2 Preparing for Oracle Database Appliance Installation and Deployment

Complete these setup tasks before Oracle Database Appliance is delivered.

Tasks:

Registering Your Support Identifier on My Oracle Support

Add your hardware Support Identifier (SI) to your My Oracle Support account profile.

Your hardware SI is supplied when you purchase Oracle Database Appliance. If you acquire new software licenses, then you must also register your new software SIs. The SI registration process can take up to 24 hours to complete.

Note:

You cannot obtain support or software from Oracle without registered SIs.

Planning Oracle Database Appliance Configuration Options

You can deploy Oracle Database Appliance with either Bare Metal or Virtualized Platform deployment configurations.

For Bare Metal configurations, you must decide how many CPU cores you want to enable, and decide what database configuration options you need, if any. For Oracle Database Appliance Virtualized Platform installations, review these sections to consider additional configuration options.

Topics:

Selecting Oracle Database Appliance Bare Metal Options

Oracle Database Appliance is shipped from the factory to deploy as bare metal.

Review the systems requirements, database configuration, and software downloads to continue with a bare metal deployment.

Selecting Oracle Database Appliance Virtualized Platform Options

Review Virtualized Platform options, and requirements for these options, such as shared disks and virtual local area networks.

Before you implement virtual machines, you must decide how and where you want them to run. Based on your requirements, you can select High Availability options, or you can select options to reduce interference between competing virtual machines for CPU and network access. You can also select options to provide more storage space, or enable automatic startup for virtual machines. Some of these options require additional network configuration beyond the configuration required for the Oracle Database Appliance servers.

By default, Oracle Database Appliance includes one local repository on each node. The maximum size of that repository depends on your Oracle Database Appliance hardware. The maximum size is 350 GB for Oracle Database Appliance X6-2-HA Virtualized Platform.

When you create virtual machines in the default repositories, the virtual machines can run only on the node where they are located. Because they run on only one node, they have no failover capability.

To obtain the most flexible shared machine environment, use a shared repository with Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs). Shared repositories provide High Availability options, more storage capacity, and reduced local storage use. VLANs help you partition network traffic for your virtual machines.

When you use a shared repository hosted on shared disks, the virtual machines consume space in Oracle Automatic Storage Management (Oracle ASM) disk groups, DATA and RECO. When you use shared disks, you can convert virtual machines to do the following:

  • Start automatically whenever the repository becomes available

  • Run on a preferred node

  • Start or fail over to the other node, if the preferred node is unavailable

Oracle Database Appliance Virtualized Platform deployments support multiple VLANs on the same network interface card (NIC) port. Each VLAN is essentially an independent logical network that operates with other VLANs over the same physical connection.

Use VLANs to minimize the number of required physical connections and NICs while concurrently separating traffic. Each VLAN is assigned a distinct VLAN identification (ID). The network switch uses VLAN IDs to segregate traffic among the different VLANs operating on the same link. When a VLAN is configured, the VLAN functions exactly like a separate physical connection.

Note:

You must configure virtual LANs on the physical switches before you use them.

Selecting Database Configuration Options

Select the database templates and configuration options to properly size and configure your initial database.

Review the database configuration options and select the templates for Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC), and Oracle RAC One Node databases needed to configure your initial database. This information is relevant to you if you plan to configure an initial database during Bare Metal or Virtualized Platform deployments.

Record your decisions and the information that you require for your database templates before you proceed to complete system configuration checklists.

Caution:

Do not use Oracle Database Configuration Assistant (DBCA) to create databases on Oracle Database Appliance. Only use Oracle Appliance Manager for database configuration. Deploying Oracle Database instances using Oracle Appliance Manager ensures that these databases are properly configured, optimized, and supported on Oracle Database Appliance.

Topics:

Selecting Database Deployment Options for Oracle Database Appliance

If you plan to create an initial database during deployment, then use these lists to select an Oracle Database deployment option, and prepare for the deployment.

