Is VxrRail a good alternative to an Oracle environment?
Hi community,
I´d like to know if it's possible to build an environment with VxRail that would be comparable to Oracle Exadata, in terms of productivity and license optimization.
Senior Infrastructure Solutions Specialist at Fiber Misr
Real User
Mar 4, 2021
Although the VxRail is considered as the #1 HCI solution for its reliability & performance, yet unfortunate when it comes to an Oracle solution ... it won't be considered as the best infrastructure choice ... and it's not due to the performance or the architecture, but in fact, the whole blame goes to Oracle license base (core base), as you may see ... VxRail is based on VMWare license, where Oracle condition when you are going to deploy it over VMWare, you will need to license the whole host cores (not only the assigned Virtual cores to the VM), so if you have a VxRail cluster that consists of 4 nodes for example, and each node have dual sockets 16 cores, then although you are assigning only 8 Cores for the Oracle VM, yet you will need to pay for the whole host cores (32 core) which a huge amount of money, and you will pay the double if you are going to deploy in high availability mood.
So you see, the issue is from the Oracle side not from VxRail, Alternatively ... you can deploy all of your application over the VxRail cluster, including the Oracle application, yet for the Oracle database, use a physical server with high CPU frequency and low no of cores ... for example (Intel Xeon Gold 5222 3.8G, 4Core / Intel Xeon Silver 4215R 3.2G, 8Core), and you may use a single socket server which will allow you for upgrading later on.
Enterprise and Cloud Architecture Strategy Leader at Oracle Corporation Australia Pty Ltd
Real User
Mar 3, 2021
First off I am biased I work for Oracle. What I am sharing is my own perception and not the views of Oracle. I don't sell Exadata, but have worked with more than a hundred Exadata customers over the years. My answer - Not really. The not so secret sauce in Exadata is the DB binaries are running in storage server and in the DB server, when SQL executes it only returns the part of the DB needed for processing by the DB server, saving a lot on IO and gaining processing speed. I haven't seen a POC where Exadata wasn't 3-4x faster, even one where it was 15x faster for batch/DWH workload at a large bank. Also Exadata has optimized memory and flash utilization within the binaries of the DB, making it tough to duplicate without access to source code by other HW developers. In terms of licensing best to talk to sales at Oracle. Generally if you have a ULA then you can get parity for licensing costs on each, however you will be running at least 2x as many cores for the same workloads so cost will be higher on VxRail. Oracle standard architecture with 19c and forward is to use Multi-Tenant architecture - and it is only option starting with 21c. Meaning you can manage many DBs as one, and avoid VM server sprawl you find with VMWare and VxRail. If you have workloads that fit Exadata's smallest footprint then it really is the lowest TCO and highest performance - I have seen dozens of comparisons, even one with a major telco where the competing HW vendor through in free storage and was giving a 70% discount on servers - versus 25% discount on Exadata and Exadata still was lower cost TCO and matched the cost per core (cost per core is not a great compare since Exadata needs far fewer cores for the same workload - need to look at total solution cost).
Sr.Accounts Manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
User
Jan 18, 2022
You may have to pay too much for the Oracle license.
You can try the HPE Synergy platform so that dedicated two physical nodes for Oracle with less core count, REST apps and other VMS run on an HCI cluster managed in the same frame.
Although the VxRail is considered as the #1 HCI solution for its reliability & performance, yet unfortunate when it comes to an Oracle solution ... it won't be considered as the best infrastructure choice ... and it's not due to the performance or the architecture, but in fact, the whole blame goes to Oracle license base (core base), as you may see ... VxRail is based on VMWare license, where Oracle condition when you are going to deploy it over VMWare, you will need to license the whole host cores (not only the assigned Virtual cores to the VM), so if you have a VxRail cluster that consists of 4 nodes for example, and each node have dual sockets 16 cores, then although you are assigning only 8 Cores for the Oracle VM, yet you will need to pay for the whole host cores (32 core) which a huge amount of money, and you will pay the double if you are going to deploy in high availability mood.
So you see, the issue is from the Oracle side not from VxRail, Alternatively ... you can deploy all of your application over the VxRail cluster, including the Oracle application, yet for the Oracle database, use a physical server with high CPU frequency and low no of cores ... for example (Intel Xeon Gold 5222 3.8G, 4Core / Intel Xeon Silver 4215R 3.2G, 8Core), and you may use a single socket server which will allow you for upgrading later on.
First off I am biased I work for Oracle. What I am sharing is my own perception and not the views of Oracle. I don't sell Exadata, but have worked with more than a hundred Exadata customers over the years. My answer - Not really. The not so secret sauce in Exadata is the DB binaries are running in storage server and in the DB server, when SQL executes it only returns the part of the DB needed for processing by the DB server, saving a lot on IO and gaining processing speed. I haven't seen a POC where Exadata wasn't 3-4x faster, even one where it was 15x faster for batch/DWH workload at a large bank. Also Exadata has optimized memory and flash utilization within the binaries of the DB, making it tough to duplicate without access to source code by other HW developers. In terms of licensing best to talk to sales at Oracle. Generally if you have a ULA then you can get parity for licensing costs on each, however you will be running at least 2x as many cores for the same workloads so cost will be higher on VxRail. Oracle standard architecture with 19c and forward is to use Multi-Tenant architecture - and it is only option starting with 21c. Meaning you can manage many DBs as one, and avoid VM server sprawl you find with VMWare and VxRail. If you have workloads that fit Exadata's smallest footprint then it really is the lowest TCO and highest performance - I have seen dozens of comparisons, even one with a major telco where the competing HW vendor through in free storage and was giving a 70% discount on servers - versus 25% discount on Exadata and Exadata still was lower cost TCO and matched the cost per core (cost per core is not a great compare since Exadata needs far fewer cores for the same workload - need to look at total solution cost).
You may have to pay too much for the Oracle license.
You can try the HPE Synergy platform so that dedicated two physical nodes for Oracle with less core count, REST apps and other VMS run on an HCI cluster managed in the same frame.