Virtualizing Oracle Databases on vSphere

Kannan Mani (@kantwit) is currently a Staff Architect - Oracle Solutions for VMware. Kannan has been with VMware for more than 4 years, involved in developing and architecting business critical Oracle solutions on VMware platforms, and helping customers and partners successfully virtualize Oracle on VMware vSphere platform globally. Kannan was previously Reference Architecture Specialist at NetApp, where he architected and developed Oracle solutions on NetApp Storage. Prior to NetApp, Kannan was an Architecture Specialist at Unisys, where he led Oracle Center of Excellence. Kannan is the domain expert in Oracle technologies on various platforms (Storage and Virtualization) and published numerous customer-facing technical documents on Oracle and Database technologies. Kannan has over 17 years in the IT industry experience, and his expertise includes Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC), Automatic Storage Management (ASM), clustering, customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), business intelligence, performance and scalable enterprise architectures, benchmark and performance, technical solutions marketing and management, virtualization, and Cloud solutions. Kannan is a regular speaker at IOUG, VMworld, VMware Partner Exchange, Oracle Open World, EMC World, NetApp Insight, SNIA, and he is also an evangelist of Oracle technologies. Kannan has been recognized by Oracle as an Oracle ACE, and by VMware as CTO Ambassador and vExpert. Kannan holds a Master's degree in Computer Applications and a Master's degree in Business Administration focused on technology. Don Sullivan, an Oracle Certified Master, a vExpert, and a VMware CTO Ambassador joined VMware in June of 2010 as a Systems Engineer Database Specialist and Oracle Solution Architect for the entirety of the Americas. In that capacity, he has worked with numerous customers and partners focused on the proposition of running Oracle, SQL, and other high-workload systems on vSphere. Presently, the Product Line Marketing Manager for Business Critical Applications at VMware, Don is a frequent speaker at conferences focused on databases and virtualization. After finishing his Master's thesis at Arizona State University in 1996, Don focused on logical database design with Sybase TxSql, and he moved to Denver to work as a contract DBA. Don subsequently worked for AT&T as a contract DBA with both Sybase and Oracle. In 1998, he joined Oracle and Oracle University and became a Senior Principal Instructor for Oracle University, focusing on server products. He taught all server-based classes for 6 years, which included all New Features classes, OPS/RAC, Backup & Recovery, Performance Tuning, SQL Tuning, Data Guard, and the Data Server Internals (DSI) classes from 7.3 through 10g. He is a co-author of the Oracle Certified Master Practicum, and he is an original Oracle Certified Master. He also co-authored a performance-tuning class text for MySQL. In 2004, he became a consultant with Oracle's Advanced Technology Services (ATS) and spent the next 18 months involved in a number of proofs of concept (POCs) and other post-sales engagements. In 2005, Don joined Polyserve Corporation as the primary customer-facing Oracle Solution Architect. Although his role was primarily pre-sales, he was involved with all Polyserve customers who had Oracle implementations at every step of their implementation, both pre- and post-sales. In 2007, Polyserve was acquired by HP, and he stayed with HP. In that capacity, Don spent the majority of 2009 through 2013 delivering seminars and workshops to large customer groups focused on Oracle over Network File System (NFS). In 2010, Don joined VMware as a customer-facing Systems Engineer Database Specialist with both Sales and later PSO. In addition, Don is also a project manager for many projects to include cross-corporate functional stress tests. Finally, Don manages the virtualizing applications sub-track at VMworld and VMware's series of select database workshops.