Oracle Appliance Manager installs Oracle Database software on mirrored disks that are internal to Oracle Database Appliance. During the initial deployment with the Oracle Appliance Manager Configurator, you can either create a database or you can defer database creation to a later time.

Options:

  • Enterprise Edition: Oracle Database 12c release 1 Enterprise Edition (no automated failover), with the following characteristics:

    • Single-instance Oracle Database Enterprise Edition home

    • Oracle Database software installation on both nodes

  • Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) One Node: Oracle RAC One Node 12c release 1, with the following characteristics:

    • Oracle RAC One Node has a designated Oracle Database Appliance home node

    • Oracle RAC One Node software is installed on both servers

    • Automated failover is configured

    • Enterprise Edition license is required

    • Oracle RAC One Node license on each server is required

      Exception: If you designate one server as a backup server, then you can use that server without a license, in accordance with the 10-day rule.

  • Oracle RAC: Oracle Real Application Clusters 12c release 1, with the following characteristics:

    • Oracle RAC home

    • Oracle RAC software is installed on both servers

    • Enterprise Edition license is required

    • Oracle RAC license on each server is required (not eligible for the 10-day rule)

Note:

For information about the 10-day rule, see the Oracle Software Investment Guide at http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/pricing/sig-070616.pdf.

Selecting Database Templates for Oracle Database Appliance

Oracle Database Appliance software includes preconfigured templates that incorporate Oracle best practices with optimization for different classes of databases.

Because of differences in CPU counts, memory size, and other resources available with different Oracle Database Appliance models, some templates are not supported on all models.

Each Oracle Database template has different workload profile and performance characteristics:

  • Memory requirements, which are calculated from the System Global Area (SGA), and Program Global Area (PGA) sizes

  • Processing requirements, which are calculated from the number of processes

  • Logging requirements, which are based on log buffer size, and online redo log size

  1. Review the types of database templates for guidelines and sizing information.

  2. Determine the template that you want to use. The following templates are available for Oracle Database Appliance X6-2-HA:

    • Odb-01s

    • Odb-01

    • Odb-02

    • Odb-04

    • Odb-06

    • Odb-12

    • Odb-16

    • Odb-20

Note:

Oracle strongly recommends that you use the Oracle Database Appliance templates. These templates implement best practices, and are configured specifically for Oracle Database Appliance.

On Oracle Database Appliance Virtualized Platform, if you only plan to deploy one Oracle Database, then Oracle recommends that you use a template for your ODA_BASE that has the same name as the template that you choose for your Oracle Database.

You do not have to select database templates with the same size category as the ODA_BASE template. For example, you can use a small ODA_BASE template to host two very small databases, and you can use a large ODA_BASE template to host either one large with one small database, or host one medium database with one small and two very small databases.

Caution:

The total requirements for your selected database templates must not exceed the capacity of your ODA_BASE template. You can adjust the size of ODA_BASE after the initial deployment, so can expand ODA_BASE to accommodate more databases in ODA_BASE.

Calculating Required Cores

After you select templates for your planned Oracle Database, identify your workload type, and determine the total number of CPUs that you require to support the templates.

Oracle Database Appliance templates are configured and tuned for specific types of Oracle Database workloads:

  • Generic templates

  • Online analytic transaction templates (OLTP)

  • Decision support services templates (DSS)

  • In-Memory database templates

These templates are designed to run on a specific number of cores. Caging ensures that each database workload is restricted to the set of cores allocated by the template, enabling multiple databases to run concurrently with no performance degradation, up to the capacity of Oracle Database Appliance. You can select database template sizes larger than your current needs to provide for planned growth, which you accommodate later by adjusting System Global Area (SGA) and Program Global Area (PGA) sizes, as well as the number of cores.

Gathering System Requirement Information

Use these checklists to collect information before deploying Oracle Database Appliance.

Topics:

List of Information You Need Before Deployment

Collect security, storage, and network information required to prepare for deploying Oracle Database Appliance.

