Installing Oracle RAC 10g Release 2 on Linux x86

by John Smiley

Learn the basics of installing Oracle RAC 10g Release 2 on Red Hat Enterprise Linux or Novell SUSE Enterprise Linux, from the bare metal up (for evaluation purposes only)

Contents
Overview
Background
Part I: Install Linux
Part II: Configure Linux for Oracle
Part III: Prepare the Shared Disks
Part IV: Install Oracle RAC Software
Conclusion

This guide provides a walkthrough of installing an Oracle Database 10g Release 2 RAC database on commodity hardware for the purpose of evaluation.  If you are new to Linux and/or Oracle, this guide is for you. It starts with the basics and walks you through an installation of Oracle Database 10g Release 2 RAC from the bare metal up.

This guide will take the approach of offering the easiest paths, with the fewest number of steps, for accomplishing a task. This approach often means making configuration choices that would be inappropriate for anything other than an evaluation. For that reason, this guide is not appropriate for building production-quality environments, nor does it reflect best practices.

The three Linux distributions certified for Oracle 10g Release 2 RAC are:

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux  4 (RHEL4)
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 (RHEL3)
• Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9

This guide is divided into four parts: Part I covers the installation of the Linux operating system, Part II covers configuring Linux for Oracle, Part III discusses the essentials of partitioning shared disk, and Part IV covers installation of the Oracle software.

A Release 1 version of this guide is also available.

The illustration below shows the major components of an Oracle RAC 10g Release 2 configuration. Nodes in the cluster are typically separate servers (hosts).

Hardware
At the hardware level, each node in a RAC cluster shares three things:

1. Access to shared disk storage
2. Connection to a private network
3. Access to a public network.

Shared Disk Storage
Oracle RAC relies on a shared disk architecture. The database files, online redo logs, and control files for the database must be accessible to each node in the cluster. The shared disks also store the Oracle Cluster Registry and Voting Disk (discussed later). There are a variety of ways to configure shared storage including direct attached disks (typically SCSI over copper or fiber), Storage Area Networks (SAN), and Network Attached Storage (NAS).

Private Network
Each cluster node is connected to all other nodes via a private high-speed network, also known as the cluster interconnect or high-speed interconnect (HSI). This network is used by Oracle's Cache Fusion technology to effectively combine the physical memory (RAM) in each host into a single cache. Oracle Cache Fusion allows data stored in the cache of one Oracle instance to be accessed by any other instance by transferring it across the private network. It also preserves data integrity and cache coherency by transmitting locking and other synchronization information across cluster nodes.

The private network is typically built with Gigabit Ethernet, but for high-volume environments, many vendors offer proprietary low-latency, high-bandwidth solutions specifically designed for Oracle RAC. Linux also offers a means of bonding multiple physical NICs into a single virtual NIC (not covered here) to provide increased bandwidth and availability.

Public Network
To maintain high availability, each cluster node is assigned a virtual IP address (VIP). In the event of node failure, the failed node's IP address can be reassigned to a surviving node to allow applications to continue accessing the database through the same IP address.

Configuring the Cluster Hardware
There are many different ways to configure the hardware for an Oracle RAC cluster. Our configuration here uses two servers with two CPUs, 1GB RAM, two Gigabit Ethernet NICs, a dual channel SCSI host bus adapter (HBA), and eight SCSI disks connected via copper to each host (four disks per channel). The disks were configured as Just a Bunch Of Disks (JBOD)—that is, with no hardware RAID controller.

Software
At the software level, each node in a RAC cluster needs:

1. An operating system
2. Oracle Clusterware
3. Oracle RAC software
4. An Oracle Automatic Storage Management (ASM) instance (optional).

Operating System
Oracle RAC is supported on many different operating systems. This guide focuses on Linux. The operating system must be properly configured for the OS--including installing the necessary software packages, setting kernel parameters, configuring the network, establishing an account with the proper security, configuring disk devices, and creating directory structures. All these tasks are described in this guide.

Oracle Cluster Ready Services becomes Oracle Clusterware
Oracle RAC 10g Release 1 introduced Oracle Cluster Ready Services (CRS), a platform-independent set of system services for cluster environments. In Release 2, Oracle has renamed this product to Oracle Clusterware.

Clusterware maintains two files: the Oracle Cluster Registry (OCR) and the Voting Disk. The OCR and the Voting Disk must reside on shared disks as either raw partitions or files in a cluster filesystem. This guide describes creating the OCR and Voting Disks using a cluster filesystem (OCFS2) and walks through the CRS installation.

Oracle RAC Software
Oracle RAC 10g Release 2 software is the heart of the RAC database and must be installed on each cluster node. Fortunately, the Oracle Universal Installer (OUI) does most of the work of installing the RAC software on each node. You only have to install RAC on one node—OUI does the rest.

Oracle Automatic Storage Management (ASM)
ASM is a new feature in Oracle Database 10g that provides the services of a filesystem, logical volume manager, and software RAID in a platform-independent manner. Oracle ASM can stripe and mirror your disks, allow disks to be added or removed while the database is under load, and automatically balance I/O to remove "hot spots." It also supports direct and asynchronous I/O and implements the Oracle Data Manager API (simplified I/O system call interface) introduced in Oracle9i.

Oracle ASM is not a general-purpose filesystem and can be used only for Oracle data files, redo logs, control files, and the RMAN Flash Recovery Area. Files in ASM can be created and named automatically by the database (by use of the Oracle Managed Files feature) or manually by the DBA. Because the files stored in ASM are not accessible to the operating system, the only way to perform backup and recovery operations on databases that use ASM files is through Recovery Manager (RMAN).

ASM is implemented as a separate Oracle instance that must be up if other databases are to be able to access it. Memory requirements for ASM are light: only 64MB for most systems. In Oracle RAC environments, an ASM instance must be running on each cluster node.

Install and Configure Linux as described in the first guide in this series. You will need three IP addresses for each server: one for the private network, one for the public network, and one for the virtual IP address. Use the operating system's network configuration tools to assign the private and public network addresses. Do not assign the virtual IP address using the operating system's network configuration tools; this will be done by the Oracle Virtual IP Configuration Assistant (VIPCA) during Oracle RAC software installation.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 (RHEL4)

Required Kernel:
2.6.9-11.EL or higher

Verify kernel version:

# uname -r
2.6.9-22.ELsmp

binutils-2.15.92.0.2-10.EL4
compat-db-4.1.25-9
control-center-2.8.0-12
gcc-3.4.3-9.EL4
gcc-c++-3.4.3-9.EL4
glibc-2.3.4-2
glibc-common-2.3.4-2
gnome-libs-1.4.1.2.90-44.1
libstdc++-3.4.3-9.EL4
libstdc++-devel-3.4.3-9.EL4
make-3.80-5
pdksh-5.2.14-30
sysstat-5.0.5-1
xscreensaver-4.18-5.rhel4.2

Verify installed packages:

# rpm -q binutils compat-db control-center gcc gcc-c++ glibc glibc-common \
  gnome-libs libstdc++ libstdc++-devel make pdksh sysstat xscreensaver

binutils-2.15.92.0.2-15
compat-db-4.1.25-9
control-center-2.8.0-12.rhel4.2
gcc-3.4.4-2
gcc-c++-3.4.4-2
glibc-2.3.4-2.13
glibc-common-2.3.4-2.13
gnome-libs-1.4.1.2.90-44.1
libstdc++-3.4.4-2
libstdc++-devel-3.4.4-2
make-3.80-5
pdksh-5.2.14-30.3
sysstat-5.0.5-1
xscreensaver-4.18-5.rhel4.9

Required Package Sets:
Basis Runtime System
YaST
Graphical Base System
Linux Tools
KDE Desktop Environment
C/C++ Compiler and Tools (not selected by default)

Do not install:
Authentication Server (NIS, LDAP, Kerberos)
 

Required Kernel:
2.6.5-7.97 or higher

Verify kernel version:

# uname -r
2.6.5-7.97-smp

gcc-3.3
gcc-c++-3.3.3-43
glibc-2.3.3-98.28
libaio-0.3.98-18
libaio-devel-0.3.98-18
make-3.80
openmotif-libs-2.2.2-519.1

Verify installed packages:

# rpm -q gcc gcc-c++ glibc libaio libaio-devel make openmotif-libs

gcc-3.3.3-43.24
gcc-c++-3.3.3-43.24
libaio-0.3.98-18.3
libaio-devel-0.3.98-18.3
make-3.80-184.1
openmotif-libs-2.2.2-519.1

Create the Oracle Groups and User Account

Next we'll create the Linux groups and user account that will be used to install and maintain the Oracle 10g Release 2 software. The user account will be called 'oracle' and the groups will be 'oinstall' and 'dba.' Execute the following commands as root on one cluster node only:

/usr/sbin/groupadd oinstall
/usr/sbin/groupadd dba
/usr/sbin/useradd -m -g oinstall -G dba oracle
id oracle

# /usr/sbin/groupadd oinstall
# /usr/sbin/groupadd dba
# /usr/sbin/useradd -m -g oinstall -G dba oracle
# id oracle
uid=501(oracle) gid=501(oinstall) groups=501(oinstall),502(dba)

/usr/sbin/groupadd -g 501 oinstall
/usr/sbin/groupadd -g 502 dba
/usr/sbin/useradd -m -u 501 -g oinstall -G dba oracle

# /usr/sbin/groupadd -g 501 oinstall
# /usr/sbin/groupadd -g 502 dba
# /usr/sbin/useradd -m -u 501 -g oinstall -G dba oracle
# id oracle
uid=501(oracle) gid=501(oinstall) groups=501(oinstall),502(dba)

# passwd oracle
Changing password for user oracle.
New password:
Retype new password:
passwd: all authentication tokens updated successfully.

Issue the following commands as root:

mkdir -p /u01/app/oracle
chown -R oracle:oinstall /u01/app/oracle
chmod -R 775 /u01/app/oracle

# mkdir -p /u01/app/oracle
# chown -R oracle:oinstall /u01/app/oracle
# chmod -R 775 /u01/app/oracle

cat >> /etc/sysctl.conf << EOF
kernel.shmall = 2097152
kernel.shmmax = 536870912
kernel.shmmni = 4096
kernel.sem = 250 32000 100 128
fs.file-max = 658576
net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range = 1024 65000
net.core.rmem_default = 262144
net.core.wmem_default = 262144
net.core.rmem_max = 1048536
net.core.wmem_max = 1048536
EOF

/sbin/sysctl -p

disable_cap_mlock = 1

/sbin/chkconfig boot.sysctl on

cat >> /etc/security/limits.conf << EOF
oracle soft nproc 2047
oracle hard nproc 16384
oracle soft nofile 1024
oracle hard nofile 65536
EOF

cat >> /etc/pam.d/login << EOF
session required /lib/security/pam_limits.so
EOF

cat >> /etc/profile << EOF
if [ \$USER = "oracle" ]; then 
 if [ \$SHELL = "/bin/ksh" ]; then
 ulimit -p 16384
 ulimit -n 65536
 else
 ulimit -u 16384 -n 65536
 fi
 umask 022
fi
EOF

cat >> /etc/csh.login << EOF
if ( \$USER == "oracle" ) then
 limit maxproc 16384
 limit descriptors 65536
 umask 022
endif
EOF

cat >> /etc/profile.local << EOF
if [ \$USER = "oracle" ]; then 
 if [ \$SHELL = "/bin/ksh" ]; then
 ulimit -p 16384
 ulimit -n 65536
 else
 ulimit -u 16384 -n 65536
 fi
 umask 022
fi
EOF

cat >> /etc/csh.login.local << EOF
if ( \$USER == "oracle" ) then
 limit maxproc 16384
 limit descriptors 65536
 umask 022
endif
EOF

All RHEL releases:

modprobe hangcheck-timer hangcheck_tick=30 hangcheck_margin=180
cat >> /etc/rc.d/rc.local << EOF
modprobe hangcheck-timer hangcheck_tick=30 hangcheck_margin=180
EOF

modprobe hangcheck-timer hangcheck_tick=30 hangcheck_margin=180
cat >> /etc/init.d/boot.local << EOF
modprobe hangcheck-timer hangcheck_tick=30 hangcheck_margin=180
EOF

