This chapter explains how you can provision Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) for 10g and 11g Release 1 using Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control (Cloud Control). In particular, this chapter covers the following:
Getting Started with Provisioning Oracle Real Application Clusters for 10g and 11g
Provisioning Oracle Real Application Clusters Using Gold Image
Provisioning Oracle Real Application Clusters Using Archived Software Binaries
This section helps you get started with this chapter by providing an overview of the steps involved in provisioning Oracle RAC for 10g and 11g Release 1. Consider this section to be a documentation map to understand the sequence of actions you must perform to successfully provision Oracle RAC for 10g and 11g Release 1. Click the reference links provided against the steps to reach the relevant sections that provide more information.
Table 9-1 Getting Started with Provisioning Oracle RAC
| Step | Description | Reference Links |
|---|---|---|
|
Step 1 |
Understanding the Components Provisioned Understand the core components provisioned. |
To learn about the core components that are provisioned, see Section 9.2. |
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Step 2 |
Selecting the Use Case This chapter covers a few use cases for provisioning Oracle RAC. Select the use case that best matches your requirements. |
|
|
Step 3 |
Meeting the Prerequisites Before you run any Deployment Procedure, you must meet the prerequisites, such as setting up of the provisioning environment, applying mandatory patches, and setting up of Oracle Software Library. |
|
|
Step 4 |
Running the Deployment Procedure Run the Deployment Procedure to successfully provision Oracle RAC. |
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When you provision Oracle RAC, essentially, the Deployment Procedures deploy the following core components:
Oracle Clusterware
Oracle RAC Database
Optionally, Automatic Storage Management (ASM)
You can deploy ASM either in the same Oracle home as the one for Oracle RAC Database, or in a completely different Oracle home (recommended).
Note:
When you run the Deployment Procedures to provision Oracle RAC on a shared file system, the software binaries are installed in the shared location, but the configuration happens on all nodes. To configure new nodes, run the One Click Extend Cluster Database procedure to extend the Oracle RAC stack to other nodes.This section describes how you can clone an existing Oracle RAC installation that is running on a host monitored by Cloud Control.
This section covers the following:
Prerequisites for Cloning a Running Oracle Real Application Clusters
Procedure for Cloning a Running Oracle Real Application Clusters
Before running the Deployment Procedure, meet the following prerequisites.
Ensure that you meet the prerequisites described in Chapter 2.
If you want to clone Oracle RAC 11g Release 1 (11.1.0.6) on Solaris platforms, then apply patch# 6486988 on the Oracle home that needs to be cloned.
Ensure that the target hosts have the necessary hardware and software required for Oracle RAC. The hardware requirements include setting up of the following:
Private Network: The network interface cards must be installed on each node and connected to each other.
Shared Storage Between Nodes: The shared storage is required for OCR, Voting disks and the data files.
Ensure that the Virtual IPs are set up in the DNS. If you choose to set up the Virtual IPs locally, then the IP addresses can be specified using the Deployment Procedure, and the procedure will set them up for you.
If you want to use a custom template to create a structure for the database, then create a template (a .dbt file), and store it in a location accessible from the target hosts. The file may be on the target host or on a shared location. For information about creating templates, see Section 4.3.8, "Creating Database Templates".
Ensure that operating system users such as oracle and crsuser are available on all nodes of the cluster. These users must be a part of the relevant operating system groups such as dba and oinstall.
For more information, see Oracle Clusterware Installation Guide available at:
Ensure that the User IDs for operating system users and the Group IDs for operating system groups are identical on all nodes of the cluster.
Ensure that you do NOT use an NIS-based operating system user.
Ensure that you use an operating system user that has the privileges to run the Deployment Procedure and its commands on the target hosts. If you do not have the privileges to do so, that is, if you are using a locked account, then request your administrator (a designer) to either customize the Deployment Procedure to run it as another user or ignore the steps that require special privileges. For information about customization, see Chapter 51.
Compare the configuration of the source and target hosts and ensure that they have the same configuration. If the configurations are different, then contact your system administrator and fix the inconsistencies before running the Deployment Procedure.
To compare the configuration of the hosts, in Cloud Control, click Targets and then Hosts. On the Hosts page, click the name of the source host to access its Home page, and then from the Host menu, click Configuration and then click Compare.
While selecting the source, remember to remove sqlnet.ora from the list of files mentioned in Files to Exclude.
Ensure that the umask value on the target host is 022.
To clone an existing Oracle RAC installation, follow these steps:
From the Enterprise menu, select Provisioning and Patching, then select Database Provisioning.
In the Database Provisioning page, select one of the following, and click Launch.
To run the Deployment Procedure on UNIX platforms, Select Provision Oracle Clusterware / RAC for UNIX and RDBMS versions 10g/11g.
To run the Deployment Procedure on Microsoft Windows platforms, select Provision Oracle Clusterware / RAC for Windows and RDBMS versions 10g/11g.
Cloud Control displays the Select Source page of the Deployment Procedure.
