2 Oracle Database Preinstallation Requirements

2.4.5.1 Checking if a Loopback Adapter Is Installed on Your Computer

To check if a loopback adapter is installed on your computer, run the ipconfig /all command:

SYSTEM_DRIVE:\> ipconfig /all

If there is a loopback adapter installed, you would see a section that lists the values for the loopback adapter. For example:

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 2:
  Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
  Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Loopback Adapter
  Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 02-00-4C-4F-4F-50
  DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
  Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
  Autoconfiguration IP Address. . . : 169.254.25.129
  Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0

2.4.5.2 Installing a Loopback Adapter on Windows 2003

To install a loopback adapter on Windows 2003:

1. Open the Windows Control Panel.

2. Double-click Add Hardware to start the Add Hardware wizard.

3. In the Welcome window, click Next.

4. In the Is the hardware connected? window, select Yes, I have already connected the hardware, and click Next.

5. In the The following hardware is already installed on your computer window, in the list of installed hardware, select Add a new hardware device, and click Next.

6. In the The wizard can help you install other hardware window, select Install the hardware that I manually select from a list, and click Next.

7. From the list of hardware types, select the type of hardware you are installing window, select Network adapters, and click Next.

8. In the Select Network Adapter window, make the following selections:

   • Manufacturer: Select Microsoft.

   • Network Adapter: Select Microsoft Loopback Adapter.

9. Click Next.

10. In the The wizard is ready to install your hardware window, click Next.

11. In the Completing the Add Hardware Wizard window, click Finish.

12. If you are using Windows 2003, restart your computer.

13. Right-click My Network Places on the desktop and choose Properties. This displays the Network Connections Control Panel.

14. Right-click the connection that was just created. This is usually named "Local Area Connection 2". Choose Properties.

15. On the General tab, select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and click Properties.

16. In the Properties dialog box, click Use the following IP address and do the following:

    1. IP Address: Enter a non-routable IP for the loopback adapter. Oracle recommends the following non-routable addresses:

       • 192.168.x.x (x is any value between 0 and 255)

       • 10.10.10.10

    2. Subnet mask: Enter 255.255.255.0.

    3. Record the values you entered, which you will need later in this procedure.

    4. Leave all other fields empty.

    5. Click OK.

17. Click OK.

18. Close Network Connections.

19. Restart the computer.

20. Add a line to the SYSTEM_DRIVE:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts file with the following format, after the localhost line:

    IP_address   hostname.domainname   hostname
    
    

    where:

    • IP_address is the non-routable IP address you entered in step 16.

    • hostname is the name of the computer.

    • domainname is the name of the domain.

    For example:

    10.10.10.10   mycomputer.mydomain.com   mycomputer
    
    

21. Check the network configuration:

    1. Open System in the Control Panel, and select the Computer Name tab. In Full computer name, make sure you see the host name and the domain name, for example, sales.us.mycompany.com.

    2. Click Change. In Computer name, you should see the hostname, and in Full computer name, you should see the host name and domain name. Using the previous example, the host name would be sales and the domain would be us.mycompany.com.

    3. Click More. In Primary DNS suffix of this computer, you should see the domain name, for example, us.mycompany.com.

2.4.5.3 Removing a Loopback Adapter

To remove the loopback adapter:

1. Display System in the Windows Control Panel.

2. In the Hardware tab, click Device Manager.

3. In the Device Manager window, expand Network adapters. You should see Microsoft Loopback Adapter.

4. Right-click Microsoft Loopback Adapter and select Uninstall.

5. Click OK.

2.5.1.1 Choosing a Storage Option for Oracle Datafiles

If you want to create a database during the installation, you must choose one of the following storage options for the datafiles:

• File system

• Automatic Storage Management

2.5.1.2 Choosing a Storage Option for Oracle Database Recovery Files

If you want to enable automated backups during the installation, you must choose one of the following storage options for recovery files (the flash recovery area):

• File system

• Automatic Storage Management

The storage option that you choose for recovery files can be the same as or different to the option you choose for the datafiles.

2.5.1.3 Configuring Disk Storage

For more information about these options, see the "Database Storage Options" section. For information about how to configure disk storage before you start the installation, see one of the following sections depending on your choice:

• To use a file system for database or recovery file storage, see the "Creating Directories for Oracle Datafiles or Recovery Files" section.

• To use Automatic Storage Management for database or recovery file storage, see the "Preparing Disk Groups for an Automatic Storage Management Installation" section.

