Introduction
I don't work with Oracle GoldenGate extensively but when I do I find it somewhat remarkable that there aren't more standards with something as simple as the Oracle GoldenGate software home path (OGG_HOME). With the Oracle Database, in recent years (decades) the nomenclature has become relatively standardized as:
${ORACLE_BASE}/product/<major version>/dbhome_<n>
For example.
/u01/app/oracle/product/12.2.0/dbhome_1
But for Oracle GoldenGate it seems much less standard. I see homes such as:
/u01/oracle/ggs
/u01/app/GoldenGate
/u01/app/ggate
/u01/app/oracle/product/gg
/u01/app/oracle/product/gg/12.3.0
/u01/app/oracle/11.2.0/gg
/u01/app/gg12.2
/u01/gg/12.2.1
/u01/app/oracle/<db_name>/ogg
All sorts of permutations! What I want to is install " Oracle GoldenGate 12.3.0 for Oracle Database 11g ". But I need to consider:
- What if I want to also use OGG against a 12c database on the same server?
- What if we upgrade the version of the database?
- What if I have multiple databases of the same server to replicate to/from?
- What if I have multiple databases of mixed versions?
- Are we going to upgrade OGG in place or out of place?
- What if we want to try the Microservices Architecture?
- What if we're using RAC?
Details
This brings up some interesting discussions even among more seasoned Oracle GoldenGate experts. Even the question of whether to use just " gg " or " ogg " in the path is up for discussion? And of course we may likely want to move the trail files to a different location/filesystem using the standard approaches to accomplish that. P ersonally, my preference for this requirement would be:
/u01/app/oracle/product/gg/12.3.0_ora11g
Or if installing the new GoldenGate Microservices Architecture:
/u01/app/oracle/product/gg/12.3.0_ma_ora11g
I like that as it's descriptive:
- Shows that this home has the 12.3.0 version of Oracle GoldenGate
- Shows that it's for Oracle Database 11g
- It's under the Oracle Software tree (under ${ORACLE_BASE}/product)
- Provides the option for multiple GoldenGate installs under the "gg" sub-directory (if ever necessary)
- Allows for out-of-place upgrades (at some time in the future) into a similar and parallel path
Another valid suggestion is to maintain the order of <version>/<product name> which would make a path such as:
/u01/app/oracle/product/12.3.0/gg_ora11g
Conclusion
I think that’s pretty reasonable as well. If you see an issue with those suggestions or have a better idea, please post a reply below. Share your thoughts including reasons why an alternative may be a better standard.
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