SAN Migration and moving files with ASM

Here’s a quick post to help with LUN, SAN or File migration when using Oracle ASM.

Please note that this is just an example method, and is not a definitive guide.
You need to ensure your approach is appropriate for your environment.

Did you know that you can add and drop disks on a diskgroup in a single command.
This saves Oracle from doing 2 REBAL actions and speeds things up considerably using a lot fewer resources.

sqlplus / as sysasm;

> ALTER DISKGROUP data 
2   ADD  DISK 'ORCL:disk101','ORCL:disk102' 
3   DROP DISK 'disk042'     ,'disk043' 
4   REBALANCE POWER n;

Diskgroup altered.

You can monitor the REBAL operation:

select * from v$asm_operation;

GROUP_NUMBER OPERA PASS      STAT POWER ACTUAL SOFAR EST_WORK EST_RATE EST_MINUTES ERROR_CODE CON_ID
------------ ----- --------- ---- ----- ------ ----- -------- -------- ----------- ---------- ------
           6 REBAL REBALANCE  RUN     1      1    68    20397     3030           8                 0
           6 REBAL COMPAT    WAIT     1      1     0        0        0           0                 0

If you are just migrating from one SAN to another, without needing to move files between diskgroups, this is a really easy way to achieve it.

From Oracle 12.1 onwards. if you are moving Datafiles from one Diskgroup to a new Diskgroup, that’s straightforward too:

export ORACLE_SID=ORCL
sqlplus  / as sysdba

alter database move datafile '+DATA_DG/ORCL/DATAFILE/system.101.902468275' to '+NEW_DG';

Moving logfiles involves a drop and re-create, but it still fully online.
Take care if using DataGuard that you do not try to drop logfiles before they are archived and applied to the standby:

alter database  add logfile member '+NEW_DG' to group 1;
alter database drop logfile member '+DATA_DG/ORCL/ONLINELOG/group_1.102.902049284';

Moving tempfiles can be tricky. The default gets used really quickly after startup.

You need to add a tempfile and then get all processes to not be using the old tempfile before you can drop it [select * from gv$sort_usage]. Worst-case, this may involve a SHUTDOWN, then a STARTUP RESTRICT to stop processes connecting. Alternatively, create a new default TEMP tablespace and convince processes to use that one.

alter tablespace temp add  tempfile '+NEW_DG';
alter tablespace temp drop tempfile '+DATA_DG/ORCL/TEMPFILE/temp.204.992482742';

Moving controlfiles requires a stop and start of the database. There’s no on-line options here. I tend to do the following:

srvctl stop database -d ORCL

sqlplus / as sysdba
startup nomount
show parameter control_files


rman target /
restore controlfile to '+NEW_DG' from '+DATA_DG/ORCL/CONTROLFILE/current.291.939274434';

sqlplus / as sysdba
alter system set control_files='+NEW_DG/ORCL/CONTROLFILE/current.992.346677889'
                              ,'+FRA_DG/ORCL/CONTROLFILE/current.???.?????????'
                               scope=spfile sid='*';
shutdown

srvctl start database -d ORCL

To move your spfile in ASM is a 2-stage process which will automatically update your database config in grid control:

sqlplus / as sysdba
create  pfile='/tmp/ORCL.ora' from spfile;
create spfile='+NEW_DG'       from pfile='/tmp/ORCL.ora';

Moving a password file in ASM is straightforward too:
NOTE: you are not allowed to move OMF files names and you must copy files via their alias.

as grid:
asmcmd
cp +DATA_DG/ORCL/orapworcl +NEW_DG/ORCL/orapworclexit
as oracle:
srvctl modify database -d ORCL -pwfile +NEW_DG/ORCL/orapworclsrvctl config database -d ORCL | grep Password

If you are using Block Change Tracking, you may need to move that file too:

alter database disable block change tracking;
alter database enable block change tracking using file '+NEW_DG';

Finally, if you’re dropping disk groups don’t forget to modify the disk group dependencies in Grid Infra so your DB isn’t dependent upon groups you have now removed:

srvctl config datbase -d ORCL | grep Group
srvctl modify database -d ORCL -diskgroup 'NEW_DG,FRA_DG,other_DG'

I hope you found this quick guide useful.