Review your security requirements for root passwords, determine your storage requirements and network administration requirements, and complete any required configuration before your Oracle Database Appliance hardware is delivered.

Security Requirements

  • What root password should you use for Oracle Database Appliance? Root passwords should comply with your system security requirements.

  • Secure operating systems are an important basis for general system security. Ensure that your operating system deployment is in compliance with common security practices.

Storage Administration Requirements

Storage administration is integrated into Oracle Database Appliance. No additional storage configuration is required.

Oracle Database Appliance includes integrated storage for operational files (operating system, Oracle Grid Infrastructure home, Oracle Database homes, tools), user data (database files), and log files (database redo logs). Operational files are stored on mirrored internal system disks in each server. Data and database redo log files are stored on shared disks in the storage shelf.

The Oracle Database Appliance X6-2-HA storage shelf contains ten 1.6 TB SSDs (partitioned to 1.2 TB to improve performance) for data, which are configured as a DATA ASM disk group. Four 200 GB SSDs are used for the database redo logs, which are configured as a REDO ASM disk group.

Note:

Disk hardware capacity is measured using the formula that 1 KB equals 1,000 bytes; software storage requirements are based on 1 KB equals 1,024 bytes.

Network Administration Requirements

Ensure that the names and addresses that you provide for network configuration are configured in your Domain Name System (DNS) servers. The addresses that you provide are configured in the /etc/hosts file to provide IP name and address resolution, even if a DNS server is not available.

You have the option to connect either to a copper, or to a fiber public network. To connect to a fiber network you must purchase the configuration with 10 GbE SFP+ fiber cards. The InfiniBand interconnect is not supported if you purchase the configuration with 10 GbE SFP+ fiber cards. Ensure that your network planning is based on the correct type of public network.

Oracle recommends that you resolve addresses using a DNS server, so that you can use Single Client Access Names (SCANs). Having a single name to access the cluster enables the client to use the EZConnect client and the simple JDBC thin URL to access any Oracle Database running in the cluster, independent of the active servers in the cluster. The SCAN provides load-balancing and failover for client connections to these databases. The SCAN works as a cluster alias for Oracle Databases in the cluster.

If you deploy without using a DNS server, then you can add a DNS server later, and add SCANs. If you add SCANs, then you must specify additional VIP addresses for those SCANs.

A correctly configured Oracle Database Appliance requires at least six public addresses on the same subnet for the nodes:

  • A public IP name and address for each node

  • A virtual IP name and address for each node

  • Two addresses that resolve to the SCAN for the cluster.

All names must conform to the RFC 952 standard, which permits alphanumeric characters and hyphens ("-"), but does not allow underscores ("_").

Provide an IP address for the public interface for each node. This interface is bond0, or Eth1 on Oracle Database Appliance Virtualized Platform, (a bond of Eth2 and Eth3), which is used for the host IP address for the node.

Use bond1 and bond2 for management, backup, disaster recovery, or other options where you require a network interface. Be prepared to provide a netmask and a gateway for each interface, as both are required when you configure network connections for Oracle Database Appliance. If you select a Custom installation, then provide names and addresses for the bond1 optional interface.

Also determine answers to the following questions:

  • Do you have a Network Time Protocol (NTP) service configured for each server, so that the local system time for each server is synchronized?

    If you have NTP servers, and you want to synchronize time between Oracle Database Appliance nodes using NTP, then be prepared to provide the addresses for the servers. If you do not provide addresses for NTP servers, then Oracle Grid Infrastructure software configures time synchronization between nodes using Cluster Time Synchronization Service (CTSS).

  • Do you want to plug in the public IP address cables to redundant switches, so that you can avoid a single point of failure for Oracle Database Appliance? Oracle recommends that you use redundant switches for High Availability.

Checklist for System Details

Use the checklist to gather system information that you need to obtain for Oracle Database Appliance. Record the values for your system.

