Oracle ACFS

ASM Cluster File System

What is it and How to use it
ORACLE WHITE PAPER | FEBRUARY 2019
ORACLE ACFS – WHAT IS IT AND HOW TO USE IT
Table of Contents

Introduction 3

What is Oracle ACFS? 4

Architecture 4

What is new in Oracle ACFS 19c 6

ACFSutil Enhancements 6

ACFS Replication Enhancements 7

Online Checks 7

Oracle ACFS Platform Support 7

Oracle ACFS on Oracle Database Appliance 8

Oracle ACFS on Exadata Database Machine 8

Oracle ACFS Use Cases 8

Oracle ACFS Performance 9

How to use Oracle ACFS 10

Oracle ACFS Encryption 10

Oracle ACFS Security 11

Oracle ACFS Compression 13

Oracle ACFS Auditing 14

Oracle ACFS Snapshots 15

Oracle ACFS Snapshot-based Replication 17

Oracle ACFS Tagging 18

Oracle ACFS Automatic Resize and File System Reduce 18

1 | ORACLE ACFS 19C. WHAT IS IT AND HOW TO USE IT

 Oracle ACFS File System Freeze 19

Oracle ACFS File System Storage Info 19

Oracle ACFS File System Diagnostic Commands 19

Oracle ACFS Remote Service 19

Oracle ACFS NAS Maximum Availability eXtensions (MAX) 20

Conclusion 21

2 | ORACLE ACFS 19C. WHAT IS IT AND HOW TO USE IT

Introduction
Cloud. Present and future are bound towards a Cloud world. Companies that design, plan and
correctly implement their business around a Cloud centric architecture will thrive and succeed. In order
to do so, several components should be taken into account; none more important that the foundations
which have the storage layer as a key component. This storage layer must possess a wide array of
features that suits this Cloud bound destination.

Oracle ASM Cluster File System (hereinafter Oracle ACFS) offer all of these and more. Fulfilling all
industry standards, complying to POSIX, X/OPEN and Windows, Oracle ACFS offers support to
multiple Operating Systems such as Oracle Linux, Redhat, Novell SLES, Solaris, AIX and Windows.
Oracle ACFS is deployed in a wide arrange of server platforms, ranging from traditional server
environments, Oracle Engineered Systems such as the Oracle Exadata Database Machine and the
Oracle Database Appliance, and it is steadily becoming the storage foundation of choice for diverse
Cloud offerings.

Throughout years of constant growth and evolution, Oracle ACFS has broadened its scope as a
cluster file system, incorporating diverse features and functionality to its offering and becoming the
preferred storage management solution of choice for application files and Oracle Database files.
Oracle ACFS allows for file system snapshots, providing its user with the capability of provisioning test
and development environments in a simple and efficient way. Tagging, Encryption, Security and
Auditing offer a framework for flexible and secure storage management operations as well.

Customers can leverage Oracle ACFS replication capabilities to have a disaster recovery site for their
application and database data or in order to provision test and development environments in a different
cluster. Furthermore, Oracle ACFS provides customers with a comprehensive set of features such as
compression, highly available NFS and SMB services, automatic resize, support for sparse files,
metadata acceleration, remote service, file system freezing and more.

Oracle ACFS, through its wide arrange of features and functionality, provides a scalable, high
performance and highly available solution that simplifies system and storage management and lays
the foundation for your Cloud architecture.

3 | ORACLE ACFS 19C. WHAT IS IT AND HOW TO USE IT

What is Oracle ACFS?

Architecture
Oracle ACFS, as part of Oracle Grid Infrastructure, is integrated with Oracle ASM, Oracle ADVM and Oracle
Clusterware as shown in diagram 1 below. ACFS communicates with Oracle ASM to obtain ASM disk group
storage addresses and uses these addresses to read and write ACFS data directly onto ASM storage for maximum
performance. It also communicates with Oracle Clusterware to facilitate resource management for ACFS.

Upon creation of an Oracle ADVM volume, a block device special file is created providing ACFS with a standard
device interface for direct access to disk group devices. All ACFS I/O requests are transferred directly to ASM disk
group storage as shown in the diagram. ACFS IO does not pass through the Oracle ASM instance.

ASM integration allows ACFS to participate in ASM storage management operations including balanced
distribution of ASM disk group file extents, dynamic file resizing, and on-line add/remove of disk group storage
devices. ACFS also benefits from ASM file extent striping and mirroring for performance and highly available
storage access.

Grid Infrastructure integration allows for Oracle ACFS to leverage Clusterware resources like cluster membership
state transitions, driver loading, automatic mounts and unmounts of file systems, and enabling and disabling of
volumes; all these provide High Availability for both Oracle ACFS and Oracle ADVM resources.

Oracle ACFS is a complete storage solution that eliminates the need for expensive third-party solutions, bringing
together high availability and best in class features to manage your storage needs. Oracle ACFS offers a complete
cluster file system with the best performance, simplicity in its management, and high availability as part of the Grid
Infrastructure stack. Also, as part of its offering, the following features standout:

» Encryption:
» Encryption capabilities for all your application data. It allows for data-at-rest protection, which encrypts
ACFS data using file and volume level keys. Oracle ACFS encryption offers support for both Oracle Key
Vault and Oracle Cluster Registry for key store purposes.

