Login as a non-root user and start X by typing startx

joeuser:~$ startx

Open a terminal window type and login as root

joeuser:~$ su -
Password: ***********
root:~#

Create and setup the oracle group and oracle account

We need to create a user oracle, which is used to install the product, as well as starting and stopping the database.

root:~# groupadd dba
root:~# groupadd oinstall
root:~# groupadd oracle
root:~# useradd -g dba -G oinstall,oracle -m oracle
root:~# passwd oracle

You will be prompted for the New Password and Confirmation of that password.

Setup the installation location for Oracle. While Oracle can reside in a variety of places in the file system, OpenACS has adopted /ora8 as the base directory.

Note: the Oracle install needs about 1 GB free on /ora8 to install successfully.

root:~# mkdir /ora8
root:/ora8# cd /ora8
root:/ora8# mkdir -p m01 m02 m03/oradata/ora8
root:/ora8# chown -R oracle.dba /ora8
root:/ora8# exit

Set up the oracle user's environment

Make sure that you do not add any lines like the following

# NLS_LANG=american
# export NLS_LANG

These lines will change the Oracle date settings and will break OpenACS since OpenACS depends on the ANSI date format, YYYY-MM-DD dates.

Log out as oracle

oracle:~$ exit

Log back in as oracle and double check that your environment variables are as intended. The env command lists all of the variables that are set in your environment, and grep shows you just the lines you want (those with ORA in it).

joeuser:~$ su - oracle
oracle:~$ env | grep ORA

If it worked, you should see:

ORACLE_SID=ora8
ORACLE_BASE=/ora8/m01/app/oracle
ORACLE_TERM=vt100
ORACLE_HOME=/ora8/m01/app/oracle/product/8.1.7
ORA_NLS33=/ora8/m01/app/oracle/product/8.1.7/ocommon/nls/admin/data

If not, try adding the files to ~/.bashrc instead of .bash_profile. Then logout and log back in again. Also, be certain you are doing su - oracle and not just su oracle. The - means that .bashrc and .bash_profile will be evaluated.

Make sure that /bin, /usr/bin, and /usr/local/bin are in your path by typing:

oracle:~$ echo $PATH
/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/X11R6/bin:/home/oracle/bin:/ora8/m01/app/oracle/product/8.1.7/bin

If they are not, then add them to the .bash_profile by changing the PATH statement above to PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin:$ORACLE_HOME/bin

Log in as oracle and start X if not already running. Start a new terminal:

joeuser:~$ xhost +localhost
joeuser:~$ su - oracle
Password: **********
oracle:~$ export DISPLAY=localhost:0.0

Find the runInstaller script

Check to make sure the file is there.

oracle:/where/oracle/Disk1$ ls
doc  index.htm  install  runInstaller  stage  starterdb

If you don't see runInstaller, you are in the wrong directory.

Run the installer

oracle:/where/oracle/Disk1$ ./runInstaller

A window will open that welcomes you to the 'Oracle Universal Installer' (OUI). Click on "Next"

The "File Locations" screen in the OUI:

The "Unix Group Name" screen in the OUI:

The "Available Products" screen in the OUI:

The "Installation Types" screen

The "Available Product Components" screen

The "Component Locations" screen in the OUI

The "Privileged Operation System Groups" screen in the OUI

The "Authentication Methods" screen

The next screen is "Choose JDK home directory"

The "Create a Database" screen in the OUI

The next screen is "Oracle Product Support"

The "Summary" screen in the OUI

root:~# exit
joeuser:~$ exit

Go back to the pop-up window and click "OK"

The "Configuration Tools" screen in the OUI

The "Welcome" screen in the "net 8 Configuration Assistant"

The "Listener Configuration, Listener Name" screen in the "Net 8 Configuration Assistant"

The "Listener Configuration, Select Protocols" screen in the "Net 8 Configuration Assistant"

The "Listener Configuration TCP/IP Protocol" screen in the "Net 8 Configuration Assistant"

The "Listener Configuration, More Listeners" screen in the "Net 8 Configuration Assistant"

