Intel® Xeon® Processors and Oracle® Database 12c: Engineered to Work TogetherOracle® Database 12c is the newest and most advanced database innovation from Oracle—and the latest example of the jointly engineered solutions that Intel and Oracle have been developing for the past 15 years.

Oracle Database 12c is a next-generation database designed for the cloud, with a new Oracle Multitenant architecture that runs on top of a fast, scalable, and secure database platform. When customers plug into the cloud with Oracle Database 12c, they can improve the quality and performance of their applications, save time with optimal availability architecture and storage management, and simplify their database consolidation efforts by managing hundreds of databases as one.

Because Oracle and Intel have worked closely throughout the development of Oracle Database 12c, customers can depend on optimal performance when the new flagship database runs on servers based on Intel® Xeon® processors, including Oracle Engineered Systems such as Oracle Exadata and Oracle Database Appliance. Together, Oracle and Intel ensure optimal performance, security, scalability, energy efficiency, and more.

An Inside Look at the Development of Oracle® Database 12cExtensive collaboration between Intel and Oracle leads to innovation and optimization

Oracle Database 12c InnovationsTo handle escalating amounts of big data, many organizations run multiple databases on a single server. With traditional, multi-instance database architecture, each of those databases requires separate memory and processes—resulting in escalating costs, high memory usage, time-consuming management and backup, inflexibility, and a variety of additional operational challenges.

“Oracle Database innovation continues on Oracle Database 12c by optimizing the use of Intel Xeon processors for the compute and storage nodes. Oracle Multitenant database lets you plug into the cloud by allowing for multiple configurable databases to join a master container database, resulting in lower processing and memory overhead. The performance and energy efficiency of Intel Xeon processors further enables Oracle to drive this innovative approach to IT, creating a better way to scale critical information processing needs in any company.”

Pauline Nist, General Manager, Intel Datacenter Software Division

Oracle Database 12c offers a revolutionary difference—it allows multiple databases to run under a single copy, or instance, of the Oracle database software. In other words, Oracle Database 12c is the first database to offer multitenancy at the database—not the application—layer, which makes it an ideal foundation for cloud computing.

How It WorksIn the new architecture for Oracle Database 12c, a single Oracle Multitenant container database can host many so-called “pluggable” databases that hold user and application data while being independent from the container database.

The clean separation between database operations and user content means that multiple pluggable databases—at least 250 by early Oracle estimates—can run under a single copy of Oracle Database 12c. Oracle Multitenant allows each pluggable database to look and feel like a standard Oracle Database to applications, so existing applications can run unchanged.

With Oracle Database 12c, memory, storage, and processes are required at the container database level only, and database as a service (DBaaS) cloud deployments are made far more efficient as each customer’s data is secured in a private pluggable database.

Even as it prepares the data center for the move to cloud computing, Oracle Database 12c also simplifies management, which is a significant advantage for organizations that are now managing hundreds, or even thousands, of databases. Oracle Database 12c does not require changes to applications or a steep learning curve for database administrators, so they can manage more databases in less time with fewer software installations and patches over the lifetime of applications.

Hubert Nueckel, Intel Technical Lead for Oracle Database

Few people know as much about the collaboration between Intel and Oracle as Hubert Nueckel, Intel principal engineer on Oracle database optimization, who was the first member of Intel’s Data Center Software Technologies team 15 years ago.

Nueckel says his job is straightforward: “Making sure that Oracle software runs best on Intel hardware, and that Intel hardware has all the capabilities to run Oracle efficiently and securely.”

Nueckel’s team includes seven full-time Intel performance engineers with combined experience of over 35 years. He says, “The group’s strength is that each team member

has detailed knowledge of the entire stack—including CPU, platform, Linux* operating system, database, workload, network connections, and storage. And most importantly, we have a detailed understanding of how all those components interact.”

Three members of Nueckel’s group are based at Oracle headquarters in California, where they work side by side with Oracle’s database performance and development teams. Nueckel says, “We have direct access to key decision-makers at Oracle, and weekly meetings with Oracle’s performance and development teams.”

Asked what he would tell customers about the depth of collaboration between Intel and Oracle, Nueckel referred to Oracle’s slogan at Oracle OpenWorld: “Hardware and software, engineered to work together.” Oracle Database 12c has 500 new features and is the result of many hours of testing, as well as an extensive beta testing program—with strong support from Nueckel’s team.

Nueckel says, “We work hard so that customers can be sure Oracle Database 12c has been tested thoroughly and is engineered to work not just properly but optimally on Intel® Architecture, including not only Intel Xeon processors but also Intel® Solid-State Drives and Intel® 10 Gigabit Ethernet components.”

