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Oracle Parallel Server Management on UNIX Reference

This appendix describes Oracle Parallel Server Management on UNIX.

Specific topics covered in this appendix are:

• OPSCTL Utility

• Creating the DB_NAME.CONF File

• Oracle Intelligent Agent Configuration

OPSCTL Utility

The OPSCTL utility on UNIX uses a manually-created file named DB_NAME.CONF to define Oracle Parallel Server instances and related services.

Consider the following points when configuring your DB_NAME.CONF file:

• The $ORACLE_HOME location can be set up to be shared or non-shared. If the location is non-shared, you must manually create and FTP the DB_NAME.CONF file to each node of the cluster.

• The managed system maps the names of the nodes to correspond with non-negative numbers (positive numbers) called "node numbers" based on the thread ID.

Creating the DB_NAME.CONF File

This section covers the following topics:

• Parameter Syntax

• Parameter Expansion

• Parameter Descriptions

• Parameter Node Overrides

• Oracle Parallel Server Instances

Parameter Syntax

The parameter values are specified in the configuration file using the following syntax:

parameter_name = value
parameter_name = (value1, value2, ...)

Consider these points when configuring parameter values:

• Each parameter must be entered on a separate line in the DBNAME.CONF file.

• Lists of values are comma-separated and enclosed within parenthesis.

• Any parameter value that contains commas or spaces must be surrounded by double quotation marks ("xxx").

Parameter Expansion

Parameter values with the percent sign (%) in the configuration file have different meanings depending on the character that follows the % sign:

Value	Description
%p	Expands to the name of the Oracle Parallel Server which is set by the value of ORACLE_PSRV parameter or the environment variable ORACLE_PSRV.
%h	Expands to the value of the ORACLE_HOME parameter, if set, or expands to the value of the ORACLE_HOME.
%n	Expands to the node number for the appropriate node. The %n is replaced by a different value on each node.
%m	Expands to the node name for the appropriate node. The %m is replaced by a different value on each node.

Parameter expansion examples are shown in the table below:

inst_init_ora=/ora/dbs/initop.ora

inst_init_ora=/ora/dbs/initop_ \ 
%m.ora

initop_spdev01.ora
initop_spdev02.ora
initop_spdev03.ora

Parameter Descriptions

The following table lists the configuration parameters that may be set in the DB_NAME.CONF file. Each parameter is listed in the order that it would typically appear in the configuration file. Parameters must be specified in lowercase.

Parameter	Description
node_list	The list of node numbers for all nodes on which Oracle Parallel Server instances are run. This parameter is required on some platforms, including IBM RS/6000 SP2. On other platforms, the entire cluster is used by default. Example: node_list = "1-8"
inst_oracle_sid	(optional) The instance identifier. Each Oracle Parallel Server requires a unique Oracle System Identifier (SID). The default is %p%n.
inst_init_ora	(optional) A parameter file that is shared by all the instances of the Oracle Parallel Server. If the parameter contains %n or %m, a different INITSID.ORA on each node is used.
node#:inst_init_ora	(optional) A parameter file for the Oracle Parallel Server instance on a specific node, as denoted by the node#. This overrides any value specified in the inst_init_ora parameter.
oracle_home	(optional) Specifies either the single, shared Oracle home or each non-shared Oracle home location for each node. Defaults to the Oracle home specified in oratab (platform-specific location).
lsnr_listener_name	(optional) The names of the listeners for each specific node.
tns_admin	(optional) The value of the TNS_ADMIN environment variable which is used to start or stop all listeners.
node#:tns_admin	(optional) The value of TNS_ADMIN environment variable which is used to start or stop the listener on the specific node, as denoted by node#.
environ	(optional) The double-quoted list of semi-colon separated "name = value" pairs of environment variables that are required for the startup or shutdown operations. For example: environ="ENV1=value1;ENV2=value2" The environment variables included in this parameter are in addition to ORACLE_PSRV, ORACLE_HOME, and TNS_ADMIN, each of which are represented either by a separate environment variable or a separate configuration parameter.

