Oracle Exadata (Exadata) is a computing system optimized for running Oracle Databases.
Exadata is a combined hardware and software platform that includes scale-out x86-64 compute and storage servers, RoCE networking, RDMA-addressable memory acceleration, NVMe flash, and specialized software.
Exadata was introduced in 2008 for on-premises deployment, and since October 2015, via the Oracle Cloud as a subscription service, known as the Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure, and Exadata Database Service on Exascale Infrastructure. Exadata Cloud@Customer is a hybrid cloud (on-premises) deployment of Exadata Database Service.
Starting December, 2023, Exadata Database Service became available for Microsoft Azure, Google and AWS public clouds within the Oracle Database@Azure, Oracle Database@Google Cloud and Oracle Database@AWS multicloud partnerships.
Use cases
Exadata is designed to run all Oracle Database workloads, such as OLTP, Data Warehousing, Analytics, and AI Vector processing, often with multiple consolidated databases running simultaneously.
Historically, specialized database computing platforms were designed for a particular workload, such as Data Warehousing, and poor or unusable for other workloads, such as OLTP. Exadata specializes in mixed workloads sharing system resources with resource management features for prioritization, such as favoring workloads servicing interactive users over reporting and batch. Long running requests, characterized by Data Warehouses, reports, batch jobs and Analytics, are reported to run many times faster compared to a conventional, non-Exadata database server.67
Release History
| Exadata Release | Primary Software Enhancements | Primary Hardware Enhancements |
|---|---|---|
| Database@AWS | Exadata Database Service available with AWS | |
| X11M - Jan 2025 | AI Vector search acceleration - up to 55% faster | 25% faster compute core performance |
| Analytics scan throughput increase - 2.2x faster | 33% greater server memory bandwidth | |
| Transaction processing acceleration - 25% faster | 11% faster storage core performance | |
| OLTP read latency acceleration - up to 21% faster (14 microseconds) | PCIe 5 performance-optimized flash | |
| Intelligent power management - reduce CPU cores, cap power consumption, optimize power utilization | X11M-Z database and storage servers | |
| Available on-premises, Oracle Cloud, Cloud@Customer and multicloud (Azure, Google Cloud, AWS) | ||
| Database@Google Cloud | Exadata Database Service available with Google Cloud | |
| Exadata Exascale July, 2024 | Fully elastic pay-per-use architecture. Users specify the cores and storage capacity needed, reducing entry-level infrastructure costs for Exadata Database Service and aligning costs with usage | None |
| Large pools of shared compute and storage allow databases to quickly scale over time without concern for server-based size limitations or disruptive migrations | ||
| Rapid and efficient database snapshots and thin cloning | ||
| Database@Azure | Exadata Database Service available with Microsoft Azure | |
| X10M - June 2023 | Exadata RDMA Memory (XRMEM) DRAM cache | 3x increase in compute cores (96-core AMD EPYC) |
| Oracle Linux 8 and UEK 6 kernel updates | 1.5x higher memory capacity | |
| New In-Memory Columnar compression algorithm | 2.5x faster DDR5 memory | |
| Optimized Smart Scan for more complex queries | 2.4x higher flash storage capacity (in all-flash storage) | |
| Faster decryption and decompression | 22% more disk storage capacity | |
| X9M - Sept, 2021 | Secure RDMA fabric isolation | PCIe 4.0 dual-port active-active 100 Gb RoCE network |
| Smart Flash Log write-back | 33% increase in compute cores | |
| Storage Index and Columnar Cache persistence | 33% increase in memory capacity | |
| Faster decryption and decompression Algorithms | 28% increase in disk capacity | |
| Smart Scan performance optimizations | 1.8x greater internal fabric bandwidth (PCIe 4.0) | |
| 1.8x greater flash bandwidth (PCIe 4.0) | ||
| X8M - Sept, 2019 | RoCE: RDMA over Converged Ethernet | Persistent Memory (PMEM) in storage |
| Persistent Memory Data Accelerator | 100 Gbit/s internal fabric (2.5x increase) | |
| Persistent Memory Commit Accelerator | ||
| KVM virtual machine support | ||
| X8 - April, 2019 | AIDE: Advanced Intrusion Detection Environment | Storage Server Extended (XT) |
| ML-based monitoring and auto-indexing | 40% increase in disk capacity | |
| Real-time updates of optimizer statistics | 60% increase in storage processor cores | |
| X7 - Oct, 2017 | In-memory database in flash storage | 2x increase in flash capacity |
| DRAM cache in storage | 25% increase in disk capacity | |
