RAC Attack - Oracle Cluster Database at Home/Overview

RAC Attack - Oracle Cluster Database at Home

Overview

Bullpen (Newly Contributed Content)

Expanded Table of Contents

Part I: Setting Up RAC

1. Hardware and Windows Preparation
2. Linux Install
3. Create Cluster
4. Grid Install (ASM)
5. Grid Install (Shared Filesystem)
6. RAC Install
7. Create Database
8. Rolling Patches

Part II: Exploring RAC

1. Clusterware Testing
2. Services, Failover and Load Balancing
3. RAC SQL and PLSQL
4. RAC Backups and Recovery

This is a workbook for an Oracle cluster database hands-on learning lab. It helps students learn about Oracle RAC cluster databases through guided examples. (Specifically, 11gR2 RAC on VMware Server with ASM or Shared Filesystem and Oracle Enterprise Linux 5.) It can be used by instructors in classes, or by individuals at home.

This differs from other tutorials currently available in terms of depth. For the most part, every keystroke and mouse click is carefully documented here. Furthermore, the full process is carefully documented - from the very first installation of VMware on your laptop to various experiments on your running cluster database... with everything in between.

Prerequisites

Students should be able to navigate in Unix - for example, listing files with "ls".

Hardware Minimum Requirements

Most modern laptop and desktop computers should be powerful enough to run a two-node virtual RAC cluster. In a nutshell, these are the recommended minimums:

• Dual-core 2GHz 32-bit processor (it's been done with single-core)
• 4GB memory (it's been done with 3GB)
• Two physical hard disks - not partitions (it's been done with one)
  • External HD for laptops (it's been done with certain USB flash memory sticks)
  • 50 GB + 10.5 GB free space (it's been done with slightly less)
• Windows XP or Vista (linux & mac are not covered in these instructions)

Making This Lab Successful

• Read about: Planning Your Time

• Focus on what you can learn.
  • Choose as many specific learning goals as possible and take your time to investigate them.
  • Be creative and experiment.
  • Take risks and don't be afraid to break things.

• Take advantage of the classroom or event setting, if you're in one
  • You can "jumpstart" back to the beginning of a lab with one click.
  • Record discoveries and questions to share with others.
  • Help each other out. There are more participants than instructors!

• When possible, cut-and-paste steps directly into a PuTTY SSH terminal session.

Lab Tips

• All passwords are racattack
• Always choose "I moved this VM" when asked, unless instructions specifically say to choose "copied".
• If using your own laptop, start the VMs one after another. That is, wait until the first VM completes bootup - including clusterware and database - before starting the second.
• Classroom specific tips:
  • Common login account for Workstation and VMware console: "admin"
  • Common changes from the lab handbook:
    • Use 5GB shared disks – not 3.25GB
    • Use 900MB memory – not 760MB
  • Jumpstarts could take longer than you think... read: Planning Your Time
  • "RAC11g" directory is often at C:\RAC11g
  • Handout is available with stretch goals for advanced participants

Storage Overview

	ASM	Shared FS
/dev/sdb	DATA	/u51 (/u61)
/dev/sdc	BACKUP	/u52

Networking Overview

	collabn1	collabn2
Interconnect	172.16.100.51	172.16.100.52
Administration	192.168.78.51	192.168.78.52
VIP	192.168.78.61	192.168.78.62
SCAN	192.168.78.250