This chapter describes the storage configuration tasks that you must complete before you start the Oracle Universal Installer (OUI) to install Oracle Clusterware and Oracle Automatic Storage Management (Oracle ASM), and that you must complete before adding an Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) installation to the cluster.
This chapter contains the following topics:
This section describes the supported storage options for Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a cluster, and for features running on Oracle Grid Infrastructure. It includes the following topics:
General Storage Considerations for Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle RAC
Using Logical Volume Managers with Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle RAC
See Also:
The Oracle Certification site on My Oracle Support for the most current information about certified storage options:https://support.oracle.com
The following table shows the storage options supported for storing Oracle Clusterware and Oracle RAC files.
Table 6-1 Supported Storage Options for Oracle Clusterware and Oracle RAC
| Storage Option | OCR and Voting Files | Oracle Clusterware binaries | Oracle RAC binaries | Oracle Database Files | Oracle Recovery Files |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Oracle Automatic Storage Management (Oracle ASM) Note: Loopback devices are not supported for use with Oracle ASM |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Oracle Automatic Storage Management Cluster File System (Oracle ACFS) |
No |
No |
Yes for running Oracle Database on Hub Nodes for Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2) and later. No for running Oracle Database on Leaf Nodes. |
Yes (Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1) and later) |
Yes (Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1) and later) |
|
Local file system |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
|
Network File System (NFS) on a certified Network-attached storage (NAS) filer Note: Direct NFS Client does not support Oracle Clusterware files. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Shared disk partitions (block devices or raw devices) |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Use the following guidelines when choosing storage options:
You can choose any combination of the supported storage options for each file type provided that you satisfy all requirements listed for the chosen storage options.
Use of raw or block devices is not supported. You cannot use raw or block devices under Oracle ASM.
See Also:
Oracle Database Upgrade Guide for information about how to prepare for upgrading an existing databaseIf you do not have a storage option that provides external file redundancy, then you must configure at least three voting file locations and at least two Oracle Cluster Registry locations to provide redundancy.
This section contains information about Oracle Automatic Storage Management Cluster File System (Oracle ACFS) and Oracle Automatic Storage Management Dynamic Volume Manager (Oracle ADVM). It contains the following topics:
Oracle ACFS extends Oracle ASM technology to support of all of your application data in both single instance and cluster configurations. Oracle ADVM provides volume management services and a standard disk device driver interface to clients. Oracle Automatic Storage Management Cluster File System interfaces to Oracle ASM through the Oracle Automatic Storage Management Dynamic Volume Manager interface.
Note the following about Oracle ACFS:
Oracle Automatic Storage Management Cluster File System (Oracle ACFS) provides a general purpose file system. You can place Oracle Database binaries and Oracle Database files on this system, but you cannot place Oracle Clusterware files on Oracle ACFS.
For policy-managed Oracle Flex Cluster databases, be aware that Oracle ACFS can run on Hub Nodes, but cannot run on Leaf Nodes. For this reason, Oracle RAC binaries cannot be placed on Oracle ACFS on Leaf Nodes.
For Oracle Flex Clusters, Leaf Nodes cannot mount an Oracle home on ACFS from the Hub Nodes; it is not supported for some nodes to access the same Oracle home using NFS while other nodes use ACFS for the same Oracle home path.
Oracle ACFS and Oracle ADVM are not supported on Oracle Solaris zones.
You cannot store Oracle Clusterware binaries and files on Oracle ACFS.
With Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a cluster, creating Oracle data files on an Oracle ACFS file system is supported from Oracle Database 12c Release 1.
You can store Oracle Database binaries and administrative files (for example, trace files) on Oracle ACFS.
Oracle ACFS does not support replication or encryption with Oracle Database data files, tablespace files, control files, and redo logs.
For all installations, you must choose the storage option to use for Oracle Grid Infrastructure (Oracle Clusterware and Oracle ASM), and Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) databases.
Oracle Clusterware voting files are used to monitor cluster node status, and Oracle Cluster Registry (OCR) files contain configuration information about the cluster. You can store Oracle Cluster Registry (OCR) and voting files in Oracle ASM disk groups. You can also store a backup of the OCR file in a disk group. Storage must be shared; any node that does not have access to an absolute majority of voting files (more than half) will be restarted.
For Standard Edition and Standard Edition 2 (SE2) Oracle RAC installations, Oracle ASM is the only supported storage option for database and recovery files. For all installations, Oracle recommends that you create at least two separate Oracle ASM disk groups: One for Oracle Database data files, and one for recovery files. Oracle recommends that you place the Oracle Database disk group and the recovery files disk group in separate failure groups.
If you do not use Oracle ASM, then Oracle recommends that you place the data files and the Fast Recovery Area in shared storage located outside of the Oracle home, in separate locations, so that a hardware failure does not affect availability.
See Also:
Oracle Database 2 Day DBA for more information about using a Fast Recovery Area
Oracle Automatic Storage Management Administrator's Guide for information about failure groups and best practices for high availability and recovery
Note the following additional guidelines for supported storage options:
You can choose any combination of the supported storage options for each file type provided that you satisfy all requirements listed for the chosen storage options.
If you intend to use Oracle ASM with Oracle RAC, and you are configuring a new Oracle ASM instance, then your system must meet the following conditions:
All nodes on the cluster have Oracle Clusterware and Oracle ASM 12c Release 1 (12.1) installed as part of an Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a cluster installation.
Any existing Oracle ASM instance on any node in the cluster is shut down.
If you do not have a storage option that provides external file redundancy, then you must configure at least three voting file areas to provide voting file redundancy.
During Oracle Grid Infrastructure installation, you can create one disk group. After the Oracle Grid Infrastructure installation, you can create additional disk groups using Oracle Automatic Storage Management Configuration Assistant (ASMCA), SQL*Plus, or Automatic Storage Management Command-Line Utility (ASMCMD). Note that with Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2) and later releases, Oracle Database Configuration Assistant (DBCA) does not have the functionality to create disk groups for Oracle ASM.
If you install Oracle Database or Oracle RAC after you install Oracle Grid Infrastructure, then you can either use the same disk group for database files, OCR, and voting files, or you can use different disk groups. If you create multiple disk groups before installing Oracle RAC or before creating a database, then you can do one of the following:
Place the data files in the same disk group as the Oracle Clusterware files.
Use the same Oracle ASM disk group for data files and recovery files.
Use different disk groups for each file type.
