This article provides a detailed guide to the tasks required to install and configure Oracle RAC 10g using Standard Edition on the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 operating environment. The configuration will consist of a two-node cluster, using Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) and Automated Storage Management (ASM) for the physical database files. (Using ASM is a requirement when configuring Oracle RAC 10g Standard Edition!)

Before discussing the details of the installation, let's take a conceptual look at what the environment will look like:

At the heart of Oracle RAC 10g is a shared disk subsystem. Both nodes in the cluster must be able to access all of the data, redo log files, control files and parameter files. The data disks must be globally available in order to allow both nodes to access the database. Each node has its own redo log and control files, but the other nodes must be able to access them in order to recover that node in the event of a system failure.

Not all clustering solutions use shared storage. Some vendors use an approach known as a federated cluster, in which data is spread across several machines rather than shared by all. With Oracle RAC 10g, however, multiple nodes use the same set of disks for storing data. With Oracle RAC 10g, the data files, redo log files, control files, and archived log files reside on shared storage on raw-disk devices, a NAS, ASM, or on a clustered file system. Oracle's approach to clustering leverages the collective processing power of all the nodes in the cluster and at the same time provides failover security.

The biggest difference between Oracle RAC and OPS is the addition of Cache Fusion. With OPS a request for data from one node to another required the data to be written to disk first, then the requesting node can read that data. With cache fusion, data is passed along with locks.

Pre-configured Oracle RAC 10g solutions are available from vendors such as Dell, IBM and HP for production environments.

Server 1 - (windows1)
Dimension 2400 Series      - Intel Pentium 4 Processor at 2.80GHz      - 1GB DDR SDRAM (at 333MHz)      - 40GB 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive      - Integrated Intel 3D AGP Graphics      - Integrated 10/100 Ethernet      - CDROM (48X Max Variable)      - 3.5" Floppy      - No monitor (Already had one)      - USB Mouse and Keyboard	$620
1 - Ethernet LAN Cards      - Linksys 10/100 Mpbs - (Used for Interconnect to windows2)   Each Windows server should contain two NIC adapters. The Dell Dimension includes an integrated 10/100 Ethernet adapter that will be used to connect to the public network. The second NIC adapter will be used for the private interconnect.	$20
1 - SCSI Card      - Dual Differential Ultra/Wide SCSI (PCI) [595-4414] (X6541A) [Manf# 375-0006]   Note that you will need to choose a host adapter that is compatible with your shared storage subsystem.	$195
Server 2 - (windows2)
Dimension 2400 Series      - Intel Pentium 4 Processor at 2.80GHz      - 1GB DDR SDRAM (at 333MHz)      - 40GB 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive      - Integrated Intel 3D AGP Graphics      - Integrated 10/100 Ethernet      - CDROM (48X Max Variable)      - 3.5" Floppy      - No monitor (Already had one)      - USB Mouse and Keyboard	$620
1 - Ethernet LAN Cards      - Linksys 10/100 Mpbs - (Used for Interconnect to windows1)   Each Windows server should contain two NIC adapters. The Dell Dimension includes an integrated 10/100 Ethernet adapter that will be used to connect to the public network. The second NIC adapter will be used for the private interconnect.	$20
1 - SCSI Card      - Dual Differential Ultra/Wide SCSI (PCI) [595-4414] (X6541A) [Manf# 375-0006]   Note that you will need to choose a host adapter that is compatible with your shared storage subsystem.	$195
Miscellaneous Components
Shared Storage / Disk Array      - Sun StorEdge D1000 Disk Array (JBOD)   I am using a Sun StorEdge D1000 Disk Array in a JBOD configuration with 12 x 9GB 10000 RPM UltraSCSI hard drives.	$499
2 - SCSI Cables      - 2 Meter External SCSI Cable - [530-2453] [HD68 to VHDCI68] (X3832A)      - 2 Meter External SCSI Cable - [530-2453] [HD68 to VHDCI68] (X3832A)   Note that you will need to choose cables that are compatible with your shared storage subsystem and I/O host adapter.	$40 $40
1 - Ethernet hub or switch      - Linksys EtherFast 10/100 5-port Ethernet Switch - (Used for interconnect int-windows1 / int-windows2)	$30
4 - Network Cables      - Category 5e patch cable - (Connect windows1 to public network)      - Category 5e patch cable - (Connect windows2 to public network)      - Category 5e patch cable - (Connect windows1 to interconnect ethernet switch)      - Category 5e patch cable - (Connect windows2 to interconnect ethernet switch)	$5 $5 $5 $5
Total	$2,299

A question I often receive is about substituting the Ethernet switch (used for interconnect int-windows1 / int-windows2) with a crossover CAT5 cable. I would not recommend this. I have found that when using a crossover CAT5 cable for the interconnect, whenever I took one of the PCs down, the other PC would detect a "cable unplugged" error, and thus the Cache Fusion network would become unavailable.

Memory

Verify that both nodes are equipped with a minimum of 512MB of RAM (for 32-bit systems) and 1GB (for 64-bit systems). If either of the nodes fail to meet the memory requirements, you will need to install more RAM before continuing.

Verify that the size of the configured swap space (also known as the paging file size) is at least twice teh amount of physical RAM size. From the Control Panel, open the System applet, select the Advanced tab and then select the Performance setting button.

For Windows 2003 users, click on the Advanced tab from the Performance Options dialog.

Hard Drives

Each of the nodes in the cluster will need to have a local hard drive installed as well as access to a set of disks that can be shared between both nodes in the cluster. Any shared disks that can be supported by your vendor can be used with the exception of a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device. The shared disk subsystem must be connected to both nodes in the cluster and all nodes must be able to read and write to the disks.

The following table describes where the different software components will be stored:

Component	Free Disk Required	Location
Cluster Ready Services software	100MB on both nodes for 32-bit systems and 140MB on both nodes for 64-bit systems.	The storage can be any local system drive, but the named device (the drive letter) must be the same on both nodes.
Oracle10g Database software	1GB on both nodes.	The storage can be any local system drive, but the named device (the drive letter) must be the same on both nodes.
Database files	7GB	The database files will be hosted on the shared disks using ASM.
CRS Shared Files	150MB	The two CRS shared files will be hosted on the shared disks using a logical (RAW) volume. The Oracle Cluster Registry (OCR) File take ~100 MB while the CRS Voting Disk takes ~20MB.

