Formating Raw devices on AIX

Hi
I am carrying out an installation (RAC11gR2 on AIX) on a server where RAC was installed. I uninstall all but the raw devices has still information of the past ASM files... etc. I need to format these partitions for having the initial condiction for the new fresh installation. Do you have the commands or any article or link to do that ?
Thanks

user2931261 wrote:
Hi
I am carrying out an installation (RAC11gR2 on AIX) on a server where RAC was installed. I uninstall all but the raw devices has still information of the past ASM files... etc. I need to format these partitions for having the initial condiction for the new fresh installation. Do you have the commands or any article or link to do that ?The usual way to 'format' a raw device is with the 'dd' command. Dump /dev/zero into that raw device, something like # dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/raw/raw10 bs=512 count=20 # adjusting bs and count appropriately.
Then again, the Oracle installation manual for AIX (http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E11882_01/install.112/e17210/toc.htm) might have some hints, especially in Chapter 3.

Similar Messages

SAPINST : Error CJS-00091 with raw devices on AIX 5.2

Dear all,
I am trying to install a Web Application Server Java 6.40 SR1 on AIX/Oracle but get the following error due to the fact that I opted for a raw-device installation.
> CJS-00091 Unable to create the tablespaces.
> DIAGNOSIS: There is not enough free disk space:
>
> Mount point | space required | space available | SAPDATA directories
> /oracle/DEP | 2805 | 933.887 | 1,2,4
>
> SOLUTION: Make more disk space available.
You will probably tell me that an OSS note exists and that I should adapt the 'control.xml' within the installation directory but that's not the point. This problem was probably present in older releases but is now corrected with the Support Release 1 (SR1) of Netweaver '04
In fact, I don't understand why SAPINST still tries to work with the classical "SAPDATA" structure as it should now work with the "SAPRAW" directory only (See OSS Note 145654). This "SAPRAW" directory is only containing links refering to the raw devices SAPINST should use.
Here's what I've got :
> ls -la sapra*
>
> drwxr-xr-x 2 oradep dba 256 15 Feb 11:29 cntrl
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 oradep dba 18 15 Feb 11:28 depdb_1 -> /dev/rdepddb010013
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 oradep dba 18 15 Feb 11:28 depdb_2 -> /dev/rdepddb010014
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 oradep dba 18 15 Feb 11:28 depdb_3 -> /dev/rdepddb010015
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 oradep dba 18 15 Feb 11:28 roll_1 -> /dev/rdepddb010011
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 oradep dba 18 15 Feb 11:28 system_1 -> /dev/rdepddb010009
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 oradep dba 18 15 Feb 11:28 temp_1 -> /dev/rdepddb010010
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 oradep dba 18 15 Feb 11:28 undo_1 -> /dev/rdepddb010012
And here's the "SAPDATA" structure SAPINST wrongly created
> ls -la sapda*
>
> sapdata1:
> drwxr-xr-x 2 oradep dba 256 15 Feb 11:28 system_1
>
> sapdata2:
> drwxr-xr-x 2 oradep dba 256 15 Feb 11:28 roll_1
> drwxr-xr-x 2 oradep dba 256 15 Feb 11:28 temp_1
>
> sapdata4:
> drwxr-xr-x 2 oradep dba 256 15 Feb 11:28 depdb_1
Any idea, what the problem is?
I presume the installation script contains some bugs when working with raw devices but would like to know whether someone already experienced this...
Many thanks for your help,
Xavier Vermaut
SAP BC Administrator
Unisys Belgium

Hello Arun,
Maybe I am wrong but I think you did not understand what was the problem...
When using 'raw devices', SAPINST shouldn't use the classical SAPDATA directory structure but should only create links into the 'SAPRAW' directory.
So, SAPDATA directories should not exist! Only links (refering to the raw devices to be used) within the SAPRAW directory should be present!
In the meantime, I got this problem solved by SAP. They temporarily modified my 'keydb.xml' file to get this fixed but they should release an appropriate correction within a few days. This way of doing (I mean modifying the 'keydb.xml') is only applicable to my system...
Cheers,
Xavier

Raw device for oracle 8.1.7 on AIX 4.3.3

Hi there,
I am trying to use a raw device on AIX 4.3.3 for ORACLE 8.1.7.
I have created a raw device /dev/or_system
brw-rw---- 1 oracle dba 54, 1 Mar 04 10:44 or_system
but it is not possible to create a datafile on it :
SVRMGR> create database "GLM"
maxinstances 8
character set "WE8ISO8859P1"
datafile '/dev/or_system' size 150M REUSE
logfile
GROUP 1 ('/oracle/GLM/redo/log1.ora') size 100M,
GROUP 2 ('/oracle/GLM/redo/log2.ora') size 100M,
GROUP 3 ('/oracle/GLM/redo/log3.ora') size 100M,
GROUP 4 ('/oracle/GLM/redo/log4.ora') size 100M;
create database "GLM"
ORA-01501: CREATE DATABASE failed
ORA-01519: error while processing file '?/rdbms/admin/sql.bsq' near line 407
ORA-00604: error occurred at recursive SQL level 1
ORA-01119: error in creating database file '/dev/or_system'
ORA-27038: skgfrcre: file exists
SVRMGR>
The ORA-27028 in exact this situation was reported as a bug in prior ORACLE Versions 8.0.4/ 8.0.5 and had
the bug no. 690228.
But we use as mentioned 8.1.7.
What do I do wrong?
Any suggestions are welcome.
Thank you
Gerhard

Each raw device you create is used as a single data file.
Eg mklv -y 'myfile' <vgname> <number of logical partitians>
Will have two special files associated with them /dev/rmyfile and /dev/myfile. The number of logical partitians will be the size of your datafile subtract 1 meg for overhead.
So, if you were addding the above raw volume to a tablespace, and the lp size was 32 meg, you would
create tabelspace tsname datafile '/dev/rmyfile' size 31 m;
Note the use of rmyfile not myfile.

Cold backup of controlfile raw device

We have Oracle 9.2.0.4 on AIX 5L on node 1 and node3 with controlfile as raw device. These two nodes are connected through LAN. I shutdown the database DB on node1 and take the backp of controlfile in /ora/backup on node1 usind dd command. I mput this file in binary mode on node3 over ftp. On node3 when I tried to mount the database using this controlfile it gave error
"ora-0201- controlfile version incompatible with oracle version."
In alert log it showed the message
Corrupt block relative dba: 0x00000001 (file 0, block 1)
Fractured block found during control file header read
Data in bad block -
type: 0 format: 0 rdba: 0x00000000
last change scn: 0x0000.00000000 seq: 0x0 flg: 0x00
consistency value in tail: 0x00000000
check value in block header: 0x0, block checksum disabled
spare1: 0x0, spare2: 0x0, spare3: 0x0
What can be the exact problem?? Any hlep.

Why are you mounting or doing this ? I think databases on node1 and node3 are not the same. Controlfile of a database cannot be used to mount a different database.
fyi,
ORA-00201 controlfile version string incompatible with ORACLE version string
Cause: The control file was created by incompatible software.
Action: Either restart with a compatible software release or use CREATE CONTROLFILE to create a new control file that is compatible with this release.

How can I copy datafile (from one Raw device) to another Raw device ???

can anybody tell me how do i copy/move one datafile from one raw device to another raw device.... ?
I am having AIX 5.3 with SAN.
Pls. help me...
regards,
Star Nirav

Hello Hans,
Currently I am using via RMAN... Want to know which one help me....? Is there any size limitation via dd command ? Can I use iocopy instead of dd in AIX ?
man dd

