Changes in This Release for Oracle Clusterware Administration and Deployment Guide

This chapter lists new features in Oracle Clusterware for Oracle Database 19c and 18c.

Changes in Oracle Clusterware Release 19c

Following is a list of features that are new in the Oracle Clusterware Administration and Deployment Guide for Oracle Clusterware 19c.

SRVCTL Changes for Oracle Clusterware 19c

Oracle Clusterware 19c includes changes to the server control utility (SRVCTL), including syntax changes to existing commands, and commands to manage Oracle Automatic Storage Management (Oracle ASM).

SRVCTL is one of the tools you use to manage Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) and Oracle Clusterware.

Zero-Downtime Oracle Grid Infrastructure Patching

Zero-downtime Oracle Grid Infrastructure patching enables patching of Oracle Grid Infrastructure without interrupting database operations. Patches are applied out-of-place and in a rolling fashion, with one node being patched at a time, while the database instances on this node remain operational. Zero-downtime Oracle Grid Infrastructure patching supports Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) databases on clusters with two or more nodes.

Zero-downtime Oracle Grid Infrastructure patching increases database availability by enabling you to perform a rolling patch of Oracle Grid Infrastructure without interrupting database operations on the node you are patching, and without impacting capacity or performance on those database instances.

Rapid Home Provisioning Name Change

In this release, the feature previously known as Rapid Home Provisioning is renamed to Fleet Patching and Provisioning. There are no changes to the functionality, and the RHPCTL utility remains the tool you use to manage Fleet Patching and Provisioning operations.

Fine-Grained Single-Instance PDB Patching

You can patch individual pluggable databases in a consolidated Oracle Multitenant environment, thus enabling bug fixes to be patched only on specific pluggable databases, rather than across the entire constainer database. Fine-grained single-instance pluggable database patching reduces possible risks incurred in widespread adoption of changes (such as bug fixes) and reduces the impact of making those changes only where they are necessary.

Zero-Downtime Oracle Grid Infrastructure Patching Using Fleet Patching and Provisioning

Zero-downtime Oracle Grid Infrastructure patching enables the application of one-off Oracle Grid Infrastructure patches without affecting the Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) database instances. Use Fleet Patching and Provisioning to apply patches, one at a time, to each node in the cluster. This functionality is available for all Oracle RAC clusters with two or more nodes but, currently, applies only to one-off patches (not release updates or release update revisions).

Using Fleet Patching and Provisioning to apply one-off Oracle Grid Infrastructure patches with zero database instance downtime reduces the impact on users and interruptions of service from the Oracle RAC database instances to nil. With prior database releases, you must shut down the database instance before applying an Oracle Grid Infrastructure patch, clearly impacting enterprise operations.

Automated Transaction Draining for Oracle Grid Infrastructure Upgrades

Automated transaction draining for Oracle Grid Infrastructure upgrades provides automatic draining of transactions against the database instances, one node at a time, according to the database service configurations. Transaction draining capabilities are an integral part of the database service design and are now automatically integrated into the application of rolling Oracle Grid Infrastructure patches.

Automated and coordinated draining of database transactions during rolling patching, using Fleet Patching and Provisioning, reduces the impact of patching operations. Once user transactions are drained, patching operations for a particular node on a cluster can be completed, after which the instance and services are restarted, locally, and new connections are established. The connections, prior to the patching operation, roll on to the next node in the cluster.

Oracle Restart Patching and Upgrading

Use Fleet Patching and Provisioning to patch and upgrade Oracle Restart. In previous releases, Oracle Restart environments required patching and upgrade operations to be done by the user, often involving manual intervention. Fleet Patching and Provisioning automates these procedures.

Using Fleet Patching and Provisioning to patch and upgrade Oracle Restart automates and standardizes the processes that are implemented in Oracle RAC database installations. This also reduces operational demands and risks, especially for larger numbers of Oracle Restart deployments.

Support the Specification of TLS Ciphers Using CRSCTL

Enhancements to the CRSCTL utility add support for the specification of TLS ciphers.

