Introduction to Oracle Database Appliance

2 Introduction to Oracle Database Appliance

Oracle Database Appliance saves time and money by simplifying deployment, maintenance, and support of database solutions for organizations of every size. Oracle Database Appliance hardware models are optimized to run Oracle Database Standard Edition and Enterprise Edition.

About Oracle Database Appliance
Understand Oracle Database Appliance hardware models, deployment plans, and database options.
Oracle Database Appliance Software Terminology
Understand the software patches available for Oracle Database Appliance.
About the Web Console
Use the Oracle Appliance Manager Web Console to deploy and manage the appliance, databases, networks, and jobs.

About Oracle Database Appliance

Understand Oracle Database Appliance hardware models, deployment plans, and database options.

About Oracle Database Appliance Hardware Models

Choose the Oracle Database Appliance hardware model that suits your business needs.

Oracle Database Appliance Hardware Model	Deployment Use Case
Oracle Database Appliance X8-2S, X8-2M, X8-2-HA	Oracle Database Appliance X8-2S is a small configuration designed for smaller or entry-level deployments. Oracle Database Appliance X8-2M is a medium-sized configuration designed for performance. Oracle Database Appliance X8-2-HA is a large configuration designed for larger databases and high-availability.
Oracle Database Appliance X7-2S, X7-2M, X7-2-HA	Oracle Database Appliance X7-2S is a small configuration designed for smaller or entry-level deployments. Oracle Database Appliance X7-2M is a medium-sized configuration designed for performance. Oracle Database Appliance X7-2-HA is a large configuration designed for larger databases and high-availability.
Oracle Database Appliance X6-2S, X6-2M, X6-2L	Oracle Database Appliance X6-2S is a small configuration designed for smaller or entry-level deployments. Oracle Database Appliance X6-2M is a medium-sized configuration designed for performance. Oracle Database Appliance X6-2L is a large configuration designed for larger databases.
Oracle Database Appliance X6-2-HA	Highly-available two-node Oracle RAC clusters that can support both Oracle RAC and single-instance databases.
Oracle Database Appliance X5-2 and X4-2	Highly-available two-node Oracle RAC clusters that can support both Oracle RAC and single-instance databases.

You cannot expand or reconfigure Oracle Database Appliance to a different configuration. For example, you cannot expand Oracle Database Appliance X7-S to Oracle Database Appliance X7-2M. For Oracle Database Appliance hardware configuration details, see the Oracle Database Appliance Owner's Guide.

About Oracle Database Appliance Deployment Plans

Oracle Database Appliance X8-2S and X8-2M are single node systems that you deploy as a bare metal platform.

Oracle Database Appliance X8-2-HA is a two-node system with the option to deploy as a bare metal platform or a virtualized platform.

Oracle Database Appliance X7-2S and X7-2M are single node systems that you deploy as a bare metal platform.

Oracle Database Appliance X7-2-HA is a two-node system with the option to deploy as a bare metal platform or a virtualized platform.

Oracle Database Appliance X6-2S, X6-2M, X6-2L are single node systems that you deploy as a bare metal platform.

Oracle Database Appliance X6-2-HA is a two-node system with the option to deploy as a bare metal platform or a virtualized platform. Starting with with Oracle Database Appliance release 18.7, systems deployed as bare metal are migrated from oakcli to odacli (the DCS software stack). Virtualized systems continue to use the oakcli software stack.

Oracle Database Appliance X5-2 and X4-2 are two-node systems with the option to deploy as a bare metal platform or a virtualized platform. Starting with with Oracle Database Appliance release 18.7, systems deployed as bare metal are migrated from oakcli to odacli (the DCS software stack). Virtualized systems continue to use the oakcli software stack.

About Database Deployment Options for Oracle Database Appliance

The following Oracle Database editions are available:

Database Edition	Supported Releases	Description
Oracle Database Enterprise Edition	Oracle Database Release 18c, 12.2.0.1, 12.1.0.2, and 11.2.0.4	Supports Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) and single-instance Oracle Databases.
Oracle Database Standard Edition Two	Oracle Database Release 18c, 12.2.0.1, 12.1.0.2, and 11.2.0.4	Supports Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC), Oracle RAC One, and single-instance Oracle Databases.
Oracle Database Standard Edition One	Oracle Database Release 11.2.0.4	Supports Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC), Oracle RAC One, and single-instance Oracle Databases.
Oracle Database Standard Edition	Oracle Database Release 11.2.0.4	Supports Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC), Oracle RAC One, and single-instance Oracle Databases.

Note:

It is important to understand your Oracle Database licensing before you create databases. You cannot provision Oracle Database Enterprise Edition and Standard Edition databases in the same bare metal platform, or the same ODA_BASE virtualized deployment, subject to Oracle Database licensing requirements. Review the Database Licensing Information User Manual for the Oracle Database release to review supported options and products.

Parent topic: Introduction to Oracle Database Appliance

Oracle Database Appliance Software Terminology

Understand the software patches available for Oracle Database Appliance.

The table describes the Oracle Database Appliance patches that are available for download and the purpose of the patch.

Note:

Some hardware models may not use the patches listed in the table.

