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Oracle® Universal Installer and OPatch User's Guide
10g Release 2 (10.2) for Windows and UNIX

Part Number B16227-04
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7 Oracle Software Cloning Using Oracle Universal Installer

This chapter provides information about Oracle cloning using Oracle Universal Installer (OUI). This chapter contains the following topics:

7.1 About Cloning

Cloning is the process of copying an existing Oracle installation to a different location and updating the copied bits to work in the new environment. The changes made by one-off patches applied on the source Oracle home, would also be present after the clone operation. The source and the destination path (host to be cloned) need not be the same. During cloning, OUI replays the actions that were run to install the home. Cloning is similar to installation except that OUI runs the actions in a special mode that is referred to as clone mode. Some situations in which cloning is useful are:

The cloned installation behaves the same as the source installation. For example, the cloned Oracle home can be removed using OUI or patched using OPatch. You can also use the cloned Oracle home as the source for another cloning operation. You can create a cloned copy of a test, development, or production installation by using the command-line cloning scripts. The default cloning procedure is adequate for most usage cases. However, you can also customize various aspects of cloning, for example, to specify custom port assignments, or to preserve custom settings.

The cloning process works by copying all of the files from the source Oracle home to the destination Oracle home. Thus, any files used by the source instance that are located outside the source Oracle home's directory structure are not copied to the destination location.

The size of the binaries at the source and the destination may differ because these are relinked as part of the clone operation and the operating system patch levels may also differ between these two locations. Additionally, the number of files in the cloned home would increase because several files copied from the source, specifically those being instantiated, are backed up as part of the clone operation.

OUI Cloning is more beneficial than using the tarball approach because cloning configures the Central Inventory and the Oracle home inventory in the cloned home. Cloning also makes the home manageable and allows the paths in the cloned home and the target home to be different.

7.2 Overview of the Cloning Process

The cloning process uses the OUI cloning functionality. This operation is driven by a set of scripts and add-ons that are included in the respective Oracle software. The cloning process has two phases:

7.2.1 Source Preparation Phase

To prepare the source Oracle home to be cloned, perform the following steps:

  • At the source, you run a script called prepare_clone.pl. This is a Perl script that prepares the source for cloning by recording the information that is required for cloning. This is generally located in the following location:

    $ORACLE_HOME/clone/bin/prepare_clone.pl
    
    

    During this phase, prepare_clone.pl parses files in the source Oracle home to extract and store the required values. For more information about the parameters to be passed, refer to the section Cloning Script Variables and their Definitions.

    Note:

    The need to perform the preparation phase depends on the Oracle product that you are installing. This script needs to be executed only for the Application Server Cloning. Database and CRS Oracle home Cloning does not need this.
  • Archive and compress the source Oracle home using your preferred archiving tool. For example, you can use WinZip on Microsoft Windows system computers and tar or gzip on UNIX. Make sure that the tool that you use preserves the permissions and file timestamps. When archiving the home, also ensure that you skip the *.log, *.dbf, listerner.ora, sqlnet.ora, and tnsnames.ora from archiving. Also ensure that you do not archive the following folders:

    $ORACLE_HOME/<Hostname>_<SID>
    $ORACLE_HOME/oc4j/j2ee/OC4J_DBConsole_<Hostname>_<SID>
    
    

    The following is a sample exclude file list:

    $ cat excludedFileList.txt
    ./install/make.log
    ./cfgtoollogs/cfgfw/CfmLogger_2006-07-13_12-03-16-PM.log
    ./cfgtoollogs/cfgfw/oracle.server_2006-07-13_12-03-17-PM.log
    ./cfgtoollogs/cfgfw/oracle.network.client_2006-07-13_12-03-18-PM.log
    ./cfgtoollogs/cfgfw/oracle.has.common_2006-07-13_12-03-18-PM.log
    ./cfgtoollogs/cfgfw/oracle.assistants.server_2006-07-13_12-03-18-PM.log
    ./cfgtoollogs/cfgfw/OuiConfigVariables_2006-07-13_12-03-18-PM.log
    ./cfgtoollogs/cfgfw/oracle.sysman.console.db_2006-07-13_12-03-18-PM.log
    ./cfgtoollogs/cfgfw/oracle.sqlplus.isqlplus_2006-07-13_12-03-18-PM.log
    ./cfgtoollogs/oui/cloneActions2006-07-13_11-52-19AM.log
    ./cfgtoollogs/oui/silentInstall2006-07-13_11-52-19AM.log
    
    

    The following example shows how to archive and compress the source for various platforms:

    To archive and compress:
    tar cpf - . | compress -fv > temp_dir/archiveName.tar.Z  ( for "aix" or $^O eq "hpux")
    tar cpfX - excludeListFile . | compress -fv > temp_dir/archiveName.tar.Z (for remaining UNIX based systems)
    

    Note:

    Do not use the jar utility to archive and compress the Oracle home.

7.2.2 Cloning Phase

On the destination system, you unarchive the Oracle home and run the clone.pl script. This Perl script performs all parts of the cloning operation automatically by running OUI and various other utilities. This script makes use of the cloning functionality in OUI. When you run the clone.pl script, it takes care of the specifics that OUI may have missed. The central inventory of the box where the home is being cloned is updated as is the Oracle home inventory ($ORACLE_HOME/inventory).

