2 Managing Oracle Homes

Central Inventory Pointer File

Every Oracle software installation has an associated Central Inventory where the details of all the Oracle products installed on a host are registered. The Central Inventory is located in the directory that the inventory pointer file specifies. Each Oracle software installation has its own Central Inventory pointer file that is unknown to another Oracle software installation.

For Oracle homes sharing the same Central Inventory, the Oracle Universal Installer components perform all read and write operations on the inventory. The operations on the Central Inventory are performed through a locking mechanism. This implies that when an operation such as installation, upgrade, or patching occurs on an Oracle home, these operations become blocked on other Oracle homes that share the same Central Inventory.

Table 2–2 shows the location of the default inventory pointer file for various platforms:

The following string shows an example of the path for the oraInst.loc file:

inventory_loc=/home/oracle_db11g/product/11.2.0/db_1
inst_group=oracle

In UNIX, if you do not want to use the Central Inventory located in the directory specified by the inventory pointer file, you can use the -invPtrLoc flag to specify another inventory pointer file. The syntax is as follows:

./runInstaller -silent -invPtrLoc <Location_of_oraInst.loc> ORACLE_
HOME="<Location_of_Oracle_Home>"

Central Inventory

The Central Inventory contains the information relating to all Oracle products installed on a host. It contains the following files and folders:

• Inventory File

• Logs Directory

<central inventory location>/ContentsXML/inventory.xml

<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes" ?>
<!-- Copyright (c) 2009 Oracle Corporation. All rights Reserved -->
<!-- Do not modify the contents of this file by hand. -->
<INVENTORY>
<VERSION_INFO>
   <SAVED_WITH>11.2.0.0.0</SAVED_WITH>
   <MINIMUM_VER>2.1.0.6.0</MINIMUM_VER>
</VERSION_INFO>
<HOME_LIST>
<HOME NAME="OraDb11g_home1" LOC="/home/oracle_db11g/product/11.2.0/db_1" TYPE="O" IDX="1"/>
<HOME NAME="OUIHome" LOC="D:\OraHome1" TYPE="O" IDX="2" /> 
<HOME NAME="OUIHome12" LOC="D:\OraHome12" TYPE="O" IDX="3" /> 
<HOME NAME="OUIHome1" LOC="D:\homes\OraHome1" TYPE="O" IDX="4" /> 
</HOME_LIST>
</INVENTORY>

<central inventory location>/logs

<Name_of_Action><YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM-SS{AM/PM}>.log

AttachHome2009-05-17_06-45-00AM.log

Oracle Home Inventory

Oracle home inventory or local inventory is present inside each Oracle home. It only contains information relevant to a particular Oracle home. This file is located in the following location:

$ORACLE_HOME/inventory

It contains the following files and folders:

• Components File

• Home Properties File

• Other Folders

ORACLE_HOME/inventory/ContentsXML/comps.xml

$ORACLE_HOME/inventory/ContentsXML/oraclehomeproperties.xml

<GUID>893051798#.356758136</GUID>
   <HOME CRS="T"/>
   <ARU_PLATFORM_INFO>
      <ARU_ID>46</ARU_ID>
      <ARU_ID_DESCRIPTION>Linux x86</ARU_ID_DESCRIPTION>
   </ARU_PLATFORM_INFO>
   <CLUSTER_INFO>
      <LOCAL_NODE NAME="stacg30"/>
    <NODE_LIST><NODE NAME="stacg34"/><NODE
NAME="stacg30"/></NODE_LIST></CLUSTER_INFO>

Using the Session Variables

You can use the following session variables:

• ORACLE_HOME

• CLUSTER_NODES

• REMOTE_NODES

• LOCAL_NODE

In a cluster installation:

• If you do not pass the CLUSTER_NODES session variable, Oracle Universal Installer takes it from the $ORACLE_HOME/inventory/ContentsXML/oraclehomeproperties.xml file.

• If you do not pass the LOCAL_NODE session variable, Oracle Universal Installer takes it from the $ORACLE_HOME/inventory/ContentsXML/oraclehomeproperties.xml file. If it does not find an entry there, it takes it from the Oracle Clusterware stack. If it is not able to find it in the stack, the first node of the CLUSTER_NODES is taken as the LOCAL_NODE.

You can pass the REMOTE_NODES variable if you want to specify the list of remote nodes. If you want to set up the Central Inventory in the local node, you need to pass the -local flag, and the REMOTE_NODES variable is empty. The syntax is as follows:

./runInstaller -silent -attachHome -invPtrLoc ./oraInst.loc 
ORACLE_HOME="<Oracle_Home_Location>" "REMOTE_NODES={}" -local

For a non-Oracle Real Application Clusters setup, you do not need to pass the LOCAL_NODE variable, and the CLUSTER_NODES variable is empty. The syntax is as follows:

./runInstaller -silent -attachHome -invPtrLoc ./oraInst.loc 
ORACLE_HOME="<Oracle_Home_Location>" "CLUSTER_NODES={}"

You can use the -local flag to attach the local Oracle home. If you are using a shared Oracle home with the -local flag, use the -cfs flag. This ensures that the local node information is not populated inside a shared Oracle home.

