Oracle RAC ASM and ASMLib

This section describes how to install and configure CipherTrust Transparent Encryption on an Oracle RAC ASM and ASMLib.

Using CipherTrust Transparent Encryption with an Oracle RAC ASM

You can apply CipherTrust Transparent Encryption when the Oracle DB is active or inactive. If you choose to use it while the Oracle DB is active, it eliminates any downtime. You can apply CipherTrust Transparent Encryption during low volume traffic time frames. If you choose to use this option, then use the rebalance function of ASM. This allows you to:

1. Migrate data off of a disk so that it can be dropped/removed from a Diskgroup.

2. Apply CipherTrust Transparent Encryption protection.

3. Add the disk back into the diskgroup.

   You must drop the related ASM diskgroup first, before dropping the ASM disk. If, for example, you drop an ASM disk first, and then drop the related ASM diskgroup, and then later try to add the related disk to an ASM disk without cleanly wiping the disk, the ASM diskname will be corrupted. To fix this issue, clear out the disk before you add it back into the ASM disk with the following command:
   dd if=/dev/zero of=/path/to/<asm-disk-name> bs=32k
Example: dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/secvm/dev/mapper/asmdg-asmlv002 bs=32k

ASMLib

ASMLib is an optional support library for the Automatic Storage Management feature of the Oracle Database. If the customer is using ASMLib, then management is performed through an Oracle ASM command line. Using this can be simpler than the setup required for standard ASM. The commands and details of the procedure differ as well.