Oracle 11.2.0.4.0 RAC with ASM

I have been working for a number of weeks getting the following configuration running:

1 x SLES 12 SP2 iSCSI Target (serving OCR2 / ASM Disks)
2 x SLES 12 SP2 HOSTS (NODE 1 / NODE 2) running SLES HA, with Oracle 11gR2 Grid.

all within VMWare Workstation 14.

This was basically a practise installation before attempting this on the real hardware. The HA Cluster is up and running and the disks are accessible with no issues.
I’ve followed various tutorials from both SuSE and Oracle and the installation always fails just after the ASM disks are created (running the root.sh script):

ASM created and started successfully.

Disk Group DATA created successfully.

PROT-1: Failed to initialize ocrconfig
PROC-26: Error while accessing the physical storage
ORA-12547: TNS:lost contact

Failed to create Oracle Cluster Registry configuration, rc 255
Oracle Grid Infrastructure Repository configuration failed at /home/oracleRDBMS/grid/11.2/db/crs/install/crsconfig_lib.pm line 6919.
/home/oracleRDBMS/grid/11.2/db/perl/bin/perl -I/home/oracleRDBMS/grid/11.2/db/perl/lib -I/home/oracleRDBMS/grid/11.2/db/crs/install /home/oracleRDBMS/grid/11.2/db/crs/install/rootcrs.pl execution failed

I have an Oracle SR open for this and have just spent 4 hours in a WebEx with them, but the issue is still outstanding.
Has anyone managed to get a similar configuration running on SLES that can point out what I (and now Oracle) are missing?

Regards,
Kevin.

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This is still an outstanding issue for us and I’m still working with Oracle support to resolve, but so far no progress.
I’ve read various SuSE generated HowTo installs, all of which end with a successful installation(!)

We have a valid SuSE support contract, using that, is this something we can get some advice on? (Or will I just be turned away and told its an Oracle problem)

Regards,
Kevin.

KevinGG wrote:
[color=blue]

We have a valid SuSE support contract, using that, is this something
we can get some advice on? (Or will I just be turned away and told
its an Oracle problem)[/color]

Hi Kevin,

I see it’s been a couple of weeks since your initial post and no one
has responded. This is a pretty good indication that none of us have
encountered this issue and are unable to offer any suggestions.

Since you have a support contract, my advice is to open a Service
Request with SUSE and see what help they are able to provide. It can’t
hurt.

You may want to provide SUSE with your Oracle SR number. It may help
the two organisations coordinate a solution.


Kevin Boyle - Knowledge Partner
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Thanks for the advice Kevin.
I’ll try that route.

Regards,
Kevin.

Hi,

have you tried to install SOFTWARE ONLY and first patch than configure your installation ?

In the past we see something like this with missing kernel modules and after patching the software only installation with the latest patch set the root.sh runs
without error. May you hit a undocumented bug.

*T

Update to this in case there is anyone else as unfortunate as me…

Finally Resolved, who was to blame…

SuSE - Nope.
Oracle - Nope.
VMWare - Nope.
Me - Nope.

Seems that an Intel bug was the cause all along…

Hardware Lock Elision
https://www.suse.com/support/kb/doc/?id=7022289

Of all the hardware swaps and changes I made while trying to track this down, the one that was in common on all the machines, except for one old laptop where I managed to get the installation working was the processor.
Hardware Lock Elision is not my friend. Added the work around and everything burst into life.

I am going to document the installation steps for SLES 12 SP3 (moved up a SP while all of this was going on), / Oracle 11.2.0.4 (and I understand this still affects Oracle 12c) with ASM under VMWare (and yes VMWare it is possible to do this under Workstation, not just vSphere). It is not a straightforward process and there are lots of pitfalls.

Regards,
Kevin.
:o

KevinGG wrote:
[color=blue]

Seems that an Intel bug was the cause all along…

HARDWARE LOCK ELISION
https://www.suse.com/support/kb/doc/?id=7022289[/color]

Hi Kevin,

That’s good to know. I’d never heard of this before.

This is what Intel has to say:
Hardware Lock Elision Overview
https://software.intel.com/en-us/node/683688

We appreciate your feedback.Hopefully it will save others a lot of
grief!


Kevin Boyle - Knowledge Partner
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