Category Archives: linux

linux, Oracle, Oracle 10g, oracle 9i

Enable Support Tracing on Oracle Listener:

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Most Oracle database connects are made through the use of an Oracle process called the LISTENER which monitors a certain machine and port for connection requests to one or more database instances. There are times when a DBA or SA will want to monitor connects being made through the listener for various reasons. There also exist times when you will have to open a SAR or TAR with oracle support, if they suspect you are having issues with your listener connections, they will ask for a SUPPORT level trace of your Oracle listener. This article covers the setup of SUPPORT level tracing of you Oracle Listener and will work on UNIX, Linux, and Windows based machines.

NOTE: Even very well trained DBA’s may have a difficult time interpreting everything generated by this type of trace. When it is generated, it is normally sent to Oracle support, where someone how specializes in the Oracle LISTENER can review it.

1. Logon to your Oracle database server as the Oracle software owner.

2. Open up the LSNRCTL utility.

mylinux:>lsnrctl

LSNRCTL for LINUX: Version 10.2.0.4.0 – Production on 23-DEC-2009 17:17:05

Copyright (c) 1991, 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Welcome to LSNRCTL, type “help” for information.

LSNRCTL>

3. If you are not using the default name of the Oracle listener (LISTENER) then define the Oracle listener name with the following command: set current_listener

LSNRCTL> set current_listener listener_orcl
Current Listener is listener_orcl
LSNRCTL>

4. If you have established a password for your oracle listener set it in the LSNRCTL session with the following command: set password

LSNRCTL> set password oracle
The command completed successfully
LSNRCTL>

5. Turn on support level tracing by specifying 16 or support as the level with the following command: set trc_level

LSNRCTL> set trc_level 16
Connecting to
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=192.168.0.110)(PORT=1521)))
listener_orcl parameter “trc_level” set to support
The command completed successfully
LSNRCTL>

or

LSNRCTL> set trc_level support
Connecting to
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=192.168.0.110)(PORT=1521)))
listener_orcl parameter “trc_level” set to support
The command completed successfully
LSNRCTL>

6. Define the name of the trace file that will be produced by the listener process upon establishment of user connection with the command below: set trc_file

LSNRCTL> set trc_file support_access_trace
Connecting to
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=192.168.0.110)(PORT=1521)))
listener_orcl parameter “trc_file” set to support_access_trace.trc
The command completed successfully
LSNRCTL>

NOTE: You do not have to set a trace directory by default the listener trace files are placed under: $ORACLE_HOME/network/trace

7. Save the changes made to the listener.ora file with the following command: save_config

LSNRCTL> save_config
Connecting to
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=192.168.0.110)(PORT=1521)))
Saved listener_orcl configuration parameters.
Listener Parameter File /opt/app/oracle/10.2.0/network/admin/listener.ora
Old Parameter File /opt/app/oracle/10.2.0/network/admin/listener.bak
The command completed successfully
LSNRCTL>

8. Exit out of LSNRCTL utility, change directories to
$ORACLE_HOME/network/trace, list the files present and you will see that the trace has already begun.

mylinux:> ls -lrt
total 1440
-rw-r—– 1 oracle dba 408755 Dec 23 17:25 listener_orcl.trc
-rw-r—– 1 oracle dba 43347 Dec 23 17:40 user_access_trace.trc
-rw-r—– 1 oracle dba 231352 Dec 23 19:00 admin_access_trace.trc
-rw-r—– 1 oracle dba 35087 Dec 23 19:01
support_access_trace.trc
mylinux:>

9. Logon to the RDBMS as an administrator, regular user and exit.

mylinux:> sqlplus system/devlmgr@orcl

SQL*Plus: Release 10.2.0.4.0 – Production on Wed Dec 23 19:03:18 2010

Copyright (c) 1982, 2007, Oracle. All Rights Reserved.

Connected to:
Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.4.0 – 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options

SQL> exit
Disconnected from Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.4.0 –
64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options
mylinux:> sqlplus joe/joe@orcl

SQL*Plus: Release 10.2.0.4.0 – Production on Wed Dec 23 19:03:33 2010

Copyright (c) 1982, 2007, Oracle. All Rights Reserved.

