Build Your Own Oracle RAC 11g Cluster on Oracle Enterprise Linux and iSCSI.pdf

Build Your Own Oracle RAC 11g Cluster on Oracle Enterprise Linux and iSCSI

http://www.oracle.com/technology/pub/articles/hunter-rac11gr2-iscsi.html?_template=/ocom/print[7/8/2010 12:15:46 PM]

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Oracle Database 11g

TAGS

linux, rac, clustering All

DBA: Linux


by Jeffrey Hunter

Learn how to set up and configure an Oracle RAC 11g Release 2 development cluster on Oracle Enterprise Linux for less than US$2,700.

The information in this guide is not validated by Oracle, is not supported by Oracle, and should only be used at yourown risk; it is for educational purposes only.

Updated November 2009

Contents

1. Introduction2. Oracle RAC 11g Overview3. Shared-Storage Overview4. iSCSI Technology5. Hardware and Costs6. Install the Linux Operating System7. Install Required Linux Packages for Oracle RAC8. Network Configuration9. Cluster Time Synchronization Service

10. Install Openfiler11. Configure iSCSI Volumes using Openfiler12. Configure iSCSI Volumes on Oracle RAC Nodes13. Create Job Role Separation Operating System Privileges Groups, Users, and Directories14. Logging In to a Remote System Using X Terminal15. Configure the Linux Servers for Oracle16. Configure RAC Nodes for Remote Access using SSH - (Optional)17. All Startup Commands for Both Oracle RAC Nodes18. Install and Configure ASMLib 2.019. Download Oracle RAC 11g Release 2 Software20. Preinstallation Tasks for Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Cluster21. Install Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Cluster22. Postinstallation Tasks for Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Cluster23. Create ASM Disk Groups for Data and Fast Recovery Area24. Install Oracle Database 11g with Oracle Real Application Clusters25. Install Oracle Database 11g Examples (formerly Companion)26. Create the Oracle Cluster Database27. Post Database Creation Tasks - (Optional)28. Create / Alter Tablespaces29. Verify Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Database Configuration30. Starting / Stopping the Cluster31. Troubleshooting32. Conclusion33. Acknowledgements

Downloads for this guide: Oracle Enterprise Linux Release 5 Update 4 — (Available for x86 and x86_64) Oracle Database 11g Release 2, Grid Infrastructure, Examples — (11.2.0.1.0) — (Available for x86 and x86_64)

http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/database/oracle11g/112010_linx8664soft.html


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Openfiler 2.3 Respin (21-01-09) — (openfiler-2.3-x86-disc1.iso -OR- openfiler-2.3-x86_64-disc1.iso) ASMLib 2.0 Library RHEL5 - (2.0.4-1) — (oracleasmlib-2.0.4-1.el5.i386.rpm -OR- oracleasmlib-2.0.4-1.el5.x86_64.rpm)

1. Introduction

One of the most efficient ways to become familiar with Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) 11g technology is to have access to an actual Oracle RAC 11g cluster.There's no better way to understand its benefits—including fault tolerance, security, load balancing, and scalability—than to experience them directly.

Unfortunately, for many shops, the price of the hardware required for a typical production RAC configuration makes this goal impossible. A small two-node cluster can costfrom US$10,000 to well over US$20,000. This cost would not even include the heart of a production RAC environment, the shared storage. In most cases, this would be aStorage Area Network (SAN), which generally start at US$10,000.

For those who want to become familiar with Oracle RAC 11g without a major cash outlay, this guide provides a low-cost alternative to configuring an Oracle RAC 11gRelease 2 system using commercial off-the-shelf components and downloadable software at an estimated cost of US$2,200 to US$2,700. The system will consist of a twonode cluster, both running Oracle Enterprise Linux (OEL) Release 5 Update 4 for x86_64, Oracle RAC 11g Release 2 for Linux x86_64, and ASMLib 2.0. All shared diskstorage for Oracle RAC will be based on iSCSI using Openfiler release 2.3 x86_64 running on a third node (known in this article as the Network Storage Server).

Although this article should work with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Oracle Enterprise Linux (available for free) will provide the same if not better stability and will alreadyinclude the ASMLib software packages (with the exception of the ASMLib userspace libraries which is a separate download).

This guide is provided for educational purposes only, so the setup is kept simple to demonstrate ideas and concepts. For example, the shared Oracle Clusterware files(OCR and voting files) and all physical database files in this article will be set up on only one physical disk, while in practice that should be configured on multiple physicaldrives. In addition, each Linux node will only be configured with two network interfaces — one for the public network (eth0) and one that will be used for both the OracleRAC private interconnect "and" the network storage server for shared iSCSI access (eth1). For a production RAC implementation, the private interconnect should be atleast Gigabit (or more) with redundant paths and "only" be used by Oracle to transfer Cluster Manager and Cache Fusion related data. A third dedicated network interface(eth2, for example) should be configured on another redundant Gigabit network for access to the network storage server (Openfiler).

Oracle Documentation

While this guide provides detailed instructions for successfully installing a complete Oracle RAC 11g system, it is by no means a substitute for the official Oracledocumentation (see list below) . In addition to this guide, users should also consult the following Oracle documents to gain a full understanding of alternativeconfiguration options, installation, and administration with Oracle RAC 11g. Oracle's official documentation site is docs.oracle.com.

Oracle Grid Infrastructure Installation Guide - 11g Release 2 (11.2) for LinuxClusterware Administration and Deployment Guide - 11g Release 2 (11.2)Oracle Real Application Clusters Installation Guide - 11g Release 2 (11.2) for Linux and UNIXReal Application Clusters Administration and Deployment Guide - 11g Release 2 (11.2)Oracle Database 2 Day + Real Application Clusters Guide - 11g Release 2 (11.2)Oracle Database Storage Administrator's Guide - 11g Release 2 (11.2)

Network Storage Server

Powered by rPath Linux, Openfiler is a free browser-based network storage management utility that delivers file-based Network Attached Storage (NAS) and block-basedStorage Area Networking (SAN) in a single framework. The entire software stack interfaces with open source applications such as Apache, Samba, LVM2, ext3, Linux NFSand iSCSI Enterprise Target. Openfiler combines these ubiquitous technologies into a small, easy to manage solution fronted by a powerful web-based managementinterface.

Openfiler supports CIFS, NFS, HTTP/DAV, FTP, however, we will only be making use of its iSCSI capabilities to implement an inexpensive SAN for the shared storagecomponents required by Oracle RAC 11g. The operating system and Openfiler application will be installed on one internal SATA disk. A second internal 73GB 15K SCSI harddisk will be configured as a single "Volume Group" that will be used for all shared disk storage requirements. The Openfiler server will be configured to use this volumegroup for iSCSI based storage and will be used in our Oracle RAC 11g configuration to store the shared files required by Oracle grid infrastructure and the Oracle RACdatabase.

Oracle Grid Infrastructure 11g Release 2 (11.2)

http://www.openfiler.com/download/

http://sourceforge.net/project/downloading.php?group_id=90725&filename=openfiler-2.3-x86-disc1.iso&a=50886826

http://sourceforge.net/project/downloading.php?group_id=90725&filename=openfiler-2.3-x86_64-disc1.iso&a=48099794

http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/tech/linux/asmlib/rhel5.html

http://otn.oracle.com/software/tech/linux/asmlib/files/RPMS/rhel5/x86/2.0.4/oracleasmlib-2.0.4-1.el5.i386.rpm

http://otn.oracle.com/software/tech/linux/asmlib/files/RPMS/rhel5/amd64/2.0.4/oracleasmlib-2.0.4-1.el5.x86_64.rpm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISCSI

http://docs.oracle.com/

http://www.oracle.com/pls/db112/to_toc?pathname=install.112/e10812/toc.htm

http://www.oracle.com/pls/db112/to_toc?pathname=rac.112/e10717/toc.htm

http://www.oracle.com/pls/db112/to_toc?pathname=install.112/e10813/toc.htm



http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E11882_01/server.112/e10500/toc.htm

http://www.rpath.com/corp/

http://www.openfiler.com/



With Oracle grid infrastructure 11g Release 2 (11.2), the Automatic Storage Management (ASM) and Oracle Clusterware software is packaged together in a single binarydistribution and installed into a single home directory, which is referred to as the Grid Infrastructure home. You must install the grid infrastructure in order to use OracleRAC 11g Release 2. Configuration assistants start after the installer interview process that configure ASM and Oracle Clusterware. While the installation of the combinedproducts is called Oracle grid infrastructure, Oracle Clusterware and Automatic Storage Manager remain separate products.

After Oracle grid infrastructure is installed and configured on both nodes in the cluster, the next step will be to install the Oracle RAC software on both Oracle RAC nodes.

In this article, the Oracle grid infrastructure and Oracle RAC software will be installed on both nodes using the optional Job Role Separation configuration. One OS user willbe created to own each Oracle software product — "grid" for the Oracle grid infrastructure owner and "oracle" for the Oracle RAC software. Throughout this article, auser created to own the Oracle grid infrastructure binaries is called the grid user. This user will own both the Oracle Clusterware and Oracle Automatic StorageManagement binaries. The user created to own the Oracle database binaries (Oracle RAC) will be called the oracle user. Both Oracle software owners must have theOracle Inventory group (oinstall) as their primary group, so that each Oracle software installation owner can write to the central inventory (oraInventory), and so thatOCR and Oracle Clusterware resource permissions are set correctly. The Oracle RAC software owner must also have the OSDBA group and the optional OSOPER group assecondary groups.

Automatic Storage Management and Oracle Clusterware Files

As previously mentioned, Automatic Storage Management (ASM) is now fully integrated with Oracle Clusterware in the Oracle grid infrastructure. Oracle ASM and OracleDatabase 11g Release 2 provide a more enhanced storage solution from previous releases. Part of this solution is the ability to store the Oracle Clusterware files; namelythe Oracle Cluster Registry (OCR) and the Voting Files (VF — also known as the Voting Disks) on ASM. This feature enables ASM to provide a unified storage solution,storing all the data for the clusterware and the database, without the need for third-party volume managers or cluster file systems.

Just like database files, Oracle Clusterware files are stored in an ASM disk group and therefore utilize the ASM disk group configuration with respect to redundancy. Forexample, a Normal Redundancy ASM disk group will hold a two-way-mirrored OCR. A failure of one disk in the disk group will not prevent access to the OCR. With a HighRedundancy ASM disk group (three-way-mirrored), two independent disks can fail without impacting access to the OCR. With External Redundancy, no protection isprovided by Oracle.

Oracle only allows one OCR per disk group in order to protect against physical disk failures. When configuring Oracle Clusterware files on a production system, Oraclerecommends using either normal or high redundancy ASM disk groups. If disk mirroring is already occurring at either the OS or hardware level, you can use externalredundancy.

The Voting Files are managed in a similar way to the OCR. They follow the ASM disk group configuration with respect to redundancy, but are not managed as normal ASMfiles in the disk group. Instead, each voting disk is placed on a specific disk in the disk group. The disk and the location of the Voting Files on the disks are stored internallywithin Oracle Clusterware.

The following example describes how the Oracle Clusterware files are stored in ASM after installing Oracle grid infrastructure using this guide. To view the OCR, useASMCMD:

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ asmcmdASMCMD> ls -l +CRS/racnode-cluster/OCRFILEType Redund Striped Time Sys NameOCRFILE UNPROT COARSE NOV 22 12:00:00 Y REGISTRY.255.703024853

From the example above, you can see that after listing all of the ASM files in the +CRS/racnode-cluster/OCRFILE directory, it only shows the OCR(REGISTRY.255.703024853). The listing does not show the Voting File(s) because they are not managed as normal ASM files. To find the location of all Voting Files withinOracle Clusterware, use the crsctl query css votedisk command as follows:

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ crsctl query css votedisk## STATE File Universal Id File Name Disk group-- ----- ----------------- --------- --------- 1. ONLINE 4cbbd0de4c694f50bfd3857ebd8ad8c4 (ORCL:CRSVOL1) [CRS]Located 1 voting disk(s).

If you decide against using ASM for the OCR and voting disk files, Oracle Clusterware still allows these files to be stored on a cluster file system like Oracle Cluster FileSystem release 2 (OCFS2) or a NFS system. Please note that installing Oracle Clusterware files on raw or block devices is no longer supported, unless an existing system isbeing upgraded.

Previous versions of this guide used OCFS2 for storing the OCR and voting disk files. This guide will store the OCR and voting disk files on ASM in an ASM disk groupnamed +CRS using external redundancy which is one OCR location and one voting disk location. The ASM disk group should be be created on shared storage and be atleast 2GB in size.



The Oracle physical database files (data, online redo logs, control files, archived redo logs) will be installed on ASM in an ASM disk group named +RACDB_DATA while the FastRecovery Area will be created in a separate ASM disk group named +FRA.

The two Oracle RAC nodes and the network storage server will be configured as follows:

Nodes

Node Name Instance Name Database Name Processor RAM Operating System

racnode1 racdb1racdb.idevelopment.info

1 x Dual Core Intel Xeon, 3.00 GHz 4GB OEL 5.4 - (x86_64)

racnode2 racdb2 1 x Dual Core Intel Xeon, 3.00 GHz 4GB OEL 5.4 - (x86_64)

openfiler1 2 x Intel Xeon, 3.00 GHz 6GB Openfiler 2.3 - (x86_64)

Network Configuration

Node Name Public IP Private IP Virtual IP SCAN Name SCAN IP

racnode1 192.168.1.151 192.168.2.151 192.168.1.251

racnode-cluster-scan 192.168.1.187racnode2 192.168.1.152 192.168.2.152 192.168.1.252

openfiler1 192.168.1.195 192.168.2.195

Oracle Software Components

Software Component OS User Primary Group Supplementary Groups Home Directory Oracle Base / Oracle Home

Grid Infrastructure grid oinstall asmadmin, asmdba, asmoper /home/grid /u01/app/grid/u01/app/11.2.0/grid

Oracle RAC oracle oinstall dba, oper, asmdba /home/oracle /u01/app/oracle/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1

Storage Components

Storage Component File System Volume Size ASM Volume Group Name ASM Redundancy Openfiler Volume Name

OCR/Voting Disk ASM 2GB +CRS External racdb-crs1

Database Files ASM 32GB +RACDB_DATA External racdb-data1

Fast Recovery Area ASM 32GB +FRA External racdb-fra1

This article is only designed to work as documented with absolutely no substitutions. The only exception here is the choice of vendor hardware (i.e. machines, networkingequipment, and internal / external hard drives). Ensure that the hardware you purchase from the vendor is supported on Enterprise Linux 5 and Openfiler 2.3 (FinalRelease).

If you are looking for an example that takes advantage of Oracle RAC 10g release 2 with Oracle Enterprise Linux 5.3 using iSCSI, click here.

2. Oracle RAC 11g Overview

Before introducing the details for building a RAC cluster, it might be helpful to first clarify what a cluster is. A cluster is a group of two or more interconnected computersor servers that appear as if they are one server to end users and applications and generally share the same set of physical disks. The key benefit of clustering is to providea highly available framework where the failure of one node (for example a database server running an instance of Oracle) does not bring down an entire application. In thecase of failure with one of the servers, the other surviving server (or servers) can take over the workload from the failed server and the application continues to functionnormally as if nothing has happened.

The concept of clustering computers actually started several decades ago. The first successful cluster product was developed by DataPoint in 1977 named ARCnet. TheARCnet product enjoyed much success by academia types in research labs, but didn't really take off in the commercial market. It wasn't until the 1980's when DigitalEquipment Corporation (DEC) released its VAX cluster product for the VAX/VMS operating system.

With the release of Oracle 6 for the Digital VAX cluster product, Oracle was the first commercial database to support clustering at the database level. It wasn't long,

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however, before Oracle realized the need for a more efficient and scalable distributed lock manager (DLM) as the one included with the VAX/VMS cluster product was notwell suited for database applications. Oracle decided to design and write their own DLM for the VAX/VMS cluster product which provided the fine-grain block level lockingrequired by the database. Oracle's own DLM was included in Oracle 6.2 which gave birth to Oracle Parallel Server (OPS) - the first database to run the parallel server.

By Oracle 7, OPS was extended to included support for not only the VAX/VMS cluster product but also with most flavors of UNIX. This framework required vendor-suppliedclusterware which worked well, but made for a complex environment to setup and manage given the multiple layers involved. By Oracle8, Oracle introduced a generic lockmanager that was integrated into the Oracle kernel. In later releases of Oracle, this became known as the Integrated Distributed Lock Manager (IDLM) and relied on anadditional layer known as the Operating System Dependant (OSD) layer. This new model paved the way for Oracle to not only have their own DLM, but to also create theirown clusterware product in future releases.

Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC), introduced with Oracle9i, is the successor to Oracle Parallel Server. Using the same IDLM, Oracle 9i could still rely on externalclusterware but was the first release to include their own clusterware product named Cluster Ready Services (CRS). With Oracle 9i, CRS was only available for Windowsand Linux. By Oracle 10g release 1, Oracle's clusterware product was available for all operating systems and was the required cluster technology for Oracle RAC. With therelease of Oracle Database 10g Release 2 (10.2), Cluster Ready Services was renamed to Oracle Clusterware. When using Oracle 10g or higher, Oracle Clusterware is theonly clusterware that you need for most platforms on which Oracle RAC operates (except for Tru cluster, in which case you need vendor clusterware). You can still useclusterware from other vendors if the clusterware is certified, but keep in mind that Oracle RAC still requires Oracle Clusterware as it is fully integrated with the databasesoftware. This guide uses Oracle Clusterware which as of 11g Release 2 (11.2), is now a component of Oracle grid infrastructure.

Like OPS, Oracle RAC allows multiple instances to access the same database (storage) simultaneously. RAC provides fault tolerance, load balancing, and performancebenefits by allowing the system to scale out, and at the same time since all instances access the same database, the failure of one node will not cause the loss of access tothe database.

At the heart of Oracle RAC is a shared disk subsystem. Each instance in the cluster must be able to access all of the data, redo log files, control files and parameter file forall other instances in the cluster. The data disks must be globally available in order to allow all instances to access the database. Each instance has its own redo log filesand UNDO tablespace that are locally read-writeable. The other instances in the cluster must be able to access them (read-only) in order to recover that instance in theevent of a system failure. The redo log files for an instance are only writeable by that instance and will only be read from another instance during system failure. TheUNDO, on the other hand, is read all the time during normal database operation (e.g. for CR fabrication).

A big difference between Oracle RAC and OPS is the addition of Cache Fusion. With OPS a request for data from one instance to another required the data to be written todisk first, then the requesting instance can read that data (after acquiring the required locks). This process was called disk pinging. With cache fusion, data is passed alonga high-speed interconnect using a sophisticated locking algorithm.

Not all database clustering solutions use shared storage. Some vendors use an approach known as a Federated Cluster, in which data is spread across several machinesrather than shared by all. With Oracle RAC, however, multiple instances use the same set of disks for storing data. Oracle's approach to clustering leverages the collectiveprocessing power of all the nodes in the cluster and at the same time provides failover security.

Pre-configured Oracle RAC solutions are available from vendors such as Dell, IBM and HP for production environments. This article, however, focuses on putting togetheryour own Oracle RAC 11g environment for development and testing by using Linux servers and a low cost shared disk solution; iSCSI.

For more background about Oracle RAC, visit the Oracle RAC Product Center on OTN.

3. Shared-Storage Overview

Today, fibre channel is one of the most popular solutions for shared storage. As mentioned earlier, fibre channel is a high-speed serial-transfer interface that is used toconnect systems and storage devices in either point-to-point (FC-P2P), arbitrated loop (FC-AL), or switched topologies (FC-SW). Protocols supported by Fibre Channelinclude SCSI and IP. Fibre channel configurations can support as many as 127 nodes and have a throughput of up to 2.12 Gigabits per second in each direction, and 4.25Gbps is expected.

Fibre channel, however, is very expensive. Just the fibre channel switch alone can start at around US$1,000. This does not even include the fibre channel storage arrayand high-end drives, which can reach prices of about US$300 for a single 36GB drive. A typical fibre channel setup which includes fibre channel cards for the servers isroughly US$10,000, which does not include the cost of the servers that make up the cluster.

A less expensive alternative to fibre channel is SCSI. SCSI technology provides acceptable performance for shared storage, but for administrators and developers who areused to GPL-based Linux prices, even SCSI can come in over budget, at around US$2,000 to US$5,000 for a two-node cluster.

Another popular solution is the Sun NFS (Network File System) found on a NAS. It can be used for shared storage but only if you are using a network appliance or

http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/database/clustering/



something similar. Specifically, you need servers that guarantee direct I/O over NFS, TCP as the transport protocol, and read/write block sizes of 32K. See the Certify pageon Oracle Metalink for supported Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices that can be used with Oracle RAC. One of the key drawbacks that has limited the benefits ofusing NFS and NAS for database storage has been performance degradation and complex configuration requirements. Standard NFS client software (client systems thatuse the operating system provided NFS driver) is not optimized for Oracle database file I/O access patterns. With the introduction of Oracle 11g, a new feature known asDirect NFS Client integrates the NFS client functionality directly in the Oracle software. Through this integration, Oracle is able to optimize the I/O path between the Oraclesoftware and the NFS server resulting in significant performance gains. Direct NFS Client can simplify, and in many cases automate, the performance optimization of theNFS client configuration for database workloads. To learn more about Direct NFS Client, see the Oracle White Paper entitled "Oracle Database 11g Direct NFS Client".

The shared storage that will be used for this article is based on iSCSI technology using a network storage server installed with Openfiler. This solution offers a low-costalternative to fibre channel for testing and educational purposes, but given the low-end hardware being used, it should not be used in a production environment.

4. iSCSI Technology

For many years, the only technology that existed for building a network based storage solution was a Fibre Channel Storage Area Network (FC SAN). Based on an earlierset of ANSI protocols called Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI), Fibre Channel was developed to move SCSI commands over a storage network.

Several of the advantages to FC SAN include greater performance, increased disk utilization, improved availability, better scalability, and most important to us — supportfor server clustering! Still today, however, FC SANs suffer from three major disadvantages. The first is price. While the costs involved in building a FC SAN have come downin recent years, the cost of entry still remains prohibitive for small companies with limited IT budgets. The second is incompatible hardware components. Since itsadoption, many product manufacturers have interpreted the Fibre Channel specifications differently from each other which has resulted in scores of interconnect problems.When purchasing Fibre Channel components from a common manufacturer, this is usually not a problem. The third disadvantage is the fact that a Fibre Channel network isnot Ethernet! It requires a separate network technology along with a second set of skill sets that need to exist with the data center staff.

With the popularity of Gigabit Ethernet and the demand for lower cost, Fibre Channel has recently been given a run for its money by iSCSI-based storage systems. Today,iSCSI SANs remain the leading competitor to FC SANs.

Ratified on February 11, 2003 by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the Internet Small Computer System Interface, better known as iSCSI, is an Internet Protocol(IP)-based storage networking standard for establishing and managing connections between IP-based storage devices, hosts, and clients. iSCSI is a data transport protocoldefined in the SCSI-3 specifications framework and is similar to Fibre Channel in that it is responsible for carrying block-level data over a storage network. Block-levelcommunication means that data is transferred between the host and the client in chunks called blocks. Database servers depend on this type of communication (asopposed to the file level communication used by most NAS systems) in order to work properly. Like a FC SAN, an iSCSI SAN should be a separate physical networkdevoted entirely to storage, however, its components can be much the same as in a typical IP network (LAN).

While iSCSI has a promising future, many of its early critics were quick to point out some of its inherent shortcomings with regards to performance. The beauty of iSCSI isits ability to utilize an already familiar IP network as its transport mechanism. The TCP/IP protocol, however, is very complex and CPU intensive. With iSCSI, most of theprocessing of the data (both TCP and iSCSI) is handled in software and is much slower than Fibre Channel which is handled completely in hardware. The overhead incurredin mapping every SCSI command onto an equivalent iSCSI transaction is excessive. For many the solution is to do away with iSCSI software initiators and invest inspecialized cards that can offload TCP/IP and iSCSI processing from a server's CPU. These specialized cards are sometimes referred to as an iSCSI Host Bus Adaptor (HBA)or a TCP Offload Engine (TOE) card. Also consider that 10-Gigabit Ethernet is a reality today!

As with any new technology, iSCSI comes with its own set of acronyms and terminology. For the purpose of this article, it is only important to understand the differencebetween an iSCSI initiator and an iSCSI target.

iSCSI Initiator

Basically, an iSCSI initiator is a client device that connects and initiates requests to some service offered by a server (in this case an iSCSI target). The iSCSIinitiator software will need to exist on each of the Oracle RAC nodes (racnode1 and racnode2).

An iSCSI initiator can be implemented using either software or hardware. Software iSCSI initiators are available for most major operating system platforms. Forthis article, we will be using the free Linux Open-iSCSI software driver found in the iscsi-initiator-utils RPM. The iSCSI software initiator is generally usedwith a standard network interface card (NIC) — a Gigabit Ethernet card in most cases. A hardware initiator is an iSCSI HBA (or a TCP Offload Engine (TOE)card), which is basically just a specialized Ethernet card with a SCSI ASIC on-board to offload all the work (TCP and SCSI commands) from the system CPU.iSCSI HBAs are available from a number of vendors, including Adaptec, Alacritech, Intel, and QLogic.

iSCSI Target

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http://www.open-iscsi.org/



An iSCSI target is the "server" component of an iSCSI network. This is typically the storage device that contains the information you want and answers requestsfrom the initiator(s). For the purpose of this article, the node openfiler1 will be the iSCSI target.

So with all of this talk about iSCSI, does this mean the death of Fibre Channel anytime soon? Probably not. Fibre Channel has clearly demonstrated its capabilities over theyears with its capacity for extremely high speeds, flexibility, and robust reliability. Customers who have strict requirements for high performance storage, large complexconnectivity, and mission critical reliability will undoubtedly continue to choose Fibre Channel.

Before closing out this section, I thought it would be appropriate to present the following chart that shows speed comparisons of the various types of disk interfaces andnetwork technologies. For each interface, I provide the maximum transfer rates in kilobits (kb), kilobytes (KB), megabits (Mb), megabytes (MB), gigabits (Gb), andgigabytes (GB) per second with some of the more common ones highlighted in grey.

Disk Interface / Network / BUSSpeed

Kb KB Mb MB Gb GBSerial 115 14.375 0.115 0.014 Parallel (standard) 920 115 0.92 0.115 10Base-T Ethernet 10 1.25 IEEE 802.11b wireless Wi-Fi (2.4GHz band) 11 1.375

USB 1.1 12 1.5 Parallel (ECP/EPP) 24 3 SCSI-1 40 5 IEEE 802.11g wireless WLAN (2.4GHz band) 54 6.75

SCSI-2 (Fast SCSI / Fast NarrowSCSI) 80 10

100Base-T Ethernet (Fast Ethernet) 100 12.5 ATA/100 (parallel) 100 12.5 IDE 133.6 16.7 Fast Wide SCSI (Wide SCSI) 160 20 Ultra SCSI (SCSI-3 / Fast-20 / UltraNarrow) 160 20

Ultra IDE 264 33 Wide Ultra SCSI (Fast Wide 20) 320 40 Ultra2 SCSI 320 40 FireWire 400 - (IEEE1394a) 400 50 USB 2.0 480 60 Wide Ultra2 SCSI 640 80 Ultra3 SCSI 640 80 FireWire 800 - (IEEE1394b) 800 100 Gigabit Ethernet 1000 125 1 PCI - (33 MHz / 32-bit) 1064 133 1.064 Serial ATA I - (SATA I) 1200 150 1.2 Wide Ultra3 SCSI 1280 160 1.28 Ultra160 SCSI 1280 160 1.28 PCI - (33 MHz / 64-bit) 2128 266 2.128



PCI - (66 MHz / 32-bit) 2128 266 2.128 AGP 1x - (66 MHz / 32-bit) 2128 266 2.128 Serial ATA II - (SATA II) 2400 300 2.4 Ultra320 SCSI 2560 320 2.56 FC-AL Fibre Channel 3200 400 3.2 PCI-Express x1 - (bidirectional) 4000 500 4 PCI - (66 MHz / 64-bit) 4256 532 4.256 AGP 2x - (133 MHz / 32-bit) 4264 533 4.264 Serial ATA III - (SATA III) 4800 600 4.8 PCI-X - (100 MHz / 64-bit) 6400 800 6.4 PCI-X - (133 MHz / 64-bit) 1064 8.512 1AGP 4x - (266 MHz / 32-bit) 1066 8.528 110G Ethernet - (IEEE 802.3ae) 1250 10 1.25PCI-Express x4 - (bidirectional) 2000 16 2AGP 8x - (533 MHz / 32-bit) 2133 17.064 2.1PCI-Express x8 - (bidirectional) 4000 32 4PCI-Express x16 - (bidirectional) 8000 64 8

5. Hardware and Costs

The hardware used to build our example Oracle RAC 11g environment consists of three Linux servers (two Oracle RAC nodes and one Network Storage Server) andcomponents that can be purchased at many local computer stores or over the Internet.

Oracle RAC Node 1 - (racnode1)

Dell PowerEdge T100

Dual Core Intel(R) Xeon(R) E3110, 3.0 GHz, 6MB Cache,1333MHz4GB, DDR2, 800MHz160GB 7.2K RPM SATA 3Gbps Hard DriveIntegrated Graphics - (ATI ES1000)Integrated Gigabit Ethernet - (Broadcom(R) NetXtreme IITM5722)16x DVD DriveNo Keyboard, Monitor, or Mouse - (Connected to KVM Switch)

US$450

1 - Ethernet LAN Card

Used for RAC interconnect to racnode2 and Openfiler networkedstorage.

Each Linux server for Oracle RAC should contain two NIC adapters.The Dell PowerEdge T100 includes an embedded Broadcom(R)NetXtreme IITM 5722 Gigabit Ethernet NIC that will be used toconnect to the public network. A second NIC adapter will be usedfor the private network (RAC interconnect and Openfiler networked



storage). Select the appropriate NIC adapter that is compatible withthe maximum data transmission speed of the network switch to beused for the private network. For the purpose of this article, I useda Gigabit Ethernet switch (and a 1Gb Ethernet card) for the privatenetwork.

Gigabit Ethernet

Intel(R) PRO/1000 PT Server Adapter - (EXPI9400PT)US$90

Oracle RAC Node 2 - (racnode2)

Dell PowerEdge T100

Dual Core Intel(R) Xeon(R) E3110, 3.0 GHz, 6MB Cache,1333MHz4GB, DDR2, 800MHz160GB 7.2K RPM SATA 3Gbps Hard DriveIntegrated Graphics - (ATI ES1000)Integrated Gigabit Ethernet - (Broadcom(R) NetXtreme IITM5722)16x DVD DriveNo Keyboard, Monitor, or Mouse - (Connected to KVM Switch)

US$450


Used for RAC interconnect to racnode1 and Openfiler networkedstorage.

Each Linux server for Oracle RAC should contain two NIC adapters.The Dell PowerEdge T100 includes an embedded Broadcom(R)NetXtreme IITM 5722 Gigabit Ethernet NIC that will be used toconnect to the public network. A second NIC adapter will be usedfor the private network (RAC interconnect and Openfiler networkedstorage). Select the appropriate NIC adapter that is compatible withthe maximum data transmission speed of the network switch to beused for the private network. For the purpose of this article, I useda Gigabit Ethernet switch (and a 1Gb Ethernet card) for the privatenetwork.

Gigabit Ethernet

Intel(R) PRO/1000 PT Server Adapter - (EXPI9400PT)US$90

Network Storage Server - (openfiler1)

Dell PowerEdge 1800

Dual 3.0GHz Xeon / 1MB Cache / 800FSB (SL7PE)6GB of ECC Memory500GB SATA Internal Hard Disk73GB 15K SCSI Internal Hard DiskIntegrated GraphicsSingle embedded Intel 10/100/1000 Gigabit NIC16x DVD DriveNo Keyboard, Monitor, or Mouse - (Connected to KVM Switch)

http://www.buy.com/prod/intel-pro-1000-pt-server-adapter-pci-express-1-x-rj-45-10-100-1000base/q/loc/101/202007895.html

http://www.buy.com/prod/intel-pro-1000-pt-server-adapter-pci-express-1-x-rj-45-10-100-1000base/q/loc/101/202007895.html



Note: The operating system and Openfiler application will beinstalled on the 500GB internal SATA disk. A second internal 73GB15K SCSI hard disk will be configured for the database storage. TheOpenfiler server will be configured to use this second hard disk foriSCSI based storage and will be used in our Oracle RAC 11gconfiguration to store the shared files required by OracleClusterware as well as the clustered database files.

Please be aware that any type of hard disk (internal or external)should work for database storage as long as it can be recognizedby the network storage server (Openfiler) and has adequate space.For example, I could have made an extra partition on the 500GBinternal SATA disk for the iSCSI target, but decided to make use ofthe faster SCSI disk for this example. US$800


Used for networked storage on the private network.

