8.8 Conclusion

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In this chapter we looked at the various preconditions that need to be completed for the installation configuration and administration of a RAC database. During this process of installing the database we looked at the storage subsystem configuration, and raw devices, clustered file systems, and VERITAS clustered file systems, etc., were discussed and compared. In particular the steps required to configure a raw partition were discussed and tested.

Basic level administrative functionality around the installation and configuration of the listener, SQL*Net, and intelligent agent has been provided. A detailed discussion on the high availability and failover scenarios will be discussed in Chapter 10 (Availability and Scalability).

The chapter worked through the various steps of installing a RAC environment, and looked at certain cluster configurations like server control, global service daemon, etc., required for clustered database functioning. Finally, basic instance management commands like startup, shutdown, and quiesce operations were discussed.

In the next chapter we will look at the various data dictionaries, focusing specifically on RAC functionality. Their usefulness in everyday tasks and the information they provide will also be discussed.

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