To use Zero Downtime Migration (ZDM) I must install a Zero Downtime Migration service host. It is the piece of software that will control the entire process of migrating my database into Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). The requirements are:

• Must be running Oracle Linux 7 or newer.
• 100 GB disk space according to the documentation. I could do with way less – basically there should be a few GBs for the binaries and then space for configuration and log files.
• SSH access (port 22) to each of the database hosts.
• Recommended to install it on a separate server (although technically possible to use one of the database hosts).

Create and configure server

In my example, I will install the ZDM service host on a compute instance in OCI. There are no requirements to CPU nor memory and ZDM is only acting as a coordinator – all the work is done by the database hosts – so I can use the smallest compute shape available. I am using OCI CLI* to create the compute instance which you can install on your own computer or use a Cloud Shell. But I could just as well use the web interface or REST APIs.

First, I will define a few variables that you have to change to your needs. DISPLAYNAME is the hostname of my compute instance – and also the name I see in the OCI webpage. AVAILDOM is the availability domain into which the compute instance is created. SHAPE is the compute shape:

DISPLAYNAME=zdm
AVAILDOM=OUGC:EU-FRANKFURT-1-AD-1
SHAPE=VM.Standard2.1

When I create a compute instance using the webpage these are the values:

In addition, I will define the OCID of my compartment, and also the OCID of the subnet that I will use. I am making sure to select a subnet that I can reach via SSH from my own computer. Last, I have the public key file:

COMPARTMENTID="..."
SUBNETID="..."
PUBKEYFILE="/path/to/key-file.pub"

Because I want to use the latest Oracle Linux image I will query for the OCID of that and store it in a variable:

IMAGEID=`oci compute image list \
   --compartment-id $COMPARTMENTID \
   --operating-system "Oracle Linux" \
   --sort-by TIMECREATED \
   --query "data[?contains(\"display-name\", 'GPU')==\\\`false\\\`].{DisplayName:\"display-name\", OCID:\"id\"} | [0]" \
   | grep OCID \
   | awk -F'[\"|\"]' '{print $4}'`

And now I can create the compute instance:

oci compute instance launch \
 --compartment-id $COMPARTMENTID \
 --display-name $DISPLAYNAME \
 --availability-domain $AVAILDOM \
 --subnet-id $SUBNETID \
 --image-id $IMAGEID \
 --shape $SHAPE \
 --ssh-authorized-keys-file $PUBKEYFILE \
 --wait-for-state RUNNING

The command will wait until the compute instance is up and running because I used the wait-for-state RUNNING option. Now, I can get the public IP address so I can connect to the instance:

VMID=`oci compute instance list \
  --compartment-id $COMPARTMENTID \
  --display-name $DISPLAYNAME \
  --lifecycle-state RUNNING \
  | grep \"id\" \
  | awk -F'[\"|\"]' '{print $4}'`
oci compute instance list-vnics \
 --instance-id $VMID \
 | grep public-ip \
 | awk -F'[\"|\"]' '{print $4}'

Prepare Host

The installation process is described in the documentation which you should visit to get the latest changes. Log on to the ZDM service host as OPC using the public IP address. By using -o ServerAliveInterval=300 I can avoid getting kicked off all the time:

ssh -o ServerAliveInterval=300 -i [key-file] opc@[ip-address]

Now, switch to root and install required packages:

[opc@zdm]$ sudo su -
[root@zdm]$ yum -y install \
  gcc \
  kernel-devel \
  kernel-headers \
  dkms \
  make \
  bzip2 \
  perl \
  glibc-devel \
  expect \
  zip \
  unzip \
  kernel-uek-devel-$(uname -r)

Create a ZDM group and user:

[root@zdm]$ groupadd zdm ; useradd -g zdm zdmuser

Make it possible to SSH to the box as zdmuser. I will just reuse the SSH keys from opc:

[root@zdm]$ cp -r /home/opc/.ssh /home/zdmuser/.ssh ; chown -R zdmuser:zdm /home/zdmuser/.ssh

