Pre-Work

Oracle Database Tips by Donald Burleson

Before beginning the installation of Oracle 9i software, verify that each of the following steps has been completed:

CHECKLIST
	Step to complete on each node	As described in
	Verify the required Linux packages have been installed by running the script ensure_installed.shas root.	Chapter 2 and Appendix B
	The modified kernel should be installed and the file /etc/grub.conf should be configured.	Chapter 4
	Ensure the server parameters have been set by running the script os_prep.sh as root.	Chapter 4 and Appendix B
	Verify the Oracle user is created with a primary group of oinstall*and secondary group of dba.*	Chapter 4
	Ensure the Oracle user is able to use rsh to run commands from one node to the other.	Chapter 4
	Ensure the combination user:group ?nobody? exists.	Chapter 4
	Ensure the file ~oracle/.bash_profile exports the correct default values.	Chapter 4
	Ensure the directory for $ORACLE_HOME is created and owned by oracle:oinstall. Ensure the /var/opt/oracle directory is created and owned by root:root.	Chapter 4
	Verify that Oracle patch 3006854 was properly installed. The ls ?l /etc/libcwait.so command will list the file proving that the patch was applied.	Chapter 4 and Appendix B
	Verify that OCFS is installed, and that the two partitions on the external drive are created and will be mounted on boot.	Chapter 5

Table 6.1: Verify that each step has been completed

Once the items in the checklist are verified, reboot each node to ensure stability. On boot, the nodes should be able to mount the external disks partitions. To ensure each node has done just that, login as oracle and issue the df ‑h command from each node to list the mounted partitions.

The first step when installing Oracle software is to set up two files on the shared storage. From one node, create the directory and files shown in Figure 6.1. The dd command is used to create binary files by reading from /dev/zero, a virtual device that outputs an unlimited supply of binary zeros.

Verify that the files can be listed from each node. Figure 6.2 demonstrates the Oracle user listing the files from the node oracle2. These binary files will be used by the Cluster Managerand the srvctl programs to store configuration data that must be shared between the two nodes. Oracle 9i installation software requires these files and their directories be created in advance.

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