1. Owner's Guide
  2. Installation and Configuration

Part II Installation and Configuration

Part II provides information about installation and configuration of Recovery Appliance after it has arrived on site. This part contains the following chapters:

Part II Installing the Recovery Appliance Software

This chapter describes the procedures for installing the Recovery Appliance software. It contains the following sections:

Note:

Recovery Appliance software is supported only when installed on Recovery Appliance hardware. See the Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance Licensing Information User Manual for information about software licensing.

Part II About the Installation Software

You use the following utilities to install the Recovery Appliance software:

  • ra_preinstall.pl: Performs initial checks and prepares the Recovery Appliance for new installations and upgrades. This script was introduced in Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance software update 12.1.1.1.7. See Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance Upgrade and Patching (Doc ID 2028931.1) for more information.

  • install.sh: Uses the files generated by Oracle Exadata Deployment Assistant to configure the networks, Oracle Database, and other software components.

    The OneCommand ZIP file that contains Oracle Exadata Deployment Assistant for use in unresolvable-reference.html also contains this script. You can run this script from any system on the same network as Recovery Appliance. Some platforms use install.cmd.

  • racli: Installs the Recovery Appliance software. You must run racli while logged in to a Recovery Appliance compute server, and not from another server on the same network.

Note:

Whenever the deployment configuration file is modified such as through a re-import and re-generation of XML, run ra_preinstall.pl again before running install.sh.

Part II Software Installation Prerequisites

Before you begin the software installation, ensure that these procedures are complete:

  • You used Oracle Exadata Deployment Assistant to generate the configuration files. See unresolvable-reference.html.

  • You assembled the installation files into the WorkDir directory under the OneCommand installation directory. (The OneCommand installation directory is the directory to which you extracted the OneCommand ZIP file, such as linux-x64.) See "unresolvable-reference.html" for information about the OneCommand installation directory. For the list of installation files, see My Oracle Support Doc ID 1927416.1.

  • The checkip script ran successfully with no remaining errors. See "unresolvable-reference.html".

  • All racks of a multirack installation are cabled together. See unresolvable-reference.html.

  • All components of all new racks are configured. See Configuring a Recovery Appliance Rack.

  • Oracle Management Server is operating on the same network as Recovery Appliance.

  • Reclaim the disk space on all compute servers. See "Reclaiming Disk Space on the Compute Servers".

  • The Oracle tape library is installed and operational. A tape library is an optional component of Recovery Appliance.

Part II About Adding a Rack to an Existing Rack

When you add a new Recovery Appliance rack to an older rack, the factory installed images are typically different. You can either update the older rack to the new image, or retain the older version and reimage the new rack to match it. In either case, ensure that all servers and all Sun Datacenter InfiniBand Switch 36 switches are at the same patch level.

Part II About Adding New Storage Servers to an Existing Rack

Additional patching considerations include the Grid Infrastructure and database home releases and bundle patch updates. If the software installation applies new patches, then Oracle recommends changing the existing servers so the new servers inherit the releases as part of the extension procedure. This way, the number of servers that require patches is lower. Apply any patches to the existing servers in advance, so that they are at the desired level when the extension work is scheduled, thereby reducing the amount of work required by the extension.

Part II Reclaiming Disk Space on the Compute Servers

Before you install the Recovery Appliance software, you must run the reclaimdisks script on each compute server. The script checks the volume configuration and reallocates all space correctly for the Recovery Appliance. Reclaiming the disk space converts the Linux system to four disks in a RAID-5 configuration at the disk controller level.

Perform the following steps to configure the disks on a compute server:

  1. Log in to the compute server as the root user.
  2. Change to the /opt/oracle.SupportTools directory.
  3. Start the disk reclamation process:
    # ./reclaimdisks.sh -free -reclaim

    The command frees any preconfigured disks, schedules reclamation of all free disks to Linux on the next boot, and restarts Recovery Appliance. The process may take two hours to complete.

    Caution:

    Do not restart Recovery Appliance or interrupt the reclamation process.

  4. Validate the Linux configuration:
    ./reclaimdisks.sh -check

    The last lines of the output should be the following:

    [INFO]  Valid single boot configuration found for Linux: RAID5 from 4 disks
 with no global and dedicated hot spare disks
Valid. Booted: Linux. Layout: Linux.
  5. Repeat these steps on the other compute servers.

Part II Installing the Software on Recovery Appliance

After completing the prerequisites and assembling the necessary files, you are ready to install the software.

