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Google+Oracle and Emulex Top Ten Technologies for Enterprise SAN Deployments
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High-performance Storage Connection: Emulex LightPulse® LPe12000 Fibre Channel 8Gb/s Host Bus Adapters (HBAs) > MORE
Oracle is the worldwide leader in market share for relational database products. With requirements to access ever-increasing amounts of information, data storage that is scalable, reliable and shareable is critical for applications that work with Oracle Database. A storage area network (SAN) based on the Fibre Channel protocol is the best choice for data center class service, and Emulex Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapters (HBAs) have been chosen by 95 of the Fortune 100 companies.
Emulex eight-generation 8Gb/s Fibre Channel HBAs provide twice the bandwidth than the previous 4Gb/s HBA family. In addition, Emulex 8Gb/s HBAs provide reduced latency when compared to 4Gb/s HBAs, so every I/O sent or received from the server is significantly faster. This is especially beneficial for data-intensive applications like data warehousing. In a recent Orion benchmark simulation using the Emulex LightPulse LPe12000 8Gb/s Fibre Channel HBAs, peak performance doubled for Oracle data warehousing queries.
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Eliminate Potential Data Errors: Extended Data Integrity > MORE
Although undetected data errors are rare, the costs can be extremely high. All Emulex HBAs do error checking to insure the integrity of data as it passes through the adapter. However, the potential exists for data errors to occur in other parts of the I/O path.
Emulex is working with Oracle to provide new levels of data checking throughout the full data path between the application and the storage array. As a first step, Emulex partnered with Oracle for enhanced data integrity based on Emulex BlockGuard™ technology that is supported with Emulex LightPulse 8Gb/s HBAs. Checks sums are added when data transmissions are originated by Oracle Exchange and then validated by the HBA firmware. The same applies to data that is passing back to the application. This insures that any errors resulting from the server and software stack are detected and corrected.
Emulex and Oracle are working with other storage partners to deliver a full end-to-end solution
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High Availability: Oracle Real Application Clusters > MORE
Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) deliver fault tolerance, performance and scalability that is essential for mission-critical database applications. Oracle RAC supports the deployment of a single database across a cluster of server nodes and makes the nodes appear as single logical server.
A high-performance SAN is required for an Oracle RAC environment. By installing HBAs in each server, data can be shared by all of the nodes in the cluster. Using Fibre Channel zoning, storage administrators can configure the SAN so that data is only accessible from within the cluster. Multipathing is also supported on each server node, providing redundant failover paths for high availability and load balancing for optimum performance.
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Lower Costs and Optimized Resources: Grid Computing > MORE
IT Managers are looking to "go green" and "save green" by reducing energy and system costs. Grid computing is a green solution that provides a virtualized infrastructure, allowing resources to be optimally provisioned to meet the needs of Oracle applications and users. Cost savings are achieved when resources are allocated on demand, eliminating underutilized and redundant resources. Grid computing also works well with smaller, lower-cost components like blade servers that are often used for new deployments.
The infrastructure grid requires storage resources that can be treated as a single pool and allocated dynamically. When servers use Emulex HBAs connected to a Fibre Channel SAN, all of the computing resources in the grid will have access to needed storage resources.
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Security and Compliance for Oracle Databases > MORE
Emulex OneSecure 8Gb/s Fibre Channel adapters provide a high-performance, enterprise-class host-based encryption solution that protects data as it's created--at the server--and protects data no matter where it is sent in the network. This methodology protects against internal and external threats with one easy-to-use solution. By offloading encryption processing to hardware, OneSecure encrypts data without impacting Oracle Database applications processing.
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Data Protection: Oracle Recovery Manager > MORE
Maintaining timely backups is a critical requirement for Oracle Database support. Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) is a powerful and flexible backup, restore and recovery utility that is optimized for Oracle databases. Commands can be executed from the command line and from command scripts, or from a GUI that is integrated into Oracle Enterprise Manager.
RMAN needs a high-speed infrastructure to support the backup requirements of ever-increasing quantities of data. Emulex adapters provide a reliable, high-speed connection to help insure that backups are done within scheduled timeframes and restores can be completed with minimum downtime. If needed, multiple Emulex adapters can work together to provide the necessary bandwidth.
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Consolidation and Optimization: Oracle VM > MORE
Server virtualization has become a mainstream weapon in the "green" battle to reduce energy and system costs in the data center. By converting workloads from physical servers to virtual machines (VMs), expenditures can be reduced for systems, power, cooling and footprint.
Oracle VM is a highly scalable solution that satisfies enterprise-class requirements for server virtualization. Virtualized servers are pooled together to provide optimized performance and high availability. Virtual machines (VMs) are automatically started on the server in the pool with the most available resources. If needed, VMs are automatically migrated with no loss of services in the event of a VM or server failure.
Emulex adapters are fully qualified for Oracle VM and can provide a high-performance storage connection that supports enterprise-class server virtualization.
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Network Convergence: Emulex OneConnect™ Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) Converged Network Adapters (CNAs) > MORE
Data centers have traditionally used separate infrastructures to support Local Area Networks (LANs) based on the TCP/IP protocol and Storage Area Networks (SANs) based on the Fibre Channel protocol. With the transition to 10Gb/s Ethernet (10GbE), data centers have the option to converge TCP/IP and Fibre Channel traffic with a single converged network based on IEEE Data Center Bridging standards.
Fully supported for Oracle deployments, Emulex OneConnect CNAs provide network and storage connectivity using FCoE. With a combined dual-port bandwidth of 20Gb/s, servers can allocate bandwidth to TCP/IP and FCoE protocols to optimize performance while drastically reducing the number of adapters, switch ports and cables.
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iSCSI storage connectivity - Emulex OneConnect iSCSI Adapters > MORE
Traditionally viewed as a viable option for smaller data centers, iSCSI storage has seen growing adoption for use with more demanding applications like Oracle Database and Oracle VM. When comparing iSCSI with other network storage options, the trade-off has been price vs. performance, with iSCSI limited by 1 Gigabit Ethernet (1GbE) that affects both throughput and response time. These limitations have particularly been an issue for virtualized servers where multiple applications share I/O bandwidth.
Emulex is providing a next-generation solution that meets the iSCSI performance requirements for large and small data centers. OneConnect iSCSI adapters alleviate bandwidth and performance concerns with two 10GbE ports and full hardware offload of TCP/IP and iSCSI protocols for optimum server efficiency.
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Increase Application Performance > MORE
Oracle applications operate as efficiently as the infrastructure on which they operate. Assessing application performance is fairly straightforward: it is either operating at speed or it is not! However, diagnosing application performance can be quite difficult. The various tiers of infrastructure that manage the I/O introduce additional layers of complexity, making diagnosis of I/O issues rather complicated. Currently, IT administrators do not have any tools that can monitor and trend I/O performance over time. With such data, IT administrators can compare present I/O performance data to historical data to determine whether I/O performance has changed.
Emulex OneCommand Vision is an intelligent application that enables proactive management of I/O within data center environments. With OneCommand Vision, IT administrators can gather and analyze I/O trend data, which can then be used to diagnose I/O performance degradation within the I/O path, averting potential conditions that can negatively impact day-to-day business activities
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