What’s New in Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure
Oracle is constantly adding new capabilities to Exadata Cloud Infrastructure.
- Restore a Backup to Create a Database Across Regions
- Cost and Usage Attribution for Pluggable Databases (PDBs)
- Use the Same Custom Software Image Across OCI Regions
- Ability to Increase the Size of Guest VM Local File Systems
- Create and Use Custom Software Images
- Manage Serial Console Access to Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure Systems
- Oracle Database 23ai on Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure
- Enable Unified Auditing While Creating a Database Home
- Provision a VM Cluster with Either an OL7 or OL8-Based Image
- Enhancement to the OCI Console to Remove Database and Storage Servers
- Enable Data Guard Across Different VCNs or Compartments in the Same OCI Region
- Enhancement to Pluggable Database (PDB) Management
- Manage Administrator (SYS User) and TDE Wallet Passwords
- Backup and Restore from a Standby Database in a Data Guard Environment
- Cancel a Running Full or Incremental Backup
- Autonomous Recovery Service as the Default Backup Destination
- Exadata Fleet Update
- Update Guest VM (domU) Operating System to Oracle Linux 8
- Use a Backup to Create a Database Across Availability Domains within the Same Region
- Interim Software Updates
- Enhanced Controls to Configure Automatic Full (L0) and Incremental (L1) Backups
- Configure Oracle Database Autonomous Recovery Service as a Backup Destination
- Application VIP Support
- Monthly ExaDB-D Infrastructure Security Maintenance
- Identity and Access Management (IAM) Integration with Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure
- Exadata Cloud Infrastructure: Private DNS
- Enhanced Infrastructure Maintenance Controls
- Database Management Support for Pluggable Databases in Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure
- Microsoft Azure Active Directory Integration with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Databases
- Create and Manage Multiple Virtual Machines per Exadata System (MultiVM) and VM Cluster Node Subsetting
- VM Cluster and Database Health and Performance Metrics in the OCI Console
- Oracle Standard Tagging for Resources on Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure
- Automatic Diagnostic Collection
- Exadata Database on Dedicated Infrastructure: Key Management Service for Cross Region Data Guard
- Concurrently Create or Terminate Oracle Databases in a VM Cluster
- VM Guest Exadata OS Image Major Version Update
- Database Service Events capability for Exadata Database
- Exadata Database on Dedicated Infrastructure: 'Create database from backup' now available for databases using customer-managed encryption
- Support for DB Home Minor Version Selection (N-3)
- Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Operations Insights Support for Oracle Cloud Databases
- Specify the Same SID for Primary and Standby Databases in Data Guard Association
- Exadata Cloud Infrastructure: Pluggable database lifecycle support
- Exadata Cloud Infrastructure: Set DB_UNIQUE_NAME and Oracle SID prefix during database creation
- Elastic Expansion
- Oracle Database: Encryption key options updated for bare metal, virtual machine, and Exadata Cloud Infrastructure databases
- Performance Hub Exadata Tab
- Exadata Cloud Infrastructure: custom SCAN listener port for VM cluster
- Performance Hub & metrics available for databases running in Exadata Cloud Infrastructure, bare metal DB systems, and virtual machine DB systems
- Maintenance advisory contacts for Exadata infrastructure
- Data Guard protection mode enhancement for Exadata, Bare Metal, and Virtual Machine Database Cloud services
- Exadata Cloud Infrastructure: Non-rolling infrastructure patching option now available
- Customer-managed encryption keys available with Oracle Data Guard-enabled databases in Exadata Cloud Infrastructure
- ExaDB-D OS/DomU Patching Project
- Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Vault service integration with Exadata Cloud Infrastructure
- Exadata Cloud Infrastructure: Oracle Database 19c upgrade feature available
- Create custom database software images for Exadata Cloud Infrastructure instances
- Exadata Cloud Infrastructure: grid infrastructure upgrade for cloud VM clusters
- Exadata Cloud Infrastructure: the flexible X8M shape now available
- Exadata Cloud Infrastructure: use an existing Database Home when setting up a Data Guard standby database
Restore a Backup to Create a Database Across Regions
- Service: Database
- Release Date: August 22, 2024
With this enhancement, when the region is up, you can:
- use an existing backup and restore it to create a database (out-of-place restore) either within the same availability domain or in a different availability domain across regions, regardless of whether the backup was created with backup destination Object Storage or Autonomous Recovery Service
- restore a backup taken on either a database that was configured using host-based wallets (local wallet) or OCI Vault
Cost and Usage Attribution for Pluggable Databases (PDBs)
- Service: Database
- Release Date: July 10, 2024
With this enhancement to the Cost Analysis feature of the OCI Cost Management Service, you can view the attributed usage and cost for all the PDBs in a VM Cluster. This data will be available on the cost analysis dashboard and the reports.
