DBA Blogs

We are working on a set of upgrades to our environment and replacing a set of very stable but now old IBM x3650 servers ( currently running 5.7 ) with a set of new Dell R 710 servers.

New Dell servers on Oracle Linux 6.2 ... using red hat compatible kernel aka:
2.6.32-220.el6.x86_64
The new dell boxes have an internal raid controller ( Perc H700 ? ) and are connected to EMC direct attached storage using emulex HBA's.  All operating system and linux software installed on internal disks ( mirrored ) ... all database stuff going to be on EMC storage.

Our new servers had a very strange set of behaviors when booting up from internal disks.  Most of the time they would boot up and see the first internal raid drive as /dev/sda ( so /boot partition is on /dev/sda1 ) ... but at other times they would see /boot on a different device ( for example /boot on /dev/sdi1 ).

The entries in /etc/fstab for 6.x systems now apparently use UUID entries ... ( for example ):
UUID=e6964e7e-62a9-450c-a66e-a411b40a4ed9 / ext4 defaults 1 1
So when the servers came up on a different boot drive they would run ok ... looking strange ... but we ran into a different problem using ( still trying to use ... don't get me started ) a backup linux imaging product ( Acronis ) that just did not understand at all backing up or restoring a system when it was not running from /dev/sda.

Logically it seemed pretty straight forward.  Force a way somehow so that first internal drive is always on /dev/sda.

We pay Oracle for linux support so open a ticket with them.  We now have a solution but it took a very very long time for oracle linux support to come up with solution.  Might be a by product of working with a junior level person ... might be from a strange new problem.  Tried all sorts of stuff initially with udev rules ... nope none of this worked at all.

Eventually the solution that is now deployed and working involved removing lpfc ( emulex ? HBA support ? ) modules from the initramfs image that is invoked on first boot up.  Of course we run stuff on EMC storage and yes eventually after booting our HBA's are working just fine.

Anyway here is what we had to do to get this working in our 6.2 redhat compatible kernel environment.  It is some low level pretty esoteric linux stuff and well beyond what I wanted to have to deal with ... but it is working nicely.

Step 1: get the latest available dracut rpm's and stick them into directory for updating:
dracut]# ls -ltr | more
total 140-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 114884 Jan 11 13:29 dracut-004-284.0.1.el6_3.1.noarch.rpm-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  21524 Jan 11 13:29 dracut-kernel-004-284.0.1.el6_3.1.noarch.rpm
Step2: Update to latest rpm's ... ( not sure why the 100% 50% 100% stuff gone from below )
rpm -Uvh dracut*.rpm | more
warning: dracut-004-284.0.1.el6_3.1.noarch.rpm: Header V3 RSA/SHA256 Signature,YPreparing...                ##################################################dracut                      ##################################################dracut-kernel               ##################################################
Step 3: Verify installation of new dracut rpms
# rpm -qa | grep dracut
dracut-kernel-004-284.0.1.el6_3.1.noarchdracut-004-284.0.1.el6_3.1.noarch
Step 4: Now change to the /boot directory and create a new initramfs image file.
Use this command: dracut --omit-drivers lpfc initramfs-$(uname -r)-no-lpfc.img
# dracut --omit-drivers lpfc initramfs-$(uname -r)-no-lpfc.img

Step 5: Check img file created ...
# ls -ltr *.img | more
 -rw-r--r--  1 root root 15875365 Jan 11 13:39 initramfs-2.6.32-220.el6.x86_64-no-lpfc.img

Step 6: Verify that no lpfc moduels are in the new initramfs image file
# zcat *no-lpfc.img | cpio -t | grep lpfc | more
87575 blocks
Agove output is correct ... if you see something like this ... lpfc is still in the img file:

lib/modules/2.6.32-220.el6.x86_64/kernel/drivers/scsi/lpfclib/modules/2.6.32-220.el6.x86_64/kernel/drivers/scsi/lpfc/lpfc.ko
Final step ... create an entry in /etc/grub.conf to point to the new initramfs img file.

Copy the current /etc/grub.conf to something else.

Change the default= value to point to new lines at the end of the /etc/grub.conf file.  My change was to change default=1 to default=2.

