1. Real Application Clusters Installation Guide for Docker Containers
  2. Example of Installing Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle RAC on Docker

A Example of Installing Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle RAC on Docker

After you provision Docker, use this example to see how you can install Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC)

Client Machine Configuration

The client machine used for remote based graphic user interface (GUI) installation of Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) into Docker containers used this configuration.

  • Client: user-client-1
  • CPU cores: 1 socket with 1 core, with 2 threads for each core. Intel® Xeon® Platinum 8167 M CPU at 2.00 GHz
  • Memory
    • RAM: 8 GB
    • Swap memory: 8 GB
  • Network card and IP: ens3, 10.0.20.57/24
  • Linux operating system: Oracle Linux Server release 7.7, kernel 4.14.35-1902.300.11.el7uek.x86_64
  • Packages:
    • X Window System
    • Gnome

Parent topic: Example of Installing Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle RAC on Docker

Install Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle RAC

To set up Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) in Docker containers, complete these steps.

Parent topic: Example of Installing Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle RAC on Docker

Set Up the Docker Containers for Oracle Grid Infrastructure Installation

To prepare for Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC), complete these steps on the Docker containers.

  • Create Paths and Change Permissions
    To create directory paths and change the permissions as needed for the cluster, complete this set of commands on the docker host.
  • Configure SSH for the Cluster
    You must configure SSH for both the Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) software owner (oracle) and the Oracle Grid Infrastructure software owner (grid) before starting installation.

Parent topic: Install Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle RAC

Create Paths and Change Permissions

To create directory paths and change the permissions as needed for the cluster, complete this set of commands on the docker host.

As root, run the following commands for racnode1: 

# docker exec racnode1 /bin/bash -c "mkdir -p /u01/app/oraInventory"
# docker exec racnode1 /bin/bash -c "mkdir -p /u01/app/grid"
# docker exec racnode1 /bin/bash -c "mkdir -p /u01/app/21c/grid"
# docker exec racnode1 /bin/bash -c "chown -R grid:oinstall /u01/app/grid"
# docker exec racnode1 /bin/bash -c "chown -R grid:oinstall /u01/app/21c/grid"
# docker exec racnode1 /bin/bash -c "chown -R grid:oinstall /u01/app/oraInventory"
# docker exec racnode1 /bin/bash -c "mkdir -p /u01/app/oracle"
# docker exec racnode1 /bin/bash -c "mkdir -p /u01/app/oracle/product/21c/dbhome_1"
# docker exec racnode1 /bin/bash -c "chown -R oracle:oinstall /u01/app/oracle"
# docker exec racnode1 /bin/bash -c "chown -R oracle:oinstall /u01/app/oracle/product/21c/dbhome_1"
Next, repeat the commands for racnode2:
# docker exec racnode2 /bin/bash -c "mkdir -p /u01/app/oraInventory"
# docker exec racnode2 /bin/bash -c "mkdir -p /u01/app/grid"
# docker exec racnode2 /bin/bash -c "mkdir -p /u01/app/21c/grid"
# docker exec racnode2 /bin/bash -c "chown -R grid:oinstall /u01/app/grid"
# docker exec racnode2 /bin/bash -c "chown -R grid:oinstall /u01/app/21c/grid"
# docker exec racnode2 /bin/bash -c "chown -R grid:oinstall /u01/app/oraInventory"
# docker exec racnode2 /bin/bash -c "mkdir -p /u01/app/oracle"
# docker exec racnode2 /bin/bash -c "mkdir -p /u01/app/oracle/product/21c/dbhome_1"
# docker exec racnode2 /bin/bash -c "chown -R oracle:oinstall /u01/app/oracle"
# docker exec racnode2 /bin/bash -c "chown -R oracle:oinstall /u01/app/oracle/product/21c/dbhome_1"
Configure SSH for the Cluster

You must configure SSH for both the Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) software owner (oracle) and the Oracle Grid Infrastructure software owner (grid) before starting installation.

