ITEC474

ORACLE SERVER

Objectives
These notes familiarize you with database
administration software used by a DBA
including:
Oracle Universal Installer (OUI)
Oracle SQL*Plus
Oracle Database Configuration Assistant (DBCA)
Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM)
Database Upgrade Assistant (DBUA)

Database Administration Software

DBA Software
Oracle Universal Installer

Software Description
This software is the standard software used to install,
modify (upgrade), and remove Oracle software
components for all Oracle products.

Oracle Database
Configuration Assistant

This is a GUI tool that can be used to create, delete, or

modify databases; however, it does not provide a lot of
control on the database creation process.

SQL*Plus

Used by the DBA and system users to access data in an

Oracle database.

Oracle Enterprise Manager

Database Upgrade Assistant
(DBUA)

A GUI tool for administering one or more databases.

Can be started in command line mode (command
is dbua) for LINUX, or by selecting the DBUA from the
Oracle Configuration and Migrations Tools menu
option this upgrades Oracle databases to version
11g.

Special Database Administrative

Users
SYS
In the past, the user SYS was identified initially with the
password change_on_install; however, now the Oracle Universal
Installer (OUI) and Database Configuration Assistant (DBCA) both
prompt for a password during software installation.
SYS is the owner of the data dictionary.
SYSDBA and SYSOPER Privileges.
When you connect to a database as SYS, it is made by specifying
that the connection is made as either SYSDBA or SYSOPER.
These are two special privilege classifications used to identify DBAs
and privileged connections are enabled through use of a password
file.

Special Database Administrative

Users (cont.)
Operations autorized by the SYSDBA Privilege:
Perform STARTUP and SHUTDOWN operations
ALTER DATABASE: open, mount, back up, or change
character set
CREATE DATABASE
DROP DATABASE
CREATE SPFILE
ALTER DATABASE ARCHIVELOG
ALTER DATABASE RECOVER
Includes the RESTRICTED SESSION privilege

Special Database Administrative

Users (cont.)
Operations autorized by the SYSOPER Privilege:

Perform STARTUP and SHUTDOWN operations

CREATE SPFILE
ALTER DATABASE OPEN/MOUNT/BACKUP
ALTER DATABASE ARCHIVELOG
ALTER DATABASE RECOVER (Complete recovery only. Any
form of incomplete recovery, such as UNTIL
TIME|CHANGE|CANCEL|CONTROLFILE requires connecting
as SYSDBA.)
Includes the RESTRICTED SESSION privilege

Special Database Administrative

Users (cont.)
SYSTEM:
The user SYSTEM was identified initially by the
password manager in the past, but now the OUI and
DBCA both prompt for passwords during software
installation.
Tables and views created/owned by the
user SYSTEM contain administrative information used
by Oracle tools and administrative scripts used to
track database usage.
Here the database user connects as SYSTEM using
role SYSDBA.

SQLPlus
You can connect to SQLPlus in order to do the following:
Work with a database.
Startup and shutdown a database.
Create and run queries, modify row data, add rows, etc.
SQLPlus includes standard SQL plus additional add-on commands,
such as the DESCribe command that Oracle provides to make it easier
to work with databases.
When you use SQLPlus for startup and shutdown of your own
database, you will connect using /nolog mode, then connect
as SYSDBA. The following sequence fails for databases (such as
DBORCL) that are protected by a password file that authorizes special
accounts to connect with SYSDBA privileges.
SQL> connect / as sysdba
ERROR:
ORA-01031: insufficient privileges

SQLPlus (cont.)
The sequence of commands shown above WILL
work in an environment where password files
are not used to authorize special account
connections where the DBA has decided the
environment is secure enough to rely on
belonging to the operating system DBA group
to validate database administrator access to
the database.

Oracle Universal Installer

The OUI is Java-based and enables installation
for all Java-enabled operating system
platforms this makes the installation process
common across platforms.
It requires about 200Mb for OUI files on
Windows, and 116Mb for Unix and Linux
installations.

Oracle Universal Installer

Oracle Universal Installer 11g Release 2 (11.2)
offers the following features:

An XML-based centralized inventory

Cloning of existing Oracle home
Better support for cluster environments
True silent capability
Ability to record your Oracle Universal Installer
session to a response file
More accurate disk space calculations
Automatically launched software after installation
Cleaner deinstallation and upgrades
Integrated prerequisite checking
Support for Desktop Class and Server Class

Oracle Universal Installer (cont.)

An XML-based centralized inventory. The XML
format enables third-party Java applications to query
the inventory for information about installed
software.
Cloning of existing Oracle home.
Enables copying an existing Oracle home to
another location and "fix it up" by updating the
installation configuration to be specific to the new
environment.
Cloning makes it easy to propagate a standard
setup without having to install and configure after
installation.

Oracle Universal Installer (cont.)

Better support for cluster environments
Oracle Universal Installer now replicates its inventory to all
nodes that participate in a cluster-based installation.
You can invoke Oracle Universal Installer from any node on
the cluster that is part of the installation.
You can then upgrade, remove, or patch existing software
from any node.
True silent capability
When running Oracle Universal Installer in silent mode on
a character mode console, you no longer need to specify
an X-server or set the DISPLAY environment variable on
UNIX.
No GUI classes are instantiated, making the silent mode
truly silent.

