Migrate to Oracle Base Database Service or Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure
This section describes how to migrate your on-premise VMware database workloads to Oracle Base Database Service or Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure, and application workloads to Oracle Cloud VMware Solution.
Architecture
This architecture shows a migration from on-premise VMware database and applications to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
The first step is to migrate on-premise databases and applications running on VMware to Oracle Cloud VMware Solution using VMware tools such as HCX and vMotion. Oracle Cloud VMware Solution gives you a fully automated implementation of a VMware software-defined data center (SDDC) within your OCI tenancy, running on OCI bare metal instances.
Next, using Oracle Zero Downtime Migration, automate your database migration from Oracle Cloud VMware Solution database virtual machines to Oracle Base Database Service or Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure to consolidate to a high-performance database platform.
Note:
Oracle Database licensing rules and support conditions must be observed when migrating databases from on-premises VMware to Oracle Cloud VMware Solution.The following diagram illustrates this reference architecture.
migrate-vmware-exadata-base-architecture.zip
This architecture supports the following components:
- Region
An Oracle Cloud Infrastructure region is a localized geographic area that contains one or more data centers, called availability domains. Regions are independent of other regions, and vast distances can separate them (across countries or even continents).
- Virtual cloud network (VCN) and subnet
A VCN is a customizable, software-defined network that you set up in an Oracle Cloud Infrastructure region. Like traditional data center networks, VCNs give you complete control over your network environment. A VCN can have multiple non-overlapping CIDR blocks that you can change after you create the VCN. You can segment a VCN into subnets, which can be scoped to a region or to an availability domain. Each subnet consists of a contiguous range of addresses that don't overlap with the other subnets in the VCN. You can change the size of a subnet after creation. A subnet can be public or private.
- Oracle Base Database Service
Oracle Base Database Service enables you to maintain absolute control over your data while leveraging the combined capabilities of Oracle Database and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). OCI offers single-node database systems and multi-node RAC database systems on virtual machines.
- Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated
Infrastructure
Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure provides Oracle Exadata Database Machine as a service in an OCI data center. The Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure service can host many Oracle databases that run in one or more VM clusters that run on a single Exadata rack in an OCI region. Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure is an ideal platform for database consolidation.
- Oracle Cloud VMware Solution Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC)
Oracle and VMware have partnered to develop a VMware certified software-defined data center (SDDC) implementation for use within Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. This implementation, called the Oracle Cloud VMware Solution, uses OCI to host a highly available VMware SDDC. It also allows seamless migration of all your on-premises VMware SDDC workloads to Oracle Cloud VMware Solution. Oracle Cloud VMware Solution contains the following VMware components:
- VMware vSphere ESXi
- VMware vSAN
- VMware vCenter
- VMware NSX-T
- VMware HCX (optional)
- Bare metal
An Oracle Cloud VMware Solution software-defined data center (SDDC) contains bare metal servers hosting Oracle Cloud VMware Solution. The bare metal server supports applications that require high core counts, large amounts of memory, and high bandwidth (such as Oracle Cloud VMware Solution). You can deploy Oracle Cloud VMware Solution on bare metal servers, and configure virtual machines with significant performance improvements compared to other public clouds and on-premises data centers.
- Service gateway
The service gateway provides access from a VCN to other services, such as Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Object Storage. The traffic from the VCN to the Oracle service travels over the Oracle network fabric and never traverses the internet.
- Dynamic routing gateway (DRG)
The DRG is a virtual router that provides a path for private network traffic between VCNs in the same region, between a VCN and a network outside the region, such as a VCN in another Oracle Cloud Infrastructure region, an on-premises network, or a network in another cloud provider.
- FastConnect
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure FastConnect provides an easy way to create a dedicated, private connection between your data center and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. FastConnect provides higher-bandwidth options and a more reliable networking experience when compared with internet-based connections.
- File storage
OCI File Storage is used during migration to import the migrated database from a shared file system.
Before You Begin
Before you begin, check the versions of major components used in this setup, and review the product documentation for later reference.
Review Requirements
- Ensure the source Oracle Cloud VMware Solution database VM is running Oracle Linux 7.9, and Oracle Database version 19.18 Standard Edition or Enterprise Edition.
- The target Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure database must be Oracle Enterprise Extreme Performance version 19.18 or above.
- The target Oracle Base Database Service database can be Standard Edition or Enterprise Edition version 19.18 or above.
- Oracle Zero Downtime Migration must be version 21.4 or above.
