Dear
Readers,
My
name is Franz Devantier, creator of this blog. I am an Oracle Certified
Professional (OCP DBA 11g) Security DBA.
I will be sharing with you the basic duties of an Oracle DBA, and also
some of the undocumented, and not so well known tasks.
I will make a deal with you: If you refer me to a company that needs
database support, from a few hours per week to full time, and I am able to sign
a contract with them.
Then I will give you 10% of the monthly
contract or deal price every month. When
the contract ends, and we re-sign the contract, I will again give you 10% of
the monthly contract price. This will go
on until the company no longer employs or contracts me or my agents to look
after their databases.
I can do this, because that 10% is my
marketing budget. When we re-sign the
contract, in the future, it may depend on you giving the thumbs up again, and
that is worth 10% of the monthly contract price, to be given to you as
commission.
Oracle
Database Preinstallation – Part 5
Compiler
Requirements
Both for Linux x86 and Linux
x86_64, you will need the intel C++ Compiler version 10.1 or later. Remember we are working with the 11.2
database here on a Linux operating system.
Specifically Oracle Linux. You
will also need the version of GNU C and C++ Compilers that are listed under “Package
Requirements” in my previous article.
You will need to find the Pro*C/C++ Oracle call interface, and the
Oracle C++ call interface that is compatible that comes with Oracle database
11.2. The Oracle XML developers kit
(XDK) for Oracle 11.2 must also be installed, from the Oracle installation
media.
You need to be aware that on
Linux x86 and Linux x86_64, the intel C++ Compiler version 10.1 can only be
used with the standard template libraries of the gcc versions that are
mentioned in the “Package Requirements”, in my previous article. You would use these to build the Oracle C++
Call Interface (OCCI) applications. XDK
is supported with the same compilers as OCCI, so once you have OCCI in place
you are good to go for the XDK components.
Additional
Software Requirements
Before you consider which
software should be installed with your Oracle installation, you need to decide
what components from the Oracle installation you are going to use. While it would be easier to install the
Operating System packages now, and add the appropriate functionality into the
Oracle binaries later on, it makes sense to do as part of your pre-requisites.
For example you may be
considering the following components in your Oracle binaries:
=> Oracle ODBC Drivers
=> Oracle JDBC/OCI Drivers
=> Linux-PAM Library
=> Oracle Messaging
Gateway
=> Programming Languages
=> Specific Browser
Requirements
=> Oracle Database Vault (Comes
with the Oracle binaries, but is not linked in by default)
Depending on your
Operating System
I have focussed on Oracle Linux running
on an Intel chip, so if you are using another version of Linux on other
hardware, then you will need to refer again to the Oracle installation documentation.
Oracle ODBC Drivers
Oracle Linux 4 and red Hat Enterprise Linux 4
unixODBC-2.2.11 (32 bit) or later
unixODBC-devel-2.2.11 (32 bit) or later
Asianux Server
3, Oracle Linux 5, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
unixODBC-2.2.11 (32 bit) or later
unixODBC-devel-2.2.11 (32 bit) or later
In order to use ODBC on Linux x86_64, you will need to
install a few additional ODBC .rpm’s
Oracle Linux
4 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4
unixODBC-2.2.11 (32 bit) or
later
unixODBC-devel-2.2.11 (64 bit)
or later
unixODBC-2.2.11 (64 bit ) or
later
Asianux Server 3, Oracle Linux 5, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
unixODBC-2.2.11 (32 bit) or
later
unixODBC-devel-2.2.11 (64 bit)
or later
unixODBC-2.2.11 (64 bit) or
later
Oracle Linux 6, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
unixODBC-2.2.14-11.el6
(x86_64) or later
unixODBC-2.2.14-11.el6.i686 or
later
unixODBC-devel-2.2.14-11.el6
(x86_64) or later
unixODBC-devel-2.2.14-11.el6.i686
or later
Oracle JDBC/OCI
Drivers
For Linux x86 and
Linux x86-64
Use Java SE Development kit
1.6.0_21 (JDK 6) or Java SE Development kit 1.5.0_24 (JDK 5). You will need to verify that you are using
the JNDI extension with the Oracle Java Database Connectivity, as well as the
Oracle Call Interface drivers. Although
the above is not mandatory for the installation of Oracle 11.2, because JDK 1.5
(JDK 5) is installed by default; you may still experience problems when you use
your JDBC/OCI drivers, if it does not comply.
