Tony,
Your plan is sound. You don't have to worry about which instance is from
which node because the file system will be active on both. Yes, you can
take ACFS snapshots on one node and create a new single instance database
on the other node. I have worked with a number of customers that do this
with ODAs and Exadatas.
The book is a couple of years old but it is still worth the price. I have a
paperback copy and still use it often for reference.
Seth Miller
On Sun, Jan 31, 2016 at 5:31 PM, De DBA <dedba@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Seth,
Thanks for that. I haven't got access to the systems yet, just reading up
and preparing for the shock..
You will not find OCFS on the ODA. It uses ACFS for the cluster file
system as well as the database files.
Ah, yes, of course, it's on ASM... I understand that oakcli will create &
manage fs automatically, but I'm not going to have RAC. One node is
supposed to be production, whereas the other node will run dev, test and
UAT. I will need to refresh the dev & test databases from production, and
wonder whether I can create a snapshot, do the masking etc. and then mount
the copy on the other node where it will then be used as the gold copy for
the refreshes.
get yourself a couple of excellent books.
Practical Oracle Database Appliance
<http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Oracle-Database-Appliance-Curtis/dp/1430262656>
Oracle Database Appliance: A Hands-On Guide
<http://www.amazon.com/Oracle-Database-Appliance-Hands--Guide/dp/0071827447>
I did look at the first one, which has some famous names amongst the
authors. One of the reviews that I saw mentions that it is somewhat dated?
Is it still worthwhile getting even if you work with the latest
hard/software?
Cheers,
Tony
On 31/01/2016 2:45 pm, Seth Miller wrote:
Tony,
The ODAs apparently are each set up as two stand-alone servers with shared
storage. I understand that one needs to use oakcli to create databases and
that this tool hides pretty much all functionality that we are used to
through dbca etc.
Yes, oakcli is the magic behind ODA but it does not preclude you from
using DBCA. If you need to create a database that does not fall into one of
the oakcli templates, feel free to use DBCA or any other classic method.
But what does it do exactly?
Oakcli is nothing more than a bunch of very well written perl and shell
scripts that wrap the classic tools included with the Oracle database
software. They are easy to find and read if you really want to know what
they are doing.
How does one manage the OCFS?
You will not find OCFS on the ODA. It uses ACFS for the cluster file
system as well as the database files.
Can a file system be mounted on both nodes, or just on one? Is this
automatic?
Oakcli will take care of this for you.
Given a complete backup (... which is a problem all of its own...), how
does one restore a database?
Use RMAN or Enterprise Manager for this. There will be little difference
from a standard RAC database in how you backup and restore a database.
Don't use centralised wallets with TDE, otherwise problems will arise --
but what does that even mean?
This isn't specific to the ODA. There are a number of reasons to have
local wallets in RAC -- one of the most important being that you can't have
a local only autologin wallet if it is shared with multiple nodes.
You will find little argument that the documentation for ODA is mediocre
at best. This is why a number of training companies (including the one I
teach for) have developed their own content for the ODA. I think your best
course of action, though, is to get yourself a couple of excellent books.
Practical Oracle Database Appliance
<http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Oracle-Database-Appliance-Curtis/dp/1430262656>
Oracle Database Appliance: A Hands-On Guide
<http://www.amazon.com/Oracle-Database-Appliance-Hands--Guide/dp/0071827447>
Seth Miller
On Fri, Jan 29, 2016 at 10:42 PM, De DBA <dedba@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I've just read through that documentation, as I will shortly get the
responsibility for 2 ODA's. I would not classify the 3 software manuals and
2 hw manuals as good documentation. After reading all of it, I've got more
questions than what I started out with...
The ODAs apparently are each set up as two stand-alone servers with
shared storage. I understand that one needs to use oakcli to create
databases and that this tool hides pretty much all functionality that we
are used to through dbca etc. But what does it do exactly? How does one
manage the OCFS? Can a file system be mounted on both nodes, or just on
one? Is this automatic? Given a complete backup (... which is a problem all
of its own...), how does one restore a database? Don't use centralised
wallets with TDE, otherwise problems will arise -- but what does that even
mean? Questions...
Pointers to more complete documentation/blogs/etc. regarding managing and
patching the ODA are very welcome!
Cheers,
Tony
On 30/01/2016 6:38 am, Hans Forbrich wrote:
Yes, lack of documentation was a problem at one time.
That has significantly improved. See
http://docs.oracle.com/en/engineered-systems/
/Hans
On 29/01/2016 12:54 PM, Andrew Kerber wrote:
I have run into problem with a lack of good documentation on its use.
Sent from my iPad
On Jan 29, 2016, at 1:49 PM, <Jay.Miller@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> <
Jay.Miller@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi
We just attended an ODA presentation and it looks very promising as a
solution for our non-prod testing environment as it would allow us to clone
multiple instances of the gold copy test databases easily (without needing
to coordinate with other departments as we do now) and apply patches for
those environments quickly and easily as well.
Any real life pros or cons that anyone has experienced with the
appliance? We’d keep our production and performance testing environments
off it at least for now.
Jay Miller
Sr. Oracle DBA
201.369.8355