127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost

192.168.100.51 ds1-priv.orademo.org ds1-priv # ds1 private
192.168.100.52 ds2-priv.orademo.org ds2-priv # ds1 private
192.168.200.51 ds1.orademo.org ds1 # ds1 public
192.168.200.52 ds2.orademo.org ds2 # ds2 public
192.168.200.61 ds1-vip.orademo.org ds1-vip # ds1 virtual
192.168.200.62 ds2-vip.orademo.org ds2-vip # ds2 virtual

mkdir ~/.ssh
chmod 755 ~/.ssh
/usr/bin/ssh-keygen -t rsa

/usr/bin/ssh-keygen -t dsa

$ mkdir ~/.ssh
$ chmod 755 ~/.ssh
$ /usr/bin/ssh-keygen -t rsa
Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/home/oracle/.ssh/id_rsa): 
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase): 
Enter same passphrase again:
Your identification has been saved in /home/oracle/.ssh/id_rsa.
Your public key has been saved in /home/oracle/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
4b:df:76:77:72:ba:31:cd:c4:e2:0c:e6:ef:30:fc:37 oracle@ds1.orademo.org

$ /usr/bin/ssh-keygen -t dsa
Generating public/private dsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/home/oracle/.ssh/id_dsa):
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:
Your identification has been saved in /home/oracle/.ssh/id_dsa.
Your public key has been saved in /home/oracle/.ssh/id_dsa.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
af:37:ca:69:3c:a0:08:97:cb:9c:0b:b0:20:70:e3:4a oracle@ds1.orademo.org

cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
cat ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

ssh oracle@ds2 cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

ssh oracle@ds2 cat ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

chmod 644 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

$ cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
$ cat ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
$ ssh oracle@ds2 cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
The authenticity of host 'ds2 (192.168.200.52)' can't be established.
RSA key fingerprint is d1:23:a7:df:c5:fc:4e:10:d2:83:60:49:25:e8:eb:11.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes
Warning: Permanently added 'ds2,192.168.200.52' (RSA) to the list of known hosts.
oracle@ds2's password: 
$ ssh oracle@ds2 cat ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
oracle@ds2's password:
$ chmod 644 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
cat ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

ssh oracle@ds1 cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

ssh oracle@ds1 cat ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

chmod 644 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

$ cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
$ cat ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
$ ssh oracle@ds1 cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
The authenticity of host 'ds1 (192.168.200.51)' can't be established.
RSA key fingerprint is bd:0e:39:2a:23:2d:ca:f9:ea:71:f5:3d:d3:dd:3b:65.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes
Warning: Permanently added 'ds1,192.168.200.51' (RSA) to the list of known hosts.
Enter passphrase for key '/home/oracle/.ssh/id_rsa':
$ ssh oracle@ds1 cat ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
Enter passphrase for key '/home/oracle/.ssh/id_rsa':
$ chmod 644 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

exec /usr/bin/ssh-agent $SHELL
/usr/bin/ssh-add

$ exec /usr/bin/ssh-agent $SHELL
$ /usr/bin/ssh-add
Enter passphrase for /home/oracle/.ssh/id_rsa:
Identity added: /home/oracle/.ssh/id_rsa (/home/oracle/.ssh/id_rsa)
Identity added: /home/oracle/.ssh/id_dsa (/home/oracle/.ssh/id_dsa)

$ ssh ds2 date
Sat Jan 21 13:31:07 PST 2006

The authenticity of host 'ds2 (192.168.200.52)' can't be established.
RSA key fingerprint is 8f:a3:19:76:ca:4f:71:85:42:c2:7a:da:eb:53:76:85.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes

1. OCFS (Release 1 or 2)
2. raw devices
3. third party cluster filesystem such as GPFS or Veritas

1. OCFS (Release 1 or 2)
2. ASM
3. raw devices
4. third party cluster filesystem such as GPFS or Veritas

This guide covers installations using OCFS2 and ASM.  If you have a small number of shared disks, you may wish to use OCFS2 for both Oracle Clusterware and the Oracle RAC database files.  If you have more than a few shared disks, consider using ASM for Oracle RAC database files for the performance benefits ASM provides.  Note that ASM cannot be used to store Oracle Clusterware files since Clusterware must be installed before ASM (ASM depends upon the services of Oracle Clusterware).  This guide uses OCFS2 for Oracle Clusterware files.

Partition the Disks

In order to use either OCFS2 or ASM, you must have unused disk partitions available.  This section describes how to create the partitions that will be used for OCFS2 and for ASM.

