8 Pre-Installation Tasks for RAC on Windows

Software Requirements

Table 8-1 lists the software requirements for Oracle Database 10g Real Application Clusters.

If you are currently running a cluster version of Oracle on an operating system version that is no longer supported, such as Windows NT Server 4.0, then you must first upgrade your operating system before upgrading to Oracle Database 10g Real Application Clusters.

Hardware Requirements

The following hardware components are required for Oracle Database:

• RAM: 512 MB for 32-bit systems, 1GB for 64-bit systems

• Virtual memory: double the amount of RAM on 32-bit systems, 512 MB for 64-bit systems

• Hard disk space: See Table 8-2

• Temp disk space: 100 MB for 32-bit systems, 140 MB for 64-bit systems

• Video adapter: 256 color

• Processor: 400 MHz minimum for Windows 32-bit, Itanium 2 or higher for Windows 64-bit

Verifying Hardware Requirements

To ensure that the system meets these requirements, follow these steps:

1. Determine the physical RAM size. For a computer using Windows 2000, for example, open System in the control panel and select the General tab. If the size of the physical RAM installed in the system is less than the required size, then you must install more memory before continuing.

2. Determine the size of the configured swap space (also known as paging file size). For a computer using Windows 2000, for example, open System in the control panel, select the Advanced tab, and click Performance Options.

   If necessary, refer to your operating system documentation for information about how to configure additional swap space.

3. Determine the amount of free disk space on the system. For a computer using Windows 2000, for example, open My Computer, right-click the drive where the Oracle software is to be installed, and choose Properties.

4. Determine the amount of disk space available in the temp directory. This is equivalent to the total amount of free disk space, minus what will be needed for the Oracle software to be installed.

   On Windows 32-bit systems, you require 100 MB of disk space available in the temp directory, and on Windows 64-bit systems, you require 140 MB of temp disk space. If you do not have sufficient space, then first delete all unnecessary files. If the temp disk space is still less than the required amount, then set the TEMP or TMP environment variable to point to a different hard drive. For a computer using Windows 2000, for example, open the System control panel, select the Advanced tab, and click Environment Variables.

Web Browser Support

The following Web browsers are supported for iSQL*Plus and Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Control:

• Netscape Navigator 7.0 and higher

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5, 6.0, and higher with service pack 1

• Mozilla version 1.3.1 and higher

• On 64-bit systems only, Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 with service pack 2 Web browser

Telnet and Terminal Services Support

This section contains these topics:

• Windows Telnet Services Support

• Windows Terminal Services and Remote Desktop Support

Network Hardware Requirements

Each node in the cluster must meet the following requirements:

• Each node must have at least two network adapters; one for the public network interface and one for the private network interface (the interconnect).

• The private and public network interface names must be different from each other.

• Network interfaces names may not contain multi-byte or unicode characters or the character . (dot or period).

• Interface names are case sensitive. If the interface names are not identical with respect to case, then the VIP functionality can fail.

• The private network interface name must be the same on all nodes.

• The public network interface name must be the same on all nodes.

• The public interface must be listed first in the ipconfig list.

• Oracle supports the TCP/IP protocol for the public and private networks.

IP Address Requirements

Before starting the installation, you must identify or obtain the following IP addresses for each node:

• An IP address and an associated host name registered in the domain name service (DNS) for each public network interface

• One unused virtual IP address and an associated virtual host name registered in DNS that you will configure for the primary public network interface

  The virtual IP address must be in the same subnet as the associated public interface. After installation, you can configure clients to use the virtual host name or IP address. If a node fails, its virtual IP address fails over to another node.

• A private IP address and optional host name for each private interface

  Oracle recommends that you use private network IP addresses for these interfaces, for example: 10.*.*.* or 192.168.*.*. You can use the %SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts file on each node to associate private host names with private IP addresses.

For example, in a two node cluster where each node has one public and one private interface, you might have the following host names and IP addresses:

%SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

%SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

Checking the Network Requirements

To verify that each node meets the requirements, follow these steps:

1. If necessary, install the network adapters for the public and private networks and configure them with either public or private IP addresses.

2. Register the host names and IP addresses for the public network interfaces in DNS.

3. For each node, register one virtual host name and IP address in DNS.

4. For each private interface on every node, add a line similar to the following to the %SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts file on all nodes, specifying the private IP address and associated private host name:

   10.0.0.1     rac1-priv
   
   

If you need to change a network interface name, follow these steps:

1. Depending on your system architecture, complete the first step as follows:

   • On a Windows 32-bit system, navigate to Start > Settings > Control Panel > Network and Dial-up Connections

   • On a Windows 64-bit system, navigate to Start > Settings > Control Panel > Network Connections

2. Right click the icon of the network interface for which you need to change the name

3. Select Rename

4. Enter and save the new name

To ensure that your public interface appears first in your ipconfig list, follow these steps:

1. Depending on your system architecture, complete the first step as follows:

   • On a Windows 32-bit system, navigate to Start > Settings > Control Panel > Network and Dial-up Connections

   • On a Windows 64-bit system, navigate to Start > Settings > Control Panel > Network Connections

2. In the Advanced menu, click Advanced Settings...

3. If the public interface name is not the first name listed under the Adapters and Bindings tab, then select it and click the arrow to move it to the top of list

4. Click OK to save the setting and then exit network setup dialog

Configuring Disk Storage for Oracle Datafiles and Recovery Files

As a first step in configuring your disk storage for RAC, you must disable operating system write caching on all disks that will be used to share data between nodes in your cluster. To disable operating system write caching, perform these steps:

1. Navigate to Start > Settings > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Device Manager > Disk drives

2. Expand the Disk drives hive and double-click the first drive listed

3. Under the Disk Properties tab for the selected drive, uncheck the option that enables the write cache

4. Double-click each of the other drives listed in the Disk drives hive and disable the write cache as described in the previous step

On Windows 2003 only, a second requirement is to enable the disk automount feature by performing the following steps on all nodes of your cluster:

1. Enter the command diskpart in a Command window

2. Enable the disk automount feature by entering the automount enable command and confirming its successful execution as follows:

   DISKPART> automount enable
   Automatic mounting of new volumes enabled.
   
   

3. Type exit to terminate the Diskpart session

When you have prepared all the cluster nodes in your Windows 2003 system as described in the previous steps, restart all of the nodes.

The remainder of this section describes the storage options for storing Oracle datafiles and optionally, Oracle database recovery files. After you choose the storage method that you want to use for each file type, refer to the following sections for information about configuring the required storage.

Choosing a Storage Option for Oracle Datafiles

If you want to create a database during the installation, you must choose one of the following storage options for the datafiles:

• Cluster file system

• Automatic Storage Management

• Raw Devices

Choosing a Storage Option for Oracle Database Recovery Files

Additionally, if you want to enable automated backups during the installation, you must choose one of the following storage options for recovery files (the flash recovery area):

• Cluster file system

• Automatic Storage Management

The storage option that you choose for recovery files can be the same as or different to the option you choose for the datafiles.

Configuring Disk Storage

For more information about these options, refer to the "Storage Considerations for Installing Oracle Database 10g Real Application Clusters" section. For information about how to configure disk storage before you start the installation, refer to one of the following sections depending on your choice:

• To use a cluster file system for database or recovery file storage, refer to the "Creating Directories for Oracle Datafiles or Recovery Files" section.

• To use ASM for database or recovery file storage, refer to the "Configuring Disks for Automatic Storage Management" section.

• To use raw devices for database file storage, refer to the "Configuring Raw Partitions" section.

Creating Directories for Oracle Datafiles or Recovery Files

If you decide to place the Oracle database or recovery files on a cluster file system, use the following guidelines when deciding where to place them.

