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ACM Installation Checklist

Use the following checklists to plan and carry out ACM installation.

AccelBase recommends that you use ACM checklists as part of your installation planning process. These checklists will guide you to confirm that your server(s) hardware and configuration meet minimum requirements for this release, and this will help you carry out a successful installation.

    Infrastructure options Checklist

    Master Database Checklist

    ACM Web Front End Checklist

    ACM Agent Checklist

    Installer Planning Checklist


See Also:
Get Started with architecture overview before you plan the installation



3.1 Infrastructure option Checklist

Review the infrastructure option, the ACM Web Front End scenario and ACM Agent scenario that will be used in your environment.

Infrastructure option


3.2 Master Database Checklist

This section describes the Master database requirements before you configure it on ACM.

3.2.1 Checking server Hardware, software and parameter configuration

Master database or Base image database is a full copy of your production database and currently, Oracle physical Dataguard on ACFS is the only replication method supported by ACM. Oracle Dataguard installation and configuration are not covered in this documentation. Please check the third-party Oracle documentation to setup it.


Note:
The primary and standby databases must be using the same Operation System and version of Oracle Database and each can be installed in either a single-instance or multi-instance environment. The database must be licensed for Oracle Enterprise Edition.



Master database or Base image database needs specific configuration to work with ACM. The components in the table below must be properly configured.

Component Requirement
Operational System - Linux x86_64 (that supports Oracle Grid Infrastructure 12cR2 or higher)
- Solaris 10 or higher (Global Cluster or Kernel Cluster)
Grid infrastructure version 12cR2 or higher
Database type Oracle Database
Database version 10g or higher
Database replication Oracle Dataguard
Storage type ACFS
Compatible.advm 12.1.0.2 or higher
Volume Accelerator
(for Linux only)		 Oracle ASM Dynamic Volume Manager (ADVM) for Volume Accelerator

The ADVM needs to be setup as bellow:

1.  A specific ASM Diskgroup with compatible 12.2.0.0 or higher
2.  ADVM compatible 12.2.0.0 or higher
3.  ADVM with stripe columns = 8 and stripe width = 1 MB
4.  ADVM size must be 0,6% of full Master database size + 0,4% of full Master database size per clone database.
    E.g.: Master database has 10T and max estimate clone database simultaneous are 5 then volume accelerator size must be 260G.

Example commands to create a Volume Accelerator named VOLACCEL01 on DG DGACCEL01 already created:

ASMCMD [+] > setattr -G DGACCEL01 compatible.asm 12.2.0.0
ASMCMD [+] > setattr -G DGACCEL01 compatible.advm 12.2.0.0
ASMCMD [+] > volcreate -G DGACCEL01 -s 260G --width 1024K --column 8 VOLACCEL01
ASMCMD [+] > volinfo -G DGACCEL01 VOLACCEL01
Diskgroup Name: DGACCEL01

Volume Name: VOLACCEL01
Volume Device: /dev/asm/volaccel01-181
State: ENABLED
Size (MB): 266240
Resize Unit (MB): 64
Redundancy: MIRROR
Stripe Columns: 8
Stripe Width (K): 1024
Usage:
Mountpath:
Filesystem for datafiles Oracle Automatic Cluster File System (ACFS)

1.  A specific ASM Diskgroup with compatible 12.2.0.0 or higher.
2.  ADVM compatible 12.2.0.0 or higher.
3.  ADVM with stripe columns = 8 and stripe width = 1 MB.
4.  ADVM size must be a full Master database size + between 20% and 30% of full Master database size per database clone simultaneous + 20% of free space to maintenance routines and performance gain.
    E.g.: If your master database has 10T and you estimate to have up to 5 clone database simultaneous, then volume size must be between 24T and 30T.


Performance best practices for the master database layer:

It is high recommended to keep 20% of free space in ACFS to maintenance routines and performance gain

Use dedicated LUNs for ASM diskgroup of dataguard ACFS

Ensure that you have sufficient I/O bandwidth and the I/O response time is "reasonable" for your system either by doing some base I/O tests or comparing the I/O statistics with primary


Example commands to create a Volume named VOLACFS01 and ACFS mount point /u02 on DiskGroup DGACFS01 already created:

ASMCMD [+] > setattr -G DGACFS01 compatible.asm 12.2.0.0
ASMCMD [+] > setattr -G DGACFS01 compatible.advm 12.2.0.0
ASMCMD [+] > volcreate -G DGACFS01 -s 25T --width 1024K --column 8 VOLACFS01
ASMCMD [+] > volinfo -G DGACFS01 VOLACFS01
Diskgroup Name: DGACFS01

Volume Name: VOLACFS01
Volume Device: /dev/asm/volacfs01-123
State: ENABLED
Size (MB): 26214400
Resize Unit (MB): 64
Redundancy: MIRROR
Stripe Columns: 8
Stripe Width (K): 1024
Usage:
Mountpath:

As root:

mkdir /u02

-- Linux

mkfs -t acfs -i 4096 /dev/asm/volacfs01-123 -a /dev/asm/volaccel01-181
mount -t acfs /dev/asm/volacfs01-123 /u02
acfsutil registry -a /dev/asm/volacfs01-123 /u02
chown -R oracle:oinstall /u02

-- Solaris

mkfs -F acfs -o i=4096 /dev/asm/volacfs01-123
mount -F acfs /dev/asm/volacfs01-123 /u02
acfsutil registry -a /dev/asm/volacfs01-123 /u02
chown -R oracle:oinstall /u02

-- Set owner and group for the new filesystem. In the example below, we are using owner oracle and group oinstall. Adjust it accordingly to your environment

chown oracle:oinstall /u02
srvctl modify filesystem -device /dev/asm/volacfs01-123 -mountowner oracle -mountgroup oinstall -mountperm 764
Filesystem for redo logs and temp files For better performance it is high recommended store redo logs and temp files in different location of the data files. Redo logs and temporary files can reside in file system, ACFS or ASM disk group.

Consider the use of disks that prioritize writes.

Note:
In the ACM, a file system will be informed in Redo path dialog box of clone setup. If you store the redo log and temp file in ASM diskgroup, you will need a file system or ACFS to store the redo and tempfile of clone database. Otherwise, you can use the same file system of the Master database.

Make sure to set ACFS mount point as the location of all datafiles of your Master database. In the example above "/u02".

It is mandatory to keep all current master database data files and new ones in the ACFS mount point specified for this master database. If any datafile reside outside the ACFS mount point specified for the master database, the cloning procedure will fail and may cause corruption of the master database.

Ensure that the Master Database is properly set on oratab file. ACM Agent use this information to create and manage clones.

Keep a monitoring on dataguard gap and log apply process to guarantee that the Master Database is up to date. A failure on log apply or mrp inadvertently down, can cause an inappropriate clone datetime or corruption during clone creation.

Since this is a high intensive IO system it is highly recommended to set up the entire system in an All-Flash or at least on a Modern High End storage device to avoid archive gap or performance issues in others IO operation dependencies, such as clone creation, mask and so on.

It is high recommended to avoid using "Storage Layers" functionality available in some storage vendors, such as HP 3par, because it enables block movement between the different layers into storage (flash disk, cold and hot disk parts) and this is considered a write on the database block, therefore it raise a "copy-on-write" on clone database that will cause a high storage consumption.

3.2.2 Performance best practices

Depending on some circumstances, such as high workloads with a large number of simultaneous snapshots, ACFS performance may gradually degrade due to concurrency and fragmentation. Therefore, it is highly recommended to monitor and maintain fragmentation below 5% in ACFS. Oracle automatically performs defragmentation on ACFS, but if the automatic process is not sufficient, manual defragmentation is required. Check the Oracle ACFS documentation to learn about acfs defrag.

It is also mandatory to measure the capacity of your environment to determine a reasonable number of possible snapshots simultaneously. The performance and the number of snapshots are highly related to server and storage type and configuration. For example: A highly intensive OLTP database with 500 MB/sec of "physical write total bytes" and above may have up to 2 or 3 snapshots simultaneously to maintain satisfactory performance. To avoid performance issues, start your tests with few snapshots and monitor the performance for an appropriate period to get information about the best number of snapshots that can work simultaneously without degrading the environment.

3.2.3 Performance best practices for Dataguard

To avoid performance impact on the production layer, setup Oracle Dataguard in max performance mode (the network I/O attribute should be ASYNC and the disk I/O attribute should be NOAFFIRM).

Use defaults for Oracle parameters DB_BLOCK_CHECKING=FALSE and DB_BLOCK_CHECKSUM=TYPICAL or FALSE

Set Oracle parameter parallel_execution_message_size=16384

Set Oracle parameter filesystemio_options=setall

Set DB_CACHE_SIZE to a reasonable value. Having a large database cache size can improve media recovery performance significantly

Use DISK_ASYNCH_IO=TRUE (default). In the rare case that asynchronous I/O is not available, use DBWR_IO_SLAVES to improve the effective data block write rate with synchronous I/O

For production databases with a high intensive archive log generation it is very important to follow the vendor recommendation to correctly define the redo log size to avoid intensive switch log files.

Prioritize a setup with a reasonable number of disks to take advantage of ASM stripe, databases with a high number of datafiles need more time to execute operations such as checkpoint. Therefore a good IO distribution is a good practise for better performance. If possible, avoid or reduce the number of datafiles on the source database.


3.3 ACM Web front end Checklist

Review server hardware and software requirements for ACM Web front end Infrastructure installation.

3.3.1 ACM Web front end

This is the front end application that users will access to make all configurations and requests for snapshots and clones. The components in the table below must be properly installed and configured in the requested or higher version.

