Storage Additions Prevented Major Future Loss
Limited storage space was causing performance issues and could have resulted in necessary daily applications failing quickly. This presented a significant problem, as the client’s customers were unable to access their information or use their systems effectively, which put operations in crisis. The client further requested strategic escalation to increase their bandwidth. The immediate issue was resolved, preventing future loss, and qualifying the environment for future projects, enhancements, and updates.
What was unique?
The client is a healthcare support provider, creating custom tools very specific to each of their clients, creating a very complex, diverse, and scalable environment.
Immediate action required to support the critical application systems. Deployed an on-site/remote delivery model to maximize efficiency and reduce total costs.
Long-term strategy produced a compliant, scalable solution.
All maintenance windows available only on weekends, and after business hours.
PROBLEM
Add space on an Oracle Real Application Cluster (RAC) production environment
Make use of a new Network-attached Storage (NAS) server
Add space to the production Oracle Automatic Storage Management (ASM) infrastructure before storage is exhausted
The client identified performance issues with usability and needed consultation on escalation. Diagnostics showed a need to create more space. Space limitations can cause existing databases to cease working, since they’re not able to allocate new information. The applications using these databases are essential to daily business operations, and the impact of a disruption in service would have been significant for the client.
SOLUTION
While trying to add the new storage units to the Oracle RAC infrastructure, we detected that the current configuration for Oracle ASM, which is a critical component for Oracle RAC, does not allow adding the new storage units, because the parameters were not set for new multipath LUNs to be added.
Adding these new Logical Unit Numbers (LUNs) was critical to the client because the databases that resided on these servers were using new space significantly, and the existing storage could be exhausted quickly. After discussing long-term escalation goals, the client also needed new space allocated to create new databases that would serve new projects starting soon.
Based on our experience with Oracle platforms, Flexible Time & Skillset Equivalent (FTSE), and clearly-defined processes for Oracle administration, we were able to create an action plan that minimized the risk for the project. The result was successful, with no disruption to the production environment, business functions, or user experience.
ROLES
Senior Systems Administrator
Installation Manager
Oracle DBA
Senior Oracle DBA
TECHNOLOGY
VPN
MOS
Linux
ASM
Oracle