To install the software on a new Recovery Appliance rack:

  1. Log in as root to the first compute server.
  2. Change to the u01 directory:
    # cd /u01
  3. Create a directory named ra_install directly under u01:
    # mkdir ra_install
  4. Extract the latest Linux version of the OneCommand ZIP file into /u01/ra_install/, using the default directory name, linux-x64. (The ZIP file can be downloaded from My Oracle Support Doc ID 1927416.1.)
  5. Copy the XML configuration files that were generated by using the Oracle Exadata Deployment Assistant into the ExadataConfigurations subdirectory under /u01/ra_install/linux-x64. See "unresolvable-reference.html" for information about the configuration files.
  6. Run the Recovery Appliance preinstallation script:
    1. Obtain the latest Recovery Appliance patch file from My Oracle Support Doc ID 1927416.1, and extract it into /u01/ra_install/linux-x64/WorkDir.
    2. Change to the WorkDir directory:
      # cd /u01/ra_install/linux-x64/WorkDir

      Notes:

      • The preinstallation script is available with Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance software update 12.1.1.1.7 and later. See Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance Upgrade and Patching (Doc ID 2028931.1) for information about the latest patch file

      • The files you extracted to WorkDir should include a readme file (README.txt) that contains important information to review before you proceed

    3. Run the script with the path of the XML configuration file and the Oracle Exadata Deployment Assistant directory:
      # /usr/bin/perl ra_preinstall.pl --config_xml=/u01/ra_install/linux-x64/ExadataConfigurations/Example_Inc-ra01.xml 
--oeda_dir=/u01/ra_install/linux-x64

      Note:

      Before the install.sh has completed all steps, if the fix to a validation issue or any other issue requires re-generating the OEDA XML configuration file, run ra_preinstall.pl on the generated XML as given above before re-starting install.sh from the beginning.

  7. Change to the linux-x64 directory:
    # cd /u01/ra_install/linux-x64
  8. List the steps you need to run.

    This example runs the install script from a Linux system, using an XML file named ExadataConfigurations/Example_Inc-ra01.xml: 

    $ ./install.sh -cf ExadataConfigurations/Example_Inc-ra01.xml -l
  9. Run each step in numeric order except the last step (Resecure Machine), and verify that it completed successfully before continuing to the next step. You will resecure the machine in a later step.

    This example runs step 1 from a Linux system, using an XML file named ExadataConfigurations/Example_Inc-ra01.xml: 

    $ ./install.sh -cf ExadataConfigurations/Example_Inc-ra01.xml -s 1

    See "About the Install Utility Steps".

  10. Change to the Recovery Appliance bin directory:
    # cd /opt/oracle.RecoveryAppliance/bin
  11. Run the racli utility to install the Recovery Appliance software.

    This command runs all of the steps necessary to install the software based on the system and configuration settings:

    # ./racli install appliance
    Alternatively, you can run each step performed by this command individually by using the step option. However, ensure that you run all of the required steps in order and that each step completes successfully before you run the next step. The following example runs only the first installation step: 
    # ./racli install appliance --step=1
    See "racli install appliance" for a description of each step.

    Note:

    If you encounter a problem while running the install appliance command, contact Oracle Support Services at http://support.oracle.com for assistance.

  12. Change back to the linux-x64 directory:
    # cd /u01/ra_install/linux-x64
  13. Use the install.sh utility to run the last step (Resecure Machine) to secure Recovery Appliance.
  14. To complete the Recovery Appliance installation:

    1. Change the default passwords for the Recovery Appliance database user (rasys) and the OSB tape backup users, if applicable.

    2. Use Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control to deploy the agents and discover the Recovery Appliance targets. Then you can use Cloud Control to monitor and administer the Recovery Appliance environment.

      See "Setting Up Enterprise Manager to Administer Recovery Appliance".

    3. If you will use VLAN tagging for the Recovery Appliance ingest network, configure and test the VLAN tagging.

      See Enabling 8021.Q VLAN Tagging in Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance over ingest networks (Doc ID 2047411.1) for instructions.

    4. Enroll the Oracle databases, so that they can use Recovery Appliance.

      See Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance Protected Database Configuration Guide.

See Also:

Part II Install Utility Syntax

The install utility has the following syntax: 

./install.sh -cf config_filename.xml option1 option2...
Part II Install Utility Parameters

The syntax of the install utility enables you to run one step or multiple steps, and to undo one or more steps that ran with errors. You can then fix whatever problems caused the errors and run the step again.

Table -1 describes the options.

Table -1 Options of the Install Utility

Option Description

-cf config_filename.xml

Identifies the XML configuration file. Required.

-h

Describes the script options.

-l

List the steps needed to install and configure the software for the configuration described in the XML file.

