1 Introduction to Oracle RAC

Understanding Cluster-Aware Storage Solutions

An Oracle RAC database is a shared everything database. All data files, control files, SPFILEs, and redo log files in Oracle RAC environments must reside on cluster-aware shared disks, so that all of the cluster database instances can access these storage components. Because Oracle RAC databases use a shared everything architecture, Oracle RAC requires cluster-aware storage for all database files.

In Oracle RAC, the Oracle Database software manages disk access and is certified for use on a variety of storage architectures. It is your choice how to configure your storage, but you must use a supported cluster-aware storage solution. Oracle Database provides the following storage options for Oracle RAC:

• Oracle Automatic Storage Management (Oracle ASM)

  Oracle recommends this solution to manage your storage.

• A certified cluster file system

  • Oracle recommends Oracle Automatic Storage Management Cluster File System (Oracle ACFS).

  • A third-party cluster file system on a cluster-aware volume manager that is certified for Oracle RAC. For example:

    • Oracle OCFS2 (Linux, only)

    • IBM GPFS (IBM AIX, only)

• Certified network file system (NFS) solution

Oracle RAC and Network Connectivity

All nodes in an Oracle RAC environment must connect to at least one Local Area Network (LAN) (commonly referred to as the public network) to enable users and applications to access the database. In addition to the public network, Oracle RAC requires private network connectivity used exclusively for communication between the nodes and database instances running on those nodes. This network is commonly referred to as the interconnect.

The interconnect network is a private network that connects all of the servers in the cluster. The interconnect network must use at least one switch and a Gigabit Ethernet adapter.

You must configure User Datagram Protocol (UDP) for the cluster interconnect, except in a Windows cluster. Windows clusters use the TCP protocol. On Linux and UNIX systems, you can configure Oracle RAC to use either the UDP or Reliable Data Socket (RDS) protocols for inter-instance communication on the interconnect. Oracle Clusterware uses the same interconnect using the UDP protocol, but cannot be configured to use RDS.

An additional network connectivity is required when using Network Attached Storage (NAS). Network attached storage can be typical NAS devices, such as NFS filers, or can be storage that is connected using Fibre Channel over IP, for example. This additional network communication channel should be independent of the other communication channels used by Oracle RAC (the public and private network communication). If the storage network communication must be converged with one of the other network communication channels, then you must ensure that storage-related communication gets first priority.

Overview of Using Dynamic Database Services to Connect to Oracle Databases

Applications should use the Dynamic Database Services feature to connect to an Oracle database over the public network. Dynamic Database Services enable you to define rules and characteristics to control how users and applications connect to database instances. These characteristics include a unique name, workload balancing and failover options, and high availability characteristics.

Users can access an Oracle RAC database using a client/server configuration or through one or more middle tiers, with or without connection pooling. By default, a user connection to an Oracle RAC database is established using the TCP/IP protocol but Oracle supports other protocols. Oracle RAC database instances must be accessed through the SCAN for the cluster.

Overview of Virtual IP Addresses

Oracle Clusterware hosts node virtual IP (VIP) addresses on the public network. Node VIPs are VIP addresses that clients use to connect to an Oracle RAC database. A typical connect attempt from a database client to an Oracle RAC database instance can be summarized, as follows:

1. The database client connects to SCAN (which includes a SCAN VIP on a public network), providing the SCAN listener with a valid service name.

2. The SCAN listener then determines which database instance hosts this service and routes the client to the local or node listener on the respective node.

3. The node listener, listening on a node VIP and a given port, retrieves the connection request and connects the client to the an instance on the local node.

If multiple public networks are used on the cluster to support client connectivity through multiple subnets, then the preceding operation is performed within a given subnet.

