Overview
Background
The physical servers that are used to host our Oracle databases are reaching End of Life.(the already extended Hardware contracts expire on April 2022). The solution identified is to move all Oracle databases to a Virtual Infrastructure. It has been agreed that Oracle 19c will be the Oracle database version on the VM. The first service we migrate(JIRA) will be the pilot to test migration using Oracle 19c as the version. It is not expected to be hugely different to Oracle 12c but to be safe JIRA will be treated as our pilot migration and some extra time, checks and testing will be done to ensure we are happy with it.
A number of Advantages have been highlighted in moving to a Virtual Infrastructure
- Oracle databases can be managed more efficiently as they are hosted on their own virtual server and not in a shared environment with other databases
- The virtual servers will run Centos 7 Linux operating system which is a more up to date version of the Operating system.
- Patching of virtual server and related Oracle database can be managed individually and doesn't need to be done in one big bang approach, as is the case when all databases reside on one physical server.
- Capability to fail servers across sites.
Although there are numerous advantages to moving to a Virtual Infrastructure, there is one potential disadvantage.
- Potential Impact on Performance on heavy transactional systems.
This Project (INF149) is a continuation of the great work carried on previous Projects INF142 and INF126. A number of Oracle databases were migrated as part of INF142 and positively no issues were identified in terms of impact on performance. In saying that, INF149 has different services to migrate, some larger services, heavier transactional services namely MyEd and Apps, so this will need to be monitored closely regarding performance.
Scope
The scope of this project includes the following:
- Capturing details of all databases and services that need to be migrated as part of this project including DEV, TEST and LIVE databases for each service.
- Capturing all EOL(End of Life) dates on databases and related servers including Oracle version EOL, Linux Server EOL and Physical Server EOL
- Proposed Operating system is Centos 7 so checking with Technical Teams that all databases captured above can be moved to a virtual machine running that OS version
- Evaluating End of Life dates and let that guide the order of the Databases being migrated. i.e. Any servers/services/databases with a soon to be end of life date, will be migrated first and be the priority.
- Planning the migrations to the replacement VMs according to the lists made in the above, earlier steps; taking business diaries and schedules into consideration and checking on any other projects running concurrently that could be a dependency for this project.
- Refining the VM solution process developed under INF129 and INF142 and adjusting, if necessary, any of the processes and documentation associated with this
- Working with ITI Infrastructure Unix Team to request, build, configure and prepare the virtual database servers that are required for migration
- Fully testing all databases and services before they are migrated ensuing any known issues are recorded
- Carrying out the planned migrations of the databases identified above
- Fully testing and analysing the migrated databases; including measurement of 'before & after' speeds/response times
- Switching and "Go Live" to the new VM-based databases once build and testing is complete and signed-off
- Decommissioning the physical servers that are replaced with the introduction of virtual machines, under this project
Out of scope
- Any upgrades of Oracle databases from versions lower than 12c (already identified via other projects) will not be included in the scope of this project
- Any Oracle 12c databases that are identified as needing to be migrated under other areas of work (i.e. People and Money; SaaS applications) will not be included in this project
- Metro Stretch cluster is now out of scope
Objectives and Deliverables
No. | Description | MoSCoW | Owner |
O1 | To list all databases that need to migrate from their current servers because of the upcoming redundancy of the Hardware and Linux versions RHEL 6 & CentOS 6 | ||
D1 | A definitive listing of all Oracle databases running on servers running RHEL 6 and Centos 6. | Must | Project team |
O2 | To classify (by their required or mandatory OS) the databases that will need to be migrated to new VMs as part of this Project | ||
D2 | A listing of all Oracle databases that need to be migrated to new VMs from their current server and OS, and Analysis and agreement that they can move to Centos 7 | Must | Project team |
O3 | To plan the migrations to the replacement VMs, according to the lists made in the earlier steps of the project | ||
D3 | A deployment plan for each migration that takes any business needs and other Dependant Projects into consideration. | Must | Project team |
O4 | Analyse End of Life dates for current servers and current OS versions and construct a Migration order | ||
D4 | Check End of life dates on current servers and let that guide and prioritise which services and databases need to be migrated first | Must | |
O5 | To refine the VM solution developed under INF129 and INF142 and adjust any of the processes and documentation associated with this | ||
D5 | An updated, re-usable version of the solution developed under the earlier projects [INF129 and INF142] specifically looking at implementing Puppet 5 usage and configuration. | Must | Project team |
D6 | Refined processes and updated documentation to support the VM solution (as necessary) | Should | Project team |
O6 | To build and prepare the virtual database servers that have been identified as necessary for migration | ||
D7 | A set of new Virtual servers to be built and configured that will host the databases that need to be migrated | Must | Project team |
D8 | Updated technical documentation (TADs), Wiki pages and Abacus CMDB holding current Server Information | Must | Project team |
O7 | To carry out the planned migrations of the databases across all required DEV, TEST and LIVE environments | ||
D9 | All identified Oracle databases migrated to virtual servers | Must | Project team |
O8 | To comprehensively test and analyse the migrated databases before switching them to live | ||
D10 | A set of test results to show that the migrated databases perform within acceptable limits and that there is no loss of performance | Must | Project team |
O9 | To decommission the physical servers that are being replaced with the introduction of virtual machines | ||
D11 | When all databases have been migrated to VMs some physical servers(i.e. those under this project) will need to be decommissioned as they will no longer be needed ang longer. They need to be put through the decommission process and removed from the UoE network | Must | Project team |
Benefits
This project is expected to deliver the following benefits:
- The impending end-of-life of our physical Oracle database infrastructure will be addressed
- The advantages of a VM infrastructure should be realised and provide us particularly with improved site failover capabilities1
- Each Database will be in its own virtual environment and can be managed and patched separately, rather than having a shared infrastructure with other databases
1. The benefits of virtualising an Oracle environment have been identified by Gartner Research. Tangible benefits include cost reduction: hardware costs, operating system license cost, database license cost, and associated manpower costs. Intangible benefits include uniform database image, increased reliability, flexibility and availability.
Success Criteria
The achievement of the main objectives and the successful production of the above deliverables will determine the success, or otherwise, of this project.
Project Milestones