CreateGoldImage Followup - Is CreateGoldImage Required for Cloning Oracle Home?

Comparing CreateGoldImage and Traditional Tar Cloning

On October 31, 2019, I blogged about How To Use CreateGoldImage For Cloning In 19c. CreateGoldImage seems like a nice new feature; however, it's also very buggy. Here are a few bugs: 2641469.1 27432355.8 27432338.8 I received a suggestion to use tar to clone Grid Home; however, I was uncertain if it would work. Why would Oracle create a new process for CreateGoldImage when traditional tar works? Out of curiosity, I decided to test this by creating tarball for GRID_HOME from 19.8 RAC.

Use the tarball to upgrade Oracle Restart 12.2 to 19.8

Source: 19c Oracle RAC is located at /u01/app/19.0.0.0/grid

Step 1: Creating the Source Tarball from 19.8 RAC

Create tarball for 19.8 GRID_HOME from RAC instance:

[code]

[root@ol7-19-lax1 grid]# pwd /u01/app/19.0.0/grid

[root@ol7-19-lax1 grid]# time tar -cvzpf /tmp/grid19.8_clone.tar.gz . > /tmp/clone_grid19.8.log ; echo $?

[/code]

Transfer tarball to target.

TARGET: 19c Oracle Restart is located at /u01/app/oracle/19.8.0.0/grid

I know what you are thinking. Why is GRID_HOME at two different locations? The two vagrant boxes I have used to create test cases were created by two different individuals.

Step 2: Preparing the Target Environment

Review current patch for 12.2 Oracle Restart:

[code]

[grid@db-asm-1 ~]$ $ORACLE_HOME/OPatch/opatch lspatches

27144050;Tomcat Release Update 12.2.0.1.0(ID:171023.0830) (27144050)

26839277;DBWLM RELEASE UPDATE 12.2.0.1.0(ID:170913) (26839277)

28163235;ACFS JUL 2018 RELEASE UPDATE 12.2.0.1.180717 (28163235)

28163190;OCW JUL 2018 RELEASE UPDATE 12.2.0.1.180717 (28163190)

28163133;Database Jul 2018 Release Update : 12.2.0.1.180717 (28163133)

OPatch succeeded.

[/code]

Copy tarball to /u01/app/oracle/19.8.0.0.

[code

[grid@db-asm-1 19.8.0.0]$ time cp -fv /media/swrepo/grid19.8_clone.tar.gz . ; echo $? ‘/media/swrepo/grid19.8_clone.tar.gz’ -> ‘./grid19.8_clone.tar.gz’ [grid@db-asm-1 19.8.0.0]$ ls -l total 7015760 -rwxr-xr-x 1 grid oinstall 7184131622 Aug 15 22:30 grid19.8_clone.tar.gz

[/code]

Unzip tarball to /u01/app/oracle/19.8.0.0

[code]

[grid@db-asm-1 19.8.0.0]$ time gunzip grid19.8_clone.tar.gz

[grid@db-asm-1 19.8.0.0]$ ls -l total 13542216 -rwxr-xr-x 1 grid oinstall 13867223040 Aug 15 22:30 grid19.8_clone.tar

[/code]

Create directory for GRID_HOME - /u01/app/oracle/19.8.0.0/grid

[code]

[grid@db-asm-1 19.8.0.0]$ mkdir grid

[/code] 

Untar to GRID_HOME - /u01/app/oracle/19.8.0.0/grid

[code]

[grid@db-asm-1 19.8.0.0]$ cd grid [grid@db-asm-1 grid]$ time tar xf ../grid19.8_clone.tar . ; echo $?

[/code]

Step 3: Upgrading to Oracle Restart 19.8

Upgrade 12.2 Oracle HAS to 19.8 using 19.8 tarball (GUI Method):

[code]

[grid@db-asm-1 grid]$ ./gridSetup.sh

[/code]

Final Results and Verification

Verify Oracle Restart is 19.8:

[code]

[grid@db-asm-1 grid]$ $ORACLE_HOME/OPatch/opatch lspatches 31335188;TOMCAT RELEASE UPDATE 19.0.0.0.0 (31335188) 31305087;OCW RELEASE UPDATE 19.8.0.0.0 (31305087) 31304218;ACFS RELEASE UPDATE 19.8.0.0.0 (31304218) 31281355;Database Release Update : 19.8.0.0.200714 (31281355) OPatch succeeded. [grid@db-asm-1 grid]$

[/code]

In conclusion, there is an option to use tarball if CreateGoldImage does not work; thereby avoiding creating a ticket with Oracle support. Please note: I am unaware whether using tarball is supported — it would be best to check with Oracle support.

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