How to install Oracle Database 19c on FlashArray (Windows Server)

Create Volumes on the FlashArray

As the FlashArray is built using solid-state technology, the design considerations that were very important for spinning disk-based storage are no longer valid. We do not have to worry about distributing I/O over multiple disks, therefore no need of making sure that tables and its indexes are on different disks. We can place our entire database on a single volume without any performance implication. One thing to keep in mind when deciding on the number of volumes to create is that performance and data reduction statistics are captured and stored at the volume level.    

In this installation, we will create six volumes for the database. Two for data/temp files, one for redo log files, one for Oracle software and two for the Flash Recovery Area.

Go to Storage -> Volumes, and click on the plus icon at the top right corner on the Volumes panel. Provide the Volume name and size and click on the Create button. Repeat this step for each volume.

Using Pure Storage PowerShell SDK, a volume can be created as follows.

Before we run any PowerShell commands on the FlashArray, we need to first connect to it. To connect to a Pure Storage FlashArray the New-PfaArray cmdlet is used to create a secure connection from the Windows Server to the specified FlashArray. A connection to the FlashArray is established over HTTPS using TLS 1.1/1.2.

PS C:\ > $FlashArray = New-PfaArray -EndPoint 10.0.x.x -ApiToken fbbb3xyz-b2da-0000-3d7d-xxxxxxxxxxxx

Once the session has been established,$FlashArray variable contains a reference to the FlashArray connection and can be used in the subsequent commands.

Now we can execute the New-PfaVolume cmdlet to create a volume.

PS C:\ > New-PfaVolume -Array $FlashArray -VolumeName 'ora-rt-win03a-data-01' -Unit T -Size 2

Create a Host on the FlashArray

Go to Storage->Hosts and click on the plus icon at the top right corner on the Hosts panel. The Create Host dialog will popup. Enter the name of the host that we are going to add. Note that this can be any name you think would best identify your host in the array, and does not have to be the operating system hostname. Click on Create to create a host object.

Using Pure Storage PowerShell SDK, a host can be created by executing the following command. 

The host will now appear in the Hosts section. Click on the host name to go to the Host details page.

Click on the Menu icon at the top right corner of the Host Ports section. A drop-down menu with a list of options will appear. This is where we set up the connectivity between the FlashArray and the Host. You need to choose the configuration option depending on the type of network we are using to connect. 

In this case, we are connecting a Fibre Channel network, so we select the option to Configure WWNs.

For an iSCSI network, one would select the option to Configure IQNs. 

For a NVME over Fabrics network, one would select the option to Configure NQNs.

On selecting Configure WWNs... from the menu, a dialog will be displayed with a list of available WWNs in the left pane.

Once the WWNs corresponding to the host are selected, they will appear in the Host Ports panel.

We are using FC, therefore we create a host and configure WWNs using the Pure Storage PowerShell SDK.

PS C:\ > $wwn = @('21:00:00:0E:1E:1B:E8:40','21:00:00:0E:1E:1B:E8:41')
PS C:\ > $wwn
21:00:00:0E:1E:1B:E8:40
21:00:00:0E:1E:1B:E8:41
PS C:\ > New-PfaHost -Array $FlashArray -WwnList $wwn -Name sn1-r720-e03-17

If using iSCSI, the example shown below can be followed for creating a host and configuring IQNs using the Pure Storage PowerShell SDK.

PS C:\ > $iqn = @('iqn.1998-01.com.sample1.iscsi','iqn.1998-01.com.sample2.iscsi')
PS C:\ > $iqn
iqn.1998-01.com.sample1.iscsi
iqn.1998-01.com.sample2.iscsi
PS C:\ > New-PfaHost -Array $FlashArray -Name 'sn1-r720-e03-17' -IqnList $iqn

Connect Volumes to the Host

Click on the Menu icon on the Connected Volumes panel. From the drop-down menu, select Connect....

A dialog will appear that will list volumes available for connection. Select the volumes and click Connect. 

They will now show up in the Connected Volumes panel on the host details page as shown below.

PS C:\ > New-PfaHostVolumeConnection -Array $FlashArray -VolumeName 'ora-rt-win03a-data-01' -HostName 'sn1-r720-e03-17'

Create OS Users

Create the oracle user.

PS C:\> New-LocalUser -Name oracle -NoPassword -Description "Oracle Database Software Owner"

If using ASM, we create the grid user as well.

