer.
• Also whatever steps are performed by oncecommand can be changed based on the customer's required configuration and environment.
• All the steps runs sequentially and each step must be completed before execution of next step.
• Steps can be run individually as well as in one shot with single command.

Below are the steps which need to be executed through onecommand utility. 

Step 0: Validate the environment.

Step 1: Create work directory

Step 2: Unzip files

Step 3: Setup SSH for the root user

Step 4: Update the /etc/hosts file

Step 5: Create the cellip.ora and cellinit.ora files

Step 6: Validate the InfiniBand network

Step 7: Update the cell software

Step 8: Validate the cells

Step 9: Check RDS using the ping command

Step 10: Run CALLIBRATE on the cells

1Z0-485 Exadata Certification Study Guide

Oracle has released new certification for Implementation specialist after 1Z0-536.

Certification Code - 1Z0-485
Certification Name - Oracle ExadataDatabase Machine 2014 Implementation Essentials

You can get detailed Study Guide on below link. Hope it will help you to get certified.

1Z0-485 Certification Study Guide - Oracle ExadataDatabase Machine 2014 Implementation Essentials Study Guide


You can refer 1Z0-485 Q&A here...

Also refer 1Z0-027 (Exadata X3 Administration) Question Bank.

Exadata Documentation Download

You can find all the Exadata documentation on Exadata storage server itself on below location.

/usr/share/doc/oracle/Exadata

In case you don’t have Exadata access or you don’t have Exadata in your organization than you can download Exadata documentation from metalink.

Download patch 10386736 from metalink. All the latest versions are available on this patch.

click on image to enlarge

Oracle Exadata vs IBM Power Systems

Cost comparison for business decision-makers between Oracle Exadata and IBM power system

The FactPoint Group is a Silicon Valley-based research, and consulting firm that is dedicated to the business improvement of its clients.Factpoint Group has conducted survey for Exadata vs IBM Power system with the help of customers as well as technical team who are using these systems.

The research produce TCO comparison for both the systems which includes:

• Acquisition costs
• Implementation and deployment costs
• Operations and maintenance costs for three years.

Below are the major points which were included in the research.

Implementation Cost

As per  research Oracle Exadata require 59% fewer man-hours than the traditional IBM system.

Implementation Time

Implementation of Exadata can be completed within one week where IBM system requires 3 week for implementation.

Operation and Maintenance labor

How to move a datafile from one ASM disk group to another

Explaining how to move datafile from one ASM DG to another.

Note: Database must be in archivelog mode before doing this activity.

1. Find the name of the datafile that you're going to migrate

SQL> SELECT file_name FROM dba_data_files;

FILE_NAME

----------------------------------------------

+DATA/mydb/datafile/system.312.825938943

+DATA/mydb/datafile/sysaux.313.825938957

+DATA/mydb/datafile/undotbs1.314.825938971

+DATA/mydb/datafile/undotbs2.315.825938991

+DATA/mydb/datafile/users.317.825939005

+DATA/mydb/datafile/mydb01.dbf

+RECO/mydb/datafile/mydb_tbs.7665.836338453 <Moving this file from +RECO to +DATA

7 rows selected.

2. Take the datafile offline

SQL> Alter database datafile '+RECO/mydb/datafile/mydb_tbs.7665.836338453' offline;

Database altered.

3. Copy the file using RMAN:

What is Total Cost of Ownership? (TCO)

Total cost of ownership (TCO) is a financial estimate intended to help buyers and owners determine the direct and indirect costs of a product or system.

Total Cost of Ownership is the combined hard and soft costs of owning networked information assets. 'Hard' costs include items such as the purchase price of the asset, implementation fees, upgrades, maintenance contracts, support contracts, and disposal costs. These costs are considered 'hard costs' because they are tangible and easily accounted for. Even more significant in most environments however, are the 'soft' costs related to management, support, training, hidden costs, and downtime. Because they don't occur at acquisition time, they are often overlooked in budgets, often leading to unexpected increases or worse, a transfer of management and support responsibility to end users.

