The problem started from error:
CellCLI> list cell
ed04celadm01 online
CellCLI> alter cell name = ed04-celadm01;
^
CELL-01504: Invalid command syntax.
CellCLI> alter cell name = 'ed04-celadm01';
CELL-00012: Name value is not valid. ASCII characters a-zA-Z_0-9 required.
CellCLI> alter cell name="dc1-exa1celadm01";
CELL-00012: Name value is not valid. ASCII characters a-zA-Z_0-9 required.
So, the query is: is this possible to use '-' (dash/hyphen/minus) in the Exadata hostname or not ?
As shown above, Oracle prohibit to use dash in the name.
But, in other side, one our customer (large bank) has corporate standard, which require prefix in hostname: LOCATION-EXADATA#-HOSTNAME, for example: dc1-exa1-celadm01 (dc is datacenter name). And they used its corporate standard for many years and have no problems with hostname. And they bought the Exadata. And we need to run this machine.
The documentation say nothing about allowed characters in Exadata hostnames.
We checked: OEDA allowed the '-' sign in the prefix.
So me decided to install Exadata with dash in the hostname.
And installation was successful !
What the matter, what is the difference ?
The investigation shows that all hostnames have '-' in the name:
But CELL NAME was different !
Look: Oracle internally put the _ instead of -
And all celldisk and griddisk names are of the same style:
FD_00_dc1_exa1_celadm01 normal
RECOC1_CD_00_dc1_exa1_celadm01 active
...
Conclusions:
- It is safe to use '-' in the hostname of the Exadata.
- Divide the HOST name and CELL name (name in cellcli)
- The sign '-' take 1 place. As you should know the Grid Disk Name is limited by 23 chars. Additional chars lead to overallocation (exceeding this limit). So, i recommend - avoid '-' in the host names.
CellCLI> list cell
ed04celadm01 online
CellCLI> alter cell name = ed04-celadm01;
^
CELL-01504: Invalid command syntax.
CellCLI> alter cell name = 'ed04-celadm01';
CELL-00012: Name value is not valid. ASCII characters a-zA-Z_0-9 required.
CellCLI> alter cell name="dc1-exa1celadm01";
CELL-00012: Name value is not valid. ASCII characters a-zA-Z_0-9 required.
So, the query is: is this possible to use '-' (dash/hyphen/minus) in the Exadata hostname or not ?
As shown above, Oracle prohibit to use dash in the name.
But, in other side, one our customer (large bank) has corporate standard, which require prefix in hostname: LOCATION-EXADATA#-HOSTNAME, for example: dc1-exa1-celadm01 (dc is datacenter name). And they used its corporate standard for many years and have no problems with hostname. And they bought the Exadata. And we need to run this machine.
The documentation say nothing about allowed characters in Exadata hostnames.
We checked: OEDA allowed the '-' sign in the prefix.
So me decided to install Exadata with dash in the hostname.
And installation was successful !
What the matter, what is the difference ?
The investigation shows that all hostnames have '-' in the name:
| 10.18.82.11 | dc1-exa1-dbadm01 | dc1-exa1-dbadm01.corp.icba.biz |
| 10.18.82.12 | dc1-exa1-dbadm02 | dc1-exa1-dbadm02.corp.icba.biz |
| 10.18.82.13 | dc1-exa1-celadm01 | dc1-exa1-celadm01.corp.icba.biz |
| 10.18.82.14 | dc1-exa1-celadm02 | dc1-exa1-celadm02.corp.icba.biz |
| 10.18.82.15 | dc1-exa1-celadm03 | dc1-exa1-celadm03.corp.icba.biz |
| 10.18.82.21 | dc1-exa1-sw-adm01 | dc1-exa1-sw-adm01.corp.icba.biz |
| 10.18.82.22 | dc1-exa1-sw-iba01 | dc1-exa1-sw-iba01.corp.icba.biz |
| 10.18.82.23 | dc1-exa1-sw-ibb01 | dc1-exa1-sw-ibb01.corp.icba.biz |
| 10.18.82.24 | dc1-exa1-sw-pdua01 | dc1-exa1-sw-pdua01.corp.icba.biz |
| 10.18.82.25 | dc1-exa1-sw-pdub01 | dc1-exa1-sw-pdub01.corp.icba.biz |
But CELL NAME was different !
CellCLI>
list cell
dc1_exa1_celadm01 online
Look: Oracle internally put the _ instead of -
And all celldisk and griddisk names are of the same style:
CellCLI>
LIST CELLDISK
CD_00_dc1_exa1_celadm01 normal
CD_01_dc1_exa1_celadm01 normal
...FD_00_dc1_exa1_celadm01 normal
FD_01_dc1_exa1_celadm01 normal
FD_02_dc1_exa1_celadm01 normal
FD_03_dc1_exa1_celadm01 normal
CellCLI>
LIST GRIDDISK
DATAC1_CD_00_dc1_exa1_celadm01 active
DATAC1_CD_01_dc1_exa1_celadm01 active
...RECOC1_CD_00_dc1_exa1_celadm01 active
RECOC1_CD_01_dc1_exa1_celadm01 active
...
Conclusions:
- It is safe to use '-' in the hostname of the Exadata.
- Divide the HOST name and CELL name (name in cellcli)
- The sign '-' take 1 place. As you should know the Grid Disk Name is limited by 23 chars. Additional chars lead to overallocation (exceeding this limit). So, i recommend - avoid '-' in the host names.
