Database Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 7
Managing and Optimizing a Complex
RAC Environment
by Syed Jaffar Hussain and Tariq Farooq
Managing any Real Application Cluster (RAC) environment, whether on a small or large scale, comes with its fair
share of risks and challenges. At a certain point, balancing out the various components and layers involved in setting
up a well-oiled, well-tuned Oracle RAC cluster becomes an art involving a lot of skill and a high level of expertise. This
chapter gives you a first-hand shot at tackling some of the problems head-on in an effective and practical manner.
There may be some overlap between this chapter and other chapters within certain knowledge streams; this is
intentional, as some topics have been re-summarized within this chapter to cover the context of the subject at hand.
The overall goal of this chapter is to present you with ideas, tips, tricks, and methodologies available to manage
and optimize large-scale cluster environments for cost-effectiveness, better performance, and easy-to-set-up
management. It is essential that you carefully study the pros and cons of every point mentioned in this chapter before
you decide to apply any changes into your existing environment.
The following topics have been presented in this chapter to optimize any large-scale cluster environments:
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Comparing the pros and cons of shared vs. non-shared Oracle Homes
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Server pools: Concepts and how to best put them to use
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Planning and designing RAC databases for large-scale environments
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Pros and cons of small- and large-scale cluster environments
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Split-brain scenarios and how to avoid them
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Understanding, debugging, and avoiding node evictions
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Extended distance (stretch) clusters: Synopsis, overview, and best practices
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RAC setup and configuration: Considerations and tips for various OS families
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Oracle Universal Installer (OUI): Setup and configuration—Learning the new way of things
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A quick n' easy approach to RAC Database tuning
