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# 1 Introduction to Oracle Big Data Appliance

This chapter describes the features and hardware components of Oracle Big Data Appliance. It also includes usage information.

This chapter contains these sections:

- About Oracle Big Data Appliance

- Oracle Big Data Appliance Rack Components

- Server Components

- Spare Parts Kit Components

- Oracle Big Data Appliance Management Software

- Oracle Big Data Appliance Restrictions on Use

## 1.1 About Oracle Big Data Appliance

Oracle Big Data Appliance is an engineered system of hardware and software optimized to capture and analyze the massive volumes of unstructured data generated by social media feeds, email, web logs, photographs, smart meters, sensors, and similar devices.

Oracle Big Data Appliance is engineered to work with Oracle Exadata Database Machine and Oracle Exalytics In-Memory Machine to provide the most advanced analysis of all data types, with enterprise-class performance, availability, supportability, and security.

The Oracle Linux operating system and Cloudera's Distribution including Apache Hadoop (CDH) underlie all other software components installed on Oracle Big Data Appliance.

See Also:

Oracle Big Data Appliance Software User's Guide

## 1.2 Oracle Big Data Appliance Rack Components

Oracle Big Data Appliance consists of a rack and the components to connect to your network.

Table 1-1 lists the components in an Oracle Big Data Appliance rack.

Table 1-1 Oracle Big Data Appliance Rack Components

Full Rack | Starter Rack | Description
--- | --- | ---
18 | 6 | Sun Server X3-2L or Sun Fire X4270 M2
1 | 1 | Sun Rack II 1242 base
2 | 2 | Sun Network QDR InfiniBand Gateway NM2-GW switches
1 | 1 | Sun Datacenter InfiniBand Switch 36 NM2-36P switches
1 | 1 | Cisco Catalyst 4948-E-F Ethernet switch (4948 with Sun Fire X4270 M2)
2 | 2 | Power distribution units
1 | 1 | KVM (only in Sun Fire X4270 M2-based racks)

## 1.3 Server Components

Table 1-2 lists the components of a Sun Server X3-2L.

Table 1-2 Sun Server X3-2L Server Components

Quantity | Description
--- | ---
1 | Sun Server X3-2L server base
2 | Eight-core Intel Xeon processors E5-2600 series (2.2 GHz)
8 | 8 GB DDR3 2RX4 1333 MHz DIMMs (64 GB RAM)
12 | 3 TB 3.5-inch 7200 RPM drives
1 | Ethernet port for Oracle Integrated Lights Out Manager v3.1 for remote management
1 | Dual-port 4X QDR (40 Gbps) InfiniBand Host Channel Adapter Network Interface Card
1 | Host bus adapter (disk controller) with 8 internal ports and 512 MB battery-backed write cache
2 | Redundant power supplies and fans
4 | Embedded 10 gigabit Ethernet port
1 | USB-2 4 GB flash drive

Table 1-3 lists the components of a Sun Fire X4270 M2.

Table 1-3 Sun Fire X4270 M2 Server Components

Quantity | Description
--- | ---
1 | Sun Fire X4270 M2 server base
2 | Six-core Intel Xeon X5675 processors (3.06 GHz)
6 | 8 GB DDR3 2RX4 1333 MHz DIMMs (48 GB RAM)
12 | 3 TB 3.5-inch 7200 RPM drives
1 | Ethernet port for Oracle Integrated Lights Out Manager v3.0 for remote management
1 | Dual-port 4X QDR (40 Gbps) InfiniBand Host Channel Adapter Network Interface Card
1 | Host bus adapter (disk controller) with 8 internal ports and 512 MB battery-backed write cache
2 | Redundant power supplies and fans
4 | Embedded 1 gigabit Ethernet port
1 | USB-2 4 GB flash drive

## 1.4 Spare Parts Kit Components

The Oracle Big Data Appliance spare parts kit includes disk drives, accessory kits, cables, and documentation. Table 1-4 and Table 1-5 identify the bundled spares.

Table 1-4 Bundled Components and Accessories

Part Number | Quantity | Description
--- | --- | ---
390-0476-03 | 2 | 3 TB 3.5-inch 7200 RPM drives
590-896-501B | 1 | LCD Accessory Kit (Sun Fire X4270 M2-based racks only)
53-2332-xx | 1 | Cisco Switch Documents and Accessories Kit

Table 1-5 Bundled Cables

Part Number | Length | Quantity | Description
--- | --- | --- | ---
530-4446-01 | 5 meters | 10 | QSFP passive copper cable
530-4445-01 | 3 meters | 6 | QSFP passive copper cable
350-1519-01 | -- | 3 | ASSY, NM2 serial cable sets

Table 1-6 lists the spare parts that are secured to the center section of an Oracle Big Data Appliance rack.

Table 1-6 In-Rack Spare Cables

Part Number | Length | Quantity | Description
--- | --- | --- | ---
530-4445-01 | 3 meters | 2 | QSFP passive copper cable
530-4437-01 | 10 feet | 1 | Orange Cat 5
530-4435-01 | 10 feet | 1 | Black Cat 5
530-4433-01 | 10 feet | 1 | Red Cat 5
530-4432-01 | 7 feet | 1 | Blue Cat 5

## 1.5 Oracle Big Data Appliance Management Software

The software components are installed on all servers in an Oracle Big Data Appliance rack. Oracle Linux, required drivers, firmware, and hardware verification utilities are factory installed. Among them are the following tools:

Note:

See Chapter 11 except where directed otherwise.

- Oracle Integrated Lights Out Manager (Oracle ILOM) consists of preinstalled, dedicated hardware and software that you can use to manage and monitor the servers and switches in an Oracle Big Data Appliance rack. See Chapter 13.

