Comments on: Start Database Services automatically after instance startup

By: itjobs1

itjobs1 — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 21:31:45 +0000

This is done with a small perl script that is run as an Oracle Clusterware cluster callout. Cluster callouts are scripts or programs that Oracle Clusterware will run whenever a cluster “event” (like starting or stopping an instance) occurs. It calls these programs with many command-line arguments that can be parsed to determine what the event is about and why it was fired. The program can use these arguments to filter out the events that aren’t interesting to it and act on the events that it wishes to act upon.

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By: Dan Norris

Dan Norris — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 19:30:37 +0000

Hi Martin,

I'm glad you posted as I was thinking of you specifically when I wrote this. Since I didn't get your contact information, I'd hoped you would be watching . Thanks for the question and getting me thinking…

By: Martin Decker

Martin Decker — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:25:19 +0000

Hi Dan,

I was the guy who asked about the autostart during your excellent hotsos symposium presentation. Only now I saw that you also this blog post. I also found the OTN sample scripts in the meantime and blogged about it, but you were faster… Thanks again.

Martin

By: Denix

Denix — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 07:44:16 +0000

Hi.
rac: oracle $ srvctl config db -d DB -a
...
DB_ROLE: PHYSICAL_STANDBY
START_OPTIONS: MOUNT
...
So You need to change startup option to MOUNT to not OPEN DB
there were some bugs that CRS ignored startup options and just opened(read only) DB
but they fixed in 10.2.0.4.

To start MRP user collout may be used,
but it will be much better if it was coded at CRS level

Denix

By: Dan Norris

Dan Norris — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 01:02:29 +0000

I think it isn't recommended because there's no reliable way to do it. The -r physical_standby option wasn't really developed (apparently), so all CRS knows how to do is “startup open” and nothing else.

In 10g R2, I had good experiences with DG Broker–not sure about versions before then, but I can guess it may not have been so good back in V1 or V2 (DG was introduced in 9i, so that's basically V1 in my eyes).

By: Pythian Group - Blog

Pythian Group - Blog — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 16:41:33 +0000

[...] us begin with Oracle this week. Dan Norris illustrates how to start database services automatically after instance startup. Dan says, “Services are an essential component for managing workload in a RAC environment. [...]

By: Charles Schultz

Charles Schultz — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:44:21 +0000

Thanks, I appreciate that. So this really begs the question; “why do they recommend against having CRS put the standby in standby mode?” I am asking from the angle that I have more to learn, and I would like to understand the ramifications of this action.

The DG Broker is another beast. I have heard so many good things about it that I am recommending to our group that we start adopting it. We tried it out in 9i and were burned badly (too complicated, too esoteric, not very friendly).

PS – In light of this post, I am passing out Jeremy's whitepaper like candy to the SunGard crowd, because currently they do not support Services which makes my job as a DBA a little more difficult than it needs to be. Funny how the support staff I am talking has no clue what Oracle Services even are. =) Ah well….

By: Dan Norris

Dan Norris — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 21:38:20 +0000

I got some feedback from one of my contacts (suffice it to say this is authoritative information). Basically, they said that they don't recommend using CRS to put the DB in standby mode. There is a "-r physical_standby" mode that was created, but not used, so avoid it. Instead, DG Broker is the recommended way to manage RAC standbys and it is documented too: http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B19306_01/se...

Hope that helps.

By: Dan Norris

Dan Norris — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 11:44:39 +0000

Hi Charles,

I haven't seen anything like that in the docs either. I don't think there's any way for CRS to handle it as the "agent" for RAC instances isn't extensible as far as I know. So, to offer this functionality, Clusterware development would have to get involved to support it (at least that's how I see it--not knowing how things are organized internally there).

Your question is a good one and I pinged a few friends that might have some more thoughts. If they don't post them here (assuming I get responses at all), I'll summarize and post results.

By: Charles Schultz

Charles Schultz — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 11:38:17 +0000

This got me to thinking. The MAA guide does not specify any mount options when adding a standby using srvctl:
http://www.oracle.com/technology/deploy/availab...

I am thinking that there is a way to have CRS put the standby in managed recovery mode, but not finding it easy to find in the documentation. Why is it not made more clear, more obvious? Especially if Oracle is touting this thing called "Best Practices" for "Maximum Availability"? =)