Chapter 3. Hardware Installation and Configuration
A Cluster is a complex arrangement of bits and pieces that, once combined with the software configuration, produces a highly available platform for mission critical Oracle databases. The hardware configuration requires some knowledge of the application, or at a minimum, its expectation of performance. The goal is always to produce a reliable Red Hat Cluster Suite HA platform, but rarely at the expense of performance or scalability. Oracle uses the terms MAA or Maximum Availability Architecture, but whatever the term, optimizing a platform for availability, scalability and reliability often feels like juggling chainsaws.
3.1. Server Node
Most servers that are configured to run Oracle must provide a large amount of memory and processing power, and our sample cluster is no exception. Each node is an HP Proliant DL585, with 32GB of RAM, and multi-core processors.
The server comes standard with HP’s Integrated Light Out processor management that will be used as the Red Hat Cluster Suite fencing mechanism. It also has two built-in GbE NICs. This configuration also includes an additional dual-ported GbE NIC used by Red Hat Cluster Suite and Oracle Clusterware (in the RAC install).
The local storage requirements on each server are minimal and any basic configuration will have more than adequate disk space. It is recommended that you configure the local array for reliable speed, not space (i.e., not RAID5). Oracle can produce a trace log load, especially Clusterware, which may impact cluster recovery performance.