10g ASM on Logical Volumes vs. Raw devices and SAN Virtualization

We are looking at setting up our standards for Oracle 10g non-rac systems. We are looking at the value of Oracle ASM in our environment.
As per the official Oracle documentation, raw devices are preferred to using Logical Volumes when using ASM.
From here: http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B19306_01/server.102/b15658/appa_aix.htm#sthr
ef723
"Note: Do not add logical volumes to Automatic Storage Management disk groups. Automatic Storage Management works best when you add raw disk devices to disk groups. If you are using Automatic Storage Management, then do not use LVM for striping. Automatic Storage Management implements striping and mirroring."
Also, as per Metalink note 452924.1:
"10) Avoid using a Logical Volume Manager (LVM) because an LVM would be redundant."
The issue is: if we use raw disk devices presented to ASM, the disks don't show up as used in the unix/AIX system tools (i.e. smit, lspv, etc.). Hence, when looking for raw devices on the system to add to filesystems/volume groups/etc., it's highly possible that a UNIX admin will grab a raw device that is already in use by Oracle ASM.
Additionally, we are using a an IBM DS8300 SAN with IBM SAN Volume Controller (SVC) in front of it. Hence, we already have storage virtualization and I/O balancing at the SAN/hardware level.
I'm looking for a little clarification to the following questions, as my understanding of their responses seem to confict:
QUESTION #1: Can anyone clarify/provide additional detail as to why Logical volumes are not preferred when using Oracle ASM? Does the argument still hold in a SAN Virtualized environment?
QUESTION #2: Does virtualization at the software level (ASM) make sense in our environment? As we already have I/O balancing provided at the hardware level via our SVC, what do we gain by adding yet another level of I/O balancing at the ASM level? Or as in the
arguments the Oracle documentation makes against using Lvm, is this an unnecessary redundant striping (double-striped or in our case triple-striped/plaid)?
QUESTION #3: So does SAN Virtualization conflict or compliment the virtualization provided by ASM?

After more research/discussions/SR's, I've come to the following conclusion.
Basically, in an intelligent storage environment (i.e. SVC), you're not getting a 100% bang for the buck by using ASM. Which is the cat's meow in a commodity hardware/unintelligent storage environment.
Using ASM in a SVC environment potentially wastes CPU cycles having ASM balance i/o that is already balanced on the backend (sure if you shuffle a deck of cards that are already shuffled you're not doing any harm, but if they're already shuffled - then why are you shuffling them again??).
That being said, there may still be some value for using ASM from the standpoint of storage management for multiple instances on a server. For example, one could better minimize space wastage by being able to share a "pool" of storage between mulitiple instances, rather than having to manage space on an instance-by-instance (or filesystem by filesystem) level.
Also, in the case of having a unfriendly OS where one is unable to dynamically grow a filesystem (i.e. database outage required), there would be a definite benefit provided by ASM in being able to dynamically allocate disks to the "pool". Of course, with most higher-end end systems, dynamic filesystem growth is pretty much a given.
In the case of RAC, regardless of the backend, ASM with raw is a no-brainer.
In the case of a standalone instance, it's a judgement call. My vote in the case of intelligent storage where one could dynamically grow filesystems, would be to keep ASM out of the picture.
Your vote may be different....just make sure you're putting in a solution to a problem and not a solution that's looking for a problem(s).
And there's the whole culture of IT thing as well (i.e. do your storage guys know what you're doing and vice versa).....which can destroy any technological solution, regardless of how great it is.

CREATING RAW DEVICE IN LINUX

HI ALL,
in redhat linux 5 how to format the disk(ex: /opt,/u01,.....) and make it as raw device for ASM installation

DSP_863977 wrote:
HI ALL,
in redhat linux 5 how to format the disk(ex: /opt,/u01,.....) and make it as raw device for ASM installationit is not possible to change a mount /opt or /u01 for ASM storage.
for learning purpose you can learn with vmware server to create a raw device to configure/install ASM.
Refer the link:- shared storage part for linux5/rhel5
http://oracleinstance.blogspot.com/2010/03/oracle-10g-installation-in-linux-5.html
for more information refer the link:-
http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B28359_01/server.111/b31107/asmprepare.htm

Configuring Storage for Clusterware on Raw devices

My proposed system is:
- Sun Solaris 10
- Oracle 10G RAC
- Oracle Clusterware
- Raw devices for Clusterware files
- ASM for database flies
Assume I have appropriately sized LUNs assigned on my SAN for OCR and voting disks. My question is, how do I configure the raw devices required for these Clusterware files?
I have read the Oracle RAC/Clusterware installation guide (Sun Solaris, SPARC), which goes as far as identifying the requirements but does not give the procedure. If I wish to use raw devices for ASM, it gives a procedure for creating partitions on the LUNs. Is anything like this required for the Clusterware files (OCR and voting disks)?