If a node fails, then the VIP address fails over to another node on which the VIP address can accept TCP connections, but it does not accept connections to the Oracle database. Clients that attempt to connect to a VIP address not residing on its home node receive a rapid connection refused error instead of waiting for TCP connect timeout messages. When the network on which the VIP is configured comes back online, Oracle Clusterware fails back the VIP to its home node, where connections are accepted. Generally, VIP addresses fail over when:

• The node on which a VIP address runs fails

• All interfaces for the VIP address fail

• All interfaces for the VIP address are disconnected from the network

Oracle RAC 12c supports multiple public networks to enable access to the cluster through different subnets. Each network resource represents its own subnet and each database service uses a particular network to access the Oracle RAC database. Each network resource is a resource managed by Oracle Clusterware, which enables the VIP behavior previously described.

SCAN is a single network name defined either in your organization's Domain Name Server (DNS) or in the Grid Naming Service (GNS) that round robins to three IP addresses. Oracle recommends that all connections to the Oracle RAC database use the SCAN in their client connection string. Incoming connections are load balanced across the active instances providing the requested service through the three SCAN listeners. With SCAN, you do not have to change the client connection even if the configuration of the cluster changes (nodes added or removed). Unlike in previous releases, SCAN in Oracle RAC 12c fully supports multiple subnets, which means you can create one SCAN for each subnet in which you want the cluster to operate.

Restricted Service Registration in Oracle RAC

The valid node checking feature provides the ability to configure and dynamically update a set of IP addresses or subnets from which registration requests are allowed by the listener. Database instance registration with a listener succeeds only when the request originates from a valid node. The network administrator can specify a list of valid nodes, excluded nodes, or disable valid node checking. The list of valid nodes explicitly lists the nodes and subnets that can register with the database. The list of excluded nodes explicitly lists the nodes that cannot register with the database. The control of dynamic registration results in increased manageability and security of Oracle RAC deployments.

By default, valid node checking for registration (VNCR) is enabled. In the default configuration, registration requests from all nodes within the subnet of the SCAN listener can register with the listener. Non-SCAN listeners only accept registration from instances on the local node. Remote nodes or nodes outside the subnet of the SCAN listener must be included on the list of valid nodes by using the registration_invited_nodes_alias parameter in the listener.ora file or by modifying the SCAN listener using SRVCTL.

About Oracle RAC Software Components

Oracle RAC databases generally have two or more database instances that each contain memory structures and background processes. An Oracle RAC database has the same processes and memory structures as a noncluster Oracle database and additional processes and memory structures that are specific to Oracle RAC. Any one instance's database view is nearly identical to any other instance's view in the same Oracle RAC database; the view is a single system image of the environment.

Each instance has a buffer cache in its System Global Area (SGA). Using Cache Fusion, Oracle RAC environments logically combine each instance's buffer cache to enable the instances to process data as if the data resided on a logically combined, single cache.

To ensure that each Oracle RAC database instance obtains the block that it requires to satisfy a query or transaction, Oracle RAC instances use two processes, the Global Cache Service (GCS) and the Global Enqueue Service (GES). The GCS and GES maintain records of the statuses of each data file and each cached block using a Global Resource Directory (GRD). The GRD contents are distributed across all of the active instances, which effectively increases the size of the SGA for an Oracle RAC instance.

After one instance caches data, any other instance within the same cluster database can acquire a block image from another instance in the same database faster than by reading the block from disk. Therefore, Cache Fusion moves current blocks between instances rather than re-reading the blocks from disk. When a consistent block is needed or a changed block is required on another instance, Cache Fusion transfers the block image directly between the affected instances. Oracle RAC uses the private interconnect for interinstance communication and block transfers. The GES Monitor and the Instance Enqueue Process manage access to Cache Fusion resources and enqueue recovery processing.

About Oracle RAC Background Processes

The GCS and GES processes, and the GRD collaborate to enable Cache Fusion. The Oracle RAC processes and their identifiers are as follows:

• ACMS: Atomic Controlfile to Memory Service (ACMS)

  In an Oracle RAC environment, the ACMS per-instance process is an agent that contributes to ensuring a distributed SGA memory update is either globally committed on success or globally aborted if a failure occurs.