Network

We now look at the network configuration for both nodes. The nodes in the cluster need to be able to communicate with each other (known as the interconnect) and to the public network where external clients can establish connections to Oracle through using TCP/IP. Although not a strict requirement, it is highly recommended that two NIC interfaces be installed in both nodes: one for the public network and another (preferably on a different / private subnet) for the interconnect.

A virtual IP address (VIP) will be configured on both nodes in the cluster to provide for high availability and failover. This VIP address can be moved between the nodes in a cluster in case of failure. The VIP addresses are managed by the Cluster Ready Services (CRS) software component. In order to support the VIP address feature, each of the nodes will require an unused IP address that is compatible with the public network's subet and netmask. Like the publicly accessible IP address for the nodes in the cluster, the VIP address and hostname should be stored in the domain name system (DNS).

Communication between the two nodes (or all of the nodes in the cluster) requires a private network. The private network should only allow traffic for the interconnect and should not be allowed access from outside of the cluster. Both nodes should have a separate network adapter configured for this private network. While the public network (and VIP address) should be entered into DNS, the private network should not be. The network configuration (host name and IP address) for the private network should be done on each node in the cluster using their hosts file: %SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts. The following table displays my network configuration used for this article:

Host Name	Type	IP Address	Registered In
windows1.idevelopment.info	Public	192.168.1.121	DNS
windows2.idevelopment.info	Public	192.168.1.122	DNS
vip-windows1.idevelopment.info	Virtual	192.168.1.221	DNS
vip-windows2.idevelopment.info	Virtual	192.168.1.222	DNS
int-windows1.idevelopment.info	Private	192.168.2.121	%SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
int-windows2.idevelopment.info	Private	192.168.2.122	%SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

Finally, verify the following items to complete the network configuration:

1. Check that the public network interfaces have the same interface names on both nodes in the cluster. For the purpose of this example, I am using the first NIC interface on each of the nodes for the public network with a name of Local Area Connection. Similarly, check that the private network interfaces have the same interface names on both nodes in the cluster. I am using the second NIC interfaces on each of the nodes for the private network with a name of Local Area Connection 2.

   To change the name of the network interface, go to the Network Connections window (or Network and Dial-up Connections for Windows 2000) and right-click the icon of the network interface for which you need to change the name. Select Rename and enter the new name.

2. Verify that your public interface appears FIRST in your ipconfig list. Perform the following steps:
   • Open the Network Connections window (or Network and Dial-up Connections for Windows 2000).
   • In the Advanced pull-down menu, click Advanced Settings...
   • If the public interface name (which is Local Area Connection for my example) is not listed as the first under the Adapters and Bindings tab, then select it and click the arrow to move it to the top of the list.
   • Click OK to save the settings and then exit the network setup dialog.

3. On both nodes, verify that the private network node name and IP address are configured in the %SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts file. Since nothing outside of the cluster needs access to this network, it does not need to be configured in DNS.

4. From a Command window on each of the nodes, execute the ping command, using the node name alias for the other node's private and public network:

   C:\> ping windows1.idevelopment.info
   C:\> ping windows2.idevelopment.info
   C:\> ping vip-windows1.idevelopment.info
   C:\> ping vip-windows2.idevelopment.info
   C:\> ping int-windows1.idevelopment.info
   C:\> ping int-windows2.idevelopment.info

   If any of the ping commands fail, there is a network configuration problem that needs resolved.

5. Verify that you have administrative privileges on the other node from where you will be performing the installation from. To do this, enter the following command for the second node that is a part of the cluster from the node you will be installing from:

   C:\> net use \\<node_name>\C$

   where node_name is the node name. For example, from windows1, enter:

   C:\> net use \\windows2\C$

   Oracle Corporation strongly recommends using the same user name and password on each node in a cluster or use a domain user name. If you use a domain user name, log on under a domain with a username and password that has administrative privileges on each node.

Configuring the Disk System

We now look at one of the more critical steps in the process and that is to configure the shared disk subsystem for use with RAC Standard Edition.

1. Disable Write Caching

   The first step is to disable write caching on all shared disks that are intended to be used for database files. This needs to be performed on both nodes in the cluster:

   • Navigate to [Start] -> [Settings] -> [Control Panel] -> [Administrative Tools] -> [Computer Management] -> [Device Manager] -> [Disk Drives]

   • Expand the Disk drives hive and double-click the first listed shared drive.

   • Under the Disk Properties tab (or the Policies tab for Windows 2003) for the selected drive, uncheck the option that enables the write cache.

   • Continue this process for all other shared drives in the Disk drives hive to disable write cache as previously described.

2. Enable Automount on Each Node (Windows 2003 Only)

   For Windows 2003 systems only, enable the disk automount option by performing the following steps. This also will need to be performed on both nodes in the cluster.

   • From a Command window, enter the command diskpart.

   • From the DISKPART> prompt, enable the disk automount option by entering the automount enable command and then confirming its successful execution as follows:

     DISKPART> automount enable
     Automatic mounting of new volumes enabled.

   • Type exit to exit from the Diskpart session.

   • After performing the above actions on both nodes in the cluster, each of the machines will need to be rebooted.

3. Prepare Disks for Cluster Ready Services (CRS)

   Oracle Cluster Ready Services (CRS) provides the overall framework and management for all cluster activities. CRS requires two critical files to be placed in logical drives on one of the shared disks: one logical drive for the Oracle Cluster Registry (OCR) file and another logical drive for the CRS Voting Disk. The following steps need to be performed from one of the nodes in the cluster in order to create and configure two logical drives for these file:

   • From one of the nodes in the cluster, run the Windows Disk Administration tool by clicking [Start] -> [Settings] -> [Control Panel] -> [Administrative Tools] -> [Computer Management] -> [Storage]. Then expand the [Storage] folder to access [Disk Management].

   • Now, identify a shared disk that does not contain a primary partition and has free space available in one or more extended partitions.

     In this article, I will choose the entire first disk (from the twelve disks in the array) to create the two logical drives. None of the twelve disks in my array have been initialized and are completely Unallocated. So to start, I needed to create an extended partition for the entire disk. This is done by right clicking on the first disk and selecting New Partition... and clicking [Next] on the Welcome screen. In the "Select Partition Type" screen, choose the "Extended partition" radio button. On the next screen, keep the default size of the partition which contains the entire disk and hit [Next]. Finally, close out the wizard by clicking the [Finish] button. The disk will now be displayed with a bright green band (free space) surrounded by a darker green border (Extended partition).

