1 Typical Installation for Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Cluster

1.2.1.1 Memory Requirements

Windows should be optimized for Memory Usage of Programs not System Caching. In the Windows Task Manager window, select the Performance tab to view the available memory for your system.

To view the Virtual memory settings, from the Control panel, select System. In the System Properties window, select the Advanced tab, then, under Performance, click Performance Options, or Settings. In the Performance Options window, the virtual memory, or page file, click the Advanced tab and the settings are displayed at the bottom of the window.

The minimum required RAM is 4 gigabyte (GB) for Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Cluster and Oracle RAC. The minimum required virtual memory space is 8 GB. Oracle recommends that you set the paging file size to at least one and a half times the amount of RAM for systems with 4 to 32 GB of RAM. For systems with greater than 32 GB of RAM, Oracle recommends that you use a paging file of size 32 GB. If the swap space and the Grid home are on the same file system, then add together their respective requirements for the total minimum space required.

1.2.1.2 Hardware Requirements

The minimum processor speed is 1 gigahertz (GHz) for Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, and Windows Server 2008. The minimum processor speed is 1.4 GHz for Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012.

1.2.1.3 Disk Requirements

From the Start menu, select Run... In the Run window, type in Diskmgmt.msc to open the Disk Management graphical user interface (GUI).

The Disk Management GUI displays the available space on the available file systems. If you use standard redundancy for Oracle Clusterware files, which is 3 Oracle Cluster Registry (OCR) files and 3 voting disk files, then you should have at least 2 GB of disk space available on three separate physical disks reserved for the Oracle Clusterware files.

If you plan to install the Oracle Clusterware files on Oracle ASM, then to ensure high availability of OCR or voting disk files on Oracle ASM, you need to have at least 2 GB of disk space for Oracle Clusterware files in three separate failure groups, with at least three physical disks. Each disk must have at least 1 GB of capacity to ensure that there is sufficient space to create Oracle Clusterware files.

Starting with Oracle Grid Infrastructure release 11.2.0.3, the minimum disk space the Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Cluster home (Grid home) required for installation is 5 GB. This includes space for includes space for Oracle Clusterware, Oracle ASM, and Oracle ACFS files and log files, and the Cluster Health Monitor repository.

For Oracle Grid Infrastructure release 11.2.0.2 or 11.2.0.1, ensure you have at least 3 GB of space for the Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a Cluster home (Grid home). This includes Oracle Clusterware and Oracle ASM files and log files.

If the temp space and the Grid home are on the same file system, then add together their respective requirements for the total minimum space required for that file system.

1.2.1.4 TEMP Space Requirements

Ensure that you have at least 1 GB of disk space in the Windows TEMP directory. If this space is not available, then increase the partition size of the disk, or delete unnecessary files in the directory. Make sure the environment variables TEMP and TMP both point to the location of the TEMP directory, for example:

TEMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
TMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP

1.2.2.1 Single Client Access Name for the Cluster

During Typical installation, you are prompted to confirm the default Single Client Access Name (SCAN), which is used to connect to databases within the cluster irrespective of which nodes the database instances run on. The default value for the SCAN is based on the local node name. If you change the SCAN from the default, then the name that you use must be globally unique throughout your enterprise.

In a Typical installation, SCAN contains the name of the cluster. The SCAN and cluster name must be at least one character long and no more than 15 characters in length, must be alphanumeric, and can contain hyphens (-), for example:

NE-sa89-scan

If you require a SCAN that is longer than 15 characters, then the cluster name defaults to the first 15 characters of the SCAN. See Section 1.2.2.2, "IP Address Requirements" for information about the SCAN address requirements.

1.2.2.2 IP Address Requirements

Before starting the installation, you must have at least two network interface cards (NICs) configured on each node: One for the private internet protocol (IP) addresses and one for the public IP addresses.

C:\> nslookup mycluster-scan
Server:         dns.example.com
Address:        192.0.2.001

Name:   mycluster-scan.example.com
Address: 192.0.2.201
Name:   mycluster-scan.example.com
Address: 192.0.2.202
Name:   mycluster-scan.example.com
Address: 192.0.2.203

1.2.2.3 Intended Use of Network Adapters

During installation, you are asked to identify the planned use for each network adapter (or network interface) that Oracle Universal Installer (OUI) detects on your cluster node. You must identify each network adapter as a public or private adapter, or as "do not use." You must use the same private adapters for both Oracle Clusterware and Oracle RAC. For network adapters that you plan to use for other purposes–for example, an adapter dedicated to a network file system–you must identify those network adapters as "do not use" adapters so that Oracle Clusterware ignores them.

