Oracle Exadata – Reducing Maintenance Costs with Multi-Vendor Support
Oracle released its first Exadata Database Machine back in 2014. Since then, there have been 13 other releases of Oracle’s engineered system. Many of these systems are now, or nearing, End of Service Life (EOSL). However, these are high-performance, stable solutions that organizations have spent many millions of dollars acquiring and deploying for their application database needs, and are not easily replaced.
Exadata Database Machine EOSL Dates
| Exadata appliance generation | EOSL Date | Last Ship Date |
|---|---|---|
| X7-2 | 6/1/2024 | 6/1/2019 |
| X7-8 | 6/1/2024 | 6/1/2019 |
| X6-2 | 11/1/2022 | 11/1/2017 |
| X6-8 | 11/1/2022 | 11/1/2017 |
| X5-2 | 7/1/2021 | 7/1/2016 |
| X5-8 | 3/1/2021 | 3/1/2016 |
| X4-8 | 10/1/2020 | 10/1/2015 |
| X4-2 | 3/1/2020 | 3/1/2015 |
| X3-8 | 12/1/2019 | 12/1/2014 |
| X3-2 | 2/1/2019 | 2/1/2014 |
| X2-8 | 11/1/2017 | 11/1/2012 |
| X2-2 | 9/1/2017 | 9/1/2012 |
Oracle recently stated that 86% of the Fortune 100 were running Exadata solutions. CDS has enabled many of these organizations to not only extend the useful life of these systems, but also recognize significant cost savings on hardware and software maintenance charges for these Exadata systems. Organizations have redirected upwards of 50% of the Exadata maintenance spend to strategic modernization initiatives, while maintaining service delivery, uptime, and SLA requirements.
Is Third Party Maintenance or Multi-Vendor Services the Right Choice for Your Exadata Database Machine?
The short answer is, it depends. Third Party Maintainers do just as their name implies - they maintain. On the other hand, a Multi-Vendor Support services provider like CDS can help you during all stages of your system’s lifecycle, from onboarding to asset decommissioning. There are two key factors to risk assessment for Oracle Exadata- are parts available for the solution, and is the platform and release stable.
Oracle Exadata Parts Availability
Thanks to our Nebula predictive SaaS capability, CDS is able to automate log parsing and analysis to guarantee the right spares, in the right location, and part delivery when they are most needed.
Oracle Exadata Release Stability
There have been one hundred critical system updates released by Oracle since 2012. These have been across InfiniBand, Exadata Storage Server, and Database Server. As can be seen in the chart below, the majority of these have been on the Exadata Storage Server.
The number of critical issues has reduced over time, as can be seen in the Exadata Database critical issue chart example below:
When considering what Exadata systems to move to outside support services, it is worth noting that the latest critical issues relate to the newest hardware and software releases, X7- and X8- engineered systems. We would advise customers to plan to move these systems to third party support over the next two to three years.
Is Now the Right Time to Move X6-8 and X6-2 Systems to Multi-Vendor Support?
With the X6-8 and X6-2 platforms going EoSL this year, Yes. CDS has a full global parts inventory for the X6-8 and X6-2 systems, and can maintain the Exadata systems at ¼, ½ and Full Rack configurations on the data center floor.
Budget Planning 2023 and 2024
Organizations can start to immediately recognize cost savings across hardware and software maintenance on the X6-8 and X6-2 systems, while maintaining uptime and SLAs. While we do not yet recommend moving X7 or X8 generations to third party support, organizations should start to plan on associated cost savings for 2023 and 2024 budgets.
| Exadata appliance generation | Support Recommended |
|---|---|
| X7-2 | Within 12 Months |
| X7-8 | Within 12 Months |
| X6-2 | Immediate |
| X6-8 | Immediate |
| X5-2 | Immediate |
| X5-8 | Immediate |
| X4-8 | Immediate |
| X4-2 | Immediate |
| X3-8 | Immediate |
| X3-2 | Immediate |
| X2-8 | Immediate |
| X2-2 | Immediate |
