2 Installing and Configuring the Database for Oracle R Enterprise

This chapter explains how to install and configure Oracle Database to support Oracle R Enterprise Server. This chapter contains these topics:

Installing Oracle Database for Oracle R Enterprise
Patching an 11.2.0.1 or 11.2.0.2 Database on Linux
Configuring EXTPROC for Embedded R Execution

2.1 Installing Oracle Database for Oracle R Enterprise

Oracle R Enterprise requires the 64-bit version of Oracle Database Enterprise Edition. The database can be installed on any of the platforms described in Table 1-1, "Oracle R Enterprise Platform Requirements".

To install Oracle Database, follow the installation instructions for your platform:

For Linux, see Oracle Database Installation Guide for Linux.
For Oracle Solaris, see Oracle Database Installation Guide for Oracle Solaris.
For IBM AIX, see Oracle Database Installation Guide for IBM AIX on POWER Systems (64-Bit).
For Microsoft Windows, see Oracle Database Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows.

2.2 Patching an 11.2.0.1 or 11.2.0.2 Database on Linux

Oracle R Enterprise 1.3.1 requires Oracle Database 11.2.0.3, 11.2.0.4, or 12.1. On Linux, Oracle R Enterprise can also work with an 11.2.0.1 or 11.2.0.2 database if it is properly patched.

If you are running an earlier release of Oracle Database 11g Release 2 on Linux and you are unable to upgrade to 11.2.0.3 or later, then you can follow this procedure to patch the database:

Go to My Oracle Support:

http://support.oracle.com
Log in and supply your Customer Support ID (CSI).
Choose the Patches & Updates tab.
In the Patch Search box, type 11678127 and click Search.
Select the patch for your version of Oracle Database, either 11.2.0.1 or 11.2.0.2.
Click Read Me, and read the installation instructions and other details about the patch.
Click Download to download the patch.
Install the patch using OPatch. Ensure that you are using the latest version of OPatch.

See Also:
"Patching Oracle Software With OPatch" in Oracle Universal Installer and OPatch User's Guide for Windows and UNIX for instructions

2.3 Configuring EXTPROC for Embedded R Execution

An external procedure is a procedure invoked from a program that is written in a different language. Oracle Database uses an external procedure agent named extproc to support external procedures. Oracle R Enterprise uses extproc to support embedded R execution.

2.3.1 About extproc

When an application invokes an external procedure, Oracle Database starts an extproc agent. The application uses the network connection established by Oracle Database to pass instructions to the agent for executing the procedure. The agent loads a DLL or shared library, runs the external procedure, and passes back to the application any values returned by the external procedure.

2.3.2 About extproc configuration for Oracle R Enterprise

Oracle R Enterprise uses the default configuration of extproc. The extproc agent is spawned directly by Oracle Database, and no configuration changes are required for either listener.ora or tnsnames.ora.

By default, extproc supports any external procedure call. If you want to only allow external procedure calls for Oracle R Enterprise, you can edit the EXTPROC_DLLS environment variable in ORACLE_HOME/hs/admin/extproc.ora.

The following statement on a Linux or UNIX system sets EXTPROC_DLLS to only execute external procedures for Oracle R Enterprise:

SET EXTPROC_DLLS=ONLY:$ORACLE_HOME/lib/ore.so

To allow extproc to service any external procedure, set EXTPROC_DLLS to ANY or simply leave it blank (the default).