8 TimesTen Configuration Attributes for Oracle Clusterware

The attributes defined in this chapter are used to set up TimesTen active standby pairs that are managed by Oracle Clusterware. These attributes are specified in the cluster.oracle.ini file. The ttCWAdmin utility creates and administers active standby pairs based on the information in the cluster.oracle.ini file.

List of attributes

This section lists the TimesTen configuration attributes for Oracle Clusterware in these tables:

Table 8-1, "Required attributes"
Table 8-2, "Conditionally required attributes"
Table 8-3, "Optional attributes"

Table 8-1 Required attributes

Name	Description	Default
`MasterHosts`	Lists host names that may contain master databases in an active standby pair scheme.	None

Table 8-2 Conditionally required attributes

Name	Description	Default
`AppCheckCmd`	Command line for checking the status of an application that is managed by Oracle Clusterware	None
`AppName`	The name of an application that is managed by Oracle Clusterware	None
`AppStartCmd`	Command line for starting an application that is managed by Oracle Clusterware	None
`AppStopCmd`	Command line for stopping an application that is managed by Oracle Clusterware	None
`AppType`	The database to which the application should link.	None
`CacheConnect`	Specifies whether the active standby pair replicates cache groups.	N
`GridPort`	Lists the port numbers used by the cache grid agents for the active database and the standby database in an active standby pair that is a cache grid member.	None
`MasterVIP`	A list of two virtual IP addresses that can be associated with the master databases.	None
`RemoteSubscriberHosts`	A list of subscriber hosts that are not part of the cluster.	None
`RepBackupDir`	The directory to which the active database is backed up.	None
`SubscriberHosts`	List of host names that can contain subscriber databases.	None
`SubscriberVIP`	The list of virtual IP addresses that can be associated with subscriber databases.	None
`VIPInterface`	The name of the public network adapter that will be used for virtual IP addresses on each host.	None
`VIPNetMask`	The netmask of the virtual IP addresses.	None

Table 8-3 Optional attributes

Name	Description	Default
`AppFailoverDelay`	The number of seconds that the Oracle Clusterware resource that monitors the application will wait after a failure is detected before performing a failover.	0
`AppFailureThreshold`	The number of concurrent Oracle Clusterware resource failures to tolerate before considering the active standby pair failed and recovering the backup. This attribute is ignored if the configuration does not use virtual IP addresses or if `RepBackupPeriod` is 0.	2
`AppScriptTimeout`	The number of seconds the TimesTen application container waits for the action scripts to complete for a specific application.	60
`AutoRecover`	Specifies whether an active database should be automatically recovered from a backup if both master databases fail.	No
`DatabaseFailoverDelay`	The number of seconds that Oracle Clusterware waits before migrating a database to a new host after a failure.	60
`FailureThreshold`	The number of failures of resources that Oracle Clusterware can tolerate before giving up.	2
`MasterStoreAttribute`	A list of all desired replication scheme `STORE` attributes on master databases.	None
`RepBackupPeriod`	The number of seconds between each backup of the active database.	0 (disabled)
`RepDDL`	A SQL construct of the active standby pair scheme.	None
`RepfullbackupCycle`	The number times an incremental backup occurs between full backups.	5
`ReturnServiceAttribute`	The return service attribute of the active standby pair scheme.	None
`SubscriberStoreAttribute`	The list of all desired replication scheme `STORE` attributes for the subscriber database.	None
`TimesTenScriptTimeout`	The number of seconds that Oracle Clusterware waits for the monitor process to start before assuming a failure.	21600 (seconds, or 6 hours)

Required attributes

These attributes must be present for each DSN in the cluster.oracle.ini file. They have no default values.

The required attributes are listed in Table 8-1, "Required attributes" and described in detail in this section.

MasterHosts

This attribute lists the names of the hosts that can contain master databases in the active standby pair. The first host listed has the active database when the cluster is started initially and after restarts. There are exceptions to the designated order:

If there are already active and standby databases on specific nodes when the cluster is stopped, then the active and standby databases remain on those nodes when the cluster is restarted.
If the cluster is started and the only existing database is on a node that is not listed first in MasterHosts, then that node will be configured with the active database. The first host listed for MasterHosts will be the standby database.

If the scheme contains no virtual IP addresses, only two master hosts are allowed.

Setting

Set MasterHosts as follows:

How the attribute is represented	Setting
`MasterHosts`	A comma-separated list of host names. The first host listed becomes the initial active database in the active standby pair.

Conditionally required attributes

These attributes may be required depending on the desired Oracle Clusterware configuration. They have no default values. The conditionally required attributes are listed in Table 8-2, "Conditionally required attributes" and described in detail in this section.

AppCheckCmd

This attribute denotes the full command line for executing a user-supplied script or program that checks the status of the application specified by AppName. It must include the full path name of the executable. If there are spaces in the path name, enclose the path name in double quotes.

The command should be written to return 0 when the application is running and a nonzero number when the application is not running. When Oracle Clusterware detects a nonzero value, it takes action to recover the failed application.

Setting

Set AppCheckCmd as follows:

How the attribute is represented	Setting
`AppCheckCmd`	A string representing the command line for executing an application that checks the status of the application specified by `AppName`.

Examples

On UNIX:

AppCheckCmd=/mycluster/reader/app_check.sh check

On Windows:

AppCheckCmd="C:\Program Files\UserApps\UpdateApp.exe" -dsn myDSN -check

AppName

This attribute denotes the name of an application that will be managed by Oracle Clusterware. Oracle Clusterware uses the application name to name the corresponding resource. Any description of an application in the cluster.oracle.ini file must begin with this attribute.

Setting

Set AppName as follows:

How the attribute is represented	Setting
`AppName`	A string representing the name of the application. For example, `testApp`.

AppStartCmd

This attribute denotes the command line that starts the application specified by AppName. It must include the full path name of the executable. If there are spaces in the path name, enclose the path name in double quotes.

Setting

Set AppStartCmd as follows:

How the attribute is represented	Setting
`AppStartCmd`	A string that represents the command line for starting the application specified by `AppName`.

Examples

On UNIX:

AppCheckCmd=/mycluster/reader/app_start.sh start

On Windows:

AppCheckCmd="C:\Program Files\UserApps\UpdateApp.exe" -dsn myDSN -start

AppStopCmd

This attribute denotes the command line that stops the application specified by AppName. It must include the full path name of the executable. If there are spaces in the path name, enclose the path name in double quotes.

Setting

Set AppStopCmd as follows:

How the attribute is represented	Setting
`AppStopCmd`	A string that represents the command line for stopping the application specified by `AppName`.

Examples

On UNIX:

AppCheckCmd=/mycluster/reader/app_stop.sh stop

On Windows:

AppCheckCmd="C:\Program Files\UserApps\UpdateApp.exe" -dsn myDSN -stop

AppType

This attribute determines the database to which the application should link.

Setting

Set AppType as follows:

How the attribute is represented Setting

How the attribute is represented	Setting
`AppType`	`Active` - The application links to the active database of an active standby pair. `Standby` - The application links to the standby database of an active standby pair. If the standby database dies, applications linked to it migrate to the active database until a new standby database is alive. `Subscriber` - The application links to all subscriber databases. `Subscriber[index]`- The application links to a subscriber database. The subscriber host used is the host occupying position `index` in either the `SubscriberHosts` attribute or the `SubscriberVIP` attribute, depending on whether virtual IP addresses are used. For a single subscriber, use `Subscriber[1]`. If no index is specified, TimesTen assumes that the application links to all subscribers.

AppType

Active - The application links to the active database of an active standby pair.

Standby - The application links to the standby database of an active standby pair. If the standby database dies, applications linked to it migrate to the active database until a new standby database is alive.

Subscriber - The application links to all subscriber databases.

Subscriber[index]- The application links to a subscriber database. The subscriber host used is the host occupying position index in either the SubscriberHosts attribute or the SubscriberVIP attribute, depending on whether virtual IP addresses are used. For a single subscriber, use Subscriber[1]. If no index is specified, TimesTen assumes that the application links to all subscribers.

CacheConnect

If the active standby pair replicates cache groups, set this attribute to Y. If you specify Y, Oracle Clusterware assumes that TimesTen is connected to an Oracle database and prompts for the Oracle password.