4 | ORACLE ACFS 19C. WHAT IS IT AND HOW TO USE IT

» Security:
» Fine-grained access control for higher level security for your file system. Oracle ACFS security offers a
realm-based security solution in order to enforce security policies for OS users and groups.

» Audit:
» Oracle ACFS provides an audit framework for your file system with its auditing capabilities. Providing a
separate audit trail for each of your file systems and on a per node basis.
» Compression:
» Oracle ACFS introduced compression to its set of features in 12c Release 2. This solution makes use of
Oracle Database Advanced Compression and is available for your application data.
» Snapshots:
» Oracle ACFS provides the ability to generate sparse, point in time read-write or read-only copies of Oracle
ACFS File systems and Oracle Databases. This provides an efficient tool for test and development
environment provisioning purposes.
» Replication:
» Oracle ACFS provides the capability to replicate an entire file system to a different location so that
customers can provide for test and development and disaster recovery. Starting in 12c release 2, Oracle
ACFS replication evolved to a snapshot-based replication solution, enhancing its already existing
capabilities and providing maximum efficiency and flexibility in its replication method. Starting in 18c, Oracle
ACFS introduces role reversal, allowing a standby site to become an active site and the active site to
become a standby site in case this is required.
» Tagging:
» Oracle ACFS offers tagging capabilities and the ability to assign a naming attribute to any file or group of
files. This capability allows for files to be grouped in categories allowing replication of only the tagged
groups rather than the entire ACFS file system.
» Plugins:
» Users can leverage the Oracle ACFS Plugin functionality to collect updated filesystem and volume metric
information.
» Accelerator Volumes:
» Oracle ACFS provides the ability to create accelerator volumes on specific, high-performance storage, in
order to improve performance and access time to relevant filesystem metadata.
» NAS Maximum Availability eXtensions
» Oracle ACFS can be leveraged by customers to present ACFS file system to remote clients using network
protocols such as NFS or SMB without requiring any additional infrastructure. Oracle ACFS NAS Max
eXtensions provide the ability for the aforementioned protocols to run in high availability mode in an Oracle
RAC Cluster.
» ACFS Remote Service
» Oracle ACFS provides functionality for Oracle Domain Services Cluster deployment. Oracle ACFS remote
was introduced in 18c, allowing customers to leverage native Oracle ACFS functionality on an Oracle
Database Member Cluster. For more information on Oracle Domain Services Cluster architecture please
review the associated collateral on the Oracle Clusterware product page1.

1
Oracle Clusterware www.oracle.com/goto/clusterware

5 | ORACLE ACFS 19C. WHAT IS IT AND HOW TO USE IT

What is new in Oracle ACFS 19c
Oracle ACFS is a mature cluster file system that has evolved constantly since its inception as part of the Oracle
Grid Infrastructure stack. In release 19c, Oracle ACFS offers the following new features:

ACFSutil Enhancements
Oracle ACFS 19c presents several enhancements for its acfsutil command line utility. These enhancements
provide more detailed output for diagnosis and analysis, such enhancements include:
» acfsutil info ftrace
o This command will display all open Oracle ACFS files at any time
» acfsutil lockstats
o This command will display cluster wide diagnostic statistics regarding lock contention.
» acfsutil meta -g
o acfsutil meta command now includes the –g option, allowing for a faster scan on relevant metadata
instead of the entire collection.
» acfsutil info file -m
o acfsutil info file command now includes the –m option, displaying information for Oracle ACFS
metadata diagnostics.
» acfsutil size
o acfsutil size for shrinking Oracle ACFS file systems is now supported on AIX platforms.

6 | ORACLE ACFS 19C. WHAT IS IT AND HOW TO USE IT

ACFS Replication Enhancements
Oracle ACFS 19c introduces a more flexible approach to some replication commands, also, customers now have
additional options in support of replication termination.

Oracle ACFS 19c allows for non-root Oracle ASM users to invoke the following Oracle ACFS acfsutil repl
commands:
» acfsutil repl bg
» acfsutil repl compare
» acfsutil repl info (except with –c –u options)
» acfsutil repl init
» acfsutil repl pause
» acfsutil repl resume
» acfsutil repl reverse
» acfsutil repl sync
» acfsutil repl terminate
» acfsutil repl trace
» acfsutil repl update
» acfsutil repl upgrade

Oracle ACFS 19c offers remote terminate capabilities for replication, introducing the remote keyword, where in
combination with regular acfsutil repl terminate standby commands, replication will be terminated first
on the primary/active location and then proceed to terminate on the secondary/standby location.

Online Checks
Oracle ACFS 19c allows customers to now perform an online analysis of the Oracle ACFS file system. Normally
such an analysis requires downtime and file system unmounting. Now, customers can run fsck on Linux platforms
and perform checks and on-line analysis on their Oracle ACFS file systems.

Oracle ACFS Platform Support

7 | ORACLE ACFS 19C. WHAT IS IT AND HOW TO USE IT

Oracle ACFS is supported on multiple operating systems including Linux, Windows, Novell SLES, Solaris and AIX.
For further information regarding kernel and Operating System specifics refer to My Oracle Support note
1369107.12. Oracle Engineered Systems with Oracle ACFS support include Oracle Database Appliance (ODA)
and Oracle Exadata Database Machine.

Oracle ACFS on Oracle Database Appliance

Oracle ACFS is the primary cluster file system to store database files and general purpose data in the Oracle
Database Appliance. Since Oracle ACFS is built on top of Oracle ASM, the Oracle Database Appliance leverages
the best of both products. Oracle Database Appliance adoption of Oracle ACFS provides a wide array of
functionalities requiring no additional effort or management.

File system management in the Oracle Database Appliance is done automatically by the integrated Appliance
Manager, which means that all storage, including ACFS file systems and their underlying ASM diskgroups require
no administration. By default, three file systems are created in the Oracle Database Appliance. These file systems
are created in the already existing Oracle ASM disk groups, DATA, RECO and REDO. Oracle Database
Appliances leverage Oracle ACFS snapshot capabilities, allowing for fast and storage efficient provisioning of test
and development environments and with performance equivalent to Oracle ASM.

Oracle ACFS on Exadata Database Machine

Oracle Exadata Database Machines run Oracle Linux and support Oracle ACFS for all database files and general
purpose files starting with Oracle ACFS 12c Release 1 (12.1.0.2). Oracle Database files supported in Oracle ACFS
on Exadata Database Machines are limited to Oracle Database 10g Rel 2 (10.2.0.4 and 10.2.0.5), 11g (11.2.0.4
and higher), Oracle Database 12c (12.1.0.1 and higher) Oracle Database 18c and Oracle Database 19c.

Oracle ACFS, as of now, does not support Oracle Smart Scan (predicate processing) and is not able to push
database operations directly to the Exadata cell storage. Oracle ACFS snapshot and tagging capabilities are
supported for database files, however replication, security, encryption and audit capabilities are supported only for
general-purpose files.

Oracle ACFS Use Cases

Oracle ACFS can be used in multiple scenarios that can leverage and benefit from ACFS features and
functionality. Oracle ACFS is ideal for Oracle RAC cluster environments, standalone deployments, Oracle
middleware and Oracle Application environments and other vendor provided environments. Oracle ACFS use
cases range from managing Oracle Database files, general purpose files, shared database homes, administrative
files, log files, trace and audit files, storing and managing business and unstructured data, delivering NFS/SMB
exported file systems, leveraging NFS/SMB to off host backups, complementing Oracle Data Guard for Disaster
Recovery solutions with Oracle ACFS snapshot based Replication, leveraging snapshotting for quick provisioning
test and development environments, among many other possible implementations. Please see below for a detailed
list of Oracle ACFS use cases present among our extensive list of customers:

2
https://support.oracle.com/epmos/faces/DocContentDisplay?id=1369107.1

8 | ORACLE ACFS 19C. WHAT IS IT AND HOW TO USE IT

Oracle ACFS Performance
Oracle ACFS delivers optimal performance for general-purpose files and Oracle Database files. Oracle ACFS
utilizes a direct I/O path from the database to the ASM disk group devices and hence bypasses the traditional OS
VM page caching mechanism used for file system applications. This model enables ACFS-based databases to
achieve performance comparable to databases configured with Oracle ASM directly. Comprehensive internal
benchmarks using OLTP and DSS workloads have proven the performance of Oracle ACFS and Oracle ASM to be
similar, for further information please visit the Oracle ACFS web page.3

3
www.oracle.com/goto/acfs

9 | ORACLE ACFS 19C. WHAT IS IT AND HOW TO USE IT

How to use Oracle ACFS
Oracle Grid Infrastructure installation process includes the Oracle ASM, ACFS and ADVM products. Once the
installation is completed, it is fairly easy to take advantage of all the features and functionalities that Oracle ACFS
brings to the table. Users only need open the Oracle ASM Configuration assistant, under the grid user, normally
invoked via the command asmca, and then execute the following three steps. Following, an Oracle ACFS file
system will be created and mounted on all nodes of your cluster and is ready for use.

1. Select the “Volumes” tab and create a Volume indicating relevant volume information.
2. Select the “ASM Cluster File Systems” tab and create a file system indicating relevant file system information
such as mount point, size, etc.
3. Run the requested scripts as root

Once you have created and mounted an Oracle ACFS system, it should be ready and available throughout all your
nodes in your cluster, and it will support all your files such as Oracle Database data files, trace files, alert logs,
application files, video, audio, text images, general-purpose application file data, etc. The following section will
cover how to use Oracle ACFS based on its most relevant features and functionalities.

