Install 11g Release 2 Grid Infrastructure for Standalone Server on Windows 7 for Sandbox

Oracle 11g Release 2 for Windows was just released this month. With the availability of the grid infrastructure in this version, I plan to install it on my Windows 7 desktop to see what it can do even if it is just on stand alone environment.

In order for database to use Automatic Storage Management (ASM), it requires the Grid Infrastructure. In addition to ASM, Grid Infrastructure will also provide Oracle Restart to manage the Oracle processes (database, listener, and ASM).

One of the first issues I’ve encountered is the new requirement that the clusterware files (OCR & Voting) must be on ASM. I have to admit even though I’ve done ASM on Solaris and Linux before, but never on Windows. Since this is mandatory, I will give it a try. And since I will use ASM for clusterware files, I plan to use it for database data files as well.

In order to use ASM, I’m required to provide the unformatted (raw) basic disks. I plan to use the existing disks without adding new physical ones. Fortunately in Windows 7, I can use the disk management (diskmgmt.msc) tool to shrink volume and create a new logical disk from claimed space. Note that you may have multiple physical disks on your machine, but ASM supports and recognizes only logical drives on the Basic disk (not Dynamic disk). Click here if you’re interested in differences between Basic and Dynamic disks.

Once data volume is shrunk, I can create a new volume and then a logical drive. The new drive must not be formatted or having a drive letter assigned to it. Here is the guidelines from Oracle document on “create disk partitions”.

To use ASM with direct attached storage or SAN, the disks must be stamped with a header. This can be accomplished by using either asmtool (command-line version) or asmtoolg (GUI version). Since we will install Oracle grid infrastructure in interactive mode, the asmtoolg will be called during the configuration. Somehow, if I tried to launch the asmtoolg outside Oracle grid infrastructure installation, I always encountered error with no disks found. However, within the Oracle grid infrastructure installation, there is no issue.

In general, the installation went well. I’ve encountered few issues which I’ve documented them in the documents below. The snapshots of steps here are for educational purpose only.

Windows 7 – Disk Preparation for ASM

Oracle 11g R2 Grid Infrastructure for Standalone Server Installation on Windows

Oracle 11g R2 Software Installation for Single Instance Database on Windows

Oracle 11g R2 Database Creation using ASM on Windows

16 thoughts on “Install 11g Release 2 Grid Infrastructure for Standalone Server on Windows 7 for Sandbox”

    1. The ASMCA (Oracle ASM Configuration Assistant) is just a stand-alone tool supporting installation and configuration of Oracle ASM instances, disk groups, volumes, and Oracle ACFS File System.

      You can find out more details about ASMCA from here.

  1. in Oracle 11g R2 Database Creation using ASM on Windows explain i conldn’t find my raw partition
    and it is ask my to to enter sys and asmsnmp password

    1. I assume you went the disk preparation step already. Please note that you must use the Basic disk (not Dynamic one). You can view what types of disks from Disk Management Snap-in tool.

      Ittichai

  2. no i went to ask you about how to config ASMCA first page appare to my password and Disk group
    for server parameter file on button Specify Disk group

    1. Did you do the disk preparation using BASIC disks in the 1st document? And did you stamp disks in the 2nd document? If you did, at least you should see DATA diskgroup (storing Grid data).

  3. Mr. ittichai i solve my problem i format my computer and try again successfully now i have another problem with listener you said ‘ Click OK. If you receive this error, this means that listener is not listening for +ASM. Exit now then configure listener and run dbca again’ how to configure the listener.

  4. Mr. Ittichai,

    Do you have similar instructions for Oracle Linux running on a server with just one internal disk? I am just confused by the ASM piece and how to create the disk groups, when I have a single server with a single disk (might not be the ideal scenario, but this is more for educational learning.)

    Thanks
    -Sammy

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