Migrate to Oracle Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure

This section describes how to migrate your Oracle Exadata workloads to Oracle Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure, and migrate your VMware applications to Oracle Cloud VMware Solution.

Architecture

This architecture shows a migration from on-premises Oracle Exadata databases and VMware applications to Oracle Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure and Oracle Cloud VMware Solution.

Using Oracle Zero Downtime Migration, automate your database migration while experiencing minimal downtime when migrating your data from on-premises to the cloud.

Migrate your on-premises 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.

The following diagram illustrates this reference architecture.

Description of the illustration migrate-vmware-cloud-solution-autonomous-dedicated-architecture.png

migrate-vmware-cloud-solution-autonomous-dedicated-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 Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure

  Oracle Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure provides access to the latest autonomous database technology running on a dedicated Exadata Infrastructure in an OCI region. With Autonomous Database you have a fully elastic database where Oracle autonomously operates all aspects of the database lifecycle from database placement to backup and updates. A dedicated Exadata Infrastructure can host many autonomous VM clusters, which can host many autonomous databases.

• 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 Oracle Cloud Infrastructure 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 as temporary storage space when migrating databases from on-premises Oracle Exadata to Oracle Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure.

• Object storage

  OCI Object Storage is used for temporary storage of database backups and exports during migration.

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 database is running Oracle Database version 19.18 Enterprise Edition or above.
• The target database must be Oracle Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure version 19.19.0.1.0 Enterprise Edition Extreme Performance or above.
• Oracle Zero Downtime Migration must be version 21.4 or above.
• Intermediate storage must include OCI Object Storage, and Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance (NAS).

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.

• Migrate your on-premises VMware workloads to the cloud

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 Online Migration from On-Premises to Oracle Autonomous Database

Review Oracle Database resources:

• "Upgrading the Time Zone File and Timestamp with Time Zone Data" in Oracle Database Globalization Support Guide

About Required Products and Roles

This solution requires the following products:

• Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Identity and Access Management
• OCI Compute
• OCI Object Storage
• Oracle Zero Downtime Migration
• Oracle Exadata
• Oracle Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata 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 Object Storage: Storage Admin	Create OCI Object Storage buckets to upload exported data
Oracle Zero Downtime Migration: opc	Create zdmuser to install and run Oracle Zero Downtime Migration software
Oracle Zero Downtime Migration: zdmuser	Install Oracle Zero Downtime Migration software Run Oracle Zero Downtime Migration
Oracle Exadata: root/sudoer user	Mount network file system share from network attached storage device to export database Enable passwordless ssh from Oracle Zero Downtime Migration virtual machine Run sudo commands to install Oracle Zero Downtime Migration software agent Run sudo commands to export database
Oracle Exadata Database: sys/system	Run Data Pump to export database for logical migration
Oracle Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure: Database Admin	Create target Oracle Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure database
Oracle Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure: ADMIN	Run Data Pump to import database for logical migration

See Oracle Products, Solutions, and Services to get what you need.

Considerations for Migration

Before you begin your migration, review these assumptions and considerations.

• Logical migration is the only supported method to migrate databases from Oracle Exadata to Oracle Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure.
• The following 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.
• During logical migration, pluggable databases (PDBs) and/or schemas are migrated. Non container databases are migrated to an Oracle Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure database contained in an Autonomous Container Database.
• During logical migration, Oracle Zero Downtime Migration will not export the data directly to OCI Object Storage. On the source Exadata database, Oracle Zero Downtime Migration exports data to a shared file system (either network file system or Oracle Advanced Cluster File System). Exported data is then uploaded to OCI Object Storage. The target Oracle Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure database imports data from OCI Object Storage.
• Oracle Exadata on-premises can run both single-instance and RAC databases. Oracle Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure runs RAC databases. During database migration, Oracle Zero Downtime Migration converts single-instance to RAC databases when required.
• In on-premises Oracle Exadata, the use of Oracle Transparent Data Encryption to encrypt databases is optional. When migrating databases from Exadata to Oracle Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure, the target Oracle Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure database will always be encrypted.
• The source Exadata and target Oracle Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure databases must run the same timezone files.
• The steps in this playbook assume there is direct network connectivity between the Data Center where Exadata is installed, and the OCI Virtual Cloud Network where the Oracle Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure and the Oracle Zero Downtime Migration virtual machine is configured (via FastConnect or IPSec VPN as shown in the architecture diagram).
• By default, the Oracle Zero Downtime Migration will try to communicate with the Oracle Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure database using the high_tls service. Ensure connectivity for TCPS on port 2484 is allowed between the Oracle Zero Downtime Migration virtual machine and the Oracle Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure database.

