5 Provisioning Oracle Grid Infrastructure for Oracle Databases

This chapter explains how you can mass-deploy Oracle Grid Infrastructure for Oracle databases (also called as single-instance databases) in an unattended, repeatable, and reliable manner, using Oracle Enterprise Manager, this chapter covers the following:

Getting Started with Provisioning Oracle Grid Infrastructure for Oracle Databases

This section helps you get started with this chapter by providing an overview of the steps involved in provisioning Oracle Grid Infrastructure for single-instance databases. Consider this section to be a documentation map to understand the sequence of actions you must perform to successfully provision Oracle Grid Infrastructure with single-instance databases. Click the reference links provided against the steps to reach the relevant sections that provide more information.

Note:

If you are provisioning an Oracle 21c Grid Infrastructure database there are additional steps to configuring the GIMR component.

Table 5-1 Getting Started with Provisioning Oracle Grid Infrastructure

Step Description Reference Links

Step 1

Selecting the Use Case

This chapter covers a few use cases for provisioning Oracle Grid Infrastructure. Select the use case that best matches your requirements.

Step 2

Meeting the Prerequisites

Before you run any Deployment Procedure, you must meet the prerequisites, such as setting up of the provisioning environment, applying mandatory patches, and setting up of Oracle Software Library.

Step 3

Running the Deployment Procedure

Run the Deployment Procedure to successfully provision Oracle Grid Infrastructure.

Provisioning Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle Databases with Oracle Automatic Storage Management

This section describes how you can provision Oracle Grid Infrastructure and single-instance databases with Oracle Automatic Storage Management (Oracle ASM).

In particular, this section covers the following:

Prerequisites for Provisioning Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle Databases with Oracle ASM

Before running the Deployment Procedure, meet the prerequisites listed in Setting Up Database Provisioning.

Procedure for Provisioning Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle Databases with Oracle ASM

To provision Oracle grid infrastructure and Oracle databases with Oracle ASM, follow these steps:

  1. Log in as a designer, and from the Enterprise menu, select Provisioning and Patching, then select Database Provisioning.
  2. In the Database Procedures page, select the Provision Oracle Database Deployment Procedure and click Launch. The Oracle Database provisioning wizard is launched.
  3. In the Select Hosts page, if you want to use a provisioning profile for the deployment, choose Select a Provisioning Profile and then, select the profile with previously saved configuration parameters.
    In the Select Tasks to Perform section, select the platform, the version for the process, and the components you want to provision:
    • To deploy Grid Infrastructure, select Deploy software and configure.
    • To deploy Database software select either Deploy and create a new database, which creates a new database and configures it after installing the standalone Oracle Database, or Deploy software only, which installs a new database software.
    • To setup GIMR select Setup Local GIMR. Select the Grid Infrastructure Home location.

      Note:

      In Oracle Database 21c the GIMR must be configured from a separate Oracle Home. This is done as part of the provisioning process.
    Click the Lock icon against the fields that you do not want to be edited in the operator role. For more information about the lock down feature in deployment procedures, see Introduction to Database Provisioning.

    In the Select destination hosts section, click Add to select the destination host where you want to deploy and configure the software.

    Click Next.

  4. In the Configure page, click on the Setup Hosts link.
  5. In the Specify OS Users page, specify the operating system user for the Oracle Home for the database and Grid Infrastructure. Specify the Normal User and Privileged User to be added to the OS groups.
    Click Next.
  6. In the Specify OS Groups page, specify the OS Groups to use for operating system authentication. Ensure that the groups corresponding to the following roles already exist on the hosts you select for provisioning.
    • Inventory Group (OINSTALL)
    • Database Administrator (OSDBA)
    • Database Operator (OSOPER)
    • ASM Instance Administrator (OSASM)
    • ASM Database Administrator (ASMDBA)
    • ASM Instance Operator (ASMOPER)
    If they do not exist, then either specify alternative groups that exist on the host or create new groups as described in Oracle Database Quick Installation Guide available at

    https://docs.oracle.com/en/database/oracle/oracle-database/index.html

    Note:

    If you are setting up GIMR on an Oracle 21c database add the following groups:
    • Backup DBA group for GIMR (OSBACKUPDBA)
    • Oracle Data Guard group for GIMR (OSDGDBA)
    • Encryption Key Management group for GIMR (OSKMDBA)
    • Real Application Cluster administration group for GIMR (OSRACDBA)

    The new groups you create or the alternative groups you specify automatically get SYSDBA and SYSOPER privileges after the database is configured.

