Oracle Database Tips by Donald Burleson

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

Servers and Operating Systems

There are many factors to be taken into consideration when deciding the number of nodes for the proposed cluster or deciding whether the cluster file system can be used:   What kind of shared storage system will be chosen? What kind of cluster software and which version will be used?

Here are some examples that illustrate application of the above factors:

• Sun Solaris Servers, combined with Sun Cluster 3.x, only support raw partitions for database files.
   

• Using Sun Solaris Cluster with more than two nodes requires SCSI-3 Persistent Group Reservation (PGR) supporting storage such as Sun StoreEdge T3, Hitachi 9990, or EMC Symmetrix.
   

• However, when we implement Sun Cluster with Veritas DBE/AC, we have the choice of using the cluster file system. Veritas DBE/AC also requires storage with SCSI-3 PGR. DBE/AC stands for Database Edition/Advance Cluster.
   

• For the IBM AIX pSeries (RS/6000) Cluster, the maximum number of nodes is 8 if SSA disks are used. If VSD(s) are used, the maximum number of nodes is 128. Again, if the disks are shared through Cluster Logical Volume Manager (CLVM), the maximum number of nodes is 16. VSD stands for virtual shared disk.