VIP Address Fun

During a recent RAC install, we were given an IP address for our VIP to be created at install. However, the IP address we got from network was a "private" address and not a "public" address. During the Clusterware install the vipca failed complaining that the interface is not public. As per RFC 1918 networks in the following ranges are considered private. For more details please review http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1918

10.0.0.0 - 10.255.255.255 (10/8 prefix)
172.16.0.0 - 172.31.255.255 (172.16/12 prefix
192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255 (192.168/16 prefix

Here is another link: http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1918.html

When the vipca silent installation fails because of the address range, you have to run it manually or issue the command:

$ORA_CRS_HOME/bin/srvctl add nodeapps -n crmnode1 -o /ora/ora10 -A 1.2.3.4/255.255.255.0/lan0

See Note 316583.1 VIPCA FAILS COMPLAINING THAT INTERFACE IS NOT PUBLIC for more information.

Just follow the instructions in the note and you will be fine. However, when I first followed the instructions of the note, I couldn't get the add nodeapps for the VIP to work. Turns out the note did not have the correct syntax. I pointed it out to Oracle Support and the author of the note updated the syntax. So, it is always good to verify syntax from a separate source if you have problems with Oracle documents.

Also, the cluvfy will indicate the following:

WARNING:
Could not find a suitable set of interfaces for VIPs.
Result: Node connectivity check failed.

Even though everything is OK, you are just using a non-standard private VIP.