NEC Storage NV Series

Guide to Oracle Storage Compatibility Program

Network Attached File Server Technologies

iS-WP-03-001 Rev-1.00 Apr, 2004 NEC Corporation.

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Copyright 2004 NEC Corporation. All rights reserved. DOCUMENTATION IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED CONDITIONS, REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT ARE DISCLAIMED. NEC Storage NV Series and NEC Storage Manager/IP are trademarks or registered trademarks of NEC Corporation in Japan. Oracle, Oracle9i and other product names of Oracle are trademarks, registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. Sun, Sun Microsystems, Sun Blade, and Solaris are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. XFS is a trademark or registered trademark of Silicon Graphics, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. Rev. 1.00 Apr. 2004

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Contents

1. Introduction...................................................................................................................................4 2. Glossary .......................................................................................................................................4 3. Overview of NAS ..........................................................................................................................8

3.1 What is NAS?.....................................................................................................................8 3.2 NEC Storage NV Series .....................................................................................................8

4. The OSCP NAS tests on the NEC Storage NV Series................................................................10 4.1 OSCP NAS tests results...................................................................................................10 4.2 Overall Result...................................................................................................................10

5. Sample settings on the NEC Storage NV Series and NFS Client/Oracle DB Server .................. 11 5.1 Oracle DB configuration for OSCP tests............................................................................. 11 5.2 Settings of the NEC Storage NV Series ............................................................................. 11

6. Installation of OSCP Test Kit.......................................................................................................24 6.1 Additional settings before installation .................................................................................24 6.2 Installation of OSCP Test Kit...............................................................................................25 6.3 Mounting the NAS Device ................................................................................................26

7. Execution of OSCP NAS Tests ...................................................................................................27 8. Summary ....................................................................................................................................27 9. References ..............................................................................................................................27 Acknowledgement .........................................................................................................................27

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1. Introduction Recently, as the demand for such tasks as data sharing in multi-OS environments and cost cuts in

storage management has risen, the use of NAS (Network Attached Storage), the storage

appliance product, has increased. Moreover, as the Internet moves to broadband and the number

of services delivering high-volume content grows, the demand for a large-capacity, efficient,

high-end NAS product is also expanding.

NEC Storage* NV Series is a high-end NAS product providing high performance, high availability

and high reliability and adopts the latest architecture features, such as a high performance TOE

(TCP/IP Offload Engine), an OS specifically optimized for NAS, large capacity non-volatile

memory (NVRAM), a remote replication capability, and more.

This document describes the procedure for using the NEC Storage NV Series as a file server for

Oracle RDBMS, and the results of verification tests.

The verification is based on the Oracle Storage Compatibility Program (OSCP) provided by

Oracle Corporation, and was performed at NEC Corporation as set out in the White Paper,

'Oracle Network Storage System Compatibility Fault Injection Tests' published by Oracle

Corporation and by applying the verification kit ‘Oracle Certification Environment (OCE)/Oracle

Certification Kit for Storage’ made available by Oracle Corporation.

* ‘NEC Storage’ is a series name of disk arrays from NEC Corporation for a world-wide market.

For a Japanese market, ‘iStorage’ is applied for a series name such as ‘iStorage NV Series.’

2. Glossary

CIFS

A file-sharing protocol on Microsoft Windows

It is used primarily in Windows environments. However, its use on various UNIX OSs is

increasing with the spread in the use of the Windows platform in recent years.

File Lock

A mechanism that shows that a file is used by a specific process to avoid accidents such as

double update.

A NAS Device, in other words the NFS server, should maintain file lock information

regardless of the state of the client. For example, if an NFS server reboots when a client

locks a certain file, the state of the lock must be maintained after the reboot. The Oracle

RDBMS uses the file lock mechanism to avoid, for example, starting the same instance twice.

The NEC Storage NV Series is compliant with the RPC lockd mechanism commonly used on

NFS.

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Hard Mount (see also Soft Mount)

One of the mount options for NFS. A mode in which the client keeps I/O processing without

breaking off, and waits for the file access system to recover, even if an error is caused during

a file access.

iSCSI (see also NAS, SAN)

One of the methods for connecting to a storage device over a commonly used network, such

as LAN or Ethernet. FCIP and iFCP, and other methods which are similar to this, also exist.

Unlike NAS, iSCSI is a technology that passes the device level SCSI protocol through the

TCP/IP layer, and makes it possible to avoid the cost and management load for a special

communication mechanism required by usual Fibre-Channel SAN.

Link Aggregation

Technology that improves bandwidth and fault tolerance by bundling two or more network

lines (trunks) together and treating them just like one line. There is a standard based on

IEEE803.2ad, and other individual standards used by network equipment manufacturers.

