Oracle Database 10G: Managing Oracle On Linux For Dbas: D46590Gc10 Edition 1.0 January 2007 D49271

Oracle Database 10g: Managing
Oracle on Linux for DBAs

Student Guide
D46590GC10
Edition 1.0
January 2007
D49271
®
Authors Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Disclaimer
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Preface
Profile
Before You Begin This Course
Before you begin this course, you should have working knowledge with
administering an Oracle database.
How This Course Is Organized
Oracle Database 10g: Managing Oracle on Linux for DBAs is an instructor-led
course featuring lectures and hands-on exercises. Online demonstrations and written
practice sessions reinforce the concepts and skills that are introduced.
Preface - 3
Related Publications
Oracle Publications
Title Part Number
Oracle® Database Administrator's Guide
10g Release 2 (10.2) B14231-02
Oracle® Database Installation Guide
10g Release 2 (10.2) for Linux x86 B15660-02
Oracle® Database Release Notes
10g Release 2 (10.2) for Linux x86 B15659-05
Additional Publications
• System release bulletins
• Installation and user’s guides
• read.me files
• International Oracle User’s Group (IOUG) articles
• Oracle Magazine
Preface - 4
Typographic Conventions
What follows are two lists of typographical conventions that are used specifically
within text or within code.
Typographic Conventions Within Text
Convention Object or Term Example
Uppercase Commands, Use the SELECT command to view
functions, information stored in the LAST_NAME
column names, column of the EMPLOYEES table.
table names,
PL/SQL objects,
schemas
Lowercase, Filenames, where: role is the name of the role
italic syntax variables, to be created.
usernames,
passwords
Initial cap Trigger and Assign a When-Validate-Item trigger to
button names the ORD block.
Choose Cancel.
Italic Books, names of For more information on the subject see
courses and Oracle SQL Reference
manuals, and Manual
emphasized
words or phrases Do not save changes to the database.
Quotation marks Lesson module This subject is covered in Lesson 3,
titles referenced “Working with Objects.”
within a course
Preface - 5
Typographic Conventions (continued)
Typographic Conventions Within Code
Convention Object or Term Example
Uppercase Commands, SELECT employee_id
functions FROM employees;
Lowercase, Syntax variables CREATE ROLE role;
italic
Initial cap Forms triggers Form module: ORD
Trigger level: S_ITEM.QUANTITY
item
Trigger name: When-Validate-Item
. . .
Lowercase Column names, . . .
table names, OG_ACTIVATE_LAYER
filenames, (OG_GET_LAYER ('prod_pie_layer'))
PL/SQL objects . . .
SELECT last_name
FROM employees;
Bold Text that must ./runInstaller
be entered by a
user
Preface - 6
Introduction
Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Objectives
After completing this lesson, you should be able to:

• Interpret Linux kernel version information
• Identify a tainted kernel
• Use common Linux commands
• Write a simple bash shell script
1-2 Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Oracle Database 10g: Managing Oracle on Linux for DBAs 1 - 2

Suggested Course Schedule
1: Introduction
2: Preparing Linux for Oracle
3: Installing Oracle on Linux
4: Managing Storage
5: Automatic Storage Management
6: Creating the Database
7: Customizing Oracle on Linux

8: Managing Memory
9: Using Linux Measurement Tools
10: Tuning Performance
11: Debugging Oracle on Linux

Supported Linux Distributions
x86 x86-64 Itanium
EL 4
RHEL AS/ES 3
RHEL AS/ES 4
SuSE SLES-9
SuSE SLES-10
Asianux 2.0
Supported Linux Distributions

This chart shows the supported Linux distributions for Oracle Database 10gR2.
Enterprise Linux is available on x86 and x86-64 platforms.
The Red Hat versions are:
• Advanced Server 3 and 4 (RHEL/AS)
• Edge Server 3 and 4 (RHEL/ES)
The supported SuSE Linux version is SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9.
The supported Asianux-based distributions are:
• Red Flag DC Server 5.0 and later
• Miracle Linux 4.0 and later

Linux Distribution: Overview
• The core parts of the Linux system are the following:

– Packages
– The kernel
• Certified distributions are made up of packages that
contain programs.
Linux Distribution: Overview

The Linux software distribution consists of a software set that is provided by a vendor, usually in the
form of packages. Various packages are installed based on the responses in the dialog that occurs
during installation. Packages can provide the kernel, kernel patches, modules, applications, and file
systems.

Linux Packages
The Linux system is made up of software that is delivered

as packages:
• Packages deliver:
– Applications
– The kernel
– Configurations
• Packages are built from:
– Sources
– Patches
Enterprise Linux uses the Red Hat Package Manager (RPM)
package format.
Linux Packages
Modules
The modules in a Linux distribution can be either kernel based or loadable. Kernel-based modules
have to be compiled in, whereas loadable modules can be added without recompiling. All the stock
kernels include support for loadable modules.
Packages
The Linux software for most of the supported distributions is assembled into packages. These are
precompiled binaries that can be installed on and removed from your system with a package
manager. With packages, you can update the kernel, patch, and add functionality. Some third-party
vendors distribute binary modules that are loaded into the kernel. These modules may be proprietary
modules where the source code is not available for Linux developers to investigate. If there are such
modules loaded, then Oracle will support that OS fully, except in the event that the problem is caused
by a proprietary module. In this case, support will be deferred to the supplier of that module.
Note: Package management is covered in detail in the lesson titled “Preparing Linux for Oracle.”

Linux Kernel
The Linux kernel is the core of the operating system. It is:

• Configurable
• Supportable
– Supplied kernel
– Patched by vendor
– A certified, unmodified distribution
Linux Kernel
Linux, like most modern operating systems, has a kernel that is loaded at boot time and stays in the
memory. The kernel in Linux, unlike in many other operating systems, can be customized infinitely.
You can include or exclude modules that make up the kernel, by using the kernel configuration file.
If the kernel still does not behave to your satisfaction, source code is available for you to change it to
your specification. This can lead to a support problem. If you are running a kernel that is different
than the one that was tested by the vendor, then Oracle Support Services (OSS) cannot identify where
the problem is, in your database or the OS.
Oracle Corporation supports only stock kernels. That means only kernels supplied by the certified
distributions are supported. Kernels that are patched by packages by the kernel vendor are also
supported. For more information about kernel support, see note 228374.1, Linux Operating System
Support, on MetaLink.

Verifying the Kernel
• Execute the uname -r command to see the kernel

release:
# uname -r
2.6.9-42.0.0.0.1.ELsmp
• Check the release number returned in MetaLink

for support.
Verifying the Kernel

View the kernel release using the uname command, as shown.
You can see the name of the release on EL by viewing the /etc/enterprise-release file.
For example:
# cat enterprise-release
Enterprise Linux Enterprise Linux AS release 4 (October Update 4)

Interpreting the Linux Kernel
Version Number
<Base>-<Errata>.<Mod><Type>
Base kernel version

Source modifier
Integers separated
by periods
None: Uniprocessor
smp: SMP up to 16 GB
hugemem: SMP up to 64 GB
Interpreting the Linux Kernel Version Number

The Linux kernel version numbers reflect information about the kernel. More than just what revision
of the source code was used to compile it, it shows what machine models it runs on, and also the
source from where the kernel originated. The fields of the version number are as follows:
• Base: The base kernel version. This is typically three or four integers separated by periods. This
number can be traced back to a year when that kernel version was first made available. The first
two integers do not change very often. For example, the current version, referred to as “the two
six kernel” for 2.6, was originally available in 2003, and is still, as of 2006, the base version
number. This course is based on the 2.6.9 kernel.
• Errata: An extra version number to reflect fixes after the base version was released. This
typically reflects errors that were fixed, or minor enhancements to the kernel.
• Mod: The source modifier for the kernel. This indicates where the kernel originated from. The
values of this field can vary greatly. For example, it could be a developer’s initials, or an
organization’s initials. The kernel being used in this course has EL as a source modifier, which
stands for Enterprise Linux.
• Type: The type of architecture the kernel is targeted for. This can be hugemem, smp, or
blank. The meanings of hugemem and smp are covered in the lesson titled “Managing
Memory.”

A Tainted Linux Kernel
Loadable Kernel
Modules (LKMs)
T
Kernel
1 - 10 Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.
A Tainted Linux Kernel

A General Public License (GPL) is a software license that provides for basically free use of software
under certain conditions. It is commonly used in the open source community.
A kernel that is delivered with a GPL distribution is considered untainted. There are two actions that
cause a kernel to become tainted:
• A non-GPL module is loaded into the kernel.
• A module is force-loaded into the kernel. Consider that a given module is compiled for use with
a specific version of a kernel. If that module is introduced to a kernel with a different version
number, then an error is returned, and the module is not loaded into the kernel. The sysadmin
(SA) may choose to force the module to load anyway. Force loading causes the kernel to be
marked as tainted.
If a kernel is tainted, Oracle may or may not support it, depending on the source of the tainting. Here
are two cases where a tainted kernel is supported:
• OCFS: See MetaLink note 276450.1.
• EMC Powerpath driver: See MetaLink note 284823.1.

Checking for a Tainted Kernel
Determine whether a kernel is tainted by:

• Viewing the contents of /proc/sys/kernel/tainted:
# cat /proc/sys/kernel/tainted
0
0 = not tainted
1 = tainted
• Running lsmod to list the status of modules:
# lsmod
Module Size Used by Not tainted
oracleasm 48020 1
loop 15817 4
Checking for a Tainted Kernel

A tainted kernel is one that has had modifications done to it that are not normally supported.
The /proc/sys/kernel/tainted file indicates whether the kernel is tainted or not. Zero
means it is not tainted, and one means it is tainted.
You can also run the lsmod command, and look for the tainted string in the header. This may also
be blank, indicating it is not tainted.

Supported Hardware
• Oracle Corporation does not certify hardware;

only OS platforms.
• Customers must check with the OS vendors for
supported hardware.
Supported Hardware
Oracle Corporation supports a given Linux distribution on any platform or drivers that the vendor
supports. For details about hardware configurations that are certified with Enterprise Linux, see
http://linux.oracle.com/hardware.html.

Common Linux Commands and Programs
• ls: List files

• cp: Copy files
• mv: Move and rename files
• mkdir: Make a directory
• alias: Define command macros
• rm: Remove files and directories
• more: Page through output
• head: Show beginning of file contents
• tail: Show end of file contents
• df: Display filesystem space usage
• du: Display directory disk space usage

Common Linux Commands and Programs
• cat: Show and concatenate files

• grep: Search for patterns in files
• chmod: Change permissions of files
• chown: Change owner of files
• zip: Compress and package files together
• gedit: A WYSIWYG text editor
• export: Make environment settings global
• ps: List running processes
• touch: Change file time stamps
• id: Show information about the current user
• sudo: Execute commands as another user
Note
Use the man command to see the manual pages for any command. For example, the following
displays the manual pages for the touch command:
$ man touch

Navigating the File System
$ whoami
oracle Each of these
$ cd changes to current
$ cd ~ user's home directory
$ pwd
/home/oracle
$ ls -l
total 40
drwxrwxrwx 2 root root 4096 Oct 4 10:07 Desktop
-rwxrwxrwx 1 tbest oracle 57 Dec 7 2005 diary
drwxr-xr-x 3 oracle oinstall 4096 Sep 30 13:48 osw
drwxrwxrwx 2 oracle oinstall 4096 Oct 9 14:08 prog
drwxr-xr-x 3 oracle oinstall 4096 Sep 29 11:46 rda
drwxr-xr-x 3 oracle oinstall 4096 Sep 30 12:07 rda2
drwxr-xr-x 2 oracle oinstall 4096 Oct 11 11:47 stuff
Navigating the File System

Use the following conventions when navigating the file system:
• Use a slash to separate directory names.
• Use a period to indicate the current directory.
• Each user has a home directory, which can be referred to using the tilde character.
• Mostly use cd, pwd, and ls to navigate and explore the file system from the command line.
• Permissions are noted in the form of a user and group associated with the entry, and a set of
permission bits. File system security and permission bits are covered in detail in the lesson titled
“Installing Oracle on Linux.”

