Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Oracle Multitentant licensing

For Oracle 12c, you don't need to purchase an additional license when running a Multitenant database shop with only 1 - one - PDB. This configuration is also refered to as "single tenant".

Franck Pachot is pointing this out in a community discussion:


You don't need an option when you have only one pluggable database.
You can detect violation with:

select name, aux_count from dba_feature_usage_statistics where name like '%Pluggable%' or name like '%Multitenant%';

If AUX_COUNT is >1 then you need to buy the option, or drop the additional PDBs

In 12.2 you can set MAX_PDBS to 1 to be sure nobody creates more than allowed.
Here are the features you can use in this configuration (know as 'single-tenant'): http://www.slideshare.net/pachot/12cr2-singletenant-multitenant-features-for-all-editions


In Oracle 19c, the MAX_PDBS can be set to 3 without breaking the license.

A workaround for ORA-06553: PLS-213: package STANDARD not accessible when using datapatch in a CDB

Short background:

I was having trouble applying "patch 26550023 - COMBO of OJVM Component 12.1.0.2.170718 DB PSU + DB PSU 12.1.0.2.170814" in my Multitenant environment. The container database only had one PDB at the time, the PDB$SEED.

After having successfully applied opatch apply for both patches, I ran datapatch -verbose to load modified SQL into the database. I had already opened my container database in upgrade mode, and also opened the PDB$SEED in upgrade mode by executing
alter pluggable database all open upgrade;
The state of the PDB$SEED could be confirmed in the alert log, as well as from v$pdb:

SELECT name, open_mode FROM v$pdbs;

NAME       OPEN_MODE
--------- --------------
PDB$SEED   MIGRATE

Still, I kept getting weird errors like


Bootstrapping registry and package to current versions...done
Error in bootstrap log /u01/oracle/cfgtoollogs/sqlpatch/sqlpatch_17273_2017_09_13_13_29_29/bootstrap1_CDBVEG_PDBSEED.log:
Error at line 7: ORA-06553: PLS-213: package STANDARD not accessible
Error at line 17: ORA-06553: PLS-213: package STANDARD not accessible
Error at line 25: SP2-0310: unable to open file "/u01/oracle/product/12102/sqlpatch/FALSE.sql"
Prereq check failed, exiting without installing any patches.


There was little information about the problem and potential workarounds to be found on the internet.

After trying different options without success, I could find no other solution than to drop the PDB$SEED container, so that patching could continue.

Here's how:
SQL> 
-- necessarry to avoid "ORA-65017: seed pluggable database may not be dropped or altered"
alter session set "_oracle_script"=TRUE;

Session altered.

SQL> alter pluggable database PDB$SEED close;

Pluggable database altered.

SQL> drop pluggable database pdb$seed including datafiles;

Pluggable database dropped.

SQL> alter session set "_oracle_script"=FALSE;

Session altered.

SQL> select * from cdb_pdbs;

no rows selected


After this point, run datapatch again:
oracle@myserver:[cdbveg]# datapatch -verbose
SQL Patching tool version 12.1.0.2.0 Production on Wed Sep 13 13:34:05 2017
Copyright (c) 2012, 2016, Oracle.  All rights reserved.

Log file for this invocation: /u01/oracle/cfgtoollogs/sqlpatch/sqlpatch_18072_2017_09_13_13_34_05/sqlpatch_invocation.log

Connecting to database...OK
Note:  Datapatch will only apply or rollback SQL fixes for PDBs
       that are in an open state, no patches will be applied to closed PDBs.
       Please refer to Note: Datapatch: Database 12c Post Patch SQL Automation
       (Doc ID 1585822.1)
Bootstrapping registry and package to current versions...done
Determining current state...done

Current state of SQL patches:
Patch 26027162 (Database PSU 12.1.0.2.170718, Oracle JavaVM Component (JUL2017)):
  Installed in the binary registry only
Bundle series PSU:
  ID 170814 in the binary registry and not installed in any PDB

Adding patches to installation queue and performing prereq checks...
Installation queue:
  For the following PDBs: CDB$ROOT
    Nothing to roll back
    The following patches will be applied:
      26027162 (Database PSU 12.1.0.2.170718, Oracle JavaVM Component (JUL2017))
      26609783 (DATABASE PATCH SET UPDATE 12.1.0.2.170814)

