5 Oracle Database Postinstallation Tasks

5.1.1 Downloading and Installing Patches

Check the My Oracle Support website for required patch updates for your installation.

To download required patches:

1. Use a web browser to view the My Oracle Support website:

   https://support.oracle.com/
   

2. Log in to My Oracle Support.

   Note:

   If you are not a My Oracle Support registered user, click Register here and follow the registration instructions.

3. On the main My Oracle Support page, click the Patches and Updates tab.

4. In the Patch Search group, select Product or Family (Advanced).

5. In the Product field, select Oracle Database.

6. In the Release field select the release number. For example, Oracle 11.2.0.3.1.

7. Click Search.

8. Any available patch updates are displayed in the Patch Search page.

9. Select the patch number and click ReadMe. The README page is displayed and contains information about the patch set and how to apply the patches to your installation.

10. Return to the Patch Search page, click Download, and save the file on your system.

11. Use the unzip utility provided with Oracle Database 11g release 1 (11.1) to uncompress the Oracle patch updates that you downloaded from My Oracle Support. The unzip utility is located in the $ORACLE_HOME/bin directory.

5.2.1 Creating a Backup of the root.sh Script

Oracle recommends that you back up the root.sh script after you complete an installation. If you install other products in the same Oracle home directory, then Oracle Universal Installer updates the contents of the existing root.sh script during the installation. If you require information contained in the original root.sh script, then you can recover it from the backed up root.sh file.

5.2.2 Configuring New or Upgraded Databases

Oracle recommends that you run the utlrp.sql script after creating or upgrading a database. This script recompiles all PL/SQL modules that might be in an invalid state, including packages, procedures, and types. This is an optional step but Oracle recommends that you do it during installation and not at a later date.

To run the utlrp.sql script, follow these steps:

1. Switch the user to oracle.

2. Use the oraenv or coraenv script to set the environment for the database where you want to run the utlrp.sql script:

   • Bourne, Bash, or Korn shell:

     $ . /usr/local/bin/oraenv
     

   • C shell:

     % source /usr/local/bin/coraenv
     

   When prompted, provide the SID for the database.

3. Start SQL*Plus, as follows:

   $ sqlplus / AS SYSDBA
   

4. Start the database in restricted mode and run the utlrp.sql script:

   SQL> @?/rdbms/admin/utlrp.sql
   

5.2.3 Creating and Configuring Additional Operating System Accounts

If required, create additional operating system accounts. Users must be members of the OSDBA or OSOPER groups to connect to the database with administrator privileges.

5.2.4 Setting the NLS_LANG Environment Variable

NLS_LANG is an environment variable that specifies the locale behavior for Oracle software. This variable sets the language and territory used by the client application and the database server. It also declares the character set of the client, which is the character set of data entered or displayed by an Oracle client program, such as SQL*Plus.

5.2.5 Generating the Client Static Library

The client static library (libclntst11.a) is not generated during installation. To link the applications to the client static library, you must first generate it as follows:

1. Switch the user to oracle.

2. Set the ORACLE_HOME environment variable to specify the Oracle home directory used by the Oracle Database installation, for example:

   • Bourne, Bash, or Korn shell:

     $ ORACLE_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1 
     $ export ORACLE_HOME
     

   • C shell:

     % setenv ORACLE_HOME /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1
     

3. Enter the following command:

   $ $ORACLE_HOME/bin/genclntst
   

5.2.6 Creating a Fast Recovery Area Disk Group

During installation, by default you can create one disk group. If you plan to add an Oracle Database for a standalone server, then you should create the fast recovery area for database files.

5.2.7 Enabling and Disabling Database Options

When you install Oracle Database, some options are enabled and others are disabled. To enable or disable a particular database feature for an Oracle home, shut down the database and use the chopt tool. See Example 5-1.