The following example shows how to unarchive and decompress the source for various platforms:

To unarchive:
mkdir  Destination_oracle_homecd   Destination_oracle_homezcat temp_dir/archiveName.tar.Z | tar xpf - (for "hpux")zcat temp_dir/archiveName.tar.Z | tar xBpf -  (for remaining UNIX based systems)

You must have Perl 5.6 or higher installed on your system to enable cloning. Also ensure that you set the path environment variable to the correct Perl executable.

Note:

The cloned home and source home will not be identical in size, because the cloned home will have additional files created during the cloning operation.

7.3 Locating and Viewing Log Files

The cloning script runs multiple tools, each of which may generate its own log files. However, the following log files that OUI and the cloning scripts generate, are the key log files of interest for diagnostic purposes:

To find the location of the Oracle inventory directory:On all UNIX system computers except Linux and IBM AIX, look in /var/opt/oracle/oraInst.loc. On IBM AIX and Linux-based systems look in /etc/oraInst.loc file.

On Windows system computers, the location can be obtained from the Windows Registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\INST_LOC.

After the clone.pl script finishes running, refer to these log files to obtain more information about the cloning process.

7.4 Cloning an Oracle Database 10.1 Oracle Home

There are two steps involved in cloning an Oracle Database 10.1 Oracle home:

7.4.1 Preparing the Oracle Database 10.1 Source

To prepare the source Oracle home to be cloned, perform the following steps:

  • Ensure that the Oracle Database installation whose home you want to clone has been successful.

    For Windows system computers, you can check the status of the installation by reviewing the installActionsdate_time.log file for the installation session, where date_time represents the date and time when the file was created for example, installActions2006-05-30_10-28-04PM.log. This log file is normally located in the c:\Program Files\Oracle\Inventory\logs directory.

    For Linux-based systems, the logs are kept in <inventory location>/logs directory. To determine the location of the central inventory, refer to section"Locating and Viewing Log Files".

    If you have installed patches, then you can check their status by running the following commands:

    For Windows system computers:

    c:\ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME\OPatch> set ORACLE_HOME = ORACLE_HOME_using_patch
    c:\ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME\OPatch> opatch lsinventory
    
    

    For Linux-based and UNIX-based systems:

    Set the ORACLE_HOME environment variable. The syntax for this may change depending on the shell used.

    /ORACLE_BASE/ORACLE_HOME/OPatch> setenv ORACLE_HOME ORACLE_HOME_using_patch
    /ORACLE_BASE/ORACLE_HOME/OPatch> ./opatch lsinventory
    
    
  • Archive and compress the source Oracle home, using your preferred tool for archiving. For more information on this, refer to section "Source Preparation Phase".

7.4.2 Cloning an Oracle Database 10.1

To clone the Oracle Database 10.1, perform the following steps:

  • Copy the compressed zip or archive file to the target computer.

  • Extract the contents of the compressed zip or archive file in the target computer. For more information on extracting the contents, refer to section "Cloning Phase".

  • On the target computer, execute the following:

    For Windows-based systems:

    $ORACLE_HOME/oui/bin/setup.exe ORACLE_ HOME=<oracle home_location> 
    ORACLE_HOME_NAME=<Oracle_Home_Name for the Oracle_Home being cloned> -clone -silent [-command_line_arguments]
    
    

    For Linux-based systems:

    $ORACLE_HOME\oui\bin\runInstaller.sh ORACLE_ HOME=<oracle home_location> 
    ORACLE_HOME_NAME=<Oracle_Home_Name for the Oracle_Home being cloned> -clone -silent [-command_line_arguments]
    
    

    The preceding command uses the <command_line_arguments> variable. The following table describes the same:

    Table 7-1 Command-line arguments in clone.pl script

    Command-line Argument Description

    -O

    If you use this argument, then anything following it is passed to the OUI clone command line. For example, you can use this option to pass the location of the oraparam.ini file to be used by OUI:

    '-O -paramFile C:\OraHome_1\oui\oraparam.ini'
    

    -debug

    If you use this argument, then the script runs in debug mode.

    -help

    If you use this argument, then the script prints the help for the clone script.


    You can also pass values in the command line by using the $ORACLE_HOME/clone/config/cs.properties file. You can enter values in the line clone_command_line=<value>. The values entered here are appended to the OUI command line, which is run to perform the clone operation.

    For example, to specify a non default location for the Oracle inventory file on UNIX system computers, you can add the following line to the cs.properties file:

    clone_command_line= -invptrloc /private/oracle/oraInst.loc
    

    Note:

    To specify multiple arguments, separate each argument with a space.
  • OUI starts and records the cloning actions in the cloneActionstimestamp.log file. This log file is normally located in c:\Program Files\Oracle\Inventory\logs file in Windows.

    For Linux-based systems, you can find this file in the <inventory location>/logs directory. To determine the location of the central inventory, refer to section "Locating and Viewing Log Files".

  • To configure the connection information for the new database, run Net Configuration Assistant.

    On Windows system computers, select Start > Programs > Oracle - HOME_NAME > Configuration and Migration Tools > Net Configuration Assistant.

    On Linux-based systems, set the ORACLE_HOME variable and run $ORACLE_HOME/bin/netca

  • To create a new database for the newly cloned Oracle home, run Oracle Database Configuration Assistant.

    On Windows system computers, select Start > Programs > Oracle - HOME_NAME > Configuration and Migration Tools > Database Configuration Assistant.

    For Linux-based systems, run $ORACLE_HOME/bin/dbca.

