Cluster Server 7.3.1 Agent for Oracle Installation and Configuration Guide - Solaris

Last Published:
Product(s): InfoScale & Storage Foundation (7.3.1)
Platform: Solaris
  1. Introducing the Cluster Server agent for Oracle
    1. About the Cluster Server agent for Oracle
      1.  
        About the agent for Oracle ASM
    2.  
      Supported software for VCS agent for Oracle
    3.  
      Changes introduced in the 7.3.1 release
    4. How the agent makes Oracle highly available
      1.  
        How the Oracle and Netlsnr agents support intelligent resource monitoring
      2.  
        How the agent monitors Oracle instances running in Solaris zones
      3.  
        How the agent makes Oracle ASM instance highly available
      4.  
        How the agent supports container database (CDB) and pluggable database (PDB) in Oracle 12C
    5. About Cluster Server agent functions for Oracle
      1. Oracle agent functions
        1.  
          Startup and shutdown options for the Oracle agent
        2.  
          Startup and shutdown options for the pluggable database (PDB)
        3.  
          Recommended startup modes for pluggable database (PDB) based on container database (CDB) startup modes
        4.  
          Monitor options for the Oracle agent in traditional database and container database
        5.  
          Monitor for the pluggable database
        6.  
          How the agent handles Oracle error codes during detail monitoring
        7.  
          Info entry point for Cluster Server agent for Oracle
        8.  
          Action entry point for Cluster Server agent for Oracle
        9. How the Oracle agent supports health check monitoring
          1.  
            Generating the executable required for Oracle health check monitoring
          2.  
            Considerations to run the build_oraapi.sh script
          3.  
            Building the Oracle agent executable using the build_oraapi.sh script
      2.  
        Netlsnr agent functions
      3. ASMInst agent functions
        1.  
          ASMInst agent Startup options
        2.  
          ASMInst agent Shutdown options
        3.  
          Monitor options for the ASMInst agent
      4.  
        ASMDG agent functions
    6.  
      Typical Oracle configuration in a VCS cluster
    7.  
      About setting up Oracle in a VCS cluster
  2. Installing and configuring Oracle
    1.  
      About installing Oracle in a VCS environment
    2.  
      Before you install Oracle in a VCS environment
    3. About VCS requirements for installing Oracle
      1.  
        Location of the $ORACLE_HOME
      2.  
        Replacing the long pathnames for $ORACLE_HOME in the agent attributes
      3.  
        Failing over Oracle after a VCS node failure during hot backup
    4. About Oracle installation tasks for VCS
      1.  
        Installation tasks for $ORACLE_HOME on shared disks
      2.  
        Installation tasks for $ORACLE_HOME on local disks
      3.  
        Installation tasks for Oracle using ASM
    5. Installing ASM binaries for Oracle 11gR2 or 12c in a VCS environment
      1.  
        Configuring VCS to support Oracle Restart function
    6. Configuring Oracle ASM on the first node of the cluster
      1.  
        Enabling the clustering daemon for ASM-managed database
      2.  
        Enabling Oracle Cluster Synchronization Service daemon to start automatically
    7.  
      Configuring and starting up ASM on remaining nodes for 11gR2 or 12c
    8. Installing Oracle binaries on the first node of the cluster
      1.  
        Disabling the clustering daemon for Oracle 10g or later
    9.  
      Configuring the Oracle database
    10.  
      Copying the $ORACLE_BASE/admin/SID directory
    11.  
      Copying the Oracle ASM initialization parameter file
    12.  
      Verifying access to the Oracle database
  3. Installing and removing the agent for Oracle
    1.  
      Before you install or upgrade the agent for Oracle
    2.  
      Installing the VCS agent for Oracle software
    3. Upgrading the VCS agent for Oracle
      1.  
        Upgrading VCS agent for Oracle to use with VCS 7.3.1
    4.  
      Disabling the Cluster Server agent for Oracle
    5.  
      Removing the Cluster Server agent for Oracle
  4. Configuring VCS service groups for Oracle
    1.  
      About configuring a service group for Oracle
    2. Configuring Oracle instances in VCS
      1.  
        Configuring a single Oracle instance in VCS
      2.  
        Configuring multiple Oracle instances (single listener) in VCS
      3.  
        Configuring multiple Oracle instances (multiple listeners) in VCS
      4.  
        Configuring an Oracle instance with shared server support in VCS
    3. Before you configure the VCS service group for Oracle
      1.  
        Importing the type definition files for Cluster Server agent for Oracle
    4. Configuring the VCS service group for Oracle
      1.  
        Configuring the VCS service group for Oracle using Cluster Manager (Java console)
      2. Configuring the VCS service group for Oracle using the command-line
