ASM is a preferred storage for all database files – Datafiles, Controlfiles , Redo log files, Archive Logs, RMAN backups ,Flashback Logs etc.

And Oracle ACFS is the preferred file manager for non-database files. It is optimized for general purpose files.Oracle Automatic Storage Management Cluster File System (Oracle ACFS) is a multi-platform, scalable file system, and storage management technology that extends Oracle Automatic Storage Management (Oracle ASM) functionality to support customer files maintained outside of Oracle Database.

ASM Dynamic Volume Manager [ADVM] is a kernel-loadable device driver that provides standard device driver interface to clients.

For Example ADVM provides interface to ACFS.

Benefits of using ASM Cluster File System :

  1. Performance : ACFS is an extent-based clustered file system that provides metadata caching and fast directory lookups enabling fast file access. ACFS uses ASM in the back-end , it inherits a features and functionality already provided by ASM  such as maximized performance via ASM’s even extent distribution across all disks in the disk group.
  2. Manageability : A key aspect of any filesystem container is that it needs to be able to grow as the data requirements change and this needs to be performed with minimized downtime. ACFS provides the capability to resize the filesystem while the filesystem is online and active. In addition, ACFS supports other storage management services, such as filesystem snapshots. ACFS (as well as its underlying volumes) can be easily managed using various command line interfaces or graphical tools such as ASM Configuration Assistant (ASMCA) or Oracle Enterprise Manager (EM). This wide variety of tools and utilities allows ACFS to be easily managed and caters toboth system administrators and DBAs.
  3. Availability : ACFS, via journaling and checksums, provides the capability to quickly recover from filesystem outages and inconsistencies. ACFS also leverages ASM mirroring for improved storage reliability. Additionally, since ACFS is tightly integrated with Oracle Clusterware, all cluster node membership and group membership services are inherently leveraged.

Stay tuned for More articles on Oracle RAC

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