As far as I know, Solaris follows the traditional raw device definition, which basically says that a raw device is a disk or a partition on a disk that does not contain a file system (yet). Given your question, this would mean that any device that you can find that does not contain a file system would be a raw device.
Message edited here:
However, you need to find the right link to this device in order to use it as a raw or character device. Otherwise, the device would be used as a block device, which means it will be buffered.
On Solaris, those character devices should be listed under /dev/rdsk, while the block device would be listed under /dev/dsk. (Please, refer to: http://www.idevelopment.info/data/Unix/Solaris/SOLARIS_UnderstandingDiskDeviceFiles.shtml)
End of update.
Therefore, you have 2 options in your case. You can create LUNs in your storage that would be just suitable to host your Voting Disks and OCRs OR you can create a bigger LUN and put an OCR and a Voting Disk on this one, AFTER you have sliced the disk (LUN) using the format command.
There is only one thing to remember: If you follow Oracle's recommendation to use multiple Votings and mirrored OCRs, it would obviously be better that those devices do not all share the same LUN (for availability reasons).
Last but not least, you may want to have a look at the following forum for a similar discussion on using RAW devices under Solaris: http://forum.java.sun.com/thread.jspa?threadID=5073358&messageID=9267900
Hope that helps. Thanks.
Message was edited by:
MarkusM

Raw Device in RAC

Hi,
I want to use Raw-Devide in RAC,
Could you Say To me That How Can We see and work with Oracle Database Files when thay are in "unformated and without letter partitions(logic part.)" in Raw-Devide ?
when Oracle begin to Format them?
Thanks a lot

If you are using raw devices, you don't see or manage files at the file system level-- you're bypassing the file system entirely. If you want to see and work with Oracle database files, you ought not be using raw devices.
Are you planning on using Oracle clustered file system or the operating system's clustering functionality for your shared storage?
Justin
Distributed Database Consulting, Inc.
http://www.ddbcinc.com/askDDBC

