Installing Oracle9i on Linux
This article was published by Pipeline Newsletter, , in the "Oracle Administration" section of their September 2001 issue, as a lead article. It was their top-ranked article within the first week of publication.
Background
SDOUG is working with the Mission Bay High School on creating projects using databases that will be accessed through Oracle Portal. In addition, we want to create an Oracle Portal site for SDOUG. The prerequisite of all this is setting up a reliable server that is secure and can house the test databases.
This paper outlines all the steps we took to install Oracle9i on the server.
Hardware and Software Specifications:
Linux Version | SuSE Version 7.2 Professional Purchased on CD set |
Oracle Database | Oracle9i Ver. 9.1.0.1 Downloaded from OTN |
Computer | HP 6835 - Pentium Celeron 800 MHz |
Memory | Comes with 128 MB. Replaced with two 256 MB chips |
Storage | Disk 1 - 30 GB Disk 2 - Maxtor 80 GB, partitioned into four 20 GB segments |
Server (Host) Name | Chippy |
Downloading and Unzipping the Software
There are three large files in the download: Linux9i_Disk1.cpio.gz, ...Disk2..., and ...Disk3... The instructions on the OTN (Oracle Technology Network) site tell you to use gunzip to get the "cpio" files. This worked fine for the first file, but failed on the second file. We downloaded the second file (449 MB) and tried again. No luck.
Solution: Unzip the files on a Windows 2000 machine. The unzipped files are: Linux9i_nojre_Disk1.cpio, Linux9i_nojre_Disk2.cpio, and Linux9i_nojre_Disk3.cpio. We then FTP'd these files onto the Linux server. From there, you can extract the files with cpio, using the following commands:
cpio -idmv <Linux9i_Disk1.cpio cpio -idmv <Linux9i_Disk2.cpio cpio -idmv <Linux9i_Disk3.cpio
NOTE: Don't forget the "<" in front of the file name!
The cpio program will extract all the necessary files and create directories. When it's all done, you should have a "Disk1", "Disk2", and "Disk3" directory.
Pre-Installation Tasks
The more care you take in this step, the better your results will be! Our advice is to go slow, double-check all your work, and make sure you don't take any shortcuts.
Step 1: Install the JDK
Log on as root.
Create directories for the JDK:
mkdir /usr/local/java mkdir /usr/local/java/bin
Make sure FTP is running:
ps -ef | grep ftp
Go to http://java.sun.com/ to download the Java 1.2 SDK. The SDK is simply an enhanced JDK. The download is around 20 MB.
Unzip the tar file:
gunzip jdk-1_2_2_008-linux-i386.tar.gz ls -l
Result should be:
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 47206400 Aug 15 17:02 jdk-1_2_2_008-linux-i386.tar
See if the file has relative or absolute paths inside it:
tar --list -f jdk-1_2_2_008-linux-i386.tar | more
Result: file has relative paths.
Go to directory where we want to install the SDK and un-tar the file:
cd /usr/local tar -xvf /home/tomscott/java_downloads/jdk-1_2_2_008-linux-i386.tar
Result: JDK should be extracted into the /usr/local/jdk1.2.2 directory.
Step 2: Linux Kernel Parameters
See if OS imposes any file size limit:
ulimit -f
Result: SUSE 7.2.4 is unlimited
Review kernel parameters:
cd /proc/sys/kernel cat sem
Result: 250 32000 32 128
These are the current values for SEMMSL, SEMMNS, SEMOPM, and SEMMNI. Oracle9i requires a minimum of 100 for SEMMSL, 256 for SEMMNS, 100 for SEMOPM, and 100 for SEMMNI. The only parameter we had to change was SEMOPM (32, vs. the required 100).
Change the kernel parameters:
echo 250 32000 100 128 > sem
Make sure the startup file in /proc/sys/kernel contains the new settings as well. Enter the following:
echo 250 32000 100 128 > /proc/sys/kernel/sem
Note that you have to give the full path to "sem" in the name of the startup file.
Review the shared memory parameter. The Oracle installation notes suggest that this should be 50% of your physical memory.
cat shmmax
Result: 33554432
Oracle needs 2147483648, so we do not have enough. To change, enter
echo 256000000 > shmmax
Add entry to startup file in /proc/sys/kernel as follows:
echo 2147483648 > /proc/sys/kernel/shmmax
Check value of SHMMNI:
cat shmmni
Result: 4096. We are OK, because Oracle only needs 100.
