Supported Storage Options for Oracle Database

The following table shows the storage options supported for Oracle Database binaries and files:

Table 6-1 Supported Storage Options for Oracle Database

Storage Option	Oracle Database Binaries	Oracle Database Data Files	Oracle Database Recovery Files
Oracle Automatic Storage Management (Oracle ASM) Note: Loopback devices are not supported for use with Oracle ASM	No	Yes	Yes
Local file system	Yes	Yes, but not recommended	Yes, but not recommended
Network file system (NFS) on a certified network-attached storage (NAS) filer	Yes	Yes	Yes
Direct-attached storage (DAS)	Yes	Yes	Yes
Shared disk partitions (block devices or raw devices)	No	No	No

Guidelines for Storage Options

Use the following guidelines when choosing storage options:

• You can choose any combination of the supported storage options for each file type provided that you satisfy all requirements listed for the chosen storage options.

• You can use Oracle ASM to store Oracle Clusterware files.

• Direct use of raw or block devices is not supported. You can only use raw or block devices under Oracle ASM.

  If you do not have a storage option that provides external file redundancy, then you must configure at least three voting files locations and at least two Oracle Cluster Registry locations to provide redundancy.