7.4.2.1 Viewing Log and Error Files

After cloning, you can view the status of the clone operation by navigating to the $ORACLE_HOME/clone/log directory and by reviewing the *.log and *.err files. For more information, refer to the section "Locating and Viewing Log Files".

7.5 Cloning an Oracle Database 10.2 Oracle Home

There are two steps involved in cloning an Oracle Database 10.2 Oracle home:

7.5.1 Preparing the Oracle Database 10.2 Source

To prepare the source Oracle home to be cloned, perform the following steps:

  • Ensure that the Oracle Database installation whose home you want to clone has been successful.

    For Windows system computers, you can check the status of the installation by reviewing the installActionsdate_time.log file for the installation session, where date_time represents the date and time when the file was created for example, installActions2006-05-30_10-28-04PM.log. This log file is normally located in the c:\Program Files\Oracle\Inventory\logs directory.

    For Linux-based systems, the logs are kept in <inventory location>/logs directory. To determine the location of the central inventory, refer to section"Locating and Viewing Log Files".

    If you have installed patches, then you can check their status by running the following commands:

    For Windows system computers:

    c:\ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME\OPatch> set ORACLE_HOME = ORACLE_HOME_using_patch
    c:\ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME\OPatch> opatch lsinventory
    
    

    For Linux-based and UNIX-based systems:

    /ORACLE_BASE/ORACLE_HOME/OPatch> setenv ORACLE_HOME ORACLE_HOME_using_patch
    /ORACLE_BASE/ORACLE_HOME/OPatch> ./opatch lsinventory
    
    
  • Archive and compress the source Oracle home, using your preferred tool for archiving. For more information on this, refer to section "Source Preparation Phase".

7.5.2 Cloning an Oracle Database 10.2

To clone the Oracle Database 10.2, perform the following steps:

  • Copy the compressed zip or archive file to the target computer.

  • Extract the contents of the compressed zip or archive file in the target computer. For more information on extracting the contents, refer to section "Cloning Phase".

  • On the target computer, go to the $ORACLE_HOME/clone/bin directory and run clone.pl. This is a Perl script that performs all parts of the cloning operation automatically by calling various utilities and OUI. This script uses the cloning functionality in OUI.

    Note:

    The clone.pl script clones the software only and not the database instance.

    The following command shows the syntax for the clone.pl script for Windows-based systems:

    perl <Oracle_Home>\clone\bin\clone.pl ORACLE_HOME=<Path to the Oracle_Home being_cloned> ORACLE_HOME_NAME=<Oracle_Home_Name for the Oracle_Home being cloned> [-command_line_arguments]
    
    

    The following command shows the syntax for the clone.pl script for Linux-based systems:

    perl <Oracle_Home>/clone/bin/clone.pl ORACLE_HOME=<Path to the Oracle_Home being_cloned> ORACLE_HOME_NAME=<Oracle_Home_Name for the Oracle_Home being cloned> [-command_line_arguments]
    
    

    The preceding command uses the <command_line_arguments> variable. The following table describes the same:

    Table 7-2 Command-line arguments in clone.pl script

    Command-line Argument Description

    -O

    If you use this argument, then anything following it is passed to the OUI clone command line. For example, you can use this option to pass the location of the oraparam.ini file to be used by OUI:

    '-O -paramFile C:\OraHome_1\oui\oraparam.ini'
    

    -debug

    If you use this argument, then the script runs in debug mode.

    -help

    If you use this argument, then the script prints the help for the clone script.


    You can also pass values in the command line by using the $ORACLE_HOME/clone/config/cs.properties file. You can enter values in the line clone_command_line=<value>. The values entered here are appended to the OUI command line, which is run to perform the clone operation.

    For example, to specify a non default location for the Oracle inventory file on UNIX system computers, you can add the following line to the cs.properties file:

    clone_command_line= -invptrloc /private/oracle/oraInst.loc
    

    Note:

    To specify multiple arguments, separate each argument with a space.
  • OUI starts and records the cloning actions in the cloneActionstimestamp.log file. This log file is normally located in c:\Program Files\Oracle\Inventory\logs file in Windows.

    For Linux-based systems, you can find this file in the <inventory location>/logs directory. To determine the location of the central inventory, refer to section "Locating and Viewing Log Files".

  • To configure the connection information for the new database, run Net Configuration Assistant.

    On Windows system computers, select Start > Programs > Oracle - HOME_NAME > Configuration and Migration Tools > Net Configuration Assistant.

    On Linux-based systems, set the ORACLE_HOME variable and run $ORACLE_HOME/bin/netca

  • To create a new database for the newly cloned Oracle home, run Oracle Database Configuration Assistant.

    On Windows system computers, select Start > Programs > Oracle - HOME_NAME > Configuration and Migration Tools > Database Configuration Assistant.

    For Linux-based systems, run $ORACLE_HOME/bin/dbca.

7.5.2.1 Viewing Log and Error Files

After cloning, you can view the status of the clone operation by navigating to the $ORACLE_HOME/clone/log directory and by reviewing the *.log and *.err files. For more information, refer to the section "Locating and Viewing Log Files".

