1. X6-2S/X6-2M/X6-2L 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 Storage Expansion Options for Oracle Database Appliance X6-2

You can add 6.4TB Intel NVMe storage disks to X6-2 Oracle Database Appliance, with some configuration changes.

Oracle Database Appliance X6-2S, X6-2M, and X6-2L use 3.2 TB NVMe disks. When you order for Oracle Database Appliance storage, you receive the default 6.4 TB NVMe disks. The 3.2 TB NVMe disks are no longer available. Oracle Database Appliance uses special commands to add or remove NVMe storage.

When you expand storage with the 6.4 TB NVMe disks, they are formatted to match the 3.2 TB drives that are delivered with Oracle Database Appliance X6-2S, X6-2M, and X6-2L. If you want to be able to utilize the full 6.4 TB drives, you must remove the 3.2 TB drives and re-image your Oracle Database Appliance. The re-image process removes all databases and files on the system. Ensure that you backup your databases and files, so that you can restore them after the re-image process.

Note:

Oracle recommends that you upgrade your deployment to the latest Oracle Database Appliance software release before adding storage to ensure that your appliance has the latest firmware.
The following table explains the base configuration and storage expansion options for Oracle Database Appliance X6-2S, X6-2M, and X6-2L.

Table 10-1 Storage Addition Options for Oracle Database Appliance X6-2S, X6-2M, and X6-2L

Configuration Oracle Database Appliance X6-2S and X6-2M Oracle Database Appliance X6-2L
Base Configuration Two (2) 3.2TB NVMe drives, populated in slots 0 and 1, providing 6.4TB raw storage. 3.2TB NVMe drives populated in slots 0, 1, 3, 4, 6, and 7, providing 19.2TB NVMe raw storage.
Base Shelf Expansion Additional 6.4TB NVMe drives in slots 2 and 3 to expand the capacity to 12.8TB raw storage.

Order Qty 2 - 7120558 and upgrade to Oracle Database Appliance release 18.5 or later.

 Additional 6.4TB NVMe drives in slots 2, 5, and 8. 6.4TB NVMe drives are partitioned to 3.2TB, providing 28.8TB raw storage.

Order Qty 3 - 7120558 and upgrade to Oracle Database Appliance release 18.5 or later.

Parent topic: Managing Storage

Adding NVMe Storage Disks

Depending on the available drives, you can expand Oracle Database Appliance X6-2S, X6-2M, or X6-2L storage to add NVMe disks or replace existing NVMe disks.

Use ODAADMCLI commands to perform appliance storage maintenance tasks, including perform storage diagnostics and collect diagnostic logs for storage components.

NVMe Storage Expansion

The default configuration for Oracle Database Appliance X6-2S or X6-2M includes two (2) NVMe disks. You can expand storage by adding two (2) additional disks for a total of four (4) NVMe disks. When you expand storage, you must add both NVMe drives, adding just one is not supported.

The default configuration for Oracle Database Appliance X6-2L includes six (6) NVMe disks. You can expand storage by adding three (3) disks for a total of nine (9) NVMe disks. When you expand storage, you must add all three NVMe drives, adding just one or two is not supported.

WARNING:

Pulling a drive before powering it off will crash the kernel, which can lead to data corruption. Do not pull the drive when the LED is an amber or green color.  When you need to replace an NVMe drive, use the software to power off the drive before pulling the drive from the slot. If you have more than one disk to replace, complete the replacement of one disk before starting replacement of the next disk.

Drive LED Indicators

Each NVMe drive slot has a light-emitting diode (LED) indicator indicating the disk status:

  • Green LED: OK/Activity. Disk is working normally. It is not safe to pull the drive when the green indicator light is on.

  • Amber LED: Service needed or there is a critical warning. It is not safe to pull the drive when the amber indicator light is on.

  • Blue LED: The disk is powered off and it is safe to remove the drive from the system.

Adding NVMe Storage Disks

Follow these steps to add NVMe storage disks:

  1. Before adding the NVMe disks, ensure that the current disks are online in oakd and Oracle ASM. Otherwise, the prechecks fail. For example, for 2-disks expansion for Oracle Database Appliance X6-2M and X6-2S from slots 2 to 3, the disks in slots 0 and 1 must be online in Oracle ASM and oakd. For 3-disks expansion for Oracle Database Appliance X6-2L in slots 2, 5, and 8, the disks in slots 0, 1, 3, 4, 6, and 7 must be online in Oracle ASM and oakd.
  2. Insert disks one at a time in the slots and power on the device.
    For example, to add two (2) NVMe disks to Oracle Database Appliance X6-2M and X6-2S, insert the disks in slots 2 and 3. To add three (3) NVMe disks to Oracle Database Appliance X6-2L, insert the disks in slots 2, 5, and 8.
    # odaadmcli power disk on slot_number

    Allow at least one minute between inserting each disk.

  3. Run the odaadmcli expand storage command to add the new storage drives:
    # odaadmcli expand storage
    For example, to add NVMe drives to Oracle Database Appliance X6-2S/M/L:
    #odaadmcli expand storage
Precheck passed. 
Check the progress of expansion of storage by executing 'odaadmcli show disk' 
Waiting for expansion to finish ...
  4. Run the odaadmcli show disk command to ensure that all disks are listed, are online, and are in a good state.
    # odaadmcli show disk

Parent topic: Managing Storage