2 Preinstallation Tasks

Logging In to the System as root

Before you install the Oracle software, you must complete several tasks as the root user. To log in as the root user, complete the following procedure:

1. Log in to the system as a user that is a member of the admin group.

2. Start a local terminal session (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal).

3. If you are not logged in as the root user, enter the following command to start a shell session with root privileges:

   $ sudo sh

4. When prompted, enter your password.

Checking the Hardware Requirements

The system must meet the following minimum hardware requirements:

• 512 MB of physical RAM.

• The following table describes the relationship between installed RAM and the configured swap space requirement.

  Available RAM	Swap Space Required
  Up to 512 MB	2 times the size of RAM
  Between 513 MB and 726 MB	1.5 times the size of RAM
  More than 726 MB	0.75 times the size of RAM

  
  

• The minimum client install TMP space required is 115 MB. The minimum disk space requirement in the /tmp directory depends on the installation type you select. The following table lists the minimum disk space requirements for the /tmp directory in each type of installation.

  Client Installation Type	Disk Space Required for the /tmp Directory (MB)
  Administrator	850
  Runtime	470
  Custom (all components selected)	780
  Instant	150

  
  

• Between 34 MB and 820 MB of disk space for the Oracle software, depending on the installation type.

To ensure that the system meets these requirements, follow these steps:

1. To determine the physical RAM size, use System Profiler (/Applications/Utilities/System Profiler) or enter the following command:

   # /usr/sbin/system_profiler SPHardwareDataType | grep Memory
   

   If the size of the physical RAM is less than the required size, then you must install more memory before continuing.

2. To determine the size of the configured swap space, enter the following command:

   # df -h /
   

   Note:

   Mac OS X dynamically creates swap files as required in /private/var/vm directory. Ensure that you have at least 512 MB of available disk space on the root (/) file system to accommodate newly created swap files.

3. To determine the amount of disk space available in the /tmp directory, enter the following command:

   # df -k /tmp
   

4. To determine the amount of free disk space on the system, enter the following command:

   # df -h
   

   The following table shows the approximate disk space requirements for software files for each installation type:

   Installation Type	Requirement for Software Files (MB)
   Administrator	870
   Instant Client	130
   Runtime	495
   Custom (maximum)	790

   
   

   Note:

   If you want to configure only the Instant Client Light component of Instant Client, you need 34 MB of disk space to store the related files. To configure Instant Client Light, refer to Configuring Instant Client Light

5. To determine whether the system architecture can run the software, enter the following command:

   # uname -p
   

   Note:

   This command displays the processor type. The command output must be i386. If you do not see the expected output, then you cannot install the software on this system.

Checking the Software Requirements

Depending on the products that you intend to install, verify that the following software is installed on the system. The procedure following the table describes how to verify whether these requirements are addressed.

To ensure that the system meets these requirements:

1. To determine the operating system version, enter the following command:

   # sw_vers
   

   The output of this command must be similar to the following:

   ProductName:    Mac OS X Server
   ProductVersion: 10.5.4
   BuildVersion:   9E17
   

   Note:

   Only the versions listed in the previous table are supported. Do not install the software on other versions of Apple Mac OS X.

2. To determine whether the required version of gcc is installed, enter the following command:

   # gcc -v
   

   This command returns output similar to the following:

   Using built-in specs.
   Target: i686-apple-darwin9
   Configured with: /var/tmp/gcc/gcc-5465~16/src/configure --disable-checking -enable-werror --prefix=/usr --mandir=/share/man --enable-languages=c,objc,c++,obj-c++ --program-transform-name=/^[cg][^.-]*$/s/$/-4.0/ --with-gxx-include-dir=/include/c++/4.0.0 --with-slibdir=/usr/lib --build=i686-apple-darwin9 --with-arch=apple --with-tune=generic --host=i686-apple-darwin9 --target=i686-apple-darwin9
   Thread model: posix
   gcc version 4.0.1 (Apple Inc. build 5465)
   

   If the required version (including the date and build number) or a later version is not installed, download and install Xcode 3.0 or later. You can download this software from the Apple Developer Connection Web site:

   http://connect.apple.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/MemberSite

   After you log in, choose Download Software, then Developer Tools to display the download page.

Creating Required Operating System Group and User

Depending on whether this is the first time Oracle software is being installed on this system and on the products that you are installing, you may need to create the following operating system group and user:

• The Oracle Inventory group (typically, oinstall)

  You must create this group the first time you install Oracle software on the system. The usual name chosen for this group is oinstall. This group owns the Oracle inventory, which is a catalog of all Oracle software installed on the system.

  Note:

  If Oracle software is already installed on the system, then the existing Oracle Inventory group must be the primary group of the operating system user that you use to install new Oracle software.

• The Oracle software owner user (typically, oracle)

  You must create this user the first time you install Oracle software on the system. This user owns all of the software installed during the installation. This user must have the Oracle Inventory group as its primary group.