The chopt tool is a command-line utility that is located in the ORACLE_HOME/bin directory. The syntax for chopt is:

chopt [ enable | disable] db_option

The possible values for db_option are described in the following table:

cd %ORACLE_HOME%
srvctl stop database -d myDb
chopt enable lbac
srvctl start database -d myDb

5.2.8 Running RACcheck Configuration Audit Tool

Oracle recommends that you run the Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) Configuration Audit Tool (RACcheck) to check your Oracle Database installation. RACcheck is an Oracle RAC auditing tool that checks various important configuration settings within Oracle Real Application Clusters, Oracle Clusterware, Oracle Automatic Storage Management, Oracle Database single instance, Oracle Restart and the Oracle Grid Infrastructure environment.

Oracle recommends that you download and run the latest version of RACcheck from My Oracle Support. For information about downloading, configuring and running RACcheck utility, refer to My Oracle Support note 1268927.1:

https://support.oracle.com/CSP/main/article?cmd=show&type=NOT&id=1268927.1

5.3.1 Configuring Oracle Net Services

If you have an earlier release of Oracle software installed on this system, you might want to copy information from the Oracle Net tnsnames.ora and listener.ora configuration files from the earlier release to the corresponding files for the new release.

The following sections describe about how to configure the Oracle Net Services:

• Modifying the listener.ora File

• Modifying the tnsnames.ora File

Modifying the listener.ora File

If you are upgrading from a previous release of Oracle Database, Oracle recommends that you use the current release of Oracle Net listener instead of the listener from the previous release.

If you have referenced the previous Oracle home directory names in the static listener information, then these directory names must be modified before the listener.ora file can be used in the 11.2 environment.

To use the listener from the current release, copy the static service information from the listener.ora file from the previous release to the version of that file used by the new release.

For any database instances earlier than release 8.0.3, add static service information to the listener.ora file. Oracle Database releases later than release 8.0.3 do not require static service information.

Modifying the tnsnames.ora File

Unless you are using a central tnsnames.ora file, copy Oracle Net Services names and connect descriptors from the earlier release tnsnames.ora file to the version of that file used by the new release.

If necessary, you can also add connection information for additional database instances to the new file.

5.3.2 Configuring Oracle Label Security

If you installed Oracle Label Security, you must configure it in a database before you use it. You can configure Oracle Label Security in two ways; with Oracle Internet Directory integration and without Oracle Internet Directory integration. If you configure Oracle Label Security without Oracle Internet Directory integration, you cannot configure it to use Oracle Internet Directory at a later stage.

5.3.3 Configuring Oracle Database Vault

If you install Oracle Database Vault, then you must register it in a database. Ensure that you create the Database Vault Owner and, optionally, Database Vault Account Manager administrative accounts before you can use it.

5.3.4 Configuring Oracle Messaging Gateway

Oracle Messaging Gateway, an Oracle Database Advanced Queuing feature, requires additional configuration after you install Oracle Database if you plan to use Oracle Database Advanced Queuing.

5.3.5 Configuring Oracle Precompilers

This section describes postinstallation tasks for Oracle precompilers:

• Configuring Pro*C/C++

• Configuring Pro*FORTRAN

5.3.6 Configuring Secure Sockets Layer

Oracle recommends that you configure and use a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to ensure that passwords and other sensitive data are not transmitted in clear text in HTTP requests.

5.3.7 Installing Oracle Text Supplied Knowledge Bases

An Oracle Text knowledge base is a hierarchical tree of concepts used for theme indexing, ABOUT queries, and deriving themes for document services. If you plan to use any of these Oracle Text features, then you can install two supplied knowledge bases (English and French).

5.3.8 Configuring or Reinstalling Oracle XML DB

See Oracle XML DB Developer's Guide for more information about the following tasks:

• Reinstalling Oracle XML DB

• Configuring or customizing the Oracle XML DB tablespace

• Configuring FTP, HTTP/WebDAV port numbers

5.3.9 Configuring and Using Direct NFS Client

Many Oracle products and options must be configured before you use them for the first time. Before using individual Oracle products or options, see the appropriate guide in the product documentation library.

/NFS_mount:
dev = "/NFS_mount"
vfs = nfs
nodename = NFS_server
mount = true
options = bg,soft,intr,rsize=32768,wsize=32768
account = false

(rw,no_root_squash, insecure)