Experiences with Oracle 11gR2 on Linux on System z

Experiences with Oracle 11gR2 on Linux on System z

by Sam Amsavelu, Kathryn Arrell, Gaylan Braselton, Armelle Cheve, Ivan Dobos, Damian Gallagher, Helne Grosch, Michael MacIsaac, Romain Pochard, Barton Robinson, David Simpson, Richard Smrcina
Released November 2013
Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
ISBN: None

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Book description

Linux on System z offers many advantages to customers who rely on the IBM® mainframe systems to run their businesses. Linux on System z makes use of the qualities of service in the System z® hardware and in z/VM®, making it a robust industrial strength Linux. This provides an excellent platform for hosting Oracle solutions that run in your enterprise.

This IBM Redbooks® publication is divided into several sections to share the following experiences that are gained while Oracle Database 11gR2 is installed and tested:


  • Setting up Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 for Oracle

  • Managing an Oracle on Linux on System z environment

  • Provisioning Linux guests using several tools


    • It also includes many general hints and tips for running Oracle products on IBM System z with Linux and z/VM.

    Interested readers include database consultants, installers, administrators, and system programmers. This book is not meant to replace Oracle documentation but to supplement it with our experiences while Oracle products are installed and used.

    Please note that the additional material referenced in the text is not available from IBM.