Table 2-1 Checklist for System Configuration Information for Oracle Database Appliance

System Information Description

Oracle Database Appliance System Name

Provide the name for the cluster running on Oracle Database Appliance. This name is also used as the default root word for Oracle Database Appliance network addresses. The name must be unique across your enterprise, must be at least one character long and no more than 13 characters in length, must be alpha-numeric, cannot begin with a numeral, and may contain hyphens (-). Underscore characters (_) are not allowed.

The name you choose will become the default first part of the names for the following items. The default (generated names) can be changed.

  • Oracle ILOM host names for Nodes 1 and 2 (systemname1-ilom and systemname2-ilom respectively)

  • SCAN host name (systemname-scan)

  • Node 0 and Node 1 Public IP addresses (systemname1 and systemname2 respectively)

  • Node 0 and Node 1 Virtual IP addresses (systemname1-vip and systemname2-vip respectively)

The name should comply with the host name specifications described in the RFC 952 standard.

Type of Configuration

Typical, which has the most default values.

Custom (recommended by Oracle), which allows you to override default values for any or all of the following:

  • Database block size, language, territory, backup file location, or disk redundancy level for the DATA and RECO disk groups

  • Oracle Integrated Lights Out Manager (Oracle ILOM) server

  • Oracle Auto Service Request (Oracle ASR) configuration

  • Oracle Cloud File System mount point and file system size

  • Network Time Protocol (NTP) service server

Mode

Bare metal or virtualized platform

Region

Select the region where you plan to operate the Oracle Database Appliance system.

Timezone

Select the time zone where you plan to operate the Oracle Database Appliance system.

Initial Database Details (if you want to create one during deployment)

  • Database name

  • Normal or container database

  • Class (database template)

  • Database language

  • Database deployment (Oracle Enterprise Edition single instance, Oracle RAC One Node, or Oracle RAC)

  • (Container databases only) Data file size, in gigabytes (GB)

Root password

You are prompted to provide a root password for the system. Ensure that the root password you provide is in compliance with common security practices.

Note:

Oracle recommends that you use all lowercase characters for the host name. The names are generated from the system name. For example, if you use mysystem as the name of your system, then the derived host names are mysystem0 and mysystem1; the derived host virtual IP names are mysystem0-vip and mysystem1-vip; and the ILOM names are mysystem0-ilom and mysystem1-ilom.

Checklist for Custom Node Network Address Configuration

Use the checklists in this topic to identify the IP addresses required for Oracle Database Appliance.

By default, names for network interfaces are derived from the Oracle Database Appliance system name, which you provide during installation. Also, when you use Oracle Appliance Manager Configurator, the addresses for the public IP addresses can be automatically assigned in a sequence starting with the address you provide for the public IP address for Node 0. The other IP addresses generated are, in order, the public address for Node 1; the virtual IP address for Node 0; the virtual IP address for Node 1; and the SCAN addresses.

You can retain the default values, or you can use addresses provided by your system administrator to perform a custom configuration. Ensure that all addresses listed as "Yes” in the "Same Subnet" column are on the same subnet as each other.

Minimum IP Address Requirements for Oracle Database Appliance Bare Metal Deployment

Table 2-2 Minimum IP Address Requirements for Oracle Database Appliance Bare Metal Deployment

Type of IP Minimum IP Address Counts IP Address Default Values Your Values As Applicable Same Subnet

Host Public Addresses

2

No default

No default

Yes

Host Private Addresses

4

192.168.16.24

192.168.16.25

192.168.17.24

192.168.17.25

Not applicable: the private addresses are defined before deployment and should not be changed.

