DBA Tips Archive for Oracle

Install Oracle Database 11g R2 on Linux using Oracle ASM - (OL5)

by Jeff Hunter, Sr. Database Administrator

Contents

• Introduction
• Example Configuration
• Install the Linux Operating System
• Install Required Linux Packages for Oracle
• Create oracle User and Directories
• Configure the Linux Operating System for Oracle
• Network Configuration
• Configure Disks for Oracle ASM
• Download Oracle Software
• Pre-Installation Tasks
• Install Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Standalone Server
• Post-installation Tasks for Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Standalone Server
• Create Separate ASM Disk Group for the Fast Recovery Area
• Install Oracle Database
• Install Oracle Database Examples
• Create the Oracle Database
• Post Database Creation Tasks - (Optional)
• Configure Automatic Database Starting and Stopping
• Managing Oracle Restart Components
• Miscellaneous Options
• Troubleshooting
• About the Author

Introduction

This article is a comprehensive guide for installing Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2) on the Oracle Linux 5 (OL5) operating environment using Oracle Automatic Storage Management (Oracle ASM) and Oracle Restart. Oracle ASM provides a virtualization layer between the database and storage so that multiple disks can be treated as a single disk group and disks can be dynamically added or removed while keeping databases online. The example database created in this guide will use Oracle ASM for all physical database file storage (data files, control files, online redo log files, Fast Recovery Area).

Oracle ASM

Oracle Automatic Storage Management (Oracle ASM) is a volume manager and a file system for Oracle database files that supports single-instance Oracle Database and Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) configurations. Oracle ASM simplifies database administration by eliminating the need for the DBA to directly manage potentially thousands of Oracle database files requiring only the management of groups of disks allocated to the Oracle Database. Oracle ASM also supports a general purpose file system for application needs including Oracle Database binaries; however, storing the Oracle software in Oracle ASM will not be covered in this guide. Oracle ASM is Oracle's recommended storage management solution that provides an alternative to conventional volume managers, file systems, and raw devices.

Oracle ASM is built into the Oracle kernel. All of the files and directories to be used for Oracle will be contained in an Oracle ASM disk group. Oracle ASM automatically performs load balancing in parallel across all available disk drives to prevent hot spots and maximize performance, even with rapidly changing data usage patterns.

In previous releases, Oracle ASM was installed as part of the Oracle Database installation. With Oracle Database 11g Release 2, Oracle ASM is part of an Oracle Grid Infrastructure installation, either for a cluster, or for a standalone server. This guide demonstrates how to create a single instance (non-RAC) database using Oracle ASM and therefore will require Oracle Database 11g Release 2 Grid Infrastructure for a Standalone Server to be installed before the Oracle Database software. Using the latest Optimal Flexible Architecture (OFA), Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Standalone Server would be installed as the Oracle software owner (oracle) and the Oracle home directory would be /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid.

Best practice is to install Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Standalone Server before installing the database. The registration of the database with Oracle Restart is automatic when it is created after Grid Infrastructure is installed. In the case where the database is configured first and Grid later, the components would need to be manually added to the Oracle Restart configuration.

In this guide, Oracle ASM will be used as the file system and volume manager for Oracle Database files (data, online redo logs, control files, archived redo logs) and the Fast Recovery Area using two separate disk groups; namely +TESTDB1_DATA and +FRA respectively.

An optional support library for the Oracle ASM feature named ASMLib will be configured to create two Oracle ASM volumes. Although optional, ASMLib is highly recommended as it allows a database using Oracle ASM more efficient and capable access to the disk groups it is using. ASMLib was provided to enable Oracle ASM I/O to Linux disks without the limitations of the standard UNIX I/O API

Oracle Restart

Oracle Restart is another component of Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Standalone Server that will be used in this guide.

Starting with Oracle Database 11g Release 2, the dbstart and dbshut scripts that were used to automate database startup and shutdown in previous Oracle versions are deprecated. Oracle now recommends to configure Oracle Database with the Oracle Restart feature to automatically restart the database, the listener, Oracle Automatic Storage Management (Oracle ASM), and other Oracle components after a hardware or software failure or when the database host computer restarts.

Oracle Restart can only manage 11.2 resources. Oracle Database releases prior to 11.2, however, can coexist on the same server but without being managed by Oracle Restart.

Oracle Restart improves the availability of an Oracle database by providing the following:

• When there is a hardware or a software failure, Oracle Restart automatically starts all Oracle components, including the Oracle database instance, Oracle Net Listener, database services, and Oracle ASM.

• Oracle Restart starts components in the proper order when the database host is restarted.

• Oracle Restart runs periodic checks to monitor the status of Oracle components. If a check operation fails for a component, then the component is shut down and restarted.

When using Oracle Restart, you can use Service Control Utility (SRVCTL), a command-line interface, to manage Oracle processes (database instance, listener, ASM instance). With SRVCTL, you can manage the Oracle Restart configuration, see the status of processes managed by Oracle Restart, and start or stop processes such as the Oracle Database. SRVCTL has been enhanced to support single instance databases with Oracle Restart on standalone servers and on clusters with Oracle Clusterware.

Oracle Restart is used in single-instance (non-clustered) environments only.

Separate Oracle Homes

It is a requirement that Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Standalone Server and the Oracle Database software be installed in a separate Oracle home.

A separate Oracle home environment for Grid Infrastructure and the Oracle Database software will be created as described in the Oracle Configuration section to this guide.

Supported Platforms

Both 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x86_64) architectures are covered in this guide. Unless otherwise noted, the installation steps are the same for either. Having said that, one of the first decisions to make before continuing with this guide is which architecture you will be using. Both Oracle and Linux must be installed on the same operating system architecture. For example, 32-bit Oracle is only supported to run on 32-bit Linux OS and 64-bit Oracle is only supported to run on 64-bit Linux OS.

Oracle Documentation

While this guide provides detailed instructions for successfully installing a complete Oracle Database 11g Release 2 system using Oracle ASM, it is by no means a substitute for the official Oracle documentation (see list below). In addition to this guide, users should also consult the following Oracle documents to gain a full understanding of alternative configuration options, installation, and administration with Oracle Database, Oracle Grid Infrastructure, Oracle ASM, and Oracle Restart. Oracle's official documentation site is docs.oracle.com.

Release Notes	11g Release 2 (11.2) for Linux
New Features Guide	11g Release 2 (11.2)
Universal Installer and OPatch User's Guide	11g Release 2 (11.2) for Windows and UNIX
Oracle Restart / Grid Infrastructure	11g Release 2 (11.2) for Linux
Database Installation Guide	11g Release 2 (11.2) for Linux
Database Quick Installation Guide	11g Release 2 (11.2) for Linux x86
Database Quick Installation Guide	11g Release 2 (11.2) for Linux x86-64
Database Administrator's Guide	11g Release 2 (11.2)
Database Concepts	11g Release 2 (11.2)
Automatic Storage Management Administrator's Guide	11g Release 2 (11.2)
Database Examples Installation Guide	11g Release 2 (11.2)

Goals for this Article

By the time you finish this article, the following will be installed and configured.

• Two unformatted hard disks that will be marked as Oracle ASM disks using ASMLib. These two disks will be used to create two separate Oracle ASM disk groups for the database files and the recovery files (Fast Recovery Area).

• Oracle Database 11g Release 2 Grid Infrastructure (11.2) for a Standalone Server on a local file system (namely /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid) separate from the Oracle Database software. As part of the Oracle Grid Infrastructure installation, the Create ASM Disk Group wizard will be used to create an Oracle ASM instance named +ASM and an Oracle ASM disk group named +TESTDB1_DATA for the Oracle database files.

• A default Oracle Net Listener created by the Grid Infrastructure installation and running out of the Oracle home directory for Grid Infrastructure. This listener will be used by the Oracle ASM instance and the example database created in this guide.

• A separate Oracle ASM disk group for the Fast Recovery Area named +FRA and created using the Oracle Automatic Storage Management Configuration Assistant (Oracle ASMCA).

• Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2) software installed on a local file system (namely /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1).

• Oracle Database 11g Examples (formerly Companion).

• An Oracle Restart enabled general-purpose database that makes use of Oracle ASM for physical database file storage (database files and the Fast Recovery Area).

• Optional instructions are included to put the new database into Archive Log Mode.

• Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Control running and can be accessed using a Web browser.

The following is a list of items NOT covered in this article:

• Installing the Oracle Database software on a system that has an existing Oracle software installation. The installation in this article describes installing Oracle Database 11g Release 2 Grid Infrastructure (11.2) for a Standalone Server and Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2) software on a system with no previous Oracle installation.

• Installing Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Cluster and Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC). For a complete discussion on installing Oracle RAC 11g Release 2 (11.2) and creating a clustered database, see my article Building an Inexpensive Oracle RAC 11g R2 on Linux - (RHEL 5.5).

• Enabling Enterprise Manager e-mail notifications or automated backups.

Physical Disks

Hard Drive	Partition	Size - (MB)	Type	Usage	Mount Point
/dev/sda	/dev/sda1	101	ext3	Boot Volume	/boot
	/dev/sda2	36,758	LVM Physical Volume	LVM	VolGroup00
/dev/sdb	/dev/sdb1	36,860	LVM Physical Volume	LVM	vg_orasoftware
/dev/sdc	/dev/sdc1	36,860	Unformatted	Oracle ASM Disk
/dev/sdd	/dev/sdd1	36,860	Unformatted	Oracle ASM Disk

Logical Volumes

LVM Volume Group	Logical Volume	Size - (MB)	Type	Usage	Mount Point
VolGroup00	LogVol00	31,712	ext3	Linux OS	/
	LogVol01	5,024	swap	Swap
vg_orasoftware	lv_orasoftware	36,832	ext3	Oracle Database Software	/u01

Oracle ASM Volumes

ASM Disk Name	Device	Size - (MB)	Type	Usage	ASM Disk Group	ASM Redundancy
DATAVOL1	/dev/sdc1	32,768	ASMLib	Database Files	+TESTDB1_DATA	External
FRAVOL1	/dev/sdd1	32,768	ASMLib	Fast Recovery Area	+FRA	External

Oracle Configuration

The following is an introduction to some of the configuration parameters that will be used for installing the Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle Database Software and creating a fully functional Oracle 11g database configured to use Oracle ASM.

Oracle / Grid Software Owner

O/S User	Primary Group	Supplementary Groups	Home Directory
oracle (501)	oinstall (501)	dba (502), oper (503), asmadmin (504), asmdba (505), asmoper (506)	/home/oracle

Oracle Software Components

Software Component	Version
Grid Infrastructure for a Standalone Server	Oracle Database 11g Release 2 Grid Infrastructure (11.2.0.1.0) for Linux x86-64
Oracle Database	Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2.0.1.0) for Linux x86-64

Oracle Database Names

Software Component	Oracle SID	Global Database Name
Grid Infrastructure for a Standalone Server	+ASM	N/A
Oracle Database	testdb1	testdb1.idevelopment.info

Oracle Software Paths

Description	Directory
Oracle Base directory	/u01/app/oracle
Oracle Home directory for Oracle Grid Infrastructure	/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid
Oracle Home directory for Oracle Database	/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1

This guide adheres to the latest Optimal Flexible Architecture (OFA) standard for Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2) for Linux.

This section provides a summary of the steps used to install the Linux operating system. This guide is designed to work with Oracle Linux 5, CentOS 5, or Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and follows Oracle's suggestion of performing a "default RPMs" installation type to ensure all expected Linux O/S packages are present for a successful Oracle Database installation.

Download Oracle Linux

Download Oracle Linux 5 from the Oracle Software Delivery Cloud (eDelivery) website.

