B
Oracle Real Application Clusters Preinstallation Tasks

This appendix describes the required preinstallation tasks for Oracle9i cluster software on Windows NT and Windows 2000. Real Application Clusters is not supported on Windows XP. Windows-specific information is described in this section and in the Oracle Cluster Setup Wizard online Help.

Note: Oracle Real Application Clusters requires a separate license.

This appendix contains these topics:

• Real Application Clusters Installation Requirements

• Real Application Clusters Overview

• Real Application Clusters Preinstallation Tasks

• Deleting Oracle Operating System Dependent Clusterware

• Troubleshooting the Real Application Clusters Installation

  See Also: The Oracle9i Real Application Clusters documentation set included on your Oracle9i Database Documentation CD: Oracle9i Real Application Clusters Documentation Online Roadmap Oracle9i Real Application Clusters Concepts Oracle9i Real Application Clusters Setup and Configuration Oracle9i Real Application Clusters Administration Oracle9i Real Application Clusters Deployment and Performance

Real Application Clusters Installation Requirements

In addition to the Enterprise Edition system requirements listed in Chapter 2, you must meet these requirements:

Hardware

Each node in a cluster requires the following hardware:

• External shared hard disks

• Certified hardware configurations

Hardware and Network Configurations

Have the following hardware and network configuration information available:

• The public network names (known as host or TCP/IP names) of each node

• Whether you have a high-speed private interconnect and, if so, what are the private network names of each node

• Whether you are using Virtual Interface Architecture (VIA) hardware and, if so, what are the available Network Interface Card (NIC) names

Software

Each node in a cluster requires one of the following software types:

• Oracle Corporation certified vendor-supplied operating system dependent clusterware layer

• Oracle operating system dependent clusterware layer

RAM

256 MB for each instance

See Also: "Oracle9i System Requirements"

Real Application Clusters Overview

To create a cluster database using Oracle Cluster Setup Wizard, configure an extended partition for the Voting disk before starting Oracle Universal Installer. Database Configuration Assistant cannot create a Real Application Clusters database unless you have properly configured the extended partition.

The Voting disk stores configuration data for Server Management (SRVM) and for the Oracle operating system dependent clusterware. Vendor operating system dependent clusterware also requires this disk for Real Application Clusters configuration information.

Real Application Clusters uses logical drives within an unformatted extended partition to store the control, data, and redo log files. Only one extended partition is created for each disk. Oracle Corporation recommends creating the extended partition on an unpartitioned disk and using the entire disk for the extended partition.

On Cluster File System (CFS), Real Application Clusters can use shared partitions formatted with Cluster File System to store Oracle home files, or Oracle datafiles, or both file types. RAID volumes are supported.

Note: Cluster File System will be available in a subsequent Oracle9i release 2 (9.2) CD pack.

Each instance shares a set of unformatted devices on a shared disk subsystem for datafiles. The number and type of raw devices required depends on several factors.

If you plan to use one of the General Purpose, Transaction Processing, or Data Warehouse database configuration types, then you must create specific tablespaces using the minimum sizes as listed in Table B-1. When considering size requirements of your disks, remember to account for the initial signature of 1 MB or 2 MBs on each disk that cannot be used for extended partitions. These requirements are the same for both the vendor supplied clusterware layer and Oracle supplied clusterware layer.

If you do not create the database with Database Configuration Assistant, then the number of logical drives you create depends on the number of datafiles, redo log files, and control files you plan to create. However, you must still create a logical drive of 100 MB for the Voting disk.

Table B-1 Logical Drive Disk Sizes for Database Configuration Assistant  

Create a Partition For...	With File Size...
SYSTEM tablespace	420 MB
server parameter file	5 MB
USERS tablespace	120 MB
TEMP tablespace	120 MB
UNDOTBS tablespace	320 MB
EXAMPLE tablespace	160 MB
CWMLITE tablespace	100 MB
XML tablespace	50 MB
ODM tablespace	280 MB
INDX tablespace	70 MB
TOOLS tablespace	12 MB
DRSYS tablespace	250 MB
First control file	110 MB
Second control file	110 MB
Two redo log files for each instance	120 MB (for each file)
srvcfg (Voting disk for clusterware)	100 MB

By default, Database Configuration Assistant uses automatic undo management. You should create one Undo tablespace for each instance. Logical drive for the Undo tablespace for all preconfigured database templates should be at least 320 MB. If you use manual undo management, make the RBS logical drive at least 625 MB in size.

See Also: "Planning Your Raw Device Creation Strategy" in Oracle9i Real Application Clusters Setup and Configuration "DBCA Database Configuration Options" in Oracle9i Real Application Clusters Setup and Configuration "Types of Database Environments"

Real Application Clusters Preinstallation Tasks

Perform the following tasks on your Windows NT or Windows 2000 computer to prepare a set of nodes for cluster software installation:

• Task 1: Creating an Extended Partition and Logical Drives

• Task 2: Assigning Symbolic Link Names

• Task 3: Creating a Cluster

Task 1: Creating an Extended Partition and Logical Drives

To configure unformatted logical drives, create an extended partition and multiple logical drives.

From one node in the cluster, run Windows NT Disk Administrator or Disk Management to create an extended partition and multiple logical drives. Each computer must be a member of the same domain or within a trusted domain.

See Also: Your Windows Disk Administrator or Disk Management online help for more information about creating and managing extended partitions and logical drives

This section contains instructions for:

• Windows NT

• Windows 2000

Windows NT

Run the Windows NT Disk Administrator from one node to create an extended partition and configure logical drives on the shared disk for the entire cluster. You can use more than one disk to accommodate all the partitions, depending on your shared disk array's configuration. Each computer must be a member of the same domain or within a trusted domain.

To create an extended partition:

1. Log in as member of the Administrators Group.

2. Choose Start > Programs > Administrative Tools > Disk Administrator.

   The Disk Administrator window appears.

3. Right-click an unpartitioned disk, or an area of free space on a disk that does not contain an extended partition.

   The Disk Administrator Create Extended option appears.

4. Select Create Extended. The Disk Administrator displays the maximum sizes for the extended partition.

5. Enter the size of the partition of the extended partition, then choose OK.

To create a logical drive:

Note: When storing Oracle files on raw devices, Oracle Corporation recommends that you do not create more than 120 logical drives within an extended partition. Doing so can significantly increase the time needed to restart your computer and start the disk administration tools.

1. Select an area of free space in the extended partition.

2. Choose Partition > Create.

   The Disk Administrator window displays the minimum and maximum sizes for the logical drive.

   1. Enter the size of the logical drive that you want to create. Create the logical drives with file sizes shown in Table B-1.

   2. Choose OK.

3. Select the logical drive.

4. Choose Tools > Assign Drive Letter.

5. Select the Do not assign a drive letter option, then choose OK.

   Note: Optionally, run the LetterDelete utility after creating all logical drives to remove all drive letter assignments with a single command.

6. Repeat Steps 1-5 until all required logical drives are created.

7. Choose Partition > Commit Changes Now.

   A confirmation dialog appears, informing you that changes have been made to the disk.

8. Choose Yes to acknowledge the message.

   A dialog box appears, informing you the disks have been updated successfully.

9. Choose OK.

10. Choose Partition > Exit.

    Changes should be visible on all nodes.

The Disk Administrator window illustrates an example of a disk configuration. The logical partitions are sized to allow Database Configuration Assistant to create a cluster database.

Text description of the illustration ntdisk.gif

The Disk Administrator window shows two disks. The following table describes the partitions on Disk 0 and Disk 1:

This disk...	Contains...
Disk 0	A primary partition
Disk 1	An extended partition with 36 logical partitions and an area of free space

Windows 2000

Run the Windows 2000 Disk Management from one node to create an extended partition and configure logical drives on the shared disk for the entire cluster. You can use more than one disk to accommodate all the partitions, depending on your shared disk array's configuration. Each computer must be a member of the same domain or within a trusted domain.

You must create primary partitions, an extended partition, and logical drives on basic disks. Dynamic disks are not supported. A basic disk uses the same partitions as earlier versions of Windows and can contain up to four primary partitions, or three primary partitions and one extended partition.

To create an extended partition and logical drives:

1. Choose Settings > Control Panel.

2. Double-click Administrative Tools.

3. Expand the Storage folder and select Disk Management.

   The Computer Management window appears. View the status of a disk or volume in the Status column of the list view. Figure B-1 shows the status of Healthy for volumes, and Online for disks.

Figure B-1 Computer Management Window

Text description of the illustration win2k.gif

4. Right-click an unallocated region of a basic disk, and choose Create Partition. Or, right-click free space in an extended partition, and choose Create Logical Drive.

5. In the Create Partition wizard, choose Next > Extended Partition > Next, or Logical Drive > Next. Set the appropriate logical drive size for each tablespace datafile listed in Table B-1.