Key Features and BenefitsOracle Database 12c addresses the key challenges of customers that are consolidating their databases in a private cloud model—enabling greatly improved efficiency and lower management costs, while retaining the autonomy of separate databases.

Figure 1 shows the enhanced efficiency of the pluggable databases used in Oracle Database 12c compared to the separate databases used with previous database architectures. In the OLTP benchmark comparison shown, 50 pluggable database required just 3 GB of memory, compared to 20 GB for separate databases instances. In an internal benchmarking experiment conducted by Oracle in 2012, pluggable databases were also found to be five times more scalable while using six times fewer hardware resources.

Figure 2: Performance benefits of Oracle Database 12c in comparison to Oracle Database 11g Release 2.

Figure 1: Comparison of memory requirements and scalability of Oracle Database 12c pluggable databases versus separate databases.

Number of Databases

Mem

ory

Util

ized

Separate Pluggable

20

0

5

10

15

1 2502302001701401108010 20 50

In addition to the performance and scalability benefits, Oracle Database 12c can help organizations dramatically decrease their hardware and operational costs, increase resource utilization, and speed database provisioning, upgrades, patching, and cloning. Figure 2 provides an overview of the numerous performance advantages of Oracle Database 12c, compared to Oracle Database 11g Release 2.

Along with optimized compute, Oracle Database 12c features storage innovations that optimize storage compression and simplify management, including built-in database heat maps, compression algorithms, and automated data tiering and compression. With storage and compute optimized and virtualized, Oracle Database 12c takes a significant step toward providing an ideal DBaaS or cloud platform.

Additional Key Features and Benefits of Oracle Database 12c

Comprehensive security platform Oracle Database 12c features more security innovations than any previous Oracle database release. Preventive, detective, and administrative protections include advanced encryption. Plus, all native database security features work, including auditing and redaction.

Maximum availability for database clouds Oracle Database 12c introduces several high-availability features, as well as enhancements to existing technologies that enable continuous access to enterprise data.

Efficient database managementSeamless integration with Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c Cloud Control enables administrators to easily implement and manage new Oracle Database 12c functionality, including the new Oracle Multitenant architecture and data redaction.

Simpler big data analysisData scientists can better analyze enterprise information and big data with new in-database predictive algorithms and further integration of open-source R with Oracle Database 12c.

CompatibilityOracle Database 12c works with all Oracle Database features, including Real Application Clusters, Partitioning, Data Guard, Compression, Automatic Storage Management, Real Application Testing, Transparent Data Encryption, Database Vault, and more.

Oracle Database 12c and Intel® AES-NI with Intel® IPP

Like Oracle Database 11g, Oracle Database 12c supports Intel® Advanced Encryption Standard New Instructions (Intel® AES-NI). Intel AES-NI accelerates the encryption and decryption of data in the Intel Xeon processor E5 and E7 families by up to 300 percent1—providing faster, more affordable data protection and greater security that traditionally occurred only at the software layer.

By deploying Intel AES-NI with enabled software solutions such as Oracle Database 12c, enterprises can dramatically reduce the historical performance penalty for data encryption and decryption, which makes it feasible to enhance data protection throughout the enterprise and comply with regulatory requirements such as Sarbanes-Oxley and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Because data is automatically encrypted and decrypted as it is written or read from disk, data at rest is protected against unauthorized access without any costly changes to database applications.

Oracle Database 12c is the first Oracle database to also integrate the Intel® Integrated Performance Primitives (Intel® IPP) library, an extensive library of software functions for processing and communications applications. According to Nueckel, the Oracle development team works with optimized code for every Intel Xeon platform that the code runs on, which simplifies development of important database components.

For customers, Nueckel says, “The continuing Intel AES-NI support with Intel IPP integration means they don’t need to do anything to get all the benefits of hardware support for Intel AES-NI database encryption and decryption.”

Intel and Oracle Optimizations in Oracle Database 12cNueckel’s team worked closely with Oracle to design and test enhancements to the previous flagship database, Oracle Database 11g. Even before that product was released, Nueckel’s team was collaborating with Oracle to ensure that Oracle Database 12c would be further optimized for exceptional performance on servers based on Intel Xeon processors.

The optimizations in Oracle Database 12c include:

Threading supportBenefit: Oracle Database 12c supports threading for better overall performance.

Background: Three years ago, Nueckel’s team began working with the Oracle development team and the Intel compiler team to enable the compiler support necessary for threading. As a result of the collaboration, Oracle Database 12c now supports a variable threaded model—which is new for the Linux operating system.