7.6 Creating Oracle Real Application Cluster Environment using Cloning

This section explains how to create an Oracle RAC environment by using Oracle cloning. These procedures describe how to use cloning for both UNIX and Linux system environments and Windows system environments under the following topics:

7.6.1 Creating Oracle RAC Environments on UNIX and Linux System-Based Environments

This section explains how to clone an Oracle RAC environment by using Oracle cloning as described in the following procedures:

7.6.1.1 Cloning Oracle Clusterware on UNIX and Linux System-Based Environments

Complete the following steps to clone Oracle Clusterware on UNIX and Linux systems:

  1. If you do not have a shared Oracle Clusterware home, then tar the Oracle Clusterware home from an existing node and copy it to the new node. Use $CRS_HOME as the destination Oracle Clusterware home on the new node. If you have a shared Oracle Clusterware home, then skip this step.

    Note:

    For more information on archiving, refer to section "Source Preparation Phase".
  2. Unarchive the home on the new nodes. In the case of shared homes, unarchive the home only once on the nodes.

    Note:

    For more information on archiving, refer to section "Cloning Phase".
  3. If you do not have a shared Oracle Clusterware home, then on the new node, navigate to the $ORACLE_HOME/clone/bin directory and run the following command where Oracle_home_name is the name of the Oracle home, new_node is the name of the new node, new_node-priv is the private interconnect protocol address of the new node, new_node-vip is the virtual interconnect protocol address of the new node, and central_inventory_location is the location of the Oracle central inventory:

    perl clone.pl ORACLE_HOME=<$CRS_HOME> ORACLE_HOME_NAME=Oracle_home_name '-On_storageTypeVDSK=2' '-On_storageTypeOCR=2' '-O"sl_tableList={new_node:new_node-priv:new_node-vip}"' '-O-noConfig''-O"INVENTORY_LOCATION=central_inventory_location"'
    
    

    If you have a shared Oracle Clusterware home, then append the -cfs option to the command example in this step and provide a complete path location for the cluster file system. Ensure that n_storageTypeOCR and n_storageTypeVDSK has been set to 2 for redundant storage. Ensure that this value is set to 1 for non-redundant storage. In this case, the mirror locations will also have to be specified.

  4. On the new node, go to the directory that contains the central Oracle inventory. Run the orainstRoot.sh script to populate the file /etc/oraInst.loc with information about the central inventory location. On the new node, go to the $CRS_HOME directory and run ./root.sh. This starts the Oracle Clusterware on the new node.

  5. Determine the remote port to use in the next step by running the following command from the $CRS_HOME/opmn/conf directory:

    cat ons.config | grep remoteport
    
    
  6. On the new node, run the following from $CRS_HOME/bin directory where racgons is the Oracle RAC Notification Service Utility, new_node is the name of the new node, and remote_port is the value from the output of the previous step:

    ./racgons add_config new_node:<Remote_Port>
    
    
  7. Execute the following command to get the interconnect information. You can use this information in the next step.

    $CRS_HOME/bin/oifcfg iflist –p
    
    
  8. Execute oifcfg command as follows:

    oifcfg setif -global <interface_name>/<subnet>:public <inteface_
    name>/<subnet>:cluster_interconnect [<interface_name>/<subnet>:public
     <inteface_name>/<subnet>:cluster_interconnect .......]
    

Note:

Oracle Clusterware cloning can only be performed in silent mode.

7.6.1.2 Cloning Oracle RAC Software on UNIX and Linux System-Based Environments

Complete the following steps to clone Oracle Database with RAC software on UNIX and Linux systems:

  1. If you do not have a shared Oracle Database home, then tar the Oracle RAC home from the existing node and copy it to the new node. Assume that the location of the destination Oracle RAC home on the new node is $ORACLE_HOME. Otherwise, skip this step.

    Note:

    For more information on archiving, refer to section "Source Preparation Phase".
  2. Unarchive the home on the new nodes. In the case of shared homes, unarchive the home only once on the nodes.

    Note:

    For more information on unarchiving, refer to section "Cloning Phase".
  3. On the new nodes, go to the $CRS_HOME/oui/bin directory and run the following command where new_node2 and new_node3 are the names of the new nodes, and Oracle_home_name is the name of the Oracle home:

    perl clone.pl ORACLE_HOME=<Path to the Oracle_Home being cloned> ORACLE_HOME
    _NAME=<Oracle_Home_Name for the Oracle_Home being cloned> '-O"CLUSTER_
    NODES={new_node_2,new_node_3}"' '-O"LOCAL_NODE=new_node_2"'
    
    

    If you have a shared Oracle Database home, then append the -cfs option to the command example in this step and provide a complete path location for the cluster file system

    Note:

    Set the LOCAL_NODE to the node on which you run the clone command.
  4. On the new node, go to the $ORACLE_HOME directory and run the following command:

    ./root.sh
    
    
  5. On the new node, run Net Configuration Assistant (NETCA) to add a listener.

  6. From the node that you cloned, run Database Configuration Assistant (DBCA) to add the new instance.

7.6.2 Creating Oracle RAC Environments on Windows System-Based Environments

This section explains how to clone an Oracle RAC environment by using Oracle cloning as described in the following procedures:

7.6.2.1 Cloning Oracle Clusterware on Windows System-Based Environments

Complete the following steps to clone Oracle Clusterware on Windows system computers:

  1. If you do not have a shared Oracle Clusterware home, then zip the Oracle Clusterware home from the existing node and copy it to the new node. Unzip the home on the new node in the equivalent directory structure as the directory structure in which the Oracle Clusterware home resided on the existing node. For example, assume that the location of the destination Oracle Clusterware home on the new node is %CRS_HOME%. Skip this step if you have a shared Oracle Clusterware home.

