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Oracle
Engineered Storage Systems

by Brady Hicks

Copyright 2021, Faulkner Information Services. All Rights Reserved.

Docid: 00011119

Publication Date: 2103

Report Type: PRODUCT

Preview

Oracle’s family of Engineered Storage Systems is based largely on the assets
it acquired from Sun Microsystems in 2010, for $7 billion. The collection –
which has substantially changed over time – now focuses primarily on software
and cloud-based services to support heterogeneous data centers, leverage
computing and enterprise applications, and run virtualization and other
cloud-based elements. Portfolio members include the Exadata Database Machine,
Database Appliance X8, Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance X8M, and Private Cloud
Appliance X8. This report looks at the Oracle Engineered Storage Systems portfolio
in greater detail.

Report Contents:

• Description
• Related Faulkner Reports
• Vendor
• Applications
• Environment
• Support
• Pricing
• Competitors
• Web Links

Description

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Oracle offers a portfolio of application-engineered
storage hardware and software.

These solutions – which are based in large part on Oracle’s $7 billion
acquisition of Sun Microsystems in 2010 – include engineered storage options for
delivering support for heterogeneous data centers; co-engineered capabilities
for software-based deployments; leverage for computing and enterprise
application environments; virtualization; and cloud-based technology. Particular
products include:

• Exadata Database Machine
• Database Appliance X8
• Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance X8M
• Private Cloud Appliance X8

Vendor

Name: Oracle Corporation Headquarters 500 Oracle Parkway Redwood Shores, CA 94065 (650) 506-7000 (800) 392-2999 Web: http://www.oracle.com/ Type of Vendor: Enterprise Software, Cloud-Based Computing Founded: 1977 (as Software Development Laboratories) Service Areas: Worldwide Stock Symbol: ORCL (NYSE)

In particular, Oracle employs a “piecemeal” approach that allows users to
leverage data center IT resources to operate as an integrated system for
boosting performance and efficiency.

Key Features

Key features of the portfolio include support for:

• Full-stack integration
• On-premise-to-cloud portability
• Co-engineering with Oracle software
• Pre-built, pre-tuned, and pre-tested

Exadata Database Machine

The Exadata Database Machine offers a high-performing, available architecture
for Oracle Database. The product offers features for improved performance,
time-to-value, deployment, and a "ready for the cloud" architecture." The
portfolio is designed to support multiple types of database workloads, including
OLTP (online transactional processing), in-memory analytics, JSON (JavaScript
Object Notification), and geospatial environments, and can consolidate mixed
workloads on a single system. The product also scales from 48 to 6,912 CPU
cores, enabling database consolidation.

Table 1 takes a more detailed look at the offerings within this family.

Database Appliance X8

The Database Appliance is an entry-level offering that is engineered, built,
and optimized to work exclusively with Oracle Database to streamline its
operations, improve performance, and assist with licensing. Key features
include:

• On-Premise options for purchasing the hardware and deploying it
  within the data center, managing performance, improving productivity and
  resource utilization, and, via all-Flash systems, performance.
• Development and Test elements for deploying a “purpose-built”
  engineered system that is optimized for Oracle Database, then delivering
  DevTest, cutting licensing costs, provisioning, and bolstering productivity,
  with each environment existing exclusively for each developer.
• High Availability features for improving application and database
  uptime, via 24×7 data access and protection against planned and unplanned
  downtime, redundant high availability, reduced “service area of attack,”
  single-system patching, and support for Oracle Real Application Clusters,
  Active Data Guard, and GoldenGate.

Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance X8M

Oracle’s Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance X8M is designed to offer data
protection to eliminate information loss, ensure backups are recoverable, report
on recoverability, and restore an Oracle Database to a specific point-in-time.
It specifically offers:

• Data-protection architecture for recovery.
• DVR-like functionality for eliminating risk of data loss and
  restoring databases to any point-in-time, with sub-second accuracy.
• Elimination / automation of 75% of manual steps to accelerate
  recovery.
• Automated database recoverability reporting and alerts to meet
  compliance requirements.
• Single-system design, testing, management, and support to cut
  down on multi-vendor complexity and risk.

Table 2 takes a more detailed look at the appliance.

Figure 1 illustrates the appliance’s architecture.

Figure 1. Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance

Source: Oracle

Private Cloud Appliance X8

The Private Cloud Appliance supports consolidation – scalable to 1,200 cores
and 1.6PB of storage space – to support "growing workloads" in medium-to-large data centers, whether the user is running Windows,
Linux, or Solaris. The Private Cloud Appliance supports consolidation for a
range of mixed workloads in medium-to-large data centers, whether the user is
running Windows, Linux, or Solaris.

Applications

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Oracle’s
Storage Systems have many different applications, but are mostly designed for
the large enterprise or organizations looking to maintain massive amounts of
data. Specific applications include mission-critical systems, data centers,
large-scale storage implementations, tiered storage infrastructures,
data-lifecycle management, business intelligence and data warehousing, online
transaction processing, ERP, and e-commerce.

Environment

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Oracle’s Storage Systems portfolio is supported by most operating platforms, including
Microsoft Windows 10, 8, and 7; Oracle’s Solaris; Red Hat Enterprise and
Novell SUSE Linux; IBM AIX; and HP-UX.

Support

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Oracle offers various forms of product support,
including:

• Premier Support – 24×7 technical assistance,
  proactive support resources, and product updates. For qualifying systems,
  customers can opt for Oracle Business Critical Service for Systems, or even
  receive Oracle Platinum Services at no additional cost.
• Advanced Customer Support – Mission-critical
  support services building on top of Premier Support. This includes: 
  • Solution Support Center – Personalized
    support services including a dedicated hotline, assigned team of
    Advanced Support Engineers, and assigned Technical Account Manager
    experts for configurations, processes, projects, and objectives.
  • Priority Support – Priority
    service-request handling, as well as access to a Technical Account
    Manager.
  • On-Site Support – Advanced support
    experts embedded within the team at a location.
  • Systems Optimization Support – Product
    installation, startup, and full-lifecycle services based on “best
    practices.”
  • Advanced Support Cloud Services –
    Cloud-based access to best practices, automation, and global
    “Centers of Excellence.”

Pricing

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Prices vary by deployment size and configuration.
Contact (800) 633-0738 in the US for specific cost-related inquiries.

Competitors

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Oracle’s Storage Systems compete with hardware and software from IBM, Dell, HPE, NetApp, Fujitsu, and Hitachi Vantara, among other companies.

Web Links

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• Dell Technologies:
  
  https://www.delltechnologies.com/en-us/index.htm
• Fujitsu: http://www.fujitsu.com/
• Hewlett Packard Enterprise:
  http://www.hpe.com/
• Hitachi Vantara:
  https://www.hitachivantara.com/
• IBM: http://www.ibm.com/
• NetApp: http://www.netapp.com/
• Oracle: http://www.oracle.com/

About the Author

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Brady Hicks is an
editor with Faulkner Information Services. He writes about computer and
networking hardware, software, communications networks and equipment, and the
Internet.

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