In Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) 11g Release 2, Oracle introduced policy-managed databases wherein database resources are dynamically allocated based on policies defined for the cluster. Earlier versions of Oracle RAC required administrators to specifically define the nodes on which the database could run and the services that could run within the database. These databases are called administrator-managed databases.
You can configure both types of databases in the same Storage Foundation for Oracle RAC (SF Oracle RAC) cluster. However, you cannot have a policy-managed database running on the same node as an administrator-managed database. If you want to create administrator-managed databases on the same cluster that runs policy-managed databases, make sure to choose the nodes carefully for administrator-managed databases. This is because the node may be moved into the generic server pool if it is part of the policy-managed server pool.
Upgrades may present a similar coexistence opportunity especially if your existing environment hosts administrator-managed databases and you want to upgrade some nodes in the environment to run policy-managed databases.
Note that coexistence of policy and administrator-managed databases requires that Oracle Clusterware be upgraded to use Oracle Grid Infrastructure on all nodes in the cluster. All nodes must belong to the same SF Oracle RAC cluster and Oracle Grid Infrastructure.
For more information and instructions on configuring policy-managed databases and administrator-managed databases in the same SF Oracle RAC cluster:
http://www.symantec.com/docs/HOWTO73184
Additional information on SF Oracle RAC can be found in the following guide on the SORT Website:
Veritas Storage Foundation for Oracle RAC Installation and Configuration Guide
