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Install Virtual Server for Installation of Oracle Database

Latest Version: 1.0.1-1

Functional Overview

Install_Oracle_g11_CentOS62 is a CentOS 6.2 based virtual server application prepared to install Oracle Database g11. The only requirement is that the installation files are copied to the application volumes.

The application contains a singleton base appliance that is used to create reusable database appliances.

The Oracle Database has a graphical installer but the graphic environment is not typically installed on Linux for System z. The base appliance comes with a minimal graphic environment and a web based VNC server. These provide access to the graphic environment required by the installer.

The application configures itself based on properties set during the first boot. The root password is set based on property value. Oracle requires the installation to run from a non-root user. The name and the password of this user can be configured through with application properties.

The application is configured to install from a public CentOS repository. CentOS packages are installed by the end user by running yum -y install <package> as the root user.

Boundary

Properties

Property Name

Type

Description

user

String

Defines the installation user to be created on provisioning of the application. This property is mandatory.

user_pw

String

Defines the password of the user account to be created. It will be set on the first boot. The password is also used to access the web based VNC client. This property is mandatory.

root_pw

String

Defines the password of the root account. It will be set on the first boot. This property is mandatory.

primary_ip

String

Defines the secondary IP address (v4 or v6) of the external interface of the appliance. Default: (empty).

secondary_ip

String

Defines the IP network gateway (router) that is used for all outgoing traffic to the external network via in_ip and out_ip. This property is mandatory.

netmask

IP

Defines the network mask of the external interface. This property should be defined if IPv4 is used. Default: (empty).

gateway

IP

Defines the default IP network gateway (router) for the external interface. The gateway address can be outside the network specified by netmask. To use a gateway that does not expose an IP and serves as proxy ARP, set this property to 0.0.0.0. This property should be defined if IPv4 is used. Default: (empty).

ipv6_gateway

String

Defines the default IPv6 network gateway (router) for the external interface. This property should be defined if IPv6 is used. Default: (empty).

dns1

String

Defines the primary nameserver (v4 or v6). This property is mandatory.

dns2

String

Defines the secondary server (v4 or v6). Default: (empty).

dns3

String

Defines the third server (v4 or v6). Default: (empty).

Resources

Resource

Minimum

Maximum

Default

CPU

0.05

8

.1

Memory

1 GB

32 GB

2 GB

Bandwidth

1 Mbps

2 Gbps

100 Mbps

User Volumes

Volume

Description

data

Volume for the database data storage.

install

Volume to hold the installation data.

Terminals

Name

Dir

Protocol

Description

in

in

any

When the Oracle Databse software is installed, this terminal can be used to connect a client applience for testing.

The external interface is enabled. It is used for incoming and outgoing traffic. Its network settings are configured through properties.

The default interface is enabled. It is used for maintenance (incoming ssh connections from the controller).

Operation

This application is to be used as a base for an appliance running the Oracle database. It contains all the necessary prerequisites to install Oracle Database g11 as described in its documentation. The application does not contain any Oracle software. That must be provided by the user who must have the necessary license to install the software

Initial Application Setup

Follow these steps:

  1. The installation should be started by provisioning the application. Here is an example provision command:
    app provision Install_Oracle_g11_CentOS62 Install_Oracle_g11-1 data.size=3G install.size=6G ORACLEG11BASE.home.size=5.5G user=oracle user_pw=abcd1234 root_pw=abcd1234 primary_ip=192.168.100.12 netmask=255.255.255.0 gateway=192.168.100.1 dns1=192.168.1.2 dns2=192.168.100.138
    
  2. The sizes of the volumes must be chosen in order to hold all data required for installation:

    Note: The volume setup in the provisioned application should accommodate for a typical install. However, there are many ways to install Oracle database and any accompanying software. If the volumes sizes and mount points do not fit your site's needs then you should change the sizes and appliance's descriptor to make any required modifications.

  3. When the appliance is provisioned and all modifications have been made, copy the installation materials to the install volume. You may need to unpack them if they come in e.g. in zip format.
  4. Start the application and point your web browser to an URL with the following structure:
    http://<primary_ip>:8888/
    
    primary_ip

    is the IP address specified during the provisioning of the application.

  5. You will be asked for a password. Enter the password that was set in the provisioned property user_pw.
  6. Once logged in you will se a single terminal (xterm) where you can start the installer for the product you wish to install. For example Oracle Database installer can be started in this way:
    /mnt/install/database/runInstaller
    

Limitations/Requirements

CentOS 6.2 is not an officially supported distribution for installing Oracle Database g11 on Linux for System z. The installer will complain about this fact after start. If the end users intend to run Oracle Database on a supported Linux distribution, this application, its properties, installed software and the supporting scripts in /appliance can be used as a reference for building such application.

After installation the database is ready for client connections on the public IP address assigned in the application's properties. However, running the application like this is not the recommended way. A more useful case would be to turn the base appliance that now has the database software installed into a catalog appliance that can be reused in many applications.

The way to build such appliance is dependent on the type of installation chosen and it is up to the end user to decide how the catalog appliance should be designed. Here are some recommended steps:

For more information on how to design appliances see the Appliance Developer Guide. 

Error Messages

In case of application startup failure, the following errors may be logged to the system log:

Error Message

Description

Incorrect 'primary_ip' value

Application failed to validate 'primary_ip' configuration option.

Incorrect 'secondary_ip' value

Application failed to validate 'secondary_ip' configuration option.

IPv4 DNS must be defined if IPv4-only networking is used

At least one IPv4 DNS server must be defined.

IPv6 DNS must be defined if IPv6-only networking is used

At least one IPv6 DNS server must be defined.

Failed to set up external network

Application failed to setup appliance interface.

Failed to set up external network -- primary and secondary IP's are identical

Primary and secondary IP's must differ

Failed to set up external network -- secondary IP XXX is in use

Secondary IP XXX is in use

Property netmask must be defined if IPv4 networking is used

Property netmask must be defined if defined any IPv4 address

Property gateway must be defined if IPv4-only networking is used

Property gateway should be defined when using only IPv4 networking

Property ipv6_gateway must be defined if IPv6-only networking is used

Property ipv6_gateway should be defined when using only IPv6 networking

Gateway is not defined

Either gateway or ipv6_gateway property should be defined


Open source and third-party software used inside of the application

The following open source third-party software is used in addition to that software found on the appliance base class (LUX64).

These packages are required by Oracle Database (as described in the installation documentation):

These packages are required to run the graphical environment and the web based VNC client:

These packages are needed as dependencies of the packages above: