QLogic 10000 Series Accelerating Database Infrastructure Using Oracle Real Application Clusters 11g R2 and QLogic FabricCache© Adapters - Manual (Page 3)

Accelerating Database Infrastructure
Using Oracle Real Application Clusters 11gR2 and QLogic FabricCache
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deliver can be impacted by I/O throughput capacity and transaction latency. Thus, optimization of the
I/O capabilities of the database infrastructure can pay big dividends when I/O workloads are high,
extending the capabilities of the infrastructure and allowing the hosted databases to deliver maximum
performance to business users.
Considerations
It is important when undertaking the optimization of database infrastructure to manage capital cost by
utilizing, as much as possible, existing assets. It’s also important to control deployment costs of such a
solution, so that the full return on the initial investment is recovered as quickly as possible. At the
same time, it’s important that the solution also provides for low operational costs by enhancing the
value delivered by the existing infrastructure without increasing complexity.
Protecting Your Investment
 Standard Adapter Technology. QLogic’s FabricCache adapters can be utilized in place of the
current standard adapters from any vendor. The capability of the FabricCache adapter can be used
to extend the life of your existing infrastructure and future proof your server investments.
 No need to upgrade or replace storage system. By functioning as a plug-in replacement for the
existing HBA, QLogic’s FabricCache adapters can optimize server and database I/O without
requiring any changes to the storage subsystem. This makes it possible to improve application I/O
performance without an expensive storage system upgrade or replacement, which could be a major
capital cost to IT and a significant impact to operations.
Controlling Deployment Costs
 No changes to storage network. QLogic’s FabricCache adapter replaces only the server HBA in
the I/O path. This means that the rest of the I/O system, e.g. cabling, fabric and the storage
subsystem itself, remain completely unchanged. This in turn means that deployment of FabricCache
adapters can be done very quickly, and with almost no disruption to IT operations.
 No upgrades or configuration changes to existing applications. Since FabricCache adapters
only change the HBAs being used by the servers, the performance advantages that are brought by
FabricCache can be utilized by Oracle RAC (and indeed any other applications that need to do
significant amounts of I/O) without any configuration changes.. I/O paths that are used by RAC
can be left unchanged, so RAC is ready to go as soon as the FabricCache adapters are installed and
the servers are rebooted.
Improved Utilization
 Database Servers. FabricCache adapters, by improving application throughput for Oracle RAC
when it is experiencing I/O throughput issues, effectively increases the I/O headroom on the
database servers being used by Oracle RAC. This can make it possible for Oracle RAC instances to
be driven to higher transaction rates before experiencing I/O issues.
Storage Subsystem. FabricCache adapters can improve utilization of the storage subsystem by
offloading much of the read I/O traffic to the server-side cache maintained in the servers. This means