WARNING: Improperly partitioning a disk is one of the surest and fastest ways to wipe out everything on your hard disk. If you are unsure how to proceed, stop and get help, or you will risk losing data.

This example uses /dev/sdb (an empty SCSI disk with no existing partitions) to create a single partition for the entire disk (36 GB).

Ex:
# fdisk /dev/sdb
Device contains neither a valid DOS partition table, nor Sun, SGI or OSF disklabel
Building a new DOS disklabel. Changes will remain in memory only,
until you decide to write them. After that, of course, the previous
content won't be recoverable.


The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 4427.
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): p

Disk /dev/sdb: 255 heads, 63 sectors, 4427 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 bytes

 Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System

Command (m for help): n
Command action
 e extended
 p primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 1
First cylinder (1-4427, default 1):
Using default value 1
Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (1-4427, default 4427):
Using default value 4427

Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!

Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.

WARNING: If you have created or modified any DOS 6.x
partitions, please see the fdisk manual page for additional
information.
Syncing disks.

Now verify the new partition:

Ex:
# fdisk -l /dev/sdb

Disk /dev/sdb: 36.4 GB, 36420075008 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4427 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *           1        4427    35559846   83  Linux

Repeat the above steps for each disk to be partitioned.   Disk partitioning should be done from one node only.  When finished partitioning, run the 'partprobe' command as root on each of the remaining cluster nodes in order to assure that the new partitions are configured.

Ex:

# partprobe

Oracle Cluster File System (OCFS) Release 2

# uname -r
2.6.9-22.ELsmp

ocfs2console-1.0.3-1.i386.rpm
ocfs2-tools-1.0.3-1.i386.rpm
ocfs2-2.6.9-22.ELsmp-1.0.7-1.i686.rpm 

Install OCFS2 as root on each cluster node

# rpm -ivh ocfs2console-1.0.3-1.i386.rpm \
ocfs2-tools-1.0.3-1.i386.rpm \
ocfs2-2.6.9-22.ELsmp-1.0.7-1.i686.rpm
Preparing...                ########################################### [100%]
   1:ocfs2-tools            ########################################### [ 33%]
   2:ocfs2console           ########################################### [ 67%]
   3:ocfs2-2.6.9-22.ELsmp   ########################################### [100%]

# ocfs2console

Once all of the nodes have been added, click on Cluster --> Propagate Configuration.  This will copy the OCFS2 configuration file to each node in the cluster.  You may be prompted for root passwords as ocfs2console uses ssh to propagate the configuration file.  Leave the OCFS2 console by clicking on File --> Quit.  It is possible to format and mount the OCFS2 partitions using the ocfs2console GUI; however, this guide will use the command line utilities. 

As root, execute the following command on each cluster node to allow the OCFS2 cluster stack to load at boot time:

/etc/init.d/o2cb enable

Ex:

# /etc/init.d/o2cb enable


Writing O2CB configuration: OK
Loading module "configfs": OK
Mounting configfs filesystem at /config: OK
Loading module "ocfs2_nodemanager": OK
Loading module "ocfs2_dlm": OK
Loading module "ocfs2_dlmfs": OK
Mounting ocfs2_dlmfs filesystem at /dlm: OK


 Starting cluster ocfs2: OK

Ex:
# mkdir /u03

Ex:

# mkfs.ocfs2 -b 4K -C 32K -N 4 -L /u03 /dev/sdc1
mkfs.ocfs2 1.0.3
Filesystem label=/u03
Block size=4096 (bits=12)
Cluster size=32768 (bits=15)
Volume size=36413280256 (1111245 clusters) (8889960 blocks)
35 cluster groups (tail covers 14541 clusters, rest cover 32256 clusters)
Journal size=33554432
Initial number of node slots: 4
Creating bitmaps: done
Initializing superblock: done
Writing system files: done
Writing superblock: done
Writing lost+found: done
mkfs.ocfs2 successful

Ex:
# mount -t ocfs2 -L /u03 -o datavolume /u03

# mount -t ocfs2
/dev/sdc1 on /u03 type ocfs2 (rw,_netdev,datavolume)

# df /u03
Filesystem           1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/sdc1             35559840    138432  35421408   1% /u03

