3.7.0 HP StorageWorks MxDB-Oracle-HiAv installation and administration guide HP MxDB-Oracle-HiAv for Linux (AG513-96009, June 2009)

1 Introduction
Purpose of this guide
This guide is intended as a supplement to the Oracle installation documentation.
Oracle DBAs have many choices when installing Oracle products. When using
MxDB-Oracle-HiAv to manage Oracle databases running in the cluster, certain of
these choices are required or recommended. This document describes those choices;
however, it is not intended to be a complete step-by-step guide for installing Oracle.
Many steps in this document require root permissions. Some sites grant this right to
DBAs, other sites limit root permissions to the system administrator. This document
indicates when root permission is required. Individual sites will need to coordinate
the activities described here should the roles be separate.
High availability
MxDB-Oracle-HiAv provides high availability for database instances and Net Services
listener processes. It is intended for Oracle single-instance databases (non-RAC).
High availability is provided through a Virtual Oracle Service, which consists of a
virtualized IP address associated with an Oracle single-instance database, a “ primary”
cluster node, and one or more “backup” nodes. A Virtual Oracle Service operates
as a virtual host dedicated to serving an Oracle single-instance database. The virtual
IP address (also called a virtual host) is an IP address that Oracle clients can use to
connect to the database, regardless of which server is currently running the database.
A service monitor is associated with each Virtual Oracle Service. The monitor
periodically checks the health of the cluster servers and the database instances and
listeners via a probe action. Should a problem be discovered and should attempts
to correct the problem fail, the Virtual Oracle Service is transitioned to a backup
server. The Virtual Oracle Service and service monitor are created through the
Graphical User Interface (mxdb) supplied with MxDB-Oracle-HiAv.
MxDB-Oracle-HiAv installation and administration guide 9