Oracle Database Appliance (ODA) Standalone Configurator

Oracle Database Appliance (ODA) Configurator: The standalone Oracle Appliance Manager (ODA) configurator is a Java-based tool that enables you to generate your ODA deployment plan and validate your network settings before the actual ODA deployment.

ODA Configurator option:
 
ODA Congigurator can be run in offline or online mode.

Offline: Use the standalone ODA configurator to create an offline deployment plan and validate your network settings before the actual deployment.

Online: You can configure your system at the time of deployment. In that case, you can use the online ODA Configurator which is part of the base Oracle Database Appliance software.

You can run ODA Configurator before deployment by downloading the ODA Configurator on your local system which can be a Linux/UNIX, Windows or MAC system.

If you choose to run the ODA Configurator in offline mode, you can save your deployment plan in a configuration file at the end of an offline configurator session. When the time comes for the actual deploy, copy the configuration file to ODA and run the online Oracle Appliance Configurator and import it to deploy your saved plan.

Download ODA Configurator:

• Enter the following URL in a web browser

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/database-appliance/overview/oda-configurator-1928685.html

• Accept the license and click on desired ODA Configurator version. Here I am downloading ODA Manager Configurator 12.1.2.10

• Enter the login credentials to begin the download

• If you are using Chrome the download status is shown at the bottom of the browser.

Running ODA Configurator:

If you wish to use ODA Configurator before deployment, then you can download and run the ODA Configurator on your system runing Linux/UNIX, Window or MAC operating system.

• Extract the ODA Configurator software

On Window: Right Click and select Extract here
On Linux/Unix: use unzip command to extract the files

• To start the ODA Configurator

On Windows: Double click the batch file config.bat
On Linux/Unix: Use the command ./config.sh

• The ODA Configurator welcome/home page looks like this

Steps to Run ODA Configurator in Offline mode:

• Start the ODA Configurator by double click config.bat on a Windows system (./config.sh on Linux).

• On the welcome screen click next

• On Configuration Type Screen you have various options:

In Select Configuration Type, you can choose from "Typica (Recommended)", "Custom" or "SAP Application".
Custom which will give you more flexibility to provide more information.

In Select Environment, You choose "Bare Metal" (Physical) if you want to deploy a Physical setup or "Virtualized Platform" for Virtualization setup.

In Select Hardware, you can choose the hardware you purchased. For Example: ODA-X5-2

Use "Browse" button if you have existing configuration file the was created earlier using ODA Configurator.

Click Next

• On System Information screen, you can enter:

"System Name" - this will be your prefix for Hostname, Interface, SCAN name and ILOM

Select appropriate "Region" and "Timezone"
 
"Database Backup Location" - You have "Internal" and "External" option. If you choose "Internal" the space will be used from DATA and RECO disk groups. Oracle will internally size DATA and RECO ASM disk group to 40% and 60% repectively.
 
"Root password" - enter root password and confirm root password.
 
Disk Group Redundancy - Select HIGH or Normal
 
Accelerator Disk Group - select REDO or FLASH

Click Next

• On Generic Network screen, enter:

Enter "Domain name" to be used
Check the box if no DNS Server available.
If you are using DNS and NTP server enter thier IPs.

Click Next

• On Public Network Screen:

Enter the Node0 and Node1 IP, VIPs, SCAN IPs, Netmask and Gateway IP.
Select bond0 for interface. This is the only choice.
Enter ILOM IPs for ILOM0 and ILOM1, Netmask and Gateway IP

Click Next

• On Other Network Screen, enter:

Enter the IPs for for Node0 and Node1 for net1, else click next to continue.

Click Next

• On Database Information screen, enter:

If you don't want to create an intial database uncheck the box and click next
if you wish to create an initial database, check the box and fill the required information.
"Database name" - Name for the database to be created
"Is Container Database" - Choose true if you want to create a container database else false to create a regular (non-container database)
"Database Type" - Choose from OLTP, DSS or In-Memory.
"Database Class" - Choose from the 10 different database template that comes with ODA
"Database Deployment" - Choose from RAC, RAC One Node or Enter Edition (Standalone)
"Database Files on Flash Storage" - If you wish to store database in Flash disk select true

Click Next

• On Database Information Screen, Select:

Database Language, Block Size, Characterset, Territory and National Character set.

Click Next

• On ASR Configuration Screen, Select:

"Configure Internal Oracle ASR" - If you wish to configure ASR on ODA Server and enert the Proxy server name, port number and MOS credentails

"Configure External Oracle AS" - If you wish to configure ASR on a separate server. Enter the ASR Manager Hostname or IP and port number.

Select SNMP 2 for configuring ASR

Note: If you don't select to configure ASR now you can configure ASR post ODA deployment using oakcli commands

Click Next

• On CloudFS Information Screen:

You can choose to configure ACFS file system called /cloudfs.

Click Next

• On Network Validation Screen:

Click on "Run Validation" button to perform the network validation. It will ping every IP that has entered and attempts to resolve the names using DNS or /etc/hosts file.
If you are running ODA Configuration on a server which is not ODA or not part of same subnet select "Skip Nework Configuration"

Click Next

• On the summary page:

Click Save button to save to store the configuration in a text file.

• Click Finish to exit the ODA Configuration application.

Conclusion:
In this article we have learned to run the Standalone Oracle Database Appliance configuration in offline mode. ODA configuration is a Java-based tool that enables you to generate your ODA deployment plan and validate your network settings before the actual ODA deployment.