Verifying the Operation

After attaching the Oracle home, you can verify the success of the operation by verifying the contents of the log file present in the <central_inventory>/logs directory. You can also view the contents of the inventory.xml file under the <central-inventory>/ContentsXML directory to verify if the Oracle home is registered.

Using the Optional -local Flag

You can use the -local flag to detach the Oracle home from the inventory of the local node. If you are using a shared Oracle home, use the -cfs flag. This ensures that the local node information is not populated inside a shared Oracle home.

./runInstaller -silent -local -cfs -detachHome
ORACLE_HOME="<Oracle_Home_Location>"

Removing the Central Inventory

Even after all the Oracle homes on a host are removed, you will find traces of the inventory with certain log files. If you do not want to maintain these files and want to remove the Central Inventory, do the following:

Oracle Recommendation Regarding Central Inventory Placement

The Oracle Central Inventory is a repository for all Oracle products (software) installed on a system. Since the Central Inventory consists of system-specific information, it is required that the Central Inventory be saved on a local non-shared directory on the system. While software can be shared across nodes, the inventory should be local to each system.

If the Central Inventory is shared across system (nodes), this would reflect the installation information for a group of systems collectively. Such a configuration also mandates that all Oracle homes registered in the inventory are also shared. However, a shared inventory is contrary to Central Inventory design principles.

Consequently, Oracle recommends placing the Central Inventory on a local file system not shared by other systems, because the Central Inventory is a system-specific inventory of the installations on this system. Shared inventories are strongly discouraged.

Enforced Shared Inventory Check

Since a shared inventory is a recommended practice, OUI displays a warning if you attempt to specify a shared inventory location under the following circumstances:

• Grid Control upgrades from 10.1.x or 10.2.x to 10.2.0.4 or later

• 10.2.0.4 or later Grid Control patchset applications and 11g Grid Control installations

Exceptions are as follows:

• Shared storage prior to 10.2.0.4 —

  If you have already set up your inventory on shared storage prior to Grid Control version 10.2.0.4, you can use the steps in "Procedure to Reconstruct the Central Inventory" below to reconstruct the central inventory on a non-shared location.

  If you do not want to reconstruct the central inventory on a non-shared location, you can pass the flag '-ignoreSharedInventory' to suppress the shared inventory error when invoking runInstaller.

• HPTru64 Cases —

  Tru64 is a special operating system where all storage is shared storage (including the operating system installed on shared storage). Therefore, a shared inventory is permissible.

Procedure to Reconstruct the Central Inventory

Perform the following steps as a Grid Control installation user, which is the user who owns the inventory.

1. Identify a non-shared location for the Central Inventory. This location should have sufficient permissions, such as read and write permissions. Make sure that the installation user creates this new location and that the location is part of the installation group.

2. Obtain the list of Oracle homes from the existing shared Central Inventory registered in oraInventory, use the command opatch lsinventory -all.

   Since this is a shared inventory, you may see Oracle homes listed in the Central Inventory from other systems on which the inventory is shared. Identify the Oracle home pertinent to the current system.

3. Edit the default inventory pointer file indicating the location of the non-shared inventory:

   inventory_loc=<location of non-shared inventory location>
   inst_group=<inventory group>
   

   The default inventory pointer file resides in this file:

   /etc/oraInst.loc
   

   All other Unix operating systems, such as Solaris and so forth reside in this file:

   /var/opt/oracle/oraInst.loc
   

4. For each Oracle home in the existing shared inventory, do the following:

   1. Detach the home from the existing inventory.

      • For a non-RAC home, run:

        $ORACLE_HOME/oui/bin/detachhome.sh
        

      • For a Clusterware, RAC, or clustered Agent home, run the following command on each of the nodes:

        $ORACLE_HOME/oui/bin/detachhome.sh -local
        

   2. Attach a home to the new non-shared inventory.

      • For a non-RAC home, run:

        $ORACLE_HOME/oui/bin/attachhome.sh
        

      • For a non-shared Clusterware home, run the following command on each of the nodes:

        $ORACLE_HOME/oui/bin/attachhome.sh -local "CLUSTER_NODES= {comma-separated nodelist}" LOCAL_NODE=<node on which command is run> CRS=true 
        

      • For a shared Clusterware home, run the following command on each of the nodes:

        $ORACLE_HOME/oui/bin/attachhome.sh -local "CLUSTER_NODES= {comma-separated nodelist}" LOCAL_NODE=<node on which command is run> CRS=true -cfs
        

      • For a non-shared RAC or clustered Agent home, run the following command on each of the nodes:

        $ORACLE_HOME/oui/bin/attachhome.sh -local "CLUSTER_NODES= {comma-separated nodelist}" LOCAL_NODE=<node on which command is run>
        

      • For a shared RAC or clustered Agent home, run the following command on each of the nodes:

        $ORACLE_HOME/oui/bin/attachhome.sh -local "CLUSTER_NODES={comma separated nodelist}" LOCAL_NODE=<node on which command is run> -cfs
        

Diagnosing and Recovering from Central Inventory Corruption

When you execute opatch lsinventory -detail or when you click Installed Products, the Oracle home does not appear.

