Oracle RAC Best Practices on Linux TABLE OF CONTEN

OracleRACBestPracticesonLinuxAnOracleWhitePaperNovember2003OracleRACBestPracticesonLinuxTABLEOFCONTENTSExecutiveOverview..............................................................................3Planning................................................................................................3UnderstandRACArchitecture..........................................................4SetYourExpectationsAppropriately...............................................5DefineYourObjectives....................................................................6BuildaProjectPlan..........................................................................7Implementation.....................................................................................9CommonLinux“Issues”.................................................................11LVM............................................................................................11LargeMemory............................................................................11ClusterInstallation/Configuration..................................................11OracleClusterFileSystemInstallation/Configuration...................12OracleClusterManagerInstallation/Configuration.......................15OracleRACInstallation/Configuration..........................................16DatabaseCreation...........................................................................17ApplicationDeployment.................................................................18Operations...........................................................................................20ProductionMigration......................................................................20BackupandRecovery.....................................................................21DatabaseMonitoringandTuning...................................................21Conclusion..........................................................................................23OracleRACBestPracticesonLinuxPage2OracleRACBestPracticesonLinuxEXECUTIVEOVERVIEWOracleRealApplicationClusters(RAC)isamulti-nodeextensiontotheOracledatabaseserverandakeycomponentinOracle’sGridstrategy.Commodityhardware,suchasbladeservers,andcommodityOS,suchasLinuxofferthemostcompellingcostbenefitsforGrids.Gridsmustleveragethesecommoditycomponentstoachievemaximumutilization.OracleRACrunsrealapplicationsonthecommoditycomponentsandenableshighutilizationoncommoditybladefarms.ApplicationsrunningonRACcandynamicallyleveragemorebladesprovisionedtothem.Similarly,theseapplicationscaneasilyrelinquishthesebladeswhentheynolongerneedthem.OracleRealApplicationClusters(RAC)isamulti-nodeextensiontotheOracledatabaseserverandakeycomponentinOracle’sGridstrategy.MuchhasbeenwrittenandpresentedtodateontheRACarchitecture,andthebusinessbenefitsofimplementingthisformofclustering.However,verylittlehasbeenwrittenregardingstrategiesandbestpracticesforactuallydeployingapplicationsonRAC.Oracle’sRACPackisateamofRACimplementationspecialiststhatarepartoftheRACDevelopmentorganization.Todate,thisglobalteamhasassistedover500customerssuccessfullydeploytheirbusinessapplicationsontopofRAC,withasignificantpercentageofthesedeploymentsbeingonLinux.Theseapplicationscoverthespectrum-fromin-housecustomapplications,tooff-the-shelfapplications,andfromDSSsystemstooperationalOLTPsystems.Thispaperwillpresentsomeofthebestpracticesthathavebeenimplementedatthesecustomersites,andthatyoucanuseinyourownenvironmentstoultimatelyrealizethebenefitsofmovingyourITinfrastructuretowardsaGridarchitecture.Thispaperwillpresentsomeofthebestpracticesthathavebeenimplementedatmorethan500customersitesthatyoucanuseinyourownenvironmentstoultimatelyrealizethebenefitsofmovingyourITinfrastructuretowardsaGridarchitecture.PLANNINGAsuccessfulRACimplementationisnotallaboutthemechanicsofinstallingthesoftware,buildingthedatabase,andtweakingtheknobstomakeitperformthewayyouwantitto.Manyofthechallengesthathavebeenencounteredatcustomersiteshavebeenrelatedtounreasonableexpectations,misunderstandingsaboutwhatRACis,andwhatitisn’t,andinadequatelydefinedobjectivesfortheRACimplementation.Havingtheseimportantissuesaddressedupfrontallowsyoutoputtogetherastructuredimplementationplanthatgivesthebestopportunitytorealizethedesiredbusinessbenefits.Manyofthechallengesthathavebeenencounteredatcustomersiteshavebeenrelatedtounreasonableexpectations,misunderstandingsaboutwhatRACis,andwhatitisn’t,andinadequatelydefinedobjectivesfortheRACimplementation.OracleRACBestPracticesonLinuxPage3UnderstandRACArchitectureUnderstandingthearchitectureisanobviousinitialsteppriortoimplementinganytechnology,butthereisagreatdealofconfusionandmisunderstandinginthemarketplacearoundclusteringingeneral,andthiseasilycreatessomefundamentalmisconceptionsaboutwhatRACis,andhowtoimplementit.Itisbeyondthescopeofthispapertoprovideacompleteprimeronclusteringarchitectures,andthedetailedhardwareandsoftwarecomponentsthatmakeupthosearchitectures,butsomethingstoconsiderinreviewingcluster-relatedliteratureinclude:The