If you create only one disk group for storage, then the OCR and voting files, database files, and recovery files are contained in the one disk group. If you create multiple disk groups for storage, then you can place files in different disk groups.
Note:
The Oracle ASM instance that manages the existing disk group should be running in the Grid home.See Also:
Oracle Automatic Storage Management Administrator's Guide for information about creating disk groups
Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle RAC only support cluster-aware volume managers. Some third-party volume managers are not cluster-aware, and so are not supported. To confirm that a volume manager you want to use is supported, click Certifications on My Oracle Support to determine if your volume manager is certified for Oracle RAC. My Oracle Support is available at the following URL:
https://support.oracle.com
When you have determined your disk storage options, configure shared storage:
To use a file system, see Section 6.2, "About Shared File System Storage Configuration."
To use Oracle Automatic Storage Management, see "Using Disk Groups with Oracle Database Files on Oracle ASM"
The installer suggests default locations for the Oracle Cluster Registry (OCR) or the Oracle Clusterware voting files, based on the shared storage locations detected on the server. If you choose to create these files on a file system, then review the following sections to complete storage requirements for Oracle Clusterware files:
Guidelines for Using a Shared File System with Oracle Grid Infrastructure
Deciding to Use a Cluster File System for Oracle Clusterware Files
Note:
The OCR is a file that contains the configuration information and status of the cluster. The installer automatically initializes the OCR during the Oracle Clusterware installation. Database Configuration Assistant uses the OCR for storing the configurations for the cluster databases that it creates.To use a shared file system for Oracle Clusterware, Oracle ASM, and Oracle RAC, the file system must comply with the following requirements:
To use an NFS file system, it must be on a supported NAS device. Log in to My Oracle Support at the following URL, and click the Certification tab to find the most current information about supported NAS devices:
If you choose to place your Oracle Cluster Registry (OCR) files on a shared file system, then Oracle recommends that one of the following is true:
If you choose to place your database files on a shared file system, then one of the following should be true:
The user account with which you perform the installation (oracle or grid) must have write permissions to create the files in the path that you specify.
Note:
Upgrading from Oracle9i Release 2 using the raw device or shared file for the OCR that you used for the SRVM configuration repository is not supported.If you are upgrading Oracle Clusterware, and your existing cluster uses 100 MB for OCR and 20 MB for voting files, then you must extend these partitions to at least 300 MB. Oracle recommends that you do not use partitions, but instead place OCR and voting files in disk groups marked as QUORUM disk groups.
All storage products must be supported by both your server and storage vendors.
Use Table 6-2 and Table 6-3 to determine the minimum size for shared file systems:
Table 6-2 Oracle Clusterware Shared File System Volume Size Requirements
| File Types Stored | Number of Volumes | Volume Size |
|---|---|---|
|
voting files with external redundancy |
1 |
At least 300 MB for each voting file volume. |
|
Oracle Cluster Registry (OCR) with external redundancy and the Grid Infrastructure Management Repository |
1 |
At least 5.9 GB for the OCR volume that contains the Grid Infrastructure Management Repository(5.2 GB + 300 MB voting file + 400 MB OCR), plus 500 MB for each node for clusters greater than four nodes. For example, a six-node cluster allocation should be 6.9 GB. |
|
Oracle Clusterware files (OCR and voting files) and Grid Infrastructure Management Repository with redundancy provided by Oracle software. |
3 |
At least 400 MB for each OCR volume At least 300 MB for each voting file volume 2 x 5.2 GB (normal redundancy): For 5 nodes and beyond, add 500 MB for each additional node. For example, for a 6 node cluster the size is 14.1 GB:
= 14.1 GB |
Table 6-3 Oracle RAC Shared File System Volume Size Requirements
| File Types Stored | Number of Volumes | Volume Size |
|---|---|---|
|
Oracle Database files |
1 |
At least 1.5 GB for each volume |
|
Recovery files Note: Recovery files must be on a different volume than database files |
1 |
At least 2 GB for each volume |
In Table 6-2 and Table 6-3, the total required volume size is cumulative. For example, to store all Oracle Clusterware files on the shared file system with normal redundancy, you should have at least 2 GB of storage available over a minimum of three volumes (three separate volume locations for the OCR and two OCR mirrors, and one voting file on each volume). You should have a minimum of three physical disks, each at least 500 MB, to ensure that voting files and OCR files are on separate physical disks. If you add Oracle RAC using one volume for database files and one volume for recovery files, then you should have at least 3.5 GB available storage over two volumes, and at least 6.9 GB available total for all volumes.
Note:
If you create partitions on shared partitions withfdisk by specifying a device size, such as +400M, then the actual device created may be smaller than the size requested, based on the cylinder geometry of the disk. This is due to current fdisk restrictions. Oracle recommends that you partition the entire disk that you allocate for use by Oracle ASM.For new installations, Oracle recommends that you use Oracle Automatic Storage Management (Oracle ASM) to store voting file and OCR files.
Direct NFS Client is an alternative to using kernel-managed NFS. This section contains the following information about Direct NFS Client:
With Oracle Database, instead of using the operating system kernel NFS client, you can configure Oracle Database to access NFS servers directly using an Oracle internal Direct NFS Client. Direct NFS Client supports NFSv3, NFSv4 and NFSv4.1 protocols (excluding the Parallel NFS extension) to access the NFS server.
To enable Oracle Database to use Direct NFS Client, the NFS file systems must be mounted and available over regular NFS mounts before you start installation. Direct NFS Client manages settings after installation. If Oracle Database cannot open an NFS server using Direct NFS Client, then Oracle Database uses the platform operating system kernel NFS client. You should still set the kernel mount options as a backup, but for normal operation, Direct NFS Client uses its own NFS client.
Direct NFS Client supports up to four network paths to the NFS server. Direct NFS Client performs load balancing across all specified paths. If a specified path fails, then Direct NFS Client reissues I/O commands over any remaining paths.
Some NFS file servers require NFS clients to connect using reserved ports. If your filer is running with reserved port checking, then you must disable reserved port checking for Direct NFS Client to operate. To disable reserved port checking, consult your NFS file server documentation.
For NFS servers that restrict port range, you can use the insecure option to enable clients other than root to connect to the NFS server. Alternatively, you can disable Direct NFS Client as described in Section 6.3.10, "Disabling Direct NFS Client Oracle Disk Management Control of NFS".
