9 Preparing the Database for an Enterprise Deployment

This chapter describes procedures for preparing your database for an Oracle Business Intelligence enterprise deployment.

This chapter provides information about the database requirements, creating database services and about the database backup strategies.

9.1 Overview of Preparing the Database for an Enterprise Deployment

This section provides information about how to configure a supported database as part of an Oracle Fusion Middleware enterprise deployment.

Most Oracle Fusion Middleware products require a specific set of schemas that must be installed in a supported database. The schemas are installed using the Oracle Fusion Middleware Repository Creation Utility (RCU).

In an enterprise deployment, Oracle recommends a highly available Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) database for the Oracle Fusion Middleware product schemas.

9.2 About Database Requirements

Check that the database meets the requirements described in these sections.

9.2.1 Supported Database Versions

Use the following information to verify what databases are supported by each Oracle Fusion Middleware release and which version of the Oracle database you are currently running:

Oracle Fusion Middleware requires that the database supports the AL32UTF8 character set. Check the database documentation for information on choosing a character set for the database.

For enterprise deployments, Oracle recommends using GridLink data sources to connect to Oracle RAC databases.

Note:

For more information about using GridLink data sources and SCAN, see "Using Active GridLink Data Sources" in Administering JDBC Data Sources for Oracle WebLogic Server.

9.2.2 Additional Database Software Requirements

In the enterprise topology, there are two database host computers in the data tier that host the two instances of the RAC database. We refer to these hosts as DBHOST1 and DBHOST2.

Before you install or configure the enterprise topology, you must be sure the following software is installed and available on DBHOST1 and DBHOST2:

9.3 Creating Database Services

When multiple Oracle Fusion Middleware products are sharing the same database, each product should be configured to connect to a separate, dedicated database service.

Note:

The instructions in this section are for the Oracle Database 12c (12.1) release. If you are using another supported database, refer to the appropriate documentation library for more up-to-date and release-specific information.

For more information about connecting to Oracle databases using services, see “Overview of Using Dynamic Database Services to Connect to Oracle Databases” in the Real Application Clusters Administration and Deployment Guide.

In addition, the database service should be different from the default database service. For complete instructions on creating and managing database services for an Oracle Database 12c database, see “Overview of Automatic Workload Management with Dynamic Database Services” in the Real Application Clusters Administration and Deployment Guide.

Run-time connection load balancing requires configuring Oracle RAC Load Balancing Advisory with service-level goals for each service for which load balancing is enabled.

You can configure the Oracle RAC Load Balancing Advisory for SERVICE_TIME or THROUGHPUT. Set the connection load-balancing goal to SHORT.

You create and modify Oracle Database services using the srvctl utility.

To create and modify a database service:

  1. Log in to SQL*Plus and create the service:
    sqlplus "sys/password as sysdba"
     
    SQL> EXECUTE DBMS_SERVICE.CREATE_SERVICE
    (SERVICE_NAME => 'biedg.example.com',
    NETWORK_NAME => 'biedg.example.com'
    ); 
    

    Note:

    For the Service Name of the Oracle RAC database, use lowercase letters, followed by the domain name. For example:

    biedg.example.com

    Note:

    Enter the EXECUTE DBMS_SERVICE command shown on a single line.

    For more information about the DBMS_SERVICE package, see Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference.

  2. Add the service to the database and assign it to the instances using srvctl:
    srvctl add service -d bidb -s biedg.example.com -r bidb1,bidb2
    
  3. Start the service:
    srvctl start service -d bidb -s biedg.example.com
    

    Note:

    For complete instructions on creating and managing database services with SRVCTL, see "Creating Services with SRVCTL" in the Real Application Clusters Administration and Deployment Guide.

  4. Modify the service so it uses the Load Balancing Advisory and the appropriate service-level goals for run-time connection load balancing.

    More specifically, use the following resources in the Oracle Database 12c Real Application Clusters Administration and Deployment Guide to set the SERVICE_TIME and THROUGHPUT service-level goals:

9.4 Using SecureFiles for Large Objects (LOBs) in an Oracle Database

Beginning with Oracle Database 11g Release 1, Oracle introduced SecureFiles, a new LOB storage architecture. Oracle recommends using SecureFiles for the Oracle Fusion Middleware schemas, in particular for the Oracle SOA Suite schemas.

For more information, see "Using Oracle SecureFiles LOBs" in the Oracle Database SecureFiles and Large Objects Developer's Guide.

In Oracle 12c Databases, the default setting for using SecureFiles is PREFERRED . This means that the database attempts to create a SecureFiles LOB unless a BasicFiles LOB is explicitly specified for the LOB or the parent LOB (if the LOB is in a partition or sub-partition). The Oracle Fusion Middleware schemas do not explicitly specify BasicFiles, which means that Oracle Fusion Middleware LOBs will default to SecureFiles when installed in an Oracle 12c database.

For Oracle 11g databases, the db_securefile system parameter controls the SecureFiles usage policy. This parameter can be modified dynamically. The following options can be used for using SecureFiles:

  • PERMITTED: allows SecureFiles to be created (This is the default setting for db_securefile. The default storage method uses BasicFiles)

  • FORCE: create all (new) LOBs as SecureFiles

  • ALWAYS: try to create LOBs as SecureFiles, but fall back to BasicFiles if not possible (if ASSM is disabled)

Other values for the db_securefile parameter are:

  • IGNORE: ignore attempts to create SecureFiles

  • NEVER: disallow new SecureFiles creations

For Oracle 11g Databases, Oracle recommends that you set the db_securefile parameter to FORCE before creating the Oracle Fusion Middleware schemas with the Repository Creation Utility (RCU).

Note that the SecureFiles segments require tablespaces managed with automatic segment space management (ASSM). This means that LOB creation on SecureFiles will fail if ASSM is not enabled. However, the Oracle Fusion Middleware tablespaces are created by default with ASSM enabled. As a result, with the default configuration, nothing needs to be changed to enable SecureFiles for the Oracle Fusion Middleware schemas.

9.5 About Database Backup Strategies

This section provides brief information about the necessity of database backup strategies.

At key points in the installation and configuration of an enterprise deployment, this guide recommends that you back up your current environment. For example, after you install the product software and create the schemas for a particular Oracle Fusion Middleware product, you should perform a database backup. Performing a backup allows you to perform a quick recovery from any issue that might occur in the later configuration steps.

You can choose to use your own backup strategy for the database, or you can simply make a backup using operating system tools or RMAN for this purpose.

Oracle recommends using Oracle Recovery Manager for the database, particularly if the database was created using Oracle Automatic Storage Management. If possible, you can also perform a cold backup using operating system tools such as tar.