Introduction

This paper will walk you through the steps of installing Oracle Database 11g release 2 (Oracle version 11.2.0) in a
Linux environment. About 90% of the material presented here applies to other platforms as well. Everything you read
in this paper is hands on, roll-up-your-sleeves-and-get-busy material for Oracle users who want to get anOracle
database up and running quickly without reading hundreds of pages of documentation and readme files.
These steps are meant to get you up and running as fast as possible, while leveraging best practices in order to set up
a scalable, robust database environment that offers high performance. In order to keep the steps reasonably simple
this paper does not cover Real Application Clusters (RAC), nor does it cover Oracle Internet Directory (OID),
Automatic Storage Management (ASM), or Grid Control.
In this paper we will install the 11.2.0.1 release of Oracle Database 11g. This is the base distribution of Oracle
Database 11g release 2. Be sure to check Oracle Supports Metalink at http://metalink.oracle.com to see if a newer
patch set has been released since this paper was published. You will need a valid Customer Service Identifier (CSI)
number in order to access the Metalink website.
We ran our Oracle installations on servers equipped with Intel Xeon processors running Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES
release 5 (Tikanga), update 4 (x86_64). Oracle Database 11g is supported on other processor architectures and Linux
distributions as well. Note that with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the ES and AS varieties are supported while WS is not.
There are four phases to getting Oracle up and running on your server:
1.

Prepare the server

2.

Install the Oracle software and latest patch set

3.

Create a database

4.

Complete the server configuration

We will walk through these phases one at a time, detailing all the steps involved. The end result will be a very usable
database that can be scaled up quite large, and an Oracle installation that follows industry-recognized best
practices. Of course, every implementation is unique, and you will need to evaluate each step carefully against your
particular requirements. However, this paper will get you off to a very solid start.
The author wishes to acknowledge that this paper draws heavily from the previous Database Specialists, Inc. paper
"Installing and Configuring Oracle Database 10g on the Linux Platform" by Roger Schrag - thanks Roger!

Prepare the Server

These steps configure your database server so that it will be ready to accept the Oracle software and database. In
this section, we will make sure your server meets Oracles minimum requirements, create a Linux user and group to
own the software, and create some directories that will be used by the Oracle software and database. All of the
steps in this section are run as the root user.
1.

Make sure that your hardware platform (processor architecture) is certified by Oracle Corporation for use
with Oracle Database 11g release 2, and that you have acquired the correct distribution of Oracle software
for your hardware platform. As of May 2010, the supported hardware platforms for Oracle on Linux are as
follows:

Supported Hardware Platforms for Oracle Database 11g release 2

x86 (Intel and AMD processor chips that adhere to the x86 32-bit architecture)
x86-64 (AMD64/EM64T and Intel processor chips that adhere to the x86-64 architecture)
2.

3.

The following commands can be used to identify the processor architecture on your database server:

$ uname -m

4.

$ grep "model name" /proc/cpuinfo

5.
6.

Make sure that your Linux distribution is certified by Oracle Corporation for use with Oracle Database 11g
release 2. Note that certifications vary by hardware platform. As of May 2010, the supported Linux
distributions are as follows:

Supported Linux Distributions for Oracle Database 11g release 2

Oracle Enterprise Linux 5 update 2, kernel 2.6.18-92 or higher
Oracle Enterprise Linux 4 update 7
Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS/ES 5 update 2 or later
Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS/ES 4 update 7 or later
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11.0, kernel 2.6.27.19-5 or higher
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10.0 with SP2 or later, kernel 2.6.16.21-0.8 or higher
Asianux 3.0
Asianux 2.0 (update 7 required for x86)
7.

Be sure to check Oracle Supports Metalink for the latest certification information, because it is quite
possible that Oracle Database 11g release 2 has been certified with additional Linux distributions or
hardware platforms since this paper was written.

8.

On systems running Red Hat distributions of Linux, you can use the following command to determine exactly
which version and update of Red Hat you are using:

9.

$ cat /etc/redhat-release

10.
11. Make sure that all of the required operating system packages have been installed on the database server.
Which packages and versions are required will vary depending on your Linux distribution and hardware
platform. The package version specified is typically a minimum, meaning that newer versions of the
package are usually acceptable.
Required Packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4
Oracle Enterprise Linux 4 and Asianux 2.0
(x86 Hardware Platform)

Required Packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5

Oracle Enterprise Linux 5 and Asianux 3.0
(x86 Hardware Platform)

binutils-2.15.92.0.2

binutils-2.17.50.0.6

compat-libstdc++-33.2.3

compat-libstdc++-33-3.2.3

elfutils-libelf-0.97

elfutils-libelf-0.125

elfutils-libelf-devel-0.97

elfutils-libelf-devel-0.125

gcc-3.4.6

elfutils-libelf-devel-static-0.125

gcc-c++-3.4.6

gcc-4.1.2

glibc-2.3.4-2.41

gcc-c++-4.1.2

glibc-common-2.3.4

glibc-2.5-24

glibc-devel-2.3.4

glibc-common-2.5

glibc-headers-2.3.4

glibc-devel-2.5

libaio-devel-0.3.105

glibc-headers-2.5

libaio-0.3.105

kernel-headers-2.6.18

libgcc-3.4.6

ksh-20060214

libstdc++-3.4.6

libaio-0.3.106

libstdc++-devel-3.4.6

libaio-devel-0.3.106

make-3.80

libgcc-4.1.2

pdksh-5.2.14

libgomp-4.1.2

sysstat-5.0.5

libstdc++-4.1.2

unixODBC-2.2.11

libstdc++-devel 4.1.2

make-3.81
unixODBC-devel-2.2.11

sysstat-7.0.2
unixODBC-2.2.11
unixODBC-devel-2.2.11

Required Packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4

Oracle Enterprise Linux 4 and Asianux 2.0
(x86-64 Hardware Platform)
binutils-2.15.92.0.2
compat-libstdc++-33-3.2.3 (both 32 and 64 bit required)
elfutils-libelf-0.97
elfutils-libelf-devel-0.97
expat-1.95.7
gcc-3.4.6
gcc-c++-3.4.6
glibc-2.3.4-2.41 (both 32 and 64 bit required)
glibc-common-2.3.4
glibc-devel-2.3.4
glibc-headers-2.3.4
libaio-0.3.105 (both 32 and 64 bit required)
libaio-devel-0.3.105 (both 32 and 64 bit required)
libgcc-3.4.6 (both 32 and 64 bit required)
libstdc++-3.4.6 (both 32 and 64 bit required)
libstdc++-devel 3.4.6
make-3.80
pdksh-5.2.14
sysstat-5.0.5
unixODBC-2.2.11 (both 32 and 64 bit required)
unixODBC-devel-2.2.11 (both 32 and 64 bit required)

