A Quick Reference for Oracle Database 10g RAC on Linux and Unix Platforms

A Quick Reference for Oracle Database 10g RAC on Linux and Unix Platforms
by Rich Headrick Database Specialists, Inc. About Database Specialists, Inc.

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Introduction
This paper will discuss and demonstrate some of the basic RAC management commands you might use to manage your Oracle 10g RAC components. The material presented will be applicable to most if not all Linux and Unix platforms. It will not cover RAC on the Microsoft Windows operating system. We will begin with the basics of checking out a RAC system to identify whether or not the appropriate services and resources are running or not. Then we will go through the basic startup and shutdown commands for all services and resources. Lastly, we will go over the startup of individual resources and checking the status of each step as we progress. The shutdown of individual resources can be done by reversing the individual startup order.

About our Environment

The RAC environment that we will reference throughout this paper is composed of two nodes running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 ES with a shared disk, and has two ASM instances named ASM1 and ASM2, two database instances named orcl1 and orcl2, and a service named RAC that is used for transparent application failover (TAF) and load balancing.

Overview of Basic RAC Management Commands

The commands we will use are listed below. Remember that this document is a quick reference, and not an exhaustive list of all commands for managing your RAC environment. Cluster Related Commands crs_stat -t Shows HA resource status (hard to read) crsstat Ouptut of crs_stat -t formatted nicely ps -ef|grep d.bin crsd.bin evmd.bin ocssd.bin crsctl check crs CSS,CRS,EVM appears healthy crsctl stop crs Stop crs and all other services crsctl disable crs* Prevents CRS from starting on reboot crsctl enable crs* Enables CRS start on reboot crs_stop -all Stops all registered resources crs_start -all Starts all registered resources * These commands update the file /etc/oracle/scls_scr/<node>/root/crsstart which contains the string enable or disable as appropriate.

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A Quick Reference for Oracle Database 10g RAC on Linux and Unix Platforms

Database Related Commands srvctl start instance -d <db_name> -i <inst_name> Starts an instance srvctl start database -d <db_name> Starts all instances srvctl stop database -d <db_name> Stops all instances, closes database srvctl stop instance -d <db_name> -i <inst_name> Stops an instance srvctl start service -d <db_name> -s <service_name> Starts a service srvctl stop service -d <db_name> -s <service_name> Stops a service srvctl status service -d <db_name> Checks status of a service srvctl status instance -d <db_name> -i <inst_name> Checks an individual instance srvctl status database -d <db_name> Checks status of all instances srvctl start nodeapps -n <node_name> Starts gsd, vip, listener, and ons srvctl stop nodeapps -n <node_name> Stops gsd, vip and listener Keep in mind that some resources will not start unless other resources are already online. We will now look at the general dependency list in greater detail. There are three main background processes you can see when doing a ps ef|grep d.bin. They are normally started by init during the operating system boot process. They can be started and stopped manually by issuing the command /etc/init.d/init.crs {start|stop|enable|disable} 1. /etc/rc.d/init.d/init.evmd 2. /etc/rc.d/init.d/init.cssd 3. /etc/rc.d/init.d/init.crsd Once the above processes are running, they will automatically start the following services in the following order if they are enabled. This list assumes you are using ASM and have a service set up for TAF/load balancing. 1. 2. 3. 4. The nodeapps (gsd, VIP, ons, listener) are brought online. The ASM instances are brought online. The database instances are brought online. Any defined services are brought online.

Basic RAC Management Commands

Now that we know the dependency tree and have some commands at our disposal, lets have a look at them one at a time, starting with the cluster commands and processes.

crs_stat -t
This command shows us the status of each registered resource in the cluster. I generally avoid this command because its output is hard to read since the names are truncated as you can see in the sample output below. You can download a helpful script called crsstat from http://www.dbspecialists.com/specialists/specialist2007-05.html to make it easy on your eyes.
[oracle@green ~]$ crs_stat -t Name Type Target State Host -----------------------------------------------------------ora....SM1.asm application ONLINE ONLINE green ora....EN.lsnr application ONLINE ONLINE green ora.green.gsd application ONLINE ONLINE green ora.green.ons application ONLINE ONLINE green ora.green.vip application ONLINE ONLINE green ora.....RAC.cs application ONLINE ONLINE red ora....cl1.srv application ONLINE ONLINE green

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A Quick Reference for Oracle Database 10g RAC on Linux and Unix Platforms

ora....cl2.srv application ora.orcl.db application ora....l1.inst application ora....l2.inst application ora....SM2.asm application ora....ED.lsnr application ora.red.gsd application ora.red.ons application ora.red.vip application [oracle@green ~]$

ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE

ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE

red red green red red red red red red

crsstat
The output of this script is much better. You can learn more about this script and download it at http://www.dbspecialists.com/specialists/specialist2007-05.html.
[oracle@green ~]$ crsstat HA Resource ----------ora.green.ASM1.asm ora.green.LISTENER_GREEN.lsnr ora.green.gsd ora.green.ons ora.green.vip ora.orcl.RAC.cs ora.orcl.RAC.orcl1.srv ora.orcl.RAC.orcl2.srv ora.orcl.db ora.orcl.orcl1.inst ora.orcl.orcl2.inst ora.red.ASM2.asm ora.red.LISTENER_RED.lsnr ora.red.gsd ora.red.ons ora.red.vip [oracle@green ~]$

Target -----ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE

State ----ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE

on on on on on on on on on on on on on on on on

green green green green green red green red red green red red red red red red

ps -ef|grep d.bin
We can use this command to verify that the CRS background processes are actually running. It is implicit that they are running if the crs_stat command and crsstat script work. If they do not work, you will want to verify the background processes are really running.
[root@green ~]# ps -ef|grep d.bin oracle 5335 3525 0 Jul11 ? 00:00:05 /u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/crs/bin/evmd.bin root 5487 3817 0 Jul11 ? 00:00:00 /u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/crs/bin/crsd.bin reboot oracle 5932 5392 0 Jul11 ? 00:00:00 /u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/crs/bin/ocssd.bin root 30486 30177 0 18:23 pts/1 00:00:00 grep d.bin [root@green ~]#

crsctl check crs

This command verifies that the above background daemons are functioning.
[oracle@green ~]$ crsctl check crs CSS appears healthy CRS appears healthy EVM appears healthy [oracle@green ~]$

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A Quick Reference for Oracle Database 10g RAC on Linux and Unix Platforms

crsctl stop crs

Well need to be logged onto the server as the root user to run this command. It will stop all HA resources on the local node, and it will also stop the above mentioned background daemons.
[oracle@green ~]$ crsctl stop crs Insufficient user privileges. [oracle@green ~]$ su Password: [root@green oracle]# crsctl stop crs Stopping resources. This could take several minutes. Successfully stopped CRS resources. Stopping CSSD. Shutting down CSS daemon. Shutdown request successfully issued. [root@green oracle]#

crsctl disable crs

This command will prevent CRS from starting on a reboot. Note there is no return output from the command.
[root@green oracle]# crsctl disable crs [root@green oracle]#

We did a reboot after this and verified that CRS did not come back online because we wanted to do some operating system maintenance. Lets check the status by running some of the commands weve just discussed.
[oracle@green ~]$ crsstat HA Resource Target State -------------------error connecting to CRSD at [(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=ipc)(KEY=ora_crsqs))] clsccon 184 [oracle@green ~]$ crsctl check crs Failure 1 contacting CSS daemon Cannot communicate with CRS Cannot communicate with EVM [oracle@green ~]$ ps -ef|grep d.bin oracle 6149 5582 0 15:54 pts/1 [oracle@green ~]$ 00:00:00 grep d.bin

Everything appears to be down on this node as expected. Now lets start everything back up. We will need to be root for this, unless you have been given permissions or sudo to run crsctl start crs.
[root@green oracle]# crsctl start crs Attempting to start CRS stack The CRS stack will be started shortly [root@green oracle]#

After a few minutes the registered resources for this node should come online. Lets check to be sure:
[oracle@green ~]$ crsstat HA Resource ----------ora.green.ASM1.asm ora.green.LISTENER_GREEN.lsnr ora.green.gsd ora.green.ons

Target -----ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE

State ----ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE

on on on on

green green green green

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A Quick Reference for Oracle Database 10g RAC on Linux and Unix Platforms

ora.green.vip ora.orcl.RAC.cs ora.orcl.RAC.orcl1.srv ora.orcl.RAC.orcl2.srv ora.orcl.db ora.orcl.orcl1.inst ora.orcl.orcl2.inst ora.red.ASM2.asm ora.red.LISTENER_RED.lsnr ora.red.gsd ora.red.ons ora.red.vip [oracle@green ~]$

ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE

ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE

on on on on on on on on on on on on

green red green red red green red red red red red red

Lets not forget to enable CRS on reboot:

[root@green oracle]# crsctl enable crs

crs_stop -all
This is a handy script that stops the registered resources and leaves the CRS running. This includes all services in the cluster, so it will bring down all registered resources on all nodes.
[oracle@green ~]$ crs_stop -all Attempting to stop `ora.green.gsd` on member `green` Attempting to stop `ora.orcl.RAC.orcl2.srv` on member `red` Stop of `ora.orcl.TEST.orcl1.srv` on member `green` succeeded. Attempting to stop `ora.orcl.RAC.orcl1.srv` on member `green` Attempting to stop `ora.green.ons` on member `green` Attempting to stop `ora.orcl.RAC.cs` on member `red` Stop of `ora.green.gsd` on member `green` succeeded. Stop of `ora.orcl.RAC.orcl1.srv` on member `green` succeeded. Stop of `ora.orcl.RAC.orcl2.srv` on member `red` succeeded. Stop of `ora.orcl.TEST.orcl2.srv` on member `red` succeeded. Stop of `ora.green.ons` on member `green` succeeded. --snip-CRS-0216: Could not stop resource 'ora.orcl.orcl2.inst'. [oracle@green ~]$

Occasionally you will get the CRS-0216 error message shown above. This is usually bogus, but you should re-check with crsstat and ps ef|grep smon or similar to be sure everything has died off. Lets verify that crs_stop -all worked as expected:
[root@green oracle]# crsstat HA Resource ----------ora.green.ASM1.asm ora.green.LISTENER_GREEN.lsnr ora.green.gsd ora.green.ons ora.green.vip ora.orcl.RAC.cs ora.orcl.RAC.orcl1.srv ora.orcl.RAC.orcl2.srv ora.orcl.db ora.orcl.orcl1.inst ora.orcl.orcl2.inst ora.red.ASM2.asm ora.red.LISTENER_RED.lsnr ora.red.gsd ora.red.ons ora.red.vip [root@green oracle]#

Target -----OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE

State ----OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE

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A Quick Reference for Oracle Database 10g RAC on Linux and Unix Platforms

Lets move on to working with srvctl and managing individual resources. We will begin with the crs background daemons already running, and all registered resources being offline from the last step above. We will first start the nodeapps, then the ASM instances, followed by the database instances, and lastly the services for TAF and load balancing. This is the dependency order in our particular environment. You may or may not have ASM or TAF and load balancing services to start in your environment.

srvctl start nodeapps -n (node)

This will bring up the gsd, ons, listener, and vip. The same command can shut down the nodeapps by replacing start with stop.
[oracle@green ~]$ srvctl start nodeapps -n green [oracle@green ~]$ srvctl start nodeapps -n red

Now we will check with crsstat again to be sure the nodeapps have started.
[oracle@green ~]$ crsstat HA Resource ----------ora.green.ASM1.asm ora.green.LISTENER_GREEN.lsnr ora.green.gsd ora.green.ons ora.green.vip ora.orcl.RAC.cs ora.orcl.RAC.orcl1.srv ora.orcl.RAC.orcl2.srv ora.orcl.db ora.orcl.orcl1.inst ora.orcl.orcl2.inst ora.red.ASM2.asm ora.red.LISTENER_RED.lsnr ora.red.gsd ora.red.ons ora.red.vip [root@green oracle]#

Target -----OFFLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE

State ----OFFLINE ONLINE on ONLINE on ONLINE on ONLINE on OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE ONLINE on ONLINE on ONLINE on ONLINE on

green green green green

red red red red

Now we need to start our ASM instances before we bring up our database and services.

srvctl start asm -n (node)

This will bring up our ASM instances on nodes green and red. Again, the same command will stop the ASM instances by replacing start with stop.
[oracle@green ~]$ srvctl start asm -n green [oracle@green ~]$ srvctl start asm -n red [oracle@green ~]$ crsstat HA Resource Target ---------------ora.green.ASM1.asm ONLINE ora.green.LISTENER_GREEN.lsnr ONLINE ora.green.gsd ONLINE ora.green.ons ONLINE ora.green.vip ONLINE ora.orcl.RAC.cs OFFLINE ora.orcl.RAC.orcl1.srv OFFLINE ora.orcl.RAC.orcl2.srv OFFLINE ora.orcl.db OFFLINE ora.orcl.orcl1.inst OFFLINE ora.orcl.orcl2.inst OFFLINE ora.red.ASM2.asm ONLINE ora.red.LISTENER_RED.lsnr ONLINE ora.red.gsd ONLINE ora.red.ons ONLINE