6. Choose Next.

7. From the Assign Drive Letter or Path wizard page, select the Do not assign a drive letter or drive path option.

8. Choose Next.

9. From the Format Partition wizard page, select the Do not format this partition option.

10. Choose Next.

11. Choose Finish.

    Note: If the Disk Management window is open during any disk management modifications, such as creating symbolic links or adding logical partitions, you need to close and open the window to view any changes you applied.

Task 2: Assigning Symbolic Link Names

Use one of the following methods to assign symbolic link names:

• Using Oracle Cluster Setup Wizard

• Using Object Link Manager

• Using ImportSYMLinks Utility

Using Oracle Cluster Setup Wizard

The Oracle Cluster Setup Wizard assists with cluster creation and the addition of nodes to an existing cluster. It also enables you to assign symbolic link names to logical drives. Refer to "Task 3: Creating a Cluster" to create symbolic link names and create a cluster using Oracle Cluster Setup Wizard.

Using Object Link Manager

Object Link Manager is a GUI tool that assigns symbolic link names or renames existing symbolic link names.

See Also: "Installing the Raw Devices Management Utilities Manually" to install Oracle Object Link Manager

1. Select c:\temp\GUIOracleOBJManager.exe where temp is the temporary directory defined in step 2.

   The Oracle Object Manager window appears.

2. Select the row to update and click any spot within the highlighted row.

   An edit window, with an active blinking cursor, opens in the New Link Name column.

3. Enter the new Link name and choose Enter.

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 to create additional symbolic link names.

   Note: Do not proceed to step 5 if the edit window is active. Changes will not apply.

5. Select Options > Commit.

Using ImportSYMLinks Utility

The ImportSYMLinks utility is a command line tool that assigns symbolic link names or renames existing symbolic link names.

See Also: "Installing the Raw Devices Management Utilities Manually" to install ImportSYMLinks utility

1. Create a TBL file.

   To...	Do this...
   Modify an existing symbolic link name	Export existing links to a TBL file using the following command: ExportSYMLinks.exe [/f:filename] If /f:filename is not specified, then the default filename, symmap.tbl, is generated in the current working directory. Note: Duplicate links are indented in the symmap.tbl file. All valid unmapped device names are also exported.
   Create a TBL file	A sample ASCII file is located in the following directory on the first component CD:Foot 1 \preinstall_rac\olm\sample.tbl Create a TBL file. Save the file.

   1 This sample file contains symbolic link names associated with raw partitions for a two-node cluster database.

2. Use the following command to import symbolic link mappings:

   ImportSYMLinks.exe [/f:filename]

   For example, ImportSYMLinks.exe /f:c:\temp\mysymlinks.tbl

   where temp is the temporary directory defined in step 2 and filename is the full path and filename of the valid TBL file.

Task 3: Creating a Cluster

If you intend to use Oracle9i operating system dependent clusterware, then use the Oracle Cluster Setup Wizard to install Oracle9i operating system dependent clusterware, assign symbolic links, and create a cluster. If you intend to use vendor operating system dependent clusterware, then refer to your vendor documentation.

If you intend to use vendor operating system dependent clusterware instead of Oracle9i operating system dependent clusterware, then you do not need to run Oracle Cluster Setup Wizard. However, the raw device management utilities are required to configure a raw device before Oracle Universal Installer is invoked. You must temporarily install the raw device management utilities.

Run the Oracle Cluster Setup Wizard on a node that is to become a node in the cluster. Running the wizard from a node that will not become a node in the cluster is not supported. To add a node to an existing cluster, run the Oracle Cluster Setup Wizard from the CD at any time.

See Also: "Adding a Node at the Clusterware Layer on Windows NT and Windows 2000" of Oracle9i Real Application Clusters Administration

Before you Begin

• Make sure all the nodes to be part of the cluster are up and can communicate with each other in a TCP/IP environment.

• Make sure you have 2 MB available on each node to install the Oracle operating system dependent clusterware and Object Link Manager.

• Stop the vendor operating system dependent clusterware. This only applies if you plan to install the Oracle operating system dependent clusterware, and have a version of your vendor operating system dependent clusterware running.