Guidelines for Placing Oracle Datafiles on a File System

If you decide to place the Oracle datafiles on a cluster file system, use the following guidelines when deciding where to place them:

• You can choose either a single cluster file system or more than one cluster file system to store the datafiles:

  • If you want to use a single cluster file system, choose a cluster file system on a physical device that is dedicated to the database.

    For best performance and reliability, choose a RAID device or a logical volume on more than one physical device and implement the stripe-and-mirror-everything (SAME) methodology.

  • If you want to use more than one cluster file system, choose cluster file systems on separate physical devices that are dedicated to the database.

    This method enables you to distribute physical I/O and create separate control files on different devices for increased reliability. It also enables you to fully implement the OFA guidelines. You must choose either the Advanced database creation option or the Custom installation type during the installation to implement this method.

• If you intend to create a preconfigured database during the installation, the cluster file system (or systems) that you choose must have at least 3 GB of free disk space.

  For production databases, you must estimate the disk space requirement depending on the use you want to make of the database.

• For optimum performance, the cluster file systems that you choose should be on physical devices that are used only by the database.

• The default location suggested by Oracle Universal Installer for the database file directory is a subdirectory of the Oracle base directory. However, this default location is not appropriate for RAC production databases.

Guidelines for Placing Oracle Recovery Files on a File System

If you choose to place the Oracle recovery files on a cluster file system, use the following guidelines when deciding where to place them:

• To prevent disk failure from making both the datafiles and the recovery files unavailable, place the recovery files on a cluster file system on a different physical disk from the datafiles.

  
  

  Note: Alternatively use an ASM disk group with a normal or high redundancy level for either or both file types.

  
  

• The cluster file system that you choose should have at least 3 GB of free disk space.

  The disk space requirement is the default disk quota configured for the flash recovery area (specified by the DB_RECOVERY_FILE_DEST_SIZE initialization parameter).

  If you choose the Custom installation type or the Advanced database configuration option, you can specify a different disk quota value. After you create the database, you can also use Oracle Enterprise Manager to specify a different value.

  For more information about sizing the flash recovery area, refer to Oracle Backup and Recovery Basics.

• The default location suggested by Oracle Universal Installer for the recovery area directory is a subdirectory of the Oracle base directory. However, this default location is not appropriate for RAC production databases.

Creating Required Directories

To create directories for the Oracle database or recovery files on separate cluster file systems to the Oracle base directory, follow these steps:

1. Use Windows Explorer to determine the free disk space on the file system.

2. From the display, identify the file systems that you want to use:

   File Type	File System Requirements
   Datafiles	Choose either: A single cluster file system with at least 3 GB of free disk space Two or more cluster file systems with at least 3 GB of free disk space in total
   Recovery files	Choose a cluster file system with at least 3 GB of free disk space.

   
   

   If you are using the same cluster file system for more than one type of file, add the disk space requirements for each type to determine the total disk space requirement.

3. Note the names of the directories for the file systems that you identified.

4. If you also want to use ASM or raw devices for storage, refer to one of the following sections:

   • Configuring Disks for Automatic Storage Management

   • Configuring Raw Partitions

   Otherwise refer to the Stop Existing Oracle Services section.

Configuring Disks for Automatic Storage Management

This section describes how to configure disks for use with ASM. Before you configure the disks, you must determine the number of disks and the amount of free disk space that you require.

The following sections describe how to identify the requirements and configure the disks:

• Identifying Storage Requirements for ASM

• Using an Existing ASM Disk Group

• Configuring Disks for ASM

asmtool -add [-force] \Device\Harddisk1\Partition1 ORCLDISKASM0\Device\Harddisk2\Partition1 ORCLDISKASM1...

asmtool -addprefix ORCLDISKASM [-force] \Device\Harddisk1\Partition1 \Device\Harddisk2\Partition1...

asmtool -list [-force]

asmtool -delete ORCLDISKASM0 ORCLDISKASM1...

asmtool -create path_to_file size_in_megabytes

Configuring Raw Partitions

This section contains the following topics:

• Creating Partitions and Logical Drives

• Assigning Logical Names or Drive Letters, or Mounting Directories

• Creating Raw Logical Volumes in a New Disk Group

Creating Partitions and Logical Drives

To create and configure partitions, use the disk administration tools provided by the operating system or third party vendors. The following administration tools are provided by the operating system:

• Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003 provide Disk Management snap-in

  To access this tool, type diskmgmt.msc at the command prompt or navigate to Start >Programs > Administrative Tools > Computer Management. Then select the Disk Management node in the Storage tree.