Note:
Use NFS servers supported for Oracle RAC. See the following URL for support information:Direct NFS Client uses either the configuration file $ORACLE_HOME/dbs/oranfstab or the operating system mount tab file /etc/mnttab to find out what mount points are available. If oranfstab is not present, then by default Direct NFS servers mount entries found in /etc/mnttab. No other configuration is required. You can use oranfstab to specify additional specific Oracle Database operations to use Direct NFS Client. For example, you can use oranfstab to specify additional paths for a mount point.
If you use Direct NFS Client, then you can choose to use a new file specific for Oracle data file management, oranfstab, to specify additional options specific for Oracle Database to Direct NFS Client. For example, you can use oranfstab to specify additional paths for a mount point. You can add the oranfstab file either to /etc or to $ORACLE_HOME/dbs.
With shared Oracle homes, when the oranfstab file is placed in $ORACLE_HOME/dbs, the entries in the file are specific to a single database. In this case, all nodes running an Oracle RAC database use the same $ORACLE_HOME/dbs/oranfstab file. In non-shared Oracle RAC installs, oranfstab must be replicated on all nodes.
When the oranfstab file is placed in /etc, then it is globally available to all Oracle databases, and can contain mount points used by all Oracle databases running on nodes in the cluster, including standalone databases. However, on Oracle RAC systems, if the oranfstab file is placed in /etc, then you must replicate the file /etc/oranfstab file on all nodes, and keep each /etc/oranfstab file synchronized on all nodes, just as you must with the /etc/fstab file.
See Also:
Section 6.3.1, "Configuring Operating System NFS Mount and Buffer Size Parameters" for information about configuring/etc/fstabIn all cases, mount points must be mounted by the kernel NFS system, even when they are being served using Direct NFS Client. Refer to your vendor documentation to complete operating system NFS configuration and mounting.
Direct NFS Client determines mount point settings to NFS storage devices based on the configurations in /etc/mnttab, which are changed with configuring the /etc/fstab file.
Direct NFS Client searches for mount entries in the following order:
$ORACLE_HOME/dbs/oranfstab.
/var/opt/oracle/oranfstab
/etc/mnttab
Direct NFS Client uses the first matching entry as the mount point.
Oracle Database requires that mount points be mounted by the kernel NFS system even when served through Direct NFS Client.
Note:
You can have only one active Direct NFS Client implementation for each instance. Using Direct NFS Client on an instance will prevent another Direct NFS Client implementation.If Oracle Database uses Direct NFS Client mount points configured using oranfstab, then it first verifies kernel NFS mounts by cross-checking entries in oranfstab with operating system NFS mount points. If a mismatch exists, then Direct NFS Client logs an informational message, and does not operate.
If Oracle Database cannot open an NFS server using Direct NFS Client, then Oracle Database uses the platform operating system kernel Direct NFS Client. In this case, the kernel NFS mount options must be set up as defined in Section 6.3.3, "Checking NFS Mount and Buffer Size Parameters for Oracle RAC" Additionally, an informational message is logged into the Oracle alert and trace files indicating that Direct NFS Client could not connect to an NFS server.
Section 6.1.1, "Supported Storage Options" lists the file types that are supported by Direct NFS Client.
The Oracle files resident on the NFS server that are served by Direct NFS Client are also accessible through the operating system kernel NFS client.
See Also:
Oracle Database Administrator's Guide for guidelines to follow regarding managing Oracle database data files created with Direct NFS Client or kernel NFSNetwork-attached storage (NAS) systems use NFS to access data. You can store data files on a supported NFS system.
NFS file systems must be mounted and available over NFS mounts before you start installation. Refer to your vendor documentation to complete NFS configuration and mounting.
Be aware that 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.
Refer to the following sections to configure operating system and Direct NFS Client:
Configuring Operating System NFS Mount and Buffer Size Parameters
Checking Operating System NFS Mount and Buffer Size Parameters
Checking NFS Mount and Buffer Size Parameters for Oracle RAC
Enabling Direct NFS Client Oracle Disk Manager Control of NFS
Creating Directories for Oracle Clusterware Files on Shared File Systems
Creating Directories for Oracle Database Files on Shared File Systems
Disabling Direct NFS Client Oracle Disk Management Control of NFS
If you are using NFS for the Grid home or Oracle RAC home, then you must set up the NFS mounts on the storage to enable the following:
The root user on the clients mounting to the storage can be considered as the root user on the file server, instead of being mapped to an anonymous user.
The root user on the client server can create files on the NFS filesystem that are owned by root on the file server.
On NFS, you can obtain root access for clients writing to the storage by enabling no_root_squash on the server side. For example, to set up Oracle Clusterware file storage in the path /vol/grid, with nodes node1, node 2, and node3 in the domain mycluster.example.com, add a line similar to the following to the /etc/exports file:
/vol/grid/ node1.mycluster.example.com(rw,no_root_squash) node2.mycluster.example.com(rw,no_root_squash) node3.mycluster.example.com (rw,no_root_squash)
If the domain or DNS is secure so that no unauthorized system can obtain an IP address on it, then you can grant root access by domain, rather than specifying particular cluster member nodes:
For example:
/vol/grid/ *.mycluster.example.com(rw,no_root_squash)
Oracle recommends that you use a secure DNS or domain, and grant root access to cluster member nodes using the domain. Using this syntax enables you to add or remove nodes without the need to reconfigure the NFS server.
If you use Grid Naming Service (GNS), then the subdomain allocated for resolution by GNS within the cluster is a secure domain. Any server without a correctly signed Grid Plug and Play (GPnP) profile cannot join the cluster, so an unauthorized system cannot obtain or use names inside the GNS subdomain.
Caution:
Grantingroot access by domain can be used to obtain unauthorized access to systems. System administrators should see their operating system documentation for the risks associated with using no_root_squash.After changing /etc/exports, reload the file system mount using the following command:
# /usr/sbin/exportfs -avr
On Oracle Grid Infrastructure cluster member nodes, you must set the values for the NFS buffer size parameters rsize and wsize to 32768.
The NFS client-side mount options for binaries are:
rw,bg,hard,nointr,rsize=32768,wsize=32768,proto=tcp,noac,vers=3,suid
If you have Oracle Grid Infrastructure binaries on an NFS mount, then you must not include the nosuid option.
