Oracle Exadata System Software provides database-aware storage services, such as the ability to offload SQL and other database processing from the database server. The database and storage servers both contain components of the Exadata System Software.
Starting with Exadata System Software release 24.1, Oracle Exadata Exascale transforms Exadata storage management by decoupling Oracle Database and GI clusters from the underlying Exadata storage servers. Exascale software services manage pools of storage that span the fleet of Exadata storage servers and service multiple users and database server clusters. With the introduction of Exascale, you can choose from the following storage configuration options:
- For new system deployments (or redeployments of existing systems), you can choose Exascale instead of Oracle ASM. In this case, Exascale services are deployed across the system, and ASM instances are not required on the database servers.
- For new and existing deployments, you can continue using ASM without Exascale. In this case, you continue to use ASM instances on the database servers, and no Exascale services are required on the database and storage servers.
- For new and existing deployments, you can deploy a configuration that uses Exascale and ASM. This option enables new and existing customers to implement Exascale while keeping selected databases on the time-tested storage management infrastructure provided by ASM.
Each database server includes the following software components:
- Oracle Database instance(s), including the Oracle Database Resource Manager (DBRM) for managing resource allocation
- Exadata System Software, including:
- The DBMCLI command-line interface for managing the Exadata System Software on the database servers
- Management Server (MS), which works in cooperation with and processes most of the commands from DBMCLI
- Restart Server (RS), which monitors and restarts other services if they fail to respond within the allowable heartbeat period
- Client services and other programs to support Exascale storage (see the following slides for more details)
- Oracle Grid Infrastructure (GI)
Each storage server contains data storage hardware and Exadata System Software to manage the data. The software includes the following components:
- Cell Control Command-Line Interface (CellCLI) for managing the Exadata System Software on the storage servers
- Cell Server (CELLSRV), which provides the majority of the storage server services, including the advanced SQL offload capabilities and the I/O Resource Management (IORM) functionality to meter out I/O bandwidth to the various databases and consumer groups issuing I/O calls
- Management Server (MS), which works in cooperation with and processes most of the commands from CellCLI
- Restart Server (RS), which monitors and restarts other services if they fail to respond within the allowable heartbeat period
- Storage services and other programs that implement the Exascale storage cluster (see the following slides for more details)
Administrators manage the database and storage servers using secure network connections over the administration network. In addition to CellCLI and DBMCLI, administrators can use the following command-line interfaces:
- dcli for running administration commands across a set of database or storage servers
- ExaCLI for managing database and storage servers remotely
- exadcli for centrally managing an Oracle Exadata system by running ExaCLI command across a set of servers
- ESCLI for managing the Exascale storage cluster
Note: This slide lists the major Exadata System Software components. See the related resources for more information.