Required Packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5

Oracle Enterprise Linux 5 and Asianux 3.0
(x86-64 Hardware Platform)
binutils-2.17.50.0.6
compat-libstdc++-33-3.2.3 (both 32 and 64 bit required)
elfutils-libelf-0.125
elfutils-libelf-devel-0.125
gcc-4.1.2
gcc-c++-4.1.2
glibc-2.5-24 (both 32 and 64 bit required)
glibc-common-2.5
glibc-devel-2.5 (both 32 and 64 bit required)
glibc-headers-2.5
ksh-20060214
libaio-0.3.106 (both 32 and 64 bit required)
libaio-devel-0.3.106 (both 32 and 64 bit required)
libgcc-4.1.2 (both 32 and 64 bit required)
libstdc++-4.1.2 (both 32 and 64 bit required)
libstdc++-devel 4.1.2
make-3.81
sysstat-7.0.2
unixODBC-2.2.11 (both 32 and 64 bit required)
unixODBC-devel-2.2.11 (both 32 and 64 bit required)

Required Packages for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server

10.0
(x86 Hardware Platform)

Required Packages for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server

11.0
(x86 Hardware Platform)

binutils-2.16.91.0.5

binutils-2.19

compat-libstdc++-5.0.7

gcc43-4.3.3_20081022-11.18

gcc-4.1.2

gcc43-c++-4.3.3_20081022-11.18

gcc-c++-4.1.2

gcc-4.3

glibc-2.5-24

gcc-c++-4.3

glibc-devel-2.4

glibc-2.9

ksh-93r-12.9

glibc-devel-2.9

libaio-0.3.104

ksh-93t

libaio-devel-0.3.104

libstdc++33-3.3.3

libelf-0.8.5

libstdc++43-4.3.3_20081022

libgcc-4.1.2

libstdc++43-devel-4.3.3_20081022

libstdc++-4.1.2

libaio-0.3.104

libstdc++-devel-4.1.2

libaio-devel-0.3.104

make-3.80

libgcc43-4.3.3_20081022

sysstat-8.0.4

libstdc++-devel-4.3

cvudisk-1.0.2-1 (from the 11gR2 Clusterware disk)

linux-kernel-headers-2.6.27-2.22

unixODBC-2.2.11 (if intending to use ODBC)

make-3.81

unixODBC-devel-2.2.11 (if intending to use ODBC)

sysstat-8.1.5

Required Packages for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server

11.0
(x86-64 Hardware Platform)
Required Packages for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
10.0
(x86-64 Hardware Platform)
binutils-2.16.91.0.5
compat-libstdc++-5.0.7
gcc-4.1.0
gcc-c++-4.1.2
glibc-2.5-24
glibc-devel-2.4
glibc-devel-32bit-2.4
ksh-93r-12.9
libaio-0.3.104
libaio-32bit-0.3.104
libaio-devel-0.3.104
libaio-devel-32bit-0.3.104
libelf-0.8.5
libgcc-4.1.2
libstdc++-4.1.2
libstdc++-devel-4.1.2
make-3.80
sysstat-8.0.4

binutils-2.19
gcc-4.3
gcc-32bit-4.3
gcc-c++-4.3
glibc-2.9
glibc-32bit-2.9
glibc-devel-2.9
glibc-devel-32bit-2.4
ksh-93t
libaio-0.3.104
libaio-32bit-0.3.104
libaio-devel-0.3.104
libaio-devel-32bit-0.3.104
libstdc++33-3.3.3
libstdc++33-32bit-3.3.3
libstdc++43-4.3.3_20081022
libstdc++43-32bit-4.3.3_20081022
libstdc++43-devel-4.3.3_20081022
libstdc++43-devel-32bit-4.3.3_20081022
libgcc43-4.3.3_20081022
libstdc++-devel-4.3
make-3.81
sysstat-8.1.5

15. Notes: elfutils-libelf-devel has a mutual dependency with elfutils-libelf-devel-static so they must both be
installed with a single rpm command e.g. (for x86-64)

16. rpm -ivh elfutils-libelf-devel-static-0.137-3.el5.x86_64.rpm \

17.
elfutils-libelf-devel-0.137-3.el5.x86_64.rpm
18.
19. Also some of these packages also have pre-reqs e.g. glibc-headers requires glibc-kernheaders, gcc (x86_64)
requires libgomp, glibc-headers (x86_84) required kernel-headers (x86_64), etc.
20. You can use the following command to verify that a package has been installed:

21. $ rpm -q
22. The following command will verify all of the packages required on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (x86_86)
systems:

23. $ rpm -q binutils compat-libstdc++-33 elfutils-libelf elfutilslibelf-devel \

24.
gcc gcc-c++ glibc glibc-common glibc-devel glibc-headers
ksh \
25.
libaio libaio-devel libgcc libstdc++- libstdc++-devel make
\
26.
sysstat unixODBC unixODBC-devel
27. Note that in the cases where both the 32 bit and 64 bit architecture of an RPM are required you should see
the same package twice in the output. You can confirm that both have been installed with a command
similar to the following:

28. $ rpm -qa --queryformat "%{NAME}-%{VERSION}-%{RELEASE} (%{ARCH})\n"

| grep libaio
29. You will need to perform the Oracle installation from an X window environmentyou cannot use a character
mode environment such as an SSH or telnet session. There is a facility for performing non-interactive
installations (silent installs), but we wont be covering that technique here. Your X environment can be
the console on the database server, but it does not need to be. You can also use a Windows X emulator like
Cygwin. If the database server is in a remote location, you can use SSH to securely forward X traffic from
the database server back to your desktop. You can also use VNC to install remotely. We have run
installations from a Windows desktop using both Cygwin and VNC and have had no problems with either.
Over slow networks, VNC seems to be faster than X.

30. Make sure that your hardware is sufficient. Youll need at least 1024 Mb RAM, a swap space at least the size
of physical memory (or 1.5 times the amount of physical memory if you have 2 Gb or less of RAM), and a
bare minimum of 6.5 Gb of disk space. This will let you perform a typical Enterprise or Standard Edition
software installation from CD or DVD and create a starter database. If you will be downloading the Oracle
software from Oracle Technology Network at http://www.oracle.com/technology, you will need about 1.4
Gb of additional disk space to download and unpack the Oracle software. A production implementation
typically requires more RAM and more disk space than the minimums listed here. The following commands
will allow you to check physical memory and swap space:

31.

$ grep MemTotal /proc/meminfo

$ grep SwapTotal /proc/meminfo

32. The Oracle installer will need access to a directory with at least 1 Gb of free space for writing temporary
files during installation. Usually /tmp serves this purpose. If /tmp on your database server has less than 1
Gb of free space, then you will need to locate another directory with sufficient free space for use during
the installation. You can point at this other directory by setting the TMP and TMPDIR environment variables
in the oracle user's environment

33. Make sure that the Linux kernel on the database server has parameters set sufficiently high for Oracle. The
Oracle architecture makes extensive use of shared memory segments for sharing data among multiple
processes and semaphores for handling locking. Many operating systems, including Linux, do not by default
offer sufficient shared memory or semaphores for optimal Oracle performance. Thankfully, you can change
kernel parameters in Linux simply by editing the /etc/sysctl.conf file and rebooting the server. The
following script will show the current settings of the Linux kernel parameters relevant to Oracle:

34.
35.
36.
37.
38.

semmni"

39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.