    For more information, see Oracle Database 2 Day DBA Guide available at:

    https://docs.oracle.com/en/database/oracle/oracle-database/index.html

    Click Next. You will come back to the Configure page. If you have configured the destination hosts, the Setup Hosts task will have a completed status.

  7. Click the Deploy Software link.
  8. In the Select Software Locations page, specify the source and destination locations for the software binaries of Oracle Database.
    In the Source section, select the Software Library location for the Grid Infrastructure and Oracle Database binaries.

    In the Destination location, specify the following:

    • Oracle Base for Grid Infrastructure, a location on the destination host where the diagnostic and administrative logs, and other logs associated with the Grid Infrastructure can be stored.
    • Grid Infrastructure Home, a location on the destination host where the Grid Infrastructure software can be provisioned. This is the Oracle home directory for Grid Infrastructure. Do not select a location that is a subdirectory of the Oracle Base for Grid Infrastructure or database.
    • Oracle Base for Database, a location on the destination host where the diagnostic and administrative logs, and other logs associated with the database can be stored. This location is used for storing only the dump files and is different from the Oracle home directory where the database software will be installed.
    • Database Oracle Home, a location on the destination host where the database software can be provisioned. This is the Oracle home directory for the database.
    • GIMR Database Home, a location on the destination host where the Grid Infrastructure Management Repository software can be provisioned. This is the Oracle home directory for GIMR only on 21C databases. Do not select a location that is a sub directory of the Oracle Base for Grid Infrastructure or database.
    For Grid Infrastructure, Oracle Base is /u01/app/user and Oracle Home is %ORACLE_BASE%/sihahome. You can use %ORACLE_BASE% and %GI_ORACLE_BASE% to specify the relative paths which will be interpolated to their respective values.

    In the Additional Parameters section, specify the Working Directory on the destination host where the files related to cloning can be staged temporarily. Ensure that you have approximately 7 GB of space for this directory. For Installer Parameters, specify any additional Oracle Universal Installer (OUI) parameters you want to run while provisioning Oracle Grid Infrastructure. For example, -force (to override any warnings), -debug (to view more debug information), and -invPtrLoc <Location> (for UNIX only). Ensure that the parameters are separated by white space.

    Click on the Lock icon against the fields that you do not want to be edited in the operator role.

    Click Next. You will come back to the Configure page. If you have configured the source and destination location for the software, the Configure Software task will have a completed status.

  9. Click the Configure Grid Infrastructure link.
  10. In the Configure GI page, of ASM Storage section, click Add to add an ASM Disk Group. In the Add/Edit Disk Group dialog box, specify the Disk Group Name, Disk List, and specify the redundancy as Normal, High, Flex, External, or Extended. Click OK.

    Starting with Oracle Enterprise Manager 13 Release 5 Update 23 (13.5.0.23) you can configure the failure group while creating ASM disk groups. The ASM disk within the disk group can belong to a different failure group or a quorum failure group. To set the failure group select the disks via the Select for Suitable Disks radio button and select all three disks from the list and set the Failure Group and if they are in Quorum enable the check mark. Or to manually select the disks, click onSelect Disks Manually radio button and enter the Disk List paths separated by commas for example: /scratch/disks/disk_1,/scratch/disks/disk_2,/scratch/disks/disk_3, and then enter the Failure Group for example: FGRP1[QUORUM],FGRP2,FGRP3. Once entered click OK.

    For ASM 11.2 and higher, specify the Disk Group Name for storing the parameter file. In GIMR Disk Group section, select the Disk Group to store the GIMR files. From 19c onwards, you can choose to setup GIMR by selecting the Configure GIMR check box. If it is not selected, GIMR will not be configured. Specify the ASM Password for ASMSNMP and SYS users. Specify the Listener Port for registering the ASM instances.

    As a designer, you can click on the Lock icon to lock these fields. These fields will then not be available for editing in the operator role.

    You can also enable the Oracle ASM Filter Driver on ASM versions 12.2.0.1 or greater. To enable select the Configure ASM Filter Driver check box. For more information on ASM Filter Driver installation see: Configuring Oracle ASM Filter Driver During Installation in Oracle Automatic Storage Management Administrator's Guide.

    Click Next. You will come back to the Configure page. If you have configured the storage options for the Grid Infrastructure and database, the Configure Grid Infrastructure task will have a completed status.

