Oracle Exadata

Oracle Exadata

Original author(s)	Oracle Corporation
Initial release	October 2008
Operating system	Oracle Linux
Platform	Exadata Database Machine, Exadata Database Service, Exadata Cloud@Customer
License	Commercial
Website	www.oracle.com/exadata

Larry Ellison and Exadata (2009)

Oracle Exadata (Exadata[1]) is a computing system optimized for running Oracle Databases.

Exadata is a combined hardware and software platform that includes scale-out x86-64 compute and storage servers, RoCE networking, RDMA-addressable memory acceleration, NVMe flash, and specialized software.[2]

Exadata was introduced in 2008 for on-premises deployment, and since October 2015, via the Oracle Cloud as a subscription service, known as the Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure,[3] and Exadata Database Service on Exascale Infrastructure.[4] Exadata Cloud@Customer[5] is a hybrid cloud (on-premises) deployment of Exadata Database Service.

Starting December, 2023, Exadata Database Service became available for Microsoft Azure, Google and AWS public clouds within the Oracle Database@Azure, Oracle Database@Google Cloud and Oracle Database@AWS multicloud partnerships.

Use cases

Exadata is designed to run all Oracle Database workloads, such as OLTP, Data Warehousing, Analytics, and AI Vector processing, often with multiple consolidated databases running simultaneously.

Historically, specialized database computing platforms were designed for a particular workload, such as Data Warehousing, and poor or unusable for other workloads, such as OLTP. Exadata specializes in mixed workloads sharing system resources with resource management features for prioritization, such as favoring workloads servicing interactive users over reporting and batch. Long running requests, characterized by Data Warehouses, reports, batch jobs and Analytics, are reported to run many times faster compared to a conventional, non-Exadata database server.[6][7]