The NEC Storage NV Series is compliant with IEEE802.3ad (LACP: Link Aggregation

Control Protocol).

NAS (see also iSCSI, SAN)

Network Attached Storage

A storage device connected over a commonly used network such as LAN or Ethernet that

uses NFS and/or CIFS as the common file protocol on the application layer. The necessary

client program is mostly embedded in the OS by default, and its most significant feature is

that no specialized program or driver is required to use the storage device. To accommodate

demands for recent highly sophisticated applications, some devices are also capable of

handling other protocols such as WebDAV, HTTP or FTP.

Note that sometimes even outside the field of data storage, in discussions of networks,

‘Network Access Server’ is known by the abbreviation NAS.

NFS

A common file protocol using TCP/IP defined by Sun Microsystems

As the specification is openly available, it is widely used on anything from the various UNIX

platforms to the Windows system.

NTP

Network Time Protocol

The time synchronization protocol used on LANs or the Internet.

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NVRAM

Non-Volatile Random Access Memory

A generic name of memory that does not require an external power supply to retain

information. Usually it is designed by using Static RAM or Flash ROM, etc. However, there

are some defects with this approach such as difficulties in design, a high cost for large

capacity (in the case of S-RAM) or low access speed (F-ROM).

SAN (see also iSCSI, NAS)

Storage Area Network

A technology that enables sharing from two or more host computers by treating storage as

independent from a host computer when the storage capacity increases. Fibre-Channel is

used for the connection. The host computer needs a connection and management

mechanism to use Fibre-Channel.

Soft Mount (see also Hard Mount)

One of the mount options for NFS. A mode in which the client stops I/O processing if an error

is caused during a file access.

Stale Cache

A state where data registered in a cache is older than what it replaces on the hard disk in the

storage device.

As all of NEC Storage Series have advanced cache management mechanisms, a stale

cache state is usually impossible.

Synchronous Writes

A writing mode that guarantees a write has been completed when the storage device reports

that the write is complete.

Conventionally, a storage device may execute a write to a disk with a time delay

(Asynchronous Write) after reporting to a client that the write is complete, and receiving data

into the main memory of the storage device (cache memory), in order to improve the

apparent response performance.

In such a procedure, if any trouble occurs after the recognition of write on the client side and

before an actual write of data on the disk as “safely on” the storage device, a data loss which

the client cannot be aware of would be generated.

In contrast, Synchronous Write enables the host to detect writes or losses of data at the time

they happen by waiting to announce the completion of the write operation to a host side until

the data is actually “safely on” the disk. The result is that reliability is improved in exchange

for performance.

The NEC Storage NV Series has achieved a high speed of operation even with synchronous

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writes, equal to that of the asynchronous write speed, by configuring the main memory to be

NVRAM.

TOE

TCP/IP Offload Engine

A technology that provides high-speed TCP/IP processing and reduces the load on the OS

by shifting the TCP/IP process out of the network processes of each layer, which the OS is

usually responsible for, to the network interface and processing it with a hardware engine.

Some TOEs can support a higher-level application protocol. This type of technology

specialized for a specific protocol (for example, iSCSI) is sometimes called a Network

Accelerator.

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3. Overview of NAS 3.1 What is NAS?

NAS (Network Attached Storage) is one form of a storage appliance that specializes in file server

functions. Its features are described below.

3.1.1 Ease of Management Conventionally, a file server is provided by configuring an external or internal storage such as a

disk array coupled with a general-purpose host computer or server. Along with increasing storage

capacity, networks known as SAN (Storage Area Networks) have become very popular. However,

most of these systems need a special data transfer network using fiber channel or an

independent management system, which causes an increase in management load. As NAS

utilizes the commonly used Ethernet and common file protocols based on TCP/IP, which

operates on the Ethernet, the management load can be greatly decreased. What is more, many

engineers are familiar with Ethernet because it is a popular technology.

3.1.2 Storage Consolidation The file server described above naturally consolidates storage. That is, rather than each client

having its own independent storage, many clients use the storage space concentrated on one site.

The NAS system, which is specifically designed for this, has the following advantages compared

with a file server configured with general-purpose servers and storage:

- Disks can be added while the system is on line and in use

- The ability to provide file services to many clients

3.1.3 Multi-OS Utilization When using SAN for storage consolidation, common file processing and data sharing is difficult if

the client OS differs, as the file access process is executed on the client.

With the NAS system, the NAS device controls the file system and data is offered to the client in

the form of the file system. What is more, a common file process is available with a high degree of

compatibility even if the OSs on clients are different, as de-facto standards such as NFS and

CIFS are used as the access protocol to files.

