Oracle Linux and Oracle Database - A Trusted Combination

Oracle Linux and Oracle Database -
A Trusted Combination
■  Presenter: Anton Els
Session Details:
@aelsnz

Introduction
■  Vice President Product Development
■  NZOUG Committee (VP)
■  Working with Oracle database since version 7
■  Interests Include:
▪  Linux, Docker, Oracle Databases, Oracle Backup and Recovery
■  Qualifications:
▪  Oracle Database 11g Certified Master
▪  Oracle 8i, 9i, 10g and 11g OCP
▪  Solaris 10 SCSA and Red Hat 5 RHCSA
▪  B.Sc. Mathematical Sciences and B.Sc. Hons Informatics
■  Presented at Collaborate, NZOUG and db tech showcase
Anton
Els
-‐ @aelsnz

Who do I work for – Dbvisit Software Limited
■  Software Development Company
■  HQ in New Zealand
▪  US subsidiary and office in Czech Republic
■  Database Replication is our playground!
■  Worldwide leader in DR solutions for Oracle Standard Edition
■  Used in 110+ countries!
■  Product Engineers with “real world” DBA Experience
■  Regular presenters at OOW, Collaborate and NZOUG
■  Passionate about Oracle Technology

•  Introduction into the world of Oracle Linux
•  Command Line or GUI?
•  Installation and a few tips for Oracle DBAs
•  So what is this UEK?
•  How does software updates work?
•  Things an Oracle DBA should know!
•  The /proc filesystem…
•  The power of the command line!
•  Linux file systems
•  Configure Linux for ASM - the easy way!
•  Backup and Recovery
•  Monitoring
•  Conclusion
•  Q & A
Agenda

Linux is more than just a terminal…..

Introduction to Oracle Linux
■  Oracle Linux = Oracle Enterprise Linux = Enterprise Linux
■  Linux distribution based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
■  Binary Compatible with RHEL
▪  Two alternative kernels:
Ø  Red Hat Compatible Kernel
Ø  Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK)
■  Supported Architectures:
▪  i386 (4,5 and 6)
▪  x86_64 (4,5,6 and 7)
▪  ia64 (5.4-5.11 only)
■  Free to Download
▪  Oracle E-delivery
▪  Public Yum Repositories

Introduction to Oracle Linux
■  Commercial Options:
▪  Technical Support (Subscription based)
Ø  Starting at US$119 per system (Oracle Linux Network Support)
▪  Access to ULN (Unbreakable Linux network)
■  Current Versions:
Release
Date
Release

Support
Oracle
Database

2015-‐03-‐12
7.1
12.1.0.2

2014-‐10-‐21
6.6
Yes
2014-‐09-‐23
5.11
Yes
2011-‐02-‐16
4.9
Yes

Installing Oracle Linux
■  Various installation options such as:
▪  Network
▪  DVD (ISO)
▪  USB
■  If using OVM or VirtualBox:
▪  Templates available

Oracle Linux and Oracle Database - A Trusted Combination

What is the UEK? (Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel)
■  UEK – Oracle Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel
▪  “Fast”, “Reliable” and “Optimized” for Oracle Software/Hardware
▪  Used in Oracle’s Engineered Systems
▪  Release 1:
Ø  Released in 2010 and based on 2.6.32
Ø  OEL 5.5 / RHEL 5.5 and above
▪  Release 2:
Ø  Oracle Linux above 5.8 and 6.2
Ø  Based on 3.0.16
Ø  Actual Displayed version – 2.6.39
▪  Release 3:
Ø  Oracle Linux above 6.2 and 7
Ø  Based on 3.8 (latest UEK3u6 – 30 July 2015 – 3.8.13-98)

What is the UEK? (Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel)
■  UEK – Oracle Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel
▪  No need to re-install Linux
▪  RHEL Compatible Kernel still provided
▪  Release 1 and 2 for x86 and x86_64
▪  Release 3 x86_64 only
▪  ASMLib related modules already included
■  Download via:
▪  Oracle Public Yum
Ø  http://public-yum.oracle.com
▪  ULN (Unbreakable Linux Network)

Using “yum”
■  yum – Yellowdog Updater, Modified
■  Package Management Utility
■  Using RPM packages
■  Using software repositories
▪  Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN)
▪  Oracle’s Public Repository
▪  Can create your own
■  Big Advantage – dependency management!
■  Download repository configuration file:
▪  cd /etc/yum.repos.d
▪  wget http://public-yum.oracle.com/public-yum-release.repo
■  As easy as “yum update” or “yum install <package>”

The Directory Structure
/
/bin
/boot
/dev
/etc
/home
/lib
..
/proc
/sbin
/tmp
/usr
/var
So
where
do
we
install
Oracle?

