Re: Re[2]: OFA (Optimal Flexible Architecture) in practice
This was my memory as well. I thought separating archive, redo, indexes, data and so on predated OFA. Also, I read through the comments pretty quickly but I thought Oracle discouraged the use of symbolic links for data files. I've seen this done without trouble but isn't there some potential error that this might trigger? Seems to me there was some traffic on the list for this a while back... Ready to be wrong, Kip |IMHO I think you all have got the reasons for OFA somewhat backwards. Back in |the older days one had one and only one version of Oracle running on a |particular machine at one time. This made upgrading/migrating or running a new |version in test while the older one was still running production absolutely |impossible or at least very difficult. The idea around OFA is that you have one |or more Oracle home directories off of Oracle base and all of your data files |elsewhere. Now when it comes time to upgrade you just shutdown, backup the |datafile area, move a couple of init or cfg files, startup, run the scripts |required, shutdown backup the same directory(s) again. |Dick Goulet |Reply Separator |Author: Tim Gardner [EMAIL PROTECTED] |Date: 7/5/2001 5:15 PM |Does anyone use OFA as their company standard? If so, are there any |complaints about it's structure? For example, the commingling of |different database subdirectories under a given mount point? | |e.g.. | |/u02/oradata/db_name1/userdata01.dbf |/u02/oradata/db_name2/userdata01.dbf |/u03/oradata/db_name1/userdata02.dbf |/u03/oradata/db_name2/userdata02.dbf | |You cannot cd to a given subdirectory, ls -ltR | more to see all the |datafiles associated with a given database. Instead, from / you |have to ls -ltR | grep db_name1 to scan the full file system. Seems |like there should be a better way. | |Any input, pro or con, is appreciated. |Linda, |The point of OFA is to spread out the database over different drives |for performance reasons. For example, you might want to separate |indexes from data. Would what you are proposing allow for multiple |drives? |Tim |-- |Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com |-- |Author: Tim Gardner | INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] |Fat City Network Services-- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051 |San Diego, California-- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists | |To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message |to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in |the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L |(or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may |also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing). |-- |Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com |-- |Author: | INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] |Fat City Network Services-- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051 |San Diego, California-- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists | |To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message |to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in |the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L |(or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may |also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing). -- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com -- Author: INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fat City Network Services-- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051 San Diego, California-- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing).
Re: Re[2]: OFA (Optimal Flexible Architecture) in practice
On Fri, 6 Jul 2001,[EMAIL PROTECTED] scribbled on the wall in glitter...: -This was my memory as well. I thought separating archive, redo, indexes, data -and so on predated OFA. Also, I read through the comments pretty quickly but I -thought Oracle discouraged the use of symbolic links for data files. I've seen -this done without trouble but isn't there some potential error that this might -trigger? Seems to me there was some traffic on the list for this a while -back... - -Ready to be wrong, -Kip too bad Cary isn't on the list to tell us what he had in mind when he designed it. anybody got his email address to forward him the question?;-) -- Bill Shrek Thater Certifiable ORACLE DBA Telergy, Inc.[EMAIL PROTECTED] ~~ You gotta program like you don't need the money, You gotta compile like you'll never get hurt, You gotta run like there's nobody watching, It's gotta come from the heart if you want it to work. ~~ one ping to rule them all, one ping to find them, one ping to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them. -- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com -- Author: Thater, William INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fat City Network Services-- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051 San Diego, California-- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing).
Re: Re[2]: OFA (Optimal Flexible Architecture) in practice
www.hotsos.com --- Thater, William [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Fri, 6 Jul 2001,[EMAIL PROTECTED] scribbled on the wall in glitter...: -This was my memory as well. I thought separating archive, redo, indexes, data -and so on predated OFA. Also, I read through the comments pretty quickly but I -thought Oracle discouraged the use of symbolic links for data files. I've seen -this done without trouble but isn't there some potential error that this might -trigger? Seems to me there was some traffic on the list for this a while -back... - -Ready to be wrong, -Kip too bad Cary isn't on the list to tell us what he had in mind when he designed it. anybody got his email address to forward him the question?;-) -- Bill Shrek Thater Certifiable ORACLE DBA Telergy, Inc.[EMAIL PROTECTED] ~~ You gotta program like you don't need the money, You gotta compile like you'll never get hurt, You gotta run like there's nobody watching, It's gotta come from the heart if you want it to work. ~~ one ping to rule them all, one ping to find them, one ping to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them. -- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com -- Author: Thater, William INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fat City Network Services-- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051 San Diego, California-- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing). __ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ -- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com -- Author: Scott Shafer INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fat City Network Services-- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051 San Diego, California-- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing).
