4.3.2 Preparation for installation and setup
This subsection describes the prerequisites for installation and setup, and provides cautionary notes and other information you should know before installing and setting up PFM - Agent for Oracle.
- Organization of this subsection
(1) Prerequisites
The following are the prerequisites for running PFM - Agent for Oracle in a cluster system.
(a) Cluster system
Make sure that the following conditions are satisfied:
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The cluster system is controlled by cluster software.
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The cluster software is able to start and stop PFM - Agent for Oracle on a logical host. Additionally, PFM - Agent for Oracle is able to fail over at the same time when the monitored Oracle fails over.
- Notes:
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Failover may not take place if Dr. Watson encounters an application error and displays a message box. For this reason, you must disable error notification that displays a message box. For details about the procedure, see the documentation for your OS. Note that disabling error notification may affect data collection when an application error occurs.
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When an application error occurs in Windows, a dialog box giving you the option of reporting the problem to Microsoft appears. Because the dialog box can interfere with failover, you must disable error reporting. For details about disabling error reporting, see the documentation for the OS.
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(b) Shared disk
Make sure that the following conditions are satisfied:
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Each logical host has a shared disk that the standby node can inherit from the executing node.
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The shared disk is physically connected to each node via a Fibre Channel, SCSI, or similar connection.
Performance Management does not support the use of network drives or disks replicated over the network as the shared disk.
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If a failover is requested while a process is accessing the shared disk, the cluster software can take the shared disk offline and force a failover.
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Each instance of Performance Management programs on the same logical host uses the same directory on the shared disk.
Note that you can change the location of the Store database to another directory on the shared disk.
(c) Logical host names and logical IP addresses
Make sure that the following conditions are satisfied:
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Each logical host has a logical host name and a corresponding logical IP address, which the standby node inherits from the executing node.
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Logical host names and logical IP addresses are set in the hosts file and on the name server.
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For DNS operation, host names in FQDN format cannot be used. For the logical host name, use the host name with the domain name portion removed.
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Physical host names and logical host names are unique within the system.
- Notes:
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Do not specify the physical host name (the host name displayed by the hostname command) as the name of the logical host. If you do so, normal communication may not be possible.
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Logical host names can consist of 1 to 32 alphanumeric characters. A logical host name cannot include space characters or any of the following characters:
/ \ : ; * ? ' " < > | & = , .
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You cannot specify localhost, an IP address, or a host name beginning with a hyphen (-) as a logical host name.
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(d) Settings when IPv6 used
Performance Management supports IPv6 environments as well as IPv4 environments as a network configuration. Therefore, Performance Management can operate even in a network configuration in which both an IPv4 environment and an IPv6 environment are used.
PFM - Agent for Oracle can communicate with PFM - Manager via IPv6. Note that this explanation applies only when the OS of a host on which PFM - Agent for Oracle and PFM - Manager are installed is Windows or Linux.
For details about the scope of communication in an environment with both IPv4 and IPv6, see M. About Communication in IPv4 Environments and IPv6 Environments.
When you want to use IPv6 for communication between PFM - Manager and PFM - Agent for Oracle, the settings for using IPv6 must be enabled for both the PFM - Manager host and the PFM - Agent host. In addition, before installing PFM - Agent for Oracle, you need to enable the use of IPv6 on the PFM - Agent host. You have to execute the jpcconf ipv6 enable command to enable this setting. If this setting is already enabled, however, you do not need to execute the command. If you want to check whether the use of IPv6 is enabled, execute the jpcconf ipv6 display command.
For details about the jpcconf ipv6 enable command and jpcconf ipv6 display command, see the chapter that describes commands in the manual JP1/Performance Management Reference. For details about the conditions or occasions for executing the jpcconf ipv6 enable command, see the chapter that describes network configuration examples in an environment that includes IPv6 in the JP1/Performance Management Planning and Configuration Guide.
When you use IPv6 for communication between a monitored host and PFM - Agent for Oracle, specify the name of a monitored host where name resolution can be performed.
Communication between PFM - Agent for Oracle and a monitoring target is performed with an IP address that can be resolved. Also, if an IPv4 environment and an IPv6 environment are both used, and communication between PFM - Agent for Oracle and the monitoring target fails with an IP address that can be resolved, the communication is not retried by using another IP address.
For example, if communication fails when IPv4 is used, IPv6 is not used to retry communication. Similarly, if communication fails when IPv6 is used, IPv4 is not used to retry communication. Make sure beforehand that a connection can be established.
(2) Information required to set up PFM - Agent for Oracle to run on a logical host
When you set up PFM - Agent for Oracle to run in a logical host environment, you must specify the information shown in the following table, in addition to the environment information required for PFM - Agent for Oracle setup.
Item |
Example |
---|---|
The same logical host name as for Oracle |
jp1-halora |
The same logical IP address as for Oracle |
172.16.92.100 |
Shared disk |
S:\jp1 |
When multiple Performance Management programs are installed on a single logical host, the programs share the same directory on the shared disk.
For details about how much shared disk capacity is needed, see A. Estimating System Requirements.
(3) Cautionary notes on failing over a logical host with PFM - Agent for Oracle
In a system configuration in which PFM - Agent for Oracle runs on a logical host, consider whether you want the entire logical host to fail over when an error occurs in PFM - Agent for Oracle.
If the entire logical host is failed over when an error occurs in PFM - Agent for Oracle, business applications on the same logical host will also be failed over. Failover of these applications may affect any business operations that are in progress.
We recommend that you use one of the following cluster software settings so that errors on PFM - Agent for Oracle do not affect the operations of Oracle:
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Do not monitor operation of PFM - Agent for Oracle
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Do not allow detection of errors in PFM - Agent for Oracle to result in failover
(4) Cautionary notes on upgrading when Oracle runs on a logical host
When you upgrade PFM - Agent for Oracle that runs on a logical host, you need to bring the shared disk on either the executing node or the standby node online.