What does it mean?
Where is my “My Documents”

Something to consider
/
/…
/home/oracle
/u01/app/oracle
/u01/app/oracle/product/12.1.0/db_1
Oracle Base
Oracle Home

Quick tip on /proc
/
/bin
/boot
/dev
/etc
..
/proc
/sbin
/sys
/tmp
/usr
/var
•  What
is
the
“/proc”
ﬁlesystem?

•  Look
at
this:

oracle@dbvlin505[/home/oracle]: ps -ef|grep pmon
oracle 24134 1 0 15:48 ? 00:00:00 ora_pmon_testdb
oracle@dbvlin505[/home/oracle]: cat /proc/24134/environ | xargs -0 -n1 |grep ORACLE_HOME
ORACLE_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/db_1/
Oracle was started with incorrect ORACLE_HOME variable – extra slash
oracle@dbvlin505[/home/oracle]: ps -ef|grep pmon
oracle 24134 1 0 15:48 ? 00:00:00 ora_pmon_testdb
oracle@dbvlin505[/home/oracle]: sqlplus /nolog
SQL*Plus: Release 11.2.0.3.0 Production on Mon May 27 15:48:00 2013
Copyright (c) 1982, 2011, Oracle. All rights reserved.
SQL> connect / as sysdba
Connected to an idle instance.

Useful Commands for the Oracle DBA
■  GUI’s can make things easier, BUT
■  GUI’s are not always available AND
■  Command line might sometimes be faster!
■  Useful Commands:
▪  ps, grep, awk, watch, perl, find, top, sar, lsof, pidstat, strace
■  Not sure how to use them?
▪  Use the man pages:
# man <command>
Example:
# man ps

Quick Tip
■  Want to quickly list a directory tree?
root@lab1[/]: tree -d -L 5 /u01
/u01
└── app
├── oracle
│   ├── admin
│   │   └── testdb
│   │   ├── adump
│   │   ├── dpdump
│   │   ├── pfile
│   │   └── scripts
│   ├── audit
│   ├── cfgtoollogs
│   │   ├── dbca
│   │   │   └── testdb
│   │   └── netca
│   ├── checkpoints
│   ├── diag

■  The “watch” command
■  Example: watch -n 0.5 "cat /proc/meminfo"
oracle@lab1[/home/oracle]: watch -h

Usage:
watch [options] command
Options:
-b, --beep beep if command has a non-zero exit
-c, --color interpret ANSI color sequences
-d, --differences[=<permanent>]
highlight changes between updates
-e, --errexit exit if command has a non-zero exit
-g, --chgexit exit when output from command changes
-n, --interval <secs> seconds to wait between updates
-p, --precise attempt run command in precise intervals
-t, --no-title turn off header
-x, --exec pass command to exec instead of "sh -c"

-h, --help display this help and exit
-v, --version output version information and exit

For more details see watch(1).

■  The “lsof” command
■  Examples:
root@kiwi1-oraclekiwi-com[/root]: lsof -i TCP -P|grep 22
sshd 1216 root 3u IPv4 20780 0t0 TCP *:22 (LISTEN)
sshd 1216 root 4u IPv6 20782 0t0 TCP *:22 (LISTEN)
sshd 5096 root 3u IPv4 107383 0t0 TCP kiwi1.oraclekiwi.com:22-
>192.168.56.1:50411 (ESTABLISHED)
sshd 5099 oracle 3u IPv4 107383 0t0 TCP
root@kiwi1-oraclekiwi-com[/tmp]: ps -ef|grep 19919
root 19919 9813 0 18:24 pts/2 00:00:00 vi testfile
root@kiwi1-oraclekiwi-com[/tmp]: lsof -p 19919
COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME
vi 19919 root cwd DIR 252,1 4096 50331777 /tmp
vi 19919 root rtd DIR 252,1 4096 128 /
vi 19919 root txt REG 252,1 905984 17289278 /usr/bin/vi
vi 19919 root mem REG 252,1 58288 33880406 /usr/lib64/
..
..
vi 19919 root 2u CHR 136,2 0t0 5 /dev/pts/2
vi 19919 root 3u REG 252,1 12288 51674965 /tmp/.testfile.swp

