1. X8-2 Deployment and User’s Guide
  2. Managing Storage

10 Managing Storage

Understand the storage options and how to manage storage for your Oracle Database Appliance deployment.

About Managing Storage

Understand Oracle Database Appliance storage options.

Oracle Database Appliance uses raw storage to protect data in the following ways:

  • Fast Recovery Area (FRA) backup. FRA is a storage area (directory on disk or Oracle ASM diskgroup) that contains redo logs, control file, archived logs, backup pieces and copies, and flashback logs.

  • Mirroring. Double or triple mirroring provides protection against mechanical issues.

The amount of available storage is determined by the location of the FRA backup (external or internal) and if double or triple mirroring is used. External NFS storage is supported for online backups, data staging, or additional database files.

Oracle Database Appliance X8-2M and X8-2-HA models provide storage expansion options from the base configuration. In addition, Oracle Database Appliance X8-2-HA multi-node platforms have an optional storage expansion shelf.

Note:

In this release, you can add storage as per your requirement, or deploy the full storage capacity for Oracle Database Appliance X8-2HA and X8-2M hardware models at the time of initial deployment of the appliance. You can only utilize whatever storage you configured during the initial deployment of the appliance (before the initial system power ON and software provisioning and configuration). You cannot add additional storage after the initial deployment of the X8-2HA and X8-2M hardware models, in this release of Oracle Database Appliance, even if the expandable storage slots are present as empty.

The redundancy level for FLASH is based on the DATA and RECO selection. If you choose High redundancy (triple mirroring), then FLASH is also High redundancy.

Parent topic: Managing Storage

Managing Storage on Single-Node Systems

Understand the storage options for your Oracle Database Appliance X8-2S and X8-2M systems.

Parent topic: Managing Storage

About Storage on Oracle Database Appliance X8-2S and X8-2M

Understand the storage for your Oracle Database Appliance single-node system.

Oracle Database Appliance X8-2S has two 6.4TB NVMe disks that host DATA and RECO disk groups. There are two partitions, one each for DATA and RECO for Oracle ASM storage information. The storage capacity is fixed and cannot be expanded.

Oracle Database Appliance X8-2M has two 6.4TB NVMe disks that host DATA and RECO disk groups. There are two partitions, one each for DATA and RECO for Oracle ASM storage information. When you first deploy and configure X8-2M in this release, you can set the storage on X8-2M in multiple of 2 packs of NVMe drives, such as 2,4,6, 8, and 10 disks, up to a maximum of 12 disks.

Note:

In this release, you can add storage as per your requirement, or deploy the full storage capacity for Oracle Database Appliance X8-2HA and X8-2M hardware models at the time of initial deployment of the appliance. You can only utilize whatever storage you configured during the initial deployment of the appliance (before the initial system power ON and software provisioning and configuration). You cannot add additional storage after the initial deployment of the X8-2HA and X8-2M hardware models, in this release of Oracle Database Appliance, even if the expandable storage slots are present as empty.

The table describes the NVMe storage configurations with expansion memory and storage options for single-node systems.

Table 10-1 Storage Options for Oracle Database Appliance X8-2S and X8-2M

Configuration Oracle Database Appliance X8-2S Oracle Database Appliance X8-2M

Base Configuration

2 x 6.4 TB NVMe = 12.8 TB NVMe

2 x 6.4 TB NVMe = 12.8 TB NVMe

Storage addition options

None

10 x 6.4 TB NVMe storage drives added at the time of initial deployment, for a total storage of 76.8 TB NVMe

Parent topic: Managing Storage on Single-Node Systems

Managing Storage on High-Availability Systems

Understand the storage for your Oracle Database Appliance X8-2-HA system.

Parent topic: Managing Storage

About Storage Options for Oracle Database Appliance X8-2-HA

Oracle Database Appliance High-Availability systems have options for high performance and high capacity storage configurations.

The base configuration of Oracle Database Appliance X8-2HA hardware model has six slots (slots 0-5) with 7.68 TB drives of SSD raw storage. If you choose to order and deploy the full storage capacity, then you can fill the remaining 18 slots (slots 6-23) with either SSD or HDD drives. For even more storage, you can add a storage expansion shelf to double the storage capacity of your appliance.

In all configurations, the base storage and the storage expansion shelf each have six SSDs for DATA/RECO in the SSD option or FLASH in the HDD option.

