Aaron, Exadata doesn't provide storage snapshots as the storage is local to cells. They are either ATA or Serial SCSI and you have to use RMAN for backups. If you need BCVs, you have to stay with current storage. -Gopal On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 2:12 PM, Aaron Leonard <aachleon@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Good afternoon. > > I'm looking for looking for some advice from those familiar with Exadata. > We're currently evaluating a move to Exadata, but our business processes > require near-instantaneous snapshot functionality that I don't know if an > Exadata system can provide. > > On various schedules, we take snapshots (EMC storage), mount them r/w to > different mountpoints and startup Oracle instances on those. The point is > to have fast, point-in-time views of our data, which can be modified and > reported on for an extended period of time. At any one time, we have up to > 20 different snapshot databases running. Some are retained up to 3 months > before we recreated them from a new snapshot. > > My struggle with giving a thumbs up on Exadata is....how do I make this > happen in Exadata? Changing the existing business processes really isn't an > option without significant work (possibly years worth) and having to do that > really takes away Exadata's appeal. Creating true clones would > significantly slow down our overall batch process workflow and negate the > justification (which is speeding up that workflow) for moving to Exadata. > What are my options, if any? I guess my hope is that Exadata has some > undocumented functionality internal to it that does this... Realistically, > it probably does not, but since I can't just download one of these and test > it out, I have to ask. Any thoughts? Some insight would be greatly > appreciated. > > > Thanks, > Aaron > >