2 Oracle Database Client Preinstallation Tasks

This chapter describes the tasks that you must complete before you install Oracle Instant Client. It includes the following information:

Logging In to the System as root
Checking the Hardware Requirements
Checking the Software Requirements

2.1 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:

Log in to the system as a user that is a member of the admin group.
Start a local terminal session (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal).
If you are not logged in as the root user, enter the following command to start a shell session with root privileges:
```
$ sudo sh
```
When prompted, enter your password.

2.2 Checking the Hardware Requirements

The system must meet the following minimum hardware requirements for Oracle Database Client 11g Release 2:

Memory Requirements
System Architecture
Disk Space Requirements
Display Requirements
Recommended Hardware Requirement for SQL Developers

2.2.1 Memory Requirements

The following are the memory requirements for Oracle Database Client 11g Release 2 (11.2):

At least 512 MB of RAM.

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

RAM Swap Space

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

RAM	Swap Space
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

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.

To determine the available RAM and swap space, enter the following command:

# free

IMPORTANT:

Oracle recommends that you take multiple values for the available RAM and swap space before finalizing on a value. This is because the available RAM and swap space keep changing depending on the user interactions with the computer.
Contact your operating system vendor for swap space allocation guidance for your server. The vendor guidelines supersede the swap space requirements listed in this guide.

2.2.2 System Architecture

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.

2.2.3 Disk Space Requirements

The minimum disk space requirement for software files for Oracle Database Client 11g Release 2 (11.2) is 220 MB.

To determine the amount of free disk space available, enter the following command:

# df -h

2.2.4 Display Requirements

The minimum display requirement for Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2) is a resolution of 1024 x 768 or higher.

2.2.5 Recommended Hardware Requirement for SQL Developers

The following are the recommended CPU, Memory and Display requirements for SQL Developer:

Resource	Recommended
Memory	1 GB RAM (recommended), 256 MB RAM (minimum)
Display	65536 colors, set to at least 1024 X 768 resolution

2.3 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.

Item	Requirement
Operating system	The following or later versions of the operating system are supported for Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2): Mac OS X Lion 10.7.3 or higher updates Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Oracle Database Instant Client 11g Release 2 (11.2.0.3) are supported. Mac OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.2 or higher updates Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Oracle Database Instant Client 11g Release 2 (11.2.0.3) are supported.
Tools	Xcode 4.3.1 or later GNU C compiler (gcc) version 4.2.1 or later This version of gcc is included in Xcode 4.3.1 or later. JDK 1.6.0_33 or later
Pro*C/C++, Oracle Call Interface, Oracle C++ Call Interface	The version of the GNU C and C++ compiler listed previously is supported for use with these products.
Oracle JDBC/OCI Drivers	You must use JDBC-OCI 1.6.0 or later versions with the JNDI extension.

To ensure that the system meets these requirements:

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
ProductVersion: 10.7.4
BuildVersion:   11D50
```
Note:
Only the versions listed in the previous table are supported. Do not install the software on other versions of Apple Mac OS X.

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-darwin11
Configured with: /private/var/tmp/11vmgcc42/11vmgcc42-2336.9~22/src/configure --disable-checking --enable-werror --prefix=/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/usr/llvm-gcc-4.2 --mandir=/share/man --enable-languages=c,objc,c++,obj-c++ --program-prefix=llvm- --program-transform-name=/^[cg][^.-]*$/s/$/-4.2/ --with-slibdir=/usr/lib --build=i686-apple-darwin11 --enable-llvm=/private/var/tmp/llvmgcc42/llvmgcc42-2336.9~22/dst-llvmCore/Developer/usr/local --program-prefix=i686-apple-darwin11- --host=x86_64-apple-darwin11 --target=i686-apple-darwin11 --with-gxx-include-dir=/usr/include/c++/4.2.1
Thread model: posix
gcc version 4.2.1 (Based on Apple Inc. build 5658) (LLVM build 2336.9.00)

If the required version (including the date and build number) or a later version is not installed, then download and install Xcode 4.3.1 or later. You can download this software from the Apple Developer Connection website:

http://connect.apple.com

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

2.3.1 Instant Client Light Requirements

In addition to the requirements described in the preceding section, if you plan to use Instant Client Light, then the applications must use the following languages and character sets:

Language: Any language that is supported by Oracle
Territory: Any territory that is supported by Oracle
Character sets:
- Single byte
  - US7ASCII
  - WE8DEC
  - WE8MSWIN1252
  - WE8ISO8859P1
- Unicode
  - UTF8
  - AL16UTF16
  - AL32UTF8
  Instant Client Light can connect to databases having one of the following database character sets:
  - US7ASCII
  - WE8DEC
  - WE8MSWIN1252
  - WE8ISO8859P1
  - WE8EBCDIC37C
  - WE8EBCDIC1047
  - UTF8
  - AL32UTF8

Instant Client Light can also operate with the OCI Environment handles created in the OCI_UTF16 mode.

The language, territory, and character sets are determined by the NLS_LANG environment variable.

Note:

Ensure that you set the NLS_LANG environment variable to the required character set before you run Oracle Database Instant Client.