Deployment Planning Guide > Server Clustering Planning >

Configuring Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC)

You can obtain high-availability for Oracle 9i database servers by configuring them in an Oracle Real Application Cluster (RAC). There are several configuration requirements:

• The cluster can contain only two database servers.
• One of the database servers must be configured as active, the other passive (Active/Passive Cluster).

For a full description of Oracle Real Application Clusters and how to configure them, refer to Oracle documentation.

Configuring a Real Application Cluster requires the following steps:

• Setting up the database client
• Setting up the database server
• Setting up the database listener

Setting Up the Database Client

Use this procedure to set up a database client.

To set up the database client

2. Set other parameters as follows:
   • LOAD_BALANCE = OFF
   • FAILOVER = ON
   • FAILOVER_MODE, RETRIES = 8
   • FAILOVER_MODE, DELAY = 15

     Here is an example of the configuration:

   ORAC_AP =

   (DESCRIPTION =

   (LOAD_BALANCE = OFF)

   (FAILOVER = ON)

   (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = orac1)(PORT = 3000))

   (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = orac2)(PORT = 3000))

   (CONNECT_DATA =

     (SERVICE_NAME = qarac)

     (FAILOVER_MODE =

       (TYPE = select)

       (METHOD = basic)

       (RETRIES = 8)

       (DELAY = 15)

      )

     )

    )

Setting Up the Database Servers

Perform this procedure on each of the database servers.

To set up the database server

1. Add the following line to init.ora:

   active_instance_count = 1

   This enables the primary/secondary instance feature.

2. Restart the database server.

Setting Up the Database Listener

Use this procedure to set up the database listener.

To set up the database listener

1. Use a text editor to open listener.ora.
2. Delete the sid_list_listener entries:

   sid_list_listener=

    (sid_desc=

    (oracle_

   home=/private/system/db)

    (sid_name=db1))

   This forces the database listener to obtain information from dynamic service registration.

3. Verify the modified listener.ora file contains only the following entries:

   listener=

    (description=

     (address=

     (protocol=tcp)

     (host=db1-server)

     (port=1521)))

4. Restart the database listener.