64-bit (x86_64) Installations

Download the compressed binary DVD image V24479-01.zip for Oracle Linux Release 5 Update 6 (x86_64). Once downloaded, extract the binary DVD image from the archive which for this example is named Enterprise-R5-U6-Server-x86_64-dvd.iso.

• Oracle Linux Release 5 Update 6 for x86_64 (64 Bit)   (3.5 GB)

32-bit (x86) Installations

Download the compressed binary DVD image V24478-01.zip for Oracle Linux Release 5 Update 6 (x86). Once downloaded, extract the binary DVD image from the archive which for this example is named Enterprise-R5-U6-Server-i386-dvd.iso.

• Oracle Linux Release 5 Update 6 for x86 (32 Bit)   (2.9 GB)

Burn Binary Image to DVD

If you are downloading the above ISO files to a MS Windows machine, there are many options for burning these images (ISO files) to a DVD. You may already be familiar with and have the proper software to burn images to DVD. If you are not familiar with this process and do not have the required software to burn images to DVD, here are just three of the many software packages that can be used.

• InfraRecorder
• UltraISO
• Magic ISO Maker

Install Oracle Linux

After downloading and burning the Oracle Linux image (ISO file) to a DVD, insert Disk #1 into the server, power it on, and answer the installation screen prompts as noted below.

Oracle Linux Installation

Screen Name	Response	Screen Shot
Boot Screen	The first screen is the Oracle Linux boot screen. At the boot: prompt, hit [Enter] to start the installation process.
Media Test	When asked to test the CD media, tab over to [Skip] and hit [Enter]. If there were any errors, the media burning software would have warned us. After several seconds, the installer should then detect the video card, monitor, and mouse. The installer then goes into GUI mode.
Welcome to Oracle Linux	At the welcome screen, click [Next] to continue.
Language Selection	Select the appropriate language for your configuration and click [Next] to continue.
Keyboard Selection	Select the appropriate keyboard for your configuration and click [Next] to continue.
Storage Device Warning	The installer will display a warning dialog for every installed disk device it detects indicating that the storage device may contain important data and that the device must be initialized in order to create new partitions. Click [Yes] to acknowledge this warning for each disk device the installer detects.
Select System Drive(s)	Select "Remove all partitions on selected drives and create default layout". If the machine is configured with multiple storage devices, select which device (or devices) to include as the system drive(s). Any selected devices will be used as system drives and will be formatted by the installer and included as the target for the OS install. In this guide, only one of the devices will be used for the system drive (sda). Finally, check the option to "Review and modify partitioning layout" and click [Next] to continue. You will then be prompted with a dialog window asking if you really want to remove all partitions (ALL_DATA) on the selected drives. Click [Yes] to acknowledge this warning.
Disk Partitioning Layout	The installer will present a default partitioning scheme for the current disk sizes. Modify any volumes as required. The settings you make here will, of course, depend on your storage configuration. Given the example presented in this guide, I only configured two of the four hard disks using the Disk Partitioning Layout wizard. The /boot file system and an LVM Volume Group named VolGroup00 will be created on the first hard disk (/dev/sda) and will be used for the Linux operating environment and swap. A new LVM Volume Group (vg_orasoftware) and Logical Volume (lv_orasoftware) will be created on /dev/sdb. This logical volume will be formatted as ext3 and used for the /u01 mount point to store the Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle Database software. The remaining two hard disks (/dev/sdc and /dev/sdd) will be not be configured using the Disk Partitioning Layout wizard and should remain unformatted. These two hard disks will be configured later in this guide and marked as Oracle ASM disks for use with Oracle ASM. Click here for a preview of the disk configuration used for this guide. Ensure enough swap space is allocated as required by Oracle (which is a multiple of the available RAM). The following is Oracle's minimum requirement for swap space: Available RAM Swap Space Required Between 1 GB and 2 GB 1.5 times the size of RAM Between 2 GB and 16 GB Equal to the size of RAM More than 16 GB 16 GB Once you are satisfied with the disk layout, click [Next] to continue.
Boot Loader Configuration	The installer will use the GRUB boot loader by default. To use the "GRUB boot loader", accept all default values and click [Next] to continue.
Network Configuration	The installer should have successfully detected any installed network devices. It is not recommended to configure the public interface on an Oracle Database server (eth0 in this example) to use DHCP so this guide will use the traditional method of manually assigning a static IP address. The settings you make here will, of course, depend on your network configuration. First, make sure that the public network device is checked to "Active on boot". Second, [Edit] the public network interface (eth0) accordingly. eth0 Enable IPv4 support ON Dynamic IP configuration (DHCP) - (select Manual configuration) OFF IPv4 Address 192.168.1.106 Prefix (Netmask) 255.255.255.0 Enable IPv6 support OFF Continue by manually setting the hostname and supplying your gateway and DNS servers. Click [Next] to continue
Time Zone	Select the appropriate time zone for your environment and click [Next] to continue.
Set Root Password	Select a root password and click [Next] to continue.
Installation Type	By default, Oracle Linux installs most of the software required for a typical server. There are several other packages (RPMs), however, that are required to successfully install the Oracle software. The installer includes a "Customize software" selection that allows the addition of RPM groupings such as "Development Libraries" or "Legacy Library Support". The addition of such RPM groupings is not an issue. De-selecting any "default RPM" groupings or individual RPMs, however, can result in failed Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle Database installation attempts. For the purpose of this guide, select the radio button "Customize now" and click [Next] to continue.
Package Group Selection	This is where you pick the packages to install. Most of the packages required for the Oracle software are grouped into "Package Groups" (i.e. Application -> Editors). Since this machine will be hosting the Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle Database software, verify that at least the following package groups are selected for the install. For many of the Linux package groups, not all of the packages associated with that group get selected for installation. (Note the "Optional packages" button after selecting a package group.) So although the package group gets selected for install, some of the packages required by Oracle do not get installed. In fact, there are some packages that are required by Oracle that do not belong to any of the available package groups (i.e. libaio-devel). Not to worry. A complete list of required packages for Oracle Grid Infrastructure 11g Release 2 and Oracle Database 11g Release 2 for Linux will be provided in the next section. These packages will need to be manually installed from the Oracle Linux DVDs after the operating system install. For now, install the following package groups. Desktop Environments    GNOME Desktop Environment Applications    Editors    Graphical Internet    Text-based Internet Development    Development Libraries    Development Tools    Legacy Software Development Servers    Server Configuration Tools Base System    Administration Tools    Base    Java    Legacy Software Support    System Tools    X Window System In addition to the above packages, select any additional packages you wish to install for this node keeping in mind to NOT de-select any of the "default" RPM packages. After selecting the packages to install click [Next] to continue.
About to Install	This screen is basically a confirmation screen. Click [Next] to start the installation. If you are installing Oracle Linux using CDs, you will be asked to switch CDs during the installation process depending on which packages you selected.
Installation Process	The Oracle Linux install process will start. Wait for the installation to complete.
Reboot System	After all of the packages and bootloader have been installed, the installer will eject the DVD from the drive. Take out the DVD and click [Reboot] to reboot the system and complete the installation.
Post Installation Wizard Welcome Screen	When the system boots into Oracle Linux for the first time, it will prompt you with another welcome screen for the "Post Installation Wizard". The post installation wizard allows you to make final OS configuration settings. On the "Welcome screen", click [Forward] to continue.
License Agreement	Accept the license agreement and click [Forward] to continue.
Firewall	On the Firewall screen, make sure to select the "Disabled" option and click [Forward] to continue. You will be prompted with a warning dialog about not setting the firewall. When this occurs, click [Yes] to continue.
SELinux	On the SELinux screen, choose the "Disabled" option and click [Forward] to continue. You will be prompted with a warning dialog warning that changing the SELinux setting will require rebooting the system so the entire file system can be relabeled. When this occurs, click [Yes] to acknowledge a reboot of the system will occur after firstboot (Post Installation Wizard) is completed.
Kdump	Accept the default setting on the Kdump screen and click [Forward] to continue.
Date and Time	Adjust the date and time settings if necessary and click [Forward] to continue.
Create User	Create any additional (non-oracle) operating system user accounts if desired and click [Forward] to continue. If you chose not to define any additional operating system user accounts, click [Yes] to acknowledge the warning dialog.
Sound Card	On the sound card screen, click [Forward] to continue.
Additional CDs	On the "Additional CDs" screen click [Finish] to continue.
Reboot System	Enabling Kdump requires the machine to be rebooted in order to reallocate memory accordingly. Click [Yes] on the warning dialog to reboot the system.
Login Screen	After the machine boots, you are presented with the Oracle Linux login screen.
User Desktop	After successfully logging in to the system, you are ready to start using the desktop.

Although many of the required packages for Oracle were installed during the Linux installation, several will be missing either because they were considered optional within the package group or simply didn't exist in any package group.

The packages listed in this section (or later versions) are required for Oracle Grid Infrastructure 11g Release 2 and Oracle Database 11g Release 2 running on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, Oracle Linux 5, or CentOS 5 platform.

While it is possible to query each individual package to determine which ones are missing and need to be installed, an easier method is to run the rpm -Uvh PackageName command from the DVD. For packages that already exist and are up to date, the RPM command will simply ignore the install and print a warning message to the console that the package is already installed.

64-bit (x86_64) Installations

binutils-2.17.50.0.6
compat-libstdc++-33-3.2.3
compat-libstdc++-33-3.2.3 (32 bit)
elfutils-libelf-0.125
elfutils-libelf-devel-0.125
elfutils-libelf-devel-static-0.125
gcc-4.1.2
gcc-c++-4.1.2
glibc-2.5-24
glibc-2.5-24 (32 bit)
glibc-common-2.5
glibc-devel-2.5
glibc-devel-2.5 (32 bit)
glibc-headers-2.5
ksh-20060214
libaio-0.3.106
libaio-0.3.106 (32 bit)
libaio-devel-0.3.106
libaio-devel-0.3.106 (32 bit)
libgcc-4.1.2
libgcc-4.1.2 (32 bit)
libstdc++-4.1.2
libstdc++-4.1.2 (32 bit)
libstdc++-devel 4.1.2
libstdc++-devel 4.1.2 (32 bit)
make-3.81
pdksh-5.2.14
sysstat-7.0.2
unixODBC-2.2.11
unixODBC-2.2.11 (32 bit)
unixODBC-devel-2.2.11
unixODBC-devel-2.2.11 (32 bit)

Each of the packages listed above can be found on the Oracle Linux 5 for x86_64 DVDs.