  Note: Oracle Corporation recommends using the same username and password on each node in a cluster, or a domain username. You must have administrative privileges and each node must be in the same domain. To verify administrative privileges, from the node on which the Oracle Cluster Setup Wizard runs, enter the following for each node in the cluster: NET USE \\host_name\C$ where host_name is the public network name for the other node. For example, if you run the Oracle Cluster Setup Wizard on node1 and plan to create a four-node cluster with node1, node2, node3, and node4, then enter the following commands on node1: NET USE \\node2\C$ NET USE \\node3\C$ NET USE \\node4\C$ If the following appears, you have administrative privileges on each node: The command completed successfully.

1. On one node of the cluster, insert the first component CD, and navigate to the \preinstall_rac\clustersetup directory.

2. Select clustersetup.exe.

   The Oracle Cluster Setup Wizard appears.

3. Choose Next.

4. Choose to Create a cluster, then choose Next.

   The Disk Configuration screen appears.

5. Optionally, perform one of the following tasks to rename or add a symbolic link:

   To...	Do this...
   Rename a symbolic link	Choose the Create Oracle Symbolic Links button. The Oracle Object Link Manger window appears. From the Symbolic Link column, select a row to update. The cursor starts blinking. Enter the new link name. Repeat steps 2 and 3 to rename any additional symbolic link names. Choose Apply. When the progress bar at the bottom of the screen stops moving, choose Close.
   Create a symbolic link	Choose the Create Oracle Symbolic Links button. The Object Link Manager window appears. From the Symbolic Link column, select an empty row. The cursor starts blinking. Enter a link name. Repeat steps 2 and 3 to assign any additional symbolic link names. When the progress bar at the bottom of the screen stops moving, choose Close.

6. From the Disk Configuration screen, assign a Voting disk, labeled as srvcfg, by highlighting the corresponding row.

7. Choose Next.

8. Choose to Create a cluster, then choose Next.

   The Network Selection window appears.

9. If the nodes are connected by a high speed private network, then select the Use private network for interconnect option. Otherwise, select the Use public network for interconnect option and choose Next.

10. The Network Configuration window appears. Enter the names of the nodes and choose Next.
    • If private network was chosen in step 9, enter the public and private names for the nodes.

    • If public network was chosen, enter the public names

11. If VIA is detected on the local node, then the VIA Detection window appears. Chose whether or not to use VIA for the clusterware interconnect. After making your selection, choose next.

12. The Install Location window appears. Choose an installation location, then chose Next.

13. A progress window displays the various actions performed by Oracle Cluster Setup Wizard.

    See Also: Oracle Cluster Setup Wizard online Help "Performing Cluster Diagnostics" if the Node Selection Page does not display Chapter 4 for installation steps for Oracle9i Enterprise Edition and Real Application Clusters

Raw Devices Management Utilities Overview

Additional disk management tools are installed by the Oracle Cluster Setup Wizard on all nodes. These tools are not installed if you do not run Oracle Cluster Setup Wizard. Table B-2 describes the disk management tools.

Table B-2 Raw Devices Disk Management Utilities

Utility	Used for the following tasks...
Object Link Manager	A graphical user interface (GUI) tool that creates or modifies symbolic links to logical drives. This utility can be used as part of the Oracle Cluster Setup Wizard, or separately.
DeleteDisk	Reformats an entire disk and deletes its contents.
LetterDelete	Removes all drive letters from Oracle raw partitions and updates the disk key registry to disable mappings when you restart your computer.
LogPartFormat	Initializes all space in a logical partition to zero and removes the symbolic link name.
crlogdr	Creates and deletes logical drives and their associated symbolic names on a disk that does not have a primary partition and one extended partition. Use this tool to review the disk layout.
ExportSYMLinks	Reads persistent symbolic links from their respective disk drives and generates a TBL file of the list (named by default symmap.tbl).
ImportSYMLinks	Reads a TBL file and creates persistent symbolic links on the disks and on all nodes in the cluster.

See Also: "Installing the Raw Devices Management Utilities Manually" The readme file on using the tools. The disk management tools and the readme file are located in the directory\olm directory, where directory is where you installed the Oracle operating system dependent clusterware with Oracle Cluster Setup Wizard.

Installing the Raw Devices Management Utilities Manually

If you did not install Oracle9i operating system dependent clusterware using the Oracle Cluster Setup Wizard, then manually install the raw device management utilities.

To manually install the disk management utilities, perform the following tasks on each node of the cluster:

1. Create a temporary directory.

2. From the first component CD, copy the contents of the \preinstall_rac\olm directory to the temporary directory you created.

3. Install Oracle Object Service by entering the following command from the temporary directory you created:

   C:\temp> OracleOBJService /INSTALL

   Note: The Oracle Cluster Setup Wizard automatically creates and starts this service.

