1. Open the navigation menu. Click Oracle Database, then click Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure
2. Under Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure, click Exadata Infrastructure.
3. Click Create Exadata Cloud Infrastructure.
4. Compartment: Select a compartment for the Exadata infrastructure.
5. Display name: Enter a display name for the Exadata infrastructure. The name doesn't need to be unique. An Oracle Cloud Identifier (OCID) will uniquely identify the Cloud Exadata infrastructure resource. Avoid entering confidential information.
6. Select an availability domain: The availability domain in which the Exadata infrastructure resides.

7. Select the Exadata Cloud Infrastructure model: Select either a fixed-shape system (quarter, half, or full rack X7-2 or X8-2 shapes), or a scalable system (X8M-2 or X9M-2).

   X9M-2: If you select the flexible X9M-2 cloud infrastructure model, your initial Exadata Cloud Infrastructure instance can have a minimum of 2 database servers and 3 storage servers up to 32 database servers and 64 storage servers. After provisioning, you can scale the service instance as needed by adding additional storage servers, compute servers, or both.

   X8M-2: If you select the flexible X8M-2 cloud infrastructure model, your initial Exadata Cloud Infrastructure instance can have a minimum of 2 database servers and 3 storage servers (the equivalents of an X8 quarter rack shape) up to 32 database servers and 64 storage servers. After provisioning, you can scale the service instance as needed by adding additional storage servers, compute servers, or both.

   X7 and X8: If you select an X7 or X8 system, you are given the choice of provisioning a quarter, half, or full rack. See Exadata Shape Configuration for hardware and capacity details.

   Exadata Base: The Exadata base shape comes in a single configuration, and provides an economical alternative to provisioning a quarter rack system. See Exadata Shape Configuration

8. If you selected a flexible shape (X8M-2 or X9M-2) , specify the Compute and storage configuration. You can specify Database servers from minimum of 2 up to 32. You can specify Storage servers from minimum of 3 up to 64.
9. Select the time zone: Choose one of :
   • UTC
   • Select another timezone
   • (Browser detected) timezone
10. In the Provide maintenance details pane.

    The default values for Maintenance Method and Maintenance Schedule are shown. Click Edit Maintenance Preferences to change the values

    In the Edit Maintenance Preferences dialog, under the
    Configure maintenance method: Click one of Rolling or Non-rolling.

    • Rolling: By default, Exadata Infrastructure is updated in a rolling fashion, one server at a time with no downtime.
    • Non-rolling: Update database and storage servers at the same time. The non-rolling maintenance method minimizes maintenance time but incurs full system downtime.
    You can also select Enable custom action before performing maintenance on DB servers. Enable custom action only if you want to perform additional actions outside of Oracle’s purview. For maintenance configured with a rolling software update, enabling this option will force the maintenance run to wait for a custom action with a configured timeout before starting maintenance on each DB server. For maintenance configured with non-rolling software updates, the maintenance run will wait for a custom action with a configured timeout before starting maintenance across all DB servers. When the custom action is enabled the custom action timeout field appears.

    • Custom action timeout (in minutes): Timeout available to perform custom action before starting maintenance on the DB Servers.

      Default: 30 minutes

      Maximum: 120 minutes

    In the Maintenance Schedule section keep the default setting of No preference to let the system assign a date and start time for infrastructure maintenance, or select Specify a Schedule

    1. Click the Specify a schedule radio button to choose your preferred month, week, weekday, and start time for infrastructure maintenance.
    2. Under Maintenance months, specify at least one month for each quarter during which Exadata infrastructure maintenance will take place. You can select more than one month per quarter. If you specify a long lead time for advanced notification (for example, 4 weeks), then you may want to specify two or three months per quarter during which maintenance runs can occur. This will ensure that your maintenance updates are applied in a timely manner after accounting for your required lead time. Lead time is discussed in the following steps:
       Note
       
