Create a VM cluster in an Oracle Exadata Database Service on Exascale Infrastructure instance.

1. Open the navigation menu. Click Oracle Database, then click Exadata Database Service on Exascale Infrastructure
2. Click Exadata VM Clusters.

3. Click Create VM Cluster.

   The Create 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. Provide the cluster name: Select the name of the VM cluster.
7. Select an availability domain: Select the availability domain from the displayed options available.
8. Configure the VM cluster: Provide the following information:
   • Number of VMs in the cluster: Specify the number of the VMs that you want to configure for the cluster, between 2 and 10.
   • ECPUs enabled per VM: Specify the number of ECPU cores that you want to enable for the VM cluster. The minimum is 8 ECPU. The maximum number of ECPUs is 200 per VM, or limited by the number of total ECPUs you have specified for the VM. The value you select must be a multiple of 4. You can open the reserve additional ECPU section to reserve additional ECPUs.

   • Total ECPUs enabled across cluster per VM: Provide a total number of ECPUs to allocate per VM. The total must be a number between 8 and 200.

9. (Optional) To reserve additional ECPUs, click Show reserve additional ECPU. Provide the following information:
   • ECPUs additional reserved per VM (read only): Indicates the additional reserved ECPUs. The number of additional ECPUs will be automatically calculated based on the total enabled ECPUs. Additional reserved ECPUs are not active for licensing purposes but are reserved for your VM, and ready and waiting for scaling the Enabled ECPUs.

   • Total ECPUs per VM: Provide a total number of ECPUs to allocate per VM. The total must be a number between 8 and 200.

   • Memory per VM (GB): This is a read-only field. It displays amount of memory allocated to each VM. Memory is calculated based on 11 GB per total cores. The Total memory across VM Cluster (GB) field automatically updates to provide you with the total amount of memory allocated across the VM cluster, based on the memory allocation per VM that you specify.

10. VM file system storage capacity per VM (GB): Specify storage capacity per VM in gigabytes (GB).

    Provide how much storage you want for all VM file systems together. The VM file systems storage includes /u02 capacity, where your Database Homes will go, along with all of the other VM file systems (/, /boot, /tmp, /var, /var/log, /var/log/audit, /home, swap, kdump, /u01, grid, /u02). Any extra capacity selected beyond system minimums will go into /u02.

    Note
    
    For information about reserved and enabled cores, and an overview of the ExaDB-XS architecture, see "About Exadata Database Service on Exascale Infrastructure"

11. Exascale Database Storage Vault: Select either Create new vault or Select existing vault. If you select an existing vault, then select the vault in the compartment. Click Change compartment to select a vault in a different compartment.

    When you create a new vault, the Provisioning status window opens to provide you with the status of vault creation, and the name of the vault that is being created in the format Vault-YYYYMMDDHHMM indicating the creation date, where YYYY is the year, MM is the month, DD is the day, HH is the hour, and MM is the minute.

    Note
    
    If the vault creation failed, then the Provisioning status window provides you with the work request error message indicating the point where the vault creation operation failed, and the work request ID. Make a note of this work request ID, and open a Service Request with My Oracle Support.

12. Configure Exascale Database Storage Vault: Select the storage configuration to use for your database's storage. To begin, select whether you want to create a new Vault, or use an existing Vault.

    For a new Vault, specify the following:

    • Storage Vault Name: Name the new Exascale Vault. Optional: Use the link provided to change to another compartment where you want to place the Vault.

    • Enter the Storage Capacity for Databases: The amount of usable disk storage capacity that will be available for storing databases that is desired. Specify the size in gigabytes (GB) between 300 to 100,000.
    • (Optional) Add smart flash as a percentage of storage capacity provisioned (%): Select this option to purchase and specify an additional amount of flash cache over and above the amount of default flash cache that is included in the normal Storage capacity for Databases. Additional flash cache can potentially enable increased performance without adding additional storage capacity in some workloads. Additional flash cache also includes additional memory cache. Specify the additional flash cache as a percentage of the total storage provisioned. If you wish to provision additional flash cache, you must add at least 100 GB of additional flash cache. The amount of smart flash cache in GB that will be added is specified in the read-only field Smart flash cache to be added (GB).