# From Oracle Linux 5.6 (x86_64) - [DVD #1] mkdir -p /media/dvd mount -r /dev/dvd /media/dvd cd /media/dvd/Server rpm -Uvh binutils-2*x86_64* rpm -Uvh compat-libstdc++-33*x86_64* rpm -Uvh compat-libstdc++-33*i386* rpm -Uvh elfutils-libelf-0*x86_64* rpm -Uvh elfutils-libelf-devel-0*x86_64* rpm -Uvh elfutils-libelf-devel-static-0*x86_64* rpm -Uvh gcc-4*x86_64* rpm -Uvh gcc-c++-4*x86_64* rpm -Uvh glibc-2*x86_64* rpm -Uvh glibc-2*i686* rpm -Uvh glibc-common-2*x86_64* rpm -Uvh glibc-devel-2*x86_64* rpm -Uvh glibc-devel-2*i386* rpm -Uvh glibc-headers-2*x86_64* rpm -Uvh ksh-*x86_64* rpm -Uvh libaio-0*x86_64* rpm -Uvh libaio-0*i386* rpm -Uvh libaio-devel-0*x86_64* rpm -Uvh libaio-devel-0*i386* rpm -Uvh libgcc-4*x86_64* rpm -Uvh libgcc-4*i386* rpm -Uvh libstdc++-4*x86_64* rpm -Uvh libstdc++-4*i386* rpm -Uvh libstdc++-devel-4*x86_64* rpm -Uvh libstdc++-devel-4*i386* rpm -Uvh make-3*x86_64* rpm -Uvh pdksh-5*x86_64* rpm -Uvh sysstat-7*x86_64* rpm -Uvh unixODBC-2*x86_64* rpm -Uvh unixODBC-2*i386* rpm -Uvh unixODBC-devel-2*x86_64* rpm -Uvh unixODBC-devel-2*i386* cd / eject

32-bit (x86) Installations

binutils-2.17.50.0.6
compat-libstdc++-33-3.2.3
elfutils-libelf-0.125
elfutils-libelf-devel-0.125
elfutils-libelf-devel-static-0.125
gcc-4.1.2
gcc-c++-4.1.2
glibc-2.5-24
glibc-common-2.5
glibc-devel-2.52
glibc-headers-2.5
kernel-headers-2.6.18
ksh-20060214
libaio-0.3.106
libaio-devel-0.3.106
libgcc-4.1.2
libgomp-4.1.2
libstdc++-4.1.2
libstdc++-devel-4.1.2
make-3.81
pdksh-5.2.14
sysstat-7.0.2
unixODBC-2.2.11
unixODBC-devel-2.2.11

Each of the packages listed above can be found on the Oracle Linux 5 for x86 DVDs.

# From Oracle Linux 5.6 (x86) - [DVD #1] mkdir -p /media/dvd mount -r /dev/dvd /media/dvd cd /media/dvd/Server rpm -Uvh binutils-2*i386* rpm -Uvh compat-libstdc++-33*i386* rpm -Uvh elfutils-libelf-0*i386* rpm -Uvh elfutils-libelf-devel-0*i386* rpm -Uvh elfutils-libelf-devel-static-0*i386* rpm -Uvh gcc-4*i386* rpm -Uvh gcc-c++-4*i386* rpm -Uvh glibc-2*i686* rpm -Uvh glibc-common-2*i386* rpm -Uvh glibc-devel-2*i386* rpm -Uvh glibc-headers-2*i386* rpm -Uvh kernel-headers-2*i386* rpm -Uvh ksh-*i386* rpm -Uvh libaio-0*i386* rpm -Uvh libaio-devel-0*i386* rpm -Uvh libgcc-4*i386* rpm -Uvh libgomp-4*i386* rpm -Uvh libstdc++-4*i386* rpm -Uvh libstdc++-devel-4*i386* rpm -Uvh make-3*i386* rpm -Uvh pdksh-5*i386* rpm -Uvh sysstat-7*i386* rpm -Uvh unixODBC-2*i386* rpm -Uvh unixODBC-devel-2*i386* cd / eject

Description	OS Group Name	OS Group ID	OS Users Assigned to this Group	Oracle Privilege	Oracle Group Name
Oracle Inventory and Software Owner	oinstall	501	oracle
Database Administrator	dba	502	oracle, jhunter	SYSDBA	OSDBA
Database Operator	oper	503	oracle, jhunter	SYSOPER	OSOPER
Oracle Automatic Storage Management Group	asmadmin	504	oracle	SYSASM	OSASM
ASM Database Administrator Group	asmdba	505	oracle, jhunter	SYSDBA for ASM	OSDBA for ASM
ASM Operator Group	asmoper	506	oracle, jhunter	SYSOPER for ASM	OSOPER for ASM

OS Group Descriptions

• Oracle Inventory Group (typically oinstall)

  This group must be created the first time you install Oracle software on the system. Members of the OINSTALL group are considered the "owners" of the Oracle software and are granted privileges to write to the Oracle central inventory (oraInventory). When you install Oracle software on a Linux system for the first time, OUI creates the /etc/oraInst.loc file. This file identifies the name of the Oracle Inventory group (by default, oinstall), and the path of the Oracle Central Inventory directory.

  Ensure that this group is available as a primary group for all planned Oracle software installation owners. For the purpose of this guide, the oracle installation owner will be configured with oinstall as its primary group.

• Database Administrator (OSDBA, typically dba)

  Members of the OSDBA group can use SQL to connect to an Oracle instance as SYSDBA using operating system authentication. Members of this group can perform critical database administration tasks, such as creating the database and instance startup and shutdown. The default name for this group is dba. The SYSDBA system privilege allows access to a database instance even when the database is not open. Control of this privilege is totally outside of the database itself.

  The oracle installation owner should be a member of the OSDBA group (configured as a secondary group) along with any other DBA user accounts (i.e. jhunter) needing access to an Oracle instance as SYSDBA using operating system authentication.

  The SYSDBA system privilege should not be confused with the database role DBA. The DBA role does not include the SYSDBA or SYSOPER system privileges.

• Database Operator (OSOPER, typically oper)

  Members of the OSOPER group can use SQL to connect to an Oracle instance as SYSOPER using operating system authentication. Members of this optional group have a limited set of database administrative privileges such as managing and running backups. The default name for this group is oper. The SYSOPER system privilege allows access to a database instance even when the database is not open. Control of this privilege is totally outside of the database itself. To use this group, choose the Advanced installation type to install the Oracle database software.

• The Oracle Automatic Storage Management Group (typically asmadmin)

  Create this group as a separate group if you want to have separate administration privilege groups for Oracle ASM and Oracle Database administrators. In Oracle documentation, the operating system group whose members are granted privileges is called the OSASM group, and in code examples, where there is a group specifically created to grant this privilege, it is referred to as asmadmin.

  Members of the OSASM group can use SQL to connect to an Oracle ASM instance as SYSASM using operating system authentication. The SYSASM privilege that was introduced in Oracle ASM 11g Release 1 (11.1) is now fully separated from the SYSDBA privilege in Oracle ASM 11g Release 2 (11.2). SYSASM privileges no longer provide access privileges on an RDBMS instance. Providing system privileges for the storage tier using the SYSASM privilege instead of the SYSDBA privilege provides a clearer division of responsibility between ASM administration and database administration, and helps to prevent different databases using the same storage from accidentally overwriting each others files. The SYSASM privileges permit mounting and dismounting disk groups, and other storage administration tasks.

• The ASM Database Administrator group (OSDBA for ASM, typically asmdba)

  Members of the ASM Database Administrator group (OSDBA for ASM) is a subset of the SYSASM privileges and are granted read and write access to files managed by Oracle ASM. When using ASM, all Oracle Database software owners (i.e. oracle) must be a member of this group, and all users with OSDBA membership on databases that have access to the files managed by Oracle ASM must be members of the OSDBA group for ASM.

• Members of the ASM Operator Group (OSOPER for ASM, typically asmoper)

  This is an optional group. Create this group if you want a separate group of operating system users to have a limited set of Oracle ASM instance administrative privileges (the SYSOPER for ASM privilege), including starting up and stopping the Oracle ASM instance. By default, members of the OSASM group also have all privileges granted by the SYSOPER for ASM privilege.

  To use the ASM Operator group to create an ASM administrator group with fewer privileges than the default asmadmin group, you must choose the Advanced installation type to install the Oracle Database software. In this case, OUI prompts you to specify the name of this group. In this guide, this group is asmoper.

  If you want to have an OSOPER for ASM group, then the Oracle software owner (oracle) must be a member of this group.

Create Groups and User for Oracle Database Software

Create the recommended OS groups and user for the Oracle Database software owner.

[root@testnode1 ~]# groupadd -g 501 oinstall [root@testnode1 ~]# groupadd -g 502 dba [root@testnode1 ~]# groupadd -g 503 oper [root@testnode1 ~]# groupadd -g 504 asmadmin [root@testnode1 ~]# groupadd -g 505 asmdba [root@testnode1 ~]# groupadd -g 506 asmoper [root@testnode1 ~]# useradd -m -u 501 -g oinstall -G dba,oper,asmadmin,asmdba,asmoper -d /home/oracle -s /bin/bash -c "Oracle Software Owner" oracle [root@testnode1 ~]# id oracle uid=501(oracle) gid=501(oinstall) groups=501(oinstall),502(dba),503(oper),504(asmadmin),505(asmdba),506(asmoper)

Create a new password for the oracle account.

[root@testnode1 ~]# passwd oracle Changing password for user oracle. New password: xxxxxxxxxxx Retype new password: xxxxxxxxxxx passwd: all authentication tokens updated successfully.

Optionally, configure any other OS users with the appropriate DBA related OS groups to manage the Oracle database and Oracle ASM instance for Grid Infrastructure. Remember to use the append option (-a) to the usermod command so that the user will not be removed from groups not listed.

[root@testnode1 ~]# usermod -a -G dba,oper,asmdba,asmoper jhunter [root@testnode1 ~]# id jhunter uid=500(jhunter) gid=500(jhunter) groups=500(jhunter),502(dba),503(oper),505(asmdba),506(asmoper)

The next step is to configure an Oracle base path compliant with an Optimal Flexible Architecture (OFA) structure and correct permissions. The Oracle base path will be used to store the Oracle Database software.

[root@testnode1 ~]# mkdir -p /u01/app/oracle [root@testnode1 ~]# chown -R oracle:oinstall /u01/app [root@testnode1 ~]# chmod -R 775 /u01/app

At the end of this section, you should have the following user, groups, and directory path configuration.

• An Oracle central inventory group, or oraInventory group (oinstall), whose members include oracle. Members of this group have the central inventory group as their primary group and are granted permissions to write to the oraInventory directory.

• A separate OSDBA group (dba), whose members include oracle, and who are granted the SYSDBA privilege to administer the Oracle Database.

• A separate OSOPER group (oper), whose members include oracle, and who are granted limited Oracle database administrator privileges.

• A separate OSASM group (asmadmin), whose members include oracle, and who are granted the SYSASM privilege to administer Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle ASM.

• A separate OSDBA for ASM group (asmdba), whose members include oracle, and who are granted access to Oracle ASM.

• A separate OSOPER for ASM group (asmoper), whose members include oracle, and who are granted limited Oracle ASM administrator privileges, including the permissions to start and stop the Oracle ASM instance.

• An Oracle Database software owner (oracle), with the oraInventory group as its primary group, and with the OSDBA (dba), OSOPER (oper), OSASM (asmadmin), OSDBA for ASM (asmdba), and OSOPER for ASM (asmoper) group as its secondary group.

• OFA-compliant mount point /u01 that will be used for the Oracle software installation.

• During installation, OUI creates the Oracle Inventory directory in the path /u01/app/oraInventory. This path remains owned by oracle:oinstall, to enable other Oracle software owners to write to the central inventory.

• An Oracle base /u01/app/oracle owned by oracle:oinstall with 775 permissions.

Set Resource Limits for the Oracle Software Installation Users

To improve the performance of the software on Linux systems, you must increase the following resource limits for the Oracle software owner (oracle).

Resource Shell Limit	Item in limits.conf	Soft Limit	Hard Limit
Open file descriptors	nofile	at least 1024	at least 65536
Number of processes available to a single user	nproc	at least 2047	at least 16384
Size of the stack segment of the process	stack	at least 10240 KB	at least 10240 KB, and at most 32768 KB

Use the following to check resource limits.