If you are using InfiniBand, IP addresses 192.168.17.24 and 192.168.17.25 are not used

Yes

Oracle RAC VIP

2

No default

No default

Yes

Single Client Access Name (SCAN)

2

No default

No default

Yes

Oracle Integrated Lights Out Manager (ILOM)

2

No default

No default

No

User Virtual Machine

Not Applicable

No default

No default

No

Minimum IP Address Requirements for Oracle Database Appliance Virtualized Platform Deployment

Table 2-3 Minimum IP Address Requirements for Oracle Database Appliance Virtualized Platform Deployment

Type of IP Minimum IP Address Counts IP Address Default Values Your Values As Applicable Same Subnet

Host Public Addresses

2 (for ODA_BASE)

2 (for Dom0)

(Total of 4)

No default

No default

If you are using InfiniBand, IP addresses 192.168.17.24 and 192.168.17.25 are not used

Yes

Host Private Addresses

2

192.168.16.24 (for Dom0)

192.168.16.25 (for Dom0)

192.168.16.27 (for ODA_BASE)

192.168.16.28 (for ODA_BASE)

Not applicable: the private addresses are defined before deployment and should not be changed.

Yes

Oracle RAC VIP

2

No default

No default

Yes

Single Client Access Name (SCAN)

2

No default

No default

Yes

Oracle Integrated Lights Out Manager (ILOM)

2

No default

No default

No

User Virtual Machine

At least 1 for each Virtual Machine

No default

No default

No

Creating an Oracle Appliance Manager Deployment Plan

Use the standalone Oracle Database Appliance Configurator to create an offline deployment plan and validate your network settings before the actual deployment.

If you prefer to configure your system at the time you deploy it, you can wait and use the online Configurator that is part of the base Oracle Database Appliance software. If you want to use the Configurator to create a configuration file before your appliance is delivered, then review these topics.

Topics:

About the Standalone Oracle Database Appliance Configurator

Decide if you want to download the standalone Oracle Database Appliance Manager Configurator to create a configuration file for Oracle Database Appliance.

The standalone Oracle Appliance Manager Configurator is a Java-based tool that enables you to generate your deployment plan, and validate your network settings before the actual deployment.

If you want to use this tool before deployment, then you must download and run the Configurator on a local client system. The local client can be a Linux, UNIX, MAC, or Windows system.

At the end of an offline Configurator session, you can save your deployment plan in a configuration file. When you are ready to deploy Oracle Database Appliance, copy this configuration file to the appliance, and run the online Oracle Appliance Manager Configurator to import and deploy your saved plan. You can also print the file's content and use the printout as a checklist for setting up your external network configuration.

Before you save your configuration file, Oracle recommends that you test your network settings. To test the network settings, the client where you run the Configurator must be connected to same network that you intend to use for Oracle Database Appliance.

Running the Standalone Oracle Database Appliance Configurator

Download and run the standalone Configurator to create a configuration file for Oracle Database Appliance X6-2-HA.

To obtain the standalone Oracle Appliance Manager Configurator that matches your version of Oracle Database Appliance software, download it from the following URL:

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/database-appliance/overview/index.html

All versions of the Configurator are available from the Overview page by clicking the Oracle Database Appliance Manager Configurator link.

After you download the Configurator to a client, run it by using the following procedure:

  1. Start the Configurator using the command config.bat on a Windows client, or the command ./config.sh on a Linux or UNIX client.
  2. Click Next.
  3. On the Configuration Type page, select the options for configuration type, environment, and hardware model. If you have an existing configuration file that you want to load and edit, then click Browse and locate the file on your client.
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    Oracle recommends in most cases that you select the typical configuration. If you intend to deploy SAP applications, then select SAP Application. Choose the Custom option if you want to configure additional or alternate network interfaces, or if you want to override the default values for one or more of the following:

    • Database block size, language, territory, backup file location, or disk redundancy level for the DATA and RECO disk groups

    • Oracle Integrated Lights Out Manager (Oracle ILOM) server

    • Oracle Auto Service Request (Oracle ASR) configuration

    • Oracle Cloud File System mount point and file system size

    • Network Time Protocol service server

    To see the default values for your version of Oracle Database Appliance software before choosing the Typical or Custom option, run the Configurator using the Custom option.

    If you are installing Oracle Database Appliance Virtualized Platform, then select Virtualized Platform. Otherwise, leave the default value, Bare Metal, as the environment option. Select ODA-X6-2 HA as the hardware option for Oracle Database Appliance X6-2-HA.

