Oracle E-Business Suite Support on x86-64

Oracle E-Business Suite Support on x86-64

Questions addressed in this document

What is x86-64?
What operating systems are supported on x86-64?
Is Oracle E-Business Suite supported on x86-64?
What are the benefits of running Oracle E-Business Suite on x86-64?
How do I install Oracle E-Business Suite database on x86-64?
Why are there two installation packages for E-Business Suite Release 12 for Linux?
How do I migrate an existing Oracle E-Business Suite database to x86-64?
Is RAC supported with the database tier on x86-64?
Is cloning supported on an E-Business Suite system with an x86-64 database?
How do I clone the database on platforms that do not support Rapid Clone?
Are there separate patches for Oracle E-Business Suite on x86-64?
Questions and Answers

What is x86-64?
Answer:
x86-64 (also called x64) refers to both AMD Opteron (AMD64) and Intel Extended Memory (EM64T) processors. AMD64 and EM64T are x86-compatible chip sets with 64-bit extensions. x86-64 based servers can run either a 32-bit or a 64-bit operating system.

Refer to the Intel web site for more information on EM64T and to to the AMD web site for more information on AMD64.

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What operating systems are supported on x86-64?
Answer:
Apple Macintosh, Linux, Microsoft Windows, Solaris and other operating systems are supported on x86-64. Each combination of an operating system and chip architecture is refered to as a platform. Not all these platforms are certified with Oracle E-Business Suite.

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Is Oracle E-Business Suite supported on x86-64?
Answer:
The answer has three parts:

1. 32-bit Operating Systems for Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 and 11i:
When Linux or Windows 32-bit operating systems are installed, x86-64 servers can be used for Oracle E-Business Suite application and database tiers; "Linux x86" and "Windows 32-bit" platform certification criteria apply. The following 32-bit operating systems are supported:

Microsoft Windows Server
Oracle Linux
Red Hat Enterprise Linux
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
2. Some 64-bit platforms for Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12: the following 64-bit operating systems are supported for both application and database tiers on x86-64 servers:

Oracle Linux
Red Hat Enterprise Linux
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
Microsoft Windows Server x64 (2008 R2 only)
3. Remaining 64-bit platforms for Release 12 and all 64-bit platforms for Release 11i : when Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i or 12 application tier is installed on a certified platform, additional platforms may be used for a 64-bit database tier on x86-64 servers. This is an example of a mixed platform architecture. In Release 11i this was known as Split Configuration.

The following 64-bit operating systems are supported on x86-64 servers for E-Business Suite database tier only:

Microsoft Windows Server x64
Oracle Linux
Red Hat Enterprise Linux
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
Oracle Solaris on x86-64
For up-to-date information on mixed platform architecture, refer to "Database Tier Only " in Certify -> "View Certifications by Platform", choose "Database Tier Only " in the platform list.


See Certifications on My Oracle Support for more information on certified platforms and specific software versions.

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What are the benefits of running Oracle E-Business Suite on x86-64?
Answer:
When a 32-bit OS is installed on x86-64, the maximum 64GB of main memory (using Physical Address Extension or PAE) provides scalability and stability advantages over x86 (32-bit) processor systems, which are limited to 4GB. The use of OS features such as PAE or the hugemem kernel to increase memory available to a 32-bit operating system should have no effect on the Oracle E-Business Suite and is supported.

Each process is still limited to a 32-bit memory space (4GB for Linux, and up to 3GB for Windows) when running a 32-bit OS on x86-64 processor systems.

When a 64-bit OS is installed on x86-64, the limits on physical and process memory significantly exceed today's manufacturing capabilities.

When larger amounts (higher than 16GB) of memory are installed, running a 64-bit Linux OS is more stable than running a 32-bit Linux OS.

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How do I install Oracle E-Business Suite database on x86-64?
Answer:
For new installations of Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 on supported 64-bit Linux operating systems, you can use Rapid Install as directed in "Oracle Applications Installation Guide: Using Rapid Install" to install the database and application tiers.

For Database Tier Only platforms in a mixed platform architecture, you can use Rapid Install as directed in "Oracle Applications Installation Guide: Using Rapid Install" to install the database and application tiers on supported platforms, and then migrate the database tier to a certified 64-bit operating system (see references).

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Why are there two installation packages for E-Business Suite Release 12 for Linux?
Answer:
The Oracle E-Business Suite Applications Release 12.0 Media Pack for Linux x86 is used to install on x86 or x86-64 servers with a supported 32-bit Linux operating system. The Oracle E-Business Suite Applications Release 12.0 Media Pack for Linux x86-64-bit is used to install on x86-64 servers with a supported 64-bit operating system. For the Installation and Upgrade Notes specific to each installation package, refer to the documentation in the references

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How do I migrate an existing Oracle E-Business Suite database to x86-64?
Answer:
To migrate the database to a certified operating system on x86-64, refer to the documentation in the references.

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Is RAC supported with the database tier on x86-64?
Answer:

Yes, it is. RAC certifications are generic and apply to all platforms unless otherwise specified.

Using Oracle 10g Release 2 Real Application Clusters and Automatic Storage Management with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 (My Oracle Support Note 388577.1) contains Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 with RAC implementation details.

A list of the supported Release 11i versions with RAC is available in Oracle E-Business Suite 11i and Database FAQ (My Oracle Support Note 285267.1). In addition, the following documents contain Oracle E-Business Suite 11i with RAC implementation details:

Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i with 9i RAC; Installation & Configuration Using AutoConfig (My Oracle Support Note 279956.1)
Configuring Oracle Applications Release 11i with 10g Real Application Clusters and Automatic Storage Management (My Oracle Support Note 312731.1)
If you use parallel concurrent processing (PCP) with Oracle E-Business Suite 11i, we recommend applying ATG Family Pack 11i.ATG_PF.H RUP3 or higher (patch 4334965).

The use of RAC on Solaris 10 Containers (a feature that allows partitioning of an OS into separate virtual hosts) is restricted to global (non-local) containers - please see My Oracle Support Note 317257.1 for the best practices document for deploying Oracle databases in Solaris 10 Containers.

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Is cloning supported on an E-Business Suite system with an x86-64 database?
Answer:

Yes, it is. For Oracle E-Business Suite systems with database tiers on 64-bit operating systems, use Rapid Clone.

More information about Rapid Clone is available in the references.



How do I clone the database on platforms that do not support Rapid Clone?
Answer:

Cloning the E-Business Suite database tier using the Oracle database utilities is a process of cloning the database Oracle home and creating a duplicate database.

To clone the database Oracle home, use the Oracle Universal Installer (OUI). This process allows you to configure inventory information for the new target Oracle home. See the Oracle Universal Installer and OPatch User's Guide, 10g Release 2 for additional information.

To create a duplicate database, use Recovery Manager (RMAN). See the Oracle Database Backup and Recovery Advanced User's Guide, 10g Release 2 for additional information.



Are there separate patches for Oracle E-Business Suite on x86-64 with a 64-bit OS?
Answer:

There are really two answers to this quesiton - for the Database Tier, the answer is yes. Since we bundle the 64-bit Database for use on 64-bit OS'es, the database tier's patches may indeed differ for the 64-bit distribution vs the 32-bit.

On the application tier, the answer is no. Users should apply 32-bit patches for components on the application tier (E-Business Suite applications, Fusion Middleware components, 3rd party patches) since there is not a separate 64-bit distribution generally for E-Business Suite.