K="/tmp/kernelparams$"
/sbin/sysctl -a > $K 2> /dev/null
grep aio-max-nr $K
grep kernel.shm $K
echo "`grep sem $K | tr '\t' ' '` # semmsl semmns semopm

grep file-max $K
grep ip_local_port_range $K | tr '\t' ' '
grep rmem_default $K
grep rmem_max $K
grep wmem_default $K
grep wmem_max $K
grep aio-max-nr $K
rm -f $K
The following table shows the purpose of each of these kernel parameters and a recommended setting to
get you started:

Kernel
Parameter

Setting To
Get

Purpose

You Started
aio-max-nr

1048576

The total number of concurrent outstanding I/O requests

shmmni

4096

Maximum number of shared memory segments

shmall

2097152

Maximum total shared memory (4 Kb pages)

shmmax

4294967295

Maximum size of a single shared memory segment. Set to either (4GB -1) or
1/2 the size of physical memory (in bytes) whichever is lower

semmsl

250

Maximum number of semaphores per set

semmns

32000

Maximum number of semaphores

semopm

100

Maximum operations per semop call

semmni

128

Maximum number of semaphore sets

file-max

6815744

Maximum number of open files

ip_local_port_range 9000 - 65500

Range of ports to use for client connections

rmem_default

262144

Default TCP/IP receive window

rmem_max

4194304

Maximum TCP/IP receive window

wmem_default

262144

Maximum TCP/IP send window

wmem_max

1048576

Maximum TCP/IP send window

These settings will be appropriate for most systems. If you decide to configure a very large buffer cache or
library cache for your database down the road, or if you choose to run a large number of databases on one
server, then you may need to increase the shmall setting and possibly the shmmax setting as well. In
addition, if you configure your database to allow a large number of concurrent sessions without using
Oracle's shared server architecture, then you may need to increase the semmsl and semmns settings as
well.
Note that these recommended settings assume you have no other applications running on the database
server that use shared memory segments or semaphores. You can view current shared memory and
semaphore usage on your system with the following command:

$ ipcs
In general, if your Linux kernel already has any of these parameters set larger than recommended here, you
should not reduce the settings.
We added the following lines to the end of our /etc/sysctl.conf file:

# Kernel parameter settings for Oracle

fs.aio-max-nr = 1048576
fs.file-max = 6815744
kernel.shmall = 2097152
kernel.shmmax = 4294967295
kernel.shmmni = 4096
kernel.sem = 250 32000 100 128
net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range = 9000 65500
net.core.rmem_default = 262144
net.core.rmem_max = 4194304
net.core.wmem_default = 262144
net.core.wmem_max = 1048586
Depending upon your Linux version you can dynamically update the system values via the command

$ /sbin/sysctl -p
or simply reboot the server for these parameters to take effect.
If you are using SUSE Linux, then you must run the following command before rebooting the server to ensure
that the /etc/sysctl.conf file will be read during reboot:

$ /sbin/chkconfig boot.sysctl on

46. Create a Linux group that will be used by the Oracle software owner. You can call it anything you like, but
the standard is oinstall. This group is often called the Oracle Inventory group. If you will be installing
Oracle on multiple servers on your network, you might want to keep the groupid the same on all servers.
You can create your oinstall group with a command like:

$ /usr/sbin/groupadd -g 501 oinstall

If you are using SUSE Linux, then you must also enter the GID of the oinstall group as the value for the
parameter /proc/sys/vm/hugetlb_shm_group and add vm.hugetlb_shm_group to the /etc/sysctl.conf file.
Doing this grants members of the oinstall group permission to create shared memory segments. For
example, where the oinstall group GID is 501 (as above) enter

$ echo 501 > /proc/sys/vm/hugetbl_shm_group

Add add the line

vm.hugetlb_shm_group=501
to the /etc/sysctl.conf file.

47. Create a Linux group that will be used by Oracle database administrators. You can call it anything you like,
but the standard is dba. Anybody who logs onto the database server with a Linux login that belongs to this
group will be able to log onto all databases that run from this Oracle software installation with DBA
privileges. If you will be installing Oracle on multiple servers on your network, you might want to keep the
groupid the same on all servers. You can create your dba group with a command like:

$ /usr/sbin/groupadd -g 502 dba

48. Create a Linux user that will be the Oracle software owner. You can call it anything you like, but the
standard is oracle. If you will be installing Oracle on multiple servers on your network, you might want to
keep the userid the same on all servers. Note that this users home directory will not be the ORACLE_HOME
or where the actual Oracle software is installed; this users home directory should be in the same place as
other users home directories.
The Oracle software owner should have the oinstall group as the primary group and the dba group as a
secondary group. You can create your oracle user with commands like:

$ /usr/sbin/useradd -c 'Oracle software owner' -d

/home/oracle \
-g oinstall -G dba -m -u 501 -s /bin/bash
oracle
$ passwd oracle
The useradd command shown here gives your oracle user the Bash shell. You could just as easily choose Korn
or Bourne shell instead.

49. It is necessary to increase limits that the shell imposes on the oracle user for maximum number of open file
descriptors and processes. Follow these steps to increase the limits:

a.

b.
c.
d.

Add the following lines in the /etc/security/limits.conf file:

oracle
oracle
oracle
oracle

soft
hard
soft
hard

nproc
nproc
nofile
nofile

2047
16384
1024
65536

e.

Add the following lines to the /etc/pam.d/login file, if they are not already present:

f.

g.

session
session

/lib/security/pam_limits.so
pam_limits.so

Add the following lines in the /etc/profile file (or the /etc/profile.local file on SUSE systems) if
the oracle user uses the Bash, Korn or Bourne shell:

h.
i.
j.
k.
l.
m.
n.
o.

p.

required
required

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
If the oracle user uses the C shell, then add the following lines in the /etc/csh.login file (or the
/etc/csh.login.local file on SUSE systems):

q.
r.
s.
t.

if ( $USER ==
limit
limit
umask
endif

"oracle" ) then
maxproc 16384
descriptors 65536
022

50. Create mount points for the Oracle software and the Oracle database. Each mount point should correspond
to a separate physical device or set of devices. Youll need at least one mount point. Typically you use one
mount point for the Oracle software and one or more mount points for each database. One common
convention is to call the mount points /u01, /u02, and so on. Because mount points are typically owned by
root and the Oracle installer will run as the oracle user and not as root, you should create some
subdirectories now to avoid permission problems later. Create an app/oracle subdirectory below the
software mount point, and oradata subdirectories below the mount points to be used for database files.
(You can put software and a database on the same mount point if you wish.) Make these subdirectories
owned by the oracle user and oinstall group, and give them 775 permissions, except for the datafile
directory, give this 750 permissions. You can use commands like:

51.
52.
53.
54.

