Preface

This manual describes how to manage Oracle and third-party software using the Oracle Universal Installer and OPatch. This guide provides instructions for installing, setting up, and starting the Oracle Universal Installer software. It also provides instructions on cloning and patching Oracle software.

Audience

This manual is intended for users installing Oracle software products using the Oracle Universal Installer and covers only the generic functionality and concepts. Use this manual in conjunction with any product-specific installation guides available with your Oracle product.

Documentation Accessibility

Our goal is to make Oracle products, services, and supporting documentation accessible, with good usability, to the disabled community. To that end, our documentation includes features that make information available to users of assistive technology. This documentation is available in HTML format, and contains markup to facilitate access by the disabled community. Accessibility standards will continue to evolve over time, and Oracle is actively engaged with other market-leading technology vendors to address technical obstacles so that our documentation can be accessible to all of our customers. For more information, visit the Oracle Accessibility Program Web site at

http://www.oracle.com/accessibility/

Accessibility of Code Examples in Documentation

Screen readers may not always correctly read the code examples in this document. The conventions for writing code require that closing braces should appear on an otherwise empty line; however, some screen readers may not always read a line of text that consists solely of a bracket or brace.

Accessibility of Links to External Web Sites in Documentation

This documentation may contain links to Web sites of other companies or organizations that Oracle does not own or control. Oracle neither evaluates nor makes any representations regarding the accessibility of these Web sites.

TTY Access to Oracle Support Services

Oracle provides dedicated Text Telephone (TTY) access to Oracle Support Services within the United States of America 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For TTY support, call 800.446.2398.

Structure

This manual contains the following chapters and is organized as follows:

Chapter 1, "Introduction to Oracle Universal Installer"

This chapter contains overview information on Oracle Universal Installer.

Chapter 2, "Managing Oracle Homes"

This chapter contains information on how you can manage Oracle homes and Oracle inventory using Oracle Universal Installer.

Chapter 3, "Customizing and Creating Response Files"

This chapter contains information on how you can perform a silent installation using response files in the Oracle Universal Installer.

Chapter 4, "Installing Products"

This chapter contains information on the prerequisites for installation and how you install and remove Oracle products.

Chapter 5, "Installing Cluster Environments"

This chapter contains information on Oracle Clusterware and Real Application Clusters installation.

Chapter 6, "Cloning Oracle Software"

This chapter contains information on Oracle software cloning using Oracle Universal Installer. It also contains the steps to perform a database cloning, Oracle Clusterware cloning, and Real Application Clusters cloning.

Chapter 7, "Patching Oracle Software with OPatch"

This chapter contains information on applying interim patches to Oracle products using the Oracle proprietary tool — OPatch.

Chapter 8, "Oracle Internationalization and Translation"

This chapter contains information on the various languages in which Oracle produces software.

Appendix A, " Frequently Asked Questions"

This appendix contains frequently asked questions on Oracle Universal Installer and OPatch.

Appendix B, " Troubleshooting and Debugging Oracle Universal Installer"

This appendix contains information on how you can troubleshoot Oracle Universal Installer.

Appendix C, "Understanding Oracle Universal Installer Commands"

This appendix contains information on Oracle Universal Installer commands.

Appendix D, "Sample Files"

This appendix contains a sample response file, a sample components file and ORAPARAM.INI file.

Conventions

The following text conventions are used in this document: