An Oracle White Paper – Deploying Oracle E-Business Suite on Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud and Oracle Exadata Database

Machine

An Oracle White Paper

September 2012 (Updated June 2013)

Deploying Oracle E-Business Suite on Oracle

Exalogic Elastic Cloud and Oracle Exadata
Database Machine
 An Oracle White Paper – Deploying Oracle E-Business Suite on Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud and Oracle Exadata Database Machine

Disclaimer
The following is intended to outline our general product direction. It is intended for information purposes
only, and may not be incorporated into any contract. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code,
or functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions. The development, release,
and timing of any features or functionality described for Oracle’s products remains at the sole discretion of
Oracle
Terminology
The following terminology will be used in this white paper.

• Oracle Exadata: The Oracle Exadata Database Machine, which comprises a complete package
of servers, storage, networking, and software. Highly scalable, secure, and redundant, it provides
extremely high performance for both data warehousing and OLTP types of application.
• Oracle Exalogic: The Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud, a preconfigured clustered application server
that provides flexible (elastic) cloud computing support,for enterprise applications.
• Oracle Exastack: the combination of Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud and Oracle Exadata
Database Machine.

Deploying Oracle E-Business Suite on Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud and Oracle Exadata Database Machine Page 3
Introduction
As an Oracle E-Business Suite Technical Architect, Applications Database Administrator, or System
Administrator, you will find that the normal standards and guidelines for deploying and managing Oracle
E-Business Suite environments are also applicable to Exastack.

If you are an experienced Oracle E-Business Suite administrator, migrating to Exastack will not represent
a steep learning curve for you. If you are not experienced in deploying and managing Oracle E-Business
Suite, a comprehensive knowledge base of information exists to assist you in your efforts. The published
set of documentation and white papers for managing Oracle E-Business Suite environments will make
your work in administering Oracle E-Business Suite on Exastack a manageable task.

This white paper provides an overview of scalability and sizing examples when running Oracle E-
Business Suite deployed on Oracle Exastack. In addition, it offers a consolidated summary of proven
deployment and migration standards and guidelines for Oracle E-Business Suite environments.

Deploying Oracle E-Business Suite on Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud and Oracle Exadata Database Machine Page 4
We shall now describe the recent scalability tests and sizing recommendations for running Oracle E-
Business Suite on Exalogic and Exadata. This section is followed by guidelines for deploying and
migrating Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1.3 on Oracle Exastack.

Benchmark Configuration and Methodology

Performance testing on the Exalogic and Exadata systems, or Exastack, follows the methodology
developed for benchmarking Oracle E-Business Suite applications. Selected transactions from common
business flows have been scripted to run on load-generator servers. This testing allows large numbers of
simulated concurrent users to exercise the system under test. The described methodology allows for
repeatable tests to verify performance, scalability and processing accuracy, while tailoring application and
environment attributes.

Transactions are apportioned within each business flow and paced according to customer experience. A
test starts with a gradual introduction of the simulated users until the target load is reached. This initiates
the ‘steady-state’ sampling period, which can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours. During
steady-state, the response times and transaction behavior are logged for later analysis. After the steady-
state period, the number of simulated users is ramped down and the test concludes.

Summary of Test Scenarios and Test Hardware

A subset of Oracle E-Business Suite benchmark transactions were selected to alternately exercise both
Forms and Web-based (also known as Self-Service) types of
application. In total, eleven transactions from the Human
Resources, Purchasing, and Order Management products were
used in the test. Details of the transactions are provided in Table 1.

A standard configuration was used to generate transactional load

on an Oracle E-Business Suite 12.1.3 environment deployed on
Exalogic and Exadata. The Web Server and Forms Server
components of Oracle E-Business Suite were deployed on
Exalogic. For the purposes of this single-node application tier test,
all Oracle E-Business Suite software (including the APPL_TOP,
COMMON_TOP, INST_TOP and the 10gAS ORACLE_HOMEs for
the Oracle Application Server and Forms) were installed on a
single NFS4 mount point. The database components of Oracle E-
Business Suite were deployed on Exadata. Concurrent manager
and report server testing were not part of the benchmark analysis.

