Contents

List of Examples

List of Figures

List of Tables

Title and Copyright Information

Preface

• Audience
• Documentation Accessibility
• Structure
• Conventions

1 Introduction to Oracle Universal Installer

• 1.1 System Requirements
• 1.2 Key Features
• 1.3 Utilities
  • 1.3.1 Oracle Universal Installer
  • 1.3.2 OPatch
• 1.4 Actions Performed by the Utilities
  • 1.4.1 Installation
  • 1.4.2 Deinstallation
  • 1.4.3 Cloning
  • 1.4.4 Patching
  • 1.4.5 Upgrades and Patchsets
  • 1.4.6 Adding Nodes
  • 1.4.7 Inventory Operations
    • 1.4.7.1 Attaching Oracle Homes
    • 1.4.7.2 Detaching Oracle Homes
    • 1.4.7.3 Updating the Node List
• 1.5 Major Entities Created
  • 1.5.1 Inventory
  • 1.5.2 Oracle Home
• 1.6 Modes of Installation
  • 1.6.1 Interactive Mode
  • 1.6.2 Suppressed-Interactive Mode
  • 1.6.3 Silent Mode
  • 1.6.4 Cluster Mode

2 Managing Oracle Homes

• 2.1 Introduction to Oracle Homes
• 2.2 Installing an Oracle Product
• 2.3 Removing Oracle Homes
• 2.4 Determining the Default Oracle Home
• 2.5 Multiple Oracle Homes
  • 2.5.1 Target Home
• 2.6 Oracle Universal Installer Inventory
  • 2.6.1 Structure of the Oracle Universal Installer Inventory
    • 2.6.1.1 Central Inventory Pointer File
    • 2.6.1.2 Central Inventory
    • 2.6.1.3 Oracle Home Inventory
  • 2.6.2 Creating the Central Inventory
    • 2.6.2.1 Using the Session Variables
    • 2.6.2.2 Verifying the Operation
  • 2.6.3 Detaching Oracle Homes from the Central Inventory
    • 2.6.3.1 Using Optional Flags
    • 2.6.3.2 Removing the Central Inventory
  • 2.6.4 Upgrading and Patching the Oracle Home
  • 2.6.5 Cloning Oracle Homes
  • 2.6.6 Backing up the Inventory
  • 2.6.7 Recovering from Inventory Corruption
    • 2.6.7.1 Diagnosing and Recovering from Central Inventory Corruption
    • 2.6.7.2 Diagnosing and Recovering from Oracle Home Inventory Corruption
  • 2.6.8 Real Application Clusters
    • 2.6.8.1 Updating the Nodes of a Cluster
• 2.7 Home Selector (Available on Win32 Platforms)
  • 2.7.1 Home Selector Overview
  • 2.7.2 How Home Selector Works
  • 2.7.3 Oracle Home Directory Structure for Windows Platforms
  • 2.7.4 Optimal Flexible Architecture Directory Structure (on UNIX)
    • 2.7.4.1 ORACLE_BASE Directory
    • 2.7.4.2 ORACLE_HOME Directory

3 Customizing and Creating Response Files

• 3.1 About Response Files
  • 3.1.1 What Is a Silent Installation?
  • 3.1.2 What Is a Response File?
  • 3.1.3 Why Perform a Silent Installation?
• 3.2 Modifying a Response File
• 3.3 Creating a Response File With Record Mode
  • 3.3.1 Using Record Mode
• 3.4 Response File Format
  • 3.4.1 Variable Values
    • 3.4.1.1 Variable Lookup Order
    • 3.4.1.2 Setting the Recommendation Value
  • 3.4.2 Comments
  • 3.4.3 Headers
  • 3.4.4 Response File Parameters
• 3.5 Installing with a Response File
  • 3.5.1 Specifying a Response File
  • 3.5.2 Optional Parameters When Specifying a Response File
  • 3.5.3 Setting Response File Variables From the Command Line
    • 3.5.3.1 Specifying the Value of a Session Variable
    • 3.5.3.2 Specifying the Value of a Component Variable