        1.  
          Encrypting Oracle database user and listener passwords
    5. Setting up detail monitoring for VCS agents for Oracle
      1. Setting up detail monitoring for Oracle
        1.  
          Enabling and disabling detail monitoring for Oracle resource
      2.  
        Setting up detail monitoring for Netlsnr
    6. Enabling and disabling intelligent resource monitoring for agents manually
      1.  
        Administering the AMF kernel driver
  5. Administering VCS service groups for Oracle
    1.  
      About administering VCS service groups
    2.  
      Bringing the service group online
    3.  
      Taking the service group offline
    4.  
      Switching the service group
    5.  
      Modifying the service group configuration
  6. Pluggable database (PDB) migration
    1.  
      Migrating Pluggable Databases (PDB) between Container Databases (CDB)
  7. Troubleshooting Cluster Server agent for Oracle
    1.  
      About troubleshooting Cluster Server agent for Oracle
    2.  
      Error messages common to the Oracle and Netlsnr agents
    3.  
      Error messages specific to the Oracle agent
    4.  
      Error messages specific to the Netlsnr agent
    5.  
      Error messages specific to the ASMInst agent
    6.  
      Error messages specific to the ASMDG agent
    7.  
      Troubleshooting issues specific to Oracle in a VCS environment
    8. Verifying the Oracle health check binaries and intentional offline for an instance of Oracle
      1.  
        Verifying the intentional offline behavior of the VCS Oracle agent
    9.  
      Disabling IMF for a PDB resource
  8. Appendix A. Resource type definitions
    1.  
      About the resource type and attribute definitions
    2. Resource type definition for the Oracle agent
      1.  
        Attribute definition for the Oracle agent
      2.  
        About the Sid attribute in a policy managed database
    3. Resource type definition for the Netlsnr agent
      1.  
        Attribute definition for the Netlsnr agent
    4. Resource type definition for the ASMInst agent
      1.  
        Attribute definition for the ASMInst agent
    5. Resource type definition for the ASMDG agent
      1.  
        Attribute definition for the ASMDG agent
  9. Appendix B. Sample configurations
    1.  
      About the sample configurations for Oracle enterprise agent
    2. Sample single Oracle instance configuration
      1.  
        Sample VCS configuration file for single Oracle instance
    3. Sample multiple Oracle instances (single listener) configuration
      1.  
        Sample VCS configuration file for multiple Oracle instances (single listener)
    4. Sample multiple instance (multiple listeners) configuration
      1.  
        Sample VCS configuration file for multiple Oracle instances (multiple listeners)
    5. Sample Oracle configuration with shared server support
      1.  
        Sample VCS configuration file for Oracle instance configured with shared server support
    6. Sample configuration for Oracle instances in Solaris zones
      1.  
        Zone root on local disk for single Oracle instance
      2.  
        Zone root on shared disk for single Oracle instance
      3.  
        Zone root on local disk for multiple Oracle instances
      4.  
        Zone root on shared disk for multiple Oracle instances
      5.  
        Zone root on local disk for Oracle instance with shared server support
      6.  
        Zone root on shared disk for Oracle instance with shared server support
      7.  
        Oracle instance in the context of project
      8.  
        Sample VCS configuration file for zone root on local disk or on shared disk
    7. Sample Oracle ASM configurations
      1. Sample configuration for ASM disks as raw disks
        1.  
          Sample VCS configuration file for ASM-managed Oracle instance
      2. Sample configuration for ASM disks as VxVM volumes
        1.  
          Sample VCS configuration file for ASM disks as VxVM disks
      3. Sample configuration for ASM disks as CVM volumes
        1.  
          Sample VCS configuration file for ASM that uses CVM volumes
    8.  
      Sample configuration of Oracle pluggable database (PDB) resource in main.cf
    9.  
      Sample configuration of migratable Oracle pluggable database (PDB) resource in main.cf
    10.  
      Sample Configuration of Oracle supported by systemD
    11.  
      Sample configuration of ASMInst supported by systemD
  10. Appendix C. Best practices
    1.  
      Best practices for multiple Oracle instance configurations in a VCS environment
  11. Appendix D. Using the SPFILE in a VCS cluster for Oracle
    1.  
      About the Oracle initialization parameter files
    2.  
      Starting an Oracle instance
    3.  
      Using the SPFILE in a VCS cluster
  12. Appendix E. OHASD in a single instance database environment
    1.  
      About OHASD in a single instance database environment
    2.  
      Configuring the Application agent to make OHASD highly available