Add in new lines at the end of grub.conf ... my entries looked like this ( this is just part of my grub.conf file ).

title Oracle Linux Server (2.6.32-220.el6.x86_64) root (hd0,0)kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.32-220.el6.x86_64 ro root=UUID=e6964e7e-62a9-450c-a66e-a411b40a4ed9 rd_NO_LUKS LANG=en_US.UTF-8 rd_NO_MD quiet SYSFONT=latarcyrheb-sun16 rhgb crashkernel=auto KEYBOARDTYPE=pc KEYTABLE=us rd_NO_DMinitrd /initramfs-2.6.32-220.el6.x86_64-no-lpfc.img
***

At this point the change should be complete ... start rebooting and test ... do we always come up on /dev/sda?

For me yes this finally fixed the problem.

My guess is that I will have to revisit all of this when doing next OL linux update.  Probably going to sit out 6.3 and eventually move from 6.2 up to 6.4 ... probably will have to rebuild new initramfs image and of course test.

I hope this saves some other poor geek time ... it sure took us and oracle support a long time to get this working correctly!

My usergroup ( NEOOUG = Northeast Ohio Oracle Users Group ) has been running a big two day conference at Cleveland State in May for a number of years.  Last year our keynotes were from Cary Millsap and Rich Niemic.

This year we are hitting it out of the ball park with Chris Date ( CJ Date ) the godfather of relational database design theory and principles along with Tom Kyte.

Conference renamed this year as GLOC Great Lakes Oracle Conference on May 14th/15th with additional 1/2 day workshop ( extra cost ) on monday May 13th by Tom Kyte/Joel Kallman/Craig Shallahamer.  Joel Kallman for anyone who has not seen him is an incredible speaker an Oracle employee ( Director of Apex Development ) and will be doing a hands on / bring your laptop / hack up an Apex app.

GLOC is a joint venture between NEOOUG and the Columbus Oracle Users Group ( OOUG ).  Hoping to see some people from Detroit/Toledo and the Chicago area also plus well those pesky Pittsburgh area Steeler fans.

We are looking for speakers and the call for presentations is now open!  Accepted speakers receive ( as usual ) free conference registration.

Here's a couple of references:
First for my usergroup: NEOOUG

Next for the conference: Great Lakes Oracle Conference ... Call for Presentations ... Registration

While installing Oracle Forms and Reports 11gR2 (11.1.2.0.0)  from a Mac (OS/x Mountain Lion) the following error occurred executing the runInstaller installation script:

$ ./runInstaller

Starting Oracle Universal Installer… Checking Temp space: must be greater than 270 MB.   Actual 40478 MB    Passed Checking swap space: must be greater than 500 MB.   Actual 4094 MB    Passed Checking monitor: must be configured to display at least 256 colors     >>> Could not execute auto check for display colors using command /usr/bin/xdpyinfo. Check if the DISPLAY variable is set.    Failed <<<< Some requirement checks failed. You must fulfill these requirements before continuing with the installation, Continue? (y/n) [n] y I have a remote session from my mac using terminal.  To export the display, I typed ssh -Y user@servername. I have upgraded my O/S to Mountain Lion a couple of days ago.  So I though that might be the cause.  I tried to manually start X11 and I received the following message: click on the continue button and get redirected  to the following URL: About X11 and OS X Mountain Lion explaining X11 is no longer part of the O/S and that I should use XQuartz from now on.  download and Install XQuartz and there you go! You can now continue with the rest of the Install via the Installer GUI.

Database Life Cycle Management via EM 12c eliminates manual and time consuming tasks related to discovery, Database provisioning, patching, configuration management, ongoing change
management and disaster protection automation.

Click here to register for a live webcast.

There is an interesting webcast happening on 25th April on Building private cloud using EM which covers everything from Setup to Meeting & Charge-back , below are the details : 

Unleash the Power of Oracle Enterprise Manager to Build Private Clouds

Cloud is undergoing rapid adoption. As IT
organizations get flooded with requests for new resources, they are
looking for large scale automation for provisioning, monitoring and
administering resources. In this highly technical session, you will
learn from architects how the Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c Cloud
Management Pack can enable IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) and DBaaS
(Database as a Service) involving self-service provisioning, monitoring
and chargeback in your enterprise and help you develop an enterprise
private cloud in quick time.

In this live session, we will demonstrate and review the following cloud-related topics:

• Plan and Setup the Cloud Environment


• Enabling Consolidation Cost Savings


• Self Service Access


• Monitor and Manage Cloud Operations


• Meter, Chargeback, and Optimize Cloud Services

Click here to register for a live webcast.

Here is an interesting white paper on Metering and Charge-back using Enterprise Manager 12c . This covers Cloud, Database and Middleware.

