Storage Management Requirements for Oracle Files

Sun Cluster Support for Oracle RAC enables you to use the storage management schemes for Oracle files that are listed in the following table. The table summarizes the types of Oracle files that each storage management scheme can store. Ensure that you choose a combination of storage management schemes that can store all types of Oracle files.

The meaning of each symbol in the table is as follows:

• + indicates that the storage management scheme can store the type of Oracle file.

• - indicates that the storage management scheme cannot store the type of Oracle file.

Table 1–2 Storage Management Schemes for Oracle Files

Oracle File Type	Storage Management Scheme
	Solaris Volume Manager for Sun Cluster	VxVM	Hardware RAID	Sun StorEdge QFS	Network Appliance NAS Devices	ASM	Cluster File System	Local Disks
RDBMS binary files	-	-	-	+	+	-	+	+
CRS binary files	-	-	-	+	+	-	+	+
Configuration files	-	-	-	+	+	-	+	+
System parameter file (SPFILE)	-	-	-	+	+	+	+	-
Alert files	-	-	-	+	+	-	+	+
Trace files	-	-	-	+	+	-	+	+
Data files	+	+	+	+	+	+	-	-
Control files	+	+	+	+	+	+	-	-
Online redo log files	+	+	+	+	+	+	-	-
Archived redo log files	-	-	-	+	+	+	+	-
Flashback log files	-	-	-	+	+	+	+	-
Recovery files	-	-	-	+	+	+	-	-
OCR files	+	+	+	+	+	-	+	-
CRS voting disk	+	+	+	+	+	-	+	-

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Note –

Some types of files are not included in all releases of Oracle RAC. For information about which types of file are included in the release that you are using, see your Oracle documentation.

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Storage Management Requirements for the Oracle RAC Database

You can use the following storage management schemes for the Oracle RAC database:

• Solaris Volume Manager for Sun Cluster

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  Note –

  Solaris Volume Manager for Sun Cluster is supported only with Oracle RAC. Solaris Volume Manager for Sun Cluster with Oracle Parallel Server is not supported.

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• VERITAS Volume Manager (VxVM) with the cluster feature

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  Note –

  VxVM is supported only on the SPARC platform.

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• Hardware redundant array of independent disks (RAID) support

• Sun StorEdge QFS shared file system with hardware RAID support or with Solaris Volume Manager for Sun Cluster

• Network Appliance network-attached storage (NAS) devices

• Oracle Automatic Storage Management (ASM)

Storage Management Requirements for Oracle Binary Files and Oracle Configuration Files

You can install the Oracle binary files and Oracle configuration files on one of the following locations.

• The local disks of each cluster node

• A shared file system from the following list:

  • The Sun StorEdge QFS shared file system

  • The cluster file system

  • A file system on a Network Appliance NAS device

Using Local Disks for Oracle Binary Files and Oracle Configuration Files

Placing the Oracle binary files and Oracle configuration files on the individual cluster nodes enables you to upgrade the Oracle application later without shutting down the data service.

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Note –

Some versions of Oracle require you to shut down the data service during an upgrade. To determine whether you can upgrade the Oracle application without shutting down the data service, see your Oracle documentation.

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The disadvantage is that you then have several copies of the Oracle application binary files and Oracle configuration files to maintain and administer.

Using a Shared File System for Oracle Binary Files and Oracle Configuration Files

To simplify the maintenance of your Oracle installation, you can install the Oracle binary files and Oracle configuration files on a shared file system. The following shared file systems are supported:

• The Sun StorEdge QFS shared file system

• The cluster file system

  If you use the cluster file system, decide which volume manager to use:

  • Solaris Volume Manager

  • VxVM without the cluster feature

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    Note –

    VxVM is supported only on the SPARC platform.

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• A file system on a Network Appliance NAS device

If you put the Oracle binary files and Oracle configuration files on a shared file system, you have only one copy to maintain and manage. However, you must shut down the data service in the entire cluster to upgrade the Oracle application. If a short period of downtime for upgrades is acceptable, place a single copy of the Oracle binary files and Oracle configuration files on a shared file system.