This section describes new features as they pertain to the installation and configuration of Oracle Grid Infrastructure (Oracle Clusterware and Oracle Automatic Storage Management), and Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC). This guide replaces Oracle Clusterware Installation Guide. The topics in this section are:
The following is a list of new features for Release 2 (11.2.0.4):
Starting with Oracle Grid Infrastructure 11g Release 2 (11.2.0.4), the Trace File Analyzer and Collector is installed automatically with Oracle Grid Infrastructure installation. The Trace File Analyzer and Collector is a diagnostic collection utility to simplify diagnostic data collection on Oracle Clusterware, Oracle Grid Infrastructure, and Oracle RAC systems.
Note:
The Trace File Analyzer and Collector is available starting with Oracle Grid Infrastructure 11g Release 2 (11.2.0.4).See Also:
Oracle Clusterware Administration and Deployment Guide for information about using Trace File Analyzer and CollectorOracle RAC Configuration Audit tool (RACcheck) is available with Oracle Grid Infrastructure 11g Release 2 (11.2.0.4) for assessment of single instance and Oracle RAC database installations for known configuration issues, best practices, regular health checks, and pre- and post upgrade best practices.
Note:
The Oracle RAC Configuration Audit tool is available starting with Oracle Grid Infrastructure 11g Release 2 (11.2.0.4).The following features are no longer supported with Oracle Grid Infrastructure 11g Release 2 (11.2.0.4):
The following feature is new for Release 2 (11.2.0.3):
The Oracle Grid Infrastructure Configuration Wizard enables you to configure the Oracle Grid Infrastructure software after performing a software-only installation. You no longer have to manually edit the config_params configuration file as this wizard takes you through the process, step by step.
See Also:
Oracle Clusterware Administration and Deployment Guide for more information about the configuration wizard.The following is a list of new features for Oracle Grid Infrastructure 11g Release 2 (Oracle Clusterware and Oracle Automatic Storage Management) release 11.2.0.2:
Starting with the release of the 11.2.0.2 patch set for Oracle Grid Infrastructure 11g Release 2, Oracle Grid Infrastructure patch sets are full installations of the Oracle Grid Infrastructure software. Note the following changes with the new patch set packaging:
Direct upgrades from previous releases (11.x, 10.x) to the most recent patch set are supported.
Out-of-place patch set upgrades only are supported. An out-of-place upgrade is one in which you install the patch set into a new, separate home.
New installations consist of installing the most recent patch set, rather than installing a base release and then upgrading to a patch release.
See Also:
My Oracle Support note 1189783.1, "Important Changes to Oracle Database Patch Sets Starting With 11.2.0.2", available from the following URL:During installation, in the Privileged Operating System Groups window, it is now optional to designate a group as the OSOPER for ASM group. If you choose to create an OSOPER for ASM group, then you can enter a group name configured on all cluster member nodes for the OSOPER for ASM group. In addition, the Oracle Grid Infrastructure installation owner no longer is required to be a member.
Use the Software Updates feature to dynamically download and apply software updates as part of the Oracle Database installation. You can also download the updates separately using the downloadUpdates option and later apply them during the installation by providing the location where the updates are present.
In previous releases, to make use of redundant networks for the interconnect, bonding, trunking, teaming, or similar technology was required. Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle RAC can now make use of redundant network interconnects, without the use of other network technology, to enhance optimal communication in the cluster. This functionality is available starting with Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2.0.2).
Redundant Interconnect Usage enables load-balancing and high availability across multiple (up to four) private networks (also known as interconnects).
The following is a list of new features for installation of Oracle Clusterware and Oracle ASM 11g Release 2 (11.2):
With Oracle Grid Infrastructure 11g release 2 (11.2), Oracle Automatic Storage Management (Oracle ASM) and Oracle Clusterware are installed into a single home directory, which is referred to as the Grid Infrastructure home. Configuration assistants start after the installer interview process that configures Oracle ASM and Oracle Clusterware.
The installation of the combined products is called Oracle Grid Infrastructure. However, Oracle Clusterware and Oracle Automatic Storage Management remain separate products.
See Also:
Oracle Database Installation Guide for HP-UX for information about how to install Oracle Grid Infrastructure (Oracle ASM and Oracle Clusterware binaries) for a standalone server. This feature helps to ensure high availability for single-instance serversWith this release, Oracle Cluster Registry (OCR) and voting disks can be placed on Oracle Automatic Storage Management (Oracle ASM).
This feature enables Oracle ASM to provide a unified storage solution, storing all the data for the clusterware and the database, without the need for third-party volume managers or cluster file systems.
For new installations, OCR and voting disk files can be placed either on Oracle ASM, or on a cluster file system or NFS system. Installing Oracle Clusterware files on raw or block devices is no longer supported, unless an existing system is being upgraded.
The SYSASM privilege that was introduced in Oracle ASM 11g release 1 (11.1) is now fully separated from the SYSDBA privilege. If you choose to use this optional feature, and designate different operating system groups as the OSASM and the OSDBA groups, then the SYSASM administrative privilege is available only to members of the OSASM group. The SYSASM privilege also can be granted using password authentication on the Oracle ASM instance.
You can designate OPERATOR privileges (a subset of the SYSASM privileges, including starting and stopping ASM) to members of the OSOPER for ASM group.
Providing system privileges for the storage tier using the SYSASM privilege instead of the SYSDBA privilege provides a clearer division of responsibility between Oracle ASM administration and database administration, and helps to prevent different databases using the same storage from accidentally overwriting each other's files.