The NFS client-side mount options for Oracle Clusterware files (OCR and voting files) are:
rw,bg,hard,nointr,rsize=32768,wsize=32768,proto=tcp,vers=3,noac,forcedirectio
Update the /etc/fstab file on each node with an entry containing the NFS mount options for your platform. For example, if your platform is x86-64, and you are creating a mount point for Oracle Clusterware files, then update the /etc/fstab files with an entry similar to the following:
nfs_server:/vol/grid /u02/oracle/cwfiles nfs \ rw,bg,hard,nointr,proto=tcp,vers=3,noac,forcedirectio,rsize=32768,wsize=32768 0 0
Note that mount point options are different for Oracle software binaries, Oracle Clusterware files (OCR and voting files), and data files.
To create a mount point for binaries only, provide an entry similar to the following for a binaries mount point:
nfs_server:/vol/bin /u02/oracle/grid nfs \
rw,bg,hard,nointr,rsize=32768,wsize=32768,proto=tcp,noac,vers=3,suid
See Also:
My Oracle Support bulletin 359515.1, "Mount Options for Oracle Files When Used with NAS Devices" for the most current information about mount options, available from the following URL:https://support.oracle.com/CSP/main/article?cmd=show&type=NOT&id=359515.1
Note:
Refer to your storage vendor documentation for additional information about mount options.If you use NFS mounts for Oracle RAC files, then you must mount NFS volumes used for storing database files with special mount options on each node that has an Oracle RAC instance. When mounting an NFS file system, Oracle recommends that you use the same mount point options that your NAS vendor used when certifying the device. Refer to your device documentation or contact your vendor for information about recommended mount-point options.
Update the /etc/fstab file on each node with an entry similar to the following:
nfs_server:/vol/DATA/oradata /u02/oradata nfs\
rw,bg,hard,nointr,proto=tcp,vers=3,rsize=32768,wsize=32768,suid 0 0
The mandatory mount options comprise the minimum set of mount options that you must use while mounting the NFS volumes. These mount options are essential to protect the integrity of the data and to prevent any database corruption. Failure to use these mount options may result in the generation of file access errors. see your operating system or NAS device documentation for more information about the specific options supported on your platform.
See Also:
My Oracle Support Note 359515.1 for updated NAS mount option information, available at the following URL:https://support.oracle.com/CSP/main/article?cmd=show&type=NOT&id=359515.1
By default, the network buffer size is set to 1 MB for TCP, and 2 MB for UDP. The TCP buffer size can set a limit on file transfers, which can negatively affect performance for Direct NFS Client users.
To check the current TCP buffer size, enter the following command:
On Oracle Solaris 11:
# ipadm show-prop -p max_buf tcp
On Oracle Solaris 10:
# ndd –get /dev/tcp tcp_max_buf
Oracle recommends that you set the value based on the link speed of your servers. For example:
On Oracle Solaris 11:
# ipadm set-prop -p max_buf=1048576 tcp
On Oracle Solaris 10:
# ndd -set /dev/tcp tcp_max_buf 1048576
Complete the following procedure to enable Direct NFS Client:
Create an oranfstab file with the following attributes for each NFS server to be accessed using Direct NFS Client:
server: The NFS server name.
local: Up to four paths on the database host, specified by IP address or by name, as displayed using the ifconfig command run on the database host.
path: Up to four network paths to the NFS server, specified either by IP address, or by name, as displayed using the ifconfig command on the NFS server.
export: The exported path from the NFS server.
mount: The corresponding local mount point for the exported volume.
mnt_timeout: Specifies (in seconds) the time Direct NFS Client should wait for a successful mount before timing out. This parameter is optional. The default timeout is 10 minutes (600).
nfs_version: Specifies the NFS protocol version Direct NFS Client uses. Possible values are NFSv3, NFSv4 and NFSv4.1. The default version is NFSv3. If you select NFSv4.x, then you must configure the value in oranfstab for nfs_version.
dontroute: Specifies that outgoing messages should not be routed by the operating system, but instead sent using the IP address to which they are bound. Note that this POSIX option sometimes does not work on systems with multiple paths in the same subnet.
management: Enables Direct NFS Client to use the management interface for SNMP queries. You can use this parameter if SNMP is running on separate management interfaces on the NFS server. The default value is the server parameter value.
community: Specifies the community string for use in SNMP queries. Default value is public.
See Also:
Oracle Database Performance Tuning Guide for more information about limiting asynchronous I/OExample 6-1, Example 6-2, and Example 6-3 show three possible NFS server entries in oranfstab. A single oranfstab can have multiple NFS server entries.
By default, Direct NFS Client is installed in an enabled state for Oracle RAC installations. However, if Direct NFS Client is disabled and you want to enable it, complete the following steps on each node. If you use a shared Grid home for the cluster, then complete the following steps in the shared Grid home:
Log in as the Oracle Grid Infrastructure installation owner.
Change directory to Grid_home/rdbms/lib.
Enter the following commands:
$ make -f ins_rdbms.mk dnfs_on
Example 6-1 Using Local and Path NFS Server Entries
The following example uses both local and path. Because they are in different subnets, we do not have to specify dontroute.
server: MyDataServer1 local: 192.0.2.0 path: 192.0.2.1 local: 192.0.100.0 path: 192.0.100.1 export: /vol/oradata1 mount: /mnt/oradata1 nfs_version: nfsv3 community: private
Example 6-2 Using Local and Path in the Same Subnet, with dontroute
The following example shows local and path in the same subnet. dontroute is specified in this case:
server: MyDataServer2 local: 192.0.2.0 path: 192.0.2.128 local: 192.0.2.1 path: 192.0.2.129 dontroute export: /vol/oradata2 mount: /mnt/oradata2 nfs_version: nfsv4 management: 192.0.10.128
Example 6-3 Using Names in Place of IP Addresses, with Multiple Exports
server: MyDataServer3 local: LocalPath1 path: NfsPath1 local: LocalPath2 path: NfsPath2 local: LocalPath3 path: NfsPath3 local: LocalPath4 path: NfsPath4 dontroute export: /vol/oradata3 mount: /mnt/oradata3 export: /vol/oradata4 mount: /mnt/oradata4 export: /vol/oradata5 mount: /mnt/oradata5 export: /vol/oradata6 mount: /mnt/oradata6
Direct NFS Client can use up to four network paths defined in the oranfstab file for an NFS server. Direct NFS Client performs load balancing across all specified paths. If a specified path fails, then Direct NFS Client reissues I/O commands over any remaining paths.
