C Using NAS Devices

This appendix provides guidelines for using a network attached storage (NAS) device for Oracle software and database files. It includes information about the following:

General Configuration Guidelines for NAS Devices
NFS Feature Description
Choosing Mount Points
Creating Files on a NAS Device for Use with Oracle Automatic Storage Management
NFS Mount Options

C.1 General Configuration Guidelines for NAS Devices

See the documentation provided with the NAS device for specific information about how to configure it. In addition, use the following guidelines to ensure the performance of the Oracle software:

Before using the NAS device for the installation, verify that it is certified.
Note:
For certification information refer to note 359515.1 on the My Oracle Support (formerly OracleMetaLink) Web site:
```
https://support.oracle.com/
```
The performance of Oracle software and databases stored on NAS devices depends on the performance of the network connection between the Oracle server and the NAS device.

For this reason, Oracle recommends that you connect the server to the NAS device using a private dedicated network connection, which should be Gigabit Ethernet or better.
For single-instance database installations, Oracle recommends that you create a separate Oracle home directory for each installation. Run the software in this Oracle home directory only from the system that you used to install it.

C.2 NFS Feature Description

The following are the features of Network File Storage (NFS):

The Oracle kernel handles the best possible configuration to perform optimal I/O using available resources. This enables better configuration management.
An NFS available across different platforms.
Oracle uses the Oracle Disk Manager (ODM) to control NFS. ODM NFS helps standardize all the configuration parameters that can be tuned.
ODM NFS has a stable NFS client that does not affect kernel performance. It optimizes the I/O path when making NFS operations.This ensures higher stability.
NFS provides better diagnostics in case of errors.

C.3 Choosing Mount Points

This section provides guidelines on how to choose the mount points for the file systems that you want to use for the Oracle software and database files. The guidelines contained in the following sections comply with the Optimal Flexible Architecture recommendations:

Choosing Mount Points for Oracle Software Files
Choosing Mount Points for Oracle Database and Recovery Files

C.3.1 Choosing Mount Points for Oracle Software Files

Oracle software files are stored in three different directories:

Oracle base directory
Oracle inventory directory
Oracle home directory

For the first installation of Oracle software on a system, the Oracle base directory, identified by the ORACLE_BASE environment variable, is usually the parent directory for both the Oracle Inventory and Oracle home directories. For example, for a first installation, the Oracle base, Oracle Inventory, and Oracle home directories might have paths similar to the following:

Directory	Path
Oracle base (`$ORACLE_BASE`)	`/u01/app/oracle`
Oracle Inventory	`$ORACLE_BASE/oraInventory`
Oracle home	`$ORACLE_BASE/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1`

For subsequent installations, you can use either the same Oracle base directory or a different one, but every subsequent installation uses the original Oracle Inventory directory. For example, if you use the /u02/app/oracle directory as the Oracle base directory for a new installation, then the Oracle Inventory directory continues to be /u01/app/oracle/oraInventory.

To enable you to effectively maintain the Oracle software on a particular system, Oracle recommends that you keep the Oracle Inventory directory only on a local file system, if possible. If you must place the Oracle Inventory directory on a NAS device, create a specific directory for each system, to prevent more than one system from writing to the same inventory directory.

Directory-Specific Guidelines

You can use any of the following directories as mount points for NFS used to store Oracle software:

Note:

In the following examples, the paths shown are the defaults if the ORACLE_BASE environment variable is set before you start Oracle Universal Installer.

Oracle base directory or its parents (/u01/app/oracle for example)

If you use the Oracle base directory of one of its parents as a mount point, then the default location for all Oracle software and database files is on that file system. During the installation, consider changing the default location of the following directories:
- The Oracle Inventory directory (oracle_base/oraInventory)
  
  Specify a local file system or a host-specific directory on the NFS, for example:
```
oracle_base/hostname/oraInventory
```
- The Oracle database file directory (oracle_base/oradata)
  
  You might want to use a different file system for database files, for example, to enable you to specify different mount options or to distribute I/O.
- The Oracle database recovery file directory (oracle_base/fast_recovery_area)
  
  Oracle recommends that you use different file systems for database and recovery files.
If you use this mount point, then all Oracle installations that use this Oracle base directory will use the NFS.
The product directory (oracle_base/product)