    Table of contents

    1. Front cover
    2. Notices
      1. Trademarks
    3. Preface
      1. Authors
      2. Now you can become a published author, too!
      3. Comments welcome
      4. Stay connected to IBM Redbooks
    4. Chapter 1. Why customers are choosing to use Oracle products on Linux on IBM System z
      1. 1.1 Virtualization capabilities of IBM System z
      2. 1.2 Ability to use existing disaster recovery plans
      3. 1.3 Trusted Security and Resiliency
      4. 1.4 System z is optimized for High Availability
      5. 1.5 Total cost of ownership advantages of IBM System z
      6. 1.6 Ease of interfacing with traditional data
      7. 1.7 Increased performance and scalability capabilities of System z, including zEC12, z114, and z196
      8. 1.8 Specialty engines available on IBM System z
      9. 1.9 IBM zEnterprise BladeCenter Extension
      10. 1.10 End-to-end solution for dynamic infrastructure data center
      11. 1.11 Cost savings
      12. 1.12 Ability to easily add more capacity
      13. 1.13 IBM Cloud Services
      14. 1.14 Summary
      15. 1.15 Oracle solutions available on IBM System z
    5. Part 1 Setting up and installing Oracle 11gR2 on Linux on System z
    6. Chapter 2. Getting started on a proof of concept project for Oracle Database on Linux on System z
      1. 2.1 Architecture
        1. 2.1.1 Single Instance database
        2. 2.1.2 Single Instance with Cluster Ready Services or RAC One-Node
        3. 2.1.3 Two-node RAC on the same LPAR
        4. 2.1.4 Multinode RAC on more than one LPAR on one CPC
        5. 2.1.5 Multinode RAC in two or more CPCs
        6. 2.1.6 Data Guard
        7. 2.1.7 Using GoldenGate for replication
        8. 2.1.8 Summary
      2. 2.2 Sizing
        1. 2.2.1 Sizing tool
        2. 2.2.2 Memory sizing
        3. 2.2.3 Threads for dedicated processes
        4. 2.2.4 Summary
      3. 2.3 I/O considerations
        1. 2.3.1 Fibre Channel Protocol
        2. 2.3.2 ECKD and DASD
        3. 2.3.3 Oracle Database recommendations
        4. 2.3.4 File system recommendations
        5. 2.3.5 Validation of the I/O subsystem
      4. 2.4 Considerations for network choices
      5. 2.5 Other performance considerations
      6. 2.6 Considerations for how to run a PoC project
        1. 2.6.1 Run PoC testing
      7. 2.7 Successful projects: Is the solution production-ready?
    7. Chapter 3. Network connectivity options for Oracle on Linux on IBM System z
      1. 3.1 Overview
      2. 3.2 Network considerations for running Oracle RAC with Linux on System z
      3. 3.3 Virtual local area network tagging
      4. 3.4 Designing the network configuration for HA with Oracle on Linux on System z
      5. 3.5 Oracle RAC recommended configurations for Linux on System z
        1. 3.5.1 Other considerations: Using Oracle Server Pools
      6. 3.6 Setting up z/VM
      7. 3.7 Linux setup for Oracle RAC Interconnect Interfaces
        1. 3.7.1 Setting up the private VSWITCH
        2. 3.7.2 Setting up Ethernet bonding
        3. 3.7.3 Setting up Oracle HAIP
      8. 3.8 Notes and observations
      9. 3.9 Summary
    8. Chapter 4. Setting up SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP2 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.2
      1. 4.1 Installing Oracle 11gR2 on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server guest
        1. 4.1.1 Linux required RPMs for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11
        2. 4.1.2 Network Time Protocol TIME option
      2. 4.2 Installing Oracle 11.2.0.3 on a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 guest
        1. 4.2.1 Verify SELinux is permissive or disabled
        2. 4.2.2 Linux required RPMs for Red Hat Enterprise Linux installations
        3. 4.2.3 Setting NTP TIME for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (optional only for Oracle Grid installations)
      3. 4.3 Customization that is common to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and Red Hat Enterprise Linux
        1. 4.3.1 Required parameters for Oracle
        2. 4.3.2 Oracle RAC installations only
        3. 4.3.3 Create and verify required UNIX groups and Oracle user accounts
        4. 4.3.4 Setting file descriptors limits for the oracle and grid users
        5. 4.3.5 Pre-create user directories for product installs
        6. 4.3.6 Other rpm for grid installs for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and Red Hat Enterprise Linux
    9. Chapter 5. Using the Cloud Control agent to manage Oracle databases
      1. 5.1 Basic Enterprise Manager Cloud Control Architecture
      2. 5.2 Creating Cloud Control infrastructure on x86 Linux
        1. 5.2.1 Downloading and extracting the installation files
        2. 5.2.2 Installing and configuring the Enterprise Manager Cloud Control 12c
      3. 5.3 Updating the Cloud Control Software Library in online mode
        1. 5.3.1 Upgrading Software Library by using the Self Update Feature in online
      4. 5.4 Updating the Cloud Control Software Library in offline mode
        1. 5.4.1 Upgrading Software Library by using the Self Update Feature in offline mode