On the Select Source page, do the following:
In the Select Source section, select Select from Existing Installations. Then click the torch icon for Reference Host and select the host on which the existing Oracle RAC installation is running. Once you select the reference host, the application automatically displays the working directory and the details of the selected Oracle Clusterware and Oracle Database.
If you want to save the selected Oracle Clusterware and Oracle Database as gold images in the Software Library, then click Save to Software Library. Oracle Clusterware is saved as a Clusterware Clone component type and Oracle Database is stored as a Database Clone component type, respectively.
Note:
Maintain different locations as working directories in case a shared disk is used between the source host and the destination host.
sqlnet.ora hardcodes Oracle base from source install. If you do not remove the file, Oracle tools and utilities will use an incorrect Oracle base and an error message stating that the current location is not writable is displayed.
Click Next.
On the Select Hosts page, do the following:
In the Hosts to Include in Cluster section, click Add and select the target hosts that should form the cluster. To see more details about the selected hosts, click Show Options.
Note:
When you click Add, the Select Target pop-up window appears. On this page, by default, the Show Suitable Hosts option is selected and the table lists only those hosts that are best suited for provisioning. If you do not find the host you want to add, then select Show All Hosts to view a complete list of hosts.By default, Private Host Name and Virtual Host Name are automatically prefilled with values. Edit them and specify values that match with your environment. Optionally, you can also specify their IP addresses.
Note:
If the prefilled, default values of Private Host Name and Virtual Host Name are incorrect, then see the workaround described in Appendix F, "Troubleshooting Issues".If you already have these details stored in the cluster configuration file, then click Import From File to select that cluster configuration file. This file typically contains information about the new hosts to be added. To understand how a cluster configuration file looks, see the sample file shown in Section 9.5.2.1, "Sample Cluster Configuration File".
To configure the private and public network interfaces, click Select Interfaces. By default, the interfaces that have the same name and subnet for the selected target hosts are displayed. However, you can also choose to view all the interfaces for the selected target hosts. You can either select one of the existing interfaces or specify a completely new one if the interface you want to use does not exist.
In the Network Interface Configuration section, review the details of the private and public interfaces.
Click Next.
On the Credentials/Schedule page, do the following:
In the Reference Host Credentials section, retain the default selection, that is, Use Preferred Credentials.
Note:
You can optionally override these preferred credentials. The credentials you specify here are used by the Deployment Procedure to run the provisioning operation. If this environment is secure and has locked accounts, then make sure that:The credentials you specify here have the necessary privileges to switch to the locked account for performing the provisioning operation.
The Deployment Procedures has been customized to support locked environments.
For more information, see Chapter 51.
From the Host Credentials list, select Different for each Oracle Home if you want to use different operating system credentials for each Oracle home, or Same for all Oracle Homes if you want to use the same set of credentials for all Oracle homes. Depending on the selection you make, specify the credentials. Ensure that the users belong to the same group (dba/oinstall).
In the Target Host(s) Credentials section, provide the credentials as described in Step 6 (a).
Note:
If you are using vendor clusterware, then ensure thatroot and the operating system users, such as oracle and crsuser, owning the clusterware and various Oracle homes are a part of the operating system groups required by the vendor clusterware.
For example, if your system uses High Availability Cluster Multiprocessing (HACMP) clusterware, then create or check for the existence of the group hagsuser. Ensure that the relevant operating system users and root user are members of this group.
For more information, refer to the Oracle Clusterware and Oracle Real Application Clusters Installation and Configuration Guide.
In the Schedule section, schedule the Deployment Procedure to run either immediately or later.
Click Next.
On the Configure Cluster page, do the following:
In the Cluster Name and Location section, review the default name and location details provided for Oracle Clusterware and Oracle RAC Database. While Oracle recommends you to retain the default values, you can always edit them to provide custom values.
For security purposes, the clusterware configuration sets the ownership of Oracle Clusterware home and all its parent directories to be owned by root. Hence, Oracle recommends you to install Oracle Clusterware outside the Oracle base of the Oracle RAC home.
The default cluster name you see here is based on the host cluster name you provided in the Agent Deploy application in Cloud Control, while deploying Management Agents on a cluster. The scratch location you see here is a temporary location on the target host where temporary files are placed before provisioning and configuring Oracle RAC.
For Additional Parameters, specify any additional parameters you want to run while installing Oracle Clusterware. For example, -debug.
You can specify any Oracle Universal Installer (OUI) parameter that can be used in this provisioning operation. Using these parameters, you can even change the installation type of the database. For example, INSTALL_TYPE=SE. Ensure that the parameters are separated by white space.
Note:
If you do not see a default cluster name in the Cluster Name field, then you might have selected nodes that are not master nodes of the cluster. In this case, manually specify a cluster name, but ensure that the name you specify is the same host cluster name you provided in the Agent Deploy application in Cloud Control, while deploying Management Agents on that cluster.
In the Database Details section, retain the default selection for creating a starter database.
Note:
If the database creation steps are disabled in the Deployment Procedure, then you will not see this section.If you want to create a general-purpose database, then leave all the fields in this section blank. Otherwise, provide the required details as described in this step.