Installing patches...
Patch installation complete.  Total patches installed: 2

Validating logfiles...
Patch 26027162 apply (pdb CDB$ROOT): SUCCESS
  logfile: /u01/oracle/cfgtoollogs/sqlpatch/26027162/21319014/26027162_apply_CDBVEG_CDBROOT_2017Sep13_13_34_18.log (no errors)
Patch 26609783 apply (pdb CDB$ROOT): SUCCESS
  logfile: /u01/oracle/cfgtoollogs/sqlpatch/26609783/21481899/26609783_apply_CDBVEG_CDBROOT_2017Sep13_13_34_18.log (no errors)
SQL Patching tool complete on Wed Sep 13 13:34:52 2017

Verification that the patches are applied:
SQL> select ACTION,DESCRIPTION,STATUS,BUNDLE_SERIES from registry$sqlpatch;

ACTION     DESCRIPTION                                                            STATUS               BUNDLE_SERIES
---------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------- --------------------
APPLY      Database PSU 12.1.0.2.170718, Oracle JavaVM Component (JUL2017)        SUCCESS
APPLY      DATABASE PATCH SET UPDATE 12.1.0.2.170814                              SUCCESS              PSU

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

How to attach an ORACLE_HOME to an existing inventory

I wanted to check the patchlevel in one of my Oracle installations, and the following errow was returned:
oracle@tsl0map-dbteam-sandbox-db04:[vegdb01]# opatch lsinventory
Oracle Interim Patch Installer version 12.1.0.1.3
Copyright (c) 2017, Oracle Corporation.  All rights reserved.


Oracle Home       : /u01/oracle/product/12102
Central Inventory : /home/oracle/oraInventory
   from           : /u01/oracle/product/12102/oraInst.loc
OPatch version    : 12.1.0.1.3
OUI version       : 12.1.0.2.0
Log file location : /u01/oracle/product/12102/cfgtoollogs/opatch/opatch2017-09-12_15-30-47PM_1.log

List of Homes on this system:

  Home name= agent13c2, Location= "/u01/oracle/product/agent13c/agent_13.2.0.0.0"
  Home name= 11204, Location= "/u01/oracle/product/11204"
  Home name= OraHome3, Location= "/u01/oracle/product/gg121"
Inventory load failed... OPatch cannot load inventory for the given Oracle Home.
Possible causes are:
   Oracle Home dir. path does not exist in Central Inventory
   Oracle Home is a symbolic link
   Oracle Home inventory is corrupted
LsInventorySession failed: OracleHomeInventory gets null oracleHomeInfo

OPatch failed with error code 73

Turned out my inventory had not been updated with my new Oracle Home. When I looked in the inventory.xml file on my server, there was no entry for the installation there.

To fix this, add the new OH to your inventory. From your OH that is missing, do the following:
cd $ORACLE_HOME/oui/bin
./runInstaller -invPtrLoc /u01/oracle/product/12102/oraInst.loc -attachHome ORACLE_HOME=/u01/oracle/product/12102 ORACLE_HOME_NAME="Ora12cHome"
Starting Oracle Universal Installer...

Checking swap space: must be greater than 500 MB.   Actual 8191 MB    Passed
The inventory pointer is located at /u01/oracle/product/12102/oraInst.loc
'AttachHome' was successful.

Check the inventory file now, and you'll see a new entry for the OH (in my case the Ora12cHome):
<HOME NAME="agent13c2" LOC="/u01/oracle/product/agent13c/agent_13.2.0.0.0" TYPE="O" IDX="8"/>
<HOME NAME="11204" LOC="/u01/oracle/product/11204" TYPE="O" IDX="1"/>
<HOME NAME="Ora12cHome" LOC="/u01/oracle/product/12102" TYPE="O" IDX="9"/>

How to create a container database in Oracle 12c

Create an initialization file in your $ORACLE_HOME/dbs folder:

enable_pluggable_database=true
processes=300
control_files="/u02/oradata/cdbveg/control01.ctl","/u03/oradata/cdbveg/control02.ctl"
audit_file_dest="/u01/oracle/admin/cdbveg/adump"
audit_trail=DB
compatible=12.1.0.2
db_block_size=8192
db_domain=""
db_name="cdbveg"
db_recovery_file_dest_size=429496729600
db_recovery_file_dest="/u04/fra"
diagnostic_dest=/u01/oracle
dispatchers="(PROTOCOL=TCP) (SERVICE=cdbvegXDB)"
local_listener = "(ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=myserver.mydomain.com)(PORT=1521))"
open_cursors=300
remote_login_passwordfile=EXCLUSIVE
undo_tablespace=UNDOTBS1
# use ASMM (Automatic shared memory managaement)
sga_target=2G
sga_max_size=2G
pga_aggregate_target=128M
# Disable AMM (Automatic Memory Managament)
memory_target=0
memory_max_target=0