By default, only software files are located on the NFS. You can also use this mount point to install software from different releases, for example:
```
/u01/app/oracle/product/9.2.0
/u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/dbhome_1
/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1
```
The release directory (oracle_base/product/11.2.0)

By default, only software files are located on the NFS. You can also use this mount point to install different products from the same release, for example:
```
/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1
/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/client_1
```
The Oracle home directory (oracle_base/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1)

By default, only software files are located on the NFS file system. This is the most restrictive mount point. You can use it only to install a single release of one product:
```
/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1
```

C.3.2 Choosing Mount Points for Oracle Database and Recovery Files

To store Oracle database or recovery files on a NAS device, you can use different paths depending on if you want to store files from only one database or from more than one database:

Use the NFS for files from more than one database

If you want to store the database files or recovery files from more than one database on the same NFS, then use paths or mount points similar to the following:

File Type Path or Mount Point

Database files /u02/oradata

Recovery files /u03/fast_recovery_area

When Oracle Universal Installer prompts you for the data file and the recovery file directories, specify these paths. Database Configuration Assistant and Oracle Enterprise Manager create subdirectories in these directories using the value you specify for the database name (DB_NAME) as the directory name, for example:
```
/u02/oradata/db_name1
/u03/recovery_area/db_name1
```
Use the NFS for files from only one database

If you want to store the database files or recovery files for only one database in the NFS, then you can create mount points similar to the following, where orcl is the name that you want to use for the database:
```
/u02/oradata/orcl
/u03/fast_recovery_area/orcl
```
Specify the directory /u02/oradata when Oracle Universal Installer prompts you for the data file directory and specify the directory /u03/fast_recovery_area when Oracle Universal Installer prompts you for the recovery file location. The orcl directory is used automatically either by Database Configuration Assistant or by Oracle Enterprise Manager.

File Type	Path or Mount Point
Database files	`/u02/oradata`
Recovery files	`/u03/fast_recovery_area`

C.4 Creating Files on a NAS Device for Use with Oracle Automatic Storage Management

If you have a certified NAS device, then you can create zero-padded files in an NFS mounted directory and use those files as disk devices in an Oracle Automatic Storage Management (Oracle ASM) disk group. To create these files, follow these steps:

Note:

To use files as disk devices in an Oracle ASM disk group, the files must be on an NFS mounted file system. You cannot use files on local file systems.

If necessary, create an exported directory for the disk group files on the NAS device.

See the NAS device documentation for more information about completing this step.
Switch the user to root:
```
$ su - root
password:
```
Create a mount point directory on the local system:
```
# mkdir -p /mnt/oracleasm
```
To ensure that NFS is mounted when the system restarts, add an entry for the file system in the /etc/mtab mount file.

For more information about editing the mount file for the operating system, see the man pages. For more information about recommended mount options, see "NFS Mount Options" section.
Enter a command similar to the following to mount the NFS on the local system:
```
# mount /mnt/oracleasm
```
Choose a name for the disk group that you want to create, for example, nfsdg.
Create a directory for the files on the NFS file system, using the disk group name as the directory name:
```
# mkdir /mnt/oracleasm/nfsdg
```
Use commands similar to the following to create the required number of zero-padded files in this directory:
```
# dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt/oracleasm/nfsdg/disk1 bs=1024k count=1000
```
This example creates 1 GB files on the NFS. You must create one, two, or three files respectively to create an external, normal, or high redundancy disk group.

Note:
Creating multiple zero-padded files on the same NAS device does not guard against NAS failure. Instead, create one file for each NAS device and mirror them using the Oracle ASM technology.
Enter the following commands to change the owner, group, and permissions on the directory and files that you created:
```
# chown -R oracle:dba /mnt/oracleasm
# chmod -R 660 /mnt/oracleasm
```
When you are creating the database, edit the Oracle ASM disk discovery string to specify a regular expression that matches the file names you created. For example, you might specify a disk discovery string similar to the following:
```
/mnt/oracleasm/nfsdg/*
```

C.5 NFS Mount Options

You must mount NFS volumes used for storing database files with special mount options on the host where the database server is running. When mounting an NFS file system, Oracle recommends that you use the same mount point options that the NAS vendor used when certifying the device. See the device documentation or contact the vendor for information about recommended mount-point options.