Re: Oracle 10g RAC crashes and VMware ESX Server

From: DA Morgan <damorgan_at_psoug.org>
Date: Fri, 02 Mar 2007 08:36:17 -0800
Message-ID: <1172853377.821590@bubbleator.drizzle.com>

Chuck Whealton wrote:
> On Mar 1, 11:33 pm, NetComrade <netcomradeNS..._at_bookexchange.net>
> wrote:

>>> Does ANYBODY have ANY ideas on what could cause (probable) Oracle
>>> clusterware problems on ESX Server? This isn't production, but it bugs
>>> the living heck out of me. It can't be pure coincidence that I've had
>>> problems on both 9i and 10g RAC on both ESX 2.5.x and 3.0.
>> Besides what Daniel said (and I don't know if anything Oracle is
>> supported on VMware).. Since you seem to have a cluster to play with..
>> have you considered trying this with Linux or Unix nodes? You can try
>> Unbreakable Linux... I never used it, but Larry from Oracle implies it
>> won't break :)
>>
>> -a
>> .......
>> We run Oracle 9iR2,10gR1/2 on RH4/RH3 and Solaris 10 (Sparc)
>> remove NSPAM to email

>
> NetComrad and Dan:
>
> Guys, unfortunately, I'm not in work today so I can't get to the RAC
> to rerun the CVU (Dan's posting).
>
> NetComrad: Unfortunately, my facility is more geared towards Windows
> based systems. This differes from the majority of Oracle
> installations in my organization. Yea, I have some reasonably nice HP-
> UX boxes (running Oracle) but unfortunately, we're more geared towards
> Windows. Trust me, I'd love to do this on Linux. I do have a request
> for some money to replace our single K580 HP-UX box with a couple of
> smaller, faster, fibre based systems specifically so I can test RAC
> under UNIX.
>
> Dan: It seems to me I did go through a verification when I installed
> the 10g clusterware. There were some items I had to cleanup and I
> did. Once I did that, it installed flawlessly and I was able to
> create a database, etc., etc. The only problems are the periodic
> random crashes (they don't happen often).
>
> I also experienced this same behavior with Oracle 9i RAC under VMware,
> though in that setup, I only lost instances and didn't have entire
> virtual machines randomly crashing. Once it was put on real hardware,
> I haven't had a single crash or lost instance and it's been over a
> year now.
>
> You are correct in from what I've read, this isn't supported.
> Luckily, it's NOT production. Still, I find it a bit strange that
> Oracle themselves send out RAC by example DVDs that make use of
> VMware's products. And I believe other people do have this working
> without the random crashes.
>
> I'll see if I can get through the CVU next week, as soon as possible.
> If it's anything like my 9i RAC under VMware experience - it's going
> to return no errors.
>
> Thanks for everybody's help and suggestions...
>
> Charles R. Whealton
> Charles Whealton @ pleasedontspam.com

Building a database is never the issue with RAC. DBCA will always build a database. If things are going to go terribly wrong it is going to happen at the level of the hardware, operating system, or clusterware. And almost no matter how badly botched they may be you'll still get a database ... and one that will do as you indicate ... for example random crashes, etc.

My guess is you had a problem long before you build the database. Cluster Verify is the place to head.

Also, if not familiar with this:
http://www.oracleracsig.org

Check out the resources.

-- 
Daniel A. Morgan
University of Washington
damorgan_at_x.washington.edu
(replace x with u to respond)
Puget Sound Oracle Users Group
www.psoug.org

Received on Fri Mar 02 2007 - 10:36:17 CST