- Installation
- Make Sure You Have Enough Memory
- Install the Development Software
- Create Users, Groups and Directories
- Set Up the Environment
- Install Oracle
- Starting the Database at Boot Time
- Creating a Database
- Accessing a Database
Installation
Oracle versions 8.0.5 through 12c have been or are currently available, free for development purposes, from oracle.com and have been available on CD from various sources as well. I've successfully installed Oracle on Linux and Solaris.
This article describes how to get started with Oracle on Linux but much of it could be applied to Solaris or other Unix systems as well.
Make Sure You Have Enough Memory
The number one reason that Oracle installations have failed for me is because I ran out of memory. Oracle really needs about 725mb of total ram/swap. If your system has less than that, then you can add 725mb of swap as follows.
dd if=/dev/zero of=/extraswap bs=1k count=742400
chmod 600 /extraswap
/sbin/mkswap /extraswap
/sbin/swapon /extraswap
Oracle doesn't appear to need that much ram/swap to actually run though, so after the installation is finished, you can remove it as follows:
/sbin/swapoff /extraswap
rm /extraswap
Install the Development Software
The Oracle installer needs GNU make, the GNU C Compiler (gcc) and GNU Binutils (ar, as, ld, etc.) to compile and link several libraries at installation time. Make sure that these packages are installed.
Create Users, Groups and Directories
Run the following commands as root to set up the appropriate users, groups and directories.
groupadd oinstall
groupadd dba
groupadd oper
useradd -m oracle -g oinstall -G dba,oper
chown -R oracle:dba /home/oracle
passwd oracle (assign the oracle user a password)
mkdir /u01
chown oracle:dba /u01
chmod 775 /u01
Edit /home/oracle/.bashrc and add the following command near the bottom.
umask 022
Set Up the Environment
Add the following somewhere near the top of your /etc/profile (or create /etc/profile.d/oracle.sh if your system supports /etc/profile.d), replacing 12.1.0 in the ORACLE_VERSION environment variable with the version of Oracle that you are installing.
export ORACLE_VERSION=12.1.0
export ORACLE_BASE=/u01/app/oracle
export ORACLE_HOME=$ORACLE_BASE/product/$ORACLE_VERSION
export ORACLE_SID=ora1
export PATH=$PATH:$ORACLE_HOME/bin
export CLASSPATH=$ORACLE_BASE/jdbc/lib/classes111.zip
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$ORACLE_HOME/lib
export ORA_NLS33=$ORACLE_HOME/ocommon/nls/admin/data
export ORACLE_OWNER=oracle
export ORACLE_TERM=386
export NLS_LANG=american
If you want to use a language other than US English, consult the following table and replace american with the appropriate language string.
| Language | NLS_LANG value |
|---|---|
| US English | american |
| Arabic | arabic |
| Brazilian Portugese | "brazilian portuguese" |
| Canadian French | frc |
| Czech | czech |
| Danish | danish |
| Dutch | dutch |
| Finnish | finnish |
| French | french |
| German | german |
| Hungarian | hungarian |
| Icelandic | is |
| Italian | italian |
| Japanese | japanese |
| Korean | korean |
| Lithuanian | lt |
| Mexican Spanish | esm |
| Norweigan | norweigan |
| Polish | polish |
| Portugese | portugese |
| Russian | russian |
| Simplified Chinese | "simplified chinese" |
| Slovak | slovak |
| Swedish | swedish |
| Thai | th |
| Traditional Chinese | "traditional chinese" |
| Turkish | turkish |
Install Oracle
At this point, you should be ready to install Oracle.
Each version has different installation procedures. Follow the links below for the version of Linux and Oracle that you are installing. Each "Yes" link indicates that I was able to get that version of Oracle to install and run on that version of Linux.
