Portability of Oracle Filesystems (Cooked or ASM/RAW) between PARISC and IA64

[Alzhy]

Are there any issues moving storage between IA64 and PARISC? I am proposing moving one DB cooked instance currently hosted on a PARISC 11.11 (JFS/VxVM 3.5) to an Itanium 11.31 System. Our internal DR for this DB environment simply calls for mounting the filesystems to a designated failoevr server and moving the IP (VIP) and resuming the instance. Will there be issues still failing over to my 11.11 PARISC target failover machine if my primary is Itanium?

I think there should not be but I'd like to hear out the experts.

[Hein van den Heuvel]

You know it will work. But if you are looking for definite answers then instead of relying best efforts, from 'experts' like me, no matter how well intended, then please be sure to check with oracle.

Specifically, search Metalink!
Searching for (power search off) "migrate hpuxx itanium" immediatly returns:
402497.1 - Migrating Oracle RDBMS 10g Database From HPUX PA_RISC to Itanium or vica versa

This clarifies how there have been documentation issues but on the whole:

"The migration of database files from PA-RISC systems to Itanium systems is done without exporting or importing
the files. The migration process for Oracle9i which is documented in Metalink note 266220.1, can be used with Oracle Database release 10g."

Of course the ITRC remains great for quick hints and directions on where to look, but for the bet-your-business-stuff you want something more solid IMHO.

Enjoy!
Hein van den Heuvel
HvdH Performance Consulting

[Steven E. Protter]

Shalom,

If the database version is the same, data conversion, raw/cooked PA-RISC to Itanium, even 11.11 to 11.31 and back again is fairly straightforward.

As of late last year though, Oracle was not supporting its 11.x database on 11.11 OS. Therefore some problems come into the mix.

If you keep choose the right versions of Oracle and are willing to live with this, and you keep the database running and current on 11.11 its possible.

Preferable? No.

I'd rather have a less powerful Itanium systm in DR that is capable of running the exact same OS,oracle version and file system type.

If this were a real disaster, do you really want to run data conversion steps (There are some in the above scenario) or leave them to your replacement, who does not have your smiling, face but merely a document you wrote.

Bottom line however is what you propose is possible. You are going to want to practice the conversion once in a while and document it. I recommend simplification though.

SEP

[TwoProc]

Maan, I wouldn't do that. After all, a failover is supposed to SAVE your data - not risk doing it harm. I don't think you'll find anywhere that the scenario you're suggesting is supported.

While it's reasonable that it "should work", I'm thinking that the day that it doesn't - even if it is for some reason not related to this setup. Oracle is not going to help save your data.

As a DBA and admin - there's lots of things I can do which, in all probability works just fine. However, if it leaves with a system that may not need support when it's SORELY needed - then it's not a solution.

Remember, you'll only need support on an issue of that magnitude if your down and out, which is *exactly* when you don't want to be off the beaten path with Oracle. In a sense, it would be just as well to not pay for support if you're going that route - as you'll only truly *NEED* Oracle support *IF* anything disastrous goes wrong...

I'm not meaning to go on about this, but you should give this some careful thought before deciding that it is a valid plan. In this current economy of saving $$$ at all costs, which I wholly understand - some things aren't worth considering very long.

Like Steven, I'd say just have a low powered Itanium server for that purpose. Itanium has been around for quite a while now, and an older box with slower processors are really cheap right now. Just look a little harder for them, they're out there.

[Ben Dehner]

As others have mentioned, this is a questionable configuration. First, it will ONLY work if your database version is 10g. Oracle 9i (and earlier) was never supported on 11.31, and I doubt you can even install it, let alone get it to run. And Oracle will not support any attempts to do so. The 11g database, in turn, is not supported, and won't install, on 11.11. 10g is the only DB version that could span both OS versions. If you must use this hardware config, you're better off upgrading the PA-RISC system to 11.23.

The other major concern is the JFS version layout. Since your running Online JFS 3.5, you're PROBABLY okay. The 'vxupgrade' command will tell you what version file system layout you have. (If the file system was created under an older version of Online JFS, it may need to be upgraded.) You will need to verify that, whatever you have, it is supported on both systems.

That being said, I have successfully cross-mounted JFS file systems from PA-RISC/11.11 to Itanium/11.23 for Oracle. The database files are fully binary compatible from one to the other. However, I did this as part of a transitional migration from one system to the other, not a long-term configuration.

[Alzhy]

The environment is 10GR2.
Uses Cooked VxFS Filesystems or ASM/RAW

Prod will be 11.31
Dev/Test will be 11.11 PARISC

The Dev/Test/Staging Environments mounts periodic split mirrors of Prods (VxVM FLashsnap or BusinessCopy/BCVs)

This is not DR...

Currently, we even use an Itanium Machine as NetBackup server to mount PARISC / 11.11 filesystems locally for faster backups and restores. Then the Filesystems are deported and imported back to PARISC once more.


No issues thus far.