Use the Same Custom Software Image Across OCI Regions
- Service: Database
- Release Date: May 15, 2024
With this enhancement, you can use the software image created in one region in a different region while:
- updating a database software
- updating a Grid Infrastructure software
- provisioning a new Database Home
- provisioning a new database
- enabling a Data Guard association
- creating a database from a backup
Related Topics
- To update database software using custom database software image
- To update Grid Infrastructure software using custom Grid Infrastructure software image
- To create a new Database Home in an existing Exadata Cloud Infrastructure instance
- To create a database in an existing Exadata Cloud Infrastructure instance
- Using the Console to Enable Data Guard on an Exadata Cloud Infrastructure System
- To create a database from a backup
Ability to Increase the Size of Guest VM Local File Systems
- Service: Database
- Release Date: May 09, 2024
Currently, you can only increase or decrease the size of the /u02
file system in the Guest VM. Now, using the OCI Console or API, you can increase the size of additional local file systems such as /
, /u01
, /tmp
, /var
, /var/log
, /var/log/audit
, and /home
.
Related Topics
Create and Use Custom Software Images
- Service: Database
- Release Date: May 08, 2024
The ability to create a custom software image (Database and Grid Infrastructure) with all the required patches bundled together and certified in the customer environment will allow developers and database administrators to build an approved and reusable "gold image".
Related Topics
Manage Serial Console Access to Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure Systems
- Service: Database
- Release Date: May 07, 2024
The serial console feature requires (at a minimum) Exadata System Software 23.1.13. Once the necessary software is installed via Quarterly Maintenance and a reboot of your VMs takes place, you will be able to use the new serial console feature.
You can create and delete serial console connections to your Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure systems to diagnose and resolve VM guest operating system issues using an SSH connection in case standard SSH access to the VMs is not possible.
Requirements: Exadata System Software 23.1.13 is the minimum required version. Also, make sure to review all prerequisites stated below, including setting a password for either the opc
or the root
user. Failure to make necessary changes to meet these requirements in advance will result in the inability to urgently connect to the serial console when the need arises when the VM is not otherwise accessible.
Related Topics
- Troubleshooting Virtual Machines Using Console Connections
- Create the Virtual Machine Serial Console Connection
- Resource-Types for Exadata Cloud Service Instances
- Permissions and API operation details for DB Nodes
- Permissions and API operation details for DB Node Console Connection
- Serial Console Connection Event Types
- Viewing Audit Log Events
- Permissions Required for Each API Operation
Oracle Database 23ai on Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure
- Service: Database
- Release Date: May 02, 2024
Oracle Database 23ai is a regular production release available on Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure (ExaDB-D). With this release, you can perform all the lifecycle operations on the 23ai databases.
Related Topics
Enable Unified Auditing While Creating a Database Home
- Service: Database
- Release Date: April 30, 2024
With this enhancement, you can enable Unified Auditing during the creation of a database home, a feature available since Oracle Database version 12.1.
- For Oracle Database versions lower than 12.1: You cannot use the Unified Auditing framework and should instead use the Traditional Audit, the legacy Oracle Database audit framework.
- For Oracle Database versions 12.1 or higher: You can enable Unified Auditing from the OCI Console. For Oracle Database versions 12.1 or higher but lower than version 23ai, the Unified Auditing check box is not selected by default. However, it is selected by default for Oracle Database version 23ai.
You cannot disable Unified Auditing after provisioning the Database Home.
Provision a VM Cluster with Either an OL7 or OL8-Based Image
- Service: Database
- Release Date: February 28, 2024
With this enhancement, you can provision a VM cluster with either an OL7-based image or an OL8-based one if the infrastructure is X9 or prior.
Related Topics
Enhancement to the OCI Console to Remove Database and Storage Servers
- Service: Database
- Release Date: January 29, 2024
With this enhancement, you can:
- Scale down your Exadata Infrastructure resources by changing your server count to a lower value than the current assignment.
- Scaling down to a lower count is supported for both DB and Storage Servers.
- Database servers will be removed if there are no VMs running on them.
Note
You will not be able to choose the DB Server to remove. This functionality will automatically remove Database Servers in which there are no VMs. - Storage server will be removed if the server has not been used to expand Exadata Infrastructure storage.
- Remove a VM from a provisioned VM cluster in a non multi-VM-enabled infrastructure. The procedure is similar to terminating a VM from a VM Cluster in a multi-VM-enabled infrastructure.
