Oracle Clusterware
Oracle Clusterware is the integrated foundation for Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC), enabling independent nodes to operate as a single system. Deliver high availability and resource management for databases and applications across the cluster.
Overview
Oracle Clusterware is a high availability and resource management solution that enables independent nodes to operate together as a single system. It monitors and manages Oracle Database, applications, and other resources across clustered nodes, automatically restarting or relocating resources in response to failures to help maintain availability. Oracle Clusterware is the integrated foundation for Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) and, together with Oracle Automatic Storage Management (ASM), forms Oracle Grid Infrastructure (GI).
Key Benefits
Increase Availability
Minimize planned and unplanned downtime through automated failure detection, recovery, and resource relocation.
Simplify Operations
Automate cluster monitoring, resource management, and recovery to reduce administrative overhead.
Optimize Resource Utilization
Dynamically allocate and manage cluster resources based on workload requirements and business priorities.
Deploy with Flexibility
Provide a consistent clustering and high availability foundation across supported on-premises, OCI and Multicloud environments.
Key Capabilities
- Cluster Management - Establishes, configures, and manages clustered environments.
- Resource Management - Manages databases, services, applications, listeners, and virtual IP addresses (VIPs) as cluster resources.
- Application Management - Extends high availability to supported applications through Oracle Grid Infrastructure Agents.
- Online Scalability - Supports online cluster expansion without interrupting running applications.
- Integrated Foundation for Oracle RAC - Provides the clustering and high availability framework required for Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC).
Architecture
Oracle Grid Infrastructure, which consists of Oracle Clusterware and Oracle Automatic Storage Management (ASM), provides the foundation for Oracle RAC. Oracle Clusterware establishes and manages the cluster by maintaining node membership and managing cluster resources, while Oracle ASM provides shared storage that enables multiple Oracle RAC instances running on separate nodes to access the same database.
Oracle Clusterware continuously monitors node membership, determining which nodes are active members, and manages cluster resources, including databases, services, listeners, applications, and virtual IP addresses (VIPs). When a node or resource failure occurs, Oracle Clusterware automatically restarts or relocates affected resources to healthy nodes. These capabilities enable Oracle RAC instances running on the remaining nodes to continue accessing the shared database, helping maintain database availability.
Together, Oracle Clusterware and Oracle ASM provide the resilient infrastructure that enables Oracle RAC to deliver continuous availability, online scalability, and simplified management across on-premises, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), and hybrid cloud deployments.
Oracle Grid Infrastructure (Bundled) Agents
Oracle Grid Infrastructure Agents extend Oracle Clusterware to enable high availability and workload management for supported applications. Agents allow applications to be monitored and managed as cluster resources. This enables Oracle Clusterware to monitor, start, stop, restart, and relocate applications using the same high availability framework that manages Oracle databases and services.
Oracle Grid Infrastructure Agents support a standalone deployment model that provides flexibility for installation, maintenance, and lifecycle management independent of the Oracle Grid Infrastructure home.
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