3.2 NEC Storage NV Series The NEC Storage NV Series has the following features in addition to the usual features of NAS.

3.2.1 High Performance TOE (TCP/IP Offload Engine) Conventionally, the OS deals with TCP/IP and higher-level processes using resources such as

CPU and memory. However, due to improvements in the transmission rate brought about by the

development of the Ethernet technology, the situation now is that the proportion of communication

processing required of the CPU has increased and application processes have become

unavailable because of the heavy communication processing load.

The TOE technology is used to decrease the CPU load of the server and to achieve high

performance and wide scalability by shifting the heavy load of TCP/IP processing from the

software to the hardware. A technology specially designed for a specific application protocol (for

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example, NIC for iSCSI) is sometimes called a Network Accelerator.

The NEC Storage NV Series is available to use two or more network interface cards each with a

TOE chip on board and two Gigabit Ethernet ports. When a network interface card is added, the

load for the increased network interface is managed by the TOE chip on the network interface

card, which helps the network interface to reduce the load on the OS operation of the NAS device

itself and brings about a high degree of scalability.

3.2.2 An Operating System highly optimized for NAS To achieve a high-functionality, high-performance, high-scalability and high-availability NAS

solution, the NEC Storage NV Series has highly optimized underlying software based on Linux.

3.2.3 High performance RAID Control LSI The NEC Storage NV Series has achieved a high speed data transfer by applying high

performance RAID processing LSI already proven in use in NEC Storage S-series disk arrays and

Fibre-Channel HDD communicating at 2 Gbps on board.

3.2.4 Large capacity Non-Volatile RAM (NVRAM) The NEC Storage NV Series makes use of large capacity non-volatile random access memory for

its main memory, which greatly improves the performance compared with the standard speed of

I/O response for writes to a disk. In addition, by configuring the batteries to use redundancy, a

data loss in the memory can be prevented even if trouble occurs in one place.

Moreover, the same performance and reliability with synchronous I/O can always be realized

though asynchronous I/O is requested from the NFS client side.

3.2.5 Clusters The NEC Storage NV Series has a model which can be used with a two-node cluster

configuration that operates in Active-Active mode. (For these tests a single configuration model

was used.)

3.2.6 Redundancy The NEC Storage NV Series has redundancy built into its main parts such as the power supply,

battery, fan and internal disk access path, which means a single case of failure will never cause

the system to stop.

3.2.7 Data Recovery With the NEC Storage NV Series it is possible to make a snapshot for every file system available.

A file that a user overwrote or deleted by mistake can be recovered by a simple operation from

the client.

3.2.8 Optional Functions The NEC Storage NV Series can provide the following functions in addition to the

above-mentioned basic functions:

- Remote replication

- Backup

- Anti-virus functionality

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4. The OSCP NAS tests on the NEC Storage NV Series The OSCP NAS tests consist of the following two test-groups:

- An automated NAS Test

- Failure Scenario Tests

4.1 OSCP NAS tests results Automated NAS Test

Simple Pass

Stress Pass

Failure Scenario Tests

NFS Intensive Workload Test Pass

NFS Synchronous Writes Test Pass

NFS Hard/Soft Mount Test Pass

NFS NVRAM Failure Test Not Executed

NFS File Locks Test Pass

NFS Double Failure Test Pass

NFS Stale Cache Test Pass

4.2 Overall Result

Success NVRAM Failure Test

Because this test is optional, we did not attempt it. The NVRAM Failure Test

in the OSCP NAS tests assumes the system to have functions such as

notification for NVRAM failure itself, mirrored configuration of NVRAM and

data protection using snapshot backup of the NVRAM data at arbitrary times,

and the test aims to verify these notification functions and data recovery

functions from backup data.

The NEC Storage NV Series is designed not to configure NVRAM itself

redundantly, but to provide stable power supply utilizing UPS on a basic level.

If a higher level fault tolerance is needed a clustered configuration is

recommended. This is because the cost of mirrored NVRAM is higher, and in

addition high-level knowledge and technology are required to treat snapshot

data that is not guaranteed to synchronize with the processes of the upper

client, which causes an increase in management cost. In the end, it is the

result of considering the trade-off between the possibility of a fault and ease

of handling and equipment cost.

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5. Sample settings on the NEC Storage NV Series and NFS Client/Oracle DB Server

Various sample settings for the NEC Storage NV Series, the Oracle DB host needed to use the

NEC Storage NV Series to store Oracle data files and log files, and the network environment are

described, with concrete examples based on the test environment.