Create the necessarry directories:
mkdir -p /u02/oradata/cdbveg
mkdir -p /u03/oradata/cdbveg
mkdir -p /u01/oracle/admin/cdbveg/adump
mkdir -p /u02/oradata/cdbveg/seed
Set your environment variables correcly, in my case they were:
export ORACLE_SID=cdbveg
export ORACLE_BASE=/u01/oracle
export ORACLE_HOME=/u01/oracle/product/12102

Start an instance:
sqlplus / as sysdba 
statup nomount

Create your container database:
create database cdbveg
user sys identified by MySecretPasswd
user system identified by MySecretPasswd
logfile group 1(
 '/u02/oradata/cdbveg/red01a.log',
 '/u03/oradata/cdbveg/red01b.log'
) size 128M,
group 2 (
 '/u02/oradata/cdbveg/red02a.log',
 '/u03/oradata/cdbveg/red02b.log'
) size 128M
character set al32utf8 national character set al16utf16
extent management local datafile '/u02/oradata/cdbveg/system01.dbf' size 256M autoextend on next 16M maxsize unlimited
sysaux datafile '/u02/oradata/cdbveg/sysaux01.dbf' size 128M autoextend on next 16M maxsize unlimited
default temporary tablespace temp tempfile '/u02/oradata/cdbveg/temp.dbf' size 256M
undo tablespace undotbs1 datafile '/u02/oradata/cdbveg/undotbs01.dbf' size 256M
enable pluggable database
seed
file_name_convert = ('/u02/oradata/cdbveg','/u02/oradata/cdbveg/seed')
system datafiles size 128M autoextend on next 8M maxsize 2048M
sysaux datafiles size 64M
USER_DATA tablespace users datafile '/u02/oradata/cdbveg/seed/users.dbf' size 128M reuse autoextend on next 32M maxsize unlimited;

The above statement will create a container database, and a seed database which will follow the specifications listed under the keyword "seed" in the create-statement above.
The /u02/oradata/cdbveg/seed directory will contain the datafiles used for future creations of PDBs based on the seed template.
In addition to the mandatory system and sysaux tablespaces, I add a tablespace for user data, too.

Finally, run the necessary scripts:
sqlplus / as sysdba 

SQL> @?/rdbms/admin/catalog.sql
SQL> @?/rdbms/admin/catblock.sql
SQL> @?/rdbms/admin/catproc.sql

SQL> alter session set "_ORACLE_SCRIPT"=false;

SQL> @?/rdbms/admin/catoctk.sql
SQL> @?/rdbms/admin/owminst.plb
SQL> @?/sqlplus/admin/pupbld.sql

Verify creation:
select name,con_id,dbid,open_mode from v$containers

NAME                     CON_ID       DBID OPEN_MODE
-------------------- ---------- ---------- ------------------------------
CDB$ROOT                      1 3469467854 READ WRITE
PDB$SEED                      2  682995139 READ ONLY

Monday, September 11, 2017

Why is my PDB seemingly stuck in RESTRICTED mode?


Check out the view pdb_plug_in_violations - it will point you in the right direction.

In my case, I had created a pluggable database some days after my CDB was finished.

I had completely forgotten about a common user that I had created at that time:

-- create a common user for all CONTAINERS
-- common users must use the prefix c##
create user C##dba identified by MySecretPasswor
default tablespace USERS
temporary tablespace TEMP
quota unlimited on USERS
container=all;

The new PDB was created without the USERS tablespace, which prevented the new PDB to be synchronized with the parent container.
The pdb_plug_in_violations contained the following message:

Sync PDB failed with ORA-959 during 'create user C##dba identified by *default tablespace USERS
temporary tablespace TEMP
quota unlimited on USERS
container=all'


To resolve the situation, connect to the container with the missing tablespace:
alter session set container=pdbveg2;
Make sure my session OMF parameter is correctly set:
select name,value,DEFAULT_VALUE,ISDEFAULT,ISPDB_MODIFIABLE, ISSES_MODIFIABLE, DESCRIPTION
from V$PARAMETER where name like '%create_file_dest%';
NAME VALUE DEFAULT_VALUE ISDEFAULT ISPDB_MODIFIABLE ISSES_MODIFIABLE DESCRIPTION
db_create_file_dest /u02/oradata/cdbveg/pdbveg2 NONE TRUE TRUE TRUE default database location