LABEL=/u03   /u03    ocfs2   _netdev,datavolume,nointr 0 0

CRS files
mkdir /u03/oracrs
chown oracle:oinstall /u03/oracrs
chmod 775 /u03/oracrs

Database files
mkdir /u03/oradata
chown oracle:oinstall /u03/oradata
chmod 775 /u03/oradata

ASM was a new storage option introduced with Oracle Database 10gR1 that provides the services of a filesystem, logical volume manager, and software RAID in a platform-independent manner. ASM can stripe and mirror your disks, allow disks to be added or removed while the database is under load, and automatically balance I/O to remove "hot spots." It also supports direct and asynchronous I/O and implements the Oracle Data Manager API (simplified I/O system call interface) introduced in Oracle9i.

ASM is not a general-purpose filesystem and can be used only for Oracle data files, redo logs, control files, and flash recovery area. Files in ASM can be created and named automatically by the database (by use of the Oracle Managed Files feature) or manually by the DBA. Because the files stored in ASM are not accessible to the operating system, the only way to perform backup and recovery operations on databases that use ASM files is through Recovery Manager (RMAN).

ASM is implemented as a separate Oracle instance that must be up if other databases are to be able to access it. Memory requirements for ASM are light: only 64 MB for most systems.

Installing ASM

On Linux platforms, ASM can use raw devices or devices managed via the ASMLib interface. Oracle recommends ASMLib over raw devices for ease-of-use and performance reasons. ASMLib 2.0 is available for free download from OTN. This section walks through the process of configuring a simple ASM instance by using ASMLib 2.0 and building a database that uses ASM for disk storage.

Determine Which Version of ASMLib You Need

ASMLib 2.0 is delivered as a set of three Linux packages:

• oracleasmlib-2.0 - the ASM libraries
• oracleasm-support-2.0 - utilities needed to administer ASMLib
• oracleasm - a kernel module for the ASM library

First, determine which kernel you are using by logging in as root and running the following command:

uname -rm

Ex:
# uname -rm
2.6.9-22.ELsmp i686

The example shows that this is a 2.6.9-22 kernel for an SMP (multiprocessor) box using Intel i686 CPUs.

Use this information to find the correct ASMLib packages on OTN:

1. Point your Web browser to http://www.oracle.com/technology/tech/linux/asmlib/index.html
2. Select the link for your version of Linux.
3. Download the oracleasmlib and oracleasm-support packages for your version of Linux
4. Download the oracleasm package corresponding to your kernel. In the example above, the oracleasm-2.6.9-22.ELsmp-2.0.0-1.i686.rpm package was used.

   Next, install the packages by executing the following command as root:

   rpm -Uvh oracleasm-kernel_version-asmlib_version.cpu_type.rpm \
   oracleasmlib-asmlib_version.cpu_type.rpm \
   oracleasm-support-asmlib_version.cpu_type.rpm
   
   Ex:
   # rpm -Uvh \
   > oracleasm-2.6.9-22.ELsmp-2.0.0-1.i686.rpm \
   > oracleasmlib-2.0.1-1.i386.rpm \
   > oracleasm-support-2.0.1-1.i386.rpm
   Preparing...                ########################################### [100%]
      1:oracleasm-support      ########################################### [ 33%]
      2:oracleasm-2.6.9-22.ELsm########################################### [ 67%]
      3:oracleasmlib           ########################################### [100%]

Configuring ASMLib

Before using ASMLib, you must run a configuration script to prepare the driver. Run the following command as root, and answer the prompts as shown in the example below.  Run this on each node in the cluster.

# /etc/init.d/oracleasm configure
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 []: dba
Start Oracle ASM library driver on boot (y/n) [n]: y
Fix permissions of Oracle ASM disks on boot (y/n) [y]: y
Writing Oracle ASM library driver configuration:           [  OK  ]
Creating /dev/oracleasm mount point:                       [  OK  ]
Loading module "oracleasm":                                [  OK  ]
Mounting ASMlib driver filesystem:                         [  OK  ]
Scanning system for ASM disks:                             [  OK  ]

Next you tell the ASM driver which disks you want it to use. Oracle recommends that each disk contain a single partition for the entire disk.  See Partitioning the Disks at the beginning of this section for an example of creating disk partitions.

