Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control 13c: Planning Database as a Service Implementation Project

By Nilesh Agrawal

People, process and planning are the three key elements to success in a private cloud journey. Some common questions i hear from field/customers often relates to tasks involved in setting up Database-as-a-Service(DBaaS) using Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c from scratch and how these tasks are mapped to current IT roles and responsibilities - overall list of activities that needs to be performed to setup and achieve DBaaS and who does what during the implementation process.

In terms of roles, responsibilities and users, you will map to these categories

Project Manager is responsible for working with all stakeholders, project team and coordinating in planning and delivering DBaaS implementation project
EM Admin sets ups Cloud management infrastructure and is responsible for overall EM 12c installation/configuration and Administration
Cloud Admins are responsible for managing the Cloud infrastructure(Servers, Network, Storage) and related Administration
SSA Admins or Cloud DBAs are responsible for Self Service portal setup, managing quotas, policies, target DBs S/W provisioning/ongoing Administration
SSA Users or End users of Cloud who actually requests for DB instances to be rapidly provisioned on-demand from Self Service portal

Here is a sample Work-breakdown structure(WBS) listing down tasks involved and with individual owners mapped. Note - we have all type of use cases covered in the plan (DBCA, RMAN, Schema as a Service, Snap Clone) and you can pick up any or mix or all of these tasks in your plan depending on your use cases and requirements for implementing DBaaS -

Activity	Description	Owner
A. Initiation and Startup
Determine scope of implementation	Determine and document scope of DBaaS Cloud implementation together with customer and end users. Determine requirements and goals. Introduction meeting implementation team.	Project Manager
Coordination and quality management	Coordination and quality management on throughout all phases of the implementation	Project Manager
Define High availability Needs	Determine the level of High availability required	Project Manager
Technical intake	Technical intake meeting; Infrastructure requirements (Hardware, OS, network/firewall, s/w requirement) for cloud setup	Project Manager
Functional intake	Functional intake meeting; Monitoring /Reporting/Alerting requirement. User/Roles/Groups/Rules model	Project Manager
Deliver implementation plan	Document requirements and goals. Document required functional and technical configuration. Build architecture Diagram. Update estimate planning based on implementation plan.	Project Manager
B. Infrastructure Setup
Install hardware systems	Plan EM12c compatible hardware systems	EM Admin
Operating system installation	Installation of certified OS platform [Refer Certify on MOS]	EM Admin
Network configuration of hardware systems	General network configuration of hardware systems I.e. TCP/IP, routing, NTP, firewall access, SSH, HTTP and HTTPS access. Set up network access between systems and work place of end users. Optionally implementation of remote access	EM Admin
C. Production EM 12c Cloud Control Installation
Install of Oracle Database 11gR2	Installation of Oracle Database 11gR2 for Repository	EM Admin
Installation of EM 12c Cloud Control Release 2 Update 1 and latest PSU	Installation of EM 12c Cloud Control OMS/Agents	EM Admin
Review HA, Security, Sizing Best practices	Setup as per EM 12c Admin guide	EM Admin
Review recommended patches	Review latest PSU and DBaaS patches as per MOS Note 1549855.1	EM Admin
D. Setting up High Availability
Configure Repository For High Availability	Enable Repository as per database high availability best practices. Configure Standby database @ DR site for EM cloud control repository. Configure repository database as RAC database with 2 or more nodes Configure OMS for RAC/standby repository	EM Admin
Configure OMS for High Availability	See Enterprise Manager Cloud Control Administrator's Guide for Configuring OMS for high availability	EM Admin
Configure Agents for High availability	See Enterprise Manager Cloud Control Administrator's Guide for Configuring Agents for high availability	EM Admin
Test failover strategy	Test the Repository and OMS failover to standby site	EM Admin
Setup backups	Setup back ups for Repository, OMS and agents	EM Admin
E. EM 12c Cloud Control Functional configuration
Defining Roles and assigning users	Setup Cloud, SSA Admin and SSA User roles and users	EM Admin
Setup S/W Library	Setup S/W Library for self update/plug-ins/cloud functionality	Cloud Admin
Setup Self Update	Setup self update to get new and updated capabilities when they become available between official releases	EM Admin
Setup required plug-ins on OMS	Oracle Cloud Application, Database, Chargeback and Capacity planning, Storage Management Framework (SMF) and Virtualization (VT) plug-ins are required	EM Admin
Customize SSA Login Page (Optional)	Configure Self Service Portal to customize the login page (eg option to have company brand image/service provider and tenant brand)	EM Admin
Define/setup Notification methods	Setup mail server for Notification. Setup email address for yourself and other administrators. Test and setup other notification methods if required	EM Admin
Add Host targets which are going to be used for Cloud	Push Agents on Servers part of PaaS Infrastructure. Push plug-ins on hosts	Cloud Admin
Configure Hosts for Privilege Delegation	Configure Hosts for Privilege Delegation. Setup Privilege delegation settings in Cloud Control. Setup named credential for cloud self service	EM Admin
Provisioning Oracle RDBMS s/w on Hosts	Provision/Configure and add Oracle Home as target in EM12c - Refer to EM 12c Lifecycle Management Admin guide for DB provisioning details. Optional - If planning to use GI/RAC for cloud services, provision/configure GI/RAC Oracle Homes as targets in EM12c In case of Exadata, Grid Infrastructure and RAC Database software is already deployed on compute nodes via OneCommand from Oracle, so SSA Administrator just needs to discover Oracle Homes and Listener as EM targets. Databases will be created as and when users request for databases from cloud.	SSA Admin
Configure Listener	Configure and add Oracle Database Listener as target in EM12c	SSA Admin
F. Exadata Targets Monitoring Configuration in EM (Optional - in case DBaaS setup is on Exadata)
Deploy Agents on compute nodes	Deploy Agents on Exadata compute nodes	EM Admin
Exadata System Discovery and Configuration	Specify host from which Exadata server is being discovered. Specify discovery parameters for Infiniband switches. Specify discovery parameters for associated subsystems, such as ILOM, KVM, Cisco switch. Complete discovery and confirm that all targets have been discovered. Verify that cell groups have been created for cells associated with each database. Verify the targets in the topology view of the Exadata Database Machine system. Navigate the topology and verify the configuration of the each of the targets in the Exadata Database Machine system.	EM Admin
Exadata System Alerts, Metrics, Performance Monitoring and Actions	This use case will demonstrate the different alerts, metrics monitoring and actions available	EM Admin
Database to Exadata drilldown and IORM	Demonstrate the ability to drill down from the database I/O to Exadata and then control the database I/O on Exadata using IORM	EM Admin
G. DBaaS Functional configuration (RMAN, DBCA)
Creating PaaS Infrastructure zone	Create Database zones. Add Hosts in PaaS Infrastructure zones	Cloud Admin
Create Database Pool	Setup a pool of Oracle homes. The Oracle homes should be of the same version, platform	SSA Admin
Configuring Request settings	Configure the database request settings by specifying when a request can be made, its duration and its retention period	SSA Admin
Configure Quotas	Configure Quota as aggregate amount of resources that can be granted to each self service user belonging to a certain role	SSA Admin
Create DBCA/RMAN based Profiles	Configure Profile that capture source database information as RMAN backup or DBCA template	SSA Admin
Setup Service Templates in Catalog	Create service templates as standardized service definition that is offered to self service users to create databases	SSA Admin
Configure Chargeback	Defining a Universal Charge Plan. Create Extended Charge Plan. Create a Business Hierarchy of Cost Centers	SSA Admin
Provisioning Oracle database	Provisioning Oracle database instances using SSA	SSA User
Verify Chargeback Reports	Verify Chargeback Reports	SSA Admin
H. Schema-as-a-Service Functional configuration
Discover/Provision Oracle Database as Managed Target	Provision/Configure and add source database and Databases where Schema is going to provisioned as targets in EM12c	SSA Admin
Creating PaaS Infrastructure zone	Create Database zones. Add Hosts in PaaS Infrastructure zones	Cloud Admin
Create Database Pool	Setup a pool of databases. The databases should be of the same version, platform	SSA Admin
Configure Schema export based Profiles	Create a database provisioning profile using Export Schema objects	SSA Admin
Setup Service Templates in Catalog	Create service templates as standardized service definition that is offered to self service users to create schemas	SSA Admin
Configure Quotas	Configure Quota as aggregate amount of resources that can be granted to each self service user belonging to a certain role	SSA Admin
Configure Chargeback	Defining a Universal Charge Plan. Create Extended Charge Plan. Create a Business Hierarchy of Cost Centers	SSA Admin
Provision Schemas	Provisioning Oracle schema/service instances using SSA	SSA User
Verify Chargeback Reports	Verify Chargeback Reports	SSA Admin
I. Snap Clone Functional configuration
Creating PaaS Infrastructure zone	Create Database zones. Add Hosts in PaaS Infrastructure zones	Cloud Admin
Create Database Pool	Setup a pool of databases. The databases should be of the same version, platform.	SSA Admin
Register and Manage Storage servers	Configure and setup ZFS/Netapp storage servers in EM 12c	SSA Admin
Configure Snap Clone based Profiles	Create Database Provisioning Profile Using Snapshots	SSA Admin
Setup Service Templates in Catalog	Create service templates as standardized service definition that is offered to self service users to create instances	SSA Admin
Configure Quotas	Configure Quota as aggregate amount of resources that can be granted to each self service user belonging to a certain role	SSA Admin
Configure Chargeback	Defining a Universal Charge Plan. Create Extended Charge Plan. Create a Business Hierarchy of Cost Centers	SSA Admin
Provision using Snap Clone template	Provisioning Oracle database instances using SSA	SSA user
Verify Chargeback Reports	Verify Chargeback Reports	SSA Admin
J. Knowledge transfer
DBaaS Cloud setup demo/presentation	session to deliver overview of the implemented system and usage	Cloud/SSA Admin
K. Delivery
Delivery meeting	Delivery meeting initiated and organized by PM	Project Manager
Delivery of final implementation rollout	Update of implementation plan to reflect latest implementation changes	Project Manager
L. Post implementation tasks
Periodic health checks	Health check of the EM12c system, EMDiag	EM Admin
Periodic Cloud infrastructure usage analysis	Cloud infrastructure monitoring periodic basis and realigning quotas/policies and pool infrastructure with business priorities	EM Admin
DBaaS Workshop for Administrators/end users	Periodic training sessions for end users and Admins on DBaaS and EM 12c Monitoring/Administration capabilities	Cloud/SSA Admin
Post implementation assistance	Periodic reviews of Cloud and Management infrastructure and expansion planning with stakeholders and project team	EM/Cloud/SSA Admin