Unmount ACFS during 19c grid patching

Posted byIndraneil SealPosted inUncategorized

ACFS file systems is used by Oracle RAC for hosting software files for the database as well as non-database files and is managed by the Oracle GRID Infrastructure.

While applying the July 2020 PSU patching on the 19c RAC cluster using ‘opatch auto’ as root, the patching failed. We noticed following write error messages in the opatch log, which were kind of misleading.

                           [INFO]   Prerequisite check "CheckApplicable" failed.
                                    The details are:
                                    
                                    Patch 31305087:
                                    Copy Action: Destination File "/u01/app/19.0.0.0/grid/jlib/ghctl.jar" is not writeable.
                                    'oracle.rhp.common, 19.0.0.0.0': Cannot copy file from 'ghctl.jar' to '/u01/app/19.0.0.0/grid/jlib/ghctl.jar'
                                    Copy Action: Destination File "/u01/app/19.0.0.0/grid/jlib/rhp.jar" is not writeable.
                                    'oracle.rhp.common, 19.0.0.0.0': Cannot copy file from 'rhp.jar' to '/u01/app/19.0.0.0/grid/jlib/rhp.jar'
                                    Copy Action: Destination File "/u01/app/19.0.0.0/grid/srvm/admin/rhpmovedb.pl" is not writeable.
                                    'oracle.rhp.common, 19.0.0.0.0': Cannot copy file from 'rhpmovedb.pl' to '/u01/app/19.0.0.0/grid/srvm/admin/rhpmovedb.pl'

After much investigation & raising a severity 1 SR, we came across the note “Supplemental Readme – Patch Installation and Deinstallation for 12.1.0.x.x GI PSU and Database Proactive Bundle Patch (Doc ID 1591616.1)” which states that before grid patching, we need to shut down the processes using the software files on ACFS and then unmount the ACFS file system.

Clearly, we missed that step, which caused the issue. So, before grid patching, please check if ACFS is in use or not & make sure to perform following steps.

  1. Execute the following command to find the names of the CRS managed ACFS file system resource. #crsctl stat res -w “TYPE = ora.acfs.type” -p | grep VOLUME
  1. Execute the following command to stop the CRS managed ACFS file system resource with the resource name found from Step 1.

As root user execute:

# srvctl stop filesystem -d <volume device path> -n <node to stop file system on>

This resolved our issue & we were able to proceed ahead!!

Published by Indraneil Seal

I originally hail from Kolkata, India, and I've dedicated a significant portion of my professional journey to both India and the United States before relocating to Canada during the pandemic. I’m a member of MongoDB's esteemed Technical Services team. Before joining this exceptional group, I held the role of Senior Apps DBA at the Government of Ontario. Prior to that, I spent many years honing my technical(DBA/Cloud) and soft skills with TCS, KBACE Technologies(which later got acquired by Cognizant Technology Solutions) and Oracle Corporation. Throughout my career, I was deeply immersed in day-to-day operations and spearheaded significant projects, including the modernization of platforms, Oracle application and database upgrades. In my last stint at the Government of Ontario, I was also responsible for overseeing various automation initiatives including out-of-place patching, automated EBS Application patching. Outside of my professional life, I have a strong passion for reading, blogging, spending quality time with my family, and my feline buddies, Smokey & Louis. I also relish solitary walks and jogging as personal interests. As a proponent of open source technologies, I'm looking forward to sharing my knowledge and expertise as well as contribute as much as possible to the success of the IT fraternity thereby perpetually expanding my skillset.

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