Although many companies factor TCO into the purchasing equation, they often underestimate the hidden costs of a new technology solution, which can result in negative consequences. For example, if don’t have the resources you need to adequately maintain a solution, you may skip upgrades and patches required to keep the solution running securely and at peak performance. Or, if you misjudge the time and expense needed to train employees on a new product or service, they may never use it productively.
While TCO helps you to determine hidden costs of a new technology solution, return on investment (ROI) analysis helps to illuminate benefits that may not be readily apparent, such as improved employee productivity or increased customer satisfaction. ROI assessments can be more subjective in nature than TCO, because these indirect benefits are usually harder to measure than direct costs.

When two solutions provide roughly equivalent benefits over the solution lifecycle, but have different types of costs associated with acquisition, maintenance and operation, a TCO comparison gives you a framework to better evaluate competing solutions to a problem, and avoid getting stuck with hidden costs and unwanted surprises.
For instance, a cloud or software-as-a-service (SaaS) customer management solution may provide business benefits very similar to what an in-house customer management solution would provide. However, TCO over a given time period may vary greatly. That’s because the very different business and delivery models and the cost and pricing structures for cloud computing and on-premise solution significantly affect TCO.

For example, on-site solutions usually require significant upfront capital expenditures for hardware, software and application software, along with IT resources to install and configure these components. As a result, first-year costs for on-site solutions are often much higher than those associated with SaaS or cloud computing solutions, and total costs to maintain and manage on-site infrastructure and solutions continue to be a factor over time. On the flip side, TCO analysis may actually favor on-site solutions as the number of users rises and the total time period factored into the calculation increases.

What to Consider

Think about your business and how long you expect to be using a particular solution. In the case of a core business solution, such as accounting or financial, many companies look at a TCO a period of four or five years (generally thought of as the useful life of hardware and software without the need for major replacements).
In less core or strategic areas — which will vary from business to business — you may want to look at TCO over a shorter time period. Regardless, TCO calculations usually include several categories and components, such as:

• Planning and selection: How long will it take to evaluate the solution, the vendor and service level agreements (if applicable)? Consider whether you can try the product for free and/or if you need to invest money or resources to set up a test environment.

• IT infrastructure requirements: For on-site solutions, do you need to buy hardware and software upfront to run the solution? What associated expenses will you have for space, power and cooling? Consider if you will you need to add, shift or outsource IT personnel to manage and maintain the infrastructure, and how much this will cost. For a SaaS or cloud solution, do you need to upgrade or add networking capabilities or bandwidth?

• Application subscription or license costs: What is the per user charge for the license (on-site) solution, or the per user subscription fee (cloud or SaaS solution)? Are ongoing maintenance costs for patches, bug-fixes, upgrades, etc. included in this price or billed separately?

• Application design, configuration and implementation: What resources (internal and/or external) will it take to design and configure the solution so it fits your business needs? Factor in relevant data migration, integration and customization costs, and any system testing necessary.

• Administration and maintenance: For an on-site solution, what is required to transition daily system administration to your internal staff? How much time, resources and money will you need to invest to manage, upgrade, trouble-shoot, patch, etc. over the solution lifecycle?

• Training costs: What IT administrative training and/or end-user costs are involved to get everyone on board and productive in using the solution.

While TCO is very important for most companies, you should also consider other factors — including contract terms, service level agreements, data security requirements and customization and integration needs — just to name a few. Many companies under-invest when it comes to thoroughly evaluating IT solution requirements and options.

You can get TCO comparision between Oracle Exadata and IBM Power system HERE...

Exadata X4 series launched

                      http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/press/2079925

Exadata Features

Let's make a note of major features of exadata. We will see all the features in depth in next couple of posts.

1. Smart Scan / Offloading
2. Storage Index
3. Hybrid Columnar Compression (HCC)
4. Smart Flash Cache
5. IORM