3.2.1 About Oracle Exadata Extended (XT) Storage Servers

Oracle Exadata Extended (XT) Storage Servers help you extend the operational and management benefits of Exadata Database Machine to rarely accessed data that must be kept online.

Each XT storage server includes twelve high-capacity disk drives. However, to achieve a lower cost, flash devices are not included. Also, Oracle Exadata System Software licensing is optional, with some software features disabled unless licensed. Hybrid Columnar Compression is included without requiring Oracle Exadata System Software licenses.

XT storage servers use the same RDMA Network Fabric as the other servers in your Oracle Exadata Rack. XT storage servers add storage capacity while remaining transparent to applications, transparent to SQL, and retaining the same operational model. You can use the same security model and encryption used for your other Exadata storage servers.

You can add XT storage servers to Oracle Exadata Rack X4 or newer, including Eighth Rack configurations. You must add at least 2 servers initially. After the initial 2 servers, you can add XT storage servers as needed. To implement high redundancy, you must have a minimum of 3 XT storage servers. XT storage servers follow the same placement patterns as High Capacity (HC) and Extreme Flash (EF) storage servers.

An Oracle ASM disk group should use storage provided by only one type of storage server (HC, EF, or XT). After adding the XT storage servers to your rack, create new disk groups to use the storage. The default disk group name for XT storage servers is XTND. However, you can use a different name as required.

XT storage servers provide fully integrated storage for Oracle Database. You can use the new disk group with database features such as Oracle Partitioning, Oracle Automatic Data Optimization, and Oracle Advanced Compression.