Managing Serviceguard Extension for SAP on Linux (IA64 Integrity and x86_64), February 2008

Planning a File System Layout for SAP in a Serviceguard/LX Cluster Environment
Conclusion: Mount Points, Access Types and SGeSAP/LX Package
Chapter 276
Sometimes a single host may have an installation of both a Central
Instance and an additional Application Server of the same SAP System.
These instances need to share the same environment settings. SAP
recommends using the server path to NLS files for both instances in this
case. This won't work with Serviceguard Extension for SAP on Linux
since switching the database would leave the application server without
NLS file access.
Oracle 9.x releases no longer maintain NLS compatibility with Oracle
8.x. Also, Oracle 9.x patches introduce incompatibilities with older
Oracle 9.x NLS files. The following constraints need to be met:
1. The Oracle RDBMS and database tools rely on an
ORA_NLS[<nls_version>] setting that refers to NLS files that are
compatible to the version of the RDBMS. Oracle 9.x needs NLS files
as delivered with Oracle 9.x.
2. The SAP executables rely on an ORA_NLS[<nls_version>] setting
that refers to NLS files of the same versions as those that were used
during kernel link time by SAP development. This is not necessarily
identical to the installed database release.
The Oracle database server and SAP server might need different types of
NLS files. The server NLS files are part of the database Serviceguard
package. The client NLS files are installed locally on all hosts. Special
care has to be taken to not mix the access paths for ORACLE server and
client processes.
The discussion of NLS files has no impact on the treatment of other parts
of the ORACLE client files. The following directories need to exist locally
on all hosts on which an Application Server might run. They can not be
relocated to different paths. The content needs to be identical to the
content of the corresponding directories that are shared as part of the
database Serviceguard Extension for SAP on Linux package (db or dbci).
The setup for these directories follows the “on top” mount approach, i.e.,
the directories might become hidden beneath identical copies that are
part of the db/dbci package:
$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/mesg
$ORACLE_HOME/oracore/zoneinfo
$ORACLE_HOME/network/admin