Hi All,
Im back from vacation!
Thanks
David
On Feb 3, 2016, at 4:53 PM, Peter Sharman <pete.sharman@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
When you can argue that Delphix does everything EM does, THEN I’ll listen! ;)
Pete
<image001.jpg>
Pete Sharman
Database Architect, DBaaS / DBLM
Enterprise Manager Product Suite
33 Benson Crescent CALWELL ACT 2905 AUSTRALIA
Phone: +61262924095 | | Mobile: +61414443449
Email: pete.sharman@xxxxxxxxxx Twitter: @SharmanPete LinkedIn:
au.linkedin.com/in/petesharman
Website: petewhodidnottweet.com
"Controlling developers is like herding cats."
Kevin Loney, Oracle DBA Handbook
"Oh no, it's not, it's much harder than that!"
Bruce Pihlamae, long term Oracle DBA
From: Tim Gorman [mailto:tim@xxxxxxxxx] ;
Sent: Wednesday, February 3, 2016 5:37 AM
To: Peter Sharman <pete.sharman@xxxxxxxxxx>; dedba@xxxxxxxxxx; Seth Miller
<sethmiller.sm@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Oracle Discussion List <oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: Anyone with experience with the Oracle Data Appliance/ODA?
FWIW, Delphix does everything that Oracle SnapClone does and more, without
any Oracle licensing (except EE) or hardware prerequisites.
Sorry, had to say something here... :)
On 2/2/16 10:36, Peter Sharman wrote:
Snap Clone is part of the Cloud Management pack, which has the DBLM pack as a
prerequisite.
Pete
<image001.jpg>
Pete Sharman
Database Architect, DBaaS / DBLM
Enterprise Manager Product Suite
33 Benson Crescent CALWELL ACT 2905 AUSTRALIA
Phone: +61262924095 | | Mobile: +61414443449
Email: pete.sharman@xxxxxxxxxx Twitter: @SharmanPete LinkedIn:
au.linkedin.com/in/petesharman
Website: petewhodidnottweet.com
"Controlling developers is like herding cats."
Kevin Loney, Oracle DBA Handbook
"Oh no, it's not, it's much harder than that!"
Bruce Pihlamae, long term Oracle DBA
From: De DBA [mailto:dedba@xxxxxxxxxx] ;
Sent: Tuesday, February 2, 2016 10:28 PM
To: Peter Sharman <pete.sharman@xxxxxxxxxx>; Seth Miller
<sethmiller.sm@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Oracle Discussion List <oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: Anyone with experience with the Oracle Data Appliance/ODA?
Thanks Pete.
I've now seen the ODA. The database is version 11.2.0.4. The data files are
stored in ASM disk groups, not on ACFS mounts. I am not sure if it is still
possible to create snapshots with oakcli in this situation?
Is the snap clone functionality in EM/Cloud Control licensed with any
optional pack? It sounds promising.. there is not much disk space left on the
array, so a thin clone is preferable ;-)
Cheers,
Tony
On 2/02/2016 12:45 pm, Peter Sharman wrote:
Tony
I don’t think I saw anything about database versions in the thread, so there
are a couple of other options you could use depending on the version:
· If the DB is 12c, there is snapshotting capability built into the
database itself
· From DB 10g onwards you could look at using Enterprise Manager’s
Snap Clone functionality which uses copy on write technology to build thin
clones, optionally including masking as well. This may make it easier for
you to do the snapshotting as its built into the product, which makes it less
error prone than a manual snapshotting process.
Let me know if you need any more details on that.
Pete
<image001.jpg>
Pete Sharman
Database Architect, DBaaS / DBLM
Enterprise Manager Product Suite
33 Benson Crescent CALWELL ACT 2905 AUSTRALIA
Phone: +61262924095 | | Mobile: +61414443449
Email: pete.sharman@xxxxxxxxxx Twitter: @SharmanPete LinkedIn:
au.linkedin.com/in/petesharman
Website: petewhodidnottweet.com
"Controlling developers is like herding cats."
Kevin Loney, Oracle DBA Handbook
"Oh no, it's not, it's much harder than that!"
Bruce Pihlamae, long term Oracle DBA
From: De DBA [mailto:dedba@xxxxxxxxxx] ;
Sent: Monday, February 1, 2016 10:32 AM
To: Seth Miller <sethmiller.sm@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Oracle Discussion List <oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: Anyone with experience with the Oracle Data Appliance/ODA?
