Oracle Database clients connect to the database using a Single Client Access Name (SCAN).

The SCAN and its associated IP addresses provide a stable name for clients to use for connections, independent of the nodes that make up the cluster. SCAN addresses, virtual IP addresses, and public IP addresses must all be on the same subnet.

The SCAN is a virtual IP name, similar to the names used for virtual IP addresses, such as node1-vip. However, unlike a virtual IP, the SCAN is associated with the entire cluster, rather than an individual node, and associated with multiple IP addresses, not just one address.

The SCAN resolves to multiple IP addresses reflecting multiple listeners in the cluster that handle public client connections. When a client submits a request, the SCAN listener listening on a SCAN IP address and the SCAN port is made available to a client. Because all services on the cluster are registered with the SCAN listener, the SCAN listener replies with the address of the local listener on the least-loaded node where the service is currently being offered. Finally, the client establishes connection to the service through the listener on the node where service is offered. All of these actions take place transparently to the client without any explicit configuration required in the client.

During installation, listeners are created. These SCAN listeners listen on the SCAN IP addresses. The SCAN listeners are started on nodes determined by Oracle Clusterware. Oracle Net Services routes application requests to the least-loaded instance providing the service. Because the SCAN addresses resolve to the cluster, rather than to a node address in the cluster, nodes can be added to or removed from the cluster without affecting the SCAN address configuration. The SCAN listener also supports HTTP protocol for communication with Oracle XML Database (XDB).

The SCAN should be configured so that it is resolvable either by using Grid Naming Service (GNS) within the cluster, or by using Domain Name Service (DNS) resolution. For high availability and scalability, Oracle recommends that you configure the SCAN name so that it resolves to three IP addresses. At a minimum, the SCAN must resolve to at least one address.

If you specify a GNS domain, then the SCAN name defaults to clustername-scan.cluster_name.GNS_domain. Otherwise, it defaults to clustername-scan.current_domain. For example, if you start Oracle Grid Infrastructure installation from the server node1, the cluster name is mycluster, and the GNS domain is grid.example.com, then the SCAN Name is mycluster-scan.mycluster.grid.example.com.

Clients configured to use IP addresses for Oracle Database releases prior to Oracle Database 11g release 2 can continue to use their existing connection addresses; using SCAN is not required. When you upgrade to Oracle Clusterware 12c release 1 (12.1) or later releases, the SCAN becomes available, and you should use the SCAN for connections to Oracle Database 11g release 2 or later databases. When an earlier release of Oracle Database is upgraded, it registers with the SCAN listeners, and clients can start using the SCAN to connect to that database. The database registers with the SCAN listener through the remote listener parameter in the init.ora file. The REMOTE_LISTENER parameter must be set to SCAN:PORT. Do not set it to a TNSNAMES alias with a single address for the SCAN, for example, using HOST= SCAN_name.

The SCAN is optional for most deployments. However, clients using Oracle Database 11g release 2 and later policy-managed databases using server pools must access the database using the SCAN. This is required because policy-managed databases can run on different servers at different times, so connecting to a particular node by using the virtual IP address for a policy-managed database is not possible.

Provide SCAN addresses for client access to the cluster. These addresses must be configured as round robin addresses on the domain name service (DNS), if DNS is used. Oracle recommends that you supply three SCAN addresses.

Identify public and private interfaces. Oracle Universal Installer configures public interfaces for use by public and virtual IP addresses, and configures private IP addresses on private interfaces. The private subnet that the private interfaces use must connect all the nodes you intend to have as cluster members. The SCAN must be in the same subnet as the public interface.