Dear
Readers,
My
name is Franz Devantier, creator of this blog. I am an Oracle Certified
Professional (OCP DBA 11g) Security DBA.
I will be sharing with you the basic duties of an Oracle DBA, and also
some of the undocumented, and not so well known tasks.
Oracle Grid
Infrastructure – Part 5
Configuring Disk
Devices Manually for Oracle ASM
Kernel version 2.6 has a
default device file naming scheme call “udev”.
The 2.6 kernel will dynamically create device files names when you
restart the server. Also the devices
will be assigned to root ownership. If
udev is allowed to apply the default settings, then it will change device file
names and owners for the disks, which will corrupt them, if an Oracle ASM
instance is restarted. Using ASMLIB,
means that you alleviate this problem, and you will not have to ensure device
path consistency, and permissions in “udev”.
If you are not using ASMLIB,
then you can create a custom rules file.
After a restart udev will sequentially carry out rules configuration directives,
that are defined in the rules files. The
rules files are stored in the path /etc/udev/rules.d/ The rule files are read in lexical order from
the directories. In the case were the
rules files would describe the same device more than once: On Asianux, Red Hat,
and Oracle, the last file read would be read and applied. On SUSE Enterprise Server, with the 2.6
kernel, the first file read is the one that is applied.
Configuring a permissions
file for disk devices.
=> Configure the SCSI
devices as trusted devices. Edit /etc/scsi_id.config and add “options=ig”
=> Create a udev file for
your Oracle ASM devices, using a text editor.
The permissions should be set to 0660 for the installation owner, as
well as for the group whose members are administrators of the grid
infrastructure software. So the
installation owner could be “grid”, and the OSASM group could be “asmadmin”.
$ vi
/etc/udev/rules.d/99-oracle-asmdevices.rules
KERNEL=="sd?1",
BUS=="scsi", PROGRAM=="/sbin/scsi_id",
RESULT=="14f70656e66696c00000000",
OWNER="grid", GROUP="asmadmin", MODE="0660"
KERNEL=="sd?2",
BUS=="scsi", PROGRAM=="/sbin/scsi_id",
RESULT=="14f70656e66696c00000000",
OWNER="grid", GROUP="asmadmin", MODE="0660"
KERNEL=="sd?3",
BUS=="scsi", PROGRAM=="/sbin/scsi_id",
RESULT=="14f70656e66696c00000000",
OWNER="grid", GROUP="asmadmin", MODE="0660"
=> Now you can
load the updated block device partition tables on the server as the root user:
$ /sbin/partprobe
<devicename>
=> Give the
commands to restart the udev service.
For Asianux,
Oracle Linux 5, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5:
$
/sbin/udevcontrol reload_rules
$
/sbin/start_udev
For SUSE Linux
Enterprise server 10 / 11
$ /etc/init.d
boot.udev restart
Installing Oracle
Grid Infrastructure Using a Software-Only Installation
Only the binaries are copied
to the specified location. In this case
you must manually configure Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a standalone server,
and then Oracle ASM must be done manually after the installation is finished.
With this type of
installation, you will then also need to manually configure Oracle Restart
after you have installed the software.
The software-only
installation method provides no validation of the installation, and this type
of installation will also require a number of post-installation steps before
the Oracle Grid Infrastructure Software is enabled.
Here
is a breakdown of the Software-only installation:
Installing
the software binaries, and configuring the software binaries.
=>
Installing the software binaries
-
You start of by running “runInstaller” from the relevant location on the Oracle
11g release 2 installation media or download directory.
-
Complete a software only installation of Oracle Grid Infrastructure.
-
Verify that the server meets the installation requirements.
$
runcluvfy.sh stage pre hacfg
Ensure
that all the storage and server pre-installation steps are completed and
successful.
=>
Configuring the software binaries.
To
configure and activate a software-only Oracle Grid Infrastructure installation
for Oracle Restart, you will need to complete the following tasks.
-
# $GRID_HOME/perl/bin/perl –l $GRID_HOME/perl lib –l $GRID_HOME/crs/install
$GRID_HOME/crs/install/roothas.pl
-
Change to $GRID_HOME/oui/bin $GRID_HOME
is the path of the Oracle Grid Infrastructure home.
-
# ./runInstaller –updateNodeList ORACLE_HOME=$GRID_HOME -defaultHomeName
CLUSTER_NODES=CRS=TRUE
-
Now you need to add the listener, the Oracle ASM instance, and all the Oracle
ASM disk groups to the Oracle Restart configuration. To achieve this you can use the SVRCTL
utility, Network Configuration Assistant, and Oracle ASMCA.
Installing and
Configuring Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Standalone Server
When you install Oracle Grid
Infrastructure first, and then you continue to create your database, the result
is that the database is automatically added to the Oracle Grid infrastructure
configuration, and will be automatically restarted when required.
However if there is already
an Oracle database on a host, and you install Oracle Grid Infrastructure, then
you will have to manually add the database, the listener, and Oracle ASM instance,
as well as other components to the Oracle Grid Infrastructure configuration.
Oracle Grid
Infrastructure will accommodate multiple single instance databases on a single
host computer.
Installing Oracle
Grid Infrastructure with a New Database Installation
In this case we are going to
first install the Oracle Grid Infrastructure, and then create a database, that
will be managed by Oracle Restart. When
you install Oracle Grid Infrastructure, then you will be installing Oracle
Restart and Oracle ASM at the same time.
You will need to configure ASM with at least one disk group, before you
install an Oracle database, that stores database files in the Oracle ASM disk
groups.
Before you start with the
Oracle Grid Infrastructure installation, make sure that there are no existing
Oracle processes running. Assuming that
this is an installation for Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a standalone server,
and that we are going to install a new Oracle database on it afterwards.
-> switch user to the
Oracle Grid Infrastructure software owner.
Start the Oracle Universal Installer.
- If the installation files
are on an installation media, then firstly you must install Oracle Grid
Infrastructure for a standalone server in this scenario.
#
$DIRECTORY_PATH/runInstaller
- If the installation files
are on a hard disk, then you need to change directory to the “Oracle Grid
Infrastructure” directory, which is the clusterware directory.
# ./runInstaller
Downloading Updates Before Installation
From
Oracle Database 11.2.0.2 onwards, you can download the updates, before starting
the installation, provided that the system that you are on, has internet
access.
#
./runInstaller –downloadUpdates
You
will need to supply your “My Oracle Support”, username and password, and proxy
settings if required. When the download
of the updates has finished, then you can transfer the update file to the directory
on the host or server where you are going to run Oracle Universal Installer
from. Remember to start the Oracle
Universal Installer as the Oracle Grid Infrastructure software owner. Make sure that your X Window Display is
working properly before you start.
->
From Oracle Database 11.2.0.2 onwards, you have the option when you run Universal
Installer, to dynamically download and apply the latest updates. When you start Universal Installer, you will
come to the “Download Software Updates” screen.
On this screen you will be presented with three options. Select one of them and click on the “Next”
button.
Option 1: “Use My Oracle Software
Support credentials for download:”
This
option will download and apply the latest software updates. You must click on the “Proxy Settings”, to
configure a proxy for Oracle Universal Installer to use, for the connection to
the internet. You will also need to give
the details of a user account that has access to the local area network,
through which the server is connecting.
From
Oracle database 11.2.0.3, you can enter the Proxy realm information, such as
the Proxy Username, Proxy Password, and Proxy Realm fields.
Before
you leave this screen you should press the “Test Connection” button, to make
sure that Oracle Universal Installer can access the downloads.
Option 2: “Use pre-downloaded software
updates:”
If
you had previously downloaded the latest downloads, then you can choose this
option.
#
./runInstaller –downloadUpdates
Option 3: “Skip software updates:”.
If
you don’t want to download and or apply any updates, then you can select this
option.