- The `setup-root-ssh` utility sets up passwordless SSH for the `root` user among all the servers in an Oracle Big Data Appliance rack. See "Setting Up Passwordless SSH".

- The `dcli` utility executes commands across a group of servers on Oracle Big Data Appliance and returns the output. See Chapter 12.

- The `bdacheckcluster` utility checks the health of the cluster.

- The `bdacheckib` utility checks the private InfiniBand network.

- The `bdachecknet` utility checks the network configuration.

- The `iblinkinfo` utility lists the connections in the InfiniBand network.

- The `listlinkup` utility identifies the active Ethernet ports.

- The `showvlan` utility lists the virtual local area networks (VLANs) configured on a Sun Network QDR InfiniBand Gateway switch.

- The `showvnics` utility lists the virtual network interface cards (VNICs) created on a Sun Network QDR InfiniBand Gateway switch.

All end-user software is installed on site using the Mammoth Utility. See Chapter 9.

See Also:

Oracle Big Data Appliance Software User's Guide

## 1.6 Oracle Big Data Appliance Restrictions on Use

The following restrictions apply to hardware and software modifications to Oracle Big Data Appliance. Violating these restrictions can result in the loss of warranty and support.

- Oracle Big Data Appliance hardware cannot be modified or customized, with two exceptions:

  1. Replace the administrative 48-port Cisco 4948 Ethernet switch. Customers can do the following:

     - Replace the Gigabit Ethernet switch with an equivalent 1U 48-port Gigabit Ethernet switch that conforms to their internal data center network standards. This replacement must be performed by customers at their own expense and labor, after delivery of Oracle Big Data Appliance. If customers choose to make this change, then Oracle cannot make or assist with this change given the numerous possible scenarios involved, and it is not included as part of the standard installation. Customers must supply the replacement hardware, and make or arrange for this change through other means.

     - Remove the Cat 5 cables connected to the Ethernet switch and connect them to the customer network through an external switch or patch panel. Customers must perform these changes at their expense and labor. In this case, the Cisco 4948 Ethernet switch in the rack can be turned off and disconnected from the data center network.

  2. In a Sun Server X3-2L-based rack, install a top-of-rack (TOR) switch that supports both 10 GbE (or 40 GbE) and 1 GbE, such as the Sun Network 10 GbE Switch 72p, in rack slots 41 and 42. These slots are empty in the factory configuration. Customers must perform this installation at their expense and labor. It is not included as part of the standard installation.

     This modification is not permitted in Sun Fire X4270 M2-based racks, which have no empty slots.

- Customers cannot update the firmware directly on Oracle Big Data Appliance servers. Oracle Big Data Appliance patches update the firmware of the server ILOM/BIOS, InfiniBand host channel adapters (HCA), disk controller host bus adapters (HBA), and hard drives (HDD).

  The only exception is if the customer replaces a faulty server component (such as a disk drive) with a unit installed with firmware at a lower version than the faulty component. The upgrade must be performed using the `bdaupdatefw` utility.

- Customers can update the firmware of the other components of Oracle Big Data Appliance:

  - Customers can update the IOS and firmware versions on the Cisco 4948 Ethernet switch to meet their data center requirements.

  - Customers can update the firmware of the InfiniBand switches if the updates comply with the validated versions documented in My Oracle Support ID 1528190.1.

  - Customers can update the firmware of the power distribution units (PDUs) if the updates comply with the validated versions documented in My Oracle Support ID 1528190.1.

  - Customers can update the firmware of the KVM switch and the KMM (keyboard, monitor, mouse) as needed (Sun Fire X4270 M2-based rack only).

- Customers can install additional software on Oracle Big Data Appliance servers. Oracle does not support questions or issues with the nonstandard modules. If a server fails, and Oracle suspects that the failure may have been caused by a nonstandard module, then Oracle Support may refer the customer to the vendor of the nonstandard module or ask that the issue be reproduced without the nonstandard module.

  Modifying the server operating system other than by applying official patches and upgrades is not supported.

  InfiniBand-related packages must always be maintained at the officially supported release.

  You can install third-party software that complies with the following restrictions:

  - The software must support the version of 64-bit Oracle Linux running on Oracle Big Data Appliance.

  - The software must be related to the use of Cloudera's Distribution including Apache Hadoop (CDH) or Oracle NoSQL Database installed on the cluster, or to Information Technologies (IT) or data center requirements, such as monitoring software.

  - The software must not overwrite, update, replace, or invalidate the software components already installed on Oracle Big Data Appliance. Run `bdachecksw` on each server where new software is installed, to ensure that the original software components are still valid. See bdachecksw.

  - The software must not consume CPU, disk, or memory resources to the extent that it adversely affects the operating system, the CDH cluster, or Oracle NoSQL Database.

  Customers are responsible for supporting all software on Oracle Big Data Appliance that they install in addition to the software installed by the Mammoth utility.

- Customers can use Cloudera Manager to stop and start services, but cannot use it to move services from one server to another. The Hadoop services such as NameNode and JobTracker must remain on the servers where they were installed by the Mammoth Utility.

  See Also:

  Oracle Big Data Appliance Software User's Guide for service locations

- Customers cannot connect USB devices to Oracle Big Data Appliance servers except as documented in this guide. In those documented situations, the USB device should not draw more than 100 mA of power.

- The network ports on the servers can connect to external non-Sun servers using Internet small computer system interface (iSCSI) or network file system (NFS) protocols. However, the Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) protocol is not supported.

- Only switches specified for use in Oracle Big Data Appliance, Oracle Exadata Database Machine, and Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud can be connected to the InfiniBand network. Connecting third-party switches and other switches not used in these engineered systems is not supported.