Use the following SQL*Plus views for managing Direct NFS Client in a cluster environment:
gv$dnfs_servers: Shows a table of servers accessed using Direct NFS Client.
gv$dnfs_files: Shows a table of files currently open using Direct NFS Client.
gv$dnfs_channels: Shows a table of open network paths (or channels) to servers for which Direct NFS Client is providing files.
gv$dnfs_stats: Shows a table of performance statistics for Direct NFS Client.
Note:
Usev$ views for single instances, and gv$ views for Oracle Clusterware and Oracle RAC storage.To enable Hybrid Columnar Compression (HCC) on Direct NFS Client, perform the following steps:
Ensure that SNMP is enabled on the ZFS Storage Server. For example:
$ snmpget -v1 -c public server_name .1.3.6.1.4.1.42.2.225.1.4.2.0 SNMPv2-SMI::enterprises.42.2.225.1.4.2.0 = STRING: "Sun Storage 7410"
If SNMP is enabled on an interface other than the NFS server, then configure oranfstab using the management parameter.
If SNMP is configured using a community string other than public, then configure oranfstab file using the community parameter.
Ensure that libnetsnmp.so is installed by checking if snmpget is available.
Use the following instructions to create directories for Oracle Clusterware files. You can also configure shared file systems for the Oracle Database and recovery files.
Note:
For NFS storage, you must complete this procedure only if you want to place the Oracle Clusterware files on a separate file system from the Oracle base directory.To create directories for the Oracle Clusterware files on separate file systems from the Oracle base directory, follow these steps:
If necessary, configure the shared file systems to use and mount them on each node.
Note:
The mount point that you use for the file system must be identical on each node. Ensure that the file systems are configured to mount automatically when a node restarts.Use the df command to determine the free disk space on each mounted file system.
From the display, identify the file systems to use. Choose a file system with a minimum of 600 MB of free disk space (one OCR and one voting file, with external redundancy).
If you are using the same file system for multiple file types, then add the disk space requirements for each type to determine the total disk space requirement.
Note the names of the mount point directories for the file systems that you identified.
If the user performing installation (typically, grid or oracle) has permissions to create directories on the storage location where you plan to install Oracle Clusterware files, then OUI creates the Oracle Clusterware file directory.
If the user performing installation does not have write access, then you must create these directories manually using commands similar to the following to create the recommended subdirectories in each of the mount point directories and set the appropriate owner, group, and permissions on the directory. For example, where the user is oracle, and the Oracle Clusterware file storage area is cluster:
# mkdir /mount_point/cluster # chown oracle:oinstall /mount_point/cluster # chmod 775 /mount_point/cluster
Note:
After installation, directories in the installation path for the OCR files should be owned byroot, and not writable by any account other than root.When you have completed creating a subdirectory in the mount point directory, and set the appropriate owner, group, and permissions, you have completed NFS configuration for Oracle Grid Infrastructure.
Use the following instructions to create directories for shared file systems for Oracle Database and recovery files (for example, for an Oracle RAC database).
If necessary, configure the shared file systems and mount them on each node.
Note:
The mount point that you use for the file system must be identical on each node. Ensure that the file systems are configured to mount automatically when a node restarts.Use the df -h command to determine the free disk space on each mounted file system.
From the display, identify the file systems:
| File Type | File System Requirements |
|---|---|
| Database files | Choose either:
|
| Recovery files | Choose a file system with at least 2 GB of free disk space. |
If you are using the same file system for multiple file types, then add the disk space requirements for each type to determine the total disk space requirement.
Note the names of the mount point directories for the file systems that you identified.
If the user performing installation (typically, oracle) has permissions to create directories on the disks where you plan to install Oracle Database, then DBCA creates the Oracle Database file directory, and the Recovery file directory.
If the user performing installation does not have write access, then you must create these directories manually using commands similar to the following to create the recommended subdirectories in each of the mount point directories and set the appropriate owner, group, and permissions on them:
Database file directory:
# mkdir /mount_point/oradata # chown oracle:oinstall /mount_point/oradata # chmod 775 /mount_point/oradata
Recovery file directory (Fast Recovery Area):
# mkdir /mount_point/recovery_area # chown oracle:oinstall /mount_point/recovery_area # chmod 775 /mount_point/recovery_area
By making members of the oinstall group owners of these directories, this permits them to be read by multiple Oracle homes, including those with different OSDBA groups.
When you have completed creating subdirectories in each of the mount point directories, and set the appropriate owner, group, and permissions, you have completed NFS configuration for Oracle Database shared storage.
Complete the following steps to disable Direct NFS Client:
Log in as the Oracle Grid Infrastructure installation owner, and disable Direct NFS Client using the following commands, where Grid_home is the path to the Oracle Grid Infrastructure home:
$ cd Grid_home/rdbms/lib
$ make -f ins_rdbms.mk dnfs_off
Enter these commands on each node in the cluster, or on the shared Grid home if you are using a shared home for the Oracle Grid Infrastructure installation.
Remove the oranfstab file.
Note:
If you remove an NFS path that an Oracle Database is using, then you must restart the database for the change to be effective.Review the following sections to configure storage for Oracle Automatic Storage Management:
This section describes how to configure storage for use with Oracle Automatic Storage Management (Oracle ASM).
To identify the storage requirements for using Oracle ASM, you must determine how many devices and the amount of free disk space that you require. To complete this task, follow these steps:
Determine whether you want to use Oracle ASM for Oracle Clusterware files (OCR and voting files), Oracle Database files, recovery files, or all files except for Oracle Clusterware or Oracle Database binaries. Oracle Database files include data files, control files, redo log files, the server parameter file, and the password file.
Note:
There are two types of Oracle Clusterware files: OCR files and voting files. Each type of file can be stored on either Oracle ASM or a cluster file system. All the OCR files or all the voting files must use the same type of storage. You cannot have some OCR files stored in Oracle ASM and other OCR files in a cluster file system. However, you can use one type of storage for the OCR files and a different type of storage for the voting files if all files of each type use the same type of storage.
Choose the Oracle ASM redundancy level to use for the Oracle ASM disk group.
The redundancy level that you choose for the Oracle ASM disk group determines how Oracle ASM mirrors files in the disk group and determines the number of disks and amount of free disk space that you require. If the voting files are in a disk group, then the disk groups that contain Oracle Clusterware files (OCR and voting files) have a higher minimum number of failure groups than other disk groups because the voting files are stored in quorum failure groups.
