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Oracle Database 12c Release 1
(12.1) RAC On Oracle Linux 6
Using VirtualBox
This article describes the installation of Oracle
Database 12c release 1 (12.1 64-bit) RAC on Linux
(Oracle Linux 6.5 64-bit) using VirtualBox (4.3.16)
with no additional shared disk devices.
• Introduction
•
Download Software
•
VirtualBox Installation
•
VirtualBox Network Setup
•
Virtual Machine Setup
•
Guest Operating System Installation
•
Oracle Installation Prerequisites
◦
Automatic Setup
◦
Manual Setup
◦
Additional Setup
•
Install Guest Additions
•
Create Shared Disks
•
Clone the Virtual Machine
•
Install the Grid Infrastructure
•
Install the Database Software
•
Create a Database
•
Check the Status of the RAC
Introduction
One of the biggest obstacles preventing people from setting up test RAC environments is the
requirement for shared storage. In a production environment, shared storage is often provided by a
SAN or high-end NAS device, but both of these options are very expensive when all you want to do
is get some experience installing and using RAC. A cheaper alternative is to use a FireWire disk
enclosure to allow two machines to access the same disk(s), but that still costs money and requires
two servers. A third option is to use virtualization to fake the shared storage.
Using VirtualBox you can run multiple Virtual Machines (VMs) on a single server, allowing you to run
both RAC nodes on a single machine. In addition, it allows you to set up shared virtual disks,
overcoming the obstacle of expensive shared storage.
Before you launch into this installation, here are a few things to consider.
•
The finished system includes the host operating system, two guest operating systems, two sets
of Oracle Grid Infrastructure (Clusterware + ASM) and two Database instances all on a single
server. As you can imagine, this requires a significant amount of disk space, CPU and memory.
•
Following on from the last point, the VMs will each need at least 4G of RAM, preferably more if
you don't want the VMs to swap like crazy. Don't assume you will be able to run this on a small
PC or laptop. You won't.
•
This procedure provides a bare bones installation to get the RAC working. There is no
redundancy in the Grid Infrastructure installation or the ASM installation. To add this, simply
create double the amount of shared disks and select the "Normal" redundancy option when it is
offered. Of course, this will take more disk space.
•
During the virtual disk creation, I always choose not to preallocate the disk space. This makes
virtual disk access slower during the installation, but saves on wasted disk space. The shared
disks must have their space preallocated.
•
This is not, and should not be considered, a production-ready system. It's simply to allow you to
get used to installing and using RAC.