• GTX0-j: Global Transaction Process

  The GTX0-j process provides transparent support for XA global transactions in an Oracle RAC environment. The database autotunes the number of these processes based on the workload of XA global transactions.

• LMON: Global Enqueue Service Monitor

  The LMON process monitors global enqueues and resources across the cluster and performs global enqueue recovery operations.

• LMD: Global Enqueue Service Daemon

  The LMD process manages incoming remote resource requests within each instance.

• LMS: Global Cache Service Process

  The LMS process maintains records of the data file statuses and each cached block by recording information in a Global Resource Directory (GRD). The LMS process also controls the flow of messages to remote instances and manages global data block access and transmits block images between the buffer caches of different instances. This processing is part of the Cache Fusion feature.

• LCK0: Instance Enqueue Process

  The LCK0 process manages non-Cache Fusion resource requests such as library and row cache requests.

• RMSn: Oracle RAC Management Processes (RMSn)

  The RMSn processes perform manageability tasks for Oracle RAC. Tasks accomplished by an RMSn process include creation of resources related to Oracle RAC when new instances are added to the clusters.

• RSMN: Remote Slave Monitor manages background slave process creation and communication on remote instances. These background slave processes perform tasks on behalf of a coordinating process running in another instance.

Introduction to Server Pools

Server pools logically apportion a cluster into groups of servers offering database or application services. Server pool properties control the scalability and availability of those databases and applications. You can configure each server pool with a minimum and maximum size, which determines scalability. Oracle Clusterware manages availability between server pools, and you can further regulate availability by configuring the importance value of individual server pools.

Servers are not assigned to server pools by name but by number. Therefore, you must configure any server to run any database. If you cannot configure servers due to, for example, heterogeneous servers or storage connectivity, then you can restrict servers by using server category definitions to determine server pool membership eligibility.

Examples of Using Server Pools

This section includes the following examples of using server pools:

• Minimum and Maximum Number of Servers

• IMPORTANCE Attribute of Server Pools

• Consolidation of Databases

Minimum and Maximum Number of Servers

Consider a four-node cluster configured into two server pools named online and backoffice. A database named dbsales runs in the online server pool offering the browse, search, and salescart services. A database named dberp runs in the backoffice server pool and offers the inventory and shipping services, as shown in Figure 1-2. During normal business hours the enterprise requires a minimum of two instances of the dbsales database and one instance of the dberp database to meet normal demand.

Figure 1-2 Server Placement by Minimum and Maximum Limits

Description of "Figure 1-2 Server Placement by Minimum and Maximum Limits"

In this policy-managed deployment, the value of the MIN_SIZE server pool attribute for the online server pool is 2, while the value of the MIN_SIZE server pool attribute for the backoffice server pool is 1. Configured this way, Oracle Clusterware ensures that there are always two servers in the online server pool and one server in the backoffice server pool. Because this is a four-node cluster, there is one server left not assigned to either server pool. Where that last server gets deployed is determined by the MAX_SIZE server pool parameter of each server pool. If the sum of the values of the MAX_SIZE server pool attribute for each server pool is less than the total number of servers in the cluster, then the remaining servers stay in the Free server pool awaiting a failure of a deployed node.

If the value of MAX_SIZE is greater than that of MIN_SIZE, then the remaining server will be deployed into the server pool whose importance value is greatest, as shown in Figure 1-2, and fully discussed in the next section. In this case, the server is a shareable resource that can be relocated online to join the server pool where it is required. For example, during business hours the server could be given to the online server pool to add an instance of the dbsales database but after hours could be relocated to the backoffice server pool, adding a dberp database instance. All such movements are online and instances are shut down, transactionally.

These two policy-managed databases are running only the instances that are required and they can be dynamically increased or decreased to meet demand or business requirements.