State ----ONLINE on ONLINE on ONLINE on ONLINE on ONLINE on OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE OFFLINE ONLINE on ONLINE on ONLINE on ONLINE on

green green green green green

red red red red

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A Quick Reference for Oracle Database 10g RAC on Linux and Unix Platforms

ora.red.vip [oracle@green ~]$

ONLINE

ONLINE on red

Now lets bring up our orcl1 and orcl2 instances, and verify they are up with crsstat. Once more we can replace start with stop and shutdown an individual instance if we so choose.

srvctl start instance -d (database) -I (instance)

[oracle@green ~]$ srvctl start instance d orcl i orcl1 [oracle@green ~]$ srvctl start instance -d orcl -i orcl2 [oracle@green ~]$ crsstat HA Resource Target State -------------------ora.green.ASM1.asm ONLINE ONLINE on ora.green.LISTENER_GREEN.lsnr ONLINE ONLINE on ora.green.gsd ONLINE ONLINE on ora.green.ons ONLINE ONLINE on ora.green.vip ONLINE ONLINE on ora.orcl.RAC.cs OFFLINE OFFLINE ora.orcl.RAC.orcl1.srv OFFLINE OFFLINE ora.orcl.RAC.orcl2.srv OFFLINE OFFLINE ora.orcl.db ONLINE ONLINE on ora.orcl.orcl1.inst ONLINE ONLINE on ora.orcl.orcl2.inst ONLINE ONLINE on ora.red.ASM2.asm ONLINE ONLINE on ora.red.LISTENER_RED.lsnr ONLINE ONLINE on ora.red.gsd ONLINE ONLINE on ora.red.ons ONLINE ONLINE on ora.red.vip ONLINE ONLINE on [oracle@green ~]$

green green green green green

red green red red red red red red

srvctl start service -d (database) -s (service)

Now we will finish up by bringing our load balanced/TAF service named RAC online.
[oracle@green ~]$ srvctl start service -d orcl -s RAC [oracle@green ~]$ crsstat HA Resource Target State -------------------ora.green.ASM1.asm ONLINE ONLINE on green ora.green.LISTENER_GREEN.lsnr ONLINE ONLINE on green ora.green.gsd ONLINE ONLINE on green ora.green.ons ONLINE ONLINE on green ora.green.vip ONLINE ONLINE on green ora.orcl.RAC.cs ONLINE ONLINE on red ora.orcl.RAC.orcl1.srv ONLINE ONLINE on green ora.orcl.RAC.orcl2.srv ONLINE ONLINE on red ora.orcl.db ONLINE ONLINE on red ora.orcl.orcl1.inst ONLINE ONLINE on green ora.orcl.orcl2.inst ONLINE ONLINE on red ora.red.ASM2.asm ONLINE ONLINE on red ora.red.LISTENER_RED.lsnr ONLINE ONLINE on red ora.red.gsd ONLINE ONLINE on red ora.red.ons ONLINE ONLINE on red ora.red.vip ONLINE ONLINE on red [oracle@green ~]$

There we have it; all of our resources are now online. The next steps would be to verify you can connect via SQL*Plus or your favorite application.

Conclusion
When a product or process is new to you, as Oracle 10g RAC is to many people, it can be an intimidating and possibly disastrous experience. This paper has hopefully given you the elementary commands you will need to manage your Oracle 10g RAC system. While it is not a complete dissection of RAC and its total command set, it should be enough
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A Quick Reference for Oracle Database 10g RAC on Linux and Unix Platforms

to get you on your feet. You can always get the basic syntax of srvctl by typing srvctl help. For a complete list of all options, type srvctl h. You can also get the complete syntax for crsctl by typing crsctl at the command line. Also, do have a peek at the Oracle Clusterware and Oracle Real Application Clusters Administration and Deployment Guide, publication number B14197-04. You can find it on Oracles website at http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B19306_01/rac.102/b14197/toc.htm.

About the Author

Rich Headrick has worked in IT for over seventeen years and has worked with Oracle for over thirteen years. He started out at Hewlett Packard Corporation working with their enterprise hardware and operating systems, and moved into the roles of development and production DBA at various companies in the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento. He has been implementing and managing RAC systems since 2001. Still Looking for Help on this Subject?
Get a Consultation We would be happy to talk with you about our services and how our senior-level database team might help you. Call Database Specialists at 415-344-0500 or 888-648-0500 or fill out a free consultation request form. Complimentary Newsletter If you'd like to receive our complimentary monthly newsletter with database tips and new white paper announcements, sign up for The Specialist .

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