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Oracle® Solaris Cluster Data Service for Oracle Real Application Clusters Guide

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Updated: April 2016
 
 

Preinstallation Considerations

This section contains the following preinstallation information:

General Requirements

Oracle Solaris Cluster Support for Oracle Real Application Clusters (Support for Oracle RAC) is an application that can run on more than one machine concurrently. Support for Oracle RAC can run either in the global-cluster nodes of the global cluster or in a zone cluster. A Support for Oracle RAC installation is entirely contained within one cluster, either a global cluster or a specific zone cluster. Keeping the Support for Oracle RAC installation in one cluster ensures the support of multiple independent Support for Oracle RAC installations concurrently, where each Support for Oracle RAC installation can be of a different version or use different options, such as storage. Support for Oracle RAC enables you to run Support for Oracle RAC on Oracle Solaris Cluster nodes and to manage Support for Oracle RAC by using Oracle Solaris Cluster commands.

Configuring this data service involves configuring resources for the following components of a Support for Oracle RAC installation with Oracle Solaris Cluster software:

  • The Support for Oracle RAC framework. These resources enable Support for Oracle RAC to run with Oracle Solaris Cluster software. The resources also enable reconfiguration parameters to be set by using Oracle Solaris Cluster commands. You must configure resources for the Support for Oracle RAC framework. For more information, see Registering and Configuring the Support for Oracle RAC Framework Resource Group.

  • Storage for Oracle Database files. These resources provide fault monitoring and automatic fault recovery for volume managers and file systems that store Oracle Database files. Configuring storage resources for Oracle Database files is optional. For more information, see Registering and Configuring Storage Resources for Oracle Database Files.

  • Support for Oracle RAC database instances. These resource types enable Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle Solaris Cluster software to interoperate. These resource types do not provide fault monitoring and automatic fault recovery. The Oracle Grid Infrastructure software provides this functionality.

    Do not use Oracle Solaris project resource properties and resource-group properties with Oracle Solaris Cluster resource types. The proxy resource does not directly start the database instance. Instead, Oracle Grid Infrastructure starts the database instances, and Solaris Resource Manager abstractions do not work with these versions of Support for Oracle RAC.

    Configuring resources, which enable Oracle Solaris Cluster software to administer Support for Oracle RAC database instances, is optional. For more information, see Configuring Resources for Support for Oracle RAC Database Instances.


Note -  When you use Support for Oracle RAC in a zone cluster, ensure that the zone cluster is not configured with the /opt directory as an inherited read-only directory. For a Support for Oracle RAC configuration in a zone cluster, the /opt file system must be writable and unique to each zone. If the zone cluster that you intended to use for Support for Oracle RAC is configured with an inherit-pkg-dir resource for the /opt directory, destroy and recreate the zone cluster or create a new zone cluster to meet this requirement.

If your application deployment requires the zone cluster nodes to be accessible from the public network at their host names or to have concurrent outbound traffic from each node, you must have a fixed public network address for each zone cluster node. Examples of such deployments include running Support for Oracle RAC in zone clusters or applications using the scalable services (the SharedAddress resource) in the zone clusters.

Hardware and Software Requirements

Before you begin the installation, note the hardware and software requirements in the subsections that follow.

For information about supported versions, see http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/server-storage/solaris-cluster/overview/solariscluster4-compatibilityguide-1429037.pdfOracle Solaris Cluster 4 Compatibility Guide.

Oracle Solaris Cluster Framework Requirements

Support for Oracle RAC requires a functioning cluster with the initial cluster framework already installed. See Oracle Solaris Cluster 4.3 Software Installation Guide for details about initial installation of cluster software.

Oracle Grid Infrastructure Software Requirements

If you will use Oracle Grid Infrastructure (Oracle ASM and Oracle Clusterware), ensure that the cluster meets Oracle Grid Infrastructure software requirements. See the information about configuring operating systems in the Oracle Grid Infrastructure Installation Guide for your version of Oracle Grid Infrastructure software.

Software License Requirements

Verify that you have obtained and installed the appropriate licenses for your software. If you install your licenses incorrectly or incompletely, the nodes might fail to boot correctly.

Supported Topology Requirements

Check with an Oracle service representative for the current supported topologies for Support for Oracle RAC, cluster interconnect, storage management scheme, and hardware configurations.

Software Update Installation Requirements

Ensure that you have installed all the applicable software updates for the Oracle Solaris OS, Oracle Solaris Cluster, Oracle Database, and volume manager software. If you need to install any Support for Oracle RAC software updates, you must apply these updates after you install the data service packages.

Storage Management Requirements

This section provides the following information about storage management for Oracle RAC:

Storage Management Requirements for Oracle Database Files

Support for Oracle RAC enables you to use the storage management schemes for Oracle Database files that are listed in the following tables. The tables summarize the types of Oracle Database files or Oracle Grid Infrastructure 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 Database files.

