Oracle Database Appliance
(ODA) is a bundle of two server nodes that include storage and embedded cluster networking. Each server node has an Integrated Lights Out Manager (ILOM) interface that is used for management and maintenance tasks.
In general, an ODA consists of a single-box device that contains the hardware, networking, storage and software. It is a two node Oracle Linux RAC cluster in a single box with shared storage and networking all included in the box. It is built and configured with redundancy to achieve continuous availability in the event of component failures.
- Pre-built
- Pre-configured
- Pre-tested
- Pre-validated
- Pre-tuned
- Simple to deploy
To help customers easily deploy and manage their databases, Oracle Database Appliance comes with Appliance Manager software to simplify the administration and diagnosis of the system. Appliance Manager handles the Provisioning, Storage Management (ASM), Patching and Validation, and Diagnostics (Auto Service Request (ASR)).
Software Options: Oracle Database Appliance (ODA) can run Oracle Database Enterprise Edition or Oracle Database Standard Edition and offers customers the option of running single-instance databases as well as clustered databases utilizing Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) or Oracle RAC One Node for “active-active” or “active-passive” database server failover. Oracle Linux and Appliance Manager come Pre-Installed; Oracle VM (OVM, KVM) is included, but optional.
Oracle Exadata
Oracle Exadata is a database machine designed by Oracle that provides users with optimized functionality pertaining to enterprise class databases and their associated workloads. Exadata is a composite database server machine that uses Oracle Database, Oracle Exadata Storage Server, on Oracle hardware server equipment.
Software Options: Oracle Database Enterprise Edition 11g, 12c, 18c and 19c, Oracle Linux, Oracle Real Application Clusters, Oracle Partitioning, as well as Enterprise Options and Management Packs. Exadata’s exclusive features are smart scan, Hybrid Columnar Compression, and Storage Indexes.
Exadata in the Cloud
Customers can run Oracle databases in the cloud on Exadata, with the same performance and availability being deployed in Exadata on-premises. Exadata Cloud Service combines Oracle Database, and Exadata, with the cloud. This service includes all Oracle Database options and features, Enterprise Options and Management Packs. Exadata can be purchased and deployed on premises as the ideal foundation for a private database cloud, or can be acquired using a subscription model and deployed in the Oracle Public Cloud or Cloud at Customer with all infrastructure management performed by Oracle. Exadata Cloud Service instances require Enterprise Edition – Extreme Performance.
NOTE:
- Licensing is not automatically included. Each Oracle solution in the bundle needs to have its own individual licensing.Please note that the licenses for the storage software are purchased as a separate line item with Exadata, while Oracle Database, Management Packs and Options are not included with the purchase of Exadata hardware. Customers may either purchase them at the same time or utilize existing Oracle licenses. Only Linux support is included with Exadata hardware support.
- Oracle Virtual Machine (OVM) – Oracle Virtual Machine is being discontinued. Oracle Linux Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) a virtualization solution is meant to replace OVM. The New Exadata X8M is standardized on KVM-based virtualization.
Hard Partitioning with ODA and Exadata
In addition to OVM/KVM capabilities of core pinning Oracle offers other methods to limit the number of processors/cores that require Oracle licensing. Capacity on Demand is a popular method that can be requested at the time of installation. Exadata can also be segmented using Oracle Trusted Partitions following Oracle’s hard partitioning guidelines. *Please contact Miro for additional information about acceptable methods of hard partitioning with Oracle Engineered Systems.
Differences:
Oracle Database Appliance is not Exadata. Exadata is a pre-configured combination of hardware and software that provides an infrastructure solely for running Oracle Database. Oracle Database Appliance (ODA) is an integrated highly available (HA) database and applications system in a single box. Exadata is not an appliance, the ODA is. An “appliance” is a server meant for specific responsibilities; compared to a purpose-based database system, like Exadata, which is a high-performance server specifically to handle the database. The ODA is geared towards small and medium-sized environments, whereas Exadata is for large environments with an eye on extreme performance.
Oracle Exalogic
Exalogic is an integrated middleware machine—a combined hardware and software appliance. It is a factory assembled rack of 42 rack units, complete with servers and network equipment. There are 4 configurations, at different prices, depending on what fills the rack. A full rack contains 30 server nodes, a half rack, 16, a quarter rack, 8, and an eighth rack, 4. It is also an “engineered system” that is prepackaged hardware plus software solution, designed to be managed and monitored as a single stack. It’s designed to provide high performance for Oracle middleware using custom Java EE applications, Oracle Applications, and similar enterprise level applications.
It is a collection of storage, compute, network, operating system and software products that are integrated, tested, tuned, optimized, delivered and supported by Oracle as a single factory-assembled unit. Exalogic supports CICS applications and COBOL (Oracle Tuxedo ART), Java SE and EE applications, the vast majority of the Oracle Fusion Middleware portfolio and standard Linux and Solaris applications. All servers have an installed cluster configuration of Oracle WebLogic Server and distributed memory cache Oracle Coherence. To run Java applications on a machine there is a choice of HotSpot or JRockit. Oracle Enterprise Manager toolset is pre-installed.
Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud, is a preconfigured clustered application server for cloud computing with elastic computing abilities. Exalogic is a cluster of x86-64-servers running Oracle Linux or Solaris preinstalled. It is specifically designed to provide enterprises with a foundation for secure, mission-critical private Cloud; capable of large scale on demand, high-performance, and ease of management. Comprised of Exabus, which is a set of hardware, firmware, and software optimizations that enable the operating system, middleware components, and even certain Oracle applications to make full use of the InfiniBand fabric and the Oracle Traffic Director. Oracle‘s entire Fusion Middleware portfolio is designed for deployment on Exalogic. Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud Software includes a number of optimizations and enhancements made to the core products within Oracle WebLogic, the essential Java foundation on which Oracles next-generation applications are being developed.
Summary:
Oracle Fusion Middleware applications will interact with an Oracle Database. An Oracle Database Appliance is a great option for small or midsize companies and offers an affordable way for organizations to run Oracle databases and applications. However, with Exadata and Exalogic you can obtain maximum performance on a larger scale. Additionally, if Exalogic is connected to Exadata, you have the option of communicating with the database using IP over Infiniband (IPoIB) for increased performance.
Exadata and Exalogic are part of Oracle’s paradigm of “purpose-built systems” that provide pretested and preconfigured standardized sets of hardware, smart storage, and network and software components. The key goals are rapid implementation, high speed processing, and scalability on demand. The fundamental idea behind Oracle’s engineered systems – that standardizing and optimizing all the components will provide a higher performance through the exploitation of the synergies among the various components seems to be borne by the experience of users.