       For Exadata infrastructure resources in government regions, Oracle performs maintenance operations monthly. Enable maintenance operations for all months if your infrastructure is in a government region.
    3. Under Week of the month, specify which week of the month maintenance will take place. Weeks start on the 1st, 8th, 15th, and 22nd days of the month, and have a duration of seven days. Weeks start and end based on calendar dates, not days of the week. Maintenance cannot be scheduled for the fifth week of months that contain more than 28 days.
    4. (Optional) Under Day of the week, specify the day of the week on which the maintenance will occur. If you do not specify a day of the week, then Oracle will run the maintenance update on a weekend day to minimize disruption.
    5. (Optional) Under Start hour, specify the hour during which the maintenance run will begin. If you do not specify a start hour, then Oracle will choose the least disruptive time to run the maintenance update.
    6. Under Lead Time, specify the number of weeks ahead of the maintenance event you would like to receive a notification message. Your lead time ensures that a newly released maintenance update is scheduled to account for your required period of advanced notification.
    7. Click Save Changes.

11. In the Provide maintenance details : Provide up to 10 unique maintenance contact email addresses. Click Add Contact.

    In the Contact Email field, provide the email ID of a desired contact.

    Note
    
    At least one Contact is required.

    Click Add Contact to add another contact.

12. Click Show Advanced Options to specify advanced options for the initial database.

    In the Tags tab, you can add tags to the database. To apply a defined tag, you must have permissions to use the tag namespace. For more information about tagging, see Resource Tags . If you are not sure if you should apply tags, skip this option (you can apply tags later) or ask your administrator.

13. Click Create Exadata Infrastructure. The Cloud Exadata infrastructure appears in the Exadata Infrastructure list with a status of Provisioning. The infrastructure's icon changes from yellow to green (or red to indicate errors).

WHAT NEXT?

After the Cloud Exadata infrastructure resource is successfully provisioned and in the Available status, you can create a cloud VM cluster as described in To create a cloud VM cluster resource on your infrastructure. You must provision both an infrastructure resource and a VM cluster before you can create your first database in the new Exadata Cloud Infrastructure instance.

Create a VM cluster in an Exadata Cloud Infrastructure instance.

1. Open the navigation menu. Click Oracle Database, then click Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure
2. Under Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure, click Exadata VM Clusters.
   Note
   
   Multiple VM clusters may be created only in a Multi-VM enabled Infrastructure.
3. Click Create Exadata VM Cluster.

   The Create Exadata VM Cluster page is displayed. Provide the required information to configure the VM cluster.

4. Compartment: Select a compartment for the VM cluster resource.
5. Display name: Enter a user-friendly display name for the VM cluster. The name doesn't need to be unique. An Oracle Cloud Identifier (OCID) will uniquely identify the DB system. Avoid entering confidential information.
6. Select Exadata infrastructure: Select the infrastructure resource that will contain the VM cluster. You must choose an infrastructure resource that has enough resources to create a new VM cluster. Click Change Compartment and pick a different compartment from the one you are working in to view infrastructure resources in other compartments.
   Note
   
   Multiple VM clusters may be created only in a Multi-VM enabled Infrastructure
7. Choose the Oracle Grid Infrastructure version: From the list, choose the Oracle Grid Infrastructure release (19c and 23ai) that you want to install on the VM cluster.

   The Oracle Grid Infrastructure release determines the Oracle Database releases that can be supported on the VM cluster. You cannot run an Oracle Database release that is later than the Oracle Grid Infrastructure software release.

   Note
   
   Minimum requirements for provisioning a VM Cluster with Grid Infrastructure 23ai:

   • Exadata Guest VM running Exadata System Software 23.1.8
   • Exadata Infrastructure running Exadata System Software 23.1.x
8. Choose an Exadata image version:
   • Exadata infrastructure with Oracle Linux 7 and Exadata image version 22.1.10.0.0.230422:
     • The Change image button is not enabled.
     • The Oracle Grid Infrastructure version defaults to 19.0.0.0.0.
     • The Exadata guest version will be the same as that of the host OS.
   • Exadata infrastructure with Oracle Linux 8 and Exadata image version 23.1.3.0.0.230613:
     • The Exadata guest version defaults to the latest (23.1.3.0).
     • The Oracle Grid Infrastructure version defaults to 19.0.0.0.0
     • The Change image button is enabled.
     • Click Change image.

