Slide Transition:
First, Oracle is simplifying I.T. by engineering hardware and software to work together, upending the longstanding industry practice of cobbling together different components.
Oracle's strategy is based on these 4 elements:
Best in class: We're innovating at every layer of the stack, and delivering best in class products – in servers, storage, Operating Systems, virtualization, enterprise management, and in in databases, middleware and applications. We work in heterogeneous environments.
Vertically integrate for extreme differentiation: We vertically integrate those pieces where we own the IP. Take those very same piece-part capabilities that I described and bring them together into vertically integrated systems for extreme improvement in performance and TCO for our customers.
we do it as part of our R&D, not part of your IT budget. with things like integrated systems and engineered systems, where we bring the hardware and software and we engineer them together, is we actually engineer out services. We're in the services business in that we do it as a pre-provisioned product and a solution.
Industry capabilities: solve our customers' problems that are unique by industry.
Deployment choice: deliver with whatever architecture is best suited for the customer (ability to deliver all the capabilities I just described any way the customer wants to get them, through whatever delivery architectures are appropriate for them.
There are many ways Oracle is optimizing and transforming existing data centers, including any or a mixture or the following:
First of all, all of those best in class products are engineered to provide the best results in their respective categories.
In addition, they are engineered to work together, and that alone simplifies a great deal for IT organizations. These become the building blocks that customers can build their solutions, but they have already been engineered to work together.
» Or we can to all the way to the massively simplified, purpose-built Engineered Systems, such as Exadata, Exalogic and the new Exalytics, and the general purpose engineered system, the SPARC SuperCluster.
» But since customers have a wide variety of needs, we take this even further with our Optimized Solutions, which provide flexible, predictable guided deployments that reduce risk, lower TCO and improve productivity that customer build on top of Best-in-Class products or the SPARC SuperCluster.
With Oracle Optimized Solutions, you are able to select the best solution for a particular problem and then integrate the parts. In this case, you have a guided deployment, you know that all of the parts are designed to work together in an optimal fashion, you have the flexibility to change or substitute various components, but you know it’s going to work at the end and you purchased it all from one company so service is easier. A that’s a big win.
Additional Information:
In fact, this illustrates Oracle’s overall strategy for transforming the datacenter.
Today’s IT infrastructure is massively customized
with mix & match technologies that have led to this enormous IT complexity and rising costs. Duplicate systems, proliferating and inconsistent data about customers, employees, products and services, and makeshift integrations lead to longer times to market, poor customer service, inefficient processes and lost opportunities for achieving economies of scale. The complex web of systems and processes results in long lead-times for projects and increasing pressures on datacenter power and cooling. Systems are relatively fragile and risky to modify.
Focused on components (perhaps pools of compute or storage components)
Services/Labor intensive (internal or external resources): implementation, integration and ongoing maintenance
Application / Services deployments are Unique drives up cost/time/fragility, slows down agility/speed of changes
Most Vendors and Customers are focused on Infrastructure Building Blocks as the future direction
Incremental Improvements via low-level building blocks (e.g. Server virtualization):
Most companies and vendors are able to achieve incremental improvements and efficiencies through server virtualization, and moving towards virtualized pools of compute, storage & network resources.
Typically low-level hardware and hypervisor/server building blocks, not application oriented
Limited to incremental improvements
Oracle offers this too because there is real value in standardizing even at the IaaS level
Massive simplification is Game changing
We see an inflection point in the industry – an opportunity to move past the typical incremental improvements and fundamentally change the IT operating model. Oracle is focused on the game changing opportunities for how IT buys, deploys & runs services. Two key areas are elastic cloud services and pre-integrated, workload optimized systems. The goal is take out massive amounts of labor – not just upfront, but throughout the lifecycle of the services you deliver to the business.
Oracle is uniquely positioned to deliver vertically integrated systems, delivering a transformation of how technology for the datacenter. Integration happens at multiple layers of the technology stack, starting with “best in class” component technology, database, middleware, and applications, and ultimately through tightly integrated, highly optimized, engineered systems for specific and general purpose workloads.
So now we’re in a new era where a single integrated system delivers on all the needs of business application users.
With Oracle Exalogic & Exadata.
The systems is fully integrated – which means all hardware and software components are:
(see slide)
Many of our customers have realized that their differentiation is in their unique business logic and business processes, not their data center build up.
Complexity in the data center has become an inhibitor to fast time to market, which is viewed as a key source of competitive advantage.
The bottom line is that enterprises can no longer afford to do custom engineering
You need a solution that is built from the ground up that includes servers, storage, networking, and software that you can run your business on.
