In conjunction with Oracle Exadata System Software release 24.1.0, Oracle Database 23ai contains enhancements to store the database control file in Exadata RDMA Memory (XRMEM) on the storage servers and perform multiple concurrent reads using remote direct memory access (RDMA). Previously, RDMA reads to a database control file in XRMEM were serialized (one by one).

This capability enables multiple pluggable databases (PDBs) to open in parallel on Exadata systems, which considerably speeds up the process of opening PDBs, particularly in environments where a container database (CDB) contains many PDBs. Speeding up the process of opening PDBs also minimizes the application impact when a PDB opens on another database server in response to a database instance failure or a database shutdown for a planned maintenance operation.