5 Cloning Oracle Clusterware

Introduction to Cloning Oracle Clusterware

Cloning is the process of copying an existing Oracle Clusterware installation to a different location and then updating the copied installation to work in the new environment. Changes made by one-off patches applied on the source Oracle Grid Infrastructure home are also present after cloning. During cloning, you run a script that replays the actions that installed the Oracle Grid Infrastructure home.

Cloning requires that you start with a successfully installed Oracle Grid Infrastructure home. You use this home as the basis for implementing a script that extends the Oracle Grid Infrastructure home to create a cluster based on the original Grid home.

Manually creating the cloning script can be error prone because you prepare the script without interactive checks to validate your input. Despite this, the initial effort is worthwhile for scenarios where you run a single script to configure tens or even hundreds of clusters. If you have only one cluster to install, then you should use the traditional, automated and interactive installation methods, such as Oracle Universal Installer (OUI) or the Provisioning Pack feature of Oracle Enterprise Manager.

The Provisioning Pack feature of Oracle Enterprise Manager Grid Control provides a framework that automates the provisioning of nodes and clusters. For data centers with many clusters, the investment in creating a cloning procedure to provision new clusters and new nodes to existing clusters is worth the effort.

The following list describes some situations in which cloning is useful:

• Cloning prepares an Oracle Grid Infrastructure home once and deploys it to many hosts simultaneously. You can complete the installation in silent mode, as a noninteractive process. You do not need to use a graphical user interface (GUI) console, and you can perform cloning from a Secure Shell (SSH) terminal session, if required.

• Cloning enables you to create an installation (copy of a production, test, or development installation) with all patches applied to it in a single step. Once you have performed the base installation and applied all patch sets and patches on the source system, cloning performs all of these individual steps as a single procedure. This is in contrast to going through the installation process to perform the separate steps to install, configure, and patch the installation on each node in the cluster.

• Installing Oracle Clusterware by cloning is a quick process. For example, cloning an Oracle Grid Infrastructure home to a cluster with more than two nodes requires a few minutes to install the Oracle software, plus a few minutes more for each node (approximately the amount of time it takes to run the root.sh script).

• Cloning provides a guaranteed method of accurately repeating the same Oracle Clusterware installation on multiple clusters.

A cloned installation acts the same as its source installation. For example, you can remove the cloned Oracle Grid Infrastructure home using OUI or patch it using OPatch. You can also use the cloned Oracle Grid Infrastructure home as the source for another cloning operation. You can create a cloned copy of a test, development, or production installation by using the command-line cloning scripts.

The default cloning procedure is adequate for most cases. However, you can also customize some aspects of cloning, for example, to specify custom port assignments or to preserve custom settings.

The cloning process works by copying all of the files from the source Oracle Grid Infrastructure home to the destination Oracle Grid Infrastructure home. You can clone either a local (non-shared) or shared Oracle Grid Infrastructure home. Thus, any files used by the source instance that are located outside the source Oracle Grid Infrastructure home's directory structure are not copied to the destination location.

The size of the binary files at the source and the destination may differ because these files are relinked as part of the cloning operation, and the operating system patch levels may also differ between these two locations. Additionally, the number of files in the cloned home would increase because several files copied from the source, specifically those being instantiated, are backed up as part of the clone operation.

Preparing the Oracle Grid Infrastructure Home for Cloning

To prepare the source Oracle Grid Infrastructure home to be cloned, create a copy of an installed Oracle Grid Infrastructure home and then use it to perform the cloning procedure on other nodes. Use the following step-by-step procedure to prepare the copy of the Oracle Grid Infrastructure home:

• Step 1: Install Oracle Clusterware

• Step 2: Shut Down Running Software

• Step 3: Create a Copy of the Oracle Grid Infrastructure Home

Creating a Cluster by Cloning Oracle Clusterware

This section explains how to create a cluster by cloning a successfully installed Oracle Clusterware environment and copying it to the nodes on the destination cluster. The procedures in this section describe how to use cloning for Linux, UNIX, and Windows systems. OCR and voting disks are not shared between the two clusters after you successfully create a cluster from a clone.

