Apps DBA Workshop

 Oracle SPARC processors have been a hallmark of enterprise computing for over two decades, powering mission-critical workloads with exceptional reliability, security, and performance. Designed specifically for Oracle software and engineered systems, SPARC-based servers have long been favored in industries like finance, telecommunications, and government for their rock-solid stability and predictable scalability. But as the IT landscape evolves rapidly—driven by cloud computing, open architectures, and x86 dominance—the future of SPARC hardware is a topic of growing interest and speculation. The Legacy Strengths of SPARC SPARC architecture brought numerous innovations: High throughput and scalability: Optimized for multithreaded database and middleware workloads. Advanced RAS features: Reliability, Availability, and Serviceability designed to minimize downtime. Tight hardware-software integration: Oracle’s engineered systems such as Exadata and SuperCluster leverage S...

 For decades, Oracle Solaris has been a cornerstone of enterprise computing—powering mission-critical workloads across finance, telecom, government, and healthcare. Known for its unmatched scalability, security, and uptime, Solaris became synonymous with stability on SPARC hardware and even x86 platforms in earlier years. But in a world rapidly shifting toward cloud-native , containerized , and Linux-first architectures , where does Solaris stand today—and what does the future hold? A Brief Look Back Originally developed by Sun Microsystems in the early 1990s, Solaris was a pioneer in: Zones (containers) before Docker was born ZFS for next-generation file systems DTrace for real-time observability RBAC and SMF for role-based security and service management After Sun's acquisition by Oracle in 2010, Solaris development slowed, and its open-source cousin OpenSolaris was discontinued. Oracle positioned Solaris as a long-term, stable platform—but innovation pace dec...

In this blogpost we will see how we can use the GFS2 (Global File System 2) on Oracle Linux 9 allows multiple cluster nodes to concurrently access a shared block storage device—ideal for highly available applications in a clustered environment (e.g., with KVM, OLVM, or Pacemaker clusters). Prerequisites: System Requirements Oracle Linux 9 with UEK kernel Shared block storage (iSCSI, FC, or shared disk) 1. Cluster infrastructure (Pacemaker/Corosync) Fencing configured (GFS2 requires it) Install Required Packages (on all nodes): bash#dnf install -y gfs2-utils lvm2-cluster pcs fence-agents-all 2. Enable and Start Cluster Services: bash#systemctl enable --now pcsd bash#echo "yourpassword" | passwd --stdin hacluster bash#pcs host auth node1 node2 node3 -u hacluster -p yourpassword bash#pcs cluster setup --name gfscluster node1 node2 node3 bash#pcs cluster start --all bash#pcs cluster enable --all 3. Configure Shared Storage: If using LVM, make sure to enable cluster...

Oracle Solaris and IBM AIX are both enterprise-grade Unix operating systems that have long histories in mission-critical environments. However, their future is increasingly uncertain as the IT industry shifts toward cloud-native, Linux-based, and containerized solutions. Oracle Solaris has seen limited development in recent years, with Oracle focusing more on its cloud offerings, leading many to question its long-term viability. Similarly, IBM AIX, while still actively supported, is increasingly viewed as a legacy system as IBM emphasizes Linux, particularly Red Hat Enterprise Linux, for modernization and hybrid cloud strategies. Despite continued use in sectors like finance and government, where stability and long-term support are crucial, both Solaris and AIX face declining adoption and a shrinking talent pool, suggesting that their roles in enterprise IT will continue to diminish in the coming years. Migrating an Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) database from Solaris to Linux involves ...

 In this blogpost its important to clarify a common point of confusion: ZFS as implemented in Oracle Solaris is not directly available on Oracle Linux . Oracle’s version of ZFS— ZFS on Solaris (Solaris ZFS) —is tightly integrated with the Solaris kernel and is proprietary. Oracle Linux, on the other hand, is based on the Red Hat ecosystem and uses the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK) , which does not include Oracle’s Solaris ZFS . However, you can deploy a version of ZFS on Oracle Linux 9 using the OpenZFS project, which is the open-source continuation of ZFS development. Enable Required Repositories: Oracle Linux does not include OpenZFS by default. Use the EPEL repository or build from source, but the cleanest method is usually via kmods or DKMS packages . sudo dnf install -y epel-release Install OpenZFS You can build from source or install from the OpenZFS packages . A third-party repository such as ZFS-on-Linux or a compiled RPM may be available. dnf install -y https://...

 There was a failed installation of  Oracle 12c grid infrastructure due to some storage issues, later these nodes were cleaned using the deinstall procedure. Once the nodes are cleaned, proceeded back with the installation and encountered the following error: To solve this issue check "/etc/oracle" directory on nodes for which its failing. When we check both nodes, we found this directory existed on node2 and not deleted by deinstall procedure. Action Plan: - Delete "/etc/oracle" directory - Retry the Installation  and it should proceed without issues. thanks for reading :) regards, Zaheer

This is a step by step article for adding a new node to an existing 2  node 12c Grid Infrastructure cluster. I've demonstrated this post on virtual box. This post will be helpful for those who wants to practice adding of nodes for TESTING/DEMONSTRATION purpose and it will be also helpful for those who wants to add a node in a real production environment. Please read my previous article  to have a clear understanding of this deployment. " Oracle 12c RAC Installation on linux using virtualbox " High level steps for adding a node to 12c Grid Infrastructure: 1) Install OS same as other surviving cluster nodes 2) Configure shared Storage 3) Configure network (public, private and virtual) 4) Configure all OS pre-requisites (users, groups, directories, kernel parameters etc) 5) Run cluvfy to verify addition of node 6) Add node to an existing 12c cluster 7) Verify Services on all cluster nodes 8) Add Instance to a third node Existing network configuration of 2 No...