Setting

Set CacheConnect as follows:

How the attribute is represented	Setting
`CacheConnect`	A value of `Y` (yes) or `N` (no). Default is `N`.

GridPort

This attribute lists the port numbers used by the cache grid agents for the active database and the standby database in an active standby pair that is a cache grid member. The port numbers are separated by a comma. This is a mandatory parameter when global cache groups are present.

Setting

Set GridPort as follows

How the attribute is represented	Setting
`GridPort`	Two port numbers separated by a comma. For example: `GridPort=16101,16102`

MasterVIP

This attribute is a list of the two virtual IP (VIP) addresses associated with two master databases. This is used for advanced availability. This attribute is required if you intend to use virtual IP addresses.

Setting

Set MasterVIP as follows:

How the attribute is represented	Setting
`MasterVIP`	A comma-separated list of two virtual IP addresses to the master databases.

RemoteSubscriberHosts

This attribute contains a list of subscriber hosts that are part of the active standby pair replication scheme but are not managed by Oracle Clusterware.

Setting

Set RemoteSubscriberHosts as follows:

How the attribute is represented	Setting
`RemoteSubscriberHosts`	A comma-separated list of subscriber hosts that are not managed by Oracle Clusterware.

RepBackupDir

This attribute indicates the directory where the backup of the active database is stored. This must be a directory in a shared file system that every node in the cluster can access. This attribute is required only if RepBackupPeriod is set to a value other than 0.

On Linux and UNIX, the directory must be a shared partition that is shared by all hosts in the cluster. On Linux and UNIX platforms, the partition must be NFS or OCFS (Oracle Cluster File System). On Windows, it must be an OCFS partition.

If you want to enable backup, install OCFS on the shared storage during the Oracle Clusterware installation process. You can use this shared storage for backup for an active standby pair.

Setting

Set RepBackupDir as follows:

How the attribute is represented	Setting
`RepbackupDir`	Full path name to the replication backup directory.

SubscriberHosts

Lists the names of the hosts that can contain subscriber databases. If virtual IP addresses are used, this list can overlap with the master host list provided by the MasterHosts attribute.

If the active standby pair is configured with subscribers, this attribute is required. It has no default value.

Setting

Set SubscriberHosts as follows:

How the attribute is represented Setting

How the attribute is represented	Setting
`SubscriberHosts`	A comma-separated list of host names. If virtual IP addresses are used, the order in which hosts will be assigned to subscriber virtual IP addresses. If virtual IP addresses are not used, the order is used to determine which application with an `AppType` of `Subscriber[index]` is attached to the subscriber database on a specific host. Also, the number of subscriber hosts specified is the number of subscribers that are part of the active standby pair. A subscriber is brought up on every subscriber host.

SubscriberHosts

A comma-separated list of host names. If virtual IP addresses are used, the order in which hosts will be assigned to subscriber virtual IP addresses.

If virtual IP addresses are not used, the order is used to determine which application with an AppType of Subscriber[index] is attached to the subscriber database on a specific host. Also, the number of subscriber hosts specified is the number of subscribers that are part of the active standby pair. A subscriber is brought up on every subscriber host.

SubscriberVIP

This attribute is a list of the virtual IP addresses associated with the subscriber databases. This is used for advanced availability. This attribute is required if you intend to use virtual IP addresses.

Setting

Set SubscriberVIP as follows:

How the attribute is represented Setting

SubscriberVIP One or more virtual IP addresses. These addresses are mapped to SubscriberHosts. The number of subscriber virtual IP addresses determines the number of subscribers that are brought up as part of the active standby pair. The order of subscriber virtual IP addresses is used to determine which application with an AppType of Subscriber[index] is attached to the database for a specific subscriber.

How the attribute is represented	Setting
`SubscriberVIP`	One or more virtual IP addresses. These addresses are mapped to `SubscriberHosts`. The number of subscriber virtual IP addresses determines the number of subscribers that are brought up as part of the active standby pair. The order of subscriber virtual IP addresses is used to determine which application with an `AppType` of `Subscriber[index]` is attached to the database for a specific subscriber.