The 'Add Capacity' step runs as part of the storage server scale-up workflow, creates disk groups, and rebalances data across all storage servers. For more information, see Scale VM Resources in Multi VM Enabled Infrastructure.
Enable Data Guard Across Different VCNs or Compartments in the Same OCI Region
- Service: Database
- Release Date: January 16, 2024
With this enhancement, you can enable Data Guard if the Exadata Cloud Infrastructure is in different VCNs or compartments in the same OCI region.
Enhancement to Pluggable Database (PDB) Management
- Service: Database
- Release Date: October 18, 2023
With this enhancement, you can restore, refresh, and relocate a Pluggable Database (PDB).
Related Topics
- Create and Manage Exadata Pluggable Databases
- Using the console to create pluggable database
- Using the console to relocate a pluggable database
- Cloning an Exadata Pluggable Database
- Restoring an Exadata Pluggable Database
- Permissions Required for Each API Operation
- Permissions and API operation details for Pluggable Databases (PDBs)
- Pluggable Database Event Types
Manage Administrator (SYS User) and TDE Wallet Passwords
- Service: Database
- Release Date: September 28, 2023
With this enhancement, you can manage the administrator and TDE wallet passwords.
Changing a TDE wallet password for Oracle Key Vault (OKV) or OCI Vault Key management-enabled databases is currently not supported.
Related Topics
Backup and Restore from a Standby Database in a Data Guard Environment
- Service: Database
- Release Date: August 24, 2023
This enhancement:
- Enables customers to offload backups to the standby database in a Data Guard environment thereby freeing up resources in the production database environment.
- Allows customers to schedule automatic backups on the standby database in a Data Guard environment and configure retention period and backup schedules.
- Enables customers to create a database in another Availability Domain (AD) within the same region from a backup of the standby database.
- Allows customers to restore and recover a standby database using a backup of the standby database.
- Provides the flexibility to take backups only on the primary database, only on the standby database, or both.
- Allows customers to create a manual full backup of a standby database.
- Enables customers to enable or disable backup on the standby database only if the backup destination of the primary database is Object Storage.
- You cannot change the backup destination of the primary database to
Autonomous Recovery Service if the backup destination of the primary and standby
databases is Object Storage.
To change the backup destination of the primary database to Autonomous Recovery Service, first, disable backup on the standby database.
- You cannot use standby-side backups to perform restore/recover operations on the primary database.
- Switchover scenarios:
- If automatic backups was configured on the primary with backup destination of Object Storage, upon switchover, the backups will continue on the new standby database
- If automatic backups was configured on the primary with backup destination of Autonomous Recovery Service, upon switchover, backup and restore will be disabled on the new standby database
- If automatic backups was configured on the standby with backup destination of Object Storage, upon switchover, the backups will continue on the new primary database
- Failover scenarios:
- If automatic backups was configured on the primary with backup destination of Object Storage or Autonomous Recovery Service, upon failover the backups be disabled on the new Disabled Standby database
- If automatic backups was configured on the standby with backup destination of Object Storage, upon failover the backups will continue on the new primary database
Cancel a Running Full or Incremental Backup
- Service: Database
- Release Date: August 21, 2023
You now have the ability to cancel an ongoing backup, allowing you to free up system resources. You will no longer have to call the operations team to have this backup job canceled.
As part of the Create Database workflow and independently (after the database has been created), you may enable Automatic Backup and select the desired backup destination. Depending on the backup destination selected, you may have one or more full backups and several incremental backups. Once any of these backups have started, you will not have the option to cancel that backup midway.
This feature allows you to cancel any running backup (automatic or standalone) from the OCI console or via OCI API.
You can also:
- Cancel a manual backup, which is triggered when you click the
Create backup button
Note: All manual backups are full backups.
- Delete a canceled manual backup
Autonomous Recovery Service as the Default Backup Destination
Service: Database
Release Date: August 17, 2023
This Console enhancement sets Autonomous Recovery Service as the default backup destination for automatic backups in all regions and includes default limits automatically without having to request them.
For more information about Service Limits, Quotas, and Usage, see Autonomous Recovery Service limits.
Related Topics
Exadata Fleet Update
- Services: Database
- Release Date: August 02, 2023
Exadata Fleet Update simplifies, standardizes, and enhances the Oracle Database and Grid Infrastructure patching experience. Exadata Fleet Update achieves this by grouping components based on the customers' business needs into collections that can be patched as one entity within a given maintenance cycle.
Exadata Fleet Update brings this patching engine to OCI as a native cloud service, accessible from the OCI Console, OCI API, and via the OCI CLI.
Exadata Fleet Update is available free of charge on Oracle’s Exadata Database Service including Cloud@Customer (ExaDB-C@C) and Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure (ExaDB-D).