Table 1. Benchmark Transaction Mixes The Exalogic/Exadata environment was exercised with load test
metrics recorded in each case for later performance comparison.
The testing was conducted on a single Exalogic X2-2 node (12-cores, 96 GB) and a single Exadata X2-2
node (12-cores, 96 GB). As this system was configured with only a single application tier Exalogic node
and a single database tier Exadata node, it only suggests an approximate capability range for each tier.
The configuration used during the benchmark testing is shown in Figure 1. Detailed configuration settings
for the self-service and Forms testing are provided in Tables 2 and 3, respectively.

Deploying Oracle E-Business Suite on Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud and Oracle Exadata Database Machine Page 5
 Figure 1. Benchmark Configuration of Oracle E-Business Suite on Oracle Exastack

NOTE: Additional details regarding the Exalogic X2-2 and Exadata X2-2 software and hardware specifications may
be found by reviewing the material in the references section of this white paper.

Table 2. Configuration Settings for Self-Service Benchmark Tests

Table 3. Configuration Settings for Forms Benchmark Tests

Deploying Oracle E-Business Suite on Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud and Oracle Exadata Database Machine Page 6
Scalability Test Results
Enterprise management depends upon responsive predictable performance over a range of workloads.
The self-service (HTML) and Order Management (Forms) transactions were run to demonstrate the
scalability of the Exastack engineered system for these representative workloads.

In tests with self-service users (840 and 1300) and forms users (700, 1400, and 2100), the Exastack
metrics scaled smoothly. Response time only increased imperceptibly, while CPU and Memory utilization
rose predictably. Measured performance graphs for CPU and memory utilization for Exalogic and
Exadata are provided in Figures 2, 3, 4 and 5.

Exalogic Exadata
100 100
90 90
80 80
70 70
60 60
CPU

CPU
50 50
40 40
30 30
17.96 18.69
20 20 13.82 15.7

10 10
0 0
840 Users 1,300 Users 840 Users 1,300 Users

Figure 2. E-Business Suite Release 12.1.3 Self-Service CPU Scaling on Exalogic and Exadata

Exalogic Exadata
96 96
88 88
80 80
72 72
64 64
54.49 53.1
Memory

Memory

56 56
45.9 47.31
48 48
40 40
32 32
24 24
16 16
8 8
0 0
840 Users 1,300 Users 840 Users 1,300 Users

Figure 3. E-Business Suite Release 12.1.3 Self-Service Memory Scaling on Exalogic and Exadata

Deploying Oracle E-Business Suite on Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud and Oracle Exadata Database Machine Page 7
 Exalogic Exadata
100 100
90 90
80 80
70 70
60 60
48.35
CPU

CPU
50 50
37.31
40 40
26.43 25.03
30 30
20 16.26 20 13.87
10 10
0 0
700 Users 1,400 2,100 700 Users 1,400 2,100
Users Users Users Users
Figure 4. E-Business Suite Release 12.1.3 Forms CPU Scaling on Exalogic and Exadata

Exalogic Exadata
93.58 91.99
96 96
88 88
80 71.25 80
70.17
72 72
64 64
Memory

Memory

56 47.89 56 48.88
48 48
40 40
32 32
24 24
16 16
8 8
0 0
700 Users 1,400 2,100 700 Users 1,400 2,100
Users Users Users Users
Figure 5. E-Business Suite Release 12.1.3Forms Memory Scaling on Exalogic and Exadata

The results demonstrate that Oracle E-Business Suite on Exalogic and Exadata is capable of delivering
extreme throughput for various workloads. A summary analysis of the performance is as follows:

• The self-service transactions load the application tier more than the database
hardware, leaving corresponding capacity for batch and reporting workloads.

• The self-service workload was well matched to the memory on both tiers, and
thus tends to be CPU bound before running out of memory.

• In contrast to the last point, the forms workload consumed the available memory
more quickly than did the self-service workload, and thus tends to be memory
bound before running out of CPU capacity.

• The forms users scaled up slowly on both tiers, with ample spare capacity
remaining for batch and reporting workloads.

• The database tier tended to use the available memory more rapidly than the
application tier.

Deploying Oracle E-Business Suite on Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud and Oracle Exadata Database Machine Page 8
Suggested Sizing and Scaling Steps
Many factors contribute to a successful production environment. The results presented in this white paper
are based on a particular database and transaction mix. Your database will differ in size and complexity
from this one example. In addition, your transaction mix and overall workload will differ from the tested
applications in various ways.