The Virtual File System
The virtual file system on Linux is referenced as the /proc

directory, and:
• Does not exist on any permanent media
• Is a representation of what is in kernel memory
• Can be compared to the v$ views in an Oracle
database instance, except that they can be modified
The Virtual File System

The contents of the /proc file system represent the current state of the operating system kernel.
This information is stored in memory, actually in the kernel. The /proc file system is a means for
allowing a system administrator to access it easily, because a file system is a ubiquitous information
structure.
Some of the information is simply represented as files under the /proc directory, such as:
• meminfo: Memory segment sizes and statistics
• uptime: Number of seconds since the system was rebooted, followed by the number of
seconds the system has been idle
• partitions: Names and sizes of disk partitions
But there are also virtual files stored under subdirectories, such as:
• net: Network-related information
• sys: Low-level operating system settings, including kernel parameters

Using the Virtual File System
You use the virtual file system to:

• View the current state of the kernel
• Change kernel parameters
# cd /proc/sys/kernel
# ls -l threads-max
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Dec 28 18:12 threads-max
# echo 16375 >/proc/sys/kernel/threads-max
# cd /proc/sys/kernel
# ls -l tainted
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 0 Dec 28 18:14 tainted
# echo 0 >tainted
-bash: tainted: Operation not permitted
Using the Virtual File System

You can consider the virtual file system as a set of files. The can be viewed simply by using
commands such as cat or more. You can also change the values of some kernel parameters by
writing values into the appropriate file. You can tell if the file can be changed by looking at its write
permissions. If it has the write bit on, then you can edit it. If it does not, then you are not able to
update it; it is intended to be read-only.
The first example in the slide modifies the maximum number of threads on the system. Note that the
file listing shows up as writable.
In the second example, an attempt is made to change the tainted flag, using the virtual file system.
Because it is not a writable file, the change fails.

Bash Shell Scripting
Basic attributes of bash shell scripting are:

• Environment variables $ SOMEVAR=thisvalue
$ echo $SOMEVAR
thisvalue
• Input and output redirecting
– Write output to file: $ ls -l >/tmp/filelist
– Append output to file: $ date >>/tmp/filelist
– Pipe output to another command: $ ls -l | more
• Flow control
– if: Test a condition and branch based on the result
– case: Actions to take based on a list of conditions
– while: Loop while a condition exists
– for: Loop while a condition or list exists
Bash Shell Scripting

The following are the major scripting features provided by the bash shell:
• Environment variables: You can set and interrogate environment variables. You must not put
any spaces on either side of the equal sign; an error results if you do so.
• Input and Output redirection: You can direct output from one program to be the input of
another program. You can also direct input to come from a file, and output to go into a file. Use
the greater than sign (“>”) in front of the file name to direct output to the file, creating it if it
does not exist, or replacing any existing contents if it does exist. Use two greater than signs
(">>") to append the output to an existing file.
• Flow control: You have the ability to control the flow of the script using conditional logic. The
following are the most common control constructs:
- if: Test a condition and branch based on the result
- case: Specify actions to take based on a list of conditions
- while: Loop while a condition exists
- for: Loop while a condition exists or until a list is exhausted

Bash Shell Scripting: Environment Variables
The following are some of the variables that are available:

• Built-in shell variables:
– PWD: The current working directory
– $#: Number of command shell variables
– $?: Exit value of last command
– $n: Positional command-line arguments
– $*: All command-line arguments
• Other variables:
– HOME: The current user's home directory
– PATH: List of directories to search for programs
– PS1: Primary prompt string
Bash Shell Scripting: Environment Variables

The following variables are available in the bash shell:
• PWD: The current working directory
$ echo $PWD
/home/oracle
• $#: The number of command shell variables. This allows you to know how many command-
like values were provided so that they can be processed, for example, by a loop.
• $?: The exit status value of the last command. This is useful for taking action based on the
success or failure of previous commands or other called shell scripts.
• $n: Any of the command-line parameters, according to their position (for example, $1, $2, and
so on). $0 is the command or script name as it was invoked on the command line.
- For this example script called showparams.sh:
echo $0
echo $2
- This is the output, based on this invocation:
$ ./showparms.sh abc xyz
./showparms.sh
xyz
• $*: All command-line parameters passed in to the shell script

Bash Shell Scripting: Environment Variables (continued)
The following variables are also available in the bash shell:
• HOME: The current user's home directory. A shortcut for this is the tilde character (“~”). For
example:
$ echo $HOME
/home/oracle
$ cd ~
$ pwd
/home/oracle
• PATH: The list of directories to be searched when looking for a command or executable file that
is being invoked. Each directory is separated by a colon (“:”) .
- An example of a PATH setting is:
/usr/local/bin:/bin:/usr/bin:/home/vncuser/bin
- Which means that any unqualified command or script names entered on the command line
will be located by searching these directories, in the order specified. An unqualified script is
one that has no directory specification in front of it.
• PS1: Primary prompt string. This defines what is displayed at the command-line prompt. This
can contain literal strings, but special characters may be included to display dynamic values
based on your environment. These are some of the most often used characters:
- \h: The host name, up to the first period
- \u: The current user's name
- \w: The current directory, shown fully
- \W: The same as \w, except that it shows only the last subdirectory name, not the full
directory name
In the following example, the username, machine name, and current directory are included in the
prompt:
[vncuser@EDRSR9P1 ~]$ echo $PS1
[\u@\h \W]\$
[vncuser@EDRSR9P1 ~]$ cd /tmp/files
[vncuser@EDRSR9P1 files]$

Redirecting Input and Output
1 4
$ command
$ command1
>
|
File $ command2
2 | tee
$ command $ command3
<
|
File
File2 $ command4
3 |
$ command1 $ command2
Redirecting Input and Output

You can redirect from where input for a command program comes, and also to where the output
goes. This enables you to string together many commands and files in a single OS command line
submittal.
When redirecting input and output from and to a file, respectively, you use the I/O redirection syntax,
which is made up of the following characters:
• >: The greater than sign, which means direct the output to the specified file
• <: The less than sign, which means read the input from the specified file
• >>: Two greater than signs, which means append the output to the specified file that may
already exist
If you want to direct input and output from or to another command, respectively, then use the pipe
character, which is |(the vertical bar).
You can also direct output to a file and to the terminal at the same time. This is a way to see the
output on the terminal and also have it written to a file. Use the tee keyword to do this.

Redirecting Input and Output (continued)
In the slide, the following scenarios are illustrated:
1. A command is run, and its output is written to a file. The following example writes the
directory listing out to the out.txt file:
ls –a >out.txt
2. A command is run, and its input is taken from a file. In the example, the factor command
is used, which calculates and displays the prime factors of the provided number, which come
from the standard input stream. You can indicate that factor should read a list of numbers
from a file by redirecting input from a file that contains those numbers:
$ factor <numbers.dat
23: 23
55: 5 11
103: 103
86: 2 43
256: 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
This presumes the numbers.dat file has the following contents:
23
55
103
86
256
3. A command is run, and its output is provided as input to a second command. In the following
example, the process listing is searched for incidents of the string _pmon_, which is the
Oracle Database process monitor. There are three occurrences: one for each database
instance running, and one for the grep command itself because it is also a running process
at the time.
$ ps -ef | grep _pmon_
oracle 6985 1 0 Sep27 ? 00:01:29 asm_pmon_+ASM
oracle 6886 1 0 Oct15 ? 00:00:22 ora_pmon_orcl
oracle 3571 21645 0 12:34 pts/3 00:00:00 grep _pmon_
4. A series of four commands are run, each accepting as input the output of the previous
command. Also, the output of the second command is written to a file. This example parses
out the process listing down to displaying only the names of the two database instances that
are currently running a pmon process. Note that grep –v searches for those lines in the
input that do not have the given string. That serves to eliminate the process that is the grep
command itself, which was shown in example (3). The cut command is used here to extract
only characters 58 through 61 inclusive.
$ ps -ef | grep _pmon_ | tee all_pmon.txt | grep -v grep | cut -
c58-61
+ASM
orcl

Bash Shell Scripting: Conditions
Compare numbers: Test strings:

-eq: = s: Not null
-gt: > -n s: Nonzero length
-ge: >= -z s: Zero length
-lt: < =: Strings are equal
-le: <= <: Less than
-ne: <> >: Greater than
Test files: Modify conditions:

-a: Exists !: NOT
-d: Is a directory -a: AND
-w: Is writable -o: OR
-x: Is executable
Bash Shell Scripting: Conditions

In the slide are some common syntaxes for testing conditions in the bash shell. Put the condition
expression inside brackets:
[ cond ]
It is required that you put a space on each side of the condition to separate it from the brackets. You
can use the test syntax instead of the brackets, but there are some syntax variations for some
constructs. For details, see the manual pages for bash and test.
Some examples of condition-testing syntax are listed below:
• Test if the first command-line argument is a number greater than 5:
[ $1 > 5 ]
• Test if the file somefile.dat exists in the current directory:
[ -a somefile.dat ]

Bash Shell Scripting: case
Syntax:
case value in
pattern1) commands1;;
pattern2) commands2;;
esac
Example: case $1 in
up) sqlplus / as sysdba <<-END1
startup;
END1
;;
down) sqlplus / as sysdba <<-END2
shutdown immediate;
END2
;;
*) echo Unknown;;
esac
Bash Shell Scripting: case

The case statement provides a way for you to define criteria, and then execute certain commands
based upon that criteria. It is much like a series of if-then-else statements. The value is
evaluated, and based upon its match to the patterns listed, the corresponding commands are executed.
Only the commands associated with the first pattern matched are executed.
The example in the slide either starts up or shuts down the database, based on the input parameter,
which can either be up or down. If it is neither of these, then the string Unknown is output.
Not unique to the case statement are the labels that delimit the input to the sqlplus invocation.
When sqlplus is called, all the data appearing until the label name, END1 or END2, is encountered
are sent to the sqlplus program as input.

Bash Shell Scripting: while
Syntax:
while condition
do
commands
done
Example:
ps -ef | grep -i oracle |\
awk '{print $2}' |\
while read PID
do
kill -9 ${PID}
done
Bash Shell Scripting: while

The while statement specifies a loop to execute as long as a certain condition remains true. In the
example in the slide, a series of commands are run to filter down to the list of process IDs that have
anything to do with oracle. Each of those process IDs is read by the while loop and fed to a kill
command. This, in effect, kills all of these processes.
The commands, which pipe their output to one another, work together to filter out the process IDs
thus:
1. The ps command lists every process on the system, in full format. This causes the user name
and program name to be included in the listing.
2. The grep command searches for and outputs only those lines that contain the string oracle,
regardless of case.
3. The awk command, which is actually a programming language in itself, outputs only the second
field of the listing. The first field is the username, and the second field is the process ID.
So, only the process ID is piped into the while loop, which reads one at the top of each iteration,
until they are exhausted. The kill statement refers to the variable that appeared in the read statement
in the while condition. There is nothing special about the variable name. Here, it is PID, but it
could be anything.
Note: For more information about awk, see the man pages.

Bash Shell Scripting:
In-List Syntax of for
Syntax:
Example: 1
for var [ in list ]
do for args;
commands do
done echo $args
done
Example: 2
for mnt in `df | grep / | awk '{print $6}'`;
do
echo -n $mnt ' '
ls -l $mnt | wc -l
done
Bash Shell Scripting: In-List Syntax of for

There are two types of syntax for the for statement. The in-list syntax takes a list of items as input
for processing in the loop. If no list is specified, the list of arguments supplied on the command line
is processed. If a list is specified, that list is processed. The list can be the output of a command.
In the first example in the slide, because it is simply a variable name in the in-list, the values are
taken from the command line provided as the shell was invoked. So, this would in effect display the
white-space delimited arguments, each on a line by itself.
In example number two, the in-list is a command. The command generates a set of values, and each
of those values is passed through the for loop separately. In this case, the df command generates a
list of mount points, which are filtered down to only the mount points by searching for a slash. That
is needed to remove the headings from the df output. Then the awk statement prints the mount point
itself, such as /dev/shm. So, just the mount point is passed into the for loop. In the loop, the
mount point is printed without a carriage return. That is done with the –n parameter of the echo
command. A space is also printed, just for visual separation. Then, the number of entries in the
mount point is printed using the ls command, and the entries are counted using the wc command.
This does a word count, but the –l parameter causes it to count the lines instead.

