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

ECMT Oracle Toolkit Maintenance Mode
To put the single-instance ECMT Oracle toolkit package in maintenance mode, the package attribute
MAINTENANCE_FLAG must be set to ‘yes’ and a file named ‘oracle.debug’ must exist in the package
directory.
In a coexistence environment, the single-instance database will go into toolkit maintenance mode
if any of the following condition is met:
1. If the MAINTENANCE_FLAG is set to ‘yes’ in the ECMT package configuration for single-instance
Oracle and if oracle.debug file exists in the package directory.
2. If the SGeRAC OC MNP package is put in toolkit maintenance mode by creating an oc.debug
file in the SGeRAC OC MNP package directory.
Supporting EBS database Tier
ECMT Oracle toolkit has been enhanced to support the packaging of EBS DB Tier. High availability
for the EBS database tier is achieved using the very same technique that many standalone Oracle
database implementations with Serviceguard have used in production for a considerable time.
NOTE: ECMT Oracle Toolkit can be used only to configure the EBS Database Tier and to configure
the EBS APPs Tier, user needs to purchase SGeEBS.
Using re-locatable storage devices and a special “floating” IP network address, the database can
failover from one physical server to another within the Serviceguard cluster while retaining the
same outward appearance to applications.
From a network communications point of view, the Oracle database is not configured to bind to
the network address associated with the actual physical server but rather to a specially-reserved
“floating” IP address. This floating IP address is called as package IP in Serviceguard terms. The
floating IP address is one that is defined for exclusive use by the database as its networking end
point and is normally included in the Domain Name Service so that the database can be located
by its applications. The symbolic name that is associated with the floating IP address is the “virtual
hostname” and it is this name that will be used as the database’s hostname within the EBS topology
configuration.
From the EBS APPS Tier point of view, the database failover from one machine to the other does
not alter the single network end point at which it connect for service. As there is no change in the
networking end point, no special reconfiguration of applications is required to handle the database
failover sequence.
Much of the process of setting up the virtual hostname environment for the EBS database tier is
automated during the installation process by using the –servername flag with the RapidInstall
EBS Installer command. Details on this command option can be found in the Oracle Applications
Release 12 installation guide.
As an example, to install the database tier with the virtual hostname ebs database, the RapidInstall
command used to install the database tier needs to be started with the –servername ebsdatabase
command line option. This will install the database product components, build the appropriate
configuration files and file system directory layout automatically and use the virtual hostname
ebsdatabase in place of the actual server hostname on which the install was run.
Oracle ASM Support for EBS DB Tier
Automatic Storage Management (ASM) simplifies administration of Oracle EBS DB Tier related
files by allowing administrator to reference disk groups rather than individual disks and files. It
provides functionalities like managing disk groups, disk redundancies, and allows management
of database objects without specifying mount points and filenames.
Currently Oracle EBS DB Tier Rapid installation allows user to house the database in either shared
file system or local file system. Automatic Storage Management is currently not supported using
EBS DB Tier Rapid Install.
58 Using the Oracle Toolkit in an HP Serviceguard Cluster