=> If you had selected to
download or apply updates from the previous screen, then you will be brought to
the “Apply Software Updates” screen.
- If you had selected “Use My
Oracle Support Credentials for Download”, then you should select the “Download
and apply all updates” option and click on the “Next” button to apply the
updates.
OUI places the downloads in
the home directory of the Oracle Installation Owner, that is running the
installation. However if you would
prefer the downloads to go to another location, then you can click on the “Browse”
button, and select the location on the server that you want the updates to go
to.
- If you had selected “Use
pre-downloaded software updates”, then you can select “Apply all updates”, and
click on the “Next” button to apply the downloads, before the installation
starts.
=> Next you
come to the “Select Installation Option” screen. On this screen you need to select the “Configure
Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Standalone Server” option. Selecting this option will then install and
configure Oracle Restart and Oracle ASM.
When you are ready click the “Next” button.
=> “Product
Languages” screen. You can select one or
more languages, and move the languages from the Available languages list to the
Selected Languages list. When you are
ready, you can click on the “Next” button.
=> “Create ASM
Disk Group” screen will display. On this
screen you will see a list of all the Oracle ASM disks. You may like to change the devices that are
to be used by Oracle ASM. You can click
on the “Change Discovery Path” button.
In the “Change Discovery Path” window, you can enter a string for Oracle
to use to search for devices that Oracle ASM will use. The disk string may be set to “” for example,
or to “ORACL:*”. During installation
Oracle with look for disks mounted on Oracle ASM, and registered on ASMLIB with
the string “ORCL:*”, such disks will be listed by default as database storage
candidate disks.
After you have
finished selecting the disks on the “Create ASM Disk Group” screen to be used
by Oracle ASM, then before you click the “Next” button, consider this:
- The default
Disk Group Name is “DATA”. You can use
this default name or enter a new name for the disk group.
- The disk
devices must be owned by the user performing the grid installation.
- Verify with
your system administrator, if the disks to be used by Oracle ASM are mirrored
at the storage level. If they are, then
you must select “External” for the redundancy, otherwise you must select “Normal”
for the redundancy. Keep in mind that
for normal redundancy you will require roughly double the storage or disk space
to hold the same amount of data. So if
you are allowing 200GB for your database, you will need 400GB of storage.
-
Every Oracle ASM disk is divided into allocation units (AU). Allocation Units are the fundamental unit of
allocation within disk groups. From
Oracle 11.2.0.3 onwards, you can select the AU sizes. By default they are set to 1MB, but you can also
select 2,4,8,or 16MB. This will depend
on the disk group compatibility level and so is not guaranteed.
When
you are satisfied you can click on the “Next button” to get to the next screen.
=>
“Specify ASM Password” screen. You must
enter the SYSASM password, that will be required to connect to the Oracle ASM
instance.
The
Oracle ASM instance is managed by a privileged role “SYSASM”. This role grants full access to the Oracle
ASM disk groups. You should create a
less privileged user called ASMSNMP with the SYSDBA privileges, that can be
used to monitor the Oracle ASM instance.
Now
you can enter the passwords for the SYS and ASMSNMP user accounts. There are rules for the passwords, for
example, they should be a minimal of 8 characters long. The password should include at least one
alphabetic character, one numeric character and one of the following: hyphen “-“,
underscore “_”, or the number sign “#”.
These three are the only special characters allowed. You do have the option of using the same
password for all the accounts that you are defining here. Oracle recommends that you should specify a
different password for each account.
Perhaps a good idea to write them on a piece of paper, put it in an
envelope and lock it up in a safe, because you really need to be able to
remember these passwords.
When
you are ready you can click on the “Next” button.
=>
Privileged Operating System Groups” screen.
On this screen you must select the name of the operating system group
that you created for the OSDBA group, as well as the OSASM group, as well as
the OSOPER group. If you were lazy and
created only the OSDBA group, then you can use this group for all three
privileged groups. If you did create a separate
“asmadmin” group, then use that group for the OSASM group.
When
you are satisfied, then click on the “Next” button.