Seth,
Thanks for that. I haven't got access to the systems yet, just reading up and
preparing for the shock..
You will not find OCFS on the ODA. It uses ACFS for the cluster file system
as well as the database files.
Ah, yes, of course, it's on ASM... I understand that oakcli will create &
manage fs automatically, but I'm not going to have RAC. One node is supposed
to be production, whereas the other node will run dev, test and UAT. I will
need to refresh the dev & test databases from production, and wonder whether
I can create a snapshot, do the masking etc. and then mount the copy on the
other node where it will then be used as the gold copy for the refreshes.
get yourself a couple of excellent books.
Practical Oracle Database Appliance
Oracle Database Appliance: A Hands-On Guide
I did look at the first one, which has some famous names amongst the authors.
One of the reviews that I saw mentions that it is somewhat dated? Is it still
worthwhile getting even if you work with the latest hard/software?
Cheers,
Tony
On 31/01/2016 2:45 pm, Seth Miller wrote:
Tony,
The ODAs apparently are each set up as two stand-alone servers with shared
storage. I understand that one needs to use oakcli to create databases and
that this tool hides pretty much all functionality that we are used to
through dbca etc.
Yes, oakcli is the magic behind ODA but it does not preclude you from using
DBCA. If you need to create a database that does not fall into one of the
oakcli templates, feel free to use DBCA or any other classic method.
But what does it do exactly?
Oakcli is nothing more than a bunch of very well written perl and shell
scripts that wrap the classic tools included with the Oracle database
software. They are easy to find and read if you really want to know what they
are doing.
How does one manage the OCFS?
You will not find OCFS on the ODA. It uses ACFS for the cluster file system
as well as the database files.
Can a file system be mounted on both nodes, or just on one? Is this automatic?
Oakcli will take care of this for you.
Given a complete backup (... which is a problem all of its own...), how does
one restore a database?
Use RMAN or Enterprise Manager for this. There will be little difference from
a standard RAC database in how you backup and restore a database.
Don't use centralised wallets with TDE, otherwise problems will arise -- but
what does that even mean?
This isn't specific to the ODA. There are a number of reasons to have local
wallets in RAC -- one of the most important being that you can't have a local
only autologin wallet if it is shared with multiple nodes.
You will find little argument that the documentation for ODA is mediocre at
best. This is why a number of training companies (including the one I teach
for) have developed their own content for the ODA. I think your best course
of action, though, is to get yourself a couple of excellent books.
Practical Oracle Database Appliance
Oracle Database Appliance: A Hands-On Guide
Seth Miller
On Fri, Jan 29, 2016 at 10:42 PM, De DBA <dedba@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I've just read through that documentation, as I will shortly get the
responsibility for 2 ODA's. I would not classify the 3 software manuals and 2
hw manuals as good documentation. After reading all of it, I've got more
questions than what I started out with...
The ODAs apparently are each set up as two stand-alone servers with shared
storage. I understand that one needs to use oakcli to create databases and
that this tool hides pretty much all functionality that we are used to
through dbca etc. But what does it do exactly? How does one manage the OCFS?
Can a file system be mounted on both nodes, or just on one? Is this
automatic? Given a complete backup (... which is a problem all of its
own...), how does one restore a database? Don't use centralised wallets with
TDE, otherwise problems will arise -- but what does that even mean?
Questions...
Pointers to more complete documentation/blogs/etc. regarding managing and
patching the ODA are very welcome!
Cheers,
Tony
On 30/01/2016 6:38 am, Hans Forbrich wrote:
Yes, lack of documentation was a problem at one time.
That has significantly improved. See
http://docs.oracle.com/en/engineered-systems/
/Hans
On 29/01/2016 12:54 PM, Andrew Kerber wrote:
I have run into problem with a lack of good documentation on its use.
Sent from my iPad
On Jan 29, 2016, at 1:49 PM, <Jay.Miller@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
<Jay.Miller@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi
We just attended an ODA presentation and it looks very promising as a
solution for our non-prod testing environment as it would allow us to clone
multiple instances of the gold copy test databases easily (without needing to
coordinate with other departments as we do now) and apply patches for those
environments quickly and easily as well.
Any real life pros or cons that anyone has experienced with the appliance?
We’d keep our production and performance testing environments off it at least
for now.
Jay Miller
Sr. Oracle DBA
201.369.8355