Table 2-1 Software for Oracle Database Appliance

Patch	Description
Oracle Database Appliance patch bundle (quarterly patch release)	Use the patch bundle to update to the latest release after Oracle Database Appliance is deployed. The patch updates the Oracle Database Appliance server, storage, and database components.
Oracle Database Appliance GI/RDBMS Clone	Use to perform an initial deployment of Oracle Database Appliance. The bundle contains the latest Grid Infrastructure and RDBMS components, Oracle Database Appliance Manager software, Oracle Linux and hardware drivers for deployment on an Oracle Database Appliance that is shipped from factory state. If you reimage Oracle Database Appliance with the Bare Metal ISO Image, download the GI/RDBMS Clone patch to deploy Oracle Database Appliance.
RDBMS Clone	Use the RDBMS Software Clone files to get the latest RDBMS clone binaries for Oracle Database releases 18c, 12.2.0.1, 12.1.0.2, and 11.2.0.4. The RDBMS clone files are needed to create Oracle databases and database homes.
Bare Metal ISO Image	Use to reimage the appliance and reset the system back to the factory configuration.
VM ISO Image (DOM0) (Virtualized Platform ISO Image)	Use to re-image Oracle Database Appliance before deploying the ODA_Base Template and virtualized platform. The Oracle Database Appliance virtualized operating system image contains the following: Oracle Database Appliance Manager oakcli command-line interface Oracle Database Appliance Manager Configurator Oracle Linux Hardware drivers Required for Virtualized Platform deployments on multi-node high availability (HA) systems.
ODA_BASE Template (Virtualization Template)	Use to create the ODA_Base virtual machine for a virtualized database appliance. The template contains the following: Oracle Virtual Machine template Oracle Database clone binaries Oracle Database templates, customized for Oracle Database Appliance deployments Oracle Grid Infrastructure clone binaries Required for Virtualized Platform deployments on multi-node HA systems.

Note:

See the Oracle Database Appliance Release Notes for the patch numbers and download locations and the component versions available in the patch bundle.

Note:

Starting with Oracle Database 18c, Oracle provides quarterly updates in the form of Release Updates (Updates) and Release Update Revisions (Revisions). Oracle no longer releases patch sets. For more information, see My Oracle Support Note 2285040.1.

Oracle Database releases are of type version and version_full releases. The version release is designated in the form major release version.0.0.0.0. The major release version is based on the last two digits of the year in which an Oracle Database version is released for the first time. The version_full release is an update of a version release and is designated based on the major release version, the quarterly release update version (Update), and the quarterly release update revision version (Revision).

Prior to Oracle Database release 18c, changing the first or second digit in the release number was an upgrade, and changing the fourth digit indicated an update. With 18c and later releases, changing the first digit is an upgrade, and changing the second indicates an update.

Parent topic: Introduction to Oracle Database Appliance

About the Web Console

Use the Oracle Appliance Manager Web Console to deploy and manage the appliance, databases, networks, and jobs.

The Web Console provides a user-friendly interface to quickly view and perform many of the tasks needed to deploy, patch, and manage your bare metal system. The Oracle Database Appliance Deployment and User's Guide for your hardware model describes how to use the Web Console to perform many of the tasks related to deployment, patching, and management of your appliance.

Use the links in the side navigation to view and manage the following:

Appliance
- Appliance information
- System information
- Disk group information including storage utilization such as free and used space
- Information about all databases that use a storage disk group
- All the patches and hardware and software components installed on the appliance
- List of RPMs and RPM Drift information
Network
- View network details
- Create, update, and delete networks
- View interface details
Oracle ASR
- View Oracle Auto Service Request (Oracle ASR) configuration details
- Configure, update, test, and delete Oracle ASR
Patch Manager
- Update the patch repository with Oracle Database Appliance patches
- View component details of the patch and versions that are installed on the appliance
- View component details of the patch and versions that are available, but not yet installed, on the appliance
- Run patch prechecks before applying the patch
- Update the server and storage components

Use the links in the top navigation to view and manage the following:

Database
- Create a database
- View database details
- Apply a backup policy for the database
- Create a manual backup
- Recover a database from a backup
- View and update the database backup schedule and update the archive log backup schedule for the database
- Create, update, and delete backup policies
- Create, update, and delete database homes
- Create and delete database backup
- Clone a database from a database backup or an Oracle ACFS database snapshot
- Patch database homes
Object Store
- Create Object Store Credentials for backup and recovery
- View the details for Object Store Credentials, including the endpoint URL, user name, and tenant
- Update and delete Object Store Credentials
Monitoring
- View the status of hardware, storage, memory, cooling, networking, and power
- View monitoring information for each node, in the case of High-Availability deployments
- View system health status and drilldown to details of incidents
- Click the hardware image to view details
Activity
- View a list of jobs, details, and status
- Click a job description to view job details

Update ILOM and User Settings

Expand About in the upper right corner of the Web Console to perform the following tasks:

Click About to view the Oracle Database Appliance release that is installed on the appliance.
Click Update ILOM Setting to change the root password. To enable first-time login and access to Oracle ILOM, a default Administrator (root) account and its password are provided with the system.
Click Update User Settings to change the oda-admin password.
Click Sign Out to sign out of the Web Console. If you do not sign out, the system automatically signs you out after a period of inactivity. A warning will appear 2 minutes before the session expires.

Parent topic: Introduction to Oracle Database Appliance