• Oracle Database 11gR1 Version 11.1.0.6
• Oracle Database 11gR1 Version 11.1.0.6  Real Application Clusters (RAC)

Platforms certified

• Linux x86
• IBM AIX
• Sun Solaris SPARC
• HP-UX PA-RISC
• HP-UX Itanium
• Linux x86-64

Certifications pending

The following certifications are in progress and will be announced on a later date once completed.

• Database Vault 11.0.6 Certification with EBS Release 12
• Transparent Data Encryption using Oracle Database 11gR1 Patch Set 11.1.0.6
• Advanced Security Option / Advanced Networking Option (ANO / ASO) with Oracle Database 11gR1 Patch Set 11.1.0.6

Documentation

• OracleMetalink Note 735276.1 - Interoperability Notes E-Business Suite R12 with Oracle Database 11gR1 (11.1.0)
• OracleMetalink Note 466649.1 - Using Oracle 11g Release 1 Real Application Clusters and Automatic Storage Management with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12

Inside my Joint Solutions Center Oracle/IBM we will test very soon Active Dataguard 11g features with EBS R12 to see if we can propose this solution to our customer for Reporting in real-time on a separate server.

Thanks to this blog, we received several times the same question regarding Oracle Data Masking. Thank you again to Keith from Oracle Technology Sales Consulting and Ravi, Consulting member of the Development team, for the answer…

The context of the question

You have 3 databases: Database A, Database B and Database C. All databases are unique and serve different purposes. All databases contain customer names and addresses, occupation etc…

You have applications which need to see a consistent view across all three databases. So, for Example customer “John Smith” with the social security 1234 in database A has an entry in database B and C with “John Smith” Soc 1234.

After masking in database A “John Smith” (1234) becomes “Peter Jones” (5678). After masking database B and C “John Smith” (1234) also needs to become “Peter Jones” (5678) in order to perserve the application logic.

The 1st question

Is it possible ?

The 2nd one

If this is possible… A follow on question: suppose the database A, B and C are masked on July 21st and the database B needs to be re-copied and masked on Sept 23rd. Is this possible or do all three need to be masked at the same time ?

The answers

The key feature with any data masking solution is whether it maintains relational integrity. This requires that any data masking cannot break the relationship between one or tables. An example would be when masking is done for SSN and the SSN is used as a foreign key to another table. For this reason DMP supports database enforced and application enforced referential integrity. It also supports the definition of any application relationships, including Oracle Financials and is certified for use with them.

So, yes. You can do this with deterministic masking.

There is a PL/SQL user defined function that can do this. You have just to modify it to also support SSN and names. Because this type of mask uses the original value to generate the mask value based on some type of cipher it will be stable on a subsequent date as well as long as the cipher key is kept the same. As with any cipher based encryption the mask data can be reversed engineered to get the original values with brute force methods. ie it is hard to do this but doable with enough processing power and skill.

The script you can be modified to do what you want is available. The basic idea is we populate a table of mask values (which are fake but look real) say this table has first name, last name, full name, ssn. Now you can mask any row containing a unique combination such as first + last name or full name or ssn and replace it with corresponding mask value from the mask values table. The row that will be picked is based on the cipher of the original row being replaced.  But otherwise the concept is sound.

ClearApp addresses the increasingly difficult task of managing composite applications built on SOA platforms by providing visibility of business services across all related application components.

The combination of ClearApp products and Oracle Enterprise Manager is expected to provide customers with a comprehensive application management solution that delivers enhanced service levels, reduced system down-time and improved return on SOA investments. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the second half of 2008.

Click here for more information about Oracle and ClearApp or read the press release.

In the new report, Market Share: Relational Database Management System Software by Operating System, Worldwide, 2007, Gartner, an independent analyst firm, announced that the RDBMS market grew 13 percent in 2007 to $17 billion. In 2007, Oracle grew 14.9 percent and maintained our lead in this market with 48.6 percent market share, while IBM and Microsoft remained in second and third place, respectively.

Of the three primary platforms, Gartner noted that:

• Has 48.6 percent share (up from 47.9 percent in 2006) growing at 14.9 percent
• Is growing faster than the market average of 13.3 percent with US$8.29 Billions in revenues
• Continues to hold more market share than its two closest competitors combined.

But what’s happen in case of the lost of the storage ?

The first reaction is to use a second storage. But how to copy all data and which mechanism we can used to do it :

• Array based mirroring
• Host based mirroring

If we are using Array based mirroring (IBM PPRC) the solution is to use the Storage mechanism to ensure Synchronous Mirroring of active storage to passive storage but if we are loosing the active storage this failure will cause loss of full cluster, with a downtime necessary to switch the passive storage to active.

If we decide to use Host based Mirroring to ensure Synchronous Mirroring of data from one storage to an other we have the choice of several software solution (ASM, CLVM, GPFS,etc…). All writes get sent to both sets of disks and in case of one storage failure it will cause NO DOWNTIME.

But now if you have a Building Disaster ?
The solution is RAC extended/streched cluster with the implementation of RAC over 2 buildings or 2 sites.