About VCS requirements for installing Oracle

Make sure you meet the following requirements to install Oracle in a VCS cluster:

Kernel parameter configuration

Each node on which you want to install Oracle must meet the following Oracle configuration requirements:

  • Disk partitions

  • Shared memory

  • Swap size

  • Semaphores

  • File handles

See Oracle documentation for the corresponding operating system for specific requirement details.

Location of the $ORACLE_HOME

Depending on your environment, you can place the Oracle home directory ($ORACLE_HOME) in one of the following ways:

  • Locally on each server's disk

  • On the shared storage.

If you want to use Oracle ASM, then you must place the Oracle home directory only on the local disks of each node.

Review the advantages of each approach to make a decision.

See Location of the $ORACLE_HOME.

Configurations with multiple Oracle instances (SIDs)

You can have multiple Oracle instances that are defined in a single cluster. In such cases, the parameter file for each instance must be accessible on all the nodes in the service group's SystemList attribute.

Note:

If you installed multiple versions of Oracle on the same system, make sure that the SIDs are unique.

Location of Oracle database tablespaces

If you plan to create the tablespaces using regular (UFS or VxFS) files, the file systems that contain these files must be located on shared disks. Create the same file system mount points on each node.

If you use raw devices on shared disks for Oracle tablespaces, you must meet the following requirements:

  • The ownership must be Oracle dba user.

  • The permissions or access mode must be 660 on the raw devices that store the Oracle data.

For example, if you use Veritas Volume Manager, type:

    # vxedit -g diskgroup_name set group=dba \
    user=oracle mode=660 volume_name

Note:

The user oracle and the group dba must be local and not Network Information Service (NIS and NIS+) users

Location of core files for Oracle processes that terminate abnormally

The VCS agent framework sets the current directory to /opt/VRTSagents/ha/bin/Oracle before it runs the Oracle agent scripts or the programs that execute the Oracle binaries. Oracle binaries, which run as the user oracle, do not have permission to write to /opt/VRTSagents/ha/bin/Oracle. So, any "core" files that the Oracle binaries generate when the processes terminate abnormally are lost. Veritas recommends using the coreadm (1M) command on Solaris to specify the name and the location of such core files.

Transparent listener failover

You can enable Oracle Server clients to reconnect after a node switch without reconfiguring. For such reconnections you must include at least one IP resource in the service group for the Oracle resource. The hostname mapping the IP address of this resource must be used for the Host field in the file $TNS_ADMIN/listener.ora.

If you use the TCP/IP protocol for Oracle client/server communication, verify that the file /etc/services contains the service name of the Oracle Net Service. You must verify this file on each node that is defined in the service group's SystemList attribute.