• Windows Server 2003 provides a command line tool to manage disks.

  To access this tool, type diskpart.exe at the command prompt.

http://www.microsoft.com/

Assigning Logical Names or Drive Letters, or Mounting Directories

After creating volumes, assign logical names or drive letters, or mount them on directories for use by Oracle. Use the Windows graphical interface or the command line to create a mounted drive or assign a drive letter to the partition, logical drive or volume. Names can be assigned to partitions using Oracle Object Link Manager.

The following example uses the diskpart tool to create a 32 MB partition on disk 100 and to assign the drive letter B to the partition. In this example, diskpart.exe is the command line tool for managing disks.

c:\> diskpart.exe
diskpart> select disk 100
diskpart> create partition primary size=32
diskpart> assign letter=B

Optionally, mount the partition on an NTFS folder instead of assigning a drive letter:

diskpart> assign mount=C:\mnt\raw_1

Creating Raw Logical Volumes in a New Disk Group

To create the required raw logical volumes in a new disk group, follow these steps:

1. Choose a name for the database that you want to create.

2. Create the logical volumes listed in the following table. You must create these volumes in order to install an Oracle database.

   Number	Partition Size (MB)	Purpose and Sample Logical Volume Name
   1	500	SYSTEM tablespace: dbname_system_raw_500m
   1	500	SYSAUX tablespace: dbname_sysaux_raw_500m
   1 for each instance	500	UNDOTBS1 tablespace: dbname_undotbs1_raw_500m
   1	160	EXAMPLE tablespace: dbname_example_raw_160m
   1	120	USERS tablespace: dbname_users_raw_120m
   2 for each instance	120	Two online redo log files (where m is the group number and n is the log number, 1 or 2): dbname_redom_n_raw_120m
   2	110	First and second control files: dbname_control[1|2]_raw_110m
   1	250	TEMP tablespace: dbname_temp_raw_250m
   1	5	Server parameter file (SPFILE): dbname_spfile_raw_5m

   
   

3. To create the other required logical volumes, using the command-line interface, enter a command similar to the following:

   c:\> diskpart.exe
   DISKPART> select disk diskn
   DISKPART> create partition primary size=sizen
   DISKPART> assign mount=folder
   
   

   In this example:

   • diskpart.exe is the command line tool for managing disks

   • diskn is the disk number where the partitions are created

   • sizen is the size of the partition, for example 500 represents 500 Megabytes

   • folder is the absolute path to the NTFS where the partitions is mounted.

The following example shows a sample command to create 500 MB partition on disk 5 for the SYSAUX tablespace of a database named test:

c:\> diskpart.exe
DISKPART> select disk 5
DISKPART> create partition primary size=500
DISKPART> assign mount=D:\oracle\product\10.1.0\oradata\test\test_sysaux_500m 

Create the DBCA Raw Device Mapping File

To enable Database Configuration Assistant (DBCA) to identify the appropriate raw partition symbolic links for each database file, you must create a raw device mapping file, as follows:

1. Set the ORACLE_BASE environment variable to specify the Oracle base directory that you identified or created previously, as in this example:

   C:\>set ORACLE_BASE = E:\oracle
   
   

2. Create a database subdirectory under the Oracle base directory as in this example:

   C:\>mkdir E:\oracle\dbname
   
   

   where dbname is the name of the database that you chose previously.

