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Creating Highly Available Database Solutions: Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) and Sun Cluster 3.x Software

Creating Highly Available Database Solutions: Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) and Sun Cluster 3.x Software

by Michael Loebmann, Kristien Hens
Publisher: Prentice Hall
Release Date: December 2004
ISBN: 9780131863903
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Book Description

This book explains how to architect and deploy high availability (HA) solutions with Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) in a Sun™ Cluster 3.x environment. It presents information to help you decide when an Oracle RAC and Sun Cluster software solution is appropriate to satisfy the availability requirements of your business. In addition, this book explains the technology behind these products, describes successful customer deployments, and provides technical tips and preferred practice recommendations.

This book features detailed case studies, including 

  • A large German bank that has implemented an Oracle RAC and Sun

  • Cluster software solution to meet the ever-increasing business demands of the banking industry.

  • One of the largest companies in Europe for alpine skiing that has implemented Oracle RAC and Sun Cluster software to support HA requirements in a consolidated environment.

  • A benchmark case that describes the use of Oracle RAC with Sun’s

  • Remote Shared Memory (RSM) technology to improve the performance of single-instance databases.

  • A large financial institution that uses Sun Cluster’s HA Oracle agent to provide the necessary level of HA required for their database.

Table of Contents

  1. Copyright
  2. Acknowledgments
  3. Preface
    1. How This Guide Is Organized
    2. Related Documentation
      1. Web Sites
    3. Typographic Conventions
    4. Shell Prompts
    5. Accessing Sun Documentation
  4. 1. Understanding High Availability for Databases
    1. Assessing the Criticality of a Solution
      1. Business Processes and Functions That Support an HA Solution
      2. Sun’s Availability Methodology
        1. Measuring Rate
        2. Measuring Robustness
        3. Measuring Recovery
      3. Best Practices for Availability
    2. Assessing High Availability Requirements for Databases
      1. Sun’s HA Oracle Data Service
      2. Oracle Real Application Cluster (Oracle RAC)
    3. Choosing the Correct Configuration to Support HA Requirements
      1. Robustness of Database Solutions
      2. Recovery Time of a Database Solution
        1. Assessing the Back-to-Nominal Time of a Solution
      3. Maintainability of Database Solutions
    4. Protecting Data—Beyond Application Availability
      1. Backup and Recovery Techniques
      2. Remote Mirrors and Snapshots
      3. Standby Databases
    5. Preparing for Disasters—Business Continuity Management
      1. Campus Clusters
      2. Local Clusters With Data Replicated to a Single System on a Disaster Recovery Site
      3. Local Clusters With Data Replicated to a Cluster on a Disaster Recovery Site
  5. 2. Understanding the Benefits of Implementing Oracle RAC on Sun Cluster Software
    1. Using Oracle on the Solaris Operating System
      1. Availability
      2. Performance
        1. Bypassing the File System Cache With Direct I/O
        2. Enabling the Direct I/O Feature for Log Files
        3. Overlapping Data Writes With Asynchronous I/O
        4. Reducing System Calls With Kernel Asynchronous I/O
        5. Assessing the Impact of Using the Single Writer Lock
    2. Understanding the Value of Oracle and Sun Mature Technologies
    3. Understanding the Robustness of Sun Cluster Software
      1. Certification
        1. Understanding the Benefits of the Sun Cluster Open Storage Program
        2. Understanding the Benefits of SCATE Software
      2. Kernel-Level Cluster
      3. Advanced Data Protection
    4. Understanding Options for Accessing Memory Remotely
      1. RSM-Capable Interconnect
    5. Understanding Options for Storing Data
      1. Raw Devices
      2. File Systems
    6. Supporting Enterprise Continuity Solutions
      1. Data Availability and Consistency
        1. Managing and Protecting Data
      2. Server and Application Availability
        1. Protecting Against Server Failures
        2. Ensuring Application Availability
      3. Enterprise Components
        1. Accessing Data From Distant Servers With an Access Network
        2. Transporting Data Over Large Distances With a Transport Network
      4. Skilled People and Tested Processes and Products
    7. Looking at the Future of Oracle and Sun Cluster
  6. 3. Understanding the Oracle RAC Architecture and Sun Cluster Software Internals
    1. Designing a Hardware Architecture to Support High Availability
      1. Diversity
      2. Servers
      3. Storage
      4. Network
    2. Using an Operating System That Supports High Availability
      1. Sun StorEdge Traffic Manager Software
      2. Internet Protocol Network Multipathing
      3. Boot Disk Considerations
    3. Examining Sun Cluster Software Internals
      1. Object Request Broker
      2. Internal Kernel Infrastructure
