Oracle Universal Installer (OUI) Oracle Application Server Tips by Burleson Consulting

The Oracle Internet Directory (OID) is an LDAP v3 compliant directory that is used to look up information.  The Single Sign-On application uses OID to authenticate users for example.  OID places information into Realms and this screen is asking you to define a default Realm for OID to store users, groups and policies.  Recommend that you accept the suggested name space unless you wish to specify a namespace for your organization such as dc=mycompany,dc=com.  Click Next to proceed to the Database Identification screen, as seen in Figure 3-9.

Figure 9: Database Identification Screen of the Oracle Universal Installer

The Database Identification screen defines the SID and Global Database Name for the OracleAS Metadata Repository database.  The requirements for these items are the same as any Oracle database.  The SID is a unique name for the database.  The default (which is used in the example) is ?asdb?.  In prior releases it defaulted to ?iasdb?.  The Global Database Name is normally the SID followed by the server?s domain name.  In the example I used asdb.proxitec.com however some of the examples in this book used iasdb.localdomain.com.  The Global Database Name is not an address but the full name of the database instance.  It is used in connecting to the database and with database links.  Recommend that you use asdb with your own domain name.  Select next to continue to set the sys and system passwords.

This screen allows you to set the SYS and SYSTEM passwords for the Metadata Repository database.  Note that the passwords must meet minimum requirements, containing both letters and numbers.  Write them down!  There are a lot of passwords in Oracle Application Server 10g.  Click Next to proceed to the Database File Location screen, shown in Figure 3-10.

Figure 10:Database File Location Screen of the Oracle Universal Installer

The default location for the database data files is the instance ORACLE_HOME/oradata directory but you can locate them on any mount point that has enough disk space.  All of the data files, log files and control files are placed in this directory.  Once you have entered the data file location, select Next to continue to Database Character Set screen.  The OUI sets a default character set based on the language setting of the operating system.  If this is not correct, you can select to choose another character set.  Normally the default character set is correct.  See the Oracle Documentation for details on Oracle Character sets.  Select Next to proceed to the Instance Name and Password screen as shown in Figure 3-11.

Figure 11: Instance Name and Password Screen of the Oracle Universal Installer

The Instance Name is the unique identifier for this instance on this server.  To uniquely identify instance across multiple servers, the instance name is appended to the server name.  In the example I named this instance ?infra_904?.  The complete instance name will be ?infra_904.appsvr.proxitec.com?.  This is how Application Server Control uniquely identifies an instance from all other instances across the system architecture. 

The Administration User is called ias_admin and cannot be changed.  On the screen you set the password (letters and numbers required) for the ias_admin user.  This password is unique to this instance.  Multiple instances on the same server will each have an ias_admin user with their own passwords.  You can make all the passwords the same but it is no longer required.  After entering an instance name and the ias_admin password select Next to move to the Summary screen, Figure 3-12.

Figure 12: Summary Screen of the Oracle Universal installer

The Summary screen provides a listing of all the selections you made in configuring this installation.  Look through the summary to ensure you have not made any mistakes.  Note that the space requirements list the mount point and the amount of space OUI will need during the installation.  These figures may not be accurate so at least in the early versions of the Application Server 10g do not trust the space requirements.  Once you have verified your selections, click Next to begin the installation.  The OUI first copies the necessary files, links the required executables, sets up the applications and then begins configuration.  The Installation screen, Figure 3-13 has a progress bar to help you monitor the installation progress. 

Figure 13: Install Screen of the Oracle Universal Installer

Depending on your system, this process can take quite awhile so be patient.  If you are installing from the hard drive, OUI will complete this section without interaction.  If you are installing from cdroms, you will be prompted when to change disks.  If you are asked to switch disk but the drive will not open, go to the desk top and right click on the cdrom icon and select ?Unmount Volume?. 

As the progress bar nears the end, the installer will need you to run another script as root to set up privileges.  The OUI will prompt you with the dialog box shown in Figure 3-14.

Figure 14: Setup Privileges Dialog Box

Open a new terminal window and change to the root user.  Run the root.sh script which is located in the instance ORACLE_HOME.  In my example:

su ? root
/u01/oracle/infra904/root.sh

The script will ask you where the /usr/local/bin directory, hit Enter to select the default.  The OUI will create three files in the /usr/local/bin directory that are used to setup the environment during configuration.  It will also execute few other tasks.  Once completed, close the terminal window and select OK on the dialog box to continue with the install.

Once the installation completes, OUI starts the configuration assistants that sets up the application server, deploys and configures components as seen in Figure 3-15.

Figure 15: Configuration Assistants of the Oracle Universal Installer

Each assistant is executed in order and all need to succeed for the application server to install successfully.  One new feature of the configure assistants is that if one fails it will stop, allowing you to retry the failed assistant.  This is a nice feature since if one assistant fails; other assistants behind it will also fail or be improperly configured. 

Once all the configuration assistants have succeeded, OUI will display the End of Installation screen as shown in Figure 3-16. 

Figure 16: End Of Install Screen of the Oracle Universal Installer

Make a note of the server ports to connect to the instance and it?s Application Server Control.  To log onto the instance point your browser to the address shown.  This information is also stored in the instance?s ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Apache/setupinfo.txt file.

At this point select Exit to exit the OUI.  The installer is not capable of installing multiple instances without exiting.

Before proceeding to the mid-tier install you should check the infrastructure to ensure all components are up and running.   Enter the Enterprise Manager Application Server Control URL into you browser.  When prompted, enter the user name as ias_admin and the password that you select during the installation.  This should take you to the Farm page.  Select the instance link to move to the instance page as shown in Figure 3-17.

Figure 17:Application Server Control Instance Status Page

At the end of the installation all components should be up and running.  If not select the down component (red down arrow) and click the start button.  With the Infrastructure instance running, you are ready to install the Middle Tier.

 

This is an excerpt from "Oracle 10g Application Server Administration Handbook" by Don Burleson and John Garmany.