Cluster node times should be synchronized. With this release, Oracle Clusterware provides Cluster Time Synchronization Service (CTSS), which ensures that there is a synchronization service in the cluster. If Network Time Protocol (NTP) is not found during cluster configuration, then CTSS is configured to ensure time synchronization.
Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Control 11g provides the capability to automatically provision Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle RAC installations on new nodes, and then extend the existing Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle RAC database to these provisioned nodes. This provisioning procedure requires a successful Oracle RAC installation before you can use this feature.
See Also:
Oracle Real Application Clusters Administration and Deployment Guide for information about this featureWith Oracle Clusterware 11g Release 2 (11.2), Oracle Universal Installer (OUI) detects when minimum requirements for installation are not completed, and creates shell script programs, called fixup scripts, to resolve many incomplete system configuration requirements. If OUI detects an incomplete task that is marked "fixable", then you can easily fix the issue by generating the fixup script by clicking the Fix & Check Again button.
The fixup script is generated during installation. You are prompted to run the script as root in a separate terminal session. When you run the script, it raises kernel values to required minimums, if necessary, and completes other operating system configuration tasks.
You also can have Cluster Verification Utility (CVU) generate fixup scripts before installation.
In the past, adding or removing servers in a cluster required extensive manual preparation. With this release, you can continue to configure server nodes manually, or use Grid Plug and Play to configure them dynamically as nodes are added or removed from the cluster.
Grid Plug and Play reduces the costs of installing, configuring, and managing server nodes by starting a grid naming service within the cluster to allow each node to perform the following tasks dynamically:
Negotiating appropriate network identities for itself
Acquiring additional information it needs to operate from a configuration profile
Configuring or reconfiguring itself using profile data, making hostnames and addresses resolvable on the network
Because servers perform these tasks dynamically, the number of steps required to add or delete nodes is minimized.
Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) is an industry standard management protocol that is included with many servers today. IPMI operates independently of the operating system, and can operate even if the system is not powered on. Servers with IPMI contain a baseboard management controller (BMC) which is used to communicate to the server.
If IPMI is configured, then Oracle Cluster uses IPMI when node fencing is required and the server is not responding.
With this release, you can install a new version of Oracle Clusterware into a separate home from an existing Oracle Clusterware installation. This feature reduces the downtime required to upgrade a node in the cluster. When performing an out-of-place upgrade, the old and new version of the software are present on the nodes at the same time, each in a different home location, but only one version of the software is active.
With this release, you can use Oracle Enterprise Manager Cluster Home page to perform full administrative and monitoring support for both standalone database and Oracle RAC environments, using High Availability Application and Oracle Cluster Resource Management.
When Oracle Enterprise Manager is installed with Oracle Clusterware, it can provide a set of users that have the Oracle Clusterware Administrator role in Enterprise Manager, and provide full administrative and monitoring support for High Availability application and Oracle Clusterware resource management. After you have completed installation and have Oracle Enterprise Manager deployed, you can provision additional nodes added to the cluster using Oracle Enterprise Manager.
With this release, the Single Client Access Name (SCAN) is the host name to provide for all clients connecting to the cluster. The SCAN is a domain name registered to at least one and up to three IP addresses, either in the domain name service (DNS) or the Grid Naming Service (GNS). The SCAN eliminates the need to change clients when nodes are added to or removed from the cluster. Clients using the SCAN can also access the cluster using EZCONNECT.
With this release, you can use the server control utility SRVCTL to shut down all Oracle software running within an Oracle home, in preparation for patching. Oracle Grid Infrastructure patching is automated across all nodes, and patches can be applied in a multi-node, multi-patch fashion.
To streamline cluster installations, especially for those customers who are new to clustering, Oracle introduces the Typical Installation path. Typical installation defaults as many options as possible to those recommended as best practices.
In prior releases, backing up the voting disks using a dd command was a required postinstallation task. With Oracle Clusterware release 11.2 and later, backing up and restoring a voting disk using the dd command is not supported.
Backing up voting disks manually is no longer required, because voting disks are backed up automatically in the OCR as part of any configuration change. Voting disk data is automatically restored to any added voting disks.
The following is a list of new features for release 1 (11.1)
With Oracle Database 11g release 1, Oracle Clusterware can be installed or configured as an independent product, and additional documentation is provided on storage administration. For installation planning, note the following documentation:
This book provides an overview and examples of the procedures to install and configure a two-node Oracle Clusterware and Oracle RAC environment.
This book (the guide that you are reading) provides procedures either to install Oracle Clusterware as a standalone product, or to install Oracle Clusterware with either Oracle Database, or Oracle RAC. It contains system configuration instructions that require system administrator privileges.
This platform-specific book provides procedures to install Oracle RAC after you have completed successfully an Oracle Clusterware installation. It contains database configuration instructions for database administrators.
This book provides information for database and storage administrators who administer and manage storage, or who configure and administer Oracle Automatic Storage Management (ASM).
This is the administrator's reference for Oracle Clusterware. It contains information about administrative tasks, including those that involve changes to operating system configurations and cloning Oracle Clusterware.
This is the administrator's reference for Oracle RAC. It contains information about administrative tasks. These tasks include database cloning, node addition and deletion, Oracle Cluster Registry (OCR) administration, use of SRVCTL and other database administration utilities, and tuning changes to operating system configurations.
The following is a list of enhancements and new features for Oracle Database 11g release 1 (11.1):
This feature introduces a new SYSASM privilege that is specifically intended for performing Oracle ASM administration tasks. Using the SYSASM privilege instead of the SYSDBA privilege provides a clearer division of responsibility between Oracle ASM administration and database administration.
OSASM is a new operating system group that is used exclusively for ASM. Members of the OSASM group can connect as SYSASM using operating system authentication and have full access to ASM.