Root.sh failed:Raw devices for OEL 5.3 and 10.2.0.4 RAC

Hi
We have OEL 5.3 and Oracle RAC 10.2.0.4
While installing clusterware and running root.sh we are getting the error
Failed to upgrade the cluster registry.
Further the ocrconfig.log are as below:
ocrconfig_20527.log
Oracle Database 10g CRS Release 10.2.0.1.0 Production Copyright 1996, 2005 Oracle. All rights reserved.
2009-08-04 04:38:41.540: [ OCRCONF][286303376]ocrconfig starts...
2009-08-04 04:38:41.540: [ OCRCONF][286303376]Upgrading OCR data
2009-08-04 04:38:41.615: [ OCRRAW][286303376]propriogid:1: INVALID FORMAT
2009-08-04 04:38:41.616: [ OCRRAW][286303376]ibctx:1:ERROR: INVALID FORMAT
2009-08-04 04:38:41.616: [ OCRRAW][286303376]proprinit:problem reading the bootblock or superbloc 22
2009-08-04 04:38:41.616: [ default][286303376]a_init:7!: Backend init unsuccessful : [22]
2009-08-04 04:38:41.616: [ OCRCONF][286303376]Exporting OCR data to [OCRUPGRADEFILE]
2009-08-04 04:38:41.616: [ OCRAPI][286303376]a_init:7!: Backend init unsuccessful : [33]
2009-08-04 04:38:41.616: [ OCRCONF][286303376]There was no previous version of OCR. error:[PROC-33: Oracle Cluster Registry is not configured]
2009-08-04 04:38:41.619: [ OCRRAW][286303376]propriogid:1: INVALID FORMAT
2009-08-04 04:38:41.619: [ OCRRAW][286303376]ibctx:1:ERROR: INVALID FORMAT
2009-08-04 04:38:41.619: [ OCRRAW][286303376]proprinit:problem reading the bootblock or superbloc 22
2009-08-04 04:38:41.619: [ default][286303376]a_init:7!: Backend init unsuccessful : [22]
2009-08-04 04:38:41.623: [ OCRRAW][286303376]propriogid:1: INVALID FORMAT
2009-08-04 04:38:41.623: [ OCRRAW][286303376]ibctx:1:ERROR: INVALID FORMAT
2009-08-04 04:38:41.623: [ OCRRAW][286303376]proprinit:problem reading the bootblock or superbloc 22
2009-08-04 04:38:41.626: [ OCRRAW][286303376]propriogid:1: INVALID FORMAT
2009-08-04 04:38:41.641: [ OCRRAW][286303376]propriowv: Vote information on disk 0 [dev/raw/raw1] is adjusted from [0/0] to [2/2]
2009-08-04 04:38:41.646: [ OCRRAW][286303376]propriniconfig:No 92 configuration
2009-08-04 04:38:41.646: [ OCRAPI][286303376]a_init:6a: Backend init successful
2009-08-04 04:38:41.663: [ OCRCONF][286303376]Initialized DATABASE keys in OCR
2009-08-04 04:38:41.677: [ OCRCONF][286303376]csetskgfrblock0: clsfmt returned with error [4].
2009-08-04 04:38:41.677: [ OCRCONF][286303376]Failure in setting block0 [-1]
2009-08-04 04:38:41.677: [ OCRCONF][286303376]OCR block 0 is not set !
2009-08-04 04:38:41.678: [ OCRCONF][286303376]Exiting [status=failed]...
Any solution please?
Supriya Sh

There are a couple of errors that doesn't make the clusterware look fine.
There was no previous version of OCR. error:PROC-33: Oracle Cluster Registry is not configured
proprinit:problem reading the bootblock or superbloc 22
This could mean either your cluster registry file is corrupt or you don't have access to the raw devices. Check the access to the shared storage raw device is valid. If this is not true, then make sure you have all your backup files ready.
~ Madrid
http://hrivera99.blogspot.com

SPARC 64bit Clusterware 10.2.0.4 - shared raw device

Dear group,
I have been asked to install RAC 10.2.0.4 SE on Solaris 10 (SPARC). I am not a Solaris admin altough I have done many RAC installations on RHEL4/5.
Does anyone have suggestions/pointers to documentation (apart from the docs on OTN which I already consulted) on how to place OCR and vorting disk on shared raw devices? The setup is unlikely to use any multipathing but will rely on a low end SAN for shared storage. I am especially interested in the proper use of the "format" tool (I know for instance that I need to start from cyliner 1 for ASM slices).
So far all I found were documents explaining SFRAC, Sun Cluster etc which I either don't have at my disposal or can't use due to license restrictions.
On a comparable single-pathing Linux setup, we'd simply use fdisk to create partitions on the shared disk(s) which then are made available as raw devices thanks to udev.
Thanks and regards,
Martin

Hi Martin,
Take a look on this doc http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B19306_01/install.102/b14205/storage.htm#sthref675
Regards,
Rodrigo Mufalani
http://mufalani.blogspot.com

Raw devices versus Cluster File Systems in RAC 10gR2

Hi,
Does anyone using cluster file systems in a RAC 10gR2 installation, specifically IBMs GPFS?
Ive visited a company that is running RAC 10gR2 in AIX over raw devices. Why someone would choose to use raw devices , with all the problems to administer , when all the modern file systems are so powerful? Is there any issues when using cluster file systems + RAC? Is there considerable performance benefits when using raw devices with RAC ?
I´ve always used Oracle stand alone instances over file systems (since version 7) , and performance was always very good. I´ve tested raw devices almost 10 years ago , and even in that time (the hardware today is much better - SAN , 15K rpm disks , huge caches - and the file systems software today is much better) the cost to administer it does not compensate the benefits (only 5% more faster than file systems in Oracle 7).
So , besides any limitations imposed by RAC , why use raw devices nowadays ?
Regards,
Antonio Belloni

