Category Archives: Oracle 10g

Oracle RAC and the NTP process

If you are installing Oracle Clusterware on a Linux or UNIX machine, the following error may occur if you have not turned on Slewing:

PRVF-5439: NTP daemon does not have slewing option “-x” set on the node

The following procedure will remedy this problem, as demonstrated in a RHEL 5.4 environment.

1. Logon to your Oracle cluster node as the root user

2. Open the file /etc/sysconfig/ntpd and ensuring that the line


OPTIONS=”-u ntp:ntp -p /var/run/ntpd.pid -x”

3. If the line does not contain the –x option, edit the file so it reads as above.

4. Then stop the service as below, with the command /sbin/service ntpd stop


[root@mylinux1 ~]# /sbin/service ntpd stop
Shutting down ntpd: [ OK ]

5. Restart the service as below, with the command /sbin/service ntpd start


[root@mylinux1 ~]# /sbin/service ntpd start
ntpd: Synchronizing with time server: [ OK ]
Starting ntpd: [ OK ]
[root@mylinux1 ~]#

6. Verify that the –x option has been implemented, with the command ps –ef|grep ntp


[root@mylinux1 ~]# ps -ef|grep ntp
ntp 8301 1 0 20:33 ? 00:00:00 ntpd -u ntp:ntp -p /var/run/ntpd.pid -x
root 8792 28965 0 20:34 pts/1 00:00:00 grep ntp
[root@mylinux1 ~]#

This completes turning the NTPD slewing option on for Oracle clusteware.

Larry J. Catt, OCP 9i, 10g
oracle@allcompute.com
www.allcompute.com

Formatting of OCFS2 Shared Storage

The Oracle OCFS2 file system can be used to format shared storage for multiple node access. To accomplish this task, OCFS2 rpm must be installed and configured. Below is the procedure for preparing the shared disks for use, once OCFS2 has been installed and configured.

1. Logon to one of your Oracle servers as the root user.

2. Locate the shared storage presented in the directory /dev/mapper on both nodes.

-mylinux1
[root@mylinux1 ~]# ll /dev/mapper
total 0
crw——- 1 root root 10, 63 Jan 22 17:44 control
brw-rw—- 1 root disk 253, 3 Jan 22 17:45 DATA-50GB-02
brw-rw—- 1 root disk 253, 8 Jan 22 17:45 DATA-50GB-03
brw-rw—- 1 root disk 253, 1 Jan 22 17:45 VOTE-1GB-05
brw-rw—- 1 root disk 253, 2 Jan 22 17:45 VOTE-1GB-06
brw-rw—- 1 root disk 253, 4 Jan 22 17:45 HOME-50GB-02
[root@mylinux1 ~]#

-mylinux2
[root@mylinux2 ~]# ll /dev/mapper
total 0
crw——- 1 root root 10, 63 Jan 22 17:44 control
brw-rw—- 1 root disk 253, 3 Jan 22 17:45 DATA-50GB-02
brw-rw—- 1 root disk 253, 8 Jan 22 17:45 DATA-50GB-03
brw-rw—- 1 root disk 253, 1 Jan 22 17:45 VOTE-1GB-05
brw-rw—- 1 root disk 253, 2 Jan 22 17:45 VOTE-1GB-06
brw-rw—- 1 root disk 253, 4 Jan 22 17:45 HOME-50GB-03
[root@mylinux2 ~]#

3. The shared storage will be mounted on each node of the RAC. In this example our shared storage includes the following:


/dev/mapper/DATA-50GB-02
/dev/mapper/DATA-50GB-03
/dev/mapper/VOTE-1GB-05
/dev/mapper/VOTE-1GB-06

4. As the root user, format each shared storage device with the following command: NOTE: formatting of the share disks is only performed on a single node, repeating on additional nodes will destroy all information.