For more information, see:
Update Guest VM (domU) Operating System to Oracle Linux 8
Service: Database
Release Date: August 01, 2023
Update the Guest VM operating system to Oracle Linus 8 using the Console or API. This enhancement is limited to Exadata X7, X8M, and X9M systems.
Use a Backup to Create a Database Across Availability Domains within the Same Region
Service: Database
Release Date: July 26, 2023
With this enhancement, when AD is up, you can:
- use an existing backup and restore it to create a database (out-of-place restore) either within the same availability domain or in a different availability domain within the same region, regardless of whether the backup was created with backup destination Object Storage or Autonomous Recovery Service
- restore a backup taken on either a database that was configured using host-based wallets (local wallet) or OCI Vault
Interim Software Updates
- Services: Database
- Release Date: June 07, 2023
This feature enables cloud-only customers to download one-off patches from the OCI console and API. There is no option to apply the downloaded patch via console and API. To apply these patches, customers must log in to their VM and run the patch apply utility.
To be able to download interim software update, you should at least have an ExaDB-D infrastructure provisioned.
Downloading one-off patches does not replace Database Software Image (DSI) creation. Customers must continue to use Database Software Images (DSI) to build and deploy their customized images.
Enhanced Controls to Configure Automatic Full (L0) and Incremental (L1) Backups
Service: Database
Release Date: May 17, 2023
Enabling Automatic Backup during the Create Database workflow or as a separate step afterward starts the first full backup ("initial L0") immediately.
Similarly, for subsequent full backups (future L0) and daily incremental backups (L1), you can specify a time window but cannot change the day of the week when these backups must begin.
Future L0 and L1 backups will begin during the 2-hour scheduling window that the user selects for the database during which the automatic backup process will begin. There are 12 scheduling windows to choose from, each starting at an even-numbered hour. For example, one window runs from 4:00-6:00 AM, and the next from 6:00-8:00 AM. Backup jobs do not necessarily complete within the scheduled window. If you do not specify a window, the default 6-hour backup window of 00:00 to 06:00 is chosen. In this case, the time zone corresponds to the region of the Exadata Cloud infrastructure instance.
Here are the current defaults for the backup destinations, Object Storage Service, and Autonomous Recovery Service:
- Initial full L0 backup: Immediate
- Subsequent full L0 backups: Every Sunday
- Daily incremental L1 backups: Every Monday - Saturday
With these enhanced controls, you can:
- Aside from configuring the initial L0 backup to start immediately, you can also specify whether you want the initial L0 backup to start immediately or according to the L0 schedule.
- Choose a time window for the future full backups to start.
- Choose a time window for the incremental backups to start, which can be
different from the time window for the L0 backups.
The time windows will remain the same, 2-hour scheduling windows and the default 6-hour window.
Configure Oracle Database Autonomous Recovery Service as a Backup Destination
Service: Database
Release Date: April 12, 2023
Oracle Database Autonomous Recovery Service provides an optimized policy-driven automatic backup and recovery system for the Exadata Database on Dedicated Infrastructure. It also offers a real-time data protection feature that enables protected databases with zero data loss recovery in the event of a database failure. Since Real-time data protection is an extra cost option, you can choose to enable or disable it.
Related Topics
- Overview of Oracle Database Autonomous Recovery Service
- Network Requirements for Oracle Database Autonomous Recovery Service
- Create a Service Gateway to Object Storage
- Creating Protection Policies
- Managing Exadata Database Backups
- Managed Backup Types and Usage Information
- Prerequisites for Backups on Exadata Cloud Infrastructure
- To configure automatic backups for a database
- To create a database in an existing Exadata Cloud Infrastructure instance
- To view details of a Protected Database
- To designate Autonomous Recovery Service as a Backup Destination for an Existing Database
- To terminate a database
- Using the Console to Terminate a VM Cluster
- Recovering an Exadata Database from Backup Destination
- Using the Console to restore a database
- To restore a database
- To create a cloud VM cluster resource
Application VIP Support
Service: Database
Release Date: April 12, 2023
The VM Cluster now supports attaching and detaching Application Virtual IP Addresses.
Related Topics
Monthly ExaDB-D Infrastructure Security Maintenance
Service: Database
Release Date: March 01, 2023
Security maintenance, performed alongside the quarterly maintenance, is executed once a month and includes fixes for vulnerabilities with CVSS scores greater than or equal to 7.
The Infrastructure Security Maintenance implementation will be rolled out only to the
SCL
,
YUL
, ZRH
, AUH
, DXB
,
YNY
, HYD
, ORD
,
MAD
, MTZ
, and ARN
regions. It
will be rolled out to other regions in a phased manner.