The "Listener Configuration Done" screen in the "Net 8 Configuration Assistant"

The "Naming Methods Configuration" screen in the "Net 8 Configuration Assistant"

The "Done" screen in the "Net 8 Configuration Assistant"

The "End of Installation" screen in the OUI

Make sure you are running X. Open up a terminal and su to oracle and then run the dbassist program.

joeuser:~$ xhost +localhost
joeuser:~$ su - oracle
Password: *********
oracle:~$ export DISPLAY=localhost:0.0
oracle:~$ dbassist

The "Welcome" screen in the Oracle Database Configuration Agent (ODCA)

The "Select database type" screen in the ODCA

The "Primary Database Type" window in ODCA

The "concurrent users" screen of the ODCA

Select "Dedicated Server Mode", click "Next"

Accept all of the options, and click Next Oracle Visual Information Retrieval may be grayed out. If so, you can ignore it; just make sure that everything else is checked.

For "Global Database Name", enter "ora8"; for "SID", also enter "ora8" (it should do this automatically). Click "Change Character Set and select UTF8. Click "Next".

Accept the defaults for the next screen (control file location). Click "Next"

Go to the "temporary" and "rollback" tabs, and change the Size (upper-right text box) to 150MB. Click "Next"

Increase the redo log sizes to 10000K each. Click "Next"

Use the default checkpoint interval & timeout. Click "Next"

Increase "Processes" to 100; "Block Size" to 4096 (better for small Linux boxes; use 8192 for a big Solaris machine).

Accept the defaults for the Trace File Directory. Click "Next"

Finally, select "Save information to a shell script" and click "Finish" (We're going to examine the contents of this file before creating our database.)

Click the "Save" button. Oracle will automatically save it to the correct directory and with the correct file name. This will likely be /ora8/m01/app/oracle/product/8.1.7/assistants/dbca/jlib/sqlora8.sh

It will alert you that the script has been saved successfully.

Now we need to customize the database configuration a bit. While still logged on as oracle, edit the database initialization script (run when the db loads). The scripts are kept in $ORACLE_HOME/dbs and the name of the script is usually initSID.ora where SID is the SID of your database. Assuming your $ORACLE_HOME matches our default of /ora8/m01/app/oracle/product/8.1.7, the following will open the file for editing.

oracle:~$ emacs /ora8/m01/app/oracle/product/8.1.7/dbs/initora8.ora

Add the following line to the end:

nls_date_format = "YYYY-MM-DD"

Now find the open_cursors line in the file. If you're using emacs scroll up to the top of the buffer and do CTRL-S and type open_cursors to find the line. The default is 100. Change it to 500.

open_cursors = 500

Save the file. In emacs, do CTRL-X CTRL-S to save followed by CTRL-X CTRL-C to exit or use the menu.

At this point, you are ready to initiate database creation. We recommend shutting down X to free up some RAM unless you have 256 MB of RAM or more. You can do this quickly by doing a CRTL-ALT-BACKSPACE, but make sure you have saved any files you were editing. You should now be returned to a text shell prompt. If you get sent to a graphical login screen instead, switch to a virtual console by doing CRTL-ALT-F1. Then login as oracle.

Change to the directory where the database creation script is and run it:

oracle:~$ cd /ora8/m01/app/oracle/product/8.1.7/assistants/dbca/jlib
oracle:/ora8/m01/app/oracle/product/8.1.7/assistants/dbca/jlib$ ./sqlora8.sh

In some instances, Oracle will save the file to /ora8/m01/app/oracle/product/8.1.7/assistants/dbca Try running the script there if your first attempt does not succeed.

Your database will now be built. It will take > 1 hour - no fooling. You will see lots of errors scroll by (like: "ORA-01432: public synonym to be dropped does not exist") Fear not, this is normal.

Eventually, you'll be returned to your shell prompt. In the meantime, relax, you've earned it.