Shown below are examples of how the configuration parameters are applied. The parameter settings for different services are illustrated with reference to a fictitious Oracle Parallel Server, named MYPSRV, on a fictitious eight-node system. The following table shows how node numbers, node names, and instance identifiers are mapped to each other for MYPSRV. Refer to this table as required.

Parameter Node Overrides

You can set the parameters to apply to a specified set of nodes by prefixing the parameter definition with a node number as follows:

node_number:parameter_name =value

Oracle Parallel Server Instances

Instances are defined by the following parameters:

• inst_oracle_sid

• inst_init_ora

inst_oracle_sid

If the inst_oracle_sid parameter is not specified, then OPSCTL generates a default list of Oracle System Identifiers (SID) in which each SID is set to the following format:

dbname node# 

where dbname corresponds to the name of the Oracle Parallel Server and where node# corresponds to the node number of the corresponding node in the NODE_LIST. This is as if %p%n were specified.

For example, if the parameters are set as follows:

oracle_psrv = MYPSRV
node_list = "1-3,6"

and the inst_oracle_sid parameter is not specified, then the SIDs generated for the instances will be MYPSRV1, MYPSRV2, MYPSRV3, and MYPSRV6 for the spdev01, spdev02, spdev03, and spdev06 nodes respectively.

The inst_oracle_sid parameter is used to specify the ORACLE_SIDs (instance identifiers) for the instances. It may be a comma-separated list of SID names where each SID maps to the corresponding node mentioned in the same order in the node_list parameter. Or, it may be that %n or %m is used to generate a distinct SID on each node.

For example, if the parameters are set as follows:

node_list = "1-3,6"
inst_oracle_sid = (SID_A, SID_B, SID_C, SID_D)

then, the SID_A value will be used for the instance on node spdev01 and the SID_D value will be used for the instance on the spdev06 node.

The parameter substitution facility can be used to customize ORACLE_SID values. For example, if the parameters are set as follows:

node_list = "1-3,6"
inst_oracle_sid = "%p_SID_%n"

then, the MYPSRV_SID_1, MYPSRV_SID_2, MYPSRV_SID_3, and MYPSRV_SID_6 values are used for SIDs of instances on nodes spdev01, spdev02, spdev03, and spdev06 respectively.

inst_init_ora

The absolute path names for the parameter files are specified by the inst_init_ora and/or node#:inst_init_ora parameters. If this parameter is not specified, then $ORACLE_HOME/dbs/initsid.ora is used.

For each instance, OPSCTL first searches for the node#:inst_init_ora parameter, where node# is the number of the node on which the instance runs. If this parameter is set, OPSCTL uses its value as the instance's parameter file. If it is not specified, then OPSCTL uses the inst_init_ora parameter.

Listeners

Listeners are defined by the following parameters:

• tns_admin

• lsnr_listener_name

tns_admin

The value for tns_admin for all listeners to be started or stopped can be set with the tns_admin parameter.

If the tns_admin parameter is not set and the TNS_ADMIN environment variable is set, the listeners are given the value of the TNS_ADMIN environment variable.

If neither the tns_admin parameter nor the TNS_ADMIN environment variable are set, the listeners are not given any value, and will use the default search order to locate the LISTENER.ORA file.

The LISTENER.ORA file contains the listening addresses of the listener on the system as well as the name and Oracle home of any database the listener serves.

To use a different TNS_ADMIN variable for a specific node, you may specify the node using the node#:tns_admin parameter, where node# refers to the number of the corresponding node.

For example, if the TNS_ADMIN environment variable is set to /home/myname/misc and the tns_admin and none of the node#:tns_admin parameters are specified in the configuration file, then OPSCTL uses the value /home/myname/misc for all nodes.

