Redhat 6.2 / Oracle 8.1.6

Question

I'm making a clean install of Oracle 8.1.6 (no previous Oracle, no ora* files in /etc) and having a problem I can't get around whenever I execute /mnt/cdrom/install/linux/runIstaller, I get the error message:
"The Java RunTime Environment was not found at /bin/jre. Hence the Oracle Universal Installer cannot be run."
I've installed jre118_v1 from Blackdown at /usr/local, and crteated the links /usr/local/jre and /bin/jre that point back to the install. I have the following environmental variables in oracle8i's .bash_profile (excuse the poor formatting) and they appear correctly from the "env" command. What am I doing wrong? Thanks for any help or advice.
# Oracle 8.1.6
export ORACLE_HOME=/u01/oracle/8i/app/oracle/product/8.1.6
export ORACLE_BASE=/u01/oracle/8i/app/oracle
export ORA_NLS33=$ORACLE_HOME/ocommon/nls/admin/data
export ORACLE_TERM=vt100
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$ORACLE_HOME/lib
export PATH=$PATH:$ORACLE_HOME/bin
# Java JRE
export JAVA_HOME=/usr/local/jre
export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH

Answer 1

I get a Linux + Oracle 8i howto here.
Hope it helps!!!
=====================
1) runInstaller script spins
On some systems (notabley Red Hat 6.0 systems), the installer will briefly flash
up a window and then just hang.
This can be resolved in two ways:
i) There is a bug in the Enlightenment package used with the GNOME window
system on Red Hat 6.0. You can download the upgrade for the Enlightenment
package from Red Hat at
http://www.redhat.com/corp/support/errata/rh60-errata-general.html
ii)There is a problem with the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) used by the Oracle
Universal Installer (OUI). The solution is to download and use the Version
1.1.7_v3 JRE/JDK from http://www.blackdown.org/ rather than the 1.1.6_v5
version suggested in the Install guide.
2) Database Assistant fails to run
During the installation you will be prompted as to whether you wish to craete
a database at the end of the install. It is recommended that you select NOT to
run dbassist (Database Assistant) at this stage. You should apply patchset 81501
before attempting to create a database.
However the database assistant tool, dbassist may fail with the following:
Unable to initialize threads: cannot find the class /java/lang/Thread
Could not create Java VM
You need to ensure that the symbolic link /usr/local/jre does point to
/usr/local/jre116_v5.
ALTERNATIVELY, you can symlink classes.zip to rt.jar in the jre/lib directory.
3) SQLPLUS can not by run users other than Oracle
A multitude of errors can be reported here, from missing libraries to file
permissions.
This can either be a problem in that root.sh was never run during installation.
If this is the case, see the development FAQ below.
More likely is that you ran root.sh, but SQLPLUS will still not work. The
problem is fixed by applying the 81501 patch set.
I. Installation Issues
1. Which JRE version is required for running the Oracle Universal Installer
(OUI) and where is this available ?
Use JRE 1.1.6 v5 from http://www.blackdown.org.
The JRE 1.1.7 v3 (green threads) also should work, though not tested,
which is also availble from this site.
Download and install the above mentioned JRE in any location where there
is enough disk space and create a symbolic link from /usr/local/jre
to the location where JRE was installed.
2. On what window managers was OUI tested ?
OUI runs on fvwm and KDE.
There is a bug in the Enlightenment package used with GNOME on Red Hat 6.0
that causes the Oracle Universal Installer (OUI) to fail. You may download
the RPM upgrade for the Enlightenment package,
enlightenment-0.15.5-36.i386.rpm from the Red hat Errata site at
http://www.redhat.com/corp/support/errata/rh60-errata-general.html.
3. OUI couldn't determine the free disk space though there is enough space
and instead displayed some warnings.
It's a bug in the installer. Please ignore the warnings and
continue the installation.
4. When OUI reached installing protocol support, an empty list box
is displayed where the network protocols should have been listed.
Unable to select any protocol.
Only the TCP/IP adapter is supported which is default and built-in, and
so the screen is blank.
5. Just before the DB Assistant is launched, a dialog is displayed with
the warning:
"JNLS Exception: oracle.ntp.jnls.JNLSException Unable to find any
National Character Sets. Please check your Oracle installation."
This is a known problem (884001). Ignore the warning
6. Which one do we install to launch dbassist - JDK or JRE ?
Download and install JRE 1.1.6 v5 as mentioned above, before launching
the dbassist.
7. While adding PL/SQL support, the DB Assistant complained that
dbmssml.sql script was missing.
Apply patch 8.1.5.0.1 or above and launch dbassist.
8. While testing the database creation using the dbassist, we have
observed that, on a 4-way SMP system, it took more than 4 hours to
create the database, if all the options are enabled. This may affect
the performance of the machine during this time.
You could either select the option to create scripts and run them OR
use the scripts provided in $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/install/create to create
