Oracle VM Templates for Oracle Database - Single Instance and Oracle RAC Version 12.2.0.1.170814 - Oracle Linux X86 64bit Enterprise Edition & Standard Edition 2 v1.1 Overview: ======== The Oracle VM Templates for Oracle Database can be deployed as Single Instance, Oracle Restart (formerly known as: Single Instance/High Availability [SIHA]), or a fully functional N-node Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC). NOTE: Recently some policy allowances were made that allow Oracle RAC to run in production mode using Virtual Disks. See updated Oracle VM/Oracle RAC whitepaper, and use caution when implementing such solutions. In Single Instance deployments Virtual Disks are a lot safer to use from a performance standpoint. For more details on running Oracle RAC in Oracle VM environment, see: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/clustering/oracle-rac-in-oracle-vm-environment-131948.pdf Many more templates are available for download from My Oracle Support and Oracle Software Delivery Cloud (e-delivery). Up to date documentation may be found online at: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/server-storage/vm/database-templates-12c-11gr2-1972804.html and Note# 1185244.1 on My Oracle Support. For Oracle software certified on Oracle VM, see Node# 464754.1 Naming Convention: ================= This document describes the x86-64 (64bit) DB/RAC OVM Templates (12.2.0.1.170814). Template file names as downloaded from My Oracle Support are as follows: p20000222_10_Linux-x86-64_1of3.zip (2of3.zip and 3of3.zip) Minimum Hardware Requirements: ============================= 1) Filesystem space consumption depends on sparse file support(*1) for /OVS, as well as cloning method(*2) in OVM3 and deployment mode(*3). Below are some approximations on space requirements: No Sparse file support Sparse file support Under /OVS(repository): 64bit 64bit Template Storage 75GB 25GB Each node of running VM 75GB 25GB Temporary unzip Template(*4) ~9GB + ~9GB ~9GB + ~9GB Additional local/shared disk to hold database, minimum 5GB. 2) Sufficient memory: Default template memory is set to 4GB. Please follow the Oracle Database documentation for minimum memory requirements. At the time of writing minimum configurations that work in test environments: Single Instance: 1GB RAM, RAC: 4GB RAM 3) Sufficient CPU - 1 physical core per VM, recommended 2 or more. 4) Single Instance: 1 Network Card (NIC), RAC: 2 Network cards (NIC) 5) IP addresses: Single Instance: 1 public RAC: 5 public and 2 private (for a 2 node cluster) (*1) Oracle VM Server 3 have sparse file support as well as Ext3/ext4/btrfs filesystems have sparse file support. NFS depends if server filesystem supports sparse files or not. Space consumed by sparse files varries by filesystems's minimum allocation unit often referred to as cluster size. (*2) If OVM3 "thin-clone" is used, space consumed will *greatly* reduce since VMs are "reflinked" (OCFS2 v1.8 feature) to the master template file, and sections in the file are copied only when modified. (*3) Post deployment it is possible to remove unused Oracle homes in Single Instance or Clusterware only deployments (see documentation) (*4) Template stored in a tar.gz file inside a ZIP file hence size is listed twice Templates Description: ===================== The Oracle VM Templates for Oracle Database allow building a Single Instance, Oracle Restart (Single Instance/HA), or RAC clusters of any number of nodes. The Oracle RAC 12c Release 1 (12.2.0.1.170814) software includes Oracle Clusterware and ASM (12.2.0.1.170814) and Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.2.0.1.170814) and Oracle JVM (12.2.0.1.170814). In a Single Instance deployment the RAC feature is not linked into the binary and the Grid Infrastructure home may be removed for space savings. See FAQ section for steps on how to add or remove patches before and/or after template deployment. Note: The Templates include the latest OS & Oracle/RDBMS patches at time of the release. It is strongly recommended to update to latest patches (at time of deployment or placement into production usage) using