Oracle 12c Password file management with ASMCMD commands

Now that it is possible to store the Oracle password file inside ASM - Oracle Database 12c. A functionality that helps by RAC databases and cluster, we do not have to manage to keep the files in sync between servers anymore.

 See my other blog posts on this:

• Password File in ASM - Oracle release 12c
• Password file maintenance on Clustered ASM and RAC databases

Are there commands created for ASMCMD to maintain the passwordfile for databases.

Password File in ASM - Oracle release 12c

Prior to Oracle Database 12c, the password file was always located under $ORACLE_HOME/dbs file structure, even for RAC instances and for RAC ASM cluster. For RAC the DBA organisation had to managed to keep the password file in sync on each node. See for a solution in an earlier blog on my site "Password file maintenance on Clustered ASM and RAC databases 11gR2 and before"

Oracle 12c

Now in Oracle 12c, it is possible to store the password file on ASM. Wonderfule this means a shared password file for Oracle RAC databases , it is shared for all instances in the cluster.

ASM 11gR2 Installation & Configuration (Role Separation).

Before the database creation of an 11.2.0.X.X, 11.1.0.X.X  or 10.2.0.X.X database using ASM 11.2.0.X.X (as storage option), then you need to set the ASM GID to the oracle kernel (<10.2, 11.1 or 11.2 RDBMS Oracle Home>/bin/oracle executable), this needs to be set before you execute the DBCA.

RAC Configuration Audit Tool - RACcheck

RACcheck

RACcheck is a RAC Configuration Audit tool designed to audit various important configuration settings within a Real Application Clusters (RAC), Oracle Clusterware (CRS), Automatic Storage Management (ASM) and Grid Infrastructure environment.

Oracle Cloud File System - Grid Infrastructure ASM features “ACFS”

Licensing policy for ASM Cluster File System (ACFS), now called Oracle Cloud File Systerm, is free to use in combination with any Oracle RDBMS version. De files must have a relation with the RDBMS, including non-Oracle files related to the RDBMS application. See the citation below

Citation from the Oracle documentation:

A restricted use license to use Oracle Cloud File System is included with all editions of the database specifically for storing Oracle Database-related configuration files, including Oracle Database software binaries and homes, Oracle Database software administrative files, and Oracle Database software diagnostic files. Customers wishing to store their own data files, or non-Oracle Database software files including data files, binaries, administrative files, and diagnostic files, in Oracle Cloud File System must separately license Oracle Cloud File System.

This means "Extra charging for “user data” files like RMAN backups, exports and other database related files just makes life more difficult for clients that have committed to running their business on Oracle Clusters."

Oracle Cloud File System Licensing Requirements. This MOS 1322405.1 try to be an attempt to clarify the situation on Oracle CloudFS (0ACFS) Oracle Licence.

ASM required mirror free space to accommodate disk failures

Blogpost Dutch Prutser January 2 2013 03/01/2013

The summary of the blogpost

• REQUIRED_MIRROR_FREE_MB is the amount of free space required to restore redundancy after a failure that ASM can tolerate without affecting data availability. This amount depends on the redundancy level and the number of failure groups in the disk group. 
• Normal redundancy disk groups with at least three failure groups require an amount of free space that is equal to the size of a single failure group. Normal redundancy disk groups with only two failure groups require an amount of free space that is equal to the size of a single disk. 
• High redundancy disk groups with at least four failure groups require an amount of free space that is equal to the sum of the size of two failure groups. High redundancy disk groups with only three failure groups require an amount of free space that is equal to the sum of the size of two disks. 
• USABLE_FILE_MB is the amount of disk space available for storing user data. This amount depends on the total size of the disk group, the disk group redundancy and the amount of required free disk space that ASM needs to restore redundancy after a failure. USABLE_FILE_MB is calculated as follows:.
•  USABLE_FILE_MB = (FREE_MB – REQUIRED_MIRROR_FREE_MB) / [2|3]

Blogpost of Joel Goodman Monday, March 28, 2011 28/03/2011

Many ASM administrators have little or no experience with ASM mirroring, because they use External Redundancy for their diskgroups and ASM generally maintains one copy for each AU in this case. Tracking free space within a diskgroup in such a case is simple. Use the following details from view V$ASM_DISKGROUP to examine the redundancy, offline state and free space requirements for mirror recovery:

HP DataProtector supports Oracle ACFS

Great Oracle ACFS is now supported by HP Dataprotector. See the Platform and integration support matrix link in this blog

Question

Is it possible to backup Oracle ACFS with HP DATAPROTECTOR. Currently we can't see the mount point that we have created on the system with the HP DATAPROTECTOR GUI. We used  Data Protector 6.11  [dd - Jan 12,2011]

Answer from HP Support

It is Supported with Data Protector 6.11 patches: PHSS_41457 / PHSS_41458 / DPLNX_00136 / DPSOL_00430.

HP Information

HP dataProtector 6.11 - Platform and integration support matrix  date: 11Februari 2011.

Password file maintenance on Clustered ASM and RAC databases

A recurring question during Grid Infrastructure and RAC courses I teach is “How do you manage Oracle password files in a clustered environment?”. The answer isn’t as straight forward as you might think because there are significant differences between ASM and RAC (==clustered database) environments. Additionally, in recent releases changes were made concerning password file [...Original article...]

A Posted by Harald van Breederode on January 14, 2011

Summary Password file maintenance on Clustered ASM and RAC databases

For ASM releases prior to 11gR2 password files should either be placed on a shared filesystem (and symlinked from $ORACLE_HOME/dbs) or password file changes should be performed manually on all instances in order to keep the password file contents synchronized on all nodes.

For ASM releases from 11gR2 onwards there is no need to place the password files on a shared filesystem because password file changes are automatically propagated to remote instances.

For RAC environments password files should either be placed on a shared filesystem (and symlinked from $ORACLE_HOME/dbs) or password file changes should be performed manually on all instances in order to keep the password file contents synchronized on all nodes.

Using ASM’s Cluster File System (ACFS) & Dynamic Volume Manager (ADVM) on a Single Node

Oracle 11gR2 ASM supports a new type of file called a “volume file” which may be created in its own DISK GROUP or which may share space in another disk group. Volume files are externalised to the Unix operating system by the oracleadvm device driver and appear dynamically as special files in the /dev/asm directory.

ASM on Single Node on linux: Error Failed configure CSS

crsctl.bin: error while loading shared libraries: libnnz11.so: cannot restore segment prot after reloc: permission denied

Click on ASM on Single Node on linux: Error Failed configure CSS for the sollution