    Note:

    For more information on zipping and unzipping, refer to sections "Source Preparation Phase" and "Cloning Phase".
  2. If you do not have a shared Oracle Clusterware home, then on the new node, navigate to the $ORACLE_HOME/clone/bin directory and run the following command where Oracle_home_name is the name of the Oracle home, new_node is the name of the new node, new_node-priv is the private interconnect protocol address of the new node, new_node-vip is the virtual interconnect protocol address of the new node, and central_inventory_location is the location of the Oracle central inventory:

    perl clone.pl ORACLE_HOME=<CRS_HOME> ORACLE_HOME_NAME=<CRS_HOME_NAME> '-On_storageTypeVDSK=2' '-On_storageTypeOCR=2' '-O"sl_tableList={node2:node2-priv:node2-vip, node3:node3-priv:node3-vip}"' '-O"ret_PrivIntrList=<private interconnect list>"' '-O"sl_OHPartitionsAndSpace_valueFromDlg={partition and space information}"' '-O-noConfig'
    
    

    If you have a shared Oracle Clusterware home, then append the -cfs option to the command example in this step and provide a complete path location for the cluster file system. Ensure that n_storageTypeOCR and n_storageTypeVDSK has been set to 2 for redundant storage. Ensure that this value is set to 1 for non-redundant storage. In this case, the mirror locations will also have to be specified. On the other nodes, execute the same command, by passing an additional argument PERFORM_PARTITION_TASKS=FALSE.

    perl clone.pl ORACLE_HOME=<CRS_HOME> ORACLE_HOME_NAME=<CRS_HOME_NAME> '-On_
    storageTypeVDSK=2' '-On_storageTypeOCR=2' '-O"sl_
    tableList={node2:node2-priv:node2-vip, node3:node3-priv:node3-vip}"' '-O"ret_
    PrivIntrList=<private interconnect list>"' '-O"sl_OHPartitionsAndSpace_
    valueFromDlg={partition and space information}"' '-O-noConfig' '-OPERFORM_
    PARTITION_TASKS=FALSE'
    
    
  3. From the %CRS_HOME%\cfgtoollogs directory on the existing node, run the following command:

    <CRS_HOME>\cfgtoollogs\cfgToolAllCommands
    
    

    This instantiates the Virtual Protocol Configuration Assistant (VIPCA), the Oracle RAC Notification Service Utility (racgons), Oracle Clusterware Setup (crssetup), and oifcfg.

Note:

Oracle Clusterware cloning can only be performed in silent mode.

7.6.2.2 Cloning Oracle RAC Software on Windows System-Based Environments

Complete the following steps to clone Oracle Database with RAC software on Windows system computers:

  1. If you do not have a shared Oracle Database home, then zip the Oracle Database home with Oracle RAC on the existing node and copy it to the new node. Unzip the Oracle Database with Oracle RAC home on the new node in the same directory in which the Oracle Database home with Oracle RAC resided on the existing node. For example, assume that the location of the destination Oracle RAC home on the new node is %ORACLE_HOME%. Skip this step if you have a shared Oracle Database home.

    Note:

    For more information on zipping and unzipping, refer to sections "Source Preparation Phase" and "Cloning Phase".
  2. On the new node, go to the %ORACLE_HOME%\clone\bin directory and run the following command where Oracle_Home is the Oracle Database home, Oracle_Home_Name is the name of the Oracle Database home, existing_node is the name of the existing node, and new_node is the name of the new node:

    perl clone.pl ORACLE_HOME=Oracle_Home ORACLE_HOME_NAME=Oracle_Home_Name '-O"CLUSTER_NODES={existing_node,new_node}"' '-OLOCAL_NODE=new_node' '-O-noConfig'
    
    

    If you have a shared Oracle Database home with Oracle RAC, then append the -O-cfs option to the command example in this step and provide a complete path location for the cluster file system. Repeat this step for all nodes.

  3. On the new node, run NETCA to add a listener.

  4. From the node that you cloned, run DBCA to add the database instance to the new node.

7.6.2.3 Important Considerations when Cloning Oracle Real Application Clusters

Note the following when cloning the Oracle Database with Oracle RAC:

  • The order of the nodes specified should always be the same on all hosts.

  • Oracle Clusterware should be installed on the cluster nodes prior to starting an Oracle RAC installation.

  • For a shared home, you need to also provide a value for the -cfs parameter on the command line.

7.7 Adding Nodes Using Cloning in Oracle Real Application Clusters Environments

This section explains how to add nodes to existing Oracle RAC environments by using Oracle cloning. These procedures describe how to use cloning for both UNIX and Linux system environments and Windows system environments under the following topics:

7.7.1 Cloning Oracle RAC Environments on UNIX and Linux System-Based Environments

These procedures assume that you have successfully installed and configured an Oracle RAC environment to which you want to add nodes and instances. To add nodes to a UNIX or Linux system Oracle RAC environment using cloning, extend the Oracle Clusterware configuration, extend the Oracle Database software with RAC, and then add the listeners and instances by running the Oracle assistants as described in the following procedures:

7.7.1.1 Cloning Oracle Clusterware on UNIX and Linux System-Based Environments

Complete the following steps to clone Oracle Clusterware on UNIX and Linux systems:

  1. If you do not have a shared Oracle Clusterware home, then tar the Oracle Clusterware home from an existing node and copy it to the new node. Use $CRS_HOME as the destination Oracle Clusterware home on the new node. If you have a shared Oracle Clusterware home, then skip this step.