Sizing projects typically survey customers to collect existing and projected user populations in segmented
categories such as ‘heavy users,’ ‘typical users,’ and ‘light users’. Additionally, IT preferences for
production versus development or test environments will shape decisions, as will chosen migration
practices. In these tests, the self-service users’ transactions were considered ‘lighter’ than the forms
transactions.

The sizing examples provided here makes basic assumptions, and actual results could vary substantially.
Your Oracle Hardware Account Manager will be able to provide environment-specific sizing assistance.

Oracle E-Business Suite on Exastack: A Sizing Example

The following example models a production environment with 500 Forms users from each of two business
units (total of 2 × 500), 1000 mixed users (primarily self-service transactions) from each of three business
units (total of 3 × 1000), and 500 kiosk and light self-service users from each of eight business locations
(total of 8 × 500). A graphical depiction of forms and self-service test results is provided in Figures 6 and
7.

Note also that memory utilization, shown in Figures 3 and 5, should also be considered. While Exastack
units can accept additional memory, this may limit bus speed in maxed-out configurations, which in turn
could impact performance. In such a case, scaling up by adding one or more additional units would be the
better choice.

Exalogic Exadata
100 100
90 90
80 80
70 70
60 60
48.35
CPU

CPU

50 50
37.31
40 40
26.43 25.03
30 30
20 16.26 20 13.87
10 10
0 0
700 Users 1,400 2,100 700 Users 1,400 2,100
Users Users Users Users

Figure 6. Example Exastack Hardware Scaling for Forms on E-Business Suite Release 12.1.3

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 Exalogic Exadata
100 100
90 90
80 80
70 70
60 60
CPU

CPU
50 50
40 40
30 30
17.96 18.69
20 20 13.82 15.7

10 10
0 0
840 Users 1,300 Users 840 Users 1,300 Users
Figure 7. Example Exastack Hardware Scaling for Self-Service E-Business Suite Release 12.1.3

Upon reviewing the application tier Forms chart, there is just over a 10% CPU rise when going from 700
to 1400 users. So, estimate CPU of approximately 21% for only 1000 users. Similarly, looking at the
application tier self-service chart, there is approximately a 1% CPU rise in going from 840 to 1300 users.
However, the memory used increased by about 9 GB for the (1300 – 840) 460 added users. Likewise, the
4000 kiosk and light self-service users scales up to about 60% CPU. The 132% application tier total (21%
+ 51% + 60%) would leave spare CPU capacity on two units, but no spare memory capacity, so at least
three units would need to be allowed for this application tier.

Sizing for the database tier uses corresponding estimates and calls for two units (three for memory
capacity). This would be an Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) deployment. A summary table of
sizing estimates for this test for both the Application Tier and Database Tier is provided in Table 4.

Active Concurrent Concurrent

Load Users Users Exalogic Users Exadata
Heavy 500 × 2 1000 21% 1000 20%
Moderate 1000 × 3 3000 51% 3000 45%
Kiosk/Light 500 × 8 4000 60% 4000 55%
Totals ~132% 2—3 Units ~120% 2—3 Units

Table 4. Example Hardware Sizing Estimate for Exastack

Guidelines for Deploying Oracle E-Business Suite on Exastack

While Exalogic and Exadata can greatly enhance the performance of Oracle E-Business Suite, the
standard Oracle E-Business Suite installation, setup, and tuning guidelines should be followed.

Understanding guidelines for deployment begins with My Oracle Support Knowledge Document
380483.1, Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 Additional Configuration and Deployment Options. This
document provides an overview of configuration topics, and provides references to additional My Oracle
Support knowledge documents that go into more detail.

The following table provides an overview of the information provided My Oracle Support Knowledge
Document 380483.1.

Deploying Oracle E-Business Suite on Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud and Oracle Exadata Database Machine Page 10
 Table 3. Overview of My Oracle Support Knowledge Document 380483.1

• Hardware-based load-balancing routers

• Secure Socket Layer (SSL)
• Demilitarized Zones (DMZ) and reverse proxies
• Multiple domain names for the same Oracle E-Business Suite environment
• Integration with Oracle Application Server 10g, including Oracle Single Sign-On, Oracle
Internet Directory, Oracle Portal, Oracle Discoverer
• Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) and Automatic Storage Management (ASM)