Bash Shell Scripting:
Controlled Loop Syntax of for
Syntax:
for (init; cond; stmt)
do
commands
done
Example:
for ((j=2; j<=8; j+=2))
do
grep my_name file$j
done
Bash Shell Scripting: Controlled Loop Syntax of for

The controlled loop syntax is made up of three specifications that control the loop duration. The
init expression is evaluated once, at the top of the first iteration of the loop. At the top of each loop
iteration (including the first), cond (which is the condition for which to remain in the loop) is
evaluated. If it is true, execution continues with the commands in the loop body. If it is false, then
the loop is immediately exited, and execution continues after the done statement. At the bottom of
each loop iteration, stmt is executed. This is usually a statement that increments or decrements a
counter variable, upon which cond depends.
The example in the slide looks for the string “my_name” in the following files: file2, file4,
file6, file8.

Summary
In this lesson, you should have learned how to:

• Interpret Linux kernel version information
• Identify a tainted kernel
• Use common Linux commands
• Write a simple bash shell script

Practice 1 Overview:
Working with Linux
This practice covers the following topics:

• Identifying the kernel type
• Using Linux commands
• Writing a simple shell script

Preparing Linux for Oracle

Objectives

• Use the package manager to determine and update
package support
• Set up the operating system environment for Oracle
Database
• Create the necessary groups and users for Oracle
Database

Setting Kernel Parameters
# cd /proc/sys
# ls
debug dev fs kernel net proc sunrpc vm
# cd net
# ls
core ethernet ipv4 ipv6 token-ring unix
# cd core
# ls rmem*
rmem_default rmem_max
# cat rmem_max
262144
Entry in the net.core.rmem_max = 262144

/etc/sysctl.conf file

The kernel parameters can be set in either the /proc/sys file system or the
/etc/sysctl.conf file. In the /etc/sysctl.conf file, each entry corresponds
hierarchically to one of the files in the /proc/sys directory. The subdirectory names and the file
name combine to define the parameter entry as it appears in the /etc/sysctl.conf file.
In the example in the slide, the current value of the rmem_max parameter can be viewed by looking
at the /proc/sys/net/core/rmem_max file. Also, the corresponding /etc/sysctl.conf
entry is shown as net.core.rmem_max.
The difference between these two methods of changing kernel parameters is explained in the
following slides.

New value
/proc/sys/…/<file> Non persistent
Or
/etc/sysctl.conf
Persistent: Set
+ during each startup
# sysctl -p
Setting Kernel Parameters (continued)

To view the current values of kernel parameters, use the sysctl utility:
# sysctl –a
To change a kernel parameter that will be effective only until the next reboot, write the new value
into the appropriate file in the /proc/sys file system. For example, to change the SHMMAX
parameter for this boot session only, use:
echo 2147483648 >/proc/sys/kernel/shmmax
After that, if the system is rebooted, this change is gone.
Further, you can make the parameter change such that it is reapplied each time the system is
rebooted. This effectively makes the change persistent because it is reapplied during each boot
sequence. To do this, edit the appropriate line in the /etc/sysctl.conf file, and then issue the
sysctl –p command. The following is an example of an edited line in the sysctl.conf file:
kernel.shmmax = 2147483648
Alternatively, you can issue the following command, and the same persistent setting will be done:
sysctl -w kernel.shmmax = 2147483648

Setting Kernel Parameters (continued)
You must have root privileges to perform these operations.
Note: If you make a mistake with a parameter setting and your system does not start, then you must
start Linux in the single-user runlevel (runlevel 1). At this runlevel, the /etc/sysctl.conf file
is not run. The different runlevels will be discussed in detail in the lesson titled “Customizing Oracle
on Linux.”

Linux Shared Memory: Overview
Shared memory can be accessed by multiple processes,

and thus is used for the System Global Area (SGA). It has
the following characteristics:
• Shared memory is allocated in segments.
• Segments have a maximum size.
• A limited number of segments can be allocated.
Linux Shared Memory: Overview

The shared memory system on Linux works much like the shared memory on other UNIX platforms.
Shared memory is allocated in segments. The maximum number of systemwide shared memory
segments is set by the SHMMNI kernel parameter. The maximum size of each segment is determined
by SHMMAX. A segment is not necessarily as large as the maximum size; it is only as big as is
allocated. If a process needs a larger shared memory area than can be allocated in one segment, then
it may allocate multiple segments.
Database instances often allocate multiple segments to accommodate a large SGA. The maximum
number of segments to which one process may attach is set by SHMSEG.
For details about setting shared memory parameters for your Oracle database, refer to the MetaLink
note 153961.1, Semaphores and Shared Memory – An Overview. For more information, refer to the
MetaLink note 15566.1, TECH: Unix Semaphores and Shared Memory Explained.

Shared Memory Parameters
for 32-Bit Linux
Definition Default Oracle Oracle

Minimum Recommendation
Requirement
shmall Max number 2097152 2097152 2097152
of shared (0x200000) (0x200000) (0x200000)
memory
pages
shmmax Max shared 33554432 Half the size 2147483648

segment (0x2000000) of physical (0x80000000)
size in bytes memory
shmmni Max number 4096 4096 4096

of shared
segments
Shared Memory Parameters for 32-Bit Linux

There are three memory-related kernel parameters. For Oracle Database, the shmmax parameter is
the only one that needs to be modified from its default value. This parameter limits the size of each
of the shared memory segments on the system. It should be equal to or larger than the largest SGA on
the system; otherwise, the SGA is made up of multiple memory segments. The recommended
number shown in the slide is 2 GB. This has been shown to be the setting that provides the greatest
efficiency in Oracle’s shared memory management. Too small a setting would result in a high
number of segments, requiring more work in managing them. Too large a setting could result in
failed attempts to allocate the memory segments. In that case, Oracle is forced to attempt other
mechanisms that allocate separate shared memory segments. While they are separate, they are
returned to the requesting database instance as a single segment. Oracle will attempt to allocate
contiguous segments first. If that is not possible, it will allocate non-contiguous segments. The
maximum value of this parameter is 4 GB.
The shmall parameter defines the maximum amount of shared memory that may be in use at any
time on the system. If this is too small, you see out-of-memory errors because the needed memory is
not allowed to be allocated. The default allows for over two million pages, which is sufficient for a
4 GB RAM system. This value should always be at least 90% of the physical RAM, divided by the
page size. For example, if you have 16 GB of RAM, and a 4 KB page size, then this parameter
should be set to:
(17179869184 * .9 ) / 4096 = 3774873 KB

Shared Memory Parameters for 32-Bit Linux (continued)
The shmmni parameter defines the maximum number of shared memory segments across the
system. The default 4096 value is sufficient for any size SGA. This is because any larger SGA would
instead require an increase in the size of each shared memory segment.
Note: For details about these kernel parameters, refer to the Oracle Database Installation Guide 10g
Release 2 (10.2) for Linux x86.

Semaphores
Semaphores control access to critical resources, code,

and shared memory:
• semmsl: Maximum number of semaphores per set
• semmns: Total number of semaphores in the system
• semopm: Maximum number of operations per semop call
• semmni: Maximum number of semaphore sets
Semaphores
Semaphores are a robust method of controlling access to critical resources. The Oracle instance uses
semaphores primarily to control access to shared memory. Semaphores are allocated based on the
PROCESSES initialization parameter.
Each Oracle instance tries to allocate one semaphore set at startup. This set must allocate at least as
many semaphores as the value of PROCESSES. If it does not, the Oracle instance gets more sets to
satisfy the number of semaphores that it needs. If the instance cannot allocate enough semaphores
(either in one set or in multiple sets), then the instance does not start.
A semop call is a call to a function that actually uses the semaphores (for example, testing, setting,
and clearing).
Note: For details about setting semaphore parameters for your Oracle instance, refer to the Oracle
Database installation guide for your particular platform.

Setting Semaphore Parameters
kernel.sem
250 32000 100 128
semmsl Semaphore settings in

/proc/sys/kernel/sem
semmns and sysctl.conf are
semopn positional.
semmni
Setting Semaphore Parameters

Changing the kernel parameters for semaphores works the same way as the shared memory
parameters.
All four of the semaphore parameters are set in a single file, that is, the sem file in the
/proc/sys/kernel directory.
Here are some general recommendations for the settings of the semaphore parameters on Enterprise
Linux. You must test and adjust these depending on your system:
For semmsl – 250 or the largest PROCESSES parameter of an Oracle database plus 10
For semmns – 32000 or sum of the PROCESSES parameters for each Oracle database, adding the
largest one twice, and adding an additional 10 for each database
For semopm – 100
For semmni – 128

Setting the File Handles Parameter
fs.file-max 65536
Setting the File Handles Parameter

File Handles is the parameter that determines the maximum number of file handles that the Linux
kernel will allocate. The Oracle database background processes open all the data files in addition to
redo logs, the alert log, and other supporting files. So, fs.file-max needs to be high enough to
include all the data files within your database, and all supporting files. The Oracle10g Release 2
database can have up to 65,533 data files.
This value is set in /proc/sys/fs/file-max. The default value is 65536, so you can leave
that as it is.

Setting Other Parameters
net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range 1024 65000
Minimum Maximum
net.core.rmem_default 1048576
net.core.rmem_max 1048576
net.core.wmem_default 262144
net.core.wmem_max 262144
Setting Other Parameters

Setting Socket Parameters
An IP port is assigned to a database-dedicated server process when it starts. The IP port is used to
communicate with the user process. By default, the range available is 32768 through 61000. In some
databases with a very large number of users, the default range of ports that are available to non-root
processes may not be adequate. In the example in the slide, the IP port range is set to be from port
1024 through 65000. These ports may be used for Oracle Net connections. Ports below 1024 are
reserved for processes running with root privileges.
Setting TCP/IP Window Size Parameters
Set the four TCP/IP window sizing–related parameters to values greater than or equal to the values
shown in the slide. These define the read (rmem) and write (wmem) window sizes for a TCP/IP
packet. Defaults are defined, and because TCP/IP communications occur with other machines, the
sizes are allowed to adjust upward to attain compatibility. They are not adjusted beyond the specified
maximum value.

Shell Limits
Processes Files
Shell Limits
Oracle-Related Limits
Two limits must be set in order for an Oracle database to function properly. These apply to the
oracle Linux user. There is little to be gained by not setting each of these to a conservatively high
value.
• nofile: The maximum number of files the user can have open at one time. The oracle user
opens initialization files, data files, redo log files, and so on, so this should be set high enough to
have those files open simultaneously. This is set very close to the maximum number of database
files in a single database.
• nproc: The maximum number of processes a given user can run at once. The oracle Linux
user owns and starts all the background processes, server processes, and possibly the parallel
query and dispatcher processes. This number must be set high enough to accommodate that. The
typical increase in process count comes from the number of sessions in the database. So you just
need to set this parameter high enough to manage the highest number of sessions, plus some for
other processes.

Shell Limits (continued)
Soft Limit Versus Hard Limit
For each of these settings, there is a soft limit and a hard limit. The hard limit can be changed only by
the root user. The soft limit serves as the limit for the resource at any given time; the user may not
exceed that. But the soft limit can be changed by the user, up to the value of the hard limit. The
purpose of a limit is to prevent runaway situations, where resources are being used up beyond what
was intended by the processes running in the user space. So allowing the soft limit to be adjusted by
the user, but never exceeding the root-defined hard limit, provides flexibility along with control.