VIPInterface

This attribute is the name of the public network adapter used for virtual IP addresses on each host. This attribute is required if you intend to use virtual IP addresses.

Setting

Set VIPInterface as follows:

How the attribute is represented	Setting
`VIPInterface`	A string representing a network adapter.

VIPNetMask

This attribute is the netmask of the virtual IP addresses. This attribute is required if you intend to use virtual IP addresses.

Setting

Set VIPNetMask as follows:

How the attribute is represented	Setting
`VIPNetMask`	An IP netmask.

Optional attributes

These attributes are optional and have no default values. The optional attributes are listed in Table 8-3, "Optional attributes" and described in detail in this section.

AppFailoverDelay

This attribute denotes the number of seconds that the process that is monitoring the application waits after a failure is detected before performing a failover. The default is 0.

Setting

Set AppFailoverDelay as follows:

How the attribute is represented	Setting
`AppFailoverDelay`	An integer representing the number of seconds that the process that is monitoring the application waits after a failure is detected before performing a failover. The default is 0.

AppFailureThreshold

This attribute denotes the number of consecutive failures that Oracle Clusterware tolerates for the action script for an application within an interval equal to 10 * AppScriptTimeout. The default is 2.

Setting

Set AppFailureThreshold as follows:

How the attribute is represented	Setting
`AppFailureThreshold`	An integer indicating the number of consecutive failures that Oracle Clusterware tolerates for the action script for an application. The default is 2.

AppScriptTimeout

This attribute indicates the number of seconds that the TimesTen application monitor process waits for the start action script and the stop action script to complete for a specific application. The check action script has a nonconfigurable timeout of five seconds and is not affected by this attribute.

Setting

Set AppScriptTimeout as follows:

How the attribute is represented	Setting
`AppScriptTimeout`	An integer representing the number of seconds the TimesTen application container waits for start and stop action scripts to complete for a specific application. The default is 60.

AutoRecover

Specifies whether Oracle Clusterware automatically recovers the active database from the backup in the case of a failure of both masters.

If recovery is not automated (AutoRecover=N), the database can be recovered using the ttCWAdmin -restore command.

You cannot use AutoRecover if you are using cache groups in your configuration.

Setting

Set AutoRecover as follows:

How the attribute is represented	Setting
`AutoRecover`	`Y` - Oracle Clusterware automatically recovers the active database from the backup if both masters fail. `N` - In the case of the failure of both masters, you must recover manually. This is the default.

DatabaseFailoverDelay

This attributes specifies the number of seconds that Oracle Clusterware waits before migrating a database to a new host after a failure. Oracle Clusterware does not relocate a database if the database comes up during the delay period. This is applicable when advanced availability is configured. The default is 60 seconds.

Setting

Set DatabaseFailoverDelay as follows:

How the attribute is represented	Setting
`DatabaseFailoverDelay`	An integer representing the number of seconds that Oracle Clusterware waits before migrating a database to a new host after a failure. The default is 60.

FailureThreshold

This attribute denotes the number of concurrent failures of resources managed by Oracle Clusterware that are tolerated within 10 seconds before the active standby pair is considered failed and a new active standby pair is created on spare hosts using the automated backup. This value is ignored for basic availability (no virtual IP addresses are configured) or when RepBackupPeriod is set to 0 when using advanced availability (includes virtual IP addresses).

Note:

TimesTen tolerates only one failure of a backup resource, regardless of the setting for this attribute.

Setting

Set FailureThreshold as follows:

How the attribute is represented	Setting
`FailureThreshold`	An integer representing the number of concurrent failures of resources managed by Oracle Clusterware that are tolerated before the active standby pair is considered failed and a new active standby pair is created on spare hosts using the automated backup. The default is 2.

MasterStoreAttribute

This attribute indicates the desired replication scheme STORE attributes for the master databases. The STORE attributes apply to both the active and standby databases. The STORE clause for replication schemes is defined in Oracle TimesTen In-Memory Database SQL Reference.

This attribute is not required when RepDDL is configured.

If this attribute is not set, the STORE attributes take their default values. See "Setting STORE attributes".

