2 Capacity-On-Demand Information

Oracle Exadata Database Machine is shipped with all cores enabled on the database servers. Oracle allows a reduction in the number of active cores on the database servers, known as capacity-on-demand. The reduction is implemented during software installation using Oracle Exadata Database Machine Deployment Assistant (OEDA). The number of active cores can be increased at a later time, when more capacity is needed. Oracle Exadata Database Machine X4-2 database servers have two 12-core processors, for a total of 24 cores per server. Oracle Exadata Database Machine X4-8 Full Rack database servers have 15 cores per processor, for a total of 120 cores per server.

The capacity-on-demand feature disables a portion of the cores on one or more database servers in Oracle Exadata Database Machine. In order to use the capacity-on-demand feature, one of the following must occur within three months of installation:

Purchase the Oracle technical support services necessary to enable eligibility for receipt of Oracle Platinum Services, and then continuously maintain those services.
Install, and then continuously utilize Oracle Configuration Manager in connected-mode.

Restrictions for Capacity-On-Demand on Oracle Exadata Database Machine

The following capacity-on-demand restrictions apply to changing processor core count:

Capacity-on-demand is available for Oracle Exadata Database Machine X4-2 and Oracle Exadata Database Machine X4-8 Full Rack systems.
Oracle Exadata Database Machine X4-2 Eighth Rack is excluded from capacity-on-demand.
Reducing the number of active cores lowers the initial software licensing cost. It does not change the hardware cost.
The minimum number of processor cores that must be enabled is half of the physical cores on each processor. For Oracle Exadata Database Machine X4-2 systems, the minimum is 6 per processor (12 per database server). For Oracle Exadata Database Machine X4-8 Full Rack, the minimum is 8 per processor (64 per database server).
Additional cores are increased in 2-core increments per server on Oracle Exadata Database Machine X4-2, and in 8-core increments on Oracle Exadata Database Machine X4-8 Full Rack. Database servers in the same system can enable a different number of cores.
Capacity-on-demand may only be used to decrease the number of active processor cores during initial installation. After initial configuration, the processor core count can only increase on a system, up to the maximum. It is the customer's responsibility to acquire the additional software licenses.
Oracle Exadata Database Machine purchased under Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is not eligible for capacity-on-demand.