If you have a custom response file that already has the options enabled, then select Use response file to create database, and specify the full path to a location where the file is available. The file may be available on the target host, in a shared location accessible from the target host, in the Software Library, or in a location where an existing database is running.
Note:
From the Software Library or from the location where an existing database is running, only a.dbt template file can be used. However, from the target host or a shared location, any template file can be used.If you do not have a custom response file, then select Do not use response file, and provide the global database name, the credentials, and the additional parameters you want to run while creating the starter database.
Note:
Ensure that the database name you specify is in the format database_name.database_domain. It must have 1 to 8 alphanumeric characters. For example, orcl.mydomain.com. Also note that the credentials you provide are used for SYS, SYSTEM, SYSMAN, and DBSNMP accounts.If you want to use the structure of an existing database and have a custom template to structure the new database, then in Template File for Database, specify the full path to a location where the template file is available. The file may be available on the target host or on a shared location accessible from the target host.
Note:
If you do not store the response files and templates in a central location, you can always customize the Deployment Procedure to add another step that copies the response file or template to the target host before invoking the configuration tools to create the database.In the Backup and Recovery Details section, retain the default selection, that is, Do not Enable Automated Backups if you do not want to have backups taken.
Alternatively, if you want to enable automated backups, select Enable Automated Backups, specify the full path to a directory location from where the backed-up files can be recovered, and provide the operating system credentials for running the backup job. Note that recovery location is the same location as the backup location because this is where the files are backed up and also recovered from.
In the ASM Instance Details section (appears only if you had selected to deploy ASM), retain the default selection, that is, Create ASM Instance, and specify the credentials, additional ASM parameters to be used, and the ASM disk string to be used.
Important:
If you are provisioning Oracle Database 10g and Oracle ASM 10g, then ensure that you specify the same password for database as well as ASM.If you have a custom response file that already has the options enabled, then select Use response file to create ASM database, and specify the full path to a location where the file is available. The file may be available on the target host or on a shared location accessible from the target hosts.
If you do not want to use a response file, then select Do not use response file.
Click Next.
On the Storage page, do the following:
In the Shared Storage Configuration section, provide details about the storage devices and click Next. Specify the partition name and the mount location, and select the mount format and a storage device for storing data. While partition name is the path to the location where the device is installed, mount location is the mount point that represents the partition location.
While configuring the storage device, at a minimum, you must have a partition for at least OCR, Voting Disk, and data files. You cannot designate the same storage device to multiple partitions.
Oracle recommends designating the OCR and the OCR Mirror devices to different partitions. Similarly, Oracle recommends designating the Voting Disk, Voting Disk1, and Voting Disk2 to different partitions.
Before clicking Next, do the following:
- If you want to clear the data on selected raw devices before creating and configuring the cluster, then select Clear raw devices.
- If you have configured only for a few storage devices, then select Do not provision storage for others that you do not want to provision.
- Specify the ASM disk string to be used.
In the Options section, select the ASM redundancy mode. The default is None, which requires 7 GB of space. While Normal requires 16 GB of space, High requires 32 GB.
(Optional) On the Advanced Configuration page, do the following:
Note:
If the configuration steps are disabled in the Deployment Procedure, then you will not see this page.In the Bonding Interface (Private Interconnect) section, select Configure Bonding Interface if you want to configure the bonding interface. To bind the interfaces, specify details as described in Table 9-2.
In the Sysctl File Configuration section, select Configure Sysctl file if you want to configure the sysctl.conf file. Specify the mode of editing the system configuration file and the location of the reference system configuration file used for modifying the kernel parameters.
The default mode is append. You can however select edit to modify, and replace to replace the current sysctl.conf file.
Ensure that the reference file you specify is available in a shared location accessible by the Oracle Management Service.
On the Review page, review the details you have provided for provisioning Oracle RAC, and click Submit. If the details you provided seem to be missing on this page, then see the workaround described in Appendix F, "Troubleshooting Issues".
After the Deployment Procedure ends successfully, instrument the database to collect configuration information.
This section describes how you can provision a gold image of Oracle RAC.
Note:
Ensure that you use a gold image that was created using the Oracle home directory of a RAC database. You cannot use a gold image that was created using the Oracle home directory of a standalone database.This section covers the following:
Prerequisites for Provisioning Oracle Real Application Clusters Using Gold Image
Procedure for Provisioning Oracle Real Application Clusters Using Gold Image
Before running the Deployment Procedure, meet the following prerequisites.
Ensure that you meet the prerequisites described in Chapter 2.
Ensure that you create gold images of existing Oracle RAC Database and Oracle Grid Infrastructure.
To understand how you can create a gold image, see Section 4.3, "Setting Up Database Provisioning".
Ensure that the target hosts have the necessary hardware and software required for Oracle RAC. The hardware requirements include setting up of the following:
Private Network: The network interface cards must be installed on each node and connected to each other.
Shared Storage Between Nodes: The shared storage is required for OCR, Voting disks and the data files.
Ensure that the Virtual IPs are set up in the DNS. If you choose to set up the Virtual IPs locally, then the IP addresses can be specified using the Deployment Procedure, and the procedure will set them up for you.
