Creating an Oracle cluster

This topic describes how to provision an Oracle cluster for Real Applications Cluster (RAC) databases by using BMC Database Automation (BDA).

Before you begin

Ensure that the following prerequisites are met:

• A node that meets all of the Oracle Cluster Ready Services (CRS) prerequisites is available for provisioning.
• From within the Management Console hierarchy, you can access the domain in which you want to create a RAC database.

• If you want to perform inline patching and apply the patch before CRS is configured (for example, in case of Oracle One-Off patches), edit the patch package and set the following options:

  • Install Method as Apply
  • Command Line Options as applicable for the OPatch Apply method

  Note

  OPatch Auto is not applicable for this type of patching.

• If you want to perform inline patching and apply the patch after CRS is configured, edit the patch package and set the following options:
  • Install Method as Auto or Apply
  • Command Line Options as applicable for the OPatch Auto or Apply method

To create an Oracle cluster

1. From the Management Console, navigate to the node within which you want to create an Oracle cluster and then select the domain name.
2. Select Provision > Create Oracle Grid Infrastructure.

3. In the General Information page, populate the following fields, and click Next.

   Field	Description
   Parent Domain	Displays the location (domain and subdomain) of the node on which this cluster is created.
   Node	Displays the node on which this cluster will be created.
   Cluster Version	Select the version of Oracle to be installed.
   Template	(Optional) Select a BDA template that contains any optional or mandatory parameters for this operation. See Managing templates for Oracle on Linux and UNIX and Managing templates for Oracle RAC databases on Linux and UNIX. If you select a template, click Skip Ahead to advance directly to the next step that requires input. An information message appears in the step, in green type, listing the fields that require entries before advancing to the next step.
   Display Name	Type the name of the new BDA cluster that you want to create. This is the name that will display in the Context Tree after the cluster is created.

4. If the Custom Fields page appears, enter values for the custom fields, and click Next.
   This page appears only when custom fields are defined in the BDA XML template that is used for this provisioning activity. See Adding custom fields to a template.

5. In the Setup page, populate the following fields, and click Next.

   Field	Description
   (Applicable for version 8.9.01 and later) Configure ASM	(Optional) Select this field for provisioning RAC databases on ASM; otherwise BDA continues provisioning RAC databases on NFS.
   Installation Type	(11gR2 and 12c only) Select from the following installation types: Cluster: Install Oracle grid infrastructure home to support a cluster of nodes. Oracle Restart: Install Oracle grid infrastructure home to support a single node Oracle Restart configuration.
   Fix Inventory Permissions	(Optional) Select this field to change the permissions on the inventory to 770, so that all users in the install group can write to the disk. Note: Selecting this option is recommended when the host contains Oracle Homes owned by different users and to avoid pre-verification errors.
   Fix Permissions	(Optional) Select this field to fix permissions on directories and files that require changes for deployment in a multi-user environment (that is, environments where different Oracle Homes on the same node are owned by different users).
   Upgrade Opatch	(Optional) Select this field to upgrade the version of OPatch that is installed by default to the current version on the Manager.
   Ignore Oracle OUI Prerequisite Checks	(Optional) Select this field to continue with this provisioning activity even when the Oracle prerequisite checks are not met.
   NEW IN 8.9.03Apply Patch Before Configuring CRS	(Optional) Select this field to perform the inline patching for the grid infrastructure prior to CRS configuration. By default, this field is not selected, which means that patching is done after CRS configuration. Note: BMC recommends to select this option while applying Oracle One-Off patches, which need to be applied prior to ASM configuration.
   Oracle Installation User	Type the OS user that should own this Oracle installation.
   Oracle Installation Group	Type the OS group that should own this Oracle installation.
   Language	Type the language for this cluster.

6. In the Configuration page, populate the following fields, and click Next.

   Note

   For RAC databases, the inventory directory that is used for the cluster home is also used for any DBMS homes that are created.

   The following rules apply for provisioning Oracle Base and Oracle Home:

   • For an Oracle 11.2.0.1 Restart-enabled cluster, there are no restrictions (Oracle Home can be under Oracle Base).
   • For Oracle 11.2.0.2 and 11.2.0.3 Restart-enabled clusters, Oracle Home cannot be under Oracle Base.