Connected to:
Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.4.0 – 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options

SQL> exit
Disconnected from Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.4.0 –
64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options
mylinux:>

10. Perform another listing of the files under directory
$ORACLE_HOME/network/admin and you will see that the file support_access_trace.trc has grown by recording the connection from the users in step 9.

mylinux:> ls -lrt
total 1568
-rw-r—– 1 oracle dba 408755 Dec 23 17:25 listener_orcl.trc
-rw-r—– 1 oracle dba 43347 Dec 23 17:40 user_access_trace.trc
-rw-r—– 1 oracle dba 231352 Dec 23 19:00 admin_access_trace.trc
-rw-r—– 1 oracle dba 103777 Dec 23 19:03
support_access_trace.trc
mylinux:>

11 This information can be used to show where connections in you database are coming from and other statistical information about the network connections being established. However, it is designed to be used by Oracle Support.

Larry J. Catt, OCP 91, 10g
oracle@allcompute.com
www.allcompute.com

11g, hp-ux, itanium, linux, Oracle, Oracle 10g, oracle 9i, unix

Shell script to remove trace or log files from ORACLE environment.

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The Oracle RDBMS produces a significant number of trace and log files, which record current status and other information related to the condition of the database system. Part of the administration of an ORACLE RDBMS is to remove these files from the OS layer once they become obsolete. This article covers the creation of shell script to remove such files from the Oracle database server in a UNIX or LINUX environment.

1. Logon to your Oracle database server as the Oracle software owner.

2. Logon to SQLPLUS with SYSDBA privileges.


mylinux:> sqlplus ‘/ as sysdba’

SQL*Plus: Release 10.2.0.4.0 – Production on Tue Dec 15 18:08:39 2009

Copyright (c) 1982, 2007, Oracle. All Rights Reserved.

Connected to:
Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.4.0 – 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options

SQL>

3. Use the SQLPLUS command show to see the location of your
background_dump_dest directory.


SQL> show parameter background_dump_dest

NAME TYPE VALUE
———————————— ———– ——————–
background_dump_dest string /orcl/admin/orcl/bdump
SQL>

4. Exit out of SQLPLUS.


SQL> exit
Disconnected from Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.4.0 –
64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options
mylinux:>

5. Change directories to the location of you back


mylinux:> cd /orcl/admin/orcl/bdump
mylinux:>

6. Execute the following statement to see how many trace files exist greater than 3 days old.


find . -name “*trc” -mtime +3 -exec ls -lrt {} \;

mylinux:> find . -name “*trc” -mtime +3 -exec ls -lrt {} \;
…
…
…
-rw-r—– 1 oracle dba 943 Jul 12 13:00
./orcl_m001_11864.trc
-rw-r—– 1 oracle dba 811 Jul 12 23:00
./orcl_m001_17140.trc
-rw-r—– 1 oracle dba 897 Jul 13 13:00
./orcl_m001_7152.trc
-rw-r—– 1 oracle dba 789 Jul 13 23:00
./orcl_m001_29058.trc
mylinux:>

7. Execute the following command to remove all file which are older than 3 days: find . -name “*trc” -mtime +3 -exec rm {} \;

mylinux:> find . -name “*trc” -mtime +3 -exec rm {} \;
mylinux:>

8. This shell command can be placed in an executable shell script and executed through CRON to automatically delete files older then three days. Note: The example below will remove trace files from your current directory ending in trc. You will have to replace the find “.” with find “directory_structure” to remove files in a specific directory.

Example: You wish to remove all files older then 3 days in directory
/opt/oracle/db_1/bdump the command would be.


find /opt/oracle/db_1/bdump -name “*trc” -mtime +3 -exec rm {} \;

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

11g, hp-ux, linux, Oracle, Oracle 10g, oracle 9i

Enable ADMIN Tracing on Oracle Listener:

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Most Oracle database connects are made through the use of an Oracle process called the LISTENER which monitors a certain machine and port for connection requests to one or more database instances. There are times when a DBA or SA will want to monitor connects being made through the listener for various reasons. This article covers the setup of ADMINISTRATIVE level tracing of you Oracle Listener and will work on UNIX, Linux, and Windows based machines.