Re: Re[2]: OFA (Optimal Flexible Architecture) in practice
[EMAIL PROTECTED] From: Thater, William [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Re[2]: OFA (Optimal Flexible Architecture) in practice Date: Fri, 06 Jul 2001 10:26:28 -0800 On Fri, 6 Jul 2001,[EMAIL PROTECTED] scribbled on the wall in glitter...: -This was my memory as well. I thought separating archive, redo, indexes, data -and so on predated OFA. Also, I read through the comments pretty quickly but I -thought Oracle discouraged the use of symbolic links for data files. I've seen -this done without trouble but isn't there some potential error that this might -trigger? Seems to me there was some traffic on the list for this a while -back... - -Ready to be wrong, -Kip too bad Cary isn't on the list to tell us what he had in mind when he designed it. anybody got his email address to forward him the question?;-) -- Bill Shrek Thater Certifiable ORACLE DBA Telergy, Inc.[EMAIL PROTECTED] ~~ You gotta program like you don't need the money, You gotta compile like you'll never get hurt, You gotta run like there's nobody watching, It's gotta come from the heart if you want it to work. ~~ one ping to rule them all, one ping to find them, one ping to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them. -- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com -- Author: Thater, William INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fat City Network Services-- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051 San Diego, California-- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing). _ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com -- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com -- Author: Rachel Carmichael INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fat City Network Services-- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051 San Diego, California-- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing).
Re: Re[2]: OFA (Optimal Flexible Architecture) in practice
On Fri, 6 Jul 2001,Rachel Carmichael scribbled on the wall in glitter crayon: -[EMAIL PROTECTED] OK so i asked him.;-) -- Bill Shrek Thater Certifiable ORACLE DBA Telergy, Inc.[EMAIL PROTECTED] ~~ You gotta program like you don't need the money, You gotta compile like you'll never get hurt, You gotta run like there's nobody watching, It's gotta come from the heart if you want it to work. ~~ one ping to rule them all, one ping to find them, one ping to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them. -- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com -- Author: Thater, William INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fat City Network Services-- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051 San Diego, California-- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing).
RE: Re[2]: OFA (Optimal Flexible Architecture) in practice (fwd)
well, i asked and he answered. makes a lot of sense to me. -- Bill Shrek Thater Certifiable ORACLE DBA Telergy, Inc.[EMAIL PROTECTED] ~~ You gotta program like you don't need the money, You gotta compile like you'll never get hurt, You gotta run like there's nobody watching, It's gotta come from the heart if you want it to work. ~~ one ping to rule them all, one ping to find them, one ping to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them. -- Forwarded message -- Date: Fri, 06 Jul 2001 15:51:03 -0500 To: Thater, William [EMAIL PROTECTED] Bill: Back in the early 1990s, I visited one or two Oracle customers per week, doing installations, upgrades, and system performance improvement work. Most of the performance optimization work in those days (Oracle 6.0.26 through 6.0.36 mostly) involved figuring out a better way to distribute files across file systems. The root cause of a *lot* of performance problems was the implicit assumption that you should lay all your database-related files into a single file system called 'oracle.' The Oracle documentation of the day really didn't provide any good advice about how to distribute files onto physical devices. The assumption people made was that keeping files in one place was a good idea because this made them easier to manage. When people figured out that they needed to distribute files across file systems, they rarely had good places to put them. For example, I visited a medium-sized law firm (which I learned, from an I.S. perspective, is really a document-management company) that had four major UNIX file systems: /usr, /tmp, /oracle, and /wp (where they kept all their WordPerfect files). Of course, distributing Oracle files across file systems meant putting Oracle files onto the /usr, /tmp, and /wp file systems, which was a gross violation of the intent of the file system names. And, of course, putting Oracle files in all these odd places required the DBA to modify his or her backup programs, and so on. People had to query the database just to figure out where all their files were (try to do this when your database is down). These types of problems drove the idea of generically-named mount points. From that idea, the directory structure recommendations were the reasonably obvious result of factorization. For example, one embeds the db_name into all of one's database files in order to deal with all of the files of a database as a flock. Upon doing this, it becomes pretty apparent that the db_name should be factored out of the filename, into the pathname. Thus (abcsystem01.dbf, abctemp01.dbf, ...) becomes abc/(system01.dbf, temp01.dbf) (or just abc/*), much like (32+16+...) becomes 16*(2+1+...). The need for this db_name layer becomes apparent only when you have two or more database on the same machine to manage, which of course, a lot of Oracle Apps sites had (dev, test, prod, etc.). (By the way, the easier way that Linda [below] is looking for is simply ls -lt /*/oradata/db_name1/*. The ability to use a single pattern to identify all of the files from a given database was one of the most important conveniences that the OFA Standard provided to people.) The first OFA document I wrote was an attempt to tell the presales guys in the Dallas Oracle office how to install demo instances of Oracle onto an HP. I invested the nights and weekends to make it customer consumable because it made me more effective as a consultant to fax the document ahead of a consulting visit, so that I wouldn't consume client billable hours debating the merits of generic mount-point naming with UNIX system administrators (I lost a lot of these battles before I wrote the document). The first published OFA document was for IOUW in Miami Beach in 1991. I prepared the next and final OFA Standard document in response to the barrage of Do I really have to do it *exactly* this way? questions about the first one. This final document split the OFA Standard into two parts: (1) a set of requirements that *everyone* must address, regardless of OS or file naming preference; and (2) one specific way to name things that will meet the requirements. The intent was that the requirements would stand the test of time, and the guidelines would provide people an easy way to get going without having to invent a bunch of things by themselves. I stopped working on the OFA Standard back in about 1995, but many at Oracle and beyond have taken the basic requirements and ported them into thousands of implementations worldwide. With Ken Jacobs' (and many others') help, the OFA Standard became an integrated part of the Oracle Installer and documentation through Releases 7 and 8. If you're interested in a copy of the final OFA Standard document that I wrote at Oracle, you can find it at www.hotsos.com. Click on Downloads and you can see it in our catalog. It's available free of charge, courtesy of
RE: Re[2]: OFA (Optimal Flexible Architecture) in practice (fwd)
Way to go Bill! Nice answer by Cary. He mentions how others have extended OFA. Be sure to see the paper 'Putting OFA on Steroids' by Bill Burke and Bryon Pearce. http://www.oracleguru.com/whitepapers.htm Jared Thater, William To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L [EMAIL PROTECTED] ThaterW@teler cc: gy.net Subject: RE: Re[2]: OFA (Optimal Flexible Architecture) in Sent by: practice (fwd) [EMAIL PROTECTED] om 07/06/01 03:12 PM Please respond to ORACLE-L well, i asked and he answered. makes a lot of sense to me. -- Bill Shrek Thater Certifiable ORACLE DBA Telergy, Inc.[EMAIL PROTECTED] ~~ You gotta program like you don't need the money, You gotta compile like you'll never get hurt, You gotta run like there's nobody watching, It's gotta come from the heart if you want it to work. ~~ one ping to rule them all, one ping to find them, one ping to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them. -- Forwarded message -- Date: Fri, 06 Jul 2001 15:51:03 -0500 To: Thater, William [EMAIL PROTECTED] Bill: Back in the early 1990s, I visited one or two Oracle customers per week, doing installations, upgrades, and system performance improvement work. Most of the performance optimization work in those days (Oracle 6.0.26 through 6.0.36 mostly) involved figuring out a better way to distribute files across file systems. The root cause of a *lot* of performance problems was the implicit assumption that you should lay all your database-related files into a single file system called 'oracle.' The Oracle documentation of the day really didn't provide any good advice about how to distribute files onto physical devices. The assumption people made was that keeping files in one place was a good idea because this made them easier to manage. When people figured out that they needed to distribute files across file systems, they rarely had good places to put them. For example, I visited a medium-sized law firm (which I learned, from an I.S. perspective, is really a document-management company) that had four major UNIX file systems: /usr, /tmp, /oracle, and /wp (where they kept all their WordPerfect files). Of course, distributing Oracle files across file systems meant putting Oracle files onto the /usr, /tmp, and /wp file systems, which was a gross violation of the intent of the file system names. And, of course, putting Oracle files in all these odd places required the DBA to modify his or her backup programs, and so on. People had to query the database just to figure out where all their files were (try to do this when your database is down). These types of problems drove the idea of generically-named mount points. From that idea, the directory structure recommendations were the reasonably obvious result of factorization. For example, one embeds the db_name into all of one's database files in order to deal with all of the files of a database as a flock. Upon doing this, it becomes pretty apparent that the db_name should be factored out of the filename, into the pathname. Thus (abcsystem01.dbf, abctemp01.dbf, ...) becomes abc/(system01.dbf, temp01.dbf) (or just abc/*), much like (32+16+...) becomes 16*(2+1+...). The need for this db_name layer becomes apparent only when you have two or more database on the same machine to manage, which of course, a lot of Oracle Apps sites had (dev, test
