This topic covers the virtual machine requirements, including memory and data storage, for the deployment of the Delphix Engine on IBM Cloud.

This section covers the following topics:

  • Databases
  • Profile (instance type)
  • Network Configuration
  • Storage Configuration
  • Additional IBM Cloud Configuration Notes

Once you understand the requirements listed on this page, you should view the next pages on IBM deployment:

Supported Profiles

The following is a list of profiles that are supported to deploy Delphix on IBM Cloud. 

RequirementsNotes
  • mx2
  • The Delphix Engine most closely resembles a storage appliance and performs best when provisioned using a storage-optimized profile.
  • Larger profiles provide more CPU, which can prevent resource shortfalls under high I/O throughput conditions.
  • Larger profiles also provide more memory, which the Delphix Engine uses to cache database blocks. More memory will provide better read performance.
  • Recommended minimum size of 8 vCPU and 64G memory.

Network Configuration

RequirementsNotes
Virtual Server Instances
  • You must deploy the Delphix Engine and all of the source and target environments in the same VPC network.
  • When adding environments to the Delphix Engine, you must use the host’s VPC IP addresses.
Security Configuration

Port Requirements

Using the Delphix Engine for IBM Cloud will require connections to source and target database servers. Such connections require various ports to be open, enabling communications. For a detailed list of the network and port requirements, click the link appropriate to your database platform:

General Storage Configuration

We recommend using a minimum of four disks to run your Delphix Engine. One disk is used for the Delphix File System (DxFS) to ensure that its file systems are always consistent on disk without additional serialization. The other three disks will be used for data storage. This also enables the Delphix Engine to achieve higher I/O rates by queueing more I/O operations to its storage.

RequirementsNotes

General Storage Configuration

  • Allocate initial storage equal to the size of the physical source database storage. For high redo rates and/or high DB change rates, allocate an additional 10-20 %.
  • Add storage when storage capacity approaches 30% free.
  • Attach a minimum of three (3), equally sized, storage devices to the Delphix Engine. This enables the Delphix File System (DxFS) to make sure that its file systems are always consistent on disk without additional serialization. This also enables the Delphix Engine to achieve higher I/O rates by queueing more I/O operations to its storage.
  • Reference:  IBM Block Storage Documentation.

Additional IBM Configuration Notes

  • Expandable volume is a beta feature that is available for evaluation and testing purposes. This feature is available in the US South, US East, London, and France regions. Contact your IBM Sales representative if you are interested in getting access, https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vpc?topic=vpc-expanding-block-storage-volumes.
  • After performing an “online” resize/expansion of a storage volume using IBM Cloud tools, then use the Delphix sysadmin interface to “Expand” the storage device; otherwise, the newly allocated storage space, from the resize/expansion, will not be used.
  • Resize/expansion of a storage volume using IBM Cloud is not supported while the delphix engine is in a stopped state.
  • Removing a storage volume should be done while the machine is running. First use the Delphix sysadmin CLI interface to “Unconfigure” the storage device, then remove it from IBM Cloud.

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