   • To create the first logical drive, right click inside an unused part of an extended partition (the bright green band indicating free space) and choose New Logical Drive....

     Click [Next] on the Welcome screen to continue.

     On the next screen, "Select Partition Type", ensure that the option "Logical drive" is selected and click [Next]. (It should be the only option available!)

     The next screen, "Select Partition Size", enter 20MB as the size that you want for the Voting Disk logical drive and click [Next].

     The next screen, "Assign Drive Letter", choose the option Do not assign a drive letter or drive path and click [Next].

     The next screen, "Format Partition", choose the option Do not format this partition and click [Next].

     This is the last page of the wizard. Click [Finish] to create the logical partition.

   • Repeat the previous task but this time you will be creating a logical drive for the Oracle Cluster Registry (OCR) file. The only change to make is to replace 20MB with 100MB for the size of the logical drive.

   • Reboot both nodes in the cluster.

   • Verify that both new logical drives are visible to both nodes in the cluster and that neither of the machines have drive letters assigned to them. (I have this happen to me a lot where one of the drives on the second node assigns a drive letter to one of the two new logical drives!) If this happens, simply right click on the logical drive that was created and select Change Drive Letter and Paths.... In the dialog box that comes up, click on the drive letter and click the Remove button, then confirm the warning dialog box to remove the drive letter.

4. Prepare Disks for Database Storage (for use with ASM)

   The last step is to configure the shared disks for use with Automatic Storage Management (ASM). Oracle's ASM storage product consists of one or more disk groups, each of which can span multiple disks. I will be using Normal Redundancy when creating my ASM disk group. This type of configuration requires at least two logical drives. For the purpose of this example, I will be using a total of four disks for 1 ASM disk group to store all physical database files named ORCL_DATA1. I will then be creating another ASM disk group consisting of four disks for the flash recovery area named ORCL_FRA1. So, I will need to initialize a total of 8 drives from the array. To prepare each logical drive, follow the steps below for each drive.

   Keep in mind that Oracle highly recommends each disk in the disk group be the same size. When configuring disks for an ASM disk group, it is best practice to create extended partitions the same size on each of the disks. There should only be one extended partition on each disk and should take up the entire disk.

   • From one of the nodes in the cluster, run the Windows Disk Administration tool by clicking [Start] -> [Settings] -> [Control Panel] -> [Administrative Tools] -> [Computer Management] -> [Storage]. Then expand the [Storage] folder to access [Disk Management].

   • Identify a shared disk that does not contain a primary partition. If the disk is Unallocated (has no partitions at all), right click the disk and select New Partition.... Traverse the New Partition wizard to create an Extended partition the size of the entire disk. Once you have all shared disks configured with extended partitions, right click inside an unused part of an extended partition.

   • Choose Create Logical Drive in the option window and a new wizard appears for configuring a new logical drive. Click [Next] at the Welcome screen.

   • On the "Select Partition Type" screen, choose Logical drive for the partition type to create and click [Next].

   • On the "Specify Partition Size" screen, enter the size for the partition to create. All of the partitions that you create for the ASM disk groups should include as much of the free space on the disk as possible. Additionally, the partitions for all disks in the ASM disk group should be the same size. Click [Next].

   • On the next two screens, choose the option to Do not assign a drive letter or drive path and then choose Do not format this partition. Click [Finish] on the last page of the wizard.

   • Continue to create Logical drives for all disks that you intend to use as ASM disks. For my example, I have seven more to go!

   • After creating all Logical drives, reboot both nodes in the cluster.

   • Verify that all new logical drives are visible to both nodes in the cluster and that neither of the machines have drive letters assigned to them. (I have this happen to me a lot where one of the drives on the second node assigns a drive letter to one of the new logical drives!) If this happens, simply right click on the logical drive that was created and select Change Drive Letter and Paths.... In the dialog box that comes up, click on the drive letter and click the Remove button, then confirm the warning dialog box to remove the drive letter.

Overview

The next logical step is to install Oracle Cluster Ready Services and the Oracle Database 10g software. However, we must first download and extract the required Oracle software packages from the Oracle Technology Network (OTN).

If you do not currently have an account with Oracle OTN, you will need to create one. This is a FREE account!

In this section, we will be downloading and extracting the required software from Oracle to only one of the Windows nodes in the RAC cluster - namely windows1. This is the machine where I will be performing all of the installs from. The Oracle installer will copy the required software packages to all other nodes in the RAC configuration.

Verify that you have administrative privileges to the second node from where you will be performing the installation from. To do this, enter the following command for each node that is a part of the cluster from the node you will be installing from: C:\> net use \\<node_name>\C$ where node_name is the node name. For example, from windows1, enter: C:\> net use \\windows2\C$ Also, the password for the account (the local Administrator account in my example) should be the same on both nodes in the cluster!

Login to one of the nodes in the Windows RAC cluster as the user that will be performing the installs. In this example, I will be downloading the required Oracle software to windows1 and saving them to "C:\orainstall\crs" and "C:\orainstall\db".

Oracle Database 10g Release 1 (10.1.0.2) for Microsoft Windows (32-bit)

1. We start by running the setup.exe command from within the staging directory we downloaded the software to. (Or if you are running from a CD-ROM.) This will start the Oracle Universal Installer (OUI).

   cd \orainstall\crs
   setup.exe

2. Click [Next] on the Welcome page.

3. On the next page, "Specify File Locations", you can simply accept the default values for the CRS Home (and path) or supply your own values. When finished, click [Next] to continue.

4. Select the Language (or languages) for your CRS installation on the "Language Selection" page, then click [Next] to continue.

5. The next page, "Cluster Configuration" is where we start to configure the actual cluster software. You will need to provide a cluster name. The default value of crs is acceptable in most configurations. It should only be changed if the name is not unique.

   Next, enter the public and private node name for both nodes in the cluster. Neither of the node names should include the domain qualifier. The values I supplied are as follows:

   Public Node Name	Private Node Name
   windows1	int-windows1
   windows2	int-windows2

   Click [Next] to continue.

6. The next page, "Specify Network Interface Usage", the OUI displays a list of cluster-wide interfaces. The default value for each of the interfaces is "Do Not Use". For each of the Interface Names, select one to be Public, and the other to be Private.