5.1 Oracle DB configuration for OSCP tests The configuration of the Oracle DB host for the OSCP tests is as follows:

• �

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• Oracle

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• NV8210

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Sun Blade100 CPU Ultra SPARC-IIe 500 MHz

Memory: 1 GBytes

Internal HDD 20 GBytes x 2

OS Solaris9 (4/03)

Oracle Version 9.2.0.3.0

Two equivalent servers are used for the OSCP tests

The configuration of the NEC Storage NV Series is as follows:

OS Version: 1.2 (2003/12)

CPU 2.4 GHz 2 physical - 4 logical (Intel Hyper Threading Technology Enabled)

Memory: 10 GBytes

Network: 1000BASE-SX 2 port (minimum configuration), with 2 ports which can be

expanded to a maximum of 8 ports

Utilizing a single port configuration

Storage: 72 GB HDD x 13 (2 for OS, 10 for DATA and 1 for hot swap)

Maximum available disk volume : 571 GB

2x 16 GB disk volumes with RAID5 configuration are used for the OSCP tests.

Maximum available disk volume in specification is 11.7 TB with 143 GB HDD

x210.

5.2 Settings of the NEC Storage NV Series The steps for setting up the NEC Storage NV Series to be used as an NFS server are shown

below. The NEC Storage NV Series has many functions besides the ones shown here, such as

showing the quota of each file system and the file system snapshot of each volume. However

these are omitted.

Because the NEC Storage NV Series has many functions, which are not only basic functions

such as NFS and CIFS but the usage such as an FTP and HTTP server, the function to access

the same data using those two protocols or others, and the additional functions such as

server-less backup, the setting at the on-site is indispensable.

5.2.1 Network Settings 1 (Setting up the network interface for management)

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The NEC Storage NV Series also provides a network interface to manage NAS Devices on the

network, as well as a network interface with TOE functionality to provide file services. The

network interface for providing file services is called ‘service I/F’ and the network is called a

‘service LAN’, while the network interface for managing NAS Devices is called ‘management I/F’

and the network is called a ‘management LAN.’

The service LAN and management LAN may be the same network, or each may be an

independent network. The NEC Storage NV Series provides two network ports for service I/F

even when using the minimum configuration, and it is also possible to use the network ports with

the same network or with different networks.

In order to operate the network, an appropriate host name and IP address should be given for

each management I/F and service I/F port.

An example of the network configuration for the NEC Storage NV Series, in the case that all the

management LANs and several of the service LANs are independent, is shown below.

Primary Oracle host Secondary Oracle host

Oracle Binary Oracle Binary

Another Gigabit Ethernet for Service LAN Subnet(max 8) 1000BASE-SX or 1000BASE-T

DB Client DB Client NEC Storage NV Series

Oracle Data and Log

Management LAN (10 or 100BASE)

Management host

The two host names are as follows:

•

•

Management host name admin.nvnas.local

Service host name nfs.nvnas.local

Notes on network utilization The above host names and IP addresses related to the host name and other

network setting information are necessary. In particular, it is necessary to

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work together with the network administrator of the NAS devices to be sure

that the set-up information is correct, as the NAS device is directly connected

to the actual network (whether this is the in-house LAN or the Internet).

Furthermore, it is necessary to set up appropriate access limitations for the

NAS device, bearing in mind the possibility that not all hosts are simply

acting as providers of services to the network.

In addition to the ability to set access controls from a client host or over a

network which an usual NFS server has, the NEC Storage NV Series is

capable of providing access control functionality to the user using a user

database (either NIS or LDAP) which may be outside or inside the NAS

device.

The management network should be set up the first time the device is started up.

Setting Items Remarks Management host name Host name corresponding to IP address for

management host

IP address for management host Any address will do (as long as it is valid for the

management network)

Net-mask for management network Pre-defined value on management network

Default gateway for management network Pre-defined value on management network

(may be abbreviated)

DNS server for management network Pre-defined value on management network

(more than one may be specified)

Password for management host Root privileged password

The above information is recorded on CF media for maintenance by a set-up tool on Windows

PCs, and is transferred to the NAS device when it is first started up.

5.2.2 NEC Storage Manager/IP After management set-up is completed, access to NEC Storage Manager/IP, a management tool

with Web I/F, becomes available. The management menu becomes accessible by accessing the

address below using the management host name from a web browser and inputting the

pre-defined user name and password. https://admin.nvnas.local:8282/nsadmin/ The port to be used is different from that generally used for HTTPS (or HTTP), though it is an web

based interface. A connection which does not use HTTPS (SSL) is also available.

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With the NEC Storage NV Series it is also possible to direct operations through a command line

by a remote connection using rsh or ssh for daily operation, besides the use of NEC Storage

Manager/IP through a GUI.