   Field	Description
   Oracle Cluster Name	Type the Oracle cluster name.
   Cluster Oracle Base	Type the Oracle Base path of the cluster in the file system.
   Cluster Oracle Home	Type the Oracle Home path in the file system. This path must be below (or the same as) the specified Oracle Base of the cluster in the directory tree.
   Cluster Oracle Home Name	Type the name of the CRS Oracle Home.
   Inventory Directory	Type the directory that is used to store the Oracle inventory.
   Create Global Inventory Pointer	(Optional) Select to creates the /etc/oraInst.loc file, which indicates the path to the inventory directory and the install group.
   CRS Backup Directory	Type the destination path for CRS backups.

7. In the Listener/ASM Configuration page, populate the following fields, and click Next.

   Note

   The fields that appear vary depending on the version of Oracle installed on the node. Differences are noted in the following table.

   Section	Field	Description
   Groups	DBA Group	Type the name of the DBA group.
   	Operators Group	Type the name of the Operators group.
   	ASM Group	Type the name of the ASM group.
   Oracle Homes	Listener/ASM Oracle Home Name	Type the name of the Listener/ASM Oracle Home.
   	Listener/ASM Oracle Base	Type the path of the Listener/ASM DBMS Oracle Base.
   	Listener/ASM Oracle Home	Type the path of the Listener/ASM DBMS Oracle Home.
   Listener Configuration	Network Admin Path	(Optional) Select this field to allow BDA users to define a symbolic link from the Oracle admin directory /Oracle_Home/network/admin that contains files like tnsnames.ora and listener.ora. If you enter the standard location (/Oracle_Home/network/admin), a symbolic link is not created; it is there by default. A separate Network Admin Path must be specified for each home; that is, one path for CRS and one for each database home. If you specify a custom path, it cannot be a parent of the standard Network Admin Path.
   	Listener Name	(For 11 gR2 only) Type the name of the listener. The host name is appended to the name you enter. For example, if the name is Listener and the host name is host1, the listener that is created is Listener_host1.
   	Listener Port	(For 11 gR2 only) Type the number of the TCP/IP port on which the listener should listen.
   (Applicable for provisioning of RAC databases on ASM only) ASM Configuration	ASM Password	Specify the SYS password for the ASM instances.
   	Confirm ASM Password	Confirm the SYS password for the ASM instances.
   	ASM SNMP Password	Specify the password for the ASM monitoring user.
   	Confirm ASM SNMP Password	Confirm the password for the ASM monitoring user.
   	ASM Diskstring	Verify the OS-dependent value used by ASM to limit the set of disks considered for discovery.
   	ASM BDump Path	(This field does not apply to 11g) Type or verify the ASM Background Dump path. BDA uses this path for the Add Node to Cluster provisioning process.
   	ASM CDump Path	(This field does not apply to 11g.) Type or verify the ASM Core Dump path. BDA uses this path for the Add Node to Cluster provisioning process.
   	ASM UDump Path	(This field does not apply to 11g.) Type or verify the ASM User Dump path. BDA uses the path entered here for the Add Node to Cluster provisioning process.
   	ASM Group	(Applies to 11g only) Verify the SYSASM, a system privilege that enables the separation of the ASM storage administration privilege from SYSDBA.
   	NEW IN 8.9.02Configure Separate GIMR Diskgroup	(Applies to 12.2.0.1 only) Select this option if you want to create a separate disk group for the Grid Infrastructure Management Repository (GIMR) data to segregate it from the CRS data.

8. If the ASM Diskgroup page appears, populate the following fields, and click Next.

   Note

   This page does not appear for provisioning of RAC databases on NFS.

   Section	Description
   ASM Diskgroup Name	Type a name for this diskgroup.
   ASM Disks	Select the disks that you want to use to contain the data files and click to move them to the Selected list box.
   AU Size	Enter the AU size of the ASM diskgroup. Possible Values: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 Note: This field appears when the installation type is Oracle Restart.
   ASM Redundancy	Select the ASM redundancy level: EXTERNAL: diskgroup must have a minimum of one disk NORMAL: diskgroup must have a minimum of two available disks HIGH: diskgroup must have a minimum of three available disks FLEX (Oracle 12.2 and later only): diskgroup must have a minimum of three available disks. FLEX redundancy enables you to make a change to the diskgroup, which was previously unavailable in versions earlier than 12.2.

9. If the GIMR Diskgroup page appears, populate the following fields, and click Next.

   Note

   This page does not appear for provisioning of RAC databases on NFS.

