Moving NodeFQDN records to a separate file

This articles describes the steps that are necessary to move NodeFQDN records from tnsnames.ora to a separate file. You may need to follow this procedure if you plan to enable TCPS or customize Local Listener port and if the cluster was deployed with FlashGrid Launcher version 25.12 or earlier.

Note: If the cluster was deployed with FlashGrid Launcher version 26.03 or later then the /etc/flashgrid-nodefqdn.ora file was created by default and there is no need to perform these steps.

NodeFQDN records

FlashGrid Cluster uses NodeFQDN records to have the same LOCAL_LISTENER parameter value for all database instances. The records are created automatically during the deployment only when a database home installation is selected.

Before FlashGrid Launcher 26.03, those records were written to <database_home>/network/admin/tnsnames.ora on each database node, using the following format:

DONOTDELETE,NodeFQDN = (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL= TCP)(Host=<fqdn>)(Port=<local listener port>))

For example, on the rac1 node with the default local listener port 1522 (to determine the local listener port, run srvctl config listener as the grid user):

DONOTDELETE,NodeFQDN = (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL= TCP)(Host=rac1.example.com)(Port=1522))

Starting with FlashGrid Launcher 26.03, the NodeFQDN records are moved to a separate file /etc/flashgrid-nodefqdn.ora, and tnsnames.ora has the IFILE parameter pointing to the new file:

IFILE = /etc/flashgrid-nodefqdn.ora

It allows to share the same tnsnames.ora file across all database nodes of the cluster, simplifying configuration management.

Customers who still use NodeFQDN records in tnsnames.ora can keep using them. However, certain tasks might require changing NodeFQDN records. If there is such a need, use the following procedure to move the NodeFQDN records from tnsnames.ora to a separate file.

Perform the steps below on each database node, one node at a time.

If /etc/flashgrid-nodefqdn.ora does not exist:

Create an empty /etc/flashgrid-nodefqdn.ora, and set ownership and permissions of the file as follows:
```
chown oracle:oinstall /etc/flashgrid-nodefqdn.ora
chmod 640 /etc/flashgrid-nodefqdn.ora
```
Copy the existing NodeFQDN record from <database_home>/network/admin/tnsnames.ora to /etc/flashgrid-nodefqdn.ora.

For example, /etc/flashgrid-nodefqdn.ora would have the following content on the rac1 node:
```
DONOTDELETE,NodeFQDN = (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL= TCP)(Host=rac1.example.com)(Port=1522))
```
Note: if the database home was installed after deploying the cluster, there might be no NodeFQDN records. Add them manually to /etc/flashgrid-nodefqdn.ora using the format specified in NodeFQDN records.
Replace the existing NodeFQDN record in <database_home>/network/admin/tnsnames.ora to IFILE = /etc/flashgrid-nodefqdn.ora.

For example, tnsnames.ora before the change:
```
DONOTDELETE,NodeFQDN = (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL= TCP)(Host=rac1.example.com)(Port=1522))
```
tnsnames.ora after the change (does not have NodeFQDN record anymore):
```
IFILE = /etc/flashgrid-nodefqdn.ora
```
Note: if there is no NodeFQDN record in tnsnames.ora, add the IFILE line anyway.
Confirm that NodeFQDN resolves to the correct connect descriptor from /etc/flashgrid-nodefqdn.ora, and there are no errors in the output:
```
tnsping NodeFQDN
```