If you require high availability or load balancing for public adapters, then use a third party solution. Typically, bonding, trunking or similar technologies can be used for this purpose.

1.2.2.4 Disable the Media Sensing feature for TCP/IP

Media Sense allows Windows to uncouple an IP address from a network interface card when the link to the local switch is lost. To disable Windows Media Sensing for TCP/IP on Windows Server 2003 with SP1 or higher, you must set the value of the DisableDHCPMediaSense parameter to 1 on each node. Because you must modify the Windows registry to disable Media Sensing, you should first backup the registry and confirm that you can restore it, using the methods described in your Windows documentation.

Disable Media Sensing by completing the following steps on each node of your cluster:

1. Backup the Windows registry.

2. Use Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) to view the following key in the registry:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters
   

3. Add the following registry entry to the Parameters subkey:

   Name: DisableDHCPMediaSense
   Data type: REG_DWORD (Boolean)
   Value: 1
   

4. Exit the Registry Editor and restart the computer.

1.2.2.5 Network Adapter Binding Order and Protocol Priorities

Check the network adapter binding order on each node. Ensure that your public network adapter is first in the binding order, and the private network adapter is second. Follow these steps to configure the network adapter binding order:

1. Right-click My Network Places and choose Properties.

2. In the left-side menu, select Change adapter settings.

3. In the Advanced menu, click Advanced Settings.

4. If the public adapter 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.

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

The names used for each class of network adapter (such as public) must be consistent across all nodes. You can use nondefault names for the network adapter, for example, PublicLAN, if the same names are used for the same class of network adapters on each node in the network.

1.2.2.6 Deselect Automatic Registration with DNS for the Public Network Interface

If you are using Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, or Windows Server 2012, then for the Publilc Network interface, you must deselect Register this connection's addresses in DNS to avoid issues with mixed up host, VIP and SCAN IPs when you restart the server.

Disable automatic IP registration for the Public network interface on Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, or Windows Server 2012 servers by performing the following steps:

1. Right-click My Network Places and choose Properties.

2. In the left-side menu, select Change adapter settings.

3. Right-click the public network interface name and select Properties.

4. Select the Networking tab, then select Internet Protocol Version 4(TCP/IPv4).

5. Click Properties.

6. Select the General tab, then click Advanced....

7. Select the DNS tab.

8. Deselect the radio button for Register this connection's addresses in DNS.

Repeat this procedure on each node of your cluster.

1.2.2.7 Manually Configure Automatic Metric Values

On Windows 2012, the public and private network interface for IPv4 use the Automatic Metric feature of Windows. Automatic Metric is a new feature in Windows that automatically configures the metric for the local routes that are based on link speed. The Automatic Metric feature is enabled by default, and it can also be manually configured to assign a specific metric.When the Automatic Metric feature is enabled and using the default values, it can sometimes cause OUI to select the private network interface as the default public host name for the server when installing Oracle Grid Infrastructure.

To prevent OUI from selecting the wrong network interface during installation, perform the following steps:

1. In Control Panel, double-click Network Connections.

2. Right-click a network interface, and then click Properties.

3. Click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and then click Properties.

4. On the General tab, click Advanced.

5. To specify a metric, on the IP Settings tab, click to clear the Automatic metric check box.

6. In the Interface Metric field, set the public network interface metric to a lower value than the private network interface. For example, you might set the public network interface metric to 100 and the private network interface metric to 300.

1.2.2.8 Disable IPv6 Components

IPv6 is not supported with Oracle Grid Infrastructure. Before installing the Oracle software, disable IPv6 by modifying the registry on all cluster nodes using the following steps:

1. Start the regedit program. Create a backup of the current registry settings.

2. In the Registry Editor, go to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip6\Parameters entry.

3. Double-click the DisabledComponents key to modify its value. If the DisabledComponents key does not exist, then create this key as follows:

   1. Open the Edit menu.

   2. Select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.

   3. Enter DisabledComponents, then press Enter to create the key.

4. For the DisabledComponents key, add a DWORD value of 0xffffffff.

5. Exit the Registry Editor and restart the computer.

6. Repeat these steps on each node on which you plan to install Oracle Grid Infrastructure.

These steps disable all IPv6 components except for the IPv6 loopback interface.

