Oracle Database Tips by Donald Burleson

Oracle10g Grid Computing with RAC
Chapter 6 - Install, Configure and Database Creation

Introduction

In this chapter, we will cover the main aspects of the Oracle RAC software installation and the RAC Database creation. Oracle RAC runs on multiple platforms and interacts with many flavors of the clustering software. With Oracle 10g release, Oracle provides the portable clusterware, which can function independently or on top of the vendors provided cluster software.

We will discuss the main features of the configuration process. Irrespective of the platform chosen, database creation is common to all. However, preparation of the physical hosts, installation of the operating system and clustering software, and associated system administration tasks differ.

Project coordination between the database administrators and system administrators is essential for smooth installation and configuration. There are many additional tasks, such as installing cluster software and creating the required storage volumes, which require the super user privilege. Good teamwork and understanding combined with proper planning helps achieve superior results.

With the introduction of the Automatic Storage Management (ASM) methodology for stand-alone and RAC database systems, storage management is very much simplified. In the previous chapter, we covered the many topics on preparing the shared storage structures for the use of RAC database. This chapter will focus on setting up the host environment, cluster platform, cluster ready services installation and database creation.