Oracle Big Data Appliance

The Oracle Big Data Appliance consists of hardware and software from Oracle Corporation designed to integrate enterprise data, both structured and unstructured. It includes the Oracle Exadata Database Machine and the Oracle Exalytics Business Intelligence Machine, used for obtaining, consolidating and loading unstructured data into Oracle Database 11g.[1] The product also includes an open source distribution of Apache Hadoop, Oracle NoSQL Database, Oracle Data Integrator with Application Adapter for Hadoop, Oracle Loader for Hadoop, an open source distribution of R, Oracle Linux, and Oracle Java Hotspot Virtual Machine.[2]

History

Oracle announced the Oracle Big Data Appliance Mon, October 3 at Oracle OpenWorld 2011.
Oracle is notorious for acquiring other companies' software / hardware and making its own software compatible. They have maximized their position in the field of Big Data by maximizing their platform capabilities by acquiring the web tier, the middleware, the database software, the database tier and the storage tier. This allows them to offer what they consider the total package for Big Data.

The Challenge

The purpose of Oracle’s Big Data appliance is to integrate all enterprise data, structured and unstructured using a combination of hardware and software. This integration includes capturing the mountains of data from department silos, from weblogs, social media feeds, smart meters, sensors and other devices that generate massive volumes of data that are found in most enterprises. This maneuvering of data will change how business users perceive data and use it.

Hardware

The major hardware components of the Big Data appliance consist of: a full rack configuration with 864GB of main memory and 432 TB of storage. A full rack consists of 18 servers nodes that include a Sun server which is made up of: 2 CPUs (6-core Intel processors), 48 GB memory per node (upgradable to 96 GB or 144 GB), 12 x 2TB disks per node, InfiniBand Networking and 10 GbE connectivity. [3]

Software

The software available will also be sold separately, to allow customers to define their own configurations with their existing Big Data infrastructure as well as a component in the data appliance.[6]

How it Works

A simplistic view is an organization would use the Oracle Big Data Appliance (Hadoop and NoSQL) to capture the data, then use Big Data Connectors to a data warehouse where they can use Oracle Enterprise R or any other data mining techniques to analyze the data further...

Support

In partnership with Cloudera, the Hadoop software and services provider, Oracle will provide first-line support, Tier 1, for the appliance and all software (including the Hadoop distribution and Cloudera Manager) through its issue-tracking support infrastructure (My Oracle Support). Cloudera will handle Tier 2 and 3 support as well as training and consulting engagements.[7]

Additional Information

Oracle Digs in On NoSQL, Hadoop, End-to-End Big Data
Oracle Big Data Appliance Overview

References

  1. Darrow, Barb (2011-10-03). "Oracle BigData Appliance stakes big claim". Retrieved 30 December 2011.
  2. Dijcks, Jean-Pierre. "Oracle: Big Data for the Enterprise". Oracle Corporation. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
  3. Winter, Richard (December 2011). "Big Data :Business Opportunities, Requirements and Oracle's Approach". Winter Corporation. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
  4. Oracle Corporation. "ORACLE NOSQL DATABASE 11G". Oracle Corporation.
  5. Oracle Corporation (1 Jan 2011). "Java SE HotSpot at a Glance". Oracle Technology Network. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  6. Kanaracus, Chris (3 Oct 2011). "Oracle Rolls Out 'Big Data' Appliance". CIO. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
  7. Henschen, Doug (10 Jan 2011). "Oracle Makes Big Data Appliance Move With Cloudera.". Information Week. Retrieved 24 January 2012.