Create directory for Oracle software and change permissions:

[root@zdm]$ mkdir /u01 ; chown zdmuser:zdm /u01

Edit hosts file, and ensure name resolution work to the source host (srchost) and target hosts (tgthost):

[root@zdm]$ echo -e "[ip address] srchost" >> /etc/hosts
[root@zdm]$ echo -e "[ip address] tgthost" >> /etc/hosts

Install And Configure ZDM

Now, to install ZDM I will log on as zdmuser and set the environment in my .bashrc file:

[root@zdm]$ su - zdmuser
[zdmuser@zdm]$ echo "INVENTORY_LOCATION=/u01/app/oraInventory; export INVENTORY_LOCATION" >> ~/.bashrc
[zdmuser@zdm]$ echo "ORACLE_BASE=/u01/app/oracle; export ORACLE_BASE" >> ~/.bashrc
[zdmuser@zdm]$ echo "ZDM_BASE=\$ORACLE_BASE; export ZDM_BASE" >> ~/.bashrc
[zdmuser@zdm]$ echo "ZDM_HOME=\$ZDM_BASE/zdm19; export ZDM_HOME" >> ~/.bashrc
[zdmuser@zdm]$ echo "ZDM_INSTALL_LOC=/u01/zdm19-inst; export ZDM_INSTALL_LOC" >> ~/.bashrc
[zdmuser@zdm]$ source ~/.bashrc

Create directories

[zdmuser@zdm]$ mkdir -p $ORACLE_BASE $ZDM_BASE $ZDM_HOME $ZDM_INSTALL_LOC

Next, download the ZDM software into $ZDM_INSTALL_LOC.

Once downloaded, start the installation:

[zdmuser@zdm]$ $ZDM_INSTALL_LOC/zdminstall.sh setup \
  oraclehome=$ZDM_HOME \
  oraclebase=$ZDM_BASE \
  ziploc=$ZDM_INSTALL_LOC/zdm_home.zip -zdm

And it should look something similar to this:

The installation process will output some warnings which are ignorable:

[WARNING] [INS-42505] The installer has detected that the Oracle Grid Infrastructure home software at (/u01/app/oracle/zdm19) is not complete.
[WARNING] [INS-41813] OSDBA for ASM, OSOPER for ASM, and OSASM are the same OS group.
[WARNING] [INS-41875] Oracle ASM Administrator (OSASM) Group specified is same as the users primary group.
[WARNING] [INS-32022] Grid infrastructure software for a cluster installation must not be under an Oracle base directory.
[WARNING] [INS-32055] The Central Inventory is located in the Oracle base.
[WARNING] [INS-13014] Target environment does not meet some optional requirements.

And there are reference to scripts that I should execute, but this is not needed as mentioned in the documentation. ZDM piggybacks on Grid Infrastructure components which is why the messages are displayed: Start the ZDM service:

[zdmuser@zdm]$ $ZDM_HOME/bin/zdmservice start

Which should produce something like this: And, optionally, I can verify the status of the ZDM service:

[zdmuser@zdm]$ $ZDM_HOME/bin/zdmservice status

Configure Network Connectivity

The ZDM service host must communicate with the source and target hosts via SSH. For that purpose I need private key files to each of the hosts. The private key files must be without a passphrase, in RSA/PEM format and I have to put them at /home/zdmuser/.ssh/[host name]. In my demo, the files are to be named:

• /home/zdmuser/.ssh/srchost
• /home/zdmuser/.ssh/tgthost

Ensure that only zdmuser can read them:

[zdmuser@zdm]$ chmod 400 /home/zdmuser/.ssh/srchost
[zdmuser@zdm]$ chmod 400 /home/zdmuser/.ssh/tgthost

Now, I will verify the connection. In my example I will connect to opc on both database hosts, but you can change it if you like:

[zdmuser@zdm]$ ssh -i /home/zdmuser/.ssh/srchost opc@srchost
[zdmuser@zdm]$ ssh -i /home/zdmuser/.ssh/tgthost opc@tgthost

If you get an error when connecting ensure the following:

• The public key is added to /home/opc/.ssh/authorized_keys on both database hosts (change opc if you are connecting as another user)
• The key files are in RSA/PEM format (the private key file should start with -----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----)
• The key files are without a passphrase

That’s It

Now, I have a working ZDM service host. Previously, I have prepared my source and target environments which means that I am ready to start the migration process. Stay tuned!