    The minimum size configuration for an Exascale Database Storage Vault is 300 GB. 50 GB of the space that you allocate in your Vault is reserved for a 200 GB ACFS file system. This ACFS file system resides within your Exascale Database Storage Vault, but is reserved for system use. Thus, if you provisioned the minimum of 300 GB in your Exascale Database Storage Vault, then 250 GB of that 300 GB capacity will be available storage for your databases.

13. Select the Oracle Grid Infrastructure version: This field displays the Oracle Grid Infrastructure versions available for deployment in the VM cluster.
14. Add SSH key:Add the public key portion of each key pair that you want to use for SSH access to the DB system:

    • Generate SSH key pair (Default option) Select this option 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.
      Note
      
      Download the private key so that you can connect to the database system using SSH. It will not be shown again.
    • Upload SSH key files: Select this option to browse or drag and drop .pub files.
    • Paste SSH keys: Select this option to paste in individual public keys.

15. Configure the network settings: Specify the following:

    • Virtual cloud network: Select the virtual cloud network (VCN) for the compartment in which you want to create the VM cluster. Click Change Compartment to select a VCN in a different compartment.
    • Client subnet: Select the client subnet in the compartment. This is the subnet to which the VM cluster should attach. Click Change Compartment to select a subnet in a different compartment.

      Note
      
      You must select the VCN before you can select a client subnet.

      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: Select 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.

      Note
      
      You must select the VCN before you can select a backup client subnet.

    • Use network security groups to control traffic: 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 Oracle Exadata Database Service on Exascale Infrastructure VM cluster.

      Note that if you choose a subnet with a security list, then 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.

    • Hostname prefix Provide 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, then the VM cluster will fail to provision.

    • Host domain name: The domain name for the VM cluster. This is a read-only field. Make a note of the host domain name for your reference.

      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.
    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.

16. Choose a license type: The type of license that 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 you want to use your license with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. This option removes the need for separate on-premises licenses and cloud licenses.
17. Click Create Exadata VM Cluster.
18. (Optional) Provide a contact for your VM Cluster. Exadata Database Service on Exascale Infrastructure leverages the OCI Announcements Service. Oracle recommends that you provide your contact details here. Oracle then automatically subscribes you to announcements relevant to this service, including maintenance and outage notifications, among others. If you do not choose to provide a contact now, then you will have to subscribe to announcements manually later, leveraging the OCI Announcements Service directly. To learn more about subscribing, see Subscribing to Announcements.

19. 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.
    • 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.

You can enable, partially enable, or disable diagnostics collection for your Guest VMs after provisioning the VM cluster. Enabling diagnostics collection at the VM cluster level applies the configuration to all the resources such as DB home, Database, and so on under the VM cluster.

1. Open the navigation menu. Under Database, click Exadata Database Service on Exascale Infrastructure.
2. Choose the Region that contains your Exadata infrastructure.
3. Click VM Clusters.
4. Click the name of the VM cluster you want to enable or disable diagnostic data collection.
5. On the VM Cluster Details page, under General Information, enable, partially enable, or disable Diagnostics Collection beside Diagnostics Collection.
6. In the Edit Diagnostics Collection Settings dialog, enable or disable any of the Diagnostics Collections. 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.
   • Enable Diagnostics Events Allow Oracle to collect and publish critical, warning, error, and information events to me. For more information, see Overview of Database Service Events
   • 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 had previously opted in for incident log and trace file collection and decide to opt-out when Oracle Cloud operations run a log collection job, the job will run its course and will not cancel. Future log collections will not run until you opt-in again to the incident logs and trace file collection option.