  11. Click the Create Databases link.
  12. In the Database Template page, choose the database template location. The location can be Software Library or Oracle home. The template selected must be compatible with the selected Oracle home version.
    If you choose Select Template from Software Library, click on the search icon and select the template from the Software Library. Specify Temporary Storage Location on Managed Host(s). This location must exist on all hosts where you want to create the database.

    Click Show Template Details to view details of the selected template. You can view initialization parameters, table spaces, data files, redo log groups, common options, and other details of the template.

    If you choose Select Template from Oracle Home, select the template from the Oracle home. The default location is ORACLE_HOME/assistants/dbca/templates.

    Click the Lock icon to lock the fields you have configured. These fields will not be available for editing in the operator role.

    Click Next.

  13. In the Identification and Placement page, specify database configuration details. Specify Global Database Name and SID prefix. Specify the Database Credentials for SYS, SYSTEM, and DBSNMP database accounts. You can choose to use the same or different administrative passwords for these accounts. Starting with Enterprise Manager 13c Release 5 Update 8 (13.5.0.8) you can specify a non-DBSNMP user for database monitoring, edit the DBSNMP field with the user name. If the user does not exist it will be created.

    Note:

    • SID must be unique for a database on a host. This means, the SID assigned to one database on a host cannot be reused on another database on the same host, but can be reused on another database on a different host. For example, if you have two databases (db1 and db2) on a host (host1), then their SIDs need to be unique. However, if you install the third database on another host (host2), then its SID can be db1 or db2.
    • Global database name must be unique for a database on a host and also unique for databases across different hosts. This means, the global database name assigned to one database on a host can neither be reused on another database on the same host nor on another database on a different host. For example, if you have two databases (db1 and db2) on a host (host1), then their global database names need to be unique. And if you install the third database on another host (host2), the global database name of even this database must be unique and different from all other names registered with Cloud Control.
    • The database credentials you specify here will be used on all the destination hosts. However, after provisioning, if you want to change the password for any database, then you must change it manually.
    Click the Lock icon to lock the fields you have configured. These fields will not be available for editing in the operator role.

    Click Next.

  14. In the Storage Locations page, select the storage type as Automatic Storage Management (ASM), and click the torch icon to select the disk group name and specify ASMSNMP password. The Disk Group Name List window appears and displays the disk groups that are common on all the destination hosts.
    In the Database Files Location section, specify the location where data files, temporary files, redo logs, and control files will be stored.

    Note:

    Disk names must be provided in RAW format, for example: /prd/odb1,/prd/odb2. If the disk names are provided in ORCL: format Enterprise Manager will not let you submit and continue.
    • Select Use Database File Locations from Template to select defaults from the template used.
    • Select Use Common Location for All Database Files to specify a different location.

      If you select Use Oracle Managed Files (OMF), in the Multiplex Redo Logs and Control Files section, you can specify locations to store duplicate copies of redo logs and control files. Multiplexing provides greater fault-tolerance. You can specify upto five locations.

    In the Recovery Files Location section, select Use same storage type as database files location to use the same storage type for recovery files as database files. Select Use Flash Recovery Area and specify the location for recovery-related files and Fast Recovery Area Size.

    Select Enable Archiving to enable archive logging. Click Specify Archive Log Locations and specify upto nine archive log locations. If the log location is not specified, the logs will be saved in the default location.

    Click the Lock icon to lock the fields you have configured. These fields will not be available for editing in the operator role.

    Click Next.

  15. In the Initialization Parameters page, select the memory management type as Automatic Memory Management or Automatic Shared Memory Management. Select Specify Memory Settings as Percentage of Available Memory to specify memory settings as percentage of available physical memory. For Automatic Shared Memory management, specify Total SGA and Total PGA. For Automatic Memory Management, specify Total Memory for Oracle.
    In the Database sizing section, specify the Block Size and number of Processes. If you have selected a database template with datafiles in the Database Template page, you cannot edit the Block Size.

    Specify the Host CPU Count. The maximum CPU count that can be specified is equal to the number of CPUs present on the host.

    In the Character Sets section, select the default character set. The default character set is based on the locale and operating system.

    Select a national character set. The default is AL16UTF16.

    In the Database Connection Mode section, select the dedicated server mode. For shared server mode, specify the number of shared servers.

    Click the Lock icon to lock the fields you have configured. These fields will not be available for editing in the operator role.

    Click Next.