Note 380489.1 Note 376700.1 Note 380490.1 Note 388577.1

Using Load-Balancers
with Oracle E-Business
Suite Release 12
Section 1: Introduction
Section 2: Planning
Deployment Options
2.1: Using Hardware Load
Balancers with Single Web
Entry Point
2.2: Using Hardware Load
Balancers with Multiple Web
Entry Points
2.3: Using Hardware Load
Balancers with Functional
Redirection
2.4 Using Domain Name
Server (DNS) Load
Balancing with Single Web
Entry Point
Section 3:Configuring
Oracle Application Server
OC4J Clusters
3.1: Deployment Option
with Single Web Entry Point
3.2: Deployment Option
with Multiple Web Entry
Point
Enabling SSL in Oracle Oracle E-Business Using Oracle 10g
E-Business Suite Suite R12 Configuration Release 2 Real
Release 12 in a DMZ Application Clusters
and Automatic Storage
Management with
Section 1: Introduction Section 1: Overview Oracle E-Business
Section 2: Concepts and Section 2: DMZ Suite Release 12
Terminology Deployment Options
Section 3: Middle Tier Section 3: Required
Section 1: Overview
Setup Patches for DMZ
Configurations Section 2: Environment
Section 4: Database Tier
Section 3: Database
Setup Section 4: Creating an
Installation and Oracle
Section 5: Advanced SSL External Web Tier for E-
Business Suite RAC Migration
Setup
Section 5: Configuring the Section 4: References
Section 6: Converting
Existing Certificates E-Business Suite for DMZ
Deployments
Section 7: Creating your
Certifying Authority's
Certificate
Section 8: Oracle
Application Server
Certificate Authority
Section 9: Disabling SSL
v2 and Weak Ciphers
Section 10: Encrypting
database network traffic
using ANO/ASO

With regard to Exalogic, the application tier guidelines for web server, application server, Java, and
concurrent processing should be followed. With regard to Exadata, Oracle Real Application Clusters
(Oracle RAC) guidelines should be followed for multi-node deployments. Selected Oracle E-Business
Suite guidance can be found in a family of related My Oracle Support knowledge documents. The
recommended Oracle E-Business Suite deployment on Exastack is shown in Figure 8.

Deploying Oracle E-Business Suite on Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud and Oracle Exadata Database Machine Page 11
 Figure 8. Oracle E-Business Suite Deployment on Exastack

With regard to Exadata, refer to the following for additional details regarding Oracle E-Business Suite
Release 12 running on Exadata:

• Oracle E-Business Suite on Oracle Exadata Database Machine

• Installing Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 with Exadata Database Machine

Guidelines for Migrating from Commodity Hardware to Exastack

The application tier and database tier of an Oracle E-Business Suite deployment may be migrated from
commodity hardware to Exastack using the methods described in My Oracle Support knowledge
documents (notes).
The method for migrating the application tier utilizes Rapid Clone. The method for migrating the database
tier utilizes the data pump export and import features. This following sections provides summary overview
of the steps for these two migration methods.

Migrating the Oracle E-Business Suite Application Tier using Rapid Clone
Oracle E-Business Suite cloning involves creating a copy (clone) of the system. The cloning process is
designed to produce a copy of the system patch level and data, as opposed to creating an copy of the
system topology. The goal is that the cloned system will always provide the same output to end users as
the source system did.
My Oracle Support Knowledge Document 406982.1, Cloning Oracle Applications Release 12 with Rapid
Clone, provides an overview of the use of cloning to migrate from a commodity hardware to the Exastack
environment. The following is a listing of the sections included in My Oracle Support Knowledge
Document 406982.1:
Section 1: Prerequisite Tasks
Before cloning, prepare the source system by applying any required patches and running
AutoConfig.
Section 2: Cloning Tasks
Use Rapid Clone to create template files for cloning on the source system. After the source
system is copied to the target, Rapid Clone updates these templates to contain the new
target system configuration settings.
Section 3: Finishing Tasks
This section lists tasks that may be necessary, depending on your implementation and the
intended use of the cloned system.

Deploying Oracle E-Business Suite on Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud and Oracle Exadata Database Machine Page 12
 Section 4: Advanced Cloning Options
This section describes various advanced cloning procedures that may need to be employed
to meet specialized requirements.

Migrating the Oracle E-Business Suite Database Tier to Exadata

There are a number of methods available for migrating an E-Business Suite database to Exadata
depending on the source platform and the changes that are to be made during the migration. These
include performing a fresh install, using Oracle Transportable Tablespaces, or using Oracle Data
Pump.