   Interface Name	Subnet	Interface Type
   Local Area Connection	192.168.1.0	Public
   Local Area Connection 2	192.168.2.0<	Private

   Click [Next] to continue.

7. The next screen, "Select Disk Formatting Option", you MUST select the Do not format any logical drives option. Oracle does not support using the Oracle Cluster File System (OCFS) in Standard Edition. Click [Next] to continue.

   Do not select one of options that require a formatted drive because these options are implemented only in Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition.

8. On the next page, "Disk Configuration - Oracle Cluster Registry (OCR)", locate the partition that we created to hold the OCR (100MB) file and select that partition's disk number and partition number from the list. Click [Next] to continue.

9. On the next page, "Disk Configuration - Voting Disk", locate the partition that we created to hold the Voting disk (20MB) file and select that partition's disk number and partition number from the list. Click [Next] to continue.

10. On the Summary page, click [Install] to start the installation process. The OUI displays the Install page with an installation progress bar.

11. At the end of the installation phase, the OUI runs a series of configuration tools, during which it displays the "Configuration Assistants" page.

12. After the configuration tools complete their processing, (which the user can monitor on the "Configuration Assistants" page), the OUI displays the "End of Installation" page.

13. Click the [Exit] button to exit the OUI.

This completes phase one of the Oracle RAC 10g installation.

Four new services should now be running on both nodes in the cluster.

• Oracle Object Service
• OracleCRService
• OracleCSService
• OracleEVMService

The following procedures should be used to stamp all logical drives that will be used to store database and flash recovery files. This actions should only be performed on one of the nodes in the cluster; preferably the node in which you performed the CRS installation from.

1. Open the tool by running the %ORA_CRS_HOME%\bin\asmtoolg command, where %ORA_CRS_HOME% is the path you used to install the Cluster Ready Services software.

2. On the first screen, select Add or change label and click [Next].

3. On the next screen, select the disks to stamp. Hold down the Control Key when selecting multiple disks. All of the logical disks you created previously, should have a status of Candidate device. Leave the checkbox checked and value for Generate stamps with this prefix set to DATA. Click [Next] to continue.

4. On the next screen, leave all ASM link names to their default value and click [Next] to continue.

5. Click [Finish] on the final screen to save your work and exit from the tool.

1. Like with installing the CRS software, navigate to the staging directory we downloaded the Oracle database software to and run the setup.exe file. (Or if you are running from a CD-ROM.) This will start the Oracle Universal Installer (OUI).

   cd \orainstall\db\Disk1
   setup.exe

2. Click [Next] on the Welcome page.

3. On the next page, "Specify File Locations", you can simply accept the default values for the Oracle Home (and path) or supply your own values. When finished, click [Next] to continue.

   The Oracle home name and path that you use in this step MUST be different from the home that you used for the CRS installation. You must not install the Oracle10g database software with RAC into the same home where you installed the CRS software.

4. On the next screen, "Specify Hardware Cluster Information Mode" page, choose the default which is "Cluster Installation" when the OUI detects that you are performing this installation on a cluster. Also, check the checkboxes for both nodes that you will be performing the install to. By default, the node you are performing the install from (the local node) is already checked. After checking both nodes, click [Next] to continue.

5. On the next screen, "Select Installation Type", select the Standard Edition option and click [Next] to continue.

6. On the next screen, "Select Database Configuration", select the type of database you would like to create. For the purpose of this example, I want to perform a "General Purpose" configuration which is the default option. After clicking the [Next] button, the OUI will display the "Specify Database Configuration Options page:
   • In the "Database Naming" section, enter a value for the Global Database Name and accept or change the generated value for the SID. For this example, I will be using:
     • Global Database Name: ORCL.IDEVELOPMENT.INFO
     • SID: ORCL

   • In the "Database Character Set" section, accept the default value, which is based on your system locale.

   • In the "Database Examples", section, select the Create database with sample schemas option. Click [Next] to continue.

7. On the "Select Database Management Option" page, accept the default values and click [Next] to continue.

8. On the "Specify Database File Storage Option" page, you must select Automatic Storage Management (the other options are only supported by the Enterprise Edition of Oracle10g). Click [Next] to continue.

9. On the "Specify Backup and Recovery Options" page, you should first select Enable Automated Backups. The Automatic Storage Management option is selected by default and must be used with Standard Edition of Oracle10g. In the "Backup Job Credentials" section, enter the username and password of your current Windows session user. Click [Next] to continue.

10. On the "Configure Automatic Storage Management" page, the OUI will display all available disk partitions and locations. In this section, I wanted to create two ASM disk groups: one for the physical database files and another for the flash recovery area. The OUI, however, only allows is to create a single disk group to be used for the physical database files and names it DATA by default. With this restriction, I only created the one disk group. I did change the name of the disk group to ORCL_DATA1 and only selected four of the member disks. I will be manually creating the second disk group and assigning it to the flash recovery area a bit later in this article.

    The OUI will only list logical drives located on disk that have been stamped with the asmtoolg utility.

    If is possible that the OUI will not find the disks using the default location. If this is case, you can click on the "Change Disk Discovery Path..." button and enter the value "\\.\ORCLDISK*".

    As for the "Redundancy" section, keep the default choice of Normal. For this type of configuration, you will need to select at lease two disk partitions. Click [Next] to continue.

11. On the "Specify Database Schema Passwords" page, enter and then confirm passwords for all of the privileged database accounts. Click [Next] to continue.

12. On the "Summary" page, the OUI lists all of the software components to be installed on both nodes in the cluster. After verifying the installation details, click [Install] to start the installation process! During the installation process, the OUI displays a progress bar.

13. When the installation is complete, the OUI displays the Welcome screen for the "Virtual IP Configuration Assistant (VIPCA).
    • On the VIPCA Welcome screen, click [Next].

    • On the "Network Interfaces" page, identify and select (highlight) the network interface card (NIC) to which you want to assign your VIP addresses. Click [Next] to continue.

      I have no idea why the VIPCA does this, but it selects both interfaces "Local Area Connection" and "Local Area Connection 2" by default. You must only select your public NIC interface. For me, I select only "Local Area Connection". If you do happen to select your private NIC on this page, (which will be highlighted by default), your cluster will not function correctly.

    • On the "Virtual IPs for cluster nodes" page, enter the virtual IP (VIP) addresses that identified earlier for both nodes.