Listener authentication in VCS environment

The Netlsnr agent supports OS authentication as well as password authentication for the listener process. If you use Oracle 10g or later, recommends you to configure OS authentication. If you want to configure a listener password, make sure that you configure the password correctly. A misconfigured password can cause the listener to fault.

See Encrypting Oracle database user and listener passwords.

Refer to the Oracle documentation for details on configuring the listener authentication.

Long pathname limitation for $ORACLE_HOME

The Solaris process table limits process pathnames to 79 characters.

The full pathname of processes in $ORACLE_HOME can possibly have 80 characters or more. In this case, you can create a soft link to the $ORACLE_HOME directory. You can then use the soft link in place of the long filename in the Home attribute in the main.cf file.

See Replacing the long pathnames for $ORACLE_HOME in the agent attributes.

Oracle NLS information

You can define the NLS information in one of the following ways:

  • Define the appropriate parameters in the Oracle parameter file.

  • Define the appropriate environment variables in the EnvFile attribute for the agents.

Defining the parameters in the Oracle parameters file affects NLS settings for the Oracle server. Defining the environment variables affects the NLS input and output of client utilities.

Hot backup of Oracle database in VCS environment

The hot backup of Oracle database is enabled by default in VCS environment.

A node can fail during a hot backup of an Oracle database. During such failures, VCS can fail over to another node only if the following requirements are met:

If you do not meet VCS requirements, you must manually end the hot backup and then fail over Oracle to another node.

Note:

If a node fails during a hot backup of container database or pluggable database for Oracle 12C, you must set AutoEndBkup attribute of the corresponding CDB resource to 1. When the AutoEndBkup is set to 1 for the CDB, it also ends the backup of both CDB and PDB during Online.

See Failing over Oracle after a VCS node failure during hot backup.

Note:

If you set the AutoEndBkup attribute value to 0, then to avoid unexpected VCS behavior you must enable detail monitoring.

See Setting up detail monitoring for VCS agents for Oracle.

Storage devices for Oracle ASM configurations in VCS

You can choose one of the following storage devices for Oracle ASM:

  • ASM disks as raw disks

    If you use raw disks, then make sure that the disks have the persistent permissions that are specified for ASM $ORACLE_HOME.

  • ASM disks as Veritas Volume Manager volumes

    If you use VxVM volumes, then make sure that the disks have persistent permissions across reboots. The permissions must be the same as that of ASM $ORACLE_HOME.

    See Veritas Volume Manager documentation.

  • ASM disks as Cluster Volume Manager volumes

    If you use CVM volumes, then make sure that the disks have persistent permissions across reboots. The permissions must be the same as that of ASM $ORACLE_HOME.

    See Veritas Volume Manager documentation.

If you want to configure mirroring for ASM disks that use VxVM or CVM volumes, then you must configure VxVM mirroring and not configure ASM mirroring.

From Oracle 11g R2 or 12c, the ASMInst agent does not support pfile or spfile for ASM instances on the ASM disk groups. recommends that you copy this file from ASM disk group to the local file system.

ASM instances configured on VxVM or CVM volumes in a Solaris zone environment

In a Solaris zone environment, you must do the following for the ASM instances that are configured on VxVM or CVM volumes:

  • Create a new Oracle user in the global zone.

    The user name, group name, user id, and group id of the new Oracle user must be the same that in the local zone where you have configured ASM.

  • To be able to perform I/O on the raw volumes, set the permissions as follows from the global zone:

    • The ownership must be Oracle dba user.

    • The permissions or access mode must be 660 on the raw devices that store the Oracle data.

    For example:

        # vxedit -g diskgroup_name set group=dba \
        user=oracle mode=660 volume_name

    Note:

    The user oracle and the group dba must be local and not Network Information Service (NIS and NIS+) users

  • Change the permissions of device matches for VxVM volumes in the local zone. For example:

    localzone# chown oracle:dba 
    /dev/vx/rdsk/ASMDG/asmvol
    localzone# chmod 660 
    /dev/vx/rdsk/ASMDG/asmvol