Hi,
spontaneously, my question would be: How did you eliminate the influence of the Linux File System Cache on ext3? OCFS2 is accessed with the o_direct flag - there will be no caching. The same holds true for RAW devices. This could have an influence on your test and I did not see a configuration step to avoid it.
What I saw, though, is "counter test": "I have tried comparing simple file copies from an OS level and the speed differences are not apparent - so the issue only manifests itself when the data is read via an oracle db." and I have no good answer to that one.
Maybe this paper has: http://www.oracle.com/technology/tech/linux/pdf/Linux-FS-Performance-Comparison.pdf - it's a bit older, but explains some of the interdependencies.
Last question: While you spent a lot of effort on proving that this one query is slower on OCFS2 or RAW than on ext3 for the initial read (that's why you flushed the buffer cache before each run), how realistic is this scenario when this system goes into production? I mean, how many times will this query be read completely from disk as opposed to use some block from the buffer? If you consider that, what impact does the "IO read time from disk" have on the overall performance of the system? If you do not isolate the test to just a read, how do writes compare?
Just some questions. Thanks.

Raw device in ASM

Hi,
I am assigning raw devices to ASM on IBM-AIX 5.2. But the devices are not visible in ASM. Please somebody help me how to identify the disks in ASM or from AIX to check whether the disks are accessiable. I am able to ls -lrt and find the disk. but not able to identify the raw disk size
Thanks for your help

In some OSs raw devices are only visible to root unless the permissions are explicitly reset.
Have you read the appropriate section in the RAC install guide for AIX? (http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B19306_01/install.102/b14201/storage.htm#BABHCGIJ)

Mount raw devices from one plarform to another?

Hi,
I would like to know if it is possible to mount raw devices from one platform on Tru Filesystem to another platform on HP-UX running ASM? I am asking that to know if we can save precious time avoiding copying the datafiles from our Tru64 server to our HP-UX server. If this can be made, the "only" work we would have to do is transporting tablespaces via Transportable Tablespace.
Thanks for your attention.

When I do File>Import the only two options I've are "Files" and "Show iPhoto Browser".
Hello Pedro,
what is your Aperture version on the iMac? The File menu should look like this in the current version 3.2.2. Do you only see two items, or are some options greyed out?
unfortunately I had erased all the files from the pendrive
Why? Not much space on the pendrive? erasing images is no good idea, if you are searching for missing master image files - next time you have any kind of trouble with unconnected masters, keep all existing copies of your images, until you have reconnected the versions safely and are dead sure where the original masters are stored. If you accidentally moved the masters, you may be erasing the only copy you still have.
Thus said, what is on on your pendrive right now? Do you still have the exported library there? If so, you may try the following:
I think you may have a permissions problem or formatting problem with the pendrive.
Is pendrive formatted MacOS X extended? If not, then reformat it (with DiskUtility) to MacOS X extended, if you want to use to to transfer images between Aperture Libraries. Pendrives usually come preformatted for Windows users, and Aperture does not recognize all formats, i.e. MS Dos (FAT) is not supported by Aperture. Reformatting will erase the drive, however.
Set the permissions on the drive to "ignore ownership on that volume": Select the pen drive in the Finder and then press (command)⌘-I to open the Get Info panel. At the bottom of the panel you should see a checkbox "Ignore Ownership on this Volume" (if your drive is MacOS extended). Set this flag.
Also check the permissions of the Aperture Library on this drive - you shoud have read-write permissions, and the perpissions of any enlosing folder.
Regards
Léonie

Raw devices for 11g rac

hi,
whether 11gr2 rac supports raw devices in ibm aix 6.1 with power ha?
regards
sridhar

Hi;
Pelase see:
Raw Devices and Cluster Filesystems With Real Application Clusters (RAC) [ID 183408.1]
For your future RAC related issue I suggest close your issue here as answered than move your issue Forum Home » High Availability » RAC, ASM & Clusterware Installation which is RAC dedicated forum site.
Regard
Helios

Formating Raw devices on AIX

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