Category Archives: Filter Driver, ASMFD, Filter Drivers,

Delete a storage snapshot of an Oracle 19c RAC database using ASM diskgroups with Dell PowerMax.

Posted on by • Posted in ASM, Filter Driver, ASMFD, Filter Drivers,, Oracle, RAC • Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , • Leave a comment

In this post I am going to explore deleting a storage snapshot of an Oracle 19c RAC database created on a Dell PowerMax storage array.

This post is a companion to the video Dell PowerMax – Refresh a storage snapshot of Oracle RAC database. and a follow on from the blog post Create a storage snapshot of an Oracle 19c RAC database using ASM diskgroups with Dell PowerMax.

This blog post assumes some basic knowledge of PowerMax storage concepts. If you need a basic introduction please check out my PowerMax basics video.

These examples will use the Solutions Enabler command line method of managing the PowerMax, unlike the video which uses the Unisphere graphical interface.

Continue reading →

Refresh a storage snapshot of an Oracle 19c RAC database using ASM diskgroups with Dell PowerMax.

Posted on by • Posted in ASM, Filter Driver, ASMFD, Filter Drivers,, Oracle, Video • Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , • Leave a comment

In this post I am going to explore refreshing a storage snapshot of an Oracle 19c RAC database created on a Dell PowerMax storage array.

This post is a companion to the video Dell PowerMax – Refresh a storage snapshot of Oracle RAC database. and a follow on from the blog post Create a storage snapshot of an Oracle 19c RAC database using ASM diskgroups with Dell PowerMax.

This blog post assumes some basic knowledge of PowerMax storage concepts. If you need a basic introduction please check out my PowerMax basics video.

These examples will use the Solutions Enabler command line method of managing the PowerMax, unlike the video which uses the Unisphere graphical interface.

Continue reading →

Create a storage snapshot of an Oracle 19c RAC database using ASM diskgroups with Dell PowerMax.

Posted on by • Posted in ASM, Filter Driver, ASMFD, Filter Drivers,, Oracle, RAC • Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , • 1 Comment

In this post I am going to explore creating a storage snapshot of an Oracle 19c RAC database using ASM disks from PowerMax storage.

This post is a companion to the video Dell PowerMax – Create a snapshot of an Oracle RAC database.

This blog post assumes some basic knowledge of PowerMax storage concepts. If you need a basic introduction please check out my PowerMax basics video.

These examples will use the Solutions Enabler command line method of managing the PowerMax, unlike the video which uses the Unisphere graphical interface.

Continue reading →

Create Oracle ASM diskgroups with Dell PowerMax and PowerPath

Posted on by • Posted in ASM, ASMLib, Filter Driver, ASMFD, Filter Drivers,, Oracle, Video • Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , • Leave a comment

In this post I am going to explore adding a new ASM diskgroup to an Oracle 19c RAC using PowerMax storage.

We will follow best practices as laid out in H17390 Deployment Best Practices Guide for Oracle with Powermax. This post is a companion to the video Create Oracle ASM diskgroups with Dell PowerMax and PowerPath.

This blog post assumes some basic knowledge of PowerMax storage concepts. If you need a basic introduction please check out my PowerMax basics video.

These examples will use the Solutions Enabler command line method of managing the PowerMax, unlike the video which uses the Unisphere graphical interface.

Continue reading →

Experimenting with ASM Filter Drivers

Posted on by • Posted in ASM, Filter Driver, ASMFD, Filter Drivers,, Linux, Oracle • Leave a comment

Oracle is moving away from ASMlib, and introducing ASM Filter Drivers as a replacement.

ASM Filter Drivers will handle consistent device naming and permissions, as well as filter out illegal IO to ASM devices to protect against rogue dd commands corrupting ASM disks.

Future plans include support for TRIM commands to enable thinly provisioned disks to reclaim deleted blocks without having to resort to the massively dangerous ASRU tool.

ASM Filter Drivers were introduced with Oracle 12.1.0.2, but the implementation is currently one massive kludge.  By default on 12.1.0.2, OEL7 is not supported without a patch (patch 21053000).  OEL6 UEK is also not supported without a patch (patch 18321597).

Note that the patches require OPatch 12.1.0.2, but Oracle Grid Infrastructrue 12.1.0.2 installs OPatch 12.1.0.1.3 so you have to patch the patcher (patch 6880880), so you can patch the Oracle software, to make Oracle ASM Filter Drivers work with Oracle’s own operating system kernel.  Clear?  Good!

You cannot install Filter Drivers by default.  You have to migrate to them from UDEV or ASMlib.

Oracle 12.2 should hopefully fix this mess and make Filter Drivers actually usable, but in the meantime it might be fun to play with the new technology and see what it can do.

Continue reading →