A quorum failure group is a special type of failure group that is used to store the Oracle Clusterware voting files. The quorum failure group is used to ensure that a quorum of the specified failure groups are available. When Oracle ASM mounts a disk group that contains Oracle Clusterware files, the quorum failure group is used to determine if the disk group can be mounted in the event of the loss of one or more failure groups. Disks in the quorum failure group do not contain user data, therefore a quorum failure group is not considered when determining redundancy requirements in respect to storing user data.
The redundancy levels are as follows:
External redundancy
An external redundancy disk group requires a minimum of one disk device. The effective disk space in an external redundancy disk group is the sum of the disk space in all of its devices.
Because Oracle ASM does not mirror data in an external redundancy disk group, Oracle recommends that you use external redundancy with storage devices such as RAID, or other similar devices that provide their own data protection mechanisms.
Normal redundancy
In a normal redundancy disk group, to increase performance and reliability, Oracle ASM by default uses two-way mirroring. A normal redundancy disk group requires a minimum of two disk devices (or two failure groups). The effective disk space in a normal redundancy disk group is half the sum of the disk space in all of its devices.
For Oracle Clusterware files, a normal redundancy disk group requires a minimum of three disk devices (two of the three disks are used by failure groups and all three disks are used by the quorum failure group) and provides three voting files and one OCR (one primary and one secondary copy). With normal redundancy, the cluster can survive the loss of one failure group.
For most installations, Oracle recommends that you select normal redundancy.
High redundancy
In a high redundancy disk group, Oracle ASM uses three-way mirroring to increase performance and provide the highest level of reliability. A high redundancy disk group requires a minimum of three disk devices (or three failure groups). The effective disk space in a high redundancy disk group is one-third the sum of the disk space in all of its devices.
For Oracle Clusterware files, a high redundancy disk group requires a minimum of five disk devices (three of the five disks are used by failure groups and all five disks are used by the quorum failure group) and provides five voting files and one OCR (one primary and two secondary copies). With high redundancy, the cluster can survive the loss of two failure groups.
While high redundancy disk groups do provide a high level of data protection, you should consider the greater cost of additional storage devices before deciding to select high redundancy disk groups.
Note:
After a disk group is created, you cannot alter the redundancy level of the disk group.Determine the total amount of disk space that you require for Oracle Clusterware files, and for the database files and recovery files.
Use Table 6-4 and Table 6-5 to determine the minimum number of disks and the minimum disk space requirements for installing Oracle Clusterware files, and installing the starter database, where you have voting files in a separate disk group:
Table 6-4 Total Oracle Clusterware Storage Space Required by Redundancy Type
| Redundancy Level | Minimum Number of Disks | Oracle Cluster Registry (OCR) Files | Voting Files | Both File Types |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
External |
1 |
400 MB |
300 MB |
700 MB |
|
Normal |
3 |
800 MB |
600 MB |
1.4 GBFoot 1 |
|
High |
5 |
1.2 GB |
1.5 GB |
2.7 GB |
Footnote 1 If you create a disk group during installation, then it must be at least 2 GB.
Note:
If the voting files are in a disk group, be aware that disk groups with Oracle Clusterware files (OCR and voting files) have a higher minimum number of failure groups than other disk groups.If you create a disk group as part of the installation in order to install the OCR and voting files, then the installer requires that you create these files on a disk group with at least 2 GB of available space.
Table 6-5 Total Oracle Clusterware Storage Space Required by Redundancy Type
| Redundancy Level | Minimum Number of Disks | Oracle Cluster Registry (OCR) Files | Voting Files | Both File Types | Total Storage including Grid Infrastructure Management Repository |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
External |
1 |
400 MB |
300 MB |
700 MB |
At least 5.9 GB for a cluster with 4 nodes or less (5.2 GB + 400 MB + 300 MB). Additional space required for clusters with 5 or more nodes. For example, a six-node cluster allocation should be at least 6.9 GB: (5.2 GB +2*(500 MB) +400 MB + 300 MB). |
|
Normal |
3 |
At least 400 MB for each failure group, or 800 MB |
900 MB |
1.7 GBFoot 1 |
At least 12.1 GB for a cluster with 4 nodes or less (2*5.2 GB + 2*400 MB + 3*300 MB). Additional space required for clusters with 5 or more nodes. For example, for a six-node cluster allocation should be at least 14.1 GB: (2 * (5.2 GB +2*(500 MB)) +(2 * 400 MB) +(3 * 300 MB)). |
|
High |
5 |
At least 400 MB for each failure group, or 1.2 GB |
1.5 GB |
2.7 GB |
At least 18.3 GB for a cluster with 4 nodes or less (3* 5.2 GB + 3*400 MB + 5*300 MB). Additional space required for clusters with 5 or more nodes. For example, for a six-node cluster allocation should be at least 21.3 GB: (3* (5.2 GB +2*(500 MB))+(3 * 400 MB) +(5 * 300 MB)). |
Footnote 1 If you create a disk group during installation, then it must be at least 2 GB.
Determine an allocation unit size. Every Oracle ASM disk is divided into allocation units (AU). An allocation unit is the fundamental unit of allocation within a disk group. You can select the AU Size value from 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 or 64 MB, depending on the specific disk group compatibility level. The default value is set to 1 MB.
For Oracle Clusterware installations, you must also add additional disk space for the Oracle ASM metadata. You can use the following formula to calculate the disk space requirements (in MB) for OCR and voting files, and the Oracle ASM metadata:
total = [2 * ausize * disks] + [redundancy * (ausize * (nodes * (clients + 1) + 30) + (64 * nodes) + 533)]
Where:
redundancy = Number of mirrors: external = 1, normal = 2, high = 3.
ausize = Metadata AU size in megabytes.
nodes = Number of nodes in cluster.
clients - Number of database instances for each node.
disks - Number of disks in disk group.
For example, for a four-node Oracle RAC installation, using three disks in a normal redundancy disk group, you require an additional X MB of space:
[2 * 1 * 3] + [2 * (1 * (4 * (4 + 1)+ 30)+ (64 * 4)+ 533)] = 1684 MB
To ensure high availability of Oracle Clusterware files on Oracle ASM, for a normal redundancy disk group, as a general rule for most installations, you must have at least 2 GB of disk space for Oracle Clusterware files in three separate failure groups, with at least three physical disks. To ensure that the effective disk space to create Oracle Clusterware files is 2 GB, best practice suggests that you ensure at least 2.1 GB of capacity for each disk, with a total capacity of at least 6.3 GB for three disks.
