A Installing and Configuring Oracle Database Using Response Files

A.1 Overview

You can install Oracle Database 10g noninteractively by specifying a response file when you start Oracle Universal Installer. Oracle Universal Installer uses the values contained in the response file to provide answers to some or all of the Oracle Universal Installer prompts. If you include responses for all of the Oracle Universal Installer prompts in the response file, then you can run a completely noninteractive installation without seeing the Oracle Universal Installer windows.

To install and configure Oracle products noninteractively, complete the following steps:

1. Create the oraInst.loc file.

2. Prepare response files.

3. Run Oracle Universal Installer noninteractively.

4. Run configuration assistants noninteractively.

These steps are described in the following sections.

A.2 Creating the oraInst.loc File

If you plan to install Oracle products noninteractively, you must manually create the oraInst.loc file if it does not already exist. This file specifies the location of the oraInventory directory where Oracle Universal Installer creates the inventory of Oracle products installed on the system.

To create the oraInst.loc file, perform the following steps:

1. Create the /var/opt/oracle directory if it does not exist

   $ mkdir /var/opt/oracle
   

2. Change directory as follows, depending on your operating system:

   $ cd /var/opt/oracle

3. Use a text editor to create the oraInst.loc file, containing the following lines:

   inventory_loc=ORACLE_BASE/oraInventory
   inst_group=
   

   In the preceding example, ORACLE_BASE is the path specified in the ORACLE_BASE environment variable.

4. Enter the following command to set the appropriate owner, group, and permissions on the oraInst.loc file:

   $ chmod 664 oraInst.loc
   

A.3 Preparing Response Files

Oracle Database provides response file templates for each installation category and type, and for each configuration tool. These files are located in the /directory_location/Disk1/stage/Response directory, where directory_location is the location to which you extracted the installation files.

The following table lists and describes the response files included in the /directory_location/Disk1/stage/Response directory.

To prepare a response file, perform the following steps:

1. Change directory to the response file directory, using the following command:

   $ cd directory_location/Disk1/stage/Response
   

2. Copy the response file from the response file directory to a directory on your system, using the following command:

   $ cp oracle.mvsosdi.server.Typical.rsp local_directory
   

3. Open the response file in a text editor, using the following command:

   $ vi oracle.mvsosdi.server.Typical.rsp
   

   Note:

   Some installation response files allow you to run configuration assistants automatically in silent mode. If you choose to do this, then ensure that you configure the appropriate response files for the configuration assistants before using the installation response file.

4. Edit the file, following the instructions in the file.

A.4 Running Oracle Universal Installer Using a Response File

To run Oracle Universal Installer noninteractively, enter a command similar to the following:

$ /directory_location/runInstaller -silent -responseFile filename

Variables for the previous example are defined as follows:

• directory_location is the path of the Disk1 directory on the hard drive.

• The -silent parameter specifies a completely noninteractive installation.

• filename is the full path and filename of the installation response file that you configured.