You mark disks for use by ASMLib by running the following command as root from one of the cluster nodes:

/etc/init.d/oracleasm createdisk DISK_NAME device_name

Tip: Enter the DISK_NAME in UPPERCASE letters.

Ex:
# /etc/init.d/oracleasm createdisk VOL1 /dev/sdb1
Marking disk "/dev/sdb1" as an ASM disk:                   [  OK  ]
# /etc/init.d/oracleasm createdisk VOL1 /dev/sdc1
Marking disk "/dev/sdc1" as an ASM disk:                   [  OK  ]
# /etc/init.d/oracleasm createdisk VOL1 /dev/sdd1
Marking disk "/dev/sdd1" as an ASM disk:                   [  OK  ]

Verify that ASMLib has marked the disks:

# /etc/init.d/oracleasm listdisks
VOL1
VOL2
VOL3

/etc/init.d/oracleasm scandisks

The easiest way to make the Oracle Database 10g Release 2 distribution media available on your server is to download them directly to the server.

Use the graphical login to log in as oracle.

Create a directory to contain the Oracle Database 10g Release 2 distribution:

mkdir 10gR2

To download Oracle Database 10g Release 2 from OTN, point your browser (Firefox works well) to http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/database/oracle10g/htdocs/10201linuxsoft.html. Fill out the Eligibility Export Restrictions page, and read the OTN License agreement. If you agree with the restrictions and the license agreement, click on I Accept.

Click on the 10201_database_linux32.zip link, and save the file in the directory you created for this purpose —if you have not already logged in to OTN, you may be prompted to do so at this point.

Since you will be creating a RAC database, you will also need to download and install Oracle Clusterware Release 2.  Click on the 10201_clusterware_linux32.zip link and save the file.

Unzip and extract the files:

cd 10gR2
unzip 10201_database_linux32.zip
unzip 10201_clusterware_linux32.zip

exec /usr/bin/ssh-agent $SHELL
/usr/bin/ssh-add
Enter passphrase for /home/oracle/.ssh/id_rsa:
Identity added: /home/oracle/.ssh/id_rsa (/home/oracle/.ssh/id_rsa)
Identity added: /home/oracle/.ssh/id_dsa (/home/oracle/.ssh/id_dsa)

Set the ORACLE_BASE environment variable:

ORACLE_BASE=/u01/app/oracle; export ORACLE_BASE

1. Welcome
• Click on Next
2. Specify Inventory Directory and Credentials
• The defaults should be correct
• Click on Next
3. Specify Home Details
• Name: OraCRS_Home  
• Path: /u01/app/oracle/product/crs
4. Product-Specific Prerequisite Checks
• Correct any problems found before proceeding.
• Click on Next
5. Specify Cluster Configuration
• Enter the cluster name (or accept the default of "crs");
  

6. Specify Network Interface Usage - Specify the Interface Type (public, private, or "do no use") for each interface
   

7. Specify Oracle Cluster Registry (OCR) Location
• Choose External Redundancy and enter the full pathname of the OCR file (ex: /u03/oracrs/ocr.crs).
8. Specify Voting Disk Location
• Choose External Redundancy and enter the full pathname of the voting disk file (ex: /u03/oracrs/vote.crs)
9. Summary
• Click on Install 
10. Execute Configuration Scripts
• Execute the scripts as root on each node, one at a time, starting with the installation node. 
• Do not run the scripts simultaneously. Wait for one to finish before starting another.  
• Click on OK to dismiss the window when done.

Verify that the installation succeeded by running olsnodes from the $ORACLE_BASE/product/crs/bin directory; for example:

$ /u01/app/oracle/product/crs/bin/olsnodes
ds1
ds2

Create the ASM Instance

If you are planning to use OCFS2 for database storage, skip this section and continue with Create the RAC Database.  If you plan to use Automatic Storage Management (ASM) for database storage, follow the instructions below to create an ASM instance on each cluster node.  Be sure you have installed the ASMLib software as described earlier in this guide before proceeding.