  Note:

  In Oracle documentation, this user is referred to as the oracle user.

A single Oracle Inventory group is required for all installations of Oracle software on the system. After the first installation of Oracle software, you must use the same Oracle Inventory group for all subsequent Oracle software installations on that system. However, you can choose to create different Oracle software owner users for separate installations.

The following sections describe how to create the required operating system users and groups:

• Creating the Oracle Inventory Group

• Creating the Oracle Software Owner User

# more /var/opt/oracle/oraInst.loc

inventory_loc=/u01/app/oracle/oraInventory
inst_group=oinstall

# id oracle

uid=440(oracle) gid=200(oinstall) groups=201(dba),202(oper)

Identifying Required Software Directories

You must identify or create the following directories for the Oracle software:

• Oracle Base Directory

• Oracle Inventory Directory

• Oracle Home Directory

/mount_point/app/oracle_sw_owner

/u01/app/oracle
/u01/app/orauser
/opt/oracle/app/oracle

oracle_base/oraInventory

oracle_base/product/10.2.0/client_1

Identifying or Creating an Oracle Base Directory

Before starting the installation, you must either identify an existing Oracle base directory or if required, create one. This section contains information about the following:

• Identifying an Existing Oracle Base Directory

• Creating an Oracle Base Directory

Configuring the oracle User's Environment

You run Oracle Universal Installer from the oracle account. However, before you start Oracle Universal Installer you must configure the environment of the oracle user. To configure the environment, you must:

• Set the default file mode creation mask (umask) to 022 in the shell startup file.

• Set the DISPLAY environment variable.

To set the oracle user's environment:

1. Start a new terminal session.

2. If you are not logged in to the system where you want to install the software, then log in to that system as the oracle user.

3. If you are not logged in as the oracle user, then switch user to oracle:

   $ su - oracle
   

4. To determine the default shell for the oracle user, enter the following command:

   $ echo $SHELL
   

5. Open the oracle user's shell startup file in any text editor:

   • Bourne shell (sh), Bash shell (bash), or Korn shell (ksh):

     $ vi .bash_profile
     

     Note:

     If the oracle user's shell is the Bash shell, open the .bash_profile file, if it exists.

   • C shell (csh or tcsh):

     % vi .login
     

6. Enter or edit the following line, specifying a value of 022 for the default file mode creation mask:

   umask 022
   

7. If the ORACLE_SID, ORACLE_HOME, or ORACLE_BASE environment variable is set in the file, then remove the appropriate lines from the file.

8. Save the file, and exit from the editor.

9. To run the shell startup script, enter one of the following commands:

   • Bash shell:

     $ . ./.bash_profile
     

   • Bourne or Korn shell:

     $ . ./.profile
     

   • C shell:

     % source ./.login
     

10. If you determined that the /tmp directory has less than 400 MB of free disk space, then identify a file system with at least 400 MB of free space and set the TMP and TMPDIR environment variables to specify a temporary directory on this file system:

    1. Use the df -h command to identify a suitable file system with sufficient free space.

    2. If necessary, enter commands similar to the following to create a temporary directory on the file system that you identified, and set the appropriate permissions on the directory:

       $ sudo mkdir /mount_point/tmp
       $ sudo chmod a+wr /mount_point/tmp
       

    3. Enter commands similar to the following to set the TEMP and TMPDIR environment variables:

       • Bourne, Bash, or Korn shell:

         $ TEMP=/mount_point/tmp
         $ TMPDIR=/mount_point/tmp
         $ export TEMP TMPDIR
         

       • C shell:

         % setenv TEMP /mount_point/tmp
         % setenv TMPDIR /mount_point/tmp
         

11. Enter commands similar to the following to set the ORACLE_BASE environment variable:

    • Bourne, Bash, or Korn shell:

      $ ORACLE_BASE=/u01/app/oracle
      $ export ORACLE_BASE
      

    • C shell:

      % setenv ORACLE_BASE /u01/app/oracle
      

    In these examples, /u01/app/oracle is the Oracle base directory that you created or identified earlier.

12. Enter the following commands to ensure that the ORACLE_HOME and TNS_ADMIN environment variables are not set:

    • Bourne, Bash, or Korn shell:

      $ unset ORACLE_HOME
      $ unset TNS_ADMIN
      

    • C shell:

      % unsetenv ORACLE_HOME
      % unsetenv TNS_ADMIN
      

    Note:

    If the ORACLE_HOME environment variable is set, then Oracle Universal Installer uses the value that it specifies as the default path for the Oracle home directory. However, if you set the ORACLE_BASE environment variable, then Oracle recommends that you unset the ORACLE_HOME environment variable and choose the default path suggested by Oracle Universal Installer.

13. To verify that the environment has been set correctly, enter the following commands:

    $ umask
    $ env | more
    

    Verify that the umask command displays a value of 22, 022, or 0022 and the environment variables that you set in this section have the correct values.