If you want to use a custom template to create a structure for the database, then create a template (a .dbt file), and store it in a location accessible from the target hosts. The file may be on the target host or on a shared location.
To understand how a template can be created and used for creating databases, see Section 4.3.8, "Creating Database Templates".
Ensure that operating system users such as oracle and crsuser are available on all nodes of the cluster. These users must be a part of the relevant operating system groups such as dba and oinstall.
For more information, see Oracle Clusterware Installation Guide available at:
Ensure that the User IDs for operating system users and the Group IDs for operating system groups are identical on all nodes of the cluster.
Ensure that you do NOT use an NIS-based operating system user.
Ensure that you use an operating system user that has the privileges to run the Deployment Procedure and its commands on the target hosts. If you do not have the privileges to do so, that is, if you are using a locked account, then request your administrator (a designer) to either customize the Deployment Procedure to run it as another user or ignore the steps that require special privileges. For information about customization, see Chapter 51.
While selecting the source, remember to remove sqlnet.ora from the list of files mentioned in Files to Exclude.
Ensure that the umask value on the target host is 022.
To provision a gold image of an Oracle RAC installation, follow these steps:
From the Enterprise menu, select Provisioning and Patching, then select Database Provisioning.
In the Database Provisioning page, select one of the following, and click Launch.
To run the Deployment Procedure on UNIX platforms, Select Provision Oracle Clusterware / RAC for UNIX and RDBMS versions 10g/11g.
To run the Deployment Procedure on Microsoft Windows platforms, select Provision Oracle Clusterware / RAC for Windows and RDBMS versions 10g/11g.
Cloud Control displays the Select Source page of the Deployment Procedure.
On the Select Source page, do the following:
In the Select Source section, select Select from Software Library.
In the Source for Clusterware section, click the torch icon and select the generic component that has the gold image of Oracle Clusterware. Ensure that you select only components that are in "Ready" status. Once you select the component name, the application automatically displays the component location.
Note:
If you do not see the required component in the Software Library, then follow the workaround described in Appendix F.In the Source for RAC section, click the torch icon and select the generic component that has the gold image of Oracle Database. Ensure that you select only components that are in "Ready" status. Once you select the component name, the application automatically displays the component location.
Note:
If you do not see the required component in the Software Library, then follow the workaround described in Appendix F.(Optional) In the Source for ASM section, do one of the following:
If you do not want to deploy ASM, then retain the default selection, that is, Do not Provision ASM.
If you want to deploy ASM in the same Oracle home as the Oracle RAC, then select Use the same source as the RAC home. Alternatively, if you can select Choose a component and upload an ASM component from the Software Library.
Click Next.
On the Select Hosts page, do the following:
In the Hosts to Include in Cluster section, click Add and select the target hosts that should form the cluster. To see more details about the selected hosts, click Show Options.
Note:
When you click Add, the Select Target pop-up window appears. On this page, by default, the Show Suitable Hosts option is selected and the table lists only those hosts that are best suited for provisioning. If you do not find the host you want to add, then select Show All Hosts to view a complete list of hosts.By default, Private Host Name and Virtual Host Name are automatically prefilled with values. Edit them and specify values that match with your environment. Optionally, you can also specify their IP addresses.
Note:
If the prefilled, default values of Private Host Name and Virtual Host Name are incorrect, then see the workaround described in Appendix F.If you already have these details stored in the cluster configuration file, then click Import From File to select that cluster configuration file. This file typically contains information about the new hosts to be added. To understand how a cluster configuration file looks, see the sample file shown in Section 9.5.2.1.
To configure the private and public network interfaces, click Select Interfaces. By default, the interfaces that have the same name and subnet for the selected target hosts are displayed. However, you can also choose to view all the interfaces for the selected target hosts. You can either select one of the existing interfaces or specify a completely new one if the interface you want to use does not exist.
In the Network Interface Configuration section, review the details of the private and public interfaces.
Click Next.
On the Credentials/Schedule page, do the following:
In the Target Host(s) Credentials section, retain the default selection, that is, Use Preferred Credentials.
Note:
You can optionally override these preferred credentials. The credentials you specify here are used by the Deployment Procedure to run the provisioning operation. If this environment is secure and has locked accounts, then make sure that:The credentials you specify here have the necessary privileges to switch to the locked account for performing the provisioning operation.
The Deployment Procedures has been customized to support locked environments.
For more information, see Chapter 51.
From the Host Credentials list, select Different for each Oracle Home if you want to use different operating system credentials for each Oracle home, or Same for all Oracle Homes if you want to use the same set of credentials for all Oracle homes. Depending on the selection you make, specify the credentials. Ensure that the users belong to the same group (dba/oinstall).
Note:
If you are using vendor clusterware, then ensure thatroot and the operating system users, such as oracle and crsuser, owning the clusterware and various Oracle homes are a part of the operating system groups required by the vendor clusterware.
For example, if your system uses High Availability Cluster Multiprocessing (HACMP) clusterware, then create or check for the existence of the group hagsuser. Ensure that the relevant operating system users and root user are members of this group.