References

* I found this blog post by Michał very usefull when figuring out how to use OCI CLI to create a compute instance.

Other Blog Posts In This Series

• Introduction
• Preparations
• Install And Configure ZDM (this post)
• Migrate Your Database
• The Pro Tips
• Migrate to Exadata DB System (ExaCS)

In the following posts I will demo how to migrate a database into OCI. To make the demo as simple as possible my source database will already be running in OCI and my target will be a VM DB System.

Prepare source environment

I will create a VM DB System that can act as my source database. I will call it srchost and the database is called CDB1. Using OCI CLI it can be done like this:

oci db system launch \
  --compartment-id "..." \
  --availability-domain "..." \
  --subnet-id "..." \
  --shape "VM.Standard2.4" \
  --cpu-core-count 4 \
  --database-edition "ENTERPRISE_EDITION" \
  --admin-password "..." \
  --ssh-authorized-keys-file "/path/to/key-file.pub" \
  --license-model "BRING_YOUR_OWN_LICENSE" \
  --db-name "CDB1" \
  --pdb-name "SALES" \
  --storage-management "ASM" \
  --node-count 1 \
  --initial-data-storage-size-in-gb 2048 \
  --display-name "SRCHOST" \
  --hostname "SRCHOST" \
  --db-version "19.0.0.0"

Once completed, I can log on as opc and switch to root and copy the authorized_keys file to allow SSH connection as oracle:

[opc@srchost]$ sudo su -
[root@srchost]$ rm -f /home/oracle/.ssh/authorized_keys
[root@srchost]$ cp /home/opc/.ssh/authorized_keys /home/oracle/.ssh/authorized_keys
[root@srchost]$ chown -R oracle:oinstall /home/oracle/.ssh

Now, I will ensure that the database is in ARCHIVELOG mode; it is a requirement for using Data Guard:

SELECT log_mode FROM v$database;

Since my database is running 12.2 or higher I have to ensure that there is a TDE Keystore. This applies even if the database is not encrypted. You don’t need a license to create a TDE Keystore – not until you start encrypting stuff. The keystore must be OPEN and the type is either AUTOLOGIN, LOCAL_AUTOLOGIN or PASSWORD. In a CDB, this applies to CDB$ROOT and all PDBs:

SELECT con_id, status, wallet_type FROM v$encryption_wallet;

If status is OPEN_NO_MASTER_KEY it means that no TDE master encryption key has been created and you will need to create one. You can also find instructions on how to create a TDE keystore in the ZDM documentation.

Prepare target environment

In my demo I will be targeting a VM DB System which I will call tgthost. For the migration to work, I have to create a placeholder database on the target host. During migration the placeholder database is overwritten by the source database. On a VM DB System this is easy; I just use the database that gets created automatically as placeholder.

DB_NAME must be the same in the two databases, and hence in my demo I must set db-name in the OCI CLI command below to CDB1 (the name of my source database). Contrary, DB_UNIQUE_NAME must be different but this will likely not be a problem because OCI automatically generates a semi-unique DB_UNIQUE_NAME (if you are a strong believer in Murphy’s Law you should double-check it).

The target database patch level can be the same or higher than the source. If higher, you just have to manually execute datapatch after the switch-over (I will put this information into a later blog post). By setting db-version to 19.0.0.0 I automatically get the latest available Release Update.

Also, the SYS password has to match in the two databases, so be sure to set admin-password to your source database SYS password. Finally, you should set storage-management to ASM. This will cause OCI to install Grid Infrastructure as well and set up a SCAN listener.

