How to Install and Configure Oracle on Linux

The install process for the latest release of Oracle for Linux (8.1.5 or Oracle8i) is slightly different. The installer has been rewritten in Java so the look and feel along with some of the responses are different. This section will cover the differences in the new install process.

You still need to create your dba group, oracle user, directories and mount points.

Download and install JRE (or JDK) 1.1.6 v5 from http://www.blackdown.org/. Create a symbolic link for the directory in which you installed JRE.

ln -s jre_install_location /usr/local/jre

Mount the CD-ROM which contains the Oracle8i software:

mount -t iso9660 /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom

cd /mnt/cdrom
 ./runInstaller

You should see a welcome screen like Figure 29. Click “Next”. You will be prompted for the location of the installation jar file and your Oracle home directory. Make any necessary changes and click “Next” (Figure 30). Enter the dba group you created in the previous step (Figure 31) and click “Next”. You will be prompted to run /tmp/OraInstall/orainstRoot.sh (Figure 32). After you run it, you should see the following lines of output:

Creating Oracle Inventory pointer file (/etc/oraInst.loc)
Changing group name of /u01/app/oracle/product/oraInventory to dba.
Return to the pop-up window and click Retry.

Figure 43

You will be prompted to install the Oracle8i Enterprise Server, Oracle8i Client or Oracle Programmer. Select the “Enterprise Serveri” (Figure 47) and click “Next”. You will be prompted for the type of install. Select “Custom” (Figure 33) and click “Next”. You will be prompted for which products you want to install (Figures 34, 35, 36). After you have selected the products to install, click “Next”. You can change the locations the products will be installed in or click “Next” to take the defaults (Figure 37). You will be prompted to create the database using the Oracle Database Configuration Assistant (DBCA). Select “Yes” and click “Next” (Figure 38). You will be prompted for the Global Database Name and the SID. Modify the screen capture to reflect your names (Figure 39). You will be prompted for the location of your database files. In my example, I used the mount point /u01 (Figure 40). You will prompted to select which network protocol(s) to install based on which protocols are present on your machine (Figure 41) click “Next”. You will see a summary of your install options. This will allow you to use the “Previous” button to change any settings that are incorrect (Figure 42). When you are ready to begin the install process click “Install”. The install screen will list where the log file from the install is being written (Figure 44). This information will come in handy if something goes wrong during the installation. When the install is complete, you will see a pop-up window (Figure 45). Note the location of the script to run as root, change to the directory where the root.sh script is located and run it. You may have to change the permissions on it to make it executable.

cd /u01/app/oracle/product/8.1.5
export ORACLE_OWNER=oracle
export ORACLE_SID=greg
chmod 700 root.sh
 ./root.sh

After the root.sh script successfully executes (expected output in Figure 46) return to the pop-up message and click “OK”. At this point the installation is complete, and you can click “Next”, then “Exit”. The testing and automation procedures are the same as in the previous section for Oracle 8.0.5.

All listings referred to in this article are available by anonymous download in the file ftp.linuxjournal.com/pub/lj/listings/issue67/3572.tgz