Checking shared disks for I/O fencing

Make sure that the shared storage you set up while preparing to configure SF Oracle RAC meets the I/O fencing requirements. You can test the shared disks using the vxfentsthdw utility. The two nodes must have ssh (default) or rsh communication. To confirm whether a disk (or LUN) supports SCSI-3 persistent reservations, two nodes must simultaneously have access to the same disks. Because a shared disk is likely to have a different name on each node, check the serial number to verify the identity of the disk. Use the vxfenadm command with the -i option. This command option verifies that the same serial number for the LUN is returned on all paths to the LUN.

Make sure to test the disks that serve as coordinator disks.

The vxfentsthdw utility has additional options suitable for testing many disks. Review the options for testing the disk groups (-g) and the disks that are listed in a file (-f). You can also test disks without destroying data using the -r option.

See the Veritas Storage Foundation for Oracle RAC Administrator's Guide.

Checking that disks support SCSI-3 involves the following tasks: