RE: Exadata CPU Upgrade
Date: Sun, 2 Sep 2012 15:24:58 -0400
Message-ID: <6AFC12B9BFCDEA45B7274C534738067F016F01D114_at_AAPQMAILBX02V.proque.st>
Well, then it's not going to be an easy road, but, I still think that Kellyn was right on track, with the suggestion to look at the application(s). Inefficient SQL is the number 1 reason for CPU capacity consumption.
I think you need to start by looking at your SQL and start with the most expensive, and see what, if anything, can be done to tune those SQL statements. Depending on how poorly tuned the worst performing SQLs currently are, the benefit of such tuning could be stunningly huge. (Or not.)
Also, since this is Exadata, some questions there:
- are you moving applications to Exadata, mostly as is?
- Has anyone sold you a bill of goods about "don't worry, just drop all your indexes!"?
Considering that I know absolutely nothing about your applications that you're migrating, and I'm definitely *not* an Exadata expert, I'll only say this: You'll probably want to try to understand which applications (i.e. data warehouse) may benefit from some of the storage optimizations and efficiencies. On those databases, you *may* be able to leverage some of those features, and possibly even eliminate some indexes in some cases.
However, for applications (such as OLTP), that are unlikely to take maximum advantage of the storage level optimizations, Exadata is going to be very much like any other Oracle database platform. It's not magic.
This is a huge consolidation effort you're undertaking, and taking time to look at application efficiencies is, in my opinion, essential. It may be the most expensive part of your consolidation project, but, if overlooked, it could up costing you far more in additional hardware, or even outright failure of the project, if hardware costs blow up the cost/benefit model.
Finally, given the level of effort and the costs involved, it may be worth engaging an outside consultant to come in and help you out, specifically with better understanding Exadata, your workload, and how much hardware you really need to buy. I won't make any endorsements, but I have some really bright friends who work for 2-3 different consulting companies, who would probably be of much help and benefit to your project. (Some of them even participate on Oracle-L, and even in *this* thread! :-))
Hope that helps,
-Mark
-----Original Message-----
From: oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org [mailto:oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org] On Behalf Of Q A I S E R
Sent: Sunday, September 02, 2012 2:27 PM
To: Kellyn Pot'Vin
Cc: ORACLE-L
Subject: Re: Exadata CPU Upgrade
That's a valid question.
We are consolidating about 60 databases, running on various machines to 4 databases on Half rack of Exadata. All CPUs are not consumed by a single SQL, but as we are adding more databases on Exadata, it is going up. Hence CPU Usage over time is expected behavior.
We could find more on our options from our sales rep. I just wanted to do my homework before asking Oracle sales, as they would most probably try to sell next Exadata rack to us.
Thanks,
--Qaiser
On Sep 2, 2012, at 12:03 PM, Kellyn Pot'Vin <kellyn.potvin_at_ymail.com> wrote:
> I know, might be considered an odd question by some...:) > > You don't feel, that your first course of action, is to identify WHAT is utilizing so much CPU and take steps to tune it before proceeding forward with further system consolidations to your Exadata? > > Kellyn Pot'Vin > St Technical Consultant > Enkitec > > Q A I S E R <qrasheed_at_gmail.com> wrote: >
>> We have High CPU Utilization on compute nodes of our Exadata. As we
>> migrate more applications to our Exadata environment, we are going to
>> run out of CPU capacity. When talking about capacity, we have no
>> issues for space or memory. I understand, Oracle offers storage
>> expansion rack if you want to expand your Exadata storage, and memory
>> expansion kit if you want to expand memory of your Exadata. I am
>> looking for options to upgrade CPUs on compute nodes, without
>> requiring us to go to next Exadata rack upgrade. Not sure if Oracle
>> supports just CPU upgrades on Exadata. I don't see a reason for not
>> doing so, but just wanted to check if anyone else in the list had to go through similar experience.
>> Thanks in advance,
>> --Qaiser
>>
>>
>> --
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