=>
“Specify Installation Location” screen, you need to specify the following
information:
-
Oracle Base: No spaces in the path name, and as short as possible.
-
Software Location: You can either accept the default path given, or you can
enter the directory path in which you want to install the software. No spaces in the path name.
When
you are satisfied you can click on the “Next” button.
=>
“Create Inventory” screen. This screen
will only appear if you have not previously installed Oracle software on the
server. If you are not happy with the
default Inventory Directory, you can change the Directory path. Remember that all the Oracle products will be
using this same directory path.
Select
“oinstall” for the “oraInventory” group name, if you are not satisfied with the
default.
When
you are satisfied you can click on the next button.
=> “Perform
Prerequisite Checks” screen. On this
screen oracle will perform a check to see if the minimal requirements are met
to perform the Oracle Grid Infrastructure installation.
- If all the
system requirements are met, then you are directed to the Summary Sreen.
- If there are
some components that don’t meet the requirements, then there will be a note
about them. You can try to manually fix
whatever the problem is, and then click on the “Check Again” button. You can also click on the “Fix & Check
Again” button, which will cause the installer to try to remedy the problem, and
then to check again. The Fix & check
again will generate a fix script, which you must run as the root user. This script may set some system and kernel
parameters. It is not a good idea to
modify the contents of this script. Once
you have run the script, you are ready to check again.
You may decide to
get a list of the failed requirements.
You can select the “Show Failed” button.
To see the successful pre-requisites select “Show Successful”, and to
see all the pre-requisites select “Show All”.
You should
consider a problem on this screen to be a show-stopper as far as the
installation is concerned. If you select
the “Ignore All” option and continue with the installation, then you must
remember that Oracle Universal Installer was not able to confirm that the
server is configured in such a way that you will be able to install an Oracle
database on it. So you may go ahead with
the installation, but the chances are that you will have huge problems down the
line.
When you are
satisfied, you can click on the “Next” button.
=> You arrive
at the Summary screen. You must review
everything on the Summary screen, to make sure that the configuration is setup
in the way that you intended. Once you
are happy you can click on the “Install” button.
From 11.2
onwards, you can click the “Save Response File” option, which will save all the
installation steps into a response file for you. You can then use this response file for a
silent installation.
=> “Install
Product” screen will display the progress of the Oracle Grid Infrastructure
installation.
During the
installation another window will appear “Execute Configuration Scripts”. You must first successfully verify that these
scripts have been run as the root user, before you click on the “Ok” button. The scripts mentioned to be run may be the “root.sh”,
and the “orainstRoot.sh”.
=> “Finish”
screen will finally display the installation status. If all your pre-requisites were met, then
there is a good chance of having success on this screen. If you did encounter problems, then you must
make a note of the location of the configuration log, to search for more
information. You can click on the “Close”
button to end the installation. Then you
click on the “Yes” button to exit Oracle Universal Installer (OUI).
=>
Oracle ASMCA will be installed as part of the Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a
standalone server installation. Now if
you want to crate additional disk groups, you can run the Oracle ASMCA
utility. You may like to create a disk
group called “RECOVERY” to store or house the fast recovery area.
You will want to verify that
Oracle High Availability Service has been installed properly.
Change directory to the $GRID_HOME/bin
directory. $GRID_HOME is the path to the
Oracle Grid Infrastructure home for a standalone server.
# ./crsctl check has
Ohasd is a software daemon
that gets installed with Oracle Grid Infrastructure, that will start the
software services such as Oracle ASM.
=>
Now you are ready to install the Oracle database.
Remember that if
the database is installed after a Grid Infrastructure installation, then the
listener will run from the Oracle Grid Infrastructure home. When you subsequently install a database,
then the database must use the same listener that was created during the Oracle
Grid Infrastructure installation.
If you are using
Oracle Restart then the default listener, as well as any additional listeners
have to run from the Oracle Grid Infrastructure home.
Franz
Devantier,
Need
a database health check?
devantierf@gmail.com
