Category: Cloud Services | Exadata | Linux

Hi all!
For those are familiar with RHEL/OEL 4 and 5, there is some differences to start ASMLib on OEL 6 and 7.

So, a quick guide to install (done on OEL 7), start and configure:

1. Install the ASMLib kernel module package as root using the following command:

yum install kmod-oracleasm

2. Install the ASMLib library package and utilities package

yum install oracleasm-support oracleasmlib oracleasm-`uname -r`

It’s possible some package to not found. For example:

No package oracleasmlib available.

So, you can download rpm libs from here and install via rpm:

[root@dbsrv01 oracle]# rpm -Uvh ~/oracleasmlib-2.0.12-1.el6.x86_64.rpm
Preparing...                          ################################# [100%]
Updating / installing...
1:oracleasmlib-2.0.12-1.el6        ################################# [100%]

Ok, now, lets configure/start services:

[root@dbsrv01 ~]# /etc/init.d/oracleasm configure

Nothing happen? Ok, let’s try to start it:

[root@dbsrv01 ~]# /etc/init.d/oracleasm start
Starting oracleasm (via systemctl):  Job for oracleasm.service failed because the control process exited with error code. See "systemctl status oracleasm.service" and "journalctl -xe" for details.
[FAILED]

Hmmm… Are these commands correct?

[root@dbsrv01 ~]# /etc/init.d/oracleasm
Usage: /etc/init.d/oracleasm {configure|createdisk|deletedisk|querydisk|listdisks|scandisks|status}

Ok… So, what to do?

Take a look:

[root@dbsrv01 ~]# oracleasm init
Creating /dev/oracleasm mount point: /dev/oracleasm
Loading module "oracleasm": oracleasm
Configuring "oracleasm" to use device physical block size
Mounting ASMlib driver filesystem: /dev/oracleasm

Victory!
Now, let’s configure:

[root@dbsrv01 ~]# oracleasm configure
ORACLEASM_UID=
ORACLEASM_GID=
ORACLEASM_SCANBOOT=true
ORACLEASM_SCANORDER=""
ORACLEASM_SCANEXCLUDE=""
ORACLEASM_USE_LOGICAL_BLOCK_SIZE="false"

It shows, but how configure?

Just put “-i” clause, like:

[root@dbsrv01 ~]# oracleasm configure -i
Configuring the Oracle ASM library driver.
This will configure the on-boot properties of the Oracle ASM library
driver.  The following questions will determine whether the driver is
loaded on boot and what permissions it will have.  The current values
will be shown in brackets ('[]').  Hitting  without typing an
answer will keep that current value.  Ctrl-C will abort.
Default user to own the driver interface []: grid
Default group to own the driver interface []: oinstall
Scan for Oracle ASM disks on boot (y/n) [y]: y
Writing Oracle ASM library driver configuration: done

And you can list again:

[root@dbsrv01 ~]# oracleasm configure
ORACLEASM_UID=grid
ORACLEASM_GID=oinstall
ORACLEASM_SCANBOOT=true
ORACLEASM_SCANORDER=""
ORACLEASM_SCANEXCLUDE=""
ORACLEASM_USE_LOGICAL_BLOCK_SIZE="false"
[root@dbsrv01 ~]# oracleasm status
Checking if ASM is loaded: yes
Checking if /dev/oracleasm is mounted: yes

To add a disk, the same process can be followed on earlier versions:

[root@dbsrv01 ~]# oracleasm createdisk SDD /dev/sdd1
Writing disk header: done
Instantiating disk: done
[root@dbsrv01 ~]# oracleasm listdisks
SDD

For all commands:

[root@dbsrv01 ~]# oracleasm -h
Usage: oracleasm [--exec-path=]  [  ]
oracleasm --exec-path
oracleasm -h
oracleasm -V
The basic oracleasm commands are:
configure        Configure the Oracle Linux ASMLib driver
init             Load and initialize the ASMLib driver
exit             Stop the ASMLib driver
scandisks        Scan the system for Oracle ASMLib disks
status           Display the status of the Oracle ASMLib driver
listdisks        List known Oracle ASMLib disks
querydisk        Determine if a disk belongs to Oracle ASMlib
createdisk       Allocate a device for Oracle ASMLib use
deletedisk       Return a device to the operating system
renamedisk       Change the label of an Oracle ASMlib disk
update-driver    Download the latest ASMLib driver

And to see arguments for each one:

[root@dbsrv01 ~]# oracleasm configure -h
Usage: oracleasm-configure [-l ] [-i|-I] [-e|-d] [-u ] [-g ] [-b|-p] [-s y|n] [[-o ] ...] [[-x ] ...]

Have a nice day!
See ya!
Matheus.