Oracle ACFS Encryption

Oracle ACFS offers encryption for its data. ACFS allows for the encryption to be applied to entire file systems,
directories, or individual files. Encrypted and non-encrypted files can be present in the same file system. As shown
below, the process is straightforward and simple for users to leverage the functionality of this feature:

Initialize Encryption Set Encryption Enable Encryption

Parameters

•acfsutil encr •acfsutil set encr •acfsutil encr on

init -p -a –k –e -u -m -m -a -k -r path

acfsutil encr init command allows for encryption to be initialized on any given Oracle ACFS file
system; it must be run first before any use case, regardless of the key store intended to be used. As a
result of this command, storage for the encryption keys is created. Optionally, you can run it with the –p
option which allows for the keys storage to be password protected, hence you will be requested to
provide a password.

acfsutil set encr -a –k –e -u –m command configures encryption parameters for your Oracle
ACFS file system, this allows for initial setting of changes of this parameter if required. On execution of
the command, the encryption parameters are set, a volume encryption key is generated and stored in
storage created in the init step. The options to be set are:

» -a which allows for the encryption algorithm to be set, currently AEK is the only supported
algorithm, however, when –k option is set, -a AEK must be specified.
» –k option that specifies the encryption key length, available options are 128, 192 (default) and
256.
» –e if used, indicates that Oracle Key Vault will be used as the key store.

10 | ORACLE ACFS 19C. WHAT IS IT AND HOW TO USE IT

 » –u reverses encryption from an Oracle ACFS file system, by decrypting all encrypted files.
» –m option for specifying the mount point of the file system.

acfsutil encr on –m –a –k –r path command allows for encryption to take place on an entire
file system or given directory or file. For operations with this command, user must have root privileges if it
intends to encrypt an entire file system. All options are the same as described in the previous commands
except for –r & path. The –r option allows for encryption to be executed recursively for all existing
contents under a specified directory. The path option specifies which single or multiple directories will
be encrypted.

Important elements to be considered when using Oracle ACFS Encryption:

» Oracle ACFS can be used for storage of Oracle Database files, however, ACFS Encryption is not supported for
database files, in this case users must use the Oracle Database Advanced Security option.
» Oracle ACFS can use the Oracle Cluster Registry (OCR) as a key store. In this case, it is recommended to back
up the Oracle Cluster Registry upon creation of the encryption key to ensure availability of encryption keys from
backup.
» Oracle ACFS encrypted file copies will not be encrypted, encryption is only guaranteed if the copy takes place in
an already encrypted directory.
» Oracle ACFS does not support encryption of individual files greater than 128 megabytes.
» Oracle ASM disk group compatibility attributes are required to be set in a certain fashion in certain use cases.
Please review the Oracle Automatic Storage Management Administrator’s guide for further guidance.4

Oracle ACFS Security

Oracle ACFS provides realm-based security. A realm, under Oracle ACFS, is a group of files or directories. Only a
defined user or set of users can access this group. Each realm has a set of rules to enforce fine grained access
control beyond what is provided traditionally by the operating system. Oracle ACFS security rules can be seen as
Boolean expressions, enabling authorization for files and directories. Oracle ACFS Security provides a protection
framework that prevents unauthorized access to security objects (realms, rules, rules sets), security directories (log
files and metadata backup files), and realm-secured user files and directories. As shown below, the process is
straightforward and simple for users to leverage the functionality of Oracle ACFS Security:

Initialize Security Establish Password Prepare File System

•acfsutil sec •acfsutil sec •acfsutil sec

init -u -g admin password prepare -m u

4
Oracle Automatic Storage Management Administrator’s Guide - https://docs.oracle.com/database/122/OSTMG/OSTMG.pdf

11 | ORACLE ACFS 19C. WHAT IS IT AND HOW TO USE IT

 Create a Realm Create Rules / Rule Set Add Rules to Rule Set
Add objects to Realm

•acfsutil sec •acfsutil sec •acfsutil sec

realm create rule create rule rule_set edit
-m -e -a -k -o -m -t -o rule_set -m -a
-d -d -o
acfsutil sec
ruleset create acfsutil sec
rule_set -m -o realm add realm
-m -u -G -l -e
-a -k -f

acfsutil sec init command allows for security to be initialized on any given Oracle ACFS file
system and must be run first. This command also creates any required storage for security credentials.
Options –u -g specifies the security administrator user and its security group.

acfsutil sec admin password command updates the security password for the administrator user.
This command can only be executed by the administrator.

acfsutil sec prepare command allows for an Oracle ACFS file system to be prepared for security.
This simple command entails two options, –m & -u. Option –m specifies the mount point of the file
system. Option –u removes all security from the specified file system.

acfsutil sec realm create command creates a new realm in the Oracle ACFS file system.
Options –realm sets the realm name, -m specifies the file system mount point, –e sets encryption on or
off, –a sets the encryption algorithm (AEK is the only currently supported algorithm), –k sets the
encryption key length (128, 192 which is the default or 156), –o sets security on or off for the specified
realm and option –d allows for users to add a realm description.

acfsutil sec rule create command creates a new rule in the Oracle ACFS file system. Options –
rule sets the rule name, -m specifies the file system mount point, -t specifies the rule type
(application, hostname, time and username) and value in case of time, hence restricting or
granting access only to applications or specific hostname or during a certain time or to a specific user.
Option –o sets the option to allow or deny access according to the rule type. Available options are allow
or deny; deny is the default option.

acfsutil sec ruleset create command creates a new rule set for the Oracle ACFS file system.
Options -rule_set sets the rule name, -m specifies the file system mount point, -o sets the option for
ALL_TRUE or ANY_TRUE, hence allowing for multiple rules to be enforced if all conditions of individual
rules are true or if any one of all rules fulfils the requirement.

acfsutil sec ruleset edit command allows for rules to be added to a specific rule set. Options
–rule_set sets the rule name, -m specifies the file system mount point, -a specifies which rule is
going to be added, –d if used, specifies which rule is going to be removed, -o updates the option value
to either ALL_TRUE or ANY_TRUE.

12 | ORACLE ACFS 19C. WHAT IS IT AND HOW TO USE IT

 acfsutil sec realm add command add the specified objects to an Oracle ACFS security realm.
This command is the last step, and entails multiple options in order to provide for a more versatile
management of the security the user is setting up in the Oracle ACFS file system.

» realm sets the realm name and -m specifies the file system mount point.
» -u adds the specified user names to the realm, -G adds the specified file system groups to the
realm.
» -l commandrule:ruleset specifies which rule set is associated with specific commands
(i.e. CHGRP, CHMOD, CHOWN, MKDIR, RENAME, TRUNCATE, etc.) For a full list of commands
please review the Oracle Automatic Storage Management Administrator’s guide. 4
» -e enables encryption on the specific realm, –a specifies the encryption algorithm and –k sets
the encryption key length.
» -f[-r] path add files or directories to the realm, if -r is included, files within the specified
directory will be added recursively.

Please review the Oracle Automatic Storage Management Administrator’s guide 4 for Oracle ACFS security
exceptions, ASM disk group compatibility settings and other details.

Oracle ACFS Compression

Oracle ACFS introduced Compression in release 12cR2. This feature is derived from Oracle’s Database Advanced
Compression technology. Oracle ACFS allows for compression of different files such as general purpose files but it
is not supported for Oracle Database files. Oracle ACFS Compression allows the user to reduce its storage
footprint. Once Oracle ACFS compression is enabled on a file system, only files created afterwards are
compressed, also, when disabling Oracle ACFS compression, compressed files are not automatically
uncompressed. As shown below, the process is straightforward and simple for users to leverage the functionality of
Oracle ACFS Compression:

Enable Compression Copy / Compress files Display information

•acfsutil compress •acfsutil compress •acfsutil compress

on -a mount_point -v -f -c -n -r info pathname
source target_dir

acfsutil compress on –a -m command allows for compression to be enabled on the specified

Oracle ACFS file system. Option –a specifies compression algorithm, as of now, the only supported
algorithm is LZO. mount_point specifies the name of the file system mount point. Once compression is
enabled all files created subsequently will be compressed; files previous to this step remain
uncompressed.

acfsutil compress copy –v –f –c –n –r source target_dir command compresses and

copies the specified files.

» -v enables verbose mode.

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 » -f overwrites any existing copies of the file to copy/compress.
» -c size source copies file specified by field source while using compression unit specified by
size. Size formats supported: 4K, 8K, 16K, 32K, 64K and 128K.
» -n source disables compression for copied files.
» -r source specifies that copy process is done recursively for files under source.
» source specifies the specific source where files will be copied from.
» target_dir specifies the specific directory where files will be copied to.

acfsutil compress info pathname command displays information pertaining to compressed files
such as compression unit size, disk storage used, disk storage saved, and percentages of storage use
compared to uncompressed files.

Important elements to be considered when using Oracle ACFS Compression:

» Oracle ACFS Compression is not supported for Oracle Database files.

» Oracle ACFS Compression is only supported with Oracle ACFS Replication in release 12cR2 onwards.
» Oracle ACFS Compression requires ADVM compatibility to be set to 12.2 or higher.
» For further information, please review the Oracle Automatic Storage Management Administrator’s guide. 4

Oracle ACFS Auditing

Oracle ACFS Auditing offers the possibility to audit Oracle ACFS security and encryption. All sources of events in
security and encryption are called audit sources, while written logs called audit trails will contain all audit records.
Audit trails are handled separately for every Oracle ACFS file system; on a cluster environment this includes
separation by individual nodes.

Oracle ACFS Auditing can be enabled at the realm level. This allows for auditing of authorizations and security
violations. Oracle ACFS Auditing provides the entire underlying framework for the import of data into the Database
Firewall and the Oracle Audit Vault by an audit vault collector. Oracle ACFS Auditing enables the separation of
duties of the management and review of the audit to be enforced. As shown below, the process is straightforward
and simple for users to leverage the functionality of Oracle ACFS Auditing:

Init Auditing Enable Auditing Display information

•acfsutil audit •acfsutil audit •acfsutil audit

init enable info -m
-M -A -m -s

acfsutil audit init –M -A command allows for initialization of auditing to take place on an
Oracle ACFS file system. Option –M specifies which Operating System group will assign users to the
Oracle ACFS audit_manager_group and hence be assigned the Audit Manager Role. Option –A
specifies which Operating System group will assign users to the Oracle ACFS auditor_group and
hence be assigned the Auditor Role.

acfsutil audit enable –m –s{encr|sec} command enables auditing on an Oracle ACFS file
system. Option –m specifies where the file system is mounted. Option –s{encr|sec} sets auditing for
either encryption or security.