the database. The scripts in $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/install/create
take ORACLE_SID as the parameter. Before running these scripts copy the
init.ora available in this directory as $ORACLE_HOME/dbs/init<sid>.ora
and modify any parameters in this to suit your requirements, at a minimum
change the db_name, instance_name and service_name parameters.
To enable the 8i features set the compatible parameter to "8.1.5" in the
init<sid>.ora file.
The order in which to run these scripts is
crdb1.sh |
crdb2.sh |-- To create database files, data dictionary views
crdb3.sh | and add PL/SQL support
replicate.sh --- Advanced replication option
ordinst.sh |__ Oracle Intermedia
imedia.sh |
drsys.sh |__ Oracle interMedia Text
context.sh |
java.sh --- Oracle Jserver
spatial.sh --- Oracel Spatial
timeseries.sh --- Oracle TimeSeries
virage.sh --- Oracle Visual Information Retrieval
sqlplus1.sh |
sqlplus2.sh |-- Demos and SQL*Plus help tables
sqlplus3.sh |
You need not have to run all these scripts to create the database.
The first three scripts (crdb1.sh, crdb2.sh and crdb3.sh) would create a
database and the scripts sqlplus1.sh, sqlplus2.sh and sqlplus.sh would
create some demo tables. Once the database is created, you could run other
scripts mentioned above to use the respective 8i feature, e.g., for Jserver,
run the java.sh script. To enable Oracle Intermedia Text, run the scripts -
drsys.sh and context.sh, in this order only. Similarly, for
Oracle Intermedia, run ordinst.sh followed by imedia.sh.
Spatial, time series and visual information retrieval options are not
supported on Oracle 8i Standard Edition.
9. OUI doesn't seem to get installed anywhere even if the "installed
products" shows the OUI.
If the specified ORACLE_HOME is say, /usr/local/8i/oracle, and didnot
select the location for OUI installation, it gets installed in
/usr/local/8i.
10. After installation, executable permissions are wrong for sqlplus, tnslsnr,
lsnrctl and a couple of others (644 not 755) and oracle is 751
instead of 6751
Important: After Server component is installed, root.sh should have been
run to set the proper permissions, when prompted by the installer.
If another component is installed before running the root.sh script,
the script root.sh will be overwritten by the subsequent install.
If this happens,
you have to either re-install the server component again
OR
instantiate root.sh from $ORACLE_HOME/install/utl/root.sbs by updating
the lines [60-62] with your ORACLE_SID, ORACLE_HOME path and
ORACLE_OWNER id and run the script.
11. Oracle Intelligent Agent Executables are not present in $ORACLE_HOME/bin
after installation. These executables neither get installed or relinked.
Please refer to the release note for instructions to link the
Oracle Intelligent Agent executables - dbsnmp, oemevent.
12. Names server is not getting installed.
Apply the patch.8.1.5.0.1 or above.
II. General Issues
1. On which Linux distributions is Oracle 8i for Intel-Linux certified ?
This release is certified with Red Hat 6.0. Certification for other
distributions is currently in progress.
2. DBassist (Database Configuration Assistant) alerts with many missing files
when run on a typical installation.
Please do not use the "Typical" install option when installing Oracle 8i
Emterprise Edition, since yo u will be unable to use the Intermedia Audio
and Intermedia Video options. This is a known problem. The work around to
this problem is to re-install using the "Custom" install option.
3. When running the netasst script to launch the Net8 Assistant, it complains
that, it could not locate the shared library libnjni8.so.
Apply patch 8.1.5.0.1 or above.
4. The shell script gensyslib fails with the following error:
awk: cmd. line:2: fatal: cannot open file `tmpXXXX' for reading (No such
file or directory)
Apply patch 8.1.5.0.1 or above.
5. Most shell scripts when run fail with the following error:
bash: <script-name>: No such file or directory.
Apply patch 8.1.5.0.1 or above
OR
Create a symbolic link to /bin/sh as follows:
ln -s /bin/sh /bin/ksh
6. Can't get sqlplus to work for any user on a Linux box other than "oracle",
which installed it.
Apply patch 8.1.5.0.1 or above.
7. Sqlplus cannot connect to remote database.
Apply patch 8.1.5.0.1 or above.
8. Unable to link the Oracle Intelligent Executables.
Apply patch 8.1.5.0.1 or above.
9. Which JDK version is required for the JDBC drivers ?
Use the JDK 1.1.6 v5 from http://www.blackdown.org.
10. The jdbc thin driver errors when connecting from an NT box. OCI driver
works fine, but thin driver returns the "No more data to read from socket"
error.
This is a known problem in the client-side Java libraries (910741)
This is fixed in the current Oracle 8i for Intel-Linux distribution and
gets installed in $ORACLE_HOME/jdbc/lib. Copy this version of
classes111.zip to appropriate directory on the client-side.
11. The supplied "relink" shell script fails to relink the executables.
Apply patch 8.1.5.0.1 or above.
12. libclntsh.so.8.0 is not present in the installed ORACLE_HOME.
It should have been generated at install time. In any case, it can be
generated by invoking the script genclntsh located in $ORACLE_HOME/bin.
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