Foreword xv

Introduction xix

About the Authors xxiii

Acknowledgments xxv

About the Reviewers xxix

Chapter 1 Introduction to Oracle Databases on Virtual Infrastructure 1

Virtualization with ESXi and vSphere and the Software-Defi ned Datacenter 3

Virtualizing Oracle Databases on vSphere: Benefi ts and Examples 7

Oracle Databases and DBA Fundamentals 8

Understanding Oracle Database Architectures 11

Summary 12

Chapter 2 Virtualization and High-Performance Oracle Workloads 15

Virtualized Oracle Environments on vSphere Key Benefi ts 15

Consolidating Platforms to Reduce Datacenter Costs 17

Enhancing Database Availability and Cost-Effective Disaster Recovery 19

Provisioning Rapid and New Database Server Environments 21

Reducing Planned Downtime with Migration of Live Oracle Database Servers 22

Guaranteeing Resources in a Shared Environment 23

Achieving IT Compliance 24

Zeroing In on Key Trigger Events 24

Solving Oracle Database Deployment and Management Issues Using VMware 25

Implementing Dynamic Oracle Datacenter Resource Management 26

Minimizing Server Sprawl 27

Meeting SLA Demands for Database Performance, Availability, and Disaster Recovery 27

Supporting a Dynamic Business Environment 27

Minimizing License Costs 28

Maximizing Oracle Workloads and Sizing 28

Option 1: Sizing the Oracle DB Workload 30

Option 2: Sizing the Oracle DB Application Vendor Recommendations 32

Option 3: Sizing Oracle DB Server Vendor Guidelines 35

Testing the Limits: Performance Studies and Stress Tests 36

Summary 36

Chapter 3 Oracle Databases and Applications in Virtual Infrastructure: Architectural Concepts 37