For example, you can use cloning to quickly duplicate a successfully installed Oracle Clusterware environment to create a cluster. Figure 5-1 shows the result of a cloning procedure in which the Oracle Grid Infrastructure home on Node 1 has been cloned to Node 2 and Node 3 on Cluster 2, making Cluster 2 a new two-node cluster.

Figure 5-1 Cloning to Create a Oracle Clusterware Environment

Description of "Figure 5-1 Cloning to Create a Oracle Clusterware Environment"

The steps to create a cluster through cloning are as follows:

• Step 1: Prepare the New Cluster Nodes

• Step 2: Deploy the Oracle Grid Infrastructure Home on the Destination Nodes

• Step 3: Run the clone.pl Script on Each Destination Node

• Step 4: Launch the Configuration Wizard

-O'"CLUSTER_
NODES={node_
name,node_
name,...}"'

-O'"LOCAL_NODE=node_name"'

CRS=TRUE

$ perl clone.pl -silent ORACLE_BASE=/u01/app/oracle ORACLE_HOME=
/u01/app/11.2.0/grid ORACLE_HOME_NAME=OraHome1Grid
INVENTORY_LOCATION=/u01/app/oraInventory -O'"CLUSTER_NODES={node1, node2}"'
-O'"LOCAL_NODE=node1"' CRS=TRUE

C:\>perl clone.pl ORACLE_BASE=D:\u01\app\grid ORACLE_HOME=D:\u01\app\grid\11.2.0
ORACLE_HOME_NAME=OraHome1Grid "CLUSTER_NODES={node1, node2}"
"LOCAL_NODE=node1" CRS=TRUE

#!/bin/sh
ORACLE_BASE=/u01/app/oracle
GRID_HOME=/u01/app/11.2.0/grid
THIS_NODE='hostname -s'

E01=ORACLE_BASE=${ORACLE_BASE}
E02=ORACLE_HOME=${GRID_HOME}
E03=ORACLE_HOME_NAME=OraGridHome1
E04=INVENTORY_LOCATION=${ORACLE_BASE}/oraInventory

#C00="-O'-debug'"
C01="-O'\"CLUSTER_NODES={node1,node2}\"'"
C02="-O'\"LOCAL_NODE=${THIS_NODE}\"'"

perl ${GRID_HOME}/clone/bin/clone.pl -silent $E01 $E02 $E03 $E04 $C01 $C02

$ Oracle_home/crs/config/config.sh

$ Oracle_home/crs/config/config.sh -silent -responseFile file_name

Using Cloning to Add Nodes to a Cluster

You can also use cloning to add nodes to a cluster. Figure 5-2 shows the result of a cloning procedure in which the Oracle Grid Infrastructure home on Node 1 has been cloned to Node 2 in the same cluster, making it a two-node cluster. Newly added nodes to the cluster share the same OCR and voting disks.

Figure 5-2 Cloning to Add Nodes to a Cluster

Description of "Figure 5-2 Cloning to Add Nodes to a Cluster"

Using Figure 5-2 as an example, the following procedure explains how to add nodes to a cluster using cloning. In this procedure, Node 1 is the source node from which you obtain the cloned copy, and Node 2 is the destination node, to which you copy the clone of Node 1:

1. Prepare Node 2 as described in "Step 1: Prepare the New Cluster Nodes".

2. Deploy the Oracle Grid Infrastructure home on Node 2, as described in "Step 2: Deploy the Oracle Grid Infrastructure Home on the Destination Nodes".

3. Run the clone.pl script located in the Grid_home/clone/bin directory on Node 2.

   See Also:

   Table 5-1 for more information about the parameters used in the clone.pl script

   The following example is for Linux or UNIX systems:

   $ perl clone.pl ORACLE_HOME=/u01/app/11.2.0/grid ORACLE_HOME_NAME=OraHome1Grid
   ORACLE_BASE=/u01/app/oracle -O'"CLUSTER_NODES={node1, node2}"'
   -O'"LOCAL_NODE=node2"' CRS=TRUE
   SHOW_ROOTSH_CONFIRMATION=false INVENTORY_LOCATION=/u01/app/oraInventory
   

   In the preceding command, node_list is a comma-delimited list of all nodes in the cluster.