   Section	Description
   GIMR Diskgroup Name	Type a name for this disk group.
   GIMR Disks	Select the disks that you want to use to contain the data files and click to move them to the Selected list box.
   GIMR AU Size	Enter the AU size of the GIMR disk group. Possible Values: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 Note: This field appears when the installation type is Oracle Restart.
   GIMR Redundancy	Select the GIMR redundancy level: NORMAL: disk group must have a minimum of three available disks HIGH: diskgroup must have a minimum of five available disks FLEX (Oracle 12.2 and later only): disk group must have a minimum of three available disks. FLEX redundancy enables you to make a change to the diskgroup, which was previously unavailable in versions earlier than 12.2.

10. In the Oracle Home Components page, populate the following fields, and click Next.

    Note

    If you chose to create a listener or ASM instance in step 5 of this procedure, a DBMS Oracle Home is also created. This option is reflected in the Oracle Home Components page.

    Section	Description
    Products to Install	Select the components that you want to install in this Oracle Home from the available component list.
    Enterprise Options to Install	Select the Oracle Enterprise Edition components that you want to install in this Oracle Home from the available components list.
    Network Options to Install	Select the network components that you want to install in this Oracle Home from the available components list.

11. (Applicable for version 8.9.01 and later) In the Disk page, populate the following fields, and click Next. The Disk page appears only for provisioning of RAC databases on NFS.

    Note

    The Disk page appears depending on the selection of the Configure ASM check box in the Setup page.

    Section	Description
    Voting Redundancy	For EXTERNAL redundancy, provide one value each for Voting Disk. For example, /shared_config/voting_disk. For NORMAL redundancy, provide 3 different values each for Voting Disk. For example, /shared_config/voting_disk.
    Voting Disk	Type the location for the Oracle CRS voting disk. Note: Voting Device must be mounted on a shared disk.
    OCR Redundancy	For EXTERNAL redundancy, provide one value each for OCR Disk. For example, /shared_config/ocr_disk. For NORMAL redundancy, provide 3 different values each for OCR Disk. For example, /shared_config/ocr_disk.
    OCR Disk	Type the location for the Oracle CRS OCR disk. Note: OCR Device must be mounted on a shared disk.

12. In the Devices page, populate the following fields, and click Next. This Devices page appears only for provisioning of RAC databases on ASM. 

    The Devices page appears only for 11gR1 and 11gR2 databases.

    Field	Description
    Voting Disk	Type the location for the Oracle CRS voting disk.
    Optional Voting Disks	(Optional) Type the location of an additional, optional Oracle CRS voting disk. If optional voting disks are added, the total amount of voting disks must be 1 or 3.
    OCR Disk	Type the location for the Oracle CRS OCR disk.
    Optional OCR Disk	(Optional) Type the location of an additional, optional Oracle CRS OCR disk. If optional OCR disks are added, the number of OCR devices for each CRS cluster must be 1 or 2.
    ASM Password Device	(Optional) (11gR2 only) Type the location of the ASM orapw device.
    ASM SPFile Device	Type the location of the ASM SPFile device.
    Management Database Disk	(Optional) (Applies to 12c only) The ASM diskgroup name where the management database needs to be created. Sample value is /shared_config/management_disk.

13. In the Networking page, populate the following fields, and click Next.

    Note

    The fields that appear vary depending on the version of Oracle that is installed on the node. Differences are noted in the table.

    Field	Description
    Pin Node	(11gR2 only) Select this check box to pin this node, which means the node is permanently bound to the assigned node number. When you are provisioning a RAC that contains nodes running mixed versions (for example, 10gR2 on 11gR2), nodes must be pinned. For more information, refer to Oracle Metalink ID 1285144.1.
    VIP Interface	Select the Ethernet interface to use for the Oracle CRS Virtual IP address.
    VIP Subnet Mask	Enter the subnet mask to use for the Oracle CRS Virtual IP address.
    Use HAIP	(11gR2 only) Select this check box to use Highly Available IP addresses. When this choice is selected, the HAIP Private Interfaces section is displayed (see following figure).
    HAIP Private Interfaces	(11gR2 only and with Use HAIP option selected) Click Add Interface to select an interface from the Available Private Interfaces section, or click Add Other Interfaces to select a different one that you type in the field box. The selected interface appears in the Selected Private Interfaces section (and no longer appears in the Available Private Interfaces section). You can reorder the interfaces from the selected section by clicking the Move Up or Move Down arrows, or remove an interface by clicking the corresponding Remove button.
    Private Interface	(11gR2 only) Enter the interface to use for cluster interconnect traffic.
    Public Alias	Verify the network alias to be used for the public address of this cluster node. If there are no host names in the list box, select Other and type the public alias in the text box that appears.
    Private Alias	Select the network alias to use for the private address of this cluster node. If there are no host names in the list box, select Other and type the private alias in the text box that appears.
    VIP Alias	Select the network alias to use for the virtual address of this cluster node. If there are no host names in the list box, select Other and type the VIP alias in the text box that appears.
    SCAN Address	(11gR2 only) Type the host name that resolves to the SCAN IP addresses.
    SCAN Listener Port	(11gR2 only) Type the port on which the SCAN listener should bind.

