ODA – 32GB template but got a database with 16GB SGA???

I got an interesting question today from a customer which created a database on ODA. He selected the template odb-04 which shows 32GB Memory but got a database with a 16GB SGA… Is it due to the PGA size, a limitation in the system, the huge pages usage which is reached or even a bug?

Indeed, the answer is easier and funnier. If you look to the menu shown by OAKCLI while creating a database, you get something like that:

 Please select one of the following for Database Class  [1 .. 6]:

1    => odb-01s  (   1 cores ,     4 GB memory)

2    =>  odb-01  (   1 cores ,     8 GB memory)

3    =>  odb-02  (   2 cores ,    16 GB memory)

4    =>  odb-04  (   4 cores ,    32 GB memory)

5    =>  odb-06  (   6 cores ,    48 GB memory)

6    =>  odb-12  (  12 cores ,    96 GB memory)

4

Selected value is : odb-04  (   4 cores ,    32 GB memory)

So using the template odb-04 seems to use 32GB memory for the newly created database. However looking to what OAKCLI really does shows that the reality is a bit different. Following all files/scripts which are called by OAKCLI at execution, we come to following file

/opt/oracle/oak/lib/oakutilslib/DbSizingValues.pm

This script contains the definition of the DBCA template used including the memory definition

my $sga_size = $memory * $dbTypes{$dbtypeid}{sga_factor};
my $pga_size = $memory * $dbTypes{$dbtypeid}{pga_factor};

So the memory value is multiplied by a factor depending on the database type. Looking in the same script we find both information:

my  %dbTemplates  =

    (  1  => { name => 'odb-01s', cpus => 1,  sfactor  => 0.5},

       2  => { name => 'odb-01',  cpus => 1  },

       3  => { name => 'odb-02',  cpus => 2  },

       4  => { name => 'odb-04',  cpus => 4  },

       5  => { name => 'odb-06',  cpus => 6  },

       6  => { name => 'odb-12',  cpus => 12 },

       7  => { name => 'odb-16',  cpus => 16 },

       8  => { name => 'odb-24',  cpus => 24 },

       9  => { name => 'odb-32',  cpus => 32 },

       10 => { name => 'odb-36',  cpus => 36 }

    );

my  %dbTypes  =

    ( 1 => { name => 'OLTP', template_name => 'OAK_oltp.dbt',     sga_factor => 0.5,  pga_factor => 0.25 },

      2 => { name => 'DSS',  template_name => 'OAK_dss.dbt',      sga_factor => 0.25, pga_factor => 0.50 },

      3 => { name => 'In-Memory', template_name => 'OAK_oltp.dbt',sga_factor => 0.25, pga_factor => 0.25, in_mem_factor=>0.25, only12c=> 1}

    );

This means that If you create an OLTP database with the odb-04 template it takes 32GB as basis and multiplied them by 0,5.
Here we go we have our 16GB!!

In conclusion the memory information shown by OAKCLI CREATE DATABASE is the base memory used for the calculation and not the one assigned to the SGA. I must admit that this is quite confusing for the end users as the base memory as no signification and is useless…

To be fully fair, I have to mention that the correct information about SGA size per template is available in the documentation the appendix B:

http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E83239_01/doc.121/e83201/database-templates-oracle-database-appliance.htm#CMTAR269

Enjoy!

David