Oracle Installation files extraction with PAX

For a Unix or Linux installation, Oracle places its installation files in cpio (archiving format) to contain multiple directory structures in a single file. This article describes the use of the pax utility to extract Oracle installation files.

1. Download your oracle installation files from www.oracle.com

2. Logon to your Oracle database server and place the installation files in the appropriate location.

3. Extract the cpio.gz installation files with the pax utility and options -rvzf

pax -rvzf (name_of_cpio_file.cpio.gz)

4. If the cpio archive file is not compressed, use the pax utility and options –rvf.

pax -rvf (name_of_cpio_file.cpio)

5. This completes unpacking of Oracle installation files with the utility pax.

Larry J. Catt, OCP 9i, 10g
oracle@allcompute.com
www.allcompute.com

Oracle Installation files extraction with cpio

For a Unix or Linux installation, Oracle places its installation files in cpio (archiving format) to contain multiple directory structures in a single file. This article describes the use of the cpio utility to extract Oracle installation files.

1. Download your oracle installation files from www.oracle.com

2. Logon to your Oracle database server and place the installation files in the appropriate location.

3. Extract the cpio.gz installation software with the following command.

gunzip (name_of_cpio_file .cpio.gz)

4. Unpack the archive file using the cpio utility with options –idmv

cpio -idmv < (name_of_cpio_file.cpio)

NOTE: replace the string (name_of_cpio_file .cpio) with your actual cpio file name, but do not remove the first < - greater than sign, that is the input of your file name into the utility. 5. This completes unpacking of Oracle installation files with the utility cpio. Larry J. Catt, OCP 9i, 10g oracle@allcompute.com www.allcompute.com

Unable to mount OCFS2 drives

Oracle provides the file system OCFS2 to support Oracle RAC file storage. This file system provides for a locking mechanism which allows files to be accessed by multiple Oracle instances while avoiding corruption. The OSFS2 file system binaries must be started before any OCFS2 formatted mount points can be accessed. This article shows the error generated when the OCFS2 stack has not been started and how to resolve the problem.

General OS error:

[root@mylinux init.d]# mount /dev/mapper/MPATH10 /u02
mount.ocfs2: Unable to access cluster service while trying initialize cluster

Resolution:

1. Logon to your server as root.
2. Change directory to /etc/init.d

[root@mylinux /]# cd /etc/init.d
[root@mylinux init.d]# pwd
/etc/init.d
[root@mylinux init.d]#

3. Execute the OS layer command ./ocfs2 load.

[root@mylinux init.d]# ./o2cb load
Loading filesystem “configfs”: OK
Mounting configfs filesystem at /sys/kernel/config: OK
Loading filesystem “ocfs2_dlmfs”: OK
Mounting ocfs2_dlmfs filesystem at /dlm: OK
[root@mylinux init.d]#

4. Execute the OS layer command ./ocfs2 online

[root@mylinux init.d]# ./o2cb online
Starting O2CB cluster ocfs2: OK
[root@mylinux init.d]#

5. Attempt to mount your ocfs2 storage device.

[root@mylinux init.d]# mount /dev/mapper/MPATH10 /u02
[root@mylinux init.d]#

6. This completes restarting OCFS2 binaries.

Larry J. Catt, OCP 9i, 10g
oracle@allcompute.com
www.allcompute.com

Disabling SELinux before Oracle installation

SELinux (Security-Enhanced Linux) provides for additional OS layer security with a default installation. However, this added security can cause issues for installation of multiple software packages of which Oracle is one. This article shows how to disable SELinux before Oracle installation.

1. Logon to your server as root.
2. Open the file /etc/selinux/config with vi.

[root@mylinux /]# vi /etc/selinux/config
# This file controls the state of SELinux on the system.
# SELINUX= can take one of these three values:
# enforcing – SELinux security policy is enforced.
# permissive – SELinux prints warnings instead of enforcing.
# disabled – SELinux is fully disabled.
SELINUX=permissive
# SELINUXTYPE= type of policy in use. Possible values are:
# targeted – Only targeted network daemons are protected.
# strict – Full SELinux protection.
SELINUXTYPE=targeted
~

3. Disable SELinux by changing the option SELINUX to disabled.

SELINUX=disabled

4. Reboot your Linux server for the changes to take affect.

5. This completes disabling of SELinux before Oracle installation.

Larry J. Catt, OCP 9i, 10g
oracle@allcompute.com
www.allcompute.com