Create the missing tablespace:
create tablespace USERS
datafile size 8M autoextend on next 2M maxsize 2G;
Finally, close and reopen your pluggable database:
alter pluggable database pdbveg2 close;
alter pluggable database pdbveg2 open read write;
Check status:
select CON_ID,name,OPEN_MODE, RESTRICTED
from v$containers;
CON_ID NAME OPEN_MODE RESTRICTED
4 PDBVEG2 READ WRITE NO

How to create and drop a pluggable database in Oracle 12c


This method uses OMF (Oracle Managed Files):

1. Create directory on host:
mkdir -p /u02/oradata/cdbveg/pdbveg2

2. Set session parameter to enable OMF:
alter session set db_create_file_Dest='/u02/oradata/cdbveg/pdbveg2';

3. Create a pluggable database with a new and local PDBA:
create PLUGGABLE database PDBVEG2
admin user VEGARD
identified by "MySecretPassword"
roles=(DBA);

The statement above copies data files from the seed PDB to the target directory specified in step 2.
It will also grant the local role PDB_DBA to the new PDBA, Vegard.

4. Check the status of the newly created PDB:
select pdb_name,status,con_id from CDB_PDBS;

PDB_NAME STATUS CON_ID
PDBVEG1 NORMAL 3
PDB$SEED NORMAL 2
PDBVEG2 NEW 4

5. Open the pluggable database:
alter pluggable database pdbveg2 open;

6. Check status again:
select pdb_name,status,con_id from CDB_PDBS;
PDB_NAME STATUS CON_ID
PDBVEG1 NORMAL 3
PDB$SEED NORMAL 2
PDBVEG2 NORMAL 4

To drop a pluggable database, perform the following steps:
alter pluggable database PDB1 close;
-- Unplug the database. If you try to drop it before unplugging it, Oracle report
-- ORA-65179: cannot keep datafiles for a pluggable database that is not unplugged
alter pluggable database PDB1 unplug into '/tmp/PDB1.xml';
drop pluggable database PDB1;
If you want Oracle to remove the physical files from disk for you in the same operation, use the following syntax:
drop pluggable database PDB1 including datafiles;

Saturday, September 9, 2017

What is the "datapatch" utility released in Oracle 12c?

From Datapatch: Database 12c Post Patch SQL Automation (Doc ID 1585822.1):

Datapatch is the new tool that enables automation of post-patch SQL actions for RDBMS patches.

and

Datapatch can be executed to complete post-patch SQL actions after the database is restarted following patch application.
For patches that do not have post-patch SQL actions to be performed, calling datapatch is a no-op.
For patches that do have post-patch SQL instructions to be invoked on the database instance, datapatch will automatically detect ALL pending actions (from one installed patch or multiple installed patches) and complete the actions as appropriate.


How does Oracle detect ALL pending actions?

Datapatch determines the requisite apply/rollback actions by matching an internal repository with the patch inventory.


When should datatach be invoked?

Datapatch should be invoked when the database is restarted after a patching session.

From 12.1.0.2 and onwards, Oracle Corporation points out that they have made some change to the datapatch utility. The most important in my opinion is that datapatch now assumes "the role of catbundle when applying bundles/PSU."

This means that

catbundle.sql has been deprecated and patch registry is maintained only in registry$sqlpatch.
Application of the PSU does not update registry$history table anymore.
The status for patch application is now entirely maintained in registry$sqlpatch


Here's an abbreviated output from using datapatch as part of applying Oracles latest PSU, Database Patch Set Update 12.1.0.2.170814 (Includes CPUJul2017):

1. Download and unpack the patch
[oracle@lx01oric software]$ unzip p26609783_121020_Linux-x86-64.zip
2. Shutdown your oracle instance and the listener
3. Check for conflicts:
[oracle@lx01oric software]$ cd 26609783
oracle@lx01oric 26609783]$ opatch prereq CheckConflictAgainstOHWithDetail -ph ./
Oracle Interim Patch Installer version 12.1.0.1.3
Copyright (c) 2017, Oracle Corporation.  All rights reserved.