You need to download the "Oracle Acceptance Test" file. It's available here and at http://philip.greenspun.com/wtr/oracle/acceptance-sql.txt. Save the file to /tmp

In the oracle shell, copy the file.

oracle:~$ cp /tmp/acceptance-sql.txt /tmp/acceptance.sql

Once you've got the acceptance test file all set, stay in your term and type the following:

oracle:~$ sqlplus system/manager

SQL*Plus should startup. If you get an ORA-01034: Oracle not Available error, it is because your Oracle instance is not running. You can manually start it as the oracle user.

oracle:~$ svrmgrl
SVRMGR> connect internal
SVRMGR> startup

Now that you're into SQL*Plus, change the default passwords for system, sys, and ctxsys to "alexisahunk" (or to something you'll remember):

SQL> alter user system identified by alexisahunk;
SQL> alter user sys identified by alexisahunk;
SQL> alter user ctxsys identified by alexisahunk;

Verify that your date settings are correct.

SQL> select sysdate from dual;

If you don't see a date that fits the format YYYY-MM-DD, please read the section called “Troubleshooting Oracle Dates”.

At this point we are going to hammer your database with an intense acceptance test. This usually takes around 30 minutes.

SQL> @ /tmp/acceptance.sql

; A bunch of lines will scroll by.  You'll know if the test worked if
; you see this at the end:

SYSDATE
----------
2000-06-10

SQL>

Many people encounter an error regarding maximum key length:

ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01450: maximum key length (758) exceeded

This error occurs if your database block size is wrong and is usually suffered by people trying to load OpenACS into a pre-existing database. Unfortunately, the only solution is to create a new database with a block size of at least 4096. For instructions on how to do this, see the section called “Creating the First Database” above. You can set the parameter using the dbassist program or by setting the DB_BLOCK_SIZE parameter in your database's creation script.

If there were no errors, then consider yourself fortunate. Your Oracle installation is working.

Oracle includes a script called dbstart that can be used to automatically start the database. Unfortunately, the script shipped in the Linux distribution does not work out of the box. The fix is simple. Follow these directions to apply it. First, save dbstart to /tmp. Then, as oracle, do the following:

oracle:~$ cp /tmp/dbstart.txt /ora8/m01/app/oracle/product/8.1.7/bin/dbstart 
oracle:~$ chmod 755 /ora8/m01/app/oracle/product/8.1.7/bin/dbstart

While you're logged in as oracle, you should configure the oratab file to load your database at start. Edit the file /etc/oratab:

You need a script to automate startup and shutdown. Save oracle8i.txt in /tmp. Then login as root and install the script. (Debian users: substitute /etc/init.d for /etc/rc.d/init.d throughout this section)

oracle:~$ su -
root:~# cp /tmp/oracle8i.txt /etc/rc.d/init.d/oracle8i
root:~# chown root.root /etc/rc.d/init.d/oracle8i
root:~# chmod 755 /etc/rc.d/init.d/oracle8i

Test the script by typing the following commands and checking the output. (Debian Users: as root, do mkdir /var/lock/subsys first)

root:~# /etc/rc.d/init.d/oracle8i stop
Oracle 8i auto start/stop
Shutting Oracle8i:
Oracle Server Manager Release 3.1.7.0.0 - Production

Copyright (c) 1997, 1999, Oracle Corporation.  All
Rights Reserved.

Oracle8i Enterprise Edition Release 8.1.7.0.1 -
Production
With the Partitioning option
JServer Release 8.1.7.0.1 - Production

SVRMGR> Connected.
SVRMGR> Database closed.
Database dismounted.
ORACLE instance shut down.
SVRMGR>
Server Manager complete.
Database "ora8" shut down.
      
root:~# /etc/rc.d/init.d/oracle8i start
Oracle 8i auto start/stop
Starting Oracle8i: 
SQL*Plus: Release 8.1.7.0.0 - Production on Wed Mar 6 17:56:02 2002

(c) Copyright 2000 Oracle Corporation.  All rights reserved.

SQL> Connected to an idle instance.
SQL> ORACLE instance started.