Resupport of Direct File Placement for OCR and Voting Disks

Starting with Oracle Grid Infrastructure 19c, the desupport for direct OCR and voting disk file placement on shared file systems is rescinded for Oracle Standalone Clusters. For Oracle Domain Services Clusters the requirement to place OCR and voting files in Oracle Automatic Storage Management (Oracle ASM) on top on files hosted on shared file systems and used as ASM disks remains.

In Oracle Grid Infrastructure 12c Release 2 (12.2), Oracle announced that it would no longer support the placement of the Oracle Grid Infrastructure Oracle Cluster Registry (OCR) and voting files directly on a shared file system. This desupport is now rescinded. Starting with Oracle Grid Infrastructure 19c (19.3), with Oracle Standalone Clusters, you can again place OCR and voting disk files directly on shared file systems.

Optional Install for the Grid Infrastructure Management Repository

Starting with Oracle Grid Infrastructure 19c, the Grid Infrastructure Management Repository (GIMR) is optional for new installations of Oracle Standalone Cluster. Oracle Domain Services Clusters still require the installation of a GIMR as a service component.

The data contained in the GIMR is the basis for preventative diagnostics based on applied Machine Learning and can help to increase the availability of Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) databases. Having an optional installation for the GIMR allows for more flexible storage space management and faster deployment, especially during the installation of test and development systems.

Deprecated Features in Oracle Clusterware 19c

The following features are deprecated in Oracle Clusterware 19c, and may be desupported in a future release:

Deprecation of Addnode Script

The addnode script is deprecated in Oracle Grid Infrastructure 19c. The functionality of adding nodes to clusters is available in the installer wizard.

The addnode script can be removed in a future release. Instead of using the addnode script (addnode.sh or addnode.bat), add nodes by using the installer wizard. The installer wizard provides many enhancements over the addnode script. Using the installer wizard simplifies management by consolidating all software lifecycle operations into a single tool.

Deprecation of clone.pl Script

The clone.pl script can be removed in a future release. Instead of using the clone.pl script, Oracle recommends that you install the extracted gold image as a home, using the installer wizard.

Desupported Features in Oracle Clusterware 19c

These are the desupported features for Oracle Clusterware 19c:

Desupport of Leaf Nodes in Flex Cluster Architecture

Leaf nodes are no longer supported in the Oracle Flex Cluster Architecture in Oracle Grid Infrastructure 19c.

In Oracle Grid Infrastructure 19c (19.1) and later releases, all nodes in an Oracle Flex Cluster function as hub nodes. The capabilities offered by Leaf nodes in the original implementation of the Oracle Flex Cluster architecture can as easily be served by hub nodes. Therefore, leaf nodes are no longer supported.

Desupport of Oracle Real Application Clusters for Standard Edition 2 (SE2) Database Edition

Starting with Oracle Database 19c, Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) is not supported in Oracle Database Standard Edition 2 (SE2).

Upgrading Oracle Database Standard Edition databases that use Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) functionality from earlier releases to Oracle Database 19c is not possible. To upgrade those databases to Oracle Database 19c, either remove the Oracle RAC functionality before starting the upgrade, or upgrade from Oracle Database Standard Edition to Oracle Database Enterprise Edition. For more information about each step, including how to reconfigure your system after an upgrade, see My Oracle Support Note 2504078.1: "Desupport of Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) with Oracle Database Standard Edition 19c."

Changes in Oracle Clusterware Release 18c

Following is a list of features that are new in the Oracle Clusterware Administration and Deployment Guide for Oracle Clusterware 18c.

Cross-Cluster Dependency Proxies

Cross-cluster dependency proxies provide resource state change notifications from one cluster to another, and enable resources in one cluster to act on behalf of dependencies on resources in another cluster. You can use cross-cluster dependency proxies, for example, to ensure that an application in an Oracle Application Member Cluster only starts if its associated database hosted in an Oracle Database Member Cluster is available. Similarly, you can use cross-cluster dependency proxies to ensure that a database in an Oracle Database Member Cluster only starts if at least one Oracle Automatic Storage Management (Oracle ASM) instance on the Domain Services Cluster is available.

