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

Stage Milestone Due Date Previous Date Complete  
Initiate Project Initiation 12-Oct-2020 No date available Yes

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Plan Project Planning 06-Nov-2020 No date available No

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Analyse System Analysis 27-Nov-2020 No date available No

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Build JIRA(Pilot for 19c) DEV Service Built and Migrated 14-Dec-2020 No date available No

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Accept JIRA(Oracle 19c Pilot) DEV database Post Migration testing Complete and signed off as completed 21-Dec-2020 No date available No

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Build JIRA(Pilot for 19c) TEST Service Built and Migrated 11-Jan-2021 No date available No

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Accept JIRA(Oracle 19c Pilot) TEST database Post Migration testing Complete and signed off as completed 18-Jan-2021 No date available No

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Build JIRA(Pilot for 19c) LIVE Service Built and Migrated 02-Feb-2021 No date available No

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Accept JIRA(Oracle 19c Pilot) LIVE database Post Migration testing Complete and Migration signed off as completed 08-Feb-2021 No date available No

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Deliver JIRA database deployments signed off 11-Feb-2021 No date available No

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Build NEWS Server Built and Configured for DEV and TEST and Oracle Databases Migrated 19-Mar-2021 No date available No

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Accept NEWS DEV and TEST databases Post Migration testing Complete and Migrations signed off as completed 26-Mar-2021 No date available No

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Build NEWS Server Built and Configured for LIVE and Oracle Database Migrated 12-Apr-2021 No date available No

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Accept NEWS LIVE databases Post Migration testing Complete and signed off 19-Apr-2021 No date available No

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Deliver NEWS LIVE database VM deployment signed off 23-Apr-2021 No date available No

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Build Service 3 DEV, TEST and LIVE servers Built, configured and Migrations completed 24-Jun-2021 No date available No

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Build Service 4 DEV, TEST and LIVE servers Built, configured and Migrations completed 12-Aug-2021 No date available No

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Build Service 5 DEV, TEST and LIVE servers Built, configured and Migrations completed 17-Sep-2021 No date available No

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Build Service 6 DEV, TEST and LIVE servers Built, configured and Migrations completed 29-Oct-2021 No date available No

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Build Service 7 DEV, TEST and LIVE servers Built, configured and Migrations completed 10-Dec-2021 No date available No

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Build Service 8 DEV, TEST and LIVE servers Built, configured and Migrations completed 23-Mar-2022 No date available No  view
Build Service 9 DEV, TEST and LIVE servers Built, configured and Migrations completed 25-May-2022 No date available   view
Deliver Decommissioning of any servers 10-Jun-2022 No date available   view
Deliver Deployment Sign Off Review(DSOR) 24-Jun-2022 No date available No

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Close Closure 22-Jul-2022 No date available No

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Project Info

Project
Move Oracle databases to VMs - Phase 2
Code
INF149
Programme
ISG - IS Applications Infrastructure (INF)
Management Office
ISG PMO
Project Manager
David Watters
Project Sponsor
Suran Perera
Current Stage
Close
Status
Closed
Project Classification
Run
Start Date
11-Sep-2020
Planning Date
06-Nov-2020
Delivery Date
24-Jun-2022
Close Date
29-Sep-2022
Overall Priority
Highest
Category
Compliance