9i RAC vs. 10g RAC

Mike Ault
 

Question:  When converting an existing 9i RAC cluster into a 10g RAC cluster the biggest problems are:

• 10g uses the CRS (cluster ready services) which clumps together GSD, ORACM and many other daemons from 9i into the CRS set of daemons.
   

• 10g uses the concept of a VIP (Virtual IP address) for failover and other aspects of the network environment.

Answer:  I can see no scenario for upgrade that will not involve downtime for the current environment. What I suggest is:

If the database is small (relative term I realize, what is small depends on what is in the database, a pure "text" and "number" database is small at 20-40 gig, while one that contains in-line LOBs can be a problem at 10 to 20 gig) then I would suggest:

1. Perform a full backup of your environment (software and database)

2. Lock users out of the database

3. Perform a full, consistent export

4. Create scripts to recreate tablespaces and users

5. Shutdown the database

6. Remove the 9i software and database

7. Install 10g CRS

8. Perform a software-only 10g RAC install

9. Utilize DBCA to create a new 10g database

10. Use the scripts to recreate tablespaces and users

11. Recover the database using the export file from step 3.

Another alternative for large databases or once not amenable to export:

1. Reduce the 9i RAC environment to a single instance

2. Perform a full backup

3. Install 10g CRS

4. Upgrade in place to 10g as a single instance in  a RAC environment

5. Use DBCA to create a template of the single instance database

6. Delete the single instance

7. Rebuild the database using the DBCA and the template to 10g RAC.

Both of the above scenarios will allow you to convert the environment using Oracle's utilities. While the CRS and VIP can be done manually it is a major possibly pain filled process.

Before doing either of these in a production environment, perform them in a test environment.

These scenarios are covered in:

http://www.dba-oracle.com/bp/bp_book18_10g_rac.htm

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