This article is the result of a need for an IBM Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring (TEM) data warehouse, as well as a repository for IBM WebSphere Portal and Process Server, and as a tutorial for my good friend Maurice. As the title suggests, we will provide a step-by-step guide to installing the Oracle 11g relational database management system (RDBMS) on Redhat Enterprise Linux 4.7 AS. Breaking it down, the following will be performed:

• Operating system preparation
• Oracle 11g instalation
• Startup / shutdown scripting and automation
• Oracle Enterprise Manager (briefly)

To all you DBA's out there, while we do appreciate constructive criticism, please keep in mind that we are NOT database administrators. We are also not security administrators. So, we are well aware that there are many aspects to Oracle that we are not touching on with this article, as well as security related topics being ignored. Let's just say that these topics are not in the scope of this article. If anyone would like them covered, drop me an email and I will add it to the already long list of requests.

• Assumptions / Requirements
• Procedure
• Preparation: Kernel Parameters and Authentication
• Install Oracle 11g
• Post Installation Steps
• Startup and shutdown scripts
• Conclusion
• Printing

We begin with the assumption that you have already provisioned a fully functional Redhat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 4.7 AS server. We are quite certain that ES would work as well. This server should be functional with respect to DNS and network connectivity. While perhaps not a complete list of files to be modified, there are the ones that our kickstart configuration adds or modifies:

• /etc/hosts
• /etc/resolv.conf
• /etc/ntp.conf
• /etc/modprobe.conf
• /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-bond0
• /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0
• /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1
• /etc/profile

You may or may not need to modify any or all of the above mentioned files. One thing is for certain however. If your system does not meet certain requirements, the Oracle installer will let you know.

As for requirements, we can begin with the filesystem layout. I am sure that Oracle will tell you everything necessary in their documentation if you'd care to read it. OFA (Oracle Flexible Architecture) was once a concept worth mentioning, however we do not know if it even still exists. If you are planning some elaborate database you will certainly want to consider disk layout for performance reasons. However, once again this is a basic install and configuration procedure, thus we will not bother.

For this simple install, we provisioned a 20G LUN for everything; OS and Oracle. When it was all complete, we ended up with what you see next. It appears that when we plan to populate the database, we will need to add more space to /u01. We are using LVM so this will be a very easy task; but we will not do that here.

Filesystem	1K-blocks	Used	Available	Use%	Mounted on
/dev/xvda1	147764	11800	128335	9%	/boot
none	393280	0	393280	0%	/dev/shm
/dev/mapper/vg01-lv05	1032088	35140	944520	4%	/opt
/dev/mapper/vg01-lv03	1032088	34124	945536	4%	/tmp
/dev/mapper/vg01-lv06	5999092	5164060	530292	91%	/u01
/dev/mapper/vg01-lv04	8256952	6665136	1172388	86%	/usr
/dev/mapper/vg01-lv02	1032088	248356	731304	26%	/var

The remainder of our requirements (some repetition) is as follows:

• Redhat Enterprise Linux 4.7 AS
• Oracle 11g distribution (we used linux_11gR1_database_1013; version 11.1.0.6.0)
• Networked client (Mac, Windows, Linux, etc.)
• XWindows server on client (We use Xming on Windows XP SP3)
• SSH Client (We use PuTTy)

Now that we have laid the groundwork, let's get going with the actual steps.

Unless we provisioned a minimum of 1GB of RAM to this system the Oracle Installer complained. So to avoid being nagged about it, we did so. Later after the install we reduce it to 768M and it runs just fine for our current needs.

Here we do some checking, create a group and user for Oracle, and make certain of directory ownership.

And now we perform a simple test by switching user (su) to the Oracle accound.

There are several kernel parameters that need increasing. Let's get started by editing /etc/sysctl.conf.

In the vi editor, jump to the bottom of the file (Shift-G) and append the recommended parameters and their values.

Reboot the server to permanently modify the kernel parameters.

Now that the server is back up, let's check one of the changed values.

Now that we are (fairly) certain that the Oracle Installer requirements are met, we can begin with the Oracle installation. Note that all Oracle software is installed by the Oracle user, and not by the root user. There are a few times however that root access is needed as you will see later in this procedure.

Switch user to (or login as) the Oracle user. At this time two things must have already happened. One is that you have started your XServer on the client and the other is that the Oracle 11g distribution media had to have been mounted. We then navigate to where the Oracle Installer is located, set our DISPLAY variable and execute the installer.

While awaiting the GUI, you should see the following screen, indicating that certain tests have passed. If the tests do not pass, you will be prompted as to continuing.

Assuming that things get this far, up pops a (less than perfect) GUI. You are free to choose anything or mofify paths, products, etc., but all we do is supply the pasword ("oracle" in our case) for the "system", "sys", etc. account(s).

For your viewing pleasure, the following pops up......

Accept the defaults here.

This is the last of the system checks. If all passed, continue on. If not, you should address any and all warnings before continuing. If you receive any warnings here and choose to continue, you will be warned again immediately. In our case, we pased all tests.

No need to address this. Continue onward.

This is your last chance to go backwards. Look over your choices and if ready, continue.

For your viewing pleasure..........

For your viewing pleasure..........

For your viewing pleasure..........

Unless you want to manage passwords here, continue.

Root intervention needed now. Do not continue until you execute the requested commands as "root".

Open a new shell window, and execute the commands as "root".

Now we can continue.

Basic installation is complete. Feel free to exit.

Yes, we really want to exit. :)

After the installation, we see that Oracle processes are running, and we see that the Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM) is as well. While we could simply shut down the server, and Oracle would certainly recover, but let's take a gentler approach. We will gracefully shut them down. The following screen shows that the database is running.

Here we see the java processes for the OEM.

Before shutting it down, let's take a look at the OEM and then log in.

We won't do anything with this tool for now. Let's just log out.

Before we forget, let's ensure that Oracle can autostart on system boot, by editing the /etc/oratab file.

Modify the "N" with a "Y".

Now let's modify /etc/profle with the necessary variable and path information. Usually a DBA will devise a more cleaver way of taking care of this. However, we have a single database, dedicated server; no need for being fancy.

Modify (and export) ORACLE_HOME, ORACLE_SID, LD_LIBRARY_PATH and PATH, as shown here.

Now test the changes as shown.

Stop the Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Check for the existence of any java processes.

Stop Oracle.

Is it down? Yes. The system is ready to be brought down now.

Unfortunately, Oracle does not supply system startup / shutdown scripts for the database and/or the OEM. Therefore, we will take care of it. Let's start with the database. As you should know, these scripts are located in /etc/rc.d/init.d. Open a new file for the database as shown.

This is all standard bash scripting, which we will not go over line-by-line. Let us know if further explanation is required.

Now let's create one for the OEM.

More basic scripting here.

Here we do a number of things. Note that without the proper file settings, it is possible for the chkconfig commend to fail, thus the reason for our issuing the chmod command. Then we add the new scripts to service control, and instruct the system to start them upon system startup. They should also gracefully shutdown as well.

Start the Oracle database with the new script using the service command as shown. Once the database is up, log in as the system account, also as shown.

Now start the OEM using the service command. Also, note that we disable autostart of this product as we will rarely, if ever use it. Java can take up many resources, better used elsewhere.

Might as well verify that the OEM is reachable. Of course, it is.

At this point we have fully functional Oracle 11g database server. Connectivity to it, via port 1521 is posible from anywhere in our network. If you have anything to add to this article, please feel free to do so.

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