Installing and Configuring Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Standalone Server

About Installing and Configuring Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Standalone Server Page

Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a standalone server includes Oracle Restart and Oracle ASM. Databases created after installation are automatically registered with Oracle Restart, while preexisting databases, listeners, ASM instances, and other resources must be registered manually. A single host can support multiple single-instance databases managed by Oracle Restart.

About Image-Based Oracle Grid Infrastructure Installation

Image-based installation simplifies Oracle Grid Infrastructure deployment by requiring administrators to create the Grid home, extract the installation image, and run gridSetup.sh. It supports new clusters, standalone servers with Oracle Restart, upgrades, software-only installations, and node changes, while also enabling automated deployments using customized images patched with RUs or RURs. The image must be extracted directly into an appropriately configured Grid home.

Setup Wizard Installation Options for Creating Images

The runInstaller and gridSetup.sh setup wizards support gold-image creation through the -createGoldImage option, with parameters for the destination directory, excluded files, and help output. These options allow administrators to package Oracle Database or Grid homes into reusable image archives while selectively excluding files such as release notes.

Installing Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Standalone Server with a New Database Installation

Install Oracle Restart and Oracle ASM by preparing the Oracle base, inventory, users, groups, storage, and network, extracting the Grid image into an appropriately owned Grid home, and running gridSetup.sh. Select the standalone-server configuration, create or extend ASM disk groups, complete the configuration prompts, and run or automate the required root scripts. Then install the database and select ASM disk groups for database storage; ASM Filter Driver is deprecated on Linux and Oracle Solaris in 19c.

Installing Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Standalone Server for an Existing Database

For an existing database, set ORACLE_HOME and ORACLE_SID, stop its listeners, install Grid Infrastructure in a separate Grid home, and select the Oracle Restart standalone-server configuration. After installation, register the database with Oracle Restart using srvctl. Oracle Restart can manage databases from its own release and up to one release earlier, while older releases may remain installed but unmanaged.

Installing Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Standalone Server Using a Software-Only Installation

A software-only installation places Grid Infrastructure binaries without configuring Oracle Restart and is intended for advanced users because it lacks installation validation and requires manual postinstallation work. Administrators extract the image, verify prerequisites with runcluvfy.sh, run gridSetup.sh with Set Up Software Only, and execute the requested root scripts. Configuration with ASM proceeds through the setup wizard; without ASM, administrators run roothas.sh, update the node list, and configure the listener with SRVCTL and Oracle Net Configuration Assistant.

Testing the Oracle Automatic Storage Management Installation

Test ASM by setting ORACLE_SID to the ASM instance and ORACLE_HOME to the Grid home, then running asmcmd lsdg to list disk groups. If the ASM instance is not running, start it with srvctl start asm before repeating the verification.

Relinking Oracle Restart and Oracle ASM Binaries

After operating-system patching or upgrades, shut down all executables and applications using the Grid home or its shared libraries, unlock the Grid home with roothas.sh -unlock, relink the binaries as the grid user, run rootadd_rdbms.sh as root, and relock the home with roothas.sh -lock.

Configuring Oracle ASM Disk Groups Manually using Oracle ASMCA

After installing Grid Infrastructure, use Oracle ASMCA to create additional ASM disk groups and configure Oracle ADVM and Oracle ACFS. ASMCA creates an ASM instance during installation when none exists; it can be launched from the Grid home’s bin directory with the asmca command.

Enabling Oracle ACFS on Oracle Restart Configurations

Enable root access for Oracle ACFS by running roothas.sh -lockacfs as root from the Grid home’s crs/install directory. On IBM AIX, the ACFS storage option is deprecated in Oracle Database 19c, and roothas.sh replaces the older roothas.pl script beginning with release 12.1.0.2.

Applying Patches During an Oracle Grid Infrastructure Installation or Upgrade

Starting with Oracle Grid Infrastructure 18c, administrators can apply Release Updates and one-off patches during installation or upgrade. Download the patches, place them in accessible directories, run gridSetup.sh with -applyRU and, when needed, -applyOneOffs, and complete the configuration wizard. Both patch types may be applied separately or in the same command.

Patching and Switching Oracle Grid Infrastructure Homes

Perform out-of-place Oracle Restart patching by extracting the base image into a new Grid home, updating OPatch, applying the desired RU or one-off patches through gridSetup.sh, and completing a software-only installation. As root, relink and prepare the new home with the prepatch script, switch services with the postpatch script, and update the central inventory to designate the new home as active. The same prepatch, postpatch, and inventory procedures can switch services back to the former Grid home.

Changing the Oracle Grid Infrastructure Base Path

To change the Grid base directory in release 19.21 or later, stop Oracle Restart, TFA, and dependent executables, create and populate the new base, and preserve the old location as a backup. Update the ORACLE_BASE values in Grid configuration files, inventory and network files, revise /etc/oracle/olr.loc, restore permissions with roothas.sh -init, move AHF data with ahfctl, and restart the Oracle Restart stack.
Read More: Changing the Oracle Grid Infrastructure Base Path