Faster checksumBenefit: Up to 40 percent faster checksum calculations in some tests mean CPU time is freed for other processing.

Background: The use of checksum in Oracle Database 12c to ensure that data is not corrupted is not new. But with the increase in IOPS and decrease in latency on faster devices, such as SSDs and flash storage, executing checksum code had become a bottleneck. Nueckel’s team worked with Oracle to find ways to reduce the number of instructions executed and speed up checksum calculation.

Improved hash distributionBenefit: Improved hash calculation and hash distribution in Oracle Database 12c means fewer conflicts and less time running unnecessary code executions.

Background: Nueckel’s team focused on optimizing the hash algorithm for complex queries. Using Intel® CRC instructions, the group reduced the number of instructions executed and time spent in the hashing function, and improved hash distribution.

Enhanced scalabilityBenefit: In one test deployment, a customer improved performance by several factors by avoiding NUMA-related conflicts. Intel internal testing results also showed 50 percent improvements over Oracle internal benchmarks for locking optimization.

Background: All multi-socket Intel Xeon systems are NUMA systems, and Oracle Database 12c offers full NUMA support. Nueckel’s Oregon team performs scaling analyses and provides feedback to Oracle regarding data locality issues and optimizations to avoid system-wide conflicts. If conflicts arise on large SMP systems, the protocol overhead for conflict resolution has severe performance impact.

Advantages of Intel Solid-State DrivesIntel and Oracle work together to enable Oracle utilization of Intel Solid-State Drive (Intel SSD) capabilities, and to ensure that future Intel SSD design is optimized for performance with Oracle solutions.

Intel SSDs provide numerous advantages over rotating storage, including:

• Lower failure rates: Intel SSDs suffer 85 percent lower failure rates than traditional hard drives.2

• Faster performance: Intel SSDs perform up to 140 percent faster than the hard disk drives in most PCs.3

• Advanced security: Intel SSDs feature built-in encryption.

• Greater reliability: Like all SSDs, Intel SSDs have no moving parts, making them more durable in the event of drops or earthquakes, and generally longer-lasting than traditional hard drives.

Benefits of Intel Xeon ProcessorsServers based on Intel Xeon processors are designed for optimal database performance. The Intel Xeon Processor E7 family, for instance, is an ideal choice for mission-critical operations, such as back-end and in-memory databases.

The four-socket E7 configuration is ideal for virtualization, while the powerful eight-socket configuration is ideal for deployment and consolidation of large, monolithic databases. The extensive RAS features also provide error detection, correction, containment, and recovery in all processors, memory, and I/O data paths.

Other key features related to database performance include:

• Large cache size per core: Up to 30 MB of last-level cache is available to hold more data in fast access memory.

• Number of cores per socket: Up to 10 cores per socket and 160 hyperthreads are available in a four-socket server.

• Large memory capacity: Up to 2 TB of memory per four-socket server is available, or 4 TB of memory per eight-socket server.

• Low memory latency: RAS features such as sparing and mirroring help ensure faster and more reliable memory performance. Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology (Intel® HT Technology) also makes it possible to run demanding applications simultaneously.

• Fast interconnect: Intel® QuickPath Interconnect speeds data transfers by connecting distributed shared memory, the internal cores, the I/O hub, and other Intel® processors.

Learn MoreOracle Database 12coracle.com/us/corporate/features/database-12coracle.com/us/products/database/overvieworacle.com/us/corporate/press/1967380oracle.com/technetwork/database/enterprise-edition/downloads

Intel Data Center Solutions intel.com/missioncritical intel.com/xeonintel.com/content/www/us/en/solid-state-drives/solid-state-drives-ssd

Intel and Oracle Collaboration intelalliance.com/oracle

Close Collaboration Delivers ResultsOracle Database 12c represents a dramatic leap forward in database technology. With Oracle Multitenancy at the database level, the new flagship database delivers significant enhancements in performance, efficiency, security, and scalability.

The close, long-term collaboration between Intel and Oracle also ensures that Oracle’s latest innovation has already been tested on Intel Xeon processors and optimized to deliver superior results—meaning that customers looking for a reliable, efficient, and high-performing foundation for cloud computing need look no further.

1. Intel white paper. “Increasing Security by Accelerating Data Encryption with Intel® Advanced Encryption Standard New Instructions (Intel® AES-NI): Testing by DuPont and Intel Corporation,” 2013. www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/white-papers/enterprise-security-data-encryption-xeon-e5-e7-dupont-whitepaper.pdf. Tests used servers based on the Intel Xeon processor E5 and E7 families with Intel AES-NI, Oracle Database* with Intel AES-NI–enabled Oracle Advanced Security Transparent Data Encryption* (TDE*), and CR&D’s chemical information management application. Comprehensive encryption database testing measured performance gains for encrypting and decrypting critical business data and records.