    Note:

    For more information on archiving and unarchiving, refer to sections "Source Preparation Phase" and "Cloning Phase".
  2. If you do not have a shared Oracle Clusterware home, then on the new node, navigate to the $ORACLE_HOME/clone/bin directory and run the following command where Oracle_home_name is the name of the Oracle home, new_node is the name of the new node, new_node-priv is the private interconnect protocol address of the new node, new_node-vip is the virtual interconnect protocol address of the new node, and central_inventory_location is the location of the Oracle central inventory:

    perl clone.pl ORACLE_HOME=$ORACLE_HOME ORACLE_HOME_NAME=Oracle_home_name '-O"sl_tableList={new_node:new_node-priv:new_node-vip}"' '-O-noConfig''-O"INVENTORY_LOCATION=central_inventory_location"'
    
    

    If you have a shared Oracle Clusterware home, then append the -cfs option to the command example in this step and provide a complete path location for the cluster file system.

    Note:

    Only provide a value for the sl_tableList variable. The Perl clone.pl script takes all other variable settings from the zipped Oracle Clusterware home. This is only true, however, if the source of the zipped home was from an existing node of the cluster that you are extending.

    If you use any other Oracle RAC environment as your cloning source, that is, if you clone from a node in a cluster other than the one that you are extending, then you must provide values for all of the arguments. This includes values for the Oracle Cluster Registry and voting disk location arguments. You must do this because the value for sl_tableList is used as shown in the command example in this step. Also note that you should only specify values for the new node for the sl_tableList options.

  3. On the new node, go to the directory that contains the central Oracle inventory. Run the orainstRoot.sh script to populate the file /etc/oraInst.loc with information about the central inventory location.

  4. Run the following command on the existing node where new_node is the name of the new node, new_node-priv is the private interconnect protocol address for the new node, and new_node-vip is the virtual interconnect protocol address for the new node:

    $ORACLE_HOME/oui/bin/addNode.sh –silent "CLUSTER_NEW_NODES={new_node}" "CLUSTER_NEW_PRIVATE_NODE_NAMES={new_node-priv}" "CLUSTER_NEW_VIRTUAL_HOSTNAMES={new_node-vip}" –noCopy 
    
    

    Note:

    (Because the clone.pl script has already been run on the new node, this step only updates the inventories on the nodes and instantiates scripts on the local node.
  5. On the existing node, run the rootaddnode.sh script from the $ORACLE_HOME/install directory.

  6. On the new node, go to the $ORACLE_HOME directory and run the ./root.sh script to start the Oracle Clusterware on the new node.

  7. Determine the remote port to use in the next step by running the following command from the $CRS_HOME/opmn/conf directory:

    cat ons.config
    
    
  8. From the $CRS_HOME/bin directory on an existing node, run the following command where racgons is the Oracle RAC Notification Service Utility, new_node is the name of the new node, and remote_port is the value from the output of the previous step:

    ./racgons add_config new_node:remote_port
    
    

7.7.1.2 Cloning Oracle RAC Software on UNIX and Linux System-Based Environments

Complete the following steps to clone Oracle Database with RAC software on UNIX and Linux systems:

  1. If you do not have a shared Oracle Database home, then tar the Oracle RAC home from the existing node and copy it to the new node. Assume that the location of the destination Oracle RAC home on the new node is $ORACLE_HOME. Otherwise, skip this step.

    Note:

    For more information on archiving and unarchiving, refer to sections "Source Preparation Phase" and "Cloning Phase".
  2. If you do not have a shared Oracle Database home, then on the new node go to the $ORACLE_HOME/clone/bin directory and run the following command where existing_node is the name of the node that you are cloning, new_node2 and new_node3 are the names of the new nodes, and Oracle_home_name is the name of the Oracle home:

    perl clone.pl '-OÒCLUSTER_NODES={existing_node,new_node2,new_node3}"' '-O"LOCAL_NODE=new_node2"' ORACLE_HOME=$ORACLE_HOME ORACLE_HOME_NAME=Oracle_home_name '-O-noConfig' 
    
    

    If you have a shared Oracle Database home, then append the -cfs option to the command example in this step and provide a complete path location for the cluster file system.

  3. Run the following command on the existing node from the $ORACLE_HOME/oui/bin directory where existing_node is the name of the original node that you are cloning and new_node2 and new_node3 are the names of the new node:

    ./runInstaller –updateNodeList ORACLE_HOME=$ORACLE_HOME ÒCLUSTER_NODES={existing_node,new_node2,new_node3
  4. On the new node, go to the $ORACLE_HOME directory and run the following command:

    ./root.sh
    
    
  5. On the new node, run Net Configuration Assistant (NETCA) to add a listener.

  6. From the node that you cloned, run Database Configuration Assistant (DBCA) to add the new instance.

7.7.2 Cloning Oracle RAC Environments on Windows System-Based Environments

These procedures assume that you have successfully installed and configured an Oracle RAC environment to which you want to add nodes and instances. To add nodes to a Windows system Oracle RAC environment using cloning, extend the Oracle Clusterware configuration, extend the Oracle Database software with RAC, and then add the listeners and instances by running the Oracle assistants as described in the following procedures:

7.7.2.1 Cloning Oracle Clusterware on Windows System-Based Environments

Complete the following steps to clone Oracle Clusterware on Windows system computers:

  1. If you do not have a shared Oracle Clusterware home, then zip the Oracle Clusterware home from the existing node and copy it to the new node. Unzip the home on the new node in the equivalent directory structure as the directory structure in which the Oracle Clusterware home resided on the existing node. For example, assume that the location of the destination Oracle Clusterware home on the new node is %CRS_HOME%. Skip this step if you have a shared Oracle Clusterware home.