Oracle Database Appliance X8-2-HA does not allocate dedicated SSD drives for REDO disk groups. Instead, the space for REDO logs is allocated on SSD drives as required.

For Oracle ASM storage, the REDO logs are stored in the available disk group space during database creation, based on the database shape selected. For Oracle ACFS storage, the space for REDO logs is allocated during the database storage creation assuming the minimum db shape (odb1s). If you create the database storage without database, then the space allocated for REDO logs is 4 GB, assuming the minimum db shape (odb1s). Subsequently, when you create a database with your required database shape on the existing database storage, the REDO logs space is extended based on shape of the database.

On Oracle Database Appliance X8-2-HA High Performance configurations, with only SSD drives, the DATA and RECO disk groups use all the SSD drives whether 6, 12, 18, 24, or 48 with storage expansion shelf. REDO logs are stored in the RECO disk group.

On Oracle Database Appliance X8-2-HA High Capacity configurations, with both HDD and SSD drives, the DATA and RECO disk groups use the HDD drives, and the SSD drives store the FLASH disk group. REDO logs are stored in the FLASH disk group.

On both High Performance and High Capacity configurations, REDO logs are always created on SSD drives, similar to earlier Oracle Database Appliance hardware models. REDO logs are always created with high redundancy irrespective of the redundancy level of the disk group, whether RECO or FLASH.

Note:

In this release, you can add storage as per your requirement, or deploy the full storage capacity for Oracle Database Appliance X8-2HA and X8-2M hardware models at the time of initial deployment of the appliance. You can only utilize whatever storage you configured during the initial deployment of the appliance (before the initial system power ON and software provisioning and configuration). You cannot add additional storage after the initial deployment of the X8-2HA and X8-2M hardware models, in this release of Oracle Database Appliance, even if the expandable storage slots are present as empty.

High Performance

A high performance configuration uses solid state drives (SSDs) for DATA and RECO storage. The base configuration has six disks, each with 7.68 TB SSD raw storage for DATA and RECO.

You can add up to three (3) 6-Pack SSDs on the base configuration, for a total of 184.32 TB SSD raw storage. If you need more storage, you can double the capacity by adding an expansion shelf of SSD drives. The expansion shelf provides an additional 24 SSDs, each with 7.68TB raw storage for DATA and RECO, for a total of another 184.32 TB SSD raw storage.

Adding an expansion shelf requires that the base storage shelf and expansion shelf are fully populated with SSD drives. When you expand the storage using only SSD, there is no downtime.

A system fully configured for high performance has 368.64 TB SSD raw storage for DATA and RECO.

High Capacity

A high capacity configuration uses a combination of SSD and HDD drives.

The base configuration has six disks, each with 7.68 TB SSD raw storage for FLASH.

The following expansion options are available:

  • Base shelf: additional 252 TB HDD raw storage for DATA and RECO (18 HDDs, each with 14 TB storage)

  • Expansion Storage shelf: additional shelf storage configuration must be identical to the storage configuration of the base shelf.

A system fully configured for high capacity has a total of 596.16 TB raw storage for DATA, RECO, and FLASH, with with 92.16 TB SSD and 504 TB HDD.

Table 10-2 Storage Options for Oracle Database Appliance X8-2-HA

Configuration Oracle Database Appliance X8-2-HA Base Configuration Oracle Database Appliance X8-2-HA SSD-Only Configuration for High Performance Oracle Database Appliance X8-2-HA SSD and HDD Configuration for High Capacity
Base Configuration and storage addition options at the time of initial deployment

JBOD:

  • 6 x 7.68 TB SSD

JBOD:

  • 6 x 7.68 TB SSD = 46.08 TB SSD

  • 18 x 7.68 TB SSD = 138.24 TB SSD

  • Total storage on the first JBOD = 184.32 TB SSD
  • Additional JBOD with the same configuration as the base shelf, added during initial deployment
  • Total storage including both JBODs configured during initial deployment = 368.64 TB SSD

JBOD:

  • 6 x 7.68 TB SSD = 46.08 TB SSD

  • 18 x 14TB HDD = 252 TB HDD

  • Total storage on the first JBOD = 298.08 TB, with 46.08 TB SSD and 252 TB HDD
  • Additional JBOD with the same configuration as the base shelf, added during initial deployment
  • Total storage including both JBODs configured during initial deployment = 596.16 TB, with 92.16 TB SSD and 504 TB HDD

Parent topic: Managing Storage on High-Availability Systems