1. Logon to your Oracle database server as the Oracle software owner.

2. Open up the LSNRCTL utility.

mylinux:>lsnrctl

LSNRCTL for LINUX: Version 10.2.0.4.0 – Production on 13-DEC-2009 15:17:05

Copyright (c) 1991, 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Welcome to LSNRCTL, type “help” for information.

LSNRCTL>

3. If you are not using the default name of the Oracle listener (LISTENER) then define the Oracle listener name with the following command: set current_listener

LSNRCTL> set current_listener listener_orcl
Current Listener is listener_orcl
LSNRCTL>

4. If you have established a password for your oracle listener set it in the LSNRCTL session with the following command: set password

LSNRCTL> set password oracle
The command completed successfully
LSNRCTL>

5. Turn on admin level tracing by specifying 10 or admin as the level with the following command: set trc_level

LSNRCTL> set trc_level 10
Connecting to
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=192.168.0.110)(PORT=1521)))
listener_orcl parameter “trc_level” set to admin
The command completed successfully

or

LSNRCTL> set trc_level admin
Connecting to
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=192.168.0.110)(PORT=1521)))
listener_orcl parameter “trc_level” set to admin
The command completed successfully
LSNRCTL>

6. Define the name of the trace file that will be produced by the listener process upon establishment of user connection with the command below: set trc_file

LSNRCTL> set trc_file admin_access_trace
Connecting to
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=192.168.0.110)(PORT=1521)))
listener_orcl parameter “trc_file” set to admin_access_trace.trc
The command completed successfully
LSNRCTL>

NOTE: You do not have to set a trace directory by default the trace files are placed under: $ORACLE_HOME/network/trace

7. Save the changes made to the listener.ora file with the following command: save_config

LSNRCTL> save_config
Connecting to
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=192.168.0.110)(PORT=1521)))
Saved listener_orcl configuration parameters.
Listener Parameter File /opt/app/oracle/10.2.0/network/admin/listener.ora
Old Parameter File /opt/app/oracle/10.2.0/network/admin/listener.bak
The command completed successfully
LSNRCTL>

8. Exit out of LSNRCTL utility, change directories to ORACLE_HOME/network/trace, list the files present and you can see that the trace has already begun.

LSNRCTL> exit
mylinux:> ls -lrt
total 1008
-rw-r—– 1 oracle dba 408755 Dec 13 15:25 listener_orcl.trc
-rw-r—– 1 oracle dba 43347 Dec 13 15:40 user_access_trace.trc
-rw-r—– 1 oracle dba 34150 Dec 13 15:42 admin_access_trace.trc

9. Logon to the RDBMS as sysdba and exit.

mylinux:> sqlplus ‘system/devlmgr as sysdba’

SQL*Plus: Release 10.2.0.4.0 – Production on Sun Dec 13 15:44:02 2010

Copyright (c) 1982, 2007, Oracle. All Rights Reserved.

Connected to:
Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.4.0 – 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options

SQL> exit
Disconnected from Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.4.0 –
64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options
mylinux:>

10. Perform another listing of the files under the directory $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin and you will see that the file admin_access_trace.trc has grown by recording the connection from user in step 9.

mylinux:> ls -lrt
total 1136
-rw-r—– 1 oracle dba 408755 Dec 13 15:25 listener_orcl.trc
-rw-r—– 1 oracle dba 43347 Dec 13 15:40 user_access_trace.trc
-rw-r—– 1 oracle dba 119638 Dec 13 15:47 admin_access_trace.trc
mylinux:>

11 This information can be used to show where connections in you database are coming from and other statistical information about the network connection being established with administrative options.