Example:

/sbin/mkfs.ocfs2 /dev/mapper/DATA-50GB-02

[root@mylinux1 ~]# /sbin/mkfs.ocfs2 /dev/mapper/DATA-50GB-02
mkfs.ocfs2 1.4.4
Cluster stack: classic o2cb
Overwriting existing ocfs2 partition.
Proceed (y/N): y
Label:
Features: sparse backup-super unwritten inline-data strict-journal-super
Block size: 2048 (11 bits)
Cluster size: 4096 (12 bits)
Volume size: 1069252608 (261048 clusters) (522096 blocks)
Cluster groups: 17 (tail covers 7096 clusters, rest cover 15872 clusters)
Extent allocator size: 4194304 (1 groups)
Journal size: 33554432
Node slots: 2
Creating bitmaps: done
Initializing superblock: done
Writing system files: done
Writing superblock: done
Writing backup superblock: 0 block(s)
Formatting Journals: done
Growing extent allocator: done
Formatting slot map: done
Writing lost+found: done
mkfs.ocfs2 successful

[root@mylinux1 ~]#

This procedure is repeated for each shared storage device.

Larry J. Catt, OCP 9i, 10g
oracle@allcompute.com
www.allcompute.com

Creation of Oracle OS accounts for 11g RAC install on Linux

Deployment of Oracle software requires the creation of multiple groups and users on UNIX and Linux servers to properly configure and administrate. This procedure covers the basic creation of Oracle groups and users for a standard 11g RAC implementation.

1. Create group accounts on all nodes: NOTE: id must be exactly the same

/usr/sbin/groupadd -g 501 oinstall
/usr/sbin/groupadd -g 502 dba
/usr/sbin/groupadd -g 504 asmadmin
/usr/sbin/groupadd -g 506 asmdba
/usr/sbin/groupadd -g 507 asmoper

2. Create user accounts on all nodes: NOTE: id must be exactly the same

/usr/sbin/useradd -u 501 -g oinstall -G asmadmin,asmdba,asmoper grid
/usr/sbin/useradd -u 502 -g oinstall -G dba,asmdba oracle

3. Set password for GRID and ORACLE account to be the same on every node.

passwd oracle
Changing password for user oracle.
New UNIX password: password
retype new UNIX password: password
passwd: all authentication tokens updated successfully.
passwd grid
Changing password for user oracle.
New UNIX password: password
retype new UNIX password: password
passwd: all authentication tokens updated successfully.

This completes the standard configuration creation of Oracle groups and users on Linux.

Larry Catt, OCP 9i, 10g
oracle@allcompute.com
www.allcompute.com

Configuration of OCFS2 in LINUX

OCFS2 Oracle Cluster File System version 2 is a file system which allows for multiple machines to open the same files at the same time without corruption. This file system can be used for multiple reasons but is mostly seen in Oracle RAC systems. This article details the configuration of OCFS2 after the RPMs have been installed on your OS.

1. Logon to your Linux server as root.

2. Create the directory /etc/ocfs2 to house your oracle cluster.conf file. This file will contain the name of your cluster and all nodes with in that cluster.

[root@mylinux1 etc]# mkdir /etc/ocfs2
[root@mylinux1 etc]# chmod 775 /etc/ocfs2

3. Edit the file cluster.conf and enter the strings similar to below; changing the value of ip_address, name and cluster to values which are correct for your installation..

[root@mylinux1 etc]# vi /etc/ocfs2/cluster.conf

node:
ip_port = 7777
ip_address = 204.34.132.38
number = 0
name = mylinux1.mydomain.com
cluster = myrac

node:
ip_port = 7777
ip_address = 204.34.132.39
number = 1
name = mylinux2.mydomain.com
cluster = myrac

cluster:
node_count = 2
name = myrac

4. Configure the ocfs2 installed on each node of the RAC with the o2cb configure command. NOTE: Enter the following:


Load O2CB driver on boot (y/n) [y] = y
Cluster stack backing O2CB [o2cb] = o2cb
Cluster to start on boot (Enter “none” to clear) [ocfs2]: = name of the cluster in cluster.conf file for this example it is myrac
Specify heartbeat dead threshold (>=7) [31] = 31
Specify network idle timeout in ms (>=5000) [30000] = 30000
Specify network keepalive delay in ms (>=1000) [2000] = 2000
Specify network reconnect delay in ms (>=2000) [2000] = 2000

Example:
[root@mylinux1 etc]# /etc/init.d/o2cb configure
Configuring the O2CB driver.