IMPORTANCE Attribute of Server Pools

The IMPORTANCE server pool attribute is used at cluster startup and in response to a node failure or eviction. In contrast to administrator-managed databases, you can configure server pools with different importance levels to determine which databases are started first and which databases remain online in case there is a multinode outage.

Consider a four-node cluster that hosts a database named dbapps in two server pools, sales and backoffice. Two services, orderentry and billing, run in the sales server pool, while two other services, erp and reports, run in the backoffice server pool, as shown in Figure 1-3. By configuring the value of the IMPORTANCE server pool attribute of the sales server pool higher than that of the backoffice server pool, the services in sales start first when the cluster starts and are always available, even if there is only one server left running after a multinode failure. The IMPORTANCE server pool attribute enables you to rank services and also eliminates the requirement to run a service on all nodes in a cluster to ensure that it is always available.

Figure 1-3 Server Pool Importance

Description of "Figure 1-3 Server Pool Importance"

Consolidation of Databases

You can use several different approaches, either discretely or combined, to consolidate Oracle databases. Policy-managed deployments facilitate consolidation. In the case of schema consolidation, where multiple applications are being hosted in a single database separated into discrete schemas or pluggable databases (PDBs), you can use server pools to meet required capacity. Because of the dynamic scaling property of server pools, you can increase or decrease the number of database instances to meet current demand or business requirements. Since server pools also determine which services run together or separately, you can configure and maintain required affinity or isolation.

When it is not possible to use schema consolidation because of, for example, version requirements, you can host multiple databases on a single set of servers. Using policy-managed databases facilitates this database consolidation because they can share the same server pool by making use of instance caging, which enables you to dynamically increase or decrease databases, both horizontally (using server pool size) and vertically (using the CPU_COUNT server configuration attribute) to meet demand or business policies and schedules.

See Also:

Oracle Clusterware Administration and Deployment Guide for more information about the CPU_COUNT server configuration attribute

By contrast, with administrator-managed databases, you are required to reserve capacity on each server to absorb workload failing over should a database instance or server fail. With policy-managed databases, however, you can effectively rank server pools by the business necessity of the workloads that they are running using the MIN_SIZE, MAX_SIZE, and IMPORTANCE server pool attributes.

When the failure of a server brings a server pool to below its configured minimum number of servers, another server will move from a less important server pool to take its place and bring the number of servers back up to the configured minimum. This eliminates the risk of cascade failures due to overloading the remaining servers and enables you to significantly reduce or even eliminate the need to reserve capacity for handling failures.

Migrating or converting to policy-managed databases also enables cluster consolidation and creates larger clusters that have greater availability and scalability because of the increased number of servers available to host and scale databases. Because policy-managed databases do not require binding their instance names to a particular server and binding services to particular instances, the complexity of configuring and managing large clusters is greatly reduced.

An example deployment is shown in Figure 1-4 where the previous two cluster examples (shown in Figure 1-2 and Figure 1-3) are consolidated into a single cluster, making use of both database consolidation (using instance caging) and cluster consolidation (using server pools) configured so that workloads are properly sized and prioritized.

Figure 1-4 Consolidating Databases

Description of "Figure 1-4 Consolidating Databases"

Deploying Policy-Managed Databases

When you deploy a policy-managed database you must first determine the services and their required sizing, taking into account that services cannot span server pools. If you are going to collocate this database with other databases, then you should factor in its CPU requirements relative to the other hosted databases, and also factor in the value of its CPU_COUNT attribute for instance caging, so that you can size the database both vertically and horizontally in one or more server pools.

If you are going to collocate the server pools for this database with other server pools, then consider configuring the server pools to adjust the server pool sizes on a calendar or event basis to optimize meeting demand and business requirements. Once you have determined the sizes of the server pools, and configured the appropriate values for the MIN_SIZE and MAX_SIZE server pool attributes, you can then determine the relative importance of each server pool.

You, as the cluster administrator, create policy-managed database server pools using the srvctl add serverpool command. You can modify the properties of the server pool using the srvctl modify serverpool command in the Oracle Grid Infrastructure home.