1. Log in as an Oracle installation owner.

2. Check the soft and hard limits for the file descriptor setting. Ensure that the result is in the recommended range. For example:

   [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ ulimit -Sn 1024 [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ ulimit -Hn 1024

3. Check the soft and hard limits for the number of processes available to a user. Ensure that the result is in the recommended range. For example:

   [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ ulimit -Su 81920 [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ ulimit -Hu 81920

4. Check the soft limit for the stack setting. Ensure that the result is in the recommended range. For example:

   [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ ulimit -Ss 10240 [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ ulimit -Hs unlimited

5. If necessary, update the resource limits in the /etc/security/limits.conf configuration file for the Oracle installation owner by adding the following lines.

   oracle soft nproc 2047 oracle hard nproc 16384 oracle soft nofile 1024 oracle hard nofile 65536 oracle soft stack 10240

Add the following line to the /etc/pam.d/login file, if it does not already exist.

session required pam_limits.so

Depending on your shell environment, make the following changes to the default shell startup file in order to change ulimit settings for the Oracle installation owner.

For the Bourne, Bash, or Korn shell, add the following lines to the /etc/profile file.

if [ $USER = "oracle" ]; then if [ $SHELL = "/bin/ksh" ]; then ulimit -p 16384 ulimit -n 65536 else ulimit -u 16384 -n 65536 fi fi

For the C shell (csh or tcsh), add the following lines to the /etc/csh.login file.

if ( $USER == "oracle" ) then limit maxproc 16384 limit descriptors 65536 endif

The kernel parameters discussed in this section will need to persist through machine reboots. Although there are several methods used to set these parameters, I will be making all changes permanent through reboots by placing all values in the /etc/sysctl.conf file. Instructions for setting all OS kernel parameters required by Oracle in a startup script will be discussed later in this section.

Kernel Parameters

The kernel parameters presented in this section are only recommended values as documented by Oracle. For production database systems, Oracle recommends that you tune these values to optimize the performance of the system.

Verify that the kernel parameters described in this section are set to values greater than or equal to the recommended values. Also note that when setting the four semaphore values that all four values need to be entered on one line.

Oracle Database 11g Release 2 for Linux requires the kernel parameter settings shown below. The values given are minimums, so if your system uses a larger value, do not change it.

kernel.shmmax = 4294967295 kernel.shmall = 2097152 kernel.shmmni = 4096 kernel.sem = 250 32000 100 128 net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range = 9000 65500 net.core.rmem_default = 262144 net.core.rmem_max = 4194304 net.core.wmem_default = 262144 net.core.wmem_max = 1048576 fs.file-max = 6815744 fs.aio-max-nr = 1048576

Add or amend the following lines in the /etc/sysctl.conf file.

# +---------------------------------------------------------+ # | KERNEL PARAMETERS FOR ORACLE DATABASE 11g R2 ON LINUX | # +---------------------------------------------------------+ # +---------------------------------------------------------+ # | SHARED MEMORY | # +---------------------------------------------------------+ # Maximum size (in bytes) for a shared memory segment kernel.shmmax = 4294967295 # Maximum amount of shared memory (in pages) that # can be used at one time on the system and should be at # least ceil(SHMMAX/PAGE_SIZE) kernel.shmall = 2097152 # Maximum number of shared memory segments system wide kernel.shmmni = 4096 # +---------------------------------------------------------+ # | SEMAPHORES | # +---------------------------------------------------------+ # SEMMSL_value SEMMNS_value SEMOPM_value SEMMNI_value kernel.sem = 250 32000 100 128 # +---------------------------------------------------------+ # | NETWORKING | # ----------------------------------------------------------+ # Defines the local port range that is used by TCP and UDP # traffic to choose the local port net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range = 9000 65500 # Default setting in bytes of the socket "receive" buffer which # may be set by using the SO_RCVBUF socket option net.core.rmem_default = 262144 # Maximum setting in bytes of the socket "receive" buffer which # may be set by using the SO_RCVBUF socket option net.core.rmem_max = 4194304 # Default setting in bytes of the socket "send" buffer which # may be set by using the SO_SNDBUF socket option net.core.wmem_default = 262144 # Maximum setting in bytes of the socket "send" buffer which # may be set by using the SO_SNDBUF socket option net.core.wmem_max = 1048576 # +---------------------------------------------------------+ # | FILE HANDLES | # ----------------------------------------------------------+ # Maximum number of file-handles that the Linux kernel will allocate fs.file-max = 6815744 # Maximum number of allowable concurrent asynchronous I/O requests requests fs.aio-max-nr = 1048576

Placing the kernel parameters in the /etc/sysctl.conf startup file persists the required kernel parameters through reboots. Linux allows modification of these kernel parameters to the current system while it is up and running, so there's no need to reboot the system after making kernel parameter changes. To activate the new kernel parameter values for the currently running system, run the following as root.

[root@testnode1 ~]# sysctl -p net.ipv4.ip_forward = 0 net.ipv4.conf.default.rp_filter = 2 net.ipv4.conf.default.accept_source_route = 0 kernel.sysrq = 0 kernel.core_uses_pid = 1 net.ipv4.tcp_syncookies = 1 kernel.msgmnb = 65536 kernel.msgmax = 65536 kernel.shmmax = 4294967295 kernel.shmall = 2097152 kernel.shmmni = 4096 kernel.sem = 250 32000 100 128 net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range = 9000 65500 net.core.rmem_default = 262144 net.core.rmem_max = 4194304 net.core.wmem_default = 262144 net.core.wmem_max = 1048576 fs.file-max = 6815744 fs.aio-max-nr = 1048576

Verify the new kernel parameter values by running the following.

[root@testnode1 ~]# /sbin/sysctl -a | grep shm | sort kernel.shmall = 2097152 kernel.shmmax = 4294967295 kernel.shmmni = 4096 vm.hugetlb_shm_group = 0 [root@testnode1 ~]# /sbin/sysctl -a | grep sem kernel.sem = 250 32000 100 128 [root@testnode1 ~]# /sbin/sysctl -a | grep ip_local_port_range net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range = 9000 65500 [root@testnode1 ~]# /sbin/sysctl -a | grep 'core\.[rw]mem' | sort net.core.rmem_default = 262144 net.core.rmem_max = 4194304 net.core.wmem_default = 262144 net.core.wmem_max = 1048576 [root@testnode1 ~]# /sbin/sysctl -a | egrep 'file-max|aio-max' | sort fs.aio-max-nr = 1048576 fs.file-max = 6815744

Memory

The minimum required RAM for Oracle Database 11g Release 2 running on the Linux platform is 1 GB (although 2 GB or more of RAM is highly recommended). In addition to the Oracle Database, Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Standalone Server requires a minimum of 1.5 GB of RAM. Oracle recommends 4 GB or more when planning to install both Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Standalone Server and Oracle Database on the same machine which is the configuration described in this guide.

Use the following command to check the amount of installed RAM on the system.

[root@testnode1 ~]# cat /proc/meminfo | grep MemTotal MemTotal: 4147592 kB

If the size of the installed RAM is less than the required size, then you must install more memory before continuing.

Swap Space

The following table describes the relationship between installed RAM and the configured swap space recommendation.

Available RAM	Swap Space Required
Between 1 GB and 2 GB	1.5 times the size of RAM
Between 2 GB and 16 GB	Equal to the size of RAM
More than 16 GB	16 GB

Use the following command to determine the size of the configured swap space.

[root@testnode1 ~]# grep SwapTotal /proc/meminfo SwapTotal: 5144568 kB

If necessary, additional swap space can be configured by creating a temporary swap file and adding it to the current swap. This way you do not have to use a raw device or even more drastic, rebuild your system.

1. As root, make a file that will act as additional swap space, let's say about 500MB.

   [root@testnode1 ~]# dd if=/dev/zero of=tempswap bs=1k count=500000

2. Next, change the file permissions.

   [root@testnode1 ~]# chmod 600 tempswap

3. Finally, format the "partition" as swap and add it to the swap space:

   [root@testnode1 ~]# mke2fs tempswap [root@testnode1 ~]# mkswap tempswap [root@testnode1 ~]# swapon tempswap

To determine the available RAM and swap space, enter the following command.

[root@testnode1 ~]# free total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 4020892 1209360 2811532 0 49456 925752 -/+ buffers/cache: 234152 3786740 Swap: 6258680 0 6258680

Automatic Memory Management

Starting with Oracle Database 11g, the Automatic Memory Management feature requires more shared memory (/dev/shm) and file descriptors. The shared memory should be sized to be at least the greater of MEMORY_MAX_TARGET and MEMORY_TARGET for each Oracle instance on the computer.

To determine the amount of shared memory available, enter the following command.

[root@testnode1 ~]# df -h /dev/shm/ Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on tmpfs 2.0G 0 2.0G 0% /dev/shm

During the Linux OS install, we already configured the IP address and host name for the database node. This sections contains additional network configuration steps that will prepare the machine to run the Oracle database.

Note that the Oracle database server should have a static IP address configured for the public network (eth0 for this guide). Do not use DHCP naming for the public IP address; you need a static IP address.

Confirm the Node Name is Not Listed in Loopback Address

Ensure that the node name (testnode1) is not included for the loopback address in the /etc/hosts file. If the machine name is listed in the in the loopback address entry as below:

127.0.0.1 testnode1 localhost.localdomain localhost

it will need to be removed as shown below:

127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost

Confirm Fully Qualified Name for the Server in /etc/hosts

The /etc/hosts file must contain a fully qualified name for the server.

<IP-address> <fully-qualified-machine-name> <machine-name>

For example.

127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost 192.168.1.106 testnode1.idevelopment.info testnode1

Check and turn off UDP ICMP rejections

During the Linux OS install, I indicated to disable the firewall. By default the option to configure a firewall is selected by the installer. This has burned me several times so I like to do a double-check that the firewall option is not configured and to ensure udp ICMP filtering is turned off.

1. Check to ensure that the firewall option is turned off. If the firewall option is stopped (like it is in my example below) you do not have to proceed with the following steps.

   [root@testnode1 ~]# /etc/rc.d/init.d/iptables status Firewall is stopped.

2. If the firewall option is operating, you will need to first manually disable UDP ICMP rejections.

   [root@testnode1 ~]# /etc/rc.d/init.d/iptables stop Flushing firewall rules: [ OK ] Setting chains to policy ACCEPT: filter [ OK ] Unloading iptables modules: [ OK ]

3. Then, turn UDP ICMP rejections off for all subsequent server reboots (which should always be turned off).

   [root@testnode1 ~]# chkconfig iptables off

As mentioned in the hardware configuration section of this guide, two hard disks will be configured as Oracle ASM volumes to store the database files (/dev/sdc) and the Fast Recovery Area (/dev/sdd) which will be managed by Oracle ASM. During the Linux OS install, these two hard disks were not formatted using the Disk Partitioning Layout wizard. This section describes how these two hard disks can be partitioned and then configured as Oracle ASM disks using ASMLib 2.0 which is an optional support library for the Oracle ASM feature of the Oracle Database.

Partition Oracle ASM Disks - (Optional)

Before using a hard disk as a physical volume for Oracle ASM, decide whether the entire disk will be used (/dev/sdc) or a disk partition (/dev/sdc1). In this guide, two unformatted hard disks were earmarked to be Oracle ASM disks. Given that there is no information on these disks, it doesn't matter if you use the entire disk or whether to create a partition on each hard disk.

For the purpose of this guide, I decided to create a single partition on each hard disk.

