11g on RHEL5 - No initorcl.ora file in ORACLE_HOME/dbs

Question

Hi, I am working on my first db install, I have completed OUI installation through Xming to a remote hosted server. It seemed to go OK but 1 warning concerning insufficent swap space - Expected 3036MB, Actual-1983MB
I completed the install process, creating the default db via config manager tool, and it all seemed more or less OK until I tried the URL for em console.
The warning here was the listener was not up. It seems ORACLE_SID was not defined properly. During install, the SID displayed as DB11G, and the DB Name as orcl. I am not sure which value I should be using?
I can manually define ORACLE_HOME AND ORACLE_SID, use the export utlitiy and get the listener up, but still no em console.
So....I tried starting from SQL...had to redefine env variables again, and got SQL running, login / as sysdba.
Was returned a message confirming I was connected to an idle instance. Thinking this may be the cause of em console and listener not functioning, I tried to run the STARTUP command from SQL>
I received the following.....
SQL> STARTUP
ORA-01078: failure in processing system parameters
LRM-00109: could not open parameter file '/u01/app/oracle/product/11.1.0/db_1/dbs/initDB11G.ora'
figuring I would just have to re-define ORACLE_SID = orcl, I looked in the /dbs directory and found only the following files...
[root@bluesly1 dbs]# dir -a
. .. hc_orcl.dat initdw.ora init.ora lkORCL orapworcl spfileorcl.ora
this explains why STARTUP could not find initDB11G.ora and would not find initorcl.ora either. Should I unset ORACLE_SID and let it run against init.ora??
Not sure where I went wrong, or why all these issues are popping up from a OUI graphic install that appeard to go fine other than the swap space??
Can anyone help?
Which value for SID (DB11G or "orcl")
why didn't the init_SID.ora file get created, (the spfileorcl.ora exists)
should the oracle environment variables need resetting every login, or can I specify them to be at least connection persistent?
Are some of these values dynamic depending on which routine is using them?

Answer 1

Thanks, dizwell is a great site. Well, readers digest version, tried to run emconsole configuration assistants and got all buggerred up. So, back to square 1, de-installed, cleaned, re-installed. Initially had "unknown host error during install's prechecks (despite having all set-up instructions followed to a T). For whatever reson, reconfiguring the ethernet adatpter and re-running system-config-network utility cleared up the error, and install went ahead. I am now up and em console is working, but only from the server's browser (Netscape 9) and WOW is it SLOW!. I am accessing a remote server from a vista home machine through Xming/puTTY.
It is all working, the X displays are good, but a little slow. Normal browsing through X with firefox or navigator is slower than usual, but workable. However, em is wildly slow, almost to the point of being unusable. I have two generic questions:
1. Anything to do to speed up Xming connection overall? On this particular connection, typical actual internet downlaod rates are about 900kbs, but X is behaving similar to about a 300kbs connection.
2. My regular browser (IE) will not resolve the URL for the em console. Is there anything I can do to access em via my normal browser, and benefit from my normal connection speed, which is pretty good. Does this require an 11g client install, or should the console be accessible from any machine?