DEMO

watch – real Xme monitor for a process
ps,
grep,
awk
– ﬁnd running process, and idenXfy the parent
lsof -‐ list open ﬁles for process

Getting Ready to Install Oracle Database
■  Recommended RPM Packages:
▪  oracle-validated
▪  oracle-rdbms-server-11gR2-preinstall
▪  oracle-rdbms-server-12cR1-preinstall

Getting Ready to Install Oracle Database
■  Other recommended packages:
▪  dstat, sysstat, wget, parted, strace, tree, xterm, xclock, unzip,
lsof
■  Easy to install using “yum”
yum install dstat sysstat wget parted strace tree xterm xclock
unzip lsof oracle-rdbms-server-12cR1-preinstall

Getting Ready to Install Oracle
■  Create Required Groups
▪  groupadd -g 501 oinstall
▪  groupadd -g 502 dba
▪  groupadd -g 503 oper
▪  groupadd -g 504 asmadmin
▪  groupadd -g 505 asmdba
▪  groupadd -g 506 asmoper
■  Create Users
▪  useradd -u 501 -g oinstall -G dba,asmdba,asmoper,oper
-c "Oracle Software Owner" oracle
▪  useradd -u 502 -g oinstall -G asmadmin,asmdba,asmoper
-c "Clusterware Owner" grid
OpXonal add groups:
•  backupdba
•  dgdba
•  kmdba

Getting Ready to Install Oracle
■  READ THE ORACLE INSTALLATION GUIDE!!!!
■  Follow the pre-requisite checks/tasks!!
■  Do not install Oracle in :
▪  /home/oracle/…….
■  Oracle Installation Options
▪  Response files (silent install)
▪  Using the DBCA in the Linux GUI
▪  Using VNC
▪  Using x-windows/X11 forwarding:
—  Make sure it is enabled in SSH (/etc/ssh/sshd_config)
—  ssh –C –X oracle@kiwi01
—  Test using “xclock”

Oracle Linux – Key File Systems
■  Large number of File Systems Supported:
▪  ext3
—  Journaling file system – Max 2TB files and 16TB file system size
▪  ext4
—  Improved ext3 – 16TB file/file system limit
▪  ocfs2
—  Clustered file system with COW, 16TB file/file system limit
▪  BTRFS
—  COW file system, snapshots, rollback, compression 16EB limit
▪  vfat
—  developed by MS-DOS, known as fat32, max file size 2GB
▪  Xfs ß Now the default root file system in Oracle Linux 7
—  high-performance journaling file system, 100TB limit, only x86_64

Oracle Linux and OCFS2
■  Oracle Cluster File System (version 2)
▪  Integrated at 2.6.16 of kernel (experimental)
▪  2.6.19 – stable
▪  2.6.29 – improved
■  Free to use under GNU General Public License (GPL)
■  Supported under Oracle Linux
■  Used extensively by Oracle VM

Oracle Linux and OCFS2
■  Does not have to be used for Clusters!
▪  Use it as a local File System and get benefits of:
—  “File Snapshots” using the “reflink”
—  It is FAST!
—  Ever wondered how OVM is creating those clones so quickly?
■  Useful Utilities:
▪  https://oss.oracle.com/~smushran/reflink-tools/

Quickly clone a test database from /u02/oradata1/QA1
to /u02/oradata1/QA2

BTRFS
■  Considered by some as the “next-generation” filesystem
▪  Can handle 16EB filesystems
▪  Online grow and shrink
▪  Copy-on-write (COW)
▪  Storage Pools
Ø  subvolumes
Ø  snapshots
■  Using BTRFS snapshots does not replace backups!!!!