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 acfsutil audit info -m command displays information pertaining to an audited file system, such
as audit trail size, audit sources, if security or encryption is enabled, etc.

Please review the Oracle Automatic Storage Management Administrator’s guide4 for further information pertaining
Oracle ACFS Auditing.

Oracle ACFS Snapshots

Oracle ACFS snapshotting functionality provides the ability to generate sparse, point in time read-write or read-only
copies of Oracle ACFS file systems. Oracle ACFS snapshots use space-efficient copy-on-write functionality. In
order to maintain a point-in-time view of the file system, Oracle ACFS file extent value updates are allocated new
storage while snapshots maintain pointers to existing extent values. Oracle ACFS Snapshots are stored within the
originating ACFS file system. If additional storage for files and snapshots is needed, Oracle ACFS allows for
dynamic resizing of the file system. Oracle ACFS snapshots are ready and available to be used upon creation as
long as the file system is mounted. Up to 1023 snapshots can be hosted on an Oracle ACFS file system. Oracle
ACFS supports creation of snapshots of snapshots, providing full inheritance at any given point in the hierarchy.

Oracle ACFS 18c introduces snapshot links with one single command. This allows for a link to be created which
offers access to snapshot contents via the link name path, hence providing easier snapshot management. As
shown below, the process is straightforward and simple for users to leverage the functionality of Oracle ACFS
Snapshot capabilities. Additional snapshot commands will also be briefly explained:

Snapshot creation Snapshot info Snapshot delete

•acfsutil snap •acfsutil snap •acfsutil snap

create -r -w -p info -t snap_shot delete snap_shot
snap_shot mount_point mount_point
mount_point

acfsutil snap create –r –w –p parent_snapshot snap_shot mount_point command

creates a snapshot following the user specified options which are:

» [-r|-w] snapshots are by default read-only, if –w option is selected the snapshot will be read-
write. A snapshot can be later converted from read-write to read-only or vice versa with the
acfsutil snap convert command.
» snap_shot indicates the snapshot name. A snapshot name can be changed via the
acfsutil snap rename operation.
» -p parent_snap_shot when performing a snapshot of a snapshot, the parent snapshot
named must be specified via this option.
» mount_point this option specifies the file system mount point.
» a quota for a snapshot can be established through the acfsutil snap quota command.

acfsutil snap info –t snap_shot mount_point command provides information regarding a

specific snapshot (specified by snap_shot) on the file system mounted on the specified mount point
(mount_point). Option –t indicates that the output should contain a tree structure of the snapshot.

15 | ORACLE ACFS 19C. WHAT IS IT AND HOW TO USE IT

 acfsutil snap delete snap_shot mount_point command deletes the specified snapshot
(snap_shot) on the file system mounted on the specified mount point (mount_point).

Oracle ACFS introduced in 12c Release 2 the snap duplicate create and snap duplicate apply operations. This
allows users to create a duplicate snapshot and a duplication stream to apply any changes in the original snapshot
to the duplicate snapshot. Furthermore, users can create new Oracle ACFS file systems out of a snapshot and
apply changes in the source snapshot to the newly created file system. Please review the Oracle Automatic
Storage Management Administrator’s guide4 for more information on snap duplicate create and apply operations.

Further snapshot enhancements have been introduced including Snapshot links (18c) and remastering of a file
system based on an existing snapshot (12cR2). An Oracle ACFS snapshot link presents an alternate path to a
snapshot and its contents. Finally, remastering of an Oracle ACFS file system allows for an existing snapshot to be
used as a base for a file system: all existing contents of the Oracle ACFS file system will be removed and replaced
with the contents of the selected snapshot. Please see below, a basic explanation on how to create snapshot links
and file system remastering:

Snapshot Link Snapshot Remaster

•acfsutil snap link -s •acfsutil snap remaster -c -f

snap_shot -d path_to_link snapshot volume

acfsutil snap link –s snap_shot –d path_to_link command creates a snapshot link based
on the specified snapshot and the provided link name. If used, the d option, deletes the specified
snapshot link.

acfsutil snap remaster –c –f snapshot volume command remasters an Oracle ACFS file
system, using as a base the specified snapshot in the specified volume. In case of any interruption, the
remastering of the file system will continue by executing the command again with the –c option. Option
–f will force the operation.

