<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN"> <HTML> <HEAD> <META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="SGML-Tools 1.0.9"> <TITLE>Oracle 8i on Linux RH7.X Installation HOWTO: Starting off</TITLE> <LINK HREF="Oracle8-on-RH7X-HOWTO-3.html" REL=next> <LINK HREF="Oracle8-on-RH7X-HOWTO-1.html" REL=previous> <LINK HREF="Oracle8-on-RH7X-HOWTO.html#toc2" REL=contents> </HEAD> <BODY> <A HREF="Oracle8-on-RH7X-HOWTO-3.html">Next</A> <A HREF="Oracle8-on-RH7X-HOWTO-1.html">Previous</A> <A HREF="Oracle8-on-RH7X-HOWTO.html#toc2">Contents</A> <HR> <H2><A NAME="s2">2. Starting off</A></H2> <H2><A NAME="ss2.1">2.1 Prerequisites</A> </H2> <P>At least 800M free on your hard disk. Type: <P> <PRE> bash$ df -h Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/hda2 5.3G 3.6G 1.4G 72% / </PRE> <P>and read the field Avail. <P> <H3>Hardware</H3> <P>The steps we are going to describe allow to have Oracle 8i, version 8.1.7 running on: <UL> <LI>a laptop Toshiba Satellite 2800-100 with 128Mb RAM and a 600 Mhz Intel Celeron;</LI> <LI>others ....</LI> </UL> <P>In any case, never underestimate Oracle's system prerequisites. <P> <H2><A NAME="ss2.2">2.2 Linux setup</A> </H2> <H3>Distribution</H3> <P>We focus on a Linux RedHat 7.2 distribution, since we had problems with it and we wanted to use it. The steps we are going to describe should work on any Red Hat 7.2 based Linux distribution. <P> <H3>Distribution Setup</H3> <P>We assume you have your Linux RedHat 7.2 box installed and working in a reasonable way for you. In any case, 'base' packages, X Windows (the installation routine is a Java GUI) and the development tools regardless of whether you intend doing any coding or not is what you need. <P> <H3>Setting users and groups</H3> <P>Login as root: <P><CODE>$ su - root</CODE> <P>and type whatever password you decided root must have. <P>Create groups: <P> <PRE> bash# groupadd oinstall bash# groupadd dba bash# groupadd oper </PRE> <P>Create oracle user and set its password: <P> <PRE> bash# useradd oracle -g oinstall -G dba,oper bash# passwd oracle (to change password) </PRE> <P> <H3>Installing the right Java Virtual Machine</H3> <P>The only Java Virtual Machine compatible with Oracle 8i, version 8.1.7, is: <A HREF="ftp://sunsite.dk/mirrors/java-linux/JDK-1.1.8/i386/v3/jdk118_v3-glibc-2.1.3.tar.bz2">ftp://sunsite.dk/mirrors/java-linux/JDK-1.1.8/i386/v3/jdk118_v3-glibc-2.1.3.tar.bz2</A>. <BR> Do not think: "newer versions will be less buggy", as the installer probably won't work. And don't think. <P>Once downloaded it, move it: <P><CODE>bash# mv jdk118_v3-glibc-2.1.3.tar.bz2 /usr/local</CODE> <P>untar it: <P><CODE>bash# tar xvIf jdk118_v3-glibc-2.1.3.tar.bz2</CODE> <P>and create a symbolic link to the folder the command here above has just created: <P><CODE>bash# ln -s /usr/local/jdk118_v3 /usr/local/java </CODE> <P> <H3>Kernel parameters</H3> <P>Oracle documentation suggests that you make changes to the Linux kernel so you can get more shared memory. If you decide to follow that way, keep the instructions in the Oracle documentation and the <A HREF="http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Kernel-HOWTO.html">Linux Kernel HOWTO</A> at hand to build your new kernel. <P> <P>In fact, the required changes can be made by setting some parameter in a suitable initialization file. Just follow some steps: <UL> <LI> <PRE> bash# cd /etc </PRE> and create a new file <CODE>rc.config</CODE>, if it does not exists. Inside <CODE>rc.config</CODE> copy the following four lines: <PRE> cd /proc/sys/kernel echo 250 32000 100 128 > sem echo 4294967295 > shmmax echo 4096 > shmmni </PRE> </LI> <LI>Edit the file <CODE>/etc/rc</CODE> and add the line: <PRE> /etc/rc.config </PRE> </LI> </UL> <P> <P>In any case, if you want just to start playing with Oracle 8i, version 8.1.7, Linux RedHat 7.2 default settings can work fine, and you do not need to set any kernel parameter, as just described. <P> <H3>Setting up some libraries</H3> <P>There may be some compatibility problems between Oracle 8i and gcc versions >= 2.1. If you experience them, download these rpms: <P> <A HREF="http://www.pawprint.net/linux/compat-egcs-6.2-1.1.2.14.i386.rpm">compat-egcs-6.2-1.1.2.14.i386.rpm</A><BR> <A HREF="http://www.pawprint.net/linux/compat-glibc-6.2-2.1.3.2.i386.rpm">compat-glibc-6.2-2.1.3.2.i386.rpm</A><BR> <A HREF="http://www.pawprint.net/linux/compat-libs-6.2-3.i386.rpm">compat-libs-6.2-3.i386.rpm</A><BR> <P>install them, as usual, by: <PRE> $ rpm -Uvh compat-egcs-6.2-1.1.2.14.i386.rpm compat-glibc-6.2-2.1.3.2.i386.rpm compat-libs-6.2-3.i386.rpm </PRE> and, finally set a symbolic link because there is a small installation bug in one of the packages just installed: <PRE> bash# ln -s /bin/id /usr/bin/id </PRE> <P> <H3>Final step</H3> <P>Reboot your machine and keep reading... <P> <P> <HR> <A HREF="Oracle8-on-RH7X-HOWTO-3.html">Next</A> <A HREF="Oracle8-on-RH7X-HOWTO-1.html">Previous</A> <A HREF="Oracle8-on-RH7X-HOWTO.html#toc2">Contents</A> </BODY> </HTML>