4 Installing Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Cluster

4.1 Preparing to Install Oracle Grid Infrastructure with OUI

Before you install Oracle grid infrastructure with the installer, use the following checklist to ensure that you have all the information you will need during installation, and to ensure that you have completed all tasks that must be done before starting your installation. Check off each task in the following list as you complete it, and write down the information needed, so that you can provide it during installation.

• Shut Down Running Oracle Processes

  You may need to shut down running Oracle processes:

  Installing on a node with a standalone database not using Oracle ASM: You do not need to shut down the database while you install Oracle grid infrastructure software.

  Installing on a node that already has a standalone Oracle Database 11g release 2 (11.2) installation running on Oracle ASM: Stop the existing Oracle ASM instances. After the software is installed, start the Oracle ASM instances again.

  Installing on an Oracle RAC Database node: This installation requires an upgrade of Oracle Clusterware, as Oracle Clusterware is required to run Oracle RAC. As part of the upgrade, you must shut down the database one node at a time as the rolling upgrade proceeds from node to node.

  Note:

  If you are upgrading an Oracle RAC 9i release 2 (9.2) node, and the TNSLSNR is listening to the same port on which the SCAN listens (default 1521), then the TNSLSNR should be shut down.

  If a Global Services Daemon (GSD) from Oracle9i Release 9.2 or earlier is running, then stop it before installing Oracle grid infrastructure by running the following command:

  $ Oracle_home/bin/gsdctl stop
  

  where Oracle_home is the Oracle Database home that is running the GSD.

  Caution:

  If you have an existing Oracle9i release 2 (9.2) Oracle Cluster Manager (Oracle CM) installation, then do not shut down the Oracle CM service. Shutting down the Oracle CM service prevents the Oracle grid infrastructure 11g release 2 (11.2) software from detecting the Oracle9i release 2 node list, and causes failure of the Oracle grid infrastructure installation.

  Note:

  If you receive a warning to stop all Oracle services after starting OUI, then run the command

  Oracle_home/bin/localconfig delete
  

  where Oracle_home is the existing Oracle Clusterware home.

• Prepare for Automatic Storage Management and Oracle Clusterware Upgrade If You Have Existing Installations

  During installation, you can upgrade existing Oracle Clusterware and Oracle ASM installations. You can upgrade an existing standalone Oracle ASM installation if it is on the node where you are installing Oracle grid infrastructure 11g release 2 (11.2).

  When all member nodes of the cluster are running Oracle grid infrastructure 11g release 2 (11.2), then the new clusterware becomes the active version.

  If you intend to install Oracle RAC, then you must first complete the upgrade to Oracle grid infrastructure 11g release 2 (11.2) on all cluster nodes before you install the Oracle Database 11g release 2 (11.2) version of Oracle RAC.

  Note:

  All Oracle grid infrastructure upgrades (upgrades of existing Oracle Clusterware and Oracle ASM installations) are out-of-place upgrades.

• Determine the Oracle Inventory (oraInventory) location

  If you have already installed Oracle software on your system, then OUI detects the existing Oracle Inventory (oraInventory) directory from the /etc/oraInst.loc file, and uses this location. This directory is the central inventory of Oracle software installed on your system. Users who have the Oracle Inventory group as their primary group are granted the OINSTALL privilege to write to the central inventory.

  If you are installing Oracle software for the first time on your system, and your system does not have an oraInventory directory, then the installer designates the installation owner's primary group as the Oracle Inventory group. Ensure that this group is available as a primary group for all planned Oracle software installation owners.

  Note:

  The oraInventory directory cannot be placed on a shared file system.

  See Also:

  The preinstallation chapters in Chapter 2 for information about creating the Oracle Inventory, and completing required system configuration

• Obtain root account access

  During installation, you are asked to run configuration scripts as the root user. You must run these scripts as root, or be prepared to have your system administrator run them for you. Note that these scripts must be run in sequence. If you attempt to run scripts simultaneously, then the installation will fail.

• Decide if you want to install other languages

  During installation, you are asked if you want translation of user interface text into languages other than the default, which is English.

  Note:

  If the language set for the operating system is not supported by the installer, then by default the installer runs in the English language.

  See Also:

  Oracle Database Globalization Support Guide for detailed information on character sets and language configuration

• Determine your cluster name, public node names, the SCAN, virtual node names, GNS VIP and planned interface use for each node in the cluster

  During installation, you are prompted to provide the public and virtual hostname, unless you use a third party cluster software. In that case, the public hostname information will be filled in. You are also prompted to identify which interfaces are public, private, or interfaces in use for another purpose, such as a network file system.

  If you use Grid Naming Service (GNS), then OUI displays the public and virtual hostname addresses labeled as "AUTO" because they are configured automatically.

  Note:

  If you configure IP addresses manually, then avoid changing host names after you complete the Oracle grid infrastructure installation, including adding or deleting domain qualifications. A node with a new hostname is considered a new host, and must be added to the cluster. A node under the old name will appear to be down until it is removed from the cluster.

  When you enter the public node name, use the primary host name of each node. In other words, use the name displayed by the hostname command.

  In addition:

  • Provide a cluster name with the following characteristics:

    • It must be globally unique throughout your host domain.

    • It must be at least one character long and less than 15 characters long.

    • It must consist of the same character set used for host names, in accordance with RFC 1123: Hyphens (-), and single-byte alphanumeric characters (a to z, A to Z, and 0 to 9). If you use third-party vendor clusterware, then Oracle recommends that you use the vendor cluster name.

