Oracle on Linux - how to Install

Oracle Database administration is a very hot profession of today and if you know how to install Oracle database on Linux then you become a very valuable person. Both technology is in demand, and together oracle & Linux create a very secure & sophisticated environment.

Installing Oracle on Linux is little bit tough job. In this article I am discussing procedure to install Oracle on Linux. With the help of this article installation will be like playing the game. good luck.

If you face any problem during or after the installation please post your comment. I will try my best to answer your question and resolve problem.

Installing Oracle Database On Linux – A Step by step Guide

Hardware Requirement for Oracle Installation on RedHat Linux

Processor - Minimum Bettor to you have P4 and equivalent of P4 or later version of processor

RAM - The minimum RAM required for oracle installation is 1024MB , for know the RAM on PC

# grep MemTotal /proc/meminfo
MemTotal: 1034680 kB

HDD Space - 2.5GB of available disk space for the Oracle Database software and another 1.2GB for the database. The /tmp directory needs at least 400MB of free space. To check the available disk space on your system, run the following command:

# df -h

Swap - In Linux Swap space should be twice the amount of RAM if your system have 1 GB of RAM then you should have 2 GB of Swap Space, to know the Swap space use following command

# grep SwapTotal /proc/meminfo
SwapTotal: 1534196 kB

Software Requirement for Oracle Installation on RedHat Linux

RedHat Enterprise Linux 5 or RedHat Enterprise Linux 4
Kernel Version Should not be bellow then 2.6
to know kernel version use following command

# uname -r
2.6.9-22.EL

Now, Verify following packages and its Version which is required for Oracle Database, installed or not

Required package versions (or later):

binutils-2.15.92.0.2-10.EL4
compat-db-4.1.25-9
control-center-2.8.0-12
gcc-3.4.3-9.EL4
gcc-c++-3.4.3-9.EL4
glibc-2.3.4-2
glibc-common-2.3.4-2
gnome-libs-1.4.1.2.90-44.1
libstdc++-3.4.3-9.EL4
libstdc++-devel-3.4.3-9.EL4
make-3.80-5
pdksh-5.2.14-30
sysstat-5.0.5-1
xscreensaver-4.18-5.rhel4.2
libaio-0.3.96
openmotif21-2.1.30-11.RHEL4.2

for verifying abow package in your installed Linux Openrating system You can use this single line command to verify packages and its version

# rpm -q binutils compat-db control-center gcc gcc-c++ glibc glibc-common gnome-libs libstdc++ libstdc++-devel make pdksh sysstat xscreensaver libaio openmotif21

Configuring Linux for Oracle

Before starting Oracle on Linux first we have to configure Linux Operating system with root user, fallowing configuration required on Linux before starting Oracle installing.

1. Create the Oracle Groups and User Account

create the two Linux groups name "oinstall" and "dba" and one user account with name "oracle" and this user should be member of above 2 group that will be used to install and maintain the Oracle Database software. for doing this Execute the following commands as root:

# /usr/sbin/groupadd oinstall
# /usr/sbin/groupadd dba
# /usr/sbin/useradd -m -g oinstall -G dba oracle

Then Check the GID and UID of newly created groups and user, with this

# id oracleuid=501(oracle) gid=502(oinstall) groups=502(oinstall),503(dba)

2.Set the password on the oracle account:

# passwd oracle

Changing password for user oracle.
New password:
Retype new password:
passwd: all authentication tokens updated successfully.

3.Create Directories

Now create directories and define "oracle" user as a owner and "oinstall" as a group of newly created directory and also change permission on this directory to 775, this directory will use to store the Oracle Database software and the database files..
Issue the following commands as root:

# mkdir -p /u01/app/oracle
# chown -R oracle:oinstall /u01/app/oracle
# chmod -R 775 /u01/app/oracle

4.Configuring the Linux Kernel Parameters

Oracle Database requires the kernel parameter settings shown below. The values given are minimums, so if your system uses a larger value, don't change it.

kernel.shmall = 2097152
kernel.shmmax = 536870912
kernel.shmmni = 4096
kernel.sem = 250 32000 100 128
fs.file-max = 65536
net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range = 1024 65000
net.core.rmem_default=262144
net.core.wmem_default=262144
net.core.rmem_max=262144
net.core.wmem_max=262144

you can set this parameters by simply open the file with the any text editor of Linux otherwise use cut command like following and just cut and paste the following commands while logged in as root.

# cat >> /etc/sysctl.conf <<EOF
> kernel.shmall = 2097152
> kernel.shmmax = 536870912
> kernel.shmmni = 4096
> kernel.sem = 250 32000 100 128
> fs.file-max = 65536
> net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range = 1024 65000
> EOF

# /sbin/sysctl -p
net.ipv4.ip_forward = 0
net.ipv4.conf.default.rp_filter = 1
net.ipv4.conf.default.accept_source_route = 0
kernel.sysrq = 0
kernel.core_uses_pid = 1
kernel.shmall = 2097152
kernel.shmmax = 536870912
kernel.shmmni = 4096
kernel.sem = 250 32000 100 128
fs.file-max = 65536
net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range = 1024 65000
net.core.rmem_default = 262144
net.core.wmem_default = 262144
net.core.rmem_max = 262144
net.core.wmem_max = 262144

Oracle recommends setting limits on the number of processes and open files each Linux account may use. To make these changes, cut and paste the following commands as root:

cat >> /etc/security/limits.conf <<EOF
oracle soft nproc 2047
oracle hard nproc 16384
oracle soft nofile 1024
oracle hard nofile 65536
EOF

cat >> /etc/pam.d/login <<EOF
session required /lib/security/pam_limits.so
EOF

Note - For RHEL4, use the following for defining user settings:

cat >> /etc/profile <<EOF
if [ \$USER = "oracle" ]; then
if [ \$SHELL = "/bin/ksh" ]; then
ulimit -p 16384
ulimit -n 65536
else
ulimit -u 16384 -n 65536
fi
umask 022
fi
EOF

cat >> /etc/csh.login <<EOF
if ( \$USER == "oracle" ) then
limit maxproc 16384
limit descriptors 65536
umask 022
endif
EOF

Starting the Installation of Oracle

Use the graphical login to log in as oracle user.

Then after the login locate the installation directory and Start the Oracle Universal Installer from software location and follow the following installations steps

$ ./runInstaller

after the starting the installation process follow the these steps and Options

1. Select Installation Method

• Select Basic Installation
• Oracle Home Location: /u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/db_1
• Installation Type: Enterprise Edition (1.3GB)
• UNIX DBA Group: oinstall
• Make sure Create Starter Database is checked
• Global Database Name: demo1
• Enter the Database Password and Confirm Password
• Click on Next

2. Specify Inventory Directory and Credentials

• Inventory Directory: /u01/app/oracle/oraInventory
• Operating System group name: oinstall
• Click on Next

3.Product-specific Prerequisite Checks

• If you've been following the steps in this guide, all the checks should pass without difficulty. If one or more checks fail, correct the problem before proceeding.
• Click on Next

4.Summary

• A summary of the products being installed is presented.
• Click on Install.

5.Configuration Assistants

• The Oracle Net, Oracle Database, and iSQL*Plus configuration assistants will run automatically

6.Execute Configuration Scripts

• At the end of the installation, a pop up window will appear indicating scripts that need to be run as root. Login as root and run the indicated scripts.
• Click on OK when finished.

7.End of Installation

• Make note of the URLs presented in the summary, and click on Exit when ready.

8.Congratulations! Your new Oracle Database database is up and ready for use.

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