      5. 5.5 Deploying the Agents from Cloud Control console
      6. 5.6 Deploying Management Agents in silent mode
      7. 5.7 Adding the databases for monitoring
      8. 5.8 Summary
    10. Part 2 Managing an Oracle environment on Linux on System z
    11. Chapter 6. Using z/VM Live Guest Relocation to relocate a Linux guest
      1. 6.1 Overview of z/VM 6.2 features
        1. 6.1.1 Single System Image feature
        2. 6.1.2 LGR
      2. 6.2 Lab environment
        1. 6.2.1 Overview of tested two node z/VM SSI cluster
        2. 6.2.2 Hardware configuration
        3. 6.2.3 z/VM Software
        4. 6.2.4 Solution that is used to simulate a database workload
      3. 6.3 Scenario 1: Relocating an active Oracle single-instance database by using LGR
        1. 6.3.1 Setup information
        2. 6.3.2 Simulating the client workload
        3. 6.3.3 Relocating an Oracle guest
      4. 6.4 Scenario 2: Relocating an Oracle RAC inactive node by using LGR
        1. 6.4.1 Setup information
        2. 6.4.2 Network configurations
        3. 6.4.3 Client configuration of Transparent Application Failover
        4. 6.4.4 Simulating the client workload
        5. 6.4.5 Stopping Oracle on one node
        6. 6.4.6 Relocating the Oracle guest
        7. 6.4.7 Restarting Oracle on relocated guest
    12. Chapter 7. Tuning z/VM, Linux, and Oracle to run on IBM System z
      1. 7.1 Linux and z/VM
        1. 7.1.1 Architecture
        2. 7.1.2 Best practices
        3. 7.1.3 CPU performance analysis
        4. 7.1.4 Storage and memory performance
        5. 7.1.5 Disk I/O performance
      2. 7.2 Oracle
        1. 7.2.1 Architecture
        2. 7.2.2 Best practices: CPU
        3. 7.2.3 Best practices: Performance analysis
        4. 7.2.4 Best practices: Storage and memory
        5. 7.2.5 Best practices: I/O
      3. 7.3 Summary
    13. Chapter 8. Cross-platform migration overview
      1. 8.1 Introduction
      2. 8.2 Considerations before any migration
        1. 8.2.1 Downtime
        2. 8.2.2 Technical compatibility
        3. 8.2.3 Application compatibility
        4. 8.2.4 In-house administration scripts
        5. 8.2.5 Network
        6. 8.2.6 Disk space requirement
        7. 8.2.7 Skills
      3. 8.3 Migration techniques
        1. 8.3.1 Export/Import with Oracle Data Pump
        2. 8.3.2 Transportable Tablespaces
        3. 8.3.3 Create Table As Select
        4. 8.3.4 Oracle Streams
        5. 8.3.5 Oracle GoldenGate
        6. 8.3.6 Other techniques
        7. 8.3.7 Considerations when migrating from File System to ASM or vice versa
      4. 8.4 Best practices
        1. 8.4.1 Sizing considerations
        2. 8.4.2 Performance measurement before and after migration
        3. 8.4.3 Real Application Testing feature
        4. 8.4.4 Preparing the data to be migrated
        5. 8.4.5 Determine the invalid objects in the database
        6. 8.4.6 Rebuilding indexes
        7. 8.4.7 Logging during migration
        8. 8.4.8 Redo Logs
        9. 8.4.9 Using Linux on System z infrastructure
        10. 8.4.10 Considerations when you are migrating from Oracle on z/OS to Oracle on Linux on System z
      5. 8.5 Example of migration by using Export/Import Data Pump
        1. 8.5.1 Infrastructure
        2. 8.5.2 Tasks list
        3. 8.5.3 Snapshot of the database status
        4. 8.5.4 Export source database
        5. 8.5.5 Creating a target database
        6. 8.5.6 Import on the target environment
      6. 8.6 Summary
    14. Chapter 9. High Availability and Disaster Recovery environment for Oracle
      1. 9.1 High Availability
        1. 9.1.1 Planned downtime events
        2. 9.1.2 Unplanned downtime triggers
        3. 9.1.3 Defining the common requirements for High Availability
      2. 9.2 Oracle technologies for High Availability
        1. 9.2.1 Backup and recovery
        2. 9.2.2 Oracle Flashback Technology
        3. 9.2.3 Oracle Automated Storage Manager
        4. 9.2.4 Oracle Grid Control Cluster technology
        5. 9.2.5 Oracle RAC One Node technology
        6. 9.2.6 Oracle RAC technology
        7. 9.2.7 Oracle Application Failover technology
        8. 9.2.8 Oracle Data Guard technology
        9. 9.2.9 Oracle GoldenGate
      3. 9.3 High Availability with z/VM
      4. 9.4 Disaster Recovery solutions
      5. 9.5 Summary
    15. Part 3 Provisioning an Oracle environment on Linux on System z
    16. Chapter 10. Automating Oracle on System z
      1. 10.1 Infrastructure as a Service under z/VM
        1. 10.1.1 Configuring z/VM
        2. 10.1.2 Defining virtual machines
      2. 10.2 PaaS
        1. 10.2.1 Preparing to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.2 on the golden image
        2. 10.2.2 Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.2 Linux on the golden image
        3. 10.2.3 Configuring the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.2 golden image
        4. 10.2.4 Copying a REXX EXEC on z/VM for cloning support
        5. 10.2.5 Testing the cloning a virtual machine
      3. 10.3 SaaS for Oracle stand-alone
        1. 10.3.1 Configuring a Linux system for the Oracle boot script