While it is possible to create a server pool using DBCA, Oracle recommends this only for small, single server pool deployments, because DBCA will fail if servers are already allocated to other server pools. Additionally, if the cluster is made up of servers with different capacities, such as old and new servers, Oracle recommends that you set up server category definitions defining the minimum server requirements for a server to join each server pool.

After you create the server pools, you can run DBCA from the appropriate database home. Depending on the database type and task, you will be presented with different default options. For all new Oracle RAC and Oracle RAC One Node databases, including container databases (CDBs), the Policy-Managed option is the default and the option that Oracle recommends.

If you are upgrading your database from an administrator-managed database or a database earlier than Oracle Database 11g release 2 (11.2), then you will not have the option to directly upgrade to a policy-managed database. After you upgrade, however, you can convert the database to policy managed using the srvctl modify database command.

When you convert from an administrator-managed database to a policy-managed database, the instance names are automatically updated to include the underscore (for example: orcl1 becomes orcl_1). The underscore is required so that the database can automatically create instances when a server pool grows in size.

Managing Policy-Managed Databases

Managing a policy-managed database requires less configuration and reconfiguration steps than an administrator-managed one with respect to creation, sizing, patching, and load balancing. Also, because any server in the server pools within the cluster can run any of the databases, you do not have to create and maintain database instance-to-node-name mappings. You can perform maintenance tasks such as patching by relocating servers into the Free pool or by adjusting the server pool minimum and maximum sizes, thereby retaining required availability.

Policy-managed databases also facilitate the management of services, because they are assigned to a single server pool and run as singletons or uniform across all servers in the pool. You no longer have to create or maintain explicit preferred and available database instance lists for each service. If a server moves into a server pool because of manual relocation or a high availability event, all uniform services and their dependent database instances are automatically started. If a server hosting one or more singleton services goes down, those services will automatically be started on one or more of the remaining servers in the server pool. In the case of Oracle RAC One Node, the corresponding database instance will also be started automatically.

Managing services relative to each other is improved by making use of the importance attribute of each server pool. Each service running in a server pool inherits the server pool's importance relative to the other server pool-hosted services in the cluster. If the minimum size of the most important server pool is greater than zero, then the services and associated database instances in that server pool are started first on cluster startup and will be the last services and database instances running, as long as there is one server running in the cluster. You can offer services not critical to the business in the least important server pool, ensuring that, should sufficient resources not be available due to demand or failures, those services will eventually be shut down and the more business-critical services remain available.

Because many management tasks may involve making changes that can affect multiple databases, services, or server pools in a consolidated environment, you can use the evaluate mode for certain SRVCTL commands to get a report of the resource impact of a command.

Consider the following example, that evaluates the effect on the system of modifying a server pool:

$ srvctl modify srvpool -l 3 -g online -eval
Service erp1 will be stopped on node test3
Service reports will be stopped on node test3
Service inventory will be stopped on node test3
Service shipping will be stopped on node test3
Database dbsales will be started on node test3
Service orderentry will be started on node test3
Service billing will be started on node test3
Service browse will be started on node test3
Service search will be started on node test3
Service salescart will be started on node test3
Server test3 will be moved from pool backoffice to pool online

As shown in the preceding example, modifying a server pool can result in many resource state changes. You can use a policy set through either Oracle Clusterware or Oracle Database Quality of Service Management.

Policy-Based Cluster Management

In Oracle Database 12c, Oracle Clusterware supports the management of a cluster configuration policy set as a native Oracle Clusterware feature. A cluster configuration policy contains one definition for each server pool that is defined in the system. A cluster configuration policy also specifies resource placement and cluster node availability. A cluster configuration policy set defines the names of all of the server pools that are configured in a cluster, and contains one or more configuration policies.

