5 Oracle Grid Infrastructure Postinstallation Procedures

5.1.1 Download and Install Patch Updates

Refer to the My Oracle Support web site for required patch updates for your installation.

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On a regular basis Oracle provides patch sets that include generic and port specific fixes encountered by customers since the base product was released. Patch sets increment the 4th digit of the version number e.g. 10.2.0.1.0 to 10.2.0.4.0, these patch sets are fully regression tested in the same way that the base release is (i.e. 10.2.0.1.0). Customers are encouraged to apply these fixes.

If a customer encounters a critical problem that requires a fix prior to the next patch set becoming available, they can request that a one off fix is made available on top of the latest patch set. This delivery mechanism is similar to the Microsoft Hot Fixes and is known as an Oracle patch set exception (or interim patch). Unlike Unix platforms these patch set exceptions are delivered in a patch set exception bundle (cumulative patch bundle), which includes all fixes since the current patch set. For example, bug 12393432 is a patch set exception bundle, Patch 12, for Oracle Database release 11.2.0.1 for Microsoft Windows (x64). You should always apply the latest patch bundle available for your release.

The patch set exception bundles also include the fixes for the CPU (Critical Patch Update), DST (Daylight Saving Time), PSU (Patch Set Update) and Recommended Patch Bundles. It is not required to have previous security patches applied before applying the patch set exception bundle. However, you must be on the stated patch set level for a given product home before applying the patch set exception bundle for that release.

To download required patch updates:

1. Use a web browser to view the My Oracle Support web site:

   https://support.oracle.com

2. Log in to My Oracle Support web site.

   Note:

   If you are not a My Oracle Support registered user, then click Register Here to register.

3. On the main My Oracle Support page, click Patches & Updates.

4. To search for patch sets, perform the following steps:

   1. Click the Latest Patch sets link on the left side of the page, under the heading Oracle Server/Tools.

      The Quick Links page appears in a new browser window or tab.

   2. Click Simple Search.

   3. Set the Search By field to Product or Family. Click the flashlight icon next to the adjacent text field. In the popup window, in the text field next to All Products, type "%Oracle Database%", then click Go.

   4. Select Oracle Database Family from the list, then click Select to return to the Simple Search window.

   5. Choose a value for Patch set release, for example, Oracle 11.2.0.2.0.

      Note:

      The Patch set release is one greater than your current software release. For example, if your current software release is Oracle 10.2.0.3, then the Patch set release would Oracle 10.2.0.4.

   6. For the Patch Type, select Patch set/Minipack.

   7. For the Platform or Language, select Microsoft Windows x64 (64-bit).

   8. Click Go. Continue with Step 6.

5. To search for patches, perform the following steps:

   1. On the right side of the page, in the Patch Search section, select Product or Family (Advanced Search).

   2. In the Product or Family Search section, select Oracle Database for the Product and Oracle 11.2.0.1.0 (Oracle Database) for the Release. If you have applied any of the bundle patches, then used the modified database version, for example 11.2.0.1.3, instead of the base version number (11.2.0.1.0).

   3. If a search filter for Platform is visible, select Microsoft Windows x64 (64-bit) for the Platform. If this search filter is not visible, either add this search filter, or select Platform from the drop-down list for the last search filter line.

   4. Click Search.

      A list of all available patches for the specified Oracle Database release on Microsoft Windows x64 platforms is displayed.

   5. (Optional) To locate patches specific to Oracle RAC or Oracle Grid Infrastructure, click Edit Search. When returned to the Product or Family Search window, add a filter for Patch Target, and set the value to Real Application Clusters.

      Note:

      Because Oracle RAC is an option of the Oracle Database software, patches that apply to Oracle Database also apply to Oracle RAC databases.

6. Click the patch number to view the patch description and access the README file for the patch. You can also download the patch from this page.

7. Click Read Me to view the patch instructions. The README page is opened in a separate browser window or tab. The README file contains information about the patch, a list of bugs fixed by this patch, and how to apply the patch to your installation.

   Close the tab or window to return to the previous page.

8. Click Download, and save the patch file on your system.

9. Use the unzip utility provided with your Oracle software to uncompress the Oracle patch updates that you download from My Oracle Support. The unzip utility is located in the Grid_home\BIN directory.

