Author Archives: Simon

ASMCA_ARGS

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Calling the DBCA is easy and we have a lot of options, the option initParams allows us to send any parameter that we want during database creation. But for ASMCA? Can we send parameters during the creation of the ASM instance? The answer is Yes and let’s check how to easily do this during the Oracle Grid creation/installation.

But why?

There are several occasions that we need to do that. One example is setting the parameter “_disk_sector_size_override” that disables the check for sector size at the O.S. level (allowing us to play with different sector sizes). The second is allowing us to install Oracle 23ai using the parameter “_exadata_feature_on=true” at the installation/creation phase (for lab and test purposes in a non-Engineered System environment while Oracle does not release it for On-Prem).

For dbca it is easy to do that, but for asmca? Today there was two options for Grid/ASM: The first is install Grid 19c, set the parameter “_exadata_feature_on=true”, and upgrade to 23ai (similar what I described here). The second is install Grid, call the root.sh, wait for the error, set the parameter, and resume/try again (Martin Klier described here how to do this).

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Upgrade EM from 13.5 to 24ai (24.1.0.0.0)

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Probably you saw the note from Tim Hall and Julian Frey about the release of the new version of Enterprise Manager 24ai (24.1.0.0.0). It was released on the Oracle edelivery site, but the documentation is not out yet, documentation was released and can be accessed here. But I recommend registering at Oracle Enterprise Manager Technology Forum 2024 to check what it is the new version and what to expect when using the EM 24ai.

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Update EM from RU 13.5.0.20 to 13.5.0.24

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Keeping your EM/OMS updated is an essential task to avoid performance and security issues of your monitoring/observability tools. Here you can see the steps to patch your EM from 13.5.0.20 to 13.5.0.24 (the last patch for now). And I also updated the agent running in the EM server to the latest version too.

Where to download

The main note to check the updates for the EM is Enterprise Manager 13.5 Main Release Update List (Includes Plug-ins) (Doc ID 2760230.2) and this other as well Enterprise Manager Cloud Control Updates: List of Available RUs (Release Updates) and PSUs (Patch Set Updates) (Doc ID 1605609.1). But I prefer this one Enterprise Manager Cloud Control Database (DB) Plug-in 13.5 Release Update (RU) Bug List (Doc ID 2811987.1) because it lists the patches for EM and Agent in one single page (and the solved bug per each version).

From there, we got the links for EM patch 36761595, and Agent patch 36761598. Both they are the RU 24.

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23ai, Zero-Downtime Oracle Grid Infrastructure Patching using Release Update with Silent Install

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My two last posts (about the GI update) used the GOLD IMAGE (link post#1, and post#2), where we basically deploy a patched image of the desired version. But this is different when we use the Release Update patch. Below I will describe how to do this, covering all the steps, using the silent install (easily adapted for automation), and with Zero-Downtime Oracle Grid Infrastructure Patching – ZDOGIP (that can easily bypassed if you want).

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23ai, Zero-Downtime Oracle Grid Infrastructure Patching – GOLD IMAGE with Silent Install

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My previous post was about the Zero-Downtime Oracle Grid Infrastructure Patching (ZDOGIP) for 23ai using the gold image. In that case, I used the GUI interface to do the installation and patch, but as you know, this is not good for the automation process. So, here in this post, I will describe how to do the same operation using the silent mode for the installation. I will show what parameters you need to set in the response file and all the other steps.

Important details

The focus of this post is to show how to do the same process as my previous post using the silent mode. I will not “prove” (like I made in the last one) that databases continue to receive inserts or details about the AFD/ACFS drivers not being updated. I really recommend that you read my previous post to understand all of these details. Here I will show how to do in silent mode what I made in the previous post.

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23ai, Zero-Downtime Oracle Grid Infrastructure Patching – GOLD IMAGE

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As you know, the 23ai was released for Cloud and Engineered Systems (Exadata and ExaCC) first, I already explored these in previous posts as well. And since the patches already started to be released, now with the patch for 23.6, we can re-test the feature Zero-Downtime Oracle Grid Infrastructure Patching (ZDOGIP). The steps here are not specific to the Exadata version and can be used for any 23ai version.

I already demonstrated how to use it for 21c (using graphical, and silent mode) and the same can be done for 19c as well.

But now, I will show how to do for 23ai, and this post includes:

  • Install the Grid Infrastructure 23.6.0.24.10, using the Gold Image
  • Upgrade the GI from 23.5.0.24.07 to 23.6.0.24.10 using the Zero-Downtime Oracle Grid Infrastructure Patching

This will be done while the database is running to show that we can patch the GI without downtime. I will show how to do this:

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ExaCC, Upgrading from OEL 7 to OEL 8

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Recently I shared several posts about the process to upgrade the GI from 19c to 23ai at ExaCC. My last post summarizes a lot of this, please read it here. But as you know, to use the 23ai you need to be running with OEL 8, and for ExaCC, the upgrade is quite simple. The goal is to reach this, “no updates” and “System up to date”:

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Manually upgrading Oracle GI from 19c to 23ai

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With the official release of Oracle 23ai to Exadata on-prem, it is now possible to manually upgrade Grid Infrastructure (GI) from 19c to 23ai. Nowadays the process is simpler than it was in the past, and I already published several examples of how to do this:

So, several examples that you can use as a guide to reach from GI 12.1 to 19c. In this post, I will upgrade from GI 19.23 (19.23.0.0.240416) to GI 23.5 (23.5.0.24.07).

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23ai, orapwd and the format value

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Recently I was playing with 23ai at ExaCC and got a strange error reporting format mismatch for the password file for my standby. Digging over it I saw that the orapwd has a different default value than dbca.

First, check below my database created with dbca (the same process that I described in the previous post):

[oracle@exxc05db01 ~]$ sqlplus / as sysdba
 
SQL*Plus: Release 23.0.0.0.0 - Production on Tue Jul 23 16:32:29 2024
Version 23.4.0.24.05
 
Copyright (c) 1982, 2024, Oracle.  All rights reserved.
 
 
Connected to:
Oracle Database 23ai EE Extreme Perf Release 23.0.0.0.0 - Production
Version 23.4.0.24.05
 
SQL> col file_name format a80
SQL> set linesize 255
SQL> select * from V$PASSWORDFILE_INFO;
 
FILE_NAME                                                                        FORMAT IS_AS IS_EX     CON_ID
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ ----- ----- ----------
+DATAC5/ORCL23A/PASSWORD/pwdorcl23a.1071.1172152403                              12     TRUE  FALSE          0
 
SQL> exit
Disconnected from Oracle Database 23ai EE Extreme Perf Release 23.0.0.0.0 - Production
Version 23.4.0.24.05
[oracle@exxc05db01 ~]$

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23ai, DBCA and TDE

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With the 23ai it is possible to create a database protected with TDE from the beginning. In a previous post, for OCI Cloud and ExaCC, was already described what are the options and what can be used. Here, let’s discuss other options, and troubleshoot some other details.

OCI Cloud and ExaCC

To contextualize. The OCI, by default, requires that databases are encrypted. When calling the dbca for 23ai, it detects that it is executing in the cloud, and forces it to use TDE. And since ExaCC is considered cloud, it is needed there as well. The previous post already described this in detail.

23ai + DBCA + TDE

When running the 23ai on-prem more options are available. The examples below were made using the Free Edition of 23ai, but when the full release of 23ai will be available, the options will be the same.

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