Registering an Oracle 10g R2 database in Active Directory

Question

Hi Gurus!
I'm testing with Oracle 10g R2 and Windows 2003 Server (german version). I have the following configuration:
Computer 1:
OS: Windows 2003 Server SP 2
Status: Domain Controller (DNS and AD is correctly setup by the server configuration wizard)
Oracle Client Administration tools are installed.
Computer 2:
OS: Windows 2003 Server SP 2
Status: Domainclient (DNS resolution of the DC works perfectly)
Oracle database 10g R2 is installed with Advanced Security Option
I did the steps to create the Oracle schema and Oracle context in Active Directory as mentioned in Claus Jandausch's Book "Oracle 10g Release 2 für Windows und .NET". I could do this steps without any errors. After that I configured ldap.ora and sqlnet.ora on Computer 2 like this:
ldap.ora
DEFAULT_ADMIN_CONTEXT = "dc=oracle,dc=de"
DIRECTORY_SERVER_TYPE = ADsqlnet.ora
SQLNET.AUTHENTICATION_SERVICES = (NTS)
NAMES.DIRECTORY_PATH = (LDAP)In the next step I've created a Net Servicename with Netmanager in the Oracle Context. Creation and resolution of this Net Servicename (tnsping) could be done flawlessly. But now I've come to the sticking point where I want to register my database in Active Directory. I also did as Claus Jandausch said in his book. I've opened the database configuration assistant and tried to do the registration but DBCA hangs at 7 % and an TNS-04405 pops up that tells me: Datenbankeintrag kann in Directory Service nicht erstellt werden. TNS-04405 Allgemeiner Fehler (Databaseentry could not be created in Directory Service. TNS-04405 Common Error).
Because this only a testing environment I've tried to give the Dom Admin full access to the complete Domain Context and Configuration Context but event that did not the trick.
Does anyone know what hooks, bugs or other things could be within Oracle or AD that prevent me from registering my database?
I'm looking forward to you posts and I appreciate your help.
yours sincerely
Florian W.

Answer 1

Before you can install RAC, you need disk storage that is configured to be used by two or more computers at the same time.
The difficulty in RAC installation is getting that storage correct.
If you are doing this for a real environment, you will need to ensure you have the right KIND of storage. If you are doing this to play around (learn, evaluate, prototype) you can get away with a simulation of that storage.
Assuming a serious implementation, the options are:
- NetApp filer using their special implementation of NFS;
- shareable iSCSI (the shareable part is not often found - available from NetApp as well);
- SANs that permit multiple accesses to the raw LVM;
- cluster file systems, such as Veritas CFS.
For play-around implementations, you could also use;
- two computers, using configurable firewire or scsi controllers, attached to firewire or scsi drives;
- VMWare, as described by Howard at http://www.dizwell.com;
- NetApp simulator (if you have a valid NetApp license already).
Of these options, I personally lean toward the NetApp NFS as it is the least expensive of the production-worthy options. NetApp sells the FAS250 with 1TB disk at a reasonable price.