3 New Features for Oracle Exadata System Software Release 22.x
This section describes the new features introduced in Oracle Exadata System Software release 22.x.
Parent topic: What's New in Oracle Exadata Database Machine
3.1 What's New in Oracle Exadata System Software Release 22.1
3.1.1 Real-Time Insight
Commencing with Oracle Exadata System Software 22.1.0, real-time insight provides the infrastructure to automatically stream up-to-the-second metric observations from all of the servers in your Exadata fleet and feed them into customizable monitoring dashboards for real-time analysis and problem-solving.
You can choose which of the 200+ Exadata metrics are included in the stream and use standard Web protocols to automatically propagate the stream to popular observability platforms, time-series databases, and visualization applications.
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3.1.2 Oracle VM Server Management Domain Upgrade to Oracle Linux 7
Oracle Exadata System Software 22.1.0 includes an upgrade to Oracle Linux 7 for the Oracle VM Server management domain (Dom0).
This upgrade modernizes the Oracle VM Server management domain, delivers numerous stability and security improvements, and removes the last dependence on Oracle Linux 6 in Oracle Exadata System Software.
The upgrade is transparent to the Oracle VM user domains (DomU), and the existing volume and filesystem structures continue to reside inside the management domain.
This change only applies to Exadata systems configured with virtual machines (VMs) on Exadata X8-2 and earlier 2-socket hardware models, which contain InfiniBand Network Fabric.
3.1.3 Exadata Upgrade Improvements
Oracle Exadata System Software 22.1.0 includes numerous changes that deliver quicker upgrades for Exadata database servers. The changes include:
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Optimizing the sequence of operations to remove unnecessary repetition, unnecessary checks, and unnecessary reboots.
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Performing operations and checks asynchronously (in the background) and in parallel where possible.
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Optimizing the packaging of Exadata software images to remove unnecessary repackaging.
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Pre-staging software and firmware images where possible.
The improvements cover all aspects of the upgrade process, including the Operating System (OS) upgrade procedures, Oracle software upgrade procedures, Exadata software imaging procedures, and firmware upgrade procedures.
Individual results vary depending on many variables, including the system configuration, system load, pre-upgrade software version, and system size. In most cases, each server upgrade is at least 10% faster. While in some cases, the upgrade duration is half of comparable previous upgrades.
Furthermore, the benefit multiplies across multiple servers. So, depending on the size of the rack, or the number of racks in the fleet, these improvements can reduce the overall time to perform an upgrade by hours or even days.
3.1.4 Deprecated Features in Oracle Exadata System Software Release 22.1
The following features are deprecated in this release, and may be desupported in a future release:
3.1.4.1 Deprecation of RAM Cache
Commencing with the September 2022 Oracle Exadata System Software release updates (versions 21.2.16 and 22.1.3), the cell RAM Cache feature is deprecated.
Existing RAM Cache installations continue to operate as they did in previous releases. However, new RAM Cache creation requests are not allowed after the deprecation.
The cell RAM Cache feature was introduced in Oracle Exadata System Software version 18.1.0. See In-Memory OLTP and Consolidation Acceleration.
3.1.4.2 Deprecation of USB Images
Commencing with the September 2022 Oracle Exadata System Software release updates (versions 21.2.16 and 22.1.3), USB images are deprecated.
After the deprecation, USB images are no longer available for imaging or re-imaging an
Oracle Exadata Database Machine server and are not
included in the Secure Eraser package
(secureeraser_label.zip).
Instead of USB image files, use the PXE option with ISO image files.