This chapter describes an overview of the Microsoft Cluster Server (MSCS), Oracle Fail Safe, Oracle DIVArchive integration, and tested releases.
The prerequisites for installation must be met before the arrival of the Oracle Installation and Delivery Team at your location.
You are responsible for installing the Microsoft Cluster in your environment and providing a dedicated domain user with specific permissions. See "Domain Account Requirements (Performed by Customer)" for the required user permissions.
During installation you must make three shared partitions available so Oracle personnel can configure DIVArchive in your environment. The drive letters E:, F:, and H: must be used for the shared partitions.
When the Oracle team arrives they will install and configure the Oracle Fail Safe and Oracle DIVArchive software for you.
Oracle Fail Safe enables configuring and managing the Oracle Database and other Oracle and third-party applications for high availability on Windows clusters. An instance runs on only one node at a time.
A cluster is a group of independent computing systems that operate as a single virtual system. This type of configuration eliminates individual host systems as single points of failure. Oracle Fail Safe works with Microsoft Cluster Server to ensure that if a failure occurs on one cluster system, workloads running on that system fail over to a surviving system. Oracle Database combined with Oracle Fail Safe on a Windows cluster protects the system from both hardware and software failures. When properly configured, Oracle Fail Safe ensures a surviving system becomes operational in less than one minute, even for heavily-used databases.
Oracle Real Application Clusters integrate with Microsoft Cluster Server clusters deployed on all Windows operating systems supporting clustering. This enhances high availability by offering:
Optional automatic restarts of a failed instance or listener in a cluster.
Detection and resolution of instance cluster hangs.
Elimination of connect time failover TCP/IP timeout delays for new connection requests.
Use of user written scripts after database state changes (from online to offline or vice versa).
DIVArchive Cluster uses Oracle Fail Safe. An external disk hosts the Oracle data file and backups. The disk serves the nodes through a Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) connection. Two Windows 2012 R2 Standard nodes connect to the disk and host Oracle Fail Safe and DIVArchive software.
All software components on each node must have the same release. Release discrepancies may cause cluster failure. For example, if Node-1 has DIVArchive 7.3 installed, Node-2 must also have DIVArchive 7.3 installed, not a different release.
The following software releases are currently supported:
Release 7.2 or later
Release 4.1 or later
Release 2012 R2 Standard
The following Microsoft Cluster Server (release 11.2.0.4.7 - 64-bit) software patch levels have been tested and are currently supported with Windows 2012 R2 Standard, Oracle Fail Safe 4.1 (failsafe_41_V38321-01.zip), and DIVArchive 7.2 or later:
| KB2843630 | KB2913760 | KB2962123 | KB2989930 |
| KB2862152 | KB2914218 | KB2962409 | KB2990532 |
| KB2868626 | KB2916036 | KB2964718 | KB2992611 |
| KB2876331 | KB2917929 | KB2965500 | KB2993100 |
| KB2883200 | KB2917993 | KB2966826 | KB2993651 |
| KB2884101 | KB2918614 | KB2966828 | KB2993958 |
| KB2884846 | KB2919355 | KB2966870 | KB2994897 |
| KB2887595 | KB2919394 | KB2967917 | KB2995004 |
| KB2888505 | KB2920189 | KB2968296 | KB2995388 |
| KB2892074 | KB2922229 | KB2971203 | KB2996799 |
| KB2893294 | KB2923300 | KB2971850 | KB2998174 |
| KB2894029 | KB2923528 | KB2972103 | KB3000850 |
| KB2894179 | KB2923768 | KB2972213 | KB3002885 |
| KB2894852 | KB2925418 | KB2972280 | KB3003057 |
| KB2894856 | KB2926765 | KB2973114 | KB3003743 |
| KB2896496 | KB2928193 | KB2973201 | KB3004394 |
| KB2898108 | KB2928680 | KB2973351 | KB3005607 |
| KB2898514 | KB2929961 | KB2973448 | KB3006226 |
| KB2898871 | KB2930275 | KB2975061 | KB3008242 |
| KB2900986 | KB2931358 | KB2975719 | KB3008627 |
| KB2901101 | KB2931366 | KB2976627 | KB3008923 |
| KB2901128 | KB2938066 | KB2976897 | KB3008925 |
| KB2902892 | KB2939087 | KB2977174 | KB3010788 |
| KB2903939 | KB2950153 | KB2977292 | KB3011780 |
| KB2904266 | KB2954879 | KB2977765 | KB3012199 |
| KB2906956 | KB2955164 | KB2978041 | KB3013126 |
| KB2908174 | KB2956575 | KB2978122 | KB3013410 |
| KB2909210 | KB2957189 | KB2978126 | KB3013769 |
| KB2911106 | KB2958262 | KB2978668 | KB3013816 |
| KB2911134 | KB2959626 | KB2979573 | KB3014442 |
| KB2911804 | KB2959977 | KB2979576 | KB3025390 |
| KB2912390 | KB2961072 | KB2979582 | |
| KB2913152 | KB2961851 | KB2984006 | |
| KB2913270 | KB2961908 | KB2988948 |