[root@testnode1 ~]# fdisk /dev/sdc The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 4699. There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024, and could in certain setups cause problems with: 1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO) 2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs (e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK) Command (m for help): n Command action e extended p primary partition (1-4) p Partition number (1-4): 1 First cylinder (1-4699, default 1): 1 Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (1-4699, default 4699): 4699 Command (m for help): w The partition table has been altered! Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table. Syncing disks. -------------------------------------------------------------- [root@testnode1 ~]# fdisk /dev/sdd The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 4699. There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024, and could in certain setups cause problems with: 1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO) 2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs (e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK) Command (m for help): n Command action e extended p primary partition (1-4) p Partition number (1-4): 1 First cylinder (1-4699, default 1): 1 Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (1-4699, default 4699): 4699 Command (m for help): w The partition table has been altered! Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table. Syncing disks.

Install and Configure ASMLib 2.0 - (Optional)

ASMLib 2.0 is an optional support library for the Oracle ASM feature of the Oracle Database. In this guide, Oracle ASM will be used as the file system and volume manager for Oracle Database files (data, online redo logs, control files, archived redo logs) and the Fast Recovery Area. Although optional, installing and configuring ASMLib is highly recommended as it allows a database using Oracle ASM more efficient and capable access to the disk groups it is using. ASMLib was provided to enable Oracle ASM I/O to Linux disks without the limitations of the standard UNIX I/O API

Keep in mind that ASMLib is only a support library for the Oracle ASM software. The Oracle ASM software will be installed as part of Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Standalone Server later in this guide.

So, is ASMLib required for Oracle ASM? Not at all. In fact, there are two different methods to configure Oracle ASM on Linux.

• ASM with ASMLib I/O

  This method creates all Oracle database files on raw block devices managed by Oracle ASM using ASMLib calls. RAW character devices are not required with this method as ASMLib works with block devices.

• ASM with Standard Linux I/O

  This method does not make use of ASMLib. Oracle database files are created on raw character devices managed by ASM using standard Linux I/O system calls. You will be required to create RAW devices for all disk partitions used by Oracle ASM.

This guide uses the "ASM with ASMLib I/O" method.

To learn more about Oracle ASMLib 2.0, visit http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/linux/asmlib/index-101839.html.

Download ASMLib 2.0 Packages

Download the latest ASMLib 2.0 libraries and the kernel driver from the Oracle Technology Network (OTN) website.

  Oracle ASMLib Downloads for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5

At the time of this writing, the latest release of the ASMLib kernel driver is 2.0.5-1.

Download the appropriate version of the ASMLib driver for the Linux kernel release and machine architecture.

[root@testnode1 ~]# uname -r -m 2.6.18-238.el5 x86_64

The output above indicates Linux kernel release 2.6.18-238.el5 running on the x86_64 architecture.

32-bit (x86) Installations

• oracleasm-2.6.18-238.el5PAE-2.0.5-1.el5.i686.rpm

Next, download the ASMLib tools.

• oracleasm-support-2.1.7-1.el5.i386.rpm
• oracleasmlib-2.0.4-1.el5.i386.rpm

64-bit (x86_64) Installations

• oracleasm-2.6.18-238.el5-2.0.5-1.el5.x86_64.rpm

Next, download the ASMLib tools.

• oracleasm-support-2.1.7-1.el5.x86_64.rpm
• oracleasmlib-2.0.4-1.el5.x86_64.rpm

Install ASMLib 2.0 Packages

Install ASMLib 2.0 as the root user account.

[root@testnode1 ~]# rpm -Uvh oracleasm-2.6.18-238.el5-2.0.5-1.el5.x86_64.rpm \ > oracleasmlib-2.0.4-1.el5.x86_64.rpm \ > oracleasm-support-2.1.7-1.el5.x86_64.rpm warning: oracleasm-2.6.18-238.el5-2.0.5-1.el5.x86_64.rpm: Header V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID 1e5e0159 Preparing... ########################################### [100%] 1:oracleasm-support ########################################### [ 33%] 2:oracleasm-2.6.18-238.el########################################### [ 67%] 3:oracleasmlib ########################################### [100%]

Verify the ASMLib packages were installed.

[root@testnode1 ~]# rpm -qa --queryformat "%{NAME}-%{VERSION}-%{RELEASE} (%{ARCH})\n"| grep oracleasm | sort oracleasm-2.6.18-238.el5-2.0.5-1.el5 (x86_64) oracleasmlib-2.0.4-1.el5 (x86_64) oracleasm-support-2.1.7-1.el5 (x86_64)

Configure ASMLib

After installing the ASMLib packages for Linux, configure and load the ASM kernel module. This task needs to be run as the root user account.

The oracleasm command by default is in the path /usr/sbin. The /etc/init.d path, which was used in previous releases of ASMLib, is not deprecated but the oracleasm binary in that path is now used typically for internal commands. If you enter the command oracleasm configure without the -i flag, then you are shown the current configuration. For example,

[root@testnode1 ~]# /usr/sbin/oracleasm configure ORACLEASM_ENABLED=false ORACLEASM_UID= ORACLEASM_GID= ORACLEASM_SCANBOOT=true ORACLEASM_SCANORDER="" ORACLEASM_SCANEXCLUDE=""

1. Enter the following command to run the oracleasm initialization script with the configure option.

   [root@testnode1 ~]# /usr/sbin/oracleasm configure -i Configuring the Oracle ASM library driver. This will configure the on-boot properties of the Oracle ASM library driver. The following questions will determine whether the driver is loaded on boot and what permissions it will have. The current values will be shown in brackets ('[]'). Hitting <ENTER> without typing an answer will keep that current value. Ctrl-C will abort. Default user to own the driver interface []: oracle Default group to own the driver interface []: asmadmin Start Oracle ASM library driver on boot (y/n) [n]: y Scan for Oracle ASM disks on boot (y/n) [y]: y Writing Oracle ASM library driver configuration: done

   The script completes the following tasks.

   • Creates the /etc/sysconfig/oracleasm configuration file
   • Creates the /dev/oracleasm mount point
   • Mounts the ASMLib driver file system

   The ASMLib driver file system is not a regular file system. It is used only by the Automatic Storage Management library to communicate with the Automatic Storage Management driver.

2. Enter the following command to load the oracleasm kernel module:

   [root@testnode1 ~]# /usr/sbin/oracleasm init Creating /dev/oracleasm mount point: /dev/oracleasm Loading module "oracleasm": oracleasm Mounting ASMlib driver filesystem: /dev/oracleasm

Label ASM Disks for Oracle

In the previous subsection, two hard disks were partitioned to be used by Oracle ASM. Use oracleasm to label the hard disk partitions for discovery by ASM.

[root@testnode1 ~]# /usr/sbin/oracleasm createdisk DATAVOL1 /dev/sdc1 Writing disk header: done Instantiating disk: done [root@testnode1 ~]# /usr/sbin/oracleasm createdisk FRAVOL1 /dev/sdd1 Writing disk header: done Instantiating disk: done

Validate that the ASM disks were successfully created by using oracleasm listdisks. This command identifies any disks attached to the node that are marked as Oracle ASM disks.

[root@testnode1 ~]# /usr/sbin/oracleasm listdisks DATAVOL1 FRAVOL1

Perform one last check that the new Oracle ASM disks are mounted in the oracleasm file system.

[root@testnode1 ~]# ls -l /dev/oracleasm/disks total 0 brw-rw---- 1 oracle asmadmin 8, 33 Jan 15 19:10 DATAVOL1 brw-rw---- 1 oracle asmadmin 8, 49 Jan 15 19:10 FRAVOL1

Download and extract the required Oracle software packages from the Oracle Technology Network (OTN), Oracle Software Delivery Cloud (eDelivery), or My Oracle Support (MOS) website depending on your support status.

Oracle Grid Infrastructure

• OTN: Oracle Database 11g Release 2 Grid Infrastructure (11.2.0.1.0) for Linux x86
• OTN: Oracle Database 11g Release 2 Grid Infrastructure (11.2.0.1.0) for Linux x86-64
• eDelivery: Oracle Database 11g Release 2 Grid Infrastructure (11.2.0.1.0)
• MOS: Oracle Database 11g Release 2 Grid Infrastructure (11.2.0.2 or 11.2.0.3)

Oracle Database

• OTN: Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2.0.1.0) for Linux x86
• OTN: Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2.0.1.0) for Linux x86-64
• eDelivery: Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2.0.1)
• MOS: Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2.0.2 or 11.2.0.3)

Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle Database 11g Release 2 base release (11.2.0.1) is available through the Oracle Software Delivery Cloud (eDelivery) or OTN. If you do not currently have an account with Oracle OTN or eDelivery, you will need to create one. This is a free account. Oracle offers a development and testing license free of charge. No support, however, is provided and the license does not permit production use. A full description of the license agreement is available on OTN.

Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2.0.2) and (11.2.0.3) are only available through My Oracle Support (MOS) and are listed as patch sets in this section.

Access to MOS requires an Oracle Single Sign On (SSO) account (which is the same account used for OTN) and a valid Customer Support Identifier (or CSI). MOS requires a paid software license and support contract and is the only place to download critical updates and patch sets. Starting with the release of the 11.2.0.2 patch set for Oracle Database 11g Release 2, Oracle Database patch sets are full installations of the Oracle Database software (you do not need to download and install 11.2.0.1 first).

Log in as the Oracle software owner (oracle) and download the Oracle Grid Infrastructure, Oracle Database, and Oracle Examples (optional) software to an install directory. For example /home/oracle/software/oracle.

• Oracle Database 11g Release 2 Grid Infrastructure (11.2.0.1.0) for Linux
• Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2.0.1.0) for Linux
• Oracle Database 11g Release 2 Examples (optional)

Oracle Release 11.2.0.1

Oracle Software Component	Release	Location	Associated Zip File(s)
Oracle Database 11g Release 2 Grid Infrastructure	11.2.0.1	OTN / eDelivery / MOS	linux.x64_11gR2_grid.zip
Oracle Database 11g Release 2	11.2.0.1	OTN / eDelivery / MOS	linux.x64_11gR2_database_1of2.zip linux.x64_11gR2_database_2of2.zip
Oracle Database 11g Release 2 Examples	11.2.0.1	OTN / eDelivery / MOS	linux.x64_11gR2_examples.zip

[oracle@testnode1 ~]$ mkdir -p /home/oracle/software/oracle [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ mv linux.x64_11gR2_grid.zip /home/oracle/software/oracle [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ mv linux.x64_11gR2_database_1of2.zip /home/oracle/software/oracle [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ mv linux.x64_11gR2_database_2of2.zip /home/oracle/software/oracle [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ mv linux.x64_11gR2_examples.zip /home/oracle/software/oracle [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ cd /home/oracle/software/oracle [oracle@testnode1 oracle]$ unzip linux.x64_11gR2_grid.zip [oracle@testnode1 oracle]$ unzip linux.x64_11gR2_database_1of2.zip [oracle@testnode1 oracle]$ unzip linux.x64_11gR2_database_2of2.zip [oracle@testnode1 oracle]$ unzip linux.x64_11gR2_examples.zip

Oracle Release 11.2.0.2 Patch Set

Oracle Software Component	Release	MOS Patch Set	Associated Zip File(s)
Oracle Database 11g Release 2 Grid Infrastructure	11.2.0.2	10098816	p10098816_112020_Linux-x86-64_3of7.zip
Oracle Database 11g Release 2	11.2.0.2	10098816	p10098816_112020_Linux-x86-64_1of7.zip p10098816_112020_Linux-x86-64_2of7.zip
Oracle Database 11g Release 2 Examples	11.2.0.2	10098816	p10098816_112020_Linux-x86-64_6of7.zip