Performing a Fresh Install

Specific steps must be executed when performing a new database installation on Exadata for E-
Business Suite. To assist with a fresh install for an Oracle E-Business Suite database on Exadata,
refer to the following white paper:

• Installing Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 with Exadata Database Machine

Using Oracle Transportable Tablespaces

If you are deploying to a compatible platform, you may use Oracle Transportable Tablespace to
perform the database migration. Additional details regarding the use of these techniques may be
found here:

• Migrating Oracle E-Business Suite to Exadata Database Machine Using Transportable

Tablespaces

Using Oracle Data Pump

The data pump export and import features allows you to move existing data between Oracle databases
that run on the same or different operating systems. My Oracle Support Knowledge Document 741818.1,
Export/Import Process for Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 database Instances using Oracle
Database 11g Release 1 or 11g Release 2 provides useful information for database tier migration
between a reference commodity hardware environment and the Exastack environment.

The following is a listing of the sections included in My Oracle Support Knowledge Document 741818.1:

Section 1: Prepare the source system

This section describes how to ensure that you have the required patches, create your export
file, and capture important information that is required to import your database.
Section 2: Prepare a target Release 12 database instance
This section describes how to create the empty target database and populate it with all of the
required system objects prior to running import.
Section 3: Export the source Release 12 database instance
This section describes how to ensure that you have the required patches, create your export
file, and capture important information that is required to import your database.
Section 4: Import the Release 12 database instance

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 This section describes how to use the import utility to load the Oracle Applications data into
the target database.
Section 5: Update the imported Release 12 database instance
This section describes how to recreate the database objects and relationships that are not
handled by the export and import utilities.

Specific instructions for using data pump to migrate an Oracle E-Business Suite database to Exadata are
provided in the following white paper:

• Migrating Oracle E-Business Suite to Exadata Database Machine Using Oracle Data Pump

Deploying Oracle E-Business Suite on Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud and Oracle Exadata Database Machine Page 14
References
For additional details, review the following re
resources:

Oracle E-Business
Business Suite Release 12 Additional Configuration and Deployment Options, Note 380483.1
Oracle E-Business
Business Suite Release 11i & R12 Patches Required with Oracle Database 11g Release 2
(11.2.0) on Exadata, Note 1392527.1
Using Load-Balancers
Balancers with Oracle E
E-Business Suite Release 12, Note 380489.1
Enabling SSL in Oracle E-Business
Business Suite Release 12, Note 376700.1
Oracle E-Business
Business Suite R12 Configuration in a DMZ, Note 380490.1
Using Oracle 10g Release 2 Real Application Clusters and Automatic Storage Management with Oracle
E-Business
Business Suite Release 12, Note 388577.1
Cloning Oracle Applications Release 12 with Rapid Clone, Note 406982.1
Database Machine and Exadata Storage Server 11g Release 2 (11.2) SupportedSupporte Versions, Note
888828.1

http://www.oracle.com/exadata
Exadata X2-2 Hardware specifications

http://www.oracle.com/exalogic
Exalogic X2-2
2 Hardware specifications
Exalogic Hardware Overview
Exalogic Software Overview

twitter.com/OracleExalogic

Facebook.com/Exalogic

MAA Best Practices – Oracle Applications

Oracle E
E-Business Suite Online Documentation Library

Oracle E-Business
Business Suite on Oracle Exadata Database Machine
Installing Oracle E-Business
Business Suite Release 12 with Exadata Database Machine
Migrating Oracle E-Business
Business Suite to Exadata Database Machine Using Transportable Tablespaces
Migrating Oracle E-Business
Business Suite to Exadata Database Machine Using Oracle Data Pump

Deploying Oracle E-Business

Business Suite on Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud and Oracle Exadata Database Machine Page 15
Deployment and Sizing
Guidelines for Oracle E-Business
Suite on Exalogic and Exadata
September 2012 (Updated June
2013)

Authors: Gordon Wenneker

Contributing Authors: Isam
Alyousfi, Samer Barakat, SwamiG
Govindarajan, Robert Farrington,
Elke Phelps
Oracle Corporation
World Headquarters
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Redwood Shores, CA 94065
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Worldwide Inquiries:
Phone: +1.650.506.7000
Fax: +1.650.506.7200
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purposes only and
the contents hereof are subject to change without notice. This document is not warranted to be error-free, nor
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Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of
their respective owners.

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