The Network Storage Server (Openfiler server) should contain twoNIC adapters. The Dell PowerEdge 1800 machine included anintegrated 10/100/1000 Ethernet adapter that will be used toconnect to the public network. The second NIC adapter will beused for the private network (Openfiler networked storage). Selectthe appropriate NIC adapter that is compatible with the maximumdata transmission speed of the network switch to be used for theprivate network. For the purpose of this article, I used a GigabitEthernet switch (and 1Gb Ethernet card) for the private network.

Gigabit Ethernet

Intel(R) PRO/1000 MT Server Adapter - (PWLA8490MT)US$125

Miscellaneous Components

1 - Ethernet Switch

Used for the interconnect between racnode1-priv and racnode2-priv which will be on the 192.168.2.0 network. This switch will alsobe used for network storage traffic for Openfiler. For the purpose ofthis article, I used a Gigabit Ethernet switch (and 1Gb Ethernetcards) for the private network.

Gigabit Ethernet

D-Link 8-port 10/100/1000 Desktop Switch - (DGS-2208)US$50

6 - Network Cables

Category 6 patch cable - (Connect racnode1 to publicnetwork)Category 6 patch cable - (Connect racnode2 to publicnetwork)Category 6 patch cable - (Connect openfiler1 to publicnetwork)Category 6 patch cable - (Connect racnode1 to interconnect

http://www.buy.com/prod/intel-pro-1000-mt-network-adapter-pci-x-1-x-rj-45-10-100-1000base-t/q/loc/101/10322542.html

http://www.buy.com/prod/d-link-dgs-2208-8-port-10-100-1000-desktop-switch-d-link-dgs-2208/q/loc/101/202593730.html

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=10353998






Ethernet switch)Category 6 patch cable - (Connect racnode2 to interconnectEthernet switch)Category 6 patch cable - (Connect openfiler1 to interconnectEthernet switch)

US$10US$10US$10US$10US$10US$10

Optional Components

KVM Switch

This guide requires access to the console of all nodes (servers) inorder to install the operating system and perform several of theconfiguration tasks. When managing a very small number ofservers, it might make sense to connect each server with its ownmonitor, keyboard, and mouse in order to access its console.However, as the number of servers to manage increases, thissolution becomes unfeasible. A more practical solution would be toconfigure a dedicated computer which would include a singlemonitor, keyboard, and mouse that would have direct access to theconsole of each server. This solution is made possible using aKeyboard, Video, Mouse Switch —better known as a KVM Switch. AKVM switch is a hardware device that allows a user to controlmultiple computers from a single keyboard, video monitor andmouse. Avocent provides a high quality and economical 4-portswitch which includes four 6' cables:

SwitchView 1000 - (4SV1000BND1-001)

For a detailed explanation and guide on the use and KVM switches,please see the article "KVM Switches For the Home and theEnterprise". US$340

Total US$2,455

We are about to start the installation process. Now that we have talked about the hardware that will be used in this example, let's take a conceptual look at what theenvironment would look like after connecting all of the hardware components (click on the graphic below to view larger image):



http://www.avocent.com/web/en.nsf/Content/SwitchView1000-4port

http://www.idevelopment.info/data/Unix/General_UNIX/GENERAL_KVMSwitchesForTheHomeAndTheEnterprise.shtml

http://www.idevelopment.info/data/Unix/General_UNIX/GENERAL_KVMSwitchesForTheHomeAndTheEnterprise.shtml



Figure 1: Architecture

As we start to go into the details of the installation, note that most of the tasks within this document will need to be performed on both Oracle RAC nodes (racnode1 andracnode2). I will indicate at the beginning of each section whether or not the task(s) should be performed on both Oracle RAC nodes or on the network storage server(openfiler1).

6. Install the Linux Operating System

Perform the following installation on both Oracle RAC nodes in the cluster.

This section provides a summary of the screens used to install the Linux operating system. This guide is designed to work with Oracle Enterprise Linux release 5 update 4for x86_64 and follows Oracle's suggestion of performing a "default RPMs" installation type to ensure all expected Linux O/S packages are present for a successful OracleRDBMS installation.

Before installing the Oracle Enterprise Linux operating system on both Oracle RAC nodes, you should have both NIC interface cards installed that will be used for the publicand private network.

Download the following ISO images for Oracle Enterprise Linux release 5 update 4 for either x86 or x86_64 depending on your hardware architecture.

Oracle E-Delivery Web site for Oracle Enterprise Linux

32-bit (x86) Installations

V17787-01.zip (582 MB)V17789-01.zip (612 MB)V17790-01.zip (620 MB)

http://www.oracle.com/technology/pub/images/hunter_rac11gr2_iscsi_f1-1.gif

http://edelivery.oracle.com/linux



V17791-01.zip (619 MB)V17792-01.zip (267 MB)

After downloading the Oracle Enterprise Linux operating system, unzip each of the files. You will then have the following ISO images which will need to be burned to CDs:

Enterprise-R5-U4-Server-i386-disc1.isoEnterprise-R5-U4-Server-i386-disc2.isoEnterprise-R5-U4-Server-i386-disc3.isoEnterprise-R5-U4-Server-i386-disc4.isoEnterprise-R5-U4-Server-i386-disc5.iso

Note: If the Linux RAC nodes have a DVD installed, you may find it more convenient to make use of the single DVD image:

V17793-01.zip (2.7 GB)

Unzip the single DVD image file and burn it to a DVD:

Enterprise-R5-U4-Server-i386-dvd.iso

64-bit (x86_64) Installations

V17795-01.zip (580 MB)V17796-01.zip (615 MB)V17797-01.zip (605 MB)V17798-01.zip (616 MB)V17799-01.zip (597 MB)V17800-01.zip (198 MB)

After downloading the Oracle Enterprise Linux operating system, unzip each of the files. You will then have the following ISO images which will need to be burned to CDs:

Enterprise-R5-U4-Server-x86_64-disc1.isoEnterprise-R5-U4-Server-x86_64-disc2.isoEnterprise-R5-U4-Server-x86_64-disc3.isoEnterprise-R5-U4-Server-x86_64-disc4.isoEnterprise-R5-U4-Server-x86_64-disc5.isoEnterprise-R5-U4-Server-x86_64-disc6.iso

Note: If the Linux RAC nodes have a DVD installed, you may find it more convenient to make use of the single DVD image:

V17794-01.zip (3.2 GB)

Unzip the single DVD image file and burn it to a DVD:

Enterprise-R5-U4-Server-x86_64-dvd.iso

If you are downloading the above ISO files to a MS Windows machine, there are many options for burning these images (ISO files) to a CD/DVD. You may already befamiliar with and have the proper software to burn images to a CD/DVD. If you are not familiar with this process and do not have the required software to burn images toa CD/DVD, here are just two (of many) software packages that can be used:

UltraISOMagic ISO Maker

After downloading and burning the Oracle Enterprise Linux images (ISO files) to CD/DVD, insert OEL Disk #1 into the first server (racnode1 in this example), power it on,and answer the installation screen prompts as noted below. After completing the Linux installation on the first node, perform the same Linux installation on the secondnode while substituting the node name racnode1 for racnode2 and the different IP addresses where appropriate.

Boot Screen The first screen is the Oracle Enterprise Linux boot screen. At the boot: prompt, hit [Enter] to start the installation process.

http://www.ezbsystems.com/ultraiso/

http://www.magiciso.com/



Media Test When asked to test the CD media, tab over to [Skip] and hit [Enter]. If there were any errors, the media burning software would have warned us. After several seconds,the installer should then detect the video card, monitor, and mouse. The installer then goes into GUI mode.

Welcome to Oracle Enterprise Linux At the welcome screen, click [Next] to continue.

Language / Keyboard Selection The next two screens prompt you for the Language and Keyboard settings. Make the appropriate selections for your configuration.

Detect Previous Installation Note that if the installer detects a previous version of Oracle Enterprise Linux, it will ask if you would like to "Install Enterprise Linux" or "Upgrade an existing Installation".Always select to "Install Enterprise Linux".

Disk Partitioning Setup Select [Remove all partitions on selected drives and create default layout] and check the option to [Review and modify partitioning layout]. Click [Next] to continue.

You will then be prompted with a dialog window asking if you really want to remove all Linux partitions. Click [Yes] to acknowledge this warning.

Partitioning The installer will then allow you to view (and modify if needed) the disk partitions it automatically selected. For most automatic layouts, the installer will choose 100MB for/boot, double the amount of RAM (systems with <= 2,048MB RAM) or an amount equal to RAM (systems with > 2,048MB RAM) for swap, and the rest going to the root(/) partition. Starting with RHEL 4, the installer will create the same disk configuration as just noted but will create them using the Logical Volume Manager (LVM). Forexample, it will partition the first hard drive (/dev/sda for my configuration) into two partitions — one for the /boot partition (/dev/sda1) and the remainder of the diskdedicate to a LVM named VolGroup00 (/dev/sda2). The LVM Volume Group (VolGroup00) is then partitioned into two LVM partitions - one for the root filesystem (/) andanother for swap.

The main concern during the partitioning phase is to ensure enough swap space is allocated as required by Oracle (which is a multiple of the available RAM). The followingis Oracle's minimum requirement for swap space:

Available RAM Swap Space Required

Between 1,024MB and 2,048MB 1.5 times the size of RAM

Between 2,049MB and 8,192MB Equal to the size of RAM

More than 8,192MB 0.75 times the size of RAM

For the purpose of this install, I will accept all automatically preferred sizes. (Including 5,952MB for swap since I have 4GB of RAM installed.)

If for any reason, the automatic layout does not configure an adequate amount of swap space, you can easily change that from this screen. To increase the size of theswap partition, [Edit] the volume group VolGroup00. This will bring up the "Edit LVM Volume Group: VolGroup00" dialog. First, [Edit] and decrease the size of the root filesystem (/) by the amount you want to add to the swap partition. For example, to add another 512MB to swap, you would decrease the size of the root file system by512MB (i.e. 36,032MB - 512MB = 35,520MB). Now add the space you decreased from the root file system (512MB) to the swap partition. When completed, click [OK] onthe "Edit LVM Volume Group: VolGroup00" dialog.

Once you are satisfied with the disk layout, click [Next] to continue.

Boot Loader Configuration The installer will use the GRUB boot loader by default. To use the GRUB boot loader, accept all default values and click [Next] to continue.

Network Configuration I made sure to install both NIC interfaces (cards) in each of the Linux machines before starting the operating system installation. This screen should have successfullydetected each of the network devices. Since we will be using this machine to host an Oracle database, there will be several changes that need to be made to the networkconfiguration. The settings you make here will, of course, depend on your network configuration. The key point to make is that the machine should never be configuredwith DHCP since it will be used to host the Oracle database server. You will need to configure the machine with static IP addresses. You will also need to configure theserver with a real host name.

First, make sure that each of the network devices are checked to [Active on boot]. The installer may choose to not activate eth1 by default.



Second, [Edit] both eth0 and eth1 as follows. Verify that the option "Enable IPv4 support" is selected. Click off the option to use "Dynamic IP configuration (DHCP)" byselecting the "Manual configuration" radio button and configure a static IP address and Netmask for your environment. Click off the option to "Enable IPv6 support". Youmay choose to use different IP addresses for both eth0 and eth1 that I have documented in this guide and that is OK. Put eth1 (the interconnect) on a different subnetthan eth0 (the public network):

eth0:- Check ON the option to [Enable IPv4 support]- Check OFF the option to use [Dynamic IP configuration (DHCP)] - (select Manual configuration) IPv4 Address: 192.168.1.151 Prefix (Netmask): 255.255.255.0- Check OFF the option to [Enable IPv6 support]


Continue by manually setting your hostname. I used "racnode1" for the first node and "racnode2" for the second. Finish this dialog off by supplying your gateway and DNSservers.

Time Zone Selection Select the appropriate time zone for your environment and click [Next] to continue.

Set Root Password Select a root password and click [Next] to continue.

Package Installation Defaults By default, Oracle Enterprise Linux installs most of the software required for a typical server. There are several other packages (RPMs), however, that are required tosuccessfully install the Oracle software. The installer includes a "Customize software" selection that allows the addition of RPM groupings such as "Development Libraries"or "Legacy Library Support". The addition of such RPM groupings is not an issue. De-selecting any "default RPM" groupings or individual RPMs, however, can result infailed Oracle grid infrastructure and Oracle RAC installation attempts.

For the purpose of this article, select the radio button [Customize now] and click [Next] to continue.

This is where you pick the packages to install. Most of the packages required for the Oracle software are grouped into "Package Groups" (i.e. Application -> Editors). Sincethese nodes will be hosting the Oracle grid infrastructure and Oracle RAC software, verify that at least the following package groups are selected for install. For many ofthe Linux package groups, not all of the packages associated with that group get selected for installation. (Note the "Optional packages" button after selecting a packagegroup.) So although the package group gets selected for install, some of the packages required by Oracle do not get installed. In fact, there are some packages that arerequired by Oracle that do not belong to any of the available package groups (i.e. libaio-devel). Not to worry. A complete list of required packages for Oracle gridinfrastructure 11g Release 2 and Oracle RAC 11g Release 2 for Oracle Enterprise Linux 5 will be provided in the next section. These packages will need to be manuallyinstalled from the Oracle Enterprise Linux CDs after the operating system install. For now, install the following package groups:

Desktop EnvironmentsGNOME Desktop Environment

ApplicationsEditorsGraphical InternetText-based Internet

DevelopmentDevelopment LibrariesDevelopment ToolsLegacy Software Development

ServersServer Configuration Tools

Base System



Administration ToolsBaseJavaLegacy Software SupportSystem ToolsX Window System

In addition to the above packages, select any additional packages you wish to install for this node keeping in mind to NOT de-select any of the "default" RPM packages .After selecting the packages to install click [Next] to continue.

About to Install This screen is basically a confirmation screen. Click [Next] to start the installation. If you are installing Oracle Enterprise Linux using CDs, you will be asked to switch CDsduring the installation process depending on which packages you selected.

Congratulations And that's it. You have successfully installed Oracle Enterprise Linux on the first node (racnode1). The installer will eject the CD/DVD from the CD-ROM drive. Take out theCD/DVD and click [Reboot] to reboot the system.

Post Installation Wizard Welcome Screen When the system boots into Oracle Enterprise Linux for the first time, it will prompt you with another Welcome screen for the "Post Installation Wizard". The postinstallation wizard allows you to make final O/S configuration settings. On the "Welcome" screen, click [Forward] to continue.

License Agreement Read through the license agreement. Choose "Yes, I agree to the License Agreement" and click [Forward] to continue.

Firewall On this screen, make sure to select the [Disabled] option and click [Forward] to continue.

You will be prompted with a warning dialog about not setting the firewall. When this occurs, click [Yes] to continue.

SELinux On the SELinux screen, choose the [Disabled] option and click [Forward] to continue.

You will be prompted with a warning dialog warning that changing the SELinux setting will require rebooting the system so the entire file system can be relabeled. Whenthis occurs, click [Yes] to acknowledge a reboot of the system will occur after firstboot (Post Installation Wizard) is completed.

Kdump Accept the default setting on the Kdump screen (disabled) and click [Forward] to continue.

Date and Time Settings Adjust the date and time settings if necessary and click [Forward] to continue.

Create User Create any additional (non-oracle) operating system user accounts if desired and click [Forward] to continue. For the purpose of this article, I will not be creating anyadditional operating system accounts. I will be creating the "grid" and "oracle" user accounts later in this guide.

If you chose not to define any additional operating system user accounts, click [Continue] to acknowledge the warning dialog.

Sound Card This screen will only appear if the wizard detects a sound card. On the sound card screen click [Forward] to continue.

Additional CDs On the "Additional CDs" screen click [Finish] to continue.

Reboot System Given we changed the SELinux option (to disabled), we are prompted to reboot the system. Click [OK] to reboot the system for normal use.




Login Screen After rebooting the machine, you are presented with the login screen. Log in using the "root" user account and the password you provided during the installation.

Perform the same installation on the second node After completing the Linux installation on the first node, repeat the above steps for the second node (racnode2). When configuring the machine name and networking,ensure to configure the proper values. For my installation, this is what I configured for racnode2:

First, make sure that each of the network devices are checked to [Active on boot]. The installer may choose to not activate eth1.

Second, [Edit] both eth0 and eth1 as follows. Verify that the option "Enable IPv4 support" is selected. Click off the option to use "Dynamic IP configuration (DHCP)" byselecting the "Manual configuration" radio button and configure a static IP address and Netmask for your environment. Click off the option to "Enable IPv6 support". Youmay choose to use different IP addresses for both eth0 and eth1 that I have documented in this guide and that is OK. Put eth1 (the interconnect) on a different subnetthan eth0 (the public network):



Continue by setting your hostname manually. I used "racnode2" for the second node. Finish this dialog off by supplying your gateway and DNS servers.

7. Install Required Linux Packages for Oracle RAC

Install the following required Linux packages on both Oracle RAC nodes in the cluster.

After installing Enterprise Linux, the next step is to verify and install all packages (RPMs) required by both Oracle Clusterware and Oracle RAC. The Oracle UniversalInstaller (OUI) performs checks on your machine during installation to verify that it meets the appropriate operating system package requirements. To ensure that thesechecks complete successfully, verify the software requirements documented in this section before starting the Oracle installs.

Although many of the required packages for Oracle were installed during the Enterprise Linux installation, several will be missing either because they were consideredoptional within the package group or simply didn't exist in any package group!

The packages listed in this section (or later versions) are required for Oracle grid infrastructure 11g Release 2 and Oracle RAC 11g Release 2 running on the EnterpriseLinux 5 platform.


binutils-2.17.50.0.6compat-libstdc++-33-3.2.3elfutils-libelf-0.125elfutils-libelf-devel-0.125elfutils-libelf-devel-static-0.125gcc-4.1.2gcc-c++-4.1.2glibc-2.5-24



glibc-common-2.5glibc-devel-2.52glibc-headers-2.5kernel-headers-2.6.18ksh-20060214libaio-0.3.106libaio-devel-0.3.106libgcc-4.1.2libgomp-4.1.2libstdc++-4.1.2libstdc++-devel-4.1.2make-3.81sysstat-7.0.2unixODBC-2.2.11unixODBC-devel-2.2.11

Each of the packages listed above can be found on CD #1, CD #2, and CD #3 on the Enterprise Linux 5 - (x86) CDs. While it is possible to query each individual packageto determine which ones are missing and need to be installed, an easier method is to run the rpm -Uvh PackageName command from the five CDs as follows. For packagesthat already exist and are up to date, the RPM command will simply ignore the install and print a warning message to the console that the package is already installed.

# From Enterprise Linux 5.4 (x86)- [CD #1]mkdir -p /media/cdrommount -r /dev/cdrom /media/cdromcd /media/cdrom/Serverrpm -Uvh binutils-2.*rpm -Uvh elfutils-libelf-0.*rpm -Uvh glibc-2.*rpm -Uvh glibc-common-2.*rpm -Uvh kernel-headers-2.*rpm -Uvh ksh-2*rpm -Uvh libaio-0.*rpm -Uvh libgcc-4.*rpm -Uvh libstdc++-4.*rpm -Uvh make-3.*cd /eject

# From Enterprise Linux 5.4 (x86) - [CD #2]mount -r /dev/cdrom /media/cdromcd /media/cdrom/Serverrpm -Uvh elfutils-libelf-devel-*rpm -Uvh gcc-4.*rpm -Uvh gcc-c++-4.*rpm -Uvh glibc-devel-2.*rpm -Uvh glibc-headers-2.*rpm -Uvh libgomp-4.*rpm -Uvh libstdc++-devel-4.*rpm -Uvh unixODBC-2.*cd /eject

# From Enterprise Linux 5.4 (x86) - [CD #3]mount -r /dev/cdrom /media/cdromcd /media/cdrom/Serverrpm -Uvh compat-libstdc++-33*rpm -Uvh libaio-devel-0.*rpm -Uvh sysstat-7.*rpm -Uvh unixODBC-devel-2.*cd /eject


binutils-2.17.50.0.6compat-libstdc++-33-3.2.3compat-libstdc++-33-3.2.3 (32 bit)



elfutils-libelf-0.125elfutils-libelf-devel-0.125elfutils-libelf-devel-static-0.125gcc-4.1.2gcc-c++-4.1.2glibc-2.5-24glibc-2.5-24 (32 bit)glibc-common-2.5glibc-devel-2.5glibc-devel-2.5 (32 bit)glibc-headers-2.5ksh-20060214libaio-0.3.106libaio-0.3.106 (32 bit)libaio-devel-0.3.106libaio-devel-0.3.106 (32 bit)libgcc-4.1.2libgcc-4.1.2 (32 bit)libstdc++-4.1.2libstdc++-4.1.2 (32 bit)libstdc++-devel 4.1.2make-3.81sysstat-7.0.2unixODBC-2.2.11unixODBC-2.2.11 (32 bit)unixODBC-devel-2.2.11unixODBC-devel-2.2.11 (32 bit)

Each of the packages listed above can be found on CD #1, CD #2, CD #3, and CD #4 on the Enterprise Linux 5 - (x86_64) CDs. While it is possible to query eachindividual package to determine which ones are missing and need to be installed, an easier method is to run the rpm -Uvh PackageName command from the six CDs asfollows. For packages that already exist and are up to date, the RPM command will simply ignore the install and print a warning message to the console that the packageis already installed.

# From Enterprise Linux 5.4 (x86_64)- [CD #1]mkdir -p /media/cdrommount -r /dev/cdrom /media/cdromcd /media/cdrom/Serverrpm -Uvh binutils-2.*rpm -Uvh elfutils-libelf-0.*rpm -Uvh glibc-2.*rpm -Uvh glibc-common-2.*rpm -Uvh ksh-2*rpm -Uvh libaio-0.*rpm -Uvh libgcc-4.*rpm -Uvh libstdc++-4.*rpm -Uvh make-3.*cd /eject

# From Enterprise Linux 5.4 (x86_64) - [CD #2]mount -r /dev/cdrom /media/cdromcd /media/cdrom/Serverrpm -Uvh elfutils-libelf-devel-*rpm -Uvh gcc-4.*rpm -Uvh gcc-c++-4.*rpm -Uvh glibc-devel-2.*rpm -Uvh glibc-headers-2.*rpm -Uvh libstdc++-devel-4.*rpm -Uvh unixODBC-2.*cd /eject

# From Enterprise Linux 5.4 (x86_64) - [CD #3]mount -r /dev/cdrom /media/cdromcd /media/cdrom/Serverrpm -Uvh compat-libstdc++-33*



rpm -Uvh libaio-devel-0.*rpm -Uvh unixODBC-devel-2.*cd /eject

# From Enterprise Linux 5.4 (x86_64) - [CD #4]mount -r /dev/cdrom /media/cdromcd /media/cdrom/Serverrpm -Uvh sysstat-7.*cd /eject

8. Network Configuration

Perform the following network configuration on both Oracle RAC nodes in the cluster.

Although we configured several of the network settings during the Linux installation, it is important to not skip this section as it contains critical steps to check that youhave the networking hardware and Internet Protocol (IP) addresses required for an Oracle grid infrastructure for a cluster installation.

Network Hardware Requirements

The following is a list of hardware requirements for network configuration:

Each Oracle RAC node must have at least two network adapters or network interface cards (NICs): one for the public network interface, and one for the privatenetwork interface (the interconnect). To use multiple NICs for the public network or for the private network, Oracle recommends that you use NIC bonding. Useseparate bonding for the public and private networks (i.e. bond0 for the public network and bond1 for the private network), because during installation each interfaceis defined as a public or private interface. NIC bonding is not covered in this article.

The public interface names associated with the network adapters for each network must be the same on all nodes, and the private interface names associated withthe network adaptors should be the same on all nodes.

For example, with our two-node cluster, you cannot configure network adapters on racnode1 with eth0 as the public interface, but on racnode2 have eth1 as thepublic interface. Public interface names must be the same, so you must configure eth0 as public on both nodes. You should configure the private interfaces on thesame network adapters as well. If eth1 is the private interface for racnode1, then eth1 must be the private interface for racnode2.

For the public network, each network adapter must support TCP/IP.

For the private network, the interconnect must support the user datagram protocol (UDP) using high-speed network adapters and switches that support TCP/IP(minimum requirement 1 Gigabit Ethernet).

UDP is the default interconnect protocol for Oracle RAC, and TCP is the interconnect protocol for Oracle Clusterware. You must use a switch for the interconnect.Oracle recommends that you use a dedicated switch.

Oracle does not support token-rings or crossover cables for the interconnect.

For the private network, the endpoints of all designated interconnect interfaces must be completely reachable on the network. There should be no node that is notconnected to every private network interface. You can test if an interconnect interface is reachable using ping.

During installation of Oracle grid infrastructure, you are asked to identify the planned use for each network interface that OUI detects on your cluster node. You mustidentify each interface as a public interface, a private interface, or not used and you must use the same private interfaces for both Oracle Clusterware and OracleRAC.

You can bond separate interfaces to a common interface to provide redundancy, in case of a NIC failure, but Oracle recommends that you do not create separateinterfaces for Oracle Clusterware and Oracle RAC. If you use more than one NIC for the private interconnect, then Oracle recommends that you use NIC bonding.Note that multiple private interfaces provide load balancing but not failover, unless bonded.

Starting with Oracle Clusterware 11g Release 2, you no longer need to provide a private name or IP address for the interconnect. IP addresses on the subnet youidentify as private are assigned as private IP addresses for cluster member nodes. You do not need to configure these addresses manually in a hosts directory. If you



want name resolution for the interconnect, then you can configure private IP names in the hosts file or the DNS. However, Oracle Clusterware assigns interconnectaddresses on the interface defined during installation as the private interface (eth1, for example), and to the subnet used for the private subnet. In practice, and forthe purpose of this guide, I will continue to include a private name and IP address on each node for the RAC interconnect. It provides self-documentation and a setof end-points on the private network I can use for troubleshooting purposes:

192.168.2.151 racnode1-priv192.168.2.152 racnode2-priv

In a production environment that uses iSCSI for network storage, it is highly recommended to configure a redundant third network interface (eth2, for example) forthat storage traffic using a TCP/IP offload Engine (TOE) card. For the sake of brevity, this article will configure the iSCSI network storage traffic on the same networkas the RAC private interconnect (eth1). Combining the iSCSI storage traffic and cache fusion traffic for Oracle RAC on the same network interface works great for aninexpensive test system but should never be considered for production.

The basic idea of a TOE is to offload the processing of TCP/IP protocols from the host processor to the hardware on the adapter or in the system. A TOE if oftenembedded in a network interface card (NIC) or a host bus adapter (HBA) and used to reduce the amount of TCP/IP processing handled by the CPU and server I/Osubsystem and improve overall performance.

Assigning IP Address

Recall that each node requires at least two network interfaces configured — one for the private IP address and one for the public IP address. Prior to Oracle Clusterware11g Release 2, all IP addresses needed to be manually assigned by the network administrator using static IP addresses — never to use DHCP. This would include thepublic IP address for the node, the RAC interconnect, virtual IP address (VIP), and new to 11g Release 2, the Single Client Access Name (SCAN) IP address(s). In fact, inall of my previous articles, I would emphatically state that DHCP should never be used to assign any of these IP addresses. Well, in 11g Release 2, you now have twooptions that can used to assign IP addresses to each Oracle RAC node — Grid Naming Service (GNS) which uses DHCP or the traditional method of manually assigningstatic IP addresses using DNS.

Grid Naming Service (GNS)

Starting with Oracle Clusterware 11g Release 2, a second method for assigning IP addresses named Grid Naming Service (GNS) was introduced that allows all privateinterconnect addresses, as well as most of the VIP addresses to be assigned using DHCP. GNS and DHCP are key elements to Oracle's new Grid Plug and Play (GPnP)feature that, as Oracle states, eliminates per-node configuration data and the need for explicit add and delete nodes steps. GNS enables a dynamic grid infrastructurethrough the self-management of the network requirements for the cluster. While configuring IP addresses using GNS certainly has its benefits and offers more flexibilityover manually defining static IP addresses, it does come at the cost of complexity and requires components not defined in this guide on building an inexpensive OracleRAC. For example, activating GNS in a cluster requires a DHCP server on the public network which I felt was out of the scope of this article.

To learn more about the benefits and how to configure GNS, please see Oracle Grid Infrastructure Installation Guide 11g Release 2 (11.2) for Linux.

Manually Assigning Static IP Address - (The DNS Method)

If you choose not to use GNS, manually defining static IP addresses is still available with Oracle Clusterware 11g Release 2 and will be the method used in this article toassign all required Oracle Clusterware networking components (public IP address for the node, RAC interconnect, virtual IP address, and SCAN).

Notice that the title of this section includes the phrase "The DNS Method". Oracle recommends that static IP addresses be manually configured in a domain name server(DNS) before starting the Oracle grid infrastructure installation. However, when building an inexpensive Oracle RAC, it is not always possible you will have access to a DNSserver. Previous to 11g Release 2, this would not present a huge obstacle as it was possible to define each IP address in the host file (/etc/hosts) on all nodes withoutthe use of DNS. This would include public IP address for the node, the RAC interconnect, and the virtual IP address (VIP).

Things, however, change a bit in Oracle grid infrastructure 11g Release 2.

Let's start with the RAC private interconnect. It is no longer a requirement to provide a private name or IP address for the interconnect during the Oracle gridinfrastructure install (i.e. racnode1-priv or racnode2-priv). Oracle Clusterware now assigns interconnect addresses on the interface defined during installation as theprivate interface (eth1, for example), and to the subnet used for the private subnet, which for this article is 192.168.2.0. If you want name resolution for the interconnect,then you can configure private IP names in the hosts file or the DNS. In practice, and for the purpose of this guide, I will continue to include a private name and IPaddress on each node for the RAC interconnect. It provides self-documentation and a set of end-points on the private network I can use for troubleshooting purposes:

192.168.2.151 racnode1-priv192.168.2.152 racnode2-priv

http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E11882_01/install.112/e10812/toc.htm





The public IP address for the node and the virtual IP address (VIP) remain the same in 11g Release 2. Oracle recommends defining the name and IP address for each tobe resolved through DNS and included in the hosts file for each node. With the current release of Oracle grid infrastructure and previous releases, Oracle Clusterware hasno problem resolving the public IP address for the node and the VIP using only a hosts file:

192.168.1.151 racnode1192.168.1.251 racnode1-vip192.168.1.152 racnode2192.168.1.252 racnode2-vip

The Single Client Access Name (SCAN) virtual IP is new to 11g Release 2 and seems to be the one causing the most discussion! The SCAN must be configured in GNS orDNS for Round Robin resolution to three addresses (recommended) or at least one address. If you choose not to use GNS, then Oracle states the SCAN must be resolvedthrough DNS and not through the hosts file. If the SCAN cannot be resolved through DNS (or GNS), the Cluster Verification Utility check will fail during the Oracle gridinfrastructure installation. If you do not have access to a DNS, I provide an easy workaround in the section Configuring SCAN without DNS. The workaround involvesmodifying the nslookup utility and should be performed before installing Oracle grid infrastructure.

Single Client Access Name (SCAN) for the Cluster

If you have ever been tasked with extending an Oracle RAC cluster by adding a new node (or shrinking a RAC cluster by removing a node), then you know the pain ofgoing through a list of all clients and updating their SQL*Net or JDBC configuration to reflect the new or deleted node! To address this problem, Oracle 11g Release 2introduced a new feature known as Single Client Access Name or SCAN for short. SCAN is a new feature that provides a single host name for clients to access an OracleDatabase running in a cluster. Clients using SCAN do not need to change their TNS configuration if you add or remove nodes in the cluster. The SCAN resource and itsassociated IP address(s) provide a stable name for clients to use for connections, independent of the nodes that make up the cluster. You will be asked to provide the hostname and up to three IP addresses to be used for the SCAN resource during the interview phase of the Oracle grid infrastructure installation. For high availability andscalability, Oracle recommends that you configure the SCAN name so that it resolves to three IP addresses. At a minimum, the SCAN must resolve to at least one address.

The SCAN virtual IP name is similar to the names used for a node's virtual IP addresses, such as racnode1-vip. However, unlike a virtual IP, the SCAN is associated withthe entire cluster, rather than an individual node, and can be associated with multiple IP addresses, not just one address. Note that SCAN addresses, virtual IP addresses,and public IP addresses must all be on the same subnet.

The SCAN should be configured so that it is resolvable either by using Grid Naming Service (GNS) within the cluster, or by using Domain Name Service (DNS) resolution.

In this article, I will configure SCAN to resolve to only one, manually configured static IP address using the DNS method (but not actually defining it in DNS):

192.168.1.187 racnode-cluster-scan

Configuring Public and Private Network

In our two node example, we need to configure the network on both Oracle RAC nodes for access to the public network as well as their private interconnect.

