Oracle selects AMD Epyc processors for its next generation of Exadata hardware. Exadata X10M has numerous improvements on board and is significantly more powerful than its predecessor.

Oracle introduces Exadata X10M. The latest version of the Exadata system is said to offer a significant upgrade in price-performance ratio compared to its predecessor, the X9M. Oracle points out that Exadata systems are uniquely optimized for their own database workloads and are therefore unmatched in the market. The database specialist wants it to stay that way.

A level higher with AMD

To achieve this goal, Oracle’s Exadata team first called Lisa Su. After all, the Exadata X10M is not based on Intel processors like the previous editions, but has fourth-generation AMD Epyc processors on board. There are also important innovations on the memory and connection side.

Broadly speaking, an Exadata system consists of three main components: the compute-optimized database servers, the storage servers, and the switches that tie everything together.

server specifications

The Exadata X10M database servers are dual-socket servers based on AMD’s Epyc 9654 CPUs. These powerhouses each have 96 cores, i.e. 192 cores per server. That’s three times more than the database servers in the X9M. The storage capacity is increased by half to 3 TB and Oracle integrates DDR5 memory for the first time. Finally, the servers now offer space for five NIC cards with up to 100 gigabit capacity per card.

The storage servers are also dual-socket instances. In it, Oracle relies on an unnamed 32-core variant of the AMD Epyc Genoa series, doubling the number of cores per server compared to the previous version.

storage and network

As usual, you can choose between three types of storage servers: High capacity, Extreme Flash And advanced. They have a flash capacity of 122.88 TB and 27.2 TB respectively. In the latter case, the server consists of a flash cache and disk storage. The latter server is a pure HDD server and has a capacity of 264 TB thanks to the integration of 22 TB drives.

Oracle connects everything with its RoCE switches, which offer 100 Gbps direct memory access (RDMA) over the internal fabric. The high bandwidth and low latency ensure optimal communication between the database server and storage server.

secret sauce

However, Oracle uses the announcement to highlight the optimization of its software. The complete synergy of components through the software platform to the actual database ensures that no other solution offers better value for money. Additionally, Oracle isn’t the most outspoken party when it comes to its databases. Only those who keep the recipe for the secret sauce to themselves can make the best of them.

Looking at Exadata, queries to the storage server are 2.6 times faster and in-memory analysis is increased by a factor of 2.4. Oracle emphasizes that Exadata’s starting price will not change: the additional horsepower comes without any real additional costs.

Available everywhere

Oracle emphasized it about 35 times during the Exadata launch, so let’s say it again: Exadata X10M is available everywhere. That means on-premises, where Exadata launched in 2008 and is still where most deployments are, in the cloud, but also in between in a hybrid solution via Exadata Cloud@Customer.