    If you are using InfiniBand as the interconnect between the two Oracle Database Appliance servers, then select the InfiniBand check box.

    The Browse option is not useful during the initial run, because there are no configuration files to load.

    In this example, Typical, Bare Metal, and ODA-X6-2 HA are the selected options.

    Note:

    The SAP Application option is only valid with the Bare Metal option.

    Make your selections, then click Next.

  4. On the System Information page, provide the system name, and select the correct value from the lists for your region and time zone.

    In the New Root Password and New Root Password (confirm) fields, enter a new password for the root user. This password is encrypted in the configuration file. It is temporarily decrypted to reset the password during deployment.

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  5. Click Next.
  6. On the Network Information page, provide your domain name, DNS server addresses, public and VIP addresses for your two nodes, SCAN name and addresses, and netmask and Gateway addresses.
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    As you enter data on this page, some fields are automatically filled with values derived from earlier entries. For example, if the address that you provide for the Node 0 public IP address is 192.0.2.18, then the default node addresses generate as follows:

    • Node 0 public IP address: 192.0.2.18

    • Node 1 public IP address: 192.0.2.19

    • Node 0 virtual IP (VIP) address: 192.0.2.20

    • Node 1 virtual IP (VIP) address: 192.0.2.21

    • SCAN addresses (two addresses resolving to the SCAN VIP name): 192.0.2.22, 192.0.2.23

  7. Click Next.
  8. On the Database Information page, select if you want to create an initial database. If you check the box to create a database, then you can also provide your database details. These details include the database name, which you must enter, and the following options, selected from the available list values:

    • Is Container Database The default is false. If you leave the default value, then the Configurator builds a non-container database

    • Database Type The default type is OLTP. You can also select DSS, or select In-Memory.

    • Database Class Select the database class that you want to deploy. Not all options are available for all models of Oracle Database Appliance; the default class is odb-06

    • Database Language The default language is AMERICAN

    • Database Deployment Select one of the following, where RAC is the default:

      • Oracle RAC

      • Oracle RAC One Node

      • Oracle Database Enterprise Edition (no Oracle RAC)

    • Data File Size (GB) If you indicate that you want to build a container database, then provide a database data file size in the final field on this page. (This field does not accept input unless the Is Container Database selection is True.) If you do not want to create an initial database, then do not select the check box for Create Initial Database.

    • Data Files on Flash Storage Select false.

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    Click Next.

  9. On the Network Validation page, either validate the network settings and save the validation output in a file, or bypass the validation step by selecting Skip Network Validations.
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    Oracle recommends that you validate your network before you use the configuration file to configure an appliance. However, you must run Oracle Appliance Manager Configurator on a server attached to the network subnet that is configured for your appliance. If you do not do this, then the validation fails, regardless of whether or not you have completed required configuration.

    If the network validation fails, and you want to continue with the configuration, then select Skip Network Validations, and then click Next. After you review the results, if you are ready to proceed, then click Next. If the validation fails, then save the validation output to review these results with your network administrator. To save the configuration information that you have entered and correct the network addresses later, select Skip Network Validations and click Next to continue to the next page.

  10. On the Summary page, review the configuration options that you have selected. Click Save to save the configuration file, or click Back to modify your selections.

    You can print the contents of the configuration file and use the printout to review your configuration entries for deployment planning purposes. You can also load the configuration file later when you run the Configurator again.

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    If you are running the Configurator on Oracle Database Appliance, and you have completed the preliminary steps to configure your initial network and install the End-User Bundle or deploy ODA_BASE, then you can click Install to deploy the configuration. If you are not ready to complete the deployment, then first click Save, and then click Finish. Note the name and location of the configuration file. You can copy this configuration file to your Oracle Database Appliance for deployment. If you need to make corrections before deployment, then rerun the standalone Oracle Appliance Manager Configurator, load your configuration file, make the changes, and save the file again.