Oracle ACFS in conjunction with Oracle Multitenant, allows customers to leverage snapshots with pluggable
database technology. Using copy on write technology, Oracle ACFS allows for the creation of snapshot clones of
pluggable databases, further broadening the customer’s choices for the provisioning of test and development
environments. Customers can use the pluggable database clones for testing of new applications, run all their test
scenarios, and more without ever jeopardizing production data. Databases stored on Oracle ACFS require just a
few steps in order to leverage this functionality. For further information, please review the Oracle Database 12c
Multitenant Snapshot Clones white paper. 5

5
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/multitenant/learn-more/pdb-cloudfs-snapclone-2212051.pdf

16 | ORACLE ACFS 19C. WHAT IS IT AND HOW TO USE IT

Oracle ACFS Snapshot-based Replication
Oracle ACFS provides maximum efficiency and flexibility in asynchronous replication for your file system and
Oracle Database files. Replication was first introduced in Oracle ACFS on release 11.2.0.2. This feature has seen
constant evolution from log-based replication for application files only, to the current snapshot-based replication
solution that supports entire file systems and application and database files. Oracle ACFS Replication provides a
solution for replicating an Oracle ACFS file system across the network from a primary to a standby site.
Complemented with Oracle Data Guard, Oracle ACFS Snapshot-based Replication provides the customer with an
end-to-end DR solution for all files.

Oracle ACFS Snapshot-based replication works by transferring the differences between consecutive snapshots
from the primary file system to the standby file system using the simple ssh protocol. Once an initial snapshot is
replicated from the active to the standby file system, the changes of the successive snapshots will continue to be
replicated. Oracle ACFS Snapshot-based replication carries a timestamp that can be queried for the purpose of
synchronizing database transactions with ACFS file system data.

Oracle ACFS Replication on primary sites running AIX, Linux or Solaris works with standby sites running on any of
the mentioned operating systems. A primary site running on Windows is able to only replicate to a standby site also
running on Windows. Oracle ACFS Replication allows for auditing, realm-based security, and encryption to be
enabled, thus securing the replicated standby file system with any of the policies in place in the primary file system.

Starting in Oracle ACFS 18c, role reversal replication is introduced allowing the original primary and standby
locations to switch roles. One single command allows users to change the original primary location to become the
new standby, and the original standby location to become the new primary. For more information on Oracle ACFS
snapshot-based replication please review the Oracle ACFS replication white paper6 and the Oracle Automatic
Storage Management Administrator’s guide. 4

6 ACFS File System Snapshot-Based Replication: How to Setup Guide

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/database-technologies/cloud-storage/acfs/learnmore/acfs-replication-122-3634228.html

17 | ORACLE ACFS 19C. WHAT IS IT AND HOW TO USE IT

Oracle ACFS Tagging
Oracle ACFS Tagging allows a user to associate one or more files as a group by assigning a unique ‘tag name’
attribute. Group operations can be performed based on tagged files that may span across different directories
within an Oracle ACFS file system and within a single node or a cluster. By using Oracle ACFS Tagging, different
groups of tagged files may be replicated as groups of related files without replicating the entire Oracle ACFS
cluster file system. Please see below, a basic introduction on Oracle ACFS tagging commands:

Tag set Tag information Tag unset

•acfsutil tag set •acfsutil tag info •acfsutil tag

tagname path -t path -r -c unset all tagname
-r -v path -r -v

acfsutil tag set tagname path –r -v command sets the specified tag to a specific file or
directory. If option –r is selected, the tag will be set recursively to all the contents of the specified
directory. Option -v shows the progress of the tagging operation.

acfsutil tag info –t path –r -c command displays information of all tagged files and
directories in the specified path. If no path is specified, then all information of tagged files and directories
in the file system will be displayed. If option –t tagname is used, then only the files and directories with
the matching tag will be shown. Option –c provides for the search to be case-insensitive.

acfsutil tag unset all tagname path –r -v command removes the specified tag from the
specified file or directory. If option –r is selected, the tag will be recursively removed from all the
contents of the specified directory. Option all indicates that all tags in the specified path must be
removed. Option -v shows the progress of the tagging operation.

Oracle ACFS Automatic Resize and File System Reduce

acfsutil size was introduced in Oracle ACFS 12c Release 2, this command provides an option for automatic
file system resizing. The command allows the user to specify how much a file system should grow in case the
available free space reaches a certain threshold. The user can specify a file system threshold; once that threshold
is reached, the system will be automatically resized.

Starting on Oracle ACFS 18c, acfsutil size command allows for a size reduction of the file system, this
operation was available in previous releases but it had a major limitation: the file system reduction would not take
place if it required existing files in the Oracle ACFS file system to be moved. In 18c, the size reduction is supported
regardless of the need to move user files and/or metadata. Users can use the -q option in order to obtain an
estimate on the required data to be moved, helping further in calculating the time the command could take to
complete. Oracle ACFS size operations also modify the respective Oracle ADVM volume where the file system is
mounted. This is performed to ensure that the volume size matches the new specified file system size. For more
information, please review the Oracle Automatic Storage Management Administrator’s guide. 4

18 | ORACLE ACFS 19C. WHAT IS IT AND HOW TO USE IT

Oracle ACFS File System Freeze
Starting in Oracle ACFS 18c the acfsutil freeze and acfsutil thaw commands were introduced, allowing
for pausing and resuming of activities in an Oracle ACFS file system. acfsutil freeze command pauses all
activity on the file system, across all nodes in the cluster, allowing for certain snapshot operations to be performed
by the user. Once system resume is ready to take place, users can execute the acfsutil thaw command and
activity on the file system across nodes will resume. Please see below, a basic introduction on Oracle ACFS freeze
and thaw commands:

File System Freeze File System Thaw

•acfsutil freeze -f •acfsutil thaw mount_point

mount_point

acfsutil freeze –f mount_point pauses activity on the specified file system. Option -f requires
for all data to be flushed to disked before any operations pause.

acfsutil thaw mount_point command resumes activity on the specified file system.

