Converting a single-instance database to an RAC database

When migrating from a non-RAC environment to an RAC environment, one of the most challenging aspects for an Oracle Database Administrator is converting a single-instance database to an RAC database. As of now, Oracle supports the following methods to convert a single-instance database to an RAC database as long as the RAC and the standalone environments are running on the same operating system and using the same Oracle release:

• DBCA

• Oracle Enterprise Manager (grid control)

• RCONFIG

• Manual method

Although there are several ways to perform the conversion process, we are going to focus and demonstrate this using the rconfig command-line tool, which is a very easy and convenient method.

The following screenshot illustrates a conversion process where a RACNVT single instance database is being converted to an RAC database with one instance.

Overview of RCONFIG command-line tool

Converting a single-instance database to an RAC database was made a lot...