The easiest way to configure network settings in Enterprise Linux is with the program "Network Configuration". Network Configuration is a GUI application that can bestarted from the command-line as the "root" user account as follows:

[root@racnode1 ~]# /usr/bin/system-config-network &

Using the Network Configuration application, you need to configure both NIC devices as well as the /etc/hosts file. Both of these tasks can be completed using theNetwork Configuration GUI. Notice that the /etc/hosts settings are the same for both nodes and that I removed any entry that has to do with IPv6. For example:

::1 localhost6.localdomain6 localhost6

Our example Oracle RAC configuration will use the following network settings:

Oracle RAC Node 1 - (racnode1)Device IP Address Subnet Gateway Purpose

eth0 192.168.1.151 255.255.255.0 192.168.1.1 Connects racnode1 to thepublic network

eth1 192.168.2.151 255.255.255.0 Connects racnode1(interconnect) to racnode2(racnode2-priv)

http://www.oracle.com/technology/pub/articles/hunter-rac11gr2-iscsi-3.html#Configure Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Cluster

http://www.oracle.com/technology/pub/articles/hunter-rac11gr2-iscsi-3.html#Configure Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Cluster

http://www.oracle.com/technology/pub/articles/hunter-rac11gr2-iscsi-3.html#Configuring SCAN without DNS

http://www.oracle.com/technology/pub/articles/hunter-rac11gr2-iscsi-3.html#Configure Grid Plug and Play Information - SCAN

http://www.oracle.com/technology/pub/articles/hunter-rac11gr2-iscsi-3.html#Configuring SCAN without DNS



/etc/hosts# Do not remove the following line, or various programs# that require network functionality will fail.

127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost

# Public Network - (eth0)192.168.1.151 racnode1192.168.1.152 racnode2

# Private Interconnect - (eth1)192.168.2.151 racnode1-priv192.168.2.152 racnode2-priv

# Public Virtual IP (VIP) addresses - (eth0:1)192.168.1.251 racnode1-vip192.168.1.252 racnode2-vip

# Single Client Access Name (SCAN)192.168.1.187 racnode-cluster-scan

# Private Storage Network for Openfiler - (eth1)192.168.1.195 openfiler1192.168.2.195 openfiler1-priv

# Miscellaneous Nodes192.168.1.1 router192.168.1.105 packmule192.168.1.106 melody192.168.1.121 domo192.168.1.122 switch1192.168.1.125 oemprod192.168.1.245 accesspoint

Oracle RAC Node 2 - (racnode2)Device IP Address Subnet Gateway Purpose

eth0 192.168.1.152 255.255.255.0 192.168.1.1 Connects racnode2 to thepublic network

eth1 192.168.2.152 255.255.255.0 Connects racnode2(interconnect) to racnode1(racnode1-priv)

/etc/hosts# Do not remove the following line, or various programs# that require network functionality will fail.







# Miscellaneous Nodes192.168.1.1 router192.168.1.105 packmule192.168.1.106 melody192.168.1.121 domo192.168.1.122 switch1192.168.1.125 oemprod192.168.1.245 accesspoint



In the screen shots below, only Oracle RAC Node 1 (racnode1) is shown. Be sure to make all the proper network settings to both Oracle RAC nodes.

Figure 2: Network Configuration Screen, Node 1 (racnode1)



Figure 3: Ethernet Device Screen, eth0 (racnode1)



Figure 4: Ethernet Device Screen, eth1 (racnode1)



Figure 5: Network Configuration Screen, /etc/hosts (racnode1)

Once the network is configured, you can use the ifconfig command to verify everything is working. The following example is from racnode1:

[root@racnode1 ~]# /sbin/ifconfig -a

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:14:6C:76:5C:71 inet addr:192.168.1.151 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0 inet6 addr: fe80::214:6cff:fe76:5c71/64 Scope:Link UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:759780 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:771948 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:672708275 (641.5 MiB) TX bytes:727861314 (694.1 MiB) Interrupt:177 Base address:0xcf00

eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0E:0C:64:D1:E5 inet addr:192.168.2.151 Bcast:192.168.2.255 Mask:255.255.255.0 inet6 addr: fe80::20e:cff:fe64:d1e5/64 Scope:Link UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:120 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:48 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:24544 (23.9 KiB) TX bytes:8634 (8.4 KiB) Base address:0xddc0 Memory:fe9c0000-fe9e0000

lo Link encap:Local Loopback inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0 inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host



UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1 RX packets:3191 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:3191 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 RX bytes:4296868 (4.0 MiB) TX bytes:4296868 (4.0 MiB)

sit0 Link encap:IPv6-in-IPv4 NOARP MTU:1480 Metric:1 RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

Confirm the RAC Node Name is Not Listed in Loopback Address

Ensure that the node names (racnode1 or racnode2) are not included for the loopback address in the /etc/hosts file. If the machine name is listed in the in the loopbackaddress entry as below:

127.0.0.1 racnode1 localhost.localdomain localhost

it will need to be removed as shown below:


If the RAC node name is listed for the loopback address, you will receive the following error during the RAC installation:

ORA-00603: ORACLE server session terminated by fatal error

or

ORA-29702: error occurred in Cluster Group Service operation

Check and turn off UDP ICMP rejections

During the Linux installation process, I indicated to not configure the firewall option. By default the option to configure a firewall is selected by the installer. This hasburned me several times so I like to do a double-check that the firewall option is not configured and to ensure udp ICMP filtering is turned off.

If UDP ICMP is blocked or rejected by the firewall, the Oracle Clusterware software will crash after several minutes of running. When the Oracle Clusterware process fails,you will have something similar to the following in the <machine_name>_evmocr.log file:

08/29/2005 22:17:19oac_init:2: Could not connect to server, clsc retcode = 908/29/2005 22:17:19a_init:12!: Client init unsuccessful : [32]ibctx:1:ERROR: INVALID FORMATproprinit:problem reading the bootblock or superbloc 22

When experiencing this type of error, the solution is to remove the UDP ICMP (iptables) rejection rule - or to simply have the firewall option turned off. The OracleClusterware software will then start to operate normally and not crash. The following commands should be executed as the root user account:

1. Check to ensure that the firewall option is turned off. If the firewall option is stopped (like it is in my example below) you do not have to proceed with the followingsteps.

[root@racnode1 ~]# /etc/rc.d/init.d/iptables statusFirewall is stopped.

2. If the firewall option is operating you will need to first manually disable UDP ICMP rejections:

[root@racnode1 ~]# /etc/rc.d/init.d/iptables stopFlushing firewall rules: [ OK ]Setting chains to policy ACCEPT: filter [ OK ]Unloading iptables modules: [ OK ]

3. Then, to turn UDP ICMP rejections off for next server reboot (which should always be turned off):

[root@racnode1 ~]# chkconfig iptables off



9. Cluster Time Synchronization Service

Perform the following Cluster Time Synchronization Service configuration on both Oracle RAC nodes in the cluster.

Oracle Clusterware 11g Release 2 and later requires time synchronization across all nodes within a cluster where Oracle RAC is deployed. Oracle provide two options fortime synchronization: an operating system configured network time protocol (NTP), or the new Oracle Cluster Time Synchronization Service (CTSS). Oracle Cluster TimeSynchronization Service (ctssd) is designed for organizations whose Oracle RAC databases are unable to access NTP services.

Configuring NTP is outside the scope of this article and will therefore rely on the Cluster Time Synchronization Service as the network time protocol.

Configure Cluster Time Synchronization Service - (CTSS)

If you want to use Cluster Time Synchronization Service to provide synchronization service in the cluster, then de-configure and de-install the Network Time Protocol(NTP).

To deactivate the NTP service, you must stop the existing ntpd service, disable it from the initialization sequences and remove the ntp.conf file. To complete these stepson Oracle Enterprise Linux, run the following commands as the root user on both Oracle RAC nodes:

[root@racnode1 ~]# /sbin/service ntpd stop[root@racnode1 ~]# chkconfig ntpd off[root@racnode1 ~]# mv /etc/ntp.conf /etc/ntp.conf.original

Also remove the following file:

[root@racnode1 ~]# rm /var/run/ntpd.pid

This file maintains the pid for the NTP daemon.

When the installer finds that the NTP protocol is not active, the Cluster Time Synchronization Service is automatically installed in active mode and synchronizes the timeacross the nodes. If NTP is found configured, then the Cluster Time Synchronization Service is started in observer mode, and no active time synchronization is performedby Oracle Clusterware within the cluster.

To confirm that ctssd is active after installation, enter the following command as the Grid installation owner (grid):

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ crsctl check ctssCRS-4701: The Cluster Time Synchronization Service is in Active mode.CRS-4702: Offset (in msec): 0

Configure Network Time Protocol - (only if not using CTSS as documented above)

Note: Please note that this guide will use Cluster Time Synchronization Service for time synchronization across both Oracle RAC nodes in the cluster. This section isprovided for documentation purposes only and can be used by organizations already setup to use NTP within their domain.

If you are using NTP, and you prefer to continue using it instead of Cluster Time Synchronization Service, then you need to modify the NTP initialization file to set the -xflag, which prevents time from being adjusted backward. Restart the network time protocol daemon after you complete this task.

To do this on Oracle Enterprise Linux, Red Hat Linux, and Asianux systems, edit the /etc/sysconfig/ntpd file to add the -x flag, as in the following example:

# Drop root to id 'ntp:ntp' by default.OPTIONS="-x -u ntp:ntp -p /var/run/ntpd.pid"# Set to 'yes' to sync hw clock after successful ntpdateSYNC_HWCLOCK=no# Additional options for ntpdateNTPDATE_OPTIONS=""

Then, restart the NTP service.

# /sbin/service ntp restart

On SUSE systems, modify the configuration file /etc/sysconfig/ntp with the following settings:



NTPD_OPTIONS="-x -u ntp"

Restart the daemon using the following command:

# service ntp restart

10. Install Openfiler

Perform the following installation on the network storage server (openfiler1).

With the network configured on both Oracle RAC nodes, the next step is to install the Openfiler software to the network storage server (openfiler1). Later in this article,the network storage server will be configured as an iSCSI storage device for all Oracle Clusterware and Oracle RAC shared storage requirements.

Powered by rPath Linux, Openfiler is a free browser-based network storage management utility that delivers file-based Network Attached Storage (NAS) and block-basedStorage Area Networking (SAN) in a single framework. The entire software stack interfaces with open source applications such as Apache, Samba, LVM2, ext3, Linux NFSand iSCSI Enterprise Target. Openfiler combines these ubiquitous technologies into a small, easy to manage solution fronted by a powerful web-based managementinterface.

Openfiler supports CIFS, NFS, HTTP/DAV, FTP, however, we will only be making use of its iSCSI capabilities to implement an inexpensive SAN for the shared storagecomponents required by Oracle RAC 11g. The operating system and Openfiler application will be installed on one internal SATA disk. A second internal 73GB 15K SCSI harddisk will be configured as a single "Volume Group" that will be used for all shared disk storage requirements. The Openfiler server will be configured to use this volumegroup for iSCSI based storage and will be used in our Oracle RAC 11g configuration to store the shared files required by Oracle Clusterware and the Oracle RAC database.

Please be aware that any type of hard disk (internal or external) should work for database storage as long as it can be recognized by the network storage server(Openfiler) and has adequate space. For example, I could have made an extra partition on the 500GB internal SATA disk for the iSCSI target, but decided to make use ofthe faster SCSI disk for this example.

To learn more about Openfiler, please visit their website at http://www.openfiler.com/

Download Openfiler

Use the links below to download Openfiler NAS/SAN Appliance, version 2.3 (Final Release) for either x86 or x86_64 depending on your hardware architecture. This guideuses x86_64. After downloading Openfiler, you will then need to burn the ISO image to CD.


openfiler-2.3-x86-disc1.iso (322 MB)


openfiler-2.3-x86_64-disc1.iso (336 MB)

If you are downloading the above ISO file to a MS Windows machine, there are many options for burning these images (ISO files) to a CD. You may already be familiarwith and have the proper software to burn images to CD. If you are not familiar with this process and do not have the required software to burn images to CD, here arejust two (of many) software packages that can be used:

UltraISOMagic ISO Maker

Install Openfiler

This section provides a summary of the screens used to install the Openfiler software. For the purpose of this article, I opted to install Openfiler with all default options.The only manual change required was for configuring the local network settings.

Once the install has completed, the server will reboot to make sure all required components, services and drivers are started and recognized. After the reboot, any externalhard drives (if connected) will be discovered by the Openfiler server.

http://www.rpath.com/corp/



http://www.openfiler.com/community/download/

http://sourceforge.net/projects/openfiler/files/openfiler-distribution-iso-x86/openfiler-2.3-x86-disc1.iso

http://sourceforge.net/projects/openfiler/files/openfiler-distribution-iso-x64/openfiler-2.3-x86_64-disc1.iso

http://www.ezbsystems.com/ultraiso/

http://www.magiciso.com/



For more detailed installation instructions, please visit http://www.openfiler.com/learn/. I would suggest, however, that the instructions I have provided below be used forthis Oracle RAC 11g configuration.

Before installing the Openfiler software to the network storage server, you should have both NIC interfaces (cards) installed and any external hard drives connected andturned on (if you will be using external hard drives).

After downloading and burning the Openfiler ISO image (ISO file) to CD, insert the CD into the network storage server (openfiler1 in this example), power it on, andanswer the installation screen prompts as noted below.

Boot Screen The first screen is the Openfiler boot screen. At the boot: prompt, hit [Enter] to start the installation process.

Media Test When asked to test the CD media, tab over to [Skip] and hit [Enter]. If there were any errors, the media burning software would have warned us. After several seconds,the installer should then detect the video card, monitor, and mouse. The installer then goes into GUI mode.

Welcome to Openfiler NSA At the welcome screen, click [Next] to continue.

Keyboard Configuration The next screen prompts you for the Keyboard settings. Make the appropriate selection for your configuration.

Disk Partitioning Setup The next screen asks whether to perform disk partitioning using "Automatic Partitioning" or "Manual Partitioning with Disk Druid". Although the official Openfilerdocumentation suggests to use Manual Partitioning, I opted to use "Automatic Partitioning" given the simplicity of my example configuration.

Select [Automatically partition] and click [Next] continue.

Automatic Partitioning If there were a previous installation of Linux on this machine, the next screen will ask if you want to "remove" or "keep" old partitions. Select the option to [Remove allpartitions on this system]. For my example configuration, I selected ONLY the 500GB SATA internal hard drive [sda] for the operating system and Openfiler applicationinstallation. I de-selected the 73GB SCSI internal hard drive since this disk will be used exclusively in the next section to create a single "Volume Group" that will be usedfor all iSCSI based shared disk storage requirements for Oracle Clusterware and Oracle RAC.

I also keep the checkbox [Review (and modify if needed) the partitions created] selected. Click [Next] to continue.

You will then be prompted with a dialog window asking if you really want to remove all partitions. Click [Yes] to acknowledge this warning.

Partitioning The installer will then allow you to view (and modify if needed) the disk partitions it automatically chose for hard disks selected in the previous screen. In almost all cases,the installer will choose 100MB for /boot, an adequate amount of swap, and the rest going to the root (/) partition for that disk (or disks). In this example, I am satisfiedwith the installers recommended partitioning for /dev/sda.

The installer will also show any other internal hard disks it discovered. For my example configuration, the installer found the 73GB SCSI internal hard drive as /dev/sdb. Fornow, I will "Delete" any and all partitions on this drive (there was only one, /dev/sdb1). In the next section, I will create the required partition for this particular hard disk.

Network Configuration I made sure to install both NIC interfaces (cards) in the network storage server before starting the Openfiler installation. This screen should have successfully detectedeach of the network devices.

First, make sure that each of the network devices are checked to [Active on boot]. The installer may choose to not activate eth1 by default.

Second, [Edit] both eth0 and eth1 as follows. You may choose to use different IP addresses for both eth0 and eth1 and that is OK. You must, however, configure eth1(the storage network) to be on the same subnet you configured for eth1 on racnode1 and racnode2:

eth0:- Check off the option to [Configure using DHCP]- Leave the [Activate on boot] checked

http://www.openfiler.com/learn/



- IP Address: 192.168.1.195- Netmask: 255.255.255.0

eth1:- Check off the option to [Configure using DHCP]- Leave the [Activate on boot] checked- IP Address: 192.168.2.195- Netmask: 255.255.255.0

Continue by setting your hostname manually. I used a hostname of "openfiler1". Finish this dialog off by supplying your gateway and DNS servers.

Time Zone Selection The next screen allows you to configure your time zone information. Make the appropriate selection for your location.

Set Root Password Select a root password and click [Next] to continue.

About to Install This screen is basically a confirmation screen. Click [Next] to start the installation.

Congratulations And that's it. You have successfully installed Openfiler on the network storage server. The installer will eject the CD from the CD-ROM drive. Take out the CD and click[Reboot] to reboot the system.

If everything was successful after the reboot, you should now be presented with a text login screen and the URL to use for administering the Openfiler server.

Modify /etc/hosts File on Openfiler Server Although not mandatory, I typically copy the contents of the /etc/hosts file from one of the Oracle RAC nodes to the new Openfiler server. This allows convenient nameresolution when testing the network for the cluster.

11. Configure iSCSI Volumes using Openfiler

Perform the following configuration tasks on the network storage server (openfiler1).

Openfiler administration is performed using the Openfiler Storage Control Center — a browser based tool over an https connection on port 446. For example:

https://openfiler1.idevelopment.info:446/

From the Openfiler Storage Control Center home page, log in as an administrator. The default administration login credentials for Openfiler are:

Username: openfilerPassword: password

The first page the administrator sees is the [Status] / [System Information] screen.

To use Openfiler as an iSCSI storage server, we have to perform six major tasks; set up iSCSI services, configure network access, identify and partition the physicalstorage, create a new volume group, create all logical volumes, and finally, create new iSCSI targets for each of the logical volumes.

Services

To control services, we use the Openfiler Storage Control Center and navigate to [Services] / [Manage Services]:



Figure 6: Enable iSCSI Openfiler Service

To enable the iSCSI service, click on the 'Enable' link under the 'iSCSI target server' service name. After that, the 'iSCSI target server' status should change to 'Enabled'.

The ietd program implements the user level part of iSCSI Enterprise Target software for building an iSCSI storage system on Linux. With the iSCSI target enabled, weshould be able to SSH into the Openfiler server and see the iscsi-target service running:

[root@openfiler1 ~]# service iscsi-target statusietd (pid 14243) is running...

Network Access Configuration

The next step is to configure network access in Openfiler to identify both Oracle RAC nodes (racnode1 and racnode2) that will need to access the iSCSI volumes throughthe storage (private) network. Note that iSCSI logical volumes will be created later on in this section. Also note that this step does not actually grant the appropriatepermissions to the iSCSI volumes required by both Oracle RAC nodes. That will be accomplished later in this section by updating the ACL for each new logical volume.

As in the previous section, configuring network access is accomplished using the Openfiler Storage Control Center by navigating to [System] / [Network Setup]. The"Network Access Configuration" section (at the bottom of the page) allows an administrator to setup networks and/or hosts that will be allowed to access resourcesexported by the Openfiler appliance. For the purpose of this article, we will want to add both Oracle RAC nodes individually rather than allowing the entire 192.168.2.0network have access to Openfiler resources.

When entering each of the Oracle RAC nodes, note that the 'Name' field is just a logical name used for reference only. As a convention when entering nodes, I simply usethe node name defined for that IP address. Next, when entering the actual node in the 'Network/Host' field, always use its IP address even though its host name may



already be defined in your /etc/hosts file or DNS. Lastly, when entering actual hosts in our Class C network, use a subnet mask of 255.255.255.255.

It is important to remember that you will be entering the IP address of the private network (eth1) for each of the RAC nodes in the cluster.

The following image shows the results of adding both Oracle RAC nodes:

Figure 7: Configure Openfiler Network Access for Oracle RAC Nodes

Physical Storage

In this section, we will be creating the three iSCSI volumes to be used as shared storage by both of the Oracle RAC nodes in the cluster. This involves multiple steps thatwill be performed on the internal 73GB 15K SCSI hard disk connected to the Openfiler server.

Storage devices like internal IDE/SATA/SCSI/SAS disks, storage arrays, external USB drives, external FireWire drives, or ANY other storage can be connected to theOpenfiler server and served to the clients. Once these devices are discovered at the OS level, Openfiler Storage Control Center can be used to set up and manage all ofthat storage.

In our case, we have a 73GB internal SCSI hard drive for our shared storage needs. On the Openfiler server this drive is seen as /dev/sdb (MAXTOR ATLAS15K2_73SCA).To see this and to start the process of creating our iSCSI volumes, navigate to [Volumes] / [Block Devices] from the Openfiler Storage Control Center:



Figure 8: Openfiler Physical Storage - Block Device Management

Partitioning the Physical Disk

The first step we will perform is to create a single primary partition on the /dev/sdb internal hard disk. By clicking on the /dev/sdb link, we are presented withthe options to 'Edit' or 'Create' a partition. Since we will be creating a single primary partition that spans the entire disk, most of the options can be left to theirdefault setting where the only modification would be to change the 'Partition Type' from 'Extended partition' to 'Physical volume'. Here are the values Ispecified to create the primary partition on /dev/sdb:

Mode: PrimaryPartition Type: Physical volumeStarting Cylinder: 1Ending Cylinder: 8924

The size now shows 68.36 GB. To accept that we click on the "Create" button. This results in a new partition (/dev/sdb1) on our internal hard disk:



Figure 9: Partition the Physical Volume

Volume Group Management

The next step is to create a Volume Group. We will be creating a single volume group named racdbvg that contains the newly created primary partition.

From the Openfiler Storage Control Center, navigate to [Volumes] / [Volume Groups]. There we would see any existing volume groups, or none as in our case.Using the Volume Group Management screen, enter the name of the new volume group (racdbvg), click on the checkbox in front of /dev/sdb1 to select thatpartition, and finally click on the 'Add volume group' button. After that we are presented with the list that now shows our newly created volume group named"racdbvg":



Figure 10: New Volume Group Created

Logical Volumes

We can now create the three logical volumes in the newly created volume group (racdbvg).

From the Openfiler Storage Control Center, navigate to [Volumes] / [Add Volume]. There we will see the newly created volume group (racdbvg) along with itsblock storage statistics. Also available at the bottom of this screen is the option to create a new volume in the selected volume group - (Create a volume in"racdbvg"). Use this screen to create the following three logical (iSCSI) volumes. After creating each logical volume, the application will point you to the"Manage Volumes" screen. You will then need to click back to the "Add Volume" tab to create the next logical volume until all three iSCSI volumes are created:

iSCSI / Logical Volumes

Volume Name Volume Description Required Space (MB) Filesystem Typeracdb-crs1 racdb - ASM CRS Volume 1 2,208 iSCSIracdb-data1 racdb - ASM Data Volume 1 33,888 iSCSIracdb-fra1 racdb - ASM FRA Volume 1 33,888 iSCSI

In effect we have created three iSCSI disks that can now be presented to iSCSI clients (racnode1 and racnode2) on the network. The "Manage Volumes" screenshould look as follows:



Figure 11: New Logical (iSCSI) Volumes

iSCSI Targets

At this point, we have three iSCSI logical volumes. Before an iSCSI client can have access to them, however, an iSCSI target will need to be created for each of thesethree volumes. Each iSCSI logical volume will be mapped to a specific iSCSI target and the appropriate network access permissions to that target will be granted to bothOracle RAC nodes. For the purpose of this article, there will be a one-to-one mapping between an iSCSI logical volume and an iSCSI target.

There are three steps involved in creating and configuring an iSCSI target; create a unique Target IQN (basically, the universal name for the new iSCSI target), map one ofthe iSCSI logical volumes created in the previous section to the newly created iSCSI target, and finally, grant both of the Oracle RAC nodes access to the new iSCSI target.Please note that this process will need to be performed for each of the three iSCSI logical volumes created in the previous section.

For the purpose of this article, the following table lists the new iSCSI target names (the Target IQN) and which iSCSI logical volume it will be mapped to:

iSCSI Target / Logical Volume Mappings

Target IQN iSCSI Volume Name Volume Descriptioniqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.crs1 racdb-crs1 racdb - ASM CRS Volume 1iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.data1 racdb-data1 racdb - ASM Data Volume 1iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.fra1 racdb-fra1 racdb - ASM FRA Volume 1

We are now ready to create the three new iSCSI targets - one for each of the iSCSI logical volumes. The example below illustrates the three steps required to create anew iSCSI target by creating the Oracle Clusterware / racdb-crs1 target (iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.crs1). This three step process will need to be repeated for



each of the three new iSCSI targets listed in the table above.

Create New Target IQN

From the Openfiler Storage Control Center, navigate to [Volumes] / [iSCSI Targets]. Verify the grey sub-tab "Target Configuration" is selected. This page allows you tocreate a new iSCSI target. A default value is automatically generated for the name of the new iSCSI target (better known as the "Target IQN"). An example Target IQN is"iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:tsn.ae4683b67fd3":

Figure 12: Create New iSCSI Target : Default Target IQN

I prefer to replace the last segment of the default Target IQN with something more meaningful. For the first iSCSI target (Oracle Clusterware / racdb-crs1), I will modifythe default Target IQN by replacing the string "tsn.ae4683b67fd3" with "racdb.crs1" as shown in Figure 13 below:

Figure 13: Create New iSCSI Target : Replace Default Target IQN

Once you are satisfied with the new Target IQN, click the "Add" button. This will create a new iSCSI target and then bring up a page that allows you to modify a numberof settings for the new iSCSI target. For the purpose of this article, none of settings for the new iSCSI target need to be changed.

LUN Mapping

After creating the new iSCSI target, the next step is to map the appropriate iSCSI logical volumes to it. Under the "Target Configuration" sub-tab, verify the correct iSCSItarget is selected in the section "Select iSCSI Target". If not, use the pull-down menu to select the correct iSCSI target and hit the "Change" button.

Next, click on the grey sub-tab named "LUN Mapping" (next to "Target Configuration" sub-tab). Locate the appropriate iSCSI logical volume (/dev/racdbvg/racdb-crs1 inthis case) and click the "Map" button. You do not need to change any settings on this page. Your screen should look similar to Figure 14 after clicking the "Map" button forvolume /dev/racdbvg/racdb-crs1:



Figure 14: Create New iSCSI Target : Map LUN

Network ACL

Before an iSCSI client can have access to the newly created iSCSI target, it needs to be granted the appropriate permissions. Awhile back, we configured network access inOpenfiler for two hosts (the Oracle RAC nodes). These are the two nodes that will need to access the new iSCSI targets through the storage (private) network. We nowneed to grant both of the Oracle RAC nodes access to the new iSCSI target.

Click on the grey sub-tab named "Network ACL" (next to "LUN Mapping" sub-tab). For the current iSCSI target, change the "Access" for both hosts from 'Deny' to 'Allow'and click the 'Update' button:

Figure 15: Create New iSCSI Target : Update Network ACL



Go back to the Create New Target IQN section and perform these three tasks for the remaining two iSCSI logical volumes while substituting the values found in the "iSCSITarget / Logical Volume Mappings" table .

12. Configure iSCSI Volumes on Oracle RAC Nodes

Configure the iSCSI initiator on both Oracle RAC nodes in the cluster. Creating partitions, however, should only be executed on one of nodes in the RAC cluster.

An iSCSI client can be any system (Linux, Unix, MS Windows, Apple Mac, etc.) for which iSCSI support (a driver) is available. In our case, the clients are two Linux servers,racnode1 and racnode2, running Oracle Enterprise Linux 5.4.

In this section we will be configuring the iSCSI software initiator on both of the Oracle RAC nodes. Oracle Enterprise Linux 5.4 includes the Open-iSCSI iSCSI softwareinitiator which can be found in the iscsi-initiator-utils RPM. This is a change from previous versions of Oracle Enterprise Linux (4.x) which included the Linux iscsi-sfnet software driver developed as part of the Linux-iSCSI Project. All iSCSI management tasks like discovery and logins will use the command-line interface iscsiadmwhich is included with Open-iSCSI.

The iSCSI software initiator will be configured to automatically log in to the network storage server (openfiler1) and discover the iSCSI volumes created in the previoussection. We will then go through the steps of creating persistent local SCSI device names (i.e. /dev/iscsi/crs1) for each of the iSCSI target names discovered using udev.Having a consistent local SCSI device name and which iSCSI target it maps to, helps to differentiate between the three volumes when configuring ASM. Before we can doany of this, however, we must first install the iSCSI initiator software.

Note: This guide makes use of ASMLib 2.0 which is a support library for the Automatic Storage Management (ASM) feature of the Oracle Database. ASMLib will be used tolabel all iSCSI volumes used in this guide. By default, ASMLib already provides persistent paths and permissions for storage devices used with ASM. This feature eliminatesthe need for updating udev or devlabel files with storage device paths and permissions. For the purpose of this article and in practice, I still opt to create persistent localSCSI device names for each of the iSCSI target names discovered using udev. This provides a means of self-documentation which helps to quickly identify the name andlocation of each volume.

Installing the iSCSI (initiator) service

With Oracle Enterprise Linux 5.4, the Open-iSCSI iSCSI software initiator does not get installed by default. The software is included in the iscsi-initiator-utils packagewhich can be found on CD #1. To determine if this package is installed (which in most cases, it will not be), perform the following on both Oracle RAC nodes:

[root@racnode1 ~]# rpm -qa --queryformat "%{NAME}-%{VERSION}-%{RELEASE} (%{ARCH})\n"| grep iscsi-initiator-utils

If the iscsi-initiator-utils package is not installed, load CD #1 into each of the Oracle RAC nodes and perform the following:

[root@racnode1 ~]# mount -r /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom[root@racnode1 ~]# cd /media/cdrom/Server[root@racnode1 ~]# rpm -Uvh iscsi-initiator-utils-*[root@racnode1 ~]# cd /[root@racnode1 ~]# eject

Verify the iscsi-initiator-utils package is now installed:

[root@racnode1 ~]# rpm -qa --queryformat "%{NAME}-%{VERSION}-%{RELEASE} (%{ARCH})\n"| grep iscsi-initiator-utilsiscsi-initiator-utils-6.2.0.871-0.10.el5 (x86_64)

Configure the iSCSI (initiator) service

After verifying that the iscsi-initiator-utils package is installed on both Oracle RAC nodes, start the iscsid service and enable it to automatically start when thesystem boots. We will also configure the iscsi service to automatically start which logs into iSCSI targets needed at system startup.

[root@racnode1 ~]# service iscsid startTurning off network shutdown. Starting iSCSI daemon: [ OK ] [ OK ]

[root@racnode1 ~]# chkconfig iscsid on[root@racnode1 ~]# chkconfig iscsi on

Now that the iSCSI service is started, use the iscsiadm command-line interface to discover all available targets on the network storage server. This should be performed

http://www.open-iscsi.org/




on both Oracle RAC nodes to verify the configuration is functioning properly:

[root@racnode1 ~]# iscsiadm -m discovery -t sendtargets -p openfiler1-priv192.168.2.195:3260,1 iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.crs1192.168.2.195:3260,1 iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.fra1192.168.2.195:3260,1 iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.data1

Manually Log In to iSCSI Targets

At this point the iSCSI initiator service has been started and each of the Oracle RAC nodes were able to discover the available targets from the network storage server. Thenext step is to manually log in to each of the available targets which can be done using the iscsiadm command-line interface. This needs to be run on both Oracle RACnodes. Note that I had to specify the IP address and not the host name of the network storage server (openfiler1-priv) - I believe this is required given the discovery(above) shows the targets using the IP address.

[root@racnode1 ~]# iscsiadm -m node -T iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.crs1 -p 192.168.2.195 -l[root@racnode1 ~]# iscsiadm -m node -T iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.data1 -p 192.168.2.195 -l[root@racnode1 ~]# iscsiadm -m node -T iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.fra1 -p 192.168.2.195 -l

Configure Automatic Log In

The next step is to ensure the client will automatically log in to each of the targets listed above when the machine is booted (or the iSCSI initiator service isstarted/restarted). As with the manual log in process described above, perform the following on both Oracle RAC nodes:

[root@racnode1 ~]# iscsiadm -m node -T iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.crs1 -p 192.168.2.195 --op update -n node.startup -v automatic[root@racnode1 ~]# iscsiadm -m node -T iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.data1 -p 192.168.2.195 --op update -n node.startup -v automatic[root@racnode1 ~]# iscsiadm -m node -T iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.fra1 -p 192.168.2.195 --op update -n node.startup -v automatic

Create Persistent Local SCSI Device Names

In this section, we will go through the steps to create persistent local SCSI device names for each of the iSCSI target names. This will be done using udev. Having aconsistent local SCSI device name and which iSCSI target it maps to, helps to differentiate between the three volumes when configuring ASM. Although this is not a strictrequirement since we will be using ASMLib 2.0 for all volumes, it provides a means of self-documentation to quickly identify the name and location of each iSCSI volume.

When either of the Oracle RAC nodes boot and the iSCSI initiator service is started, it will automatically log in to each of the targets configured in a random fashion andmap them to the next available local SCSI device name. For example, the target iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.crs1 may get mapped to /dev/sdb. I can actuallydetermine the current mappings for all targets by looking at the /dev/disk/by-path directory:

[root@racnode1 ~]# (cd /dev/disk/by-path; ls -l *openfiler* | awk '{FS=" "; print $9 " " $10 " " $11}')ip-192.168.2.195:3260-iscsi-iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.crs1-lun-0 -> ../../sdbip-192.168.2.195:3260-iscsi-iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.data1-lun-0 -> ../../sddip-192.168.2.195:3260-iscsi-iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.fra1-lun-0 -> ../../sdc

Using the output from the above listing, we can establish the following current mappings:

Current iSCSI Target Name to local SCSI Device Name Mappings

iSCSI Target Name SCSI Device Name

iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.crs1 /dev/sdb

iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.data1 /dev/sdd

iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.fra1 /dev/sdc

This mapping, however, may change every time the Oracle RAC node is rebooted. For example, after a reboot it may be determined that the iSCSI target iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.crs1 gets mapped to the local SCSI device /dev/sdc. It is therefore impractical to rely on using the local SCSI device name given there is no wayto predict the iSCSI target mappings after a reboot.