And ongoing maintenance and management of your environment, including adding new applications is much easier
Caches Write I/Os in flash in addition to Read I/Os
Highly available implementation
Requires only dirty blocks in flash to be recovered on flash failure as opposed to all disks with cached data
Teradata, EMC, Hitachi, etc. use flash tiering
Exadata Flash Cache adapts much faster to changing workload
Each I/O changes content of cache
If a new data is created it can be instantly cached
With tiering, data is slowly migrated from disk based on historical statistics
Flash tiering caches yesterday’s hot data, not necessarily today’s
Exadata Cache has much finer granularity of flash contents
Caching at 64K block level for flash cache, around 1MB for flash tiering
Caching is much more efficient at capturing hot data in flash while leaving cold data on disk. Multiplies the effective capacity of flash.
Exadata Cache doesn’t need to mirror data in flash
Can keep one mirror copy in flash to speed up reads while having the other mirror copy on disk
Flash cache can keep hot blocks cached forever
There is no need to ever de-stage them to disk. This is not a tiering advantage
All the existing Exadata flash advantages also apply
Scale-out architecture
InfiniBand 40Gb/sec connectivity
Flash PCI Cards are much faster than flash disk
Smart Scans
Smart Flash Logs
Smart Caching
Flash is shared across servers and works with RAC
Unlike server flash cards
Optionally Keep specific tables/indexes/partitions in flash with simple command
Scans run simultaneously on disk and flash and aggregate throughput
EHCC compression enhances flash capacity
Benefits from storage index
Decompression and decryption in cell CPUs during scans
Let's start by looking at Oracle’s unique technology for accelerating database performance
Smart scan and storage indexes offload query processing to storage improving performance
Reduces number of database licenses which offsets high cost flash
Hybrid columnar compression reduces flash and disk requirements by 10X and provides higher performance
Exadata blends flash and disk to provide the performance of flash with the capacity and cost of disk
Flash is more than 10x more expensive per gigabyte than disk
Smart Flash Cache provides a very high read IOPS rate (1.5 million in a Full rack)
Intelligently manages what to place on flash vs. disk
Exadata flash can also be configured as flash disks for write intensive workloads
Smart Flash Log transparently accelerates the performance of log writes
Exadata provides transparent HA for flash
Each storage server has 4 flash cards
If one card fails, IOs are automatically routed to other cards
Exadata allows easy expansion within and between racks.
A quarter rack can be upgraded to a half rack. A half rack can be upgraded to a full rack.
Two half racks can also be connected together to form the equivalent of a full rack. This is sometimes useful in data centers with weight or heat density restrictions.
Once a full rack is deployed it can be increased in half rack size increments. For example a full rack grows to 1.5 racks, then to 2 racks, then to 2.5 racks.
Equipment can be mixed across hardware generations. For example a half rack can be grown to a full rack using the next generation of servers to fill out the rack.
In Netezza and Teradata the application must encrypt and decrypt individual column values explicitly on every SQL statement
HW Faults , snmp trap, – ASR automatically opens Service Request, email to the customer. Analysts analyze the SR and make sure all the infor and it’s true fault, then dispatch field replacement unitl and contacts field engineer.
Without ASR, these faults unless causes a database fault may not be detected. We see cases where multiple disk failures are undetected due to lack of monitoring and ASR on the customer site.
Describe the workflow using the picture.
Auto Service Request (ASR) is a secure, scalable, customer-installable software solution available as a feature of your Oracle or Sun hardware warranty, and Oracle Premier Support for Systems or valid Sun support plan. The ASR software helps to resolve problems faster by using auto-case generation for Oracle's Sun server and storage systems when specific hardware faults occur.
With the release of the Exadata software version 11.2.1.3.1, ASR functionality is extended to Exadata Database Machine. ASR automatically opens service requests (SRs) with Oracle Support when specific hardware faults occur either in the Exadata Storage Servers or the database servers. Note that ASR is currently applicable only for hardware faults detected on the following server components: CPUs, disk controllers, disks, flash cards, flash modules, InfiniBand cards, memory modules, system boards, power supplied, and fans.
A field replaceable unit ('FRU)[1] is a circuit board, part or assembly that can be quickly and easily removed from a personal computer or other piece of electronic equipment, and replaced by the user or a technician without having to send the entire product or system to a repair facility. FRUs allow a technician lacking in-depth product knowledge to fault isolate and replace faulty components
if ASR is correctly configured end2end , then for disk failure ASR should immediatley detect it via snmp gets.. , at this time SR is filed , only when support confirms it is a bad disk then the clock start for disk replacement ..most sites have an agreement to FRU replacement within 24 hours
some sites have an agreement for 4 hour replacement . I know some finserv compaines were pushing for this especially for North America because that what most of them already have in place for their traditionally storage ie. EMC
Oracle hardware and software are not only engineered to work together, they are engineered to be maintained, updated, and supported together.