      Node name	IP Alias Name	IP address	Subnet Mask
      windows1	vip-windows1	192.168.1.221	255.255.255.0
      windows2	vip-windows2	192.168.1.222	255.255.255.0

      Click [Next] to continue.

    • After verifying all information in the VIPCA Summary page, click the [Finish] button. A Configuration Assistant Progress Dialog page is then displayed with a progress bar.

    • Then the VIPCA completes, like "OK" on the "Configuration Assistant Progress Dialog" page to see the results windows. Click Exit to exit the VIPCA and return to the OUI dialog.

14. When the VIPCA is complete, it will run the Oracle Network Configuration Assistant (NetCA) and then the Database Configuration Assistant (DBCA). There is no manual intervention required during these two configuration tools.

15. Toward the end of the DBCA configuration session, the DBCA will display the "Password Management" option. You can click the "Password Management" button to display the "Password Management" dialog. Keep in mind that this is optional. From here, you can unlock or change the password for any of the default database accounts. When you are completed with the "Password Management" dialog, click OK to finish.

16. You can then click the OK button on the DBCA final screen. Although it will seem like the OUI is stalled, it is preparing to start the Cluster Database. The "Start Cluster Database" dialog will appear during this stage. The appearance of the "Start Cluster Database" dialog indicates the completion of teh creation of the database. The dialog also starts the cluster database instance on both nodes. When this process completes, the "End of Installation" page will appear. Click Exit to exit the OUI.

And that's it!!!! The second and final phase of the installation is complete. The remainder of this article is dedicated to final configuration steps that should be performed.

1. Navigate to [Start] -> [Settings] -> [Control Panel] -> [System] -> [Advanced] -> [Environment Variables]

2. In the "System variables" dialog, select the Path variable and ensure that the value for the Path variable contains %ORACLE_HOME%\bin, where %ORACLE_HOME% is the new Oracle home for the Oracle10g database software. If the variable does not contain this value (and the following values), then click Edit and add this value to the start of the Path variable definition in the "Edit System Variable" dialog. Click OK when complete. Here is a list of other values that I have defined at the start of my Path environment variable for each node:

   C:\oracle\product\10.1.0\db_1\bin;
   C:\oracle\product\10.1.0\db_1\jre\1.4.2\bin\client;
   C:\oracle\product\10.1.0\db_1\jre\1.4.2\bin;
   C:\oracle\product\10.1.0\crs\jre\1.4.2\bin\client;
   C:\oracle\product\10.1.0\crs\jre\1.4.2\bin;

3. I also add the ORACLE_SID variable to both nodes in the cluster. Keep in mind that the SID I configured during the database configuration was ORCL. The SID on each node, however, will be configured as follows when the instances are created:

   Node 1 (windows1): ORACLE_SID=ORCL1
   Node 2 (windows2): ORACLE_SID=ORCL2

4. When finished verifying the Path variable and adding the ORACLE_SID variable, click OK in the "System Properties" page, and then finally close the Control Panel.

This section provides several optional SQL commands I used to modify and create all tablespaces for my testing database. Please keep in mind that the database file names (OMF files) I used in this example may differ from what Oracle creates for your environment.

$ sqlplus "/ as sysdba"

SQL> alter user scott account unlock;
SQL> grant dba, resource, connect to scott;

SQL> alter database datafile '+ORCL_DATA1/orcl/datafile/users.259.1' resize 1024m;
SQL> alter tablespace users add datafile '+ORCL_DATA1' size 1024m autoextend off;

SQL> alter database datafile '+ORCL_DATA1/orcl/datafile/system.256.1' resize 800m;

SQL> alter database datafile '+ORCL_DATA1/orcl/datafile/sysaux.257.1' resize 500m;

SQL> alter tablespace undotbs1 add datafile '+ORCL_DATA1' size 1024m
  2  autoextend on next 50m maxsize 2048m;

SQL> alter tablespace undotbs2 add datafile '+ORCL_DATA1' size 1024m
  2  autoextend on next 50m maxsize 2048m;

SQL> alter database tempfile '+ORCL_DATA1/orcl/tempfile/temp.266.1' resize 1024m;

Here is a snapshot of the tablespaces I have defined for my test database environment:

Status    Tablespace Name TS Type      Ext. Mgt.  Seg. Mgt.    Tablespace Size    Used (in bytes) Pct. Used
--------- --------------- ------------ ---------- --------- ------------------ ------------------ ---------
ONLINE    EXAMPLE         PERMANENT    LOCAL      AUTO             157,286,400         83,820,544     53
ONLINE    SYSAUX          PERMANENT    LOCAL      AUTO             524,288,000        258,080,768     49
ONLINE    SYSTEM          PERMANENT    LOCAL      MANUAL           838,860,800        458,162,176     55
ONLINE    UNDOTBS1        UNDO         LOCAL      MANUAL         1,105,199,104          5,832,704      1
ONLINE    UNDOTBS2        UNDO         LOCAL      MANUAL         1,099,956,224         11,862,016      1
ONLINE    USERS           PERMANENT    LOCAL      AUTO           2,147,483,648          2,949,120      0
ONLINE    TEMP            TEMPORARY    LOCAL      MANUAL         1,073,741,824          1,048,576      0
                                                            ------------------ ------------------ ---------
avg                                                                                                   23
sum                                                              6,946,816,000        821,755,904

7 rows selected.

Overview

At the time of this writing, the latest patchset for Oracle10g running on Microsoft Windows (32-bit) is 10.1.0.4 (also known as patch 4163362). This is an important patchset that fixes many bug related to 10g RAC. In particular, there is a major bug named "TAF Connections to a Standard Edition Database are Incorrectly Rejected". This is documented in bug 3549731 and was fixed in 10.1.0.3.0. Here is the error you will get when attempting a TAF connection using Oracle10g Standard Edition:

C:\> sqlplus scott/tiger@orcltest

SQL*Plus: Release 9.2.0.5.0 - Production on Tue Jun 21 17:06:50 2005

Copyright (c) 1982, 2002, Oracle Corporation.  All rights reserved.

ERROR:
ORA-01012: not logged on


Error accessing PRODUCT_USER_PROFILE
Warning:  Product user profile information not loaded!
You may need to run PUPBLD.SQL as SYSTEM
ERROR:
ORA-01012: not logged on


Error accessing package DBMS_APPLICATION_INFO
SP2-0575: Use of Oracle SQL feature not in SQL92 Entry Level.