In my demo I end up with this OCI CLI command:

oci db system launch \
  --compartment-id  "..." \
  --availability-domain "..." \
  --subnet-id "..." \
  --shape "VM.Standard2.4" \
  --cpu-core-count 4 \
  --database-edition "ENTERPRISE_EDITION" \
  --admin-password "..." \
  --ssh-authorized-keys-file /path/to/key-file.pub \
  --license-model "BRING_YOUR_OWN_LICENSE" \
  --db-name "CDB1" \
  --pdb-name "SALES" \
  --storage-management "ASM" \
  --node-count 1 \
  --initial-data-storage-size-in-gb 2048 \
  --display-name "tgthost" \
  --hostname "tgthost" \
  --db-version "19.0.0.0"

As opc, switch to root and enable oracle to log on via SSH:

[opc@tgthost]$ sudo su -
[root@tgthost]$ rm -f /home/oracle/.ssh/authorized_keys
[root@tgthost]$ cp /home/opc/.ssh/authorized_keys /home/oracle/.ssh/authorized_keys
[root@tgthost]$ chown -R oracle:oinstall /home/oracle/.ssh

The requirements to the TDE Keystore applies to the target environment as well, but since I am using an OCI DB System that will be setup up correctly when the system is created.

Configure Connectivity

I need to ensure that the source host can resolve the network name of the target host. It is important to add two entries – one with the host name and one with the SCAN name (they should both point to the target host):

[root@srchost]$ echo -e "[ip address] tgthost" >> /etc/hosts
[root@srchost]$ echo -e "[ip address] tgthost-scan" >> /etc/hosts

Also, I need to ensure that I can connect to the target database from the source host over SQL*Net. Just use the default service of the target CDB, and you can get it using lsnrctl:

[oracle@tgthost]$ lsnrctl status
[oracle@srchost]$ sqlplus system@tgthost-scan/[target-cdb-service-name]

Now, I do it the other way around. Ensure that the target host can resolve the network name of the source host:

[root@tgthost]$ echo -e "[ip address] srchost" >> /etc/hosts
[root@tgthost]$ echo -e "[ip address] srchost-scan" >> /etc/hosts

Ensure that I can connect to the source database from the target host:

[oracle@srchost]$ lsnrctl status
[oracle@tgthost]$ sqlplus system@srchost-scan/[source-cdb-service-name]

Create Sample Data

I will connect to the source database:

[oracle@srchost]$ export ORACLE_SID=CDB1
[oracle@srchost]$ export ORACLE_PDB_SID=SALES
[oracle@srchost]$ sqlplus / as sysdba

Note, that ORACLE_PDB_SID works from 18.5.0 and beyond. For lower versions you can just use ALTER SESSION SET CONTAINER=SALES instead. And create some sample data, so I can verify the migration actually works:

CREATE USER zdmtest IDENTIFIED BY [your-password];
GRANT CREATE TABLE, CONNECT TO zdmtest;
GRANT SELECT ON v_$instance TO zdmtest;
GRANT SELECT ON v_$database TO zdmtest;
ALTER USER zdmtest DEFAULT TABLESPACE users;
ALTER USER zdmtest QUOTA UNLIMITED ON users;

CREATE TABLE zdmtest.items (
   id      NUMBER,
   item    VARCHAR2(20),
   price   NUMBER
);
INSERT INTO zdmtest.items VALUES (1, 'Apple', 2);
INSERT INTO zdmtest.items VALUES (2, 'Banana', 1);
INSERT INTO zdmtest.items VALUES (3, 'Orange', 4);
COMMIT;

That’s It

My source database is now ready to be migrated to OCI. It will be migrated to a new VM DB System that I just created. In the next blog post I will install and configure ZDM. Stay tuned!

Other Blog Posts In This Series

• Introduction
• Preparations (this page)
• Install And Configure ZDM
• Migrate Your Database
• The Pro Tips
• Migrate to Exadata DB System (ExaCS)