Oracle RAC Interview Questions for the experienced

 Here are some Oracle RAC (Real Application Clusters) interview questions specifically geared towards candidates with experience. These questions are designed to assess both your theoretical understanding and practical knowledge of Oracle RAC.

1. What is Oracle RAC and how does it work?

• Follow-up: Can you explain the architecture of Oracle RAC and how it ensures high availability and scalability?

2. Explain the difference between Oracle RAC and Oracle Data Guard.

• Follow-up: How would you decide when to use Oracle RAC vs. Oracle Data Guard in a high-availability setup?

3. What are the components of an Oracle RAC database?

• Follow-up: What role does the Oracle Clusterware play in an Oracle RAC environment?

4. Can you explain the concept of a 'Cluster Interconnect' in Oracle RAC?

• Follow-up: How does the cluster interconnect affect performance and what are best practices for configuring it?

5. What is the role of Oracle CRS (Cluster Ready Services) and ASM (Automatic Storage Management) in RAC?

• Follow-up: How do they interact with each other to provide high availability?

6. What are the common performance bottlenecks in an Oracle RAC environment?

• Follow-up: How would you diagnose and resolve a performance issue in a RAC setup?

7. Explain the difference between a node failure and an instance failure in Oracle RAC.

• Follow-up: What actions are taken by Oracle when either a node or an instance fails?

8. What is cache fusion in Oracle RAC?

• Follow-up: Can you describe how Oracle RAC handles cache fusion and how it ensures data consistency across nodes?

9. What is a "split-brain" scenario in Oracle RAC and how would you resolve it?

• Follow-up: How does Oracle Clusterware prevent split-brain scenarios?

10. What are the different types of Oracle RAC database instances and what are their roles?

• Follow-up: How does Oracle handle workload distribution among RAC instances?

11. Can you explain the concept of "instance recovery" in Oracle RAC?

• Follow-up: How does instance recovery differ in a RAC environment compared to a single-instance database?

12. What is the purpose of the Oracle Grid Infrastructure in Oracle RAC?

• Follow-up: How is Oracle Grid Infrastructure different from Oracle Clusterware?

13. What is the role of Oracle ASM (Automatic Storage Management) in Oracle RAC?

• Follow-up: How does ASM help in managing storage in an Oracle RAC environment?

14. What is the difference between shared storage and local storage in an Oracle RAC configuration?

• Follow-up: What type of storage configuration is recommended for Oracle RAC and why?

15. How do you configure Oracle RAC in a multi-instance environment?

• Follow-up: What are the steps involved in adding a new node to an existing Oracle RAC database?

16. How does Oracle handle redo and undo in a RAC environment?

• Follow-up: Can you explain how Oracle RAC ensures that the redo and undo logs are synchronized across all nodes?

17. Explain the role of the Virtual IP (VIP) in Oracle RAC.

• Follow-up: How does Oracle use VIPs to provide transparent failover in a RAC environment?

18. What is the purpose of the Oracle Private Network in Oracle RAC?

• Follow-up: How do you configure and monitor the private network in an Oracle RAC setup?

19. What are the common troubleshooting steps you follow when a RAC instance fails to start?

• Follow-up: How would you troubleshoot issues related to Oracle Clusterware, ASM, or the database instance?

20. Explain the concept of "service" in Oracle RAC.

• Follow-up: How are services managed in Oracle RAC, and how does Oracle distribute client connections to different nodes in the cluster?

21. What is a "load balancing" strategy in Oracle RAC?

• Follow-up: How can you implement and configure load balancing for connections across RAC instances?

22. What is the difference between "instance scanning" and "load balancing" in Oracle RAC?

• Follow-up: How does Oracle Clusterware manage instance scanning in a RAC environment?

23. How does Oracle RAC handle high-availability during planned maintenance (e.g., patching or upgrades)?

• Follow-up: What strategies or tools would you use to minimize downtime during maintenance?

24. What are the steps involved in performing a rolling patch upgrade in Oracle RAC?

• Follow-up: Can you explain the advantages and potential challenges of rolling patching in Oracle RAC?

25. How does Oracle RAC integrate with Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM)?

• Follow-up: How would you use OEM to monitor and manage Oracle RAC instances and databases?

26. What is the process of "instance failover" in Oracle RAC?

• Follow-up: How does Oracle RAC ensure minimal disruption to clients in case of an instance failover?

27. How would you configure Oracle RAC in a disaster recovery scenario (e.g., across data centers)?

• Follow-up: What are the best practices for ensuring data consistency and availability in a multi-site Oracle RAC deployment?

28. Can you explain Oracle RAC’s impact on backup and recovery strategies?

• Follow-up: How does RMAN (Recovery Manager) function in an Oracle RAC environment?

29. What are the security considerations for Oracle RAC?

• Follow-up: How would you ensure secure communication between RAC nodes and clients?

30. What is the purpose of Oracle Clusterware's "Voting Disk"?

• Follow-up: What happens if the voting disk becomes unavailable or corrupted?