HP Enterprise Cluster Master Toolkit User Guide (5900-2131, December 2011)

NOTE: For information on the proposed framework for ASM integration with Serviceguard,
please refer to the whitepaper High Availability Support for Oracle ASM with Serviceguard
available at: www.hp.com/go/hpux-serviceguard-docs —> HP Enterprise Cluster Master Toolkit
.
The Oracle toolkit uses Multi-Node Package (MNP) and the package dependency feature to
integrate Oracle ASM with HP Serviceguard. An MNP is used to encapsulate the per-node ASM
instances with one or more Oracle single-instance failover packages that are dependent on this
MNP. This configuration enables database instance to start up in the right order in relation to the
ASM instance, and in the event of a failover, to relocate to a node where an ASM instance is
available.
The Oracle toolkit scripts for ASM support with Serviceguard consists of a set of shell scripts that
are used to start, stop, and monitor an Oracle ASM and database instance and the configured
listeners. To use these scripts, the scripts must be integrated into the Serviceguard package control
script in case of legacy packages. In the case of modular packages, the scripts must be integrated
with the Serviceguard master control script. Subsequent sections provide guidelines for integrating
these scripts with the Serviceguard package control script and the master control script.
In a Serviceguard cluster, packages created using the Oracle toolkit can co-exist with packages
created using the SGeRAC toolkit. In such an environment where the Oracle toolkit and the SGeRAC
toolkit coexist, the ASM MNP package need not be created using the Oracle toolkit. The
single-instance database failover packages must be made dependent on the SGeRAC Clusterware
multi-node package (OC MNP package). Also, the package should be created using the command
line interface and Serviceguard Manager must not be used to create the packages.
A major advantage of ASM is the ease of management it provides for database files:
• The system administrator has only to specify the set of raw devices to be used in an ASM disk
group; the tasks of configuring and administering volume/disk groups and file systems are
eliminated. Oracle ASM makes use of the Oracle feature called Oracle-Managed Files and
performs the tasks of creating, deleting, and extending files on behalf of database instances;
additionally, it manages their mirroring and striping.
• If a device is added to, or deleted from, an ASM disk group, ASM automatically rebalances
database file striping based on the new disk layout.
Figure 1, contrasts the Oracle storage hierarchy as it appears when platform or 3rd party volume
managers and file systems are used for Oracle data files, compared to when ASM is used. The
layers corresponding to file systems and volume managers are absorbed into ASM. The files and
directories in the storage hierarchy are not visible using standard operating system commands; to
display them the customer must use Oracle utilities.
28 Using the Oracle Toolkit in an HP Serviceguard Cluster