Sun QFS

What Is Sun QFS? Sun QFS software is a high performance file system that can be installed on Oracle Solaris x64 AMD and SPARC platforms. This high availability file system ensures that data is available at device-rated speeds when requested by one or more users. The Sun QFS file system's inherent scalability enables the storage requirements of an organization to grow over time with virtually no limit to the amount of information that can be managed. This file system enables you to store many types of files (text, image, audio, video, and mixed media) all in one logical place. In addition, the Sun QFS file system enables you to implement disk quotas and a shared file system. This file system also includes the following features: Metadata separation Direct I/O capability Shared reader/writer capability File sharing in a storage area network (SAN) environment Oracle Solaris Cluster support for high availability Using the Sun QFS Shared File System The Sun QFS shared file system is always installed in the global-cluster voting node, even when a file system is used by a zone cluster. You configure specific Sun QFS shared file system into a specific zone cluster using the clzc command. The scalable mount-point resource belongs to this zone cluster. The metadata server resource, SUNW.qfs, belongs to the global cluster. You must use the Sun QFS shared file system with one storage management scheme from the following list: Hardware RAID support Solaris Volume Manager for Sun Cluster Distributing Oracle Files Among Sun QFS Shared File Systems You can store all the files that are associated with Oracle RAC on the Sun QFS shared file system. Distribute these files among several file systems as explained in the subsections that follow. Sun QFS File Systems for RDBMS Binary Files and Related Files Sun QFS File Systems for Database Files and Related Files Sun QFS File Systems for RDBMS Binary Files and Related Files For RDBMS binary files and related files, create one file system in the cluster to store the files. The RDBMS binary files and related files are as follows: Oracle relational database management system (RDBMS) binary files Oracle configuration files (for example, init.ora, tnsnames.ora, listener.ora, and sqlnet.ora) System parameter file (SPFILE) Alert files (for example, alert_sid.log) Trace files (*.trc) Oracle Cluster Ready Services (CRS) binary files Sun QFS File Systems for Database Files and Related Files For database files and related files, determine whether you require one file system for each database or multiple file systems for each database. For simplicity of configuration and maintenance, create one file system to store these files for all Oracle RAC instances of the database. To facilitate future expansion, create multiple file systems to store these files for all Oracle RAC instances of the database. Note – If you are adding storage for an existing database, you must create additional file systems for the storage that you are adding. In this situation, distribute the database files and related files among the file systems that you will use for the database. Each file system that you create for database files and related files must have its own metadata server. For information about the resources that are required for the metadata servers, see Resources for the Sun QFS Metadata Server. The database files and related files are as follows: Data files Control files Online redo log files Archived redo log files Flashback log files Recovery files Oracle cluster registry (OCR) files Oracle CRS voting disk Optimizing the Performance of the Sun QFS Shared File System For optimum performance with Solaris Volume Manager for Sun Cluster, configure the volume manager and the file system as follows: Use Solaris Volume Manager for Sun Cluster to mirror the logical unit numbers (LUNs) of your disk arrays. If you require striping, configure the striping by using the file system's stripe option. Mirroring the LUNs of your disk arrays involves the following operations: Creating RAID-0 metadevices Using the RAID-0 metadevices or Solaris Volume Manager soft partitions of such metadevices as Sun QFS devices The input/output (I/O) load on your system might be heavy. In this situation, ensure that the LUN for Solaris Volume Manager metadata or hardware RAID metadata maps to a different physical disk than the LUN for data. Mapping these LUNs to different physical disks ensures that contention is minimized. ProcedureHow to Install and Configure the Sun QFS Shared File System Before You Begin You might use Solaris Volume Manager metadevices as devices for the shared file systems. In this situation, ensure that the metaset and its metadevices are created and available on all nodes before configuring the shared file systems. Ensure that the Sun QFS software is installed on all nodes of the global cluster where Sun Cluster Support for Oracle RAC is to run. For information about how to install Sun QFS, see Using SAM-QFS With Sun Cluster. Ensure that each Sun QFS shared file system is correctly created for use with Sun Cluster Support for Oracle RAC. For information about how to create a Sun QFS file system, see Using SAM-QFS With Sun Cluster. For each Sun QFS shared file system, set the correct mount options for the types of Oracle files that the file system is to store. For the file system that contains binary files, configuration files, alert files, and trace files, use the default mount options. For the file systems that contain data files, control files, online redo log files, and archived redo log files, set the mount options as follows: In the /etc/vfstab file set the shared option. In the /etc/opt/SUNWsamfs/samfs.cmd file or the /etc/vfstab file, set the following options: fs=fs-name stripe=width mh_write qwrite forcedirectio rdlease=300 Set this value for optimum performance. wrlease=300 Set this value for optimum performance. aplease=300 Set this value for optimum performance. fs-name Specifies the name that uniquely identifies the file system. width Specifies the required stripe width for devices in the file system. The required stripe width is a multiple of the file system's disk allocation unit (DAU). width must be an integer that is greater than or equal to 1. Note – Ensure that settings in the /etc/vfstab file do not conflict with settings in the /etc/opt/SUNWsamfs/samfs.cmd file. Settings in the /etc/vfstab file override settings in the /etc/opt/SUNWsamfs/samfs.cmd file. Mount each Sun QFS shared file system that you are using for Oracle files. # mount mount-point mount-point Specifies the mount point of the file system that you are mounting. If you are using a zone cluster, configure the Sun QFS shared file system into the zone cluster. Otherwise, go to Step 5. For information about configuring Sun QFS shared file system into a zone cluster, see How to Add a QFS Shared File System to a Zone Cluster in Sun Cluster Software Installation Guide for Solaris OS. Change the ownership of each file system that you are using for Oracle files. Note – If you have configured Sun QFS shared file system for a zone cluster, perform this step in that zone cluster. Change the file-system ownership as follows: Owner: the database administrator (DBA) user Group: the DBA group The DBA user and the DBA group are created as explained in How to Create the DBA Group and the DBA User Accounts. # chown user-name:group-name mount-point user-name Specifies the user name of the DBA user. This user is normally named oracle. group-name Specifies the name of the DBA group. This group is normally named dba. mount-point Specifies the mount point of the file system whose ownership you are changing. Grant to the owner of each file system whose ownership you changed in Step 5 read access and write access to the file system. Note – When Sun QFS shared file system is configured for a zone cluster, you need to perform this step in that zone cluster. # chmod u+rw mount-point mount-point Specifies the mount point of the file system to whose owner you are granting read access and write access. Next Steps Ensure that all other storage management schemes that you are using for Oracle files are installed. After all storage management schemes that you are using for Oracle files are installed, go to Registering and Configuring the RAC Framework Resource Group.