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Dell/EMC CX3 Series

Oracle RAC 10g

Reference Architecture Guide

Abstract

This document provides an overview of the architecture of the EMC solution for Oracle
RAC 10g on Dell/EMC CX3 Series arrays over FPC. This solution was developed by
the EMC Commercial Solutions Practice.

ii Oracle RAC 10g Dell/EMC CX3 Series FCP Reference Architecture Guide A01

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Oracle RAC 10g Dell/EMC CX3 Series FCP Reference Architecture Guide

A01

THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS DOCUMENT, INCLUDING ALL
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Contents

Preface...............................................................................................................................x

Chapter 1 Solution Overview..........................................................................................................1-1

The business challenge...................................................................................................1-2

The technology solution .................................................................................................1-2

Solution advantages................................................................................................1-2

Chapter 2 Solution Architecture......................................................................................................2-1

Overall architecture ........................................................................................................2-2

General characteristics............................................................................................2-3

Storage network architecture..........................................................................................2-4

FCP 2-4

Storage architecture........................................................................................................2-4

High availability and failover.................................................................................2-4

RAID type and RAID group configuration ............................................................2-5

LUN setup...............................................................................................................2-8

ASM and OCFS2....................................................................................................2-8

Database server architecture...........................................................................................2-9

Oracle Database 10g server FCP network architecture ..........................................2-9

Oracle Database 10g server IP network architecture..............................................2-9

Oracle cluster ready services (CRS).....................................................................2-10

High availability and failover...............................................................................2-10

Application architecture ...............................................................................................2-10

Chapter 3 Hardware and Software Resources.................................................................................3-1

Hardware resources ........................................................................................................3-2

Software resources..........................................................................................................3-2

Oracle RAC 10g Dell/EMC CX3 Series FCP Reference Architecture Guide v

Figures

Figure 2-1 Overall architecture of all Oracle RAC 10g Dell/EMC CX3 Series FCP
solutions other than test/dev

Figure 2-2 Overall architecture of the Oracle RAC 10g Dell/EMC CX3 Series FCP
test/dev solution

..............................................................................................................2-3

Figure .......................................2-6 2-5 Configuration 1: 3 FC shelf RAID 1-0 / RAID 1

Figure ..........................................2-6 2-6 Configuration 2: 3 FC shelf RAID 5 / RAID 1

Figure .......................................2-7 2-7 Configuration 3: 2 FC shelf RAID 1-0 / RAID 1

Figure ..........................................2-8 2-8 Configuration 4: 2 FC shelf RAID 5 / RAID 1

...........................................................................................2-2

Oracle RAC 10g Dell/EMC CX3 Series FCP Reference Architecture Guide vii

Tables

Table ...................................................................................1-2 1-1 Solution advantages

Table ..........................................2-2 2-1 Oracle RAC 10g FCP Solution configurations

Table ...............................2-5 2-2 Oracle RAC 10g FCP Solution RAID Configurations

Table ......................................................................................2-9 2-3 File system layout

Table .....................................2-10 2-4 Database server network interface configuration

Table .............................................................................3-2 3-1 Hardware specifications

Table ..............................................................................3-2 3-2 Software specifications

Oracle RAC 10g Dell/EMC CX3 Series FCP Reference Architecture Guide ix

Preface

Preface

As part of an effort to improve and enhance the performance and capabilities of its
product line, EMC from time to time releases revisions of its hardware and software.
Therefore, some functions described in this guide may not be supported by all revisions
of the software or hardware currently in use. For the most up-to-date information on
product features, refer to your product release notes.

This document provides an overview of the architecture of the EMC solution for Oracle
RAC 10g on Dell/EMC CX3 Series arrays over FPC. This solution was developed by
the EMC Commercial Solutions Practice.

Purpose

Information in this document can be used as the basis for a solution build, white paper,
best practices document, or training.

Information in this document can also be used by other EMC organizations (for
example, the technical services or sales organization) as the basis for producing
documentation for a technical services or sales kit.

Audience

This document is intended for Dell and EMC customers, partners, and personnel.

Scope

This document describes the architecture of an EMC solution built and tested by the
EMC Commercial Solutions Practice, located in Research Triangle Park, N.C.