PS C:\> New-LocalUser -Name grid -NoPassword -Description "Oracle Grid Software Owner"

Create OS Groups

PS C:\> New-LocalGroup -Name ORA_DBA

If using ASM, create the following groups

PS C:\> New-LocalGroup -Name ORA_ASMDBA
PS C:\> New-LocalGroup -Name ORA_ASMADMIN
PS C:\> New-LocalGroup -Name ORA_ASMOPER

Assign users to groups

Assign oracle user to the ORA_DBA group

PS C:\> Add-LocalGroupMember -Group ORA_DBA -Member Oracle

If using ASM, assign grid user to the following groups

PS C:\> Add-LocalGroupMember -Group ORA_ASMDBA -Member grid
PS C:\> Add-LocalGroupMember -Group ORA_ASMADMIN -Member grid
PS C:\> Add-LocalGroupMember -Group ORA_ASMOPER -Member grid

Setup Multipath I/O

Multipathing solutions use redundant physical path components to create multiple logical paths between the host and the FlashArray and its use is highly recommended on production systems. To setup Multipath I/O on Windows server, we need to do the following:

PS C:\> Get-WindowsFeature -Name 'Multipath-IO'

Display Name                                            Name                       Install State
------------                                            ----                       -------------
[X] Multipath I/O                                       Multipath-IO                   Available

PS C:\> Add-WindowsFeature -Name 'Multipath-IO'

Success Restart Needed Exit Code      Feature Result
------- -------------- ---------      --------------
True    Yes            SuccessRest... {Multipath I/O}
WARNING: You must restart this server to finish the installation process.

PS C:\> New-MSDSMSupportedHw -VendorId PURE -ProductId FlashArray

VendorId ProductId
-------- ---------
PURE     FlashArray

PS C:\> Get-MSDSMSupportedHw

VendorId ProductId
-------- ---------
Vendor 8 Product       16
PURE     FlashArray

PS C:\> Remove-MSDSMSupportedHw -VendorId 'Vendor*' -ProductId 'Product*'
PS C:\> Get-MSDSMSupportedHw

VendorId ProductId
-------- ---------
PURE     FlashArray

PS C:\> Get-MPIOSetting

PathVerificationState     : Disabled
PathVerificationPeriod    : 30
PDORemovePeriod           : 20
RetryCount                : 3
RetryInterval             : 1
UseCustomPathRecoveryTime : Disabled
CustomPathRecoveryTime    : 40
DiskTimeoutValue          : 60

PS C:\> Set-MPIOSetting -NewPathRecoveryInterval 20
PS C:\> Set-MPIOSetting -CustomPathRecovery Enabled
PS C:\> Set-MPIOSetting -NewPDORemovePeriod 30
PS C:\> Set-MPIOSetting -NewDiskTimeout 60
PS C:\> Set-MPIOSetting -NewPathVerificationState Enabled

PS C:\Users\Administrator> Get-MSDSMGlobalDefaultLoadBalancePolicy
None

PS C:\> Set-MSDSMGlobalDefaultLoadBalancePolicy -Policy RR
PS C:\> Get-MSDSMGlobalDefaultLoadBalancePolicy
RR

Disk Policy a.k.a. SAN Policy

The new Disk Policy (previously known as the SAN Policy) is the policy Windows Server uses to determine whether or not disks should automatically mount that are detected as new on the host.

Run diskpart at the command prompt to enter the DISKPART utility. Use the san command as shown below to view as well as update the SAN policy.

C:\> diskpart

DISKPART> san
SAN Policy  : Offline Shared

DISKPART> san policy=onlineAll
DiskPart successfully changed the SAN policy for the current operating system.

DISKPART> san
SAN Policy  : Online All

DISKPART> automount enable
Automatic mounting of new volumes enabled.

Using PowerShell, this can be done like so.

PS C:\> Get-StorageSetting | Select-Object NewDiskPolicy

NewDiskPolicy
-------------
OfflineShared

PS C:\> Set-StorageSetting -NewDiskPolicy OnlineAll

Next, we create the primary partition for all the disks.

DISKPART> select disk 19

Disk 19 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> create partition primary

DiskPart succeeded in creating the specified partition.

DISKPART> select disk 20

Disk 20 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> create partition primary

DiskPart succeeded in creating the specified partition.

DISKPART> select disk 21

Disk 21 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> create partition primary

DiskPart succeeded in creating the specified partition.

Initialize Disks

On the Windows Server, open Disk Management utility (Server Manager -> Tools -> Computer Management)

The newly added disks would show up as Offline. Right-click and select Online from the popup menu.

Next, with the disk selected, right-click to bring up the popup menu once again. Now it should show the Initialize Disk option. Select it to initialize the disk. 

We can also select multiple disks and initialize them at the same time as shown below. Select the GPT (GUID Partition Table) radio button.  

After all newly added disks are initialized, this is how it'll look like. For ASM disks, we do not need to create a file system.

Note that we have created NTFS filesystem on the volume designated for the Grid and Database Oracle Homes and assigned it the drive letter D. 

If the database is going to be on file system, then we would also create a file system on all the database disks, instead of leaving them RAW.