Configure SSH separately for grid and oracle:

Log in to Oracle RAC containers from your Docker host, and reset the passwords for the grid and oracle users: 

# docker exec -i -t racnode1 /bin/bash
# passwd grid
# passwd oracle
# docker exec -i -t racnode2 /bin/bash
# passwd grid
# passwd oracle

For information about configuring SSH on cluster nodes, refer to Oracle Grid Infrastructure Installation and Upgrade Guide for Linux to see how to set up user equivalency for the grid and oracle users inside the containers.

Configure Remote Display for Installation

To use a remote display for Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) for installation, you must perform these configuration steps.

If you are using Docker bridge, then you can reach Oracle RAC Containers from the Docker host by using IP addresses. However, if you are using a MACVLAN Docker network bridge, then you can use any other client machine using the same subnet to connect to container.

  • Modify sshd_config
    To run the installation of Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) on Docker, you must modify the configuration file, sshd_config so that X11 forwarding is enabled.
  • Enable Remote Display
    To ensure that your client can display the installation windows, you must enable remote display control of your Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) on Docker environment.

Parent topic: Install Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle RAC

Modify sshd_config

To run the installation of Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) on Docker, you must modify the configuration file, sshd_config so that X11 forwarding is enabled.

Run the following on racnode1 only.

Edit the sshd configuration file /etc/ssh/sshd_config and set the following parameters: 

X11Forwarding yes
X11UseLocalhost no
X11DisplayOffset 10

Restart sshd: 

# systemctl daemon-reload
# systemctl restart sshd
You do not need to repeat these steps on racnode2, because Oracle RAC installations are run from a single node.
Enable Remote Display

To ensure that your client can display the installation windows, you must enable remote display control of your Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) on Docker environment.

In this example, we enable remote display from the client to the Docker Host, and log in as the Grid user.

  1. From the client machine, start xhost (in our case user-client-1): 

    # hostname
# xhost + 10.0.20.150

    Note:

    10.0.20.150 is the IP address of the first Oracle RAC container (racnode1). This IP address is reachable from our client machine.

  2. From the client, use SSH to log in to the Oracle RAC Container (racnode1) as the grid user: 

    # ssh -X grid@10.0.20.150

  3. When prompted for a password, provide the grid user password, and then export the display inside the racnode1 container to the client, where display_computer is the client system, and port is the port for the display: 

    $ export DISPLAY=display_computer:port

    Note:

    You can only use the private IP address of the client as the export target for DISPLAY.

Run the Oracle Grid Infrastructure Installer

To install Oracle Grid Infrastructure on Docker, complete these procedures.

Parent topic: Example of Installing Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle RAC on Docker

Extract the Oracle Grid Infrastructure Files

From your client connection to the Docker container as the grid user, extract the Oracle Grid Infrastructure image files into the Grid home on each Oracle RAC Container.

For example:

$ cd /u01/app/21c/grid
$ unzip -q /software/stage/grid_home.zip
You must be able to see the Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) software staged under the path /stage/software inside both the Oracle RAC Containers.

Parent topic: Run the Oracle Grid Infrastructure Installer

Start the Oracle Grid Infrastructure Installer

Use this procedure to start up the Oracle Grid Infrastructure installer, and provide information for the configuration.

  1. From your client connection to the Docker container as the Grid user on racnode1, start the installer, using the following command: 

    $ /u01/app/21c/grid/gridSetup.sh

  2. Choose the option Configure Grid Infrastructure for a New Cluster, and click Next.

    The Select Cluster Configuration window appears.

  3. Choose the option Configure an Oracle Standalone Cluster, and click Next.

  4. In the Cluster Name and SCAN Name fields, enter the names for your cluster, and for the cluster Single Client Access Names (SCANs) that are unique throughout your entire enterprise network. For this example, we used these names:

    • Cluster Name: raccluster01
    • SCAN Name: racnode-scan
    • SCAN Port : 1521

  5. If you have configured your domain name server (DNS) to send to the GNS virtual IP address name resolution, then you can select Configure GNS requests for the subdomain GNS servers. Click Next.