       The resulting Change image panel displays the list of available major versions of Exadata image (23.1.3.0 and 22.1.3.0).

       The most recent release for each major version is indicated by "(latest)".

     • Slide Display all available versions.

       Six past versions including the latest versions of Exadata images 23.1.3.0 and 22.1.3.0 are displayed.

     • Choose a version.
     • Click Save Changes.
9. Configure the VM cluster: Specify the DB servers to used for new VM cluster (by default all DB Servers are selected). Click Change DB Servers to select from the available DB servers. In the Resource allocation per VM pane:
   • Specify the number of OCPU cores you want to allocate to each of the VM cluster's virtual machine compute nodes. Minimum is 2 OCPU per VM . The read-only Requested OCPU count for the Exadata VM cluster field displays the total number of OCPU cores you are allocating.
   • Specify the Memory per VM to allocate to each VM. The minimum per VM is 30 GB.
   • Specify the Local Storage per VM to allocate local storage to each VM. The minimum per VM is 60 GB.

     Each time when you create a new VM cluster, the space remaining out of the total available space is utilized for the new VM cluster.

     In addition to /u02, you can specify the size of additional local file systems.

     For more information and instructions to specify the size for each individual VM, see Introduction to Scale Up or Scale Down Operations.

     • Click Show additional local file systems configuration options.
     • Specify the size of /, /u01, /tmp, /var, /var/log, /var/log/audit, and /home file systems as needed.
       Note
       
       

       • You can only expand these file systems and cannot reduce the size once expanded.
       • Due to backup partitions and mirroring, the / and /var file systems will consume twice the space they were allocated, which is indicated in the read-only Total allocated storage for / (GB) due to mirroring and Total allocated storage for /tmp (GB) due to mirroring fields.
     • After creating the VM Cluster, check the Exadata Resources section on the Exadata Infrastructure Details page to check the file size allocated to the local storage (/u02) and local storage (additional file systems).
10. Configure Exadata storage: Specify the following:

    • Specify the usable Exadata storage TB. Specify the storage in multiples of 1 TB. Minimum: 2 TB
    • Allocate storage for Exadata sparse snapshots: Select this configuration option if you intend to use snapshot functionality within your VM cluster. If you select this option, the SPARSE disk group is created, which enables you to use VM cluster snapshot functionality for PDB sparse cloning. If you do not select this option, the SPARSE disk group is not created and snapshot functionality will not be available on any database deployments that are created in the environment.
      Note
      
      The storage configuration option for sparse snapshots cannot be changed after VM cluster creation.
    • Allocate storage for local backups: Select this option if you intend to perform database backups to the local Exadata storage within your Exadata Cloud Infrastructure instance. If you select this option, more space is allocated to the RECO disk group, which is used to store backups on Exadata storage. If you do not select this option, more space is allocated to the DATA disk group, which enables you to store more information in your databases.
      Note
      
      The storage configuration option for local backups cannot be changed after VM cluster creation.
11. Add SSH key: Add the public key portion of each key pair you want to use for SSH access to the DB system:
    • Generate SSH key pair (Default option) Select this radio button to generate an SSH keypair. Then in the dialog below click Save private key to download the key, and optionally click Save public key to download the key.
    • Upload SSH key files: Select this radio button to browse or drag and drop .pub files.
    • Paste SSH keys: Select this radio button to paste in individual public keys. To paste multiple keys, click + Another SSH Key, and supply a single key for each entry.

12. Configure the network settings: Specify the following:

    Note
    
    IP addresses (100.64.0.0/10) are used for Exadata Cloud Infrastructure X8M interconnect.

    • Virtual cloud network: The VCN in which you want to create the VM cluster. Click Change Compartment to select a VCN in a different compartment.
    • Client subnet: The subnet to which the VM cluster should attach. Click Change Compartment to select a subnet in a different compartment.

      Do not use a subnet that overlaps with 192.168.16.16/28, which is used by the Oracle Clusterware private interconnect on the database instance. Specifying an overlapping subnet causes the private interconnect to malfunction.

    • Backup subnet: The subnet to use for the backup network, which is typically used to transport backup information to and from the Backup Destination, and for Data Guard replication. Click Change Compartment to select a subnet in a different compartment, if applicable.