Connected to:
Oracle Database 10g Release 10.1.0.2.0 - Production
With the Real Application Clusters option

SQL> 

It is also important to note that we will be applying the 10.1.0.4 patchset to both the Oracle Cluster Ready Services (CRS) and the database software. The CRS software must be at the same or newer level as the Oracle database software in a RAC configuration. Therefore, you should always upgrade the CRS software before upgrading the Oracle database software. Finally, before installing either of the patches (CRS adn Oracle database software), we will need to download and install the "Oracle Database 10g Companion CD Release 1 (10.1.0.2) for Microsoft Windows (32-bit)".

Downloading and installing the Oracle Database 10g Companion CD is only required if the database being upgraded uses Java Virtual Machine (Java VM) or Oracle interMedia.

This 10.1.0.4 patch will need to be downloaded from Oracle Metalink, while the Oracle Database 10g Companion CD can be downloaded from OTN.

Downloading the 10.1.0.4 Patchset

listener.ora

Let's first take a look at the listener.ora file that was created during the install. The listener.ora file should be properly configured on both nodes and no modifications should be needed.

For clarity, I included a copy of the listener.ora file from my node windows1:

listener.ora

# listener.ora.windows1 Network Configuration File: # C:\oracle\product\10.1.0\db_1\network\admin\listener.ora.windows1 # Generated by Oracle configuration tools. LISTENER_WINDOWS1 = (DESCRIPTION_LIST = (DESCRIPTION = (ADDRESS_LIST = (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = IPC)(KEY = EXTPROC)) ) (ADDRESS_LIST = (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = vip-windows1)(PORT = 1521)(IP = FIRST)) ) (ADDRESS_LIST = (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = 192.168.1.121)(PORT = 1521)(IP = FIRST)) ) ) ) SID_LIST_LISTENER_WINDOWS1 = (SID_LIST = (SID_DESC = (SID_NAME = PLSExtProc) (ORACLE_HOME = C:\oracle\product\10.1.0\db_1) (PROGRAM = extproc) ) )

tnsnames.ora

Here is a copy of my tnsnames.ora file that was configured by Oracle and can be used for testing the Transparent Application Failover (TAF). This file should already be configured on both nodes, but you will want to add the new ORCLTEST entry.

You can include any of these entries on other client machines that need access to the clustered database.

tnsnames.ora

# tnsnames.ora Network Configuration File: # C:\oracle\product\10.1.0\db_1\network\admin\tnsnames.ora # Generated by Oracle configuration tools. LISTENERS_ORCL = (ADDRESS_LIST = (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = vip-windows1)(PORT = 1521)) (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = vip-windows2)(PORT = 1521)) ) ORCL2 = (DESCRIPTION = (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = vip-windows2)(PORT = 1521)) (CONNECT_DATA = (SERVER = DEDICATED) (SERVICE_NAME = orcl.idevelopment.info) (INSTANCE_NAME = orcl2) ) ) ORCL1 = (DESCRIPTION = (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = vip-windows1)(PORT = 1521)) (CONNECT_DATA = (SERVER = DEDICATED) (SERVICE_NAME = orcl.idevelopment.info) (INSTANCE_NAME = orcl1) ) ) ORCLTEST = (DESCRIPTION = (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = vip-windows1)(PORT = 1521)) (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = vip-windows2)(PORT = 1521)) (LOAD_BALANCE = yes) (CONNECT_DATA = (SERVER = DEDICATED) (SERVICE_NAME = orcl.idevelopment.info) (FAILOVER_MODE = (TYPE = SELECT) (METHOD = BASIC) (RETRIES = 180) (DELAY = 5) ) ) ) ORCL = (DESCRIPTION = (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = vip-windows1)(PORT = 1521)) (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = vip-windows2)(PORT = 1521)) (LOAD_BALANCE = yes) (CONNECT_DATA = (SERVER = DEDICATED) (SERVICE_NAME = orcl.idevelopment.info) ) ) EXTPROC_CONNECTION_DATA = (DESCRIPTION = (ADDRESS_LIST = (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = IPC)(KEY = EXTPROC)) ) (CONNECT_DATA = (SID = PLSExtProc) (PRESENTATION = RO) ) )

Creating the orcltest Service

We added a service named "orcltest" to the tnsnames.ora that will be used to connect to the database with TAF enabled. The service was added to the tnsnames.ora, but was never updated as a service for each Oracle instance.

If the only service defined is for orcl.idevelopment.info, then you will need to manually add the service to both instances:

SQL> show parameter service

NAME                 TYPE        VALUE
-------------------- ----------- --------------------------
service_names        string      orcl.idevelopment.info

SQL> alter system set service_names = 
  2  'orcl.idevelopment.info, orcltest.idevelopment.info' scope=both;

Connecting to Clustered Database From an External Client

This is an optional step, but I like to perform it in order to verify my TNS files are configured correctly. Use another machine (i.e. a Windows machine connected to the network) that has Oracle installed (either 9i or 10g) and add the TNS entries (in the tnsnames.ora) from either of the nodes in the cluster that were created for the clustered database.

Then try to connect to the clustered database using all available service names defined in the tnsnames.ora file:

C:\> sqlplus system/manager@orcl2
C:\> sqlplus system/manager@orcl1
C:\> sqlplus system/manager@orcltest
C:\> sqlplus system/manager@orcl

Overview

This section provides several srvctl commands and SQL queries that can be used to validate your Oracle RAC 10g configuration.

There are five node-level tasks defined for SRVCTL: Adding and deleting node level applications. Setting and unsetting the environment for node-level applications. Administering node applications. Administering ASM instances. Starting and stopping a group of programs that includes virtual IP addresses, listeners, Oracle Notification Services, and Oracle Enterprise Manager agents (for maintenance purposes).

Status of all instances and services

srvctl status database -d orcl
Instance orcl1 is running on node windows1
Instance orcl2 is running on node windows2

Status of a single instance

srvctl status instance -d orcl -i orcl2
Instance orcl2 is running on node windows2

Status of a named service globally across the database

srvctl status service -d orcl -s orcltest
Service orcltest is running on instance(s) orcl2, orcl1

Status of node applications on a particular node

srvctl status nodeapps -n windows1
VIP is running on node: windows1
GSD is running on node: windows1
Listener is running on node:windows1 
ONS daemon is running on node: windows1

Status of an ASM instance

srvctl status asm -n windows1
ASM instance +ASM1 is running on node windows1.