At first the node name (the name given to the NAS Device for identification) should be decided

with the Administration -> Node Registration sequence. For the OSCP tests, the node name was

set to be ANZMD, which does not mean anything in particular.

After the node is registered the menu is rewritten and the Storage Type section appears. You can

find the "Node" section registered under the "Model name" subsection of the Storage Type

section, and various settings can be operated for this section. The basic settings are described

below. However, the details are omitted.

Items Remarks Additional DNS DNS on the network side for services, and so on.

Setting of time Setting the time of a device

An NTP server may be specified

The settings needed for NFS server functions are operated by using each part of the menu

hierarchy in turn.

5.2.3 Network Settings 2 (Settings of network interface for service)

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Each network interface card used for services with the NEC Storage NV Series has two Gigabit

Ethernet ports with TOE functionality. The trunk can be set to use two ports as one pair based on

IEEE802.3ad Link Aggregation, which makes it possible to improve the communication

bandwidth (2Gbps) and fault tolerance. Furthermore, a Jumbo Frame is available, and the

maximum possible MTU is 9000. An arbitrary value from 1500 to 9000 is also acceptable.

The TOE functionality that the network interface card of the NEC Storage NV Series provides is

always switched on, and no set-up options are offered.

After deciding whether to use Link Aggregation, setting for each interface port can be performed -

for one pair if Link Aggregation is applied, and for the required number of ports if each port is used

individually.

Setting Items Remarks Usage ‘NAS’ (Fixed. Other words may be added in the future.)

IP Address Any (as long as it is valid for each service network)

Net Mask Pre-defined value on each service network

Default Gateway Pre-defined value on each service network

I/F status at the start-up Up or Down

MTU 1500, 9000(=Jumbo Frame)

or an arbitrary value between 1500 and 9000

The link status of the device can also be confirmed. Below is a figure showing a connection

established with a host.

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An additional setting for static routing information is also acceptable.

5.2.4 Settings for Storage Area -1 (Disk Array) Setting up the storage area to be used as a file server consists of two main steps. The first step is

to set up the disk array just the same as with the NEC Storage S Series Disk Array. The second

step is to set up the storage for the NFS server.

5.2.4.1 Settings of Disk Array Setting up the disk array consists of the following two steps:

1 – Deciding the RAID type

2 – Defining volumes with the necessary capacity

The NEC Storage NV Series has already been set to use as RAID5 by default, so you can only

specify the capacity of the logical disks when starting up. However, reconfiguration for applying

RAID1 or RAID 1+0 for a specific usage is also available. It may be configured by specifying the

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necessary capacity.

Basic Information on Disk Array settings RANK

RANK is a group setting to bundle individual HDDs for each RAID type to be

utilized and handled just like one virtual disk array. Two or more RANKs can

be constructed in one NAS Device, which enables the embedded HDDs to

be used effectively. You can specify 2 HDDs for RAID1 (mirroring), or for

RAID5 (Striping and Parity), either 4 or 6 HDDs for data area and 1 HDD for

parity.

Logical Disk A logical disk is a partition which divides the storage area further to gain a

more flexible capacity distribution from logical disk array configured as RANK.

(It is similar to dividing a single HDD into partitions for more flexible use in a

general PC.) Even if the entire size of the RANK is used in one area, it is

necessary to set one logical disk to be used for administrative purposes.

The setting is done by applying each function in the ‘Disk Management’ menu followed by the

‘Storage’ menu in the top hierarchy. As an expansion of the storage capacity is available by using

the LVM function described later, it is more flexible for various situations to prepare many logical

disks of smaller size.

5.2.5 Settings for Storage Area -2 (File System) 5.2.5.1 Storage Settings for NFS server

To set up a logical disk to be used as a storage area from the NFS server, select ‘Storage Type,’

‘Device Name’ and ‘Node’ from the top menu of NEC Storage Manager/IP and a list of options to

be appeared.

5.2.5.2 NFS Export Name You can use the storage area of the NFS service provided by the NEC Storage NV Series by

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specifying the NFS Export name from the NFS client as shown below.

These options can be set in turn from the left side of this NFS Export name. nfs.nvnas.local:/export/_Export_Group_/mount_point Each parameter is explained below starting from the left.

• nfs.nvnas.local

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

Host name assigned to the service I/F

export (Fixed value)

The directory name of the top hierarchy of NFS Export in the NEC Storage NV

Series is ‘export.’ (It cannot be changed.)

_Export_Group_

Export Group is an identification name set for each NAS service. As the NEC Storage NV Series is available to provide two or more services with one device,

the Export Group name is set so that the service can be distinguished from the

outside.

mount_point

Name that associates the storage area (=file system, described later) actually

used with the Path Name in ‘NFS export.’