Optionally, identify failure groups for the Oracle ASM disk group devices.
If you intend to use a normal or high redundancy disk group, then you can further protect your database against hardware failure by associating a set of disk devices in a custom failure group. By default, each device comprises its own failure group. However, if two disk devices in a normal redundancy disk group are attached to the same SCSI controller, then the disk group becomes unavailable if the controller fails. The controller in this example is a single point of failure.
To protect against failures of this type, you could use two SCSI controllers, each with two disks, and define a failure group for the disks attached to each controller. This configuration would enable the disk group to tolerate the failure of one SCSI controller.
Note:
Define custom failure groups after installation, using the GUI tool ASMCA, the command line toolasmcmd, or SQL commands.
If you define custom failure groups, then for failure groups containing database files only, you must specify a minimum of two failure groups for normal redundancy disk groups and three failure groups for high redundancy disk groups.
For failure groups containing database files and clusterware files, including voting files, you must specify a minimum of three failure groups for normal redundancy disk groups, and five failure groups for high redundancy disk groups.
Disk groups containing voting files must have at least 3 failure groups for normal redundancy or at least 5 failure groups for high redundancy. Otherwise, the minimum is 2 and 3 respectively. The minimum number of failure groups applies whether or not they are custom failure groups.
If you are sure that a suitable disk group does not exist on the system, then install or identify appropriate disk devices to add to a new disk group. Use the following guidelines when identifying appropriate disk devices:
All of the devices in an Oracle ASM disk group should be the same size and have the same performance characteristics.
Do not specify multiple partitions on a single physical disk as a disk group device. Each disk group device should be on a separate physical disk.
Although you can specify a logical volume as a device in an Oracle ASM disk group, Oracle does not recommend their use because it adds a layer of complexity that is unnecessary with Oracle ASM. In addition, Oracle RAC requires a cluster logical volume manager in case you decide to use a logical volume with Oracle ASM and Oracle RAC.
Oracle recommends that if you choose to use a logical volume manager, then use the logical volume manager to represent a single LUN without striping or mirroring, so that you can minimize the impact of the additional storage layer.
See Also:
Oracle Automatic Storage Management Administrator's Guide for information about allocation unitsIf you have a certified NAS storage device, then you can create zero-padded files in an NFS mounted directory and use those files as disk devices in an Oracle ASM disk group.
To create these files, follow these steps:
If necessary, create an exported directory for the disk group files on the NAS device.
Refer to the NAS device documentation for more information about completing this step.
Switch user to root.
Create a mount point directory on the local system. For example:
# mkdir -p /mnt/oracleasm
To ensure that the NFS file system is mounted when the system restarts, add an entry for the file system in the mount file /etc/fstab.
See Also:
My Oracle Support Note 359515.1 for updated NAS mount option information, available at the following URL:https://support.oracle.com/CSP/main/article?cmd=show&type=NOT&id=359515.1
For more information about editing the mount file for the operating system, see the man pages. For more information about recommended mount options, see the section Section 6.3.3, "Checking NFS Mount and Buffer Size Parameters for Oracle RAC."
Enter a command similar to the following to mount the NFS file system on the local system:
# mount -F nfs /mnt/oracleasm
Choose a name for the disk group to create. For example: sales1.
Create a directory for the files on the NFS file system, using the disk group name as the directory name. For example:
# 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 file system. You must create one, two, or three files respectively to create an external, normal, or high redundancy disk group.
Enter commands similar to the following to change the owner, group, and permissions on the directory and files that you created, where the installation owner is grid, and the OSASM group is asmadmin:
# chown -R grid:asmadmin /mnt/oracleasm # chmod -R 660 /mnt/oracleasm
If you plan to install Oracle RAC or a standalone Oracle Database, then during installation, edit the Oracle ASM disk discovery string to specify a regular expression that matches the file names you created. For example:
/mnt/oracleasm/sales1/
Select from the following choices to store either database or recovery files in an existing Oracle ASM disk group, depending on installation method:
If you select an installation method that runs Database Configuration Assistant in interactive mode, then you can decide whether you want to create a disk group, or to use an existing one.
The same choice is available to you if you use Database Configuration Assistant after the installation to create a database.
If you select an installation method that runs Database Configuration Assistant in noninteractive mode, then you must choose an existing disk group for the new database; you cannot create a disk group. However, you can add disk devices to an existing disk group if it has insufficient free space for your requirements.
Note:
The Oracle Automatic Storage Management instance that manages the existing disk group can be running in a different Oracle home directory.To determine if an existing Oracle Automatic Storage Management disk group exists, or to determine if there is sufficient disk space in a disk group, you can use Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control or the Oracle ASM command line tool (asmcmd) as follows:
Connect to the Oracle Automatic Storage Management instance and start the instance if necessary:
$ $ORACLE_HOME/bin/asmcmd ASMCMD> startup
Enter one of the following commands to view the existing disk groups, their redundancy level, and the amount of free disk space in each one:
ASMCMD> lsdg
or:
$ORACLE_HOME/bin/asmcmd -p lsdg
From the output, identify a disk group with the appropriate redundancy level and note the free space that it contains.
If necessary, install or identify the additional disk devices required to meet the storage requirements listed in the previous section.
Note:
If you are adding devices to an existing disk group, then Oracle recommends that you use devices that have the same size and performance characteristics as the existing devices in that disk group.Review the following sections to configure Oracle Automatic Storage Management (Oracle ASM) storage for Oracle Clusterware and Oracle Database Files:
The following section describes how to identify existing disk groups and determine the free disk space that they contain. Optionally, identify failure groups for the Oracle ASM disk group devices. You can use the kfod op command to set the Oracle ASM disk discovery path. The kfod utility is located in the path Grid_home/bin. For more information about Oracle ASM disk discovery, see Oracle Automatic Storage Management Administrator's Guide.
If you intend to use a normal or high redundancy disk group, then you can further protect your database against hardware failure by associating a set of disk devices in a custom failure group. By default, each device comprises its own failure group. However, if two disk devices in a normal redundancy disk group are attached to the same SCSI controller, then the disk group becomes unavailable if the controller fails. The controller in this example is a single point of failure.
