The document discusses using Oracle Multitenant and storage cloning to efficiently manage development and test databases. It describes how these technologies allow for higher database density, less administrative overhead through automated processes, and better resource management. The document provides examples of implementing a system using Oracle Multitenant, storage cloning, and a self-service provisioning application to allow developers to manage their own databases.

1. Using Oracle Multitenant
to efficiently manage development and test databases
Marc Fielding
Alex Gorbachev
October 2014

2. About Marc
•Principal Consultant with Pythian’s Advanced Technology Group
•13+ years Oracle production systems experience starting with Oracle 7
•Blogger and conference presenter pythian.com/news/author/fielding
•Occasionally on twitter: @mfild
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3. About Alex
•CTO, The Pythian Group
•Blogger
•OakTable Network member
•Oracle ACE Director
•BattleAgainstAnyGuess.com
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4. © 2014 Pythian
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WHO IS PYTHIAN?
•200+ leading brands trust us to keep their systems fast, up & secure
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•Zero lock-in, utility billing model, easily blended into existing teams
38%
Pythian has grown an average of 38% every year for the past five years
345 Pythian employs more than 345 leading minds in 26 countries worldwide.

5. The Problem
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Photo: J. McIntyre via Flickr

6. Database challenges
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Photo: lzee~by~the~Sea via Flickr

7. What we need
•Higher density
–Better use of infrastructure investment
–Better use of software licenses
•Less overhead
–Automated, repeatable processes
–Self-service
•Better management
–Usage tracking
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8. Enabling technologies: Oracle Multitenant
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Oracle Instance
PDB
Shared SGA
PDB
PDB
PDB
PDB
PDB
PDB
PDB
PDB
PDB
PDB
PDB
PDB
PDB
PDB
PDB
PDB
PDB

9. The storage problem
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Photo: V. Matassa via Flickr

10. Enabling technologies: storage cloning
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Master “Golden” Image
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Incremental Change Records
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11. Other resources
•CPU time
•Memory
•I/O capacity
•Network
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Photo: kc_jake via Flickr

12. Resource management
•Database resource manager
–CPU priority and limits
–Parallel query restrictions
–Restrict large, runaway queries
•I/O restrictions
–IORM in Exadata
–Storage and OS-level
•Oracle multitenant limits
–Storage space
–Temp space
•Accounting and costing
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13. Backup and recovery
•Even if it’s dev/test, data matters
•RMAN backups
–At the PDB and CDB levels
•Storage clones
–Don’t forget I/O to move to other device
•Back up after provisioning
–Cloned PDBs are unrecoverable before backups
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14. High availability
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Photo: Ben Short via Flickr

15. Self service
•Obvious next step in reducing overhead
•Developers managing their own DB
•OEM implementation exists
•Business logic = custom
•Example Oracle APEX app
–Multitenant Self-Service Provisioning
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Photo: D.Alves via flickr

16. Oracle MSSP application
•Built using Oracle APEX
•Currently in beta
•Example only
•Only two user types
•Limited resource management
–CPU priority
–Maximum storage size
•Cloning support (but not enforcement)
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17. Data cloning methods
•Single command:
–create pluggable database db1_clone1 from db1 snapshot copy;
•Actual actions depend on filesystem type
–ZFS appliance and NetApp
•Database-initiated SNMP calls with stored credentials
–ACFS
•Requires full clusterware stack
–CloneDB on NFS or local filesystem
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18. Cloning via CloneDB
•Existed since 11.2.0.2 for non-PDB
•In 11gR2: direct NFS only, backed by a full RMAN backup
•In 12.1.0.2: supports local (non-NFS) filesystems, and RMAN backup not required
•Uses filesystem-level sparse files
•Just one DB change
–alter system set clonedb=true;
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19. Cloning with ACFS
•Lots of sanity checks (good!)
•Put source DB into read-only mode if not already
–Sessions doing data changes get ORA-16000 error
•Invokes acfsutil via oradism shadow process
acfsutil snap create -w YYYYYYYY /acfsmounts/snapclones
•Creates symbolic links for each file
ln –s /acfsmounts/snapclones/.ACFS/snaps/XXXXX/datafile/o1_mf_system_xxxx_.dbf /acfsmounts/snapclones/DEMOCDB/YYYYY/datafile/o1_mf_system_yyyy_.dbf
•Recreates the tempfile
•Creates the new pluggable database
•Enable writes to source DB (if enabled before)
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20. Manual ACFS cloning
•Close and reopen source database read only
•Run clone command manually
acfsutil snap create -w testclone1 /acfsmounts/snapclones
mkdir -p /acfsmounts/snapclones/DEMOCDB/testclone1/datafile
•Set up symbolic links
for datafile in /acfsmounts/snapclones/.ACFS/snaps/XXXXX//datafile/*;
do ln -s $datafile /acfsmounts/snapclones/DEMOCDB/testclone1/datafile/$(basename $datafile);
done
•Plug back in as a clone using new location
create pluggable database newpdb from mypdb file_name_convert=('mypdb', 'newpdb') nocopy;
•Close and reopen source database
•Open cloned database
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21. Issues and recommendations
•Oracle managed files
•ACFS clones entire mountpoints
•Error messages are very generic
ORA-65169: error encountered while attempting to copy file
ORA-17517: Database cloning using storage snapshot failed on file
Check tracefile, and ACFS log at $CRS_HOME/log/(hostname)/acfs/commands/acfscmds.log
•Issues with oradism process
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22. Data refreshes
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Photo: Rob Antill via Flickr

23. Data masking
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Photo: Mary Harrsh via Flickr

24. A sample implementation
•VirtualBox VM running Oracle Linux 6
•Oracle Grid Infrastructure 12.1.0.2 with 1 node
•ACFS filesystem mounted at /acfsmounts/snapclones
•Oracle 12.1.0.2 (non-RAC)
•CDB called DEMOCDB
•Oracle REST Data Services 2.0.9 (aka APEX listener) in standalone mode
•Oracle Multitenant Self-Service Provisioning, beta 2
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25. Demo time
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Photo: Tom Coates via Flickr

26. Trying it out yourself
•VM or dedicated hardware
•OS: Oracle Linux 6 recommended
•Latest Oracle 12c software
•CloneDB or ACFS storage
•In the cloud: ACFS clusterware complications
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27. Wrapping up
•More databases = need a smarter approach
–Less infrastructure
–Less administrative effort
•Key enabling technologies
–Oracle Multitenant
–Storage cloning
–Self-service
•Tailored to business requirements
•Download and try it out yourself
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28. Thanks and Q&A
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fielding@pythian.com gorbachev@pythian.com
1-877-PYTHIAN
pythian.com/blog
http://is.gd/PythianFacebook
@mfild @alexgorbachev @pythian
http://linkedin.com/company/pythian
We’re hiring!
pythian.com/careers
Self-service provisioning app download on OTN: tinyurl.com/otndownload

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