Oracle Database 11g Release 2 RAC On Linux Using V

OracleDatabase11gRelease2RACOnLinuxUsingVMwareServer2ThisarticledescribestheinstallationofOracleDatabase11grelease2(11.264-bit)RAConLinux(OracleEnterpriseLinux564-bit)usingVMwareServer2withnoadditionalshareddiskdevices.IntroductionDownloadSoftwareVMwareServerInstallationVirtualMachineSetupGuestOperatingSystemInstallationOracleInstallationPrerequisitesInstallVMwareClientToolsCreateSharedDisksClonetheVirtualMachineInstalltheGridInfrastructureInstalltheDatabaseChecktheStatusoftheRACNote.InolongeruseVMwareServer.SincethisarticlewaswrittenI'veswitchedtoVirtualBoxasmymainvirtualizationsolutionfortestinginstallations.OracleDatabase11gRelease2RACOnLinuxUsingVirtualBoxIntroductionOneofthebiggestobstaclespreventingpeoplefromsettinguptestRACenvironmentsistherequirementforsharedstorage.Inaproductionenvironment,sharedstorageisoftenprovidedbyaSANorhigh-endNASdevice,butbothoftheseoptionsareveryexpensivewhenallyouwanttodoisgetsomeexperienceinstallingandusingRAC.AcheaperalternativeistouseaFireWirediskenclosuretoallowtwomachinestoaccessthesamedisk(s),butthatstillcostsmoneyandrequirestwoservers.AthirdoptionistouseVMwareServertofakethesharedstorage.UsingVMwareServeryoucanrunmultipleVirtualMachines(VMs)onasingleserver,allowingyoutorunbothRACnodesonasinglemachine.Inadditon,itallowsyoutosetupsharedvirtualdisks,overcomingtheobstacleofexpensivesharedstorage.Beforeyoulaunchintothisinstallation,hereareafewthingstoconsider.Thefinishedsystemincludesthehostoperatingsystem,twoguestoperatingsystems,twosetsofOracleGridInfrastructure(Clusterware+ASM)andtwoDatabaseinstancesallonasingleserver.Asyoucanimagine,thisrequiresasignificantamountofdiskspace,CPUandmemory.IcompletedthisinstallationonaQuad-Coreprocessorwith8Gofmemory,sodon'texpecttoworkonalowspecmachine.Followingonfromthelastpoint,theVMswilleachneed2GofRAM,preferably3-4Gifyoudon'twanttheVMtoswaplikecrazy.Asyoucansee,11gR2RACrequiresmuchmorememorythan11gR1RAC.Don'tassumeyouwillbeabletorunthisonasmallPCorlaptop.Youwon't.ThisprocedureprovidesabarebonesinstallationtogettheRACworking.ThereisnoredundancyintheGridInfrastructureinstallationortheASMinstallation.Toaddthis,simplycreatedoubletheamountofshareddisksandselecttheNormalredundancyoptionwhenitisoffered.Ofcourse,thiswilltakemorediskspace.Duringthevirtualdiskcreation,Ialwayschoosenottopreallocatethediskspace.Thismakesvirtualdiskaccessslowerduringtheinstallation,butsavesonwasteddiskspace.Thisisnot,andshouldnotbeconsidered,aproduction-readysystem.It'ssimplytoallowyoutogetusedtoinstallingandusingRAC.TheSingleClientAccessName(SCAN)shouldreallybedefinedintheDNSorGNSandround-robinbetweenoneof3addresses,whichareonthesamesubnetasthepublicandvirtualIPs.InthisarticleI'vedefineditasasingleIPaddressinthe/etc/hostsfile,whichiswrongandwillcausetheclusterverificationtofail,butitallowsmetocompletetheinstallwithoutthepresenceofaDNS.Thisapproachwillnotworkfor11.2.0.2onward,whereyoumustusetheDNS.Thevirtualmachinesusedareonlygiven2Gigofswap,whichcausesaprerequisitecheckfailure,butdoesn'tpreventtheinstallationworking.Ifyouwanttoavoidthis,define3+Gigofswap.Thisarticleusesthe64-bitversionsofOracleEnterpriseLinuxandOracle11gRelease2.DownloadSoftwareDownloadthefollowingsoftware.OracleEnterpriseLinux5VMwareServerOracle11gRelease2(11.2)Software(64bit)VMwareServerInstallationRegardlessofthehostOS,thesetupofthevirtualmachinesshouldbesimilar.First,installtheVMwareServersoftware.OnLinuxyoudothiswiththefollowingcommandastherootuser.#rpm-UvhVMware-server*.rpmPreparing...###########################################[100%]1:VMware-server###########################################[100%]TheinstallationofVMwareServer2.0.0forLinuxcompletedsuccessfully.Youcandecidetoremovethissoftwarefromyoursystematanytimebyinvokingthefollowingcommand:rpm-eVMware-server.BeforerunningVMwareServerforthefirsttime,youneedtoconfigureitforyourrunningkernelbyinvokingthefollowingcommand:/usr/bin/vmware-config.pl.Enjoy,--theVMwareteam#Thenfinishtheconfigurationbyrunningthevmware-config.plscriptastherootuser.Mostofthequestionscanbeansweredwiththedefaultresponsebypressingthereturnkey.Anexampleoftheoutputcanbeseenhere.Theweb-basedVMwareIntrastructureWebAccessConsoleisstartedbyissuingthecommandvmwareatthecommandprompt,orbypointingyourbrowsertooneofthetwofollowingURLsdependingonwhetheryouneedSecureHTTPornot.