$
$
$
$

mkdir
chown
chmod
chmod

-p /u01/app /u01/app/oracle /u01/oradata

oracle:oinstall /u01/app /u01/app/oracle /u01/oradata
775 /u01/app /u01/app/oracle
750 /u01/oradata

55. If you downloaded the Oracle software Oracle Technology Network, then use unzip to unpack the
distribution. If you have the software on CD or DVD, then mount the Oracle Database 11g release 2 media
now.

56. As an optional step, it is suggested that you validate your configuration using the pre-install tests of Oracle's
Remote Diagnostic Agent (rda.sh), you can find details of doing this in Metalink note 250262.1. The
procedure is to download the latest version of rda.sh and run its pre-install checklist via the command

57.
58.
59.

cd
./rda.sh -T hcve

then choose the appropriate option 'Oracle Database 11g R2 (11.2.0) Preinstall (Linux AMD64)' option. As of
May 2010 the 11gR2 pre-install option does not exist for AMD64 but does exist for Linux-x86, we expect
AMD64 support will be added shortly.

Install the Oracle Software and Latest Patch Set

These steps install the Oracle software and latest patch set on your server. As of this writing, Oracle release
11.2.0.1.0 is the only version of Oracle Database 11g release 2 available for download from Oracle Technology
Network or available on CD or DVD media. At some point in the future, Oracle will release latest patchsets (e.g.
11.2.0.2, 11.2.0.3, etc.) however the first such patchset has not yet been release. Therefore, we will install Oracle
release 11.2.0.1.0. Once Oracle have released a patch set you should apply the patchset on top of the base
11.2.0.1.0 release. Before proceeding with the steps in this section, you should check Oracle Technology Network
(http://www.oracle.com/technology) and Oracle Supports Metalink (http://metalink.oracle.com) to see if any 11g
release 2 patch sets are available.
The Oracle Universal Installer will suggest creating a database at the same time that it installs the Oracle software.
Although we do not have any latest patchsets to install, we will hold off on the database creation until a later step
since that is the preferred sequence of events once a 11g release 2 patch set is eventually released.
In this section, we will prepare the oracle users environment, run the Oracle Universal Installer and tidy up a few
minor loose ends. All of the steps in this section, except where noted, are run as the oracle user.
1.

2.
3.

Edit the oracle users login file on the database server so that the environment will be configured
automatically on login. If you are using Bash shell, then edit .bash_profile. If you are using Bourne or Korn
shell, then edit .profile. You can also use C shell and edit .cshrc, but the syntax will be different from the
examples you see here. For now, we will hardcode certain things. But after we create a database, we will
come back and eliminate all hard codings. Here is what we added to our .bash_profile for the install:

#
# Substitute your Oracle software mount point in the line

below.

4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.

export ORACLE_BASE=/u01/app/oracle
#
# Ensure that ORACLE_HOME and TNS_ADMIN are not set.
unset ORACLE_HOME
unset TNS_ADMIN
#
# If your /tmp directory has less than 1 Gb free, then edit
# and uncomment the following three lines.
# TMP=/mount_point_with_1Gb_free
# TMPDIR=/same_mount_point
# export TMP TMPDIR
#
# The documentation does not mention how PATH should be set.
# The following PATH setting worked for us:
export PATH=/usr/local/bin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin

18. Log out and log back in as the oracle user from an X window so that the environment is set correctly. If you
will be performing the installation from a PC or other workstation instead of using the database servers
console directly, you may wish to forward X window traffic over an SSH connection. This offers increased
security (in the case of a public network) and convenience. If you will be performing the installation from a
Windows PC, you can use PuTTY to forward your X window traffic by selecting the Enable X11 forwarding
checkbox in PuTTYs SSH Tunnels configuration screen. As an alternative to X, you may wish instead to start
a VNC server on your database server by running the following command as the oracle user:

$ /usr/bin/vncserver
With a VNC server running in this way, you can achieve an X environment by running a VNC viewer on your
desktop workstation. You can shut down the VNC server by running the following command:

$ /usr/bin/vncserver -kill :1

19. Make sure your DISPLAY variable is set. If you are forwarding X window traffic over an SSH connection, using
VNC, or working from the servers console directly, the DISPLAY variable should already be set for you. If

your DISPLAY variable has not been set already, then you will need to set it manually to the IP address of
your X server plus the X server and screen numbers. You can set your DISPLAY variable with a command like:

$ export DISPLAY=myworkstation:0.0
20. If you had to set your DISPLAY variable manually in the previous step, then ensure that the X server on your
workstation will allow your database server to open windows on your display. The easiest way to do this is
to issue an xhost command from a session on your workstation. (Dont get confused and issue the command
in a window that is logged onto your database server.) You can issue a command like:

$ xhost +mydatabaseserver
21. Ensure that the mount point you plan to use for the Oracle software has sufficient free space. For a basic
Enterprise Edition and patch set installation, allow 1.6 Gb for the software mount point as a bare minimum.

22. Double check that you are logged in as oracle and not root, and that the environment variables have been
set by the login script you prepared earlier. Then change to your home directory and start the Oracle
Universal Installer with a command like one of the following:

$ /database/runInstaller
or

$ /runInstaller
Well walk through the installer prompts one at a time:

a.

The Configure Security Updates window appears. If you wish to receive security updates via email
then enter your email address and your Oracle support password. If not, deselect the checkbox.
Click Next. If you deselected the checkbox hit 'Yes' when the popup warning that you have not
provided an email address appears.

b.

The Select Installation Option windows appears. Choose option 'Install database software only'.
Click Next.

c.

The Node Selection window appears. Choose Single instance database installation and then click
Next.

d.

When the Select Product Languages window appears move the desired languages into the right
hand panel. Click Next.

e.

The Select Database Edition window appears. We will perform a typical install to get a basic set
of Oracle software installed. You can rerun the installer again later and choose Custom to install
additional products individually. For now, choose Standard Edition or Enterprise Edition. The
Enterprise Edition of Oracle Database 11g has some very sophisticated features missing from
Standard Edition, and the opportunity to purchase additional options that might be valuable to a
large enterprise. However, the Enterprise Edition is much more expensive than Standard Edition. It
is very important that you choose the edition that matches your license, as this will be difficult to
fix later. The Select Options button display 6 extra cost options that can only be licensed against
the Enterprise Edition. Again your specific license agreement needs to be consulted here, it is
recommended that you deselect the extra cost options that your have not purchased. Click Next.

f.

The Specify Installation Location window appears. Oracle provides a suggested Oracle Base Path
for the Oracle home (software installation) that is about to be created. You can name this Oracle
home anything you like. Beginning in Oracle Database 11g the standard for Oracle home location
has changed to /<mount-point>/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_<N>. In 10g the dbhome
string was shortened to db. The naming convention, such as dbhome_1, dbhome_2 allows you to
install multiple copies of the same Oracle version on one server in a standardized way. Note that

we will refer back to this path frequently, calling it the Oracle home or simply $ORACLE_HOME. If
you are planning to go with the path suggestion provided by Oracle, make sure there isnt an extra
occurrence of the oracle component in the path.When you are satisfied with the path of Oracle
Base and the name and path for your Oracle home, click Next.
g.