      Do not use a subnet that overlaps with 192.168.128.0/20. This restriction applies to both the client subnet and backup subnet.

      If you plan to back up databases to Object Storage or Autonomous Recovery service, see the network prerequisites in Managing Exadata Database Backups.

      Note
      
      In case Autonomous Recovery Service is used, a new dedicated subnet is highly recommended. Review the network requirements and configurations required to backup your Oracle Cloud databases to Recovery Service. See, Configuring Network Resources for Recovery Service.

    • Network Security Groups: Optionally, you can specify one or more network security groups (NSGs) for both the client and backup networks. NSGs function as virtual firewalls, allowing you to apply a set of ingress and egress security rules to your Exadata Cloud Infrastructure VM cluster. A maximum of five NSGs can be specified. For more information, see Network Security Groups and Network Setup for Exadata Cloud Infrastructure Instances.

      Note that if you choose a subnet with a security list, the security rules for the VM cluster will be a union of the rules in the security list and the NSGs.

      To use network security groups:

      • Check the Use network security groups to control traffic check box. This box appears under both the selector for the client subnet and the backup subnet. You can apply NSGs to either the client or the backup network, or to both networks. Note that you must have a virtual cloud network selected to be able to assign NSGs to a network.
      • Specify the NSG to use with the network. You might need to use more than one NSG. If you're not sure, contact your network administrator.
      • To use additional NSGs with the network, click +;Another Network Security Group.
      Note
      
      

      To provide your cloud VM Cluster resources with additional security, you can use Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Zero Trust Packet Routing to ensure that only resources identified with security attributes have network permissions to access your resources. Oracle provides Database policy templates that you can use to assist you with creating policies for common database security use cases. To configure it now, you must already have created security attributes with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Zero Trust Packet Routing. Click Show Advanced Options at the end of this procedure.

      Be aware that when you provide security attributes for a cluster, as soon as it is applied, all resources require a Zero Trust Packet policy to access the cluster. If there is a security attribute on an endpoint, then it must satisfy both network security group (NSG) and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Zero Trust Packet Routing policy (OCI ZPR) rules.

    • To use private DNS Service
      Note
      
      A Private DNS must be configured before it can be selected. See "Configure Private DNS"
      • Check the Use private DNS Service check box.
      • Select a private view. Click Change Compartment to select a private view in a different compartment.
      • Select a private zone. Click Change Compartment to select a private zone in a different compartment.
    • Hostname prefix: Your choice of hostname for the Exadata DB system. The host name must begin with an alphabetic character and can contain only alphanumeric characters and hyphens (-). The maximum number of characters allowed for an Exadata DB system is 12.

      Caution:

      The hostname must be unique within the subnet. If it is not unique, the VM cluster will fail to provision.
    • Host domain name: The domain name for the VM cluster. If the selected subnet uses the Oracle-provided Internet and VCN Resolver for DNS name resolution, this field displays the domain name for the subnet and it can't be changed. Otherwise, you can provide your choice of the domain name. Hyphens (-) are not permitted.

      If you plan to store database backups in Object Storage or Autonomous Recovery service, Oracle recommends that you use a VCN Resolver for DNS name resolution for the client subnet because it automatically resolves the Swift endpoints used for backups.

    • Host and domain URL: This read-only field combines the host and domain names to display the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for the database. The maximum length is 63 characters.
13. Choose a license type: The type of license you want to use for the VM cluster. Your choice affects metering for billing.
    • License Included means the cost of the cloud service includes a license for the Database service.
    • Bring Your Own License (BYOL) means you are an Oracle Database customer with an Unlimited License Agreement or Non-Unlimited License Agreement and want to use your license with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. This removes the need for separate on-premises licenses and cloud licenses.
14. Diagnostics Collection: By enabling diagnostics collection and notifications, Oracle Cloud Operations and you will be able to identify, investigate, track, and resolve guest VM issues quickly and effectively. Subscribe to Events to get notified about resource state changes.
    Note
    