standard OS/Oracle patching practices. OS updates may be obtained from Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN) and RDBMS patches from Critical Patch Updates (CPU) page on OTN. Templates released since 2014 offer Yum@Deploy, see FAQ for details. The entire install is automated, with the user only providing the required input parameters (node names, IP addresses, etc.) when guests are booted. Oracle VM3 users should use the powerful Deploycluster tool (downloadable from OTN with separate documentation) for fully automated deployments of either Single Instance, Oracle Restart (Single Instance/HA) or Oracle RAC. * The OS image contains a minimal install of Oracle Linux. Only basic RPM packages are installed with an option to reduce the footprint further using a tool called OSRevert (see FAQ). * The default root password is 'ovsroot', oracle password is 'Oracle4U' and sys/system password is 'Oracle4U', all can be changed during the build. It is strongly advised to modify these passwords postinstall. See section deploying the templates securely for further details. * The install is performed using root access. With ssh passwordless login temporarily enabled for root user. At the completion of the install (on all nodes), ssh for root will be disabled. * Optionally, the entire install could be done as the Oracle user, provided that 'sudo' access is configured on the current node only. * During the installation process an Oracle Single Instance or RAC database is created. It is possible to skip this database creation and do a clusterware only install, see params.ini for various options. * The OS and Oracle image disks inside the template are sparse files (non allocated space is not counted against filesystem), meaning the size displayed via 'ls -l' is not the actual space consumed on-disk. To see actual space consumed use 'ls -ls'. If /OVS filesystem has no sparse-file support then both sizes will be the same (all space is allocated upfront). * Each template is delivered as 3 ZIP files (~9GB in total size), inside each ZIP is a tar.gz (tar gzip file), with very similar sizes, hence you will need ~18GB of temporary storage to fully expand each template. Installation Instructions ========================= Unzip the templates as follows: === ORACLE VM 3 USERS ===: # cd /tmp # unzip -q /tmp/p20000222_10_Linux-x86-64_1of3.zip & # unzip -q /tmp/p20000222_10_Linux-x86-64_2of3.zip & # unzip -q /tmp/p20000222_10_Linux-x86-64_3of3.zip & # wait The Oracle compressed files (2of2-partA & 2of2-partB) must be combined into a single compressed file before the manager can import that file. To combine partA and PartB of the second file, type: # Note below 'cat' command should be all on one line # cat /tmp/OVM_OL7U4_X86_64_12201DBRAC_PVHVM-2of2-partA.tar.gz /tmp/OVM_OL7U4_X86_64_12201DBRAC_PVHVM-2of2-partB.tar.gz > /tmp/OVM_OL7U4_X86_64_12201DBRAC_PVHVM-2of2.tar.gz Import the two template files (.zip or .tar.gz of first file and the combined .tar.gz of second file) directly in ONE import operation using Oracle VM Manager UI or OVM CLI. For example, import these two files in ONE import operation from the UI: OVM_OL7U4_X86_64_12201DBRAC_PVHVM-1of2.tar.gz and OVM_OL7U4_X86_64_12201DBRAC_PVHVM-2of2.tar.gz Then use the deploycluster tool and its documentation on the below URL on OTN: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/server-storage/vm/database-templates-12c-11gr2-1972804.html More up to date documentation may be found online at above URL. Enjoy! Changelog: ========= 8/31/2017: Fixed failure with multidisk and AFD (no impact on ASM on NFS) Feedback: ======== Feel free to post any feedback at the Oracle VM or RAC Forums on the Oracle Technology Network: Oracle VM: https://community.oracle.com/community/server_%26_storage_systems/virtualization/oracle_vm_server_for_x86 Oracle RAC: https://community.oracle.com/community/database/high_availability/rac__asm_%26_clusterware_installation Or contact Oracle Support. NOTE: The OneCommand DB/RAC build scripts inside the template are only supported inside the Oracle VM DB/RAC Templates. Do not run them in other environments.