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Date: Tue, 2 Feb 2010 17:30:39 -0500
Message-ID: <b86ffce61002021430t6b7a90fete101b84dba881b78@mail.gmail.com>
Subject: Re: RAC for dev env
From: Thomas Roach <troach@gmail.com>
To: cicciuxdba@gmail.com
Cc: veeeraman@gmail.com, ORACLE-L <oracle-l@freelists.org>
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I will give you a story where this bit me BIGTIME.

We had a Solaris 10 RAC cluster (10.2.0.4) for production but the business
skimped because they didn't want to pay "all that money" for RAC just for a
Dev/QA environment. This was a system that was generating 600+ million
dollars in revenue, but they didn't want to spend a few hundred thousand to
get RAC. Sounds like the tail wagging the dog, and it was!

So time came around to do security patches and what not. They also wanted
CRS Bundle patches. So we patched Dev/QA, no problem. When we went to apply
the CRS_BUNDLE patch there was an error with the patchset and it wiped out
the inittab. (I didn't know what happened, but eventually uncovered
inittab). The upgrade script bombed multiple times. I got Oracle support on
the line and we troubleshooted it. 8 hours later we got the systems back
online.

The owner of this business segment was pissed. We had a post mortem that was
not pretty. She looked straight at me and said, why didn't we see these
problems in QA or even Dev? It cost us (a lot of money, more than Oracle RAC
licensing for Dev/QA would have cost). I told her that her environments did
not match. She said why? I said because no one wanted to spend the money to
make the environments match. That shut her up real quick.

Needless to say it was a high priority to make them match and they spared no
money to get environments up to speed.

I knew the lesson learned, but it was a lesson for the business. You need to
explicitly tell them that unless environments match, there is a risk that
not everything can be pretested prior to going into production. Let them
decide if it is worth it. If they say no, get it in writing.

Tom

On Tue, Feb 2, 2010 at 4:51 PM, Guillermo Alan Bort <cicciuxdba@gmail.com>wrote:

> Hi Ram
>
> I have seen this in several places and it always leads to severe downtime
> in production. non RAC Dev environments could work for functional
> development. For performance and concurrency testing and for staiblity
> testing, you need a RAC environment. Furthermore, I'd suggest you get
> someone with a lot of experience in RAC before actually going to production
> with it. Having a TEST/DEV/QA RAC could help you gain that experience.
>
> I cannot speak as to licensing, but if you have the DB up, then it doesn't
> matter what you use it for... you still have to have a license, at least
> that is how I understand it.
>
> One suggestion, if you can't get someone with experience... get a couple of
> virtual machines and toy around with them. You can delete them afterwards,
> or burn them to DVD and hide them under your desk in case of an audit by
> Oracle, and still have a RAC sandbox... you wouldn't be able to perform
> stress tests here, but you can test functionality and the quirks of RAC.
>
> That being said, perhaps reviewing WHY they want RAC would reveal that they
> actually don't need RAC but a simple DataGuard. I've recently recommended
> moving from a two-node RAC to a single instance on a better server (better
> hardware, 64 bit instead of 32 bit and AIX instead of windows) and setting
> up a DataGuard for fast recovery and minimal data loss
>
> And just a word of advice... never, EVER, use RAC on Windows. Actually...
> never user windows for a database server...
>
> RAC is like exadata... it's useful only in very specific situations, other
> than that is just a waste of money and resources.
>
> hth
> Alan.-
>
>
>
> On Tue, Feb 2, 2010 at 6:30 PM, Ram Raman <veeeraman@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi
>>
>> A decision has been made by upper management to use RAC for production
>> environment and nonRAC for dev/test environments. I would prefer to have a
>> parallel environment which is identical to prod.  Is it possible to run a
>> dev environment without having to worry about license. If license might
>> be an issue for dev, can we have one environment where we just install RAC
>> for practice before deploying it in production.
>>
>> Any thoughts or guidances on the issue would be highly appreciated.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Ram.
>>
>>
>
>


-- 
Thomas Roach
813-404-6066
troach@gmail.com

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Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