[oracle@testnode1 ~]$ mkdir -p /home/oracle/software/oracle [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ mv p10098816_112020_Linux-x86-64_3of7.zip /home/oracle/software/oracle [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ mv p10098816_112020_Linux-x86-64_1of7.zip /home/oracle/software/oracle [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ mv p10098816_112020_Linux-x86-64_2of7.zip /home/oracle/software/oracle [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ mv p10098816_112020_Linux-x86-64_6of7.zip /home/oracle/software/oracle [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ cd /home/oracle/software/oracle [oracle@testnode1 oracle]$ unzip p10098816_112020_Linux-x86-64_3of7.zip [oracle@testnode1 oracle]$ unzip p10098816_112020_Linux-x86-64_1of7.zip [oracle@testnode1 oracle]$ unzip p10098816_112020_Linux-x86-64_2of7.zip [oracle@testnode1 oracle]$ unzip p10098816_112020_Linux-x86-64_6of7.zip

Oracle Release 11.2.0.3 Patch Set

Oracle Software Component	Release	MOS Patch Set	Associated Zip File(s)
Oracle Database 11g Release 2 Grid Infrastructure	11.2.0.3	10404530	p10404530_112030_Linux-x86-64_3of7.zip
Oracle Database 11g Release 2	11.2.0.3	10404530	p10404530_112030_Linux-x86-64_1of7.zip p10404530_112030_Linux-x86-64_2of7.zip
Oracle Database 11g Release 2 Examples	11.2.0.3	10404530	p10404530_112030_Linux-x86-64_6of7.zip

[oracle@testnode1 ~]$ mkdir -p /home/oracle/software/oracle [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ mv p10404530_112030_Linux-x86-64_3of7.zip /home/oracle/software/oracle [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ mv p10404530_112030_Linux-x86-64_1of7.zip /home/oracle/software/oracle [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ mv p10404530_112030_Linux-x86-64_2of7.zip /home/oracle/software/oracle [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ mv p10404530_112030_Linux-x86-64_6of7.zip /home/oracle/software/oracle [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ cd /home/oracle/software/oracle [oracle@testnode1 oracle]$ unzip p10404530_112030_Linux-x86-64_3of7.zip [oracle@testnode1 oracle]$ unzip p10404530_112030_Linux-x86-64_1of7.zip [oracle@testnode1 oracle]$ unzip p10404530_112030_Linux-x86-64_2of7.zip [oracle@testnode1 oracle]$ unzip p10404530_112030_Linux-x86-64_6of7.zip

You should now have directories called grid, database, and the optional examples directory containing the Oracle installation files.

Review the CVU report.

Oracle Database

All pre-installation tasks have already been performed to successfully install and configure the Oracle Database 11g Release 2 software.

Before starting the OUI, make certain to either unset $TNS_ADMIN or set it appropriately for the Grid Infrastructure home environment (/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid/network/admin).

Start the Oracle Universal Installer (OUI) by issuing the following command in the grid install directory.

[oracle@testnode1 ~]$ id uid=501(oracle) gid=501(oinstall) groups=501(oinstall),502(dba),503(oper),504(asmadmin),505(asmdba),506(asmoper) [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ echo $TNS_ADMIN /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid/network/admin [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ cd /home/oracle/software/oracle/grid [oracle@testnode1 grid]$ ./runInstaller

At any time during installation, if you have a question about what you are being asked to do, click the Help button on the OUI page.

Screen Name	Response	Screen Shot
Installation Option	Select "Install and Configure Grid Infrastructure for a Standalone Server".
Product Languages	Make the appropriate selection(s) for your environment.
Create ASM Disk Group	The Create ASM Disk Group screen lists all of the Oracle ASM candidate disks that were labeled during the ASMLib configuration. Note that the Create ASM Disk Group wizard only allows for the configuration of one disk group. Using this wizard, create an Oracle ASM disk group that will be used for database files. A second Oracle ASM disk group will be created for the recovery files (Fast Recovery Area) later in this guide using the Oracle Automatic Storage Management Configuration Assistant (Oracle ASMCA). Create an ASM Disk Group that will be used to store the database files for the example database described in this guide according to the values in the table below. If the Oracle ASM disks do not show up in the "Select Member Disks" window as eligible (ORCL:DATAVOL1 and ORCL:FRAVOL1) then click on the [Change Disk Discovery Path] button and input "ORCL:*". Disk Group Name Redundancy Disk Path TESTDB1_DATA External ORCL:DATAVOL1 During installation, disk paths mounted on Oracle ASM and registered on ASMLIB with the string ORCL:* are listed as default database storage candidate disks.
Specify ASM Password	Enter the SYSASM password required to connect to the Oracle ASM instance. The Oracle ASM instance is managed by a privileged role called SYSASM, which grants full access to Oracle ASM disk groups. Oracle recommends that you create a less privileged user, ASMSNMP, with SYSDBA privileges to monitor the Oracle ASM instance. Enter passwords for the SYS and ASMSNMP database accounts. The passwords should be at least eight characters in length and include at least one alphabetic and one numeric character. To specify the same password for both accounts, select "Use same passwords for these accounts".
Privileged Operating System Groups	This guide makes use of role-based administrative privileges and high granularity in specifying Automatic Storage Management roles. Make any changes necessary to match the values in the table below. OSDBA for ASM OSOPER for ASM OSASM asmdba asmoper asmadmin
Specify Installation Location	Set the "Oracle Base" ($ORACLE_BASE) and "Software Location" ($ORACLE_HOME) for the Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Standalone Server installation.    Oracle Base: /u01/app/oracle    Software Location: /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid
Create Inventory	Since this is the first install on the host, you will need to create the Oracle Inventory. Use the default values provided by the OUI.    Inventory Directory: /u01/app/oraInventory    oraInventory Group Name: oinstall
Prerequisite Checks	The installer will run through a series of checks to determine if the node meets the minimum requirements for installing and configuring the Oracle Restart and Oracle Automatic Storage Management software. Starting with Oracle Grid Infrastructure 11g Release 2 (11.2), if any check fails, the installer (OUI) will create shell script programs called fixup scripts to resolve many incomplete system configuration requirements. If OUI detects an incomplete task that is marked "fixable", then you can easily fix the issue by generating the fixup script by clicking the [Fix & Check Again] button. The fixup script is generated during installation. You will be prompted to run the script as root in a separate terminal session. When you run the script, it raises kernel values to required minimums, if necessary, and completes other operating system configuration tasks. If the OUI detected any failed checks, take the appropriate action to resolve it or click the "Ignore All" check box to acknowledge it is safe to continue with the installation without resolving the issue. If all prerequisite checks pass, the OUI continues to the Summary screen.
Summary	Click [Finish] to start the installation.
Install Product	The installer performs the Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Standalone Server software installation.
Execute Configuration scripts	After the installation completes, you will be prompted to execute root scripts to configure the Oracle Inventory, Oracle Grid Infrastructure, and Automatic Storage Management software. Note: Do not click OK until you run the scripts mentioned in this screen. Open a new terminal window as the root user account and execute the orainstRoot.sh script. [root@testnode1 ~]# /u01/app/oraInventory/orainstRoot.sh Within the same terminal window stay logged in as the root user account and execute the root.sh script. [root@testnode1 ~]# /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid/root.sh [11.2.0.1.0] [root@testnode1 ~]# /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid/root.sh [11.2.0.2.0] [root@testnode1 ~]# /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid/root.sh [11.2.0.3.0] Go back to OUI and acknowledge the "Execute Configuration scripts" dialog window.
Run Grid Infrastructure Assistants	The OUI will continue by configuring Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Standalone Server using the Oracle Net Configuration Assistant and the Automatic Storage Management Configuration Assistant. Components will then be registered with Oracle Restart.
Finish	At the end of the installation, click the [Close] button to exit the OUI.

For the purpose of this example, we will forgo the "Create Database" option when installing the Oracle Database software. The database will be created later in this guide using the Database Configuration Assistant (DBCA) after all installs have been completed.

Before starting the OUI, make certain that the $ORACLE_HOME and $PATH are set appropriately for the $ORACLE_BASE/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1 environment. Setting environment variables in the login script for the oracle user account was covered in the section "Create Login Script for the oracle User Account".

Start the OUI by issuing the following command in the database install directory.

[oracle@testnode1 ~]$ id uid=501(oracle) gid=501(oinstall) groups=501(oinstall),502(dba),503(oper),504(asmadmin),505(asmdba),506(asmoper) [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ . .bash_profile [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ echo $ORACLE_HOME /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1 [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ cd /home/oracle/software/oracle/database [oracle@testnode1 database]$ ./runInstaller

At any time during installation, if you have a question about what you are being asked to do, click the Help button on the OUI page.

Screen Name	Response	Screen Shot
Configure Security Updates	To stay informed with the latest security issues, enter your e-mail address, preferably your My Oracle Support e-mail address or user name in the Email field. You can select the "I wish to receive security updates via My Oracle Support" check box to receive security updates. Enter your My Oracle Support password in the "My Oracle Support Password" field. For the purpose of this example, un-check the security updates check-box and click the [Next] button to continue. Acknowledge the warning dialog indicating you have not provided an email address by clicking the [Yes] button.
Installation Option	Select "Install database software only".
Grid Options	Select "Single instance database installation".
Product Languages	Make the appropriate selection(s) for your environment.
Database Edition	Select "Enterprise Edition".
Installation Location	Specify the Oracle base and Software location (Oracle home) as follows.    Oracle Base: /u01/app/oracle    Software Location: /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1
Operating System Groups	Select the OS groups to be used for the SYSDBA and SYSOPER privileges.    Database Administrator (OSDBA) Group: dba    Database Operator (OSOPER) Group: oper
Prerequisite Checks	The installer will run through a series of checks to determine if the machine and OS configuration meet the minimum requirements for installing the Oracle Database software. Starting with 11g Release 2, if any checks fail, the installer (OUI) will create shell script programs called fixup scripts to resolve many incomplete system configuration requirements. If OUI detects an incomplete task that is marked "fixable", then you can easily fix the issue by generating the fixup script by clicking the [Fix & Check Again] button. The fixup script is generated during installation. You will be prompted to run the script as root in a separate terminal session. When you run the script, it raises kernel values to required minimums, if necessary, and completes other operating system configuration tasks. If the OUI detected any failed checks, take the appropriate action to resolve it or click the "Ignore All" check box to acknowledge it is safe to continue with the installation without resolving the issue. If all prerequisite checks pass, the OUI continues to the Summary screen.
Summary	Click [Finish] to start the installation.
Install Product	The installer performs the Oracle Database software installation.
Execute Configuration scripts	After the installation completes, you will be prompted to run the root script. Open a new terminal window as the root user account and execute the root.sh script. [root@testnode1 ~]# /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1/root.sh [11.2.0.1.0] [root@testnode1 ~]# /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1/root.sh [11.2.0.2.0] [root@testnode1 ~]# /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1/root.sh [11.2.0.3.0] Go back to OUI and acknowledge the "Execute Configuration scripts" dialog window.
Finish	At the end of the installation, click the [Close] button to exit the OUI.

Before executing the DBCA, make certain that the $ORACLE_HOME and $PATH are set appropriately for the $ORACLE_BASE/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1 environment. Setting environment variables in the login script for the oracle user account was covered in the section "Create Login Script for the oracle User Account".

You should also verify that all services installed up to this point (Oracle TNS Listener and Oracle ASM) are running on the node before attempting to start the database creation process.

[oracle@testnode1 ~]$ srvctl status listener Listener LISTENER is enabled Listener LISTENER is running on node(s): testnode1 [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ srvctl status asm -a ASM is running on testnode1 ASM is enabled.