4. Set the Oracle Object Service service on each node in the cluster to automatic. Refer to your Microsoft online help for more information about configuring, starting, and stopping services.

Deleting Oracle Operating System Dependent Clusterware

If you want to deinstall previous versions of Oracle operating system dependent clusterware, use the following steps to manually remove them:

1. Shut down the Oracle database.

2. Stop the operating system dependent clusterware service, OracleCMService9i.

   Note:: For Oracle Parallel Server releases 8.0 and 7.3, stop the OraclePGMSService.

3. Start the registry editor from the command prompt:

   C:\> regedt32
   
   

   The Registry Editor window appears.

4. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\OSD9i.

5. Delete the OSD subkey.

6. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services.

7. Delete the service entry for OracleCMService9i.

8. Delete the osd9i directory under \winnt\system32.

9. Repeat the steps on all nodes within the cluster.

10. Restart the computers on which you deleted the keys.

Troubleshooting the Real Application Clusters Installation

This section contains these topics:

• Error Messages

• Performing Cluster Diagnostics

• Terminal Services Client on Windows 2000

• Stopping Preexisting Oracle Services

• Mappings Do Not Appear

• Unable to Start a Dedicated Server Process

• Windows NT Disk Administrator Cannot Create Logical Drives

• Compatibility Issues for Physical Partitions and Logical Drives

Error Messages

Real Application Clusters Management Tools Error Messages are located in Appendix C of Oracle9i Real Application Clusters Administration.

Performing Cluster Diagnostics

If Oracle Universal Installer does not display the Node Selection page, perform clusterware diagnostics by executing the lsnodes -v command and analyzing its output.

From the \preinstall_rac directory, execute the following:

lsnodes -v

Refer to your clusterware documentation if the detailed output indicates that your clusterware is not running.

Terminal Services Client on Windows 2000

Do not use Terminal Services Client with any of the disk management tools. Changes may not apply.

Stopping Preexisting Oracle Services

You may get the following warning message while using the Cluster Setup Wizard if you have OracleGSDService or OracleServiceSID running on any of the nodes in the cluster you are creating:

The nodes that we are trying to install the software on could not be cleaned 
completely 

Stop these services on all the nodes and then start Oracle Cluster Setup Wizard again.

Mappings Do Not Appear

If mappings do not appear in the Object Link Manager, make sure the Oracle Object Service is started on all nodes in the cluster.

Unable to Start a Dedicated Server Process

Make sure OracleServiceSID and OracleHOME_NAMETNSListener run under the same Windows account with the same user ID.

Windows NT Disk Administrator Cannot Create Logical Drives

Most likely, an extended partition was not created. Create the extended partition and the multiple logical drives within the extended partition.

Compatibility Issues for Physical Partitions and Logical Drives

Question:

What is the impact if I have created logical drives, but defined physical disk convention names for them. For example:

PhysicalDrivesys1=\Device\Harddisk2\Partition1
PhysicalDriveusr1=\Device\Harddisk3\Partition1

Answer:

An Oracle database handles the datafile using the physical disk convention, even though it really is a logical drive. This will not cause any data corruption or loss, as long as you continue using the physical disk naming conventions. Oracle Corporation recommends that you convert to the logical drive at your earliest convenience.

Question:

What is the impact if I have created logical names representing Partition0. For example:

db_system1=\Device\Harddisk1\Partition0

Answer:

This poses severe problems, because the Disk Administrator typically writes a signature into the first block of every disk, and consequently the Oracle database may overwrite a portion of the signature with a datafile header.

Note: This may also cause data loss. Never use Partition0 with the logical partition convention.

Question:

How do I transfer the contents of any raw partition to a standard file system for backup purposes?

Answer:

Use the Oracle utility OCOPY to copy data to or from a raw partition for both physical partitions and logical drives.

The physical partition and logical drive conventions are not compatible with one another due to the extra block that is skipped for physical raw conventions. This also means you cannot simply do an OCOPY command from a physical disk to a logical drive, as the contents of these partitions are incompatible.

If your database installation uses physical disk conventions with logical drives, Oracle Corporation recommends converting to the logical drive conventions using these steps:

1. Perform a full database export to a (local) file system.

2. Create logical drives and define logical names for these partitions.

3. Re-create the database using Database Configuration Assistant on the new logical drives.

4. Perform the full database import to the newly-created database.

   See Also: Oracle9i Database Administrator's Guide for Windows Oracle9i Database Getting Started for Windows