Start the installation using "runInstaller" from the "database" directory:

1. Welcome
• Click on Next
2. Select Installation Type
• Select Enterprise Edition
• Click on Next
  
3. Specify Home Details
• Name:   Ora10gASM
• Path:      /u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/asm
  Note:Oracle recommends using a different ORACLE_HOME for ASM than the ORACLE_HOME used for the database for ease of administration.
• Click on Next
4. Specify Hardware Cluster Installation Mode
• Select Cluster Installation
• Click on Select All 
• Click on Next
5. Product-specific Prerequisite Checks
   • If you've been following the steps in this guide, all the checks should pass without difficulty. If one or more checks fail, correct the problem before proceeding. 
   • Click on Next
6. Select Configuration Option
• Select Configure Automatic Storage Management (ASM)
• Enter the ASM SYS password and confirm
• Click on Next
7. Configure Automatic Storage Management
• Disk Group Name:  DATA
• Redundancy
  - High mirrors data twice.
  - Normal mirrors data once.  This is the default.
  - External does not mirror data within ASM. This is typically used if an external RAID array is providing redundancy.
• Add Disks
  The disks you configured for use with ASMLib are listed as Candidate Disks.  Select each disk you wish to include in the disk group.
• Click on Next
  
8. Summary
   • A summary of the products being installed is presented.
   • Click on Install.
9. Execute Configuration Scripts
• At the end of the installation, a pop up window will appear indicating scripts that need to be run as root.  Login as root and run the indicated scripts.
• Click on OK when finished.
10. End of Installation
    • Make note of the URLs presented in the summary, and click on Exit when ready.
11. Congratulations! Your new Oracle ASM Instance is up and ready for use.

Start the installation using "runInstaller" from the "database" directory:

1. Welcome
• Click on Next
2. Select Installation Type
• Select Enterprise Edition
• Click on Next
  
3. Specify Home Details
• Name:   OraDb10g_home1
• Path:      /u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/db_1
  Note:Oracle recommends using a different ORACLE_HOME for the database than the ORACLE_HOME used for ASM.
• Click on Next
4. Specify Hardware Cluster Installation Mode
• Select Cluster Installation
• Click on Select All 
• Click on Next
5. Product-specific Prerequisite Checks
   • If you've been following the steps in this guide, all the checks should pass without difficulty. If one or more checks fail, correct the problem before proceeding. 
   • Click on Next
6. Select Configuration Option
• Select Create a Database
• Click on Next
7. Select Databse Configuration
• Select General Purpose
• Click on Next
  
8. Specify Database Configuration Options
• Database Naming:  Enter the Global Database Name and SID
• Database Character Set:  Accept the default
• Database Examples:  Select Create database with sample schemas
• Click on Next
  
9. Select Database Management Option
• Select Use Database Control for Database Management
• Click on Next
10. Specify Database Storage Option
• If you are using OCFS2 for database storage
• Select File System
• Specify Database fle location: Enter the path name to the OCFS2 filesystem directory you wish to use.
  ex: /u03/oradata/racdemo
• If you are using ASM for database storage
• Select Automatic Storage Management (ASM)
• Click on Next
11. Specify Backup and Recovery Options
• Select Do not enable Automated backups
• Click on Next
12. For ASM Installations Only:
• Select ASM Disk Group
• Select the DATA disk group created in the previous section
• Click on Next
13. Specify Database Schema Passwords
• Select Use the same password for all the accounts
• Enter the password and confirm
• Click on Next
14. Summary
    • A summary of the products being installed is presented.
    • Click on Install.
15. Configuration Assistants
• The Oracle Net, Oracle Database, and iSQL*Plus configuration assistants will run automatically
16. Execute Configuration Scripts
• At the end of the installation, a pop up window will appear indicating scripts that need to be run as root.  Login as root and run the indicated scripts.
• Click on OK when finished.
17. End of Installation
    • Make note of the URLs presented in the summary, and click on Exit when ready.
18. Congratulations! Your new Oracle Database is up and ready for use.

Now that your database is up and running, you can begin exploring the many new features offered in Oracle Database 10g Release 2. A great place to start is Oracle Enterprise Manager, which has been completely re-written with a crisp new Web-based interface. If you're unsure where to begin, the Oracle Database Concepts 10g Release 2 and the 2-Day DBA Guide will help familiarize you with your new database. OTN also has a number of guides designed to help you get the most out of Oracle Database 10g Release 2.