There is always only one configuration policy in effect at any one time. However, administrators typically create several configuration policies to reflect the different business needs and demands based on calendar dates or time of day parameters. For instance, morning hours during business days are typically when most users log in and download their email; email-related workloads are usually light at nighttime and on weekends. In such cases, you can use cluster configuration policies to define the server allocation based on the expected demand. More specifically for this example, a configuration policy that allocates more servers to OLTP workloads is in effect during workday mornings, and another configuration policy allocates more servers to batch workloads on weekends and workday evenings.

Using cluster configuration policies can also help manage clusters that comprise servers of different capabilities, such as different computer and memory sizes (heterogeneous). To create management and availability policies for clusters comprised of heterogeneous server types, the cluster administrator can create server categories based on server attributes. These attributes can restrict which servers can be assigned to which server pools. For example, if you have some servers in a cluster that run older hardware, then you can use an attribute to specify that these servers should only be allocated to the server pools that support batch jobs and testing, instead of allocating them to the server pools that are used for online sales or other business-critical applications.

Understanding Compatibility in Oracle RAC Environments

To run Oracle RAC in configurations with different versions of Oracle Database in the same cluster, you must first install Oracle Grid Infrastructure, which must be the same version, or higher, as the highest version of Oracle Database that you want to deploy in this cluster. For example, to run an Oracle RAC 11g release 2 (11.2) database and an Oracle RAC 12c database in the same cluster, you must install Oracle Grid Infrastructure 12c. Contact My Oracle Support for more information about version compatibility in Oracle RAC environments.

Oracle RAC Database Management Styles and Database Installation

Before installing the Oracle RAC database software and creating respective databases, decide on the management style you want to apply to the Oracle RAC databases, as described in "Overview of Server Pools and Policy-Managed Databases".

The management style you choose impacts the software deployment and database creation. If you choose the administrator-managed database deployment model, using a per-node installation of software, then it is sufficient to deploy the Oracle Database software (the database home) on only those nodes on which you plan to run Oracle Database.

If you choose the policy-managed deployment model, using a per-node installation of software, then you must deploy the software on all nodes in the cluster, because the dynamic allocation of servers to server pools, in principle, does not predict on which server a database instance can potentially run. To avoid instance startup failures on servers that do not host the respective database home, Oracle strongly recommends that you deploy the database software on all nodes in the cluster. When you use a shared Oracle Database home, accessibility to this home from all nodes in the cluster is assumed and the setup needs to ensure that the respective file system is mounted on all servers, as required.

Oracle Universal Installer will only allow you to deploy an Oracle Database home across nodes in the cluster if you previously installed and configured Oracle Grid Infrastructure for the cluster. If Oracle Universal Installer does not give you an option to deploy the database home across all nodes in the cluster, then check the prerequisite, as stated, by Oracle Universal Installer.

During installation, you can choose to create a database during the database home installation. Oracle Universal Installer runs DBCA to create your Oracle RAC database according to the options that you select.

The Oracle RAC software is distributed as part of the Oracle Database installation media. By default, the Oracle Database software installation process installs the Oracle RAC option when it recognizes that you are performing the installation on a cluster. Oracle Universal Installer installs Oracle RAC into a directory structure referred to as the Oracle home, which is separate from the Oracle home directory for other Oracle software running on the system. Because Oracle Universal Installer is cluster aware, it installs the Oracle RAC software on all of the nodes that you defined to be part of the cluster.

Oracle RAC Database Management Styles and Database Creation

Part of Oracle Database deployment is the creation of the database. You can choose to create a database as part of the database software deployment, as described in "Oracle RAC Database Management Styles and Database Installation", or you can choose to only deploy the database software, first, and then, subsequently, create any database that is meant to run out of the newly created Oracle home by using DBCA. In either case, you must consider the management style that you plan to use for the Oracle RAC databases.