Larry J. Catt, OCP 91, 10g
oracle@allcompute.com
www.allcompute.com

11g, linux, network, Oracle, Oracle 10g, oracle 9i

Defining ORACLE network configuration home directory:

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Oracle provides the environmental variable TNS_ADMIN to direct the oracle binaries to the location of your network configuration files (TNSNAMES.ORA, SQLNET.ORA, and LISTENER.ORA). In a UNIX or LINUX environment this is normally placed in the Oracle software owner’s
.profile or .bash_profile file under the home directory. Windows definitions are covered in a separate article. This environmental variable is very helpful in redirecting multiple oracle installations to a single listener.ora; configuring multiple databases using the same home directory to separate network configuration files or for changing the network configuration location from the default of $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin to another location. In this article we will define the TNS_ADMIN.

1. Logon to your Oracle database server as the Oracle software owner.

2. Open your .profile or .bash_profile file in you home directory and place the following line at the end.

export TNS_ADMIN={directory_structure_for_network_files} v

3. Save your .profile or .bash_profile and exit.

4. Re-initialize the .profile or .bash_profile with the following command: . ./.bash

/home/oracle@orcl $ . ./.profile

5. Echo the parameter TNS_ADMIN to make sure that the variable was read.

/home/oracle@orcl $ echo $TNS_ADMIN
/opt/oralce/db_1/network/admin/orcl
/home/oracle@orcl $

6. Startup the listener and see that the lsnrctl utility picks up the configuration files in the new location referenced by TNS_ADMIN variable and not the default $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin

/home/oracle@orcl $ lsnrctl

LSNRCTL for LINUX: Version 9.2.0.8.0 – Production on 09-DEC-2009 17:26:23

Copyright (c) 1991, 2006, Oracle Corporation. All rights reserved.

Welcome to LSNRCTL, type “help” for information.

LSNRCTL> start
Starting /opt/oralce/db_1/bin/tnslsnr: please wait…

TNSLSNR for LINUX: Version 9.2.0.8.0 – Production
System parameter file is
/opt/oralce/db_1/network/admin/orcl/listener.ora
Log messages written to /opt/oralce/db_1/network/log/listener.log
Listening on: (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=chase)(PORT=1526)))
Listening on: (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=ipc)(KEY=EXTPROC)))
Listening on: (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=ipc)(KEY=LUFS)))
Listening on: (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=ipc)(KEY=ORCL)))
Listening on: (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=ipc)(KEY=orclm)))

Connecting to (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=chase)(PORT=1526)))
STATUS of the LISTENER
————————
Alias LISTENER
Version TNSLSNR for LINUX: Version 9.2.0.8.0 – Production
Start Date 09-DEC-2009 17:26:27
Uptime 0 days 0 hr. 0 min. 0 sec
Trace Level off
Security OFF
SNMP OFF
Listener Parameter File
/opt/oralce/db_1/network/admin/orcl/listener.ora
Listener Log File /opt/oralce/db_1/network/log/listener.log
Listening Endpoints Summary…
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=chase)(PORT=1526)))
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=ipc)(KEY=EXTPROC)))
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=ipc)(KEY=LUFS)))
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=ipc)(KEY=ORCL)))
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=ipc)(KEY=orclm)))
Services Summary…
Service “orcl” has 1 instance(s).
Instance “orcl”, status UNKNOWN, has 1 handler(s) for this service…
The command completed successfully
LSNRCTL>

7. That completes redirect to new network configuration file location in Oracle for UNIX and LINUX servers.

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

hp-ux, itanium, linux, unix

Shell script to perform string replacement in multiple files for UNIX and LINUX:

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As a DBA, regardless of RDBMS type, you will come across the need to replace text strings in dozens if not hundreds of files to facilitate the completion of your job. In this article we will cover the use of bash and perl scripts to perform text replacement of multiple files within a UNIX or LINUX environment.

1. Logon to your UNIX or LINUX server as the owner of the files you want to update or a user which has permission to update these files.

