5.1 Preparing to Install Sun Cluster HA for Oracle

Use the following sections to prepare Sun Cluster nodes for Sun Cluster HA for Oracle installation.

5.1.1 Selecting an Install Location for Sun Cluster HA for Oracle

You can install the Oracle binaries either on the local disks of the physical hosts or on the multihost disks. Both locations have advantages and disadvantages. Consider the following points when selecting an install location.

Placing Oracle binaries on the multihost disk eases administration, since there is only one copy to administer. It ensures high availability of the Oracle binaries or server during a cluster reconfiguration. However, it sacrifices redundancy and therefore availability in case of some failures. Note that in cases of switchover or accidental removal of the Oracle binaries from the multihost disk, the data service will be unavailable. Any binaries installed on the multihost disk will be mirrored as part of a disk group, so you must allocate space accordingly.

Alternatively, placing Oracle binaries on the local disk of the physical host increases redundancy and therefore availability in case of failure or accidental removal of one copy, and if a switchover occurs, Oracle will be able to run on the one node. However, placing the Oracle binaries on the local disk increases the administrative overhead, since you must manage multiple copies of the files.

5.1.2 Setting Up the /etc/nsswitch.conf File

On each node that can master the logical host running Sun Cluster HA for Oracle, modify the /etc/nsswitch.conf file so that "group" lookups are directed to files first. For example:

...
 group: files nisplus
 ...

Sun Cluster HA for Oracle uses the su user command when starting and stopping the database server.

Adding these settings will ensure that the su user command does not refer to NIS or NIS+ when the network information name service is not available due to a failure of the public network on the cluster node.

5.1.3 Setting Up Multihost Disks for Sun Cluster HA for Oracle

If you are using Solstice DiskSuite, you can configure Sun Cluster HA for Oracle to use UFS logging or raw mirrored metadevices. Refer to Appendix B, Configuring Solstice DiskSuite, for details about setting up metadevices.

If you are using Sun StorEdge Volume Manager, you can configure Sun Cluster HA for Oracle to use VxFS logging or raw devices. Refer to Appendix C, Configuring Sun StorEdge Volume Manager and Cluster Volume Manager, for information about configuring VxFS file systems.