BTRFS
■  General feel is not for production systems… Yet
■  Not supported by Oracle to store database files
■  Recommended to use latest UEK 3
▪  Keep up to date!
■  Other BTRFS Key Features
▪  Checksum function for integrity
▪  Transparent compression
▪  Transparent defragmentation
▪  Integrated LVM (Logical Volume Management) – RAID0/1/10/5/6

BTRFS Example – Create Storage Pool
mkfs.btrfs –L btrfs_pool_label /dev/sdb
▪  Or if testing - do not do this in production!
dd if=/dev/zero of=/btrfs_test bs=1M count=1000
losetup /dev/loop0 /btrfs_test
mkfs.btrfs –L test_btrfs_pool_label /dev/loop0

Tip – Using blkid command
root@kiwi1-oraclekiwi-com[/]: blkid
/dev/sda1: UUID="bf9d4ffc-04b1-4774-830b-bd46b02bde55" TYPE="xfs"
/dev/sda2: UUID="KD0boO-PBlP-7WPR-Dbic-1O6h-ZdnL-3LXWtX" TYPE="LVM2_member"
/dev/sdc1: LABEL="ASMDISK1" TYPE="oracleasm”
…
…
/dev/sdb1: UUID="d2cbf3ae-1758-408f-aaf5-403042cb4352"
UUID_SUB="4c22e385-3355-4c20-932a-d1f6e3e5d959" TYPE="btrfs”
…
…
/dev/sdd1: UUID="7be9c546-9395-429a-8ff9-9c2ab466a04d" TYPE="ocfs2"
/dev/mapper/ol_oel7--base-swap: UUID="60f235e7-5de1-4974-b467-709a6cebb5bf"
TYPE="swap"
/dev/mapper/ol_oel7--base-root: UUID="1fdfaf7f-b504-494e-85ca-d73329c7e9f2"
TYPE="xfs”

BTRFS Example – Mount Storage Pool
root@kiwi1-oraclekiwi-com[/]: mount /dev/loop0 /u03
root@kiwi1-oraclekiwi-com[/]: df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/ol_oel7--base-root 12G 4.9G 6.2G 44% /
devtmpfs 2.0G 0 2.0G 0% /dev
tmpfs 2.0G 631M 1.4G 32% /dev/shm
tmpfs 2.0G 9.0M 2.0G 1% /run
tmpfs 2.0G 0 2.0G 0% /sys/fs/
cgroup
/dev/sdb1 30G 15G 15G 51% /u01
/dev/sdd1 30G 2.5G 28G 9% /u02
/dev/sda1 497M 190M 308M 39% /boot
/dev/loop0 1000M 32K 996M 1% /u03
root@kiwi1-oraclekiwi-com[/]: btrfs filesystem df /u03
System, single: total=4.00MiB, used=4.00KiB
Data+Metadata, single: total=8.00MiB, used=28.00KiB

BTRFS Example – Create subvolume
root@kiwi1-oraclekiwi-com[/]: btrfs subvolume create u03/sub1
Create subvolume 'u03/sub1'
root@kiwi1-oraclekiwi-com[/]: btrfs subvolume list -a /u03
ID 256 gen 6 top level 5 path sub1
root@kiwi1-oraclekiwi-com[/]: btrfs subvolume show /u03/*
/u03/sub1
Name: sub1
uuid: 9ad33e28-d98a-ad46-89fc-1c11de9424bb
Parent uuid: -
Creation time: 2015-04-13 18:56:44
Object ID: 256
Generation (Gen): 6
Gen at creation: 6
Parent: 5
Top Level: 5
Flags: -
Snapshot(s):

BTRFS Example – Create subvolume snapshots
root@kiwi1-oraclekiwi-com[/u03]: btrfs subvolume snapshot sub1 sub2
Create a snapshot of 'sub1' in './sub2'
root@kiwi1-oraclekiwi-com[/u03]: btrfs subvolume snapshot -r sub1 sub3
Create a readonly snapshot of 'sub1' in './sub3'
root@kiwi1-oraclekiwi-com[/u03]: btrfs subvolume show /u03/sub1
/u03/sub1
Name: sub1
uuid: 9ad33e28-d98a-ad46-89fc-1c11de9424bb
Parent uuid: -
Creation time: 2015-04-13 18:56:44
Object ID: 256
Generation (Gen): 9
Gen at creation: 6
Parent: 5
Top Level: 5
Flags: -
Snapshot(s):
sub2
sub3
root@kiwi1-oraclekiwi-com[/u03]: cd sub3
root@kiwi1-oraclekiwi-com[/u03/sub3]: touch test
touch: cannot touch ‘test’: Read-only file system

Are you using Oracle RAC and ASM
Need
a
shared
ﬁlesystem?

