How to set up Oracle for Linux

The 8i release boasts of an identical Java-based installation as its NT counterpart. The installation, however, is still not as simple as it could be. Many parts of the installation that could’ve been scripted still have to be done manually. But it’s a major improvement over a console-based install. This piece covers the basics of installation and setting up Oracle 8i under Linux.

To start with, be warned that the install will only function with JDK 1.1.6 v5. We tried some pre- and post-versions, including JDK 1.2, without success. Apart from that, it isn’t too fussy. The documentation is excellent, and if you follow the instructions verbatim, you shouldn’t foul up. Also, trying to install this with less than 128 MB RAM and 100 MB of swap space is useless. Oracle recommends 256 MB RAM for any real work. You’ll need at least 400 MB of disk space for the software, and at least 350 MB for the database files.

I’d strongly advise you to begin the installation on a new system to be able to partition the hard disk as specified. This usually involves creating a single mount point for the database software, and a recommended three separate mount points for the database files.

You’ll also need a lot of swap space, so create at least two 128 MB swap files.

The first step is configuring the various Shared Memory and Semaphore parameters of the kernel (SMMAX, etc). If you’re using the Red Hat 6.1 that comes with this issue, you shouldn’t have to tweak any of the kernel settings.

The next part, which is manual, is perhaps the most tricky because you tend to skip a step or two. This involves the creation of user accounts and groups, and setting the various environment variables. You’ll need to create the default oracle user, and the dba and oinstall groups. Also, make sure that the oracle user’s primary group is oinstall, and the secondary group is dba. You shouldn’t set the NLS_LANG or ORA_NLS33 environment variables unless you’re using a different language (the default is US English). You may see some errors about not finding NLS files, but these can be safely ignored. Create the various directories under /u01 (or whatever database mount point you’ve created) as specified in the documentation, and change the permissions to the correct owner and group (chown -R oracle.oinstall /u01/*). You must now edit the .bashrc file in the oracle user’s home directory and set the ORACLE_HOME, ORACLE_BASE, JAVA_HOME, and LD_LIBRARY_PATH in it, as specified in the documentation. Now run the command. /.bashrc in the oracle home directory (should be /home/oracle). This will set the environment variables for the actual installation process.

You must now switch to X to start the install, which is Java-based. The installation is smooth, and if you’re familiar with an Oracle setup, you should be through to the database creation stage without a hitch. Creating the default database instance (either during installation, or using the dbassist tool) takes over an hour-and-a-half on a PIII/450 with 128 MB RAM, so be prepared with coffee and sandwiches.

Once the database is created, you’ll need to run a post-install shell script as root. After that, you should be able to run sqlplus, login as system manager and view the system tables. If you can do this, your Oracle installation is up and running. You can now proceed to install the client tools by running the install program again. All the administration tools (net8, etc), are Java-based, so make sure you’ve a machine that’s capable of handling the load.