2.5.2.1 Guidelines for Placing Oracle Datafiles on a File System

• You can choose either a single file system or more than one file system to store the datafiles:

  • If you want to use a single file system, choose a file system on a physical device that is dedicated to the database.

    For best performance and reliability, choose a RAID device or a logical volume on more than one physical device and implement the stripe-and-mirror-everything (SAME) methodology.

  • If you want to use more than one file system, choose file systems on separate physical devices that are dedicated to the database.

    Select this method to enable distribute physical I/O and create separate control files on different devices for increased reliability. It also enables full implement the Optimal Flexible Architecture guidelines described in Appendix B, " Optimal Flexible Architecture". You must choose either the Advanced database creation option or the Custom installation type during the installation to implement this method.

• If you intend to create a preconfigured database during the installation, the file system (or file systems) that you choose must have at least 950 MB of free disk space.

  For production databases, you must estimate the disk space requirement depending on the use you want to make of the database.

• For optimum performance, the file systems that you choose should be on physical devices that are used only by the database.

• The default location suggested by Oracle Universal Installer for the database file directory is a subdirectory of the Oracle base directory. However, this default location is not recommended for production databases.

2.5.2.2 Guidelines for Placing Oracle Recovery Files on a File System

If you choose to place the Oracle recovery files on a file system, use the following guidelines when deciding where to place them:

• To prevent disk failure from making both the datafiles and the recovery files unavailable, place the recovery files in a file system on a different physical disk from the datafiles.

  
  

  Note: Alternatively, for both datafiles and recovery files, use an Automatic Storage Management disk group.

  
  

• The file system that you choose should have at least 2 GB of free disk space.

  The disk space requirement is the default disk quota configured for the flash recovery area (specified by the DB_RECOVERY_FILE_DEST_SIZE initialization parameter).

  If you choose the Custom installation type or the Advanced database configuration option, you can specify a different disk quota value. After you create the database, you can also use Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Control to specify a different value.

  
  

  See Also: Oracle Backup and Recovery Basics for more information about the flash recovery area

  
  

  For more information about sizing the flash recovery area, see Oracle Backup and Recovery Basics.

• The default location suggested by Oracle Universal Installer for the database file directory is a subdirectory of the Oracle base directory. However, this default location is not recommended for production databases.

2.5.2.3 Creating Required Directories

To create directories for the Oracle database or recovery files on separate file systems to the Oracle base directory, follow these steps:

1. Use Windows Explorer to determine the free disk space on the file system.

2. From the display, identify the file systems that you want to use:

   File Type	File System Requirements
   Datafiles	Choose either: A single file system with at least 950 MB of free disk space. Two or more file systems with at least 950 MB of free disk space in total.
   Recovery files	Choose a file system with at least 2 GB of free disk space.

   
   

   If you are using the same file system for more than one type of file, add the disk space requirements for each type to determine the total disk space requirement.

3. Note the names of the directories for the file systems that you identified.

4. If you also want to use Automatic Storage Management, refer to "Preparing Disk Groups for an Automatic Storage Management Installation" for instructions. Otherwise see the "Stopping Existing Oracle Services" section.

2.5.3.1 General Steps for Preparing Disk Groups for an ASM Installation

You will follow these general steps to configure Automatic Storage Management:

1. Identify your site's storage requirements.

2. Optionally, use an existing Automatic Storage Management disk group.

3. If you are creating a new Automatic Storage Management disk group, create partitions for DAS or SAN disks.

4. Use one of the following methods to complete the Automatic Storage Management configuration:

   • If you plan to install Oracle Database using interactive mode, Oracle Universal Installer prompts you for the Automatic Storage Management disk configuration information during the installation.

   • If you plan to install Oracle Database using silent or noninteractive mode, you will need to manually configure the disks before performing the installation.

2.5.3.2 Step 1: Identifying Storage Requirements for Automatic Storage Management

To identify the storage requirements for using Automatic Storage Management, you must determine how many devices and the amount of free disk space that you require. To complete this task, follow these steps:

1. Determine whether you want to use Automatic Storage Management for Oracle datafiles, recovery files, or both.

   
   

   Note: You do not have to use the same storage mechanism for datafiles and recovery files. One storage mechanism can use the file system while the other uses Automatic Storage Management. If you plan to use Automatic Storage Management for both datafiles and recovery files, you should create separate ASM disk groups for the datafiles and the recovery files.

