Storage and ASM Practices

In this chapter, I will discuss one of the key infrastructure components for the Real Application Cluster (RAC) database: storage. In the RAC Database environment, storage needs to be accessible and shared by all the nodes of the RAC Database. Database files such as data files, control files, online redo log files, temp files, spfiles, and the Flash Recovery Area (FRA) are kept in this shared storage. In addition, two key sets of files of the Oracle Clusterware—Oracle Cluster Registry (OCR) and voting disk files—are also stored here. Due to the presence of these key components of the RAC Database and Clusterware, shared storage is one of the most critical components of the RAC Database infrastructure.