2. In this procedure we will create a file named files.txt containing a listing of all files we wish to update.

mylinux:> more files.txt
./test1.txt
./test2.txt
./test3.txt
./test4.txt

3. Next create a file called update.sh with the following text.

dt=`date “+%m%d%Y”` # Gets current date.
cat ./files.txt|while read line # Reads in all files from files.txt one line at a time.
do # Opens a loop
cp $line $line$dt # copies original file to backup with file_name+date.
ls $line |xargs perl -pi -e ‘s/{old_string}/{new_string}/g’ # if found replace old_string with new_stirng
done # ends loop

4. Change permissions on the update.sh to 770, so it will execute.

mylinx:>:>chmod 770 update.sh
mylinx:>:>

5. View the contents of one of the files in you files.txt file.

mylinx:>:>cat test*
one
one
one
one
mylinx:>:>

6. In this example, all of the files contain the text “one” which we will replace with the string “two”. Thus your update.sh file will look like the example below.

dt=`date “+%m%d%Y”`
cat ./files.txt|while read line
do
cp $line $line$dt
ls $line |xargs perl -pi -e ‘s/one/two/g’
done

7. Execute the update.sh file with the command: ./update.sh.

mylinx:>:>./update.sh
mylinx:>:>

8. Now cat all files named test*

mylinx:>:>cat test*
two
two
two
two
mylinx:>

As you can see all strings of “one” have been replaced with the string “two”. This completes replacement of strings in UNIX and LINUX.

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

hp-ux, linux, unix

String replacement at UNIX or LINUX command prompt

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As an Oracle DBA you will come across many situations where you need to replace string text within OS layer files. This procedure covers the use of Perl command to perform such a task. This procedure will work in both UNIX and LINUX.

1. Logon to you Oracle server as the owner of the files you wish to perform a string replacement on.

2. We will use the command (“perl -pi -e ‘s/{old_string}/{new_string}/g’ {file_name}”) to perform our string replacement.

3. In this example we will replace all of the references to the string “MARS” with the string “EARTH” in any file that ends in test*sh, the command will appear as:

perl -pi -e ‘s/MARS/EARTH/g’ test*sh

4. List all of the contents of files of the format test*sh with the cat command.

mylinux:>cat test*sh
MARS
MARS
MARS
MARS
mylinux:>

5. Execute your perl command in the same directory where your the files are located.

mylinux:>perl -pi -e ‘s/MARS/EARTH/g’ test*sh mylinux:>

6. List all of the contents of the files with format of test*sh with the cat command.

mylinux:>cat test*sh
EARTH
EARTH
EARTH
EARTH
mylinux:>

As you can see above the test string “MARS” has been replaced with “EARTH”. This completes replacement of text string with Perl.

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

11g, ASM, hp-ux, itanium, linux, Oracle, Oracle 10g, oracle 9i, RAC, SQL, uncategorized, unix

Senior-Level DBA Interview Question:

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With well over a decade of Oracle experience from version 6 to 11g, I have had my share of interviewing prospective DBA employees in a range from Junior to Senior DBAs. Needless to say in this field, technical competence is the key to any new hire and early on I made the blunder of not asking the write questions during the interview. I am sure every senior person or manager has made this mistake and had to deal with either training the person from scratch or letting them go. Either of these options is not desirable in our fast past business world. So, I decided to write a couple of articles which cover what I believe a Junior, Mid, and Senior Oracle DBA should know to fill their prospective positions.

In this article we will cover what a Senior Level DBA should know to be successful. If you have any comments or questions, please email me at larry.catt@relidb.com.

Questions: NOTE: Answers here can be very broad, however they not always wrong. That is why it is important to have a proven DBA on staff or one you can call to review the answers. I have seen very inventive ways to get around the most impossible tasks and while they do not actually meet the standard way of doing the work, I would not count these people out. A person whom thinks outside of the box is very valuable in IT and believe it or not, some of the best DBA’s I have ever met thought completely outside the box, however always accomplished the task.

1. You have a brand new Solaris Machine, freshly built by the SA, with all Oracle RDBMS recommended patching and Kernel Parameters set. Please give the order of tasks to install Oracle up to its latest CPU?

2. You have just moved Oracle Binary files from an ORACLE_HOME on one server to another server. What is the oracle utility command you would use to make this new ORACLE_HOME usable?

