VMware Expert Database Workshop Oracle Day 1

It?s 7:00? am in the morning and we have arrived at VMware corporate headquarters for the first day of the VMware Expert Database Workshop Oracle day 1 has begun.?Sudhir Balasubramanian?Global Field and Partner Readiness PSO Enablement COE, VMware and?Mohan Potheri – Sr. Solutions Architect – Technical Marketing, VMware led a conversation on VMware vSphere basics for the attendees of the workshop. Given the expertise of the attendees I was not surprised that it very quickly became a lively conversation of Oracle Rac on vSphere. When you consider that two of the people in attendance at the VMware Expert Database Workshop Oracle edition began using Oracle with version 3, a number of other attendees with Oracle version 4 & 5. I was not surprised to see how quickly the conversations took a very deep dive. It has felt like drinking out of a Fire Hose of education all day long.

vSphere Makes Clustering Easy

One of the best quotes of the day, ?VMware is the Fisher-Price of Clustering?.? This comment was made based on just how easy it is to cluster within vSphere. Another comment that really hit home. Virtualization standardizes the hardware that is used. One of the benefits of a virtualized environment, is that you tend to have a environment of hardware that is standardized.

Not All Hypervisors Are The Same

VMware is a Non-Para virtualized type-1 hypervisor. Type 1 hypervisors run directly on the system hardware. They are often referred to as a “native” or “bare metal” or “embedded” hypervisors in vendor literature. A non-para virtualized Hypervisor does not change the underlying operating system in any way. This means that the Oracle database will run and behave just like it would have if it were not virtualized. A hypervisor that changes the operating system can open you up to the risk that the virtualized database will not perform or behave the same as a non-virtualized database.

Database Virtual Machine (VM) ?Right Sizing

A very important concept when virtualizing a Database is Right-Sizing. This goes counter to what you would do normally do when a database is not virtualized. When a database is not virtualized you tend to give the database more resources than it actually needs. You tend to put it on the biggest server you feel management will pay for. You store resources away for the day you need them. Giving a Virtual Machine (VM) too many resources will actually hurt overall performance. That is a theme I always try to drive home in my many Database Virtualization presentations.

Accelerate Possible Introducing Oracle on Pure Storage

Matt Kixmoeller VP of Products for Pure led a great conversation on Pure Storage and flash technology. Matt shared Pure Storage current NPS Score?of 79. Click the link to learn more about NPS scores. A high NPS score is not easy to come by. Matt shared with us there are 3 key areas Pure Storage typically talks to companies about.?

Making Business Go Faster

Transforming to the Cloud Model

Harnessing the Value of Data

Matt also mentioned that every year Pure Storage ?has shipped faster controllers. You plug old Storage Controller out and plug in the new Storage Controller and off you go. From a security perspective Pure Storage always Encrypts the data.

vSphere Core Networking ? NSX & VCNS

Francois Tallet of VMware discussed Networking. He discussed in detail the ?vSphere Distributed Switch (VDS) . How?vCenter presents the VDS as a single datacenter-wide virtual Switch allows for central management.?

Francois also discussed the significant different between virtual switch and physical switch is how it handles unknown traffic. The VDS only forwards known mac address to a vPort. Physical switch would flood the network just in case someone might have a know Mac address.

Insights on vMotion

Sreekanth Setty came in and answered all our questions on vMoition.?Sreekanth noted how quicky this group of Senior Oracle technologist many of whom never used vMotion got right down to the core issues. It was interesting to hear him point out the fact most?customers use vMotion as their storage upgrade path. Sreekanth also made the point that?vMotion is very very efficient. The Question of Jumbo Frames came up.?You can use Jumbo Frames with vMotion and save some cpu, but you don?t need to.?

Long motion vMotions was discussed in some detail. But my favorite quote was from Don Sullivan

“vMotion is the kind of magic that captures kingdoms in game of?Thrones.