-r {n-N | n}

Runs steps n through N, or step n.

-s n

Runs step n.

-u {n-N | n}

Undoes steps n through N, or step n.

Part II Install Utility Syntax Examples

The following examples provide examples of the syntax and sample output. The XML configuration file is named Example_Inc-ra01.xml (linux-x64/ExadataConfigurations/Example_Inc-ra01.xml).

This command displays Help for the utility:

$ ./install.sh -cf ExadataConfigurations/Example_Inc-ra01.xml -h
  install.sh -cf <config.xml> -l [options]
  install.sh -cf <config.xml> -s <step #> | -r <num-num>
  install.sh
  ARGUMENTS:
   -l                 List all the steps that exist
   -cf                config file name [Full path please]
   -s <step #>        Run the step # at a time
   -r <num-num>       Run the steps one after the other as long as no errors
                      are encountered
   -u <num-num> | <step#> Undo a range of steps or a particular step
   -h                 Usage
  Version : 14.254.04:00

This command lists the steps:

$ ./install.sh -cf ExadataConfigurations/Example_Inc-ra01.xml -l
 
1. Validate Configuration File
2. Setup Required Files
3. Create Users
4. Setup Cell Connectivity
5. Verify Infiniband
6. Calibrate Cells
7. Create Cell Disks
8. Create Grid Disks
9. Configure Alerting
10. Install Cluster Software
11. Initialize Cluster Software
12. Install Database Software
13. Relink Database with RDS
14. Create ASM Diskgroups
15. Create Databases
16. Apply Security Fixes
17. Install Exachk
18. Setup ASR Alerting
19. Create Installation Summary
20. Resecure Machine

The next example runs step 7:

./install.sh -cf ExadataConfigurations/Example_Inc-ra01.xml -s 7
 
 Executing Create Cell Disks
 Check physical disks for errors before creating celldisks..............
 Restarting cell services..................
 Initializing cells..............
 Cleaning cells....................
 Restarting cell services...................
 Creating cell disks.........................
 Creating flashlog on cells..........
 Creating flashcache on cells........
 Successfully completed execution of step Create Cell Disks
]

This command reverses step 15:

$ ./install.sh -cf ExadataConfigurations/Example_Inc-ra01.xml -u 15
 
 Undoing Create Databases
 Deleting databases...
 Deleting database zdlra
     .
     .
     .
Part II About the Install Utility Steps

The following descriptions show how each step contributes to the complete software installation. The install script lists the substeps as it performs them.

Step 1 Validate Configuration File

Runs a series of checks to ensure that the configuration file contains settings that are appropriate for the specified cluster on the current network:

  • Validates the host names and IP addresses

  • Verifies the operating system

  • Validates the cluster networks and network connectivity

  • Validates the network time protocol (NTP) setup

  • Validates the physical disks in the storage servers

  • Validates the compute servers for database readiness

Step 2 Setup Required Files

Ensures that the required files are accessible, copies them to the second compute server, unzips them as needed, and creates symbolic links.

See "Software Installation Prerequisites" if this step fails.

Step 3 Create Users

Creates the required users and groups for the cluster, updates /etc/hosts, and sets up a secure shell (SSH).

Step 4 Setup Cell Connectivity

Generates several files that are used by other steps, including cellip.ora, cellinit.ora, and cellaffinity, if required.

Step 5 Verify InfiniBand

Performs a series of checks on the InfiniBand fabric to ensure that the compute servers, storage servers, and InfiniBand switches are cabled together correctly.

If errors occur, a diagnostic ZIP file is generated. The output from this step includes the location of this file.

Step 6 Calibrate Cells

Uses the I/O calibration feature of Oracle Database to assess the I/O capability of the storage subsystem.

Step 7 Create Cell Disks

Performs a series of steps on the storage server disks that include creating the cell disks, and then creating a flash log and a flash cache on each cell.

Step 8 Create Grid Disks

Creates the grid disks for the cluster.

In this release, you must follow this step with additional manual procedures.

Step 9 Configure Alerting

Configures email on the storage servers, so that they can send alerts when problems occur.

Step 10 Install Cluster Software

Uses an Oracle Database utility to obtain the grid disk identifiers, and then runs the clusterware installer. It patches the software as needed.

Step 11 Initialize Cluster Software

If a replication network is being configured, this step creates the single client access name (SCAN) and virtual IP (VIP) for it. Then it initializes the cluster.

Step 12 Install Database Software

Installs the Oracle Database software and creates the Oracle Database home directory on both compute servers. It also patches the software as required.