Migrate Using Logical Migration

This section describes how to perform an offline logical migration. For online migration, refer to the Review Documentation section.

1. In the OCI console, create a compute instance in the same VCN where the target database will be configured.
   This compute instance can be any shape, with at least two OCPUs and 16GB of RAM, running the Oracle Linux 7.9 operating system. This virtual machine will be used to run the Oracle Zero Downtime Migration software.
2. Download and install Oracle Zero Downtime Migration 21.4 software on the OCI compute instance using the Oracle Zero Downtime Migration installation documentation in the Review Documentation section.
   Run Oracle Zero Downtime Migration software as the zdmuser.
3. Log in to Oracle Zero Downtime Migration as the zdmuser, and generate an ssh key-pair. Enable passwordless ssh from the zdmuser account to all nodes on the source Exadata database (root, privilege-sudoer user).
4. Ensure the Oracle Zero Downtime Migration VM can communicate with the source database hosts using hostname and IP address. Verify the following:
   • Modify the VCN DNS resolver, or the /etc/hosts file in the Oracle Zero Downtime Migration VM if necessary.
   • Verify there is a security rule that allows the Oracle Zero Downtime Migration VM to connect to the source database on the default listener port 1521 and ssh port 22.
   • Ensure the Oracle Zero Downtime Migration VM can reach the target database on the secure TLS port 2484.
5. On the Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance, or network attached storage device, create a network file system share to be used as a placeholder for the database data dumps while the migration progresses.
6. Mount the network file system share on all nodes of the Exadata database.
   Ensure all users have read, write, exec (rwx) permissions. Take note of the mount point.
7. Create a new target database using the OCI console or REST API. Configure the database as follows:
   • The new target database can have a different name than the source database.
   • The new database can be a newer version than the source database.
   • Provide a password for the ADMIN user. Take note of the password.
   Note the database OCID after the database is created.
8. In the OCI console, create an OCI Object Storage bucket if one does not already exist.
   Note the Swift URL, object storage namespace, and bucket name.
9. Create an API key for the OCI user who owns the target database and also has permissions to upload data to the OCI Object Storage bucket created in step 8.
   Note the user OCID, tenancy OCID, fingerprint, and OCI region. Save the corresponding private and public keys on PEM files. This API key will be used by Oracle Zero Downtime Migration to connect to OCI to obtain target database information during database migration and to upload data dumps to OCI Object Storage.
10. Copy the PEM files from the previous step to the Oracle Zero Downtime Migration VM.
11. Login as the sys user to the source Exadata database to ensure the parameter Streams_Pool_Size is set to at least 2G, for example:

    SQL>show parameter streams_pool_size;
    SQL>alter system set streams_pool_size=2G scope=both SID=’*’;                  