    Note:

    For more information on zipping and unzipping, refer to sections "Source Preparation Phase" and "Cloning Phase".
  2. On the new node, go to the %CRS_HOME%\clone\bin directory and run the following command where CRS_HOME is the location of the Oracle Clusterware home, CRS_HOME_NAME is the name of the Oracle Clusterware home, and where new_node, new_node-priv, and new_node-vip are the name of the new node, the private interconnect protocol address of the new node, and the virtual interconnect protocol address of the new node respectively:

    perl clone.pl ORACLE_HOME=CRS_HOME ORACLE_HOME_NAME=CRS_HOME_NAME '-O"sl_tableList={new_node:new_node-priv:new_node-vip}"' '-O-noConfig' '-OPERFORM_PARTITION_TASKS=FALSE'
    
    

    If you have a shared Oracle Clusterware home, then append the -O-cfs option to the command example in this step and provide a complete path location for the cluster file system.

    Note:

    Only provide a value for the sl_tableList variable. The Perl clone.pl script takes all other variable settings from the zipped Oracle Clusterware home. This is only true, however, if the source of the zipped home was from an existing node of the cluster that you are extending.

    If you use any other Oracle RAC environment as your cloning source, that is, if you clone from a node in a cluster other than the one that you are extending, then you must provide values for all of the arguments. This includes values for the Oracle Cluster Registry (OCR) and voting disk location arguments. You must do this because the value for sl_tableList is used as shown in the command example in this step. You must also specify the OCR and voting disk locations using the sl_OHPartitionsAndSpace_valueFromDlg variable as well as provide values for the PERFORM_PARTITION_TASKS argument. Only specify values for the new node for the sl_tableList options.

  3. Run the following command on the existing node where new_node, new_node-priv, and new_node-vip are the name of the new node, the private interconnect protocol address of the new node, and the virtual interconnect protocol address of the new node respectively:

    %ORACLE_HOME%\oui\bin\addNode.bat -silent "CLUSTER_NEW_NODES={new_node}" "CLUSTER_NEW_PRIVATE_NODE_NAMES={new_node-priv}" "CLUSTER_NEW_VIRTUAL_HOSTNAMES={new_node-vip}" -noCopy -noRemoteActions
    
    

    Note:

    (Because you have already run the clone.pl script on the new node, this step only updates the inventories on the nodes and instantiates scripts on the local node.
  4. From the %CRS_HOME%\install directory on the existing node, run the crssetup.add.bat script to instantiate the Virtual Protocol Configuration Assistant (VIPCA) and the Oracle RAC Notification Service Utility (racgons).

7.7.2.2 Cloning Oracle RAC Software on Windows System-Based Environments

Complete the following steps to clone Oracle Database with RAC software on Windows system computers:

  1. If you do not have a shared Oracle Database home, then zip the Oracle Database home with Oracle RAC on the existing node and copy it to the new node. Unzip the Oracle Database with Oracle RAC home on the new node in the same directory in which the Oracle Database home with Oracle RAC resided on the existing node. For example, assume that the location of the destination Oracle RAC home on the new node is %ORACLE_HOME%. Skip this step if you have a shared Oracle Database home.

    Note:

    For more information on zipping and unzipping, refer to sections "Source Preparation Phase" and "Cloning Phase".
  2. On the new node, go to the %ORACLE_HOME%\clone\bin directory and run the following command where Oracle_Home is the Oracle Database home, Oracle_Home_Name is the name of the Oracle Database home, existing_node is the name of the existing node, and new_node is the name of the new node:

    perl clone.pl ORACLE_HOME=Oracle_Home ORACLE_HOME_NAME=Oracle_Home_Name '-O"CLUSTER_NODES={existing_node,new_node}"' '-OLOCAL_NODE=new_node' '-O-noConfig'
    
    

    If you have a shared Oracle Database home with Oracle RAC, then append the -O-cfs option to the command example in this step and provide a complete path location for the cluster file system.

  3. On the existing node, from the RAC_HOME\oui\bin directory run the following command where Oracle_Home is the Oracle Database home with Oracle RAC, existing_node is the name of the existing node, and new_node is the name of the new node:

    setup.exe -updateNodeList ORACLE_HOME=Oracle_Home "CLUSTER_NODES={existing_node,new_node" LOCAL_NODE=existing_node
    
    
  4. On the new node, run NETCA to add a listener.

  5. From the node that you cloned, run DBCA to add the database instance to the new node.

7.7.3 Cloning Script Variables and their Definitions

This section describes the clone.pl script variables and their definitions for UNIX and Linux systems and Windows systems under the following topics:

7.7.3.1 Variables for UNIX and Linux System-Based Environments

Table 7-3 describes the variables that can be passed to clone.pl with -O option for UNIX and Linux systems.