  6. In the Public Hostname column of the table of cluster nodes, check to see that you have the following values set

    • Public Hostname:
      • racnode1.example.info
      • racnode2.example.info
    • Virtual Hostname:
      • racnode1-vip.example.info
      • racnode2-vip.example.info

  7. Click SSH connectivity, and set up SSH between racnode1 and racnode2.

    When SSH is configured, click Next.

  8. On the Network Interface Usage window, select the following:
    • eth0 10.0.20.0 for the Public network
    • eth1 192.168.17.0 for the first Oracle ASM and Private network
    • eth2 192.168.18.0 for the second Oracle ASM and Private network

    After you make those selections, click Next.

  9. On the Storage Option window, select Use Oracle Flex ASM for Storage and click Next.
  10. On the GIMR Option window, select default, and click Next.
  11. On the Create ASM Disk Group window, click Change Discovery Path, and set the value for Disk Discovery Path to /dev/asm*, and click OK. Provide the following values:
    • Disk group name: DATA
    • Redundancy: External
    • Select the default, Allocation Unit Size
    • Select Disks, and provide the following values:
      • /dev/asm-disk1
      • /dev/asm-disk2

    When you have entered these values, click. Next.

  12. On the ASM Password window, provide the passwords for the SYS and ASMSNMP users, and click Next.
  13. On the Failure Isolation window, Select the default, and click Next.
  14. On the Management Options window, select the default, and click Next.
  15. On the Operating System Group window, select the default, and click Next.
  16. On the Installation Location window, for Oracle base, enter the path /u01/app/grid, and click Next.
  17. On the Oracle Inventory window, for Inventory Directory, enter /u01/app/oraInventory, and click Next.
  18. On the Root Script Execution window, select the default, and click Next.
  19. On the Prerequisite Checks window, it is possible that you can see a warning indicating that cvuqdisk-1.0.10-1 is missing, and see the failure message "Device Checks for ASM" failed. If this warning appears, then you must install the package cvuqdisk-1.0.10-1 on both the containers. In this case:
    • The Fix & Check Again button is disabled, and you need to install the package manually. Complete the following steps:

      1. Open a terminal, and log in as root to racnode1 /bin/bash.

      2. Run the following command to install the cvuqdisk RPM package: 

        rpm -ivh /tmp/GridSetupActions*/CVU_*/cvuqdisk-1.0.10-1.rpm

      3. Repeat steps a and b to install the RPM on racnode2.

      4. Click Check Again.

      You should not see any warning or failure message. The installer should automatically proceed to the next window.

  20. Click Install.

  21. When prompted, run orainstRoot.sh and root.sh on racnode1 and racnode2.

Parent topic: Run the Oracle Grid Infrastructure Installer

Run the Oracle RAC Database Installer

To install Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC), run the Oracle RAC installer.

Parent topic: Example of Installing Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle RAC on Docker

Extract the Oracle Real Application Clusters Files

To prepare for installation, log in to racnode1 as the Oracle Software Owner account (oracle), and extract the software.

  1. From the client, use SSH to log in to the Oracle RAC Container (racnode1) as the oracle user: 

    # ssh -X oracle@10.0.20.150

  2. When prompted for a password, provide the oracle user password, and then export the display inside the racnode1 container to the client, where display_computer is the client system, and port is the port for the display: 

    $ export DISPLAY=display_computer:port

  3. Unzip the Oracle Database files with the following commands:

    
$ cd /u01/app/oracle/product/21c/dbhome_1
$ unzip -q /software/stage/db_home.zip

Parent topic: Run the Oracle RAC Database Installer

Run the Oracle RAC Installer

To proceed through the Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) installer screen workflow, run the installer, and answer questions as prompted.