   
   

   If you plan to enable automated backups during the installation, you can choose Automatic Storage Management as the storage mechanism for recovery files by specifying an ASM disk group for the flash recovery area. Depending how you choose to create a database during the installation, you have the following options:

   • If you select an installation method that runs Oracle Database Configuration Assistant in interactive mode, by choosing the Advanced database configuration option for example, then you can decide whether you want to use the same ASM disk group for datafiles and recovery files, or you can choose to use different disk groups for each file type. Ideally, you should create separate ASM disk groups for datafiles and recovery files.

     The same choice is available to you if you use Oracle Database Configuration Assistant after the installation to create a database.

   • If you select an installation type that runs Oracle Database Configuration Assistant in noninteractive mode, then you must use the same ASM disk group for datafiles and recovery files.

2. Decide on the Automatic Storage Management redundancy level that you want to use for each Automatic Storage Management disk group you will create.

   The redundancy level that you choose for the Automatic Storage Management disk group determines how ASM mirrors files in the disk group and determines the number of disks and amount of disk space that you require. The redundancy levels are as follows:

   • External redundancy

     An external redundancy disk group requires a minimum of one disk device. The effective disk space in an external redundancy disk group is the sum of the disk space in all of its devices.

     Because Automatic Storage Management does not mirror data in an external redundancy disk group, Oracle recommends that you use only RAID or similar devices that provide their own data protection mechanisms as disk devices in this type of disk group.

   • Normal redundancy

     In a normal redundancy disk group, by default Automatic Storage Management uses two-way mirroring for datafiles and three-way mirroring for control files, to increase performance and reliability. Alternatively, you can use two-way mirroring or no mirroring. A normal redundancy disk group requires a minimum of two failure groups (or two disk devices) if you are using two-way mirroring. The effective disk space in a normal redundancy disk group is half the sum of the disk space in all of its devices.

     For most installations, Oracle recommends that you use normal redundancy disk groups.

   • High redundancy

     In a high redundancy disk group, Automatic Storage Management uses three-way mirroring to increase performance and provide the highest level of reliability. A high redundancy disk group requires a minimum of three disk devices (or three failure groups). The effective disk space in a high redundancy disk group is one-third the sum of the disk space in all of its devices.

     While high redundancy disk groups do provide a high level of data protection, you must consider the higher cost of additional storage devices before deciding to use this redundancy level.

3. Determine the total amount of disk space that you require for the datafiles and recovery files.

   Use the following table to determine the minimum number of disks and the minimum disk space requirements for the installation:

   Redundancy Level	Minimum Number of Disks	Datafiles	Recovery FIles	Both File Types
   External	1	1.15 GB	2.3 GB	3.45 GB
   Normal	2	2.3 GB	4.6 GB	6.9 GB
   High	3	3.45 GB	6.9 GB	10.35 GB

   
   

   If an ASM instance is already on the system, you can use an existing disk group to meet these storage requirements. If necessary, you can add disks to an existing disk group during the installation.

   The following step describes how to identify existing disk groups and determine the free disk space that they contain.

4. Optionally identify failure groups for the ASM disk group devices.

   
   

   Note: You need to complete this step only if you intend to use an installation method that runs Oracle Database Configuration Assistant in interactive mode, for example, if you intend to choose the Custom installation type or the Advanced database configuration option. Other installation types do not allow you to specify failure groups.

   
   

   If you intend to use a normal or high redundancy disk group, you can further protect your database against hardware failure by associating a set of disk devices in a custom failure group. By default, each device comprises its own failure group. However, if two disk devices in a normal redundancy disk group are attached to the same SCSI controller, the disk group becomes unavailable if the controller fails. The controller in this example is a single point of failure.

   To avoid failures of this type, you could use two SCSI controllers, each with two disks, and define a failure group for the disks attached to each controller. This configuration would enable the disk group to tolerate the failure of one SCSI controller.

   
   

   Note: If you define custom failure groups, you must specify a minimum of two failure groups for normal redundancy disk groups and three failure groups for high redundancy disk groups.

   
   

5. If you are sure that a suitable disk group does not exist on the system, install or identify appropriate disk devices to add to a new disk group. Use the following guidelines when identifying appropriate disk devices:

   • All of the devices in an ASM disk group should be the same size and have the same performance characteristics.

   • Do not specify more than one partition on a single physical disk as a disk group device. Automatic Storage Management expects each disk group device to be on a separate physical disk.

