Oracle notes

Archived

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Note: these instructions were compiled using Oracle 11.1 and may or may not be specific to that version

Very helpful docs: http://www.oracle-base.com/index.php

Important locations

/etc/oratab

Specifies which dbs to bring up at system startup

/u00

Contains the files for installation

/u01, u02, …

Contains the actual database data
Standard install location for the Oracle database server software (/u01/app/oracle/product/x.x.x)

Setup

Standard user/group

oracle:oinstall

Set up environment

ORACLE_BASE=/u01/app/oracle
ORACLE_HOME=$ORACLE_BASE/product/x.x.x
export ORACLE_BASE ORACLE_HOME

Optional:

export ORACLE_SID=dbname

(where dbname is the name of the database you want to connect to

Configuring oracle to start databases on system startup

For each instance, in /etc/oratab, make sure there’s a “Y” (and not an “N”) after the last colon (:), like so:
```
 TEST:/u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0:Y
```
Then you’ll need to set up an init script. it essentially only needs to set $ORACLE_HOME and then call $ORACLE_HOME/bin/dbstart as the oracle user for startup and $ORACLE_HOME/bin/dbshut for shutdown, like so:
```
 ORACLE_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0
 ...
 su - oracle -c "$ORACLE_HOME/bin/dbstart"
```
~~For Oracle 10.2, the ORACLE_HOME_LISTNER environment variable must be set to $ORACLE_HOME in the init script for the listener to start, like so:~~
```
 ORACLE_HOME_LISTNER=$ORACLE_HOME
```

For Oracle 10.2/11.1, dbstart and dbshut need to be passed the $ORACLE_HOME variable for the listener to start, like so:

 su - oracle -c "$ORACLE_HOME/bin/dbshut $ORACLE_HOME"

Note: this won’t work for a custom listener! in that case, the listener will have to be started/stopped within the script, like so:

 ORACLE_SID=MYSID
 ...
 su oracle -c "$ORACLE_HOME/bin/lsnrctl start LISTENER_$ORACLE_SID"
 su oracle -c "$ORACLE_HOME/bin/dbstart"
 ...
 su oracle -c "$ORACLE_HOME/bin/dbshut"
 su oracle -c "$ORACLE_HOME/bin/lsnrctl stop LISTENER_$ORACLE_SID"

See here for examples: http://www.oracle-base.com/articles/linux/AutomatingDatabaseStartupAndShutdownOnLinux.php

Misc

For a database to be up, it needs to be started. this is accomplished by first making sure the database SID is marked as “Y” in /etc/oratab, then by calling the $ORACLE_HOME/bin/dbstart command.
To be able to connect to a db, the listener for that db must be configured and running. the listener is configured in $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin/listener.ora (and optionally? tnsnames.ora in the same folder). it is started by calling dbstart with the $ORACLE_HOME variable (for certain versions of oracle), like so:
```
  dbstart $ORACLE_HOME
```
or by running $ORACLE_HOME/bin/lsnrctrl start LISTENER_NAME
The database can also be configured internally to be tied to a particular listener that is automatically brought up with the db.
The only ways to automate the startup of a custom listener (one that isn’t named listener in listener.ora) are:
- Start the listener manually in the oracle init script (/etc/init.d/oracle)
- Start the listener manually in the dbstart script ($ORACLE_HOME/bin/dbstart)

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