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Oracle Tips by Burleson |
Installation Guidelines
As stated in the introduction to this
chapter, installation of Oracle is a complex topic. And though
Oracle has automated the process to a large extent, if you don’t
have your ducks in a row before you start, your success is doubtful.
Therefore, this section will cover Oracle installation on NT, UNIX,
and Linux, and attempt to point out the pitfalls that might trip you
up on the path to a proper installation. Note, however, that the
product is growing and changing with each release, so this
information cannot, nor is it intended to, replace the installation
guides provided by Oracle. Instead, this section is intended to
provide general guidelines for the DBA who is facing installation or
upgrade of the Oracle products.
Generic Installation Issues
In any installation, whether it is on W2K,
NT, UNIX, or Linux, there are certain items that must be addressed.
These include:
* Disk space availability
* DBA account setup
* Training
* File layout
* Tablespace layout
* Database-specific topics
We will cover these topics in turn
and, hopefully, in doing so provide the DBA with the information to
arrive at logical answers to installation questions that may arise.
Disk Space Availability
More installations are probably messed up
due to disk space availability than any other cause. Disk
fragmentation doesn’t seem to be a problem under UNIX or NT, however
I do suggest you defragment any NT system that has been in operation
for extended periods of time prior to the Oracle installation unless
you are installing to fresh disks. With most modern systems, disk
space is allocated dynamically. This means that as a file needs
space, it is granted space wherever it is available on a disk. On
active systems, where files are created, updated, and deleted or
moved to different disks, this results in fragmentation. This can
result in problems for the DBA on NT systems since most aren’t
provided with a disk defragmentation tool.
The Oracle DBA Account
Other than the ADMINISTRATOR on NT, or the
ROOT or SUPERUSER account on UNIX, the Oracle DBA account, usually
called ORACLE, will be one of the most powerful accounts on the
system. This is required due to the Oracle system being more like an
operating system than just a set of executables. In order to start
up and shut down, create the required files, and allow global
sharing of the kernel and perhaps the tools, the Oracle DBA account
needs much broader privileges than a normal user account. The
account must have the privilege to create directories, files, and
other system objects, as well as the ability to place objects in
shared memory.
The second-largest contributor to a bad
install experience is an underprivileged Oracle DBA account. The
account must be set up as stated in the installation documentation
for the install to be successful. After the installation, some
adjustment of account privileges can be done if the system
administrator really doesn’t want an account outside of his or her
realm of control to have such broad privileges, but no adjustments
can be made until the install is complete. In most cases, however,
the privileges removed by an overzealous system administrator will
have to be periodically reinstated for code relinks, special file
work, and, of course, upgrades. This will soon convince most system
administrators to set them and leave them. After all, if someone
can’t be trusted with the required privileges to do his or her job,
should the person be trusted with the job in the first place? It is
advised that the Oracle DBA be sent to at least an introductory
course in system administration so as to know what not to do with
the privileges. A course in system tuning is also advised.
Training
It has been said that success in a new
venture usually depends on three things: training, training, and
training. This is especially true in the realm of the Oracle DBA.
Oracle Corporation, and many third-party vendors, offer numerous
classes at locations across the United States and Europe. There are
also many sources for computer-based training (CBT), as well as
online resources such as the RevealNet, Inc. Oracle Administrator
(which I helped to author and a part of which can be downloaded from
the company Web site). These classes are Oracle-specific and address
issues that DBAs, developers, and managers need to be aware of and
take into account. With most Oracle purchases you can negotiate
training units, or TUs. Use them; they are worth their weight in
gold. While there have been a few successful seat-of-the-pants
Oracle installations, most end up in trouble.
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