Create the Database

To start the database creation process, run the following as the Oracle software owner (oracle).

[oracle@testnode1 ~]$ dbca &

Screen Name	Response	Screen Shot
Welcome Screen	Click [Next] to continue.
Operations	Select Create a Database.
Database Templates	Select Custom Database.
Database Identification	Database naming.    Global Database Name: testdb1.idevelopment.info    SID Prefix: testdb1 Note: I used idevelopment.info for the database domain. You may use any database domain. Keep in mind that this domain does not have to be a valid DNS domain.
Management Options	From the "Enterprise Manager" tab, you can leave the default option here which is to Configure Enterprise Manager / Configure Database Control for local management. Using the "Automatic Maintenance Tasks" tab, leave the default option which is to Enable automatic maintenance tasks.
Database Credentials	Secure the database with passwords for the most important database administrator accounts. Enter passwords for the SYS, SYSTEM, DBSNMP, and SYSMAN database accounts. The passwords should be at least eight characters in length and include at least one alphabetic and one numeric character. To specify the same password for all accounts, Use the Same Administrative Password for All Accounts.
Database File Locations	Specify storage type and locations for database files.    Storage Type: Automatic Storage Management (ASM)    Storage Locations: Use Oracle-Managed Files      Database Area: +TESTDB1_DATA
Specify ASMSNMP Password	Specify the ASMSNMP password for the ASM instance.
Recovery Configuration	Check the option for Specify Flash Recovery Area.    Flash Recovery Area: +FRA    Flash Recovery Area Size: Use Oracle-Managed Files My disk group has a size of about 36GB. When defining the Fast Recovery Area size, use the entire volume minus 10% for overhead — (36-10%=32 GB). I used a Fast Recovery Area Size of 32 GB (32768 MB).
Database Content	I left all of the Database Components (and destination tablespaces) set to their default value although it is perfectly OK to select the Sample Schemas. This option is available since we installed the Oracle Database 11g Examples.
Initialization Parameters	Change any parameters for your environment. I left them all at their default settings for this example.
Database Storage	Change any parameters for your environment. I left them all at their default settings for this example.
Creation Options	Keep the default option Create Database selected. I also always select to Generate Database Creation Scripts. Click Finish to start the database creation process. After acknowledging the database creation report and script generation dialog, the database creation will start. Click OK on the "Summary" screen.
Database Creation Process	Wait for the database process to complete.
End of Database Creation	At the end of the database creation, exit from the DBCA.

When the DBCA has completed, you will have a fully functional Oracle Restart enabled Oracle Database 11g Release 2 database running using Oracle ASM.

Verify Oracle Restart

From the Oracle home for Grid Infrastructure.

11.2.0.1.0

[oracle@testnode1 ~]$ crsctl status resource NAME=ora.FRA.dg TYPE=ora.diskgroup.type TARGET=ONLINE STATE=ONLINE on testnode1 NAME=ora.LISTENER.lsnr TYPE=ora.listener.type TARGET=ONLINE STATE=ONLINE on testnode1 NAME=ora.TESTDB1_DATA.dg TYPE=ora.diskgroup.type TARGET=ONLINE STATE=ONLINE on testnode1 NAME=ora.asm TYPE=ora.asm.type TARGET=ONLINE STATE=ONLINE on testnode1 NAME=ora.cssd TYPE=ora.cssd.type TARGET=ONLINE STATE=ONLINE on testnode1 NAME=ora.diskmon TYPE=ora.diskmon.type TARGET=ONLINE STATE=ONLINE on testnode1 NAME=ora.testdb1.db TYPE=ora.database.type TARGET=ONLINE STATE=ONLINE on testnode1 [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ crs_stat -t -v Name Type R/RA F/FT Target State Host ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ora.FRA.dg ora....up.type 0/5 0/ ONLINE ONLINE testnode1 ora....ER.lsnr ora....er.type 0/5 0/ ONLINE ONLINE testnode1 ora....DATA.dg ora....up.type 0/5 0/ ONLINE ONLINE testnode1 ora.asm ora.asm.type 0/5 0/ ONLINE ONLINE testnode1 ora.cssd ora.cssd.type 0/5 0/5 ONLINE ONLINE testnode1 ora.diskmon ora....on.type 0/10 0/5 ONLINE ONLINE testnode1 ora.testdb1.db ora....se.type 0/2 0/1 ONLINE ONLINE testnode1

11.2.0.2.0

[oracle@testnode1 ~]$ crsctl status resource NAME=ora.FRA.dg TYPE=ora.diskgroup.type TARGET=ONLINE STATE=ONLINE on testnode1 NAME=ora.LISTENER.lsnr TYPE=ora.listener.type TARGET=ONLINE STATE=ONLINE on testnode1 NAME=ora.TESTDB1_DATA.dg TYPE=ora.diskgroup.type TARGET=ONLINE STATE=ONLINE on testnode1 NAME=ora.asm TYPE=ora.asm.type TARGET=ONLINE STATE=ONLINE on testnode1 NAME=ora.cssd TYPE=ora.cssd.type TARGET=ONLINE STATE=ONLINE on testnode1 NAME=ora.diskmon TYPE=ora.diskmon.type TARGET=ONLINE STATE=ONLINE on testnode1 NAME=ora.evmd TYPE=ora.evm.type TARGET=ONLINE STATE=ONLINE on testnode1 NAME=ora.ons TYPE=ora.ons.type TARGET=OFFLINE STATE=OFFLINE NAME=ora.testdb1.db TYPE=ora.database.type TARGET=ONLINE STATE=ONLINE on testnode1

11.2.0.3.0

NAME=ora.FRA.dg TYPE=ora.diskgroup.type TARGET=ONLINE STATE=ONLINE on testnode1 NAME=ora.LISTENER.lsnr TYPE=ora.listener.type TARGET=ONLINE STATE=ONLINE on testnode1 NAME=ora.TESTDB1_DATA.dg TYPE=ora.diskgroup.type TARGET=ONLINE STATE=ONLINE on testnode1 NAME=ora.asm TYPE=ora.asm.type TARGET=ONLINE STATE=ONLINE on testnode1 NAME=ora.cssd TYPE=ora.cssd.type TARGET=ONLINE STATE=ONLINE on testnode1 NAME=ora.diskmon TYPE=ora.diskmon.type TARGET=OFFLINE STATE=OFFLINE NAME=ora.evmd TYPE=ora.evm.type TARGET=ONLINE STATE=ONLINE on testnode1 NAME=ora.ons TYPE=ora.ons.type TARGET=OFFLINE STATE=OFFLINE NAME=ora.testdb1.db TYPE=ora.database.type TARGET=ONLINE STATE=ONLINE on testnode1

Test Database Connectivity

From the Oracle home for Oracle Database.

Verify that the TNS listener is running (lsnrctl status) then log in to the new instance to verify database connectivity and perform a few queries.

[oracle@testnode1 ~]$ sqlplus system/*******@testdb1 SQL> SELECT user FROM dual; USER ------------------------------ SYSTEM SQL> SELECT systimestamp FROM dual; SYSTIMESTAMP ----------------------------------------- 15-JAN-12 05.39.35.746417 PM -05:00 SQL> SELECT owner, COUNT(owner) AS "OBJECT_COUNT" FROM dba_objects GROUP BY owner; OWNER OBJECT_COUNT ------------------------------ ------------ OWBSYS_AUDIT 12 MDSYS 1509 PUBLIC 27702 OUTLN 9 CTXSYS 366 OLAPSYS 719 HR 34 FLOWS_FILES 12 OWBSYS 2 SYSTEM 529 ORACLE_OCM 8 EXFSYS 310 APEX_030200 2406 DBSNMP 65 ORDSYS 2532 ORDPLUGINS 10 OE 127 PM 27 SH 306 SYSMAN 3491 APPQOSSYS 3 XDB 844 ORDDATA 248 IX 55 BI 8 SYS 30796 WMSYS 316 SI_INFORMTN_SCHEMA 8 28 rows selected.

Oracle Enterprise Manager

If you configured Oracle Enterprise Manager (Database Control), it can be used to view the database configuration and current status of the database.

The URL for this example is: https://testnode1.idevelopment.info:1158/em/

[oracle@testnode1 ~]$ emctl status dbconsole Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g Database Control Release 11.2.0.1.0 Copyright (c) 1996, 2009 Oracle Corporation. All rights reserved. https://testnode1.idevelopment.info:1158/em/console/aboutApplication Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g is running. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Logs are generated in directory /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1/testnode1.idevelopment.info_testdb1/sysman/log

The Database Configuration Assistant (DBCA) allows users to configure a new database to be in archive log mode within the Recovery Configuration section; however most DBA's opt to bypass this option during initial database creation. In cases like this where the database is in no archive log mode, it is a simple task to put the database into archive log mode. Note however that this will require a short database outage.

1. Log in to the database as a user with SYSDBA privileges and shut down the instance.

   [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ sqlplus / as sysdba SQL> shutdown immediate; Database closed. Database dismounted. ORACLE instance shut down.

2. After shutting down the instance, mount the database.

   SQL> startup mount ORACLE instance started. Total System Global Area 1657225216 bytes Fixed Size 1336904 bytes Variable Size 973081016 bytes Database Buffers 671088640 bytes Redo Buffers 11718656 bytes

3. Enable archiving.

   SQL> alter database archivelog; Database altered.

4. Open the database.

   SQL> alter database open; Database altered.

5. Verify Archive Log Mode is enabled.

   SQL> archive log list Database log mode Archive Mode Automatic archival Enabled Archive destination USE_DB_RECOVERY_FILE_DEST Oldest online log sequence 75 Next log sequence to archive 77 Current log sequence 77

Download and Install Custom Oracle Database Scripts

DBA's rely on Oracle's data dictionary views and dynamic performance views in order to support and better manage their databases. Although these views provide a simple and easy mechanism to query critical information regarding the database, it helps to have a collection of accurate and readily available SQL scripts to query these views.

In this section you will download and install a collection of Oracle DBA scripts that can be used to manage many aspects of your database including space management, performance, backups, security, and session management. The DBA Scripts Archive for Oracle can be downloaded using the following link http://www.idevelopment.info/data/Oracle/DBA_scripts/dba_scripts_archive_Oracle.zip. As the Oracle software owner (oracle), download the dba_scripts_archive_Oracle.zip archive to the $ORACLE_BASE directory. For the purpose of this example, the dba_scripts_archive_Oracle.zip archive will be copied to /u01/app/oracle. Next, unzip the archive file to the $ORACLE_BASE directory.

For example:

[oracle@testnode1 ~]$ cp Downloads/dba_scripts_archive_Oracle.zip /u01/app/oracle [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ cd /u01/app/oracle [oracle@testnode1 oracle]$ unzip dba_scripts_archive_Oracle.zip

The final step is to verify (or set) the appropriate environment variable for the current UNIX shell to ensure the Oracle SQL scripts can be run from within SQL*Plus while in any directory. For UNIX, verify the following environment variable is set and included in your login shell script:

ORACLE_PATH=$ORACLE_BASE/dba_scripts/sql:.:$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin export ORACLE_PATH

Now that the DBA Scripts Archive for Oracle has been unzipped and the UNIX environment variable ($ORACLE_PATH) has been set to the appropriate directory, you should now be able to run any of the SQL scripts in the $ORACLE_BASE/dba_scripts/sql while logged into SQL*Plus from any directory. For example, to query tablespace information while logged into the Oracle database as a DBA user:

SQL> @dba_tablespaces Status Tablespace Name TS Type Ext. Mgt. Seg. Mgt. Tablespace Size Used (in bytes) Pct. Used -------- ------------------ ------------ ---------- --------- ------------------ ------------------ --------- ONLINE EXAMPLE PERMANENT LOCAL AUTO 157,286,400 85,131,264 54 ONLINE SYSAUX PERMANENT LOCAL AUTO 629,145,600 487,718,912 78 ONLINE SYSTEM PERMANENT LOCAL MANUAL 734,003,200 705,953,792 96 ONLINE TEMP TEMPORARY LOCAL MANUAL 67,108,864 66,060,288 98 ONLINE UNDOTBS1 UNDO LOCAL MANUAL 560,988,160 419,102,720 75 ONLINE USERS PERMANENT LOCAL AUTO 5,242,880 1,048,576 20 ------------------ ------------------ --------- avg 70 sum 2,153,775,104 1,765,015,552 6 rows selected.