Setting Shell Limits
root can set hard and /etc/security.conf

soft shell limits for each oracle soft nproc 2047
user. oracle hard nproc 16384
oracle soft nofile 1024
oracle hard nofile 65536
/etc/pam.d/login
session required /lib/security/pam_limits.so
session required pam_limits.so
The user can set hard and $ whoami

soft shell limits for its oracle
session within the bounds $ ulimit -u 16384 -n 65536
already set by root.
Setting Shell Limits

The root user can define the hard and soft limits for each user in a configuration file. The hard
limits can be changed only by root; the user cannot set either the hard limit or the soft limit above
the hard limit. To make these changes, perform the following steps:
1. Add the following to the /etc/security/limits.conf file:
oraclesoft nproc 2047
oraclehard nproc 16384
oraclesoft nofile 1024
oraclehard nofile 65536
2. Add or edit the following lines in the /etc/pam.d/login file:
session required /lib/security/pam_limits.so
session required pam_limits.so
pam_limits.so is a Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM). It is used to set system resource
limits. For more information, see the man pages for pam.
After an OS user has started a shell, the user can use the ulimit command to set the hard limit and
soft limit for this specific shell. The hard limit cannot be increased after it is set, and the soft limit
cannot be increased above the hard limit. For the example shown in the slide, the ulimit command
has no effect; it is setting the hard limit and soft limit to the same value they have already been set to.

Setting Shell Limits (continued)
If it were to issue the ulimit –Sn 50 command (which sets the soft limit for number of open
files to 50), then any attempt to open more than that would result in an error. The user could still set
it higher (for example, ulimit –Sn 100), which would result only in errors when the number of
open file requests exceeds 100. However, this cannot be set higher than the hard limit.
Note: A process inherits these settings from the shell from which it is started at the time it is started,
so if you change the settings, any processes would have to be restarted for them to take effect. So, for
example, the Oracle database would have to be shut down and restarted.

Managing Packages
Patches for Enterprise Linux are managed with the

Red Hat Package Manager (rpm) utility. This utility
is used to install, upgrade, remove, and query
packages.
• To determine whether or not a package is installed:
# rpm –q <package name>
• To install a package:
# rpm –ivh <package name>
• To remove a package:
# rpm –e <package name>
Managing Packages
The recommended method for installing operating system patches and additional functionality is to
apply packages from the distribution vendor. Apply packages with rpm, a command-line utility with
several options for querying, verifying, installing, upgrading, and removing packages.

Managing Packages (continued)
The rpm utility accepts several command-line arguments including:
• -q: Queries the system for a package. A special argument, -qa, lists all installed packages.
This list can then be filtered by piping to a grep command. For example:
#rpm -qa |grep gcc
gcc-2.96-108.1
• -i: Installs the named package. The optional –h argument shows hash marks on the screen to
indicate progress. The optional –v argument generates verbose output. For example:
#rpm -ivh my_new_package-1.0-14.i386.rpm
Preparing... ####################################### [100%]
1:my_new_package ####################################### [100%]
• -e: Erases/removes the selected package. Optional arguments –h and –v can also be used. For
example:
# rpm -ev IBMJava2-JRE
• -U: Upgrades the current package. It removes the current package and replaces it with a
different version.
Note: The replacement happens without removing any existing configuration files. This is used
when upgrading kernel packages because you cannot remove the existing kernel before
installing a new one.
rpm -Uh kernel-2.4.9-e.27.i686.rpm
Preparing... ####################################### [100%]
1:kernel-2.4.9-e27 ####################################### [100%]

Required Software
Check that the required packages are installed:

# rpm -q binutils
binutils-2.15.92.0.2-15
You may have to query all of the packages and grep for
part of the name if you are unsure of the exact name:
# rpm -q compat-libstdc++
package compat-libstdc++ is not installed
# rpm -qa | grep compat-libstdc++
compat-libstdc++-296-2.96-132.7.2
compat-libstdc++-33-3.2.3-47.3
# rpm -q compat-libstdc++-296
compat-libstdc++-296-2.96-132.7.2
Required Software
The Oracle Database Installation Guide lists the required packages and version numbers for your
Linux distribution. You can determine whether your Linux installation meets those package
requirements by using the rpm command. The –q option queries the repository of installed packages
looking for the exact package name you supply. You must supply the package name exactly as it
appears in the repository; if it is wrong, it is reported as not installed.
The first example in the slide shows a query of the binutils package. The result shows that it is
indeed installed, and the version number is 2.15.92.0.2-15.
The second example shows a query for the compat-libstdc++ package. Initially, you see that it
is not installed. Then, when you query all packages, and then grep for the package name or portion
thereof, you can see that there must be more to the package name than compat-libstdc++. If
you query for compat-libstdc++-296, you see that it is installed as that package name.

Required Software (continued)
The following are the required packages and versions for Oracle Database 10gR2 on Enterprise
Linux:
binutils-2.15.92.0.2-13.EL4
compat-db-4.1.25-9
compat-libstdc++-296-2.96-132.7.2
control-center-2.8.0-12
gcc-3.4.3-22.1.EL4
gcc-c++-3.4.3-22.1.EL44
glibc-2.3.4-2.9
glibc-common-2.3.4-2.9
gnome-libs-1.4.1.2.90-44.1
libstdc++-3.4.3-22.1
libstdc++-devel-3.4.3-22.1
make-3.80-5
pdksh-5.2.14-30
sysstat-5.0.5-1
setarch-1.6-1
Note: This list shows the required RPMs at the time of printing. To ensure that this has not changed,
refer to the Oracle Database Installation Guide for your Linux distribution.

Linux Patches
Apply the patches recommended by the distribution

vendor:
• Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN) supplies patches
automatically.
• Other distribution vendors have patch channels.
Linux Patches
Linux distribution vendors do not supply megapatches like other UNIX vendors, but supply patches
for components. The latest version of all the patches are tested to work together. Each distribution
vendor has a subscription service and a method for distributing patches. Enterprise Linux is
supported by Unbreakable Linux Network. The latest patches should be applied; especially the kernel
patches and the security patches.
Note: Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Control and Grid Control provide an interface for finding
and applying patches for the OS and for the database. For details, see Oracle Database 2 Day DBA
10g Release 2.

Configuring the X Window System
Install and configure the X Window System with the

distribution installation. Before the installation:
• Determine the monitor model number
• Determine the graphics card model number or chipset
Configuring the X Window System

Oracle Universal Installer (OUI) is a Java-based product, and Java calls the X Window System on
UNIX and Linux operating systems. So the X Window System must be enabled. This is usually
accomplished during the installation of the Linux distribution.
If the X Window System configuration needs to be changed after the installation, there are several
files, such as /etc/X11/XF86Config, where the X Window System configuration information is
kept.
You must know the monitor model number, the graphics card model, the video memory size, and the
chipset before configuring these items. With this information, you are able to configure your system
correctly.

Testing the X Window System
Test the X Window System with an X client:

• Set the DISPLAY variable:
– Get the host name of the X server.
– Set and export:
— DISPLAY=hostname:0.0
— Export DISPLAY
• Check xhosts:
— xhost +hostname
• Run xclock:
— xclock
Testing the X Window System

The X server is the machine where you are viewing the screen. The X client is a process (running
somewhere) that sends the display to where you will be viewing it. In the case of the OUI, X server is
the machine in which you view the output, and X client is the machine where the installer runs the
database server. To make sure that the installer runs in this configuration, first verify that the X
server has connectivity to the database server, and use telnet to make a connection. If telnet
does not work, check the hardware, the wiring, and the host resolution. The host names are translated
into IP addresses by either a domain name server (DNS) or through the /etc/hosts file. The
ping, host, and dig utilities can provide good diagnostic information for solving connection
problems.
After a telnet connection is established to the database server where the Oracle software will be
installed, you must set and export the DISPLAY variable. This variable directs the Oracle Installer
where to display the install screens. The DISPLAY variable contains the host name or IP address and
the display number.
For the X server to accept the display from another machine, xhost must be executed on the
machine where the display is viewed. As the owner of the display (the logged-in user), execute
xhost +<hostname> where hostname is the name or IP address of the database server where
the installer is running.

Testing the X Window System (continued)
On the X server, issue a hostname command to find the name of the X server. In the following
example, the machine jspiller-us is the X server where the installer will display the output.
Check which hosts are allowed to connect to the X server machine with xhosts. With xhost
+<hostname>, add the name of the database server to the X access control list. In this example, the
machine delphi is the database server where the installer will be running:
$ hostname
jspiller-us
$ xhost
Access control enabled, only authorized clients can connect
$ xhost +delphi
Delphi being added to access control list.
Connect to the database server, with telnet, set the DISPLAY variable and start an X client.
$ telnet delphi
$ DISPLAY=jspiller-us:0.0
$ export DISPLAY
$ xclock
The xclock client should appear on the X server screen or an error message will appear in the
telnet session.
The DISPLAY variable may also be set by using the IP address instead of the name as:
$ DISPLAY=192.168.1.2:0.0
This method is sometimes helpful when the host name resolution must be bypassed.
For further information about the commands used in this lesson, refer to Appendix C, or the man and
info pages on your Linux system.

Creating Groups
Group Description Common

Name
Oracle Inventory Identifies the owner of the Oracle oinstall
software
OSDBA Identifies OS accounts that have dba
database administration privileges
(SYSDBA)
OSOPER Identifies OS accounts that have oper
limited database administration
privileges (SYSOPER)
Creating Groups
The Oracle Database installation guide names three group identifiers: the Oracle Inventory group,
OSDBA, and OSOPER. The members of the OSDBA group own the database files and have the
privilege to connect to the database without a password, using AS SYSDBA through OS
authentication. The OSOPER group uses the same mechanism to connect with AS SYSOPER with a
restricted set of privileges. Each database may have its own OSDBA and OSOPER groups. The Oracle
Inventory group has privileges on the software. A DBA that is a member of both OSDBA and the
Oracle Inventory group has privileges in specific database instances and the ability to access and
upgrade the software through the Oracle Inventory group.
An OSDBA group must be created to manage the database files. By default this group is dba, but this
name is arbitrary. If only one group of DBAs administers the databases on this server, then this group
may be the same as the Oracle Inventory group for all the databases on this server.

Creating Groups (continued)
When there are multiple groups of DBAs, each administering different databases on the same server,
you should create a separate Oracle Inventory group to own the Oracle software. This group is
commonly called oinstall. For each set of databases that will have a common set of DBAs,
create an additional OSDBA group. This allows each DBA to have privileges in the database of
responsibility but not in other databases.

Creating and Viewing a Group
To create and view the necessary groups:

# groupadd –g 503 oinstall
# groupadd dba
# groupadd oper
[root@edrsr9p1 local]# cat /etc/group

root:x:0:root,vncuser
bin:x:1:root,bin,daemon
.
.
.
oinstall:x:503:
dba:x:504:oracle
oper:x:505:oracle
Creating and Viewing a Group

The root user can execute the groupadd command to create a group. The group ID or gid must
be unique. IDs below 500 are typically reserved for system accounts. -g is optional; if the group ID
is not specified, then the first available group ID above 499 will be assigned. This command places
an entry in the /etc/group file.
To verify whether the group was created, view the /etc/group file.
In the X Window System environment, there are multiple tools available to manage users and groups.
Enterprise Linux provides the system-config-users GUI tool.

Creating the Oracle Software Owner
The user that owns the Oracle software:

• Must be created
• Has the Oracle Inventory group as its primary group
• Must be a member of an OSDBA group
• Is commonly named oracle

The user that runs the Oracle Universal Installer to install Oracle Database is the Oracle software
owner. The ownership of the installed files is set based on that user.
Do not run the installer as root; that would require root access every time Oracle software
maintenance has to be done. The name of this user is commonly oracle, but this name is arbitrary.
In the following examples, this user is named oracle. When this user is created, the primary group
can be set. The primary group is set to the Oracle Inventory group. If the OSDBA group is different,
then the Oracle user must also be a member of that group. The primary group is the one listed in the
/etc/passwd file. Membership in other groups is set in the /etc/groups file.
$ id
uid=501(oracle) gid=503(oinstall)
groups=502(oracle),503(oinstall),504(dba),505(oper)

1
# useradd oracle
2
# usermod -g oinstall -G dba,oper,oracle oracle
3
# passwd oracle
Changing password for user oracle.
New UNIX password:
Retype new UNIX password:
passwd: all authentication tokens updated successfully.
#
Creating the Oracle Software Owner (continued)

The root user can execute the useradd command to create a user. In this example, a user named
oracle is created with a primary group of oinstall. The user ID must be unique. If the user ID
is not specified, then the user gets the first available ID above 99, because IDs below 99 are typically
reserved for system accounts. If the -D option is used with no other options, then useradd will
show the system defaults. These defaults may be overridden in the command line, completely
specified or changed with -D followed by the new default. On Enterprise Linux, the default home
directory is /home/<username>, which is acceptable. You do not need to override it with the
-D option.
The useradd command places an entry in /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow if shadow
passwords are being used. The –m option creates the user’s home directory and copies a skeleton set
of login profiles from /etc/skel to the home directory. The -g option sets the primary group. If
the group is not specified, then a group with the same name as the user is created and set as the
primary group. The -s option sets the user login shell. In this example, the -s option is not required
because for Enterprise Linux the bash shell is the default shell. For more information, refer to the
man pages for useradd.
Most Linux distributions are shipped with a graphical user management tool. For Enterprise Linux,
use system-config-users.