| 8.0.5 | 8.1.6 | 8.1.7 | 9.2.x | 10.1.x | 10.2.x | 11.2.0 | 12.1.0 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Redhat 5.2 | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Redhat 6.x | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Redhat 7.x | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Redhat 8 | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Redhat 9 | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Fedora Core 1 | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Fedora Core 2 | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| Fedora Core 3 | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| Fedora Core 4 | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| Fedora Core 5 | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No |
| Fedora Core 12 | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| Fedora Core 13 | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| Fedora Core 14 | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| Fedora Core 15 | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| Fedora Core 16 | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| Fedora Core 17 | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| Fedora Core 18 | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| Fedora Core 19 | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Fedora Core 20 | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes |
Starting the Database at Boot Time
For Oracle 11g or higher, use the following script to start/stop the database at boot/shutdown time instead. Replace /u01/app/oracle/product/12.1.0 with your $ORACLE_HOME
#!/bin/sh
ORACLE_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/12.1.0
case "$1" in
start)
su -l oracle -c "$ORACLE_HOME/bin/dbstart $ORACLE_HOME"
;;
stop)
su -l oracle -c "$ORACLE_HOME/bin/dbshut $ORACLE_HOME"
;;
*)
echo $"Usage: $0 {start|stop}"
exit 1
esac
exit 0
For Oracle 10g or lower, use the following script to start/stop the database at boot/shutdown time instead. Replace /u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0 with your $ORACLE_HOME
#!/bin/sh
case "$1" in
start)
su -l oracle -c "/u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/bin/dbstart"
su -l oracle -c "/u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/bin/lsnrctl start"
;;
stop)
su -l oracle -c "/u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/bin/dbshut"
su -l oracle -c "/u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/bin/lsnrctl stop"
;;
*)
echo $"Usage: $0 {start|stop}"
exit 1
esac
exit 0
Install this script and run it with the "start" option to start up the database. Running it with the "stop" option shuts the database down. To access a database, it must be running.
Creating a Database
During the installation, you could have chosen to create a database instance. If you did not create one during installation, you can do so afterward. Log in as oracle and run $ORACLE_HOME/bin/dbassist for Oracle 8i or $ORACLE_HOME/bin/dbca for Oracle 9i or higher and follow the on-screen instructions.
The dbassist/dbca program will ask you to provide an SID; a local identifier for the database. No two databases on the same machine can have the same SID. If you are using Oracle 8i or 9i you will also be asked to provide a Global Identifier. The Global Identifier should be unique among the Oracle databases on the local network.
After creating the database, edit the file /etc/oratab and look for a line containing the SID of the database you just created. Change the N at the end of that line to Y. This configures the database to start when the dbstart command is issued.
At this point, you can run the start/stop script to start up the database.
To access the database, the file $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin/tnsnames.ora must also be configured. This file contains an entry for each database that the local system needs to know about. Here is an example of a tnsnames.ora entry, identifying the database ORA1 on the local machine.
ORA1.LOCALDOMAIN =
(DESCRIPTION =
(ADDRESS_LIST =
(ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = localhost)(PORT = 1521))
)
(CONNECT_DATA =
(SERVICE_NAME = ora1)
)
)
For Oracle 8i and higher, the format is SID.DOMAIN = (... parameters ...). For Oracle 7 and 8, the format is SID = (... parameters ...). In this example the SID is ORA1. The HOST parameter refers to the DNS name of the host that the database is running on. The SERVICE_NAME refers to the SID of the database as it is known on that host.
When a database instance is created, two special administration users are created: SYS and SYSTEM. These users own the tables that contain privileges and other housekeeping information. For Oracle 9i and higher passwords must be set during the installation process. For versions of Oracle 8i and lower, the default password for the SYSTEM user is manager. The default password for the SYS user is change_on_install.
Database tables are stored in a file or set of files collectively called a tablespace. The tables owned by the SYS and SYSTEM users are kept in their own tablespace. Though you could create your own tables there, it's not a good idea. You should create your own tablespace.
For Oracle 12c or higher, the directory /u01/app/oracle/oradata/cdbora1/ora1 must exist. If it does not, run the following command to create it:
mkdir -p /u01/app/oracle/oradata/cdbora1/ora1
chown oracle:oinstall /u01/app/oracle/oradata/cdbora1/ora1
For Oracle 11g or lower, the directory /u01/app/oracle/oradata/ora1 must exist instead. If it does not, run the following command to create it:
mkdir -p /u01/app/oracle/oradata/ora1
chown oracle:oinstall /u01/app/oracle/oradata/ora1
Now, for Oracle 10g or higher, use the following command to log in, replacing password with the password you entered during installation:
sqlplus sys/password@ora1 as sysdba
For Oracle 9i, use the following command to log in instead, replacing password with the password you entered during installation:
sqlplus system/password@ora1
For Oracle 8i or lower, use the following command to log in instead:
sqlplus system/manager@ora1
The following queries create a tablespace and temporary tablespace called testtablespace and testtablespacetemp with some minimal sizing parameters.