Verify oracle database admin groups:
cd /etc cat group
Results:
osdba:*:1001: osoper:*:1002: orainventory:*:1003: apache:*:1004:
These groups were created by the Linux install programs.
Add user oracle to osdba group using usermod:
usermod -g orainventory -G osdba oracle
Note that "-g" is for the primary group and "-G" is for the secodary group(s).
Check the results:
cat group
Results:
osdba:*:1001:oracle osoper:*:1002: orainventory:*:1003: apache:*:1004:
If user apache is not there, create apache user with useradd:
useradd -g orainventory -G apache -d /tmp -s /bin/bash -p apache_pwd apache
Note the "-p" parameter, which is for the apache password. In this example, it is "apache_pwd". Set this to whatever you want.
Make sure user apache is the only user in the apache group!
MOUNT POINTS: Not relevant to us, since all our files were on the hard disk on the Linux system.
Set up directories for database files. This example does NOT use OFA.
mkdir /opt/oracle/product mkdir /opt/oracle/product/9.0.1
Make sure user oracle can write to the directories:
chown -R oracle.orainventory /opt/oracle/* mkdir /var/opt/oracle chown oracle.osdba /var/opt/oracle
Verify there is a /user/local/bin directory and it is in the PATH for the oracle user. (If not, create the directory and add it to the PATH.)
su oracle echo $PATH
RESULT: /usr/local/bin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin <---- OK!
Verify each user has execute permissions on the directory:
ls -dl /usr/local/bin
Result:
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 3
Now do the same for the apache user:
exit su apache echo $PATH
Result:
/usr/local/bin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin
The path is OK. Now check execute permissions:
ls -dl /usr/local/bin
Result:
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 3
Set TMPDIR path with at least 20 MB of free space:
su oracle echo $TMPDIR TMPDIR=/tmp echo $TMPDIR
See if there is a .bash_profile for the oracle user:
cd ls -l
Result: there was no file there, so we had to create one.
One method to do this is the following 'here-doc' command:
cat /opt/oracle/.bash_profile <<< "EOF" # Create a .bash_profile ####### TEXT OF .bash_profile for oracle user # profile for Oracle9i installation user export ORACLE_HOME=/opt/oracle/product/9.0.1 # add line below by uncommenting if necessary: # export ORACLE_BASE=/opt/oracle # export ORACLE_TERM=xterm export TNS_ADMIN=$ORACLE_HOME/config/9.0.1 export NLS_LANG=AMERICAN-AMERICA.UTF8 export ORA_NLS33=$ORACLE_HOME/ocommon/nls/admin/data export PATH=$PATH:$ORACLE_HOME/bin:/usr/local/java/bin if [ -z $LD_LIBRARY_PATH ] then export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$ORACLE_HOME/lib else export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:$ORACLE_HOME/lib fi if [ -z $CLASSPATH ] then CLASSPATH=$ORACLE_HOME/JRE:$ORACLE_HOME/jlib:$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/jlib CLASSPATH=$CLASSPATH:$ORACLE_HOME/network/jlib export CLASSPATH else CLASSPATH=$CLASSPATH:$ORACLE_HOME/JRE:$ORACLE_HOME/jlib CLASSPATH=$CLASSPATH:$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/jlib:$ORACLE_HOME/network/jlib export CLASSPATH fi EOF
Make sure you are still logged in as oracle and are in the oracle home directory.
su oracle pwd
Execute the .bash_profile script:
source .bash_profile
Verify the .bash_profile script ran by checking one of the environment variables set in the script:
echo $ORA_NLS33
Result should be that the environment variable has the value set in the script above.
Log on as root:
exit
Add server name to access control list:
xhost +chippy
You should get the following message back:
chippy being added to access control list
Note: Be sure you are logged on as root! If you are not, this won't work!
Set up the display for user oracle:
su oracle export DISPLAY=sci:0.0
Go to the "Disk1" directory that contains the runInstaller program for Oracle9i:
cd /home/orcl_Install/Disk1
This may be a good time to say a short prayer!