7. Select or clear the checkboxes and then click Save Changes.

To modify licensing, be prepared to provide values for the fields required for modifying the licensing information.

1. Open the navigation menu. Under Oracle Database, click Oracle Exadata Database Service on Exascale Infrastructure.
2. Choose the Region and Compartment that contains the VM cluster for which you want to update the license type.
3. Click VM Clusters.
4. Click the name of the VM cluster for which you want to update the license type.

   The VM Cluster Details page displays information about the selected VM cluster.

5. Click Update License Type.
6. In the dialog box, choose one of the following license types and then click Save Changes.
   • Bring Your Own License (BYOL): Select this option if your organization already owns Oracle Database software licenses that you want to use on the VM cluster.
   • License Included: Select this option to subscribe to Oracle Database software licenses as part of Oracle Exadata Database Service on Exascale Infrastructure.

   Updating the license type does not change the functionality or interrupt the operation of the VM cluster.

Increase or decrease the ECPUs, memory or storage available to a VM cluster in Oracle Exadata Database Service on Exascale Infrastructure

The VM cluster exists, and you wish to add a another user which requires another SSH key.

1. Open the navigation menu. Click Oracle Database, then click Exadata Database Service on Exascale Infrastructure
2. Choose your Compartment.
3. Click Exadata VM Clusters.
4. In the list of VM clusters, find the cluster you want to manage and click its highlighted name.
5. Click Add SSH Keys.
6. Select one of the following options:

   • Generate SSH key pair: Use this option to create a new SSH key pair. Click both Save Private Key and Save Public Key when using this option. The private key is downloaded to your local machine, and should be stored in a safe location. You cannot download another copy of the private key generated during this operation after completing the operation.

   • Upload SSH key files: Select this option to browse or drag and drop .pub files.

   • Paste SSH keys: Select this option to paste in individual public keys. To paste multiple keys, click + Another SSH Key, and supply a single key for each entry.

7. Click Save Changes.

1. Open the navigation menu. Under Oracle Database, click Exadata Database Service on Exascale Infrastructure.
2. Click VM Clusters.
3. Click the name of the VM cluster that you want to add SSH key(s).
4. In the VM Cluster Details page, click Add SSH Keys.
5. In the ADD SSH Keys dialog, choose any one of the methods:
   • Generate SSH key pair: Select this option if you want the Control Plane to generate public/private key pairs for you.

     Click Save Private Key and Save Public Key to download and save SSH Key pair.

   • Upload SSH key files: Select this option to upload the file that contains SSH Key pair.
   • Paste SSH keys: Select this option to paste the SSH key string.

     To provide multiple keys, click Another SSH Key. For pasted keys, ensure that each key is on a single, continuous line. The length of the combined keys cannot exceed 10,000 characters.

6. Click Save Changes.

Use the console to stop, start, or reboot a virtual machine.

1. Open the navigation menu. Under Oracle Database, click Exadata Database Service on Exascale Infrastructure.
2. Choose the Region and Compartment that is associated with the VM cluster that contains the virtual machine that you want to stop, start, or reboot.
3. Click VM Clusters.
4. Click the name of the VM cluster that contains the virtual machine that you want to stop, start, or reboot.

   The VM Cluster Details page displays information about the selected VM cluster.

5. In the Resources list, click Virtual Machines.

   The list of virtual machines is displayed.

6. In the list of nodes, click the Actions icon (three dots) for a node, and then click one of the following actions:
   1. Start: Restarts a stopped node. After the node is restarted, the Stop action is enabled.
   2. Stop: Shuts down the node. After the node is stopped, the Start action is enabled.
   3. Reboot: Shuts down the node, and then restarts it.

Review the health status of a VM cluster virtual machine.

1. Open the navigation menu. Under Oracle Database, click Exadata Database Service on Exascale Infrastructure.
2. Choose the Region and Compartment that is associated with the VM cluster that contains the virtual machine that you are interested in.
3. Click VM Clusters.
4. Click the name of the VM cluster that contains the virtual machine that you are interested in.

