Thanx for the info John. Unfortunately I can't use the Red Hat GFS, it requires v3.0 and we cannot upgrade to that yet. I have been pushing for it, but Oracle won't give me an definite answer as to whether their apps are certified for RH 3.0. We could go with Veritas' Storage Foundation for Oracle RAC, but that would require considerable change, and no one here knows the software. For the time being I'll probably have to go with a NAS device and make it as redundant as possible. -----Original Message----- From: wlug-bounces@mail.wlug.org [mailto:wlug-bounces@mail.wlug.org] On Behalf Of John Stoffel Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2004 9:28 AM To: Worcester Linux Users Group Subject: Re: [Wlug] NFS question Don> I have an Oracle 9i RAC set up consisting of 3 database servers, Don> two 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 Don> first database server. This is the problem, the fact that you're using NFS in a clustered environment. Have you looked into using a Cluster Filesystem for your needs? Some options would be: http://www.redhat.com/software/rha/gfs/ It even mentions Oracle 9i in the blurb. Don> One mount point is for logs from the database servers (only they Don> connect to it), Why do they all need to log to one filesystem? Can't they log locally and if you want to aggregate the logs, you could rsync them hourly from the servers to a central log host. Don> and the others are for miscellaneous files and storage. We have Don> been doing failover testing, shutting down a database server and Don> seeing if the other two keep processing requests. We have a Don> problem when we shut down the first database server, the one Don> sharing the nfs volumes. The other two servers just hang trying to Don> connect to the shares. I have tried every option in my fstab file Don> to make the servers stop trying to reach the nfs shares if the Don> server is not available, but nothing has worked. Here is one of Don> the lines from the fstab file where I mount a share: Yeah, what you're trying to do isn't going to work without either: 1. moving to a Cluster Filesystem so that all hosts and read/write to the same filesystem on the Clarrion SAN concurrently. 2. moving to a Cluster setup where you have TWO servers in a cluster, and the cluster provides the NFS file service to other servers. 3. Getting a NAS box which provides NFS service to the DB servers and which has the require reliability you need. I personally like NetApps, but they can be pricey. But even with a single head, they're reliable and run well. I had one box with an uptime of almost 500 days. Oh yeah, UPS and Generator backup helps as well. *grin* You could get away with using another cheaper NAS, but since you spent the money on the SAN, why not just use that and GFS to provide the storage you need. Esp if most of the filesystems you provide are read (mostly) then you shouldn't have many problems. John John Stoffel - Senior Unix Systems Administrator - Lucent Technologies stoffel@lucent.com - http://www.lucent.com - 978-952-7548 _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug@mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug
Don> Thanx for the info John. Unfortunately I can't use the Red Hat Don> GFS, it requires v3.0 and we cannot upgrade to that yet. Since it's open source, can't you get it from http://sources.redhat.com/cluster/gfs/ and see if it will install on your systems? Don> I have been pushing for it, but Oracle won't give me an definite Don> answer as to whether their apps are certified for RH 3.0. That's silly, but very understandable. From looking at your corp website, I can see why you're interested in only deploying supportable systems, esp in such a production environment. Don> We could go with Veritas' Storage Foundation for Oracle RAC, but Don> that would require considerable change, and no one here knows the Don> software. For the time being I'll probably have to go with a NAS Don> device and make it as redundant as possible. I know Veritas. :] And I'm looking for a job. :] Well, I know VxVM/VxFS quite well and I've been exposed to their Clustering software as well. Good stuff all around. But that doesn't solve the question here, which is how to get a good reliable NFS file storage (would the storage be on the SAN, or local to the server) for a good price. Here's a thought, but a pair of cheap 2U servers and install RHEL 3.0 along with the GFS filesystem and clustering software. Export via NFS to the other servers. If one node goes down, you've got a backup and failover. And it would give you exposure/experience with RHEL 3.0, GFS and clustering so you would be working to migrate the Oracle instances to the same type of setup down the road. John
==> Regarding RE: [Wlug] NFS question; "John Stoffel" <stoffel@lucent.com> adds: Don> Thanx for the info John. Unfortunately I can't use the Red Hat GFS, Don> it requires v3.0 and we cannot upgrade to that yet. stoffel> Since it's open source, can't you get it from stoffel> http://sources.redhat.com/cluster/gfs/ and see if it will install on stoffel> your systems? Sounds like he wants a supported solution. Don> I have been pushing for it, but Oracle won't give me an definite Don> answer as to whether their apps are certified for RH 3.0. stoffel> That's silly, but very understandable. From looking at your corp stoffel> website, I can see why you're interested in only deploying stoffel> supportable systems, esp in such a production environment. Don> We could go with Veritas' Storage Foundation for Oracle RAC, but that Don> would require considerable change, and no one here knows the software. Don> For the time being I'll probably have to go with a NAS device and make Don> it as redundant as possible. stoffel> I know Veritas. :] And I'm looking for a job. :] Well, I know stoffel> VxVM/VxFS quite well and I've been exposed to their Clustering stoffel> software as well. Good stuff all around. stoffel> But that doesn't solve the question here, which is how to get a stoffel> good reliable NFS file storage (would the storage be on the SAN, stoffel> or local to the server) for a good price. stoffel> Here's a thought, but a pair of cheap 2U servers and install RHEL stoffel> 3.0 along with the GFS filesystem and clustering software. Export stoffel> via NFS to the other servers. If one node goes down, you've got a stoffel> backup and failover. And it would give you exposure/experience stoffel> with RHEL 3.0, GFS and clustering so you would be working to stoffel> migrate the Oracle instances to the same type of setup down the stoffel> road. If you only need to server NFS, then you can do this without GFS. You can use GFS, and it will mean that clients can mount from either server, but it sounds like overkill for this case. You simply want failover of NFS filesystems, and that can be accomplished quite easily with AS 2.1 and RHCM. In fact, you can probably work this into your existing environment without buying any more hardware (and I think without purchasing new software licenses, too). -Jeff
participants (3)
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Don Peterson -
Jeff Moyer -
John Stoffel