What about ACFS……
■  Making use of underlying ASM disk groups
■  Oracle ASM is required
■  Easy to configure using “asmca”
■  Files that can be stored direct in ASM are not supported on
ACFS….. prior to 12c…
▪  From 12.1 database files allowed in ACFS!
▪  COMPATIBLE.ADVM must be set to 12.1
■  Ensure Oracle Linux Kernel used, is supported!
▪  ACFS OS Support Certification Matrix - Doc ID 1369107.1
▪  PSU might be required to enable
■  ACFS features include:
▪  Dynamic file system resizing
▪  Snapshots using copy-on-write

Setting up Disks for ASM
■  The quick and easy way:
▪  ASMLib kernel driver part of UEK
▪  Install ASMLib software (rpm)
—  oracleasm-support
—  oracleasmlib
–  http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/server-storage/linux/asmlib
▪  Creating ASM Disks:
—  Present Storage
—  Partition Disk
—  Run “oracleasm configure –i”
—  Create ASM disks: oracleasm createdisk (as root user)
oracleasm createdisk ASMDISK1 /dev/sdd1
—  List ASM disks: oracleasm listdisks
—  As Grid owner, run “asmca” to create disk groups or use SQL*Plus

Linux Performance Monitoring
■  Swap space
▪  Don’t look at 2 x memory
▪  If using swap space:
—  Review and understand why you are using swap
—  Review “free” command and /proc/meminfo
■  Useful Commands:
▪  sar
▪  vmstat
▪  Iostat
▪  iotop
■  Want to look at more detail:
▪  dtrace and strace

Linux Performance Monitoring
DEMO

top, sar, vmstat, iostat, watch

Backup and Recovery
■  Does not have to be complex
■  3rd Party vendor backup solutions
▪  Linux agents available
■  Easier with Virtualization
▪  Snapshot / Clone options
▪  Live migration options
■  Use RMAN!!
■  Backup to Tape or Disk?
■  Why not use reflink and snapshots?
▪  Not on its own, but together with tools such as
—  tar, cpio, rsync, gzip, etc

Backup and Recovery
■  Useful Linux Commands:
▪  tar
▪  cpio
▪  rsync
▪  gzip
■  Examples:
tar czvf /backups/backupfile.tar.gz .
tar xzvf /backups/backupfile.tar.gz
[/home/oracle]: cd /u02/oradata1
[/u02/oradata1]: tar cf - | (cd /u02/oradata2; tar xf -)
[/u02/oradata1]: find . -print | cpio -pdm /u02/oradata2/

Tip - Don’t forget about Data Recovery Advisor
■  Introduced in Oracle 11g
■  Three key commands:
rman> LIST failure
rman> ADVISE failure
rman> REPAIR failure
■  Not available when using Multi-tenancy - CDB/PDB
▪  Expected in 12.2

Recommended Reading
Oracle Linux 7 DocumentaXon
h`ps://docs.oracle.com/cd/E52668_01/index.html

Supported and Recommended File Systems on Linux
(Doc ID 236826.1)

List of Files Systems Supported in Oracle Linux 7
(Doc ID 1970430.1)

Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel: Frequently Asked QuesXons (Doc ID 1210995.1)

Summary
■  Are you looking for an operating system that provides:
▪  Stability
▪  Performance
▪  Scalability
▪  Security
▪  Flexibility
Do
not
be
scared
of
the
command
line

Questions?
Presented By: Anton Els
Company: Dbvisit Software Limited
Email: anton.els@dbvisit.com
Twitter: @aelsnz
Blog: http://blog.dbvisit.com/author/anton-els/

Oracle Linux and Oracle Database - A Trusted Combination

More Related Content

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked (19)

Similar to Oracle Linux and Oracle Database - A Trusted Combination (20)

More from Guatemala User Group (20)

Recently uploaded (20)

Oracle Linux and Oracle Database - A Trusted Combination