Oracle Exadata
Exadata is a unique database machine Oracle initially envisioned in collaboration with HP.
With the purchase of Sun Solaris hardware, Oracle decided to go by its own and took the later refined version of Exadata system on Sun systems.
Historically, the first version was launched in 2008. This system did not have any Flash memory back than.
Also, it had limited CPU/Storage/RAM. In 2009, Oracle came up with next version by adding more hardware power.
2010, 2012, 2014 and then 2015 had seen successive launch of various Exadata versions.
The most latest Exadata machine as of year 2015 is X5-2 which has seen a significant large Flash Cache.
Organization with non-engineered systems in the past were having a clear separation in the responsibilities or SoD(Separation of Duties) of a database administrators, system administrators, network administrator and storage administrators.
With a tightly integrated software and hardware in one box, there needs to be a better understanding of SYSADMIN responsibilities.
The duties among different administrators are thinly separated now.
In an Oracle Exadata Database Machine environment, it is usually more efficient and effective to have the database administrator to take the lead role for Oracle Exadata Database Machine management, with assistance from other system administrator.
This is because Oracle Exadata Database Machine is engineered to run Oracle Database, and administration is specific to Oracle Database and Oracle Exadata Storage Server Software.
Common Administrative Tasks for Oracle Exadata Database Machine are,
| Task | Administrator | Activity |
|---|---|---|
| Performance Check | DBA and SYSADMIN |
DBA -> Review database performance, wait events, locking, execution plans DBA/SYSADMIN -> Review system performance CPU, I/O, Memory |
| Patch or Upgrade | DBA and SYSADMIN |
DBA/SYSADMIN -> Apply Oracle Exadata Storage Server Software patches or upgrades, or InfiniBand Switch firmware upgrades. DBA -> Apply Oracle Database patches, Grid Infrastructure patches or upgrades. |
| System Outage or Failure | DBA and SYSADMIN | DBA/SYSADMIN -> Use of ILOM for any hardware failure or restarts |
| Network maintenance | DBA and SYSADMIN | DBA/Network SYSADMIN ->network interfaces for errors or dropped packets or switch issues and validation of DB |
| Backup Database | DBA and SYSADMIN | DBA-> Run database backups |
| Disk replacements | DBA/Storage SYSADMIN | Review alerts for hardware replacement, validate Auto Service Request (ASR) service request, and arranging for Field service technician for drive replacements at DC. |