For more information, refer to the Oracle Clusterware and Oracle Real Application Clusters Installation and Configuration Guide.
In the Schedule section, schedule the Deployment Procedure to run either immediately or later.
Click Next.
On the Configure Cluster page, do the following:
In the Cluster Name and Location section, review the default name and location details provided for Oracle Clusterware and Oracle RAC Database. While Oracle recommends you to retain the default values, you can always edit them to provide custom values.
For security purposes, the clusterware configuration sets the ownership of Oracle Clusterware home and all its parent directories to be owned by root. Hence, Oracle recommends you to install Oracle Clusterware outside the Oracle base of the Oracle RAC home.
The default cluster name you see here is based on the host cluster name you provided in the Agent Deploy application in Cloud Control, while deploying Management Agents on a cluster. The scratch location you see here is a temporary location on the target host where temporary files are placed before provisioning and configuring Oracle RAC.
For Additional Parameters, specify any additional parameters you want to run while installing Oracle Clusterware. For example, -debug.
You can specify any Oracle Universal Installer (OUI) parameter that can be used in this provisioning operation. Using these parameters, you can even change the installation type of the database. For example, INSTALL_TYPE=SE. Ensure that the parameters are separated by white space.
In the Database Details section, retain the default selection for creating a starter database.
Note:
If the database creation steps are disabled in the Deployment Procedure, then you will not see this section.If you want to create a general-purpose database, then leave all the fields in this section blank. Otherwise, provide the required details as described in this step.
If you have a custom response file that already has the options enabled, then select Use response file to create database, and specify the full path to a location where the file is available. The file may be available on the target host, in a shared location accessible from the target host, in the Software Library, or in a location where an existing database is running.
Note:
From the Software Library or from the location where an existing database is running, only a.dbt template file can be used. However, from the target host or a shared location, any template file can be used.If you do not have a custom response file, then select Do not use response file, and provide the global database name, the credentials, and the additional parameters you want to run while creating the starter database.
Note:
Ensure that the database name you specify is in the format database_name.database_domain. It must have 1 to 8 alphanumeric characters. For example, orcl.mydomain.com. Also note that the credentials you provide are used for SYS, SYSTEM, SYSMAN, and DBSNMP accounts.If you want to use the structure of an existing database and have a custom template to structure the new database, then in Template File for Database, specify the full path to a location where the template file is available. The file may be available on the target host or on a shared location accessible from the target host.
Note:
If you do not store the response files and templates in a central location, you can always customize the Deployment Procedure to add another step that copies the response file or template to the target host before invoking the configuration tools to create the database.In the Backup and Recovery Details section, retain the default selection, that is, Do not Enable Automated Backups if you do not want to have backups taken.
Alternatively, if you want to enable automated backups, select Enable Automated Backups, specify the full path to a directory location from where the backed-up files can be recovered, and provide the operating system credentials for running the backup job. Note that recovery location is the same location as the backup location because this is where the files are backed up and also recovered from.
In the ASM Instance Details section (appears only if you had selected to deploy ASM), retain the default selection, that is, Create ASM Instance, and specify the credentials, additional ASM parameters to be used, and the ASM disk string to be used.
Important:
If you are provisioning Oracle Database 10g and Oracle ASM 10g, then ensure that you specify the same password for database as well as ASM.If you have a custom response file that already has the options enabled, then select Use response file to create ASM database, and specify the full path to a location where the file is available. The file may be available on the target host or on a shared location accessible from the target hosts.
If you do not want to use a response file, then select Do not use response file.
Click Next.
On the Storage page, do the following:
In the Shared Storage Configuration section, provide details about the storage devices and click Next. Specify the partition name and the mount location, and select the mount format and a storage device for storing data. While partition name is the path to the location where the device is installed, mount location is the mount point that represents the partition location.
While configuring the storage device, at a minimum, you must have a partition for at least OCR, Voting Disk, and data files. You cannot designate the same storage device to multiple partitions.
Oracle recommends designating the OCR and the OCR Mirror devices to different partitions. Similarly, Oracle recommends designating the Voting Disk, Voting Disk1, and Voting Disk2 to different partitions.
Before clicking Next, do the following:
- If you want to clear the data on selected raw devices before creating and configuring the cluster, then select Clear raw devices.
- If you have configured only for a few storage devices, then select Do not provision storage for others that you do not want to provision.
- Specify the ASM disk string to be used.
In the Options section, select the ASM redundancy mode. The default is None, which requires 7 GB of space. While Normal requires 16 GB of space, High requires 32 GB.
(Optional) On the Configuration page, do the following:
Note:
If the configuration steps are disabled in the Deployment Procedure, then you will not see this page.In the Bonding Interface (Private Interconnect) section, select Configure Bonding Interface if you want to configure the bonding interface. To bind the interfaces, specify details as described in Table 9-2.
In the Sysctl File Configuration section, select Configure Sysctl file if you want to configure the sysctl.conf file. Specify the mode of editing the system configuration file and the location of the reference system configuration file used for modifying the kernel parameters.
The default mode is append. You can however select edit to modify, and replace to replace the current sysctl.conf file.