3. Tell me why just copying the oracle datafiles from HP-UX to LINUX RHEL and starting the database would not work?

4. In what months does Oracle release CPU patches and what is the utility to apply them.

5. You need to shutdown the oracle database but it will not shutdown with SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE. How will you shutdown the database?

6. How do you logon to Oracle server without knowing any oracle passwords?

7. How would you determine that SCATTERED READ where occuring?

8. How would you see the SQL of the currently active sessions from a command prompt?

9. When having multiple oracle homes on a single server or client what is the parameter that points all Oracle installs at one TNSNAMES.ORA file.

10. You have ASM database that used by three production systems. The server which the ASM database is shutdown. What happens to the production RDBMS?

Answers:

1. You have a brand new Solaris Machine, freshly built by the SA, with all Oracle RDBMS recommended patching and Kernel Parameters set. Please give the order of tasks to install Oracle up to its latest CPU?

– Verify that all patches are installed and kernel parameters set.(Some not all SA say the system is ready when it is not. You can save yourself a lot of problems by double checking)
– Configuration of .profile or .bash_profile for the Oracle owner.
– Base Installation of Oracle (ie what to get to 10.2.0.4 must install Oracle 10.1 first).
– Upgrade to Oracle Version Desired.
– Upgrade the database(if upgrade is necessary)
– Run UTLRP.SQL.
– Apply lastest CPU patch.
– Run UTLRP.SQL.
– Configuration of Listener.
– Configuration of client TNSNAMES.ORA file.

2. You have just moved Oracle Binary files from an ORACLE_HOME on one server to another server. What is the oracle utility command you would use to make this new ORACLE_HOME usable?

Solution:
Relink all

3. Tell me why just copying the oracle datafiles from HP-UX to LINUX RHEL and starting the database would not work?

Solution:
Differing Indian codes.

4. In what months does Oracle release CPU patches and what is the utility to apply them.

Solution:
JAN, APR, JUL, OCT

5. You need to shutdown the oracle database but it will not shutdown with SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE. How will you shutdown the database?

Solution:
Kill the smon process.

6. How do you logon to Oracle server without knowing any oracle passwords?

Solution:
Sudo to the Oracle software owners account and logon with the command sqlplus ‘/ as sysdba’

7. How would you determine that SCATTERED READ where?
Solution:

Look in the views v$session_wait or v$session_wait_history.

Could give:

Statspack or EM report.

8. How would you see the SQL of the currently active sessions from a command prompt?

Solution:
Compare tables V$SQL view by sql_address with V$SESSION view of currently active sessions.

9. When having multiple oracle homes on a single server or client what is the parameter that points all Oracle installs at one TNSNAMES.ORA file.

Solution:
TNS_ADMIN

10. You have ASM database that used by three production systems. The server which the ASM database is shutdown. What happens to the production RDBMS?

Solution:
Other database would shutdown abort.

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

linux, Oracle, Oracle 10g, unix

Enable User Tracing on Oracle Listener:

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Most Oracle database connects are made through the use of an Oracle process called the LISTENER which monitors a certain machine and port for connection requests to one or more database instances. There are times when a DBA or SA will want to monitor connects being made through the listener for various reasons. This article covers the setup of USER level tracing of you Oracle Listener and will work on UNIX, Linux, and Windows based machines.

1. Logon to your Oracle database server as the Oracle software owner.

2. Open up the LSNRCTL utility.

myhpux:>lsnrctl

LSNRCTL for HPUX: Version 10.2.0.4.0 – Production on 21-OCT-2009 18:17:05

Copyright (c) 1991, 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Welcome to LSNRCTL, type “help” for information.

