14 Using WebLogic Server with Oracle RAC

Oracle WebLogic Server provides strong support for Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC), minimizing database access time while allowing transparent access to rich pooling management functions that maximizes both connection performance and availability.

Both Oracle RAC and WebLogic Server are complex systems. To use them together requires specific configuration on both systems, as well as clustering software and a shared storage solution. This document describes the configuration required at a high level. For more details about configuring Oracle RAC, your clustering software, your operating system, and your storage solution, see the documentation from the respective vendors.

This chapter describes the requirements and configuration tasks for using Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) with WebLogic Server.

• Overview of Oracle Real Application Clusters
  Oracle RAC is a software component you can add to a high-availability solution that enables users on multiple machines to access a single database with increased performance.
• Software Requirements
  Learn about the software requirements for using WebLogic Server with Oracle RAC.
• JDBC Driver Requirements
  To use WebLogic Server with Oracle RAC, your WebLogic JDBC data sources must use the Oracle JDBC Thin driver 11g or later to create database connections.
• Hardware Requirements
  A typical WebLogic Server/Oracle RAC configuration includes a WebLogic Server cluster, an Oracle RAC cluster, and hardware for shared storage.
• Configuration Options in WebLogic Server with Oracle RAC
  When using WebLogic Server with Oracle RAC, configure the WebLogic domain so that it interacts with Oracle RAC instances.

Overview of Oracle Real Application Clusters

Oracle RAC is a software component you can add to a high-availability solution that enables users on multiple machines to access a single database with increased performance.

Oracle RAC comprises two or more Oracle database instances running on two or more clustered machines and accessing a shared storage device via cluster technology. To support this architecture, the machines that hosts the database instances are linked by a high-speed interconnect to form the cluster. The interconnect is a physical network used as a means of communication between the nodes of the cluster. Cluster functionality is provided by the operating system or compatible third party clustering software.

An Oracle RAC installation appears like a single standard Oracle database and is maintained using the same tools and practices. All the nodes in the cluster execute transactions against the same database and Oracle RAC coordinates each node's access to the shared data to maintain consistency and ensure integrity. You can add nodes to the cluster easily and there is no need to partition data when you add them. This means that you can horizontally scale the database tier as usage and demand grows by adding Oracle RAC nodes, storage, or both.

Software Requirements

Learn about the software requirements for using WebLogic Server with Oracle RAC.

To use WebLogic Server with Oracle RAC, you must install the following software on each Oracle RAC node:

• Operating system patches required to support Oracle RAC. See the release notes from Oracle for details.

• Oracle database management system. See Oracle® Fusion Middleware Licensing Information.

• Clustering software for your operating system. See the Oracle documentation for supported clustering software and cluster configurations.

• Shared storage software, such as Oracle Automatic Storage Management (ASM). Note that some clustering software includes a file storage solution, in which case additional shared storage software is not required.

  Note:

  See Supported Configurations in What's New in Oracle WebLogic Server for the latest WebLogic Server hardware platform and operating system support, and for the Oracle RAC versions supported by WebLogic Server versions and service packs. See the Oracle documentation for hardware and software requirements required for running the Oracle RAC software.

JDBC Driver Requirements

To use WebLogic Server with Oracle RAC, your WebLogic JDBC data sources must use the Oracle JDBC Thin driver 11g or later to create database connections.

Hardware Requirements

A typical WebLogic Server/Oracle RAC configuration includes a WebLogic Server cluster, an Oracle RAC cluster, and hardware for shared storage.

WebLogic Server Cluster

The WebLogic Server cluster can be configured in many ways and with various hardware options. See Administering Clusters for Oracle WebLogic Server for more details about configuring a WebLogic Server cluster.

Oracle RAC Cluster

For the latest hardware requirements for Oracle RAC, see the Oracle RAC documentation. However, to use Oracle RAC with WebLogic Server, you must run Oracle RAC instances on robust, production-quality hardware. The Oracle RAC configuration must deliver database processing performance appropriate for reasonably-anticipated application load requirements. Unusual database response delays can lead to unexpected behavior during database failover scenarios.

Shared Storage

In an Oracle RAC configuration, all data files, control files, and parameter files are shared for use by all Oracle RAC instances. An HA storage solution that uses one of the following architectures is recommended:

• Direct Attached Storage (DAS), such as a dual ported disk array or a Storage Area Network (SAN)

• Network Attached Storage (NAS)

For a complete list of supported storage solutions, see your Oracle documentation.

Configuration Options in WebLogic Server with Oracle RAC

When using WebLogic Server with Oracle RAC, configure the WebLogic domain so that it interacts with Oracle RAC instances.

• Choosing a WebLogic Server Configuration for Use with Oracle RAC
  
• Validating Connections when using WebLogic Server with Oracle RAC
  
• Additional Considerations When Using WebLogic Server with Oracle RAC
  

Choosing a WebLogic Server Configuration for Use with Oracle RAC

When using WebLogic Server with Oracle RAC, you can configure WebLogic Data Sources by considering the following alternatives:

• Using Active GridLink (AGL) data sources, see Oracle® Fusion Middleware Licensing Information. AGL offers the best integration to Oracle RAC by providing the best performance and high availability. AGL supports Fast Connection Failover, automatic and transparent addition, and removal of RAC instances. It also automatically handles when nodes go down and come up without waiting for connection failures and successes. AGL affirms runtime connection load balancing (RCLB) providing the best performance as the database drives load balancing of connections through the AGL data source, independent of the database topology See Using Active GridLink Data Sources.

• Multi Data Source (MDS) provides failover and load balancing capabilities across the instances of the Real Application Clusters (RAC). MDS failover is handled at the MDS level when an Oracle RAC instance becomes unavailable. MDS load balancing follows a Round Robin pattern across the RAC instances. See Configuring Connections to Services on Oracle RAC Nodes

• To connect to multiple Oracle RAC instances when using Global transactions (XA), Oracle recommends the use of transaction-aware AGL or MDS, which support failover and load balancing, to connect to the Oracle RAC nodes.

  • For configuring AGL with Global transactions see Configure Transaction Options and GridLink Affinity Policies - XA Affinity
  • For configuring MDS with Global transactions see Using Multi Data Sources with Global Transactions.

• To connect to multiple Oracle RAC instances when not using XA, Oracle recommends the use of non-transaction-aware AGL or MDS to connect to the Oracle RAC nodes.

  • For configuring AGL without Global transactions see Configure Transaction Options
  • For configuring MDS without Global transactions see Using Multi Data Sources without Global Transactions .

  Note:

  Using a Generic data source for XA with Oracle RAC is not supported. See Generic Data Source Handling for Oracle RAC Outages.

Validating Connections when using WebLogic Server with Oracle RAC

Applications can use the JDBC 4.0 Connection.isValid API to verify connection viability.

Note:

WebLogic Server does not support oracle.ucp.jdbc.ValidConnection.isValid or oracle.ucp.jdbc.ValidConnection.setInvalid.

Additional Considerations When Using WebLogic Server with Oracle RAC

The Distributed Transaction Processing (DTP) attribute on a database service should not be used to coordinate transactions when using Active GridLink or Multi Data Sources with Oracle RAC. This option implies that the service is guaranteed to run on only one RAC instance at any time. Transaction affinity to a single instance is automatically managed by WebLogic Server for either Active GridLink or Multi Data Sources. This allows the whole RAC cluster to be available for distributed transactions, as opposed to DTP limiting all transactions for the service to a single RAC instance.