To obtain a list of all available Oracle DBA scripts while logged into SQL*Plus, run the help.sql script.

SQL> @help.sql ======================================== Automatic Shared Memory Management ======================================== asmm_components.sql ======================================== Automatic Storage Management ======================================== asm_alias.sql asm_clients.sql asm_diskgroups.sql asm_disks.sql asm_disks_perf.sql asm_drop_files.sql asm_files.sql asm_files2.sql asm_templates.sql < --- SNIP --- > perf_top_sql_by_buffer_gets.sql perf_top_sql_by_disk_reads.sql ======================================== Workspace Manager ======================================== wm_create_workspace.sql wm_disable_versioning.sql wm_enable_versioning.sql wm_freeze_workspace.sql wm_get_workspace.sql wm_goto_workspace.sql wm_merge_workspace.sql wm_refresh_workspace.sql wm_remove_workspace.sql wm_unfreeze_workspace.sql wm_workspaces.sql

Starting with Oracle Database 11g Release 2, the dbstart and dbshut scripts that were used to automate database startup and shutdown in previous Oracle versions are deprecated. Oracle now recommends to configure Oracle Database with the Oracle Restart feature to automatically restart the database, the listener, Oracle Automatic Storage Management (Oracle ASM), and other Oracle components after a hardware or software failure or when the database host computer restarts.

This guide presented instructions for creating an Oracle Restart enabled database and does not require any modifications to automate the database startup and shutdown process.

Modifying the /etc/oratab file and setting the restart flag (the last field) to "Y" is no longer required to automatically startup and shutdown the database when using Oracle Restart. For example, the restart flag for testdb1 can remain at "N" and Oracle Restart will still automate the database startup and shutdown procedures.

... +ASM:/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid:N testdb1:/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1:N ...

Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Standalone Server and the Oracle Database software are installed in two separate Oracle home environments as described in the Oracle Configuration section to this guide. When performing database administration tasks on the machine, it may be necessary to switch between these two Oracle home environments from a terminal session. This requires modifying environment variables like ORACLE_HOME, ORACLE_SID, PATH, LD_LIBRARY_PATH, etc. Although this can be done manually at the command line, it can get old real quick. Instead you can use a single command line script to switch between all database environments declared in your /etc/oratab file.

[oracle@testnode1 ~]$ cat /etc/oratab | grep -v '^[#]' | grep -v '^$' +ASM:/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid:N testdb1:/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1:Y # line added by Agent

On Linux, the default location for the scripts used to switch your Oracle environment are located in /usr/local/bin.

For example, to switch to the Grid Infrastructure environment, open a terminal window as the oracle user and set the environment to use the Oracle Home for Oracle Grid Infrastructure with . oraenv and enter the ORACLE_SID +ASM when prompted.

[oracle@testnode1 ~]$ . oraenv ORACLE_SID = [testdb1] ? +ASM The Oracle base for ORACLE_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid is /u01/app/oracle

To switch back to the Oracle Database home environment, enter the name of the Oracle SID for the example database.

[oracle@testnode1 ~]$ . oraenv ORACLE_SID = [+ASM] ? testdb1 The Oracle base for ORACLE_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1 is /u01/app/oracle

Notice that in the above example, we didn't just run the oraenv script, but rather, we sourced it by using a dot followed by a space and then the script name oraenv. When sourcing the oraenv script, it will prompt you for the ORACLE_SID, (defined in your /etc/oratab file), you want to switch to. In the above example, if an entry exists for +ASM and testdb1, then all Oracle related environment variables would be set to access the Oracle home environment associated with that entry.

Manage Oracle ASM Disk Groups

Use the asmcmd command-line utility to manage Oracle ASM disk group files and directories.

Open a new terminal session as the oracle user account and set the ORACLE_SID and ORACLE_HOME environment variables to the Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Standalone Server environment.

For example, use ASMCMD to list the disk groups for the Oracle ASM instance.

[oracle@testnode1 ~]$ ORACLE_SID=+ASM [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ export ORACLE_SID [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ ORACLE_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ export ORACLE_HOME [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ asmcmd lsdg

Use asmcmd lsdg [group] to list all diskgroups and their information. If [group] is specified, then return only information on that group. The command also informs the user if a rebalance is currently under way for a diskgroup. This command queries V$ASM_DISKGROUP_STAT by default, which can be modified by the --discovery flag and V$ASM_DISKGROUP will be used instead.

Troubleshooting

This section contains a short list of common errors (and solutions) that can be encountered during the Oracle installation described in this article.

Default Listener Creation Failure in Grid Infrastructure Home

When installing Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Standalone Server, it is required to either unset the $TNS_ADMIN environment variable or set it appropriately for the Grid Infrastructure environment ($GRID_HOME/network/admin) before starting the Oracle Universal Installer (OUI).

For example, if $TNS_ADMIN is set for the Oracle Database home environment ($ORACLE_HOME/network/admin), the Oracle Net Services Configuration (NETCA) will silently fail with the following error when run as part of the Grid Infrastructure root.sh script.

Oracle Net Services Configuration: Configuring Listener:LISTENER ListenerException: Could not save listener: TNS-04415: File i/o error caused by: java.io.FileNotFoundException: /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1/network/admin/listener.ora (No such file or directory) Listener configuration complete. Oracle Net Listener Startup: Running Listener Control: /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid/bin/lsnrctl start LISTENER Listener Control complete. Listener started successfully. ProfileException: Could not save Profile: TNS-04415: File i/o error caused by: java.io.FileNotFoundException: /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1/network/admin/sqlnet.ora (No such file or directory) Profile configuration complete. Oracle Net Services configuration successful. The exit code is 0

When NETCA fails, no output of the error is written to the terminal session when running the Grid Infrastructure root.sh scrip. The root.sh script configures and starts the Oracle Net Listener and Oracle ASM components but only registers the Oracle ASM component in the Oracle Restart configuration. The default listener does get created and run in Grid home; however, it does not get associated with the Oracle ASM component.

[oracle@testnode1 ~]$ srvctl config asm ASM home: /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid ASM listener was not found PRCA-1032 : ASM listener LISTENER does not exist Spfile: +TESTDB1_DATA/asm/asmparameterfile/registry.253.772632389 ASM diskgroup discovery string: [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ pgrep -lf lsnr 8579 /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid/bin/tnslsnr LISTENER -inherit

If this error goes unnoticed and does not get corrected, you will receive an error using DBCA when selecting to enable Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Oracle Restart enabled database creation requires Default listener configured and running in Grid Infrastructure home. Use NETCA in Grid Infrastructure home - "/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid" to configure a listener before proceeding.

The Oracle Net Listener created by the Grid Infrastructure installer (through root.sh) will need to be dropped and recreated using NETCA.

From the Grid Infrastructure home environment, stop the currently running Oracle Net Listener and either unset $TNS_ADMIN or set it appropriately for the Grid Infrastructure home environment (/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid/network/admin) as described in the login script for the Oracle user account.

[oracle@testnode1 ~]$ . oraenv ORACLE_SID = [testdb1] ? +ASM The Oracle base for ORACLE_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid is /u01/app/oracle [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ lsnrctl stop LSNRCTL for Linux: Version 11.2.0.1.0 - Production on 14-JAN-2012 16:55:23 Copyright (c) 1991, 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved. Connecting to (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=)(PORT=1521)) The command completed successfully [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ TNS_ADMIN=/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid/network/admin [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ export TNS_ADMIN

Start NETCA and run through the process of creating a default Oracle Net Listener named LISTENER running on the default port 1521.

[oracle@testnode1 ~]$ netca &

Screen Name	Response	Screen Shot
Welcome	Select Listener configuration.
Listener Action	Select what you want to do: Add
Oracle Net Listener Name	Listener name: LISTENER
Select Protocols	Selected protocols: TCP
TCP/IP Protocol	Select Use the standard port number of 1521
More Listeners?	Would you like to configure another listener? No
Listener Configuration Done	Listener configuration complete! Click [Next] to continue. You will be returned to the Welcome screen.
Welcome	Select Naming Methods configuration.
Select Naming Methods	Selected Naming Methods: Local Naming
Naming Methods Configuration Done	Naming Methods configuration complete! Click [Next] to continue. You will be returned to the Welcome screen.
Welcome	Click [Finish] to exit the NETCA.

Can't locate CompEMdbconsole.pm when running emctl

Make certain that the PATH is configured to find emctl from $ORACLE_HOME/bin and not from $GRID_HOME/bin. Running $GRID_HOME/bin/emctl will result in the following error.

[oracle@testnode1 ~]$ emctl status dbconsole Can't locate CompEMdbconsole.pm in @INC (@INC contains: %s_javapOracleHome%/sysman/admin/scripts %s_javapOracleHome%/bin /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid/perl/lib/5.10.0/i686-linux-thread-multi /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid/perl/lib/5.10.0 /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid/perl/lib /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid/perl/lib/site_perl/5.10.0/i686-linux-thread-multi /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid/perl/lib/site_perl/5.10.0 /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid/perl/lib/site_perl /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid/perl/libwww-perl/lib /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid/perl/ext/POSIX /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid/perl/URI /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid/perl/HTML_Parser /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid/perl/HTML-Parser/lib /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid/sysman/admin/scripts /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid/bin /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid/sysman/admin/scripts/Net-DNS-0.48/lib/ /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid/sysman/admin/scripts/libnet-1.19/ .) at /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid/bin/EmctlCommon.pm line 597. [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ which emctl /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid/bin/emctl [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ . oraenv ORACLE_SID = [+ASM] ? testdb1 The Oracle base for ORACLE_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1 is /u01/app/oracle [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ which emctl /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1/bin/emctl [oracle@testnode1 ~]$ emctl status dbconsole Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g Database Control Release 11.2.0.1.0 Copyright (c) 1996, 2009 Oracle Corporation. All rights reserved. https://testnode1.idevelopment.info:1158/em/console/aboutApplication Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g is running. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Logs are generated in directory /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1/testnode1.idevelopment.info_testdb1/sysman/log

About the Author

Jeffrey Hunter is an Oracle Certified Professional, Java Development Certified Professional, Author, and an Oracle ACE. Jeff currently works as a Senior Database Administrator for The DBA Zone, Inc. located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His work includes advanced performance tuning, Java and PL/SQL programming, developing high availability solutions, capacity planning, database security, and physical / logical database design in a UNIX, Linux, and Windows server environment. Jeff's other interests include mathematical encryption theory, programming language processors (compilers and interpreters) in Java and C, LDAP, writing web-based database administration tools, and of course Linux. He has been a Sr. Database Administrator and Software Engineer for over 18 years and maintains his own website site at: http://www.iDevelopment.info. Jeff graduated from Stanislaus State University in Turlock, California, with a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science.