Release History

Exadata Release	Primary Software Enhancements	Primary Hardware Enhancements
Database@AWS	Exadata Database Service available with AWS
X11M - Jan 2025	AI Vector search acceleration - up to 55% faster	25% faster compute core performance
	Analytics scan throughput increase - 2.2x faster	33% greater server memory bandwidth
	Transaction processing acceleration - 25% faster	11% faster storage core performance
	OLTP read latency acceleration - up to 21% faster (14 microseconds)	PCIe 5 performance-optimized flash
	Intelligent power management - reduce CPU cores, cap power consumption, optimize power utilization	X11M-Z database and storage servers
	Available on-premises, Oracle Cloud, Cloud@Customer and multicloud (Azure, Google Cloud, AWS)
Database@Google Cloud	Exadata Database Service available with Google Cloud
Exadata Exascale July, 2024	Fully elastic pay-per-use architecture. Users specify the cores and storage capacity needed, reducing entry-level infrastructure costs for Exadata Database Service and aligning costs with usage	None
	Large pools of shared compute and storage allow databases to quickly scale over time without concern for server-based size limitations or disruptive migrations
	Rapid and efficient database snapshots and thin cloning
Database@Azure	Exadata Database Service available with Microsoft Azure
X10M - June 2023	Exadata RDMA Memory (XRMEM) DRAM cache	3x increase in compute cores (96-core AMD EPYC)
	Oracle Linux 8 and UEK 6 kernel updates	1.5x higher memory capacity
	New In-Memory Columnar compression algorithm	2.5x faster DDR5 memory
	Optimized Smart Scan for more complex queries	2.4x higher flash storage capacity (in all-flash storage)
	Faster decryption and decompression	22% more disk storage capacity
X9M - Sept, 2021	Secure RDMA fabric isolation	PCIe 4.0 dual-port active-active 100 Gb RoCE network
	Smart Flash Log write-back	33% increase in compute cores
	Storage Index and Columnar Cache persistence	33% increase in memory capacity
	Faster decryption and decompression Algorithms	28% increase in disk capacity
	Smart Scan performance optimizations	1.8x greater internal fabric bandwidth (PCIe 4.0)
		1.8x greater flash bandwidth (PCIe 4.0)
X8M - Sept, 2019	RoCE: RDMA over Converged Ethernet	Persistent Memory (PMEM) in storage
	Persistent Memory Data Accelerator	100 Gbit/s internal fabric (2.5x increase)
	Persistent Memory Commit Accelerator
	KVM virtual machine support
X8 - April, 2019	AIDE: Advanced Intrusion Detection Environment	Storage Server Extended (XT)
	ML-based monitoring and auto-indexing	40% increase in disk capacity
	Real-time updates of optimizer statistics	60% increase in storage processor cores
X7 - Oct, 2017	In-memory database in flash storage	2x increase in flash capacity
	DRAM cache in storage	25% increase in disk capacity
	Large-scale storage software updates	25 Gbit/s data center Ethernet support
Exadata Cloud@Customer	Exadata Cloud Service on-premises
X6 - April, 2016	Exafusion direct-to-wire OLTP protocol	2x increase in flash capacity
	Smart Fusion Block Transfer	10% increase in compute cores
	Smart Flash Log	2x increase in memory capacity
Exadata Database Service	Exadata on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI)
X5 - Dec, 2014	In-memory database fault tolerance	2x increase in flash & disk capacity
	Database snapshots	Elastic configurations
	Xen virtual machine support	All-flash storage server option
	NVMe flash protocol support	50% increase in compute cores
	IPv6 support	50% increase in memory capacity
X4 - Nov, 2013	Network Resource Management	2x increase in flash capacity
	I/O latency capping	2x increase in memory capacity
	Capacity-on-Demand licensing	50% increase in compute cores
	Active/Active InfiniBand (2x increase)	33% increase in disk capacity
X3 - Sept, 2013	Smart Flash Cache write-back	Eighth-Rack configuration
	Improved management of slow disks/flash	4x increase in flash capacity
	Sub-second brownout after storage failure	33% increase in compute cores
	Simplified disk replacement	75% increase in memory capacity
	Bypass predictive disk failure	2x increase in data center bandwidth
X2 - Sept, 2010	Smart Flash Log	8-socket (X2-8) configuration
	Auto Service Request	Storage Expansion Rack
	Secure Erase of storage	Hardware-based decryption
	Platinum Services	50% increase in compute cores
		2x increase in memory capacity
		50% increase in disk capacity
		8x increase in data center bandwidth
v2 - Sept, 2009	Storage Indexes	Flash storage
	Database-aware Smart Flash Cache	Quarter-Rack configuration
	Hybrid Columnar Compression	2x increase in memory & disk capacity
		3x increase in data center bandwidth
		40 Gbit/s internal fabric (2x increase)
v1 - Sept, 2008	Oracle Enterprise Linux	Scale-out 4-socket compute servers
	Smart Scan (storage offload)	Scale-out 4-socket storage servers
	IORM (I/O Resource Manager)	20 Gbit/s internal fabric (InfiniBand)
	Join filtering (Bloom filters)	1 Terabyte disks
	Incremental backup filtering	1 Gbit/s data center network (Ethernet)
	Smart file creation

Support Policy

As the platform has been around since 2008, Oracle has published information related to the end-of-support for older Exadata generations. In Oracle's published document titled Oracle Hardware and Systems Support Policies,[8] they mention "After five years from last ship date, replacement parts may not be available and/or the response times for sending replacement parts may be delayed." To look up the "last ship date" of a particular Oracle Exadata generation, Oracle published a document titled Oracle Exadata - A guide for decision makers.[9]

Each generation of the Oracle Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance shares components with similar generations of Exadata.

References

1. Various (July 11, 2024). "Oracle Exadata". oracle.com. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
2. Pedregal-Martin, Cristobal. "Exadata: Why and What".
3. Various (July 11, 2024). "Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure". oracle.com. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
4. Various (July 11, 2024). "Exadata Database Service on Exascale Infrastructure". oracle.com. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
5. Various (July 11, 2024). "Oracle Exadata Cloud@Customer". oracle.com. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
6. Various (July 11, 2024). "Exadata Customer Success Stories". oracle.com. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
7. Various (July 11, 2024). "Gartner Peer Insights: Oracle Exadata Database Machine". Gartner.com. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
8. "Oracle Hardware and Systems Support Policies" (PDF). Retrieved March 5, 2021.
9. Various. "Oracle Exadata - A guide for decision makers" (PDF). oracle.com. Retrieved July 11, 2024.

External links

• Oracle Website: Oracle Exadata Database Machine