   The following example is for Windows systems:

   Note:

   Do not use the -O option when you run this command on Windows.

   C:\>perl clone.pl ORACLE_BASE=D:\u01\app\grid ORACLE_HOME=D:\u01\app\grid\11.2.0
   ORACLE_HOME_NAME=OraHome1Grid '"CLUSTER_NODES={node1, node2}"'
   '"LOCAL_NODE=node1"' CRS=TRUE
   

   If you are prompted to run root.sh, then ignore the prompt and proceed to the next step.

4. This step does not apply to Windows.

   In the Central Inventory directory on Node 2, run the orainstRoot.sh script as root. This script populates the /etc/oraInst.loc directory with the location of the central inventory. For example:

   [root@node2 root]# /opt/oracle/oraInventory/orainstRoot.sh
   

   You can run the script on more than one destination node simultaneously.

5. Run the addNode.sh (addNode.bat on Windows) script, located in the Grid_home/oui/bin directory, on Node 1, as follows:

   $ addNode.sh -silent -noCopy ORACLE_HOME=Grid_home "CLUSTER_NEW_NODES={node2}"
   "CLUSTER_NEW_VIRTUAL_HOSTNAMES={node2-vip}" "CLUSTER_NEW_VIPS={node2-vip}"
   CRS_ADDNODE=true CRS_DHCP_ENABLED=false
   

   Notes:

   • Because you already ran the clone.pl script on Node 2, this step only updates the inventories on the node and instantiates scripts on the local node.

   • If you use the -noCopy option with the addNode.sh script, then a copy of the password file may not exist on Node 2, in which case you must copy a correct password file to Node 2.

   • The addNode.sh script runs the cluvfy stage -pre nodeadd verification.

6. Copy the following files from Node 1, on which you ran addnode.sh, to Node 2:

   Grid_home/crs/install/crsconfig_addparams
   Grid_home/crs/install/crsconfig_params
   Grid_home/gpnp
   

7. On Node 2, run the Grid_home/root.sh script.

   Note:

   The cluster in this example has only two nodes. When you add multiple nodes to a cluster, you can run root.sh concurrently on all of the nodes.

   The following example is for a Linux or UNIX system. On Node 2, run the following command:

   [root@node2 root]# Grid_home/root.sh
   

   The root.sh script automatically configures the following node applications:

   • Global Services Daemon (GSD)

   • Oracle Notification Service (ONS)

   • Virtual IP (VIP) resources in the Oracle Cluster Registry (OCR)

   • Single Client Access Name (SCAN) VIPs and SCAN listeners

   • Oracle ASM

   On Windows, run the following command on Node 2:

   C:\>Grid_home\crs\config\gridconfig.bat
   

8. Navigate to the Oracle_home/oui/bin directory on the Node 1 and run the addNode.sh script using the following syntax:

   $ ./addNode.sh -silent -noCopy "CLUSTER_NEW_NODES={node2}"
   

   Note:

   Use the -noCopy option only if the Oracle home on the destination node is fully populated with software. Otherwise, omit the -noCopy option to copy the software to the destination node when you run the addnode.sh script.

9. Run the Oracle_home/root.sh script on Node 2 as root, where Oracle_home is the Oracle RAC home.

10. Run the Grid_home/crs/install/rootcrs.pl script on Node 2 as root, following the instructions generated when you ran root.sh in the previous step.

11. Run the following cluster verification utility (CVU) command on Node 2:

    $ cluvfy stage -post nodeadd -n destination_node_name [-verbose]
    

    See Also:

    "cluvfy stage [-pre | -post] nodeadd" for more information about this CVU command

Locating and Viewing Log Files Generated During Cloning

The cloning script runs multiple tools, each of which can generate log files. After the clone.pl script finishes running, you can view log files to obtain more information about the status of your cloning procedures. Table 5-3 lists the log files that are generated during cloning that are the key log files for diagnostic purposes.

Central_inventory/logs/cloneActions/timestamp.log

Central_inventory/logs/oraInstall/timestamp.err

Central_inventory/logs/oraInstall/timestamp.out

Table 5-4 lists the location of the Oracle Inventory directory for various platforms.