Real Application Cluster

RAC's shared disk architecture is an unusual approach to database clustering. Most competing database products (such as Microsoft's SQL Server and IBM's DB2 for Windows and Unix environments) use the alternative, which is known as "shared nothing" architecture. Shared nothing architecture partitions data and only gives each server access to its own disk subsystem, while shared disk architecture gives all servers access to the entire database. This adds failover capacity to the database, because all servers have access to the whole database. Proponents claim that this capacity increases 9i's reliability and availability significantly. British Telecom, for example, reported that deploying the product enabled them to cut their failover time from a typical 20 minutes to between 10-60 seconds.

Getting started with Real Application Cluster

To explore how Real Application Cluster is used in the enterprise, here are some additional resources:

Oracle RAC performance tuning: Check out an excerpt from the bestselling book "Oracle 10g Grid & Real Application Clusters" to learn how tuning an RAC database differs from tuning a non-RAC database.

Defining Real Application Clusters (RAC) vs. Storage Area Network (SAN): Confused about the definition of RAC? Read Oracle expert Brian Peasland's definition to learn how an RAC differs from an SAN (Storage Area Network).

Spotlight on RAC, grid and availability: In this special report, you'll find a compilation of advice, tips and analysis on the RAC feature. Learn how RAC works in a grid environment and how it can be used to improve availability.

Read more about Real Application Cluster: - Oracle offers a data sheet about Oracle 9i Real Application Clusters. - ZDNet Tech Update has an article called "Progress report: Oracle real application clustering."

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