Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Documentation

Storage Configuration Requirements for Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure

With the introduction of Exascale technology in Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure, you can configure the Exadata infrastructure to use ASM, Exascale, or a combination of both.

When Exascale is configured to coexist with ASM, you must allocate storage capacity for Exascale from the total available Exadata storage on the infrastructure. The allocated storage capacity will be solely available for Exascale use.

Review the storage requirements for ASM, Exascale, and VM file systems to plan and optimize storage allocation based on your enterprise needs.

Parent topic: Preparing for Exadata Cloud Infrastructure

Configuring Exadata ASM Storage

The storage space inside the Exadata storage servers is configured for use by Oracle Automatic Storage Management (ASM) When you launch an Exadata Cloud Infrastructure instance.

By default, the following ASM disk groups are created:

  • The DATA disk group is intended for the storage of Oracle Database data files.
  • The RECO disk group is primarily used for storing the Fast Recovery Area (FRA), which is an area of storage where Oracle Database can create and manage various files related to backup and recovery, such as RMAN backups and archived redo log files.
  • The /acfs file systems contain system files that support various operations. You should not store custom files, Oracle Database data files, or backups inside the ACFS disk groups. Custom ACFS mounts can be created using the DATA ASM disk group for files that are not service-related.

The disk group names contain a short identifier string that is associated with your Exadata Database machine environment. For example, the identifier could be C2, in which case the DATA disk group would be named DATAC2, the RECO disk group would be named RECOC2, and so on.

In addition, you can create a SPARSE disk group. A SPARSE disk group is required to support Exadata snapshots. Exadata snapshots enable space-efficient clones of Oracle databases that can be created and destroyed very quickly and easily. Snapshot clones are often used for development, testing, or other purposes that require a transient database.

Note that you cannot change the disk group layout after service creation.

Parent topic: Storage Configuration Requirements for Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure

Impact of Configuration Settings on ASM Storage

Your choices concerning database Backups or sparse disk groups profoundly affect how storage space in the Exadata storage servers is allocated to the ASM and sparse disk groups

If you choose to perform database backups to the Exadata storage, or to create a sparse disk group, or to do both, the storage space allocation in the Exadata storage servers will be affected.

The table that follows shows the approximate percentages of storage allocated for DATA, RECO, and SPARSE disk groups for each possible configuration.

Configuration Settings DATA Disk Group RECO Disk Group SPARSE Disk Group

Database backups on Exadata storage: No

Sparse disk group: No

 80 % 20 % 0 %

Database backups on Exadata storage: Yes

Sparse disk group: No

 40 % 60 % 0 %

Database backups on Exadata storage: No

Sparse disk group: Yes

 60 % 20 % 20 %

Database backups on Exadata storage: Yes

Sparse disk group: Yes

 35 % 50 % 15 %

Configuring Exadata Exascale Storage

Parent topic: Storage Configuration Requirements for Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure

About Exascale Storage Configuration for Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure

To use Exascale storage during VM cluster provisioning, you must first configure it from the total Exadata storage available on your Exadata Infrastructure.

Note

During the initial Exascale storage configuration, all database servers on the Exadata Infrastructure will be restarted in a rolling reboot manner.

Specify the storage capacity you want to allocate for Exascale usage on the infrastructure. A minimum of 2TB of Exadata storage must be available to configure Exascale storage. Configuring Exascale storage requires a rolling reboot of the data nodes. After the initial configuration, you can scale the Exascale storage capacity online as needed. Note that scaling storage may trigger a storage rebalancing process.

If sufficient storage is not available on the Infrastructure to configure the Exascale storage or to scale the existing Exascale storage capacity, additional storage servers can be added to the Infrastructure using the Scale Infrastructure option as follows:

  • Add new storage servers to the infrastructure.
  • Make the new storage capacity available to all ASM and Exascale VM clusters.
  • Adding new storage will proportionally increase the Exascale storage capacity.
  • Expand Exascale storage vaults as needed to utilize the additional capacity.

For more information, see Scaling Resources within an Exadata Infrastructure Instance.

Alternatively, customers can shrink the existing ASM or Exascale clusters to free up storage and allocate it to Exascale to meet the additional capacity demand.

To configure Exascale storage on Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure, be prepared to provide values for the infrastructure configuration.

Note

  • All Exadata Infrastructure with DB Server Version 25.1.7 (or later) and Storage Server Version 25.1.8 (or later) or 25.2.2 (or later) will now see a banner with the message, "You can now configure Exascale storage on this infrastructure" to indicate that the infrastructure is ready for Exascale configuration. This banner will not be displayed for Exadata Infrastructures that are already configured to use Exascale.
  • The minimum Exascale storage that can be configured on Exadata Infrastructure is 2 TB.
  1. Open the navigation menu. Under Oracle Database, click Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure.
  2. Select Region and Compartment, and provide the region and the compartment where the Oracle Exadata infrastructure you want to edit is located.
  3. Click Exadata Infrastructure.
  4. Click the name of the Exadata infrastructure where you want to configure Exascale storage.