Related Topics
Identity and Access Management (IAM) Integration with Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure
Service: Database
Release Date: January 24, 2023
With the latest Release Update, you can now configure the database in a virtual machine cluster to use Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Identity and Access Management (IAM) authentication and authorization to allow IAM users to access the database with IAM credentials.
- will be available on newly provisioned and existing the databases patched to 19.17. This feature is not available on Oracle Database release 21c.
- can not be used with databases configured with Data Guard.
Exadata Cloud Infrastructure: Private DNS
- Services:Database
- Release Date: January 18, 2023
Allow users to choose the private view and private zone while provisioning a new VM cluster for ExaCS. All the underlying resources of the VCN, including those of ExaDB-D, should be created in the same private zone. The private zones can be associated with subnets inside the VCN. This configuration cannot be changed later.
Private DNS resolver is going to resolve queries in customer VCN and queries coming from the on-premise networks. Ability to provide the DNS address and seed that into DB resources using conditional forwarding, is provided by the private DNS feature. With a private resolver, customers can resolve the A-record across different VCNs (with VCN peering- local/remote).
Enhanced Infrastructure Maintenance Controls
- Services: Database
- Release Date: January 18, 2023
- Choice of rolling and non-rolling maintenance methods.
- Ability to perform custom actions before maintenance on each database server by having the automated maintenance wait before shutting down VMs until the maintenance is resumed or the configured timeout is reached.
- Visibility into the database server update order.
- Granular tracking of the maintenance progress at a component level.
Related Topics
- To create a Cloud Exadata infrastructure resource
- Cloud Infrastructure Maintenance Updates
- To view or edit the properties of the next scheduled quarterly maintenance for Exadata Cloud Infrastructure
- Using the API to Manage Exadata Cloud Infrastructure Maintenance Controls
- Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure Event Types
Database Management Support for Pluggable Databases in Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure
Service: Database
Release Date: January 11, 2023
You can now enable Database Management for Pluggable Databases (PDBs) on Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure, and use Database Management features for monitoring, performance management, and tuning.
Related Topics
Microsoft Azure Active Directory Integration with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Databases
Service: Database
Release date: January 10, 2023
Oracle Exadata Database on Dedicated Infrastructure now can accept Azure AD tokens to access the database. Azure AD users can access the database directly using their Azure AD token, and applications can use their service tokens to access the database.
Azure AD integration will be available for databases patched to 19.17 and above. This feature is not available on Oracle Database release 21c.
Create and Manage Multiple Virtual Machines per Exadata System (MultiVM) and VM Cluster Node Subsetting
- Services: Database
- Release Date: Starting November 9, 2022 ( the release date varies by region)
Slice Exadata resources into multiple virtual machines. Define up to 8 multiple virtual machine (VM) clusters on an Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure, and specify how the overall system resources are allocated to them.
VM Cluster Node Subsetting enables you to allocate a subset of database servers to new and existing VM clusters to enable maximum flexibility in the allocation of compute (CPU, memory, local storage) resources.
For existing Exadata Infrastructure, MultiVM will be enabled as part of your next scheduled maintenance run after MultiVM migration on December 20, 2022. All newly provisioned Exadata Infrastructure after the release of MVM on November 15, 2022, will have MultiVM enabled.
Related Topics
- To create a cloud VM cluster resource
- Scale VM Resources in Multi VM Enabled Infrastructure
- Exadata Cloud Infrastructure VM Cluster Event Types
- Overview of VM Cluster Node Subsetting
- Add a VM to a VM Cluster
- Using the Console to View a List of DB Servers on an Exadata Infrastructure
- Using the Console to Terminate a VM Cluster
- Terminate a VM from a VM Cluster
- Permissions Required for Each API Operation
- Permissions and API operation details for DB Servers
- VM Node Subsetting Event Types
- Adding a VM to a VM Cluster Fails
- CPU Offline Scaling Fails
VM Cluster and Database Health and Performance Metrics in the OCI Console
- Services: Database
- Release Date: October 7, 2022
With this release Oracle will provide health metrics for databases and VM clusters in the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) console.
When there is a network problem and Oracle Trace File Analyzer (TFA) is unable to post metrics, TFA will wait for one hour before attempting to retry posting the metrics. This is required to avoid creating a backlog of metrics processing on TFA.
Potentially one hour of metrics will be lost between network restore and the first metric posted.