10. Refer to Appendix D, "How to Upgrade to Oracle Grid Infrastructure 11g Release 2" for information about how to stop database processes in preparation for installing patches.

5.1.2 Configure Exceptions for the Windows Firewall

If the Windows Firewall feature is enabled on one or more of the nodes in your cluster, then virtually all transmission control protocol (TCP) network ports are blocked to incoming connections. As a result, any Oracle product that listens for incoming connections on a TCP port will not receive any of those connection requests and the clients making those connections will report errors.

You must configure exceptions for the Windows Firewall if your system meets all of the following conditions:

• Oracle server-side components are installed on a computer running a supported version of Microsoft Windows. The list of components includes the Oracle Database, Oracle Grid Infrastructure, Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC), network listeners, or any web servers or services.

• The Windows computer in question accepts connections from other computers over the network. If no other computers connect to the Windows computer to access the Oracle software, then no post-installation configuration steps are required and the Oracle software functions as expected.

• The Windows computer in question is configured to run the Windows Firewall. If the Windows Firewall is not enabled, then no post-installation configuration steps are required.

If all of the above conditions are met, then the Windows Firewall must be configured to allow successful incoming connections to the Oracle software. To enable Oracle software to accept connection requests, Windows Firewall must be configured by either opening up specific static TCP ports in the firewall or by creating exceptions for specific executables so they can receive connection requests on any ports they choose. This firewall configuration can be done by one of the following methods:

• Start the Windows Firewall application, select the Exceptions tab and then click either Add Program or Add Port to create exceptions for the Oracle software.

• From the command prompt, use the netsh firewall add... command.

• When Windows notifies you that a foreground application is attempting to listen on a port, and gives you the opportunity to create an exception for that executable. If you choose the create the exception in this way, the effect is the same as creating an exception for the executable either through Control Panel or from the command line.

The following sections list the Oracle Database 11g release 2 executables that listen on TCP ports on Windows, along with a brief description of the executable. It is recommended that these executables (if in use and accepting connections from a remote, client computer) be added to the exceptions list for the Windows Firewall to ensure correct operation. In addition, if multiple Oracle homes are in use, firewall exceptions may have to be created for the same executable, for example, oracle.exe, multiple times, once for each Oracle home from which that executable loads.

• Firewall Exceptions for Oracle Database

• Firewall Exceptions for Oracle Database Examples (or the Companion CD)

• Firewall Exceptions for Oracle Gateways

• Firewall Exceptions for Oracle Clusterware and Oracle ASM

• Firewall Exceptions for Oracle RAC Database

• Firewall Exceptions for Oracle Cluster File System for Windows

• Firewall Exceptions for Other Oracle Products

5.2.1 Install Troubleshooting Tool

To address troubleshooting issues, Oracle recommends that you install Instantaneous Problem Detection OS Tool (IPD/OS). This utility is available on Oracle Technology Network (OTN) for Oracle Grid Infrastructure 11.2.0.1 installations.

5.2.2 Optimize Memory Usage for Programs

The Windows operating system should be optimized for Memory Usage of 'Programs' instead of 'System Caching'. To modify the memory optimization settings, perform the following steps:

1. From the Start Menu, select Control Panel, then System.

2. In the System Properties window, click the Advanced tab.

3. In the Performance section, click Settings.

4. In the Performance Options window, click the Advanced tab.

5. In the Memory Usage section, make sure Programs is selected.

5.2.3 Create a Fast Recovery Area Disk Group

During installation of Oracle Grid Infrastructure, if you select Oracle ASM for storage, a single disk group is created to store the Oracle Clusterware files. If you plan to create a single-instance database, an Oracle RAC database, or an Oracle RAC One Node database, then this disk group can also be used to store the data files for the database. However, you should create a separate disk group for the fast recovery area.

5.3.1 General Restrictions for Using Earlier Oracle Database Versions

You can use Oracle Database release 10.2 and release 11.1 with Oracle Clusterware and Oracle ASM release 11.2. If you upgrade an existing version of Oracle Clusterware and Oracle ASM to Oracle Grid Infrastructure 11g release 11.2 (which includes Oracle Clusterware and Oracle ASM), and you also plan to upgrade your Oracle RAC database to Oracle Database 11g release 11.2, then the required configuration of the existing databases is completed automatically when you complete the Oracle RAC upgrade, and this section does not concern you.