This will configure the on-boot properties of the O2CB driver.
The following questions will determine whether the driver is loaded on
boot. The current values will be shown in brackets (‘[]’). Hitting
without typing an answer will keep that current value. Ctrl-C
will abort.

Load O2CB driver on boot (y/n) [y]:
Cluster stack backing O2CB [o2cb]:
Cluster to start on boot (Enter “none” to clear) [ocfs2]: myrac
Specify heartbeat dead threshold (>=7) [31]:
Specify network idle timeout in ms (>=5000) [30000]:
Specify network keepalive delay in ms (>=1000) [2000]:
Specify network reconnect delay in ms (>=2000) [2000]:
Writing O2CB configuration: OK
Starting O2CB cluster myrac: OK
[root@mylinux1 etc]#

[root@mylinux2 etc]# /etc/init.d/o2cb configure
Configuring the O2CB driver.

This will configure the on-boot properties of the O2CB driver.
The following questions will determine whether the driver is loaded on
boot. The current values will be shown in brackets (‘[]’). Hitting
without typing an answer will keep that current value. Ctrl-C
will abort.

Load O2CB driver on boot (y/n) [n]: y
Cluster stack backing O2CB [o2cb]:
Cluster to start on boot (Enter “none” to clear) [ocfs2]: myrac
Specify heartbeat dead threshold (>=7) [31]:
Specify network idle timeout in ms (>=5000) [30000]:
Specify network keepalive delay in ms (>=1000) [2000]:
Specify network reconnect delay in ms (>=2000) [2000]:
Writing O2CB configuration: OK
Loading filesystem “configfs”: OK
Mounting configfs filesystem at /sys/kernel/config: OK
Loading filesystem “ocfs2_dlmfs”: OK
Creating directory ‘/dlm’: OK
Mounting ocfs2_dlmfs filesystem at /dlm: OK
Starting O2CB cluster myrac: OK
[root@mylinux2 etc]#


This completes configuration of OCFS2 for Oracle RAC.

Larry J. Catt, OCP 9i, 10g
oracle@allcompute.com
www.allcompute.com

Download and Installation of OCFS2 RPMs for Linux

Oracle Cluster File System 2 (OCFS2) is a file system which allows for multiple hosts to access the same files on a shared storage at the same time. This type of access is required for deployment of an Oracle RAC system. In this article we will cover the procedure to download and install the RPMs for OCFS2 to support shared storage on an Oracle RAC system.

1. Determine the current Kernel installed on all RAC nodes. NOTE: The kernels must be the same on every RAC node.

NODE 1:
[root@mylinux1 etc]# uname -r
2.6.18-194.32.1.el5
[root@mylinux1 etc]#

NODE2:
[root@mylinux2 ~]# uname -r
2.6.18-194.32.1.el5
[root@mylinux2 ~]#

2. Go to the URL: http://oss.oracle.com/projects/ocfs2/ , select the download tab and navigate to the correct rpm download for your kernel.

2.6.18-194.32.1.el5
2011.01.20
Packages for RHEL5 2.6.18-194.32.1.el5

3. Go to the URL: http://oss.oracle.com/projects/ocfs2-tools/, select the download tab and navigate to the correct rpm downloads for your OS. Example for this OS we download the following files:

ocfs2-tools-1.4.4-1.el5.x86_64.rpm
2010.04.19 7a2f59a05f2cf1bea24dc04f34b09371
OCFS2 tools
ocfs2-tools-debuginfo-1.4.4-1.el5.x86_64.rpm
2010.04.19 91d6e65e902dedcd28e8e4f2d9fb4271
OCFS2 tools debuginfo
ocfs2-tools-devel-1.4.4-1.el5.x86_64.rpm
2010.04.19 2e47beaab89ebba8b1d276fb894184d5
OCFS2 tools libraries/header
ocfs2console-1.4.4-1.el5.x86_64.rpm
2010.04.19 78ccf0cf8564a6d5b48d534c7f3a07bc

4. Once the download completes transfer all the files to all nodes in the cluster. It is best at this point to create a temporary directory under /tmp, to store your files with the following command.