4 Installing Products

• 4.1 Checking Prerequisites Before Installation
• 4.2 Installing Oracle Products
  • 4.2.1 Getting Help While Installing Oracle Products
  • 4.2.2 About the ORAPARAM.INI File
  • 4.2.3 Modes of Installation
  • 4.2.4 Installation Media
    • 4.2.4.1 Installing from a Single CD-ROM
    • 4.2.4.2 Installing from Multiple CD-ROMs
    • 4.2.4.3 Installing from a staged HTTP location
  • 4.2.5 Special Instructions for UNIX Users
    • 4.2.5.1 Failed to Connect to Server Error
    • 4.2.5.2 Providing a UNIX Installer Location with Root Privileges
    • 4.2.5.3 Providing a UNIX Group Name
• 4.3 Deinstalling Oracle Products
  • 4.3.1 Removing Oracle Products and Oracle Homes
  • 4.3.2 Deinstalling Top-level Products That Have Dependents
  • 4.3.3 Silent Deinstallation
    • 4.3.3.1 Immediately Displaying the Inventory Dialog Box
    • 4.3.3.2 Hiding the Inventory Dialog Box
    • 4.3.3.3 Hiding the Deinstallation Confirmation and Progress Dialog Boxes
• 4.4 Running Oracle Universal Installer After Installation
  • 4.4.1 Starting Oracle Universal Installer
  • 4.4.2 Command Line Arguments
  • 4.4.3 Using Oracle Universal Installer Exit Codes
  • 4.4.4 Cloning Considerations
• 4.5 About Oracle Universal Installer Log Files

5 Installing Cluster Environments

• 5.1 Oracle Universal Installer and Real Application Clusters
  • 5.1.1 Oracle Clusterware
  • 5.1.2 Installed Real Application Clusters Components
• 5.2 General System Installation Requirements for Real Application Clusters
  • 5.2.1 Hardware Requirements for Real Application Clusters Setup
  • 5.2.2 Software Requirements for Real Application Clusters Setup
• 5.3 Cluster Setup and Pre-installation Configuration Tasks for Real Application Clusters
• 5.4 Pre-installation Tasks for Real Application Clusters on UNIX
  • 5.4.1 Logging In to the System as root
  • 5.4.2 Creating Required UNIX Groups and Users
    • 5.4.2.1 Creating Identical Users and Groups on Other Cluster Nodes
    • 5.4.2.2 Configuring SSH on all Cluster Nodes
  • 5.4.3 Configuring the Oracle User Environment
  • 5.4.4 Checking the Hardware Requirements
  • 5.4.5 Checking the Network Requirements
    • 5.4.5.1 Network Hardware Requirements
    • 5.4.5.2 Network Parameter Requirements
    • 5.4.5.3 IP Address Requirements
    • 5.4.5.4 Node Time Requirements
  • 5.4.6 Checking Software Requirements
  • 5.4.7 Configuring Kernel Parameters
  • 5.4.8 Identifying Required Software Directories
    • 5.4.8.1 Oracle Base Directory
    • 5.4.8.2 Oracle Inventory Directory
    • 5.4.8.3 Oracle Clusterware Home Directory
    • 5.4.8.4 Oracle Home Directory
  • 5.4.9 Identifying or Creating an Oracle Base Directory
  • 5.4.10 Creating the Clusterware Home Directory
• 5.5 Pre-installation Tasks for Real Application Clusters on Windows
  • 5.5.1 Checking Hardware and Software Certification
  • 5.5.2 Checking the Hardware Requirements
    • 5.5.2.1 Hard Disk Space Requirements
  • 5.5.3 Checking the Software Requirements
  • 5.5.4 Checking the Network Requirements
    • 5.5.4.1 Network Hardware Requirements
    • 5.5.4.2 IP Address Requirements
  • 5.5.5 Checking Individual Component Requirements
• 5.6 Configuring Storage for Oracle Clusterware
• 5.7 Installing Oracle Clusterware on UNIX
  • 5.7.1 Running the Oracle Universal Installer to Install Oracle Clusterware
  • 5.7.2 Running the Oracle Universal Installer in Silent Mode to Install Oracle Clusterware
  • 5.7.3 Oracle Clusterware Background Processes
• 5.8 Installing Oracle Clusterware on Windows
  • 5.8.1 Running the Oracle Universal Installer to Install Oracle Clusterware
  • 5.8.2 Running the Oracle Universal Installer in Silent Mode to Install Oracle Clusterware
  • 5.8.3 Oracle Clusterware Background Processes
• 5.9 Adding More Nodes to the Cluster for Mass Deployment
• 5.10 Installing Product Software on a Cluster
  • 5.10.1 Cluster Detection
  • 5.10.2 Availability Checking
  • 5.10.3 Cluster Installation
  • 5.10.4 Cluster Installation in Silent Mode
  • 5.10.5 Cluster Deinstallation
• 5.11 Command Line Options for Cluster Installations (UNIX Only)
• 5.12 Patchsets and Upgrades
• 5.13 Post-installation Tasks
  • 5.13.1 Verification
  • 5.13.2 Back Up Disk after Installation
  • 5.13.3 Download and Install Patches
  • 5.13.4 Configure Oracle Products
• 5.14 Deinstalling Real Application Clusters Software
  • 5.14.1 Deinstalling Oracle Product Software on UNIX
  • 5.14.2 Deinstalling Oracle Product Software on Windows
  • 5.14.3 Deinstalling Oracle Clusterware
    • 5.14.3.1 Deinstalling Oracle Clusterware from a UNIX Environment
    • 5.14.3.2 Deinstalling Oracle Clusterware from a Windows Environment
• 5.15 Converting Single-instance Nodes to Real Application Clusters
• 5.16 Troubleshooting Real Application Clusters / Oracle Clusterware Installation