   • Although you can specify a logical volume as a device in an Automatic Storage Management disk group, Oracle does not recommend their use. Logical volume managers can hide the physical disk architecture, preventing Automatic Storage Management from optimizing I/O across the physical devices.

   
   

   See Also: "Step 4: Manually Configuring Disks for Automatic Storage Management" for information about completing this task

   
   

2.5.3.3 Step 2 (Optional): Using an Existing Automatic Storage Management Disk Group

If you want to use Automatic Storage Management as the storage option for either database or recovery files, and an existing Automatic Storage Management disk group exists, you have the following choices, depending on the installation method that you select:

• If you select an installation method that runs Oracle Database Configuration Assistant in interactive mode, by choosing the Advanced database configuration option for example, you can decide whether you want to create a new disk group or use an existing one.

  The same choice is available to you if you use Oracle Database Configuration Assistant after the installation to create a database.

• If you select an installation type that runs Oracle Database Configuration Assistant in noninteractive mode, you must choose an existing disk group for the new database; you cannot create a new disk group. However, you can add disk devices to an existing disk group if it has insufficient free space for your requirements.

To determine whether an existing ASM disk group exists, or to determine whether there is sufficient disk space in a disk group, you can use Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Control. Alternatively, you can use the following procedure:

1. In the Services Control Panel, make sure that the OracleASMService+ASM service has started.

2. Open a Windows command prompt and temporarily set the ORACLE_SID and ORACLE_HOME environment variables to specify the appropriate values for the ASM instance that you want to use.

   For example, if the ASM SID, which is named +ASM, is located in the asm directory under the ORACLE_BASE directory, you would enter settings similar to the following:

   SYSTEM_DRIVE:\> set ORACLE_SID = +ASM
   SYSTEM_DRIVE:\> set ORACLE_HOME = c:\oracle\product\10.1.0\asm
   
   

3. Connect to the ASM instance as the SYS user with the SYSDBA privilege and start the instance if necessary:

   SYSTEM_DRIVE:\> sqlplus sys/SYS_password as sysdba
   SQL> STARTUP
   
   

4. Enter the following command to view the existing disk groups, their redundancy level, and the amount of free disk space in each one:

   SQL> SELECT NAME,TYPE,TOTAL_MB,FREE_MB FROM V$ASM_DISKGROUP;
   
   

5. From the output, identify a disk group with the appropriate redundancy level and note the free space that it contains.

6. If necessary, install, or identify the additional disk devices required to meet the storage requirements listed in the previous section.

   
   

   Note: If you are adding devices to an existing disk group, Oracle recommends that you use devices that have the same size and performance characteristics as the existing devices in that disk group.

   
   

2.5.3.4 Step 3: Creating DAS or SAN Disk Partitions for an ASM Instance

In order to use a DAS or SAN disk in Automatic Storage Management, the disk must have a partition table. Oracle recommends creating exactly one partition for each disk containing the entire disk.

This section covers the following topics.

• Step 1: Enabling Disk Automounting for Windows Server 2003

• Step 2: Creating the Disk Partitions

Step 1: Enabling Disk Automounting for Windows Server 2003

Before you can configure partitions or logical drives on Windows Server 2003, you must enable disk automounting. Enable disk automounting when using:

• Disk partitions on both single-instance and Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) installations

• Cluster file system for Oracle Real Application Clusters

• Oracle Clusterware

• Raw partitions for a single-node database installation

• Primary or logical partitions for Automatic Storage Management (ASM)

To enable automounting:

1. Enter the following commands at a command prompt:

   SYSTEM_DRIVE:\> diskpart
   DISKPART> automount enable
   DISKPART> exit
   
   

2. Restart your computer.

Step 2: Creating the Disk Partitions

To create disk partitions, use the disk administration tools provided by the operating system or third party vendors. The following administration tools are provided by the operating system:

• The graphical user interface Disk Management snap-in to manage disks.

  To access this tool, type diskmgmt.msc at the command prompt. Alternatively, from the Start menu, select Programs, then Administrative Tools, then Computer Management. Then select the Disk Management node in the Storage tree.

• The command line tool diskpart.exe, which lets you create primary partitions, extended partitions, and logical drives.

  diskpart.exe is included with the Windows 2003 operating system.