Ensure that the reference file you specify is available in a shared location accessible by the Oracle Management Service.
On the Review page, review the details you have provided for provisioning Oracle RAC, and click Submit. If the details you provided seem to be missing on this page, then see the workaround described in Appendix F.
After the Deployment Procedure ends successfully, instrument the database to collect configuration information.
This section describes how you can provision Oracle RAC that is identical to the one available on the installation medium.
This section covers the following:
Prerequisites for Provisioning Oracle Real Application Clusters Using Archived Software Binaries
Procedure for Provisioning Oracle Real Application Clusters Using Archived Software Binaries
Before running the Deployment Procedure, meet the following prerequisites.
Ensure that you meet the prerequisites described in Chapter 9.
Ensure that you upload the software binaries of Oracle RAC Database and Oracle Grid Infrastructure to the Software Library.
Ensure that the target hosts have the necessary hardware and software required for Oracle RAC. The hardware requirements include setting up of the following:
Private Network: The network interface cards must be installed on each node and connected to each other.
Shared Storage Between Nodes: The shared storage is required for OCR, Voting disks and the data files.
Ensure that the Virtual IPs are set up in the DNS. If you choose to set up the Virtual IPs locally, then the IP addresses can be specified using the Deployment Procedure, and the procedure will set them up for you.
If you want to use a custom template to create a structure for the database, then create a template (a .dbt file), and store it in a location accessible from the target hosts. The file may be on the target host or on a shared location.
To understand how a template can be created and used for creating databases, see Section 4.3.8.
Ensure that operating system users such as oracle and crsuser are available on all nodes of the cluster. These users must be a part of the relevant operating system groups such as dba and oinstall.
For more information, see Oracle Clusterware Installation Guide available at:
Ensure that the User IDs for operating system users and the Group IDs for operating system groups are identical on all nodes of the cluster.
Ensure that you do NOT use an NIS-based operating system user.
Ensure that you use an operating system user that has the privileges to run the Deployment Procedure and its commands on the target hosts. If you do not have the privileges to do so, that is, if you are using a locked account, then request your administrator (a designer) to either customize the Deployment Procedure to run it as another user or ignore the steps that require special privileges. For information about customization, see Chapter 51.
Ensure that the umask value on the target host is 022.
To provision a fresh Oracle RAC installation, follow these steps:
From the Enterprise menu, select Provisioning and Patching and then select Database Provisioning.
In the Database Provisioning page, select one of the following, and click Launch.
To run the Deployment Procedure on UNIX platforms, Select Provision Oracle Clusterware / RAC for UNIX and RDBMS versions 10g/11g.
To run the Deployment Procedure on Microsoft Windows platforms, select Provision Oracle Clusterware / RAC for Windows and RDBMS versions 10g/11g.
Cloud Control displays the Select Source page of the Deployment Procedure.
On the Select Source page, do the following:
In the Select Source section, select Select from Software Library.
In the Source for Clusterware section, click the torch icon and select the generic component that has the software binaries of Oracle Clusterware. Ensure that you select only components that are in "Ready" status. Once you select the component name, the application automatically displays the component location.
Note:
If you do not see the required component in the Software Library, then follow the workaround described in Appendix F.In the Source for RAC section, click the torch icon and select the generic component that has the software binaries of Oracle Database. Ensure that you select only components that are in "Ready" status. Once you select the component name, the application automatically displays the component location.
Note:
If you do not see the required component in the Software Library, then follow the workaround described in Appendix F.(Optional) In the Source for ASM section, do one of the following:
If you do not want to deploy ASM, then retain the default selection, that is, Do not Provision ASM.
If you want to deploy ASM in the same Oracle home as the Oracle RAC, then select Use the same source as the RAC home. Alternatively, if you can select Choose a component and upload an ASM component from the Software Library.
Click Next.
On the Select Hosts page, do the following:
In the Hosts to Include in Cluster section, click Add and select the target hosts that should form the cluster. To see more details about the selected hosts, click Show Options.
Note:
When you click Add, the Select Target pop-up window appears. On this page, by default, the Show Suitable Hosts option is selected and the table lists only those hosts that are best suited for provisioning. If you do not find the host you want to add, then select Show All Hosts to view a complete list of hosts.By default, Private Host Name and Virtual Host Name are automatically prefilled with values. Edit them and specify values that match with your environment. Optionally, you can also specify their IP addresses.
Note:
If the prefilled, default values of Private Host Name and Virtual Host Name are incorrect, then see the workaround described in Appendix F.If you already have these details stored in a cluster configuration file, then click Import From File to select that cluster configuration file. This file typically contains information about the new hosts to be added. To understand how a cluster configuration file looks, see the sample file shown in Section 9.5.2.1.
To configure the private and public network interfaces, click Select Interfaces. By default, the interfaces that have the same name and subnet for the selected target hosts are displayed. However, you can also choose to view all the interfaces for the selected target hosts. You can either select one of the existing interfaces or specify a completely new one if the interface you want to use does not exist.
In the Network Interface Configuration section, review the details of the private and public interfaces.
Click Next.