  16. In Custom Properties, all the available listeners running from the Oracle Home are listed. You can either select a listener or create a new one. You can select multiple listeners to register with the database. To create a new listener, specify the Listener Name and Port. Select database schemas and specify customSQL scripts. Select custom scripts from the host where you are creating the database or from Software Library. If you have selected multiple hosts, you can specify scripts only from Software Library.
    If you have selected a Structure Only database template in the Database Template page, you can also view and edit database options.

    Click the Lock icon to lock the fields you have configured. These fields will not be available for editing in the operator role.

    Click Next.

  17. In the Schedule page, specify a Deployment Instance name and a schedule for the deployment. If you want to run the procedure immediately, then retain the default selection, that is Immediately. If you want to run the procedure later, then select Later and provide time zone, start date, and start time details.
    Select whether you wish to pause after the Prerequisite check to analyze the results and whether Prerequisite System Checks are to be performed.

    Select the Pre/Post scripts you will use, these need to be previously uploaded into the Software Library. For more information on Pre/Post scripts in Database Provisioning see: Pre/Post Scripts for Database Provisioning.

    Click Next.
  18. Review the details you have provided for creating the database and click Next. You will come back to the Configure page. If you have configured the database, the Create Databases task will have a completed status.
  19. Click the Compliance Standards link.
  20. In the Configuration Standards Target Association page, select a Compliance Standard to be associated with the database. Click Next.
  21. The Custom Properties page will be displayed only for user customized deployment procedures that require custom parameters. Specify custom properties for the deployment, if any. Click Next.
  22. In the Schedule page, specify a Deployment Instance name. If you want to run the procedure immediately, then retain the default selection, that is, One Time (Immediately). If you want to run the procedure later, then select One Time (Later) and provide time zone, start date, and start time details. You can set the notification preferences according to deployment procedure status. If you want to run only prerequisites, you can select Pause the procedure to allow me to analyze results after performing prerequisite checks to pause the procedure execution after all prerequisite checks are performed.
    Click Next.
  23. In the Review page, review the details you have provided for the deployment procedure and if you are satisfied with the details, then click Finish to run the deployment procedure according to the schedule set. If you want to modify the details, then click Back repeatedly to reach the page where you want to make the changes. Click Save to save the deployment procedure for future deployment.
  24. In the Operator role, launch the saved deployment procedure. Add targets for provisioning and provide values for configurable fields in the deployment procedure.
  25. In the Procedure Activity page, view the status of the execution of the job and steps in the deployment procedure. Click the Status link for each step to view the details of the execution of each step. You can click Debug to set the logging level to Debug and click Stop to stop the procedure execution.
  26. After the procedure execution is completed, click on the Targets menu and select All Targets to navigate to the All Targets page and verify that the newly provisioned databases appear as Cloud Control targets.

Note:

If the Deployment Procedure fails, then review log files described in Reviewing Log Files.

Provisioning Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle Database Software Only

This section describes how you can provision Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle Database software.

In particular, this section covers the following:

Prerequisites for Provisioning Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle Database Software Only

Before running the Deployment Procedure, meet the prerequisites listed in Setting Up Database Provisioning.

Procedure for Provisioning Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle Database Software Only

To provision Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle Database software, follow these steps:

  1. Log in as a designer, and from the Enterprise menu, select Provisioning and Patching, then select Database Provisioning.
  2. In the Database Procedures page, select the Oracle Database Deployment Procedure and click Launch. The Oracle Database provisioning wizard is launched.
  3. In the Select Hosts page, if you want to use a provisioning profile for the deployment, choose Select a Provisioning Profile and then, select the profile with previously saved configuration parameters.
    In the Select Tasks to Perform section, select the platform, the version for the process, and the components you want to provision:
    • To deploy Grid Infrastructure, select Deploy software and configure to provision single-instance high-availability databases.
    • To deploy Database software select Deploy software only, which installs a new database software.
    • To setup GIMR select Setup Local GIMR. Select the Grid Infrastructure Home location.