| Large-scale storage software updates | 25 Gbit/s data center Ethernet support | |
| Exadata Cloud@Customer | Exadata Cloud Service on-premises | |
| X6 - April, 2016 | Exafusion direct-to-wire OLTP protocol | 2x increase in flash capacity |
| Smart Fusion Block Transfer | 10% increase in compute cores | |
| Smart Flash Log | 2x increase in memory capacity | |
| Exadata Database Service | Exadata on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) | |
| X5 - Dec, 2014 | In-memory database fault tolerance | 2x increase in flash & disk capacity |
| Database snapshots | Elastic configurations | |
| Xen virtual machine support | All-flash storage server option | |
| NVMe flash protocol support | 50% increase in compute cores | |
| IPv6 support | 50% increase in memory capacity | |
| X4 - Nov, 2013 | Network Resource Management | 2x increase in flash capacity |
| I/O latency capping | 2x increase in memory capacity | |
| Capacity-on-Demand licensing | 50% increase in compute cores | |
| Active/Active InfiniBand (2x increase) | 33% increase in disk capacity | |
| X3 - Sept, 2013 | Smart Flash Cache write-back | Eighth-Rack configuration |
| Improved management of slow disks/flash | 4x increase in flash capacity | |
| Sub-second brownout after storage failure | 33% increase in compute cores | |
| Simplified disk replacement | 75% increase in memory capacity | |
| Bypass predictive disk failure | 2x increase in data center bandwidth | |
| X2 - Sept, 2010 | Smart Flash Log | 8-socket (X2-8) configuration |
| Auto Service Request | Storage Expansion Rack | |
| Secure Erase of storage | Hardware-based decryption | |
| Platinum Services | 50% increase in compute cores | |
| 2x increase in memory capacity | ||
| 50% increase in disk capacity | ||
| 8x increase in data center bandwidth | ||
| v2 - Sept, 2009 | Storage Indexes | Flash storage |
| Database-aware Smart Flash Cache | Quarter-Rack configuration | |
| Hybrid Columnar Compression | 2x increase in memory & disk capacity | |
| 3x increase in data center bandwidth | ||
| 40 Gbit/s internal fabric (2x increase) | ||
| v1 - Sept, 2008 | Oracle Enterprise Linux | Scale-out 4-socket compute servers |
| Smart Scan (storage offload) | Scale-out 4-socket storage servers | |
| IORM (I/O Resource Manager) | 20 Gbit/s internal fabric (InfiniBand) | |
| Join filtering (Bloom filters) | 1 Terabyte disks | |
| Incremental backup filtering | 1 Gbit/s data center network (Ethernet) | |
| Smart file creation |
Support Policy
As the platform has been around since 2008, Oracle has published information related to the end-of-support for older Exadata generations. In Oracle's published document titled Oracle Hardware and Systems Support Policies,8 they mention "After five years from last ship date, replacement parts may not be available and/or the response times for sending replacement parts may be delayed." To look up the "last ship date" of a particular Oracle Exadata generation, Oracle published a document titled Oracle Exadata - A guide for decision makers.9
Each generation of the Oracle Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance shares components with similar generations of Exadata.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Oracle Exadata.References
Various (July 11, 2024). "Oracle Exadata". oracle.com. Retrieved July 11, 2024. https://www.oracle.com/engineered-systems/exadata/ ↩
Pedregal-Martin, Cristobal. "Exadata: Why and What". https://blogs.oracle.com/exadata/exadata-why-and-what ↩
Various (July 11, 2024). "Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure". oracle.com. Retrieved July 11, 2024. https://www.oracle.com/engineered-systems/exadata/#dedicated-infrastructure ↩
Various (July 11, 2024). "Exadata Database Service on Exascale Infrastructure". oracle.com. Retrieved July 11, 2024. https://www.oracle.com/engineered-systems/exadata/#exascale ↩
Various (July 11, 2024). "Oracle Exadata Cloud@Customer". oracle.com. Retrieved July 11, 2024. https://www.oracle.com/engineered-systems/exadata/#exadata-cloudatcustomer ↩
Various (July 11, 2024). "Exadata Customer Success Stories". oracle.com. Retrieved July 11, 2024. https://www.oracle.com/customers/?search=exadata ↩
Various (July 11, 2024). "Gartner Peer Insights: Oracle Exadata Database Machine". Gartner.com. Retrieved July 11, 2024. https://www.gartner.com/reviews/market/integrated-systems/vendor/oracle/product/oracle-exadata-database-machine ↩
"Oracle Hardware and Systems Support Policies" (PDF). Retrieved March 5, 2021. https://www.oracle.com/us/support/library/hardware-systems-support-policies-069182.pdf ↩
Various. "Oracle Exadata - A guide for decision makers" (PDF). oracle.com. Retrieved July 11, 2024. https://www.oracle.com/a/otn/docs/exadata-decision-maker-guide.pdf ↩