Validated Configuration Details

The goal of this program is to validate hardware with Oracle Linux and Oracle VM, and to identify issues and configuration details that would impact customer deployments. Oracle developed the program to go far beyond the standard certification testing normally performed with operating systems. Hardware vendors participating in this program perform thorough testing of the hardware in real-world configurations with Oracle Linux and Oracle VM.

This is not a database certification. Oracle Database is a component of the environment because it is demanding on hardware resources (processor, memory, cache, storage, network) and the operating system, and well suited for this advanced level of testing. The validation program uses Oracle Database as a tool and hardware is not certified with Oracle Database as a result of the validation program.

For more information please see the program's Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).

Oracle VM Server 2.1.1 x86 and x86_64 on HPE c-Class Proliant BL460c G1 and Pillar Data Systems - Axiom 500/600 Release 2.8/SATA disks with over 1TB with Oracle Database 10g Release 2(10.2.0.3),Oracle Database 11g(11.1.0.6)

Publication Date

04-JUL-08

Version

1.0

Server Platform

HPE c-Class Proliant BL460c G1

Storage Model

Pillar Data Systems - Axiom 500/600 Release 2.8/SATA disks with over 1TB

Guest VMs

Oracle Database Single Instance on OEL 4 Update 5 x86_64 , OEL 5 Update 1 x86_64

Linux Distribution

Oracle VM Server 2.1.1 x86 and x86_64

Server Model

HPE c-Class Proliant BL460c G1

Processors

2 X Dual Core Intel Xeon 3000 MHz

Hardware Virtualization Support

Yes

Type

VT-x

Memory

8GB RAM

OnBoardStorage

2 X HP Smart Array E200i 73GB each

Network/Interconnect

1 X Dual Port Broadcom NetXtreme II BCM5708 1000Base-SX Gigabit Ethernet

HBA

QLogic QMH2462 4Gb dual port FC HBA

Storage Model

Pillar Data Systems - Axiom 500/600 Release 2.8/SATA disks with over 1TB

Switch Model

Qlogic 5200 - 16/2Gb ports

Switch Type

FC Switch

Additional Info.

None

Switch Model

Brocade 200e - 16/2-4Gb ports

Switch Type

FC Switch

Additional Info.

None

Switch Model

2 X GbE2c Ethernet Blade Switch (One for public, one for private)

Switch Type

Network Switch

Additional Info.

C7000 Internal Switches (The private network switch was not used in this configuration)

Switch Model

2 X HP 4Gb Fibre Channel Pass-thru Module for c-Class BladeSystem

Switch Type

FC Switch

Additional Info.

C7000 Internal Switches

Oracle VM Server 2.1.1 x86 and x86_64

Kernel

kernel-ovs-2.6.18-8.1.15.0.16.el5.i686.rpm or higher

Xen Version

xen-64-3.1.3-0.0.5.el5.noarch.rpm or higher

Additional Info

None

Driver Module

Qlogic HBA (QLA2462)

Version

8.02.08

Settings

None

Additional Info.

Driver obtained from qlogic.com: qla2xxx-v8.02.08-1.noarch.rpm

Bug No

4817

Summary

Under heavy i/o load on iSCSI storage , dom0 networking stops responding for brief periods of time

Affects

Network on Dom0 on servers that support hardware virtualization

Symptom

If ip6tables is enabled, Dom0 networking stops responding for brief periods of time and error messages are seen: iscsi: detected conn error in dmesg

Solution/Workaround

Fixed in OVM 2.1.2 , i.e. ip6tables is turned off by default and if ip6tables has been enabled manually then disable them.

Bug No

4819

Summary

Live migration and save/restore operation may fail on a paravirtualized guest ( EL4U5 x86-64 and EL5 x86-64)

Affects

Live migration of paravirtualized guests ( EL4U5 x86-64 and EL5 x86-64 )running Oracle DB under heavy load

Symptom

If the migration is attempted - the destination server may reboot; or the originating server may halt; or the migrating paravirtualized guest may panic

Solution/Workaround

Fixed in OVM 2.1.2, For OVM 2.1, The fix is available as a combination of patches for the guest and hypervisor.Use xen-3.1.1-0.0.36 kernel or higher for hypervisor.For the guests, Use the oracle kernels for OEL 4.5 x86(kernel-xenU-2.6.9-55.0.12.9.1.EL or higher), OEL5.1 x86 and x86-64 guests (kernel-xen-2.6.18-53.1.4.9.1.el5 or higher ) available at ULN. The fix is not available for OEL4.5/6 x86-64. For 2.1.1,Use only the patched Oracle kernels for the guests as mentioned in 2.1 above.

Bug No

5707

Summary

Unable to install on systems having memory > 32 GB

Affects

Systems having large memory configurations

Symptom

Server boot up will fail.

Solution/Workaround

Fixed in OVM 2.1.2, for OVM version < 2.1.2, At install time, enter mem=32G at the boot prompt. This will allow the installer to come up properly. Note: After installation, Oracle VM will boot and recognize all the memory without problems.

Bug No

Oracle Bugzilla 4818

Summary

System time on virtual machine may drift

Affects

Applications that require time synchronization across the servers or virtual machines. This affects both hardware virtualized and paravirtualized virtual machines.

Symptom

The symptoms include the network to restart on a system configured with dhcp; cron jobs may not be executed at the required time.

Solution/Workaround

To maximize clock accuracy, ntp service should be enabled in domain0.For PVM virtual machines perform the following steps: (1) Edit /etc/sysctl to set xen.independent_wallclock to 1; run sysctl -p to make the change effective; (2) Enable ntp service: chkconfig ntpd on; service ntpd start. For PVHVM virtual machines perform the following steps: (1) Verify that timer_mode parameter in vm.cfg is set to 0 for 32bit Linux, 1 for Windows, and 2 for 64 bit Linux. With OVM 2.1. release, these values should be set manually. In OVM 2.1.1 and higher versions, those values are set automatically if the virtual machine is created by Oracle VM manager or by virt-install command invoked with --os-type and --os-variant options (2) modify /etc/grub.conf in the virtual machine to add kernel parameters "clock=pit nohpet nopmtimer".