The nobody User
The nobody user:

• Is an unprivileged user
• Is used for executing external jobs
– The oracle user would be too powerful.
• Should be allowed to have only minimal privileges
# id nobody
uid=99(nobody) gid=99(nobody) groups=99(nobody)
The nobody User

The nobody user exists to satisfy the need for a minimally privileged OS user. There are times
when the database requests that jobs run at the OS level, and this is the user under which the job runs.
Oracle Scheduler is one feature that can initiate external jobs. Any programs that are invoked this
way are owned by, and run under the permissions granted to, the nobody user. So this user starts out
with no privileges. The system administrator, as root, can add any necessary groups to this user as
needed, based on the tasks those external programs must perform.
Simply allowing these programs to run as the oracle user would be too liberal a policy, because
the oracle user is able to shut down the database, and perform many other privileged tasks.
If the nobody user does not exist, create it. It is common to use 99 as the user ID and group ID.

Summary

• Use the package manager to determine and update
package support
• Set up the operating system environment for Oracle
Database
• Create the necessary groups and users for Oracle
Database

Preparing Linux for Oracle

• Using the package manager to determine and update
package support
• Creating groups and users in preparation for an Oracle
database installation
• Setting up the operating system environment for
Oracle Database 10gR2

Installing Oracle on Linux

Objectives

• Describe the Linux file system security
• Install multiple versions of the Oracle Database
software on the same server
• Accommodate multiple Oracle homes on one database
server

File System Security
d rwx rwx rwx
Owner
Directory Group
indicator
World
$ ls -l
total 3
drwxr-xr-x 2 oracle oinstall 4096 Sep 17 13:02 backup
-rwxr-xr-x 1 oracle dba 87 Dec 22 2006 lab_01.sql
-rwx------ 1 root root 24 Feb 15 2006 postinst.sh
File System Security

Linux file system security is based on permissions attached to each file and directory. There is a set
of ten indicators that specify this permission information. Their meanings, from left to right, as they
appear in a listing produced by the ls –l command, are shown below. If the positional attribute
does not apply to the entry, then that permission or attribute is false, or denied.
1. Directory indicator: If this is a “d,” it indicates that the entry is a directory.
2. Owner permissions: This indicates whether the owner of the file is able to read it, write to it, or
execute it, respectively, from left to right.
3. Group permissions: This indicates whether members of the group that owns the file are able to
read it, write to it, or execute it, respectively, from left to right.
4. World permissions: This indicates whether all other users (besides the owner and the file’s
group members) are able to read it, write to it, or execute it, respectively, from left to right.
Note: Execute permission applies to binary programs, shell script files, and directories. It has no
meaning for other file types. In the case of a directory, if a user has the execute privilege on a
directory, that means they can cd to it, list the contents of it, and search it.

File Security Attributes
-rwxr-xr-x 1 oracle dba 87 Dec 2 2006 lab_01.sql
-rwx------ 1 root root 24 Feb 1 2006 postins.sh
drwxr-xr-x 2 oracle oinstall 4096 Sep 17 13:02 backup
Owner Group
File Security Attributes

Each file or directory entry has an owner and a group assigned to it, shown in that order as displayed
by the ls –l command. This information, combined with the permissions indicators on the
previous slide, determines who is allowed to do what with each given file or directory.
Regarding the items listed in the slide:
• The first belongs to the oracle user, and its group is dba. That, combined with the
permissions indicators means that the oracle user has read, write, and execute permissions on
this file. Also, any user in the dba group can execute or read this file, but cannot write to it,
which is also the case for all other users, based on the last three indicators.
• The second belongs to root, and the group is also root. Based on the permissions indicators,
only root can read, write, or execute this file. Even if there are other users in the root group, they
cannot do anything with this file because the group permission indicators are all dashes, which
means that those accesses are denied.
• The third entry is a directory.

SETUID and SETGID Bits
The SETUID and SETGID bits indicate that others are

allowed to execute a program as though they were the
owning user or group.
-r-sr-s--- 1 root oinstall 0 Jul 1 2005 oradism
oradism
SETUID SETGID
tbest xyz.conf
SUID Bits
When the letter “s” appears in place of the “x” or dash in the permissions bit string, it has a special
meaning. It indicates that as this program is invoked, it will be run using the permissions of the user
or group that owns it. Regarding the example of the oradism executable file shown in the slide,
oinstall is the group and root is the owner. An “s” appears in the executable bit position, for
the user and the group. That is, anyone can execute oradism, and when they do, every action the
oradism program attempts will be evaluated, permissions-wise, based on the fact that the
requesting user is root and the requesting group is oinstall.
For example, suppose that the tbest user is in the tbest and users groups only. There is a
/etc/xyz.conf file which is owned by root, and its group is root. The tbest user cannot
access that file at all. But if the oradism program accesses that file, anyone who invokes that
program will succeed in accessing that file. This is because the decision to allow access to the
/etc/xyz.conf file is made based on the fact that the requestor is the root user.

Choosing a Shell
There are many shells available for Linux:

• Oracle shell scripts are Bourne shell scripts.
• bash is the Bourne-again shell:
– It is Bourne shell compatible.
– It is POSIX compliant.
• Korn is a superset of Bourne:
– The Korn shell is required for certain actions.
• The C shell is preferred by many.
• The working-level shell is a matter of preference.
• Most shell scripts specify the shell that is required.
Choosing a Shell
Linux has many popular features. One of the most popular features is that the user interface can be
easily customized. There are at least four different shells in the default EL installation. The Bourne
shell, one of the first shells that was available on AT&T UNIX, is the standard shell that the Oracle
database uses for scripting. The C shell was the BSD UNIX shell. The C shell has many user-friendly
features, such as command history, that are not available in the Bourne shell. But the C shell was
interpreted, and not compiled like the Bourne shell, and is consequently slower. The Korn shell is a
superset of the Bourne shell with command history, and is compiled. The Bourne-again shell, bash,
was written to be Bourne shell compatible, with features of both the Korn and C shells. It is intended
to be POSIX compliant. Some Oracle installation actions require a Korn shell such as the Oracle
Internet Directory configuration script, oidca.
Most Oracle shell scripts specify the shell that is required in the first line of the script. A first line of
#!/bin/sh indicates that the script uses the Bourne shell. On Linux, /bin/sh is usually a link to
the Bourne-again shell (bash).
To view the shell that you are currently in, use the echo $0 command.

Setting Environment Variables
The shells have specific syntaxes for setting environment

variables.
• Bourne, Korn, and bash shell syntax:
ORACLE_SID=orcl; export ORACLE_SID
• C shell syntax:
setenv ORACLE_SID orcl
Setting Environment Variables

Each shell has a specific syntax for setting an environment variable. The most common syntax for
each shell and an example for the ORACLE_SID variable are shown. The environment variables are
session specific and, therefore, must be set at each login. In each shell, there are specific login scripts
that are executed.
• The Bourne shell runs .profile.
• The Korn shell runs .profile and .kshrc.
• The bash shell runs .bash_profile, .profile, and .bashrc.
• The C shell runs .login and .cshrc.
The Oracle environment variables must be set in the last script to run in each case.
Example: For the bash shell, set ORACLE_SID in the .bashrc script.
Oracle Support recommends that you create a shell script in the same format as.bashrc and source
it in the shell that will be running the installer. This has the advantage that after installation the
.bashrc or .login script does not need to be edited for ordinary use with the oraenv script. For
example, create a file instenv with the environment variables, do a chmod 755 so that it can be
executed, and then execute '. ./instenv' to run the script without forking a new shell.

User File Creation Mask
Every file that a user creates has a set of permissions

controlled by a mask.
• View the mask with umask -S.
• Set the mask with umask -S u=rwx,g=rx,o=rx.
User File Creation Mask

Every file that is created by a user receives a default set of permissions. The permissions determine
who can read, write, and execute a file. The example above indicates that the files that are created
have permissions set as follows: read, write, execute for the owner (u); read and execute permissions
for the group (g); and read and execute permissions for the other (o). For EL, by default, umask is
set to u=rwx,g=rx,o=rx. But if it is not set to this value, it can be changed. In the .bashrc
script for the oracle user, place a line as shown below:
umask -S u=rwx,g=rx,o=rx
The umask can optionally be specified as an octal value, which specifies which permission bits
should be off. For example, 022 is the equivalent of the above example. The two bits that are on in
the octal value represent the only two permissions that are not allowed: write for group and write for
other.
The umask must be verified before running the Oracle Universal Installer (OUI) and set for the
oracle user in the .bashrc file.

Setting Oracle Environment Variables
For the oracle user, you must set the following shell
variables before the installer is run:
• DISPLAY (required)
– Location of the X Window System server
• PATH (required)
– Location of the OS linker and compiler
– Location of the Oracle database executables

Only two shell variables need to be initialized before the installer is run: the DISPLAY variable and
the PATH variable. Other variables can be initialized to facilitate the installation. The DISPLAY
variable must be set to the location of the X Window System server. If X-based terminal windows are
being used, then the DISPLAY is usually set properly in login scripts. Before installation, set the
PATH variable manually or with a script in the shell where the Oracle Installer is invoked to include
the $ORACLE_HOME/bin directory. If the '$ORACLE_HOME' string is used instead of a full path
to set the PATH variable, then the ORACLE_HOME variable must be set before its use. Usually, base
PATH is set to /usr/bin:/bin:/usr/bin/X11R6:/usr/local/bin by default. If it is not,
then set it in the .bashrc file.
After the installation, the PATH variable for any database user on Linux can be set by using the
supplied oraenv script. It adds $ORACLE_HOME/bin to the end of the existing PATH variable.

Optimal Flexible Architecture
Optimal Flexible Architecture (OFA) was introduced to

optimize the relationship between the database files and
the host operating system. You can use OFA to:
• Distribute files across multiple mount points:
– Balance I/O for performance
– Increase reliability
• Handle large and growing directories
• Administer multiple releases
Optimal Flexible Architecture

Optimal Flexible Architecture (OFA) is a method for configuring the Oracle database and other
databases. OFA makes use of the operating system (OS) and disk subsystems capabilities to create an
easy-to-administer configuration that allows maximum flexibility for growing and high performance
databases. The methods described here are the basics of OFA.
For details about the goals and implementation of OFA, refer to the Oracle Database Administrator’s
Guide 10g Release 2 and the Oracle Database Installation Guide 10g Release 2 (10.2) for Linux x86-
64.

OFA Characteristics
OFA Characteristics
The OFA characteristics translate into specific recommendations for the management of database
files, and the structure of the host file systems and directory structure. They are listed here:
• File system organization: The file system is organized to enable easy administration and to
facilitate adding data into existing databases, adding users, creating databases, and adding
hardware.
• Distributed I/O loads: I/O loads are distributed across enough disk drives to prevent performance
bottlenecks.
• Hardware support: In most cases, you do not require new hardware to implement the Optimal
Flexible Architecture standard.
• Safeguards Against Drive Failures: By distributing applications across more than one drive,
drive failures affect as few applications as possible.
• Distribution of Oracle home directories: The collection of home directories, and further, the
contents of each individual home directory can be distributed across disk drives.
• Integrity of login home directories: You can add, move, or delete login home directories without
having to revise programs that refer to them.