Oracle Universal Installer (cont.)

Ability to record your Oracle Universal Installer session to a
response file
This feature makes it easy to duplicate the results of a
successful installation on multiple systems.
All the options you selected during the installation are
saved in the resulting response file.
More accurate disk space calculations
Oracle Universal Installer now uses a more accurate
method of calculating the disk space your Oracle products
require.
This feature reduces the risk of running out of disk space
during an installation.

Oracle Universal Installer (cont.)

Automatically launched software after installation
Some Oracle products now take advantage of a new
feature that enables the software to launch automatically
immediately after the installation.
Cleaner deinstallation and upgrades
Deinstallation completely removes all software, leaving no
"bits" behind.
This also completely removes files associated with
configuration assistants and patchsets.
Oracle homes can also be removed from the inventory and
registry.
For deinstalling 11.2 Oracle Clusterware, Database, and
client homes, OUI prompts you to run
the deinstall/deconfig utility from the home.

Oracle Universal Installer (cont.)

Integrated prerequisite checking
Provides a prerequisite checking tool to diagnose
the readiness of an environment for installation.
The prerequisite checks are run as part of the
installation process, but can also be run as a
separate application.

Oracle Universal Installer (cont.)

Support for Desktop Class and Server
Class. The following installation types are
available for the database:
Desktop Class
Choose this option if you are installing on a laptop or
desktop class system.
This option includes a starter database and provides
minimal configuration.
This option is designed for users that want to quickly
bring up and run the database.

Oracle Universal Installer (cont.)

Server Class
Choose this option if you are installing on a server class system, such as
what you would use when deploying Oracle in a production data
center.
This option provides more advanced configuration options.
Advanced configuration options available using this installation type
include Oracle RAC, Automatic Storage Management, backup and
recovery configuration, integration with Enterprise Manager Grid
Control, and more fine-grained memory tuning, as well as other
options.
For the Server Class option, the Typical Installation method is selected
by default.
It enables you to quickly install the Oracle Database using minimal
input.
This method installs the software and optionally creates a generalpurpose database using the information that you specify in this dialog.

Oracle Universal Installer (cont.)

Utilities
Oracle offers two utilities for software deployment:
Oracle Universal Installer to install Oracle products
OPatch to apply interim patches.
OPatch is an Oracle-supplied utility that assists you with
the process of applying interim patches to Oracle's
software.
OPatch 11.2 is a Java-based utility that can run on either
OUI-based Oracle homes or standalone homes.
It works on all operating systems for which Oracle
releases software.
For more information on OPatch, see
the Oracle OPatch User's Guide.

Oracle Universal Installer (cont.)

Oracle Home
An Oracle home is the system context in which the Oracle products
run.
The Oracle Universal Installer supports the installation of several
active Oracle homes on the same host.
An Oracle home is a directory into which all Oracle software is
installed.
This is pointed to by an environment variable named
ORACLE_HOME.
This context consists of the following:
Directory location where the products are installed
Corresponding system path setup
Program groups associated with the products installed in that home
(where applicable)
Services running from that home

Oracle Universal Installer (cont.)

Oracle Base
The Oracle base location is the location where Oracle Database binaries
are stored.
During installation, you are prompted for the Oracle base path.
Typically, an Oracle base path for the database is created during Oracle
Grid Infrastructure installation.
To prepare for installation, Oracle recommends that you only set the
ORACLE_BASE environment variable to define paths for Oracle binaries
and configuration files.
Oracle Universal Installer (OUI) creates other necessary paths and
environment variables in accordance with the Optimal Flexible
Architecture (OFA) rules for well-structured Oracle software
environments.
For example, with Oracle Database 11g, Oracle recommends that you do not
set an Oracle home environment variable allow OUI to create it instead.
If the Oracle base path is /u01/app/oracle, then by default, OUI
creates /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1 as the Oracle home
path

Oracle Universal Installer (cont.)

The ORAPARAM.INI File
The oraparam.ini file is used to provide initialization parameters for
the OUI. These parameters specify the behavior of specific OUI
parameters, and each product installation has a
unique oraparam.ini file.
Generally you will not need to edit the oraparam.ini file, but
understanding its contents can help you to troubleshoot problems that
may occur. For example:
OUI provides a default value for most installations on the File
Locations page that points to the location of the product's installation
kit or stage. This default value is stored in the oraparam.ini file.
The oraparam.ini file also identifies the location of the Java Runtime
Environment (JRE) required for the installation.
In the staging area, it is located in the same directory as the
executable file.

Oracle Database Configuration

Assistant
This assistant is covered in more detail in a
later lesson. It allows you to:
Create a database
Configure database options
Delete a database
Manage templates used for these tasks.

Oracle Enterprise Manager

The Oracle 11g Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM)
is a GUI, Internet-based product that executes
inside a web browser such as Internet
Explorer. The OEM:
Enables you to manage a number of Oracle tools and
services
Manage the network of management servers and
intelligent agents used to track and manage Oracle
databases.
Manage multiple databases from a single client
platform.