For virtual machine DB systems, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure also supports the creation of DB systems using older database versions. For each shape, the latest version and the two prior versions of the release are available at provisioning.

For 1-node virtual machine DB systems, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure provides have a "fast provisioning" option that allows you to create your DB system using Logical Volume Manager as your storage management software. The alternative ("standard provisioning") is to provision with Oracle Automatic Storage Management (ASM). For more information, see Logical Volume Manager and Oracle Automatic Storage Management.

When you provision a 2-node RAC DB systems, the system assigns each node to a different fault domain by default. Using the Advanced Options link in the provisioning dialog, you can select the fault domain(s) to be used for your 2-node RAC DB systems and the system will assign the nodes to your selected fault domains. Oracle recommends that you place each node of a 2-node RAC DB system in a different fault domain. For more information on fault domains, see Regions and Availability Domains.

Virtual machine DB system nodes use underlying physical hosts that periodically need to undergo maintenance. When such maintenance is needed, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure schedules a reboot of your virtual machine DB system node and notifies you of the upcoming reboot. The reboot allows your virtual machine DB system node to be migrated to a new physical host which is not in need of maintenance. (Stopping and starting the node will also result in the migration to a new physical host.) The only impact to your virtual machine DB system node is the reboot itself. The planned maintenance of the original physical hardware takes place after your node has been migrated to its new host, and has no impact on your DB system.

If your virtual machine DB system node is scheduled for a maintenance reboot, you can proactively reboot your node (by stopping and starting it) using the Console or the API. This lets you control how and when your node experiences downtime. If you choose not to reboot before the scheduled time, then Oracle Cloud Infrastructure will reboot and migrate your node at the scheduled time.

To identify the virtual machine DB system nodes that you can proactively reboot, navigate to your system's DB System Details page in the Console and check the Node Maintenance Reboot field. If the instance has a maintenance reboot scheduled and can be proactively rebooted, this field displays the date and start time for the reboot. When the Maintenance Reboot field does not display a date, your virtual machine DB system has no scheduled node maintenance events.

To check for scheduled maintenance events using the API, use the GetDbNode operation to check the timeMaintenanceWindowEnd field of the DbNode resource. This field specifies when the system will initiate the next scheduled node reboot.

To make it easier to locate nodes that have scheduled maintenance reboots, you can use the Search Service with a predefined query to find all DB systems that have a maintenance reboot scheduled.

For instructions on using the Console to reboot a node, see Reboot a DB System.

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure virtual machine DB systems provisioned using Oracle Linux 7 include a python script, referred to as the Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG) tool, that you can use to perform security hardening for your virtual machine DB system. For more information, see Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG) Tool For the DB System and Enable FIPS, SE Linux, and STIG on the DB System Components.

Oracle maintains a weekly boot volume backup of your virtual machine DB system so that the system can be easily restored in the event of a serious error or system failure. Boot volume backups are currently not accessible to users (there is no Console, API, or CLI access to a DB system boot volume backup), and Oracle bears the cost of keeping and maintaining the backup. In the event of a system failure, contact My Oracle Support to request that Oracle perform a restore of your system from the boot volume backup.