OFA Characteristics (continued)
• Independence of UNIX directory subtrees: Categories of files are separated into independent
UNIX directory subtrees so that files in one category are minimally affected by operations on
files in other categories.
• Supports concurrent execution of application software: You can run multiple versions of Oracle
software simultaneously, enabling you to test and use a new release before retiring the previous
release. Transferring to a new release after an upgrade is simple for the administrator and
transparent for the user.
• Separate administrative information for each database: The ability to separate administrative
information for each database ensures a reasonable structure for the organization and storage of
administrative data.
• Consistent database file naming: Database files are named so that:
- Database files are easy to distinguish from other files
- Files belonging to one database are easy to distinguish from files that belong to another
database
- Control files, redo log files, and data files can be identified as such
- The association of data file to tablespace is clearly indicated
• Separation of tablespace contents: Tablespace contents are separated to minimize tablespace free
space fragmentation, minimize I/O request contention, and maximize administrative flexibility.
• I/O loads tuned across all drives: I/O loads are tuned across all drives, including drives storing
Oracle data in either Automatic Storage Management disk groups or in raw devices.

Mount Points
To be OFA compliant, the database requires two mount

points:
• Mount points are listed in /etc/fstab.
• Name mount point /pm or /pm/q/db.
– p is a string.
– m is a unique identifier (2 to 4 digit number).
– q indicates Oracle database files (default oradata).
– db is the database name.
• Examples:
– /u01
– /u02/oradata/orcl
– /sales01
Mount Points
A database that is fully OFA compliant has at least two mount points: one for the software and at
least one for database files. The Oracle Installer requests two directories. The installer does not know
if you are supplying mount points or directories. The naming of the database software directory was
performed when you created the ORACLE_HOME environment variable.
Although there are many correct names that you can use, it is usually a good idea to avoid names that
map to hardware. For example, if you choose a name that corresponds to a particular disk controller,
then a later upgrade may result in a name that is deceptive. It is much easier to separately track
hardware to logical name mappings.
You should not use names that suggest that a mount point is devoted to one application’s data unless
it is true. For example, you do not want to neglect your Oracle database files just because they were
stored under a mount point called /backup01.
In the original OFA, the concept of a mount point almost always referred to a single physical disk,
that is, each disk had one mount point. In today’s environment, disks can be very large, and they are
partitioned to useful sizes. Each partition requires a mount point.
Note: The usage of Automatic Storage Management (ASM) eliminates many of the concerns about
mount points. ASM is covered in detail in the lesson titled “Automatic Storage Management and
Automatic Storage Management Library Driver.”

ORACLE_HOME and ORACLE_BASE
These are directories to implement an OFA-compliant

installation.
ORACLE_BASE=/u01/app/oracle
ORACLE_HOME=$ORACLE_BASE/product/10.2.0/db_1
ORACLE_HOME and ORACLE_BASE

What Is ORACLE_HOME Used For?
The ORACLE_HOME directory is used by any user who wants to use the particular database. It
identifies the directory that has the proper release distribution and binaries for the database. It also
identifies the default location of the parameter file that launches the database. The ORACLE_HOME
variable does not have to be preset as an environment variable, it can be set during the installation
process. The directory does not have to exist but the directory structure above it must exist and be
owned by the user named oracle. The ORACLE_HOME variable is typically in the following
ORACLE_BASE directory: ORACLE_HOME=$ORACLE_BASE/product/10.2.0.
What Is ORACLE_BASE Used For?
The ORACLE_BASE directory is typically a higher-level directory than ORACLE_HOME. It can be
used by shell scripts that you create. Typically, your data files and administration files are located
below this point. This allows shell scripts to be created that are not dependent on the particular tree
structure, and those scripts continue to work on other machines or reconfigured machines and
possibly on other releases of the database.

Creating the Oracle Directories
ORACLE_BASE /u01/app/oracle
product flash_recovery_area oradata
<version>
ORACLE_HOME /u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/db_1
Creating the Oracle Directories

The ORACLE_BASE directory must be created by root. The ownership of the directory must be
assigned to the oracle user and the oinstall group. Following the examples in previous slides,
use the command chown oracle:oinstall /u01/app/oracle. Repeat this procedure for
the directories that are designated to hold database files. The ORACLE_HOME directory is
successfully created by the OUI as long as the permissions on the ORACLE_BASE directory are
correct.

Installing New Releases
• Provide a separate tree for each release. This tree is

deleted after an upgrade (when it is no longer in use).
• Place releases in a directory named h/product/v,
where:
– h is the ORACLE_BASE directory
– v is the version identifier or release number
Example:
— /u05/app/oracle/product/10.2.0
— /u02/app/oracle/product/9.2.0
• Maintain the /etc/oratab file, which lists the existing
ORACLE_HOME directories.
Installing New Releases

Each new release gets its own directory. As new releases are added, the old release directories can be
removed. Therefore, the release directory should contain only files that are specific to that release.
You must store only the files that are installed by the OUI in the ORACLE_HOME directory.
Installing a new release often results in multiple databases running under different releases. Each
instance on a machine specifies the release that it uses in the /etc/oratab file. For example:
prod:/u02/app/oracle/product/9.2.0:Y
dev:/u05/app/oracle/product/10.2.0:N
When a database is upgraded to use a different release, change the oratab file so that users find the
proper ORACLE_HOME directory. For example, to move prod to 10.2.0:
prod:/u05/app/oracle/product/10.2.0:Y
When the 9.2.0 database is removed, the directory is no longer needed and can be removed.

Managing Multiple Versions
Set the user environment when several versions of the

database software exist on the same machine.
• Use generic login scripts.
• Use Oracle-supplied scripts to set the environment.
PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/bin/X11/:/usr/local/bin
ORACLE_SID=orcl
ORAENV_ASK=NO
. oraenv
ORAENV_ASK=
Managing Multiple Versions

You may want to update from your installed version of the Oracle Database to the current release.
This requires that you can run multiple releases simultaneously. Often, a small group of users or
developers use the new release initially. Later, remaining users switch to using the new release after
your applications have been determined to be stable there. You should have a plan to allow easy
configuration for multiple database users. Simply installing to ORACLE_HOME is not sufficient.
An upgrade from one version of the Oracle Database to another can be very difficult if not planned
properly. This is especially true during the period when multiple versions of the database software
are on the system, and possibly several databases on the same machine are running from different
ORACLE_HOME directories. One common problem involves setting the user environment to access a
particular database. Another problem has to do with providing proper support libraries for
executables. For example, you can execute a program such as SQL*Plus from a different directory,
but without the proper version of supporting software libraries defined in ORACLE_HOME, the
program will usually fail. These problems and the solution on the following page apply only to users
that have OS logins on the database server machine.

Managing Multiple Versions (continued)
The solution is to embed a call in each user’s login script to a separate file that determines the
environment for the user’s preferred database. This makes the switching over of all users to a
different ORACLE_HOME much simpler. The login script that is used depends on the user login shell.
For the bash shell, the login script would be .bashrc. In the slide, setting ORACLE_SID and
ORAENV_ASK=NO in .bashrc sets a default environment for this user, without requiring user
interaction. Other variations can be set to suit your environment.
Generic Login Script
Each user should have a login script that includes only the environment variables that are specific to
that user, such as the instance SID that the user accesses. A call to the Oracle-supplied oraenv
script from the login script finds and sets the proper ORACLE_HOME and other site-specific, required
environment variables.
oraenv
The oraenv script is provided with the database software and is relocated by the root.sh script at
installation. The default location is /usr/local/bin. If the ORAENV_ASK variable is not set,
then the oraenv script prompts the user for ORACLE_SID that the user wants to set, and presents a
default of ORACLE_SID in the user’s environment. This is a convenient way for users to change
their environments or access multiple databases. If ORAENV_ASK is set to NO, then oraenv does
not prompt the user, but sets ORACLE_HOME and other variables unless ORACLE_SID is set to a
value not specified in the /etc/oratab file. In that case, the user is asked to provide
ORACLE_HOME for the SID. If ORAENV_ASK is set to anything other than NO (including a blank),
then the user will be prompted. Korn, Bourne, and bash shell users can use the oraenv script;
coraenv is provided for C shell users. The oraenv script should be customized for each site. If
the site requirements change, the DBA can modify oraenv and alter all the users’ environments
without changing every login script. The oraenv script calls another script, dbhome, which looks
up the ORACLE_HOME associated with the ORACLE_SID in the /etc/oratab file. An example
of calling oraenv from a login script is:
PATH=/usr/local/bin:/$PATH
ORACLE_SID=orcl
export PATH ORACLE_SID
ORAENV_ASK=NO
. oraenv
ORAENV_ASK=
Note: The '.' command sources the oraenv script, causing it to run in the current shell. This
allows the oraenv script to set environment variables in this shell. Without the source command,
the parent forks a new shell, the script executes and exits, returning to the calling shell.

Additional optional environment variables:

• ORACLE_BASE: The root of the Oracle software
directory structure
• ORACLE_SID: The initial instance name
• ORA_NLS10: The location of the character set files
• TMPDIR and TMP: An optional location for temporary
space if required
• ORACLE_HOSTNAME: The name of the host on which to
install the software; used for servers with multiple
network cards
• ORACLE_DOC: The location of Oracle documentation
• LANG: System language

In an OFA-compliant installation, there will be a root directory for all the Oracle software and
database files. This often has the form of /<mount_point>/app/oracle and is
$ORACLE_BASE. The ORACLE_BASE variable is set to reduce typing errors during the installation.
This directory must exist and be owned by oracle with group dba before the installer is started.
You can set the ORACLE_SID in the Database Creation Wizard.
ORA_NLS10 is required to be set only if the .nlb message files and character set files are placed in
a directory other than the default directory. The default directory is
$ORACLE_HOME/ocommon/nls/admin/data.
The OUI can use up to 400 MB of space in the /tmp directory, and the OS commands that are run
by the installer can use an additional 100 MB of space. If there is not enough space in /tmp, then
use the TMPDIR variable to direct the OS commands to use an alternative directory, and the TMP
variable to redirect the commands that would normally use the /tmp directory.
ORACLE_DOC is an optional environment variable that is used to specify the installation location of
the Oracle online documentation.

Setting Oracle Environment Variables (continued)
LANG is a mandatory system environment variable that may optionally be changed for the Oracle
user. Normally, the LANG variable will be set to something like en_US.utf8 when you install your
operating system. For the oracle user, the character set (utf8) should be omitted so that the
environment variable is just en_US. Failure to set this variable for the oracle user will limit
Oracle Enterprise Manager functionality, including the abilities to:
• Store preferred credentials
• Run jobs
• Access reports
LD_LIBRARY_PATH specifies the path to C libraries. For the oracle user, that path normally
includes the system default (/usr/lib and /usr/X11R6/lib), as well as the following:
• $ORACLE_HOME/jdk/jre/lib/i386
• $ORACLE_HOME/jdk/jre/lib/i386/lib
• $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/lib
• $ORACLE_HOME/lib

Mounting the CD-ROM
To mount the CD-ROM with the Oracle software, perform

the following steps:
1. Insert CD into the CD drive on the server.
2. Click the CD-ROM icon or start the User Mount tool.
Do not make your working directory the CD
mount point.
Mounting the CD-ROM

Log in as the Oracle software owner. Insert the CD-ROM marked Disk 1. Start the User Mount tool
or click the CD-ROM icon. If a file navigator is displayed, close the navigator. During the
installation, the second and third CD-ROMs will have to be mounted. The current CD-ROM cannot
be unmounted or ejected if any process, including the navigator, is accessing it. Depending on your
access privileges, another terminal session logged in as root may be needed to mount and unmount
the CD-ROM. The commands to mount and unmount a CD-ROM are:
# mount -t iso9660 /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom
# umount /media/cdrom
If /etc/fstab has the default settings for mounting /dev/cdrom, then the mount command
can be simplified to the following:
# mount /media/cdrom
Staging the CDs
On machines that have sufficient disk space, the CD-ROMs can be copied to disk. This allows faster
installations and network installations.

