Problem of using OCFS2 as shared storage to install RAC 10g on VMware

Question

Hi, all
I am installing a RAC 10g cluster with two linux nodes on VMware. I created a shared 5G disk for the two nodes as shared storage partition. By using OCFS2 tools, i formatted this shared storage partition and successfully auto mounted it on both nodes.
Before installing, i use the command "runcluvfy.sh stage -pre crsinst -n node1,node2" to determine the installation prerequisites. Everything is ok except an error "Could not find a suitable set of interfaces for VIPs.". By searching the web, i found this error could be safely ignored.
The OCFS2 works well on both nodes, i formatted the shared partition as ocfs2 file system and configure o2bc to auto start ocfs service. I mounted the shared disk on both nodes at /ocfs directory. By adding an entry into both nodes' /etc/fstab, this partition can be auto mounted at system boots. I could access files in shared partition on both nodes.
My problem is that, when installing clusterware, at the stage "Specify Oracle Cluster Registry", I enter "/ocfs/OCRFILE" for Specify OCR Location and "/ocfs/OCRFILE_Mirror" for Specify OCR Mirror Location. But got an error as following:
----- Error Message ----
The location /ocfs/OCRFILE, entered for the Oracle Cluster Registry(OCR) is not shared across all the nodes in the cluster. Specify a shared raw partition or cluster file system that is visible by the same name on all nodes of the cluster.
------ Error Message ---
I don't know why the OUI can't recognize /ocfs as shared partition. On both nodes, using command "mounted.ocfs2 -f", i can get the result:
Device FS Nodes
/dev/sdb1 ocfs2 node1, node2
What's the possible wrong? Any help is appreciated!
Addition information:
1) uname -r
2.6.9-42.0.0.0.1.EL
2) Permission of shared partition
$ls -ld /ocfs/
drwxrwxr-x 6 oracle dba 4096 Aug 3 18:22 /ocfs/

Answer 1

Hello
I am not sure how far this following solution is relevant to your problem (regardless when it was originally posted - may help someone who is reading this thread), here is what I faced and here is how I fixed it:
I was setting up RAC using VMWare. I prepared rac1 [installed OS, configured disks, users, etc] and the made a copy of it as rac2. So far so good. When, as per the guide I was following for RAC configuration, I started OCFS2 configuration, faced the following error on RAC2 when I tried to mount the /dev/adb1:
===================================================
[Root @ *rac2* ~] # mount - t ocfs2 - o datavolume, nointr / dev / sdb1 / ocfs
ocfs2_hb_ctl: OCFS2 DIRECTORY corrupted WHILE reading uuid ocfs2_hb_ctl: OCFS2 DIRECTORY corrupted WHILE reading uuid
mount.ocfs2: Error WHEN attempting TO run / sbin / ocfs2_hb_ctl: "Operation not permitted" mount.ocfs2: Error WHEN attempting TO run / sbin / ocfs2_hb_ctl: "Operation not permitted"
===================================================
After a lot of "googling around", I finally bumped into a page, the kind person who posted the solution said [in my words below and more detailed ]:
o shutdown both rac1 and rac2
o in VMWare, "edit virtual machine settings" for rac1
o remove the disk [make sure you drop the correct one]
o recreate it and select *"allocate all disk space now"* [with same name and in the same directory where it was before]
o start rac1 and login as *"root"* and *"fdisk /dev/sdb"* [or whichever is/was your disk where you r installing ocfs2]
Once done, repeat the steps for configuring OCFS2. I was successfully able to mount the disk on both machines.
All this problem was apparently caused by not choosing "allocate all disk space now" option while creating the disk to be used for OCFS2.
If you still have any questions or problem, email me at [email protected] and I'll try to get back to you at my earliest.
Good luck!
Muhammad Amer
[email protected]