Linux-PAM Library
PAM stands for (Pluggable
Authentication Modules). So we are
looking at the Pluggable Authentication Modules for Linux library, or Linux-PAM
library. This one is fairly straight
forward, you just need to install the latest Linux-PAM library. This library enables the system administrator
to choose how applications authenticate users.
From a security perspective, having this package in place upfront, will
give you more options with regards to user authentication.
Oracle Messaging
Gateway
IF you are going to be integrating Oracle streams and / or Advanced
Queuing (AQ) with IBM WebSphere or TIBCO Rendezvous, then you will need to link
the Oracle Messaging Gateway into your Oracle binaries.
More specifically:
=> IBM WbeSphere MQ V6.0, client and server, with corrective service
diskette 5 (CSD05) or later.
MQSeriesClient, MQSeriesServer, MQSeriesRuntime
=> TIBCO Rendezvous 7.3
Programming
Languages
If you are going to use
Pro*COBOL, then you will find that there is a product that is certified for
use. This product is Micro Focus Server
Express 5.1
Micro Focus does tend to be
expensive, and so if you have time for some research, you can look at the many
open source Cobol compilers on the market.
Before going into production, you will need to do extensive testing to
make sure that your compiler is up to the task.
Of course Testing also cost money, so this tends to even things out.
In a high throughput critical
production environment, it would be better to pay the license for Micro Focus, because
then you know that there will be no surprises waiting for you.
Specific Browser
Requirements
You need to use a web browser
that supports JavaScript, and HTML 4.0 and CSS 1.0 standards, in order to meet
the requirements to run Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Control for 11.2.
These browsers meet the
minimal requirements:
Netscape Navigator 8.1
Netscape Navigator 9.0
Microsoft Internet Explorer
6.0 SP2
Microsoft Internet Explorer
7.0 SP1
Microsoft Internet Explorer
8.0
Microsoft Internet Explorer
9.0
Firefox 2.0
Firefox 3.0.7
Firefox 3.5
Firefox 3.6
Safari 3.1
Safari 3.2
Safari 4.0.x
Google Chrome 3.0
Google Chrome 4.0
Oracle Database Vault
There is one major requirement that must be met, before
you can link Oracle Database Vault into the binaries and implement it. Your DB_BLOCK_SIZE parameter must be 4096 or
larger. In 11.2 it is 8192 by
default. This parameter can only be set
during database creation, so if it is set to a value that is less than 4096,
then the only way to change it would be to recreate the database. It is a good idea to have your pre-requisites
on a tick sheet, and when your create the database, just tick it off, so that
you know this pre-requisite has been met.
Fixup Scripts
When
you run the Oracle Universal Installer (OUI), if there are any pre-requisites
that are not met, then it stops. OUI
shows you which areas need to be attended to, before you can continue. Very often there will also be a reference to “fixup
scripts”, that you will need to run as “root”. Remember that you are running OUI as “oracle”,
or the oracle installation user. However
after running the fixup scripts, there is still no guarantee that the pre-installation
requirements have been met. You should
still go through the exercise of checking the pre-installation requirements
before trying to install the software again.
In
fact it is very bad practice to just run OUI, run the fixup scripts, and try to
get Oracle installed on the box, as many DBA’s do. Some DBA’s even override the failed
pre-requisites at this stage. The result
of this is that, one small problem during the installation of the software, can
translate into hundreds of difficult or impossible to resolve problems later
on. The remedy for such a situation may
be running through all the pre-installation checks again, re-installing Oracle
11.2, rebuilding the databases, and re-importing your data back in again. Linking the application back in again and
etc. Such a situation could potentially translate
into a lot of downtime on a production installation, so make sure that your
pre-requisites have been properly verified.
Franz
Devantier,
Need
a database health check?
devantierf@gmail.com
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