The benefits of RAC extended Clusters is the full utilization of resources no matter where they are located.
See here several scenario of failure and consequence.
- Loosing 1 or more nodes from any sites !!!
- Loosing 1 out of the 2 storages !!!
- Loosing 1 Out of 2 sites !!!
- Loosing communication between sites !!!

The Key Point of the implementation of Oracle RAC Extended is the Architecture design. The Main key points are :

• Distance between site, quality of existing network infrastructure (CWDM, DWDM needed or Not ?)
• Disaster scenarios and Split Brain Situation to cover
• Array or Host based Mirroring
• Which Cluster files system ?
• Level of downtime supported
• Costs,  etc ….

We have several presentations based on RAC Extended cluster which covered all aspects.

Here I will present only the Oracle RAC Extended Cluster :  Host Based Mirroring Solution with Oracle ASM
ASM is a fantastic Oracle technology . Oracle ASM eliminates need for conventional file system and volume manager, ASM extends SAME (Stripe and Mirror Everything), Capacity on demand (Add/drop disks online, Automatic I/O load balancing, Stripes data across Disks to balance load, Best I/O throughput, Automatic mirroring and stripping), ASM is Easy to manage, ASM Can only host datafiles, not binaries.

Typical architecture with RAC / ASM

ASM to mirror Data

On Disaster, what’s next ?

Additionnal informations:

• I recommend to join RAC SIG website on http://www.oracleracsig.org/

• Send us a email to oraclibm at fr.ibm.com (email of my team Joint Solutions Center Oracle/IBM) if you have a project on RAC Extended on IBM platform. Or contact me on http://www.oracleinsight.net/oracleinsight-contact/

Real Application Testing (details here), a new and useful feature for Oracle 11g Enterprise Edition, consists of several components used to capture, analyze, and replay production database transactions. The goal of RAT is to assist DBAs in testing and identifying the full impact of upgrades and system changes.

First, the capture component of RAT works by recording production system workload transactions, including concurrency and timing details, and storing them in a set of binary capture files. In terms of what activity is captured depends on user-defined filters. Capture filtering allows a DBA to not only filter sessions which should and should not be captured, but also attributes such as users, programs, modules, actions, services, and session IDs. In addition, capture can be run at a scheduled interval or on-demand. While the capture process itself introduces some performance overhead, it is minimal (generally < 5%).

Second, the workload files must be processed and the secondary environment must be built. Generally, as the secondary test system must be logically similar to production, it is most easily built by using a backup of the production database. Also, during workload processing, the capture files are translated into replay files and relevant meta-data is generated. As processing is time-consuming and carries significant performance overhead, it is recommended that it be performed on the secondary test system. After all capture files have been processed into replay files, the workload can be replayed indefinitely.

Third, replay is performed using one or more driver systems. The number of driver systems required depends on the scale of concurrency. The best way to identify the number of clients needed to effectively replay the workload is by using the Client Calibration Advisor. Each driver system, reading the replay files, is able to recreate the captured production workload. In addition to preserving the production timings and concurrency (Synchronized Replay), the workload can be altered to perform stress testing (Unsynchronized Replay). In Synchronized Replay mode, the workload is recreated exactly; all concurrency, timing, and commit ordering remaining identical to that captured. In Unsynchronized Replay mode, the DBA is able to alter several parameters of replay such as think time, commit order, and logon time.

After replay, the DBA can analyze and report on the three types of divergence, Data Divergence, Error Divergence, and Performance Divergence. Data Divergence will compare and report on the divergence of both systems in regards to the number of rows returned by each call. For each call, Error Divergence reports on whether an error occurred only during replay (new error), when an error which happened during capture did not occur during replay (error not found), and whether a different error occurred during replay than it did in production (mutated error). Performance Divergence provides both high-level and detailed performance divergence information.

Notes:

• Real Application Testing is a separate licensed option for Enterprise Edition 11g only.
• The following platforms are certified with the E-Business Suite Release 11i and the Oracle Database 11g Release 11 (11.1.0.6.0):
  • HP-UX PA RISC,
  • Sun Solaris SPARC
  • IBM AIX
  • Linux x86-32
  • HP-UX PA-RISC
  • IBM AIX
  • Sun Solaris SPARC
  • Windows x86
• DB 11g Prerequisites with Oracle E-Business Suite 11i (Oracle is still in the process of certifying the 11g DB with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12):
  • Oracle E-Business Suite 11.5.10 Consolidation Update 2 (11.5.10.2)
  • Oracle Database Release 11g Release 1 (11.1.0.6.0)
  • Oracle Applications Technology ATG_PF.H Rollup 6
  • Oracle Developer 6i Patch Set 18 (6.0.8.27)
  • Additional interoperability patches are also required. See Interoperability Notes - Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i with Oracle Database 11g Release 1 (11.1.0) (OracleMetalink Note 452783.1)

Oracle Applications Installation Update Notes, Release 11i (11.5.10.2) (OracleMetaLink Note 316806.1)

SQL Performance Analyzer allows users to identify SQL performance regressions caused by system changes such as adding an index, gathering optimizer statistics, implementing partitioning, RDBMS upgrades, etc. SQL Performance Analyzer assesses the impact of change on SQL response times by executing each SQL serially with production context (bind variables, optimizer environment, etc.) before and after a change and then provides a report highlighting any performance divergences.