5.2.5.3 Export Group As the NEC Storage NV Series is available to set two or more Export Groups in one device and

also to specify the disk space and any access limitations for each Export Group, which makes it

possible to keep the security needed in assigning one NAS device to two or more user groups

and using together. You can set these options by selecting ‘Exporting Policy’ and then ‘Export

Group’, and an arbitrary character string may be used. The following settings will be assigned to

each Export Group.

The language selection option specifies the language encoding for the file system, which

becomes a subordinate on later settings, and is used for file name recording. Currently only two

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specific encodings, general purpose (English) and Japanese, are selectable. (The encodings are

EUC-JP, mainly used for UNIX hosts, and SJIS (Shift-JIS), mainly used for Windows.)

5.2.5.4 File System The storage area actually used as a file server can be made accessible by creating a file system

on LVM which a logical disk is allocated.

Setting the LVM For a logical disk, the capacity of the RANK which is composed of is an

upper bound. The way to provide a mass storage area that exceeds this

upper bound is to use an LVM. By registering two or more logical disks in one

LVM, the storage capacity can be expanded. Expansion of the storage

capacity by use of the LVM is available after the operation of the area is

started up, which enables more flexible operation. Therefore, even if only

one logical disk is used, registering on the LVM is necessary. When

registering on the LVM, as well as the LVM device name, a longer name (a

nickname) is available for convenience when referring to the LVM from other

functions. For internal management purposes ‘NV_LVM_' is added to the

start of the LVM name (this is a fixed prefix).

Examples:

LVM name Nickname

Oracle Data NV_LVM_dbs ORACLE_DATA

Oracle Logs NV_LVM_log ORACLE_LOGS

Settings of File System Initialization for the use of the NFS service and naming of the ‘mount_point’

may be done for the LVM specified by the above options. The set-up of the

storage area to be used as an NFS server may be completed by selecting

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‘Volume’ followed by ‘File system.’

For the NEC Storage NV Series, two file systems, sxfs and sxfsfw, are

available. ‘sxfs’ is the standard file system based on the XFS used on Linux

OS with advanced functionality from NEC, and ‘sxfsfw’ is enhanced for use

on Windows (CIFS) from ‘sxfs’.

Setting up is done by specifying the format form and other options for LVM.

The options for the file system to be used as an NFS are whether to use the

Quota functionality and whether to update access time on files (unix atime).

The selection criteria are the same as for general NFS usage.

An arbitrary character string may be used for the mount point name.

The options available to choose at the file system creation and settings are

as follows:

Items Remarks LVM Select the LVM to use

format Apply formatting or not

It is possible to register the file system without

formatting in such cases as reconfiguration etc.

File System type sxfs or sxfsfw

journal size standard or expanded

system reservation Disk space assignment for a non-user device such

as the file system snapshot

mount point mount point for NFS Export

access mode Read/Write (Fixed)

replication Whether to apply remote replication (optional)

quota Whether to apply quota

update access time Whether to update unix atime

� Whether to use replication and the options below is a trade-off between functionality

and performance. Maximum performance is achieved when none of these are

selected.

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5.2.6 Settings of NFS Setting for the ‘mount_point’ of the storage area set in the previous section to open to the public

as an NFS is applied by selecting ‘Share’ followed by ‘NFS.’

The options include specification of the available hosts, user ID conversion, and so on.

If it is used with Oracle DB, since access as ‘root’ is not generally performed, it is appropriate to

set the option to treat access as ‘root’ as anonymous for safety (root_squash).

The selectable options for the NFS settings are as follows:

Setting Items Remarks Directory mount point to mount file system

Client to export Client/network to authorize access

Use the same format as for NFS on UNIX

User Mapping Whether to specify access control operation to utilize

user DB

Write Protect Whether to be approved a write operation by a client

Subtree Checking Validity check for the access path on file access

Squash Users root only, all or none

Anonymous ID uid/gid used for anonymous connection

Privileged Port Checking Check of the port number used for NFS client

Authentication for File

Locking Requests

Authenticate user requesting file locks

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Two mount_points and NFS exports for one public group were set for the OCSP test.

Set-up example:

•

•

nfs.nvnas.local:/export/md/data

nfs.nvnas.local:/export/md/logs

5.2.7 Other Settings Besides the above, the setting to permit remote connection to the NEC Storage NV Series by an

administrator is needed for the OSCP test. You can set the usage by a remote administrator to be

permitted by selecting ‘System’ followed by ‘Remote Administrator.’

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This concludes the list of settings to make the NEC Storage NV Series an NFS server for Oracle

DB.