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/oem/cloud-mgmt/wp-em12c-chargeback-final-1585483.pdf

Are you planning to apply Bundle patch 1 for EM 12c ? 

If yes , check this workbook which describes the complete flow .

Enterprise Manager Cloud Control Workbook for Applying Bundle Patch 1 (February 2012) and 12.1.0.2 Plugins [ID 1393173.1]

Applies to:
Enterprise Manager Base Platform - Version: 12.1.0.1.0 to 12.1.0.1.0 - Release: 12.1 to 12.1

Purpose
This document provides an overview of the installation steps needed to apply Bundle Patch 1 on the EM Cloud Control 12c Oracle Management Service OMS) and Management Agent.

Its been an year since i moved to my new role as Product Manager for Enterprise Manager & time flew like anything specially with activities like Product Beta's , Pre-launch Activity , Oracle Open World , Product Launch , Collateral creation (white-papers , video , demos etc)  & 100's of others things . Now finally i have decided to revive this blog & start sharing my experience on Em12 .

In this small Tutorial we will learn how to add a new disk to our Virtual Machine created in our previous tutorial. Add a new disk to the virtual machine is very easy, just follow the tasks bellow: First, with your virtual machine off click on Settings, than go to Storage , than you will see [...]

The idea of this tutorial is to show you how you can create an Oracle Database 11gR2 using Oracle VirtualBox and OEL. This installation should never be used for Production or Development purposes. This installation was created for educational purpose only, and is extremely helpful to learn and understand how Oracle works if you do not [...]

Project Name 11gR2/2011 Author Francisco Munoz Alvarez Software Used Oracle Enterprise Linux 5.6 Oracle VirtualBox 4.0.2 Oracle 11.2.0.2 Database and Infrastructure Software Date 02/02/2011 The idea of this tutorial is to show you how you can create an Oracle Database [...]

May will be a very busy month with several seminars and conferences in Europe. I’ll be presenting some seminars for the Oracle Celebrity Series in UK, Germany, Spain and Slovakia, and also will be presenting at User Groups conferences at Finland and Bulgaria. The links to register to my seminars are: May 9-10, UK - http://education.oracle.com/pls/web_prod-plq-dad/db_pages.getCourseDesc?dc=D70365_1429034&p_org_id=28&lang=US May [...]

Project Name 11gR2/2011 Author Francisco Munoz Alvarez Software Used Oracle Enterprise Linux 5.6 Oracle VirtualBox 4.0.2 Oracle 11.2.0.2 Database and Infrastructure Software Date 02/02/2011 The idea of this tutorial is to show you how you can create an Oracle Database [...]

Project Name 11gR2/2011 Author Francisco Munoz Alvarez Software Used Oracle Enterprise Linux 5.6 Oracle VirtualBox 4.0.2 Oracle 11.2.0.2 Database and Infrastructure Software Date 02/02/2011 The idea of this tutorial is to show you how you can [...]

Project Name 11gR2/2011 Author Francisco Munoz Alvarez Software Used Oracle Enterprise Linux 5.6 Oracle VirtualBox 4.0.2 Oracle 11.2.0.2 Database and Infrastructure Software Date 02/02/2011 The idea of this tutorial is to show you how you can create an Oracle Database [...]

First than all, I’ll like to apologize to all my friends and followers for the absence of posts on my blog for the last few months but this last months were very intense to me as you can see bellow. The 2010 was a great year full of great, fantastic and wonderful experiences and news, so [...]

I received some emails recently asking were will be my next presentations, and to make it public here we go: Insync’10, Melbourne August 16 – Topic: Tips and Best Practices for DBAs @ 9:55AM to 10:40 AM more info at  http://www.insync-conference.com.au/ NZOUG OTN Days, August 18 in Auckland and August 20 in Wellington – Topic How to [...]

Hi All, NZOUG (New Zealand Oracle Users Group) and LAOUC (Latin American Oracle Users Communty) is organizing a serie of webinars to Oracle Community (over 42 Webinars) with the participation of several Oracle Celebrities, and is my desire to share the first 8 webinars recorded with all Oracle Users around the world! Please find bellow all the webinars recorded in [...]

May was a fantastic month for networking and fun in Europe! Orcan Spring Conference and EMEA Harmony were two great conferences and my sincere congratulations to all the people involved to the success of both events. In these events I had the opportunity to see again some great friends like Joze Senegacnik, Daniel Morgan, Heli [...]