[root@mylinux1 tmp]# mkdir oracle_tmp
[root@mylinux1 tmp]# chmod 777 oracle_tmp
[root@mylinux1 tmp]#

5. Once the files are in location, logon as root and install using the rpm command on all nodes of the RAC.

rpm -Uvh ocfs2-tools-1.4.4-1.el5.x86_64.rpm
rpm -Uvh ocfs2-2.6.18-194.32.1.el5-1.4.7-1.el5.x86_64.rpm
rpm –Uvh ocfs2console-1.4.4-1.el5.x86_64.rpm

[root@mylinux1 oracle_tmp]# rpm -Uvh ocfs2-tools-1.4.4-1.el5.x86_64.rpm
warning: ocfs2-tools-1.4.4-1.el5.x86_64.rpm: Header V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID 1e5e0159
Preparing… ########################################### [100%]
1:ocfs2-tools ########################################### [100%]
[root@mylinux1 oracle_tmp]# rpm -Uvh ocfs2-2.6.18-194.32.1.el5-1.4.7-1.el5.x86_64.rpm
warning: ocfs2-2.6.18-194.32.1.el5-1.4.7-1.el5.x86_64.rpm: Header V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID 1e5e0159
Preparing… ########################################### [100%]
1:ocfs2-2.6.18-194.32.1.el########################################### [100%]
[root@mylinux1 oracle_tmp]# rpm -Uvh ocfs2console-1.4.4-1.el5.x86_64.rpm
warning: ocfs2console-1.4.4-1.el5.x86_64.rpm: Header V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID 1e5e0159
Preparing… ########################################### [100%]
1:ocfs2console ########################################### [100%]
[root@mylinux1 oracle_tmp]#

This completes the download and installation of OCFS2 on Linux to support an Oracle RAC system.

Larry J. Catt, OCP 9i, 10g
oracle@allcompute.com
www.allcompute.com

Oracle Installation – Add swap space in UNIX or Linux environment

The typical Oracle installation will require more swap space on a system, due to prerequisite checks performed by the installer, than is typical available. The following procedure shows how to create additional swap in Unix or Linux.

1. Create a file on /u01 of 12gb with the dd command. NOTE: Repeat on each RAC node.

dd if=/dev/zero of=/u01/tempswap bs=1k count=12000000

Example:

[root@mylinux1 ~]# dd if=/dev/zero of=/u01/tempswap bs=1k count=12000000
12000000+0 records in
12000000+0 records out
12384000000 bytes (12 GB) copied, 64.2111 seconds, 255 MB/s
[root@mylinux1 ~]#

2. Then format your new file with the mke2fs command. NOTE: Repeat on each RAC node.

/sbin/mke2fs /u01/tempswap

Example:

[root@mylinux1 ~]# /sbin/mke2fs /u01/tempswap
mke2fs 1.39 (29-May-2006)
/u01/tempswap is not a block special device.
Proceed anyway? (y,n) y
Filesystem label=
OS type: Linux
Block size=4096 (log=2)
Fragment size=4096 (log=2)
2003424 inodes, 4000000 blocks
200000 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=0
Maximum filesystem blocks=4097835008
123 block groups
32768 blocks per group, 32768 fragments per group
12288 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
32768, 98304, 123840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1205632, 2654208

Writing inode tables: done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done

This filesystem will be automatically checked every 29 mounts or
180 days, whichever comes first. Use tune2fs -c or -i to override.
[root@mylinux1 ~]#

3. Make the additional swap space with the mkswap command. NOTE: Repeat on each RAC node.

/sbin/mkswap /u01/tempswap

Example:

[root@mylinux1 ~]# /sbin/mkswap /u01/tempswap
Setting up swapspace version 1, size = 12383995 kB
[root@mylinux1 ~]#

4. Make the swap space available to the OS with the command swapon. NOTE: This will have to be executed after every reboot. Repeat on each RAC node.