  To access this tool, type diskpart.exe at the command prompt. The syntax for using diskpart.exe for the procedures in this section is as follows:

  SYSTEM_DRIVE:\> diskpart
  DISKPART> select disk diskn
  DISKPART> create partition primary | extended | logical size=sizen
  DISKPART> 
  
  

  where:

  • diskpart.exe is the command line tool for managing disks

  • diskn is the disk number where the partitions are created

  • sizen is the size of the partition, for example 500 represents 500 MB

You can enter the diskpart.exe commands directly at the command line; alternatively, you can enter the commands in a text file, and then run diskpart /s using this file as a script.

For example, to create the disk partitions on Disk 5 and assign them each a size:

DISKPART> select disk 5
DISKPART> create partition primary size=500
DISKPART> ... 
DISKPART> create partition primary size=800

If you prefer to use logical drives, you can create an extended partition and then assign the logical drives within it. For example:

DISKPART> create partition extended
DISKPART> create partition logical size=500
DISKPART> create partition logical size=700

2.5.3.5 Step 4: Manually Configuring Disks for Automatic Storage Management

To use Automatic Storage Management with direct attached storage (DAS) or storage area network (SAN) storage, the disks must be stamped with a header. If you install Oracle Database in interactive mode, Oracle Universal Installer configures the disks' headers during the installation process. However, if you plan to install Oracle Database in noninteractive mode, you need to manually configure the disks before installation by using either asmtoolg (GUI version) or asmtool (command line version). You can also use these tools to reconfigure the disks later on after installation. The asmtoolg and asmtool utilities only work on partitioned disks—you cannot use Automatic Storage Management on unpartitioned disks.

The asmtoolg and asmtool tools associate meaningful, persistent names with disks to facilitate using those disks with Automatic Storage Management. Automatic Storage Management uses disk strings to more easily operate on groups of disks at once, so the names that asmtoolg or asmtool creates make this easier than using Windows drive letters.

All disk names created by asmtoolg or asmtool begin with the prefix ORCLDISK followed by a user-defined prefix (the default is DATA) and a disk number for identification purposes. You can use them as raw devices in the Automatic Storage Management instance by specifying a name \\.\ORCLDISKprefixn where prefix can be either DATA or a value you supply, and n represents the disk number.

Using asmtoolg (Graphical User Interface)

asmtoolg is a graphical interface for creating device names. Use asmtoolg to add, change, delete, and examine the devices available for use in Automatic Storage Management.

To add or change disk stamps:

1. In the installation media labeled Oracle Database 10g Release 2 (10.2), navigate to database\asmtool and double-click asmtoolg.

   If Oracle Database is already installed, go to ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME\bin and double-click asmtoolg.

2. Select the Add or change label option, then click Next.

   asmtoolg will show the devices available on the system. Unrecognized disks are labeled as "Candidate device", raw device files as "Oracle raw device file", stamped Automatic Storage Management disks as "Stamped ASM disk", and unstamped Automatic Storage Management disks as "Unstamped ASM disks." The tool also shows disks that are recognized by Windows as a file system (such as NTFS). These are not available for use as disks and cannot be selected. In addition Microsoft Dynamic disks are not available for use as ASM disks.

   If necessary, follow the steps under "Step 3: Creating DAS or SAN Disk Partitions for an ASM Instance" to create a disk partition for the ASM instance.

3. In the Stamp Disks window, select the disks to stamp.

   For ease of use, Automatic Storage Management can generate unique stamps for all of the devices selected for a given prefix. The stamps are generated by concatenating a number with the prefix specified. For example, if the prefix is DATA, then the first Automatic Storage Management link name is ORCLDISKDATA0.

   You can also specify the stamps of individual devices.

4. Optionally, select a disk to edit the individual stamp (Automatic Storage Management link name).

5. Click Next.

6. Click Finish.

To delete disk stamps:

1. Select the Delete labels option, then click Next.

   The delete option is only available if disks exist with stamps. The delete window shows all stamped Automatic Storage Management disks.

2. In the Delete Stamps window, select the disks to unstamp.

3. Click Next.

4. Click Finish.

Using asmtool (Command Line)

asmtool is a command-line interface for stamping disks. It has the following options:

asmtool -add [-force]
\Device\Harddisk1\Partition1 ORCLDISKASM0
\Device\Harddisk2\Partition1 ORCLDISKASM2...

asmtool -addprefix ORCLDISKASM [-force]
\Device\Harddisk1\Partition1
\Device\Harddisk2\Partition1...

asmtool -list [-force]

asmtool -delete ORCLDISKASM0 ORCLDISKASM1...