Oracle ACFS File System Storage Info

Starting in Oracle ACFS 18c the acfsutil info storage command is introduced, providing users with
Platform independent information related to storage. Information available comprises Oracle ASM disk group
information gathered from sources including file system information, snapshot information, and disk group views.
The command provides a simple way to get the aforementioned information with a basic set of configurable
options: unit of measurement, disk group(s) to be queried and whether additional information is required to be
displayed. For more details, please review the Oracle Automatic Storage Management Administrator’s guide. 4

Oracle ACFS File System Diagnostic Commands

Commands that present diagnostic and management information pertaining to the file system metadata and tuning
parameters are further enhanced starting in Oracle ACFS 18c. The acfsutil meta command copies metadata from
the specified Oracle ACFS file system and generates a file with all the collected information. This command has
been enhanced to simplify the metadata collection process for file system diagnostics and support. Given the
diagnostic and support nature of this tool, it presents a comprehensive list of options to determine its operation
mode. For further and more detailed information please review the Oracle Automatic Storage Management
Administrator’s guide. 4

Oracle ACFS Remote Service

Oracle Cluster Domain and Oracle Domain Services Cluster architecture was introduced in Oracle Clusterware 12c
Release 2 in order to enable customers to optimize and centralize Oracle RAC deployments on their private
database clouds. The architecture allows for a cluster to group multiple configurations and services and to share
them across the private cloud to more dedicated and lightweight clusters. Services such as Trace File Analyzer,
Storage Management Service, Rapid Home Provisioning, and a centralized Grid Infrastructure Management

19 | ORACLE ACFS 19C. WHAT IS IT AND HOW TO USE IT

Repository will be on the domain services cluster and be shared and utilized by the Cluster Domain and Member
Clusters when required.

Starting in Oracle ACFS 18c, support for native Oracle ACFS functionality on both database member clusters and
application clusters is introduced. Oracle member clusters with no local storage can leverage all Oracle ACFS
features and functionality through the Oracle ACFS Remote Service. This includes all Oracle ACFS features
including snapshots, replication, etc. Deployment and use of the Oracle ACFS remote service allows for
Application Cluster and Database Member clusters to leverage Oracle ACFS functionality. For further information
regarding requirements and setup please review the Oracle Automatic Storage Management Administrator’s guide.
4

Oracle ACFS NAS Maximum Availability eXtensions (MAX)

Oracle ACFS Maximum Availability eXtensions enable NFS or SMB server execution in High Availability mode.
This means that as long as there is one cluster node available, the NFS or SMB exports will be available. Oracle
ACFS NAS Maximum Availability eXtensions integrate with NAS protocols and the Oracle ACFS stack, providing
ease of use without any additional infrastructure.

The High Availability Network File Storage (HANFS) feature enables highly available NFS servers to be configured
using Oracle ACFS clusters, thus providing continuous service of NFS v2/v3/v4 exported paths. The HANFS
cluster configurations may be built from your existing infrastructure or commodity servers and storage. Oracle
ACFS now also supports HANFS NFS v4 with NFS Locks (limited to certain operating systems only – see
documentation for details4).

Oracle ACFS NAS Maximum Availability eXtensions offers support for SMB services communicating with Active
Directory Domains and Microsoft servers. Samba or Microsoft SMB must be in place in order to ensure Oracle
ACFS HA-SMB. For further information please refer to Oracle ACFS NAS Maximum Availability eXtensions
whitepaper7.

7
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/database-technologies/cloud-storage/acfs/learnmore/acfs-nas-max-wp-3618364.html

20 | ORACLE ACFS 19C. WHAT IS IT AND HOW TO USE IT

Conclusion
Oracle ASM Cluster File System offers a complete, stable and mature storage solution that has evolved through
the years to become the storage foundation for cloud architectures throughout the world. Oracle ACFS is used by
customers in over 60 countries, and its features and functionalities are leveraged across all industries, including 40
of the top S&P 500 companies.

Oracle ACFS offers advanced functionality that has evolved throughout the years, as shown below. It offers best in
class snapshot-based replication, file compression, tagging for group operations, advanced security, encryption
and auditing capabilities, file system resizing, remote services, network file system export extensions and many
more. Oracle ACFS provides a complete storage solution.

Oracle ACFS offers a universal way to manage your data, providing high availability, high performance, scalability,
simplicity in its administration, data integrity, fast recovery and savings in licensing costs.

21 | ORACLE ACFS 19C. WHAT IS IT AND HOW TO USE IT

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Oracle ACFS – What is it and How to use it

February 2019
Author: Ricardo Gonzalez – Oracle ACFS Product Management
Contributing Authors: Oracle ACFS Development Team