On the Credentials/Schedule page, do the following:
In the Target Host(s) Credentials section, retain the default selection, that is, Use Preferred Credentials.
Note:
You can optionally override these preferred credentials. The credentials you specify here are used by the Deployment Procedure to run the provisioning operation. If this environment is secure and has locked accounts, then make sure that:The credentials you specify here have the necessary privileges to switch to the locked account for performing the provisioning operation.
The Deployment Procedures has been customized to support locked environments.
For more information, see Chapter 51.
From the Host Credentials list, select Different for each Oracle Home if you want to use different operating system credentials for each Oracle home, or Same for all Oracle Homes if you want to use the same set of credentials for all Oracle homes. Depending on the selection you make, specify the credentials. Ensure that the users belong to the same group (dba/oinstall).
Note:
If you are using vendor clusterware, then ensure thatroot and the operating system users, such as oracle and crsuser, owning the clusterware and various Oracle homes are a part of the operating system groups required by the vendor clusterware.
For example, if your system uses High Availability Cluster Multiprocessing (HACMP) clusterware, then create or check for the existence of the group hagsuser. Ensure that the relevant operating system users and root user are members of this group.
For more information, refer to the Oracle Clusterware and Oracle Real Application Clusters Installation and Configuration Guide.
In the Schedule section, schedule the Deployment Procedure to run either immediately or later.
Click Next.
On the Configure Cluster page, do the following:
In the Cluster Name and Location section, review the default name and location details provided for Oracle Clusterware and Oracle RAC Database. While Oracle recommends you to retain the default values, you can always edit them to provide custom values.
For security purposes, the clusterware configuration sets the ownership of Oracle Clusterware home and all its parent directories to be owned by root. Hence, Oracle recommends you to install Oracle Clusterware outside the Oracle base of the Oracle RAC home.
The default cluster name you see here is based on the host cluster name you provided in the Agent Deploy application in Cloud Control, while deploying Management Agents on a cluster. The scratch location you see here is a temporary location on the target host where temporary files are placed before provisioning and configuring Oracle RAC.
For Additional Parameters, specify any additional parameters you want to run while installing Oracle Clusterware. For example, -debug.
You can specify any Oracle Universal Installer (OUI) parameter that can be used in this provisioning operation. Using these parameters, you can even change the installation type of the database. For example, INSTALL_TYPE=SE. Ensure that the parameters are separated by white space.
In the Database Details section, retain the default selection for creating a starter database.
Note:
If the database creation steps are disabled in the Deployment Procedure, then you will not see this section.If you want to create a general-purpose database, then leave all the fields in this section blank. Otherwise, provide the required details as described in this step.
If you have a custom response file that already has the options enabled, then select Use response file to create database, and specify the full path to a location where the file is available. The file may be available on the target host, in a shared location accessible from the target host, in the Software Library, or in a location where an existing database is running.
Note:
From the Software Library or from the location where an existing database is running, only a.dbt template file can be used. However, from the target host or a shared location, any template file can be used.If you do not have a custom response file, then select Do not use response file, and provide the global database name, the credentials, and the additional parameters you want to run while creating the starter database.
Note:
Ensure that the database name you specify is in the format database_name.database_domain. It must have 1 to 8 alphanumeric characters. For example, orcl.mydomain.com. Also note that the credentials you provide are used for SYS, SYSTEM, SYSMAN, and DBSNMP accounts.If you want to use the structure of an existing database and have a custom template to structure the new database, then in Template File for Database, specify the full path to a location where the template file is available. The file may be available on the target host or on a shared location accessible from the target host.
Note:
If you do not store the response files and templates in a central location, you can always customize the Deployment Procedure to add another step that copies the response file or template to the target host before invoking the configuration tools to create the database.In the Backup and Recovery Details section, retain the default selection, that is, Do not Enable Automated Backups if you do not want to have backups taken.
Alternatively, if you want to enable automated backups, select Enable Automated Backups, specify the full path to a directory location from where the backed-up files can be recovered, and provide the operating system credentials for running the backup job. Note that recovery location is the same location as the backup location because this is where the files are backed up and also recovered from.
In the ASM Instance Details section (appears only if you had selected to deploy ASM), retain the default selection, that is, Create ASM Instance, and specify the credentials, additional ASM parameters to be used, and the ASM disk string to be used.
Important:
If you are provisioning Oracle Database 10g and Oracle ASM 10g, then ensure that you specify the same password for database as well as ASM.If you have a custom response file that already has the options enabled, then select Use response file to create ASM database, and specify the full path to a location where the file is available. The file may be available on the target host or on a shared location accessible from the target hosts.
If you do not want to use a response file, then select Do not use response file.
Click Next.
On the Storage page, do the following:
In the Shared Storage Configuration section, provide details about the storage devices and click Next. Specify the partition name and the mount location, and select the mount format and a storage device for storing data. While partition name is the path to the location where the device is installed, mount location is the mount point that represents the partition location.
While configuring the storage device, at a minimum, you must have a partition for at least OCR, Voting Disk, and data files. You cannot designate the same storage device to multiple partitions.