Implementation instructions and best practices are beyond the scope of this document.
See the related documents, below.

x Oracle RAC 10g Dell/EMC CX3 Series FCP Reference Architecture Guide

Preface

Related documents

The following documents, available from the EMC Powerlink website
(

http://powerlink.emc.com/ ) provide additional, relevant information:

♦ Oracle Database 10g/Oracle RAC 10g CLARiiON CX3 Series FCP Best Practices

Planning

♦ Oracle Database 10g/Oracle RAC 10g CLARiiON CX3 Series FCP Applied

Technology

♦ Oracle RAC 10g presentations and white papers on EMC Powerlink
Documentation for Dell/EMC CX3 series storage is available from ww.dell.com/storage,

Oracle RAC 10g Dell/EMC CX3 Series FCP Reference Architecture Guide xi

Chapter 1 Solution Overview

This chapter presents these topics:

The business challenge...................................................................................................1-2

The technology solution .................................................................................................1-2

Oracle RAC 10g Dell/EMC CX3 Series FCP Reference Architecture Guide 1-1

Solution Overview

The business challenge

Mid-size enterprises face the same challenges as their larger counterparts when it comes
to managing database environments. Typical challenges include cost, control, resource
utilization, and scaling.

Oracle RAC 10g supports numerous functions ranging from manufacturing to online
web applications. These deployments may be in smaller data centers that often support
applications ranging from custom database applications to standard packages such as
SAS, Siebel, PeopleSoft, and SAP, or they may be in large, centralized data centers.

Mid-size enterprises need scalable and RAID-protected storage but must be extremely
cost-conscious. They may lack the IT resources to deploy, manage, and maintain
complex environments at the departmental level.

The technology solution

The Oracle RAC 10g Dell/EMC CX3 Series FCP solution enables a mid-size enterprise
to deploy a Dell/EMC storage area network (SAN) architecture with FCP connectivity
for its Oracle RAC 10g database applications.

Solution advantages

Table 1-1 Solution advantages

The solution offers the following advantages:

Benefit Details

Lower total cost of ownership
(TCO)

Manageability

Simplified Real Application
Clusters (RAC) implementation

Higher availability

Increased flexibility

Improved data protection

Lower acquisition, administration,
and maintenance costs

Easier implementation,
provisioning, and LUN
management

Leverages ASM for simple
administration of storage

Implements a clustering
architecture that provides very
high levels of data availability

Easily make databases, or copies
of database, available (via
clones) to other servers using
storage based cloning

Integrate both availability and
backup as well as disaster
protection

1-2 Oracle RAC 10g Dell/EMC CX3 Series FCP Reference Architecture Guide

Chapter 2 Solution Architecture

This chapter presents these topics:

Overall architecture ........................................................................................................2-2

Storage network architecture..........................................................................................2-4

Storage architecture........................................................................................................2-4

Database server architecture...........................................................................................2-9

Application architecture ...............................................................................................2-10

Oracle RAC 10g Dell/EMC CX3 Series FCP Reference Architecture Guide 2-1

Solution Architecture

Overall architecture

The following figures show the overall architecture of the Oracle RAC 10g Dell/EMC
CX3 Series FCP solution:

Figure Configuration

Figure 2-1

Figure 2-2

Table 2-1 Oracle RAC 10g FCP Solution configurations

Each of the configurations includes the following components:
♦ Client, RAC interconnect, and storage networks consisting of dedicated network

switches and VLANs

♦ Oracle RAC 10g servers connected to the client, RAC interconnect, and storage

networks

All solutions other
than test/dev

Test/dev solution

♦ Clients connected to the Oracle RAC 10g servers via the public network
♦ A Dell/EMC CX3 Series (CX3-20C) storage array connected to the Oracle RAC 10g

servers via the storage network

Figure 2-1 Overall architecture of all Oracle RAC 10g Dell/EMC CX3 Series FCP solutions other than
test/dev

2-2 Oracle RAC 10g Dell/EMC CX3 Series FCP Reference Architecture Guide

Solution Architecture

Figure 2-2 Overall architecture of the Oracle RAC 10g Dell/EMC CX3 Series FCP test/dev solution

General characteristics

Each solution configuration has the following general characteristics:

♦ Each configuration consists of a four-node active/active Oracle RAC 10g cluster.
♦ Oracle database files, online redo log files, archived log files and the flashback

recovery area each reside on their own ASM disk group, stored on one or more
storage LUNs. Online redo log files are mirrored across two different ASM disk
groups using Oracle software multiplexing. All ASM disk groups are set to external
redundancy.

♦ The control files are mirrored across the online redo log disk groups.
♦ The voting disk and ocr files are stored on an OCFS2 file system mounted on all

RAC hosts.

