Using the Console to Create Infrastructure

To create your Oracle Exadata Cloud@Customer infrastructure, be prepared to provide values for the fields required for configuring the infrastructure.

Open the navigation menu. Under Oracle Database, click Exadata Cloud@Customer.
Under Region, select the region that you want to associate with the Oracle Exadata infrastructure.

The region that is associated with your Oracle Exadata infrastructure cannot be changed after the Oracle Exadata infrastructure is created. Therefore, ensure that you select the most appropriate region for your infrastructure. Consider the following factors:
- Consider any business policies or regulations that preclude the use of a particular region. For example, you can be required to maintain all operations within national boundaries.
- Consider the physical proximity of the region to your data center. Needless extra physical separation adds unnecessary latency to network communications between Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and your corporate data center.
Click Exadata Infrastructure.
Click Create Exadata Infrastructure.
In the Create Exadata Infrastructure page, provide the requested information:
- Oracle Cloud Infrastructure region: The region that is associated with your Oracle Exadata infrastructure cannot be changed after the Oracle Exadata infrastructure is created. Therefore, check the displayed region to ensure that you are using the most appropriate region for your infrastructure.
  
  See step 2 (earlier in this procedure) for further considerations. To switch regions now, use the Region menu at the top of the console.
- Choose a compartment: From the list of available compartments, choose the compartment that you want to contain the Oracle Exadata infrastructure.
  
  For more information, see Understanding Compartments.
- Provide the display name: The display name is a user-friendly name that you can use to identify the Exadata infrastructure. The name doesn't need to be unique, because an Oracle Cloud Identifier (OCID) uniquely identifies the Oracle Exadata infrastructure.
- Select the Exadata system model: From the list, choose the model of the Oracle Exadata hardware that is being used.
  
  The Oracle Exadata system model and system shape combine to define the amount of CPU, memory, and storage resources that are available in the Exadata infrastructure.
- Select an Exadata system shape: Together with the Oracle Exadata system model, the Oracle Exadata system shape defines the amount of CPU, memory, and storage resources that are available in the Oracle Exadata infrastructure.
  - Base System: includes two compute nodes and three Oracle Exadata Storage Servers. A Base System is an entry-level configuration. Compared to other configurations, a Base System contains Oracle Exadata Storage Servers with significantly less storage capacity, and compute nodes with significantly less memory and processing power.
  - Quarter Rack: includes two compute nodes and three Oracle Exadata Storage Servers.
  - Half Rack: includes four compute nodes and six Oracle Exadata Storage Servers.
  - Full Rack: includes eight compute nodes and 12 Oracle Exadata Storage Servers.
- Storage Configuration: You can add a minimum of 3 and extend up to a maximum of 12 storage servers. For each storage server you add, the storage capacity that will be added is displayed on the right.
- Configure the cloud control plane server network
  
  Each Oracle Exadata Cloud@Customer system contains two control plane servers, which enable connectivity to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. The control plane servers are connected to the control plane network, which is a subnet on your corporate network. The following settings define the network parameters:
  - Control Plane Server 1 IP Address: Provide the IP address for the first control plane server. This IP address is for the network interface that connects the first control plane server to your corporate network using the control plane network.
  - Control Plane Server 2 IP Address: Provide the IP address for the second control plane server. This IP address is for the network interface that connects the second control plane server to your corporate network using the control plane network.
  - Netmask: Specify the IP netmask for the control plane network.
  - Gateway: Specify the IP address of the control plane network gateway.
  - HTTP Proxy: (Optional) You can choose to use this field to specify your corporate HTTP proxy. The expected format is as follows, where server is the server name, domain is the domain name, and port is the assigned port:
```
http://server.domain:port
```
    For example:
```
http://proxy.example.com:80
```
    For enhanced security, when possible, Oracle recommends that you use an HTTP proxy.
- Configure the Oracle Exadata system networks
  
  Each Oracle Exadata Cloud@Customer system contains two system networks, which are not connected to your corporate network. The following settings define IP address allocations for these networks:
  - Administration Network CIDR Block: Specifies the IP address range for the administration network using CIDR notation. The administration network provides connectivity that enables Oracle to administer the Exadata system components, such as the Exadata compute servers, storage servers, network switches, and power distribution units. You can accept the suggested default, or specify a custom value.
    