Related Topics
- Monitor Metrics for VM Cluster Resources
- Prerequisites for Using Metrics
- View Metrics for VM Cluster
- View Metrics for a Database
- View Metrics for VM Clusters in a Compartment
- View Metrics for Databases in a Compartment
- Metrics for Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure in the Monitoring Service
- Metrics for Exadata Cloud Infrastructure in the Database Management Service
Oracle Standard Tagging for Resources on Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure
- Services: Database
- Release Date: September 15, 2022
Exadata Cloud Infrastructure resources can now be tagged using Oracle Standard tags according to your organizational scheme. By tagging resources, you can group them, manage costs, and gain insight into how they are being used.
Automatic Diagnostic Collection
- Services: Database
- Release Date: August 31, 2022
- Oracle to proactively collect detailed health metrics for diagnosis and issue resolution
- Oracle to reactively collect Incident logs and trace files on demand for a deeper diagnosis and issue resolution
Collecting Guest VM events, health metrics, incident logs, and trace files, will help Oracle to enhance service operations as well as provide proactive support by early detection and correlation.
Related Topics
Exadata Database on Dedicated Infrastructure: Key Management Service for Cross Region Data Guard
- Services: Database
- Release Date: Aug 8, 2022
You can now have the encryption keys used for the primary and standby databases to be available in the primary and standby regions respectively so that it provides protection against a single point of failure for the OCI Vault key. This is possible if the keys are in OCI Virtual Private Vault. So, cross-region Data Guard can be set up between two databases if their keys are residing in a virtual private vault (VPV) and are managed by the OCI Vault service.
Concurrently Create or Terminate Oracle Databases in a VM Cluster
- Services: Database
- Release Date: August 3, 2022
- The number of databases that can be created on a cluster depends on the available memory on the VMs. For each database, by default, 12.6 GB (7.6 GB for SGA and 5 GB for PGA) is allocated if the VM has greater than 60 GB of memory. If the VM has less than or equal to 60 GB, then 6.3 GB (3.8 GB for SGA and 2.5 GB for PGA) is allocated. Also, Grid Infrastructure and ASM consume some memory, approximately 2 to 4 GB.
- A database that is being created cannot be terminated. You can, however, terminate other databases in the VM Cluster.
VM Guest Exadata OS Image Major Version Update
- Services: Database
- Release Date: July 11, 2022
In addition to performing minor version updates to the Exadata VM Cluster images, you can update to a new major version if the currently installed version is 19.2 or higher. For example, if the VM cluster is on version 20, then you can update it to version 21.
Database Service Events capability for Exadata Database
- Services: Database
- Release Date: July 8, 2022
This feature allows customers to use OCI Console or API/CLI/SDK/Terraform to receive event notifications about health issues with your Oracle Databases or other components on the Guest VM.
Customers currently have basic lifecycle management events like backup begin, backup end, patching begin, etc. We are extending that capability to include a comprehensive set of Database Service events to help customers troubleshoot issues.
Database Service Events monitor guest VM operations and conditions and generate diagnostic notifications for customers by leveraging the existing OCI Events service and Notification mechanisms in their tenancy. Customers can then create topics and subscribe to these topics through email, functions, streams, etc. For more information about using the Events Notification Service, see Notifications Overview
Key Customer Benefits
- Ability to receive notifications for Guest VM operations via an opt-in mechanism.
- Allows customers to proactively address issues before they may become serious.
OCI Console Experience
Customers can navigate to the VM Cluster details page from the OCI console menu by selecting Oracle Database → Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure → a specific VM Cluster to enable Diagnostics Notification for a VM Cluster.
Related Topics
- Using the Console to Enable, Partially Enable, or Disable Diagnostics Collection
- To create a cloud VM cluster resource
- Overview of Database Service Events
- Receive Notifications about Database Service Events
- Database Service Event Types
- Temporarily Restrict Automatic Diagnostic Collections for Specific Events
- Notifications Overview
Exadata Database on Dedicated Infrastructure: 'Create database from backup' now available for databases using customer-managed encryption
- Services: Database
- Release Date: June 29, 2022
Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure (ExaDB-D): Now allows you to create a database from backup, when the backup is of the database using customer-managed encryption. This is in addition to the existing ability to create a database from backup, when the backup is of the database using oracle-managed encryption
Related Topics
Support for DB Home Minor Version Selection (N-3)
- Services: Database
- Release Date: May 23, 2022
Provision a DB Home using a major version and RU version of your choice.
While provisioning, if you opt to use Oracle Provided Database Software Images as the image type, then you can use the Display all available versions switch to choose from all available PSUs and RUs. The most recent release for each major version is indicated with a latest label.
For the Oracle Database major version releases available in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, images are provided for the current version plus the three most recent older versions (N through N - 3). For example, if an instance is using Oracle Database 19c, and the latest version of 19c offered is 19.8.0.0.0, images available for provisioning are for versions 19.8.0.0.0, 19.7.0.0, 19.6.0.0 and 19.5.0.0.