    You are opting in with the understanding that the above list of events (or metrics, log files) can change in the future. You can opt out of this feature at any time.
    • Enable Diagnostic Events: Allow Oracle to collect and publish critical, warning, error, and information events to me.
    • Enable Health Monitoring: Allow Oracle to collect health metrics/events such as Oracle Database up/down, disk space usage, and so on, and share them with Oracle Cloud operations. You will also receive notification of some events.
    • Enable Incident Logs and Trace Collection: Allow Oracle to collect incident logs and traces to enable fault diagnosis and issue resolution.
    Note
    
    You are opting in with the understanding that the above list of events (or metrics, log files) can change in the future. You can opt-out of this feature at any time.
    All three checkboxes are selected by default. You can leave the default settings as is or clear the checkboxes as needed. You can view the Diagnostic Collection settings on the VM Cluster Details page under General Information >> Diagnostics Collection.

    • Enabled: When you choose to collect diagnostics, health metrics, incident logs, and trace files (all three options).
    • Disabled: When you choose not to collect diagnostics, health metrics, incident logs, and trace files (all three options).
    • Partially Enabled: When you choose to collect diagnostics, health metrics, incident logs, and trace files ( one or two options).
15. Click Show Advanced Options to specify advanced options for the VM cluster:

    • Time zone: This option is located in the Management tab. The default time zone for the DB system is UTC, but you can specify a different time zone. The time zone options are those supported in both the Java.util.TimeZone class and the Oracle Linux operating system. For more information, see DB System Time Zone .

      Note
      
      

      If you want to set a time zone other than UTC or the browser-detected time zone, and if you do not see the time zone you want, try selecting the Select another time zone, option, then selecting "Miscellaneous" in the Region or country list and searching the additional Time zone selections.

    • SCAN Listener Port: This option is located in the Network tab. You can assign a SCAN listener port (TCP/IP) in the range between 1024 and 8999. The default is 1521
      Note
      
      Manually changing the SCAN listener port of a VM cluster after provisioning using the backend software is not supported. This change can cause Data Guard provisioning to fail.
      .
    • Zero Trust Packet Routing (ZPR): This option is located in the Security attributes tab. Select a namespace, and provide the key and value for the security attribute. To complete this step during configuration, you must already have set up security attributes with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Zero Trust Packet Routing. You can also add security attributes after configuration, and add them later. For more information about adding Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure specific policies, see Policy Template Builder.
    • Tags: If you have permissions to create a resource, then you also have permissions to apply free-form tags to that resource. To apply a defined tag, you must have permissions to use the tag namespace. For more information about tagging, see Resource Tags. If you are not sure whether to apply tags, skip this option (you can apply tags later) or ask your administrator.
16. Click Create Exadata VM Cluster.

Use an existing IP4-only subnet in the database VCN for Recovery Service operations. Define security rules to control the backup traffic between your database and Recovery Service. Finally, register the private subnet as a Recovery Service subnet.

• About Using a Private Subnet for Recovery Service
  Recovery Service uses a private subnet inside a virtual cloud network (VCN) where your database resides. The private subnet defines the network path for backups between your database and Recovery Service.
• Review Networking Service Permissions to Configure a Subnet
  Ensure that you have these Networking Service permissions required to create a subnet in the database VCN and to assign security rules for Recovery Service.
• Review Subnet Size Requirements and Security Rules for Recovery Service Subnet
  The security rules are necessary to allow backup traffic between a database and Recovery Service.
• Create a Recovery Service Subnet in the Database VCN
  Use the OCI Console to configure a private subnet for Recovery Service in your database virtual cloud network (VCN).
• Register Recovery Service Subnet
  After you have created a private subnet for Recovery Service in your database VCN, use this procedure to register the subnet in Recovery Service.

• Ensure that the Recovery Service Subnet Can Communicate with Oracle Services
  The Recovery Service Subnet that you registered needs to communicate with the Recovery Service.
• Ensure that Your Database Has TDE Fully Configured
  When using the Autonomous Recovery Service, you must have your database fully TDE encrypted.
• Turn Off Any Manual Operational Backups
  In some cases, OCI users perform manual operational backups. These backups are run outside the standard tooling and support point-in-time recovery (non-KEEP backups).