6 Cloning Oracle Software

• 6.1 About Cloning
• 6.2 Overview of the Cloning Process
  • 6.2.1 Source Preparation Phase
  • 6.2.2 Cloning Phase
• 6.3 Locating and Viewing Log Files
• 6.4 Cloning an Oracle Database 11.1 Oracle Home
  • 6.4.1 Preparing the 11.1 Oracle Database Source
  • 6.4.2 Cloning an 11.1 Oracle Database
  • 6.4.3 Viewing Log and Error Files
• 6.5 Creating an Oracle Real Application Cluster Environment using Cloning
  • 6.5.1 Important Considerations when Cloning Oracle Real Application Clusters
  • 6.5.2 Creating Oracle RAC Environments on UNIX and Linux System-Based Environments
    • 6.5.2.1 Cloning Oracle Clusterware on UNIX and Linux System-Based Environments
    • 6.5.2.2 Cloning Oracle RAC Software on UNIX and Linux System-Based Environments
  • 6.5.3 Creating Oracle RAC Environments on Windows System-Based Environments
    • 6.5.3.1 Cloning Oracle Clusterware on Windows System-Based Environments
    • 6.5.3.2 Cloning Oracle RAC Software on Windows System-Based Environments
• 6.6 Adding Nodes Using Cloning in Oracle Real Application Clusters Environments
  • 6.6.1 Cloning Oracle RAC Environments on UNIX and Linux System-Based Environments
    • 6.6.1.1 Cloning Oracle Clusterware on UNIX and Linux System-Based Environments
    • 6.6.1.2 Cloning Oracle RAC Software on UNIX and Linux System-Based Environments
  • 6.6.2 Cloning Oracle RAC Environments on Windows System-Based Environments
    • 6.6.2.1 Cloning Oracle Clusterware on Windows System-Based Environments
    • 6.6.2.2 Cloning Oracle RAC Software on Windows System-Based Environments
  • 6.6.3 Cloning Script Variables and their Definitions
    • 6.6.3.1 Variables for UNIX and Linux System-Based Environments
    • 6.6.3.2 Variables for Windows System-Based Environments

