Oracle Linux 6.4 installation (64-bit)

First of all, you need the OS installation media, which can be downloaded from the Oracle Software Delivery Cloud at http://edelivery.oracle.com/linux (login required).

For this particular installation, I downloaded ‘Oracle Linux Release 6 Update 4 Media Pack for x86_64 (64 bit)’ which is listed as part V37084-01.

In this instance, I then created a Virtual Machine using VirtualBox with the following specifications:

Name: linux01.vbox
Memory: 4GB
CPUs: 1
Hard Disk: 40GB Dynamic VDI (Virtual Disk Image)
Network Adapter 1: NAT (for Internet access)*
Network Adapter 2: Host-only (private network access –  fixed IP of 192.168.28.11)*

* see Internet and SSH access to VirtualBox VM with NAT and host-only adapters for details of the network configuration.

The Linux 6.4 media was then mounted as a virtual DVD disc within VirtualBox, and the VM started up…

Boot from the OS installation disc

• Install or upgrade an existing system
  • Enter
• Disc Found – ‘Skip’ the media test (use arrow keys)
  • Enter

• Click ‘Next’ at the Welcome Screen
• Choose ‘English (English)’ as the language
  • Next
• Choose ‘United Kingdom’ for the keyboard layout
  • Next
• Use ‘Basic Storage Devices’ for your device type (if appropriate)
  • Next
• Storage Device Warning
  • Choose ‘Yes, discard any data’
• Hostname: linux01.vbox
  • Click ‘Configure Network’
    • Highlight ‘System eth0’ and ‘Edit’ connection
      • Rename as ‘NAT’
      • Tick ‘Connect automatically’
      • Select IPv4 Settings
      • Make sure the Method is set to ‘Automatic (DHCP)’
      • Apply
    • Highlight ‘System eth1’ and ‘Edit’ connection
      • Rename as ‘Host-only’
      • Tick ‘Connect automatically’
      • Select IPv4 Settings
      • Change the Method to ‘Manual’
      • Click ‘Add’ and enter the following:
        • Address: 192.168.28.11
        • Netmask: 255.255.255.0
        • Gateway: Leave empty
      • Apply
    • Close
  • Next
• Select ‘Europe/London’ as your time zone by pointing on the map
  • Leave ‘System clock uses UTC’ ticked
  • Next
• Enter a password for the ‘root’ user
  • Next
• Choose ‘Use All Space’ and tick ‘Review and modify partitioning layout’
  • Next
• Check and amend the partitioning layout if required
  • Next
  • Format Warnings
    • Click ‘Format’
    • Click ‘Write changes to disk’ to setup and format the partitions
• Leave the ‘Install boot loader…’ settings unchanged
  • Next
• Choose the ‘Basic Server’ install (default) and select ‘Customize now’
  • Next
• To enable the desktop functionality, check the following package groups to ensure they’re installed:

• Desktops
  • Desktop
  • Desktop Debugging and Performance Tools (optional)
  • Desktop Platform
  • Fonts
  • General Purpose Desktop
  • Graphical Administration Tools
  • X Windows System

• Applications
  • Internet Browser (optional)

• Next
• Wait for installation to complete, then click ‘Reboot’ when prompted!

Finalize the install

• Welcome
  • Forward
• License Information
  • Select ‘Yes, I agree to the License Agreement’ (if you do that is!)
  • Forward
• Set Up Software Updates
  • Select ‘No, I prefer to register at a later time’
  • Forward
• Confirm by clicking ‘No thanks, I’ll connect later’
  • Forward
• Create User
  • Username: garth
  • Full Name: Garth Harbach
  • Password: *****
  • Confirm Password: *****
  • Forward
• Set the date and time accordingly
  • Tick ‘Synchronize date and time over the network’ and select the first NTP server to keep the time up-to-date
  • Forward
• Kdump
  • Leave default Kdump settings (disabled)
• Finish

Disable the firewall

• Login as ‘root’
  • Tick ‘Do not show me this again’
  • Close the warning
• Open the ‘Firewall Configuration’ utility
  • System > Administration > Firewall
  • ‘Close’ the warning dialog
• Click the ‘Disable’ button, and ‘Apply’ the changes from the toolbar
• Click ‘Yes’ to confirm the changes and exit the ‘Firewall Configuration’

Set SELinux to permissive mode

• Open a terminal window
  • Applications > System Tools > Terminal
• Disable SELinux by changing SELINUX the parameter to the below (from ‘enforcing’):

vi /etc/selinux/config
SELINUX=permissive

• Save the changes and exit (wq!)

 Yum repository setup and updates

• Login as ‘root’
• Download the yum repo file from Oracle:

cd /etc/yum.repos.d
wget http://public-yum.oracle.com/public-yum-ol6.repo

• Check for updates (this will take a while to refresh):

yum update

• Respond ‘Y’ to download the updates when prompted
• Respond ‘Y’ to then apply the updates when prompted

Update the hosts file

• Login as ‘root’
• Add an entry to the hosts file with the Full Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) by adding the line below as appropriate:

vi /etc/hosts
192.168.28.11 linux01.vbox linux01

Install VirtualBox Guest Additions (optional)

• Logged in as the ‘root’ user, run the below commands to install the required RPMs (Guest Additions won’t install correctly without them):

yum install gcc
yum install kernel-uek-devel

• Respond ‘Y’ to download the updates when prompted
• Respond ‘Y’ to then apply the updates when prompted

Once these updates have been applied, reboot the server, and login as ‘root’ again…

From within VirtualBox, navigate to:

• Devices > Install Guest Additions… (select)
• This will mount the disc on your Linux VM.
• Click ‘OK’ when prompted with autorun of the disc, then ‘Run’.
• A terminal window will open displaying progress of the install.
• Once the installation has completed, hit ‘Enter’ to close the window.

To make life easier copying and pasting between your new VM and local machine, you can now enable clipboard sharing and drag’n’drop functionality.  From within VirtualBox, check the following options:

Devices > Shared Clipboard > Bidirectional
Devices > Drag’n’Drop > Bidirectional

Create oracle user and groups (optional)

Logged in as root, open up a terminal window (Applications > System Tools > Terminal).

Create the following groups:

groupadd -g 54321 oinstall
groupadd -g 54322 dba

Create a new “oracle” user, and assign it primary (oinstall) and secondary (dba) groups:

useradd -u 54321 -g oinstall -G dba -c "Oracle Software Owner" oracle

NOTE: The /home/oracle directory will be automatically be created and assigned as the user’s home.

Set a password for the new user:

passwd oracle

Check the setup is as expected:

id -a oracle
uid=54321(oracle) gid=54321(oinstall) groups=54321(oinstall),54322(dba)

Create a directory structure in preparation for any Oracle software you plan to install later on, and give “oracle” appropriate permissions to it (optional).

mkdir -p /u01/app/oracle/software
chown -R oracle:oinstall /u01
chmod -R 775 /u01

…and finally, reboot your machine to pick up all of the changes you’ve made above 🙂