1.2.2.9 Verify Privileges for Copying Files in the Cluster

During installation, OUI copies the software from the local node to the remote nodes in the cluster. Verify that you have Administrator privileges on the other nodes in the cluster by running the following command on each node, where nodename is the name of the remote node:

net use \\nodename\C$

1.2.5.1 Temporary Directories

To install properly across all nodes, OUI uses the temporary folders defined within Microsoft Windows. The TEMP and TMP environment variables should point to the same local directory on all nodes in the cluster. By default, these settings are defined as %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Temp and %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Tmp in the Environment Settings of My Computer. It is recommended to explicitly redefine these as %WINDIR%\temp and %WINDIR%\tmp, for example, C:\Windows\temp or C:\Windows\tmp for all nodes, if Windows is installed on the C drive.

1.2.5.2 Grid Home Directory

The directory that Oracle Grid Infrastructure is installed in is referred to as the Grid home. When installing Oracle Grid Infrastructure, you must determine the location of the Grid home. Oracle ASM is also installed in this home directory.

If you plan to install Oracle RAC, you must choose a different directory in which to install the Oracle Database software. The location of the Oracle RAC installation is referred to as the Oracle home.

1.2.5.3 Oracle Base Directory

During installation, you are prompted to specify an Oracle base location, which is owned by the user performing the installation. You can choose a location with an existing Oracle home, or choose another directory location that does not have the structure for an Oracle base directory.

If you install Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2) on a computer with no other Oracle software installed, OUI creates an Oracle base directory for you. If Oracle software is already installed, then one or more Oracle base directories already exist. In the latter case, OUI offers you a choice of Oracle base directories to use during installation.

In a default Windows installation, the Oracle base directory appears as follows, where X represents a disk drive and username is the name of the currently logged in user:

X:\app\username

Using the Oracle base directory path helps to facilitate the organization of Oracle installations, and helps to ensure that installations of multiple databases maintain an Optimal Flexible Architecture (OFA) configuration.

1.2.5.4 Oracle Inventory Directory

The Oracle Inventory directory is the central inventory location for all Oracle software installed on a server. By default, the location of the Oracle Inventory directory is C:\Program Files\Oracle\Inventory. This directory is created automatically the first time you install Oracle software on a Windows server.

1.2.7.1 Create Disk Partitions for Use With OCFS for Windows or Oracle ASM

The following steps outline the procedure for creating disk partitions for use with either OCFS for Windows or Oracle ASM:

1. Use Microsoft Computer Management utility or the command line tool diskpart to create an extended partition. Use a basic disk; dynamic disks are not supported.

2. Create at least one logical partition for the Oracle Clusterware files. You do not have to create separate partitions for the OCR and voting disk if you plan to use OCFS for Windows. Oracle Clusterware creates individual files for the OCR and voting disk.

3. If your file system does not use a redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID), then create an additional extended partition and logical partition for each partition that will be used by Oracle Clusterware files, to provide redundancy.

To create the required partitions, use the Disk Management utilities available with Microsoft Windows. Use a basic disk with a Master Boot Record (MBR) partition style as an extended partition for creating partitions.

1. From an existing node in the cluster, run the Windows disk administration tool as follows:

   1. For Windows Server 2003 and Windows 2003 R2 systems:

      Click Start, then select Settings, Control Panel, Administrative Tools, and then Computer Management

      Expand the Storage folder to Disk Management. Use a basic disk with a MBR partition style and create an extended partition. Right click inside an unallocated part of a disk and select Create Extended Partition. Specify a size for the partition that is at least 520 megabyte (MB) to store both the OCR and voting disk, or 500 MB (the minimum size) to store just the voting disk or OCR.

      When specifying options for the logical drive, choose the option "Do not assign a drive letter or path" and "Do not format this partition". Repeat this steps to create enough logical partitions to store all the required files.

   2. For Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, or Windows Server 2012 systems, see Section 3.7, "Configuring Storage for Oracle Database Files on OCFS for Windows" for instructions on creating disk partitions using the DISKPART utility.

2. On each node in the cluster, ensure that the partitions are visible and that none of the disk partitions created for shared storage have drive letters assigned. If any partitions have drive letters assigned, then remove them by performing these steps:

   • Right-click the partition in the Windows disk administration tool

   • Select "Change Drive Letters and Paths..." from the menu

   • Click Remove in the "Change Drive Letter and Paths" window

1.2.7.2 Stamp Disk Partitions for Use With Oracle ASM

If you plan to use Oracle ASM to store the Oracle Clusterware files, then you must perform one additional step. After you have created the disk partitions, the disks must be stamped with a header before they can be used by Oracle ASM. You can stamp the disk partitions by using either asmtoolg (GUI version) or using asmtool (command-line version).