3. Change directory to the %ORACLE_BASE%\dbname directory.

4. Using any text editor, create a file called conf.txt. The file should have the following characteristics:

   • Each line in the file must have the following format:

     database_object_identifier = symbolic link name
     
     

   • For your RAC database, the file must specify one automatic undo tablespace datafile (undotbsn) and two redo log files (redon_1, redon_2) for each instance where n is the instance number.

   • Specify at least two control files (control1, control2).

   The following example shows a sample mapping file for a two-instance RAC cluster:

   system=\\\\.\\dbname_SYSTEM 
   sysaux=\\\\.\\dbname_SYSAUX 
   spfile=\\\\.\\dbname_SPFILE 
   users=\\\\.\\dbname_USERS 
   temp=\\\\.\\dbname_TEMP 
   undotbs1=\\\\.\\dbname_UNDOTBS1 
   undotbs2=\\\\.\\dbname_UNDOTBS2 
   control1=\\\\.\\dbname_CONTROL1 
   control2=\\\\.\\dbname_CONTROL2 
   redo1_1=\\\\.\\dbname_REDO1_1 
   redo1_2=\\\\.\\dbname_REDO1_2 
   redo2_1=\\\\.\\dbname_REDO2_1 
   redo2_2=\\\\.\\dbname_REDO2_2 
   example=\\\\.\\dbname_EXAMPLE 
   

   
   

   Note: After you complete your CRS installation, run CRS_home\bin\GUIOracleObjectManager.exe to create persistent symbolic links to the corresponding raw partitions.

   
   

5. Save the file and note the file name that you specified.

6. You may optionally set an environment variable, DBCA_RAW_CONFIG, to specify the full path to this file. For the Oracle base defined in Step 1, you would use the following command:

   C:\>set DBCA_RAW_CONFIG=E:\oracle\dbname\conf.txt
   
   

Stop Existing Oracle Services

If you choose to create a database during the installation, most installation types configure and start a default Oracle Net listener using TCP/IP port 1521 and the IPC key value EXTPROC. However, if an existing Oracle Net listener process is using the same port or key value, Oracle Universal Installer can only configure the new listener; it cannot start it. To ensure that the new listener process starts during the installation, you must shut down any existing listeners before starting Oracle Universal Installer.

To stop an Oracle service, perform one of the following procedures:

• Using the GUI:

  1. Navigate to Start > Settings > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services

  2. Right click the service you want to stop

  3. Click Stop

• Using command line, enter the command:

  C:\>net stop service
  
  

  where service is the name of the service you want to stop

Oracle Advanced Security Requirements

Satisfy hardware and software requirements to use authentication support with Oracle components. Some Oracle Advanced Security components can use a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) directory such as Oracle Internet Directory (provided on the installation media). Enterprise User Security also requires an LDAP directory.

Oracle Enterprise Manager Requirements

All Oracle Enterprise Manager products must be of the same release. Older versions of Enterprise Manager are not supported with the current release.

Oracle Managed Files Requirements

If you use OCFS or ASM for your database files, then your database will be created with Oracle-managed files by default. You may also elect to use Oracle-managed files if you choose the Custom installation type or the Advanced database creation option. If you use this feature, you need only specify the database object name instead of file names when creating or deleting database files.

Configuration procedures are required in order to enable Oracle Managed Files.

Oracle Transparent Gateway Requirements

Oracle transparent gateways are only supported on 32-bit systems.This section contains these gateway topics:

• Oracle Transparent Gateway Supported Configurations

• Oracle Transparent Gateway System Requirements

Oracle Transparent Gateway Supported Configurations

Table 8-3 provides gateway configurations tested by Oracle at the time of this document release. Oracle continually updates supported gateway configurations. For the latest supported configuration information, visit the following Web site

http://metalink.oracle.com/

Oracle Transparent Gateway System Requirements

Table 8-4 lists the system requirements for Oracle Transparent Gateways for Microsoft SQL Server, Sybase, and Teradata. Each Oracle Transparent Gateway has the same memory, networking, and disk space requirements.