What we need is a consistent device name we can reference (i.e. /dev/iscsi/crs1) that will always point to the appropriate iSCSI target through reboots. This is wherethe Dynamic Device Management tool named udev comes in. udev provides a dynamic device directory using symbolic links that point to the actual device using aconfigurable set of rules. When udev receives a device event (for example, the client logging in to an iSCSI target), it matches its configured rules against the availabledevice attributes provided in sysfs to identify the device. Rules that match may provide additional device information or specify a device node name and multiple symlink




names and instruct udev to run additional programs (a SHELL script for example) as part of the device event handling process.

The first step is to create a new rules file. The file will be named /etc/udev/rules.d/55-openiscsi.rules and contain only a single line of name=value pairs used toreceive events we are interested in. It will also define a call-out SHELL script (/etc/udev/scripts/iscsidev.sh) to handle the event.

Create the following rules file /etc/udev/rules.d/55-openiscsi.rules on both Oracle RAC nodes:

..............................................# /etc/udev/rules.d/55-openiscsi.rulesKERNEL=="sd*", BUS=="scsi", PROGRAM="/etc/udev/scripts/iscsidev.sh %b",SYMLINK+="iscsi/%c/part%n"..............................................

We now need to create the UNIX SHELL script that will be called when this event is received. Let's first create a separate directory on both Oracle RAC nodes where udevscripts can be stored:

[root@racnode1 ~]# mkdir -p /etc/udev/scripts

Next, create the UNIX shell script /etc/udev/scripts/iscsidev.sh on both Oracle RAC nodes:

..............................................#!/bin/sh

# FILE: /etc/udev/scripts/iscsidev.sh

BUS=${1}HOST=${BUS%%:*}

[ -e /sys/class/iscsi_host ] || exit 1

file="/sys/class/iscsi_host/host${HOST}/device/session*/iscsi_session*/targetname"

target_name=$(cat ${file})

# This is not an open-scsi driveif [ -z "${target_name}" ]; then exit 1fi

# Check if QNAP drivecheck_qnap_target_name=${target_name%%:*}if [ $check_qnap_target_name = "iqn.2004-04.com.qnap" ]; then target_name=`echo "${target_name%.*}"`fi

echo "${target_name##*.}"..............................................

After creating the UNIX SHELL script, change it to executable:

[root@racnode1 ~]# chmod 755 /etc/udev/scripts/iscsidev.sh

Now that udev is configured, restart the iSCSI service on both Oracle RAC nodes:

[root@racnode1 ~]# service iscsi stopLogging out of session [sid: 6, target: iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.crs1, portal: 192.168.2.195,3260]Logging out of session [sid: 7, target: iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.fra1, portal: 192.168.2.195,3260]Logging out of session [sid: 8, target: iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.data1, portal: 192.168.2.195,3260]Logout of [sid: 6, target: iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.crs1, portal: 192.168.2.195,3260]: successfulLogout of [sid: 7, target: iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.fra1, portal: 192.168.2.195,3260]: successfulLogout of [sid: 8, target: iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.data1, portal: 192.168.2.195,3260]: successfulStopping iSCSI daemon: [ OK ]

[root@racnode1 ~]# service iscsi startiscsid dead but pid file existsTurning off network shutdown. Starting iSCSI daemon: [ OK ] [ OK ]Setting up iSCSI targets: Logging in to [iface: default, target: iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.crs1, portal: 192.168.2.195,3260]Logging in to [iface: default, target: iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.fra1, portal: 192.168.2.195,3260]Logging in to [iface: default, target: iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.data1, portal: 192.168.2.195,3260]Login to [iface: default, target: iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.crs1, portal: 192.168.2.195,3260]: successfulLogin to [iface: default, target: iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.fra1, portal: 192.168.2.195,3260]: successfulLogin to [iface: default, target: iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.data1, portal: 192.168.2.195,3260]: successful [ OK ]



Let's see if our hard work paid off:

[root@racnode1 ~]# ls -l /dev/iscsi/*/dev/iscsi/crs1:total 0lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Nov 3 18:13 part -> ../../sdc

/dev/iscsi/data1:total 0lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Nov 3 18:13 part -> ../../sde

/dev/iscsi/fra1:total 0lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Nov 3 18:13 part -> ../../sdd

The listing above shows that udev did the job it was suppose to do! We now have a consistent set of local device names that can be used to reference the iSCSI targets.For example, we can safely assume that the device name /dev/iscsi/crs1/part will always reference the iSCSI target iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.crs1. We nowhave a consistent iSCSI target name to local device name mapping which is described in the following table:

iSCSI Target Name to Local Device Name Mappings

iSCSI Target Name Local Device Nameiqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.crs1 /dev/iscsi/crs1/part

iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.data1 /dev/iscsi/data1/part

iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.fra1 /dev/iscsi/fra1/part

Create Partitions on iSCSI Volumes

We now need to create a single primary partition on each of the iSCSI volumes that spans the entire size of the volume. As mentioned earlier in this article, I will be usingAutomatic Storage Management (ASM) to store the shared files required for Oracle Clusterware, the physical database files (data/index files, online redo log files, andcontrol files), and the Fast Recovery Area (FRA) for the clustered database.

The Oracle Clusterware shared files (OCR and voting disk) will be stored in an ASM disk group named +CRS which will be configured for external redundancy. The physicaldatabase files for the clustered database will be stored in an ASM disk group named +RACDB_DATA which will also be configured for external redundancy. Finally, the FastRecovery Area (RMAN backups and archived redo log files) will be stored in a third ASM disk group named +FRA which too will be configured for external redundancy.

The following table lists the three ASM disk groups that will be created and which iSCSI volume they will contain:

Oracle Shared Drive Configuration

File Types ASM Diskgroup Name iSCSI Target (short) Name ASM Redundancy Size ASMLib Volume Name

OCR and Voting Disk +CRS crs1 External 2GB ORCL:CRSVOL1

Oracle Database Files +RACDB_DATA data1 External 32GB ORCL:DATAVOL1

Oracle Fast Recovery Area +FRA fra1 External 32GB ORCL:FRAVOL1

As shown in the table above, we will need to create a single Linux primary partition on each of the three iSCSI volumes. The fdisk command is used in Linux for creating(and removing) partitions. For each of the three iSCSI volumes, you can use the default values when creating the primary partition as the default action is to use the entiredisk. You can safely ignore any warnings that may indicate the device does not contain a valid DOS partition (or Sun, SGI or OSF disklabel).

In this example, I will be running the fdisk command from racnode1 to create a single primary partition on each iSCSI target using the local device names created by udevin the previous section:

/dev/iscsi/crs1/part/dev/iscsi/data1/part/dev/iscsi/fra1/part

Note: Creating the single partition on each of the iSCSI volumes must only be run from one of the nodes in the Oracle RAC cluster! (i.e. racnode1)



# ---------------------------------------

[root@racnode1 ~]# fdisk /dev/iscsi/crs1/partCommand (m for help): nCommand action e extended p primary partition (1-4)pPartition number (1-4): 1First cylinder (1-1012, default 1): 1Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (1-1012, default 1012): 1012

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/iscsi/crs1/part: 2315 MB, 2315255808 bytes72 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1012 cylindersUnits = cylinders of 4464 * 512 = 2285568 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System/dev/iscsi/crs1/part1 1 1012 2258753 83 Linux

Command (m for help): wThe partition table has been altered!

Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.Syncing disks.

# ---------------------------------------

[root@racnode1 ~]# fdisk /dev/iscsi/data1/partCommand (m for help): nCommand action e extended p primary partition (1-4)pPartition number (1-4): 1First cylinder (1-33888, default 1): 1Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (1-33888, default 33888): 33888


Disk /dev/iscsi/data1/part: 35.5 GB, 35534143488 bytes64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 33888 cylindersUnits = cylinders of 2048 * 512 = 1048576 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System/dev/iscsi/data1/part1 1 33888 34701296 83 Linux



# ---------------------------------------

[root@racnode1 ~]# fdisk /dev/iscsi/fra1/partCommand (m for help): nCommand action e extended p primary partition (1-4)pPartition number (1-4): 1First cylinder (1-33888, default 1): 1Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (1-33888, default 33888): 33888


Disk /dev/iscsi/fra1/part: 35.5 GB, 35534143488 bytes64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 33888 cylindersUnits = cylinders of 2048 * 512 = 1048576 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System/dev/iscsi/fra1/part1 1 33888 34701296 83 Linux





Verify New Partitions

After creating all required partitions from racnode1, you should now inform the kernel of the partition changes using the following command as the "root" user accountfrom all remaining nodes in the Oracle RAC cluster (racnode2). Note that the mapping of iSCSI target names discovered from Openfiler and the local SCSI device name willbe different on both Oracle RAC nodes. This is not a concern and will not cause any problems since we will not be using the local SCSI device names but rather the localdevice names created by udev in the previous section.

From racnode2, run the following commands:

[root@racnode2 ~]# partprobe

[root@racnode2 ~]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160000000000 bytes255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19452 cylindersUnits = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System/dev/sda1 * 1 13 104391 83 Linux/dev/sda2 14 19452 156143767+ 8e Linux LVM

Disk /dev/sdb: 35.5 GB, 35534143488 bytes64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 33888 cylindersUnits = cylinders of 2048 * 512 = 1048576 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System/dev/sdb1 1 33888 34701296 83 Linux

Disk /dev/sdc: 35.5 GB, 35534143488 bytes64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 33888 cylindersUnits = cylinders of 2048 * 512 = 1048576 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System/dev/sdc1 1 33888 34701296 83 Linux

Disk /dev/sdd: 2315 MB, 2315255808 bytes72 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1012 cylindersUnits = cylinders of 4464 * 512 = 2285568 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System/dev/sdd1 1 1012 2258753 83 Linux

As a final step you should run the following command on both Oracle RAC nodes to verify that udev created the new symbolic links for each new partition:

[root@racnode2 ~]# (cd /dev/disk/by-path; ls -l *openfiler* | awk '{FS=" "; print $9 " " $10 " " $11}')ip-192.168.2.195:3260-iscsi-iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.crs1-lun-0 -> ../../sddip-192.168.2.195:3260-iscsi-iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.crs1-lun-0-part1 -> ../../sdd1ip-192.168.2.195:3260-iscsi-iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.data1-lun-0 -> ../../sdcip-192.168.2.195:3260-iscsi-iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.data1-lun-0-part1 -> ../../sdc1ip-192.168.2.195:3260-iscsi-iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.fra1-lun-0 -> ../../sdbip-192.168.2.195:3260-iscsi-iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:racdb.fra1-lun-0-part1 -> ../../sdb1

The listing above shows that udev did indeed create new device names for each of the new partitions. We will be using these new device names when configuring thevolumes for ASMlib later in this guide:

/dev/iscsi/crs1/part1/dev/iscsi/data1/part1/dev/iscsi/fra1/part1

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Build Your Own Oracle RAC 11g Cluster on Oracle Enterprise Linux and iSCSI, Page 2

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Build Your Own Oracle RAC 11g Cluster on Oracle Enterprise Linux and iSCSI (Continued)

The information in this guide is not validated by Oracle, is not supported by Oracle, and should only be used at your own risk; itis for educational purposes only.

13. Create Job Role Separation Operating System Privileges Groups, Users, and Directories

Perform the following user, group, directory configuration, and setting shell limit tasks for the grid and oracle users on both Oracle RAC nodes inthe cluster.

This section provides the instructions on how to create the operating system users and groups to install all Oracle software using a Job RoleSeparation configuration. The commands in this section should be performed on both Oracle RAC nodes as root to create these groups, users, anddirectories. Note that the group and user IDs must be identical on both Oracle RAC nodes in the cluster. Check to make sure that the group anduser IDs you want to use are available on each cluster member node, and confirm that the primary group for each grid infrastructure for a clusterinstallation owner has the same name and group ID which for the purpose of this guide is oinstall (GID 1000).

A Job Role Separation privileges configuration of Oracle is a configuration with operating system groups and users that divide administrative accessprivileges to the Oracle grid infrastructure installation from other administrative privileges users and groups associated with other Oracleinstallations (e.g. the Oracle Database software). Administrative privileges access is granted by membership in separate operating system groups,and installation privileges are granted by using different installation owners for each Oracle installation.

One OS user will be created to own each Oracle software product — "grid" for the Oracle grid infrastructure owner and "oracle" for the OracleRAC software. Throughout this article, a user created to own the Oracle grid infrastructure binaries is called the grid user. This user will own boththe Oracle Clusterware and Oracle Automatic Storage Management binaries. The user created to own the Oracle Database binaries (Oracle RAC)will be called the oracle user. Both Oracle software owners must have the Oracle Inventory group (oinstall) as their primary group, so that eachOracle software installation owner can write to the central inventory (oraInventory), and so that OCR and Oracle Clusterware resource permissionsare set correctly. The Oracle RAC software owner must also have the OSDBA group and the optional OSOPER group as secondary groups.

This type of configuration is optional but highly recommend by Oracle for organizations that need to restrict user access to Oracle software byresponsibility areas for different administrator users. For example, a small organization could simply allocate operating system user privileges sothat you can use one administrative user and one group for operating system authentication for all system privileges on the storage and databasetiers. With this type of configuration, you can designate the oracle user to be the sole installation owner for all Oracle software (Grid infrastructureand the Oracle database software), and designate oinstall to be the single group whose members are granted all system privileges for OracleClusterware, Automatic Storage Management, and all Oracle Databases on the servers, and all privileges as installation owners. Otherorganizations, however, have specialized system roles who will be responsible for installing the Oracle software such as system administrators,network administrators, or storage administrators. These different administrator users can configure a system in preparation for an Oracle gridinfrastructure for a cluster installation, and complete all configuration tasks that require operating system root privileges. When grid infrastructureinstallation and configuration is completed successfully, a system administrator should only need to provide configuration information and to grantaccess to the database administrator to run scripts as root during an Oracle RAC installation.

The following O/S groups will be created:

Description OS Group Name OS Users Assigned to this Group Oracle Privilege Oracle Group Name

Oracle Inventory and Software Owner oinstall grid, oracle

Oracle Automatic Storage Management Group asmadmin grid SYSASM OSASM

ASM Database Administrator Group asmdba grid, oracle SYSDBA for ASM OSDBA for ASM

ASM Operator Group asmoper grid SYSOPER for ASM OSOPER for ASM

Database Administrator dba oracle SYSDBA OSDBA

Database Operator oper oracle SYSOPER OSOPER

Oracle Inventory Group (typically oinstall)

Members of the OINSTALL group are considered the "owners" of the Oracle software and are granted privileges to write to the Oracle centralinventory (oraInventory). When you install Oracle software on a Linux system for the first time, OUI creates the /etc/oraInst.loc file. Thisfile identifies the name of the Oracle Inventory group (by default, oinstall), and the path of the Oracle Central Inventory directory.

By default, if an oraInventory group does not exist, then the installer lists the primary group of the installation owner for the gridinfrastructure for a cluster as the oraInventory group. Ensure that this group is available as a primary group for all planned Oracle softwareinstallation owners. For the purpose of this guide, the grid and oracle installation owners must be configured with oinstall as their primarygroup.

The Oracle Automatic Storage Management Group (typically asmadmin)

This is a required group. Create this group as a separate group if you want to have separate administration privilege groups for Oracle ASMand Oracle Database administrators. In Oracle documentation, the operating system group whose members are granted privileges is calledthe OSASM group, and in code examples, where there is a group specifically created to grant this privilege, it is referred to as asmadmin.

Members of the OSASM group can use SQL to connect to an Oracle ASM instance as SYSASM using operating system authentication. The SYSASM


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privilege that was introduced in Oracle ASM 11g release 1 (11.1) is now fully separated from the SYSDBA privilege in Oracle ASM 11g Release2 (11.2). SYSASM privileges no longer provide access privileges on an RDBMS instance. Providing system privileges for the storage tier usingthe SYSASM privilege instead of the SYSDBA privilege provides a clearer division of responsibility between ASM administration and databaseadministration, and helps to prevent different databases using the same storage from accidentally overwriting each others files. The SYSASMprivileges permit mounting and dismounting disk groups, and other storage administration tasks.

The ASM Database Administrator group (OSDBA for ASM, typically asmdba)

Members of the ASM Database Administrator group (OSDBA for ASM) is a subset of the SYSASM privileges and are granted read and writeaccess to files managed by Oracle ASM. The grid infrastructure installation owner (grid) and all Oracle Database software owners (oracle)must be a member of this group, and all users with OSDBA membership on databases that have access to the files managed by Oracle ASMmust be members of the OSDBA group for ASM.

Members of the ASM Operator Group (OSOPER for ASM, typically asmoper)

This is an optional group. Create this group if you want a separate group of operating system users to have a limited set of Oracle ASMinstance administrative privileges (the SYSOPER for ASM privilege), including starting up and stopping the Oracle ASM instance. By default,members of the OSASM group also have all privileges granted by the SYSOPER for ASM privilege.

To use the ASM Operator group to create an ASM administrator group with fewer privileges than the default asmadmin group, then you mustchoose the Advanced installation type to install the Grid infrastructure software. In this case, OUI prompts you to specify the name of thisgroup. In this guide, this group is asmoper.

If you want to have an OSOPER for ASM group, then the grid infrastructure for a cluster software owner (grid) must be a member of thisgroup.

Database Administrator (OSDBA, typically dba)

Members of the OSDBA group can use SQL to connect to an Oracle instance as SYSDBA using operating system authentication. Members of thisgroup can perform critical database administration tasks, such as creating the database and instance startup and shutdown. The defaultname for this group is dba. The SYSDBA system privilege allows access to a database instance even when the database is not open. Control ofthis privilege is totally outside of the database itself.

The SYSDBA system privilege should not be confused with the database role DBA. The DBA role does not include the SYSDBA or SYSOPER systemprivileges.

Database Operator (OSOPER, typically oper)

Members of the OSOPER group can use SQL to connect to an Oracle instance as SYSOPER using operating system authentication. Members ofthis optional group have a limited set of database administrative privileges such as managing and running backups. The default name for thisgroup is oper. The SYSOPER system privilege allows access to a database instance even when the database is not open. Control of thisprivilege is totally outside of the database itself. To use this group, choose the Advanced installation type to install the Oracle databasesoftware.

Create Groups and User for Grid Infrastructure

Lets start this section by creating the recommended OS groups and user for Grid Infrastructure on both Oracle RAC nodes:

[root@racnode1 ~]# groupadd -g 1000 oinstall[root@racnode1 ~]# groupadd -g 1200 asmadmin[root@racnode1 ~]# groupadd -g 1201 asmdba[root@racnode1 ~]# groupadd -g 1202 asmoper[root@racnode1 ~]# useradd -m -u 1100 -g oinstall -G asmadmin,asmdba,asmoper -d /home/grid -s /bin/bash -c "Grid Infrastructure Owner" grid

[root@racnode1 ~]# id griduid=1100(grid) gid=1000(oinstall) groups=1000(oinstall),1200(asmadmin),1201(asmdba),1202(asmoper)

Set the password for the grid account:

[root@racnode1 ~]# passwd gridChanging password for user grid.New UNIX password: xxxxxxxxxxxRetype new UNIX password: xxxxxxxxxxxpasswd: all authentication tokens updated successfully.

Create Login Script for the grid User Account

Log in to both Oracle RAC nodes as the grid user account and create the following login script (.bash_profile):

Note: When setting the Oracle environment variables for each Oracle RAC node, make certain to assign each RAC node a unique Oracle SID. Forthis example, I used:

racnode1 : ORACLE_SID=+ASM1racnode2 : ORACLE_SID=+ASM2

[root@racnode1 ~]# su - grid

# ---------------------------------------------------# .bash_profile# ---------------------------------------------------# OS User: grid# Application: Oracle Grid Infrastructure# Version: Oracle 11g release 2# ---------------------------------------------------



# Get the aliases and functionsif [ -f ~/.bashrc ]; then . ~/.bashrcfi

alias ls="ls -FA"

# ---------------------------------------------------# ORACLE_SID# ---------------------------------------------------# Specifies the Oracle system identifier (SID)# for the Automatic Storage Management (ASM)instance# running on this node.# Each RAC node must have a unique ORACLE_SID.# (i.e. +ASM1, +ASM2,...)# ---------------------------------------------------ORACLE_SID=+ASM1; export ORACLE_SID

# ---------------------------------------------------# JAVA_HOME# ---------------------------------------------------# Specifies the directory of the Java SDK and Runtime# Environment.# ---------------------------------------------------JAVA_HOME=/usr/local/java; export JAVA_HOME

# ---------------------------------------------------# ORACLE_BASE# ---------------------------------------------------# Specifies the base of the Oracle directory structure# for Optimal Flexible Architecture (OFA) compliant# installations. The Oracle base directory for the# grid installation owner is the location where# diagnostic and administrative logs, and other logs# associated with Oracle ASM and Oracle Clusterware# are stored.# ---------------------------------------------------ORACLE_BASE=/u01/app/grid; export ORACLE_BASE

# ---------------------------------------------------# ORACLE_HOME# ---------------------------------------------------# Specifies the directory containing the Oracle# Grid Infrastructure software. For grid# infrastructure for a cluster installations, the Grid# home must not be placed under one of the Oracle base# directories, or under Oracle home directories of# Oracle Database installation owners, or in the home# directory of an installation owner. During # installation, ownership of the path to the Grid # home is changed to root. This change causes # permission errors for other installations.# ---------------------------------------------------ORACLE_HOME=/u01/app/11.2.0/grid; export ORACLE_HOME

# ---------------------------------------------------# ORACLE_PATH# ---------------------------------------------------# Specifies the search path for files used by Oracle# applications such as SQL*Plus. If the full path to# the file is not specified, or if the file is not# in the current directory, the Oracle application# uses ORACLE_PATH to locate the file.# This variable is used by SQL*Plus, Forms and Menu.# ---------------------------------------------------ORACLE_PATH=/u01/app/oracle/common/oracle/sql; export ORACLE_PATH

# ---------------------------------------------------# SQLPATH# ---------------------------------------------------# Specifies the directory or list of directories that# SQL*Plus searches for a login.sql file.# ---------------------------------------------------# SQLPATH=/u01/app/common/oracle/sql; export SQLPATH

# ---------------------------------------------------# ORACLE_TERM# ---------------------------------------------------# Defines a terminal definition. If not set, it# defaults to the value of your TERM environment# variable. Used by all character mode products. # ---------------------------------------------------ORACLE_TERM=xterm; export ORACLE_TERM

# ---------------------------------------------------# NLS_DATE_FORMAT# ---------------------------------------------------# Specifies the default date format to use with the# TO_CHAR and TO_DATE functions. The default value of# this parameter is determined by NLS_TERRITORY. The# value of this parameter can be any valid date# format mask, and the value must be surrounded by # double quotation marks. For example:## NLS_DATE_FORMAT = "MM/DD/YYYY"## ---------------------------------------------------NLS_DATE_FORMAT="DD-MON-YYYY HH24:MI:SS"; export NLS_DATE_FORMAT

# ---------------------------------------------------# TNS_ADMIN# ---------------------------------------------------# Specifies the directory containing the Oracle Net# Services configuration files like listener.ora, # tnsnames.ora, and sqlnet.ora.# ---------------------------------------------------TNS_ADMIN=$ORACLE_HOME/network/admin; export TNS_ADMIN

# ---------------------------------------------------# ORA_NLS11# ---------------------------------------------------



# Specifies the directory where the language,# territory, character set, and linguistic definition# files are stored.# ---------------------------------------------------ORA_NLS11=$ORACLE_HOME/nls/data; export ORA_NLS11

# ---------------------------------------------------# PATH# ---------------------------------------------------# Used by the shell to locate executable programs;# must include the $ORACLE_HOME/bin directory.# ---------------------------------------------------PATH=.:${JAVA_HOME}/bin:${PATH}:$HOME/bin:$ORACLE_HOME/binPATH=${PATH}:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/local/binPATH=${PATH}:/u01/app/common/oracle/binexport PATH

# ---------------------------------------------------# LD_LIBRARY_PATH# ---------------------------------------------------# Specifies the list of directories that the shared# library loader searches to locate shared object# libraries at runtime.# ---------------------------------------------------LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$ORACLE_HOME/libLD_LIBRARY_PATH=${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}:$ORACLE_HOME/oracm/libLD_LIBRARY_PATH=${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}:/lib:/usr/lib:/usr/local/libexport LD_LIBRARY_PATH

# ---------------------------------------------------# CLASSPATH# ---------------------------------------------------# Specifies the directory or list of directories that# contain compiled Java classes.# ---------------------------------------------------CLASSPATH=$ORACLE_HOME/JRECLASSPATH=${CLASSPATH}:$ORACLE_HOME/jlibCLASSPATH=${CLASSPATH}:$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/jlibCLASSPATH=${CLASSPATH}:$ORACLE_HOME/network/jlibexport CLASSPATH

# ---------------------------------------------------# THREADS_FLAG# ---------------------------------------------------# All the tools in the JDK use green threads as a# default. To specify that native threads should be# used, set the THREADS_FLAG environment variable to# "native". You can revert to the use of green# threads by setting THREADS_FLAG to the value# "green".# ---------------------------------------------------THREADS_FLAG=native; export THREADS_FLAG

# ---------------------------------------------------# TEMP, TMP, and TMPDIR# ---------------------------------------------------# Specify the default directories for temporary# files; if set, tools that create temporary files# create them in one of these directories.# ---------------------------------------------------export TEMP=/tmpexport TMPDIR=/tmp

# ---------------------------------------------------# UMASK# ---------------------------------------------------# Set the default file mode creation mask# (umask) to 022 to ensure that the user performing# the Oracle software installation creates files# with 644 permissions.# ---------------------------------------------------umask 022

Create Groups and User for Oracle Database Software

Next, create the the recommended OS groups and user for the Oracle database software on both Oracle RAC nodes:

[root@racnode1 ~]# groupadd -g 1300 dba[root@racnode1 ~]# groupadd -g 1301 oper[root@racnode1 ~]# useradd -m -u 1101 -g oinstall -G dba,oper,asmdba -d /home/oracle -s /bin/bash -c "Oracle Software Owner" oracle

[root@racnode1 ~]# id oracleuid=1101(oracle) gid=1000(oinstall) groups=1000(oinstall),1201(asmdba),1300(dba),1301(oper)

Set the password for the oracle account:

[root@racnode1 ~]# passwd oracleChanging password for user oracle.New UNIX password: xxxxxxxxxxxRetype new UNIX password: xxxxxxxxxxxpasswd: all authentication tokens updated successfully.

Create Login Script for the oracle User Account

Log in to both Oracle RAC nodes as the oracle user account and create the following login script (.bash_profile):

Note: When setting the Oracle environment variables for each Oracle RAC node, make certain to assign each RAC node a unique Oracle SID. Forthis example, I used:

racnode1 : ORACLE_SID=racdb1racnode2 : ORACLE_SID=racdb2

[root@racnode1 ~]# su - oracle



# ---------------------------------------------------# .bash_profile# ---------------------------------------------------# OS User: oracle# Application: Oracle Database Software Owner# Version: Oracle 11g release 2# ---------------------------------------------------

# Get the aliases and functionsif [ -f ~/.bashrc ]; then . ~/.bashrcfi

alias ls="ls -FA"

# ---------------------------------------------------# ORACLE_SID# ---------------------------------------------------# Specifies the Oracle system identifier (SID) for# the Oracle instance running on this node.# Each RAC node must have a unique ORACLE_SID.# (i.e. racdb1, racdb2,...)# ---------------------------------------------------ORACLE_SID=racdb1; export ORACLE_SID

# ---------------------------------------------------# ORACLE_UNQNAME# ---------------------------------------------------# In previous releases of Oracle Database, you were # required to set environment variables for# ORACLE_HOME and ORACLE_SID to start, stop, and# check the status of Enterprise Manager. With# Oracle Database 11g release 2 (11.2) and later, you# need to set the environment variables ORACLE_HOME # and ORACLE_UNQNAME to use Enterprise Manager. # Set ORACLE_UNQNAME equal to the database unique# name.# ---------------------------------------------------ORACLE_UNQNAME=racdb; export ORACLE_UNQNAME

# ---------------------------------------------------# JAVA_HOME# ---------------------------------------------------# Specifies the directory of the Java SDK and Runtime# Environment.# ---------------------------------------------------JAVA_HOME=/usr/local/java; export JAVA_HOME

# ---------------------------------------------------# ORACLE_BASE# ---------------------------------------------------# Specifies the base of the Oracle directory structure# for Optimal Flexible Architecture (OFA) compliant# database software installations.# ---------------------------------------------------ORACLE_BASE=/u01/app/oracle; export ORACLE_BASE

# ---------------------------------------------------# ORACLE_HOME# ---------------------------------------------------# Specifies the directory containing the Oracle# Database software.# ---------------------------------------------------ORACLE_HOME=$ORACLE_BASE/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1; export ORACLE_HOME

# ---------------------------------------------------# ORACLE_PATH# ---------------------------------------------------# Specifies the search path for files used by Oracle# applications such as SQL*Plus. If the full path to# the file is not specified, or if the file is not# in the current directory, the Oracle application# uses ORACLE_PATH to locate the file.# This variable is used by SQL*Plus, Forms and Menu.# ---------------------------------------------------ORACLE_PATH=/u01/app/common/oracle/sql; export ORACLE_PATH

# ---------------------------------------------------# SQLPATH# ---------------------------------------------------# Specifies the directory or list of directories that# SQL*Plus searches for a login.sql file.# ---------------------------------------------------# SQLPATH=/u01/app/common/oracle/sql; export SQLPATH

# ---------------------------------------------------# ORACLE_TERM# ---------------------------------------------------# Defines a terminal definition. If not set, it# defaults to the value of your TERM environment# variable. Used by all character mode products. # ---------------------------------------------------ORACLE_TERM=xterm; export ORACLE_TERM

# ---------------------------------------------------# NLS_DATE_FORMAT# ---------------------------------------------------# Specifies the default date format to use with the# TO_CHAR and TO_DATE functions. The default value of# this parameter is determined by NLS_TERRITORY. The# value of this parameter can be any valid date# format mask, and the value must be surrounded by # double quotation marks. For example:## NLS_DATE_FORMAT = "MM/DD/YYYY"## ---------------------------------------------------NLS_DATE_FORMAT="DD-MON-YYYY HH24:MI:SS"; export NLS_DATE_FORMAT

# ---------------------------------------------------# TNS_ADMIN



# ---------------------------------------------------# Specifies the directory containing the Oracle Net# Services configuration files like listener.ora, # tnsnames.ora, and sqlnet.ora.# ---------------------------------------------------TNS_ADMIN=$ORACLE_HOME/network/admin; export TNS_ADMIN

# ---------------------------------------------------# ORA_NLS11# ---------------------------------------------------# Specifies the directory where the language,# territory, character set, and linguistic definition# files are stored.# ---------------------------------------------------ORA_NLS11=$ORACLE_HOME/nls/data; export ORA_NLS11

# ---------------------------------------------------# PATH# ---------------------------------------------------# Used by the shell to locate executable programs;# must include the $ORACLE_HOME/bin directory.# ---------------------------------------------------PATH=.:${JAVA_HOME}/bin:${PATH}:$HOME/bin:$ORACLE_HOME/binPATH=${PATH}:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/local/binPATH=${PATH}:/u01/app/common/oracle/binexport PATH

# ---------------------------------------------------# LD_LIBRARY_PATH# ---------------------------------------------------# Specifies the list of directories that the shared# library loader searches to locate shared object# libraries at runtime.# ---------------------------------------------------LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$ORACLE_HOME/libLD_LIBRARY_PATH=${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}:$ORACLE_HOME/oracm/libLD_LIBRARY_PATH=${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}:/lib:/usr/lib:/usr/local/libexport LD_LIBRARY_PATH

# ---------------------------------------------------# CLASSPATH# ---------------------------------------------------# Specifies the directory or list of directories that# contain compiled Java classes.# ---------------------------------------------------CLASSPATH=$ORACLE_HOME/JRECLASSPATH=${CLASSPATH}:$ORACLE_HOME/jlibCLASSPATH=${CLASSPATH}:$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/jlibCLASSPATH=${CLASSPATH}:$ORACLE_HOME/network/jlibexport CLASSPATH

# ---------------------------------------------------# THREADS_FLAG# ---------------------------------------------------# All the tools in the JDK use green threads as a# default. To specify that native threads should be# used, set the THREADS_FLAG environment variable to# "native". You can revert to the use of green# threads by setting THREADS_FLAG to the value# "green".# ---------------------------------------------------THREADS_FLAG=native; export THREADS_FLAG

# ---------------------------------------------------# TEMP, TMP, and TMPDIR# ---------------------------------------------------# Specify the default directories for temporary# files; if set, tools that create temporary files# create them in one of these directories.# ---------------------------------------------------export TEMP=/tmpexport TMPDIR=/tmp

# ---------------------------------------------------# UMASK# ---------------------------------------------------# Set the default file mode creation mask# (umask) to 022 to ensure that the user performing# the Oracle software installation creates files# with 644 permissions.# ---------------------------------------------------umask 022

Verify That the User nobody Exists

Before installing the software, complete the following procedure to verify that the user nobody exists on both Oracle RAC nodes:

1. To determine if the user exists, enter the following command:

# id nobodyuid=99(nobody) gid=99(nobody) groups=99(nobody)

If this command displays information about the nobody user, then you do not have to create that user.