/sbin/swapon /u01/tempswap

Example:

[root@mylinux1 ~]# /sbin/swapon /u01/tempswap
[root@mylinux1 ~]#

Larry J. Catt, OCP 9i, 10g
oracle@allcompute.com
www.allcompute.com

Oracle Installation files extraction with cpio

For a Unix or Linux installation, Oracle places its installation files in cpio (archiving format) to contain multiple directory structures in a single file. This article describes the use of the cpio utility to extract Oracle installation files.

1. Download your oracle installation files from www.oracle.com

2. Logon to your Oracle database server and place the installation files in the appropriate location.

3. Extract the cpio.gz installation software with the following command.

gunzip (name_of_cpio_file .cpio.gz)

4. Unpack the archive file using the cpio utility with options –idmv

cpio -idmv < (name_of_cpio_file.cpio)

NOTE: replace the string (name_of_cpio_file .cpio) with your actual cpio file name, but do not remove the first < - greater than sign, that is the input of your file name into the utility. 5. This completes unpacking of Oracle installation files with the utility cpio. Larry J. Catt, OCP 9i, 10g oracle@allcompute.com www.allcompute.com

Oracle Error ORA-25153

Oracle Error ORA-25153 is a regular occurrence during the modification of location or recreation of an Oracle database. It indicates that the administrator neglected to add datafiles to a temporary tablespace. This article provides a solution the error ORA-25153, if it occurs.

Typical Error message:

Errors in file /u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/db_1/admin/orcl/bdump/orcl_j001_25535.trc:
ORA-25153: Temporary Tablespace is Empty
Sun Sep 19 01:31:00 2010
Thread 1 advanced to log sequence 9 (LGWR switch)
Current log# 3 seq# 9 mem# 0: /u05/oradata/orcl/group_3.dbf

Solution:

1. Logon to your Oracle database server as the Oracle software owner.

2. Logon to SQLPLUS with SYSDBA privileges.

mylinux:> sqlplus ‘/ as sysdba’

SQL*Plus: Release 10.2.0.4.0 – Production on Sun Sep 19 08:08:39 2010

Copyright (c) 1982, 2007, Oracle. All Rights Reserved.

Connected to:
Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.4.0 – 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options

SQL>

3. Add a temp file to your default temporary tablespaces with the following syntax: alter tablespace add tempfile < 'directory and file name'> size ;

example:


SQL> alter tablespace temp add tempfile ‘/u05/oradata/orcl/temp01.dbf’ size 2048m;

Tablespace altered.

SQL>

4. This completes the resolving of Oracle error ORA-25153.

Larry J. Catt, OCP 9i, 10g
oracle@allcompute.com
www.allcompute.com

Disabling Oracle RDBMS RAC features

The determination of Oracle binary support for Real Application Clustering is made during installation on all supported platforms. Thus an installation made for a RAC database install will result in errors for single database instances. However, you can modify the binaries to support single instance database features after installation. This article details the steps to modify your Oracle binaries to support Oracle single instance database.

1. Logon to your Oracle database server as the Oracle software owner.

2. Change directory to your ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/lib.

cd $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/lib

3. Use make to recreate your Oracle binaries with the option rac_off

make -f ins_rdbms.mk rac_off

4. Change directory to your ORACLE_HOME/bin.

5. Execute the utility relink with option all, to recreate all binary files.

relink all

6. This completes altering your Oracle RDBMS binaries to support Oracle RAC features.

Larry J. Catt, OCP 9i, 10g
oracle@allcompute.com
www.allcompute.com

Enabling Oracle RDBMS RAC features

The determination of Oracle binary support for Real Application Clustering is made during installation on all supported platforms. Thus, an installation made for a single instance database will not support creation of RAC by default. However, you can modify the binaries to support these features after installation. This article details the steps to modify your Oracle binaries to support Oracle RAC.

1. Logon to your Oracle database server as the Oracle software owner.

2. Change directory to your ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/lib.

cd $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/lib

3. Use make to recreate your Oracle binaries with the option rac_on

make -f ins_rdbms.mk rac_on

4. Change directory to your ORACLE_HOME/bin.

5. Execute the utility relink with option all, to recreate all binary files.

relink all

6. This completes altering your Oracle RDBMS binaries to support Oracle RAC features.

Larry J. Catt, OCP 9i, 10g
oracle@allcompute.com
www.allcompute.com