   The VM Cluster Details page displays information about the selected VM cluster.

5. In the Resources list, click Virtual Machines.

   The list of virtual machines displays. For each virtual machine in the VM cluster, the name, state, and client IP address are displayed.

6. In the node list, find the virtual machine that you are interested in and check its state.

   The color of the icon and the associated text it indicates its status.

   • Available: Green icon. The node is operational.
   • Starting: Yellow icon. The node is starting because of a start or reboot action in the Console or API.
   • Stopping: Yellow icon. The node is stopping because of a stop or reboot action in the Console or API.
   • Stopped: Yellow icon. The node is stopped.
   • Failed: Red icon. An error condition prevents the continued operation of the virtual machine.

To change the compartment that contains your VM cluster on Oracle Exadata Database Service on Exascale Infrastructure, use this procedure.

1. Open the navigation menu. Under Oracle Database, click Exadata Database Service on Exascale Infrastructure.
2. Choose the Region and Compartment that contains the VM cluster that you want to move.
3. Click VM Clusters.
4. Click the name of the VM cluster that you want to move.

   The VM Cluster Details page displays information about the selected VM cluster.

5. Click Move Resource.
6. In the resulting dialog, choose the new compartment for the VM cluster, and click Move Resource.

Before you can terminate a VM cluster, you must first terminate the databases that it contains.

1. Open the navigation menu. Under Oracle Database, click Exadata Database Service on Exascale Infrastructure.
2. Choose the Region and Compartment that contains the VM cluster that you want to terminate.
3. Click VM Clusters.
4. Click the name of the VM cluster that you want to terminate.

   The VM Cluster Details page displays information about the selected VM cluster.

5. Click More Actions, and then click Terminate.
6. In the resulting dialog:
   • Review the message about the backup retention policy
   • Enter the name of the VM cluster
   • Click Terminate VM Cluster to confirm the action.

   Note
   
   

   The database stays in a terminated state with backups listed until all backups are expired.

   The Exascale Vault that had been associated with the VM Cluster survives the deletion of the VM Cluster. This is because Exascale Vaults can be shared among multiple VM Clusters. If the VM Cluster you've terminated was the only one using the VM Cluster, then you should also terminate the Exascale Vault to stop billing related to the Database Storage. See Managing Exascale Database Storage Vaults for more information.

1. Open the navigation menu. Under Database, click Exadata Database Service on Exascale Infrastructure.
2. Choose the Region that contains your Exadata infrastructure.
3. Choose the Compartment that contains your Exadata infrastructure.
4. Click VM Clusters.
5. Click the name of the VM cluster that is configured with a private DNS you want to view.
6. Under the Network section, Private DNS and Private Zone are displayed, if a private DNS is configured.
7. Click the Private View name to edit the configuration.

Add a Virtual Machine to a VM Cluster

1. Open the navigation menu. Under Oracle Database, click Exadata Database Service on Exascale Infrastructure.
2. Choose the Region and Compartment that contains the VM cluster that you want to scale.
3. Click VM Clusters.
4. Click the name of the VM cluster to which you want to add a virtual machine.
5. Under Resources, select Virtual Machines, and click the Add Virtual Machines button.
6. In the Add Virual Machines window, select the DB server where you want the new VM to reside.
   Note
   
   The VM that is added will have the same resources as the other VMs in the cluster.
7. Click Add Virtual Machine.

To remove a virtual machine from a provisioned cluster, use this procedure.

1. Open the navigation menu. Under Oracle Database, click Exadata Database Service on Exascale Infrastructure.
2. Choose the Region and Compartment that contains the VM cluster that you want to scale.
3. Click VM Clusters.
4. Click the name of the VM cluster for which you want to remove a virtual machine.
5. On the Exadata VM Cluster Details page, in the Virtual Machines section, select the Virtual Machine that will be removed, click the more commands symbol (three dots) and click Terminate