2. If the user nobody does not exist, then enter the following command to create it:

# /usr/sbin/useradd nobody

3. Repeat this procedure on all the other Oracle RAC nodes in the cluster.

Create the Oracle Base Directory Path

The final step is to configure an Oracle base path compliant with an Optimal Flexible Architecture (OFA) structure and correct permissions. This willneed to be performed on both Oracle RAC nodes in the cluster as root.



This guide assumes that the /u01 directory is being created in the root file system. Please note that this is being done for the sake of brevity and isnot recommended as a general practice. Normally, the /u01 directory would be provisioned as a separate file system with either hardware orsoftware mirroring configured.

[root@racnode1 ~]# mkdir -p /u01/app/grid[root@racnode1 ~]# mkdir -p /u01/app/11.2.0/grid[root@racnode1 ~]# chown -R grid:oinstall /u01[root@racnode1 ~]# mkdir -p /u01/app/oracle[root@racnode1 ~]# chown oracle:oinstall /u01/app/oracle[root@racnode1 ~]# chmod -R 775 /u01

At the end of this section, you should have the following on both Oracle RAC nodes:

An Oracle central inventory group, or oraInventory group (oinstall), whose members that have the central inventory group as their primarygroup are granted permissions to write to the oraInventory directory.

A separate OSASM group (asmadmin), whose members are granted the SYSASM privilege to administer Oracle Clusterware and Oracle ASM.

A separate OSDBA for ASM group (asmdba), whose members include grid and oracle, and who are granted access to Oracle ASM.

A separate OSOPER for ASM group (asmoper), whose members include grid, and who are granted limited Oracle ASM administratorprivileges, including the permissions to start and stop the Oracle ASM instance.

An Oracle grid installation for a cluster owner (grid), with the oraInventory group as its primary group, and with the OSASM (asmadmin),OSDBA for ASM (asmdba) and OSOPER for ASM (asmoper) groups as secondary groups.

A separate OSDBA group (dba), whose members are granted the SYSDBA privilege to administer the Oracle Database.

A separate OSOPER group (oper), whose members include oracle, and who are granted limited Oracle database administrator privileges.

An Oracle Database software owner (oracle), with the oraInventory group as its primary group, and with the OSDBA (dba), OSOPER (oper),and the OSDBA for ASM group (asmdba) as their secondary groups.

An OFA-compliant mount point /u01 owned by grid:oinstall before installation.

An Oracle base for the grid /u01/app/grid owned by grid:oinstall with 775 permissions, and changed during the installation process to 755permissions. The grid installation owner Oracle base directory is the location where Oracle ASM diagnostic and administrative log files areplaced.

A Grid home /u01/app/11.2.0/grid owned by grid:oinstall with 775 (drwxdrwxr-x) permissions. These permissions are required forinstallation, and are changed during the installation process to root:oinstall with 755 permissions (drwxr-xr-x).

During installation, OUI creates the Oracle Inventory directory in the path /u01/app/oraInventory. This path remains owned bygrid:oinstall, to enable other Oracle software owners to write to the central inventory.

An Oracle base /u01/app/oracle owned by oracle:oinstall with 775 permissions.

Set Resource Limits for the Oracle Software Installation Users

To improve the performance of the software on Linux systems, you must increase the following resource limits for the Oracle software owner users(grid, oracle):

Shell Limit Item in limits.conf Hard Limit

Maximum number of open file descriptors nofile 65536

Maximum number of processes available to a single user nproc 16384

Maximum size of the stack segment of the process stack 10240

To make these changes, run the following as root:

1. On each Oracle RAC node, add the following lines to the /etc/security/limits.conf file (the following example shows the software accountowners oracle and grid):

[root@racnode1 ~]# cat >> /etc/security/limits.conf <<EOFgrid soft nproc 2047grid hard nproc 16384grid soft nofile 1024grid hard nofile 65536oracle soft nproc 2047oracle hard nproc 16384oracle soft nofile 1024oracle hard nofile 65536EOF

2. On each Oracle RAC node, add or edit the following line in the /etc/pam.d/login file, if it does not already exist:

[root@racnode1 ~]# cat >> /etc/pam.d/login <<EOFsession required pam_limits.soEOF

3. Depending on your shell environment, make the following changes to the default shell startup file, to change ulimit setting for all Oracleinstallation owners (note that these examples show the users oracle and grid):

For the Bourne, Bash, or Korn shell, add the following lines to the /etc/profile file by running the following command:



[root@racnode1 ~]# cat >> /etc/profile <<EOFif [ \$USER = "oracle" ] || [ \$USER = "grid" ]; then if [ \$SHELL = "/bin/ksh" ]; then ulimit -p 16384 ulimit -n 65536 else ulimit -u 16384 -n 65536 fi umask 022fiEOF

For the C shell (csh or tcsh), add the following lines to the /etc/csh.login file by running the following command:

[root@racnode1 ~]# cat >> /etc/csh.login <<EOFif ( \$USER == "oracle" || \$USER == "grid" ) then limit maxproc 16384 limit descriptors 65536endifEOF

14. Logging In to a Remote System Using X Terminal

This guide requires access to the console of all machines (Oracle RAC nodes and Openfiler) in order to install the operating system and performseveral of the configuration tasks. When managing a very small number of servers, it might make sense to connect each server with its ownmonitor, keyboard, and mouse in order to access its console. However, as the number of servers to manage increases, this solution becomesunfeasible. A more practical solution would be to configure a dedicated computer which would include a single monitor, keyboard, and mouse thatwould have direct access to the console of each machine. This solution is made possible using a Keyboard, Video, Mouse Switch —better known asa KVM Switch.

After installing the Linux operating system, there are several applications which are needed to install and configure Oracle RAC which use aGraphical User Interface (GUI) and require the use of an X11 display server. The most notable of these GUI applications (or better known as an Xapplication) is the Oracle Universal Installer (OUI) although others like the Virtual IP Configuration Assistant (VIPCA) also require use of an X11display server.

Given the fact that I created this article on a system that makes use of a KVM Switch, I am able to toggle to each node and rely on the native X11display server for Linux in order to display X applications.

If you are not logged directly on to the graphical console of a node but rather you are using a remote client like SSH, PuTTY, or Telnet to connectto the node, any X application will require an X11 display server installed on the client. For example, if you are making a terminal remoteconnection to racnode1 from a Windows workstation, you would need to install an X11 display server on that Windows client (Xming for example).If you intend to install the Oracle grid infrastructure and Oracle RAC software from a Windows workstation or other system with an X11 displayserver installed, then perform the following actions:

1. Start the X11 display server software on the client workstation.

2. Configure the security settings of the X server software to permit remote hosts to display X applications on the local system.

3. From the client workstation, log in to the server where you want to install the software as the Oracle grid infrastructure for a cluster softwareowner (grid) or the Oracle RAC software (oracle).

4. As the software owner (grid, oracle), set the DISPLAY environment:


[grid@racnode1 ~]$ DISPLAY=<your local workstation>:0.0[grid@racnode1 ~]$ export DISPLAY

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ # TEST X CONFIGURATION BY RUNNING xterm[grid@racnode1 ~]$ xterm &

http://www.oracle.com/technology/pub/articles/hunter-rac11gr2-iscsi.html#Hardware: KVM Switch

http://www.oracle.com/technology/pub/articles/hunter-rac11gr2-iscsi.html#Hardware: KVM Switch

http://www.straightrunning.com/XmingNotes/



Figure 16: Test X11 Display Server on Windows; Run xterm from Node 1 (racnode1)

15. Configure the Linux Servers for Oracle

Perform the following configuration procedures on both Oracle RAC nodes in the cluster.

The kernel parameters discussed in this section will need to be defined on both Oracle RAC nodes in the cluster every time the machine is booted.This section provides information about setting those kernel parameters required for Oracle. Instructions for placing them in a startup script(/etc/sysctl.conf) is included in Section 17 ("All Startup Commands for Both Oracle RAC Nodes").

Overview

This section focuses on configuring both Oracle RAC Linux servers - getting each one prepared for the Oracle 11g release 2 grid infrastructure andOracle RAC 11g release 2 installations on the Oracle Enterprise Linux 5 platform. This includes verifying enough memory and swap space, settingshared memory and semaphores, setting the maximum number of file handles, setting the IP local port range, and finally how to activate all kernelparameters for the system.

There are several different ways to configure (set) these parameters. For the purpose of this article, I will be making all changes permanent(through reboots) by placing all values in the /etc/sysctl.conf file.

Memory and Swap Space Considerations

The minimum required RAM on RHEL/OEL is 1.5 GB for grid infrastructure for a cluster, or 2.5 GB for grid infrastructure for a cluster and OracleRAC. In this guide, each Oracle RAC node will be hosting Oracle grid infrastructure and Oracle RAC and will therefore require at least 2.5 GB ineach server. Each of the Oracle RAC nodes used in this article are equipped with 4 GB of physical RAM.

The minimum required swap space is 1.5 GB. Oracle recommends that you set swap space to 1.5 times the amount of RAM for systems with 2 GBof RAM or less. For systems with 2 GB to 16 GB RAM, use swap space equal to RAM. For systems with more than 16 GB RAM, use 16 GB of RAMfor swap space.

To check the amount of memory you have, type:

[root@racnode1 ~]# cat /proc/meminfo | grep MemTotalMemTotal: 4038564 kB

To check the amount of swap you have allocated, type:

[root@racnode1 ~]# cat /proc/meminfo | grep SwapTotalSwapTotal: 6094840 kB

If you have less than 4GB of memory (between your RAM and SWAP), you can add temporary swap space by creating a temporary swap file.This way you do not have to use a raw device or even more drastic, rebuild your system.

As root, make a file that will act as additional swap space, let's say about 500MB:

# dd if=/dev/zero of=tempswap bs=1k count=500000

Now we should change the file permissions:

# chmod 600 tempswap

Finally we format the "partition" as swap and add it to the swap space:

# mke2fs tempswap# mkswap tempswap# swapon tempswap

Configure Kernel Parameters

The kernel parameters presented in this section are recommended values only as documented by Oracle. For production database systems, Oraclerecommends that you tune these values to optimize the performance of the system.

On both Oracle RAC nodes, verify that the kernel parameters described in this section are set to values greater than or equal to the recommendedvalues. Also note that when setting the four semaphore values that all four values need to be entered on one line.

Configure Kernel Parameters

Oracle Database 11g release 2 on RHEL/OEL 5 requires the kernel parameter settings shown below. The values given are minimums, so if yoursystem uses a larger value, do not change it.

kernel.shmmax = 4294967295kernel.shmall = 2097152kernel.shmmni = 4096kernel.sem = 250 32000 100 128fs.file-max = 6815744net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range = 9000 65500net.core.rmem_default=262144net.core.rmem_max=4194304net.core.wmem_default=262144net.core.wmem_max=1048576fs.aio-max-nr=1048576

RHEL/OEL 5 already comes configured with default values defined for the following kernel parameters:



kernel.shmallkernel.shmmax

Use the default values if they are the same or larger than the required values.

This article assumes a fresh new install of Oracle Enterprise Linux 5 and as such, many of the required kernel parameters are already set (seeabove). This being the case, you can simply copy / paste the following to both Oracle RAC nodes while logged in as root:

[root@racnode1 ~]# cat >> /etc/sysctl.conf <<EOF

# Controls the maximum number of shared memory segments system widekernel.shmmni = 4096

# Sets the following semaphore values:# SEMMSL_value SEMMNS_value SEMOPM_value SEMMNI_valuekernel.sem = 250 32000 100 128

# Sets the maximum number of file-handles that the Linux kernel will allocatefs.file-max = 6815744

# Defines the local port range that is used by TCP and UDP# traffic to choose the local portnet.ipv4.ip_local_port_range = 9000 65500

# Default setting in bytes of the socket "receive" buffer which# may be set by using the SO_RCVBUF socket optionnet.core.rmem_default=262144

# Maximum setting in bytes of the socket "receive" buffer which# may be set by using the SO_RCVBUF socket optionnet.core.rmem_max=4194304

# Default setting in bytes of the socket "send" buffer which# may be set by using the SO_SNDBUF socket optionnet.core.wmem_default=262144

# Maximum setting in bytes of the socket "send" buffer which # may be set by using the SO_SNDBUF socket optionnet.core.wmem_max=1048576

# Maximum number of allowable concurrent asynchronous I/O requests requestsfs.aio-max-nr=1048576EOF

Activate All Kernel Parameters for the System

The above command persisted the required kernel parameters through reboots by inserting them in the /etc/sysctl.conf startup file. Linux allowsmodification of these kernel parameters to the current system while it is up and running, so there's no need to reboot the system after makingkernel parameter changes. To activate the new kernel parameter values for the currently running system, run the following as root on both OracleRAC nodes in the cluster:

[root@racnode1 ~]# sysctl -pnet.ipv4.ip_forward = 0net.ipv4.conf.default.rp_filter = 1net.ipv4.conf.default.accept_source_route = 0kernel.sysrq = 0kernel.core_uses_pid = 1net.ipv4.tcp_syncookies = 1kernel.msgmnb = 65536kernel.msgmax = 65536kernel.shmmax = 68719476736kernel.shmall = 4294967296kernel.shmmni = 4096kernel.sem = 250 32000 100 128fs.file-max = 6815744net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range = 9000 65500net.core.rmem_default = 262144net.core.rmem_max = 4194304net.core.wmem_default = 262144net.core.wmem_max = 1048576fs.aio-max-nr = 1048576

Verify the new kernel parameter values by running the following on both Oracle RAC nodes in the cluster:

[root@racnode1 ~]# /sbin/sysctl -a | grep shmvm.hugetlb_shm_group = 0kernel.shmmni = 4096kernel.shmall = 4294967296kernel.shmmax = 68719476736

[root@racnode1 ~]# /sbin/sysctl -a | grep semkernel.sem = 250 32000 100 128

[root@racnode1 ~]# /sbin/sysctl -a | grep file-maxfs.file-max = 6815744

[root@racnode1 ~]# /sbin/sysctl -a | grep ip_local_port_rangenet.ipv4.ip_local_port_range = 9000 65500

[root@racnode1 ~]# /sbin/sysctl -a | grep 'core\.[rw]mem'net.core.rmem_default = 262144net.core.wmem_default = 262144net.core.rmem_max = 4194304net.core.wmem_max = 1048576

16. Configure RAC Nodes for Remote Access using SSH - (Optional)



Perform the following optional procedures on both Oracle RAC nodes to manually configure passwordless SSH connectivity between the two clustermember nodes as the "grid" and "oracle" user.

One of the best parts about this section of the document is that it is completely optional! That's not to say configuring Secure Shell (SSH)connectivity between the Oracle RAC nodes is not necessary. To the contrary, the Oracle Universal Installer (OUI) uses the secure shell tools sshand scp commands during installation to run remote commands on and copy files to the other cluster nodes. During the Oracle softwareinstallations, SSH must be configured so that these commands do not prompt for a password. The ability to run SSH commands without beingprompted for a password is sometimes referred to as user equivalence.

The reason this section of the document is optional is that the OUI interface in 11g release 2 includes a new feature that can automaticallyconfigure SSH during the actual install phase of the Oracle software for the user account running the installation. The automatic configurationperformed by OUI creates passwordless SSH connectivity between all cluster member nodes. Oracle recommends that you use the automaticprocedure whenever possible.

In addition to installing the Oracle software, SSH is used after installation by configuration assistants, Oracle Enterprise Manager, OPatch, andother features that perform configuration operations from local to remote nodes.

Note: Configuring SSH with a passphrase is no longer supported for Oracle Clusterware 11g release 2 and later releases. Passwordless SSH isrequired for Oracle 11g release 2 and higher.

Since this guide uses grid as the Oracle grid infrastructure software owner and oracle as the owner of the Oracle RAC software, passwordless SSHmust be configured for both user accounts.

Note: When SSH is not available, the installer attempts to use the rsh and rcp commands instead of ssh and scp. These services, however, aredisabled by default on most Linux systems. The use of RSH will not be discussed in this article.

Verify SSH Software is Installed

The supported version of SSH for Linux distributions is OpenSSH. OpenSSH should be included in the Linux distribution minimal installation. Toconfirm that SSH packages are installed, run the following command on both Oracle RAC nodes:

[root@racnode1 ~]# rpm -qa --queryformat "%{NAME}-%{VERSION}-%{RELEASE} (%{ARCH})\n"| grep sshopenssh-askpass-4.3p2-36.el5 (x86_64)openssh-clients-4.3p2-36.el5 (x86_64)openssh-4.3p2-36.el5 (x86_64)openssh-server-4.3p2-36.el5 (x86_64)

If you do not see a list of SSH packages, then install those packages for your Linux distribution. For example, load CD #1 into each of the OracleRAC nodes and perform the following to install the OpenSSH packages:

[root@racnode1 ~]# mount -r /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom[root@racnode1 ~]# cd /media/cdrom/Server[root@racnode1 ~]# rpm -Uvh openssh-*[root@racnode1 ~]# cd /[root@racnode1 ~]# eject

Why Configure SSH User Equivalence Using the Manual Method Option?

So, if the OUI already includes a feature that automates the SSH configuration between the Oracle RAC nodes, then why provide a section on howto manually configure passwordless SSH connectivity? In fact, for the purpose of this article, I decided to forgo manually configuring SSHconnectivity in favor of Oracle's automatic methods included in the installer.

One reason to include this section on manually configuring SSH is to make mention of the fact that you must remove stty commands from theprofiles of any Oracle software installation owners, and remove other security measures that are triggered during a login, and that generatemessages to the terminal. These messages, mail checks, and other displays prevent Oracle software installation owners from using the SSHconfiguration script that is built into the Oracle Universal Installer. If they are not disabled, then SSH must be configured manually before aninstallation can be run. Further documentation on preventing installation errors caused by stty commands can be found later in this section.

Another reason you may decide to manually configure SSH for user equivalence is to have the ability to run the Cluster Verification Utility (CVU)prior to installing the Oracle software. The CVU (runcluvfy.sh) is a valuable tool located in the Oracle Clusterware root directory that not onlyverifies all prerequisites have been met before software installation, it also has the ability to generate shell script programs, called fixup scripts, toresolve many incomplete system configuration requirements. The CVU does, however, have a prerequisite of its own and that is SSH userequivalency is configured correctly for the user account running the installation. If you intend to configure SSH connectivity using the OUI, knowthat the CVU utility will fail before having the opportunity to perform any of its critical checks:

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ /media/cdrom/grid/runcluvfy.sh stage -pre crsinst -fixup -n racnode1,racnode2 -verbosePerforming pre-checks for cluster services setup

Checking node reachability...

Check: Node reachability from node "racnode1" Destination Node Reachable? ------------------------------------ ------------------------ racnode1 yes racnode2 yes Result: Node reachability check passed from node "racnode1"

Checking user equivalence...

Check: User equivalence for user "grid" Node Name Comment ------------------------------------ ------------------------ racnode2 failed racnode1 failedResult: PRVF-4007 : User equivalence check failed for user "grid"

ERROR: User equivalence unavailable on all the specified nodesVerification cannot proceed

http://www.oracle.com/technology/pub/articles/hunter-rac11gr2-iscsi-3.html#Automatically Configure Passwordless SSH - GRID

http://www.oracle.com/technology/pub/articles/hunter-rac11gr2-iscsi-3.html#Automatically Configure Passwordless SSH - GRID



Pre-check for cluster services setup was unsuccessful on all the nodes.

Please note that it is not required to run the CVU utility before installing the Oracle software. Starting with Oracle 11g release 2, the installerdetects when minimum requirements for installation are not completed and performs the same tasks done by the CVU to generate fixup scripts toresolve incomplete system configuration requirements.

Configure SSH Connectivity Manually on All Cluster Nodes

To reiterate, it is not required to manually configure SSH connectivity before running the OUI. The OUI in 11g release 2 provides an interfaceduring the install for the user account running the installation to automatically create passwordless SSH connectivity between all cluster membernodes. This is the recommend approach by Oracle and the method used in this article. The tasks below to manually configure SSH connectivitybetween all cluster member nodes is included for documentation purposes only. Keep in mind that this guide uses grid as the Oracle gridinfrastructure software owner and oracle as the owner of the Oracle RAC software. If you decide to manually configure SSH connectivity, it shouldbe performed for both user accounts.

The goal in this section is to setup user equivalence for the grid and oracle OS user accounts. User equivalence enables the grid and oracle useraccounts to access all other nodes in the cluster (running commands and copying files) without the need for a password. Oracle added support in10g release 1 for using the SSH tool suite for setting up user equivalence. Before Oracle Database 10g, user equivalence had to be configuredusing remote shell (RSH).

In the examples that follow, the Oracle software owner listed is the grid user.

Checking Existing SSH Configuration on the System

To determine if SSH is installed and running, enter the following command:

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ pgrep sshd253519852

If SSH is running, then the response to this command is a list of process ID number(s). Run this command on both Oracle RAC nodes in thecluster to verify the SSH daemons are installed and running.

You need either an RSA or a DSA key for the SSH protocol. RSA is used with the SSH 1.5 protocol, while DSA is the default for the SSH 2.0protocol. With OpenSSH, you can use either RSA or DSA. The instructions that follow are for SSH1. If you have an SSH2 installation, and youcannot use SSH1, then refer to your SSH distribution documentation to configure SSH1 compatibility or to configure SSH2 with DSA.

Note: Automatic passwordless SSH configuration using the OUI creates RSA encryption keys on all nodes of the cluster.

Configuring Passwordless SSH on Cluster Nodes

To configure passwordless SSH, you must first create RSA or DSA keys on each cluster node, and then copy all the keys generated on all clusternode members into an authorized keys file that is identical on each node. Note that the SSH files must be readable only by root and by thesoftware installation user (grid, oracle), as SSH ignores a private key file if it is accessible by others. In the examples that follow, the DSA key isused.

You must configure passwordless SSH separately for each Oracle software installation owner that you intend to use for installation (grid, oracle).

To configure passwordless SSH, complete the following:

Create SSH Directory, and Create SSH Keys On Each Node

Complete the following steps on each node:

1. Log in as the software owner (in this example, the grid user).


2. To ensure that you are logged in as grid, and to verify that the user ID matches the expected user ID you have assigned to the grid user,enter the commands id and id grid. Ensure that Oracle user group and user and the user terminal window process you are using havegroup and user IDs are identical. For example:

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ iduid=1100(grid) gid=1000(oinstall) groups=1000(oinstall),1200(asmadmin),1201(asmdba),1202(asmoper)

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ id griduid=1100(grid) gid=1000(oinstall) groups=1000(oinstall),1200(asmadmin),1201(asmdba),1202(asmoper)

3. If necessary, create the .ssh directory in the grid user's home directory, and set permissions on it to ensure that only the grid user has readand write permissions:

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ mkdir ~/.ssh[grid@racnode1 ~]$ chmod 700 ~/.ssh

Note: SSH configuration will fail if the permissions are not set to 700.

4. Enter the following command to generate a DSA key pair (public and private key) for the SSH protocol. At the prompts, accept the defaultkey file location and no passphrase (press [Enter]):

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ /usr/bin/ssh-keygen -t dsaGenerating public/private dsa key pair.Enter file in which to save the key (/home/grid/.ssh/id_dsa): [Enter]



Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase): [Enter]Enter same passphrase again: [Enter]Your identification has been saved in /home/grid/.ssh/id_dsa.Your public key has been saved in /home/grid/.ssh/id_dsa.pub.The key fingerprint is:7b:e9:e8:47:29:37:ea:10:10:c6:b6:7d:d2:73:e9:03 grid@racnode1

Note: SSH with passphrase is not supported for Oracle Clusterware 11g release 2 and later releases. Passwordless SSH is required for Oracle11g release 2 and higher.

This command writes the DSA public key to the ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub file and the private key to the ~/.ssh/id_dsa file.

Never distribute the private key to anyone not authorized to perform Oracle software installations.

5. Repeat steps 1 through 4 for all remaining nodes that you intend to make a member of the cluster, using the DSA key (racnode2).

Add All Keys to a Common authorized_keys File

Now that both Oracle RAC nodes contain a public and private key for DSA, you will need to create an authorized key file (authorized_keys) on oneof the nodes. An authorized key file is nothing more than a single file that contains a copy of everyone's (every node's) DSA public key. Once theauthorized key file contains all of the public keys, it is then distributed to all other nodes in the cluster.

Note: The grid user's ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file on every node must contain the contents from all of the ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub files that yougenerated on all cluster nodes.

Complete the following steps on one of the nodes in the cluster to create and then distribute the authorized key file. For the purpose of this article,I am using the primary node in the cluster, racnode1:

1. From racnode1 (the local node) determine if the authorized key file ~/.ssh/authorized_keys already exists in the .ssh directory of the owner'shome directory. In most cases this will not exist since this article assumes you are working with a new install. If the file doesn't exist, createit now:

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ touch ~/.ssh/authorized_keys[grid@racnode1 ~]$ ls -l ~/.sshtotal 8-rw-r--r-- 1 grid oinstall 0 Nov 12 12:34 authorized_keys-rw------- 1 grid oinstall 668 Nov 12 09:24 id_dsa-rw-r--r-- 1 grid oinstall 603 Nov 12 09:24 id_dsa.pub

In the .ssh directory, you should see the id_dsa.pub keys that you have created, and the blank file authorized_keys.

2. On the local node (racnode1), use SCP (Secure Copy) or SFTP (Secure FTP) to copy the content of the ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub public key fromboth Oracle RAC nodes in the cluster to the authorized key file just created (~/.ssh/authorized_keys). Again, this will be done from racnode1.You will be prompted for the grid OS user account password for both Oracle RAC nodes accessed.

The following example is being run from racnode1 and assumes a two-node cluster, with nodes racnode1 and racnode2:

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ ssh racnode1 cat ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keysThe authenticity of host 'racnode1 (192.168.1.151)' can't be established.RSA key fingerprint is 2f:0d:2c:da:9f:d4:3d:2e:ea:e9:98:20:2c:b9:e8:f5.Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yesWarning: Permanently added 'racnode1,192.168.1.151' (RSA) to the list of known hosts.grid@racnode1's password: xxxxx

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ ssh racnode2 cat ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keysThe authenticity of host 'racnode2 (192.168.1.152)' can't be established.RSA key fingerprint is 97:ab:db:26:f6:01:20:cc:e0:63:d0:d1:73:7e:c2:0a.Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yesWarning: Permanently added 'racnode2,192.168.1.152' (RSA) to the list of known hosts.grid@racnode2's password: xxxxx

The first time you use SSH to connect to a node from a particular system, you will see a message similar to the following:

The authenticity of host 'racnode1 (192.168.1.151)' can't be established.RSA key fingerprint is 2f:0d:2c:da:9f:d4:3d:2e:ea:e9:98:20:2c:b9:e8:f5.Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes

Enter yes at the prompt to continue. The public hostname will then be added to the known_hosts file in the ~/.ssh directory and you will notsee this message again when you connect from this system to the same node.

3. At this point, we have the DSA public key from every node in the cluster in the authorized key file (~/.ssh/authorized_keys) on racnode1:

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ ls -l ~/.sshtotal 16-rw-r--r-- 1 grid oinstall 1206 Nov 12 12:45 authorized_keys-rw------- 1 grid oinstall 668 Nov 12 09:24 id_dsa-rw-r--r-- 1 grid oinstall 603 Nov 12 09:24 id_dsa.pub-rw-r--r-- 1 grid oinstall 808 Nov 12 12:45 known_hosts

We now need to copy it to the remaining nodes in the cluster. In our two-node cluster example, the only remaining node is racnode2. Usethe scp command to copy the authorized key file to all remaining nodes in the cluster:

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ scp ~/.ssh/authorized_keys racnode2:.ssh/authorized_keysgrid@racnode2's password: xxxxxauthorized_keys 100% 1206 1.2KB/s 00:00

4. Change the permission of the authorized key file for both Oracle RAC nodes in the cluster by logging into the node and running the following:

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys



Enable SSH User Equivalency on Cluster Nodes

After you have copied the authorized_keys file that contains all public keys to each node in the cluster, complete the steps in this section toensure passwordless SSH connectivity between all cluster member nodes is configured correctly. In this example, the Oracle grid infrastructuresoftware owner will be used which is named grid.

When running the test SSH commands in this section, if you see any other messages or text, apart from the date and host name, then the Oracleinstallation will fail. If any of the nodes prompt for a password or pass phrase then verify that the ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file on that nodecontains the correct public keys and that you have created an Oracle software owner with identical group membership and IDs. Make any changesrequired to ensure that only the date and host name is displayed when you enter these commands. You should ensure that any part of a loginscript that generates any output, or asks any questions, is modified so it acts only when the shell is an interactive shell.

1. On the system where you want to run OUI from (racnode1), log in as the grid user.


2. If SSH is configured correctly, you will be able to use the ssh and scp commands without being prompted for a password or pass phrasefrom the terminal session:

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ ssh racnode1 "date;hostname"Fri Nov 13 09:46:56 EST 2009racnode1


3. Perform the same actions above from the remaining nodes in the Oracle RAC cluster (racnode2) to ensure they too can access all othernodes without being prompted for a password or pass phrase and get added to the known_hosts file:

[grid@racnode2 ~]$ ssh racnode1 "date;hostname"The authenticity of host 'racnode1 (192.168.1.151)' can't be established.RSA key fingerprint is 2f:0d:2c:da:9f:d4:3d:2e:ea:e9:98:20:2c:b9:e8:f5.Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yesWarning: Permanently added 'racnode1,192.168.1.151' (RSA) to the list of known hosts.Fri Nov 13 10:19:57 EST 2009racnode1


--------------------------------------------------------------------------

[grid@racnode2 ~]$ ssh racnode2 "date;hostname"The authenticity of host 'racnode2 (192.168.1.152)' can't be established.RSA key fingerprint is 97:ab:db:26:f6:01:20:cc:e0:63:d0:d1:73:7e:c2:0a.Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yesWarning: Permanently added 'racnode2,192.168.1.152' (RSA) to the list of known hosts.Fri Nov 13 10:22:00 EST 2009racnode2


4. The Oracle Universal Installer is a GUI interface and requires the use of an X Server. From the terminal session enabled for user equivalence(the node you will be performing the Oracle installations from), set the environment variable DISPLAY to a valid X Windows display:

Bourne, Korn, and Bash shells:

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ DISPLAY=<Any X-Windows Host>:0[grid@racnode1 ~]$ export DISPLAY

C shell:

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ setenv DISPLAY <Any X-Windows Host>:0

After setting the DISPLAY variable to a valid X Windows display, you should perform another test of the current terminal session to ensurethat X11 forwarding is not enabled:

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ ssh racnode1 hostnameracnode1

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ ssh racnode2 hostnameracnode2

Note: If you are using a remote client to connect to the node performing the installation, and you see a message similar to: "Warning: Noxauth data; using fake authentication data for X11 forwarding." then this means that your authorized keys file is configured correctly;however, your SSH configuration has X11 forwarding enabled. For example:

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ export DISPLAY=melody:0[grid@racnode1 ~]$ ssh racnode2 hostnameWarning: No xauth data; using fake authentication data for X11 forwarding.racnode2

Note that having X11 Forwarding enabled will cause the Oracle installation to fail. To correct this problem, create a user-level SSH clientconfiguration file for the oracle OS user account that disables X11 Forwarding:

1. Using a text editor, edit or create the file ~/.ssh/config2. Make sure that the ForwardX11 attribute is set to no. For example, insert the following into the ~/.ssh/config file:

Host *



ForwardX11 no

Preventing Installation Errors Caused by stty Commands

During an Oracle grid infrastructure or Oracle RAC software installation, OUI uses SSH to run commands and copy files to the other nodes. Duringthe installation, hidden files on the system (for example, .bashrc or .cshrc) will cause makefile and other installation errors if they contain sttycommands.

To avoid this problem, you must modify these files in each Oracle installation owner user home directory to suppress all output on STDERR, as inthe following examples:

Bourne, Bash, or Korn shell:

if [ -t 0 ]; then stty intr ^Cfi

C shell:

test -t 0if ($status == 0) then stty intr ^Cendif

Note: If there are hidden files that contain stty commands that are loaded by the remote shell, then OUI indicates an error and stops theinstallation.

17. All Startup Commands for Both Oracle RAC Nodes

Verify that the following startup commands are included on both of the Oracle RAC nodes in the cluster.