If you do not have at least 4,397MB of free disk space available in your $ORACLE_HOME you will
get an error. Make sure you have enough free space available, otherwise you will not be able to
proceed with the install.

h.

If the Create Inventory window appears, set the inventory directory to the parent of the
$ORACLE_BASE directory, remember you set the value of the $ORACLE_BASE environment variable
in the login script. In the oraInventory Group Name field, select the oinstall group. Click Next. You
won't see this window if you have previously installed Oracle software on this database server.
Historically it was common to have the inventory directory located as $ORACLE_BASE/oraInventory
but in 11g Oracle are recommending against this configuration.

i.

The Privileged Operating System Groups screen appears. Set the OSDBA Group to 'dba' and the
OSOPER Group to 'oinstall'. Click Next.

j.

The Prerequisite Checks will run, if they all pass then the installer will continue onto the Summary
window. Obviously if you have failed any prerequisite checks you should resolve them before
proceeding. Assuming you made it to the Summary window Click Finish.

k.

During the installation an Execute Configuration Scripts window will appear. The installation will
be paused at this point, waiting for you to run scripts as root. (The first time you install Oracle
software on the database server there will be two scripts to run as root, while additional
installations only require one script to be run as root.) You should open another window, log in to
the database server as root, review the scripts to be run thoroughly, run the scripts, and click OK
in the Execute Configuration Scripts window.

l.

Once the root scripts have ran the installer will display the Finish window, click Close to end the
installation.

23. At this point we are ready to patch the Oracle software installation with the latest maintenance release
available. Log onto Oracle Oracle Supports Metalink (http://metalink.oracle.com) and download the latest
patch set for Linux x86_64 or whichever processor architecture your database server uses. As of this writing,
there are no patch sets available so we will skip this step, once a patch set becomes available we will
update this document with the instructions for the patch set.

24. In addition to the latest maintenance release you should consider applying the latest 'Critical Patch Update
(CPU)' which contains the latest security patches or the current 'Patch Set Update (PSU)' which contains
Oracle's recommended bug fixes in addition to the latest security patches. These patches are released
quarterly. Since the instructions may differ slightly from one patch to the next so we do not cover the
specifics here. You can find the latest patch and its install instructions on Oracle Support site.

25. In $ORACLE_HOME/bin (the bin directory under your Oracle home) you will find a shell script called oraenv.
This script can be called from .bash_profile or .profile to set up a users environment automatically
whenever they log onto the database server. We will customize the oraenv script because there are a few
variables that the script should set but doesnt. Make a backup copy of the oraenv script and then edit it,
adding the following lines to the very end:

26.
27.
28.

your

# Begin customizations
DBA=$ORACLE_BASE/admin
# Substitute the locale and character set you plan to use for

29.

# database in the line below. Nowadays the two main common

choices are:
30.
#
NLS_LANG=american_america.WE8MSWIN1252 (11gR2 Unix
default)
31.
#
NLS_LANG=american_america.AL32UTF8
(Unicode 5)
32.
NLS_LANG=american_america.WE8MSWIN1252
33.
export DBA NLS_LANG
# End customizations
You should set NLS_LANG to match the character set of the database you will create later. The Database
Configuration Assistant (dbca) now offers two primary choices, the default character set for your platform
based on the upon the language setting of your operating system (WE8MSWIN1252 in our install) and
AL32UTF8 which corresponds to Unicode 5.0 in 11g. Oracle recommend using AL32UTF8 for the database
character set e.g. see Metalink note 333489.1. You should carefully choose your character set as it is not
easy to change after the database is created.

34. In the same directory youll also find a shell script called coraenv that can be called from .cshrc. If you use
C shell, you will want to back up and edit coraenv with similar changes to the oraenv script.

35. The root.sh script copied oraenv and coraenv from $ORACLE_HOME/bin to the /usr/local/bin directory. You
just updated these scripts in $ORACLE_HOME/bin. Copy the updated versions to the /usr/local/bin
directory.

Create a Database
These steps create an Oracle database. Everybody will have different needs for their database, but the steps here
will yield a functional database that you can further tailor to your specific needs. In this section we will use the
Database Configuration Assistant to create a database, adjust the database in order to better comply with industryproven best practices, and configure Oracle Net. All of the steps in this section are run as the oracle user.
1.

Set up your environment the same way you did when you ran the Oracle Universal Installer: Log in as the
oracle user on the database server from an X window or VNC session, set your DISPLAY variable
appropriately, and make sure that your ORACLE_BASE variable is set correctly based on your login file.

2.

Set the ORACLE_HOME environment variable to point to your Oracle home with a command like:

$ export ORACLE_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1
3.

Choose a name for your Oracle instance, up to eight characters long. The instance name is easy to change
at any time. However, you will want to keep the instance name the same as the database name in order to
avoid confusion. Changing the database name later is possible, but not the easiest thing to do. So pick a
name for the instance that you like. Set the ORACLE_SID variable accordingly with a command like:

$ export ORACLE_SID=dev11ee
4.

In the next step we will create a database and configure it using 'Database Control'. In order to do this we
first need a listener configured prior to creating the database, since we have just installed the software we
currently have no listener so we need to configure one. Oracle Net is the networking infrastructure that
allows applications running on other servers to access the database. The Oracle Net listener is a process
that runs on the database server and monitors a TCP port for requests to access the database. The Oracle
Net listener is configured by creating a file called listener.ora in the $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin
directory. In the $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin/samples directory you will find an example listener.ora
file. Unfortunately, many Oracle security exploits involve the Oracle Net listener, and therefore it is

important that you configure it properly and securely. A functional listener.ora file that uses operating
system authentication for securing the Oracle Net listener is as follows:

5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

#
# Filename: listener.ora
#
LISTENER =
(DESCRIPTION_LIST =
(DESCRIPTION =
(ADDRESS_LIST =
(ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = 192.168.88.99)
(PORT = 1521))
13.
)
14.
)
15.
)
The permissions on the listener.ora file should be 640.

16. Start the Oracle Net listener with the following command:

$ORACLE_HOME/bin/lsnrctl start
Depending upon your configuration of SELinux (Security Enhanced Linux) you may receive the error message

cannot restore segment prot after reloc: Permission denied

this is due to unpublished bug 6140224 (see Metalink note 454196.1 for details). The recommended
workaround, until the bug is resolved, is to change SELinux to Permissive mode which is done by editing the
file /etc/selinux/config and changing the SELINUX value to "SELINUX=permissive" or "SELINUX=disabled" and
then rebooting your server. You can confirm the status of SELinux using the command

/usr/sbin/sestatus
17. The Oracle client libraries invoked by an application wishing to access the database read configuration files
called sqlnet.ora and tnsnames.ora in order to figure out how to find the Oracle Net listener and what
connection parameters should be used. In the same directory where the sample listener.ora file is located,
you will also find a sample sqlnet.ora and tnsnames.ora. You should create a sqlnet.ora file and a
tnsnames.ora file in the same directory where you created your listener.ora file. Set the file permissions to
644. Copy these two files to all application servers or other machines that will access the database.
Functional sqlnet.ora and tnsnames.ora files are as follows:

18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.

#
# Filename: sqlnet.ora
#
NAMES.DEFAULT_DOMAIN = dbspecialists.com
NAMES.DIRECTORY_PATH= (TNSNAMES)

#
# Filename: tnsnames.ora
#
DEV11EE.DBSPECIALISTS.COM =
(DESCRIPTION =
(ADDRESS_LIST =
(ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = 192.168.88.99)(PORT
= 1521))
31.
)
32.
(CONNECT_DATA =
33.
(SERVICE_NAME = dev11ee.dbspecialists.com)
34.
)

35.

36. Now we proceed with creating the database, launch the Database Configuration Assistant with the following
commands:

37.

$ cd $ORACLE_HOME/bin
$ ./dbca
Well walk through the prompts one at a time:

a.

The dbca Welcome window appears. Click Next

b.

The Operations windows appears with the 'Create a Database' operation selected. Click Next.

c.

The Database Templates window appears. Here you choose a template (a set of default
specifications) for the database you wish to create. Oracle provides templates called General
Purpose or Transaction Processing, Custom Database and Data Warehouse Oracle has prebuilt data files available for these three templates, meaning that database creation will go faster
than if Oracle has to build the database from scratch. You can also choose Custom and create your
own template. We will choose General Purpose here. Click Next.

d.

The Database Identification window appears. Here you specify the global name and the instance
name (SID) for the database. It would be nice if these fields defaulted from the ORACLE_SID
environment variable, but this may or may not happen. In the Global Database Name field, enter
the database name you selected, followed by a period and your domain name. For example,
dev11ee.dbspecialists.com. The SID field will fill in automatically from the global name. Click
Next.

e.

The Management Options window appears. Here you indicate whether or not you wish to have the
Enterprise Manager tool configured. Grid Control is Oracles enterprise-wide database
management tool. This option will be grayed out if Grid Control infrastructure has not already
been established. Database Control is a stand-alone management tool specifically configured to
manage one database. If Grid Control is not present, the defaults in this window will specify to
configure Database Control for this database. This will enable you to perform many database
management functions for this database from a web browser. You may optionally configure
Database Control to send you alerts via email and to back up the database daily. It does not hurt
to choose Database Control configuration at this timeyou can always shut it down later. We will
not be covering the database backup feature here. Click Next.

f.

The Database Credentials window appears. Every Oracle 11g database has accounts called SYS,
SYSTEM, DBSNMP, and SYSMAN. You must provide passwords for each of these accounts, although
you can choose to give all four the same password. It is easy to change passwords later, and
members of the dba Linux group can access the database without a password and change
passwords for any database account. Enter the initial passwords for these accounts and click Next.
Your password should have a minimum of 8 characters in length and contain at least one upper
case character, one lower case character and one digit.

g.

The Database File Locations window appears. The files that make up an Oracle database can be
stored on a regular file system or disks managed automatically by Oracles Automatic Storage
Management facility. We will not be covering ASM here, so keep File System selected. Also on this
screen you specify where on the file system the files that make up the database should initially
reside. It will be easy to change file locations later, and database files can be spread over multiple
directories. The default option on this window is to use the file location specified in the template.
This is not a good idea as the location specified by the templates goes against standard
conventions. Instead you should select Use Common Location for All Database Files and enter a
mount point name followed by the oradata subdirectory, such as /u01/oradata. The location you
enter here should match one of the directories you created in step 12 of the first section above.
Click Next.

h.

The Recovery Configuration window appears. A solid backup and recovery plan is absolutely
necessary for any database that will hold data of any importance. However, there are many
options available and needs vary greatly from one situation to the next. The flash recovery area is
used by the Flashback database feature and also by Enterprise Manager if you chose to configure

automatic database backups. Archiving, meanwhile, is necessary for databases that will be backed
up while they are open. Archiving can be enabled easily at a later time. Since we are not covering
backup and recovery strategies here, we will uncheck both options and click Next.
i.

The Database Content window appears, it appears two tabs. Typically there will be no need for
you to specify any custom scripts, and preloading the sample schemas can be helpful in a
development database for seeing examples of various techniques. Make your selections and click
Next.

j.

The Initialization Parameters window appears. Tabs in this window let you set various initialization
parameters, and a button lets you view and edit all parameters in a tabular form. Click on the
Character Sets tab and select the character set for the database that matches the character set
name you put into the oraenv script in an earlier step. It is hard to change the character set of a
database, so make sure you are happy with your selection before proceeding. Initialization
parameters, on the other hand, are easily changed later. In this window, therefore, you should
make sure the character set is correct but not worry too much about the other settings. (Setting
the character sets is very different from setting initialization parameters, so the fact that the
Character Sets tab appears on a window entitled Initialization Parameters may be confusing.) Click
Next.

k.

The Database Storage window appears. Here you can review and edit the details of how the
control files, online redo logs, data files, and tablespaces will be created. If you are using one of
the templates that was provided, you will not be able to change very many settings. If you want to
change the locations of some of the database files, you can do that here or after the database has
been created. The default redo log size (50 Mb) is somewhat small, so you might want to change
it. Again, you can do that here or after the database has been created. When you are satisfied
with the settings, click Next.

l.

The Creation Options window appears. You may choose to create the database now, generate
scripts to create the database later, and/or save the settings as a template. Saving as a template
allows you to create the database at a later time or create many similar databases more easily.
Make your selection and click Finish.

m. A Confirmation window appears. Review all of your selections and click OK.
n.

A progress window appears and database creation proceeds.

o.

When database creation is complete, a window will appear which indicates the name of the
database, the location of the parameter file, and the URL for accessing Enterprise Manager. Note
this URL for future reference. Depending on what options you selected, additional accounts may
have been created on the database besides the basic SYS, SYSTEM, DBSNMP, and SYSMAN. All
additional accounts are now locked. You may click the Password Management button to unlock
these accounts and set passwords if you wish, but you should only unlock an account if you have a
specific reason for doing so. When you are finished, click the Exit button to exit the Database
Creation Assistant.

38. While logged onto the database server as the oracle user, run the following commands to set environment
variables so that you will be able to access the database easily (substitute your Oracle instance name):

39.
40.

$ export ORACLE_SID=dev11ee
$ export ORAENV_ASK=NO
$ . /usr/local/bin/oraenv

41. Now we have a database you can verify that Oracle Net is configured correctly by attempting to access the
database from an application server or other remote server, or by using commands like the following on the
database server directly:

42.
43.

$ sqlplus /nolog
SQL> CONNECT system@dev11ee
Enter password:

If you receive the error ORA-12170: TNS:Connect timeout occurred you should check your Linux firewall
settings, if the firewall is active you will need to open up ports 1521 and 1158.

44. If you would like to move any of the data files or online redo logs for this database to another directory, use
commands like the following:

45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.

