Oracle 12c Installation on Linux

Download 12c database

Oracle 12c database software can be downloaded from https://edelivery.oracle.com. You need to create a free Oracle account to login.

Download the database software zip files and examples software zip file. Generally the below files are required

• linuxamd64_12c_database_1of2.zip
• linuxamd64_12c_database_2of2.zip
• linuxamd64_12c_examples.zip

Reference : http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E16655_01/install.121/e17718/toc.htm

Environment

• Operating System : Redhat Linux 5.7
• Database version : 12.1.0
• OS user : oracle

Step - 1 : Create Users, Groups and Directories

Login as root to do the below actions

• To create a group named dba use the command : groupadd dba
• To create a user name oracle, assigned to group dba, use the command : useradd -g dba -d /home/oracle oracle
• To set the password for the user oracle, use the command : passwd oracle

Login as installation user (oracle) to create the required directories

• For testing purposes, I have created the below directories in my home directory itself
• cd /home/oracle
• mkdir 12c_software orahome orabase oradata rman oraInventory

As root user, edit the /etc/oraInst.loc file to give the location of the inventory directory

• vi /etc/oraInst.loc
• inventory_loc=/home/oracle/PROD/oraInventory
• inst_group=dba

Ensure that the installation owner i.e oracle can read the oraInst.loc file and have permissions to write to oraInventory directory where ever you create.

Step - 2 : Check the Hardware and Memory requirements

• To check the available RAM and Swap, use the command : free -m (it gives the output in MegaBytes) - 2GB RAM is recommended, and for 2GB RAM (2*1.5=3GB) swap is required.
• To check the amount of disk space available use the command : df -h (disk free in human readable format :) ) - 6.4 GB is the minimum requirement
• To check the amount of tmp space available use the command : df -h /tmp - 1 GB is the minimum requirement
• To determine if the system architecture can run the software, use the command : uname -m : x86_64 architecture is required for 64 bit OS
• To determine the runlevel of the system, use the command : who -r : run level 3 or run level 5 is required

Step -3 : Operating System Requirements

[oracle@dba01 12c_software]$ cat /etc/redhat-release

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 5.7 (Tikanga)

Install the RPM packages as per the installation manual (http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E16655_01/install.121/e17718/toc.htm)

To check if the rpm is present or not use the following command as root user : rpm -qa|grep compat

If an rpm is not present download it from internet and install using the command : rpm -ivh rpmpackage

In my environment the following rpm's are not present, which I downloaded from the below websites

glibc-devel-2.5-58 (32 bit) - ftp://ftp.pbone.net/mirror/www.startcom.org/AS-5.0.0/updates/i386/glibc-devel-2.5-65.i386.rpm

libaio-devel-0.3.106 (32 bit) - ftp://ftp.pbone.net/mirror/www.startcom.org/AS-5.0.0/updates/i386/libaio-devel-0.3.106-5.i386.rpm

Step - 4 : Kernel Parameters

Ensure that the kernel parameters are set as below

fs.aio-max-nr = 1048576

fs.file-max = 6815744

kernel.shmall = 2097152

kernel.shmmax = 536870912

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

If any value is less than the required value, only then modify it in the /etc/sysctl.conf file as root user. After editing all the values run the sysctl -p command for the new values to take into effect immediately.

Step - 5 : Change Resource Limits for oracle user

Edit the file /etc/security/limits.conf as root user and ensure that the following values are present

Use the below commands to check the resource limits

$ ulimit -Sn

4096

$ ulimit -Hn

65536

$ ulimit -Su

2047

$ ulimit -Hu

16384

$ ulimit -Ss

10240

$ ulimit -Hs

32768

Step 6 : Install Oracle database 12c Software

Ensure that you have X display properly working. In my environment I use Oracle Virtual Box GUI console, otherwise you may have to install vncserver rpm and start a vnc session as oracle user and connect to that session from your computer using vncviewer software.

unzip the zip files using the unzip command : unzip filename

As oracle user, cd /home/oracle/PROD/12c_software/database/

Run the runInstaller : ./runInstaller