- Intermediate storage must include OCI File Storage.
Review Documentation
This solution playbook describes how to migrate your database workloads. Refer to the solution below to learn how to migrate your VMware workloads. The additional resources are helpful for context, details, and reference for your database migration.
Learn how to migrate the VMware components of your workload to Oracle Cloud VMware Solution.
Review Oracle Zero Downtime Migration resources:
- Oracle Zero Downtime Migration
- Oracle Zero Downtime Migration Video
- Install Oracle Zero Downtime Migration software
Review logical migration resources:
- "Setting Logical Migration Parameters" in Move to Oracle Cloud Using Zero Downtime Migration Guide
- Step-by-Step Guide - Logical Migration and In-Flight Upgrade from On-Premises to Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure
Review Oracle Database resources:
About Required Products and Roles
This solution requires the following products:
- Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Identity and Access Management
- OCI Compute
- OCI File Storage
- Oracle Zero Downtime Migration
- Oracle Cloud VMware Solution
- Oracle Base Database Service or Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure
These are the roles needed for each product.
Product Name: Role | Required to... |
---|---|
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Identity
and Access Management: OCI_user |
Create API keys for logical migration |
OCI Compute: admin |
Create OCI Compute instance to run Oracle Zero Downtime Migration software |
OCI File Storage: Storage Admin |
Create OCI File Storage for export/import operations |
Oracle Zero Downtime Migration: opc |
Create zdmuser to install and run Oracle Zero Downtime Migration software
|
Oracle Zero Downtime Migration: zdmuser |
|
Oracle Cloud VMware Solution Virtual Machine: root/sudoer user |
|
Oracle Cloud VMware Solution Database: sys/system |
Run Data Pump to export database |
OCI Oracle Cloud VMware Solution and OCI Virtual Cloud Network: Admin |
|
Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated
Infrastructure or Oracle Base Database Service: Database Admin |
Create target database |
Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated
Infrastructure or Oracle Base Database Service VM Cluster Nodes: opc |
|
Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated
Infrastructure or Oracle Base Database Service: sys/system |
Run Data Pump to import database |
See Oracle Products, Solutions, and Services to get what you need.
Considerations for Migration
Before you begin your migration, review these assumptions and considerations.
- The steps in this playbook describe how to migrate using an offline logical migration, see the Review Documentation section for information on how to migrate using an online logical migration. During logical online migration, Oracle Zero Downtime Migration configures Oracle GoldenGate for migrations between the source and target databases to ensure the databases are always online during migration.
- Oracle Zero Downtime Migration supports two types of database migrations from Oracle Cloud VMware Solution database VMs to Oracle Base Database Service and Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure: logical migration and physical migration. We recommend using logical migration because this method is the simplest. Physical migrations require the source and target databases to be at the same patch level. This can be challenging if the source database is not patched regularly.
- During logical migration, pluggable databases (PDBs) and/or schemas are migrated. Non-container databases (non-CDB) are migrated to pluggable databases configured in a container database running on the target database.
- Oracle Zero Downtime Migration can export and import directly from network file system storage, therefore, OCI File Storage mounted via network file system is the best data transfer option. OCI File Storage can be presented to the VCN where the target databases are configured via a mount target. Security rules are required to allow the network file system protocol between the OCI File Storage mount target and target database. Network file system must also be allowed between the mount target and NSX Overlay network where the source database is running.
- The source database can run Oracle single-instance. Oracle Base Database Service can run single-instance or RAC databases, while Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure always runs RAC databases. During database migration, Oracle Zero Downtime Migration converts single-instance to RAC databases when required.
- Oracle Transparent Data Encryption database encryption is optional for the Oracle Cloud VMware Solution database VM source database. When migrating databases to Oracle Base Database Service or Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure, the target database will always be encrypted.
- The source and target databases must run the same timezone files. For instructions, refer to "Upgrading the Time Zone File and Timestamp with Time Zone Data" in the Review Documentation section.
- The steps in this playbook assume there is direct network connectivity from the Oracle Cloud VMware Solution Overlay Network, where the database VM is installed, to the OCI VCN where the target database and the Oracle Zero Downtime Migration VM is configured.
- The source and target databases do not have to have the same
sys
password, wallet password, database version, database name, and patch level.
Migrate Using Logical Migration
The following steps describe how to perform an offline logical migration. For online migration, see Step-by-Step Guide - Logical Migration and In-Flight Upgrade from On-Premises to Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure in the Review Documentation section.