Shared Single-Client Access Names

A shared single-client access name (SCAN) enables the sharing of one set of SCAN virtual IPs (VIPs) and listeners (referred to as the SCAN setup) on a dedicated cluster in a data center with other clusters to avoid the deployment of one SCAN setup per cluster. This feature not only reduces the number of SCAN-related DNS entries, but also the number of VIPs that must be deployed for a cluster configuration. 

A shared SCAN simplifies the deployment and management of groups of clusters in the data center by providing a shared SCAN setup that can be used by multiple systems at the same time.

Node VIPs Optional

Starting with this release, the use of node virtual IP (VIP) addresses is optional in a cluster environment. This enhancement reduces the number of IP addresses that are required for the deployment without the node VIPs. An additional benefit is that this change simplifies the Oracle Clusterware deployment.

Note:

This feature is only applicable to test and development environments.

Zero-Downtime Database Upgrade

Rapid Home Provisioning offers zero-downtime database upgrading, which automates all of the steps required for a database upgrade. It can minimize or even eliminate application downtime during the upgrade process, and minimize resource requirements. This upgrade method also provides a fallback path to which to roll back upgrades, if necessary.

REST API for Rapid Home Provisioning and Maintenance

This release of Oracle Clusterware provides the most common Rapid Home Provisioning workflows as REST API calls.

In addition to invoking Rapid Home Provisioning and Maintenance through the command-line interface, you can invoke workflows through the new REST API, which provides new flexibility when integrating with bespoke and third-party orchestration engines.

Engineered Systems Support

Use Rapid Home Provisioning to patch Oracle Exadata infrastructure. In addition to patching Oracle Database and Oracle Grid Infrastructure software homes, you can now patch the software for the database nodes, storage cells, and InfiniBand switches in an Oracle Exadata environment. Integration of Oracle Exadata components support into Rapid Home Provisioning enables management and tracking of maintenance for these components through the centralized inventory of the Rapid Home Provisioning service.

Dry-Run Command Validation

The workflows included in Rapid Home Provisioning commands are composed of multiple smaller steps, some of which can fail. This release of Oracle Clusterware includes a dry-run command mode for several RHPCTL commands that enables you to evaluate the implact of those commands without making any permanent changes.

Configuration Drift Reporting and Resolution

Rapid Home Provisioning maintains standardized deployments across the database estate.

Authentication Plug-In

Rapid Home Provisioning integrates authentication with the mechanisms in use at a data center.

Command Scheduler and Bulk Operations

Using Rapid Home Provisioning, you can schedule and bundle automated tasks that are essential for maintenance of a large database estate. You can schedule such tasks as provisioning software homes, switching to a new home, and scaling a cluster. Also, you can add a list of clients to a command, facilitating large-scale operations.

Local Switch Home for Applying Updates

Rapid Home Provisioning automatons for updating Oracle Database and Oracle Grid Infrastructure homes can be run in a local mode, with no Rapid Home Provisioning Server or Client in the architecture.

These automatons feature the same user interface, outcome, and many of the command line options as the server and client modes. This provides for a consistent, standardized maintenance approach across environments that are constructed with a central Rapid Home Provisioning Server and those environments that do not employ the Rapid Home Provisioning Server.

Using the gridSetup Utility to Manage Oracle Clusterware

Gold image-based installation, using the gridSetup utility (gridSetup.sh or gridSetup.bat), replaces using Oracle Universal Installer for installing Oracle Grid Infrastructure. You can also use gridSetup-based management to perform Oracle Clusterware management tasks such as cloning, add-node and delete-node operations, and downgrade using the gridSetup utility.

Deprecated Features in Oracle Clusterware 18c

The following features are deprecated in Oracle Clusterware 18c, and may be desupported in a future release:

Using addnode.sh to Manage Oracle Grid Infrastructure

With this release, you will use gridSetup.sh to launch the Oracle Grid Infrastructure Grid Setup Wizard to configure Oracle Grid Infrastructure after installation or after an upgrade.

Flex Cluster (Hub/Leaf) Architecture

With continuous improvements in the Oracle Clusterware stack towards providing shorter reconfiguration times in case of a failure, Leaf nodes are no longer necessary for implementing clusters that meet customer needs, either for on-premises, or in the Cloud.