Component Version
Disk space Around 100Mb
Apache Httpd 2.2.27 or higher
PHP 5.5.19 or higher
PHP OCI Oracle Instant Client or Oracle Home 11g or higher
sendmail Some functionality such as password reset use the 'sendmail' from Operation System, therefore, configure and enable it in your system to the apache user admin

The ACM core functionalities work based on schedule, therefore, it is very important to properly set the Time Zone in the Web Server and ACM Database Server Repository.

Make sure to set the same Time Zone for your Web Server Operation System, php.ini, OCI, ACM database Server Repository, etc., otherwise, some schedule operation may be inconsistent in the ACM Web front End.

Consult your Middleware and Sys Admin to properly configure Time Zone and the components in table.


3.3.2 ACM Web Front End Repository

This is the ACM Web application data repository. It must be a schema inside an Oracle database. Use the information in table to properly configure a new ACM Schema in an Oracle database.

Component Version and details
Tablespace space Around 80 Mb.
This space will depend on the use and consumption requested from ACM Web.
Database type Oracle Database
Database Edition Standard or Enterprise
Database Version 11g or higher
Schema permission A empty schema with permissions.

Direct grants to schema:
CREATE SESSION
ALTER SESSION
CREATE TABLE
CREATE VIEW
CREATE TYPE
CREATE PROCEDURE
CREATE TRIGGER
CREATE SEQUENCE

Role grant to schema:
SCHEDULER_ADMIN

Tablespace quota:
DEFAULT USER TABLESPACE QUOTA

Note:
Grants are separated into grants that must be granted directly to the schema and grants that must be granted through roles. If any grant that should be granted directly was granted through role, the repository setup will finish with error


Below a script example to create the user on database:


CREATE USER acmanager IDENTIFIED BY passwordacm DEFAULT TABLESPACE USERS;
GRANT CREATE SESSION TO acmanager;
GRANT ALTER SESSION TO acmanager;
GRANT CREATE TABLE TO acmanager;
GRANT CREATE VIEW TO acmanager;
GRANT CREATE TYPE TO acmanager;
GRANT CREATE PROCEDURE TO acmanager;
GRANT CREATE TRIGGER TO acmanager;
GRANT CREATE SEQUENCE TO acmanager;
GRANT SCHEDULER_ADMIN TO acmanager;
ALTER USER acmanager QUOTA UNLIMITED ON USERS;


Note:
The password for the user database repository can not has symbols /\$@


Consult your Database Admin to properly configure the components in the table.

3.4 ACM Agent Checklist

Review server hardware requirements for ACM Agent Infrastructure installation.

ACM Agent is installed on the same server of the Master Database. The table below describes the prerequisites to install ACM Agent.

Component Version and details
Filesystem size 100 mb or high

Create a directory on your Master database Server to install the ACM Agent. ACM logs can also reside in this directory depending on your choices for agent configuration, therefore, it will start using around 100mb but can growth as your log retention defition.

// Conected with the same oracle database user

cd acm_agent_filesystem

mkdir acmagent

You can create this directory inside an existing filesystem, choose a path and name and take note.

Eg:

  cd /u01/app
  mkdir acmagent

For reference, in this documentation we will use acm_agent_directory for this directory.


3.5 Installer Planning Checklist

Review the checklist for planning your ACM installation before starting the install setup.

Check Task
Review ACM License Information You are permitted to use only those components in the AccelBase Clone Manager media pack for which you have purchased licenses. For further information, see ACM EULA in the customer area.
Review Third Party License Information and make sure that your environment is compliant before continuing the installation Apache licenses

PHP licenses

Oracle Global Pricing and Licensing
Review ACM Documentation ACM Documentation
Review Third Party Documentation Apache Documentation

PHP Documentation

Oracle Documentation
Obtain Your ACM Support account information During installation, an ACM client ID is required to configure the software. You can register for ACM here
Ensure your Master database are configured on ACFS and synchronized with the primary database Review that all Mater database datafiles are on ACFS and there are no huge gaps between the production database and Master database.
Ensure that your Master database are configured on oratab Check your oratab to ensure that Master database is correctly configured.
Repository database is up and running and accepting remote connection with the ACM user created. Test the remote connection using the username and password for the acm repository. During installation, username, password, instance name, port and hostname/ip will be required.
If your repository database, web front end and master database are in different servers, ensure that the network communication among all of them are working fine Check and test the communication among all server that are part of the ACM infrastructure.
Ensure that the directories for ACM installation are created with the minimum space necessary and the permission to read, write and execute are correct Review the directories to avoid failures during the installation due to lack of permission to the installation user.
Apache and httpd installation location During installation, apache installation location is necessary to configure ACM web front end.


Access to ACM Support:
ACM customers who have purchased support have access to electronic support in the Customer Area of AccelBase web site. For information, visit https://accelbase.com



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