Third-Party Cluster Management Support

As an alternative to regular raw devices or the new Automatic Storage Management feature, Oracle 10g also supports third-party cluster filemanagement software in a RAC environment. Third-party cluster-file management, referred to as "Cluster File System" (CFS), provides a shared environment where node members within a predefined cluster can access the same files. Third-party CFS not only supports the Oracle-specific files that are supported on ASM, but also supports the file types that are not supported by ASM, such as ORACLE_HOME and ORACLE_BASE files, CRS voting and OCR files, and any other relevant files needed to support your application.

Currently with Oracle 10g, only certified third-party cluster-management software may be used to support RAC. You can find a complete certification matrix of all certified platforms and third-party CFS providers by accessing MetaLink Note #184875.1, "How to Check the Certification Matrix for RAC," or via OTN at http://www.oracle.com/technology/support/metalink/index.html. If you click View Certifications by Product and then click Real Application Clusters, you can choose whatever platform you wish. Unlike ASM, customers who choose to use third-party cluster support must also purchase separate software licenses, additional to any Oracle licenses already purchased.

Installing Oracle UDLM

If you are using Sun Cluster 3.1, then you must install the Oracle-provided UDLM (UNIX Distributed Lock Manager or Cluster Membership Monitor) patch on each node that is part of your cluster installation. Even if you have a previous version of UDLM, you must install the Oracle 10gprovided UDLM before you install 10g CRS. To install the UDLM patch, review the procedures in the README file located under the /racpatch directory on the 10g CRS CD.