7 Patching Oracle Software with OPatch

• 7.1 About OPatch
  • 7.1.1 OPatch Features
  • 7.1.2 Getting Interim Patches
  • 7.1.3 Environment Variables OPatch Uses
• 7.2 Requirements for OPatch
• 7.3 Prerequisite Checks for OPatch
  • 7.3.1 Checks for Single Instances and Real Application Clusters
  • 7.3.2 Additional Checks for Real Application Clusters
    • 7.3.2.1 Check for User Equivalence
    • 7.3.2.2 Check for OPatch Lsinventory
• 7.4 Backup and Recovery Considerations for Patching
• 7.5 OPatch Utility for OUI-based Oracle Homes
  • 7.5.1 Apply Command for OUI-based Oracle Homes
  • 7.5.2 Napply Command for OUI-based Oracle Homes
  • 7.5.3 Lsinventory Command for OUI-based Oracle Homes
  • 7.5.4 Query Command for OUI-based Oracle Homes
  • 7.5.5 Rollback Command for OUI-based Oracle Homes
  • 7.5.6 Nrollback Command for OUI-based Oracle Homes
  • 7.5.7 Version Command for OUI-based Oracle Homes
• 7.6 Standalone Patching
  • 7.6.1 Unsupported Services for Standalone Patching
  • 7.6.2 Standalone Patching Requirements
  • 7.6.3 OPatch Utility for Standalone Homes
    • 7.6.3.1 Apply Command for Standalone OPatch
    • 7.6.3.2 Lsinventory Command for Standalone OPatch
    • 7.6.3.3 Query Command for Standalone OPatch
    • 7.6.3.4 Rollback Command for Standalone OPatch
    • 7.6.3.5 Version Command for Standalone OPatch
  • 7.6.4 Use Cases
    • 7.6.4.1 Inventory Operations
    • 7.6.4.2 Patching Operations
    • 7.6.4.3 Utility Operations
• 7.7 Schema Patching
  • 7.7.1 Schema Patching Options
  • 7.7.2 Standalone SQL Execution
• 7.8 Online Patching
• 7.9 Real Application Clusters Patching
  • 7.9.1 All Node Patching
  • 7.9.2 Rolling Patching
  • 7.9.3 Minimum Downtime Patching
• 7.10 About Patch Conflicts
  • 7.10.1 Types of Conflicts
    • 7.10.1.1 Superset
    • 7.10.1.2 Subset
    • 7.10.1.3 Duplicate
    • 7.10.1.4 Bug Conflict
    • 7.10.1.5 File Conflict
  • 7.10.2 Patch Conflict Behavior for Apply and Napply
  • 7.10.3 Patch Conflict Detection and Resolution
• 7.11 Problem Resolution
  • 7.11.1 Logging and Tracing
    • 7.11.1.1 Command Index
    • 7.11.1.2 Levels of Logging
  • 7.11.2 Recovering from a Failed Patching Session
    • 7.11.2.1 Single Instance Setup
    • 7.11.2.2 Real Application Clusters Setup
  • 7.11.3 Resolving OPatch Application Errors

8 Oracle Internationalization and Translation

• 8.1 Installation Dialogs Language
• 8.2 Product Language Selections
• 8.3 Language Add-on

A Frequently Asked Questions

• A.1 Oracle Universal Installer
• A.2 OPatch

B Troubleshooting and Debugging Oracle Universal Installer

• B.1 Debugging Mechanisms in Oracle Universal Installer
  • B.1.1 Installation Log
  • B.1.2 Automated Inventory Backups
    • B.1.2.1 Central Inventory Backup
    • B.1.2.2 Oracle Home Inventory Backup
• B.2 Oracle Universal Installer Errors
• B.3 Other Tips

C Understanding Oracle Universal Installer Commands

• C.1 Options Available in Oracle Universal Installer
• C.2 Command-line Variables Available in Oracle Universal Installer

D Sample Files

• D.1 Sample Response File
• D.2 Sample ORAPARAM.INI File
• D.3 Sample Components File

Index