        1. Managing Cluster Node Communication With Cluster Transport
        2. Monitoring Failure With Cluster Membership Monitor
        3. Maintaining Cluster Configuration Information With the Cluster Configuration Repository
        4. Replicating the Performance of Primary Nodes on Secondary Nodes Through the Replica Framework
      3. User-Visible Kernel Services
        1. Accessing a Globally Mounted File System
        2. Accessing Raw Devices Through the Global Devices Structure
        3. Networking Services in the Cluster Framework
      4. Userland—Resource Group Management
        1. Understanding Resource Dependencies and Resource Group Affinities
        2. Tracking Activity of Data Services With Methods Called by the RGM
        3. Developing a Custom Agent
    4. Understanding the Interaction of Sun Cluster Packages for OPS/RAC
      1. Sun Cluster Userland Cluster Membership Monitor
      2. Solaris Volume Manager Software
      3. VERITAS Volume Manager (VxVM)
      4. Hardware RAID and the SUNWschwr Package
      5. Userland Distributed Lock Manager
      6. Starting and Stopping the Oracle Instances
    5. Examining Oracle RAC Functionality
      1. Oracle General Architecture
        1. Editing the Oracle Parameter File
        2. Understanding the Components of an Oracle Database
        3. Understanding the Functionality of an Oracle Instance
      2. Oracle RAC-Specific Functionality
  7. 4. Applying Preferred Practices to Oracle RAC and Sun Cluster Implementations
    1. Installing Oracle RAC in a Sun Cluster 3.x Environment
      1. To Install and Configure the Sun Cluster 3.x Environment
      2. To Prepare for the Oracle RAC Installation
      3. To Install and Configure the Sun Cluster Packages for RAC
      4. To Install the CRS Software
      5. To Install the Oracle Binaries and Create the Database Files
      6. To Configure the SUNW.oracle_rac_server on Each Node (Optional)
    2. Understanding Oracle Data Configuration
      1. Solaris Volume Manager Multi-Owner Disksets
        1. Creating Disksets
      2. Raw /dev/did Devices
      3. Raw VERITAS Volume Manager Volumes
      4. Shared QFS File Systems
    3. Configuring Data for Oracle RAC
      1. To Create Data Files on Raw Solaris Volume Manager Volumes
      2. To Create Data Files on Shared QFS File Systems
    4. Configuring Archive Log Locations
      1. To Create Global File Systems on Solaris Volume Manager Volumes
      2. To Create Global File Systems on Global Devices
      3. To Create Global File Systems on VxVM
      4. To Put the Database in Archive Log Mode and Start Automatic Archiving
    5. Understanding Client Connections
      1. Oracle RAC Client Connections and Transparent Application Failover
      2. Oracle RAC With Sun Cluster Shared Address Functionality
      3. Oracle 10g RAC Virtual IP Functionality
      4. High Availability of Listeners
    6. Managing Client Connections in Oracle 9i RAC
      1. To Enable the Shared Address Functionality
      2. To Make Listeners Highly Available for Oracle RAC
    7. Tuning Sun Cluster 3.x Software for Oracle RAC
  8. 5. Examining Real-World High Availability Implementations
    1. Analyzing Real-World Customer Solutions
      1. Evaluate Potential Customer Case Studies
      2. Contact the Account Management Team
      3. Meet With the Customer
      4. Document the Information Learned
    2. Providing High Availability Services in the Banking Sector
      1. Understanding the Business Problem
      2. Understanding the Architecture
      3. Addressing Issues That Arose During Deployment
    3. Supporting the Seasonal HA Requirements of the Resort Industry
      1. Understanding the Business Problem
        1. Availability
        2. Performance
        3. Scalability
        4. Supportability
      2. Understanding the Architecture
      3. Addressing Issues That Arose During Deployment
    4. Improving Performance With Oracle RAC and Sun’s Remote Shared Memory
      1. Understanding the Business Problem
      2. Understanding the Architecture
    5. Addressing HA With an HA Oracle Agent in a Consolidated Environment
      1. Understanding the Business Problem
      2. Understanding the Architecture
      3. Addressing Customer Issues
  9. A. History of Oracle’s Parallel Database Technology
    1. Sun Cluster 2.x and Oracle OPS
      1. Software Components of PDB 1.0 and PDB 1.1
      2. Evolution of Distributed Lock Managers
      3. Early Market Applicability and Adoption
      4. Product Enhancements and Their Impact
      5. Oracle Parallel Server and IP Failover
      6. Enhancements to Support Oracle’s Cache Fusion
      7. Parallel Database and the Cache Fusion Evolution
    2. Cluster Architectures and Oracle Parallel Server Technology
    3. Oracle’s Cache Coherency Protocol
    4. The Famous Ping
    5. Always in Turn Please—Enqueues
    6. Oracle 9i: Cache Fusion II—All Fusion?
  10. B. Sample Service Level Agreement
    1. Service Levels
      1. Availability Management
      2. Corrective Actions
  11. C. Examples of the scsetup Utility
    1. Setting Up the Oracle RAC Framework Resource Group
    2. Registering a VxVM Diskgroup in the Cluster With the scsetup Utility
    3. Registering VxVM Volumes With the scsetup Utility
  12. Glossary