How to Configure Solaris 10 Project Resource Controls for Oracle

How to Configure Solaris 10 Project Resource Controls for Oracle

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This is not an all-inclusive installation guide – Oracle already has written that

Oracle® Database Installation Guide 10g Release 2 (10.2) for Solaris Operating System (SPARC 64-Bit) HTML

Oracle® Database Installation Guide 10g Release 2 (10.2) for Solaris Operating System (x86) HTML

Oracle® Database Installation Guide 10g Release 2 (10.2) for Solaris Operating System (x86-64) HTML

Rather this is to supplement Chapter 2, Preinstallation Tasks. Sections 2.54 – 2.6 inclusive. Oracle forgot to add, and continues to forget, the details on creating a project for Oracle and configuring resource controls for that project.

So, picking up from where you create the Oracle Inventory group, oinstall, and the database administrator group, dba. ( # groupadd oinstall # groupadd dba):

1.   Configure Kernel Parameters and Resource Controls

From the Oracle installation guide it is not clear which kernel parameters are supposed to use the new Solaris 10 resource control facility, and those which are to use the the /etc/system file.

The following table is ripped from the 10.2 installation guide and as it says in the doco, the kernel parameter and shell limit values shown in the following section are recommended values only.

For production database systems, Oracle recommends that you tune these values to optimize the performance of the system.

Refer to your operating system documentation for more information about tuning kernel parameters blah blah blah.

The table contains the four resource controls that replace the old entries in the /etc/system file for a specific kernel parameter. Note that the /etc/system file is still used for the parameters listed with an ‘NA’ in the Resource Control Column.

Kernel Parameter	Resource Control	Recommended Value
shmsys:shminfo_shmmax	project.max-shm-memory	4294967295
shmsys:shminfo_shmmni	project.max-shm-ids	100
semsys:seminfo_semmsl	project.max-sem-nsems	256
semsys:seminfo_semmni	project.max-sem-ids	100
noexec_user_stack	NA	1
semsys:seminfo_semmns	NA	1024
semsys:seminfo_semvmx	NA	32767
shmsys:shminfo_shmmin	NA	1
shmsys:shminfo_shmseg	NA	10

I’ll ignore the kernel parameters in /etc/system – that’s documented already. Let’s take a look at the resource control settings instead. Much more interesting.

Before we start setting resource values, we first need to create a project for the Oracle installation:

1.1.   Create the group.dba project for Oracle

# projadd group.dba<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

 You should now see the project listed by the projects command and in /etc/project

bash-3.00# projects -l group.dba

group.dba

        projid : 100

        comment: ""

               users  : (none)

        groups : (none)

        attribs:

bash-3.00# cat /etc/project

system:0::::

user.root:1::::

noproject:2::::

default:3::::

group.staff:10::::

group.dba:100::::

Assuming all looks good, then proceed…

1.2.   Configure group.dba project Resource Controls

projmod -sK "project.max-shm-memory=(privileged,2G,deny)" group.dba

projmod -sK "project.max-sem-ids=(privileged,100,deny)" group.dba

projmod -sK "project.max-shm-ids=(privileged,100,deny)" group.dba

projmod -sK "project.max-sem-nsems=(privileged,256,deny)" group.dba

Just to check (for fun):

bash-3.00# projects -l group.dba

group.dba

      projid : 100

       comment: ""

        users  : (none)

        groups : (none)

        attribs: project.max-sem-ids=(privileged,100,deny)

                 project.max-sem-nsems=(privileged,256,deny)

                 project.max-shm-ids=(privileged,100,deny)

                 project.max-shm-memory=(privileged,2147483648,deny)

Hurrah!

BTW, don’t use the prctl command to change the values (as shown in part of the installation guide) as the changed parameters do not persist after a system restart (as it says later in the installation guide after you have already followed their example and used prctl). Use projmod

1.3.   Create, or update oracle user with default project group.dba

1.3.1.          Create the Oracle user account, oracle, group.dba as default project

# useradd -g oinstall -G dba -m -d /export/home0/oracle -s /bin/bash -K project=group.dba oracle

Set the password of the oracle user:

# passwd -r files oracle

What’s with this –K value? From the sun man page doco:

-K key=value

Replace existing or add to a user's key=value pair attributes. Multiple -K options can be used to replace or add multiple key=value pairs. The generic -K option with the appropriate key can be used instead of the specific implied key options (-A, -P, -R, -p). See user_attr(4) for a list of valid key=value pairs. Values for these keys are usually found in man pages or other sources related to those keys. For example, see project(4) for guidance on values for the project key. Use the commandppriv(1) with the -v and -l options for a list of values for the keys defaultpriv and limitpriv.