Starting the Installer
• Start the OUI from the user’s home directory.

• At the prompt, issue the runInstaller command.
$ cd
$ pwd
/home/oracle
$ /media/cdrom/database/runInstaller
Starting the Installer

The cd command with no arguments changes your working directory to your $HOME directory.
Using the oracle user created previously, this would be /home/oracle. Do not run the
runInstaller command from the CD-ROM mount point. If you do, you will not be able to eject
and insert the CDs when requested by the Oracle Universal Installer (OUI).

Oracle Universal Installer
Oracle Universal Installer

The Oracle Universal Installer is Java based, so it is the same across all platforms that Oracle
supports.
After the Welcome screen and before the File Location screen, you are prompted to do the following:
1. Provide the Inventory Location. This defaults to $ORACLE_BASE/oraInventory.
2. Provide the Linux Group for the Oracle Inventory user.
3. Run the two specified scripts. You must go to a separate window as root and run this script.
Follow the instructions in the pop-up window. If the installation fails after this script is run, then
the /etc/oraInst.loc file must be removed for successful reinstallation. If there are prior
Oracle installations on this server, do not remove the oraInst.loc file; contact Oracle
Support. The oraInst.loc file contains a pointer to the location of the inventory and the
ORAINVENTORY group name. You require this file for removal or upgrading.

Installation Log Files
The log files for the Oracle Universal Installer are in this
directory: $ORACLE_BASE/oraInventory/logs
$ cd $ORACLE_BASE/oraInventory/logs
$ ls *.log
installActions2005-07-07_01-42-01AM.log
INFO: Configuration assistant "Oracle Database
Configuration Assistant" succeeded
INFO: Command =
/u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/db_1/bin/isqlplusctl
start
iSQL*Plus 10.2.0.1.0
Copyright (c) 2003, 2005, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Starting iSQL*Plus ...

Prerequisite Check Results
The results of the installation prerequite checks are in this

file: /u01/app/oracle/oraInventory/logs/results/db
.
.
.
Checking for binutils-2.14;
found binutils-2.14.90.0.4-35. Passed
Checking for gcc-3.2;
found gcc-3.2.3-42. Passed
Checking for libaio-0.3.96;
found libaio-0.3.96-3. Passed
Check complete.
The overall result of this check is: Passed

Oracle Patch Utility
Use OPatch to:

• Apply other temporary patches
• Roll back temporary patches
• List installed Oracle components and temporary
patches
• Attach an installed ORACLE_HOME to a central inventory
$ opatch apply
...
OPatch succeeded.
Oracle Patch Utility

The Perl-based OPatch allows the application and rolling back of temporary patches. OPatch is
installed as part of the Oracle 10g Database installation; it can be found under the
$ORACLE_HOME/OPatch directory.
To install a patch with OPatch, you must have:
• Perl interpreter version 5.005_03 or later installed. Version 5.6 is preferred.
• A Java Runtime Environment (JRE). It is automatically installed with Oracle Database 10g
Release 2.
• Execute privileges on the fuser utility. OPatch uses fuser to check that no Oracle database
processes are running before it applies a patch. fuser is usually located in /sbin for Linux
distributions and must be copied to the OPatch directory with operating system permissions
changed so the Oracle user can execute it.
• Exclusive control of the Oracle Inventory directory. OPatch updates the inventory to reflect
interim patches. There can be no other instance of OPatch or OUI running in order for OPatch to
succeed.

Oracle Patch Utility (continued)
You can use OPatch to:
List currently installed components: Use the lsinventory command to list all installed
components for your current ORACLE_HOME including any temporary patches already applied via
OPatch.
$ opatch lsinventory –oh <ORACLE_HOME> -all
The -oh <ORACLE_HOME> argument can be omitted if you want to display the inventory for the
ORACLE_HOME defined by $ORACLE_HOME.
The optional -all argument may be used in place of the -oh argument to display the contents of
ALL ORACLE_HOMEs registered with the inventory.
Apply temporary patches: Use the apply command to apply a temporary patch.
$ opatch apply <patch directory> <ORACLE_HOME>
If the <patch directory> argument is not supplied, then OPatch looks for the patch in the current
directory. If the <ORACLE_HOME> argument is not supplied, then OPatch applies the patch to
ORACLE_HOME defined by $ORACLE_HOME.
Remove temporary patches: Use the rollback command to remove a temporary patch that has
been applied by OPatch.
$ opatch rollback –id <patch id> -ph <patch directory>
By default, OPatch removes the patch from ORACLE_HOME specified by the $ORACLE_HOME
environment variable. You can add the optional flag –oh <ORACLE_HOME> if you want to remove
the patch from a different ORACLE_HOME. The patch ID and patch directory arguments are
mandatory to remove a patch.
Attach an installed ORACLE_HOME to a central inventory: Use the attach command to add an
ORACLE_HOME to an existing inventory. This may be necessary if the Oracle Database software was
transferred from one system to another without the inventory, which is a nonstandard, unsupported
installation method.
$ opatch attach –name <OH name> -oh <ORACLE_HOME>
If ORACLE_HOME is not specified, then OPatch uses ORACLE_HOME defined by $ORACLE_HOME.
For help on any of the OPatch commands, use the –help argument:
$ opatch –help
$ opatch attach –help

Oracle Relink Utilitity
To relink Oracle executables, perform the following steps:

1. Verify whether ORACLE_HOME is correctly set.
2. Set LD_LIBRARY_PATH to include $ORACLE_HOME/lib.
3. Execute the appropriate relink command to relink the
appropriate binaries:
– relink all: All Oracle executables
– relink oracle Database executables
– relink network: Listener, cman, names
– relink oemagent: Intelligent Agent
– relink utilities: SQL*Loader, tkprof, rman,
impdp, expdp, imp, exp
– relink ctx: Oracle Text
Oracle Relink Utility

The Oracle Database 10g software is not distributed as a group of complete executables. Instead,
Oracle distributes individual object files, library archives of object files, and some source files which
then get “linked” at the operating system level during installation to create usable executables. This
guarantees a reliable integration with functions provided by the OS system libraries.
If the operating system or Oracle object files change, then Oracle executables should be relinked to
create updated executables properly integrated with the operating system.
Relinking occurs automatically when a patch set is installed, but must be performed manually when:
• An OS upgrade has occurred
• A change has been made to the OS system libraries. This can occur during the application of an
OS patch.
• A new installation failed during the relinking phase.
• An individual Oracle patch has been applied. Explicit relink instructions are usually either
included in README or integrated into the patch install script.

Oracle Relink Utility (continued)
To relink, you can use the relink utility as shown in the preceding slide, or manually relink with the
make command. Unlike OPatch, the relink utility does not return positive feedback. Unless you
receive an error message, relink succeeded.

Troubleshooting
If you have problems during the installation:

• Check the kernel parameter settings
• Check the environment variables
• Check directory permissions
• Verify that the required packages are installed
Troubleshooting
There are some common problems with the installation. Many are the result of missing a step in the
preinstallation setup.
Kernel parameters errors, often the result of typographic errors, can cause ORA-3113 End of
File on communication channel, or an OS error indicating that there is not enough shared
memory or semaphores. These usually show up when the Database Creation Assistant tries to start an
instance.
Environment variables can lead to a variety of errors again due to incorrect typing. The directory to
be used as the ORACLE_BASE must exist and be owned by the user that is running the installer. The
C compiler and supporting utilities must be installed and the directory must be included in the PATH
environment variable.
The OUI is very convenient to use. The error pop-up windows normally allow you to go to another
window, fix the problem, and click Retry. The only errors that cannot be fixed in this manner are the
environment variables. If you discover that the problem is with environment variables, then you must
exit the OUI, change the variable, and restart the installer. The installer inherits the environment
when it starts, and the installer environment cannot be changed while the installer is running.

Summary

• Describe the Linux file system security
• Install Multiple versions of Oracle Database software
on the same server
• Accommodate multiple Oracle homes on one database
server

Installing Oracle on Linux

• Working with Linux users and groups
• Installing Oracle on Linux

Managing Storage

Objectives

• Distinguish the differences between certified and
supported file systems
• Select a file system

Certified and Supported
File Systems
• Linux supports multiple file systems.

• Oracle supports some of the file systems.
• Oracle certifies three file systems:
– ext3
– Automatic Storage Management
– Oracle Cluster File System/Oracle Cluster File System 2
• Criteria for choosing a particular file system are:
– Reliability
– Performance
– Security
Certified and Supported File Systems

One of the most interesting features of the Linux OS is its support for multiple file systems.
File systems can be defined and built on a partition basis; ext3, XFS, and ReiserFS file
systems can coexist on the same Linux system, along with several other file systems and raw
partitions. Your choice of which one to use should be based on supportability, reliability,
security, and performance.
To be acceptable for database use, the file system must perform certain minimum functions
such as write acknowledge, write-thru cache, and file permissions. Examples of file systems
that are not normally acceptable for database use are XFS, and Virtual File Allocation Table
(VFAT), which lack file permissions.
There is an important distinction between supported and certified file systems. Oracle only
certifies ext3, Oracle Automatic Storage Management (ASM), and Oracle Cluster File
System/Oracle Cluster File System 2 (OCFS/OCFS2). If it is determined that an issue is
caused by the file system and the file system is certified, then Oracle Support will work on the
issue. If you choose to run on other file systems, such as ReiserFS, and have a file system
issue, you will be supported, but it will be the OS vendor providing the file system support.

Disk Partitioning
Linux uses disk partitions effectively to segregate

directories and ease recovery:
• /boot
• /
• /var/log
• /tmp
• /home
• /<mount_point>/oracle
Disk Partitioning
Disk partitioning is not required by Linux or by Oracle software. However, disk partitioning
can reduce the time consumed in operations such as planning for recovery, upgrades, and
backups.
The larger the partition the longer a file system check (fsck) operation takes on bootup.
Much of this time can be avoided by using a journaled file system, such as ext3. Having a
small /boot partition that holds only the current kernels separates the tasks of booting the
machine and recovering a partition. A typical size of this partition is from 10 MB to 100 MB.
For Enterprise Linux, it is recommended that you have approximately 100 MB for the boot
partition.
The / partition should hold only a few directories that are created with the distribution
installation. These directories are overwritten with a new installation or upgrade. (Keep track
of any customized configuration files that you place under this partition, because they will also
be overwritten during a new installation or upgrade.)
The /var/log and /tmp should be separate partitions to isolate the effects of runaway
processes. The /tmp partition should be at least 400 MB.

Disk Partitioning (continued)
If these separate partitions become full, the process dies or stops logging. If these directories
become full when they are on the / partition, the system can crash. If /home is a separate
partition, it can be backed up and restored separately. An OS upgrade need not touch this
partition.

Comparing File Systems
Linux supports multiple file systems:

• Operating system (OS) is file system independent.
• Multiple file systems can be on the same server.
– Cross-platform compatibility
– Performance
– Special requirements: Oracle Cluster File System (OCFS)
Comparing File Systems

The Linux kernel is file system independent. It has a file system API. If the file system uses
the API, it can be supported. A variety of file systems are available with the standard
distribution. Some are just for compatibility with other systems, such as FAT32 for MS
Windows compatibility. Others are included for historical reasons, such as minix which was
the first file system supported by Linux. The most popular file systems are ext3 and
ReiserFS. There are other file systems available from various sources. Most of these should
be considered experimental. Oracle provides Automatic Storage Management (ASM) and
Oracle Cluster File System/Oracle Cluster File System 2 (OCFS/OCFS2). The OCFS is
designed for use with Linux clusters running the Real Application Clusters (RAC) database.
This file system overcomes the limitations of raw devices on Linux.
OCFS2 has been designed to be a general purpose cluster file system. With it, you can store
not only database-related files on a shared disk, but also store Oracle binaries and
configuration files (shared Oracle home) making management of RAC even easier. OCFS2
began shipping as part of the Linux kernel in version 2.6.16.
Oracle recommends using ASM for database files.

