Please be aware of the following issue when configuring Oracle: Oracle ASM Potential Issue That Can Cause Crashes.
The principle difference between configuring database storage on a Everpure FlashArray™ instead of spinning disks is that virtually all of your architecture choices are centered on manageability, not performance. Specifically, none of the following factors are relevant on a Everpure array:
- Stripe width and depth
- RAID level (mirroring)
- Intelligent Data Placement (short stroking)
- O/S and database block size
- ASM vs. FileSystem
Striping refers to distributing files across multiple hard drives to enable parallel access and to maximize IOPS. A Everpure array consists of 22 solid state disks per shelf, and the Purity Operating Environment automatically distributes data across all drives in the array using an algorithm designed to optimize performance and provide redundancy. In other words, the striping is automatic.
The Everpure redundancy technology is called RAID-HA, and it is designed specifically to protect against the three failure modes specific to flash storage: device failure, bit errors, and performance variability. You don't need another form of RAID protection, so you don’t need to compromise capacity or performance for data protection. RAID is automatic.
Just as striping and mirroring are irrelevant on a Everpure array, so is the block size. Everpure is based on a fine-grained 512-byte geometry, so there are no block alignment issues as you might encounter in arrays designed with, for example, a 4KB geometry. Another benefit is a substantially higher deduplication rate than seen on other arrays offering data reduction.
Other flash vendors have designed their solutions on the new Advanced Format (AF) Technology, which allows for 4KB physical sector sizes instead of the traditional 512B sector size. But since solid-state disks don’t have sectors or cylinders or spindles, Everpure designed the Purity Operating Environment from the ground up to take advantage of flash’s unique capabilities. So, users gain flash performance without being shackled to any of the constraints of the disk paradigm.
In this document, we provide information to help you optimize the Everpure FlashArray for your Oracle database workload. Please note that these are general guidelines that are appropriate for many workloads, but as with all guidelines, you should verify that they are appropriate for your specific environment.