In another example, if the following parameters are set as follows:

node_list = "1-3,6"
tns_admin = /dve/myname/815/ops
3:tns_admin = /dve/myname/others

then, for the listener on spdev03 (node number 3), tns_admin is set to /dve/myname/others, whereas nodes spdev01, spdev02 and spdev06, tns_admin is set to /dve/myname/815/ops.

lsnr_listener_name

The lsnr_listener_name parameter is used to specify the listener names. It is a comma-separated list of listener names, where each listener name maps to the corresponding node mentioned in the same order listed for the node_list parameter.

If the lsnr_listener_name parameter is not specified, then OPSCTL generates a default list of listener names in which each listener name follows the format node_name_listener, where node_name corresponds to the name of the node. This is as if %m_listener was specified.

For example, if the node_list parameter is set as follows:

node_list = "1-3,6"
     


         

and the lsnr_listener_name parameter is not specified, then the names generated for the listeners would be spdev01_listener, spdev02_listener, spdev03_listener, and spdev06_listener for the spdev01, spdev02, spdev03, and spdev06 nodes respectively.

For example, if the parameters are set as follows:

node_list = "1-3,6"
lsnr_listener_name = (listener_A, listener_B, listener_C, listener_D)

lsnr_listener_name = (listener_A, listener_B, listener_C, listener_D)

then, the listener_A name would be used for the listener on node spdev01 and the listener_D name would be used for the listener on node spdev06.

If only one entry is specified for the lsnr_listener_name parameter, then the same name is used for listeners on all nodes specified in the node_list. Also, you can use parameter expansion to specify different listener names for all nodes.

For example, if the parameters are set as follows:

node_list = "1-3,6"
lsnr_listener_name = "listener_mypsrv"
     


         

then, the listener_mypsrv name would be used for all the listeners on all nodes.

In another example, if the following parameters are set as follows:

node_list = "1-3,6"
lsnr_listener_name = "lsnr_%n"
     


         

then, the names lsnr_1, lsnr_2, lsnr_3, and lsnr_6 will be used for the listeners on the nodes spdev01, spdev02, spdev03, and spdev06 respectively.

Sample of DB_NAME.CONF File

The following is an example DB_NAME.CONF file:

node_list = "1-4" 
inst_init_ora = /ora/dbs/init_%m.ora 
inst_oracle_sid = (SID_A, SID_B, SID_C, SID_D)
lsnr_listener_name = listener_myhost%n 

Oracle Intelligent Agent Configuration

Oracle Intelligent Agents are shipped with the database and must be installed on each remote, managed Oracle Parallel Server node. The Oracle Intelligent Agents are responsible for discovering the available services (databases, listeners, parallel servers) on each node.

The configuration is different for shared and non-shared ORACLE_HOME locations. In a typical setup, the Oracle Intelligent Agents are installed in non-shared ORACLE_HOME locations.

The following directories should not be shared because they contain files that are specific to each Oracle Intelligent Agent's node:

• $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin

• $ORACLE_HOME/network/log

• $ORACLE_HOME/network/trace

• $ORACLE_HOME/network/agent

Non-shared Oracle Home

You must ensure that you configure and start the Oracle Intelligent Agents on every node running an instance.

To start the agent, at an operating system prompt, enter the command:

lsnrctl dbsnmp_start

Shared Oracle Home

If the Oracle home location is shared (through NFS or any other equivalent facility) by all nodes, you must set up the Oracle Intelligent Agent as follows:

1. Install the Oracle Intelligent Agent for each node in its own Oracle home location, distinct from the shared Oracle home location.

   Note:: You cannot install the Intelligent Agent in the same shared Oracle home location where your Oracle database is located.

2. Copy or link TNSNAMES.ORA and LISTENER.ORA to each Oracle Intelligent Agent's Oracle home location from the shared Oracle home.

3. Before starting the Oracle Intelligent Agent on each node, set the Oracle home location to the Oracle Intelligent Agent's Oracle home.

4. Issue the lsnrctl dbsnmp_start command.

5. Ensure that the DBSNMP utility is set up to run at system startup time.