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How to Create ACFS File System

ACFS File System

What is ACFS? ASM Cluster File System (ACFS) is an extension of ASM, which can mount as a file system in your database server. Furthermore, we can create ACFS to ease and replace file management of ASM.

Generally, we use ACFS for storing data files, storing grid and oracle binaries, and other shared folder like GoldenGate among all nodes in the same cluster.

First of all, make sure everything is ready on grid-level.

[grid@primary01 ~]$ crsctl check crs [grid@primary01 ~]$ crsctl status resource -t

There're two ways to create ACFS in this post:

  1. Using ASMCMD Command Line to Create ACFS
  2. Using ASMCA User Interface to Create ACFS

ASMCMD Command Line

Create a Volume

In this case, We allocate 80GB for the new volume ORADATA1 from a ASM disk group, DATA.

[grid@primary01 ~]$ asmcmd volcreate -G data -s 80G oradata1

Check the Information of the New Volume

[grid@primary01 ~]$ asmcmd volinfo -G data oradata1
Diskgroup Name: DATA

         Volume Name: ORADATA1
         Volume Device: /dev/asm/oradata1-93
         State: ENABLED
         Size (MB): 81920
         Resize Unit (MB): 512
         Redundancy: UNPROT
         Stripe Columns: 8
         Stripe Width (K): 1024
         Usage:
         Mountpath:

Check the Physical Information of the New Volume

[grid@primary01 ~]$ fdisk -l /dev/asm/oradata1-93

Disk /dev/asm/oradata1-93: 85.9 GB, 85899345920 bytes, 167772160 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 1048576 bytes

Format the New Volume as ACFS

[grid@primary01 ~]$ /sbin/mkfs -t acfs /dev/asm/oradata1-93
mkfs.acfs: version                   = 18.0.0.0.0
mkfs.acfs: on-disk version           = 46.0
mkfs.acfs: volume                    = /dev/asm/oradata1-93
mkfs.acfs: volume size               = 85899345920  (  80.00 GB )
mkfs.acfs: Format complete.

Add a Mount Registry

[grid@primary01 ~]$ exit
logout
[root@primary01 ~]# /sbin/acfsutil registry -a /dev/asm/oradata1-93 /u02/oradata1 -u oracle
acfsutil registry: mount point /u02/oradata1 successfully added to Oracle Registry

The above command is equivalent to the following commands.

[root@primary01 ~]# /u01/app/18.0.0/grid/bin/srvctl add filesystem -d /dev/asm/oradata1-93 -m /u02/oradata1 -u oracle -fstype ACFS -autostart ALWAYS
[root@primary01 ~]# /u01/app/18.0.0/grid/bin/srvctl start filesystem -d /dev/asm/oradata1-93

Check the Mount Point on All Nodes

[root@primary01 ~]# ll /u02
total 32
drwxrwxr-x 4 oracle dba 32768 Dec  6 19:15 oradata1

Verify the Persistence

Reboot all cluster servers to verify the persistence of this resource.

[root@primary01 ~]# init 6

We can use crsctl to check the status of this resource which is ora.data.oradata1.acfs in this case.

[root@primary01 ~]# su - grid
[grid@primary01 ~]$ ll /u02
total 32
drwxr-xr-x 4 oracle oinstall 32768 Dec  6 19:25 oradata1
[grid@primary01 ~]$ crsctl status resource ora.data.oradata1.acfs -t
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name           Target  State        Server                   State details
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Local Resources
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ora.data.oradata1.acfs
               ONLINE  ONLINE       primary01                mounted on /u02/orad
                                                             ata1,STABLE
               ONLINE  ONLINE       primary02                mounted on /u02/orad
                                                             ata1,STABLE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For more details, you may refer to the documentation: Creating an Oracle ACFS File System

A more convenient way to achieve our goal is to use ASMCA to create a new ACFS file system.

ASMCA User Interface

The steps that create ACFS file system by ASMCA can be simplified as such: 1. Use a disk group to create a volume. 2. Use the volume to create ACFS file system. Later in this post, I will introduce a shortcut in ASMCA that can do all the things in one step.

First of all, we call ASMCA by issuing asmca.

[grid@primary01 ~]$ asmca
ASMCA 18c - Opening
ASMCA 18c - Opening

Set User "root" Credential

Click on "Settings" to proceed.

ASMCA 18c - Home Page
ASMCA 18c - Home Page

Input root's password in the field and then click Save.

ASMCA 18c - Set root Credential
ASMCA 18c - Set root Credential

Expand "Volumes" on the tree.

ASMCA 18c - root Credential Saved
ASMCA 18c - root Credential Saved

Create a New Volume

Click on Create. button to create a new volume.

ASMCA 18c - List All Volumes
ASMCA 18c - List All Volumes

Configure the new volume, then click on OK.

ASMCA 18c - Create a New Volume
ASMCA 18c - Create a New Volume

The new volume is creating now.

ASMCA 18c - New Volume Creating
ASMCA 18c - New Volume Creating

Expand "ACFS File Systems" on the tree.

ASMCA 18c - New Volume Created
ASMCA 18c - New Volume Created

Create a New ACFS File System

Click on Create. button to create a new ACFS file system.

ASMCA 18c - List All ACFS File Systems
ASMCA 18c - List All ACFS File Systems

Configure the new ACFS file system, then click on OK.

ASMCA 18c - Create a New ACFS File System
ASMCA 18c - Create a New ACFS File System

The new ACFS file system is creating now.

ASMCA 18c - New ACFS File System Creating
ASMCA 18c - New ACFS File System Creating

Our ACFS file system is created. We can now exit ASMCA.

ASMCA 18c - New ACFS File System Created
ASMCA 18c - New ACFS File System Created
ASMCA 18c - Exit
ASMCA 18c - Exit

We can also use acfsutil, a command lines interface that can help to create a ACFS file system. The result is the same.

A Shortcut to Create ACFS

Does anyone notice that there's a shortcut to create it in ASMCA? It can create a volume as well as an ACFS mount point in the same page.

First of all, right click on a disk group DATA which is used for allocating our ACFS file system. And click on "Create ACFS for Database Use".

ASMCA 18c – Create ACFS for Database Use Shortcut - Menu
ASMCA 18c – Create ACFS for Database Use Shortcut - Menu

We should provide volume, mount point, size and owner information on this form.

ASMCA 18c – Create ACFS for Database Use Shortcut - Volume, Mount Point and Owner Settings
ASMCA 18c – Create ACFS for Database Use Shortcut - Volume, Mount Point and Owner Settings

Please note that, even though there's nothing mentioned about ACFS on this page, this shortcut is meant to create ACFS file system.

ASMCA 18c – Create ACFS for Database Use Shortcut - Creating
ASMCA 18c – Create ACFS for Database Use Shortcut - Creating
ASMCA 18c – Create ACFS for Database Use Shortcut - Created
ASMCA 18c – Create ACFS for Database Use Shortcut - Created
ASMCA 18c – Create ACFS for Database Use Shortcut - List All ACFS
ASMCA 18c – Create ACFS for Database Use Shortcut - List All ACFS

The result seems to be the same. At least I can't see any differences.

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