Available Now: Oracle Private Cloud Appliance Software Release 2.3.1

Product Overview What's New? Message to Sales Team Supported Upgrade Path Product Support Components and Supported Architecture Hardware Support Resources Product Overview Oracle Private Cloud Appliance (PCA) is a turnkey engineered system built for rapid and extremely cost-effective deployment of private cloud. It runs both Oracle and non-Oracle workloads on a mix of operating systems: Linux, Oracle Solaris and Microsoft Windows. PCA is unique in the industry because it is a preconfigured, prebuilt engineered system that combines compute, network and internal storage resources in a software-defined fabric. Virtualization via Oracle VM is included at no additional cost, with prebuilt Oracle VM based virtual appliances or templates available to speed up application delivery. This enables the most agile and efficient data center deployments. It is built on the same underlying technologies as the public Oracle Cloud and leverages the same cloud management tool, Oracle Enterprise Manager, enabling the ability to deliver a true hybrid cloud model. Back to top What's New? This PCA software release further builds on the solution's differentiated ability to simplify manageability and deliver easy usability. Enhancements have been made in 3 key areas: Improved Software Infrastructure PCA now supports Oracle VM 3.4.2, enabling these benefits: More effective use of local storage with storage live migration. Easier memory management with hot memory modification. Improved reliability with automated management database backup and consistency checking. Improved network and disk I/O performance for Microsoft Windows workloads with the signed Oracle VM paravirtual (PV) drivers for Microsoft Windows. New tool that automates migration from VMware vSphere to Oracle VM Enhanced Hardware Infrastructure We've made it easier to quote and order PCA expansion racks. PCA supports max of 2 expansion racks with 30 compute nodes each for 85 max compute nodes, fully expanded. Our full support for expansion racks delivers these benefits: Ability to extend multitenancy across expansion racks. Easy to plug into networking with integrated, precabled infrastructure. Expand memory on the Compute Nodes up to 1.5 TB. Simplified Manageability Redesigned VM console access via HTML5 for easier accessibility. Introducing a VLAN user interface for improved VLAN handling. Centralized visibility overevery VM config file. Share these benefits with customers Back to top Message to Sales Team Many of the latest software enhancements were made as a direct result of feedback gathered by sales and customers regarding usability and accessibility enhancements. This release further builds on the solution's differentiated ability to simplify management and deliver easy usability. Remember that PCA is unique because it is a preconfigured, prebuilt engineered system that enables the rapid and extremely cost-effective deployment of private cloud. And because the full solution is engineered and supported by Oracle, customers can deploy quicker with fewer chance of errors and receive single vendor support. Remember these key differentiators: PCA includes Oracle VM at no additional cost. And Trusted Partitioning helps make it 30-50% more cost-effective than competing solutions. PCA scales intelligently, one node at a time, versus buying new configurations as required with competing solutions. Unlike with Vblock or Flexpod, PCA customers can take advantage of flexible storage options – whether Oracle storage or third party. PCA is a single-vendor solution, easier to operate and support than typical self-assembled solutions. PCA is cloud ready, built on the same technologies as the public Oracle Cloud. It leverages the same management tool, Oracle Enterprise Manager, for simple provisioning, monitoring, disaster recovery and hybrid cloud management. Back to top Supported Upgrade Path Product Upgrades are available from the previous two versions. It is highly recommended to file a Pro-Active SR to request Oracle Support Assist to upgrade to the PCA 2.3.1. Please also ensure that the product upgrade checklist is thoroughly verified. Refer to PCA 2.3.1 Upgrade Checklist and Prerequisites (Doc ID 2242177.1). If you are on release 2.1.1 or higher, you can update directly to the 2.3.1. For releases 2.0.5, please upgrade to 2.1.1 or 2.2.x first, before performing the upgrade to 2.3.1. For all other releases less than 2.0.5, please upgrade first to 2.0.5 and then onto 2.1.1 and followed by the final upgrade to 2.3.1. Back to top Product Support PCA controller software version 2.3.1 supersedes all other versions of the controller software. This release includes newer features as well as a number of bug fixes. It is recommended to be on this version of the software. Back to top Components and Supported Architecture Oracle Private Cloud Appliance-base racks are factory installed with the latest supported generation of server nodes. Earlier generations of the Oracle Private Cloud Appliance continue to be supported by the Oracle Private Cloud Appliance controller software. The Oracle Private Cloud Appliance controller software must be upgraded to the correct version to support the newest hardware generation installed in your environment. An Oracle Private Cloud Appliance rack can be populated with a mix of supported servers. Back to top Hardware Support Please see Oracle Private Cloud Appliance FAQ for hardware versions and specifications. Back to top Resources Partner Sales & Marketing Enablement Resources •    OPN Sales & Marketing Kit Partner Sales Training •    OPN Competency Center: Oracle Private Cloud Appliance Sales Specialist