  1. Run the installer with the following command: 
    $./runInstaller
  2. Select Set Up Software only, and click Next.
  3. Choose Oracle Real Application Clusters database installation, and click Next.
  4. Ensure that both the racnode1 and racnode2 nodes are selected, and click SSH connectivity.
  5. In SSH connectivity, provide the SSH password, and click set up. Click OK after completing the SSH setup, and then click Next.
  6. Choose Enterprise Edition,and click Next.
  7. Set the Oracle base path to /u01/app/oracle, and click Next.
  8. On Operating System Groups, choose the default, and click Next.
  9. On Root Script execution, choose the default, and click Next.
  10. Click Install.
  11. When prompted, run root.sh on both of the nodes.
  12. After the installation completes, click Close to exit the installer.

Parent topic: Run the Oracle RAC Database Installer

Create the Oracle RAC Database with DBCA

To create the Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) database on the container, complete these steps with Database Configuration Assistant (DBCA).

The DBCA utility is typically located in the ORACLE_HOME/bin directory.

  1. Change directory to $ORACLE_HOME/bin, and enter the command dbca.
  2. On the Database Operation window, select Create Database, and click Next.
  3. Select Advanced Configuration, and click Next.
  4. On the Select Database Deployment Type window, Select from the Database management policy list the database management policy that you want to use:

    • Automatic (the default)

      Under this policy, database service placement is decided automatically by the availability of the cluster nodes that are designated as Preferred and Available for that service. If a Preferred node is available, then the database service will start on that node. If a preferred node is not available, then it will start on an Available node. Use this policy to automatically start database services, especially when sufficient resources are available.

    • RANK

      Under this policy, RANK is used to prioritize the order in which PDB instances and services are started and stopped. PDB instances with the higher RANK are started earlier, and shut down later. Use this management policy in cases when it is essential to insure that particular PDB instances are prioritized for resources and workload across the cluster.

    When you have made your management policy selection, click Next.
  5. Select both racnode and racnode2, and click Next.
  6. On the Database Identification window, enter values for these fields:
    • Global Database Name: Enter orclcdb.example.info
    • SID Prefix: Enter orclcdb
    • Select Use Local Undo Tablespace for PDBs
    • Select Create a Container database with one or more PDBs
    • Select Number of PDBs
    • In PDB name, enter orclpdb
    Click Next
  7. On the Storage Option window, select the following options:
    • Database files location: Enter +DATA/{DB_UNIQUE_NAME}
    • Select Use Oracle-Managed Files (OMF)
    After you make your selections, click Next.
  8. On the Fast Recovery Option window, select the following:
    • Select Fast Recovery Area, and enter +DATA
    • Select Enable Archiving, and select the default option
    When you have made your selections, click Next.
  9. On the Data Vault Option window, select the default, and click Next.
  10. On the Configuration Option window, under the Memory tab, enter the following values:
    • SGA Size: 3G
    • PGA Size: 2G

    Select the default values for the rest of the fields on the window, and click Next.

    Container available memory is considered to be the total allocated memory to the container. However, if no memory is assigned to the container, then the host memory is considered to be the available memory. Because with cgroups, anyone can assign more memory than the physical memory to container, CVU honors only lower or max host memory.

    The SGA and PGA values as computed by DBCA are incorrectly based the host memory. For more information, refer to My Oracle Support Doc ID 2885873.1. Allocate SGA and PGA based on the memory that you have allocated to the container. In this case, we have given 3G to the SGA, and 2G to the PGA.

    For the SGA and PGA memory capacity values, manually enter 3GB for SGA and 2GB for PGA, and then confirm Yes to the pop-up window, and continue.

  11. On the Specify Management Options window, choose the default.
  12. On the Specify Database User Credentials window, provide the password
  13. On the Select Database Creation Option window, choose the default, and click Next.
  14. The Prerequisite Checks window displays. Confirm that the prerequisites are completed without errors. It should redirect to the Install window.
  15. Click Finish to begin the installation.

After the database is created, you can either connect to the database using your application, or connect with SQL*Plus using the SCAN racnode-scan.example.info on port 1521.

Parent topic: Example of Installing Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle RAC on Docker