6 Configuring Shared Storage for Oracle Database and Grid Infrastructure

Review supported storage options and perform prerequisite tasks as part of your installation planning process.

Note:

• If you are currently using OCFS for Windows as your shared storage, then you must migrate to using Oracle ASM before the upgrade of Oracle Database and Oracle Grid Infrastructure.
• Starting with Oracle Database 21c, the name of Oracle Automatic Storage Management Cluster File System (Oracle ACFS) is changed to Oracle Advanced Cluster File System (Oracle ACFS).
• Starting with Oracle Database 21c, the Oracle Grid Infrastructure feature Oracle Advanced Cluster File System (Oracle ACFS) is desupported with Microsoft Windows.

Caution:

Oracle ACFS and Oracle Automatic Storage Management Dynamic Volume Manager (Oracle ADVM) will not be accessible after you install or upgrade to Oracle Grid Infrastructure 21c.

• Supported Storage Options for Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle RAC
  Both Oracle Clusterware and the Oracle RAC database use files that must be available to all the nodes in the cluster. The following table shows the storage options supported for storing Oracle Clusterware and Oracle RAC files.
• Storage Considerations for Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle RAC
  For all installations, you must choose the storage option to use for Oracle Grid Infrastructure (Oracle Clusterware and Oracle ASM), and Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) databases.
• Guidelines for Choosing a Shared Storage Option
  You can choose any combination of the supported shared storage options for each file type if you satisfy all requirements listed for the chosen storage option.
• About Migrating Existing Oracle ASM Instances
  You can use Oracle Automatic Storage Management Configuration Assistant (ASMCA) to upgrade the existing Oracle ASM instance to Oracle ASM 12c release 1 (12.1) or higher.
• Preliminary Shared Disk Preparation
  When using shared storage on a Windows platform, there are additional preinstallation tasks to complete.
• Configuring Disk Partitions on Shared Storage
  Use the disk administration tools provided by the operating system or third-party vendors to create disk partitions.