Getting Oracle ASMLib via the Unbreakable Linux Network

ASMLib is a support library for the Automatic Storage Management feature of the Oracle Database. Oracle provides a Linux specific implementation of this library. This document is a set of tips on getting ASMLib via the Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN). The full installation guide is part of the Oracle Database Documentation .

This document describes where and how to get the ASM library provided by Oracle (herin "ASMLib") for Oracle Linux and Red Hat Enterprise Linux via the Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN). This allows convenient installation of the software and upgrading of the drivers.

ASMLib on the Unbreakable Linux Network

Currently, most people must grab ASMLib software from the web pages here on the Oracle Technology Network. Customers can navigate to the page matching their particular OS and download the library, support tools, and appropriate kernel driver. While not hard, it can be time consuming. Especially when a kernel upgrade needs an ASMLib driver upgrade.

Now there is the Unbreakable Linux Network. Systems registered with ULN can download all the ASMLib software directly from ULN. This promises to make ASMLib installation and upgrades even easier.

Customers installing Oracle Linux will discover that the support tools are on the installation media, as are the drivers for the included kernel. The only software not on the media is the library, the oracleasmlib RPM. This can only be installed from ULN.

Adding the Oracle Software Channel

The oracleasmlib RPM is part of the "Oracle Software for Oracle Linux" channel. A system must be added to this channel to install the library package.

Go to the ULN web site and log in. Once you've logged in, select the "Systems" tab on the right. This will bring up a list of systems you've registered with ULN. Select the system you want to install ASMLib on. At the bottom will be a list of unsubscribed channels that are available. Select the "Oracle Software for Oracle Linux" channel (or "Oracle Software for Enterprise Linux" for older versions) and click the "Subscribe" button. Your system is now able to download the oracleasmlib RPM.

Installing ASMLib via ULN

Now that the system is registered with ULN, it can install the software. Log in as root and run:

# yum install oracleasm-support oracleasmlib oracleasm-`uname -r`

On Oracle Linux 5 and older, run the following command instead:

# up2date -i oracleasm-support oracleasmlib oracleasm-`uname -r`

This will install the support tools, the library, and the kernel driver for the currently running kernel.

Note: If you are running the Unbreakable kernel, the ASMLib kernel driver is included in that kernel package, and the oracleasm-`uname -r` package should not be specified.

Upgrading ASMLib via ULN

Upgraded versions of all the software will be automatically pulled in via the up2date -u command. This means updates to the support tools, the library, or the driver for the current kernel.

Systems with oracleasm-support 2.1.0 or later can also upgrade the kernel driver with the oracleasm update-driver command.

With no arguments, it will install the latest driver for the currently running kernel. Drivers for other kernel versions can be installed by specifying the kernel versions as arguments to

the oracleasm update-driver command.

When it comes time to upgrade your kernel, take care to install the matching ASMLib kernel driver too. If you have oracleasm-support 2.1.0 or newer, you can use the oracleasm update-driver command: # up2date -i kernel-2.6.18-53.el5 # oracleasm update-driver 2.6.18-53.el5

Alternatively, oracleasm update-driver can be run with no arguments after the new kernel is booted.

Systems with older versions of oracleasm-support can still use up2date to upgrade the kernel driver:

# up2date -i kernel-smp-2.6.9-100.EL oracleasm-2.6.9-100.ELsmp

Getting ASMLib Without a ULN Subscription

While the driver and support tools are on the Oracle Linux installation media, the oracleasmlib RPM is not (this package allows Oracle to access the kernel driver).

This package is only available on ULN. Subscribers to ULN can use yum(8) or up2date(8) to download and install the package on their servers.

Non-subscribers are free to use the similar package built for RHEL on their Oracle Linux machines.

New ULN subscribers that happen to be using the RHEL version of the oracleasmlib package are advised to update the package from ULN.