LSNRCTL>

3. If you are not using the default name of the Oracle listener (LISTENER) then define the Oracle listener name with the following command: set current_listener

LSNRCTL> set current_listener listener_orcl
Current Listener is listener_orcl
LSNRCTL>

4. If you have established a password for your oracle listener set it in the LSNRCTL session with the following command: set password

LSNRCTL> set password oracle
The command completed successfully
LSNRCTL>

5. Turn on user level tracing by specifying 4 or user as the level with the following command: set trc_level

LSNRCTL> set trc_level 4
Connecting to
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=192.168.0.110)(PORT=1521)))
listener_orcl parameter “trc_level” set to user
The command completed successfully
LSNRCTL>

or

LSNRCTL> set trc_level user
Connecting to
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=192.168.0.110)(PORT=1521)))
listener_orcl parameter “trc_level” set to user
The command completed successfully
LSNRCTL>

6. Define the name of the trace file that will be produced by the listener process upon establishment of user connection with the command below: set trc_file

LSNRCTL> set trc_file user_access_trace
Connecting to
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=192.168.0.110)(PORT=1521)))
listener_orcl parameter “trc_file” set to user_access_trace.trc
The command completed successfully
LSNRCTL>

NOTE: You do not have to set a trace directory by default the trace files for the listener are placed under: $ORACLE_HOME/network/trace

7. Save the changes made to the listener.ora file with the following command: save_config

LSNRCTL> save_config
Connecting to
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=192.168.0.110)(PORT=1521)))
Saved listener_orcl configuration parameters.
Listener Parameter File /opt/app/oracle/10.2.0/network/admin/listener.ora
Old Parameter File /opt/app/oracle/10.2.0/network/admin/listener.bak
The command completed successfully
LSNRCTL>

8. Exit out of LSNRCTL utility, change directories to $ORACLE_HOME/network/trace, and list the files present and you will see that the trace has already begun.

LSNRCTL> exit
mylinux:> cd $ORACLE_HOME/network/trace
mylinux:> ls -lrt
-rw-r—– 1 oracle dba 3010 Oct 21 18:26 user_access_trace.trc

9. Logon to the RDBMS as a normal user and exit.

mylinux:> sqlplus ljcatt/ljcatt@orcl

SQL*Plus: Release 10.2.0.4.0 – Production on Wed Oct 21 18:31:26 2009

Copyright (c) 1982, 2007, Oracle. All Rights Reserved.

Connected to:
Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.4.0 – 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options

SQL> exit
Disconnected from Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.4.0 –
64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options
mylinux:>

10. Perform another listing of the files under directory
$ORACLE_HOME/network/admin and you will see that the file user_access_trace.trc has grown by recording the connection
from user in step 9.

mylinux:> ls -lrt
-rw-r—– 1 oracle dba 6810 Oct 21 18:31 user_access_trace.trc

11 This information can be used to show where connections in you database are coming from and other statistical information about the network connection being established.

Larry J. Catt, OCP 91, 10g
oracle@allcompute.com
www.allcompute.com

linux, Oracle, Oracle 10g, oracle 9i

SQLPLUS does not allow connect as sysdba:

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In Oracle configuration files and system parameters there exist certain setting which will prevent the Oracle software owner from connecting to the database with sysdba privileges. In this article we will discuss a SQLNET.ORA setting which will result in this error. This article was written using a linux environment; however the result will be very similar on any OS.

1. Logon to your Oracle server as the Oracle software owner and attempt to logon to sqlplus with sysdba privileges.

mylinux:>sqlplus ‘/ as sysdba’

SQL*Plus: Release 10.2.0.4.0 – Production on Tue Oct 19 19:00:46 2009

Copyright (c) 1982, 2007, Oracle. All Rights Reserved.

ERROR:
ORA-01031: insufficient privileges

Enter user-name:

2. Exit out of sqlplus by hitting return twice.

3. Change directory to $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin.

mylinux:>cd $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin
mylinux:>

4. Open the file sqlnet.ora and comment out the line sqlnet.authentication.

mylinux:>vi sqlnet.ora
“sqlnet.ora” 2 lines, 59 characters
#sqlnet.authentication_services=none

5. Save your changes and exit your editor.

6. Now try to connect to sqlplus with sysdba privileges as the oracle software owner.

mylinux:>sqlplus ‘/ as sysdba’

SQL*Plus: Release 10.2.0.4.0 – Production on Tue Oct 19 19:05:01 2009

Copyright (c) 1982, 2007, Oracle. All Rights Reserved.