Oracle recommends designating the OCR and the OCR Mirror devices to different partitions. Similarly, Oracle recommends designating the Voting Disk, Voting Disk1, and Voting Disk2 to different partitions.
Before clicking Next, do the following:
- If you want to clear the data on selected raw devices before creating and configuring the cluster, then select Clear raw devices.
- If you have configured only for a few storage devices, then select Do not provision storage for others that you do not want to provision.
- Specify the ASM disk string to be used.
In the Options section, select the ASM redundancy mode. The default is None, which requires 7 GB of space. While Normal requires 16 GB of space, High requires 32 GB.
(Optional) On the Configuration page, do the following:
Note:
If the configuration steps are disabled in the Deployment Procedure, then you will not see this page.In the Bonding Interface (Private Interconnect) section, select Configure Bonding Interface if you want to configure the bonding interface. To bind the interfaces, specify details as described in Table 9-2.
In the Sysctl File Configuration section, select Configure Sysctl file if you want to configure the sysctl.conf file. Specify the mode of editing the system configuration file and the location of the reference system configuration file used for modifying the kernel parameters.
The default mode is append. You can however select edit to modify, and replace to replace the current sysctl.conf file.
Ensure that the reference file you specify is available in a shared location accessible by the Oracle Management Service.
On the Review page, review the details you have provided for provisioning Oracle RAC, and click Submit. If the details you provided seem to be missing on this page, then see the workaround described in Appendix F, "Troubleshooting Issues".
After the Deployment Procedure ends successfully, instrument the database to collect configuration information.
Table 9-2 Configuration Page - Element Description
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
|
Bonding Device Name |
Specify the name of the bond to be created. For example, bond0 |
|
Subnet Mask |
Specify the subnet mask for the IP address. For example, 255.255.255.0 |
|
Default Gateway |
Specify the default gateway for the bonding device. For example, 10.1.2.3 |
|
DNS Servers |
Specify the Domain Name Server (DNS) list for the bonding device. For multiple DNS servers, the values should be comma- separated. Default values are picked up from the /etc/resolv.conf file. Entries provided here will be appended. |
|
Slave Devices List |
Specify the list of slave devices for the bonding device. For multiple slave devices, the values should be comma-separated. For example, eth1,eth2,eth3. |
|
Bonding Mode |
Specifies one of four policies allowed for the bonding module. Acceptable values for this parameter are:
|
|
Domain Name |
Specify the domain name for the assigned host name. For example, foo.com |
|
Primary Slave Device |
Specify the interface name, such as eth0, of the primary device. The primary device is the first of the bonding interfaces to be used and is not abandoned unless it fails. This setting is particularly useful when one NIC in the bonding interface is faster and, therefore, able to handle a bigger load. This setting is only valid when the bonding interface is in active-backup mode. |
|
ARP Interval |
Specify (in milliseconds) how often ARP monitoring occurs. If using this setting while in mode 0 or 2 (the two load-balancing modes) the network switch must be configured to distribute packets evenly across the NICs. The value is set to 0 by default, which disables it. |
|
MII Interval |
Specify (in milliseconds) how often MII link monitoring occurs. This is useful if high availability is required because MII is used to verify that the NIC is active to verify that the driver for a particular NIC supports the MII tool. If using a bonded interface for high availability, the module for each NIC must support MII. Setting the value to 0 (the default), turns this feature off. When configuring this setting, a good starting point for this parameter is 100. |
|
MII Interval Down Delay |
Specify (in milliseconds) how long to wait after link failure before disabling the link. The value must be a multiple of the value specified in the miimon parameter. The value is set to 0 by default, which disables it. |
|
MII Interval Up Delay |
Specify (in milliseconds) how long to wait before enabling a link. The value must be a multiple of the value specified in the miimon parameter. The value is set to 0 by default, which disables it. |
|
NTP Server |
Specify the NTP server for the assigned host name. For example, 1.2.3.4. |
The following shows the contents of a typical cluster configuration file:
# Cluster Configuration file # Node information
# Public Node Name
|
Private Node Name
|
Private IP (Optional)
|
Virtual Host Name
|
Virtual IP (Optional)
|
node1.domain.com |
node1-priv.domain.com |
- |
node1-vip.domain.com |
- |
node2.domain.com |
node2-priv.domain.com |
10.2.109.103
|
node2-vip.domain.com
|
134.2.109.103 |
No root credential is supported for provisioning Oracle RAC databases. To use this feature, do the following:
On the Specify OS users page, select Override Preferred Credentials. On the Specify OS users dialogue box that appears, create the normal name credential, and then set Run Privilege to None. Click OK.
Select the new normal name credential for both Normal user and Privileged user.
Click Submit.
When the database provisioning process reaches the step which requires root credentials, the process will stop. You will need to run the command line manually. To do this, set the environment to $AGENT_HOME, and then run the command line copy from the Instructions field for the following three steps:
Execute fixups manually
Execute Root scripts manually (for CRS install phase)
Execute Root scripts manually (for RAC database install phase)
Once the command line is run manually using root user for each step, click Confirm. The database provisioning process then continues till it completes.