14. In the Custom Scripts Configuration page, select any pre-provisioning or post-provisioning scripts that you want to run as follows, and click Next.

    Section	Description
    Pre-Provisioning Scripts	(Optional) Select the scripts that you want to run before this event and click to move them to the Selected list box. The scripts in Selected are run in the order listed. Use Move Up and Move Down to re-order the scripts when necessary. See also Managing pre-provisioning and post-provisioning script files.
    Post-Provisioning Scripts	(Optional) Select the scripts that you want to run after this event and click to move them to the Selected list box. See also Managing pre-provisioning and post-provisioning script files.

15. In the Job Options page, specify any of the following Job options, and click Next.

    Type	Option	Description
    Notification Emails	Email List	(Optional) Click Add Email to add email addresses to the notification list.
    Job Administration	Cleanup Agent Logs	(Optional) Select this option to automatically remove logs that are generated by BMC Database Automation on the Agent after the Job is completed.

16. If the Change Control page displays, populate the following fields, and click Next.

    Section	Field	Description
    	Bypass Change Control	(Optional) Select this field to bypass using BMC Remedy ITSM to control the change process. Selecting this option removes the rest of the fields from this page.
    	Change Control Options	Select one of the following fields to either open a new BMC Remedy ITSM change ticket or use an existing BMC Remedy ITSM change ticket to control the change process. Select Use Existing Change Ticket to display the fields in the Use Existing Change Ticket section on this page. Select Create New Change Ticket to display the fields in the Create New Change Ticket section on this page.
    Use Existing Change Ticket	ITSM Change ID	Specify the BMC Remedy ITSM change ticket number to associate with this change process.
    	ITSM Task ID	Specify the BMC Remedy ITSM task ID number to associate with this change process.
    Create New Change Ticket	Change Type	Assign the type of change for the new BMC Remedy ITSM change ticket.
    	Change Impact	Assign the impact level of this change process for the new BMC Remedy ITSM change ticket.
    	Change Urgency	Assign the urgency level for the new BMC Remedy ITSM change ticket.
    	Change Risk-Level	Assign the risk level of this change process for the new BMC Remedy ITSM change ticket.
    	Change Class	Assign the change class for the new BMC Remedy ITSM change ticket.
    	Change Summary	Type a summary of the change process.

    Note

    The Change Control page appears only when change control is configured for your environment. See Configuring change control.

17. In the Summary page, review the provisioning information.
    To make changes, do the following actions:
    1. Click Go to to return to the provisioning step that you want to edit.
    2. Make your changes.
    3. Click Save and Review to return to the Summary page.
18. Specify your verification preferences.
    For additional information, see Understanding pre-verification tests.
    • To continue with database creation after the pre-verification tests have been run successfully without manual intervention, select Automatically Continue If All Tests Succeed.

    • To create the database without having first run the pre-verification steps, select Skip Pre-Verification Tests.

      Note

      The Skip Pre-Verification Tests option should only be used when you are certain all tests can succeed. The option skips the verification process and advances directly to the actual provisioning activity.

19. Click Create Cluster.
    If you disabled the Automatically Continue If All Tests Succeed and Skip Pre-Verification Tests options, you are prompted to click Continue after the pre-verification steps are done.
    The cluster creation process begins and a progress page appears.

20. If this procedure was not successful, see Troubleshooting.

    Note

    Detailed current and historical information about this action can be viewed in the Jobs section of the Management Console. See Monitoring jobs and viewing job history.