5.2.8 Example of confirming the use of NFS server from NFS client You can confirm the export name of the storage area that the NAS Device provides by using the

‘showmount’ command from the NFS client.

Example: $ showmount -e nfs.nvnas.local export list for nfs.nvnas.local: /export/md/logs * /export/md/data * $

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6. Installation of OSCP Test Kit Two Sun Blade100 host computers which are NFS Clients utilizing NAS devices and also server

machines operating the Oracle RDBMS, were used for the OSCP test.

•

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Primary: rightg.nvnas.local

Secondary: leftg.nvnas.local

6.1 Additional settings before installation For the OSCP test, Oracle DB and some additional software are required.

6.1.1 Installation of Oracle DB You can install Oracle DB normally and no special settings for the use of a NAS device are

required. For the OSCP test Oracle 9i version 9.2.0.3.0 was used.

6.1.2 Settings of Oracle Host You can create a directory that becomes the mount point of the NFS volume that the NAS device

provides.

Setting example: (Execute under root authority on the NFS client host.) # mkdir /oradata # mkdir /oralogs

6.1.3 Settings of Remote Shell A remote shell was used to remotely control the pair client and NAS device from the Oracle host

for the OSCP test.

6.1.3.1 Settings for rsh An rsh was used for remote control between the two Oracle hosts. The .rhosts file is created in

the home directory of ‘Oracle user.’ The format of the .rhosts file is:

(host name of the pair) (user name)

Example: $ cat .rhosts leftg.nvnas.local oracle $ As the above settings are used for the OSCP test, password input is omitted. Keeping in mind

that it is not recommended to operate this way for security reasons in actual use, you can use

these settings as a reference on how to perform remote administration in actual operation.

6.1.3.2 Settings for ssh The use of ssh is available besides rsh to remotely control the NEC Storage NV Series from the

Oracle host on which the OSCP test is executed, and ssh was used in this test. To control it

remotely using rsh or ssh, the password for remote administration should be set using the

management GUI. It is recommended to switch remote administration on and off as necessary

when using the NEC Storage NV Series.

6.1.3.3 Sudo software Sudo software, which permits general users to execute commands with privileged authority was

used in the OSCP test. The sudo included in bonus software from the Solaris9 package was

installed. To use administration commands with privileged authority using sudo by general users,

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the following settings need to be made in the sudoer file by using the visudo command with root

authority.

Below is an example of defining the sudoer file when authority is given to all the dba groups to

which ‘Oracle user’ belongs based on the general settings when Oracle is installed. %dba ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL Note that consideration is needed when applying this setting to actual operation as this setting

may also give general users excessive authority.

6.2 Installation of OSCP Test Kit As the installation procedure of the OSCP test kit is provided together with the kit as a shell script,

you have only to execute the script and give the required information. Information necessary for

the installation is as follows:

The installation procedure of the OSCP test kit can be used as a reference for how to use an

actual NAS device is used, as the settings for an Oracle host using a NAS device (namely, the

NFS server) selected with the OSCP test kit, though it is not very closely related to general Oracle

DB operation.

Variable name Explanation Setting example

CD_MOUNT mount point of the OSCP test kit CD-ROM

/cdrom/oce_for_storage_oscpv1_oce_5.0

ORACLE_HOME ORACLE_HOME

/u01/app/oracle/product/9.2.0.1.0

DISPLAY Setting of the X-Window system Oracle test kit uses

localhost:0.0

PRIMARY_TEST Parameter to determine whether the host is primary or

secondary in OSCP test

If 1, primary host and if 0, secondary host.

MACHINE2 Host name to become a pair

leftg.nvnas.local (Setting on the primary side)

rightg.nvnas.local (Setting on the secondary side)

NFS_HOSTNAME NFS server, that is, the host name of the NAS device

nfs.nvnas.local

DBA_AREA NFS export to assign data files to

/export/md/oradata

REDO_AREA NFS export to assign log files to

/export/md/oralogs

NAS_REBOOT Command to reboot the NAS device remotely

(The usage is limited.)

NAS_NVTRASH Command to clear the NVRAM contents of the NAS device

(Not prepared)

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At this step the platform where the OSCP test is executed is specified.

Solaris64 •

•

After this step, file expansion and needed system settings are automatically executed by the

installation script. Installation into a secondary side should be executed by a similar procedure

after doing the primary side. After the installation is completed, the file /etc/dfs/dfstab is set as

shown below to access the primary side from the secondary side by using NFS between hosts. $ cat /etc/dfs/dfstab share -F nfs -o rw,anon=0 /u01/app/oracle/product/9.2.0.1.0/hist share -F nfs -o rw,anon=0 /u01/app/oracle/product/9.2.0.1.0/oce/work share -F nfs -o rw,anon=0 /u01/app/oracle/product/9.2.0.1.0/oce/histoce share -F nfs -o rw,anon=0 /u01/app/oracle/product/9.2.0.1.0/oce/recovery_hist All the directories are used for the OSCP test kit.