2. Source: Intel; “Validating the Reliability of Intel® Solid-State Drives”; www.intel.com/content/dam/doc/technology-brief/intel-it-validating-reliability-of-intel-solid-state-drives-brief.pdf; Intel Corporation, July 2011. Intel internal measurements (2008 and February 2011) compared the reliability of Intel X25-M and X18-M Mainstream SATA Solid-State Drives (80GB and 160GB) with HDDs. Intel SSD reliability was calculated using industry-standard measures, the annualized return rate (ARR) and the annualized failure rate (AFR).

3. Source: Intel; System configuration: Intel® Core™ i7-3960X (15MB L3 Cache, 3.3GHz) on Intel® Desktop Board DX79SI, AND Radeon* HD 6990 and driver 8.881.0.0, BIOS SIX791OJ.86A.0193.2011.0809.1137, Intel INF 9.1.2.1007, Memory 16GB (4X4GB) Triple-channel Samsung DDR3-1600, Microsoft Windows* 7 MSAHCI storage driver, Microsoft Windows* 7 Ultimate 64-bit Build 7600 with SP1; SSD – 2.5’ Intel® SSD 520 Series SSDSC2CW240A3, SATA Revision 3.0 Solid-State Drive, 240GB, FW 400i HDD – 3.5” Seagate Barracuda* ST31000528AS, SATA Revision 2.0 Hard Disk Drive, 1TB, 7200RPM, 32MB cache

Software and workloads used in performance tests may have been optimized for performance only on Intel microprocessors. Performance tests, such as SYSmark and MobileMark, are measured using specific computer systems, components, software, operations and functions. Any change to any of those factors may cause the results to vary. You should consult other information and performance tests to assist you in fully evaluating your contemplated purchases, including the performance of that product when combined with other products. Results have been simulated and are provided for informational purposes only. Results were derived using simulations run on an architecture simulator or model. Any difference in system hardware or software design or configuration may affect actual performance. INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH INTEL PRODUCTS. NO LICENSE, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, BY ESTOPPEL OR OTHERWISE, TO ANY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS IS GRANTED BY THIS DOCUMENT. EXCEPT AS PROVIDED IN INTEL'S TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF SALE FOR SUCH PRODUCTS, INTEL ASSUMES NO LIABILITY WHATSOEVER AND INTEL DISCLAIMS ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY, RELATING TO SALE AND/OR USE OF INTEL PRODUCTS INCLUDING LIABILITY OR WARRANTIES RELATING TO FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, MERCHANTABILITY, OR INFRINGEMENT OF ANY PATENT, COPYRIGHT OR OTHER INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHT. A "Mission Critical Application" is any application in which failure of the Intel Product could result, directly or indirectly, in personal injury or death. SHOULD YOU PURCHASE OR USE INTEL'S PRODUCTS FOR ANY SUCH MISSION CRITICAL APPLICATION, YOU SHALL INDEMNIFY AND HOLD INTEL AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES, SUBCONTRACTORS AND AFFILIATES, AND THE DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, AND EMPLOYEES OF EACH, HARMLESS AGAINST ALL CLAIMS COSTS, DAMAGES, AND EXPENSES AND REASONABLE ATTORNEYS' FEES ARISING OUT OF, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, ANY CLAIM OF PRODUCT LIABILITY, PERSONAL INJURY, OR DEATH ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF SUCH MISSION CRITICAL APPLICATION, WHETHER OR NOT INTEL OR ITS SUBCONTRACTOR WAS NEGLIGENT IN THE DESIGN, MANUFACTURE, OR WARNING OF THE INTEL PRODUCT OR ANY OF ITS PARTS. Intel may make changes to specifications and product descriptions at any time, without notice. Designers must not rely on the absence or characteristics of any features or instructions marked "reserved" or "undefined". Intel reserves these for future definition and shall have no responsibility whatsoever for conflicts or incompatibilities arising from future changes to them. The information here is subject to change without notice. Do not finalize a design with this information. The products described in this document may contain design defects or errors known as errata which may cause the product to deviate from published specifications. Current characterized errata are available on request. Contact your local Intel sales office or your distributor to obtain the latest specifications and before placing your product order. Copies of documents which have an order number and are referenced in this document, or other Intel literature, may be obtained by calling 1-800-548-4725, or go to: http://www.intel.com/design/literature.htm. Copyright © 2013 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.

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