VMware ESXi Hypervisor 38

Designing Databases on VMware 41

Designing for Scalability on Demand 42

Designing for High Availability 44

Maintaining Compliance 48

Consolidating Database Servers 48

Virtualizing Oracle RAC 51

Identifying Key Stakeholders 53

Summary 54

Chapter 4 Oracle on vSphere Best Practices 55

Implementing ESX Host Best Practices 57

Maximizing Performance Using BIOS Settings 58

Operating System Processes 59

Upgrading the Version of ESX/ESXi and vSphere 60

Maximizing Support for a Hardware-Assisted Memory Management Unit 61

Implementing Memory-Related Best Practices 61

Supporting Large Pages 64

Implementing Compute (vCPU)-Related Best Practices 65

Confi guring Storage-Related Best Practices 68

Categorizing Storage Virtualization Technologies 71

Understanding Storage Protocol Capabilities 71

Understanding Database Layout Considerations 73

Comparing VMFS to RDM: Performance and Functionality 76

Networking Guidelines 78

Monitoring Performance on vSphere 79

Timekeeping in Virtual Machines 81

Summary 82

Chapter 5 Oracle Database High Availability: Planned and Unplanned Downtime 83

Protecting the Virtualized Environment with vSphere High Availability 84

Protecting Applications with vSphere and Symantec AppHA 86

Understanding Oracle RAC in Virtual Machines 88

Implementing Oracle RAC One Node 88

Implementing Multinode RAC 90

Deploying Oracle RAC on vSphere 92

Protecting Oracle Databases Against Downtime 98

Transitioning RAC Nodes Between Hosts Using VMware vMotion 100

To RAC or Not to RAC 103

Summary 104

Chapter 6 Performance Workload and Functional Stress Test Studies 105

Oracle Single-Instance Workload Study 106

Test Methodology 106

Test Result Details 109

Oracle RAC Workload Characterization Study 121

vMotion and VMware HA 121

Large-Scale Order Entry Benchmark Kit (Swingbench) 122

Architecture 123

Network Confi guration 125

Oracle RAC Installation Overview 130

24-Hour Workload Test 131

Oracle RAC Node vMotion Test 132

Mega vMotion-RAC Functional Stress Test 135

Summary 139

Chapter 7 Support and Licensing 141

Contemplating Oracle Software Support and Licensing 141

Understanding Oracle Certifi cation and Support for VMware Environments 143

Certifi cation of Oracle on VMware vSphere 144

Licensing Oracle 147

Advising VMware Customers 149

Summary 154

Chapter 8 Performance Management and Monitoring 155

Performance Management Terminology 157

The Role of the DBA in Performance Management 158

Processing Power: CPU or vCPU 159

CPU Ready Time (%RDY) 162

Memory 164

System Huge Pages 167

Transparent Page Sharing 172

Non-Uniform Memory Access 172

Networking 175

Network Load Testing 176

Dropped Packets 177

Storage Confi guration and Utilization 181

SCSI Queues 182

NFS Storage 185

Storage Access Latency 187

Spindle Busy Average 190

Understanding SCSI Queue Depth on an ESX/ESXi Host and Virtual Machine 191

Storage Path Throughput 192

Storage Benchmarking VMDK 193

Benchmarking and Ongoing Maintenance 197

Iometer 198

Oracle ORION 203

Comparing Storage Types 219

Block Alignment 220

Using pvSCSI and LSI Controllers 222

ASM Is Comparable to an LVM 225

Understanding the Oracle Enterprise Manager vCOPS Adapter 228

Using Oracle Database Server Metrics 230

Installing Oracle Enterprise Manager Adapter 232

Validating the OEM Adapter 233

Creating Oracle Database Custom Dashboard 233

Confi guring a Metric Graph (Rollover View) Widget 235

Confi guring a Generic Scoreboard Widget 235

Finalizing the Oracle Database Dashboard 236

Summary 239

Chapter 9 Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery 241

VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 243

vSphere Replication 245

Storage Array-Based Replication 247

Storage Replication Adapters 247

Application-Based Replication 248

Oracle Data Guard 248

Repairing Logical Data Block Corruption with Oracle Data Guard 249

Combining vSphere Replication and Data Guard 250

Testing SRM vSphere Replication 251

Using Storage Array-Based Replication with vSphere 253

Virtual Provisioning for Oracle ASM Disk Groups 255

Solution Findings 256

Creating a Disaster Recovery Plan 257

Confi gure Connections 257

Break the Connection 257

Export System Logs 257

Using Array-Based Replication 258

Summary 264

Chapter 10 Backup and Recovery 267

Backup and Recovery Principles 269

Backing Up Data Using In-Guest Software Solutions 270

Oracle Database Backup Methods 270

Classic Oracle Database Backups 270

Listing of Storage Vendor Backup Tools 272

Other Backup Tools 273

Storage Vendor Backup Solutions 273

Working with NetApp Backup Solutions 274

NetApp Backup and Restore Solution Overview 274

Integrating NetApp with vSphere 274

Working with NetApp Snapshot 275

Backing Up a Virtualized Oracle Database with NetApp Snapshot 275

Tools Available for Backups of Oracle Using NetApp 276

Step-by-Step Solution for Backing Up a Virtualized Oracle Database with NetApp Storage and NFS Datastores 277

Restoring a Database Using NetApp Snapshot 277

Backup and Restore Use Case with Snap Creator 278

EMC Avamar Backup and Restore Solution Overview 279

Backing Up the Oracle Database 280

Restoring the Oracle Database 281

VMware Data Protection Advanced 281

Comparing VMFS and RDM 282

Backups 283

Understand the Functionality of VMFS Versus RDMs 283

Oracle Data Guard for Backup 284

Oracle Database Backup Strategy Matrix 286

Summary 286

Chapter 11 Provisioning and Automation 289

Migrating Oracle Database from a Physical to Virtual Environment 291

Viewing Oracle Migration from a Physical to Virtual Solution 293

Facilitating Deployments 294

Understanding the Business Scenario 294

Lab Architecture 295

Migrating Oracle Database from Physical to Virtual 296

Confi guring Application Blueprints Using vCAC 302

Building a Database-as-a-Service Platform 311

Listing the Benefi ts of DBaaS 312

Allocating Storage as Part of the DBaaS Paradigm 313

Choosing the Components of a DBaaS Architecture 313

Summary 314

Chapter 12 Case Studies 317

Indiana University 318

American Tire Distributors 320

EMC Information Technology 321

Green Mountain Power 323

The Idaho Supreme Court 324

The University of British Columbia 326

VMware Information Technologies 327

So Many Others 330

Working with Events 330

Summary 332

Book Conclusion 332

TOC, 9780133570182, 9/26/2014