Up to this point, we have talked in great detail about the parameters and resources that need to be configured on both nodes in the Oracle RAC11g configuration. This section will review those parameters, commands, and entries from previous sections that need to occur on both Oracle RACnodes when they are booted.

For each of the startup files below, entries in red should be included in each startup file.

/etc/sysctl.conf

We wanted to adjust the default and maximum send buffer size as well as the default and maximum receive buffer size for the interconnect. Thisfile also contains those parameters responsible for configuring shared memory, semaphores, file handles, and local IP range used by the Oracleinstance.

.................................................................# Kernel sysctl configuration file for Red Hat Linux## For binary values, 0 is disabled, 1 is enabled. See sysctl(8) and# sysctl.conf(5) for more details.

# Controls IP packet forwardingnet.ipv4.ip_forward = 0

# Controls source route verificationnet.ipv4.conf.default.rp_filter = 1

# Do not accept source routingnet.ipv4.conf.default.accept_source_route = 0

# Controls the System Request debugging functionality of the kernelkernel.sysrq = 0

# Controls whether core dumps will append the PID to the core filename# Useful for debugging multi-threaded applicationskernel.core_uses_pid = 1

# Controls the use of TCP syncookiesnet.ipv4.tcp_syncookies = 1

# Controls the maximum size of a message, in byteskernel.msgmnb = 65536

# Controls the default maxmimum size of a mesage queuekernel.msgmax = 65536

# Controls the maximum shared segment size, in byteskernel.shmmax = 68719476736

# Controls the maximum number of shared memory segments, in pageskernel.shmall = 4294967296

# Controls the maximum number of shared memory segments system widekernel.shmmni = 4096

# Sets the following semaphore values:# SEMMSL_value SEMMNS_value SEMOPM_value SEMMNI_valuekernel.sem = 250 32000 100 128

# Sets the maximum number of file-handles that the Linux kernel will allocatefs.file-max = 6815744

# Defines the local port range that is used by TCP and UDP



# traffic to choose the local portnet.ipv4.ip_local_port_range = 9000 65500

# Default setting in bytes of the socket "receive" buffer which# may be set by using the SO_RCVBUF socket optionnet.core.rmem_default=262144

# Maximum setting in bytes of the socket "receive" buffer which# may be set by using the SO_RCVBUF socket optionnet.core.rmem_max=4194304

# Default setting in bytes of the socket "send" buffer which# may be set by using the SO_SNDBUF socket optionnet.core.wmem_default=262144

# Maximum setting in bytes of the socket "send" buffer which# may be set by using the SO_SNDBUF socket optionnet.core.wmem_max=1048576

# Maximum number of allowable concurrent asynchronous I/O requests requestsfs.aio-max-nr=1048576.................................................................

Verify that each of the required kernel parameters are configured in the /etc/sysctl.conf file. Then, ensure that each of these parameters aretruly in effect by running the following command on both Oracle RAC nodes in the cluster:

[root@racnode1 ~]# sysctl -pnet.ipv4.ip_forward = 0net.ipv4.conf.default.rp_filter = 1net.ipv4.conf.default.accept_source_route = 0kernel.sysrq = 0kernel.core_uses_pid = 1net.ipv4.tcp_syncookies = 1kernel.msgmnb = 65536kernel.msgmax = 65536kernel.shmmax = 68719476736kernel.shmall = 4294967296kernel.shmmni = 4096kernel.sem = 250 32000 100 128fs.file-max = 6815744net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range = 9000 65500net.core.rmem_default = 262144net.core.rmem_max = 4194304net.core.wmem_default = 262144net.core.wmem_max = 1048576fs.aio-max-nr = 1048576

/etc/hosts

All machine/IP entries for nodes in our RAC cluster.

.................................................................# Do not remove the following line, or various programs# that require network functionality will fail.







# Miscellaneous Nodes192.168.1.1 router192.168.1.105 packmule192.168.1.106 melody192.168.1.121 domo192.168.1.122 switch1192.168.1.125 oemprod192.168.1.245 accesspoint.................................................................

/etc/udev/rules.d/55-openiscsi.rules

Rules file to be used by udev to mount iSCSI volumes. This file contains all name=value pairs used to receive events and the call-out SHELL scriptto handle the event.

.................................................................# /etc/udev/rules.d/55-openiscsi.rulesKERNEL=="sd*", BUS=="scsi", PROGRAM="/etc/udev/scripts/iscsidev.sh %b",SYMLINK+="iscsi/%c/part%n".................................................................

/etc/udev/scripts/iscsidev.sh



Call-out SHELL script that handles the events passed to it from the udev rules file (above) and used to mount iSCSI volumes.

.................................................................#!/bin/sh

# FILE: /etc/udev/scripts/iscsidev.sh

BUS=${1}HOST=${BUS%%:*}

[ -e /sys/class/iscsi_host ] || exit 1

file="/sys/class/iscsi_host/host${HOST}/device/session*/iscsi_session*/targetname"

target_name=$(cat ${file})

# This is not an open-scsi driveif [ -z "${target_name}" ]; then exit 1fi

# Check if QNAP drivecheck_qnap_target_name=${target_name%%:*}if [ $check_qnap_target_name = "iqn.2004-04.com.qnap" ]; then target_name=`echo "${target_name%.*}"`fi

echo "${target_name##*.}".................................................................

18. Install and Configure ASMLib 2.0

The installation and configuration procedures in this section should be performed on both of the Oracle RAC nodes in the cluster. Creating the ASMdisks, however, will only need to be performed on a single node within the cluster (racnode1).

In this section, we will install and configure ASMLib 2.0 which is a support library for the Automatic Storage Management (ASM) feature of theOracle Database. In this article, ASM will be used as the shared file system and volume manager for Oracle Clusterware files (OCR and votingdisk), Oracle Database files (data, online redo logs, control files, archived redo logs), and the Fast Recovery Area.

Automatic Storage Management simplifies database administration by eliminating the need for the DBA to directly manage potentially thousands ofOracle database files requiring only the management of groups of disks allocated to the Oracle Database. ASM is built into the Oracle kernel andcan be used for both single and clustered instances of Oracle. All of the files and directories to be used for Oracle will be contained in a disk group— (or for the purpose of this article, three disk groups). ASM automatically performs load balancing in parallel across all available disk drives toprevent hot spots and maximize performance, even with rapidly changing data usage patterns. ASMLib allows an Oracle Database using ASM moreefficient and capable access to the disk groups it is using.

Keep in mind that ASMLib is only a support library for the ASM software. The ASM software will be installed as part of Oracle grid infrastructurelater in this guide Starting with Oracle grid infrastructure 11g release 2 (11.2), the Automatic Storage Management and Oracle Clusterwaresoftware is packaged together in a single binary distribution and installed into a single home directory, which is referred to as the GridInfrastructure home. The Oracle grid infrastructure software will be owned by the user grid.

So, is ASMLib required for ASM? Not at all. In fact, there are two different methods to configure ASM on Linux:

ASM with ASMLib I/O: This method creates all Oracle database files on raw block devices managed by ASM using ASMLib calls. RAWdevices are not required with this method as ASMLib works with block devices.

ASM with Standard Linux I/O: This method does not make use of ASMLib. Oracle database files are created on raw character devicesmanaged by ASM using standard Linux I/O system calls. You will be required to create RAW devices for all disk partitions used by ASM.

In this article, I will be using the "ASM with ASMLib I/O" method. Oracle states in Metalink Note 275315.1 that "ASMLib was provided to enableASM I/O to Linux disks without the limitations of the standard UNIX I/O API". I plan on performing several tests in the future to identify theperformance gains in using ASMLib. Those performance metrics and testing details are out of scope of this article and therefore will not bediscussed.

If you would like to learn more about Oracle ASMLib 2.0, visit http://www.oracle.com/technology/tech/linux/asmlib/

Install ASMLib 2.0 Packages

In previous editions of this article, here would be the time where you would need to download the ASMLib 2.0 software from Oracle ASMLibDownloads for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5. This is no longer necessary since the ASMLib software is included with Oracle Enterprise Linux(with the exception of the Userspace Library which is a separate download). The ASMLib 2.0 software stack includes the following packages:


ASMLib Kernel Driveroracleasm-x.x.x-x.el5-x.x.x-x.el5.i686.rpm - (for default kernel)oracleasm-x.x.x-x.el5xen-x.x.x-x.el5.i686.rpm - (for xen kernel)

Userspace Libraryoracleasmlib-x.x.x-x.el5.i386.rpm

Driver Support Filesoracleasm-support-x.x.x-x.el5.i386.rpm



http://www.oracle.com/technology/tech/linux/asmlib/





ASMLib Kernel Driveroracleasm-x.x.x-x.el5-x.x.x-x.el5.x86_64.rpm - (for default kernel)oracleasm-x.x.x-x.el5xen-x.x.x-x.el5.x86_64.rpm - (for xen kernel)

Userspace Libraryoracleasmlib-x.x.x-x.el5.x86_64.rpm

Driver Support Filesoracleasm-support-x.x.x-x.el5.x86_64.rpm

With Oracle Enterprise Linux 5, the ASMLib 2.0 software packages do not get installed by default. The ASMLib 2.0 kernel drivers can be found onCD #5 while the Driver Support File can be found on CD #3. The Userspace Library will need to be downloaded as it is not included withEnterprise Linux. To determine if the Oracle ASMLib packages are installed (which in most cases, they will not be), perform the following on bothOracle RAC nodes:

[root@racnode1 ~]# rpm -qa --queryformat "%{NAME}-%{VERSION}-%{RELEASE} (%{ARCH})\n"| grep oracleasm | sort

If the Oracle ASMLib 2.0 packages are not installed, load the Enterprise Linux CD #3 and then CD #5 into each of the Oracle RAC nodes andperform the following:

From Enterprise Linux 5.4 (x86_64) - [CD #3]mount -r /dev/cdrom /media/cdromcd /media/cdrom/Serverrpm -Uvh oracleasm-support-2.1.3-1.el5.x86_64.rpmcd /eject

From Enterprise Linux 5.4 (x86_64) - [CD #5]mount -r /dev/cdrom /media/cdromcd /media/cdrom/Serverrpm -Uvh oracleasm-2.6.18-164.el5-2.0.5-1.el5.x86_64.rpmcd /eject

After installing the ASMLib packages, verify from both Oracle RAC nodes that the software is installed:

[root@racnode1 ~]# rpm -qa --queryformat "%{NAME}-%{VERSION}-%{RELEASE} (%{ARCH})\n"| grep oracleasm | sortoracleasm-2.6.18-164.el5-2.0.5-1.el5 (x86_64)oracleasm-support-2.1.3-1.el5 (x86_64)

Download Oracle ASMLib Userspace Library

As mentioned in the previous section, the ASMLib 2.0 software is included with Enterprise Linux with the exception of the Userspace Library (a.k.a.the ASMLib support library). The Userspace Library is required and can be downloaded for free at:


oracleasmlib-2.0.4-1.el5.i386.rpm


oracleasmlib-2.0.4-1.el5.x86_64.rpm

After downloading the Userspace Library to both Oracle RAC nodes in the cluster, install it using the following:

[root@racnode1 ~]# rpm -Uvh oracleasmlib-2.0.4-1.el5.x86_64.rpmPreparing... ########################################### [100%] 1:oracleasmlib ########################################### [100%]

For information on obtaining the ASMLib support library through the Unbreakable Linux Network (which is not a requirement for this article), pleasevisit Getting Oracle ASMLib via the Unbreakable Linux Network.

Configure ASMLib

Now that you have installed the ASMLib Packages for Linux, you need to configure and load the ASM kernel module. This task needs to be run onboth Oracle RAC nodes as the root user account.

Note: The oracleasm command by default is in the path /usr/sbin. The /etc/init.d path, which was used in previous releases, is not deprecated,but the oracleasm binary in that path is now used typically for internal commands. If you enter the command oracleasm configure without the -iflag, then you are shown the current configuration. For example,

[root@racnode1 ~]# /usr/sbin/oracleasm configureORACLEASM_ENABLED=falseORACLEASM_UID=ORACLEASM_GID=ORACLEASM_SCANBOOT=trueORACLEASM_SCANORDER=""ORACLEASM_SCANEXCLUDE=""

1. Enter the following command to run the oracleasm initialization script with the configure option:

[root@racnode1 ~]# /usr/sbin/oracleasm configure -iConfiguring the Oracle ASM library driver.

This will configure the on-boot properties of the Oracle ASM librarydriver. The following questions will determine whether the driver isloaded on boot and what permissions it will have. The current valueswill be shown in brackets ('[]'). Hitting <ENTER> without typing ananswer will keep that current value. Ctrl-C will abort.

http://otn.oracle.com/software/tech/linux/asmlib/files/RPMS/rhel5/x86/2.0.4/oracleasmlib-2.0.4-1.el5.i386.rpm

http://otn.oracle.com/software/tech/linux/asmlib/files/RPMS/rhel5/amd64/2.0.4/oracleasmlib-2.0.4-1.el5.x86_64.rpm

http://www.oracle.com/technology/tech/linux/asmlib/uln.html



Default user to own the driver interface []: gridDefault group to own the driver interface []: asmadminStart Oracle ASM library driver on boot (y/n) [n]: yScan for Oracle ASM disks on boot (y/n) [y]: yWriting Oracle ASM library driver configuration: done

The script completes the following tasks:

Creates the /etc/sysconfig/oracleasm configuration fileCreates the /dev/oracleasm mount pointMounts the ASMLib driver file system

Note: The ASMLib driver file system is not a regular file system. It is used only by the Automatic Storage Management library tocommunicate with the Automatic Storage Management driver.

2. Enter the following command to load the oracleasm kernel module:

[root@racnode1 ~]# /usr/sbin/oracleasm initCreating /dev/oracleasm mount point: /dev/oracleasmLoading module "oracleasm": oracleasmMounting ASMlib driver filesystem: /dev/oracleasm

3. Repeat this procedure on all nodes in the cluster (racnode2) where you want to install Oracle RAC.

Create ASM Disks for Oracle

Creating the ASM disks only needs to be performed from one node in the RAC cluster as the root user account. I will be running these commandson racnode1. On the other Oracle RAC node(s), you will need to perform a scandisk to recognize the new volumes. When that is complete, youshould then run the oracleasm listdisks command on both Oracle RAC nodes to verify that all ASM disks were created and available.

In the section "Create Partitions on iSCSI Volumes", we configured (partitioned) three iSCSI volumes to be used by ASM. ASM will be used forstoring Oracle Clusterware files, Oracle database files like online redo logs, database files, control files, archived redo log files, and the FastRecovery Area. Use the local device names that were created by udev when configuring the three ASM volumes.

To create the ASM disks using the iSCSI target names to local device name mappings, type the following:

[root@racnode1 ~]# /usr/sbin/oracleasm createdisk CRSVOL1 /dev/iscsi/crs1/part1Writing disk header: doneInstantiating disk: done

[root@racnode1 ~]# /usr/sbin/oracleasm createdisk DATAVOL1 /dev/iscsi/data1/part1Writing disk header: doneInstantiating disk: done

[root@racnode1 ~]# /usr/sbin/oracleasm createdisk FRAVOL1 /dev/iscsi/fra1/part1Writing disk header: doneInstantiating disk: done

To make the disk available on the other nodes in the cluster (racnode2), enter the following command as root on each node:

[root@racnode2 ~]# /usr/sbin/oracleasm scandisksReloading disk partitions: doneCleaning any stale ASM disks...Scanning system for ASM disks...Instantiating disk "FRAVOL1"Instantiating disk "DATAVOL1"Instantiating disk "CRSVOL1"

We can now test that the ASM disks were successfully created by using the following command on both nodes in the RAC cluster as the root useraccount. This command identifies shared disks attached to the node that are marked as Automatic Storage Management disks:

[root@racnode1 ~]# /usr/sbin/oracleasm listdisksCRSVOL1DATAVOL1FRAVOL1

[root@racnode2 ~]# /usr/sbin/oracleasm listdisksCRSVOL1DATAVOL1FRAVOL1

19. Download Oracle RAC 11g Release 2 Software

The following download procedures only need to be performed on one node in the cluster.

The next step is to download and extract the required Oracle software packages from the Oracle Technology Network (OTN):

Note: If you do not currently have an account with Oracle OTN, you will need to create one. This is a FREE account!

Oracle offers a development and testing license free of charge. No support, however, is provided and the license does not permitproduction use. A full description of the license agreement is available on OTN.


http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/database/oracle11g/112010_linuxsoft.html


http://www.oracle.com/technology/pub/articles/hunter-rac11gr2-iscsi.html#Create Partitions on iSCSI Volumes

http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/database/oracle11g/112010_linuxsoft.html




You will be downloading and extracting the required software from Oracle to only one of the Linux nodes in the cluster — namely, racnode1. Youwill perform all Oracle software installs from this machine. The Oracle installer will copy the required software packages to all other nodes in theRAC configuration using remote access (scp).

Log in to the node that you will be performing all of the Oracle installations from (racnode1) as the appropriate software owner. For example, loginand download the Oracle grid infrastructure software to the directory /home/grid/software/oracle as the grid user. Next, log in and download theOracle Database and Oracle Examples (optional) software to the /home/oracle/software/oracle directory as the oracle user.

Download and Extract the Oracle Software

Download the following software packages:

Oracle Database 11g Release 2 Grid Infrastructure (11.2.0.1.0) for LinuxOracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2.0.1.0) for LinuxOracle Database 11g Release 2 Examples (optional)

All downloads are available from the same page.

Extract the Oracle grid infrastructure software as the grid user:

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ mkdir -p /home/grid/software/oracle[grid@racnode1 ~]$ mv linux.x64_11gR2_grid.zip /home/grid/software/oracle[grid@racnode1 ~]$ cd /home/grid/software/oracle[grid@racnode1 oracle]$ unzip linux.x64_11gR2_grid.zip

Extract the Oracle Database and Oracle Examples software as the oracle user:

[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ mkdir -p /home/oracle/software/oracle[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ mv linux.x64_11gR2_database_1of2.zip /home/oracle/software/oracle[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ mv linux.x64_11gR2_database_2of2.zip /home/oracle/software/oracle[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ mv linux.x64_11gR2_examples.zip /home/oracle/software/oracle[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ cd /home/oracle/software/oracle[oracle@racnode1 oracle]$ unzip linux.x64_11gR2_database_1of2.zip[oracle@racnode1 oracle]$ unzip linux.x64_11gR2_database_2of2.zip[oracle@racnode1 oracle]$ unzip linux.x64_11gR2_examples.zip

20. Preinstallation Tasks for Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Cluster

Perform the following checks on both Oracle RAC nodes in the cluster.

This section contains any remaining preinstallation tasks for Oracle grid infrastructure that have not already been discussed. Please note thatmanually running the Cluster Verification Utility (CVU) before running the Oracle installer is not required. The CVU is run automatically at the end ofthe Oracle grid infrastructure installation as part of the Configuration Assistants process.

Install the cvuqdisk Package for Linux

Install the operating system package cvuqdisk to both Oracle RAC nodes. Without cvuqdisk, Cluster Verification Utility cannot discover shareddisks, and you receive the error message "Package cvuqdisk not installed" when the Cluster Verification Utility is run (either manually or at the endof the Oracle grid infrastructure installation). Use the cvuqdisk RPM for your hardware architecture (for example, x86_64, or i386).

The cvuqdisk RPM can be found on the Oracle grid infrastructure installation media in the rpm directory. For the purpose of this article, the Oraclegrid infrastructure media was extracted to the /home/grid/software/oracle/grid directory on racnode1 as the grid user.

To install the cvuqdisk RPM, complete the following procedures:

1. Locate the cvuqdisk RPM package, which is in the directory rpm on the installation media from racnode1:

[racnode1]: /home/grid/software/oracle/grid/rpm/cvuqdisk-1.0.7-1.rpm

2. Copy the cvuqdisk package from racnode1 to racnode2 as the grid user account:

[racnode2]: /home/grid/software/oracle/grid/rpm/cvuqdisk-1.0.7-1.rpm

3. Log in as root on both Oracle RAC nodes:

[grid@racnode1 rpm]$ su

[grid@racnode2 rpm]$ su

4. Set the environment variable CVUQDISK_GRP to point to the group that will own cvuqdisk, which for this article is oinstall:

[root@racnode1 rpm]# CVUQDISK_GRP=oinstall; export CVUQDISK_GRP

[root@racnode2 rpm]# CVUQDISK_GRP=oinstall; export CVUQDISK_GRP

5. In the directory where you have saved the cvuqdisk RPM, use the following command to install the cvuqdisk package on both Oracle RACnodes:

[root@racnode1 rpm]# rpm -iv cvuqdisk-1.0.7-1.rpmPreparing packages for installation...cvuqdisk-1.0.7-1

[root@racnode2 rpm]# rpm -iv cvuqdisk-1.0.7-1.rpm




Preparing packages for installation...cvuqdisk-1.0.7-1

Verify Oracle Clusterware Requirements with CVU - (optional)

As stated earlier in this section, running the Cluster Verification Utility before running the Oracle installer is not required. Starting with OracleClusterware 11g release 2, Oracle Universal Installer (OUI) detects when the minimum requirements for an installation are not met, and createsshell scripts, called fixup scripts, to finish incomplete system configuration steps. If OUI detects an incomplete task, then it generates fixup scripts(runfixup.sh). You can run the fixup script after you click the Fix and Check Again Button during the Oracle grid infrastructure installation.

You also can have CVU generate fixup scripts before installation.

If you decide that you want to run the CVU, please keep in mind that it should be run as the grid user from from the node you will be performingthe Oracle installation from (racnode1). In addition, SSH connectivity with user equivalence must be configured for the grid user. If you intend toconfigure SSH connectivity using the OUI, the CVU utility will fail before having the opportunity to perform any of its critical checks and generatethe fixup scripts:

Checking user equivalence...

Check: User equivalence for user "grid" Node Name Comment ------------------------------------ ------------------------ racnode2 failed racnode1 failedResult: PRVF-4007 : User equivalence check failed for user "grid"

ERROR: User equivalence unavailable on all the specified nodesVerification cannot proceed

Pre-check for cluster services setup was unsuccessful on all the nodes.

Once all prerequisites for running the CVU utility have been met, you can now manually check your cluster configuration before installation andgenerate a fixup script to make operating system changes before starting the installation.

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ cd /home/grid/software/oracle/grid[grid@racnode1 grid]$ ./runcluvfy.sh stage -pre crsinst -n racnode1,racnode2 -fixup -verbose

Review the CVU report. The only failure that should be found given the configuration described in this article is:

Check: Membership of user "grid" in group "dba" Node Name User Exists Group Exists User in Group Comment ---------------- ------------ ------------ ------------ ---------------- racnode2 yes yes no failed racnode1 yes yes no failedResult: Membership check for user "grid" in group "dba" failed

The check fails because this guide creates role-allocated groups and users by using a Job Role Separation configuration which is not accuratelyrecognized by the CVU. Creating a Job Role Separation configuration was described in the section Create Job Role Separation Operating SystemPrivileges Groups, Users, and Directories. The CVU fails to recognize this type of configuration and assumes the grid user should always be part ofthe dba group. This failed check can be safely ignored. All other checks performed by CVU should be reported as "passed" before continuing withthe Oracle grid infrastructure installation.

Verify Hardware and Operating System Setup with CVU

The next CVU check to run will verify the hardware and operating system setup. Again, run the following as the grid user account from racnode1with user equivalence configured:

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ cd /home/grid/software/oracle/grid[grid@racnode1 grid]$ ./runcluvfy.sh stage -post hwos -n racnode1,racnode2 -verbose

Review the CVU report. All checks performed by CVU should be reported as "passed" before continuing with the Oracle grid infrastructureinstallation.


http://www.oracle.com/technology/pub/files/hunter_rac11gr2_iscsi_cvu_report_crsinst.txt

http://www.oracle.com/technology/pub/files/hunter_rac11gr2_iscsi_cvu_report_hwos.txt






Build Your Own Oracle RAC Cluster on Oracle Enterprise Linux and iSCSI (Continued)

The information in this guide is not validated by Oracle, is not supported by Oracle, and shouldonly be used at your own risk; it is for educational purposes only.

21. Install Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Cluster

Perform the following installation procedures from only one of the Oracle RAC nodes in the cluster (racnode1).The Oracle grid infrastructure software (Oracle Clusterware and Automatic Storage Management) will beinstalled to both of the Oracle RAC nodes in the cluster by the Oracle Universal Installer.

You are now ready to install the "grid" part of the environment — Oracle Clusterware and Automatic StorageManagement. Complete the following steps to install Oracle grid infrastructure on your cluster.

At any time during installation, if you have a question about what you are being asked to do, click the Helpbutton on the OUI page.

Typical and Advanced Installation

Starting with 11g release 2, Oracle now provides two options for installing the Oracle grid infrastructuresoftware:

Typical Installation

The typical installation option is a simplified installation with a minimal number of manual configurationchoices. This new option provides streamlined cluster installations, especially for those customers whoare new to clustering. Typical installation defaults as many options as possible to those recommended asbest practices.

Advanced Installation

The advanced installation option is an advanced procedure that requires a higher degree of systemknowledge. It enables you to select particular configuration choices, including additional storage andnetwork choices, use of operating system group authentication for role-based administrative privileges,integration with IPMI, or more granularity in specifying Automatic Storage Management roles.

Given the fact that this article makes use of role-based administrative privileges and high granularity inspecifying Automatic Storage Management roles, we will be using the "Advanced Installation" option.

Configuring SCAN without DNS

For the purpose of this article, although I indicated I will be manually assigning IP addresses using the DNSmethod for name resolution (as opposed to GNS), I will not actually be defining the SCAN in any DNS server(or GNS for that matter). Instead, I will only be defining the SCAN host name and IP address in the hosts file(/etc/hosts) on each Oracle RAC node and any clients attempting to connect to the database cluster.Although Oracle strongly discourages this practice and highly recommends the use of GNS or DNS resolution,I felt it beyond the scope of this article to configure DNS. This section includes a workaround (Ok, a totalhack) to the nslookup binary that allows the Cluster Verification Utility to finish successfully during the Oraclegrid infrastructure install. Please note that the workaround documented in this section is only for the sake ofbrevity and should not be considered for a production implementation.

Defining the SCAN in only the hosts file and not in either Grid Naming Service (GNS) or DNS is an invalid




http://www.oracle.com/technology/pub/articles/hunter-rac11gr2-iscsi.html#Manually Assigning Static IP Address - (The DNS Method)




configuration and will cause the Cluster Verification Utility to fail during the Oracle grid infrastructureinstallation:

Figure 17: Oracle Grid Infrastructure / CVU Error - (Configuring SCAN without DNS)

INFO: Checking Single Client Access Name (SCAN)...INFO: Checking name resolution setup for "racnode-cluster-scan"...INFO: ERROR:INFO: PRVF-4657 : Name resolution setup check for "racnode-cluster-scan" (IP address: 216.24.138.153) failedINFO: ERROR:INFO: PRVF-4657 : Name resolution setup check for "racnode-cluster-scan" (IP address: 192.168.1.187) failedINFO: ERROR:INFO: PRVF-4664 : Found inconsistent name resolution entries for SCAN name "racnode-cluster-scan"INFO: Verification of SCAN VIP and Listener setup failed

Provided this is the only error reported by the CVU, it would be safe to ignore this check and continue byclicking the [Next] button in OUI and move forward with the Oracle grid infrastructure installation. This isdocumented in Doc ID: 887471.1 on the My Oracle Support web site.

If on the other hand you want the CVU to complete successfully while still only defining the SCAN in the hostsfile, simply modify the nslookup utility as root on both Oracle RAC nodes as follows.

First, rename the original nslookup binary to nslookup.original on both Oracle RAC nodes:

[root@racnode1 ~]# mv /usr/bin/nslookup /usr/bin/nslookup.original

Next, create a new shell script named /usr/bin/nslookup as shown below while replacing 24.154.1.34 withyour primary DNS, racnode-cluster-scan with your SCAN host name, and 192.168.1.187 with your SCAN IPaddress:

#!/bin/bash

http://www.oracle.com/technology/pub/images/hunter_rac11gr2_iscsi_grid_s18.gif

https://support.oracle.com/CSP/ui/flash.html#tab=KBHome%28page=KBHome&id=%28%29%29,%28page=KBNavigator&id=%28viewingMode=1143&bmDocID=887471.1&from=BOOKMARK&bmDocType=PROBLEM&bmDocDsrc=DOCUMENT&bmDocTitle=PRVF-4664%20:%20Found%20inconsistent%20name%20resolution%20entries%20for%20SCAN%20name%29%29

http://www.myoraclesupport.com/



HOSTNAME=${1}

if [[ $HOSTNAME = "racnode-cluster-scan" ]]; then echo "Server: 24.154.1.34" echo "Address: 24.154.1.34#53" echo "Non-authoritative answer:" echo "Name: racnode-cluster-scan" echo "Address: 192.168.1.187"else /usr/bin/nslookup.original $HOSTNAMEfi

Finally, change the new nslookup shell script to executable:

[root@racnode1 ~]# chmod 755 /usr/bin/nslookup

Remember to perform these actions on both Oracle RAC nodes.

The new nslookup shell script simply echo's back your SCAN IP address whenever the CVU calls nslookup withyour SCAN host name; otherwise, it calls the original nslookup binary.

The CVU will now pass during the Oracle grid infrastructure installation when it attempts to verify your SCAN:

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ cluvfy comp scan -verbose

Verifying scan

Checking Single Client Access Name (SCAN)... SCAN VIP name Node Running? ListenerName Port Running? ---------------- ------------ ------------ ------------ ------------ ------------ racnode-cluster-scan racnode1 true LISTENER 1521 true

Checking name resolution setup for "racnode-cluster-scan"... SCAN Name IP Address Status Comment ------------ ------------------------ ------------------------ ---------- racnode-cluster-scan 192.168.1.187 passed

Verification of SCAN VIP and Listener setup passed

Verification of scan was successful.

===============================================================================

[grid@racnode2 ~]$ cluvfy comp scan -verbose

Verifying scan

Checking Single Client Access Name (SCAN)... SCAN VIP name Node Running? ListenerName Port Running? ---------------- ------------ ------------ ------------ ------------ ------------ racnode-cluster-scan racnode1 true LISTENER 1521 true

Checking name resolution setup for "racnode-cluster-scan"... SCAN Name IP Address Status Comment ------------ ------------------------ ------------------------ ---------- racnode-cluster-scan 192.168.1.187 passed

Verification of SCAN VIP and Listener setup passed

Verification of scan was successful.

Verify Terminal Shell Environment

Before starting the Oracle Universal Installer, log in to racnode1 as the owner of the Oracle grid infrastructuresoftware which for this article is grid. Next, if you are using a remote client to connect to the Oracle RACnode performing the installation (SSH or Telnet to racnode1 from a workstation configured with an X Server),verify your X11 display server settings which were described in the section, Logging In to a Remote SystemUsing X Terminal.





Install Oracle Grid Infrastructure

Perform the following tasks as the grid user to install Oracle grid infrastructure:

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ iduid=1100(grid) gid=1000(oinstall) groups=1000(oinstall),1200(asmadmin),1201(asmdba),1202(asmoper)

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ DISPLAY=<your local workstation>:0.0[grid@racnode1 ~]$ export DISPLAY

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ cd /home/grid/software/oracle/grid[grid@racnode1 grid]$ ./runInstaller

Screen Name Response Screen ShotSelectInstallationOption

Select "Install and Configure Grid Infrastructure for a Cluster"

SelectInstallationType

Select "Advanced Installation"

SelectProductLanguages

Make the appropriate selection(s) for your environment.

Grid Plug andPlayInformation

Instructions on how to configure Grid Naming Service (GNS) is beyond thescope of this article. Un-check the option to "Configure GNS".

Cluster Name SCAN Name SCAN Portracnode-cluster racnode-cluster-scan 1521

After clicking [Next], the OUI will attempt to validate the SCAN information:

Cluster NodeInformation

Use this screen to add the node racnode2 to the cluster and to configureSSH connectivity.

Click the "Add" button to add "racnode2" and its virtual IP address"racnode2-vip" according to the table below:

Public Node Name Virtual Host Nameracnode1 racnode1-vip

racnode2 racnode2-vip

Next, click the [SSH Connectivity] button. Enter the "OS Password" for thegrid user and click the [Setup] button. This will start the "SSH Connectivity"configuration process:

After the SSH configuration process successfully completes, acknowledge thedialog box.




http://www.oracle.com/technology/pub/articles/hunter-rac11gr2-iscsi.html#Grid Naming Service (GNS)





Finish off this screen by clicking the [Test] button to verify passwordlessSSH connectivity.

SpecifyNetworkInterfaceUsage

Identify the network interface to be used for the "Public" and "Private"network. Make any changes necessary to match the values in the tablebelow:

Interface Name Subnet Interface Typeeth0 192.168.1.0 Public

eth1 192.168.2.0 Private

StorageOptionInformation

Select "Automatic Storage Management (ASM)".

Create ASMDisk Group

Create an ASM Disk Group that will be used to store the Oracle Clusterwarefiles according to the values in the table below:

Disk Group Name Redundancy Disk PathCRS External ORCL:CRSVOL1

Specify ASMPassword

For the purpose of this article, I choose to "Use same passwords forthese accounts".

