Oracle Certification Notes: Part III

This is a continuation of my notes, as I prepare for the Oracle Certified Associated credential:

Oracle Users and Groups:

One user should own the Oracle DB install (e.g., oracle).

Two groups should be created, one to own the install (e.g., oinstall) and the other to manage the database and it's users (e.g., dba).

Windows database adminstratrion group must be ORA_DBA

Oracle Environment Variables

While Oracle doesn't specifically recommend creating variables before install, still a good idea to at least create ORACLE_HOME before install.

ORACLE_BASE: specifies the root level directory containing Oracle files

ORACLE_HOME: usually a directory within ORACLE_BASE, where a specific instance of Oracle DB is being installed

ORACLE_SID: Oracle instance identifier. 8 alphanumeric characters or less (RAC requires 5 alphnumeric characters or less).

DISPLAY: specify where you want Oracle to display graphics. Will inherit DISPLAY environment variable in UNIX unless otherwise specified. If displaying to an X Window Terminal, be sure oracle user has rights as assigned by root (e.g., xhost command).

Oracle Universal Installer (OUI)

OUI is java and web-based, used for all Oracle installations (applications, database, etc.)

runInstaller is the command to execute OUI in a Linux/UNIX environment

runInstaller -parameterFile /home/oracle/oraparam.ini allows a user to run the installation with user-defined file-based parameters

runInstaller -ignoreSysPrereqs allows a user to skip the system prerequisite checks (oraparam.ini)

OUI requires the use of an inventory directory (e.g., $ORACLE_BASE/oraInventory) to maintain multiple homes, keep track of products and versions installed, etc.

Linux/Unix based installations require root to execute oraInst.sh on first-time Oracle installation servers. This creates the Oracle inventory points file (oraInst.loc) in the $ORACLE_BASE, which then points to a similar file within the /etc on the server.

Importance of oratab file

A list of all Oracle Homes installed on a server is created and stored within /etc/oratab

oratab is necessary for Oracle Enterprise Manager to manage installed databases

Linux/Unix based installations require the execution of $ORACLE_HOME/root.sh as root in order to populate oratab.

Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM) and other administrative components use oratab to determine where databases are located, and whether or not they should be automatically started when the operating system starts.

Oracle database file storage options:

Oracle database files can be stored using: local file system (easiest and includes Oracle Cluster File System, as well as 3rd party storage arrays), Automated Storage Management (stripping and mirroring benefits), raw devices (advanced).

Posted via Woodland Blog (http://dramse01.blogspot.com)