Database Replay allows users to perform comprehensive testing of database and infrastructure changes using real application workloads. It allows capture of production workload including concurrency, think time, and transactions dependencies, and allows users to replay the workload on a test system with the exact same production characteristics so that all problems can be identified and remediate in test before deploying the change to production.

Please check the “Licensing Information” manual on OTN for details regarding licensing of Real Application Testing Option.

What you need to do to use Real Application Testing functionality in earlier releases?

Real Application Testing functionality for pre-11g database releases is installed using the “opatch” utility and following instructions for the generic and platform specific “README” for the patches. If you want to only use Database Replay or SQL Performance Analyzer, then only the patch for that particular functionality needs to be applied. If you want to use both Database Replay and SQL Performance Analyzer, the patches for both the functionalities need to be applied.

Database Replay

To help customers upgrade to Oracle Database 11g, the “capture” functionality of Database Replay has been made available in previous releases as shown in the table below. The replay of the captured workload can only be done on Oracle Database 11g and higher.

Enabling Workload Capture
By default, the workload capture is disabled on the pre-11g database releases. Database workload capture functionality is enabled on the system by specifying the PRE_11G_ENABLE_CAPTURE initialization parameter. To enable workload capture, run the wrrenbl.sql script at the SQL prompt as sys or system:
@$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/wrrenbl.sql

The wrrenbl.sql script calls the ALTER SYSTEM SQL statement to set the PRE_11G_ENABLE_CAPTURE initialization parameter to TRUE. Please check the OTN documentation mentioned above for more details.

SQL Performance Analyzer

SQL Performance Analyzer functionality has been enhanced and made available in earlier releases to help customers upgrade their databases from versions Oracle 9.x, 10.1.x, and 10.2.x to higher release. Applying the one-off patches as shown below actually installs the SQL Performance Analyzer functionality for that release. After the functionality is installed, customers can then leverage Oracle Database 11g SQL Performance Analyzer functionality to upgrade from any database releases 9.x, 10.1.x, 10.2.x to 10.2 or higher release.

This note 560977.1 provides information on the Real Application Testing functionality available for pre-11g database releases.

Other reference:

Note 562899.1 - TESTING SQL PERFORMANCE IMPACT OF AN ORACLE 9i TO ORACLE DATABASE 10g RELEASE 2 UPGRADE WITH SQL PERFORMANCE ANALYZER

Today 24/7 environnement, organization must keep critical business applications and information accessible at al times, while ensuring a predictable quality of service for theirs users.

Oracle MAA (Maximum Availability Architecture) provides a set of industry leading technologies that protect against the common causes of planned and unplanned downtime. A possible evolution for a Oracle EBS customer to implement MAA could be :

• the first step is a conversion of his current Database to a Single Node RAC on ASM (Automatic Storage Management).
• the second Step is the adding of a second RAC node to eliminate all failure on the Primary environnement.
• the last step is the creation of disaster recovery site using Oracle Dataguard.

The Target Environnement will eliminate all single point of failure on each level of the Architecture (slide 13). Each level is protected.

The Oracle technologies (slide 14) we are using are Oracle RAC to protect against server failure, Oracle ASM to protect against storage failure, Oracle Flashback feature to quickly undo mistakes commited by users and administrators and Oracle Dataguard which automates failover to your standby database to protect against complete system and site failure. Oracle RMAN (Recovery Manager) is the secure, reliable and performant Database backup and recovery tool.

On IBM side the Virtualization technologies like Logical Partitionning (LPAR) or Micropartionning are key elements for application consolidation and system utilization and they are completly supported by Oracle.

Oracle MAA for applications (slide 17) is an example of High Availability and agile RAC integration with IBM dynamic capabilities.

Oracle MAA can help you to deliver more High Availability services and to start discussion with your customers regarding protection against downtime.

More references:

MetaLink Note 452056.1 - Business Continuity for Oracle Applications Release 12 on Database Release 10gR2
Transitioning E-Business Suite to the Maximum Availability Architecture with Minimal Downtime: E-Business Suite 11i.10.2 and Database 10gR2
MetaLink Note 403347.1 - MAA Roadmap for the E-Business Suite
MetaLink Note 341437.1 - Business Continuity for Oracle Applications 11i Using RAC and Physical Standby
MetaLink Note 340859.1 - Upgrading Oracle Applications 11i 9i Database to Oracle Database 10g with Physical Standby in Place
MetaLink Note 312731.1 - Configuring Oracle Applications Release 11i with 10g RAC and 10g ASM
MetaLink Note 294652.1 - E-Business Suite 11i on RAC: Configuring Database Load Balancing & Failover
MetaLink Note 216212.1 - Business Continuity for Oracle Applications Release 11i, Database Releases 9i and 10g

“This IBM Redbooks publication helps you architect, install, tailor, and configure Oracle 10g RAC on System p™ clusters running AIX®. We describe the architecture and how to design, plan, and implement a highly available infrastructure for Oracle database using IBM General Parallel File System (GPFS) V3.1.”