For simple server crashes, VMotion is fine. Database recovery is dependent
upon the disk drives and the data that was written then the simple database
server it is running run.
Although in my lifetime, I have had more corrupted database than just plain
server crashes. Where VMotion helps is in regular Dom0 server maintenance or
moving from point A to Point B.
From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On
Behalf Of Hameed, Amir
Sent: Saturday, August 1, 2020 6:17 PM
To: dimensional.dba@xxxxxxxxxxx; gogala.mladen@xxxxxxxxx;
oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: Oracle database HA on VMWare without using RAC
Thank you for pointing out the following
It doesn't protect you for an HA perspective if the OS/Oracle SW becomes
corrupted or your database is corrupted or hard down.
DB corruption risk would still be there even if RAC is used. In my
experience with Oracle (and others may have had different experiences and
their opinions are based on those experiences), the probability of database
corruption is much lower than the probability of physical server crashing.
However, on a bad day, all assumptions about probabilities can be thrown
into the dust bin.
Based on your experience with VMotion, does it work fine in situations where
the underlying server crashes and in those situations, have you ever had any
issues with the Oracle's instance crash recovery?
From: dimensional.dba@xxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:dimensional.dba@xxxxxxxxxxx>
<dimensional.dba@xxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:dimensional.dba@xxxxxxxxxxx> >
Sent: Saturday, August 1, 2020 6:59 PM
To: Hameed, Amir <Amir.Hameed@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:Amir.Hameed@xxxxxxxxx> >;
gogala.mladen@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:gogala.mladen@xxxxxxxxx> ;
oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: RE: Oracle database HA on VMWare without using RAC
I have used VMotion at a variety of clients for low level fail over's
meaning scheduled maintenance, but don't try to VMotion when the database is
under heavy load.
It doesn't protect you for an HA perspective if the OS/Oracle SW becomes
corrupted or your database is corrupted or hard down.
From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
<oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> > On
Behalf Of Hameed, Amir
Sent: Saturday, August 1, 2020 1:35 PM
To: gogala.mladen@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:gogala.mladen@xxxxxxxxx> ;
oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: RE: Oracle database HA on VMWare without using RAC
Thanks Mladen!
Have you had any experience with using VMWare's VMotion feature to provide
HA to Oracle databases? We are looking for a cost effective way to provide
HA to an Oracle database. RAC, Veritas, GG are all excellent but expensive
options. What I don't know is how effective VMotion is in minimizing the
outage time for Oracle databases.
Thanks
From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
<oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> > On
Behalf Of Mladen Gogala
Sent: Saturday, August 1, 2020 3:51 PM
To: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: Oracle database HA on VMWare without using RAC
Standby database or Golden Gate are rather usual options. Other than that,
you can setup a Veritas failover cluster for VMWare:
https://www.veritas.com/content/support/en_US/doc/ka6f10000000CAjAAM
You can do the same thing using MSFT cluster:
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.0/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-60
1-setup-mscs.pdf
There is also VMWare HA:
https://www.vmware.com/pdf/vmware_ha_wp.pdf
Last, but definitely not least, there is Commvault Live Sync for VMWare.
It's sort of standby for VMWare.
https://documentation.commvault.com/commvault/v11/article?p=106002.htm
Virtual machines are disk files. Fail-over clusters move the disk drive to
the surviving node and restart the service. There are also hardware based
solutions on remote disk replication. Every major SAN vendor (EMC, Hitachi,
NetApp) has remote disk replication software, usually for the high end
arrays and usually separately licensed. What kind of money are you looking
to spend? What is the acceptable switch-over time? Are you looking for the
software-only solution, hardware solution or the combination of both? Here
is a good article about VMWare high availability:
https://www.nakivo.com/blog/vm-failover-guide/
This is a question for a system architect within your company. The most
important question is how much do you want to spend? When you have the $$$
then it's basically testing various commercial solutions, some of which are
listed above.
On 7/31/20 11:08 PM, Hameed, Amir wrote:
Hi,
I am looking for options/features available in VMWare to provide
high-availability to single-instance Oracle databases. If anyone is using
VMWare to provide HA solution to their Oracle database, I would appreciate
if I could be pointed to the right direction.
Thank you,
Amir
--
Mladen Gogala
Database Consultant
Tel: (347) 321-1217