FailureIsolationSupport

Configuring Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) is beyond thescope of this article. Select "Do not use Intelligent PlatformManagement Interface (IPMI)".

PrivilegedOperatingSystemGroups

This article makes use of role-based administrative privileges and highgranularity in specifying Automatic Storage Management roles using a JobRole Separation. configuration.

Make any changes necessary to match the values in the table below:

OSDBA for ASM OSOPER for ASM OSASMasmdba asmoper asmadmin

SpecifyInstallationLocation

Set the "Oracle Base" ($ORACLE_BASE) and "Software Location"($ORACLE_HOME) for the Oracle grid infrastructure installation: Oracle Base: /u01/app/grid Software Location: /u01/app/11.2.0/grid

CreateInventory

Since this is the first install on the host, you will need to create the OracleInventory. Use the default values provided by the OUI: Inventory Directory: /u01/app/oraInventory oraInventory Group Name: oinstall

PrerequisiteChecks

The installer will run through a series of checks to determine if both OracleRAC nodes meet the minimum requirements for installing and configuringthe Oracle Clusterware and Automatic Storage Management software.

Starting with Oracle Clusterware 11g release 2 (11.2), if any checks fail, theinstaller (OUI) will create shell script programs, called fixup scripts, toresolve many incomplete system configuration requirements. If OUI detectsan incomplete task that is marked "fixable", then you can easily fix the issueby generating the fixup script by clicking the [Fix & Check Again] button.

The fixup script is generated during installation. You will be prompted to runthe script as root in a separate terminal session. When you run the script, itraises kernel values to required minimums, if necessary, and completesother operating system configuration tasks.














If all prerequisite checks pass (as was the case for my install), the OUIcontinues to the Summary screen.

Summary Click [Finish] to start the installation.

Setup The installer performs the Oracle grid infrastructure setup process on bothOracle RAC nodes.

ExecuteConfigurationscripts

After the installation completes, you will be prompted to run the/u01/app/oraInventory/orainstRoot.sh and /u01/app/11.2.0/grid/root.shscripts. Open a new console window on both Oracle RAC nodes in thecluster, (starting with the node you are performing the install from), as theroot user account.

Run the orainstRoot.sh script on both nodes in the RAC cluster:

[root@racnode1 ~]# /u01/app/oraInventory/orainstRoot.sh

[root@racnode2 ~]# /u01/app/oraInventory/orainstRoot.sh

Within the same new console window on both Oracle RAC nodes in thecluster, (starting with the node you are performing the install from), staylogged in as the root user account. Run the root.sh script on both nodes inthe RAC cluster one at a time starting with the node you are performingthe install from:

[root@racnode1 ~]# /u01/app/11.2.0/grid/root.sh

[root@racnode2 ~]# /u01/app/11.2.0/grid/root.sh

The root.sh script can take several minutes to run. When running root.shon the last node, you will receive output similar to the following whichsignifies a successful install:

...The inventory pointer is located at /etc/oraInst.locThe inventory is located at /u01/app/oraInventory'UpdateNodeList' was successful.

Go back to OUI and acknowledge the "Execute Configuration scripts" dialogwindow.

ConfigureOracle GridInfrastructurefor a Cluster

The installer will run configuration assistants for Oracle Net Services(NETCA), Automatic Storage Management (ASMCA), and Oracle PrivateInterconnect (VIPCA). The final step performed by OUI is to run the ClusterVerification Utility (CVU). If the configuration assistants and CVU runsuccessfully, you can exit OUI by clicking [Next] and then [Close].

As described earlier in this section, if you configured SCAN "only" in yourhosts file (/etc/hosts) and not in either Grid Naming Service (GNS) ormanually using DNS, this is considered an invalid configuration and willcause the Cluster Verification Utility to fail.

Provided this is the only error reported by the CVU, it would be safe toignore this check and continue by clicking [Next] and then the [Close]button to exit the OUI. This is documented in Doc ID: 887471.1 on the MyOracle Support web site.

If on the other hand you want the CVU to complete successfully while stillonly defining the SCAN in the hosts file, do not click the [Next] button inOUI to bypass the error. Instead, follow the instructions in sectionConfiguring SCAN without DNS to modify the nslookup utility. Aftercompleting the steps document in that section, return to the OUI and clickthe [Retry] button. The CVU should now finish with no errors. Click [Next]and then [Close] to exit the OUI.




http://www.oracle.com/technology/pub/articles/hunter-rac11gr2-iscsi.html#Grid Naming Service (GNS)


https://support.oracle.com/CSP/ui/flash.html#tab=KBHome%28page=KBHome&id=%28%29%29,%28page=KBNavigator&id=%28viewingMode=1143&bmDocID=887471.1&from=BOOKMARK&bmDocType=PROBLEM&bmDocDsrc=DOCUMENT&bmDocTitle=PRVF-4664%20:%20Found%20inconsistent%20name%20resolution%20entries%20for%20SCAN%20name%29%29






Finish At the end of the installation, click the [Close] button to exit the OUI.

Caution: After installation is complete, do not remove manually or run cron jobs that remove /tmp/.oracle or/var/tmp/.oracle or its files while Oracle Clusterware is up. If you remove these files, then Oracle Clusterwarecould encounter intermittent hangs, and you will encounter error CRS-0184: Cannot communicate with theCRS daemon.

22. Postinstallation Tasks for Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Cluster

Perform the following postinstallation procedures on both Oracle RAC nodes in the cluster.

Verify Oracle Clusterware Installation

After the installation of Oracle grid infrastructure, you should run through several tests to verify the install wassuccessful. Run the following commands on both nodes in the RAC cluster as the grid user.

Check CRS Status

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ crsctl check crsCRS-4638: Oracle High Availability Services is onlineCRS-4537: Cluster Ready Services is onlineCRS-4529: Cluster Synchronization Services is onlineCRS-4533: Event Manager is online

Check Clusterware Resources

Note: The crs_stat command is deprecated in Oracle Clusterware 11g release 2 (11.2).

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ crs_stat -t -vName Type R/RA F/FT Target State Host ----------------------------------------------------------------------ora.CRS.dg ora....up.type 0/5 0/ ONLINE ONLINE racnode1 ora....ER.lsnr ora....er.type 0/5 0/ ONLINE ONLINE racnode1 ora....N1.lsnr ora....er.type 0/5 0/0 ONLINE ONLINE racnode1 ora.asm ora.asm.type 0/5 0/ ONLINE ONLINE racnode1 ora.eons ora.eons.type 0/3 0/ ONLINE ONLINE racnode1 ora.gsd ora.gsd.type 0/5 0/ OFFLINE OFFLINE ora....network ora....rk.type 0/5 0/ ONLINE ONLINE racnode1 ora.oc4j ora.oc4j.type 0/5 0/0 OFFLINE OFFLINE ora.ons ora.ons.type 0/3 0/ ONLINE ONLINE racnode1 ora....SM1.asm application 0/5 0/0 ONLINE ONLINE racnode1 ora....E1.lsnr application 0/5 0/0 ONLINE ONLINE racnode1 ora....de1.gsd application 0/5 0/0 OFFLINE OFFLINE ora....de1.ons application 0/3 0/0 ONLINE ONLINE racnode1 ora....de1.vip ora....t1.type 0/0 0/0 ONLINE ONLINE racnode1 ora....SM2.asm application 0/5 0/0 ONLINE ONLINE racnode2 ora....E2.lsnr application 0/5 0/0 ONLINE ONLINE racnode2 ora....de2.gsd application 0/5 0/0 OFFLINE OFFLINE ora....de2.ons application 0/3 0/0 ONLINE ONLINE racnode2 ora....de2.vip ora....t1.type 0/0 0/0 ONLINE ONLINE racnode2 ora....ry.acfs ora....fs.type 0/5 0/ ONLINE ONLINE racnode1 ora.scan1.vip ora....ip.type 0/0 0/0 ONLINE ONLINE racnode1

Check Cluster Nodes

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ olsnodes -nracnode1 1racnode2 2

Check Oracle TNS Listener Process on Both Nodes

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ ps -ef | grep lsnr | grep -v 'grep' | grep -v 'ocfs' | awk '{print $9}'LISTENER_SCAN1LISTENER

[grid@racnode2 ~]$ ps -ef | grep lsnr | grep -v 'grep' | grep -v 'ocfs' | awk '{print $9}'LISTENER




Confirming Oracle ASM Function for Oracle Clusterware Files

If you installed the OCR and voting disk files on Oracle ASM, then use the following commandsyntax as the Grid Infrastructure installation owner to confirm that your Oracle ASM installation isrunning:

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ srvctl status asm -aASM is running on racnode1,racnode2ASM is enabled.

Check Oracle Cluster Registry (OCR)

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ ocrcheckStatus of Oracle Cluster Registry is as follows : Version : 3 Total space (kbytes) : 262120 Used space (kbytes) : 2404 Available space (kbytes) : 259716 ID : 1259866904 Device/File Name : +CRS Device/File integrity check succeeded

Device/File not configured




Cluster registry integrity check succeeded

Logical corruption check bypassed due to non-privileged user

Check Voting Disk

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ crsctl query css votedisk## STATE File Universal Id File Name Disk group-- ----- ----------------- --------- --------- 1. ONLINE 4cbbd0de4c694f50bfd3857ebd8ad8c4 (ORCL:CRSVOL1) [CRS]Located 1 voting disk(s).

Note: To manage Oracle ASM or Oracle Net 11g release 2 (11.2) or later installations, use the srvctl binaryin the Oracle grid infrastructure home for a cluster (Grid home). When we install Oracle Real ApplicationClusters (the Oracle database software), you cannot use the srvctl binary in the database home to manageOracle ASM or Oracle Net which reside in the Oracle grid infrastructure home.

Voting Disk Management

In prior releases, it was highly recommended to back up the voting disk using the dd command after installingthe Oracle Clusterware software. With Oracle Clusterware release 11.2 and later, backing up and restoring avoting disk using the dd is not supported and may result in the loss of the voting disk.

Backing up the voting disks in Oracle Clusterware 11g release 2 is no longer required. The voting disk data isautomatically backed up in OCR as part of any configuration change and is automatically restored to anyvoting disk added.

To learn more about managing the voting disks, Oracle Cluster Registry (OCR), and Oracle Local Registry(OLR), please refer to the Oracle Clusterware Administration and Deployment Guide 11g Release 2 (11.2).

Back Up the root.sh Script

Oracle recommends that you back up the root.sh script after you complete an installation. If you install otherproducts in the same Oracle home directory, then the installer updates the contents of the existing root.shscript during the installation. If you require information contained in the original root.sh script, then you canrecover it from the root.sh file copy.

Back up the root.sh file on both Oracle RAC nodes as root:

http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E11882_01/rac.112/e10717/votocr.htm#CHDJDFIC





[root@racnode1 ~]# cd /u01/app/11.2.0/grid[root@racnode1 grid]# cp root.sh root.sh.racnode1.AFTER_INSTALL_NOV-20-2009

[root@racnode2 ~]# cd /u01/app/11.2.0/grid[root@racnode2 grid]# cp root.sh root.sh.racnode2.AFTER_INSTALL_NOV-20-2009

Install Cluster Health Management Software - (Optional)

To address troubleshooting issues, Oracle recommends that you install Instantaneous Problem Detection OSTool (IPD/OS) if you are using Linux kernel 2.6.9 or higher. This article was written using Oracle EnterpriseLinux 5 update 4 which uses the 2.6.18 kernel:

[root@racnode1 ~]# uname -aLinux racnode1 2.6.18-164.el5 #1 SMP Thu Sep 3 04:15:13 EDT 2009 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

If you are using a Linux kernel earlier than 2.6.9, then you would use OS Watcher and RACDDT which isavailable through the My Oracle Support website (formerly Metalink).

The IPD/OS tool is designed to detect and analyze operating system and cluster resource-related degradationand failures. The tool can provide better explanations for many issues that occur in clusters where OracleClusterware, Oracle ASM and Oracle RAC are running, such as node evictions. It tracks the operating systemresource consumption at each node, process, and device level continuously. It collects and analyzes cluster-wide data. In real time mode, when thresholds are reached, an alert is shown to the operator. For root causeanalysis, historical data can be replayed to understand what was happening at the time of failure.

Instructions for installing and configuring the IPD/OS tool is beyond the scope of this article and will not bediscussed. You can download the IPD/OS tool along with a detailed installation and configuration guide at thefollowing URL:

http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/database/clustering/ipd_download_homepage.html

23. Create ASM Disk Groups for Data and Fast Recovery Area

Run the ASM Configuration Assistant (asmca) as the grid user from only one node in the cluster (racnode1) tocreate the additional ASM disk groups which will be used to create the clustered database.

During the installation of Oracle grid infrastructure, we configured one ASM disk group named +CRS which wasused to store the Oracle clusterware files (OCR and voting disk).

In this section, we will create two additional ASM disk groups using the ASM Configuration Assistant (asmca).These new ASM disk groups will be used later in this guide when creating the clustered database.

The first ASM disk group will be named +RACDB_DATA and will be used to store all Oracle physical database files(data, online redo logs, control files, archived redo logs). A second ASM disk group will be created for the FastRecovery Area named +FRA.


Before starting the ASM Configuration Assistant, log in to racnode1 as the owner of the Oracle gridinfrastructure software which for this article is grid. Next, if you are using a remote client to connect to theOracle RAC node performing the installation (SSH or Telnet to racnode1 from a workstation configured with anX Server), verify your X11 display server settings which were described in the section, Logging In to a RemoteSystem Using X Terminal.

Create Additional ASM Disk Groups using ASMCA

Perform the following tasks as the grid user to create two additional ASM disk groups:


http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/database/clustering/ipd_download_homepage.html





[grid@racnode1 ~]$ asmca &

ScreenName Response Screen Shot

DiskGroups From the "Disk Groups" tab, click the "Create" button.

CreateDiskGroup

The "Create Disk Group" dialog should show two of the ASMLib volumes we createdearlier in this guide.

If the ASMLib volumes we created earlier in this article do not show up in the"Select Member Disks" window as eligible (ORCL:DATAVOL1 and ORCL:FRAVOL1) thenclick on the "Change Disk Discovery Path" button and input "ORCL:*".

When creating the "Data" ASM disk group, use "RACDB_DATA" for the "Disk GroupName". In the "Redundancy" section, choose "External (none)". Finally, check theASMLib volume "ORCL:DATAVOL1" in the "Select Member Disks" section.

After verifying all values in this dialog are correct, click the "[OK]" button.

DiskGroups

After creating the first ASM disk group, you will be returned to the initial dialog.Click the "Create" button again to create the second ASM disk group.

CreateDiskGroup

The "Create Disk Group" dialog should now show the final remaining ASMLibvolume.

When creating the "Fast Recovery Area" disk group, use "FRA" for the "Disk GroupName". In the "Redundancy" section, choose "External (none)". Finally, check theASMLib volume "ORCL:FRAVOL1" in the "Select Member Disks" section.

After verifying all values in this dialog are correct, click the "[OK]" button.

DiskGroups Exit the ASM Configuration Assistant by clicking the [Exit] button.

24. Install Oracle Database 11g with Oracle Real Application Clusters

Perform the Oracle Database software installation from only one of the Oracle RAC nodes in the cluster(racnode1)! The Oracle Database software will be installed to both of Oracle RAC nodes in the cluster by theOracle Universal Installer using SSH.

Now that the grid infrastructure software is functional, you can install the Oracle Database software on theone node in your cluster (racnode1) as the oracle user. OUI copies the binary files from this node to all theother node in the cluster during the installation process.

For the purpose of this guide, we will forgo the "Create Database" option when installing the Oracle Databasesoftware. The clustered database will be created later in this guide using the Database Configuration Assistant(DBCA) after all installs have been completed.


Before starting the Oracle Universal Installer (OUI), log in to racnode1 as the owner of the Oracle Databasesoftware which for this article is oracle. Next, if you are using a remote client to connect to the Oracle RACnode performing the installation (SSH or Telnet to racnode1 from a workstation configured with an X Server),verify your X11 display server settings which were described in the section, Logging In to a Remote SystemUsing X Terminal.

Install Oracle Database 11g Release 2 Software

http://www.oracle.com/technology/pub/images/hunter_rac11gr2_iscsi_asmca_s01.gif









Perform the following tasks as the oracle user to install the Oracle Database software:

[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ iduid=1101(oracle) gid=1000(oinstall) groups=1000(oinstall),1201(asmdba),1300(dba),1301(oper)

[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ DISPLAY=<your local workstation>:0.0[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ export DISPLAY

[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ cd /home/oracle/software/oracle/database[oracle@racnode1 database]$ ./runInstaller

Screen Name Response Screen Shot

Configure Security UpdatesFor the purpose of this article, un-check the securityupdates checkbox and click the [Next] button to continue.Acknowledge the warning dialog indicating you have notprovided an email address by clicking the [Yes] button.

Installation Option Select "Install database software only".

Grid Options

Select the "Real Application Clusters databaseinstallation" radio button (default) and verify that bothOracle RAC nodes are checked in the "Node Name"window.

Next, click the [SSH Connectivity] button. Enter the "OSPassword" for the oracle user and click the [Setup]button. This will start the "SSH Connectivity" configurationprocess:

After the SSH configuration process successfully completes,acknowledge the dialog box.

Finish off this screen by clicking the [Test] button to verifypasswordless SSH connectivity.

Product Languages Make the appropriate selection(s) for your environment.

Database Edition Select "Enterprise Edition".

Installation Location

Specify the Oracle base and Software location(Oracle_home) as follows: Oracle Base: /u01/app/oracle Software Location:/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1

Operating System GroupsSelect the OS groups to be used for the SYSDBA andSYSOPER privileges: Database Administrator (OSDBA) Group: dba Database Operator (OSOPER) Group: operThe installer will run through a series of checks todetermine if both Oracle RAC nodes meet the minimumrequirements for installing and configuring the OracleDatabase software.

Starting with 11g release 2 (11.2), if any checks fail, theinstaller (OUI) will create shell script programs, called fixupscripts, to resolve many incomplete system configurationrequirements. If OUI detects an incomplete task that is

http://www.oracle.com/technology/pub/images/hunter_rac11gr2_iscsi_database_s01.gif









Prerequisite Checksmarked "fixable", then you can easily fix the issue bygenerating the fixup script by clicking the [Fix & CheckAgain] button.

The fixup script is generated during installation. You will beprompted to run the script as root in a separate terminalsession. When you run the script, it raises kernel values torequired minimums, if necessary, and completes otheroperating system configuration tasks.

If all prerequisite checks pass (as was the case for myinstall), the OUI continues to the Summary screen.


Install Product The installer performs the Oracle Database softwareinstallation process on both Oracle RAC nodes.

Execute Configuration scripts

After the installation completes, you will be prompted torun the /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1/root.shscript on both Oracle RAC nodes. Open a new consolewindow on both Oracle RAC nodes in the cluster, (startingwith the node you are performing the install from), as theroot user account.

Run the root.sh script on all nodes in the RAC cluster:

[root@racnode1 ~]# /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1/root.sh

[root@racnode2 ~]# /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1/root.sh

Go back to OUI and acknowledge the "ExecuteConfiguration scripts" dialog window.

Finish At the end of the installation, click the [Close] button toexit the OUI.

25. Install Oracle Database 11g Examples (formerly Companion)

Perform the Oracle Database 11g Examples software installation from only one of the Oracle RAC nodes in thecluster (racnode1)! The Oracle Database Examples software will be installed to both of Oracle RAC nodes inthe cluster by the Oracle Universal Installer using SSH.

Now that the Oracle Database 11g software is installed, you have the option to install the Oracle Database11g Examples. Like the Oracle Database software install, the Examples software is only installed from onenode in your cluster (racnode1) as the oracle user. OUI copies the binary files from this node to all the othernode in the cluster during the installation process.


Before starting the Oracle Universal Installer (OUI), log in to racnode1 as the owner of the Oracle Databasesoftware which for this article is oracle. Next, if you are using a remote client to connect to the Oracle RACnode performing the installation (SSH or Telnet to racnode1 from a workstation configured with an X Server),verify your X11 display server settings which were described in the section, Logging In to a Remote SystemUsing X Terminal.

Install Oracle Database 11g Release 2 Examples

Perform the following tasks as the oracle user to install the Oracle Database Examples:










[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ cd /home/oracle/software/oracle/examples[oracle@racnode1 examples]$ ./runInstaller

Screen Name Response Screen Shot

Installation Location

Specify the Oracle base and Software location(Oracle_home) as follows: Oracle Base: /u01/app/oracle Software Location:/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1

Prerequisite Checks

The installer will run through a series of checks todetermine if both Oracle RAC nodes meet the minimumrequirements for installing and configuring the OracleDatabase Examples software.

Starting with 11g release 2 (11.2), if any checks fail, theinstaller (OUI) will create shell script programs, called fixupscripts, to resolve many incomplete system configurationrequirements. If OUI detects an incomplete task that ismarked "fixable", then you can easily fix the issue bygenerating the fixup script by clicking the [Fix & CheckAgain] button.

The fixup script is generated during installation. You will beprompted to run the script as root in a separate terminalsession. When you run the script, it raises kernel values torequired minimums, if necessary, and completes otheroperating system configuration tasks.

If all prerequisite checks pass (as was the case for myinstall), the OUI continues to the Summary screen.


Install Product The installer performs the Oracle Database Examplessoftware installation process on both Oracle RAC nodes.

Finish At the end of the installation, click the [Close] button toexit the OUI.

26. Create the Oracle Cluster Database

The database creation process should only be performed from one of the Oracle RAC nodes in the cluster(racnode1).

Use the Oracle Database Configuration Assistant (DBCA) to create the clustered database.

Before executing the DBCA, make certain that the $ORACLE_HOME and $PATH are set appropriately for the$ORACLE_BASE/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1 environment. Setting environment variables in the login script for theoracle user account was covered in Section 13.

You should also verify that all services we have installed up to this point (Oracle TNS listener, OracleClusterware processes, etc.) are running before attempting to start the clustered database creation process:

[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ su - grid -c "crs_stat -t -v"Password: *********Name Type R/RA F/FT Target State Host ----------------------------------------------------------------------ora.CRS.dg ora....up.type 0/5 0/ ONLINE ONLINE racnode1 ora.FRA.dg ora....up.type 0/5 0/ ONLINE ONLINE racnode1 ora....ER.lsnr ora....er.type 0/5 0/ ONLINE ONLINE racnode1

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http://www.oracle.com/technology/pub/articles/hunter-rac11gr2-iscsi-2.html#Create Login Script for the oracle User Account



ora....N1.lsnr ora....er.type 0/5 0/0 ONLINE ONLINE racnode1 ora....DATA.dg ora....up.type 0/5 0/ ONLINE ONLINE racnode1 ora.asm ora.asm.type 0/5 0/ ONLINE ONLINE racnode1 ora.eons ora.eons.type 0/3 0/ ONLINE ONLINE racnode1 ora.gsd ora.gsd.type 0/5 0/ OFFLINE OFFLINE ora....network ora....rk.type 0/5 0/ ONLINE ONLINE racnode1 ora.oc4j ora.oc4j.type 0/5 0/0 OFFLINE OFFLINE ora.ons ora.ons.type 0/3 0/ ONLINE ONLINE racnode1 ora....SM1.asm application 0/5 0/0 ONLINE ONLINE racnode1 ora....E1.lsnr application 0/5 0/0 ONLINE ONLINE racnode1 ora....de1.gsd application 0/5 0/0 OFFLINE OFFLINE ora....de1.ons application 0/3 0/0 ONLINE ONLINE racnode1 ora....de1.vip ora....t1.type 0/0 0/0 ONLINE ONLINE racnode1 ora....SM2.asm application 0/5 0/0 ONLINE ONLINE racnode2 ora....E2.lsnr application 0/5 0/0 ONLINE ONLINE racnode2 ora....de2.gsd application 0/5 0/0 OFFLINE OFFLINE ora....de2.ons application 0/3 0/0 ONLINE ONLINE racnode2 ora....de2.vip ora....t1.type 0/0 0/0 ONLINE ONLINE racnode2 ora....ry.acfs ora....fs.type 0/5 0/ ONLINE ONLINE racnode1 ora.scan1.vip ora....ip.type 0/0 0/0 ONLINE ONLINE racnode1


Before starting the Database Configuration Assistant (DBCA), log in to racnode1 as the owner of the OracleDatabase software which for this article is oracle. Next, if you are using a remote client to connect to theOracle RAC node performing the installation (SSH or Telnet to racnode1 from a workstation configured with anX Server), verify your X11 display server settings which were described in the section, Logging In to a RemoteSystem Using X Terminal.

Create the Clustered Database

To start the database creation process, run the following as the oracle user:

[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ dbca &

Screen Name Response Screen ShotWelcome Screen Select Oracle Real Application Clusters database.

Operations Select Create a Database.

Database Templates Select Custom Database.

Database Identification

Cluster database configuration. Configuration Type: Admin-Managed

Database naming. Global Database Name: racdb.idevelopment.info SID Prefix: racdb

Note: I used idevelopment.info for the database domain.You may use any database domain. Keep in mind that thisdomain does not have to be a valid DNS domain.

Node Selection.Click the [Select All] button to select all servers:racnode1 and racnode2.

Management OptionsLeave the default options here, which is to ConfigureEnterprise Manager / Configure Database Controlfor local management.

Database CredentialsI selected to Use the Same Administrative Passwordfor All Accounts. Enter the password (twice) and makesure the password does not start with a digit number.

Database File LocationsSpecify storage type and locations for database files. Storage Type: Automatic Storage Management (ASM) Storage Locations: Use Oracle-Managed Files



http://www.oracle.com/technology/pub/images/hunter_rac11gr2_iscsi_dbca_s01.gif









Database Area: +RACDB_DATASpecify ASMSNMP Password Specify the ASMSNMP password for the ASM instance.

Recovery Configuration

Check the option for Specify Fast Recovery Area.

For the Fast Recovery Area, click the [Browse] button andselect the disk group name +FRA.

My disk group has a size of about 33GB. When definingthe Fast Recovery Area size, use the entire volume minus10% for overhead — (33-10%=30 GB). I used a FastRecovery Area Size of 30 GB (30413 MB).

Database Content

I left all of the Database Components (and destinationtablespaces) set to their default value although it isperfectly OK to select the Sample Schemas. This optionis available since we installed the Oracle Database 11gExamples.

Initialization Parameters Change any parameters for your environment. I left themall at their default settings.

Database Storage Change any parameters for your environment. I left themall at their default settings.

Creation Options

Keep the default option Create Database selected. I alsoalways select to Generate Database Creation Scripts.Click Finish to start the database creation process. Afteracknowledging the database creation report and scriptgeneration dialog, the database creation will start.

Click OK on the "Summary" screen.

End of Database Creation At the end of the database creation, exit from the DBCA.

When the DBCA has completed, you will have a fully functional Oracle RAC cluster running!

Verify Clustered Database is Open

[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ su - grid -c "crsctl status resource -w \"TYPE co 'ora'\" -t"Password: *********--------------------------------------------------------------------------------NAME TARGET STATE SERVER STATE_DETAILS --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Local Resources--------------------------------------------------------------------------------ora.CRS.dg ONLINE ONLINE racnode1 ONLINE ONLINE racnode2 ora.FRA.dg ONLINE ONLINE racnode1 ONLINE ONLINE racnode2 ora.LISTENER.lsnr ONLINE ONLINE racnode1 ONLINE ONLINE racnode2 ora.RACDB_DATA.dg ONLINE ONLINE racnode1 ONLINE ONLINE racnode2 ora.asm ONLINE ONLINE racnode1 Started ONLINE ONLINE racnode2 Started ora.eons ONLINE ONLINE racnode1 ONLINE ONLINE racnode2 ora.gsd OFFLINE OFFLINE racnode1 OFFLINE OFFLINE racnode2 ora.net1.network ONLINE ONLINE racnode1 ONLINE ONLINE racnode2 ora.ons ONLINE ONLINE racnode1










ONLINE ONLINE racnode2 ora.registry.acfs ONLINE ONLINE racnode1 ONLINE ONLINE racnode2 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Cluster Resources--------------------------------------------------------------------------------ora.LISTENER_SCAN1.lsnr 1 ONLINE ONLINE racnode1 ora.oc4j 1 OFFLINE OFFLINE ora.racdb.db 1 ONLINE ONLINE racnode1 Open 2 ONLINE ONLINE racnode2 Open ora.racnode1.vip 1 ONLINE ONLINE racnode1 ora.racnode2.vip 1 ONLINE ONLINE racnode2 ora.scan1.vip 1 ONLINE ONLINE racnode1

Oracle Enterprise Manager

If you configured Oracle Enterprise Manager (Database Control), it can be used to view the databaseconfiguration and current status of the database.

The URL for this example is: https://racnode1:1158/em

[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ emctl status dbconsoleOracle Enterprise Manager 11g Database Control Release 11.2.0.1.0 Copyright (c) 1996, 2009 Oracle Corporation. All rights reserved.https://racnode1:1158/em/console/aboutApplicationOracle Enterprise Manager 11g is running. ------------------------------------------------------------------Logs are generated in directory /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1/racnode1_racdb/sysman/log

Figure 18: Oracle Enterprise Manager - (Database Console)

http://www.oracle.com/technology/pub/images/hunter_rac11gr2_iscsi_oem_s01-1.gif



27. Post Database Creation Tasks - (Optional)

This section offers several optional tasks that can be performed on your new Oracle 11g in order to enhanceavailability as well as database management.

Re-compile Invalid Objects

Run the utlrp.sql script to recompile all invalid PL/SQL packages now instead of when the packages areaccessed for the first time. This step is optional but recommended.

[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ sqlplus / as sysdbaSQL> @?/rdbms/admin/utlrp.sql

Enabling Archive Logs in a RAC Environment

Whether a single instance or clustered database, Oracle tracks and logs all changes to database blocks inonline redolog files. In an Oracle RAC environment, each instance will have its own set of online redolog filesknown as a thread. Each Oracle instance will use its group of online redologs in a circular manner. Once anonline redolog fills, Oracle moves to the next one. If the database is in "Archive Log Mode", Oracle will make acopy of the online redo log before it gets reused. A thread must contain at least two online redologs (or onlineredolog groups). The same holds true for a single instance configuration. The single instance must contain atleast two online redologs (or online redolog groups).

The size of an online redolog file is completely independent of another instance's' redolog size. Although inmost configurations the size is the same, it may be different depending on the workload and backup /recovery considerations for each node. It is also worth mentioning that each instance has exclusive writeaccess to its own online redolog files. In a correctly configured RAC environment, however, each instance canread another instance's current online redolog file to perform instance recovery if that instance wasterminated abnormally. It is therefore a requirement that online redo logs be located on a shared storagedevice (just like the database files).

As already mentioned, Oracle writes to its online redolog files in a circular manner. When the current onlineredolog fills, Oracle will switch to the next one. To facilitate media recovery, Oracle allows the DBA to put thedatabase into "Archive Log Mode" which makes a copy of the online redolog after it fills (and before it getsreused). This is a process known as archiving.

The Database Configuration Assistant (DBCA) allows users to configure a new database to be in archive logmode, however most DBA's opt to bypass this option during initial database creation. In cases like this wherethe database is in no archive log mode, it is a simple task to put the database into archive log mode. Notehowever that this will require a short database outage. From one of the nodes in the Oracle RACconfiguration, use the following tasks to put a RAC enabled database into archive log mode. For the purposeof this article, I will use the node racnode1 which runs the racdb1 instance:

1. Log in to one of the nodes (i.e. racnode1) as oracle and disable the cluster instance parameter bysetting cluster_database to FALSE from the current instance:

[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ sqlplus / as sysdba

SQL> alter system set cluster_database=false scope=spfile sid='racdb1';

System altered.

2. Shutdown all instances accessing the clustered database as the oracle user:

[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ srvctl stop database -d racdb

3. Using the local instance, MOUNT the database:


SQL*Plus: Release 11.2.0.1.0 Production on Sat Nov 21 19:26:47 2009

Copyright (c) 1982, 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Connected to an idle instance.



SQL> startup mountORACLE instance started.

Total System Global Area 1653518336 bytesFixed Size 2213896 bytesVariable Size 1073743864 bytesDatabase Buffers 570425344 bytesRedo Buffers 7135232 bytes

4. Enable archiving:

SQL> alter database archivelog;

Database altered.

5. Re-enable support for clustering by modifying the instance parameter cluster_database to TRUE from thecurrent instance:

SQL> alter system set cluster_database=true scope=spfile sid='racdb1';

System altered.

6. Shutdown the local instance:

SQL> shutdown immediate

ORA-01109: database not open

Database dismounted.ORACLE instance shut down.

7. Bring all instance back up as the oracle account using srvctl:

[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ srvctl start database -d racdb

8. Login to the local instance and verify Archive Log Mode is enabled:


SQL*Plus: Release 11.2.0.1.0 Production on Sat Nov 21 19:33:38 2009

Copyright (c) 1982, 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Connected to:Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition Release 11.2.0.1.0 - 64bit ProductionWith the Partitioning, Real Application Clusters, Automatic Storage Management, OLAP,Data Mining and Real Application Testing options

SQL> archive log listDatabase log mode Archive ModeAutomatic archival EnabledArchive destination USE_DB_RECOVERY_FILE_DESTOldest online log sequence 69Next log sequence to archive 70Current log sequence 70

After enabling Archive Log Mode, each instance in the RAC configuration can automatically archive redologs!