$ sqlplus /nolog

SQL> CONNECT / AS SYSDBA

SQL> SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE
SQL> STARTUP MOUNT
SQL> HOST mv -i /u01/oradata/dev11ee/users01.dbf
/u02/oradata/dev11ee/users01.dbf
51. SQL> ALTER DATABASE RENAME FILE
52.
2 '/u01/oradata/dev11ee/users01.dbf' TO
53.
3 '/u02/oradata/dev11ee/users01.dbf';
54. SQL> HOST mv -i /u01/oradata/dev11ee/redo01.log
/u02/oradata/dev11ee/redo01.log
55. SQL> ALTER DATABASE RENAME FILE
56.
2 '/u01/oradata/dev11ee/redo01.log' TO
57.
3 '/u02/oradata/dev11ee/redo01.log';
58. SQL> ALTER DATABASE OPEN;
SQL> EXIT
Note that this procedure does not work for control files. Relocating database control files will be covered in
a later step.

59. In databases created with supplied templates, all data files have the auto-extend feature turned on. This
means that when a data file becomes full, it will automatically grow larger as needed. The problem with
this is that an application can get out of control and fill up an entire disk partition. It also means that you
need to manage your free space at the operating system level. Many DBAs prefer to manage free space at
the database level by pre-allocating space to data files and not using the auto-extend feature. You may
resize data files and disable auto-extend with commands like:

60. $ sqlplus /nolog

61.
62. SQL> CONNECT / AS SYSDBA
63. SQL> ALTER DATABASE DATAFILE
AUTOEXTEND OFF;
64. SQL> ALTER DATABASE DATAFILE
AUTOEXTEND OFF;
65. SQL> ALTER DATABASE DATAFILE
AUTOEXTEND OFF;
66. SQL> ALTER DATABASE DATAFILE
AUTOEXTEND OFF;
67. SQL> ALTER DATABASE TEMPFILE
AUTOEXTEND OFF;
68.
69. SQL> ALTER DATABASE DATAFILE
RESIZE 850m;
70. SQL> ALTER DATABASE DATAFILE
RESIZE 700m;
71. SQL> ALTER DATABASE DATAFILE
RESIZE 50m;
72. SQL> ALTER DATABASE DATAFILE
RESIZE 20m;

'/u01/oradata/dev11ee/system01.dbf'
'/u01/oradata/dev11ee/sysaux01.dbf'
'/u01/oradata/dev11ee/undotbs01.dbf'
'/u01/oradata/dev11ee/users01.dbf'
'/u01/oradata/dev11ee/temp01.dbf'
'/u01/oradata/dev11ee/system01.dbf'
'/u01/oradata/dev11ee/sysaux01.dbf'
'/u01/oradata/dev11ee/undotbs01.dbf'
'/u01/oradata/dev11ee/users01.dbf'

SQL> ALTER DATABASE TEMPFILE '/u01/oradata/dev11ee/temp01.dbf' RESIZE

50m;
73. Oracle uses a server parameter file or spfile to store the initialization parameterssettings that affect
the instance. The default parameter settings provided by the Database Configuration Assistant are not bad,
but you may want to make some changes. Unfortunately, you cannot edit the spfile. Instead, you must
export the contents of the spfile to a plain text file called a pfile. You can then edit the pfile and convert
it back to an spfile for use on your database. (This might sound confusing, but is actually pretty
straightforward.)
Shut down the database and export the contents of the spfile into a pfile that you can edit with commands
like:

$ sqlplus /nolog
SQL>
SQL>
2
SQL>

CONNECT / AS SYSDBA
CREATE PFILE='/home/oracle/dev11ee-params.txt'
FROM SPFILE;
SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE

74. Make a backup copy of the pfile you created in the previous step and edit the pfile to change parameters as
you wish, based on your needs and your servers capabilities. You can always change parameters again in
the future, so you are not locking yourself into anything right now. Here is the pfile that we ended up with:

75.
76.
77.
78.
79.
80.
81.
82.
83.
84.
85.
86.
87.

*.audit_file_dest='/u01/app/oracle/admin/dev11ee/adump'
*.audit_trail='db'
*.compatible='11.2.0.0.0'
*.control_files='/u01/oradata/dev11ee/control01.ctl',
'/u01/oradata/dev11ee/control02.ctl'
*.db_block_size=8192
*.db_domain='dbspecialists.com'
*.db_name='dev11ee'
*.diagnostic_dest='/u01/app/oracle'
*.memory_target=442499072
*.open_cursors=300
*.processes=150
*.remote_login_passwordfile='EXCLUSIVE'
*.undo_tablespace='UNDOTBS1

88. The database is created with two control files. The control file is a pretty small file that contains crucial
configuration and synchronization information that Oracle needs in order to locate all the files that make
up the database and keep them consistent. All copies of the control file are kept identical; whatever Oracle
writes to one control file it also writes to the others. (Think of it like software mirroring.) It is a good idea
to move one of the control files to another location. With the database shut down, you can go ahead and
move the control files around as you wish. Be sure to change the control_files entry in your pfile
accordingly.

89. Remove the existing spfile that the Database Configuration Assistant created, and the bogus pfile that it left
behind, with the following commands:

90. $ rm -i $ORACLE_HOME/dbs/spfile$ORACLE_SID.ora
$ rm -i $ORACLE_HOME/dbs/init.ora
91. Create a symbolic link from the location where Oracle looks for the spfile to the location where you will
actually maintain the spfile:

92. $ ln -s $ORACLE_BASE/admin/
$ORACLE_SID/pfile/spfile$ORACLE_SID.ora \
$ORACLE_HOME/dbs/spfile$ORACLE_SID.ora

93. Now convert the pfile that you edited back into an spfile that Oracle can use with the following commands:

94. $ sqlplus /nolog

95. SQL> CONNECT / AS SYSDBA
96. SQL> CREATE SPFILE='$ORACLE_BASE/admin/
$ORACLE_SID/pfile/spfile$ORACLE_SID.ora'
2 FROM PFILE='/home/oracle/dev11ee-params.txt';
97. You are now ready to restart your database using your newly created spfile. Use the following commands to
start the database and view the parameters that are in effect. These settings should match what you put in
your pfile a few steps back:

98.
99.
100.
101.
102.
103.

$ sqlplus /nolog
SQL> CONNECT / AS SYSDBA
SQL> STARTUP
SQL> SET PAGESIZE 100
SQL> SELECT
name, value, isdefault
2 FROM
v$parameter
3 ORDER BY isdefault, name;

104. You can follow the above few steps at any time to make further changes to the parameters. However, if you
only have a few changes to make, there is a much easier way than exporting the spfile into a pfile, editing
the pfile, and converting back to an spfile. You can simply:

105. $ sqlplus /nolog

106. SQL> CONNECT / AS SYSDBA
107. SQL> ALTER SYSTEM SET parameter = value
2 SCOPE = SPFILE;
This will update the setting in your spfile, and the change will take effect the next time you restart the
instance. Many parameters are dynamic, meaning that you can change them on the fly without restarting
the instance. For dynamic parameters, you can omit the SCOPE = line above and Oracle will change the
parameter setting immediately and in the spfile. If you wish to unset a parameter use the following syntax

SQL> ALTER SYSTEM RESET

SCOPE=SPFILE SID='*'

108. At this point you are ready to create tablespaceslogical groupings of data filesto hold your application
data. You can put all of your data into one tablespace, or you can separate data into multiple tablespaces
based on object type, object size, permanence, volatility, I/O volume, or any of a number of other criteria.
In the past, choosing storage parameters and allocation schemes for database objects was rather tedious.
Now it is quite simple because you can have Oracle do the space allocation and management automatically
and it will do a pretty good job. Here is a sample tablespace creation statement for an application called
Flex:

109. CREATE TABLESPACE flex_data

110. DATAFILE '/u02/oradata/dev11ee/flex_data01.dbf' SIZE 500m
SEGMENT SPACE MANAGEMENT AUTO;
111. Create application roles if desired. Alternatively, you can use the default roles CONNECT, RESOURCE, and
DBA.

