Everyone want to build an Oracle database server at low cost and high performance.
In particular, a way to reduce licensing cost is indispensable to get the price advantage.
This article will introduce a recommended hardware configuration of the Oracle Database server which can be called a permanent storage version.
Standard Edition 2
Oracle Standard Edition 2 is a socket license.
Production environment (& DR environment): RAC cluster configuration is as follows
- 2 units of total 8 core servers with 8 core CPU 1 socket
- Select a CPU socket with 8 cores which has 3GHz or above
- Disk Space is configured as SSD RAID6 or SSD ASM
- NICs are 10G Base-T or 10G SR
- Note that SE2 RAC cannot be assembled with DB 19c (and Oracle Fail Safe is not recommended)
Production environment (& DR environment): Single instance configuration is as follows
- 8 core CPU 2 sockets Total 16 cores 1 server
- Select a CPU socket with 8 cores and 3GHz or more
- Disk Space is configured as SSD RAID6 or SSD ASM
Development environment (staging environment)
- Configure with your favorite specifications (Must be less than 16 cores)
- Purchase Oracle Database license for development members at NUP
The point of Standard Edition 2 is that it is a socket license.
Recognize that there are up to 2 sockets (up to 2 sockets for 2 units in a cluster configuration) and up to 16 cores (16 cores in a cluster configuration), and select a CPU with 8 cores and high specifications. Eight cores exceed 3GHz CPU clock.
This 8-core CPU will always be announced by Intel. So-called CPU socket for Oracle.
SSD Storage is also recommended for well performance.
Standard Edition 2 cannot perform parallel processing that Enterprise Edition can do. Large SQL queries need to be executed in a single thread, so be sure to have as much memory as possible and SSD.
In an Oracle Database server where disk IO is very important to avoid a bottleneck, it depends on whether or not the disk can be SSD.
Use RAID6 for SSDs. The use of high-speed flash technology such as NVMe is also good for performance, but let's take a look at it because availability is not easy to achieve. I would like to be able to configure RAID6 inexpensively and quickly with NVMe.
Also do not miss the point that SSD can be replaced online without stopping the server.
Enterprise Edition
When using Enterprise Edition, high spec and high availability are often required, so the minimum configuration is described below.
In Enterprise Edition, we often use Oracle RAC configuration. (Or Oracle RAC One)
Production environment (& DR environment): The recommended minimum configuration of RAC cluster configuration is as following
- 2 units of 4 core servers with 4 core CPU 1 socket
- Select the CPU socket with the highest frequency of 4 cores 3GHz or more
- Disk Space is configured as SSD RAID6 or SSD ASM
- NICs are of 10G Base-T or 10G SR
In Enterprise Edition, servers with high spec are often selected for higher performance, but if the number of CPU cores is 4-16 cores, Oracle Database Appliance can be said to be the identical solution.
- Oracle server: Oracle Database Appliance
- Reason: you can get small start platform
If you run out of CPU spec, you can scale up without purchasing additional hardware by activating the core and purchasing an additional DB license - Both single configuration and cluster configuration can be selected when selecting hardware at the time of purchase. Oracle Database Appliance is a dedicated appliance that runs Oracle Database
Consider Oracle Exadata if your environment requires more than 16 cores
- Oracle server: Oracle Exadata
- Reason: Maximize performance and availability at same time
It is possible to operate Oracle Database with the highest specifications and at a low price. Scale out endlessly. In particular, batch processing can be performed at ultra-high speeds using software storage technology (Smart Scan) unique to Exadata. - After the purchase, the treatment from Oracle Corp will change as a company holding Oracle Exadata.
Hardware design is indispensable for the Enterprise Edition to operate comfortably, but the design is extremely difficult. To ensure the three points of performance, availability, and operability, it is necessary to configure a single vendor.
If you are a multi-vendor (for example, a DB vendor, a server vendor, and a storage vendor are different and configured by two or more companies), it is difficult to design to extract the performance, it is difficult to isolate in the event of a failure, or to maintain a redundant configuration. There is nothing hard and good. If a single vendor is used, hardware and software failures can be pursued by the vendor. Only a small number of in-house engineers are required.
In that sense, it would be best to adopt Oracle Exadata for large databases.
However, there are not so many companies that have a database large enough to purchase Oracle Exadata. Many of the larger companies which has Oracle Exadata are the leading companies in the financial, telecommunications, manufacturing, distribution, and government sectors.
A company that can buy Exadata is the status of that company.
releated articles
End of support date for Oracle Database 12.1.0.2 has extended.
Check supported OS and versions for Oracle Database 19c before you design IT infrastructure architecture.
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