Download and Install Custom Oracle Database Scripts

DBA's rely on Oracle's data dictionary views and dynamic performance views in order to support and bettermanage their databases. Although these views provide a simple and easy mechanism to query criticalinformation regarding the database, it helps to have a collection of accurate and readily available SQL scriptsto query these views.

In this section you will download and install a collection of Oracle DBA scripts that can be used to managemany aspects of your database including space management, performance, backups, security, and sessionmanagement. The Oracle DBA scripts archive can be downloaded using the following linkhttp://www.idevelopment.info/data/Oracle/DBA_scripts/common.zip. As the oracle user account, downloadthe common.zip archive to the $ORACLE_BASE directory of each node in the cluster. For the purpose of this

http://www.idevelopment.info/data/Oracle/DBA_scripts/common.zip



example, the common.zip archive will be copied to /u01/app/oracle. Next, unzip the archive file to the$ORACLE_BASE directory.

For example, perform the following on both nodes in the Oracle RAC cluster as the oracle user account:

[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ mv common.zip /u01/app/oracle[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ cd /u01/app/oracle[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ unzip common.zip

The final step is to verify (or set) the appropriate environment variable for the current UNIX shell to ensurethe Oracle SQL scripts can be run from within SQL*Plus while in any directory. For UNIX, verify the followingenvironment variable is set and included in your login shell script:

ORACLE_PATH=$ORACLE_BASE/common/oracle/sql:.:$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/adminexport ORACLE_PATH

Note: The ORACLE_PATH environment variable should already be set in the .bash_profile login script that wascreated in the section Create Login Script for the oracle User Account.

Now that the Oracle DBA scripts have been unzipped and the UNIX environment variable ($ORACLE_PATH) hasbeen set to the appropriate directory, you should now be able to run any of the SQL scripts in your$ORACLE_BASE/common/oracle/sql while logged into SQL*Plus. For example, to query tablespace informationwhile logged into the Oracle database as a DBA user:

SQL> @dba_tablespaces

Status Tablespace Name TS Type Ext. Mgt. Seg. Mgt. Tablespace Size Used (in bytes) Pct. Used------- ----------------- ------------ ---------- --------- ---------------- ---------------- ---------ONLINE SYSAUX PERMANENT LOCAL AUTO 629,145,600 511,967,232 81ONLINE UNDOTBS1 UNDO LOCAL MANUAL 1,059,061,760 948,043,776 90ONLINE USERS PERMANENT LOCAL AUTO 5,242,880 1,048,576 20ONLINE SYSTEM PERMANENT LOCAL MANUAL 734,003,200 703,135,744 96ONLINE EXAMPLE PERMANENT LOCAL AUTO 157,286,400 85,131,264 54ONLINE UNDOTBS2 UNDO LOCAL MANUAL 209,715,200 20,840,448 10ONLINE TEMP TEMPORARY LOCAL MANUAL 75,497,472 66,060,288 88 ---------------- ---------------- ---------avg 63sum 2,869,952,512 2,336,227,328

7 rows selected.

To obtain a list of all available Oracle DBA scripts while logged into SQL*Plus, run the help.sql script:

SQL> @help.sql

========================================Automatic Shared Memory Management========================================asmm_components.sql

========================================Automatic Storage Management========================================asm_alias.sqlasm_clients.sqlasm_diskgroups.sqlasm_disks.sqlasm_disks_perf.sqlasm_drop_files.sqlasm_files.sqlasm_files2.sqlasm_templates.sql

< --- SNIP --- >

http://www.oracle.com/technology/pub/articles/hunter-rac11gr2-iscsi-2.html#Create Login Script for the oracle User Account



perf_top_sql_by_buffer_gets.sqlperf_top_sql_by_disk_reads.sql

========================================Workspace Manager========================================wm_create_workspace.sqlwm_disable_versioning.sqlwm_enable_versioning.sqlwm_freeze_workspace.sqlwm_get_workspace.sqlwm_goto_workspace.sqlwm_merge_workspace.sqlwm_refresh_workspace.sqlwm_remove_workspace.sqlwm_unfreeze_workspace.sqlwm_workspaces.sql

28. Create / Alter Tablespaces

When creating the clustered database, we left all tablespaces set to their default size. If you are using a largedrive for the shared storage, you may want to make a sizable testing database.

Below are several optional SQL commands for modifying and creating all tablespaces for the test database.Please keep in mind that the database file names (OMF files) used in this example may differ from what theOracle Database Configuration Assistant (DBCA) creates for your environment. When working through thissection, substitute the data file names that were created in your environment where appropriate. Thefollowing query can be used to determine the file names for your environment:

SQL> select tablespace_name, file_name 2 from dba_data_files 3 union 4 select tablespace_name, file_name 5 from dba_temp_files;

TABLESPACE_NAME FILE_NAME--------------- --------------------------------------------------EXAMPLE +RACDB_DATA/racdb/datafile/example.263.703530435SYSAUX +RACDB_DATA/racdb/datafile/sysaux.260.703530411SYSTEM +RACDB_DATA/racdb/datafile/system.259.703530397TEMP +RACDB_DATA/racdb/tempfile/temp.262.703530429UNDOTBS1 +RACDB_DATA/racdb/datafile/undotbs1.261.703530423UNDOTBS2 +RACDB_DATA/racdb/datafile/undotbs2.264.703530441USERS +RACDB_DATA/racdb/datafile/users.265.703530447

7 rows selected.

[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ sqlplus "/ as sysdba"

SQL> create user scott identified by tiger default tablespace users;

User created.

SQL> grant dba, resource, connect to scott;

Grant succeeded.

SQL> alter database datafile '+RACDB_DATA/racdb/datafile/users.265.703530447' resize 1024m;

Database altered.

SQL> alter tablespace users add datafile '+RACDB_DATA' size 1024m autoextend off;

Tablespace altered.

SQL> create tablespace indx datafile '+RACDB_DATA' size 1024m 2 autoextend on next 100m maxsize unlimited 3 extent management local autoallocate 4 segment space management auto;

Tablespace created.

SQL> alter database datafile '+RACDB_DATA/racdb/datafile/system.259.703530397' resize 1024m;



Database altered.

SQL> alter database datafile '+RACDB_DATA/racdb/datafile/sysaux.260.703530411' resize 1024m;

Database altered.

SQL> alter database datafile '+RACDB_DATA/racdb/datafile/undotbs1.261.703530423' resize 1024m;

Database altered.

SQL> alter database datafile '+RACDB_DATA/racdb/datafile/undotbs2.264.703530441' resize 1024m;

Database altered.

SQL> alter database tempfile '+RACDB_DATA/racdb/tempfile/temp.262.703530429' resize 1024m;

Database altered.

Here is a snapshot of the tablespaces I have defined for my test database environment:

Status Tablespace Name TS Type Ext. Mgt. Seg. Mgt. Tablespace Size Used (in bytes) Pct. Used------- ----------------- ------------ ---------- --------- ---------------- ---------------- ---------ONLINE SYSAUX PERMANENT LOCAL AUTO 1,073,741,824 512,098,304 48ONLINE UNDOTBS1 UNDO LOCAL MANUAL 1,073,741,824 948,043,776 88ONLINE USERS PERMANENT LOCAL AUTO 2,147,483,648 2,097,152 0ONLINE SYSTEM PERMANENT LOCAL MANUAL 1,073,741,824 703,201,280 65ONLINE EXAMPLE PERMANENT LOCAL AUTO 157,286,400 85,131,264 54ONLINE INDX PERMANENT LOCAL AUTO 1,073,741,824 1,048,576 0ONLINE UNDOTBS2 UNDO LOCAL MANUAL 1,073,741,824 20,840,448 2ONLINE TEMP TEMPORARY LOCAL MANUAL 1,073,741,824 66,060,288 6 ---------------- ---------------- ---------avg 33sum 8,747,220,992 2,338,521,088

8 rows selected.

29. Verify Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Database Configuration

The following Oracle Clusterware and Oracle RAC verification checks can be performed on any of the OracleRAC nodes in the cluster. For the purpose of this article, I will only be performing checks from racnode1 as theoracle OS user.

Most of the checks described in this section use the Server Control Utility (SRVCTL) and can be run as eitherthe oracle or grid OS user. There are five node-level tasks defined for SRVCTL:

Adding and deleting node-level applicationsSetting and un-setting the environment for node-level applicationsAdministering node applicationsAdministering ASM instancesStarting and stopping a group of programs that includes virtual IP addresses, listeners, OracleNotification Services, and Oracle Enterprise Manager agents (for maintenance purposes).

Oracle also provides the Oracle Clusterware Control (CRSCTL) utility. CRSCTL is an interface between you andOracle Clusterware, parsing and calling Oracle Clusterware APIs for Oracle Clusterware objects.

Oracle Clusterware 11g release 2 (11.2) introduces cluster-aware commands with which you can performcheck, start, and stop operations on the cluster. You can run these commands from any node in the cluster on



another node in the cluster, or on all nodes in the cluster, depending on the operation.

You can use CRSCTL commands to perform several operations on Oracle Clusterware, such as:

Starting and stopping Oracle Clusterware resourcesEnabling and disabling Oracle Clusterware daemonsChecking the health of the clusterManaging resources that represent third-party applicationsIntegrating Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) with Oracle Clusterware to provide failureisolation support and to ensure cluster integrityDebugging Oracle Clusterware components

For the purpose of this article (and this section), we will only make use of the "Checking the health of thecluster" operation which uses the Clusterized (Cluster Aware) Command:

crsctl check cluster

Many subprograms and commands were deprecated in Oracle Clusterware 11g release 2 (11.2):

crs_statcrs_registercrs_unregistercrs_startcrs_stopcrs_getpermcrs_profilecrs_relocatecrs_setpermcrsctl check crsdcrsctl check cssdcrsctl check evmdcrsctl debug logcrsctl set css votediskcrsctl start resourcescrsctl stop resources

Check the Health of the Cluster - (Clusterized Command)

Run as the grid user.

[grid@racnode1 ~]$ crsctl check clusterCRS-4537: Cluster Ready Services is onlineCRS-4529: Cluster Synchronization Services is onlineCRS-4533: Event Manager is online

All Oracle Instances - (Database Status)

[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ srvctl status database -d racdbInstance racdb1 is running on node racnode1Instance racdb2 is running on node racnode2

Single Oracle Instance - (Status of Specific Instance)

[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ srvctl status instance -d racdb -i racdb1Instance racdb1 is running on node racnode1

Node Applications - (Status)

[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ srvctl status nodeappsVIP racnode1-vip is enabledVIP racnode1-vip is running on node: racnode1VIP racnode2-vip is enabledVIP racnode2-vip is running on node: racnode2Network is enabledNetwork is running on node: racnode1



Network is running on node: racnode2GSD is disabledGSD is not running on node: racnode1GSD is not running on node: racnode2ONS is enabledONS daemon is running on node: racnode1ONS daemon is running on node: racnode2eONS is enabledeONS daemon is running on node: racnode1eONS daemon is running on node: racnode2

Node Applications - (Configuration)

[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ srvctl config nodeappsVIP exists.:racnode1VIP exists.: /racnode1-vip/192.168.1.251/255.255.255.0/eth0VIP exists.:racnode2VIP exists.: /racnode2-vip/192.168.1.252/255.255.255.0/eth0GSD exists.ONS daemon exists. Local port 6100, remote port 6200eONS daemon exists. Multicast port 24057, multicast IP address 234.194.43.168, listening port 2016

List all Configured Databases

[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ srvctl config databaseracdb

Database - (Configuration)

[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ srvctl config database -d racdb -aDatabase unique name: racdbDatabase name: racdbOracle home: /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1Oracle user: oracleSpfile: +RACDB_DATA/racdb/spfileracdb.oraDomain: idevelopment.infoStart options: openStop options: immediateDatabase role: PRIMARYManagement policy: AUTOMATICServer pools: racdbDatabase instances: racdb1,racdb2Disk Groups: RACDB_DATA,FRAServices: Database is enabledDatabase is administrator managed

ASM - (Status)

[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ srvctl status asmASM is running on racnode1,racnode2

ASM - (Configuration)

$ srvctl config asm -aASM home: /u01/app/11.2.0/gridASM listener: LISTENERASM is enabled.

TNS listener - (Status)

[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ srvctl status listenerListener LISTENER is enabledListener LISTENER is running on node(s): racnode1,racnode2

TNS listener - (Configuration)

[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ srvctl config listener -aName: LISTENERNetwork: 1, Owner: gridHome: /u01/app/11.2.0/grid on node(s) racnode2,racnode1End points: TCP:1521



SCAN - (Status)

[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ srvctl status scanSCAN VIP scan1 is enabledSCAN VIP scan1 is running on node racnode1

SCAN - (Configuration)

[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ srvctl config scanSCAN name: racnode-cluster-scan, Network: 1/192.168.1.0/255.255.255.0/eth0SCAN VIP name: scan1, IP: /racnode-cluster-scan/192.168.1.187

VIP - (Status of Specific Node)

[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ srvctl status vip -n racnode1VIP racnode1-vip is enabledVIP racnode1-vip is running on node: racnode1

[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ srvctl status vip -n racnode2VIP racnode2-vip is enabledVIP racnode2-vip is running on node: racnode2

VIP - (Configuration of Specific Node)

[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ srvctl config vip -n racnode1VIP exists.:racnode1VIP exists.: /racnode1-vip/192.168.1.251/255.255.255.0/eth0

[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ srvctl config vip -n racnode2VIP exists.:racnode2VIP exists.: /racnode2-vip/192.168.1.252/255.255.255.0/eth0

Configuration for Node Applications - (VIP, GSD, ONS, Listener)

[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ srvctl config nodeapps -a -g -s -l-l option has been deprecated and will be ignored.VIP exists.:racnode1VIP exists.: /racnode1-vip/192.168.1.251/255.255.255.0/eth0VIP exists.:racnode2VIP exists.: /racnode2-vip/192.168.1.252/255.255.255.0/eth0GSD exists.ONS daemon exists. Local port 6100, remote port 6200Name: LISTENERNetwork: 1, Owner: gridHome: /u01/app/11.2.0/grid on node(s) racnode2,racnode1End points: TCP:1521

Verifying Clock Synchronization across the Cluster Nodes

[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ cluvfy comp clocksync -verbose

Verifying Clock Synchronization across the cluster nodes

Checking if Clusterware is installed on all nodes...Check of Clusterware install passed

Checking if CTSS Resource is running on all nodes...Check: CTSS Resource running on all nodes Node Name Status ------------------------------------ ------------------------ racnode1 passedResult: CTSS resource check passed

Querying CTSS for time offset on all nodes...Result: Query of CTSS for time offset passed

Check CTSS state started...Check: CTSS state Node Name State ------------------------------------ ------------------------ racnode1 Active CTSS is in Active state. Proceeding with check of clock time offsets on all nodes...Reference Time Offset Limit: 1000.0 msecsCheck: Reference Time Offset Node Name Time Offset Status



------------ ------------------------ ------------------------ racnode1 0.0 passed

Time offset is within the specified limits on the following set of nodes: "[racnode1]" Result: Check of clock time offsets passed

Oracle Cluster Time Synchronization Services check passed

Verification of Clock Synchronization across the cluster nodes was successful.

All running instances in the cluster - (SQL)

SELECT inst_id , instance_number inst_no , instance_name inst_name , parallel , status , database_status db_status , active_state state , host_name hostFROM gv$instanceORDER BY inst_id;

INST_ID INST_NO INST_NAME PAR STATUS DB_STATUS STATE HOST-------- -------- ---------- --- ------- ------------ --------- ------- 1 1 racdb1 YES OPEN ACTIVE NORMAL racnode1 2 2 racdb2 YES OPEN ACTIVE NORMAL racnode2

All database files and the ASM disk group they reside in - (SQL)

select name from v$datafileunionselect member from v$logfileunionselect name from v$controlfileunionselect name from v$tempfile;

NAME-------------------------------------------+FRA/racdb/controlfile/current.256.703530389+FRA/racdb/onlinelog/group_1.257.703530391+FRA/racdb/onlinelog/group_2.258.703530393+FRA/racdb/onlinelog/group_3.259.703533497+FRA/racdb/onlinelog/group_4.260.703533499+RACDB_DATA/racdb/controlfile/current.256.703530389+RACDB_DATA/racdb/datafile/example.263.703530435+RACDB_DATA/racdb/datafile/indx.270.703542993+RACDB_DATA/racdb/datafile/sysaux.260.703530411+RACDB_DATA/racdb/datafile/system.259.703530397+RACDB_DATA/racdb/datafile/undotbs1.261.703530423+RACDB_DATA/racdb/datafile/undotbs2.264.703530441+RACDB_DATA/racdb/datafile/users.265.703530447+RACDB_DATA/racdb/datafile/users.269.703542943+RACDB_DATA/racdb/onlinelog/group_1.257.703530391+RACDB_DATA/racdb/onlinelog/group_2.258.703530393+RACDB_DATA/racdb/onlinelog/group_3.266.703533497+RACDB_DATA/racdb/onlinelog/group_4.267.703533499+RACDB_DATA/racdb/tempfile/temp.262.703530429

19 rows selected.

ASM Disk Volumes - (SQL)

SELECT pathFROM v$asm_disk;

PATH----------------------------------ORCL:CRSVOL1ORCL:DATAVOL1ORCL:FRAVOL1



30. Starting / Stopping the Cluster

At this point, everything has been installed and configured for Oracle RAC 11g release 2. Oracle gridinfrastructure was installed by the grid user while the Oracle RAC software was installed by oracle. We alsohave a fully functional clustered database running named racdb.

After all of that hard work, you may ask, "OK, so how do I start and stop services?". If you have followed theinstructions in this guide, all services — including Oracle Clusterware, ASM , network, SCAN, VIP, the OracleDatabase, and so on — should start automatically on each reboot of the Linux nodes.

There are times, however, when you might want to take down the Oracle services on a node for maintenancepurposes and restart the Oracle Clusterware stack at a later time. Or you may find that Enterprise Manager isnot running and need to start it. This section provides the commands necessary to stop and start the OracleClusterware stack on a local server (racnode1).

The following stop/start actions need to be performed as root.

Stopping the Oracle Clusterware Stack on the Local Server

Use the "crsctl stop cluster" command on racnode1 to stop the Oracle Clusterware stack:

[root@racnode1 ~]# /u01/app/11.2.0/grid/bin/crsctl stop clusterCRS-2673: Attempting to stop 'ora.crsd' on 'racnode1'CRS-2790: Starting shutdown of Cluster Ready Services-managed resources on 'racnode1'CRS-2673: Attempting to stop 'ora.LISTENER.lsnr' on 'racnode1'CRS-2673: Attempting to stop 'ora.CRS.dg' on 'racnode1'CRS-2673: Attempting to stop 'ora.racdb.db' on 'racnode1'CRS-2673: Attempting to stop 'ora.registry.acfs' on 'racnode1'CRS-2673: Attempting to stop 'ora.LISTENER_SCAN1.lsnr' on 'racnode1'CRS-2677: Stop of 'ora.LISTENER.lsnr' on 'racnode1' succeededCRS-2673: Attempting to stop 'ora.racnode1.vip' on 'racnode1'CRS-2677: Stop of 'ora.LISTENER_SCAN1.lsnr' on 'racnode1' succeededCRS-2673: Attempting to stop 'ora.scan1.vip' on 'racnode1'CRS-2677: Stop of 'ora.scan1.vip' on 'racnode1' succeededCRS-2672: Attempting to start 'ora.scan1.vip' on 'racnode2'CRS-2677: Stop of 'ora.racnode1.vip' on 'racnode1' succeededCRS-2672: Attempting to start 'ora.racnode1.vip' on 'racnode2'CRS-2677: Stop of 'ora.registry.acfs' on 'racnode1' succeededCRS-2676: Start of 'ora.racnode1.vip' on 'racnode2' succeeded <-- Notice racnode1 VIP moved to racnode2CRS-2676: Start of 'ora.scan1.vip' on 'racnode2' succeeded <-- Notice SCAN moved to racnode2CRS-2672: Attempting to start 'ora.LISTENER_SCAN1.lsnr' on 'racnode2'CRS-2676: Start of 'ora.LISTENER_SCAN1.lsnr' on 'racnode2' succeeded <-- Notice LISTENER_SCAN1 moved to racnode2CRS-2677: Stop of 'ora.CRS.dg' on 'racnode1' succeededCRS-2677: Stop of 'ora.racdb.db' on 'racnode1' succeededCRS-2673: Attempting to stop 'ora.FRA.dg' on 'racnode1'CRS-2673: Attempting to stop 'ora.RACDB_DATA.dg' on 'racnode1'CRS-2677: Stop of 'ora.RACDB_DATA.dg' on 'racnode1' succeededCRS-2677: Stop of 'ora.FRA.dg' on 'racnode1' succeededCRS-2673: Attempting to stop 'ora.asm' on 'racnode1'CRS-2677: Stop of 'ora.asm' on 'racnode1' succeededCRS-2673: Attempting to stop 'ora.ons' on 'racnode1'CRS-2673: Attempting to stop 'ora.eons' on 'racnode1'CRS-2677: Stop of 'ora.ons' on 'racnode1' succeededCRS-2673: Attempting to stop 'ora.net1.network' on 'racnode1'CRS-2677: Stop of 'ora.net1.network' on 'racnode1' succeededCRS-2677: Stop of 'ora.eons' on 'racnode1' succeededCRS-2792: Shutdown of Cluster Ready Services-managed resources on 'racnode1' has completedCRS-2677: Stop of 'ora.crsd' on 'racnode1' succeededCRS-2673: Attempting to stop 'ora.cssdmonitor' on 'racnode1'CRS-2673: Attempting to stop 'ora.ctssd' on 'racnode1'CRS-2673: Attempting to stop 'ora.evmd' on 'racnode1'CRS-2673: Attempting to stop 'ora.asm' on 'racnode1'CRS-2677: Stop of 'ora.cssdmonitor' on 'racnode1' succeededCRS-2677: Stop of 'ora.evmd' on 'racnode1' succeededCRS-2677: Stop of 'ora.ctssd' on 'racnode1' succeededCRS-2677: Stop of 'ora.asm' on 'racnode1' succeededCRS-2673: Attempting to stop 'ora.cssd' on 'racnode1'CRS-2677: Stop of 'ora.cssd' on 'racnode1' succeededCRS-2673: Attempting to stop 'ora.diskmon' on 'racnode1'CRS-2677: Stop of 'ora.diskmon' on 'racnode1' succeeded

Note: If any resources that Oracle Clusterware manages are still running after you run the "crsctl stop



cluster" command, then the entire command fails. Use the -f option to unconditionally stop all resources andstop the Oracle Clusterware stack.

Also note that you can stop the Oracle Clusterware stack on all servers in the cluster by specifying -all. Thefollowing will bring down the Oracle Clusterware stack on both racnode1 and racnode2:

[root@racnode1 ~]# /u01/app/11.2.0/grid/bin/crsctl stop cluster -all

Starting the Oracle Clusterware Stack on the Local Server

Use the "crsctl start cluster" command on racnode1 to start the Oracle Clusterware stack:

[root@racnode1 ~]# /u01/app/11.2.0/grid/bin/crsctl start clusterCRS-2672: Attempting to start 'ora.cssdmonitor' on 'racnode1'CRS-2676: Start of 'ora.cssdmonitor' on 'racnode1' succeededCRS-2672: Attempting to start 'ora.cssd' on 'racnode1'CRS-2672: Attempting to start 'ora.diskmon' on 'racnode1'CRS-2676: Start of 'ora.diskmon' on 'racnode1' succeededCRS-2676: Start of 'ora.cssd' on 'racnode1' succeededCRS-2672: Attempting to start 'ora.ctssd' on 'racnode1'CRS-2676: Start of 'ora.ctssd' on 'racnode1' succeededCRS-2672: Attempting to start 'ora.evmd' on 'racnode1'CRS-2672: Attempting to start 'ora.asm' on 'racnode1'CRS-2676: Start of 'ora.evmd' on 'racnode1' succeededCRS-2676: Start of 'ora.asm' on 'racnode1' succeededCRS-2672: Attempting to start 'ora.crsd' on 'racnode1'CRS-2676: Start of 'ora.crsd' on 'racnode1' succeeded

Note: You can choose to start the Oracle Clusterware stack on all servers in the cluster by specifying -all:

[root@racnode1 ~]# /u01/app/11.2.0/grid/bin/crsctl start cluster -all

You can also start the Oracle Clusterware stack on one or more named servers in the cluster by listing theservers separated by a space:

[root@racnode1 ~]# /u01/app/11.2.0/grid/bin/crsctl start cluster -n racnode1 racnode2

Start/Stop All Instances with SRVCTL

Finally, you can start/stop all instances and associated services using the following:

[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ srvctl stop database -d racdb

[oracle@racnode1 ~]$ srvctl start database -d racdb

31. Troubleshooting

Confirm the RAC Node Name is Not Listed in Loopback Address

Ensure that the node names (racnode1 or racnode2) are not included for the loopback address inthe /etc/hosts file. If the machine name is listed in the in the loopback address entry as below:

127.0.0.1 racnode1 localhost.localdomain localhost

it will need to be removed as shown below:


If the RAC node name is listed for the loopback address, you will receive the following error duringthe RAC installation:

ORA-00603: ORACLE server session terminated by fatal error

or

ORA-29702: error occurred in Cluster Group Service operation



Openfiler - Logical Volumes Not Active on Boot

One issue that I have run into several times occurs when using a USB drive connected to theOpenfiler server. When the Openfiler server is rebooted, the system is able to recognize the USBdrive however, it is not able to load the logical volumes and writes the following message to/var/log/messages - (also available through dmesg):

iSCSI Enterprise Target Software - version 0.4.14iotype_init(91) register fileioiotype_init(91) register blockioiotype_init(91) register nullioopen_path(120) Can't open /dev/rac1/crs -2fileio_attach(268) -2open_path(120) Can't open /dev/rac1/asm1 -2fileio_attach(268) -2open_path(120) Can't open /dev/rac1/asm2 -2fileio_attach(268) -2open_path(120) Can't open /dev/rac1/asm3 -2fileio_attach(268) -2open_path(120) Can't open /dev/rac1/asm4 -2fileio_attach(268) -2

Please note that I am not suggesting that this only occurs with USB drives connected to theOpenfiler server. It may occur with other types of drives, however I have only seen it with USBdrives!

If you do receive this error, you should first check the status of all logical volumes using thelvscan command from the Openfiler server:

# lvscaninactive '/dev/rac1/crs' [2.00 GB] inheritinactive '/dev/rac1/asm1' [115.94 GB] inheritinactive '/dev/rac1/asm2' [115.94 GB] inheritinactive '/dev/rac1/asm3' [115.94 GB] inheritinactive '/dev/rac1/asm4' [115.94 GB] inherit

Notice that the status for each of the logical volumes is set to inactive - (the status for eachlogical volume on a working system would be set to ACTIVE).

I currently know of two methods to get Openfiler to automatically load the logical volumes onreboot, both of which are described below.

Method 1

One of the first steps is to shutdown both of the Oracle RAC nodes in the cluster -(racnode1 and racnode2). Then, from the Openfiler server, manually set each of thelogical volumes to ACTIVE for each consecutive reboot:

# lvchange -a y /dev/rac1/crs# lvchange -a y /dev/rac1/asm1# lvchange -a y /dev/rac1/asm2# lvchange -a y /dev/rac1/asm3# lvchange -a y /dev/rac1/asm4

Another method to set the status to active for all logical volumes is to use the VolumeGroup change command as follows:

# vgscan Reading all physical volumes. This may take a while... Found volume group "rac1" using metadata type lvm2

# vgchange -ay 5 logical volume(s) in volume group "rac1" now active

After setting each of the logical volumes to active, use the lvscan command again toverify the status:

# lvscan



ACTIVE '/dev/rac1/crs' [2.00 GB] inherit ACTIVE '/dev/rac1/asm1' [115.94 GB] inherit ACTIVE '/dev/rac1/asm2' [115.94 GB] inherit ACTIVE '/dev/rac1/asm3' [115.94 GB] inherit ACTIVE '/dev/rac1/asm4' [115.94 GB] inherit

As a final test, reboot the Openfiler server to ensure each of the logical volumes will beset to ACTIVE after the boot process. After you have verified that each of the logicalvolumes will be active on boot, check that the iSCSI target service is running:

# service iscsi-target statusietd (pid 2668) is running...

Finally, restart each of the Oracle RAC nodes in the cluster - (racnode1 and racnode2).

Method 2

This method was kindly provided by Martin Jones. His workaround includes amendingthe /etc/rc.sysinit script to basically wait for the USB disk (/dev/sda in my example)to be detected. After making the changes to the /etc/rc.sysinit script (describedbelow), verify the external drives are powered on and then reboot the Openfiler server.

The following is a small portion of the /etc/rc.sysinit script on the Openfiler serverwith the changes (highlighted in blue) proposed by Martin:

..............................................................# LVM2 initialization, take 2 if [ -c /dev/mapper/control ]; then if [ -x /sbin/multipath.static ]; then modprobe dm-multipath >/dev/null 2>&1 /sbin/multipath.static -v 0 if [ -x /sbin/kpartx ]; then /sbin/dmsetup ls --target multipath --exec "/sbin/kpartx -a" fi fi

if [ -x /sbin/dmraid ]; then modprobe dm-mirror > /dev/null 2>&1 /sbin/dmraid -i -a y fi

#-----#----- MJONES - Customisation Start#-----

# Check if /dev/sda is ready while [ ! -e /dev/sda ] do echo "Device /dev/sda for first USB Drive is not yet ready." echo "Waiting..." sleep 5 done echo "INFO - Device /dev/sda for first USB Drive is ready."

#-----#----- MJONES - Customisation END#----- if [ -x /sbin/lvm.static ]; then if /sbin/lvm.static vgscan > /dev/null 2>&1 ; then action $"Setting up Logical VolumeManagement:" /sbin/lvm.static vgscan --mknodes --ignorelockingfailure &&/sbin/lvm.static vgchange -a y --ignorelockingfailure fi fi fi

# Clean up SELinux labelsif [ -n "$SELINUX" ]; then for file in /etc/mtab /etc/ld.so.cache ; do [ -r $file ] && restorecon $file >/dev/null 2>&1 donefi..............................................................

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Finally, restart each of the Oracle RAC nodes in the cluster - (racnode1 and racnode2).

32. Conclusion

Oracle11g RAC allows the DBA to configure a database solution with superior fault tolerance and loadbalancing. For those DBA's, however, that want to become more familiar with the features and benefits ofOracle11g RAC will find the costs of configuring even a small RAC cluster costing in the range of US$15,000 toUS$20,000.

This article has hopefully given you an economical solution to setting up and configuring an inexpensiveOracle 11g release 2 RAC Cluster using Oracle Enterprise Linux and iSCSI technology. The RAC solutionpresented in this article can be put together for around US$2,700 and will provide the DBA with a fullyfunctional Oracle 11g release 2 RAC cluster. While the hardware used for this article should be stable enoughfor educational purposes, it should never be considered for a production environment.

33. Acknowledgements

An article of this magnitude and complexity is generally not the work of one person alone. Although I wasable to author and successfully demonstrate the validity of the components that make up this configuration,there are several other individuals that deserve credit in making this article a success.

First, I would like to thank Bane Radulovic from the Server BDE Team at Oracle. Bane not only introduced meto Openfiler, but shared with me his experience and knowledge of the product and how to best utilize it forOracle RAC. His research and hard work made the task of configuring Openfiler seamless. Bane was alsoinvolved with hardware recommendations and testing.

A special thanks to K Gopalakrishnan for his assistance in delivering the Oracle RAC 11g Overview section ofthis article. In this section, much of the content regarding the history of Oracle RAC can be found in his verypopular book Oracle Database 10g Real Application Clusters Handbook. This book comes highly recommendedfor both DBA's and Developers wanting to successfully implement Oracle RAC and fully understand how manyof the advanced services like Cache Fusion and Global Resource Directory operate.

Lastly, I would like to express my appreciation to the following vendors for generously supplying the hardwarefor this article; Seagate, Avocent Corporation, and Intel.

Jeffrey M. Hunter [www.idevelopment.info] is an Oracle Certified Professional, Java Development CertifiedProfessional, Author, and an Oracle ACE. Jeff currently works as a Senior Database Administrator for The DBAZone, Inc. located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

His work includes advanced performance tuning, Java and PL/SQL programming, capacity planning, databasesecurity, and physical / logical database design in a UNIX, Linux, and Windows server environment. Jeff'sother interests include mathematical encryption theory, programming language processors (compilers andinterpreters) in Java and C, LDAP, writing web-based database administration tools, and of course Linux.

Jeff has been a Sr. Database Administrator and Software Engineer for over 16 years and maintains his ownwebsite site at: http://www.iDevelopment.info. Jeff graduated from Stanislaus State University in Turlock,California, with a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science.


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