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Operations Insights Support for Oracle Cloud Databases
- Services:Support for Oracle Database Cloud Service Databases
- Release Date: March 22, 2022
Operations Insights now allows you to use the Capacity Planning and SQL Warehouse functionality to gain insight into Oracle Databases deployed in Oracle Cloud (Bare Metal, Virtual Machine VM, and Exadata Cloud Infrastructure).
Specify the Same SID for Primary and Standby Databases in Data Guard Association
- Services: Database
- Release Date: March 14, 2022
The same SID prefix used for the primary database can now also be used for the standby database when creating a Data Guard Association.
Exadata Cloud Infrastructure: Pluggable database lifecycle support
- Services: Database
- Release Date: Jan. 12, 2022
You can now create and manage pluggable databases (PDBs) in Exadata Cloud Infrastructure using the OCI console and APIs. See Create and Manage Exadata Pluggable Databases for details.
Exadata Cloud Infrastructure: Set DB_UNIQUE_NAME and Oracle SID prefix during database creation
- Services: Database
- Release Date: January 12, 2022
You can now specify the DB_UNIQUE_NAME
value and the Oracle
SID prefix when creating a new Oracle Database in Exadata Cloud Infrastructure. You can also set these values when creating a standby
database in an Oracle Data Guard association. See the following topics for
instructions:
To create a database in an existing Exadata Cloud Infrastructure instance
Using the Console to Enable Data Guard on an Exadata Cloud Infrastructure System
Elastic Expansion
Services: Database
Release Date: December 23, 2021
With elastic provisioning and expansion, you can dynamically increase your CPU and storage capacity to meet your growing workload requirements.
Expand the infrastructure capacity on-demand by scaling up the infrastructure with additional database or storage servers without being constrained by the standard supported shapes. You can allocate CPU and storage capacity available on X8M and X9M servers up to the system limits when you provision new VM Clusters on the infrastructure, or to already deployed VM Clusters without disrupting the current running workloads.
For more information, see:
- To scale CPU cores in an Exadata Cloud Infrastructure cloud VM cluster or DB system
- To add compute and storage resources to a flexible cloud Exadata infrastructure resource
- Using the API to Manage Exadata Cloud Infrastructure Instance
- cloud-exadata-infrastructures
- Storage Expansion Event Types
Related Topics
- Scaling CPU cores within an Exadata Cloud Infrastructure instance
- Exadata X9M
- Exadata X8M
- The Cloud Exadata Infrastructure Resource
- Resources to Be Created
- To create a Cloud Exadata infrastructure resource
- To scale CPU cores in an Exadata Cloud Infrastructure cloud VM cluster or DB system
- Scaling Exadata X8M and X9M Compute and Storage
- Permissions Required for Each API Operation
- Permissions and API operation details for Cloud Exadata Infrastructures
Oracle Database: Encryption key options updated for bare metal, virtual machine, and Exadata Cloud Infrastructure databases
- Services: Database
- Release Date: Nov. 17, 2021
When provisioning a new Oracle Database or a new virtual machine or bare metal DB system, the TDE wallet password parameter is now optional, and it is not used if you configure an Exadata Cloud Infrastructure database to use customer-managed keys with the OCI Vault service. For more information on creating Oracle Databases and virtual machine DB systems, see the following topics in the documentation:
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Creating Databases (bare metal DB systems)
For information on using the Vault service to store and manage encryption keys and other secrets used by OCI resources, see the Vault service documentation.
Performance Hub Exadata Tab
- Services: Database
- Release Date: Nov. 16, 2021
The Exadata tab provides a unified view of Oracle Exadata hard disk and flash performance statistics with deep insight into the health and performance of all components such as the Oracle databases, Oracle Exadata storage cells, and Automatic Storage Management (ASM). It is available for Exadata Cloud deployments.and external databases that use Exadata infrastructure. For more information, see Using Performance Hub to Analyze Database Performance.
Exadata Cloud Infrastructure: custom SCAN listener port for VM cluster
- Services: Database
- Release Date: Nov. 3, 2021
You can now specify a custom SCAN listener port for your Exadata cloud VM cluster. See SCAN Listener Port Setting for more information.
Performance Hub & metrics available for databases running in Exadata Cloud Infrastructure, bare metal DB systems, and virtual machine DB systems
- Services: Database
- Release Date: Sept. 9, 2021
You can now use the Performance Hub tool and view metrics on cloud databases that run on the following systems: Exadata Cloud Infrastructure instances, bare metal DB systems, and virtual machines DB systems. This feature provides additional monitoring and management functions to these databases. For more information, see Analyzing Exadata Cloud Service Database Performance and Analyzing Virtual Machine / Bare Metal Database Performance .