We are uniquely qualified to provide optimized performance at every level of the integrated stack, delivering the essential services and resources your business needs to maintain high availability, increase operational efficiency, and gain competitive advantage.
Oracle Premier Support provides fully integrated system support with a single point of accountability…
24/7 support with access to Engineered Systems experts
2 hour onsite response
Updates, upgrades and support for the Oracle operating system, database and integrated server and storage hardware.
Access to My Oracle Support portal which contains a 1 million article database and many, many proactive tools to help you keep systems running at peak performance
Oracle Automated Service Request – where your system phones home to Oracle to let us know if there is a problem with the hardware
…and now, qualifying customers can also receive the enhanced coverage of Oracle Platinum Services for no additional cost.
Oracle Platinum Services is a special entitlement under Oracle Premier Support, delivered at no additional cost.
It’s exclusively available on Oracle Exadata, Exalogic and SuperCluster based on certified configurations.
It provides
24/7 Oracle remote fault monitoring
Backed by extremely fast response times:
5 Minute Fault Notification
15 Minute Restoration or Escalation to Development
30 Minute Joint Debugging with Development
And, quarterly patching deployed by Oracle
Oracle Platinum Services takes standard support to a whole new level with additional, no cost services targeted to delivering high availability.
To learn more about Oracle Platinum Services go to: www.oracle.com/goto/platinumservices
Engineered Systems hardware & support for a monthly fee
Oracle IaaS extends Cloud offerings by providing Engineered System hardware deployed on-premise for a monthly fee. Oracle IaaS provides many of the advantages of cloud computing like pay-as-you-go pricing (OPEX vs. APEX), elastic scalability on-demand, and greatly reduced management of hardware infrastructure.
Systems eligible for IaaS include:
Exadata (except for 1/8 Rack)
Exadata Storage Expansion Racks
Exalogic
SPARC SuperCluster
Exalytics
Sun ZFS Storage Appliance
On Premise
Since Oracle IaaS is deployed on premise, behind the customer’s firewall, customers get the highest level of control and security, enabling them to configure their system to comply with internal or regulatory requirements.
Elastic Compute Capacity on Demand (CoD)
Oracle IaaS also offers Elastic Compute Capacity on Demand which allows customers to elastically scale environments up and down:
For handling peak workloads
CoD cores are either all enabled or all disabled together
Cannot enable just a subset of cores in the system
For High Availability
If a node fails, CoD cores can be enabled to replace the failed cores at no charge until the failed node is repaired
One of the key advantages is that customers only pay for the months when the CoD core are enabled.
NOTE: Capacity on Demand (CoD) IS available for Exadata, Exalogic, Exalytics and SPARC SuperCluster but IS NOT available for Exadata Storage Expansion Racks and Sun ZFS Storage Appliance.
Oracle Platinum and PlatinumPlus Services
Lastly, to ensure the highest level of reliability, security, and performance, Oracle IaaS includes advanced support services at no extra cost:
NOTE: Platinum and PlatinumPlus Services ARE available for Exadata (including Exadata Storage Expansion Racks), Exalogic, and SPARC SuperCluster but ARE NOT available for Exalytics or Sun ZFS Storage Appliance.
Platinum ServicesEnhanced support levels:
5 Minute Fault Notification
15 Minute Restoration or Escalation to Development
30 Minute Joint Debugging with Development
Oracle Engineers perform quarterly patching and updates including database patching
PlatinumPlus Services
Advanced Reliability, Security, and Performance Services
Quarterly automated assessments of Oracle IaaS systems
Identify system performance issues, security and compliance issues, reliability issues, and deviations from best practices
Provide guidance on hot to correct the issues discovered
While we’ve spent most of the time discussing technology, features and functions, I’d like to spend a moment discussing the business benefits.
Let’s start with Simplifying IT
We started the conversation by talking about Exadata being pre-configured and pre-tested. This saves customers design, integration and test time and Exadata can be deployed in days as opposed to the months that a homegrown system would take.
With the integration of servers, storage, networking and the database, Oracle customers are finding that their administration time and cost are dramatically lower even as workloads increase.
Oracle hardware and software are not only engineered to work together, they are engineered to be maintained, updated, and supported together. We are uniquely qualified to provide and deliver the services and resources needed to maintain high availability and increase operational efficiency.
With the dramatic improvements in performance, our customers are now able to consolidate multiple databases on Exadata, further lowering costs.
Now let’s look at Working Faster and Smarter.
Queries run faster making business intelligence essentially real time.
Exadata storage changes IO and IOP bound problems to CPU bound problems. Exadata storage cell off load dramatically saves on IO allowing batch jobs to complete faster.
OLTP jobs run faster allowing the processing of more transactions faster than traditional systems.
And, finally, faster reports means deeper analyses can be made.