Table 7-3 UNIX and Linux System-Based Variables for clone.pl with -O option

Variable Datatype Description

storageTypeVDSK

Integer

This variable is set to 1 (Not Redundant) or 2 (Redundant) after the dialog returns.

n_storageTypeOCR

Integer

This variable is set to 1 (Not Redundant) or 2 (Redundant) after the dialog returns.

s_clustername

String

This variable contains user-entered cluster name information; allow a maximum of 15 characters.

VdskMirrorNotReqd

String

This variable is not required in the Oracle Cluster Registry (OCR) dialog.

CLUSTER_CONFIGURATION_FILE

String

This variable is used to pass the cluster configuration file information which is the same file as that specified during installation. You may use this file instead of sl_tablelist. This file contains the public node name, private node name, and virtual host name which is white space-delimited information for the nodes of the cluster. For example,

node1    node1-priv    node1-vip
node2    node2-priv    node2-vip

Note that if you are cloning from an existing installation, then you should use sl_tableList. Do not specify this variable for a clone installation.

ret_PrivIntrList

String List

This is the return value from the Private Interconnect Enforcement table. This variable has values in the format {Interface Name, Subnet, Interface Type}. The value for Interface Type can be one of the following:

  • 1 to denote public,

  • 2 to denote private

  • 3 to denote Do Not Use

For example:

{"eth0:10.87.24.0:2","eth1:140.87.24.0:1","eth3:140.74.30.0:3"}

You can run the ipconfig command to identify the initial values from which you can determine the entries for ret_PrivIntrList.

sl_tableList

String List

Set the value of this variable to be equal to the information in the cluster configuration information table. This file contains a comma-separated list of values. The first field designates the public node name, the second field designates the private node name, and the third field designates the virtual host name. The fourth and fifth fields are used only by OUI and should default to N:Y. OUI parses these values and assign s_publicname and s_privatename variables accordingly. For example:

{"node1:node1-priv:node1-vip:N:Y","node2:node2-priv:node2-vip:N:Y"}.

s_votingdisklocation

String

Set the value of this variable to be the location of the voting disk. For example:

/oradbshare/oradata/vdisk

s_OcrVdskMirror1RetVal

String

Set the value of this variable to be the location of the first additional voting disk. You must set this variable if you choose a value of 1 for the n_storageTypeVDSK variable or Not Redundant. For example:

/oradbshare/oradata/vdiskmirror1

s_ocrpartitionlocation

String

Set the value of this variable to the OCR location. Oracle places this value in the ocr.loc file when you run the root.sh script. For example:

/oradbshare/oradata/ocr

s_ocrMirrorLocation

String

Set the value of this variable to the value for the OCR mirror location. Oracle places this value in the ocr.loc file when you run the root.sh script. You must set this variable if you choose a value of 1 for the n_storageTypeOCR variable or Not Redundant. For example:

/oradbshare/oradata/ocrmirror

s_VdskMirror2RetVal

String

Set the value of this variable to be the location of the second additional voting disk. You must set this variable if you choose a value of 1 for the n_storageTypeVDSK variable or Not Redundant.

/oradbshare/oradata/vdiskmirror2


7.7.3.2 Variables for Windows System-Based Environments

Table 7-4 describes the variables that can be passed to clone.pl with -O option for Windows system environments.

Table 7-4 Windows System-Based Variables for clone.pl with -O option

Variable Datatype Description

CLUSTER_NODES

String List

The value of this variable represents the cluster node names that you selected for installation. For example, if you selected node1:

CLUSTER_NODES = {"node1"}

b_Response

Boolean

Only set this variable when performing a silent installation with a response file. The valid values are true or false.

s_clustername

String

Set the value for this variable to be the name of the cluster that you are creating from a cloning operation using a maximum of 15 characters. Valid characters for the cluster name can be any combination of lower and uppercase alphabetic characters A - Z, numerics 0 - 9 , hyphens (-), pound signs (#) and underscores (_).

sl_tableList

String List

Set the value of this variable to be equal to the information in the cluster configuration information table. This file contains a comma-separated list of values. The first field designates the public node name, the second field designates the private node name, and the third field designates the virtual host name. The fourth and fifth fields are used only by the OUI and should default to N:Y. The OUI parses these values and assign s_publicname and s_privatename variables accordingly. For example:

{"node1:node1-priv:node1-vip:N:Y","node2:node2-priv:node2-vip:N:Y}

sl_OHPartitionsAndSpace_valueFromDlg

String List

Set the value for this variable using the following format:

  • 1 = disk number

  • 2 = partition number

  • 3 = partition size

  • 4 = format type, 0 for raw and 1 for cluster file system

  • 5 = Drive Letter (this value is not applicable if you use raw devices, use the available drive letter if you are using a cluster file system.

  • 6 Usage type as follows:

    • 0 = Data or software use only

    • 1 = Primary OCR only

    • 2 = Voting disk only

    • 3 = Primary OCR and voting disk on the same cluster file system partition

    • 4 = OCR mirror only

    • 5 = OCR mirror and voting disk on the same cluster file system partition

For example, to configure the OCR and voting disk on raw devices and to not use a cluster file system for either data or software, set sl_OHPartitionsAndSpace_valueFromDlg to list only the partitions that you intend to use for an Oracle Clusterware installation using the following format:

sl_OhPartitionsAndSpace_valueFromDlg = {Disk,Partition,partition size, 0,N/A,1,Disk,Partition, partition size,0,N/A,2,.....)