Maintenance advisory contacts for Exadata infrastructure
- Services: Database
- Release Date: July 28, 2021
You can choose to specify up to 10 valid email addresses to which Oracle sends maintenance notifications when updates are made to an Exadata infrastructure. The email addresses you specify are used only for service-related operational issues. See Oracle-Managed Infrastructure Maintenance Updates for more information.
Data Guard protection mode enhancement for Exadata, Bare Metal, and Virtual Machine Database Cloud services
- Services: Database
- Release Date: July 21, 2021
You can now specify the Data Guard protection mode for Exadata Cloud Infrastructure instances and bare metal and virtual machine DB systems. See the following topics for more information:
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Using Oracle Data Guard (for bare metal and virtual machine DB systems)
Exadata Cloud Infrastructure: Non-rolling infrastructure patching option now available
- Services: Database
- Release Date: May 26, 2021
You can now configure Exadata infrastructure patching to take place in a non-rolling fashion across the database nodes. This option allows you to reduce the total time your system is undergoing quarterly maintenance, but does involve system downtime. See Oracle-Managed Infrastructure Maintenance Updates for more information.
Customer-managed encryption keys available with Oracle Data Guard-enabled databases in Exadata Cloud Infrastructure
- Services: Database
- Release Date: April 16, 2021
Customer-managed keys for Exadata Cloud Infrastructure is an encryption key management service that enables you to encrypt your data using encryption keys that you control. You can use customer-managed keys on databases you provision in Exadata Cloud Infrastructure that are enabled with Oracle Data Guard.
ExaDB-D OS/DomU Patching Project
- Services: Database
- Release Date: Feb. 5, 2021
DomU OS Patching is a feature which enables ExaDB-D customers to upgrade the Exadata OS image on their domU nodes in an automated manner from their OCI console and APIs. The following information explains about a recent change in the feature that could not be added to the docs in time for release, but will be added soon.
Rollback required if the patch fails.
On multi-node systems, if one of the nodes fails the patch, you must roll back all nodes to get them all on the same version. Then run precheck, fix any problems, and run the patch again.
Example: If you run precheck on Monday and all nodes pass, but do not apply the patch until Wednesday, it is possible that one or more of the nodes may fail the patch because of changes on the nodes or a maintenance conflict.
To prevent this from happening, Oracle recommends that you run precheck right before applying the patch.
For more information, see Updating an Exadata Cloud Service VM Cluster Operating System.
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Vault service integration with Exadata Cloud Infrastructure
- Services: Database, Key Management, Vault
- Release Date: Dec. 18, 2020
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Vault service integration with Exadata Cloud Infrastructure enables database encryption with customer-managed keys. For more information, see Customer-Managed Keys in Exadata Cloud Service.
Exadata Cloud Infrastructure: Oracle Database 19c upgrade feature available
- Services: Database
- Release Date: Dec. 3, 2020
- API Versions Affected: 20160918
You can now upgrade Exadata Cloud Infrastructure databases to Oracle Database version 19c using the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Console or API. For information and instructions, see Upgrading Exadata Databases.
Create custom database software images for Exadata Cloud Infrastructure instances
- Services: Database
- Release Date: Nov. 10, 2020
You can now create custom Oracle Database software images to use for provisioning Database Homes and and patching databases in Exadata Cloud Infrastructure instances. For more information, see Oracle Database Software Images.
Exadata Cloud Infrastructure: grid infrastructure upgrade for cloud VM clusters
- Services: Database
- Release Date: Oct. 15, 2020
You can now upgrade the grid infrastructure (GI) of an Exadata Cloud Infrastructure VM cluster using the Console. For more information, see Upgrading Exadata Grid Infrastructure.
Exadata Cloud Infrastructure: the flexible X8M shape now available
- Services: Database
- Release Date: Oct. 15, 2020
You can now provision an Exadata Cloud Infrastructure instance using the flexible X8M shape. This shape allows you to expand your system after provisioning, as your databases grow and you need more storage servers, compute servers, or both. For more information, see Overview of X8M Scalable Exadata Infrastructure.
Exadata Cloud Infrastructure: use an existing Database Home when setting up a Data Guard standby database
- Services: Database
- Release Date: Oct. 15, 2020
You can now choose to use an existing Database Home when setting up a Data Guard standby database in your Exadata Cloud Infrastructure instance. See Using Oracle Data Guard with Exadata Cloud Service Instances for information on setting up Data Guard for your Exadata databases.