Oracle Exadata Smart Scan conditions

Exadata Smart Scan gives a possiblity to the Oracle Database to offload SQL processing to the Exadata Storage Servers. In order to make usage of Smart Scan features of Exadata, the initialization parameter cell_offload_processing must be set to TRUE.

SQL> show parameter cell_offload_pr

cell_offload_processing boolean TRUE

The Smart Scan magic SQL processing happens at the storage tier, instead of the database tier, to improve query performance. It reduces the volume of data sent to the database tier thereby reducing the CPU usage on database nodes.

source: oracle.com

We have 4 basic conditions for Smart Scan to be triggered

- There must be a full scan of an object.

- Oracle’s Direct Path Read mechanis must be used, and path reads are generally used when we read   

  into PGA memory (not the buffer cache).

- Each segment being scanned must be on a Cell disk group (usually with ASSM it is).

- We need the CELL_OFFLOAD_PROCESSING initialization parameter to be enabled.

If we get the STORAGE keyword in the explanation plan, does not guarantee that the offload will occur. Sometimes Exadata Storage Server could decide that Smart Scan will not produce any performance.

Oracle Blockchain contributions

Oracle Blockchain Contributions

Oracle has added developer-oriented productivity enhancements, enhanced privacy, confidentiality, and identity management features that are critical to diverse organizations conducting business transactions. New DevOps capabilities make the platform easier to integrate with existing business and IT systems. Additionally, as blockchain becomes an important data store in the enterprise, the platform enables Oracle Autonomous Data Warehouse customers to transparently capture blockchain transaction history and current state data for analytics and to integrate it with other data sources

source: Oracle Blog

I found one of the new cool features to be much welcome in the portfolio:

- Rich history database shadows transaction history into a relational database schema in the Autonomous Data Warehouse or other Oracle databases, which transparently enables analytics integration for interactive dashboards and reports. Here is an example of the use of rich history stored on Oracle's Autonomous Datawarehouse and visualized using Oracle Analytics Cloud.   

One more important thing is the introduction of the Third-party certificate support for registering client organizations on the blockchain network to enable them to use existing certificates issued by trusted third parties. The security was a major topic in the Enterprise world, so did the Oracle what other big developing companies do, introduce the standard methods of security.

To avoid the Lock-In seen in the previous licensing models, the big companies need to contribute to the development of Blockchain services with the same speed as other smaller communities do. This is the only way to hold the sustainabillity of the Blockchain Ecosystem.