  • If you are not using Grid Naming Service (GNS), then determine a virtual host name for each node. A virtual host name is a public node name that is used to reroute client requests sent to the node if the node is down. Oracle Database uses VIPs for client-to-database connections, so the VIP address must be publicly accessible. Oracle recommends that you provide a name in the format hostname-vip. For example: myclstr2-vip.

  • Provide SCAN addresses for client access to the cluster. These addresses should be configured as round robin addresses on the domain name service (DNS). Oracle recommends that you supply three SCAN addresses.

    Note:

    The following is a list of additional information about node IP addresses:

    • For the local node only, OUI automatically fills in public and VIP fields. If your system uses vendor clusterware, then OUI may fill additional fields.

    • Host names and virtual host names are not domain-qualified. If you provide a domain in the address field during installation, then OUI removes the domain from the address.

    • Interfaces identified as private for private IP addresses should not be accessible as public interfaces. Using public interfaces for Cache Fusion can cause performance problems.

  • Identify public and private interfaces. OUI configures public interfaces for use by public and virtual IP addresses, and configures private IP addresses on private interfaces.

    The private subnet that the private interfaces use must connect all the nodes you intend to have as cluster members.

• Identify shared storage for Oracle Clusterware files and prepare storage if necessary

  During installation, you are asked to provide paths for the following Oracle Clusterware files. These files must be shared across all nodes of the cluster, either on Automatic Storage Management, or on a supported file system:

  • Voting disks are files that Oracle Clusterware uses to verify cluster node membership and status.

    Voting disk files must be owned by the user performing the installation (oracle or grid), and must have permissions set to 640.

  • Oracle Cluster Registry files (OCR) contain cluster and database configuration information for Oracle Clusterware.

    Before installation, OCR files must be owned by the user performing the installation (grid or oracle). That installation user must have oinstall as its primary group. During installation, OUI changes ownership of the OCR files to root.

  If your file system does not have external storage redundancy, then Oracle recommends that you provide two additional locations for the OCR disk, and two additional locations for the voting disks, for a total of six partitions (three for OCR, and three for voting disks). Creating redundant storage locations protects the OCR and voting disk in the event of a failure. To completely protect your cluster, the storage locations given for the copies of the OCR and voting disks should have completely separate paths, controllers, and disks, so that no single point of failure is shared by storage locations.

  When you select to store the OCR on Oracle ASM, the default configuration is to create the OCR on one ASM diskgroup. If you create the disk group with normal or high redundancy, then the OCR is protected from physical disk failure.

  To protect the OCR from logical disk failure, create another ASM diskgroup after installation and add the OCR to the second diskgroup using the ocrconfig command.

  See Also:

  Chapter 2, "Advanced Installation Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Cluster Preinstallation Tasks" and Oracle Database Storage Administrator's Guide for information about adding disks to diskgroups

• Ensure cron jobs do not run during installation

  If the installer is running when daily cron jobs start, then you may encounter unexplained installation problems if your cron job is performing cleanup, and temporary files are deleted before the installation is finished. Oracle recommends that you complete installation before daily cron jobs are run, or disable daily cron jobs that perform cleanup until after the installation is completed.

• Have IPMI Configuration completed and have IPMI administrator account information

  If you intend to use IPMI, then ensure BMC interfaces are configured, and have an administration account username and password to provide when prompted during installation.

  For nonstandard installations, if you must change configuration on one or more nodes after installation (for example, if you have different administrator usernames and passwords for BMC interfaces on cluster nodes), then decide if you want to reconfigure the BMC interface, or modify IPMI administrator account information after installation as described in Chapter 5.

• Ensure that the Oracle home path you select for the grid infrastructure home uses only ASCII characters

  This restriction includes installation owner user names, which are used as a default for some home paths, as well as other directory names you may select for paths.

• Unset Oracle environment variables. If you have set ORA_CRS_HOME as an environment variable, then unset it before starting an installation or upgrade. You should never use ORA_CRS_HOME as an environment variable.

  If you have had an existing installation on your system, and you are using the same user account to install this installation, then unset the following environment variables: ORA_CRS_HOME; ORACLE_HOME; ORA_NLS10; TNS_ADMIN

4.2 Installing Grid Infrastructure

This section provides you with information about how to use the installer to install Oracle grid infrastructure. It contains the following sections:

• Running OUI to Install Grid Infrastructure

• Installing Grid Infrastructure Using a Cluster Configuration File

4.3 Installing Grid Infrastructure Using a Software-Only Installation

A software-only installation consists of installing Oracle grid infrastructure for a cluster on one node, configuring it, and then running the installer on each node that you want to have as a cluster member node, and then joining other nodes to the cluster.

To perform a software-only installation:

4.4 Confirming Oracle Clusterware Function

After installation, log in as root, and use the following command syntax on each node to confirm that your Oracle Clusterware installation is installed and running correctly:

crsctl check crs

For example:

$ crsctl check crs
 
CRS-4638: Oracle High Availability Services is online
CRS-4537: Cluster Ready Services is online
CRS-4529: Cluster Synchronization Services is online
CRS-4533: Event Manager is online

4.5 Confirming Oracle ASM Function for Oracle Clusterware Files

If you installed the OCR and voting disk files on Oracle ASM, then use the following command syntax as the Grid Infrastructure installation owner to confirm that your Oracle ASM installation is running:

srvctl status asm

For example:

$ srvctl status asm
ASM instance +ASM1 is running on node node1.
ASM instance +ASM2 is running on node node2.

Oracle ASM is running only if it is needed for Oracle Clusterware files. If you have not installed OCR and voting disks files on Oracle ASM, then the Oracle ASM instance should be down.