Keys must not be repeated. Specifying a key= without a value removes an existing key=value pair.

The type key must be specified only without a value or with the role value. Specifying the type key without a value leaves the account as a normal user, with the role value changing from a normal user to a role user. As arole account, no roles (-R or roles=value) can be present.

Address : http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/doc/816-5166/6mbb1kqjj?a=view

See user_attr(4) for a list of valid key=value pairs

1.3.2.          Update an existing oracle user default project to group.dba

There is an algorithm Solaris uses to determine the default project:

Determining a User's Default Project

To log in to the system, a user must be assigned a default project. A user is automatically a member of that default project, even if the user is not in the user or group list specified in that project. Because each process on the system possesses project membership, an algorithm to assign a default project to the login or other initial process is necessary. The algorithm is documented in the man page getprojent(3C). The system follows ordered steps to determine the default project. If no default project is found, the user's login, or request to start a process, is denied. The system sequentially follows these steps to determine a user's default project: 1. If the user has an entry with a project attribute defined in the /etc/user_attr extended user attributes database, then the value of the project attribute is the default project. See the user_attr(4) man page. 2. If a project with the name user.user-id is present in theproject database, then that project is the default project. See the project(4) man page for more information. 3. If a project with the name group.group-name is present in the project database, where group-name is the name of the default group for the user, as specified in the passwd file, then that project is the default project. For information on the passwd file, see the passwd(4) man page. 4. If the special project default is present in the projectdatabase, then that project is the default project.

If you have already created the Oracle user you may find that while oracle is a member of the project, it’s default project is not group.dba.

You can use the usermod command to assign Oracle to the project.

# usermod -K project=group.dba oracle

You should now see in the /etc/user_attr file an entry for Oracle.

bash-3.00# cat /etc/user_attr

# Copyright 2007 Sun Microsystems, Inc.  All rights reserved.

# Use is subject to license terms.

# /etc/user_attr

# execution attributes for profiles. see user_attr(4)

#

#ident  "@(#)user_attr  1.1     07/01/31 SMI"

adm::::profiles=Log Management

lp::::profiles=Printer Management

postgres::::type=role;profiles=Postgres Administration,All

root::::auths=solaris.*,solaris.grant;profiles=Web Console Management,All;lock_after_retries=no

oracle::::type=normal;project=group.dba<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Oracle’s default project according to the default project algorithm should now be group.dba

bash-3.00# su - oracle

Sun Microsystems Inc.   SunOS 5.10      Generic January 2005

<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> 

-bash-3.00$ id -p

uid=101(oracle) gid=102(oinstall) projid=100(group.dba)

-bash-3.00$

Solaris Containers-Resource Management and Solaris Zones: "Setting Resource Controls"

1.4.   Commands Used With Projects and Tasks

The commands that are shown in the following table provide the primary administrative interface to the project and task facilities.

Man Page Reference	Description
projects(1)	Displays project memberships for users. Lists projects fromproject database. Prints information on given projects. If no project names are supplied, information is displayed for all projects. Use theprojects command with the -l option to print verbose output.
newtask(1)	Executes the user's default shell or specified command, placing the execution command in a new task that is owned by the specified project.newtask can also be used to change the task and the project binding for a running process. Use with the -F option to create a finalized task.
passmgmt(1M)	Updates information in the password files. Use with the -K key=value option to add to user attributes or replace user attributes in local files.
projadd(1M)	Adds a new project entry to the /etc/project file. The projadd command creates a project entry only on the local system.projadd cannot change information that is supplied by the network naming service. Can be used to edit project files other than the default file,/etc/project. Provides syntax checking forproject file. Validates and edits project attributes. Supports scaled values.
projmod(1M)	Modifies information for a project on the local system. projmod cannot change information that is supplied by the network naming service. However, the command does verify the uniqueness of the project name and project ID against the external naming service. Can be used to edit project files other than the default file,/etc/project. Provides syntax checking forproject file. Validates and edits project attributes. Can be used to add a new attribute, add values to an attribute, or remove an attribute. Supports scaled values.
projdel(1M)	Deletes a project from the local system. projdelcannot change information that is supplied by the network naming service.
useradd(1M)	Adds default project definitions to the local files. Use with the -Kkey=value option to add or replace user attributes.
userdel(1M)	Deletes a user's account from the local file.
usermod(1M)	Modifies a user's login information on the system. Use with the -K key=valueoption to add or replace user attributes.