Install the Database
If you have done everything exactly right the Java-based Oracle Universal Installer will show up when you run the runInstaller program. If you goofed somewhere, the only way you will get runInstaller to work again is if you go to the /tmp directory and get rid of all the directories (there should not be more than a couple) the OUI set up there. Otherwise, you will execute runInstaller over and over, and nothing will happen.
Start the installer: ./runInstaller
Step | Description | Action | Results and Comments |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Initial Screen | Click "Next" | Display Base Directory for Inventory Location |
2 | Inventory Location Screen | Click "OK" | Should default to /opt/oracle/oraInventory |
3 | Unix Group Name window | Click "Next" | Use this if you want a group other than root to be able to change Oracle settings. We left this blank, since we will always update Oracle software as root on this physical server. |
4 | Script Popup Screen | cd /tmp ./orainstRoot.sh | Popup instructs you to run a script as root (remember, you are installing this as user oracle. Open another terminal session, log on as root, and run the commands to the left: You should get a message back: Creating Oracle Inventory pointer file (/etc/oraInst.loc) |
5 | Popup window | Click "Continue" | |
6 | File Locations Screen | Use defaults; click "Next" | These directories should have been created by "cpio" and by the scripts above. |
7 | Available Products Screen | Click "Next" | Wait cursor will show for a minute or so. |
8 | Choose Edition Screen | Select Enterprise Edition; click "Next" | Whatever you do, avoid "Custom" |
9 | Database Configuration Screen | Click "Next" | Leave default configuration of "General Purpose". |
10 | Privileged Operating System Groups Screen | Use defaults; click "Next" | Default database administrator group is orainventory Default database operator group is orainventory |
11 | Database Identifier Screen | Click "Next" | Choose Global Database Name and SID: Global Name: chippydb.chipper SID: chippydb |
12 | Database character Set Screen | Use defaults; click "Next" | |
13 | JDK Home Directory Screen | Enter: /usr/local/jdk1.2.2 Click "Next" | Now you know why this was the first thing we installed. |
14 | Summary Screen | Press "Install" Say some more prayers... | The installations will take a couple of hours. |
15 | Configuration Popup Screen | Go back to your terminal window where you are logged on as root Run the script. /opt/oracle/product/9.0.1/root.sh | This will first ask you the full path of the local bin directory, which should be: /usr/local/bin The script will then add entries to the /etc/oratab file. When it is done, this message will appear: Finished running generic part of root.sh script. |
16 | Installation Screen | Press "OK" | |
17 | Configuration Tools Screen | See if everything completes successfully. |
If you have problems, the installer will start three tools automatically:
- Oracle Net Configuration Assistant
- Startup of Web Server on port 7777
- Oracle Database Configuration Assistant
All of these tools are optional and can be configured after the installation. The process ran all night, and by next morning, it was still on Oracle Net Configuration Assistant. The following appeared in the "details" section:
Parsing command line arguments: Parameter "orahome" = /opt/oracle/product/9.0.1 Parameter "instype" = typical Parameter "inscomp" = client,oraclenet,javavm,server,ano Parameter "insprtcl" = tcp Parameter "cfg" = local Parameter "authadp" = NO_VALUE Parameter "nodeinfo" = NO_VALUE Parameter "responsefile" = /opt/oracle/product/9.0.1./network/install/netca_typ.rsp Done parsing command line arguments. Oracle Net Services Configuration: Profile configuration complete. Oracle Net Listener Startup: Running Listener Control: /opt/oracle/product/9.0.1/bin/lsnrctl start LISTENER
What we did:
18 | Configuration Tools Screen | Click "Stop" | This cause the OUI to go onto starting the Web Server, which succeeded. The third step also succeeded. |
19 | Installation Screen | Click on "Password Management" button | If Step 3 is successful, you will get the following message:Note: All database accounts except SYS and SYSTEM have been locked. Click on "Password Management" button to unlock the accounts and change the default passwords |
20 | Password Management Screen | Unlock accounts; change passwords Click "OK" | Obviously, this depends on your own system requirements. |
21 | Configuration Tools Screen | Select Oracle Net Configuration Assistant | Try to reconfigure this step. In our case, it worked! |
22 | Verify Database | Log into Scott/Tiger from sqlplus. Set up a TNS_Names entry and see if you can reach the database through its IP address. |
Post-Installation Tasks
This is the easy part. We followed the Oracle documentation here. Don't forget to change the passwords for SYS, SYSTEM, etc!