List all configured databases

srvctl config database
orcl

Display configuration for our RAC database

srvctl config database -d orcl
windows1 orcl1 C:\oracle\product\10.1.0\db_1
windows2 orcl2 C:\oracle\product\10.1.0\db_1

Display all services for the specified cluster database

srvctl config service -d orcl
orcltest PREF: orcl2 orcl1 AVAIL:

Display the configuration for node applications - (VIP, GSD, ONS, Listener)

srvctl config nodeapps -n windows1 -a -g -s -l
VIP exists.: /vip-windows1/192.168.1.221/255.255.255.0/Local Area Connection
GSD exists.
ONS daemon exists.
Listener exists.

Display the configuration for the ASM instance(s)

srvctl config asm -n windows1
+ASM1 C:\oracle\product\10.1.0\db_1

All running instances in the cluster

SELECT
    inst_id
  , instance_number inst_no
  , instance_name inst_name
  , parallel
  , status
  , database_status db_status
  , active_state state
  , host_name host
FROM gv$instance
ORDER BY inst_id;

 INST_ID  INST_NO INST_NAME  PAR STATUS  DB_STATUS    STATE     HOST
-------- -------- ---------- --- ------- ------------ --------- -------
       1        1 orcl1      YES OPEN    ACTIVE       NORMAL    WINDOWS1
       2        2 orcl2      YES OPEN    ACTIVE       NORMAL    WINDOWS2

All data files which are in the disk group

select name from v$datafile
union
select member from v$logfile
union
select name from v$controlfile
union
select name from v$tempfile;

NAME
-------------------------------------------
+ORCL_DATA1/orcl/controlfile/current.260.3
+ORCL_DATA1/orcl/controlfile/current.261.3
+ORCL_DATA1/orcl/datafile/example.267.1
+ORCL_DATA1/orcl/datafile/sysaux.257.1
+ORCL_DATA1/orcl/datafile/system.256.1
+ORCL_DATA1/orcl/datafile/undotbs1.258.1
+ORCL_DATA1/orcl/datafile/undotbs1.275.1
+ORCL_DATA1/orcl/datafile/undotbs2.268.1
+ORCL_DATA1/orcl/datafile/undotbs2.276.1
+ORCL_DATA1/orcl/datafile/users.259.1
+ORCL_DATA1/orcl/datafile/users.274.1
+ORCL_DATA1/orcl/onlinelog/group_1.262.1
+ORCL_DATA1/orcl/onlinelog/group_1.263.1
+ORCL_DATA1/orcl/onlinelog/group_2.264.1
+ORCL_DATA1/orcl/onlinelog/group_2.265.1
+ORCL_DATA1/orcl/onlinelog/group_3.269.1
+ORCL_DATA1/orcl/onlinelog/group_3.270.1
+ORCL_DATA1/orcl/onlinelog/group_4.271.1
+ORCL_DATA1/orcl/onlinelog/group_4.272.1
+ORCL_DATA1/orcl/tempfile/temp.266.1

20 rows selected.

All ASM disk that belong to the 'ORCL_DATA1' disk group

SELECT path
FROM   v$asm_disk
WHERE  group_number IN (select group_number
                        from v$asm_diskgroup
                        where name = 'ORCL_DATA1');

PATH
----------------------------------
\\.\ORCLDISKDATA0
\\.\ORCLDISKDATA1
\\.\ORCLDISKDATA2
\\.\ORCLDISKDATA3

With all of the work we have done up to this point, a popular question might be, "How do we start and stop services?". If you have followed the instructions in this article, all services should start automatically on each reboot of the Windows nodes. This would include CRS, all Oracle instances, Enterprise Manager Database Console, etc.

There are times, however, when you might want to shutdown a node and manually start it back up. Or you may find that Enterprise Manager is not running and need to start it. This section provides the commands (using SRVCTL) responsible for starting and stopping the cluster environment.

Ensure that you are logged in as the "administrator" user. I will be running all of the commands in this section from windowds1:

Stopping the Oracle RAC 10g Environment

The first step is to stop the Oracle instance. Once the instance (and related services) is down, then bring down the ASM instance. Finally, shutdown the node applications (Virtual IP, GSD, TNS Listener, and ONS).

set oracle_sid=orcl1
emctl stop dbconsole
srvctl stop instance -d orcl -i orcl1
srvctl stop asm -n windows1
srvctl stop nodeapps -n windows1

Starting the Oracle RAC 10g Environment

The first step is to start the node applications (Virtual IP, GSD, TNS Listener, and ONS). Once the node applications are successfully started, then bring up the ASM instance. Finally, bring up the Oracle instance (and related services) and the Enterprise Manager Database console.

set oracle_sid=orcl1
srvctl start nodeapps -n windows1
srvctl start asm -n windows1
srvctl start instance -d orcl -i orcl1
emctl start dbconsole

Start / Stop All Instances with SRVCTL

Start / Stop all of the instances and its enabled services. I just included this for fun as a way to bring down all instances!

srvctl start database -d orcl

srvctl stop database -d orcl

All of the SQL commands for adding a disk group needs to be performed from one of the ASM instances: +ASM1 or +ASM2.

set oracle_sid=+ASM1
sqlplus "/ as sysdba"

SQL> SELECT group_number, disk_number, mount_status, header_status, state, path
  2  FROM   v$asm_disk;

GROUP_NUMBER DISK_NUMBER MOUNT_S HEADER_STATU STATE    PATH
------------ ----------- ------- ------------ -------- ------------------
           0           4 CLOSED  PROVISIONED  NORMAL   \\.\ORCLDISKDATA4
           0           5 CLOSED  PROVISIONED  NORMAL   \\.\ORCLDISKDATA5
           0           6 CLOSED  PROVISIONED  NORMAL   \\.\ORCLDISKDATA6
           0           7 CLOSED  PROVISIONED  NORMAL   \\.\ORCLDISKDATA7
           1           0 CACHED  MEMBER       NORMAL   \\.\ORCLDISKDATA0
           1           1 CACHED  MEMBER       NORMAL   \\.\ORCLDISKDATA1
           1           2 CACHED  MEMBER       NORMAL   \\.\ORCLDISKDATA2
           1           3 CACHED  MEMBER       NORMAL   \\.\ORCLDISKDATA3

8 rows selected.


