How to Install a brand new Exadata X5 (part 2)

Fred Denis

August 29, 2016

Tags: Oracle, Technical Track, Exadata, X5, Installation

Now that all the prerequisites have been performed in Part 1, we can now jump in the Exadata installation procedure itself. All the installation steps are performed by a script named install.sh (provided by OEDA) with the help of the well known <client>-<cluster>.xml XML file. It is quite straightforward. All steps can be launched in one command but I recommend launching them step by step, it is easier to troubleshoot if needed. One important thing is to not jump over a failed step; resolve the failed step first and then continue. As explained in Part 1, we will use the install.sh script that has been provided by OEDA which is located in the /u01/Exadata_software/linux-x64/ directory as well as the <client>-<cluster>.xml configuration file.

Step 1

As the install.sh script is meant for many different configurations, the step 1 will perform some checks and adapt the list of steps that are needed for your particular configuration. https://gist.github.com/freddenis/9e89e03c539f49ac9119966b9291fdf6 Check the output of the script to see if anything is wrong and we can then continue.

List of Steps

The -l option can be used to list all those steps now that the step 1 has adapted it to your configuration. https://gist.github.com/freddenis/cb3b9bfd65f13c552e96e96a1c776489

Step 2

This step will check for all the ISO files needed for all the installation steps, you will be prompted for missing files then copy the missing files in the WorkDir directory and relaunch the step. https://gist.github.com/freddenis/0cbf4c4235e11d438aa9b35298480cd1

Step 3

This step will create the required users https://gist.github.com/freddenis/cddb274e68f39d24a181bd5984393432

Step 4

This step will set up the cell connectivity creating the /etc/oracle/cell/network-config/cellip.ora and /etc/oracle/cell/network-config/cellinit.ora files https://gist.github.com/freddenis/c7ea375fb35f1a63cb8752c7dc900950

Step 5

This step will check the Infiniband configuration and test the performances of it using the infinicheck script https://gist.github.com/freddenis/b1a2562e47942eb55cb87b22db9b79d0

Step 6

This step will check the cells using the cellcli -e calibrate command. It also tests the performance of the cell disks and report any issue. https://gist.github.com/freddenis/98f569d8bf7792531f04ce23f6dc16ec

Step 7

This step will create the cell disks, flashlog and flashcache https://gist.github.com/freddenis/076d886d72344fc258374bc9d563ba89

Step 8

This step will create the grid disks https://gist.github.com/freddenis/a01da74d56125153e8f26db34894d1e8

Step 9

This step will install the Grid Infrastructure 12.1.0.2 https://gist.github.com/freddenis/a97a57fcdb348c107a261a877601614a

Step 10

This step will run the root.sh script on all the nodes. https://gist.github.com/freddenis/2b9532dd5f70bffffe1bddd46705d053 Note : if any issue occurs during this step, you will have to deinstall the GI : https://gist.github.com/freddenis/a1c91ab01b16b26adc1d8b9258b3202c Then reinstall the GI (step 9) and relaunch root.sh (step 10).

Step 11

This step will install Oracle database -- this was 11.2.0.4 in this case (not 12c, I installed it manually later on) https://gist.github.com/freddenis/e9059e89ae5202e371207265fe4bfd8e

Step 12

This step will relink the installed Oracle databases homes with RDS (protocol to use Infiniband) https://gist.github.com/freddenis/687335dc54c4e08f20dc165e5b1cffe8

Step 13

This step will create the ASM diskgroups according to what has been defined by the client in the XML configuration file (this is the perfect timing to double check, triple check, etc... the name of the diskgroups before creating it to avoid to have to rename the diskgroups later) https://gist.github.com/freddenis/3147f87a99d64f5ce16665060af07155

Step 14

This step will create the databases as defined in the <client>-<cluster>.xml file. In my cases, no databases were defined there as the client wanted to create them manually. But you can easily do it like that : https://gist.github.com/freddenis/8f2825c99ec593157d44d01983048484

Step 15

This step applies some security fixes; the error below is due to the fact that the Step 14 has not been executed. https://gist.github.com/freddenis/cbbef7b8ccba425d4f7e374686cc2df7

Step 16

This step installs the Exachk tool https://gist.github.com/freddenis/22282442a2d4bc8d9c6f4ca50f7603bd

Step 17

This step creates an installation summary https://gist.github.com/freddenis/af5669d2c9d5faa8f4e9e672d29e1ffe

Step 18

This step is to “ Resecure the machine ”; this step is meant to :

expire all passwords (need to be changed at next login)
implement password aging and complexity
tightened some permissions
drop the root ssh keys

You may want to bypass this step depending on the client security policy. https://gist.github.com/freddenis/bff7652bfbc445c3c72c5d7eee7d45e4 You are now done, and everything is now installed properly. You can now create many databases and start to enjoy Exadata !

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