Introduction

This article describes how to move a virtual database (VDB) into a physical database stored on Oracle Automatic Storage Management (ASM) disk groups. This is a scripted procedure that is assisted (but not fully automated) by Delphix. No intermediate storage is needed; the database files are moved directly from Delphix into the ASM diskgroup(s).

This procedure can be used to export a VDB to ASM disk group(s), including disk group(s) residing in an Oracle Exadata machine. The move-to-asm.shscript follows Oracle's recommended best practice of using a single disk group for data files. A separate disk group can be specified for redo log files. Professional Services can be engaged if customization is needed.

Procedure

1. Create an ASM disk group that will contain all the database files. Optionally, create a separate disk group for redo log files.

2. Provision a VDB on the target machine that is running Oracle ASM or Exadata in order to do the export; this VDB will be deleted after the export is complete. This temporary VDB can be provisioned from an existing VDB. You can also provision it from a dSource, which allows you to achieve a full restore of the original source ASM database.

3. Login to the target machine (or a node of the target RAC cluster) where the VDB instance and ASM instance are running. The directory will be in the form:
   

   <toolkit_path>/Delphix_<engine_id><user><host|cluster>/databases/oracle/<db_unique_name>/<database_sid>/

   For a RAC database, be sure to use the directory path containing the SID of the instance running on the node where you have logged in.

4. Ensure that Oracle environment variables ORACLE_HOME,ORACLE_SID, and CRS_HOME (RAC only) are correctly set for the VDB that needs to be moved.
5. Execute the script move-to-asm.shas the Environment User who provisioned the single instance VDB. For a RAC VDB, the Environment User selected to execute the move-to-asm.sh must be the Oracle installation owner. This is due to an Oracle restriction that only the installation owner can invoke srvctl to add or remove database configurations.
   
   Alternatively, enter move-to-asm.sh as a  Post-Provision Hook Script when provisioning the VDB. This will provision and move the VDB into ASM disk groups in a single flow. You must specify the -noask option to execute in non-interactive mode. For more information about hook scripts, visit the Hook Scripts for Automation and Customization article.

Command syntax: move-to-asm.sh [-noask] [-parallel #] [-dbunique db_unique_name] <data_diskgroup> [<redo_diskgroup>]

move-to-asm script

The move-to-asm.sh script generates several output files. These files are all written to the working directory of the script:

init<oracle_sid>_run<process-id>_moveasm.ora

The log file for the operation:

move-to-asm.sh_<oracle_sid>_run<process-id>.log

The init.ora parameter file created for the ASM DB instance:

source_init<oracle_sid>.ora 

The init.ora for the source database (from which the VDB was created).

Finishing Steps

The final steps to manually execute are shown when the script completes and included in the script output.

1. For Single Instance only: copy generated init<$ORACLESID>.ora parameter file to the default $ORACLE_HOME/dbs/init<$ORACLE_SID>.ora

2. Modify initialization parameters to match the original source database parameters, if necessary.

   As a convenience to assist with this step, the source database parameters are restored as source_init<$ORACLE_SID>.ora in the execution directory. Be sure to copy this file to a save place before deleting the temporary VDB.
   
   The move-to-asm.sh script generates several output files. These files are all written to the working directory of the script and should also  be copied to a safe place if needed:

   move-to-asm.sh_<oracle_sid>_run<process-id>.log

   The log file for the operation:

   init<oracle_sid>_run<process-id>_moveasm.ora 

   The init.ora parameter file created for the ASM DB instance:

   source_init<oracle_sid>.ora 

   The init.ora for the source database (from which the VDB was created).

3. Delete the Delphix VDB that was moved.

4. Start up the physical database that will now run on ASM.
   (A RAC database is automatically started up by the move-to-asm.sh script using srvctl but may have been stopped when  the VDB was deleted, if it has the same name.)

Sample Execution

$ cd toolkit/Delphix_564dc816_d457_6224_1327_4d43fd1b3d97_oracle_cluster/databases/oracle/RAC2ASM/RAC2ASM1
$ export ORACLE_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/12.2.0.1/dbhome_1
$ export ORACLE_SID=RAC2ASM1
$ sh move-to-asm.sh -noask +DATA +REDO
END_OF_SETUP
============================================================
Virtual-to-ASM script (move-to-asm.sh v5.2) for Delphix
Copyright (c) 2013, 2018 by Delphix. All rights reserved.
============================================================

Moving database RAC2ASM to ASM: started at Wed Feb 19 16:08:43 EST 2020
db_unique_name => RAC2ASM
ORACLE_SID => RAC2ASM1
ORACLE_HOME => /u01/app/oracle/product/12.2.0.1/dbhome_1
Datafile diskgroup => +DATA
Online redo diskgroup => +REDO
RMAN Channels => 8

Create cluster database RAC2ASM
Generate script to move tempfiles to ASM
Generate script to drop old tempfiles
Generate script to drop offline tablespaces
Generate script to make read-only tablespaces read-write
Generate script to make tablespaces read-only again
Make read-only tablespaces read-write
Remove offline tablespaces
Updating server parameter file with ASM locations
Creating temporary initialization parameter file
Move spfile to ASM
Move datafiles to ASM: started at Wed Feb 19 16:09:41 EST 2020
Move datafiles to ASM: completed at Wed Feb 19 16:10:31 EST 2020
Stop cluster database RAC2ASM
Restart cluster database RAC2ASM
Remove old tempfiles
Move tempfiles into ASM
Move Online logs
Restore any read-only tablespaces
Shutdown database
Starting up RAC database RAC2ASM...
Database RAC2ASM moved to ASM: completed at Wed Feb 19 16:12:45 EST 2020

Final Steps to complete the move to ASM:
Source parameters are restored at /home/oracle/toolkit/Delphix_564dc816_d457_6224_1327_4d43fd1b3d97_oracle_cluster/databases/oracle/RAC2ASM/RAC2ASM1/source_initRAC2ASM1.ora
*.audit_file_dest='/u01/app/oracle/admin/DBOMSRD914EA/adump'
*.audit_trail='DB'
*.cluster_database=TRUE
*.compatible='12.2.0'
*.control_files='+DATA/DBOMSRD914EA/CONTROLFILE/current.297.1027776391','+REDO/DBOMSRD914EA/CONTROLFILE/current.264.1027776391'
*.db_block_size=8192
*.db_create_file_dest='+DATA'
*.db_create_online_log_dest_1='+DATA'
*.db_create_online_log_dest_2='+REDO'
*.db_name='DBOMSRD9'
*.db_recovery_file_dest='+REDO'
*.db_recovery_file_dest_size=6989807616
*.db_unique_name='DBOMSRD914EA'
*.diagnostic_dest='/u01/app/oracle'
*.dispatchers='(PROTOCOL=TCP) (SERVICE=DBOMSRD914EAXDB)'
*.dlpx_recovery_log_archive_format='arch_%t_%s_%r.log'
*.instance_number=1
*.listener_networks=''
*.local_listener='(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=10.43.5.243)(PORT=1521))'
*.log_archive_format='%t_%s_%r.dbf'
*.memory_max_target=1073741824
*.memory_target=1073741824
*.nls_language='AMERICAN'
*.nls_territory='AMERICA'
*.open_cursors=300
*.processes=300
*.remote_listener='node1.sample.delphix.com:1521'
*.remote_login_passwordfile='EXCLUSIVE'
*.thread=1
*.undo_tablespace='UNDOTBS1'

Copy this file to a safe location before removing the VDB

1) Delete VDB on Delphix.
2) Modify initialization parameters to match source and restart.

Related Topics

• Provisioning and Managing Virtual Databases with Oracle