Oracle Exadata Expert’s Handbook

14. Database Consolidation on Exadata

In traditional models, business applications are bound to a particular infrastructure, resulting in low efficiency, utilization, and flexibility. Recently, there has been a big movement in the IT industry to rationalize, simplify, and standardize IT resources. There are many drivers for this movement; not surprisingly, the key motivation is cost reduction. Cost reduction comes in many forms, such as a decrease in server footprint, minimizing cooling costs, reduction in management overhead, and even the requirement for higher utilization. Lowering expenses—both capital and operating—is the key benefit of consolidating workloads onto a shared infrastructure.

An example of this cost reduction movement is the ...