    The maximum CIDR block prefix length is /23, which defines the smallest block of IP addresses that are required for the network. To allow for possible future expansion within Exadata Cloud@Customer, a smaller CIDR block prefix length is recommended, which reserves more IP addresses for the network. The minimum CIDR block prefix length is /16.
  Ensure that the IP address range does not conflict with other hosts of your corporate network, and does not overlap with the InfiniBand network CIDR block.
- InfiniBand Network CIDR Block: Specifies the IP address range for the Exadata InfiniBand network using CIDR notation. The Exadata InfiniBand network provides the high-speed low-latency interconnect used by Exadata software for internal communications between various system components. You can accept the suggested default, or specify a custom value.
  
  The maximum CIDR block prefix length is /22, which defines the smallest block of IP addresses that are required for the network. To allow for possible future expansion within Exadata Cloud@Customer, a smaller CIDR block prefix length is recommended, which reserves more IP addresses for the network. The minimum CIDR block prefix length is /19.
  
  Ensure that the IP address range does not conflict with other hosts of your corporate network, and does not overlap with the administration network CIDR block.
- Configure DNS and NTP services
  
  Each Exadata Cloud@Customer system requires access to Domain Names System (DNS) and Network Time Protocol (NTP) services. The following settings specify the servers that provide these services to the Exadata infrastructure:
  - DNS Servers: Provide the IP address of a DNS server that is accessible using the control plane network. You may specify up to three DNS servers.
  - NTP Servers: Provide the IP address of an NTP server that is accessible using the control plane network. You may specify up to three NTP servers.
  - Time Zone:The default time zone for the Exadata Infrastructure is UTC, but you can specify a different time zone. The time zone options are those supported in both theJava.util.TimeZoneclass and the Oracle Linux operating system.
    
    Note
    
    If you want to set a time zone other than UTC or the browser-detected time zone, then select the Select another time zone option, select a Region or country, and then select the corresponding Time zone.
    
    If you do not see the region or country you want, then select Miscellaneous, and then select an appropriate Time zone.
- Provide maintenance details
  - Configure automatic maintenance
    Click Modify Maintenance.
    
    In the Edit Automatic Maintenance dialog that opens, configure the automatic maintenance schedule.
    
    No preference: The system assigns a date and start time for infrastructure maintenance.
    
    Specify a schedule: Choose your preferred month, week, weekday, start time, and lead time for infrastructure maintenance.
    
    Lead Time: Specify the minimum number of weeks ahead of the maintenance event you would like to receive a notification message.
  - Provide maintenance contacts
    Maintenance contacts are required for service request-based communications for hardware replacement and other maintenance events.
    
    You can skip adding maintenance contacts while creating your infrastructure. However, you must add a primary contact prior to activating your infrastructure. Ensure that you provide the details of the contact that you used while registering the Customer Support Identifier (CSI) associated with this infrastructure, as a primary contact.
    
    Optionally, you can add a maximum of nine secondary contacts. Both the primary and secondary contacts receive all notifications about hardware replacement, network issues, and software maintenance runs. Note that you can promote any secondary contacts as the primary anytime you want. When you promote a secondary contact to primary, the current primary contact will be demoted automatically to secondary.
- Show Advanced Options
  
  You have the option to configure advanced options.
  - Tags: (Optional) You can choose to apply tags. If you have permission to create a resource, then you also have permission to apply free-form tags to that resource. To apply a defined tag, you must have permission to use the tag namespace. For more information about tagging, see Resource Tags. If you are not sure if you should apply tags, then skip this option (you can apply tags later) or ask your administrator.
Click Create Exadata Infrastructure.

If all of your inputs are valid, then the Infrastructure Details page appears. The page outlines the next steps in the provisioning process. Initially, after creation, the state of the Oracle Exadata infrastructure is Requires-Activation.