If you need a low cost Dev/Test platform for Oracle Database Enterprise Edition or just a small production deployment with a handful of Database licenses what low cost self hosted hardware options are out there? You have probably already decided using a cloud service is not for you, your data includes financial or customer data do you want anyone else but you hosting it?

Don’t worry, it needn’t be complex or expensive – we have outlined and costed four options for you here using both x86 and SPARC platforms, each bring their own strengths. The x86 solution for ultra minimum hardware cost and SPARC for ultra performance and security. Both use Solaris and for good reason, we can be as granular as a single Oracle Database Enterprise Edition License regardless of the number of CPU’s fitted.

These for examples show how cost effective a self-hosted deployment can be with the knowledge that your data is in your datacentre and not someone else’s.

  • Ultra-Low Cost x86 Oracle Database Dev/Test Server – minimum 25 Named User Plus licenses to a maximum of 125, connected to your SAN.

1U, single Intel Xeon® 4114 10-Core 2.2GHz Processor, 64GB mem, 3*600GB SAS disks, mirrored boot and hot spare, dual 10GbE, Dual Port 16 Gb or 32 Gb Fibre Channel PCIe HBA to your SAN. Three-year Oracle Premier Support for hardware and OS, delivery (32 counties), rack install, Solaris install and patch, Solaris container configuration in to suit between one and five Oracle Database Enterprise Edition Licenses, either CPU or Named User Plus and connectivity configuration to your SAN. €12,995 + VAT.

  • Ultra-Low Cost x86 Oracle Database Dev/Test Server – minimum 25 Named User Plus licenses to a maximum of 125, local Disk

1U, single Intel Xeon® 4114 10-Core 2.2GHz Processor, 64GB mem, 3*600GB SAS disks, mirrored boot and hot spare and 5*1.2TB disks for database, suggested 4 disk RAID10 and hot spare, dual 10GbE. Three-year Oracle Premier Support for hardware and OS, delivery (32 counties), rack install, Solaris install and patch, Solaris container configuration in to suit between one and five Oracle Database Enterprise Edition Licenses, either CPU or Named User Plus and connectivity configuration to your SAN. €12,695 + VAT.

  • Ultra-Low-Cost SPARC Oracle Database Dev/Test Server – minimum 25 Named User Plus licenses to a maximum of 100, connected to your SAN.

1U, single SPARC S7-2 server with a single SPARC S7 8-core 4.27 GHz processor, 128GB mem, 3*600GB SAS disks, mirrored boot and hot spare, quad 10GbE, Dual Port 16 Gb Fibre Channel PCIe HBA to your SAN. Three-year Oracle Premier Support for hardware and OS, delivery (32 counties), rack install, Solaris install and patch, Solaris container configuration or no cost option to use a logical domain to suit between one and four Oracle Database Enterprise Edition Licenses, either CPU or Named User Plus and connectivity configuration to your SAN. €18,000 + VAT.

  • Ultra-Low-Cost SPARC Oracle Database Dev/Test Server – minimum 25 Named User Plus licenses to a maximum of 100, local Disk

1U, single SPARC S7-2 server with a single SPARC S7 8-core 4.27 GHz processor, 128GB mem, 3*600GB SAS disks, mirrored boot and hot spare and 5*1.2TB disks for database, suggested 4 disk RAID10 and hot spare, quad 10GbE. Three-year Oracle Premier Support for hardware and OS, delivery (32 counties), rack install, Solaris install and patch, Solaris container configuration or no cost option to use a logical domain to suit between one and four Oracle Database Enterprise Edition Licenses, either CPU or Named User Plus and connectivity configuration to your SAN. €17,500 + VAT.

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Why Solaris? – it can be configured to use a single Oracle Database License on either x86 or SPARC servers regardless of the number of CPU’s fitted. i.e. the minimum license requirement in all configurations above is one Oracle Database Enterprise Edition License and you can halve your Database licensing costs again by using Named User Plus.

Solaris allows you to quickly and easily test system configuration for compliance and security best-practices. (see pic)

Why the x86 configuration? – absolute lowest cost hardware, Database License costs the same.

Why the SPARC configuration? – blistering CPU performance, big performance boost for those expensive Database license(s), quad 10GbE instead of dual, 128GB mem instead of 64GB, four data analytics accelerators per processor, each supporting four concurrent in-memory query operations with decompression, eight on-chip encryption instruction accelerators with direct non-privileged support for 15 industry-standard cryptographic algorithms with ultra-low CPU impact, e.g. a 2% CPU performance hit.

 

Q & A

What is left for us to do? – after we leave site you can Install your Oracle Database! We will have created the Oracle Project and allocated resources to your licence requirements. The Database binaries will be on the local disk for your convenience.

You have left site and I need some minor changes, can you help? – yes! Your install includes a complimentary remote VPN login (up to 2hrs using your infrastructure). A typical task might be to add users or plumb and extra network port.

Where will the server be built and configured? – at our own premises in Celbridge, Co Kildare. We will agree a build configuration with you, complete the work here and then attend to site to rack and integrate.

What do I need to do in advance? – if we are connecting to your SAN LUNS make sure they are configured for Solaris and presented to the switch. Have all physical Network ports available at the server location.

What else will I need? – Rack space, dual power, network cables and fibre cables to your switch fabric if using the SAN option.

I want a slightly different configuration? – no problem, we can add more Networking or memory at an incremental cost.

Can you supply a DBA to install the Oracle Database and Migrate existing data? – yes, at additional cost.

Why do you say Database Named User Plus licenses are at half the cost? – there is a minimum amount required per CPU, as long as you don’t have more than 25 users (per two CPU cores) the licenses will work out 50% cheaper than purchasing per CPU licenses.

That’s an Oracle Server complete with a 3-Year Oracle Premier Support package, Delivery & Configuration! What next – if you want more information contact terry

[dot]cox[at]synoptix.ie or call +353 87 643 4906 now.

Prices correct on 2/5/2018.