Oracle Appliance Kit
 
Oracle Database Appliance
 

PLA-Support>Database Technology>Engineered Systems>Oracle Database Appliance>DB: ODA_EST
 

Applies to:

Symptoms

NTP is not syncronizing correctly on a version 2.2 ODA, which is causing RAC to be off by about 5 minutes at the end of the day.

Cause

You may not be using the newest ODA software / firmware.
The older download of the ODA 2.2 OS image only has firmware version 3.0.14.13 r66865.
The current download of the ODA 2.2 OS image has a slightly newer version of ILOM firmware 3.0.14.13.a, r70764
 
The Linux kernel has different implementations of lost tick compensation depending on whether the timer device is the TSC or the PM timer, and whether the kernel is i386 (32bit) or x86_64 (64bit). The implementations using the TSC are much more prone to overcompensation.  This TSC deficiency is corrected in newer ILOM firmware versions.  This also allows the workaround (below) to force the use of the PM timer.

You can see what implementation of lost tick compensation that you are currently using with:

     # cat /sys/devices/system/clocksource/clocksource0/current_clocksource
        tsc

Solution

1. Temporary workaround is the "clocksource=acpi_pm" kernel argument, followed by an OS reboot to implement:

      kernel /vmlinuz-* ... notsc clocksource=acpi_pm

2. Permanent solution is newer firmware, included with new download of 2.2 ODA OS image (or newer). There are two ways to achieve this:

      a.) ODA OS re-imaging, using NOTE 1373599.1, “Oracle Database Appliance Bare Metal Restore Procedure”

      b.) Manual firmware update. Use Keyboard Controller Style (KCS) interface to apply ILOM/BIOS patches as shown below:

[root@odabox1 ~] cd /opt/oracle/oak/pkgrepos/thirdpartypkgs/Firmware/Ilom/SUN/541-4116-03/3.0.14.13.a_r70764/Base
[root@odabox1 Base]# ls
ILOM-3_0_14_13_a_r70764-Sun_Fire_X4370M2.pkg
[root@odabox1 Base]# ipmiflash -v write ILOM-3_0_14_13_a_r70764-Sun_Fire_X4370M2.pkg force script config delaybios warning=0

-- Wait 3-4 minutes to allow ILOM/SP to finish rebooting after patching and issue the following command to reboot the entire ODA system:

[root@odabox1 Base]# ipmiflash chassis power cycle

References

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