Setting

Set MasterStoreAttribute as follows:

How the attribute is represented	Setting
`MasterStoreAttribute`	The desired replication scheme `STORE` attributes for the master databases. For example: `PORT 20000 TIMEOUT 60`.

RepBackupPeriod

This attribute indicates the number of seconds between each backup of the active database. If this attribute is set to a value greater than 0, you must also specify a backup directory by setting RepBackupDir.

Setting

Set RepBackupPeriod as follows:

How the attribute is represented	Setting
`RepBackupPeriod`	An integer indicating the number of seconds between each backup of the active database. A value of 0 disables the backup process. The default is 0.

RepDDL

This attribute represents the SQL statement that creates the active standby pair. Use this attribute only in special circumstances. For example, you must specify RepDDL if you need to exclude tables and sequences from the active standby pair.

If RepDDL is set, do not set these attributes:

ReturnServiceAttribute
MasterStoreAttribute
SubscriberStoreAttribute

Replace the database file name prefix in the SQL statement with the <DSN> macro. Use the <MASTERHOST[1]>, <MASTERHOST[2]> and <SUBSCRIBERHOST[n]> macros instead of the host names.

There is no default value for RepDDL.

This example sets RepDDL for two master databases:

RepDDL=CREATE ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR <DSN> ON <MASTERHOST[1]>, <DSN> ON <MASTERHOST[2]>

See "Using the RepDDL attribute" for additional examples.

You do not usually need to set the ROUTE clause in RepDDL because the transmitter of the replication agent automatically obtains the private and public network interfaces that Oracle Clusterware uses. However, if hosts have network connectivity for replication schemes that are not managed by Oracle Clusterware, then RepDDL needs to include the ROUTE clause.

If this attribute is used, each STORE clause must be followed by the pseudo host names such as:

ActiveHost
ActiveVIP
StandbyHost
StandbyVIP
SubscriberHost
SubscriberVIP

Setting

Set RepDDL as follows:

How the attribute is represented	Setting
`RepDDL`	Creates an active standby pair by issuing a `CREATE ACTIVE STANDBY PAIR` statement. There is no default value.

RepfullbackupCycle

This attribute specifies the number of incremental backups between full backups. The number of incremental backups depends on the capacity of the shared storage.

Setting this attribute can impact performance. There is a trade-off between the storage capacity and the time consumption for backup. An incremental backup can be performed much faster than a full backup. However, storage consumption increases until a full backup is performed.

Setting

Set RepfullbackupCycle as follows:

How the attribute is represented	Setting
`RepfullbackupCycle`	An integer value representing the number of incremental backups to perform between full backups. The default is 5.

ReturnServiceAttribute

This attribute specifies the return service for the active standby replication scheme. See "Using a return service".

If no value is specified for this attribute, the active standby pair is configured with no return service.

Setting

Set ReturnServiceAttribute as follows:

How the attribute is represented	Setting
`ReturnServiceAttribute`	The type of return service. For example: `RETURN RECEIPT`. There is no default value.

SubscriberStoreAttribute

This attribute indicates the replication scheme STORE attributes of subscriber databases. The STORE attributes apply to all subscribers. The STORE clause for replication schemes is defined in Oracle TimesTen In-Memory Database SQL Reference.

This attribute is not required when RepDDL is present.

If this attribute is not set, the STORE attributes take their default values. See "Setting STORE attributes".

Setting

Set SubscriberStoreAttribute as follows:

How the attribute is represented	Setting
`SubscriberStoreAttribute`	The list of `STORE` attributes and their values for the subscriber databases. For example: `PORT 20000 TIMEOUT 60`.

TimesTenScriptTimeout

This attribute denotes the number of seconds that Oracle Clusterware waits for the monitor process to start before assuming a failure.

Oracle TimesTen recommends setting a value of several hours because the action script may take a long time to duplicate the active database. The default is 21600 seconds (6 hours).

Setting

Set TimesTenScriptTimeout as follows:

How the attribute is represented	Setting
`TimesTenScriptTimeout`	An integer representing the number of seconds that Oracle Clusterware waits for the monitor process to start before assuming a failure. The default is 21600 seconds (6 hours).