Exadata Database Machine supports Oracle Database 12c Release 1.
Database Machine can run a mixture of 11.2 and 12.1 databases.
All new features of Oracle Database 12c Release 1 are supported.
Exadata Storage Server version 11.2.3.2.1 (or later) required
Full offload support:
Smart scan
Fast file creation
Fast incremental backup
Full IORM support:
Non-CDB
Multitenant architecture
Support for Mixed Database Versions
New CELLSRV architecture to support mixed database versions: 11.2 and 12.1
Separate offload servers
No additional configuration or maintenance
Cell to Cell transfer in 11.2:
Database server sends read request to Cell A
Cell 1 sends data to database server
Data is stored in the database
server memory
Database server sends data to Cell 2
Cell to Cell transfer in 12.1:
Database server sends transfer request to Cell 2
Cell 2 reads data from Cell 1
So lower network bandwidth consumption
Lower database server resource usage
Used by ASM resynchronization and rebalance operations