♦ Storage LUNs are designed to satisfy the I/O demands of individual database

objects, using RAID 5, RAID 3, RAID 1-0 or RAID 1, as appropriate.

♦ Trunked RAC interconnect network connections use jumbo frames.
♦ All database files are stored on the Dell/EMC CX3 storage array, making database

server replacement relatively simple.

♦ Oracle RAC 10g for x86 or x86-64 runs under Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
♦ FCP provides storage connectivity via a fully-switched environment.

Oracle RAC 10g Dell/EMC CX3 Series FCP Reference Architecture Guide 2-3

Solution Architecture

Storage network architecture

The following are the characteristics of the FCP network employed in testing this
solution.

FCP

♦ Fully redundant FCP switches are used.
♦ Two target ports on each of the Dell/EMC CX3 storage processors are utilized. Each

target port is connected to a separate FCP switch.

♦ Two redundant single-ported HBAs are used on each Oracle RAC 10g server. Each

HBA is connected to a separate FCP switch.

♦ Zoning is employed on the FCP switches to ensure that all RAC hosts have

redundant paths to access all LUNs on the Dell/EMC CX3 series array.

♦ EMC PowerPath software is employed on the RAC hosts to ensure path failover in

the event of HBA failure, switch or switch port failure, or SP or SP port failure

Resiliency testing is employed to ensure seamless, consistent failover of all elements of
the FCP network, including the RAC servers, the FCP switches, and the Dell/EMCarray
itself. All elements of this solution are found to be robust and reliable, being able to
survive the failure of any other element in the solution.

Storage architecture

Setting up storage involves:

♦ Creating RAID groups
♦ Binding LUNs
♦ Allocating hot spares
♦ Creating a storage group
♦ Assigning hosts to the storage group
♦ Assigning LUNs to the storage group

High availability and failover

The Dell/EMC CX3 Series has built-in high-availability features. These HA features
allow the Dell/EMC CX3 Series to survive various failures without a loss of access to
the Oracle RAC 10g database. These features protect against the following:

♦ Storage processor failure
♦ FCP target port failure

2-4 Oracle RAC 10g Dell/EMC CX3 Series FCP Reference Architecture Guide

Solution Architecture

♦ Power loss affecting a single circuit connected to the storage array
♦ Disk failure

RAID type and RAID group configuration

Four sets of RAID and disk configurations are tested, as shown in the following table.

Figure Configuration Description

Figure 2-5
Figure 2-6
Figure 2-7
Figure 2-8

Table 2-2 Oracle RAC 10g FCP Solution RAID Configurations

Configuration 1 3 FC shelf RAID 1-0 / RAID 1
Configuration 2 3 FC shelf RAID 5 / RAID 1
Configuration 3 2 FC shelf RAID 1-0 / RAID 1
Configuration 4 2 FC shelf RAID 5 / RAID 1

Oracle RAC 10g Dell/EMC CX3 Series FCP Reference Architecture Guide 2-5

Solution Architecture

Figure 2-5 Configuration 1: 3 FC shelf RAID 1-0 / RAID 1

Figure 2-6 Configuration 2: 3 FC shelf RAID 5 / RAID 1

2-6 Oracle RAC 10g Dell/EMC CX3 Series FCP Reference Architecture Guide

Solution Architecture

Figure 2-7 Configuration 3: 2 FC shelf RAID 1-0 / RAID 1

Oracle RAC 10g Dell/EMC CX3 Series FCP Reference Architecture Guide 2-7

Solution Architecture

Figure 2-8 Configuration 4: 2 FC shelf RAID 5 / RAID 1

LUN setup

ASM and OCFS2

Once the RAID groups are created, EMC Navisphere software is used to create the
LUNs which are used the store the database. These LUNs are added to a storage group
which is accessible to the RAC hosts.

In general, Automatic Storage Management (ASM) is used to store all of the database
objects. The exception is the Oracle cluster registry file and the voting disk. Both of
these files must be stored on shared storage that is not on an ASM file system. Oracle
Cluster File System (OCFS2) is used to store these files. The following table contains a
detailed description of all of the database objects and where they are stored.