Total System Global Area   84713632 bytes
Fixed Size                    73888 bytes
Variable Size              76079104 bytes
Database Buffers            8388608 bytes
Redo Buffers                 172032 bytes
Database mounted.
Database opened.
SQL> Disconnected

Database "ora8" warm started.

Database "ora8" warm started.

If it worked, then run these commands to make the startup and shutdown automatic.

You also need some scripts to automate startup and shutdown of the Oracle8i listener. The listener is a name server that allows your Oracle programs to talk to local and remote databases using a standard naming convention. It is required for Intermedia Text and full site search.

Download these three scripts into /tmp

Now issue the following commands (still as root).

root:~# su - oracle
oracle:~$ cp /tmp/startlsnr.txt /ora8/m01/app/oracle/product/8.1.7/bin/startlsnr
oracle:~$ cp /tmp/stoplsnr.txt /ora8/m01/app/oracle/product/8.1.7/bin/stoplsnr    
oracle:~$ chmod 755 /ora8/m01/app/oracle/product/8.1.7/bin/startlsnr
oracle:~$ chmod 755 /ora8/m01/app/oracle/product/8.1.7/bin/stoplsnr
oracle:~$ exit
root:~# cp /tmp/listener8i.txt /etc/rc.d/init.d/listener8i
root:~# cd /etc/rc.d/init.d
root:/etc/rc.d/init.d# chmod 755 listener8i

Test the listener automation by running the following commands and checking the output.

root:/etc/rc.d/init.d# ./listener8i stop
Oracle 8i listener start/stop
Shutting down Listener for 8i: 
LSNRCTL for Linux: Version 8.1.7.0.0 - Production on 06-MAR-2002 18:28:49

(c) Copyright 1998, Oracle Corporation.  All rights reserved.

Connecting to (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=localhost.localdomain)(PORT=1521)))
The command completed successfully

    
root:/etc/rc.d/init.d# ./listener8i start
Oracle 8i listener start/stop
Starting the Listener for 8i: 
LSNRCTL for Linux: Version 8.1.7.0.0 - Production on 06-MAR-2002 18:28:52

(c) Copyright 1998, Oracle Corporation.  All rights reserved.

Starting /ora8/m01/app/oracle/product/8.1.7/bin/tnslsnr: please wait...

TNSLSNR for Linux: Version 8.1.7.0.0 - Production
System parameter file is /ora8/m01/app/oracle/product/8.1.7/network/admin/listener.ora
Log messages written to /ora8/m01/app/oracle/product/8.1.7/network/log/listener.log
Listening on: (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=localhost.localdomain)(PORT=1521)))
Listening on: (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=ipc)(KEY=EXTPROC)))

Connecting to (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=localhost.localdomain)(PORT=1521)))
STATUS of the LISTENER
------------------------
Alias                     LISTENER
Version                   TNSLSNR for Linux: Version 8.1.7.0.0 - Production
Start Date                06-MAR-2002 18:28:53
Uptime                    0 days 0 hr. 0 min. 0 sec
Trace Level               off
Security                  OFF
SNMP                      OFF
Listener Parameter File   /ora8/m01/app/oracle/product/8.1.7/network/admin/listener.ora
Listener Log File         /ora8/m01/app/oracle/product/8.1.7/network/log/listener.log
Services Summary...
  PLSExtProc        has 1 service handler(s)
  ora8      has 1 service handler(s)
The command completed successfully

This test will verify that the listener is operating normally. Login into the database using the listener naming convention.

sqlplus username/password/@SID

root:~# su - oracle
oracle:~$ sqlplus system/alexisahunk@ora8

SQL> select sysdate from dual;

SYSDATE
----------
2002-02-22

SQL> exit
oracle:~$ exit
root:~#

Test the automation

As a final test, reboot your computer and make sure Oracle comes up. You can do this by typing

root:~# /sbin/shutdown -r -t 0 now

Log back in and ensure that Oracle started automatically.

joeuser:~$ su - oracle
oracle:~$ sqlplus system/alexisahunk@ora8

SQL> exit

Dropping a tablespace