1.4.3 Restrictions for Connecting Oracle Exadata with Other Hardware, Systems, or Networks

The following restrictions apply to hardware and software modifications to Oracle Exadata Rack. Violating these restrictions can result in loss of warranty and support.

• Oracle Exadata Storage Expansion Rack can only be connected to Oracle Exadata Database Machine or Oracle SuperCluster, and only supports databases running on the database servers on Oracle Exadata Database Machine or Oracle SuperCluster.

• Standalone Oracle Exadata Storage Servers can only be connected to Oracle Exadata Database Machine or Oracle SuperCluster, and only support databases running on the database servers of Oracle Exadata Database Machine or Oracle SuperCluster.

• Customers cannot connect USB devices that draw more than 100 mA of power to the database servers.

• Customers cannot connect USB devices to the Oracle Exadata Storage Servers except as documented in the Oracle Exadata documentation. In those documented situations, the USB device should not draw more than 100 mA of power.

• Only switches specified for use in Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud, Oracle Big Data Appliance, and Oracle SuperCluster may be connected to the Oracle Exadata Rack RDMA Network Fabric network. It is not supported to connect other RDMA Network Fabric switches, including third-party switches, to the Oracle Exadata Rack RDMA Network Fabric network. Only the RDMA Network Fabric networking topologies specified in this guide and Oracle Exadata Database Machine Extending and Multi-Rack Cabling Guide are supported, and any other RDMA Network Fabric network topology is not supported.

  Note:

  When interconnecting racks, all racks must use the same type of RDMA Network Fabric, either InfiniBand or RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE).

• You may connect external servers, that are not part of Oracle Engineered Systems, to the RDMA Network Fabric switches in Oracle Exadata. However, it is your responsibility to upgrade and maintain the compatibility of the RDMA Network Fabric software of the external servers with the RDMA Network Fabric software release for Oracle Exadata. Oracle highly recommends that you maintain the same release of RDMA Network Fabric software and operating system on the external server as on Oracle Exadata. If an RDMA Network Fabric problem is encountered and an external server is connected, then you may be asked to remove the external server and reproduce the problem.

• You can connect the database servers to external (non-Exadata) storage using iSCSI or NFS subject to the following:

  • The storage is allowed for application input and output files, Data Pump export files and logs, and files associated with backup and recovery operations.
  • The use of non-Oracle storage for Oracle Database files is not supported.
  • The Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) protocol is not supported.