    The Infrastructure Details page displays information about the selected Oracle Exadata infrastructure.

  5. Click Actions, and then select Configure Exascale storage.
  6. On the resulting Configure Exascale storage window, enter the storage capacity you want to allocate for Exascale.
  7. Click Submit.

The Exadata storage section on the Exadata Infrastructure Details page displays the storage details allocated for ASM and Exascale.

To create an Exascale storage vault, be prepared to provide values for the Exascale storage vault configuration.

An Exascale vault is a logical storage container that uses the physical resources provided by Exascale storage pools. Each vault is associated with at least one storage pool.

For more information, see 1.2.5 Vaults.

Note

  • The minimum configurable or resizable size for an Exascale Storage Vault is 2 TB.
  • A vault can be deleted and moved to another compartment.
  • A vault can be shared between two or more Exascale VM clusters.
  1. Open the navigation menu. Under Oracle Database, click Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure.
  2. Select Region and Compartment, and provide the region and the compartment where the Oracle Exadata infrastructure you want to edit is located.
  3. Click Exadata Infrastructure.
  4. Click the name of the Exadata infrastructure where you want to create an Exascale storage vault.

    The Infrastructure Details page displays information about the selected Oracle Exadata infrastructure.

  5. Click the Exascale storage vaults tab.
  6. Click Create Exascale storage vault.
  7. On the resulting Create Exascale storage vault window, enter the following:
    • Compartment: Select a compartment where you want this resource to be created.
    • Name: Enter a descriptive name for the vault.
    • Storage capacity for the databases: Enter a reasonable storage capacity within the minimum and maximum values displayed on the screen.
  8. Click Create.

    The Exascale Storage Vault Details page provides key information, including the allocated storage and a list of VM Clusters associated with the vault.

  9. Alternatively, you can create a new vault on the fly using the Create new storage vault option while provisioning the Exascale VM cluster.

To scale an Exascale storage vault, be prepared to provide values for the Exascale storage vault configuration.

Note

The minimum configurable or resizable size for an Exascale Storage Vault is 2 TB.

  1. Open the navigation menu. Under Oracle Database, click Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure.
  2. Select Region and Compartment, and provide the region and the compartment where the Oracle Exadata infrastructure you want to edit is located.
  3. Click Exadata Infrastructure.
  4. Click the name of the Exadata infrastructure where the Exascale storage vault you want to scale reside.

    The Infrastructure Details page displays information about the selected Oracle Exadata infrastructure.

  5. Click the Exascale storage vaults tab.
  6. Click the name of the Exascale storage vault you want to scale.
  7. On the resulting Exascale storage vault Details page, click Scale storage vault.
  8. On the resulting Scale storage vault window, enter the storage capacity for the databases within the minimum and maximum values displayed on the screen.
  9. Click Scale.

To move an Exascale storage vault to another compartment, use this procedure.

  1. Open the navigation menu. Under Oracle Database, click Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure.
  2. Select Region and Compartment, and provide the region and the compartment where the Oracle Exadata infrastructure you want to edit is located.
  3. Click Exadata Infrastructure.
  4. Click the name of the Exadata infrastructure where the Exascale storage vault you want to scale reside.

    The Infrastructure Details page displays information about the selected Oracle Exadata infrastructure.

  5. Click the Exascale storage vaults tab.
  6. Click the name of the Exascale storage vault you want to move.
  7. On the resulting Exascale storage vault Details page, click Actions, and then select Move resource.
  8. On the resulting panel, choose the new compartment for the Exascale storage vault, and click Move Resource.

To delete an Exascale storage vault, use this procedure.

Note

An Exascale storage vault can only be deleted when it is not associated with any Exascale VM clusters. To delete an active vault, you must first terminate all VM clusters and the underlying databases that are using the vault.

  1. Open the navigation menu. Under Oracle Database, click Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure.
  2. Select Region and Compartment, and provide the region and the compartment where the Oracle Exadata infrastructure you want to edit is located.
  3. Click Exadata Infrastructure.
  4. Click the name of the Exadata infrastructure where the Exascale storage vault you want to scale reside.

    The Infrastructure Details page displays information about the selected Oracle Exadata infrastructure.

  5. Click the Exascale storage vaults tab.
  6. Click the name of the Exascale storage vault you want to delete.
  7. On the resulting Exascale storage vault Details page, click Actions, and then select Delete.
  8. On the resulting dialog, enter the name of the Exascale storage vault, and click Delete to confirm the action.