For administrator-managed databases, you must ensure that the database software is deployed on the nodes on which you plan to run the respective database instances. You must also ensure that these nodes have access to the storage in which you want to store the database files. Oracle recommends that you select Oracle ASM during database installation to simplify storage management. Oracle ASM automatically manages the storage of all database files within disk groups. If you plan to use Oracle Database Standard Edition to create an Oracle RAC database, then you must use Oracle ASM to store all of the database files.

For policy-managed databases, you must ensure that the database software is deployed on all nodes on which database instances can potentially run, given your active server pool setup. You must also ensure that these nodes have access to the storage in which you want to store the database files. Oracle recommends using Oracle ASM, as previously described for administrator-managed databases.

Server pools are a feature of Oracle Grid Infrastructure (specifically Oracle Clusterware). There are different ways you can set up server pools on the Oracle Clusterware level, and Oracle recommends you create server pools for database management before you create the respective databases. DBCA, however, will present you with a choice of either using precreated server pools or creating a new server pool, when you are creating a policy-managed database. Whether you can create a new server pool during database creation depends on the server pool configuration that is active at the time.

By default, DBCA creates one service for your Oracle RAC installation. This is the default database service and should not be used for user connectivity. The default database service is typically identified using the combination of the DB_NAME and DB_DOMAIN initialization parameters: db_name.db_domain. The default service is available on all instances in an Oracle RAC environment, unless the database is in restricted mode.

Overview of Extending an Oracle RAC Cluster

If you want to extend the Oracle RAC cluster (also known as cloning) and add nodes to the existing environment after your initial deployment, then you must to do this on multiple layers, considering the management style that you currently use in the cluster. Oracle provides various means of extending an Oracle RAC cluster. In principle, you can choose from two different approaches to extend the current environment:

• Cloning using cloning scripts

  See Also:

  Chapter 8, "Cloning Oracle RAC to Nodes in a New Cluster"

• Adding nodes using the addnode.sh (addnode.bat on Windows) script

  See Also:

  Chapter 10, "Adding and Deleting Oracle RAC from Nodes on Linux and UNIX Systems" or Chapter 11, "Adding and Deleting Oracle RAC from Nodes on Windows Systems" depending on your platform

Both approaches are applicable, regardless of how you initially deployed the environment. Both approaches copy the required Oracle software on to the node that you plan to add to the cluster. Software that gets copied to the node includes the Oracle Grid Infrastructure software and the Oracle database homes.

For Oracle database homes, you must consider the management style deployed in the cluster. For administrator-managed databases, you must ensure that the database software is deployed on the nodes on which you plan to run the respective database instances. For policy-managed databases, you must ensure that the database software is deployed on all nodes on which database instances can potentially run, given your active server pool setup. In either case, you must first deploy Oracle Grid Infrastructure on all nodes that are meant to be part of the cluster.

For new installations or if you install only one Oracle RAC database, use the traditional automated and interactive installation methods, such as Oracle Universal Installer, or the Provisioning Pack feature of Oracle Enterprise Manager. If your goal is to add or delete Oracle RAC from nodes in the cluster, you can use the procedures detailed in Chapter 10, "Adding and Deleting Oracle RAC from Nodes on Linux and UNIX Systems".

The cloning process assumes that you successfully installed an Oracle Clusterware home and an Oracle home with Oracle RAC on at least one node. In addition, all root scripts must have run successfully on the node from which you are extending your cluster database.

About Designing and Deploying Oracle RAC Environments

Any enterprise that is designing and implementing a high availability strategy with Oracle RAC must begin by performing a thorough analysis of the business drivers that require high availability. An analysis of business requirements for high availability combined with an understanding of the level of investment required to implement different high availability solutions enables the development of a high availability architecture that achieves both business and technical objectives.

About Administrative Tools for Oracle RAC Environments

You administer a cluster database as a single-system image using the Server Control Utility (SRVCTL), Oracle Enterprise Manager, or SQL*Plus

• Server Control Utility (SRVCTL): SRVCTL is a command-line interface that you can use to manage an Oracle RAC database from a single point. You can use SRVCTL to start and stop the database and instances and to delete or move instances and services. You can also use SRVCTL to manage configuration information, Oracle Real Application Clusters One Node (Oracle RAC One Node), Oracle Clusterware, and Oracle ASM.

