Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Documentation

Overview of X8M and X9M Scalable Exadata Infrastructure

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure scalable X8M and X9M Exadata cloud infrastructure model allows you to add additional database and storage servers after provisioning and create a system that matches your capacity needs.

Adding capacity to the X8M or X9M Exadata cloud infrastructure has two workflows:
  • One for infrastructures created after the release date for Create and Manage Multiple Virtual Machines per Exadata System (MultiVM) and VM Cluster Node Subsetting,

    See Using the Console to Scale the Resources on a VM Cluster

  • Another workflow for infrastructures created before the release date for Create and Manage Multiple Virtual Machines per Exadata System (MultiVM) and VM Cluster Node Subsetting

    See Using the Console to Scale Infrastructure Compute and Storage

Parent topic: Getting Started with Exadata Cloud Infrastructure Deployment

The Exadata Cloud Infrastructure Resource Model

Exadata Cloud Infrastructure instances are provisioned with an infrastructure model that uses two resources, the cloud Exadata infrastructure resource, and the cloud VM cluster resource.

Existing Exadata DB systems do not use this infrastructure model can be easily switched to the new resource model with no downtime. For instructions on switching, see Switch an Exadata DB system to the new Exadata resource model.

The Cloud Exadata Infrastructure Resource

The infrastructure resource is the top-level (parent) resource.

At the infrastructure level, you control the number of database and storage servers. You also control Exadata system maintenance scheduling at the Exadata infrastructure level. This resource is created using the CreateCloudExadataInfrastructure API.

See Scaling Exadata X8M and X9M Compute and Storage for information on scaling the X8M or X9M cloud Exadata infrastructure resource.
Note

After adding storage or database servers to the infrastructure resource, you must then add them to the system VM clusters to utilize the new capacity.

The Cloud VM Cluster Resource

The VM cluster is a child resource of the infrastructure resource.

The VM cluster resource provides a link between your Exadata cloud infrastructure resource and Oracle Database. Networking, OCPU count, IORM, and Oracle Grid Infrastructure are configured and managed at the VM cluster level. This resource is created using theCreateCloudVmCluster API.

See To add database server or storage server capacity to a cloud VM cluster for information on adding available storage or database servers to the VM cluster. Note that you must add servers to the infrastructure resource before you can add capacity to the VM cluster.

Multi-VM enabled Infrastructure support multiple VM clusters in a single infrastructure

Exadata Cloud Infrastructure instances that are NOT Multi-VM enabled Infrastructure only support creating a single cloud VM cluster.

Additional Exadata Cloud Infrastructure Instance Resources

The new Exadata resource model retains the rest of the resource types found in DB systems: Oracle Databases, database backups, Data Guard Associations, Work Requests, Oracle Database Homes, and database server nodes (also called "virtual machines").

Note

The database server file system for database server nodes (also known as "virtual machines") has changed with the X8M generation of hardware. See The X8M and X9M Virtual Machine File System Structure Important File System and Sizes for details on the X8M database server node file system.

The X8M and X9M Virtual Machine File System Structure Important File System and Sizes

Table 4-5 The X8M and X9M Virtual Machine File System Structure Important File System and Default Sizes

Filesystem Mount Size Configuration

/

15 GB

Max supported size 900 GB.

File system size can only be increased.

/u01

20 GB

Max supported size 900 GB.

File system size can only be increased.

/u01/../grid

50 GB

File system is not resizable.

/u02

60 GB

Max supported size 900 GB.

File system size can be increased or decreased.

/acfs01

100 GB

Contact Oracle Support to resize.

/boot

509 MB

File system is not resizable.

/crashfiles

20 GB

File system is not resizable.

/home

4 GB

Max supported size 900 GB.

File system size can only be increased.

/var

5 GB

Max supported size 900 GB.

File system size can only be increased.

/var/log

18 GB

Max supported size 900 GB.

File system size can only be increased.

/var/log/audit

3 GB

Max supported size 900 GB.

File system size can only be increased.

/tmp

3 GB

Max supported size 900 GB.

File system size can only be increased.

The New Exadata Cloud Infrastructure Resource Model

Exadata Cloud Infrastructure instances can now only be provisioned with a new infrastructure resource model that replaced the DB system resource.

In the new model, there are two resources, the cloud Exadata infrastructure resource, and the cloud VM cluster resource.

The X8M and X9M system models are only compatible with the new resource model. For provisioning new X7 and X8 systems, Oracle recommends using the new resource model so that your instance will not have to be switched to the new resource model later.

Note

No new systems can be provisioned with the old DB system resource model/APIs after May 15th, 2021. Support for the old DB system resource model/APIs on existing systems will end on January 15th, 2021. After this date, old APIs will stop working and the only action available will be to list DB System details and perform the switch to the new API. Oracle recommends that you migrate your Exadata Cloud Infrastructure instances to the new resource model APIs as soon as possible. Converting to the new resource model does not involve any system downtime.

Existing Exadata DB systems can be easily switched to the new resource model with no downtime. For instructions on switching, see Switch an Exadata DB System to the New Resource Model and APIs.