Oracle VM Server 2.1.2

Steps to get VM working. I like this proces because it doesn't require a Oracle VM Server and Oracle VM Manager machine to get running. For us lowly consultants, two dedicated laptops plus my work laptop is too rich ;)

1. Install Oracle VM Server, by downloading the iso, buring a cd and booting it up on your
VM Server machine. I'm just using my Dell D620 laptop for this. I chose to turn on VT (Virtual Technology) in the bios so I could also create an XP VM. Don't get too excited about Windows VM's on Xen from me. I've got it installed but it is a bit too slow for my taste. (no more tangents!)

2. Get a single ISO image for the OS you want to install, don't bother trying from multiple cd iso images. If your OS
is on multiple CD isos this procedure won't work. For enterprise linux you can get
the DVD iso (single iso image file!!!) from:

http://kernel.us.oracle.com/isofs/EnterpriseLinux/EL5/i386/U2
http://kernel.us.oracle.com/isofs/EnterpriseLinux/EL5/x86_64/U3

downloading large files over http can be frustrating as it can cut-out and can't pickup where it left off. What I did is NFS mount it from my mac...not sure how to do from windows or cygwin but from mac you just open finder > Ctrl-K (connect to server) > and put in: "nfs://ca-fileserver2.us.oracle.com:/vol/export/ftp/pub/osinstall/EnterpriseLinux/EL5/i386/U3" without the quotes. You get this URL at the bottom of each page on the website above. Once mounted I then use rsync which can pickup where you have left off if the connection drops.

Apparently there are ways to do it from multiple CD iso images see metalink ticket: (Service Request 7191161.994)

Once you get this iso, you need to extract it and put it on a web server somewhere the server will be able to see it. I used:

http://10.187.68.68/~fentontravers/el5dvd/

Fork here to another page that describes how to do a headless (non-interactive, more fully automated install). automated (headless) oracle linux install on oracle VM server

3. Make the directory running_pool under OVS, also make a directory for your new vm image.

[root@dhcp-sydney-north-ryde-10-187-68-69 ~]# mkdir /OVS/running_pool
[root@dhcp-sydney-north-ryde-10-187-68-69 ~]# mkdir /OVS/running_pool/vm01

4. Do the virt-install step.
[root@dhcp-sydney-north-ryde-10-187-68-69 ~]# virt-install
What is the name of your virtual machine? vm01
How much RAM should be allocated (in megabytes)? 1000
What would you like to use as the disk (path)? /OVS/running_pool/vm01/system.img
How large would you like the disk (/OVS/running_pool/vm01/system.img) to be (in gigabytes)? 5
Would you like to enable graphics support? (yes or no) yes
What is the install location? http://10.187.68.68/~fentontravers/el5dvd/

If this then hangs at the line below then you have to yank the plug from the machine (do a hard cold reboot).

Starting install...
libvir: Xen Daemon error : GET operation failed:

5. Now do step 4 again, this time you'll get more than the line above

6. Now you'll want to connect to your Oracle VM Server ip address with a VNC client/viewer. You'll see the standard EL setup screens.

Use dynamic ip addresses for your OS setup.

Running Oracle DB in a VM with DHCP ( i.e. ip address changing )

When you change the ip address of the machine where oracle db is running, it doesn't like it.

Doing the following may fix the issue.

PROBLEM:
Logged into 10.187.68.198 as oracle user and tried starting orcl DB.

[oracle@dhcp-sydney-north-ryde-10-187-68-198 ~]$ sqlplus "/as sysdba"
SQL*Plus: Release 10.2.0.4.0 - Production on Tue Dec 9 07:29:10 2008
Copyright (c) 1982, 2007, Oracle. All Rights Reserved.
Connected to an idle instance.

SQL> startup
ORA-01078: failure in processing system parameters
ORA-01565: error in identifying file '+DATA/orcl/spfileorcl.ora'
ORA-17503: ksfdopn:2 Failed to open file +DATA/orcl/spfileorcl.ora
ORA-15077: could not locate ASM instance serving a required diskgroup
ORA-29701: unable to connect to Cluster Manager
SQL> exit

Now trying to start the ASM instance:

[oracle@dhcp-sydney-north-ryde-10-187-68-198 ~]$ export ORACLE_SID=+ASM
[oracle@dhcp-sydney-north-ryde-10-187-68-198 ~]$ sqlplus "/as sysdba"
SQL*Plus: Release 10.2.0.4.0 - Production on Tue Dec 9 07:30:10 2008
Copyright (c) 1982, 2007, Oracle. All Rights Reserved.
Connected to an idle instance.

SQL> startup
ORA-29701: unable to connect to Cluster Manager

SOLUTION:

1.Stop CSS process currently running

$ Kill -9 <process>


2. With the root user authentication switch to oracle_home/bin directory

#cd $ORACLE_HOME/bin
#localconfig reset $ORACLE_HOME 3.Start the CSS process

# /etc/init.d/init.cssd start

4. Start the ASM instance

[oracle@dhcp-sydney-north-ryde-10-187-68-231 bin]$ !62
export ORACLE_SID=+ASM
[oracle@dhcp-sydney-north-ryde-10-187-68-231 bin]$ !59
sqlplus "/as sysdba"

SQL*Plus: Release 10.2.0.4.0 - Production on Mon Dec 22 07:36:50 2008

Copyright (c) 1982, 2007, Oracle. All Rights Reserved.

Connected to an idle instance.

SQL> startup
ASM instance started

Total System Global Area 83886080 bytes
Fixed Size 1265912 bytes
Variable Size 57454344 bytes
ASM Cache 25165824 bytes
ASM diskgroups mounted
SQL> exit
Disconnected from Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.4.0 - Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options
[oracle@dhcp-sydney-north-ryde-10-187-68-231 bin]$

A reboot here finally does the trick.