Humans crash cars and servers
In the fast-paced world of IT systems, the journey toward automation parallels the evolution of vehicle automation, where reducing human errors translates into increased safety and efficiency; just as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration emphasizes the lifesaving impact of automating vehicles, a similar narrative unfolds in the realm of IT systems, particularly in Oracle Database environments running on IBM Power servers, where automating with Ansible the deployment and management increases agility and reduces the risk of human errors.
The recent IDC report of March 2023 highlights a considerable average of 48 hours of unplanned downtime per year due to human error. Additionally, the Uptime Institute estimates that human error contributes to two-thirds to four-fifths of all outages. A whopping 78% of these incidents could have been avoided with better management processes or configuration, emphasizing the critical need for automation.
Time to fasten the uptime seat belt
ITIC’s 2023 Global Server Hardware, Server OS Reliability survey found that 88% of the newest IBM Power10 server users state that their organizations achieved eight nines—99.999999%—of uptime, second only to the IBM mainframe. So, how can Oracle Database clients running on IBM Power improve on that? By further decreasing human error through the introduction of automation:
· Red Hat Ansible is an agentless, open-source IT automation platform that enables the automation of processes running in AIX LPARs on Power.
· Automation of Oracle software on Power will benefit the tens of thousands of Oracle Database customers deployed on IBM Power.
· To meet this need, IBM has developed specific Ansible collections for Oracle Database on IBM Power, including:
o Automated installation of Oracle Database 19c (single instance)
o Automated installation of Oracle RAC 19c (clustered database)
o Automated tools for Database administration, including patching and updates.
Automation drives more than uptime
The benefits of automation with Ansible extend beyond reducing human errors. Oracle DB and RAC installation times are reduced. Repeatability enables a single DBA or Systems Administrator to install or manage multiple systems simultaneously. Installation and configuration errors are minimized. Consistent installation of a database pattern improves security by preventing exceptions to established security policies. Reliable patching of multiple systems in parallel becomes a reality. Ultimately, those managing the Oracle DB environments can handle more systems or enjoy investing more time in innovation rather than maintenance.
Automation empowers
Clients no longer need to pull together a collection of IT and security resources to create and deploy a new Oracle DB image. With a prepared infrastructure in place, rather than requiring a storage specialist, a network admin, a systems admin, a security specialist, and others, this empowers the DBA or others to deploy new Oracle Database instances simply and repeatably. This enables Oracle DB teams to be more responsive to the business needs of the enterprise. And isn’t that the ultimate demand for IT?
Start the automation road trip now
Embark on your automation journey with the Automating Oracle and AIX Installation with Ansible Tools webinar. This resource offers insights into Ansible's terminology, AIX collections, and Oracle-specific collections, with a demonstration of the seamless automation of upgrading from Oracle Database 12c to 19c. With over 200,000 downloads of the AIX collection and promising future offerings in 2024, there's no better time to dive into Ansible on Power and future-proof your automation endeavors.
For those ready to take the plunge, Ansible collections are available on Galaxy and GitHub, providing practical guides for installing Oracle Database 19c and Oracle 19c RAC on IBM Power Systems running the AIX Operating System, as well as automating Oracle Database Administration activities on AIX. Start now and pave the way for a future marked by efficiency, reliability, and innovation.
Jumpstart the process by going straight to the Ansible collections
For those ready to take the plunge, Ansible collections are available at the following Galaxy locations (also available on GitHub):
· Installing Oracle Database 19c on IBM Power Systems running the AIX Operating System
· Installing Oracle 19c RAC on IBM Power Systems running the AIX Operating System
· Automate Oracle Database Administration activities on AIX
Start now and pave the way for a future marked by efficiency, reliability, and innovation.