12. Use Oracle Zero Downtime Migration's logical migration response file template included with Oracle Zero Downtime Migration to create a response file for the migration. Key parameters are:
    • TARGETDATABASE_OCID: OCID of the Oracle Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure target database.
    • MIGRATION_METHOD: OFFLINE_LOGICAL
    • DATA_TRANSFER_MEDIUM: OSS
    • TARGETDATABASE_ADMINUSERNAME: ADMIN
    • SOURCEDATABASE_ADMINUSERNAME: system
    • SOURCEDATABASE_CONNECTIONDETAILS_HOST: IP/hostname of the first node on the source Exadata database.
    • SOURCEDATABASE_CONNECTIONDETAILS_PORT: 1521
    • SOURCEDATABASE_CONNECTIONDETAILS_SERVICENAME: Service name of the source PDB or non-container database (non-CDB). Use lsnrctl to find.
    • OCIAUTHENTICATIONDETAILS_USERPRINCIPAL_TENANTID: Tenancy OCID from step 9.
    • OCIAUTHENTICATIONDETAILS_USERPRINCIPAL_USERID: User OCID from step 9.
    • OCIAUTHENTICATIONDETAILS_USERPRINCIPAL_FINGERPRINT: Fingerprint from step 9.
    • OCIAUTHENTICATIONDETAILS_PRIVATEKEYFILE: File path to private key .pem file on the Oracle Zero Downtime Migration server from step 10.
    • OCIAUTHENTICATIONDETAILS_REGIONID: OCI region ID for the OCI user from step 9.
    • SOURCECONTAINERDATABASE_ADMINUSERNAME: system
    • SOURCECONTAINERDATABASE_CONNECTIONDETAILS_HOST: IP/hostname of the first node on the source Exadata database.
    • SOURCECONTAINERDATABASE_CONNECTIONDETAILS_PORT: 1521
    • SOURCECONTAINERDATABASE_CONNECTIONDETAILS_SERVICENAME: Service name for the source container database in Exadata database. Use lsnrctl to find).
    • DATAPUMPSETTINGS_JOBMODE: SCHEMA
    • DATAPUMPSETTINGS_FIXINVALIDOBJECTS: TRUE
    • DATAPUMPSETTINGS_EXPORTDIRECTORYOBJECT_NAME: mig
    • DATAPUMPSETTINGS_EXPORTDIRECTORYOBJECT_PATH: Network file storage mount point from step 6.
    • DATAPUMPSETTINGS_CREATEAUTHTOKEN: FALSE
    • DATAPUMPSETTINGS_DATAPUMPPARAMETERS_EXPORTPARALLELISMDEGREE: Number of CPUs available. Must be greater than 2.
    • DATAPUMPSETTINGS_DATABUCKET_NAMESPACE: OCI Object Storage namespace from step 8.
    • DATAPUMPSETTINGS_DATABUCKET_BUCKETNAME: OCI Object Storage bucket name from step 8.
    • EXCLUDEOBJECTS-1: owner:PDBADMIN
13. Run an Oracle Zero Downtime Migration dry run migration job (-eval), to validate all prerequisites for migration are possible. This runs the Cloud Pre-Migration Advisor Tool (CPAT) to validate the source database is suitable for migration to Oracle Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure using Oracle Zero Downtime Migration logical migration. Address issues reported by CPAT before continuing. For example:

    zdmcli migrate database -sourcedb source_db_unique_name \
    -sourcenode IP/hostname_of_first_Exadata_node \
    -srcauth zdmauth \
    -srcarg1 user: root_or_sudoer_user \
    -srcarg2 identity_file: path_to_ssh_private_key/ssh_private_key_file_name
    \
    -srcarg3 sudo_location:/usr/bin/sudo \
    -rsp path_to_response_file/response_file_name_from_step_12 \
    -eval

    This command asks for two passwords. The first password is the system password for the source Exadata database. The second password is the ADMIN password for the target Oracle Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure database.
    Note the Oracle Zero Downtime Migration job ID.
    After a successful dry run migration, proceed to the next step.
14. After a dry run migration is successful, run the Oracle Zero Downtime Migration job. For example:

    zdmcli migrate database -sourcedb source_db__unique_name \
    -sourcenode IP/hostname_of_first_Exadata_node \
    -srcauth zdmauth \
    -srcarg1 user:root_or_sudoer_user \
    -srcarg2 identity_file:path_to_ssh_private_key/ssh_private_key_file_name \
    -srcarg3 sudo_location:/usr/bin/sudo \
    -rsp path_to_response_file/response_file_name_from_step_12

    This command asks for two passwords. The first password is the system password for the source Exadata database. The second password is the ADMIN password for the target database. Note the Oracle Zero Downtime Migration job ID.