112. Create your application accounts that will own the application schemas. Set the default tablespace to one
of your application tablespaces designated to hold tables. Assign quotas on all of the application
tablespaces where the account will need to be able to create schema objects. (You can use the keyword
UNLIMITED.) You should not set any quota on the SYSTEM, SYSAUX, or TEMP tablespaces. Do not plan to
create any application objects in the SYS or SYSTEM schemas, or store any application objects in the
SYSTEM, SYSAUX, or TEMP tablespaces. Here is a sample application account creation statement:

113. CREATE USER bob IDENTIFIED BY bob123

114. DEFAULT TABLESPACE flex_data
QUOTA UNLIMITED ON flex_data;
115. Grant roles and/or system privileges to the application accounts. Note that if you grant the RESOURCE role
to an account, that account will also receive the UNLIMITED TABLESPACE system privilege. This will let the
account create objects in any tablespace, regardless of quotas. Think very carefully before granting the DBA
role or allowing any accounts that have the UNLIMITED TABLESPACE privilege. Sample statements to grant
and revoke privileges are as follows:

116. GRANT connect, resource TO bob;

REVOKE unlimited tablespace FROM bob;
117. Review the overall security of your database. Oracle Corporation has published a very detailed 25 page
listing of recommended security checks. Download it from Oracle Technology Network
athttp://www.oracle.com/technology/deploy/security/databasesecurity/pdf/twp_security_checklist_database.pdf.

Complete the Server Configuration

These steps complete the configuration of your server for smooth Oracle operation. In this section we will change the
oracle users login script to eliminate hardcoding, create individual operating system accounts for each database
user, and configure the server to start the database and listeners automatically whenever the server is rebooted.
1.

2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Edit the login file (.bash_profile or .profile) for the oracle user to eliminate hardcodings and call the oraenv
script to set the environment instead. The following will work with Bash, Bourne, or Korn shell:

# Settings for Oracle environment

ORACLE_SID=dev11ee
# Put your instance name here
ORAENV_ASK=NO
export ORACLE_SID ORAENV_ASK
. oraenv
ORAENV_ASK=YES

Note that this script assumes that the /usr/local/bin directory is on your path. Also, if you use C shell then
you should edit .cshrc and have it source coraenv.

9.

Create separate Linux accounts for DBAs and database users who will log onto the database server directly.
You should only log in as oracle when installing or patching software or stopping/starting the database. The
Linux accounts for DBAs should be members of the dba group, and other users should not be members of the
dba group. Give each of these accounts a login file like oracles so that their environment initializes
correctly when they log in.

10. Edit the /etc/oratab file to verify that the entry for your database is correct. Lines starting with a pound
sign are considered comments and are ignored. Each non-comment line contains the name of one Oracle
instance, its Oracle home, and a Y or N. A Y indicates that the database should be started automatically on
server reboot, and an N indicates that it should not. The three fields should be separated by colons. A
sample /etc/oratab file looks like this:

11.
12.
13.
14.

#
# /etc/oratab
# ===========
#
dev11ee:/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1:Y

15. To make the database and listeners start up automatically when the server reboots and shut down
automatically when the server shuts down, youll need to create a dbora file in /etc/init.d and either user
the chkconfig command or manually link dbora to /etc/rc3.d and /etc/rc0.d. Youll need to do this as the
root user. First create a file called dbora in /etc/init.d as follows:

16. #
17. # chkconfig: 35 99 10
18. # description: Start and stop the Oracle database, listener and DB
Control
19. #
20. ORA_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1
21. ORA_OWNER=oracle
22. if [ ! -f $ORA_HOME/bin/dbstart ]
23. then
24.
echo "Oracle startup: cannot start"
25.
exit
26. fi
27. case "$1" in
28.
'start') # Start the Oracle databases and listeners
29.
su - $ORA_OWNER -c "$ORA_HOME/bin/dbstart $ORA_HOME"
30.
su - $ORA_OWNER -c "export ORACLE_SID=dev11ee;
$ORA_HOME/bin/emctl start dbconsole"
31.
touch /var/lock/subsys/dbora
32.
;;
33.
'stop') # Stop the Oracle databases and listeners
34.
su - $ORA_OWNER -c "export ORACLE_SID=dev11ee;
$ORA_HOME/bin/emctl stop dbconsole"
35.
su - $ORA_OWNER -c "$ORA_HOME/bin/dbshut $ORA_HOME"
36.
rm -f /var/lock/subsys/dbora
37.
;;
esac
Set the permissions on the dbora file to 700:

$ chmod 700 /etc/init.d/dbora

After creating the dbora file, you need to link it to /etc/rc3.d and /etc/rc0.d for startup and shutdown. You
may do this manually as follows:

$
$
$
$
$
$
$

ln
ln
ln
ln
ln
ln
ln

-s
-s
-s
-s
-s
-s
-s

/etc/init.d/dbora
/etc/init.d/dbora
/etc/init.d/dbora
/etc/init.d/dbora
/etc/init.d/dbora
/etc/init.d/dbora
/etc/init.d/dbora

/etc/rc3.d/S99dbora
/etc/rc5.d/S99dbora
/etc/rc0.d/K10dbora
/etc/rc1.d/K10dbora
/etc/rc2.d/K10dbora
/etc/rc4.d/K10dbora
/etc/rc6.d/K10dbora

Alternatively, you may use the chkconfig command to create the links as follows:

$ cd /etc/init.d
$ /sbin/chkconfig --add dbora

Conclusion
This paper walks you through the intricate details of getting Oracle Database 11g release 2 up and running on a
database server running Linux. It may look complicated, but thats only because this paper goes down to a nittygritty level of detail.
Please keep in mind, though, that the requirements are different for every Oracle implementation. We are extremely
confident that if you follow these steps to install Oracle Database 11g release 2 (Oracle version 11.2.0) on a server

with Red Hat Enterprise Linux and an x86_64 hardware platform, the process will go very smoothly for you. Things
should go nearly as smoothly if you use another Linux distribution certified by Oracle or another hardware platform
such as x86. However, no single document can address every specific hardware configuration and every set of
business needs. Please use this paper as a starting point to get Oracle up and running in your shop. To get the best
performance and scalability, each system needs to be considered individually.