6.3 Mounting the NAS Device The volume mount instruction file, /etc/vfstab, is updated as follows by the installation script of the

OSCP test kit.

Primary side (Only the additional part) nfs.nvnas.local:/export/md/data - /oradata nfs - yes rw,hard,suid,intr nfs.nvnas.local:/export/md/logs - /oralogs nfs - yes rw,hard,suid,intr The NFS_HOSTNAME, DBA_AREA, and REDO_AREA specified in the installation are used.

The meanings of the NFS mount options are as follows:

Option Function rw Available to read/write

hard hard mount

suid Execution permission for suid file

intr Interruption permission when the file operation for NFS gets timeout

•

•

You can set the /etc/vfstab for actual situation by referring to this set-up. When the OSCP test is executed, the settings to import the directories of the OSCP test kit that

the primary side exports are also added to the secondary side in addition to the above settings.

Secondary side (Only the additional part) rightg.nvnas.local:/u01/app/oracle/product/9.2.0.1.0/hist\ - /u01/app/oracle/product/9.2.0.1.0/hist nfs - yes rw,hard,suid,intr rightg.nvnas.local:/u01/app/oracle/product/9.2.0.1.0/oce/work\ - /u01/app/oracle/product/9.2.0.1.0/oce/work nfs - yes rw,hard,suid,intr rightg.nvnas.local:/u01/app/oracle/product/9.2.0.1.0/oce/histoce\ - /u01/app/oracle/product/9.2.0.1.0/oce/histoce nfs - yes rw,hard,suid,intr rightg.nvnas.local:/u01/app/oracle/product/9.2.0.1.0/oce/recovery_hist\ - /u01/app/oracle/product/9.2.0.1.0/oce/recovery_hist nfs \ - yes rw,hard,suid,intr nfs.nvnas.local:/export/md/data - /oradata nfs - yes rw,hard,suid,intr nfs.nvnas.local:/export/md/logs - /oralogs nfs - yes rw,hard,suid,intr

A long line may be continued by putting \ at the end of the line.

This ends the description of the settings for the NEC Storage NV Series and Oracle DB host to be

used as the storage for data and log files of the Oracle DB. As the above settings and examples

are only for the OSCP test, additional settings considering enhanced features such as back-up

should be performed based on the explanations above in actual operation.

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7. Execution of OSCP NAS Tests The OSCP NAS test consists of the following two groups. The OSCP test kit has tools to support

other tests besides these, however the details are omitted.

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•

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Automated NAS Test

Failure Scenario tests

Both are executed by choosing the menu from the startTM.sh in the $ORACLE_HOME/oce/bin

(GUI using java applet). The details of the example using a GUI are omitted. Execution from a

command line is also available.

An example of execution from a command line is shown below. (The example is the case of the

Automated NAS Test and the Stress test) $ cd $ORACLE_HOME/bin : move to the execution file directory of the OSCP test $ . ./cmdlineSetup.sh : set the needed parameters $ cd $ORACLE_HOME/oce/work : move to the working directory $ mkdir oscp_suite_1 : create the test directory $ cd oscp_suite_1 : move to the test directory $ export T_WORK=$PWD : set the working directory name to the parameters $ oratst oscp.tsc mode=stress : start of test

Example of the case where /bin/sh is used as a login shell The execution of each OSCP test is automated, and you can set the test to be executed and start.

It takes between a few minutes and several hours to finish the tests.

8. Summary The NEC Storage NV Series has passed the required sections of the Oracle Storage

Compatibility Program (OSCP) NAS test. This document describes the settings preceding the

tests and the actual operating procedures in detail. Referring to these, you can easily utilize the

NEC Storage NV Series as the storage for data and log files of Oracle DB and also realize easy

production management, high performance, high reliability and high system availability.

9. References [1] J. Bill Lee, et. al., " Oracle Network Storage System Compatibility Fault Injection Tests," Oracle

Corporation, Mar. 1999.

[2] “Oracle Certification Environment for Storage Installation and User’s Guide,” Release 1.0, Oracle

Corporation

Acknowledgement We would like to thank Mr. Paul Tsien, Mr. J. Bill Lee and OCE support in Oracle Corporation for their

helpful reviews and support for our OSCP project. We also would like to thank colleagues in our

company associated with this project for their continuous support and advice.