• Oracle Enterprise Manager: Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control GUI interface for managing both noncluster database and Oracle RAC database environments. Oracle recommends that you use Oracle Enterprise Manager to perform administrative tasks whenever feasible.

  You can use Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control to also manage Oracle RAC One Node databases.

• SQL*Plus: SQL*Plus commands operate on the current instance. The current instance can be either the local default instance on which you initiated your SQL*Plus session, or it can be a remote instance to which you connect with Oracle Net Services.

• Cluster Verification Utility (CVU): CVU is a command-line tool that you can use to verify a range of cluster and Oracle RAC components, such as shared storage devices, networking configurations, system requirements, and Oracle Clusterware, in addition to operating system groups and users. You can use CVU for preinstallation checks and for postinstallation checks of your cluster environment. CVU is especially useful during preinstallation and during installation of Oracle Clusterware and Oracle RAC components. Oracle Universal Installer runs CVU after installing Oracle Clusterware and Oracle Database to verify your environment.

  Install and use CVU before you install Oracle RAC to ensure that your configuration meets the minimum Oracle RAC installation requirements. Also, use CVU for verifying the completion of ongoing administrative tasks, such as node addition and node deletion.

• DBCA: The recommended utility for creating and initially configuring Oracle RAC, Oracle RAC One Node, and Oracle noncluster databases.

• NETCA: Configures the network for your Oracle RAC environment.

About Monitoring Oracle RAC Environments

Web-based Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control enables you to monitor an Oracle RAC database. Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control is a central point of control for the Oracle environment that you access by way of a graphical user interface (GUI). See "Monitoring Oracle RAC and Oracle Clusterware" and the Oracle Database 2 Day + Real Application Clusters Guide for detailed information about using Oracle Enterprise Manager to monitor Oracle RAC environments.

Also, note the following recommendations about monitoring Oracle RAC environments:

• Use Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control to initiate cluster database management tasks.

• Use Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control to administer multiple or individual Oracle RAC databases.

• Use the global views (GV$ views), which are based on V$ views. The catclustdb.sql script creates the GV$ views. Run this script if you do not create your database with DBCA. Otherwise, DBCA runs this script for you.

  For almost every V$ view, there is a corresponding global GV$ view. In addition to the V$ information, each GV$ view contains an extra column named INST_ID, which displays the instance number from which the associated V$ view information was obtained.

• Use the sophisticated management and monitoring features of the Oracle Database Diagnostic and Tuning packs within Oracle Enterprise Manager that include the Automatic Database Diagnostic Monitor (ADDM) and Automatic Workload Repository (AWR).

  Note:

  Although Statspack is available for backward compatibility, Statspack provides reporting only. You must run Statspack at level 7 to collect statistics related to block contention and segment block waits.

About Evaluating Performance in Oracle RAC Environments

You do not need to perform special tuning for Oracle RAC; Oracle RAC scales without special configuration changes. If your application performs well on a noncluster Oracle database, then it will perform well in an Oracle RAC environment. Many of the tuning tasks that you would perform on a noncluster Oracle database can also improve Oracle RAC database performance. This is especially true if your environment requires scalability across a greater number of CPUs.

Some of the performance features specific to Oracle RAC include:

• Dynamic resource allocation

  • Oracle Database dynamically allocates Cache Fusion resources as needed

  • The dynamic mastering of resources improves performance by keeping resources local to data blocks

• Cache Fusion enables a simplified tuning methodology

  • You do not have to tune any parameters for Cache Fusion

  • No application-level tuning is necessary

  • You can use a bottom-up tuning approach with virtually no effect on your existing applications

• More detailed performance statistics

  • More views for Oracle RAC performance monitoring

  • Oracle RAC-specific performance views in Oracle Enterprise Manager