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The Veritas Cluster Server (VCS) package, provided as part of the installation ofStorage Foundation 5.0 for Oracle RAC, provides the ability to automate the entire RAC environment. For example, VCS can be used to automatically start the Cluster Volume Manager and Cluster File System resources within the cluster, bring up IP addresses and the Oracle Listener, mount the file systems with the Oracle binaries, mount the storage for the database instances, and start the database instance. Placing the database under VCS control does not remove the DBA's capability for full control. It simply automates actions to enable the cluster to start up after any outage.
In a Storage Foundation 5.0 for Oracle RAC cluster, the administrative staff is free to choose how much, or how little, automated control they desire. Less automation means more traditional hands-on interaction, but also requires the administrator to take corrective action in more circumstances. A better approach may be to allow VCS complete startup control to take care of system and power failures and restarts, while still allowing manual control if necessary.
VCS uses installed agents to manage the resources in the Storage Foundation 5.0 for Oracle RAC environment. Each type of resource has an agent; for example, VCS uses a CFSMount agent for mounting shared file systems, the CVMVolDg agent for activating shared disk groups and monitoring shared volumes, an Oracle agent for starting the Oracle database, an IP agent for setting up and monitoring an IP address, and so on.
The VCS configuration file (/etc/VRTSvcs/conf/config/main.cf) contains the information the agents require to manage each resource in the environment. In addition, the configuration file specifies the dependencies between resources; the dependencies that one resource has upon another sets the order in which the resources are started or stopped by the agents.