To protect against failures of this type, you could use two SCSI controllers, each with two disks, and define a failure group for the disks attached to each controller. This configuration would enable the disk group to tolerate the failure of one SCSI controller.
Note:
If you define custom failure groups, then you must specify a minimum of two failure groups for normal redundancy and three failure groups for high redundancy.If you are sure that a suitable disk group does not exist on the system, then install or identify appropriate disk devices to add to a new disk group. Use the following guidelines when identifying appropriate disk devices:
All of the devices in an Oracle ASM disk group should be the same size and have the same performance characteristics.
Do not specify multiple partitions on a single physical disk as a disk group device. Oracle ASM expects each disk group device to be on a separate physical disk.
Although you can specify a logical volume as a device in an Oracle ASM disk group, Oracle does not recommend their use because it adds a layer of complexity that is unnecessary with Oracle ASM. In addition, Oracle RAC requires a cluster logical volume manager in case you decide to use a logical volume with Oracle ASM and Oracle RAC.
An Oracle ASM Storage Client does not have Oracle ASM running on the nodes and uses Oracle ASM storage services in a different client cluster.
To create Oracle ASM credentials file, from the Grid_home/bin directory on the Storage Server, run the following command on one of the member nodes, where credential_file is the name and path location of the Oracle ASM credentials file you create:
Grid_home/bin/asmcmd mkcc client_cluster_name credential_file
For example:
Grid_home/bin/asmcmd mkcc clientcluster1 /home/grid/clientcluster1_credentials.xml
Copy the Oracle ASM credentials file to a secure path on the client cluster node where you run the client cluster installation. The Oracle Installation user must have permissions to access that file. Oracle recommends that no other user is granted permissions to access the Oracle ASM credentials file. During installation, you are prompted to provide a path to the file.
Note:
If the Oracle ASM credentials file is used to configure the client cluster, then it cannot be shared or reused to configure another client cluster.
See Also:
Oracle Automatic Storage Management Administrator's Guide for ASMCMD client cluster management commandsOracle ACFS is installed as part of an Oracle Grid Infrastructure installation (Oracle Clusterware and Oracle Automatic Storage Management) for 12c Release 1 (12.1).
You can also create a General Purpose File System configuration of ACFS using ASMCA.
See Also:
Section 6.1.2.2, "Restrictions and Guidelines for Oracle ACFS" for supported deployment optionsTo configure Oracle ACFS for an Oracle Database home for an Oracle RAC database:
Install Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a cluster (Oracle Clusterware and Oracle Automatic Storage Management)
Change directory to the Oracle Grid Infrastructure home. For example:
$ cd /u01/app/12.1.0/grid
Ensure that the Oracle Grid Infrastructure installation owner has read and write permissions on the storage mountpoint you want to use. For example, if you want to use the mountpoint /u02/acfsmounts/:
$ ls -ld /u02/acfsmounts
Start Oracle ASM Configuration Assistant as the grid installation owner. For example:
./asmca
The Configure ASM: ASM Disk Groups page shows you the Oracle ASM disk group you created during installation. Click the ASM Cluster File Systems tab.
On the ASM Cluster File Systems page, right-click the Data disk, then select Create ACFS for Database Home.
In the Create ACFS Hosted Database Home window, enter the following information:
Database Home ADVM Volume Device Name: Enter the name of the database home. The name must be unique in your enterprise. For example: dbase_01
Database Home Mountpoint: Enter the directory path for the mount point. For example: /u02/acfsmounts/dbase_01
Make a note of this mount point for future reference.
Database Home Size (GB): Enter in gigabytes the size you want the database home to be.
Database Home Owner Name: Enter the name of the Oracle Database installation owner you plan to use to install the database. For example: oracle1
Database Home Owner Group: Enter the OSDBA group whose members you plan to provide when you install the database. Members of this group are given operating system authentication for the SYSDBA privileges on the database. For example: dba1
Click OK when you have completed your entries.
Run the script generated by Oracle ASM Configuration Assistant as a privileged user (root). On an Oracle Clusterware environment, the script registers the ACFS as a resource managed by Oracle Clusterware. Registering ACFS as a resource helps Oracle Clusterware to mount the ACFS automatically in proper order when ACFS is used for an Oracle RAC database Home.
During Oracle RAC installation, ensure that you or the DBA who installs Oracle RAC selects for the Oracle home the mount point you provided in the Database Home Mountpoint field (in the preceding example, /u02/acfsmounts/dbase_01).
See Also:
Oracle Automatic Storage Management Administrator's Guide for more information about configuring and managing your storage with Oracle ACFSIf you have an Oracle ASM installation from a prior release installed on your server, or in an existing Oracle Clusterware installation, then you can use Oracle Automatic Storage Management Configuration Assistant (ASMCA, located in the path Grid_home/bin) to upgrade the existing Oracle ASM instance to 12c Release 1 (12.1), and subsequently configure failure groups, Oracle ASM volumes and Oracle Automatic Storage Management Cluster File System (Oracle ACFS).
Note:
You must first shut down all database instances and applications on the node with the existing Oracle ASM instance before upgrading it.During installation, if you are upgrading from an Oracle ASM release prior to 11.2, and you chose to use Oracle ASM and ASMCA detects that there is a previous release Oracle ASM version installed in another Oracle ASM home, then after installing the Oracle ASM 12c Release 1 (12.1) binaries, you can start ASMCA to upgrade the existing Oracle ASM instance. You can then choose to configure an Oracle ACFS deployment by creating Oracle ASM volumes and using the upgraded Oracle ASM to create the Oracle ACFS.
If you are upgrading from Oracle ASM 11g Release 2 (11.2.0.1) or later, then Oracle ASM is always upgraded with Oracle Grid Infrastructure as part of the rolling upgrade, and ASMCA is started by the root scripts during upgrade. ASMCA cannot perform a separate upgrade of Oracle ASM from a prior release to the current release.
On an existing Oracle Clusterware or Oracle RAC installation, if the prior version of Oracle ASM instances on all nodes is Oracle ASM 11g Release 1, then you are provided with the option to perform a rolling upgrade of Oracle ASM instances. If the prior version of Oracle ASM instances on an Oracle RAC installation are from a release prior to Oracle Database 11g release 1, then rolling upgrades cannot be performed. Oracle ASM on all nodes will be upgraded to Oracle ASM 12c Release 1 (12.1).