Connected to:
Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.4.0 – 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options

SQL>

You have successfully connected with SYSDBA privilege.

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

linux, Oracle, uncategorized, unix

Oracle RDBMS and UNIX/LINUX environmental variables.

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Oracle RDBMS installations on UNIX and LINUX require the use of operating system parameters to operate properly. Experienced DBA will take care in setting up the operation system parameter before movement, upgrade, or installation of an Oracle RDBMS system on UNIX and LINUX. This article will cover the necessary OS variables to setup a functioning ORACLE RDBMS system.

Required Variables:

ORACLE_HOME – The ORACLE_HOME variable defines the location of the oracle installation directory. Under the ORACLE_HOME you will find such directories as BIN, DBS, NETWORK, etc. These are all core components of the Oracle RDBMS system. Without proper definition of the ORACLE_HOME most of the Oracle binaries will not execute.

ORACLE_BASE – The ORACLE_BASE variable defines the location (normally one level above the ORACLE_HOME) where the Oracle inventory files are stored and is the root directory of multiple Oracle product installs. If you have several different RDBMS versions installed on your system, normally the varies ORACLE_HOMEs would be located directly under the ORACLE_BASE directory.

ORACLE_SID – The ORACLE_SID defines the name of the instance of your database. Without proper definition of the ORACLE_SID most of the Oracle binaries will not execute.

TNS_ADMIN – The TNS_ADMIN defines the directory where your Oracle networking components are located. This directory will usually include: TNSNAMES.ORA, LISTENER.ORA, and SQLNET.ORA. THE TNS_ADMIN is normally pointed at ORACLE_HOME/network/admin.

PATH – The PATH variable points to all binaries which you may need during
administration and operation of your Oracle Server. In the Oracle environment, it is important to include $ORACLE_HOME/bin in this parameter. NOTE: You will require other executables and the PATH variable will be considerable longer then $ORACLE_HOME/bin.

LD_LIBRARY_PATH – The LD_LIBRARY_PATH variable defines the directories which contain .lib files for your binary executables. The directory $ORACLE_HOME/lib and/or $ORACLE_HOME/lib32 must be defined within this variable. Without properly defining the LD_LIBRARY_PATH variable, errors will arise during execution of Oracle binaries.

NLS_LANG – The NLS_LANG variable defines the National Language Set used within your Oracle database.

PATH – The PATH variable defines the location of every executable required for proper operation of Oracle products. For a DBA, you should edit the PATH variable to include $ORACLE_HOME/bin directory.

OPATCH – The OPATCH variable defines the directory where Oracle OPatch utility is stored. Normally, this is located in $ORACLE_HOME/OPatch. This utility is the normally tool used to install Oracle RDBMS quartly CPU patches.

Nice to have Aliases:

udump – Provides the ability to change directories to your user dump
destination.

cdump – Provides the ability to change directories to your core dump
destination.

bdump – Provides the ability to change directories to your backround dump
destination.

alert – Provides for quick opening of your alert log.

oradata – Provides the ability to change directories to datafile destination.

pfile – Provides for quick opening of your parameter file.

Example .profile file of ORACLE UNIX or LINUX server.

umask 022

ORACLE_BASE = /app/oracle/products
export ORACLE_BASE

ORACLE_HOME = $ORACLE_BASE/10.2.0
export ORACLE_HOME

ORACLE_SID = orcl
export ORACLE_SID

TNS_ADMIN = $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin
export TNS_ADMIN

PATH = $PATH:$ORACLE_HOME/bin
export PATH

OPATCH = $ORACLE_HOME/OPatch
export OPATCH

alias udump=’cd /app/oracle/product/admin/orcl/udump’
alias cdump=’cd /app/oracle/product/admin/orcl/cdump’
alias bdump=’cd /app/oracle/product/admin/orcl/bdump’
alias alert=’vi /app/oracle/product/admin/orcl/bdump/alert_lufs.log’
alias oradata=’cd /app/oracle/product/oradata/orcl’
alias pfile=’cd /app/oracle/product/10.2.0/dbs’

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