[racattack] Re: RACAttack on steroids (how to speed up deployment) We need volunteers for implementation

  • From: Leighton Nelson <leightonn@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "racattack@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <racattack@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 10:44:48 -0600

I think everyone is in agreement with there being two options
- pre-configured setup without Oracle software (Virtualbox images) &
partly/fully automated setup (Vagrant+packer).  IMHO value lies in both
approaches.
Speaking from a user-group event perspective it would be good for us to get
feedback from users and use that as input to drive our development efforts.

Next step is to have contributors working on parallel on two options. Can
we have two teams setup and begin working on the project? I believe Marcin
is leading the first option (correct me of I'm wrong). Should we or do we
need a github setup?
For the second option myself and I presume Jeremy and anyone interested can
work with Alvaro to do the fully automated multiplatform option. Also setup
a github for this. Thanks Alvaro for coming on board.

Bear in mind that as we make these options available we also need to update
the wiki books. We'll need contributors for this too.
Let's also split the threads to focus on each option and keep the
discussions focused.

The next formal event is RMOUG in a couple weeks but I think we'll still
use the manual steps. Hopefully we can have at least the first option ready
for Collaborate in April.

Have a good weekend everyone.

.L

On Saturday, January 25, 2014, Alvaro Miranda Aguilera <kikitux@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

> Hello People,
>
> My name is Alvaro Miranda, based on New Zealand.
>
> I have been playing with packer and vagrant lately, and looks you found
> the post I did about those.
>
> Thinking about what you want to do, and based that Oracle Rac on linux
> today can use disks (block device) or NFS, I think we should be able to do
> something like:
>
> - VirtualBox appliance, pre-configured of 2 or 3 nodes and provide the
> scripts and instructions, in that way, someone wanting to have one oracle
> RAC, can download the appliance, expand it, download the binaries, run the
> script, enjoy 2 cups of coffee and voila.
>
> - Vagrant + virtualbox, 1 vagrant box of Oracle linux, deploy 3 nodes, one
> for NFS, 2 nodes of rac, then, similar to the previous, download the
> binaries and run the scripts.
>
> I haven't done all installed or stages, as Oracle seems to like the end
> user going to the webpage (otn or edelivery) to download the software, so
> vagrant and scripts work for me.
>
> Lately I have been using LXC a lot, and I have done stuff like :
> - install on one container, do a backup to disk and restore on the 2nd
> node.
> - Similar a previous one, but as dataguard.
>
> What I am about to do, that I have done in separated bits, but will do all
> toegether is, Enterprise manager on the host, and databases on containers,
> to allow people to see how EM do/handle databases, clones, dataguard, learn
> for a private cloud.
>
> Let me know what do you think, and how we can get started.
>
> I use virtualbox, as I personally I think works better than vmware, but is
> just a personal choice, we can do both.
>
> Alvaro.
>
>
> On Fri, Jan 24, 2014 at 9:22 PM, Marcin Przepiorowski <pioro1@xxxxxxxxx>wrote:
>
> Hi Guys,
>
> Automation is great but we have to think about one issue presented here -
> http://xkcd.com/1319/
> ;)
>
> I'm not sure what kind of work is required to install and configure
> Vagrant or solutions proposed by kikiux  - keep in mind that for some
> attendees RAC installation is a one time event.
>
> I think we should go two ways - build a fully automated process for us or
> people who want to build rac several time but also have a option of using
> VirtualBox scripts plus maybe kickstart to help people who will do it only
> once. The next question is if people want to or can install so many
> different software on PC to install VB and RAC ;)
>
> regards,
> Marcin
>
>
> On Thu, Jan 23, 2014 at 10:17 PM, Leighton Nelson <leightonn@xxxxxxxxx>wrote:
>
> Jeremy,
> This is exactly what I was talking about. I see he was able to automate it
> using LXC too. We should definitely try to get this guy onboard or at least
> fork his code on git. I haven't looked at packer yet but seems quite useful
> too.
>
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 22, 2014 at 8:58 AM, Jeremy Schneider <
> jeremy.schneider@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Leighton, I'm also doing work along the same lines as you.  (I think this
> is the best way forward.)  We're not the only ones working on it either:
> Alvaro Miranda from New Zealand seems to be a bit ahead of us - I think
> he's already automated most of the RAC setup - and since he used
> packer/vagrant, it should be fairly easy to run on any virtualization
> platform.  (But he used virtualbox by default anyway!)
>
> http://kikitux.net/
>
> His work is on github here:
> https://github.com/kikitux/packer-vagrant-oracle
>
> Might be worth peeking at, maybe even trying to recruit this guy to work
> with us.  :)
>
> -J
>
> --
> http://about.me/jeremy_schneider
>
>
> On Mon, Jan 20, 2014 at 2:04 PM, Leighton Nelson <leightonn@xxxxxxxxx>wrote:
>
> Since we're hijacking threads I'll add my two cents. I think the methods
> of distributing VDI is good but still leaves room for error (improvement)
> to created a fully automated install. I've been experimenting with Vagrant (
> http://www.vagrantup.com) to create an environment (on steroids). The
> basic is idea is to configure a minimal "base box" then provision the VMs
> automagically with scripts or other provisioning alternatives (Chef Solo,
> Puppet) etc. The thing I like about it is that it allows you to use the
> same commands on all platforms and works with multiple providers. A
> provider is just a virtualization platform like VirtualBox which is
> supported by default. It also can work with VMware and AWS (RAC in the
> Cloud anyone?).
> Vagrant also allows us to do multiple machine configuration so it's
> possible to do a n-node configuration. Another neat feature is the ability
> to call scripts from the guests located on the host and access files on the
> host via synced folders. How I imagine it is that once the guest VMs are
> provisioned we would be required to download and stage the oracle bits on
> the hosts in a defined location. Vagrant can then pick these up and run the
> silent installation
>
>

-- 
Regards,
Leighton L. Nelson

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