For Oracle 12c or higher, run the following queries:
ALTER PLUGGABLE DATABASE ora1 OPEN
CREATE TABLESPACE testtablespace
DATAFILE '/u01/app/oracle/oradata/cdbora1/ora1/testtablespace01.dbf'
SIZE 1M REUSE
AUTOEXTEND ON NEXT 1M
MAXSIZE UNLIMITED
NOLOGGING;
CREATE TEMPORARY TABLESPACE testtablespacetemp
TEMPFILE '/u01/app/oracle/oradata/cdbora1/ora1/testtablespacetemp01.dbf'
SIZE 2M REUSE
AUTOEXTEND ON NEXT 1M
MAXSIZE UNLIMITED;
For Oracle 8i through 11g, run the following queries instead:
CREATE TABLESPACE testtablespace
DATAFILE '/u01/app/oracle/oradata/ora1/testtablespace01.dbf'
SIZE 1M REUSE
AUTOEXTEND ON NEXT 1M
MAXSIZE UNLIMITED
NOLOGGING;
CREATE TEMPORARY TABLESPACE testtablespacetemp
TEMPFILE '/u01/app/oracle/oradata/ora1/testtablespacetemp01.dbf'
SIZE 2M REUSE
AUTOEXTEND ON NEXT 1M
MAXSIZE UNLIMITED;
For Oracle 8.0, run the following queries instead:
CREATE TABLESPACE testtablespace
DATAFILE '/u01/app/oracle/oradata/ora1/testtablespace01.dbf'
SIZE 1M REUSE
AUTOEXTEND ON NEXT 1M
MAXSIZE UNLIMITED
NOLOGGING;
CREATE TABLESPACE testtablespacetemp
DATAFILE '/u01/app/oracle/oradata/ora1/testtablespacetemp01.dbf'
SIZE 2M REUSE
AUTOEXTEND ON NEXT 1M
MAXSIZE UNLIMITED;
The set of database objects (such as tables, indexes, stored procedures and triggers) owned by a particular user is called a schema. Though schemas may be distributed across tablespaces, they are more often confined to a single tablespace. The SYSTEM and SYS schemas contain tables used by internal systems and should not be used for application data. You can create a new user and schema by logging in as SYSTEM and running the following queries:
CREATE USER testuser IDENTIFIED BY testpassword
DEFAULT TABLESPACE testtablespace
TEMPORARY TABLESPACE testtablespacetemp;
GRANT CREATE SESSION TO testuser;
GRANT RESOURCE TO testuser;
On Oracle 12c and higher you also have to run:
GRANT UNLIMITED TABLESPACE TO testuser;
Now you can exit and log in as the new user with the following command:
sqlplus testuser/testpassword@ora1
To delete a user and everything owned by that user, log in as SYSTEM and run the following command:
DROP USER testuser CASCADE;
To delete a tablespace, log in as SYSTEM and run the following command:
DROP TABLESPACE testtablespace;
DROP TABLESPACE testtablespacetemp;
This should be enough you get you started. To set up more complex configurations, consult the documentation that came with your Oracle distribution.
Accessing a Database
Any user can access an Oracle database provided that the users environment is configured correctly. The ORACLE_HOME environment variable needs to be set to the same value that it was set for the oracle user during installation. The PATH varible must contain $ORACLE_HOME/bin and the LD_LIBRARY_PATH variable must contain $ORACLE_HOME/lib.
The user must have read access to the $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin/tnsnames.ora file. Alternatively, an individual user can have a .tnsnames.ora file.
The following command logs testuser with password testpassword into the database identified by the SID ora1.
sqlplus testuser/testpassword@ora1
A sample session follows.
[user@localhost user]$ sqlplus testuser/testpassword@ora1
SQL*Plus: Release 12.1.0.1.0 Production on Tue Jan 27 21:21:34 2015
Copyright (c) 1982, 2013, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Last Successful login time: Mon Jan 19 2015 03:41:15 -05:00
Connected to:
Oracle Database 12c Enterprise Edition Release 12.1.0.1.0 - 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Advanced Analytics and Real Application Testing options
SQL> create table testtable (
2 col1 varchar2(40),
3 col2 number
4 );
Table created.
SQL> select table_name from user_tables;
TABLE_NAME
------------------------------
TESTTABLE
SQL> describe testtable;
Name Null? Type
----------------------------------------- -------- ----------------------------
COL1 VARCHAR2(40)
COL2 NUMBER
SQL> insert into testtable values ('hello',50);
1 row created.
SQL> insert into testtable values ('hi',60);
1 row created.
SQL> insert into testtable values ('bye',70);
1 row created.
SQL> select * from testtable;
COL1 COL2
---------------------------------------- ----------
hello 50
hi 60
bye 70
SQL> delete from testtable where col2=50;
1 row deleted.
SQL> select * from testtable;
COL1 COL2
---------------------------------------- ----------
hi 60
bye 70
SQL> update testtable set col2=0 where col1='hi';
1 row updated.
SQL> select * from testtable;
COL1 COL2
---------------------------------------- ----------
hi 0
bye 70
SQL> drop table testtable;
Table dropped.
SQL> quit
Disconnected from Oracle Database 12c Enterprise Edition Release 12.1.0.1.0 - 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Advanced Analytics and Real Application Testing options