Cause: The Oracle home may be missing from the Central Inventory, or the Central Inventory could be missing or corrupted.

Action: Do the following:

• If the Oracle home is missing from the Central Inventory, perform an attach home operation on the missing Oracle home. The Central Inventory will be restored.

• If the Central Inventory is missing or corrupted, restore the Central Inventory. If you have not backed up the Central Inventory, perform an attach home operation.

For more information on the attach home operation, see "Creating the Central Inventory".

If multiple entries are in the inventory.xml file for a given Oracle home, Inventory Collection from the Grid Control perspective would have issues. In this event, you should remove these duplicate entries manually.

Here are some examples of the kind of incorrect entries that could be there:

<HOME NAME="db11g" LOC="/product/db11g" TYPE="O" IDX="1"/>
<HOME NAME="oms11g" LOC="/product/em/oms11g" TYPE="O" IDX="2"/>
<HOME NAME="db11g" LOC="/product/db11g" TYPE="O" IDX="3"/>

In the above example, the first and third entries are duplicates. The Oracle home name and Oracle home location are identical. In this example, remove the third line.

Note that all duplicate inventory issues are caused by manual updates to the inventory.xml file. Use the OUI APIs to change the inventory.

Diagnosing and Recovering from Oracle Home Inventory Corruption

When you execute opatch lsinventory -detail or when you click Installed Products, the Oracle home appears, but the products and components within the Oracle home are not listed.

Cause: This may result because of a missing or corrupted Oracle home inventory.

Action: If the Oracle home inventory is missing or corrupted, restore the Oracle home inventory. If you have not backed up the Oracle home inventory, you may have to install the software on a different node with the same platform and install the same patch levels including interim patches. After that, you can simply copy the inventory directory from the patched Oracle home to the location of the affected Oracle home.

For information on recovering from Oracle Real Application Clusters Oracle home inventory corruption, see "Diagnosing and Recovering from RAC Oracle Home Inventory Corruption".

Updating the Nodes of a Cluster

When you use the -updateNodeList flag with the Oracle Universal Installer, it retrieves the list of nodes and updates the inventory.xml file. If the Oracle Clusterware tag is set to TRUE, the Oraclehomeproperties.xml file is updated with the Oracle Clusterware home information. For shared Oracle homes, you need to use this with the -cfs flag. The syntax is as follows:

./runInstaller -updateNodeList "CLUSTER_NODES={Node1,Node2}" 
ORACLE_HOME="<Oracle_Home_Location>" -defaultHomeName LOCAL_NODE="Node_Name"

Diagnosing and Recovering from RAC Oracle Home Inventory Corruption

When you execute opatch lsinventory -detail or when you click Installed Products, the Oracle home appears, but the products and components within the Oracle home are not listed.

Cause: This may result because of a missing or corrupted Oracle home inventory.

Action: Do the following:

1. Back up the Central and Local inventories of both Oracle Clusterware and RDBMS for all nodes.

2. Rename or remove the Central Inventory on all nodes.

3. Copy the Local Inventory from the node that is not corrupted to the node that is corrupted.

4. Recreate the Central Inventory with the attachhome option as in MetaLink note 413939.1, Steps to Recreate the Central Inventory in Oracle Real Application Clusters.

5. Verify that opatch lsinventory functions correctly in both the Oracle Clusterware and RDBMS homes.

For information on recovering from non-RAC Oracle home inventory corruption, see "Diagnosing and Recovering from Oracle Home Inventory Corruption".

ORACLE_BASE Directory

ORACLE_BASE specifies the BASE of the Oracle directory structure for OFA-compliant databases. A typical ORACLE_BASE directory structure is described in Table 2-6. When installing an OFA-compliant database using Oracle Universal Installer, ORACLE_BASE is set to /pm/app/oracle by default.

ORACLE_HOME Directory

Table 2-7 shows an example of the Oracle home directory structure and content for an Oracle Server Installation.

If you install an OFA-compliant Oracle Server, the Oracle home directory is /mount_point/app/oracle/product/release_number. Under UNIX, the Oracle home directory might contain the following subdirectories, as well as a subdirectory for each Oracle product selected.