SQL> CREATE DISKGROUP orcl_fra1 NORMAL REDUNDANCY
  2  DISK '\\.\ORCLDISKDATA4', '\\.\ORCLDISKDATA5',
  3       '\\.\ORCLDISKDATA6', '\\.\ORCLDISKDATA7';

Diskgroup created.

The above commands created a new disk group named ORCL_FRA1. We now want to assign the Database Flash Recovery Area to this new disk group and to also adjust the size that I would like to allow for this area. To perform these actions, I will need to update the SPFILE that is being used for each of the instances. To do this, I will need to be logged into one of the instances: ORCL1 or ORCL2.

set oracle_sid=orcl1
sqlplus "/ as sysdba"

SQL> alter system set db_recovery_file_dest='+ORCL_FRA1' scope=both;

System altered.

SQL> alter system set db_recovery_file_dest_size=30g scope=both;

System altered.

http://<rac_node>:5500/em

http://windows1:5500/em

Overview

It is not uncommon for businesses of today to demand 99.99% or even 99.999% availability for their enterprise applications. Think about what it would take to ensure a downtime of no more than .5 hours or even no downtime during the year. To answer many of these high availability requirements, businesses are investing in mechanisms that provide for automatic failover when one participating system fails. When considering the availability of the Oracle database, Oracle RAC 10g provides a superior solution with its advanced failover mechanisms. Oracle RAC 10g includes the required components that all work within a clustered configuration responsible for providing continuous availability - when one of the participating systems fail within the cluster, the users are automatically migrated to the other available systems.

A major component of Oracle RAC 10g that is responsible for failover processing is the Transparent Application Failover (TAF) option. All database connections (and processes) that loose connections are reconnected to another node within the cluster. The failover is completely transparent to the user.

This final section provides a short demonstration on how automatic failover works in Oracle RAC 10g. Please note that a complete discussion on failover in Oracle10g RAC would be an article in of its own. My intention here is to present a brief overview and example of how it works.

One important note before continuing is that TAF happens automatically within the OCI libraries. This means that your application (client) code does not need to change in order to take advantage of TAF. Certain configuration steps, however, will need to be done on the Oracle TNS file tnsnames.ora.

Keep in mind that at the time of this article, using the Java thin client will not be able to participate in TAF since it never reads the tnsnames.ora file.

Setup tnsnames.ora File

Before demonstrating TAF, we need to verify that a valid entry exists in the tnsnames.ora file on a non-RAC client machine (if you have a Windows machine lying around). Ensure that you have Oracle RDBMS software installed. (Actually, you only need a client install of the Oracle software.)

During the creation of the clustered database in this article, I created a new service that will be used for testing TAF named ORCLTEST. It provides all of the necessary configuration parameters for load balancing and failover. You can copy the contents of this entry to the %ORACLE_HOME%\network\admin\tnsnames.ora file on the client machine (my Windows laptop is being used in this example) in order to connect to the new Oracle clustered database:

tnsnames.ora File Entry for Clustered Database

... ORCLTEST = (DESCRIPTION = (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = vip-windows1)(PORT = 1521)) (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = vip-windows2)(PORT = 1521)) (LOAD_BALANCE = yes) (CONNECT_DATA = (SERVER = DEDICATED) (SERVICE_NAME = orcltest.idevelopment.info) (FAILOVER_MODE = (TYPE = SELECT) (METHOD = BASIC) (RETRIES = 180) (DELAY = 5) ) ) ) ...

SQL Query to Check the Session's Failover Information

The following SQL query can be used to check a session's failover type, failover method, and if a failover has occurred. We will be using this query throughout this example.

COLUMN instance_name    FORMAT a13
COLUMN host_name        FORMAT a9
COLUMN failover_method  FORMAT a15
COLUMN failed_over      FORMAT a11

SELECT
    instance_name
  , host_name
  , NULL AS failover_type
  , NULL AS failover_method
  , NULL AS failed_over
FROM v$instance
UNION
SELECT
    NULL
  , NULL
  , failover_type
  , failover_method
  , failed_over
FROM v$session
WHERE username = 'SYSTEM';

Transparent Application Failover Demonstration

From a Windows machine (or other non-RAC client machine), login to the clustered database using the orcltest service as the SYSTEM user:

C:\> sqlplus system/manager@orcltest

COLUMN instance_name    FORMAT a13
COLUMN host_name        FORMAT a9
COLUMN failover_method  FORMAT a15
COLUMN failed_over      FORMAT a11

SELECT
    instance_name
  , host_name
  , NULL AS failover_type
  , NULL AS failover_method
  , NULL AS failed_over
FROM v$instance
UNION
SELECT
    NULL
  , NULL
  , failover_type
  , failover_method
  , failed_over
FROM v$session
WHERE username = 'SYSTEM';


INSTANCE_NAME HOST_NAME FAILOVER_TYPE FAILOVER_METHOD FAILED_OVER
------------- --------- ------------- --------------- -----------
orcl1         windows1
                        SELECT        BASIC           NO

DO NOT logout of the above SQL*Plus session! Now that we have run the query (above), we should now shutdown the instance orcl1 on windows1 using the abort option. To perform this operation, we can use the srvctl command-line utility as follows:

srvctl status database -d orcl
Instance orcl1 is running on node windows1
Instance orcl2 is running on node windows2

srvctl stop instance -d orcl -i orcl1 -o abort

srvctl status database -d orcl
Instance orcl1 is not running on node windows1
Instance orcl2 is running on node windows2

Now let's go back to our SQL session and rerun the SQL statement in the buffer:

COLUMN instance_name    FORMAT a13
COLUMN host_name        FORMAT a9
COLUMN failover_method  FORMAT a15
COLUMN failed_over      FORMAT a11

SELECT
    instance_name
  , host_name
  , NULL AS failover_type
  , NULL AS failover_method
  , NULL AS failed_over
FROM v$instance
UNION
SELECT
    NULL
  , NULL
  , failover_type
  , failover_method
  , failed_over
FROM v$session
WHERE username = 'SYSTEM';


INSTANCE_NAME HOST_NAME FAILOVER_TYPE FAILOVER_METHOD FAILED_OVER
------------- --------- ------------- --------------- -----------
orcl2         windows2
                        SELECT        BASIC           YES

SQL> exit

From the above demonstration, we can see that the above session has now been failed over to instance orcl2 on windows2.