        2. 10.3.2 Cloning a virtual server
        3. 10.3.3 Silently installing Oracle Database
    17. Chapter 11. Provisioning an Oracle environment
      1. 11.1 Introduction
      2. 11.2 Customizing a new Linux reference for Oracle
        1. 11.2.1 Requirements
        2. 11.2.2 System environment
        3. 11.2.3 New reference guest
      3. 11.3 Optimizing the Linux environment for Oracle workload
        1. 11.3.1 rpm checker
        2. 11.3.2 Optional rpm for Oracle Grid: cvudisk-1.0.9-1 rpm
        3. 11.3.3 Stopping the useless Linux services
        4. 11.3.4 Hosts file
        5. 11.3.5 Linux Kernel parameters
        6. 11.3.6 Creating and verifying the required UNIX groups and Oracle user accounts
        7. 11.3.7 Pre-creating user directories for product installs
        8. 11.3.8 Setting file descriptors limits for Oracle and grid users
        9. 11.3.9 Activating the swap in memory (VDisk)
      4. 11.4 Linux configuration for Tivoli Service Automation Manager environment
        1. 11.4.1 Python package
        2. 11.4.2 Installing rpm for Tivoli Service Automation Manager
        3. 11.4.3 Checking mount definitions in /etc/fstab
        4. 11.4.4 Disabling the boot menu at IPL
        5. 11.4.5 Disabling parallel boot option on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11
        6. 11.4.6 Verifying the configuration
      5. 11.5 Installing a new Oracle Single Instance database and recording the Silent Install file on a test server
        1. 11.5.1 Getting the Patchset for Oracle Database Server 11.2.0.3.0
        2. 11.5.2 Starting the Virtual Network Computing server
        3. 11.5.3 Starting a VNC client
        4. 11.5.4 Installing Oracle Database
        5. 11.5.5 Replaying the installation in Silent Mode
      6. 11.6 Customizing a script
        1. 11.6.1 Customizing the shell script
        2. 11.6.2 Customizing the Silent Installation file for new server
      7. 11.7 Creating the Tivoli Service Automation Manager and Tivoli Provisioning Manager objects and workflows for PaaS provisioning
        1. 11.7.1 Setting up an Oracle Image
        2. 11.7.2 Cataloging an Oracle Image
        3. 11.7.3 Creating a Workflow
        4. 11.7.4 Registering an Oracle PaaS
        5. 11.7.5 Requesting a new Oracle Service
        6. 11.7.6 Suppressing a provisioning project
        7. 11.7.7 Unregistering a z/VM project
      8. 11.8 Summary
    18. Chapter 12. Using z/Pro as a Cloud infrastructure for Oracle
      1. 12.1 zPRO introduction
      2. 12.2 Cloud implementation overview
        1. 12.2.1 Requirements
        2. 12.2.2 Dirmaint configuration
        3. 12.2.3 Dirmaint direct access storage device configuration
        4. 12.2.4 SMAPI implementation
        5. 12.2.5 zPRO implementation
        6. 12.2.6 Using zPro
        7. 12.2.7 Cloning
      3. 12.3 Shared Binary Linux implementation: SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP2
        1. 12.3.1 Architecture
        2. 12.3.2 Adding kernel modules
        3. 12.3.3 Setting up for read-only root
        4. 12.3.4 Creating a Base Linux golden image
      4. 12.4 Shared Binary Oracle implementation: Oracle 11g
      5. 12.5 Cloning 100 Oracle Servers for Development: Oracle 11g
        1. 12.5.1 Cloning procedure
      6. 12.6 References
    19. Part 4 Appendixes
    20. Appendix A. Setting up Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.3 for Oracle
      1. A.1 Introduction
      2. A.2 Step 1: Starting the Red Hat bootstrap loader
      3. A.3 Step 2: Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux
      4. A.4 Step 3: Running oravalidate rpm to import all other rpms
      5. A.5 Installing and setting up vncserver
      6. A.6 Step 4: Customizing the Linux setup for Oracle
      7. A.7 Summary
    21. Appendix B. Installing Oracle and creating a database 11.2.0.3 on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
      1. B.1 Obtaining the Oracle code and documentation
      2. B.2 Installing the Oracle code
      3. B.3 Upgrading to the latest patch set update level
      4. B.4 Creating an Oracle database
    22. Appendix C. Working effectively with Oracle support
      1. C.1 Oracle Support for Linux on System z
      2. C.2 Oracle patching process
      3. C.3 Prior planning and preparation prevent poor performance
      4. C.4 Oracle SRs
      5. C.5 Tools
    23. Appendix D. Additional material
      1. Locating the Web material
      2. Using the Web material
      3. Source code listings
      4. Sample script for preoracle.sh
    24. Related publications
      1. IBM Redbooks
      2. Other publications
      3. My Oracle Support notes
      4. Online resources
      5. Help from IBM
    25. Back cover

    Product information

    • Title: Experiences with Oracle 11gR2 on Linux on System z
    • Author(s): Sam Amsavelu, Kathryn Arrell, Gaylan Braselton, Armelle Cheve, Ivan Dobos, Damian Gallagher, Helne Grosch, Michael MacIsaac, Romain Pochard, Barton Robinson, David Simpson, Richard Smrcina
    • Release date: November 2013
    • Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
    • ISBN: None