Oracle RAC DBA Services

Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) is a clustered version of Oracle Database with that provides high availability, scalability, and performance for Oracle and third-party applications.

At Arc DBA Consulting, we’ve been installing, upgrading, tuning, and troubleshooting RAC problems since it was first released in 2000 as an option for Oracle 8i known as Oracle Parallel Server. Our DBAs have all worked with many RAC Database 12c systems, currently the latest release, on all supported major platforms and almost all minor platforms as well.

We know RAC, having supported hundreds of RAC systems for various applications, including EBS, OBI, and Hyperion, all of which we specialize in supporting for big implementations involving very large databases (VLDBs) and thousands of users, often on an Exadata platform. As such, we’ve been exposed to a wide variety of RAC-related configuration, performance, stability, conversion, storage, and network issues that we’ve resolved for customers over the years.

Following are the types of RAC engagements we typically assist with:

• RAC assessment to determine if it is the right solution for an environment, including its high availability and scalability requirements.
• RAC architectural design and sizing, particularly for EBS, OBI, and Hyperion applications.
• RAC implementation (see below) – including installation, migration/conversion from single-instance database, upgrade, and patching.
• RAC performance tuning.
• RAC system troubleshooting, including cluster issues such as node failure.
• Configuring RAC with complimentary Oracle database technologies such as Exadata, Data Guard, RMAN, Enterprise Manager, and GoldenGate.

RAC IMPLEMENTATion Engagements

Following is an outline of our typical approach to RAC implementations, which applies for the most part to RAC installations, migrations/conversions, or upgrades:

RAC Pre-IMPLEMENTATION Steps

• Work with the customer’s database, system, storage, and network administrators to install a RAC database.
• Perform (or assist the customer in performing) all RAC database pre-implementation tasks.

RAC IMPLEMENTATION Steps

• Install the Oracle Grid Infrastructure (GI) software locally on each RAC node, and apply the latest GI Patch Set Update (PSU).
• Create an ASM instance on each RAC node and create the disk groups that will store the database and Fast Recovery Area (FRA) files.
• Install the RAC database software on ASM Cluster File System (ACFS), and apply the latest database Patch Set Update (PSU).
• Create the first Oracle RAC database using the Database Configuration Assistant (DBCA) user interface, installing the database and FRA files on ASM.
• Create additional RAC databases using command-line scripts generated by DBCA during creation of the first database. Parameterize the scripts so that you can specify different configuration inputs (such as database name) to allow the customer to rapidly and programmatically create additional identically configured databases.

RAC Post-IMPLEMENTAtion Steps

• Perform all required RAC post-implementation steps.
• Assist as requested with installation and configuration of an Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM) Cloud Control 12c system to administer and monitor RAC production, nonproduction, and DR systems.
• Support application testing on the new RAC system and determine the impact on normal operating procedures.
• Provide knowledge sharing with your IT team on Oracle RAC cluster and database management and how best to leverage RAC features including high availability, workload management, and failover.
• If desired, teach our proprietary RAC course for DBAs and system administrators on how to configure, maintain, administer, and troubleshoot their RAC system.