PREREQ session

Oracle Home       : /u01/oracle/product/db/12.1/12.1.0.2.0
Central Inventory : /u01/oraInventory
   from           : /u01/oracle/product/db/12.1/12.1.0.2.0/oraInst.loc
OPatch version    : 12.1.0.1.3
OUI version       : 12.1.0.2.0
Log file location : /u01/oracle/product/db/12.1/12.1.0.2.0/cfgtoollogs/opatch/opatch2017-09-06_13-41-14PM_1.log

Invoking prereq "checkconflictagainstohwithdetail"

Prereq "checkConflictAgainstOHWithDetail" passed.

OPatch succeeded.

4. Apply the patch:
[oracle@lx01oric 26609783]$ opatch apply
Oracle Interim Patch Installer version 12.2.0.1.9
Copyright (c) 2017, Oracle Corporation.  All rights reserved.


Oracle Home       : /u01/oracle/product/db/12.1/12.1.0.2.0
Central Inventory : /u01/oraInventory
   from           : /u01/oracle/product/db/12.1/12.1.0.2.0/oraInst.loc
OPatch version    : 12.2.0.1.9
OUI version       : 12.1.0.2.0
Log file location : /u01/oracle/product/db/12.1/12.1.0.2.0/cfgtoollogs/opatch/opatch2017-09-06_14-16-35PM_1.log

Verifying environment and performing prerequisite checks...
OPatch continues with these patches:   19769480  20299023  20831110  21359755  21948354  22291127  23054246  24006101  24732082  25171037  25755742  26609783  

Do you want to proceed? [y|n]

... output abbreviated.

Composite patch 26609783 successfully applied.
Log file location: /u01/oracle/product/db/12.1/12.1.0.2.0/cfgtoollogs/opatch/opatch2017-09-06_14-16-35PM_1.log

OPatch succeeded.

5. Start your database. When opened, execute datapatch:
[oracle@lx01oric] cd $ORACLE_HOME/OPatch
[oracle@lx01oric OPatch]$ ./datapatch -verbose
SQL Patching tool version 12.1.0.2.0 Production on Wed Sep  6 14:54:49 2017
Copyright (c) 2012, 2016, Oracle.  All rights reserved.

Log file for this invocation: /u01/oracle/cfgtoollogs/sqlpatch/sqlpatch_16001_2017_09_06_14_54_50/sqlpatch_invocation.log

Connecting to database...OK
Note:  Datapatch will only apply or rollback SQL fixes for PDBs
       that are in an open state, no patches will be applied to closed PDBs.
       Please refer to Note: Datapatch: Database 12c Post Patch SQL Automation
       (Doc ID 1585822.1)
Bootstrapping registry and package to current versions...
Bootstrap timed out after 240 seconds
Retrying bootstrap after retryable errors....done
Determining current state...done

Current state of SQL patches:
Bundle series PSU:
  ID 170814 in the binary registry and not installed in any PDB

Adding patches to installation queue and performing prereq checks...
Installation queue:
  For the following PDBs: CDB$ROOT PDB$SEED
    Nothing to roll back
    The following patches will be applied:
      26609783 (DATABASE PATCH SET UPDATE 12.1.0.2.170814)

Installing patches...
Patch installation complete.  Total patches installed: 2

Validating logfiles...
Patch 26609783 apply (pdb CDB$ROOT): SUCCESS
  logfile: /u01/oracle/cfgtoollogs/sqlpatch/26609783/21481899/26609783_apply_CDBVEG_CDBROOT_2017Sep06_15_01_26.log (no errors)
Patch 26609783 apply (pdb PDB$SEED): SUCCESS
  logfile: /u01/oracle/cfgtoollogs/sqlpatch/26609783/21481899/26609783_apply_CDBVEG_PDBSEED_2017Sep06_15_09_34.log (no errors)
SQL Patching tool complete on Wed Sep  6 15:18:53 2017
[oracle@lx01oric OPatch]$ vi /u01/oracle/cfgtoollogs/sqlpatch/26609783/21481899/26609783_apply_CDBVEG_PDBSEED_2017Sep06_15_09_34.log
6. If applicable, activate the OJVM Mitigation patch.

According to Oracle, this patch is applicable in "situations where the latest OJVM PSU cannot be installed immediately... The "Mitigation Patch" is an interim solution to protect against all currently known (Jul 2015) Oracle JavaVM security vulnerabilities in the database until such time as the OJVM PSU can be installed."

Since this is my situation, I install the mitigation patch:
[oracle@lx01oric 26609783]$ cd $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin
[oracle@lx01oric admin]$ sqlplus / as sysdba @dbmsjdev.sql
[oracle@lx01oric admin]$ sqlplus / as sysdba
SQL> exec dbms_java_dev.disable;
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
SQL>