In this release, you must follow this step with additional manual procedures.

Step 13 Relink Database with RDS

Relinks Oracle Database with Reliable Datagram Sockets (RDS).

Step 14 Create ASM Disk Groups

Obtains the grid disk identifiers and creates the Automatic Storage Management (ASM) disk groups.

Step 15 Create Databases

Creates the Recovery Appliance catalog on both compute servers.

Step 16 Apply Security Fixes

Restarts the cluster software to set the security parameters, and enables turbo mode if required.

Step 17 Install Exachk

Installs the exachk utility on the Recovery Appliance. See My Oracle Support Doc ID 1070954.1 for information about the utility.

Step 18 Setup ASR Alerting

Installs and configures Auto Service Request (ASR). Optional.

This step does the following:

  • Installs the required software packages

  • Configures the trap destinations

  • Starts the monitoring daemon

Step 19 Create Installation Summary

Obtains the system details, calibrates the storage servers, and generates a summary XML report. The output from this step includes the location of this file.

Step 20 Resecure Machine

Replaces the default passwords with custom passwords.

Part II Setting Up Enterprise Manager to Administer Recovery Appliance

To enable Enterprise Manager to administer Recovery Appliance, you must deploy the management agents to each compute server, then discover the targets for the Recovery Appliance. The targets include the cluster, database, listeners, Automatic Storage Management (ASM), and the appliance itself.

Work with your Oracle support engineer to perform the tasks in this section.

Note:

See Doc ID 1929507.1 for information about the plug-ins and patches required for Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance management, monitoring, and protected database management.

Part II Deploying the Enterprise Manager Agents

Perform the following steps to deploy a management agent to each Recovery Appliance compute server:

  1. On each compute server, create a directory owned by oracle:oinstall in which to install the agent.
  2. Log in to Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control (Cloud Control) as a user with privileges to discover and manage a Recovery Appliance target.
  3. From the Setup menu, choose Add Target, select Add Targets Manually, choose Add Host Targets, then click Add Host...

    The Add Host Targets: Host and Platform page appears.

  4. From the Platform list, select Same for All Hosts.
  5. For each compute server, click Add, enter the fully qualified host name, and select Linux x86-64 in the Platform list. Then click Next.

    The Add Host Targets: Installation Details page appears.

  6. Specify the Agent installation directory that you created in Step 1, Named Credential for the user that will own the Agent installation, and other requested properties, then click Next.

    The Add Host Targets: Review page appears.

  7. Click Deploy Agent to begin deploying Agents to all Recovery Appliance compute servers.

    The Add Host page appears, displaying warnings about remote prerequisite checks in the Agent Deployment Summary section. The Remote Prerequisite Check Details section indicates that the root.sh script could not be run due to insufficient privileges. You will fix this in a subsequent step.

  8. To resume the deployment, click Continue, and select All Hosts.

    The Add Host page displays a message that the deployment was successful.

  9. Follow to the on screen instructions to run root.sh manually on each compute server.
  10. Return to the Add Host page, and click Done.
Part II Discovering the Cluster

Perform the following steps to discover the Recovery Appliance cluster:

  1. From the Setup menu in Cloud Control, choose Add Target, select Add Targets Manually.

    The Add Targets Manually page appears.

  2. Select Add Targets Using Guided Process.
  3. From the Target Types drop-down list, select Oracle Cluster and High Availability Service, then click Add Using Guided Process...

    The Add Target: Cluster and Oracle High Availability Service page appears.

  4. Enter the host name of one of the compute servers on the Recovery Appliance, then click the Search icon.

    The Select Targets dialog appears.

  5. Select the target host, and click Select.
  6. Click Discover Target.
  7. Review the automatically detected cluster information on the Cluster and Oracle High Availability Service page. Verify that all compute servers on the Recovery Appliance cluster are included in the list of cluster hosts and that the SCAN Name and SCAN Ports display the correct values for the ingest network, then click Save.

    When the cluster target is created successfully, the Confirmation window appears.

  8. Close the Confirmation window.
Part II Discovering the Cluster Database Targets

Before you discover the Recovery Appliance itself, perform the following steps to discover the Recovery Appliance cluster database, listener, and ASM targets:

  1. From the Setup menu in Cloud Control, choose Add Target, select Add Targets Manually.

    The Add Targets Manually page appears.

  2. Select Add Targets Using Guided Process.
  3. From the Target Types drop-down list, choose Oracle Database, Listener, and Automatic Storage Management, then click Add Using Guided Process...

    The Database Discovery: Search Criteria page appears.

  4. Use the Recovery Appliance cluster name or the host name of one of the compute servers as the criteria to perform the search, then click Next.

    The Database Discovery: Results page appears, showing the Recovery Appliance cluster database is listed, along with the ASM instances and listeners on all compute servers.

  5. Select the cluster database, and click Configure.
  6. Modify the settings to use fully qualified names in the Listener Machine Name fields and 1521 in the Port fields, then click Save.
  7. Supply the monitoring credentials for the cluster database, and click Test Connection.
  8. Select the cluster ASM, configure the appropriate monitoring credentials, and click Test Connection.
  9. Ensure that the management database under Single Instance Databases (-MGMTDB) is not selected.
  10. Select all listeners except the management listener (MGMTLSNR), and click Next.

    The Database Discovery: Review page appears.

  11. Verify the information, then click Save to start monitoring the targets.
  12. Close the Confirmation window.
Part II Discovering the Recovery Appliance

After discovering the Recovery Appliance cluster and cluster database targets, the Recovery Appliance target itself can be discovered. As part of discovering the top-level Recovery Appliance target that will include all Enterprise Manager Recovery Appliance software and hardware management functionality, a separate Recovery Appliance hardware target will also be discovered.

Perform the following steps to manually discover the Recovery Appliance target:

  1. From the Setup menu in Cloud Control, choose Add Target, then select Add Targets Manually.

    The Add Targets Manually page appears.

  2. Select Add Targets Using Guided Process.
  3. From the Target Types drop-down list, choose Recovery Appliance, then click Add Using Guided Process...

    The Recovery Appliance Hardware Discovery page appears.

  4. Select Discover new Recovery Appliance hardware components as targets, and click Discover Targets.

    The Recovery Appliance Hardware Discovery: Discovery Inputs page appears.

  5. Specify the URL of the agent on the compute server on which the schematic file (databasemachine.xml) resides. You can use the host name of the compute server on the Recovery Appliance to search for the correct value to use.

    Information about the schematic file appears.

  6. Set the credential for the host, and click Next.

    The Recovery Appliance Hardware Discovery: Infiniband Discovery page appears.

  7. Follow the detailed instructions in all subsequent pages of the Recovery Appliance Hardware Discovery wizard, supplying all requested credentials for hardware components. On the Review page, review all hardware component details, then click Submit. The Database Machine target representing the Recovery Appliance hardware will be created, along with targets for all hardware components.

    The Target Creation Summary page appears, showing a summary of all hardware targets created, including the Database Machine target representing the Recovery Appliance hardware and all member targets for all hardware components.

  8. Click Continue With Recovery Appliance Discovery.

    The Recovery Appliance Discovery: Properties page appears.

  9. Select the Target Name for the Recovery Appliance. The Recovery Appliance Hardware target name is already filled-in with the target name discovered in a previous step.

    (If the Recovery Appliance hardware discovery was completed without completing the full Recovery Appliance discovery process, that may leave one or more Recovery Appliance hardware targets in a state where they are not associated with a Recovery Appliance target. In this case, when Recovery Appliance discovery is re-initiated from the Add Targets Manually page, the discovery process will not automatically go in to the Recovery Appliance hardware discovery wizard. Instead, the process will go directly to the Properties page to allow selection of an unassociated Recovery Appliance hardware target. In this case, the hardware target name will not be pre-filled. Click the Select Target icon to launch the Search and Select Targets popup, which shows a list of Recovery Appliance hardware targets that have not yet been associated with a Recovery Appliance target. Select the correct Recovery Appliance hardware target.)

  10. In the Recovery Appliance Administrator Credentials section, specify the database user credentials for the Recovery Appliance recovery catalog owner. This user is also the Recovery Appliance administrator. You can use Named or New credentials. Click More Details to see detailed information about the credentials.
  11. In the Recovery Appliance Monitoring Credentials section, specify the database user credentials that will be used to monitor the Recovery Appliance. If necessary, that user will be granted the role required to access monitoring information in the Recovery Appliance database. Alternatively, you can select Use base catalog user credentials as monitoring credentials which disables the Username and Password fields.
  12. Click Next.

    The Recovery Appliance Discovery: Oracle Secure Backup Domain page appears.

  13. If Oracle Secure Backup is installed on the Recovery Appliance, enter /usr/local/oracle/backup in the Installation Home field and specify the monitoring credentials for the Oracle Secure Backup domain. Otherwise, select Skip Oracle Secure Backup Domain Discovery.
  14. Click Next.

    The Recovery Appliance Discovery: Review page appears.

  15. Review the target discovery selections, and click Submit.

    The Recovery Appliance target is created.