A database includes several files that store the user data, database metadata, and information required to recover from failures. As an administrator, you decide what kind of storage subsystem to use for these files. You can select from the following options:
File System—This default option creates database files that are managed by the file system of your operating system. You can specify the directory path where database files are to be stored. Oracle Database can create and manage the actual files.
If you are not certain about which option to use, then select File System (the default).
Automatic Storage Management—This option enables you to place your data files in Oracle Automatic Storage Management (Oracle ASM) disk groups. If you choose Oracle ASM, then Oracle Database automatically manages database file placement and naming. For environments with a large number of disks, this option simplifies database administration and maximizes performance. Oracle ASM performs software striping and mirroring at the file level for maximum storage flexibility, performance, and availability.
Oracle ASM uses an Oracle ASM instance, which is distinct from the database instance, to configure and manage disk groups. A single Oracle ASM instance can provide storage for multiple databases on the same server.
For more information, see Oracle Automatic Storage Management Administrator's Guide.
Note:
In past releases, Oracle ASM was installed as part of the Oracle Database installation. With Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2), Oracle ASM is part of an Oracle Grid Infrastructure installation.
To use Oracle ASM for storing database files, you must have installed Oracle ASM and created one or more disk groups before performing the Oracle Database installation.