      Note:

      In Oracle Database 21c the GIMR must be configured from a separate Oracle Home. This is done as part of the provisioning process.
    Click on the Lock icon against the fields that you do not want to be edited in the operator role. For more information about the lock down feature in deployment procedures, see Introduction to Database Provisioning. In the Select destination hosts section, click Add to select the destination host where you want to deploy and configure the software. Click Next.
  4. In the Configure page, click on the Setup Hosts link.
  5. In the Specify OS Users page, specify the operating system user for the Oracle Home for the database and Grid Infrastructure. Specify the Normal User and Privileged User to be added to the OS groups.
    Click Next.
  6. In the Specify OS Groups page, specify the OS Groups to use for operating system authentication. Ensure that the groups corresponding to the following roles already exist on the hosts you select for provisioning.
    • Inventory Group (OINSTALL)
    • Database Administrator (OSDBA)
    • Database Operator (OSOPER)
    • ASM Instance Administrator (OSASM)
    • ASM Database Administrator (ASMDBA)
    • ASM Instance Operator (ASMOPER)
    If they do not exist, then either specify alternative groups that exist on the host or create new groups as described in: Oracle Database Install and Upgrade

    Note:

    If you are setting up GIMR on an Oracle 21c database add the following groups:
    • Backup DBA group for GIMR (OSBACKUPDBA)
    • Oracle Data Guard group for GIMR (OSDGDBA)
    • Encryption Key Management group for GIMR (OSKMDBA)
    • Real Application Cluster administration group for GIMR (OSRACDBA)

    The new groups you create or the alternative groups you specify automatically get SYSDBA and SYSOPER privileges after the database is configured. For more information, see: Oracle Database 2 Day DBA.

    Click Next. You will come back to the Configure page. If you have configured the destination hosts, the Setup Hosts task will have a completed status.

  7. Click on the Deploy Software link.
  8. In the Select Software Locations page, specify the source and destination locations for the software binaries of Oracle Database.

    In the Source section, select the Software Library location for the Grid Infrastructure and Oracle Database binaries.

    In the Destination location, specify the following:

    • Oracle Base for Grid Infrastructure, a location on the destination host where the diagnostic and administrative logs, and other logs associated with the Grid Infrastructure can be stored.
    • Grid Infrastructure Home, a location on the destination host where the Grid Infrastructure software can be provisioned. This is the Oracle home directory for Grid Infrastructure. Do not select a location that is a subdirectory of the Oracle Base for Grid Infrastructure or database.
    • Oracle Base for Database, a location on the destination host where the diagnostic and administrative logs, and other logs associated with the database can be stored. This location is used for storing only the dump files and is different from the Oracle home directory where the database software will be installed.
    • Database Oracle Home, a location on the destination host where the database software can be provisioned. This is the Oracle home directory for the database.
    • GIMR Database Home, a location on the destination host where the Grid Infrastructure Management Repository software can be provisioned. This is the Oracle home directory for GIMR only on 21C databases. Do not select a location that is a sub directory of the Oracle Base for Grid Infrastructure or database.
    For Grid Infrastructure, Oracle Base is /u01/app/user and Oracle Home is %ORACLE_BASE%/sihahome. You can use %ORACLE_BASE% and %GI_ORACLE_BASE% to specify the relative paths which will be interpolated to their respective values.

    In the Additional Parameters section, specify the Working Directory on the destination host where the files related to cloning can be staged temporarily. Ensure that you have approximately 7 GB of space for this directory. For Installer Parameters, specify any additional Oracle Universal Installer (OUI) parameters you want to run while provisioning Oracle Grid Infrastructure. For example, -force (to override any warnings), -debug (to view more debug information), and -invPtrLoc <Location> (for UNIX only). Ensure that the parameters are separated by white space.

    Click on the Lock icon against the fields that you do not want to be edited in the operator role.

    Click Next. You will come back to the Configure page. If you have configured the source and destination location for the software, the Configure Software task will have a completed status.

  9. In the Schedule page, specify a Deployment Instance name. If you want to run the procedure immediately, then retain the default selection, that is, One Time (Immediately). If you want to run the procedure later, then select One Time (Later) and provide time zone, start date, and start time details. You can set the notification preferences according to deployment procedure status. If you want to run only prerequisites, you can select Pause the procedure to allow me to analyze results after performing prerequisite checks to pause the procedure execution after all prerequisite checks are performed. Click Next.
  10. In the Review page, review the details you have provided for the deployment procedure and if you are satisfied with the details, then click Finish to run the deployment procedure according to the schedule set. If you want to modify the details, then click Back repeatedly to reach the page where you want to make the changes. Click Save to save the deployment procedure for future deployment.
  11. In the Operator role, launch the saved deployment procedure. Add targets for provisioning and provide values for configurable fields in the deployment procedure.
  12. In the Procedure Activity page, view the status of the execution of the job and steps in the deployment procedure. Click the Status link for each step to view the details of the execution of each step. You can click Debug to set the logging level to Debug and click Stop to stop the procedure execution.

Note:

If the Deployment Procedure fails, then review log files described in Reviewing Log Files.