4 Postinstallation Tasks

4.1.1 Downloading and Installing Patches

Check the OracleMetaLink Web site for required patches for the installation.

To download required patches:

1. Use a Web browser to view the OracleMetaLink Web site:

   http://metalink.oracle.com
   
   

2. Log in to OracleMetaLink.

   
   

   Note: If you are not an OracleMetaLink registered user, click Register for MetaLink! and follow the registration instructions.

   
   

3. On the main OracleMetaLink page, click Patches.

4. Select Simple Search.

5. Specify the following information, then click Go:

   • In the Search By field, choose Product or Family, then specify RDBMS Server.

   • In the Release field, specify the current release number.

   • In the Patch Type field, specify Patchset/Minipack.

   • In the Platform or Language field, select your platform.

4.1.2 Configuring Oracle Products

Many Oracle products and options must be configured before you use them for the first time. Before using individual Oracle products or options, refer to the appropriate manual in the product documentation library.

4.2.1 Creating a Backup of the root.sh Script

Oracle recommends that you back up the root.sh script after you complete an installation. If you install other products in the same Oracle home directory, then Oracle Universal Installer updates the contents of the existing root.sh script during the installation. If you require information contained in the original root.sh script, then you can recover it from the backed up root.sh file.

4.2.2 Configuring New or Upgraded Databases

Oracle recommends that you run the utlrp.sql script after creating or upgrading a database. This script recompiles all PL/SQL modules that might be in an invalid state, including packages, procedures, and types. This is an optional step but Oracle recommends that you do it during installation and not at a later date.

To run the utlrp.sql script, follow these steps:

1. Switch user to oracle.

2. Use the oraenv or coraenv script to set the environment for the database where you want to run the utlrp.sql script:

   • Bourne, Bash, or Korn shell:

     $ . /usr/local/bin/oraenv
     
     

   • C shell:

     % source /usr/local/bin/coraenv
     
     

   When prompted, specify the SID for the database.

3. Start SQL*Plus, as follows:

   $ sqlplus "/ AS SYSDBA"
   
   

4. If necessary, start the database:

   SQL> STARTUP
   
   

5. Run the utlrp.sql script:

   SQL> @?/rdbms/admin/utlrp.sql
   
   

4.2.3 Setting Up User Accounts

For information about setting up additional user accounts, refer to Oracle Database Administrator's Reference for UNIX-Based Operating Systems.

4.2.4 Setting the NLS_LANG Environment Variable

NLS_LANG is an environment variable that specifies the locale behavior for Oracle software. This variable sets the language and territory used by the client application and the database server. It also sets the character set for the client, which is the character set for data entered or displayed by an Oracle client program, such as SQL*Plus.

4.2.5 Generating the Client Static Library

The client static library (libclntst10.a) is not generated during installation. If you want to link your applications to the client static library, you must first generate it as follows:

1. Switch user to oracle.

2. Set the ORACLE_HOME environment variable to specify the Oracle home directory used by the Oracle Database installation. For example:

   • Bourne, Bash, or Korn shell:

     $ ORACLE_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/db_1 
     $ export ORACLE_HOME
     
     

   • C shell:

     % setenv ORACLE_HOME /u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/db_1
     
     

3. Enter the following command:

   $ $ORACLE_HOME/bin/genclntst
   

4.3.1 Configuring Oracle Net Services

If you have a previous release of Oracle software installed on this system, you might want to copy information from the Oracle Net tnsnames.ora and listener.ora configuration files from the previous release to the corresponding files for the new release.

Modifying the listener.ora File

If you are upgrading from a previous release of Oracle Database, Oracle recommends that you use the current release of Oracle Net listener instead of the listener from the previous release.

To use the listener from the current release, you may need to copy static service information from the listener.ora file from the previous release to the version of that file used by the new release.

For any database instances earlier than release 8.0.3, add static service information to the listener.ora file. Oracle Database releases later than release 8.0.3 do not require static service information.

Modifying the tnsnames.ora File

Unless you are using a central tnsnames.ora file, copy Oracle Net service names and connect descriptors from the previous release tnsnames.ora file to the version of that file used by the new release.

If necessary, you can also add connection information for additional database instances to the new file.

4.3.2 Configuring Oracle Label Security

If you installed Oracle Label Security, you must configure it in a database before you use it. You can configure Oracle Label Security in two ways; with Oracle Internet Directory integration and without Oracle Internet Directory integration. If you configure Oracle Label Security without Oracle Internet Directory integration, you cannot configure it to use Oracle Internet Directory at a later stage.

4.3.3 Installing Natively Compiled Java Libraries for Oracle JVM and Oracle interMedia

If you plan to use Oracle JVM or Oracle interMedia, Oracle strongly recommends that you install the natively compiled Java libraries (NCOMPs) used by those products from the Oracle Database 10g Companion CD. These libraries are required to improve the performance of the products on your platform.

For information about how to install products from the Companion CD, refer to the "Installing Oracle Database 10g Products from the Companion CD" section.

4.3.4 Installing Oracle Text Supplied Knowledge Bases

An Oracle Text knowledge base is a hierarchical tree of concepts used for theme indexing, ABOUT queries, and deriving themes for document services. If you plan to use any of these Oracle Text features, you can install two supplied knowledge bases (English and French) from the Oracle Database 10g Companion CD.

4.3.5 Configuring Oracle Messaging Gateway

To configure Oracle Messaging Gateway, refer to the section about Messaging Gateway in Oracle Streams Advanced Queuing User's Guide and Reference. When following the instructions listed in that manual, refer to this section for additional instructions about configuring the listener.ora, tnsnames.ora, and mgw.ora files.

4.3.6 Configuring Oracle Precompilers

This section describes post-installation tasks for Oracle precompilers.

4.3.7 Configuring GCC as the Primary Compiler

You can configure GCC as the primary compiler if the primary supported compiler is not available. This enables you to speed up the performance of PL/SQL modules such as packages by compiling them into native code that resides in shared libraries. This method translates the module into C code, compiles it with a C compiler, and then links it into the Oracle process. Remember that you must use one compiler to compile all your Oracle modules. You cannot compile some modules with the primary compiler and others with a different compiler.

If both the primary supported compiler for the operating system and GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) are available, then use the primary supported compiler. However, if the primary supported compiler is not available, then use GCC.

To configure GCC as the primary compiler:

1. Using a text editor, open the spnc_commands configuration file. In a default installation, the spnc_commands file is located in the $ORACLE_HOME/plsql directory.

2. Look for the following line of text and comment it out:

   /opt/ibmcmp/vac/7.0/bin/xlc %(src) -O0 -qpic -q64 -I$(ORACLE_HOME)/plsql/include -I$(ORACLE_HOME)/plsql/public -s -qmkshrobj -o %(so)
   
   

3. Look for the following lines, which pertain to GCC, and uncomment them:

   # /usr/bin/gcc -m64 -B/usr/bin/ %(src) -O1 -fPIC -I$(ORACLE_HOME)/plsql/include -I$(ORACLE_HOME)/plsql/public -s -shared -o %(so)
   
   

4. Save and close the spnc_commands configuration file.

Using the IBM XL C/C++ compiler for PL/SQL Native Compilation

By default, PL/SQL native compilation is configured to use the GCC compiler. If you want to use the IBM XL compiler (XLC) instead of the GCC compiler, then make the following changes in the $ORACLE_HOME/plsql/spnc_commands file:

1. Comment out the lines for the GCC compiler.

2. Uncomment the lines for IBM XL compiler.