Prerequisites


Regardless of the platform being used for your Oracle Database 10g deployment, the following minimum system requirements should be met. The difference in requirements for UNIX and Windows platforms is discussed later in this chapter.

  • The system should have a minimum memory of 512MB.

  • The system should have sufficient paging space and disk space.

  • The operating system should be up to date with service packs or patches.

  • The system should have the correct file system format.

Oracle Universal Installer (OUI) checks the environment to verify that it meets the minimum requirements for a successful installation. This early analysis by OUI reduces the chances of any problems during the installation process.

Backdoor Installation Techniques

Although Oracle Database 10g is certified to run on the supported platforms with appropriate patches installed, there are a few backdoor methods to get it running on comparable Linux desktop systems and some UNIX systems without appropriate patch levels. We tested the Enterprise edition of the database on RedHat Linux 9.x personal computers and on Solaris servers. Be forewarned that this is not a recommended method for any critical application deployments, but should be used only for development purposes while the supported platforms are being built. For RedHat Linux 9.1 desktop installation (instead of the supported RedHat Enterprise Linux AS 2.1), we commented out the entry on Linux under [Certified Versions] in the oraparam.ini; the installation checklist bypassed the OS version, and didn't even recognize it. All the major database features were satisfactorily tested on this server. For Solaris, we got the database running fine even after installing it with commented-out entries on some Sun patches in the oraparam.ini. We will give pointers to similar installation tricks from other published resources in appropriate sections.


OUI performs all the prerequisite checks in the installation process before actually installing any software. These checks include OUI-specific verifications and those defined for a specific product for the particular operating system on which it runs. All prerequisite check parameters are defined in the oraparam.ini file or should be mentioned in another user-defined .ini file. The prerequisiste check results are written to the installActionstimestamp.log file.

The Oracle Universal Installer does the prerequisite checks in one of the following ways:

  • Automatically when the user runs the OUI executable during the installation process

  • In silent mode when the checks are run and managed from the command line (during a silent install)

  • Standalone when the checks are run without actually completing any installation

For the silent mode, the OUI will perform as many prerequisite checks as possible, record the alerts on errors, and provide the location of the installActionstimestamp.log file before exiting the installation.

For the review of installation prerequisites, necessary inputs are listed in the prerequisite.xml file located in the oraInventory/logs directory. After the prerequisite checks are run, the results, along with the prerequisite checks' predefined inputs, are written to the prerequisite_results.xml file in the oraInventory/logs directory. The prerequisite_results.xml file can be reused as an input file for future executions of the checker process.


Overview of Silent Installation

Let us have a quick overview of the silent installation process. A silent mode installation runs in the background without any inputs from the user. The interactive dialog boxes found in a traditional graphical user interface installation process are not displayed. Instead of relying on user prompts to choose from a series of installation options, the OUI installs the software using a predefined set of options stored in a response file or passed on from the command line. A response file is a specifications file with necessary database-installation information from the user. For every variable in the response file, an answer is stored as its value. The response file template for the silent installation is found in the stage directory (on the CD-ROM) under the <root of CD>/Response directory, as in <Products.xml_Location>/Response/<product>.<installtype>.rsp.

If you need a new response file for silent installs based on your installation options, use the record mode of OUI to write the installation session into a response file. The response file is written immediately after the Summary page (which you will see in the section titled "Common Steps for Installation"). Use this response file for future identical installation sessions on multiple servers.

When Should You Use Silent Installation?

Silent installations are helpful if you have to install the same Oracle product several times on different computers. If you are choosing the same options and doing identical installations, silent mode can help you to save time choosing the various installation options with each install. This will also help to coordinate multiple installations by different users on different servers and having a uniform approach to applying patches and planning database upgrades.


The silent installation method is valid only for the base release of the database software. It cannot be used for already patched software. Silent installation is not recommended for installations using ASM disks because it is a little complex for that.



    Oracle Database 10g Insider Solutions
    SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 9 Administrators Handbook
    ISBN: 672327910
    EAN: 2147483647
    Year: 2006
    Pages: 214

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