However, if you upgrade to Oracle Grid Infrastructure 11g release 11.2, and you have existing Oracle RAC installations that you do not plan to upgrade, or if you install earlier versions of Oracle RAC (10.2 or 11.1) on a cluster running Oracle Grid Infrastructure 11g release 11.2, then you must complete additional configuration tasks or apply patches, or both, before the earlier database versions will work correctly with Oracle Grid Infrastructure.

Oracle Database homes can only be stored on Oracle ACFS if the database version is Oracle Database 11g release 2. Earlier releases of Oracle Database cannot be installed on Oracle ACFS because these releases were not designed to use Oracle ACFS.

5.3.2 Using ASMCA to Administer Disk Groups for Earlier Database Versions

Use Oracle ASM Configuration Assistant (ASMCA) to create and modify disk groups when you install earlier Oracle Database and Oracle RAC releases on Oracle Grid Infrastructure 11g installations. Starting with Oracle Grid Infrastructure 11g release 2, Oracle ASM is installed as part of an Oracle Grid Infrastructure installation, with Oracle Clusterware. You can no longer use Database Configuration Assistant (DBCA) to perform administrative tasks on Oracle ASM.

5.3.3 Using DBCA or Applying Patches for Oracle Database Releases 10.2.x or 11.x

Before you use DBCA to create an Oracle RAC or Oracle Database 10.2.x or 11.1.x database on an Oracle Clusterware and Oracle ASM release 11.2 installation, you must install patches to the Oracle RAC or Oracle Database home. Refer to the Oracle Database Readme for information about specific patches.

If you are using Oracle Database 10g release 2 software or Oracle Database 11g release 1 software, then before you create a new database or apply any patches to your Oracle home, you must first stop the OracleRemExecService Windows service on all the nodes in your cluster. If you do not stop this process before creating a database or applying patches to your Oracle home, then OPatch or DBCA fails to start the Oracle RAC database instances on the remote nodes. This failure causes the database creation or patching operation to return errors.

5.3.4 Pinning Cluster Nodes for Oracle Database Release 10.2.x or 11.x

When Oracle Clusterware 11g release 11.2 is installed on a cluster with no previous Oracle software version, OUI configures Oracle Database 11g release 11.2 and later releases dynamically, so that some or all internet protocol (IP) addresses are provisionally assigned, and other cluster identification information is dynamic. However, dynamic configuration does not occur when you install an Oracle Database release 10.2.x or 11.1.x on the cluster. Before installing Oracle Database release 10.2.x or 11.1.x on an Oracle Clusterware 11g release 11.2 cluster, you must establish a persistent configuration. Creating a persistent configuration for a node is called pinning a node.

To pin a node in preparation for installing or using an earlier Oracle Database version, use Grid_home\bin\crsctl with the following format, where nodes is a space-delimited list of one or more nodes in the cluster whose configuration you want to pin:

crsctl pin css -n nodes

To determine if a node is in a pinned or unpinned state, use the Grid_home\bin\olsnodes command:

olsnodes -t -n 

C:\..\bin> crsctl pin css -n node3 node4

C:\> Grid_home\bin\olsnodes -t -n

node1 1       Pinned
node2 2       Pinned
node3 3       Pinned
node4 4       Pinned

C:\> Grid_home\bin\olsnodes -t -n node3

node3 3       Pinned

5.3.5 Using the Correct LSNRCTL Commands

To administer local and SCAN listeners using the Listener Control utility (LSNRCTL) in Oracle Clusterware and Oracle ASM 11g release 2, use the lsnrctl program located in the Grid home. Do not attempt to use the lsnrctl programs from Oracle home locations for previous releases because they cannot be used with the new release.

5.3.6 Starting and Stopping Oracle Clusterware Resources

Before shutting down Oracle Clusterware 11g release 11.2, if you have an Oracle Database 10g release 10.2 or Oracle Database 11g release 11.1 database registered with Oracle Clusterware, then you must do one of the following:

• Stop the Oracle Database 10g release 2 or Oracle Database 11g release 1 database instances first, then stop the Oracle Clusterware stack

• Use the crsctl stop crs -f command to shut down the Oracle Clusterware stack and ignore any errors that are raised