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

Yes

Indicates that the storage management scheme can store the type of Oracle Database file.

*

Indicates that the storage management scheme can store the type of Oracle Database file starting with Oracle Database version 12c release 1, but not for version 11g release 2.

No

Indicates that the storage management scheme cannot store the type of Oracle Database file.

Table 2  Storage Management Schemes for Oracle DBMS Files
Oracle DBMS File Type
Solaris Volume Manager for Sun Cluster Scheme
Hardware RAID Scheme
StorageTek QFS Shared File System Scheme
Qualified NAS Devices Scheme
Oracle ASM Scheme
Cluster File System Scheme
Oracle ACFS File System Scheme
Local Disks Scheme
Installation binary files
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Configuration files
No
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
System parameter file (SPFILE)
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
Alert files
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Trace files
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Data files
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
*
No
Control files
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
*
No
Online redo log files
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
*
No
Archived redo log files
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
*
No
Flashback log files
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
*
No
Recovery files

The fast recovery area cannot reside on a cluster file system because this set of files includes online redo logs.

No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
*
No
Table 3  Storage Management Schemes for Oracle Grid Infrastructure Files
Oracle Grid Infrastructure File Type
Solaris Volume Manager for Sun Cluster Scheme
Hardware RAID Scheme
StorageTek QFS Shared File System Scheme
Qualified NAS Devices Scheme
Oracle ASM Scheme
Cluster File System Scheme
Oracle ACFS File System Scheme
Local Disks Scheme
Installation binary files
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
OCR files
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
Voting disk
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No

For more information, see the documentation for database storage options in the Oracle Database installation guide for your version of Oracle Database.

Storage Management Requirements for Oracle Grid Infrastructure

Oracle Grid Infrastructure binary installation files are supported on the following storage management schemes:

  • Qualified network-attached storage (NAS) devices

  • Local file systems

Oracle Grid Infrastructure Oracle cluster registry (OCR) and voting disks are supported on the following storage management schemes:

  • Solaris Volume Manager for Sun Cluster

  • Hardware redundant array of independent disks (RAID) support

  • StorageTek QFS shared file systems, with either hardware RAID support or Solaris Volume Manager for Sun Cluster

  • Qualified network-attached storage (NAS) devices

  • Oracle ASM

  • Cluster file systems

  • (Starting with Oracle Database 12c) Oracle ACFS file systems

Storage Management Requirements for the Support for Oracle RAC Database

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

  • Solaris Volume Manager for Sun Cluster

  • Hardware redundant array of independent disks (RAID) support

  • StorageTek QFS shared file systems with hardware RAID support or with Solaris Volume Manager for Sun Cluster

  • Qualified network-attached storage (NAS) devices

  • Oracle ASM

  • (Starting with Oracle Database 12c) Oracle ACFS file systems


Caution

Caution  -  To avoid experiencing possible performance degradation or failures of the SUNW.ScalDeviceGroup probe, do not configure Oracle ASM with Solaris Volume Manager mirrored logical volumes.


Storage Management Requirements for Oracle Database Binary Files and Configuration Files

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

Using Local Disks for Oracle Database Binary Files and Configuration Files

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


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

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

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

To simplify the maintenance of your Support for Oracle RAC installation, you can install the Oracle Database binary files and configuration files on a shared file system.


Note -  Oracle Grid Infrastructure binaries cannot reside on a cluster file system or a StorageTek QFS shared file system.

The following shared file systems are supported:

  • StorageTek QFS shared file systems

  • File systems on a qualified NAS device

  • PxFS-based cluster file systems using Solaris Volume Manager

  • ACFS file systems

If you put the Oracle Database binary files and 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 Database application. If a short period of downtime for upgrades is acceptable, place a single copy of the Oracle Database binary files and configuration files on a shared file system.

Storage Management Schemes Supported by Zone Clusters

You can use the following storage management schemes for running Support for Oracle RAC in a zone cluster, depending on the version of Support for Oracle RAC you are running.

  • Solaris Volume Manager for Sun Cluster

  • A StorageTek QFS shared file system, using either Solaris Volume Manager or hardware RAID support

  • A file system on a qualified NAS device with fencing

  • Oracle ASM

  • (Starting with Oracle Database 12c) Oracle ACFS file systems

Using Oracle Data Guard With Support for Oracle RAC

You can use Support for Oracle RAC with Oracle Data Guard. To configure Support for Oracle RAC with Oracle Data Guard, perform the tasks in this guide. The tasks for clusters that are to be used in an Oracle Data Guard configuration are identical to the tasks for a standalone cluster.

For information about the installation, administration, and operation of Oracle Data Guard, see your Oracle Data Guard documentation.