I will give you a story where this bit me BIGTIME.<br><br>We had a Solaris =
10 RAC cluster (10.2.0.4) for production but the business skimped because t=
hey didn&#39;t want to pay &quot;all that money&quot; for RAC just for a De=
v/QA environment. This was a system that was generating 600+ million dollar=
s in revenue, but they didn&#39;t want to spend a few hundred thousand to g=
et RAC. Sounds like the tail wagging the dog, and it was!<br>
<br>So time came around to do security patches and what not. They also want=
ed CRS Bundle patches. So we patched Dev/QA, no problem. When we went to ap=
ply the CRS_BUNDLE patch there was an error with the patchset and it wiped =
out the inittab. (I didn&#39;t know what happened, but eventually uncovered=
 inittab). The upgrade script bombed multiple times. I got Oracle support o=
n the line and we troubleshooted it. 8 hours later we got the systems back =
online. <br>
<br>The owner of this business segment was pissed. We had a post mortem tha=
t was not pretty. She looked straight at me and said, why didn&#39;t we see=
 these problems in QA or even Dev? It cost us (a lot of money, more than Or=
acle RAC licensing for Dev/QA would have cost). I told her that her environ=
ments did not match. She said why? I said because no one wanted to spend th=
e money to make the environments match. That shut her up real quick. <br>
<br>Needless to say it was a high priority to make them match and they spar=
ed no money to get environments up to speed.<br><br>I knew the lesson learn=
ed, but it was a lesson for the business. You need to explicitly tell them =
that unless environments match, there is a risk that not everything can be =
pretested prior to going into production. Let them decide if it is worth it=
. If they say no, get it in writing.<br>
<br>Tom<br><br><div class=3D"gmail_quote">On Tue, Feb 2, 2010 at 4:51 PM, G=
uillermo Alan Bort <span dir=3D"ltr">&lt;<a href=3D"mailto:cicciuxdba@gmail=
.com">cicciuxdba@gmail.com</a>&gt;</span> wrote:<br><blockquote class=3D"gm=
ail_quote" style=3D"border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt =
0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Hi Ram<br><br>I have seen this in several places and it always leads to sev=
ere downtime in production. non RAC Dev environments could work for functio=
nal development. For performance and concurrency testing and for staiblity =
testing, you need a RAC environment. Furthermore, I&#39;d suggest you get s=
omeone with a lot of experience in RAC before actually going to production =
with it. Having a TEST/DEV/QA RAC could help you gain that experience.<br>

<br>I cannot speak as to licensing, but if you have the DB up, then it does=
n&#39;t matter what you use it for... you still have to have a license, at =
least that is how I understand it.<br><br>One suggestion, if you can&#39;t =
get someone with experience... get a couple of virtual machines and toy aro=
und with them. You can delete them afterwards, or burn them to DVD and hide=
 them under your desk in case of an audit by Oracle, and still have a RAC s=
andbox... you wouldn&#39;t be able to perform stress tests here, but you ca=
n test functionality and the quirks of RAC.<br>

<br>That being said, perhaps reviewing WHY they want RAC would reveal that =
they actually don&#39;t need RAC but a simple DataGuard. I&#39;ve recently =
recommended moving from a two-node RAC to a single instance on a better ser=
ver (better hardware, 64 bit instead of 32 bit and AIX instead of windows) =
and setting up a DataGuard for fast recovery and minimal data loss<br>

<br>And just a word of advice... never, EVER, use RAC on Windows. Actually.=
.. never user windows for a database server...<br><br>RAC is like exadata..=
. it&#39;s useful only in very specific situations, other than that is just=
 a waste of money and resources.<br>

<br>hth<br clear=3D"all"><font color=3D"#888888">Alan.-</font><div><div></d=
iv><div class=3D"h5"><br>
<br><br><div class=3D"gmail_quote">On Tue, Feb 2, 2010 at 6:30 PM, Ram Rama=
n <span dir=3D"ltr">&lt;<a href=3D"mailto:veeeraman@gmail.com" target=3D"_b=
lank">veeeraman@gmail.com</a>&gt;</span> wrote:<br><blockquote class=3D"gma=
il_quote" style=3D"border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0=
pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">

<div>Hi</div>
<div>=A0 </div>
<div>A decision has been made by=A0upper management to use RAC for producti=
on environment and nonRAC for dev/test environments. I would prefer to have=
=A0a parallel environment which is identical to prod.=A0 Is it possible to =
run a dev environment without having to=A0worry about license. If=A0license=
 might be=A0an issue for dev, can we have one environment where we just ins=
tall RAC for practice before deploying it in production. </div>


<div>=A0=A0 </div>
<div>Any thoughts or guidances on the issue would be highly appreciated.</d=
iv>
<div>=A0 =A0 </div>
<div>Thanks,</div>
<div>Ram.</div><font color=3D"#888888">
<div>=A0</div>
</font></blockquote></div><br>
</div></div></blockquote></div><br><br clear=3D"all"><br>-- <br>Thomas Roac=
h<br>813-404-6066<br><a href=3D"mailto:troach@gmail.com">troach@gmail.com</=
a><br>

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