2-8 Oracle RAC 10g Dell/EMC CX3 Series FCP Reference Architecture Guide

Solution Architecture

File system /
mount point

/u02 OCFS2 LUN 0

+DATA ASM LUNs 3 through 8 Oracle datafiles
+LOG1 ASM LUN 1

+LOG2 ASM LUN 2

+FLASH ASM LUN 9

+ARCH ASM LUN 10

+CLONEDATA ASM LUNs 53 through 58 Cloned Oracle datafiles
+CLONELOG1 ASM LUN 51

+CLONELOG2 ASM LUN 52

Table 2-3 File system layout

File system type LUNs stored on Contents

Oracle cluster registry file
and voting disk

Online redo logs and
control file (one of the
mirrored copies)

Online redo logs and
control file (the other of
the mirrored copies)

Flashback recovery area
(all backups stored here)

Archived log dump
destination

Cloned online redo logs
and control file (one of
the mirrored copies)

Cloned online redo logs
and control file (the other
of the mirrored copies)

Database server architecture

This section describes the database server architecture.

Oracle Database 10g server FCP network architecture

Each Oracle RAC 10g server has two single-ported HBAs. Each HBA on each server is
connected to a separate, redundant FCP switch. Zoning on each switch is used to ensure
redundant pathways to the Dell/EMC storage. PowerPath software is used on the hosts to
ensure path failover in the event of an HBA or switch port failure.

Oracle Database 10g server IP network architecture

Each Oracle RAC 10g server has three network interfaces. Two interfaces connect the
server to the RAC interconnect network, enabling the heartbeat and other network I/O
required by Oracle cluster ready services.

One interface connects to the client network. Table
describes its use

Interface port ID Description

eth0 Client network
eth1 RAC interconnect (trunked)
eth2 RAC interconnect (trunked)

2-4 lists each interface and

Oracle RAC 10g Dell/EMC CX3 Series FCP Reference Architecture Guide 2-9

Solution Architecture

Table 2-4 Database server network interface configuration

Oracle cluster ready services (CRS)

Oracle cluster ready services (CRS) are enabled on each of the Oracle RAC 10g servers.
The servers operate in active/active mode to provide local protection against a server
failure and to provide load balancing.

High availability and failover

TCP/IP provides the ability to establish redundant paths for sending I/O from a
networked computer to another networked computer. This approach uses the link
aggregation protocol, commonly referred to as “trunking”. Redundant paths facilitate
high availability and load balancing for the networked connection. Two trunked NICs on
each Oracle RAC 10g server are used for the RAC interconnect. Although the network
diagrams shown

above exclude the switches for simplicity, and fully switched

environment is used for the RAC interconnect.

Application architecture

The Oracle RAC 10g binary files, including the Oracle Cluster Ready Services software,
are installed on the database servers’ local disks. Datafiles, online redo log files, archive
log files, tempfiles, and CRS files reside on the Dell/EMC CX3 Series. These file
systems are designed (in terms of the RAID level and number of disks used) to be
appropriate for each type of file. See

Table 2-3 for more information on the location

where each of these objects is stored.

2-10 Oracle RAC 10g Dell/EMC CX3 Series FCP Reference Architecture Guide

Chapter 3 Hardware and

Software Resources

This chapter presents these topics:

Hardware resources ........................................................................................................3-2

Software resources..........................................................................................................3-2

Oracle RAC 10g Dell/EMC CX3 Series FCP Reference Architecture Guide 3-1

Hardware resources

The Oracle RAC 10g - Dell/EMC CX3 Series FCP solution uses the following hardware
resources.

Equipment Quality Configuration

Dell™
PowerEdge™
2950 server

Brocade M4400 Two 16 ports per switch
Dell/EMC CX3-20 One Two Storage Processors

Four

Two 3.0-GHz Intel Xeon dual-core
processors

12 GB of RAM
Two 73 GB 10K internal SAS disks
Two onboard GbE Ethernet NICs
One additional dual-port GbE Ethernet

NIC
Two QLogic QLE2460 FCP HBAs

Two target FCP ports per Storage
Processor

Two or three FC shelves
One LCFC shelf
30 or 45 146 GB FC disks (depending

on configuration)
Fifteen 320 GB LCFC disks

Table 3-1 Hardware specifications

Software resources

Table 3-2 Software specifications

The Oracle RAC 10g – Dell/EMC CX3 Series FCP solution uses the software resources
in Table

3-2.

Software title Number of licenses.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux One per database server
Oracle RAC 10g Enterprise Edition One per database server
EMC Navisphere Agent One per database server
EMC PowerPath One per database server
EMC FLARE

EMC Navisphere Management

One per CX3 Storage
Processor

One per CX3 Storage
Processor

3-2 Oracle RAC 10g Dell/EMC CX3 Series FCP Reference Architecture Guide