==> Regarding Re: [Wlug] NFS question; "John Stoffel" <stoffel@lucent.com> adds: Don> I have an Oracle 9i RAC set up consisting of 3 database servers, two Don> apps servers and an EMC Clarion CX700 SAN. The servers are all Don> running Red Hat 2.1, the db servers are at kernel .34 and the apps Don> servers are at .49. I have 5 nfs mount points shared out by the first Don> database server. stoffel> This is the problem, the fact that you're using NFS in a clustered stoffel> environment. Have you looked into using a Cluster Filesystem for stoffel> your needs? Some options would be: stoffel> http://www.redhat.com/software/rha/gfs/ stoffel> It even mentions Oracle 9i in the blurb. Don, are you able to use OCFS? If not, you could at least cluster the NFS server with 2 RHEL boxes. I believe this will be cheaper than buying a redundant NAS (and serves precisely the same purpose). In fact, I believe that the cluster software was included in the AS2.1 license. Don> One mount point is for logs from the database servers (only they Don> connect to it), stoffel> Why do they all need to log to one filesystem? Can't they log stoffel> locally and if you want to aggregate the logs, you could rsync stoffel> them hourly from the servers to a central log host. Don> and the others are for miscellaneous files and storage. We have been Don> doing failover testing, shutting down a database server and seeing if Don> the other two keep processing requests. We have a problem when we Don> shut down the first database server, the one sharing the nfs volumes. Don> The other two servers just hang trying to connect to the shares. I Don> have tried every option in my fstab file to make the servers stop Don> trying to reach the nfs shares if the server is not available, but Don> nothing has worked. Here is one of the lines from the fstab file Don> where I mount a share: stoffel> Yeah, what you're trying to do isn't going to work without either: stoffel> 1. moving to a Cluster Filesystem so that all hosts and read/write stoffel> to the same filesystem on the Clarrion SAN concurrently. stoffel> 2. moving to a Cluster setup where you have TWO servers in a stoffel> cluster, and the cluster provides the NFS file service to other stoffel> servers. Right. This is an easy option, I think, if you can afford 1 or 2 more boxes (Depending on whether you want to have a dedicated file server not running database apps). stoffel> 3. Getting a NAS box which provides NFS service to the DB servers stoffel> and which has the require reliability you need. stoffel> I personally like NetApps, but they can be pricey. But even with stoffel> a single head, they're reliable and run well. I had one box with stoffel> an uptime of almost 500 days. Oh yeah, UPS and Generator backup stoffel> helps as well. *grin* stoffel> You could get away with using another cheaper NAS, but since you stoffel> spent the money on the SAN, why not just use that and GFS to stoffel> provide the storage you need. Esp if most of the filesystems you stoffel> provide are read (mostly) then you shouldn't have many problems. I do believe RHEL 3 has been certified with Oracle 9i. I'm not sure about the particular apps you are using, but the db itself should work just fine. I would ask your contact at Red Hat. -Jeff