File System Characteristics
Certain characteristics are better for database use:

• Write-thru-cache ability
• Write acknowledgement
• Security
• Journaling
• High Performance
File System Characteristics

In choosing a file system, performance is important, but not the primary consideration. It does
not matter how fast the file system is if the data is corrupted, lost, or compromised. To achieve
this end, the Oracle database does not support database files on file systems that do not have a
write-thru-cache capability. Supported file systems must acknowledge writes. There are
security requirements as well. Oracle server and the database files require special file
permissions that are not available on certain file systems. When these file permissions are not
set correctly, the Oracle server does not function properly. Data files should be accessible only
to the database owner, and all other access should be controlled by the database itself.
Journaling is a popular characteristic. The major benefit is that the changes to the file system
are recorded in a journal file similar to database redo logs. If the server crashes or shuts down
without synchronizing the disks, then the journal file can be applied to the file system, thus
restoring the file system integrity very quickly. This effect can be seen on bootup. The fsck
command checks journaled file systems more quickly than nonjournaled file systems.
Oracle Database must be able to verify that writes to a disk are completed successfully.
Standard NFS, including file systems on NAS devices, may not be able to guarantee that
writes to a disk are completed successfully, and this may lead to possible data file corruption.

File System Characteristics (continued)
Oracle recommends that you do not store files on standard NFS. If you use NFS, it is
recommended you use a storage vendor and storage device listed in the Oracle Storage
Compatibility Program list. This list is available from the following Web site:
http://www.oracle.com/technology/deploy/availability/htdocs/oscp.html
If a storage device is supported, then you can use it to store Oracle software files, Oracle
database files, or both.

Automatic Storage Management
• Provides a vertical integration of the file system and

volume manager for Oracle database files
• Spreads database files across available storage for
optimal performance and resource utilization
• Enables simple and nonintrusive resource allocation
• Provides automatic rebalancing
• Works in single instance and Real Application Cluster
(RAC) databases

Automatic Storage Management (ASM) provides an integrated file system and volume
manager specifically for Oracle database files.
ASM spreads database files evenly across available disks. ASM enables you to nonintrusively
add or remove storage. Disk space can be added or removed while the database is online.
Automatic Storage Management can be used with single instance or RAC.
Managing multiple file systems and hundreds or thousands of files for a large database can be
very cumbersome. With ASM, you assign large pools of disks in disk groups to ASM, then
allow ASM to manage the files stored on those disks. You need to manage only the disks, not
the files.

ext2 and ext3
The ext2 and ext3 file systems are closely related:

• ext2 can be converted to ext3.
• ext3 can be mounted as an ext2 file system.
• ext3 is a journaled file system.
• ext3 has several performance enhancements.
ext2 and ext3

The differences between the ext2 and ext3 file systems are important. ext2 has, in
computer terms, a long history of improvements and reliability. ext3 starts with the same
base and adds journaling and speed. In general, journaling is slower than nonjournaled file
systems, but ext3 optimizes the disk head movement to give excellent performance. In
several tests that compared ext2, ext3, ReiserFS, and raw, ext3 was the fastest.
ext3 has three journaling levels that may be set with the -o option in the mount command
or in the options section of /etc/fstab. The highest level—the one that does the most
journaling is data=journal—writes the journal entries for all the data and metadata
changes. The lowest level, which does the least journaling, is data=writeback with only
metadata being written. The default is data=ordered, where metadata with increased
integrity is written.
Comparing ext3 at different journaling levels has not been as thoroughly documented, but
preliminary results indicate that setting data=journal is the fastest and most reliable. The
other levels of journaling, data=writeback (the lowest) and data=ordered (the
default), would be expected to yield performance benefits at the expense of reliability, but do
not seem to be faster.

Oracle Clustered File System 2
Oracle Corporation makes OCFS2 available under the

General Public License (GPL) for use with Linux.
• OCFS2 is a general purpose cluster file system that
shares between files nodes of a cluster:
• OCFS2 can be downloaded from:
— http://oss.oracle.com
• More information about OCFS2 and other products
from Oracle’s Linux Projects Development group can
be found at Oracle’s home for Open Source projects,
http://oss.oracle.com, and the Oracle Technology
Network http://otn.oracle.com.
Oracle Clustered File System 2

Oracle Clustered File System 2 (OCFS2) is designed to be a general-purpose cluster file
system. It can store data files, as well as binaries and configuration files.

Network File System
• Oracle Compatible Network Attached File Servers

– http://www.oracle.com/technology/deploy/availability/htd
ocs/vendors_nfs.html
• Oracle Storage Compatibility Program (OSCP)
– http://www.oracle.com/technology/deploy/availability/htd
ocs/oscp.html
Network File System

Oracle supports only NFS protocol with network file servers. Oracle does not support CIFS
protocol because CIFS protocol cannot guarantee certain write block size and data
commitment to disk or cache.
Oracle does not recommend using an NFS device unless the NFS vendor is a member of the
Oracle Storage Compatibility Program (OSCP). Members in OSCP test and verify their
products compatibility with the Oracle product.

Summary

• Distinguish between certified and supported file
systems
• Choose a file system

and Automatic Storage Management
Library Driver

Objectives

• Install and initialize Automatic Storage Management
Library Driver (ASMLib)
• Mark disks for ASMLib
• Create an Automatic Storage Management instance

• Instance
• Disks
• Disk groups
• Files

Instance
The Automatic Storage Management (ASM) instance is a special Oracle instance that manages
disks in disk groups. An ASM instance must be configured and running before a database
instance can access Automatic Storage Management files. This configuration is performed
automatically if the Database Configuration Assistant is used for database creation.
Disk Group
A disk group is a set of disk devices that ASM manages as a single unit. Each disk device can be
an individual physical disk, a multiple disk device such as a redundant array of inexpensive disks
(RAID) storage array or logical volume, or even a partition on a physical disk. However, in most
cases, disk groups consist of one or more individual physical disks. To enable ASM to balance
I/O and storage efficiently within the disk group, you must ensure that all devices in the disk
group have similar, if not identical, storage capacity and performance.
ASM spreads data evenly across all the devices in the disk group to optimize performance and
utilization. You can add or remove disk devices from a disk group without shutting down the
database. When you add or remove disks, ASM rebalances the files across the disk group. You
can create multiple disk groups to handle specific tasks, such as backup and recovery operations,
in addition to regular file storage activities.

Library Driver (ASMLib)
• Simplifies configuration and management of disks

• Eliminates the need for binding raw devices
• Download RPMs from http://www.oracle.com
Automatic Storage Management Library Driver (ASMLib)

The Automatic Storage Management library driver (ASMLib) simplifies the configuration and
management of the disk devices by eliminating the need to rebind raw devices used with ASM
each time the system is restarted.
If you intend to use Automatic Storage Management for database storage for Linux, then Oracle
recommends that you install the ASMLib driver and associated utilities, and use them to
configure candidate disks. A disk that is configured for use with Automatic Storage Management
is known as a candidate disk.
If you do not use the Automatic Storage Management library driver, then each disk device that
you want to use must be bound to a raw device.

Installing and Initializing
ASMLib
# rpm –Uvh oracleasm*

Preparing… ##################### [100%]
1: oracleasm-support ##################### [ 33%]
2: oracleasm-2.6.9-22.EL ##################### [ 67%]
3: oracleasmlib ##################### [100%]
# /etc/init.d/oracleasm configure
# /etc/init.d/oracleasm enable
Installing and Configuring ASMLib

To install ASMLib, you need to download three RPMs from http://www.oracle.com, which are
specific to your kernel.
After downloading, install the RPMs with the Uvh option.
rpm –Uvh oracleasm*
After the RPMs are installed, execute /etc/init.d/oracleasm with the configure
option.
/etc/init.d/oracleasm configure
You will be prompted four times.
• Default user to own the driver interface
• Default group to own the driver interface
• Start Oracle ASM library driver on boot
• Fix permissions of Oracle ASM disks on boot
The user who owns the driver interface should be the same user who owns the software
installation, typically oracle. The group to own the driver interface should be the group used
for DBAs, typically dba. You will want ASMLib to start when the system boots and to fix
permissions of ASM disks.
After it is configured, to enable ASM, run the oracleasm utility with the enable option.

Configuring Disks
Oracle recommends that you create a single whole-disk

partition on each disk that you want to use.
# /sbin/fdisk /dev/sdc
# /sbin/fdisk /dev/sdd
To ensure that the kernel is aware of the partition

changes, run the partprobe command after partitioning
all disks.
# /sbin/partprobe
Configuring Disks
Oracle recommends that you create a single whole-disk partition on each disk that you want to
use. Use either fdisk or parted to create a single whole-disk partition on the disk devices that
you want to use.
/sbin/fdisk /dev/sdc
The kernel may be unaware of the partition changes after partitioning the disks. The partprobe
command searches for partitions information and informs the kernel of partition table changes.
/sbin/partprobe

Marking Disks As Automatic
Storage Management Disks
# /etc/init.d/oracleasm createdisk DF1 /dev/sda1

# /etc/init.d/oracleasm createdisk DF2 /dev/sdb1
# /etc/init.d/oracleasm createdisk FRA1 /dev/sde1
# /etc/init.d/oracleasm createdisk FRA2 /dev/sdf1
# /etc/init.d/oracleasm scandisks
Marking Disks As Automatic Storage Management Disks

When using ASMLib, disks must be marked for ASM usage. In the process of marking a disk,
you must assign a name to the disk. Meaningful names can be assigned for each disk.
You may create multiple disk groups.
By providing descriptive names to each disk, you will have an easier time assigning disks to disk
groups when creating the ASM instance. When choosing names for drives, consider using the
physical location of the drive in the name.
Disks are marked by using the createdisk option with /etc/init.d/oracleasm:
/etc/init.d/oracleasm createdisk DF1 /dev/sda1
To make the disks available, use the scandisks option:
/etc/init.d/oracleasm scandisks

Creating an ASM Instance
• Use DBCA to create the ASM instance.

• Select Configure Automatic Storage Management.
• Run the $ORACLE_HOME/bin/localconfig add
command when prompted:
$ su –
# /u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/db_1/bin/localconfig add
• Default parameters for the initialization parameter file

are sufficient for a single instance database.
• Create two disk groups:
– Database
– Flash recovery area
Creating an ASM Instance

An ASM instance manages ASM disk groups. Before starting or creating a database instance,
which uses ASM to manage its disks, the ASM instance must be running.
When you choose Automatic Storage Management as a database storage mechanism in the
Database Configuration Assistant (DBCA), an ASM instance is created and started. You then
assign disks to disk groups within DBCA.
If you create multiple single-instance databases on a node, a single ASM instance can handle all
the disk groups for the databases on the node.
Note: Screenshots for using DBCA to create an ASM instance can be found in the lab solutions
for this lesson in Appendix B.
Oracle recommends that you use ASM for database files and the flash recovery area. Separate
disk groups may be created for each.

ASM and ASMLib Installation
and Configuration Summary
• Download and install the ASMLib RPMs.

• Run oracleasm configure.
• Run oracleasm enable.
• Create a single whole-disk partition on each disk.
• Run partprobe to ensure that the kernel is aware of
the new partitions.
• Mark disks as Automatic Storage Management disks.
• Run oracleasm scandisks to make the disks
available.
• Create the ASM instance using the Database
Configuration Assistant.

ASM Installation: Best Practices
• Install ASM in a separate ORACLE_HOME from the

ORACLE_HOME database:
– This provides higher availability and manageability.
– It allows independent upgrades of the database and
ASM.
– Deinstallation of the database software can be performed
without impacting the ASM instance
• Create one ASM instance per node.
ASM Installation: Best Practices

Install Automatic Storage Management in a separate ORACLE_HOME from the ORACLE_HOME(s)
database. Creating the ASM Instance from the same ORACLE_HOME as the databases creates a
single point of failure. A separate ORACLE_HOME allows independent upgrades of the ASM and
the database. The database or ASM can be upgraded without upgrading the other. The
ORACLE_HOMEs database can be deinstalled without affecting the ASM instance.
Create only one ASM instance per node. The ASM instance will manage storage for all
databases on the node.

Disk Group: Best Practices
• Create two disk groups:

– Database area
– Flash recovery area
• Create disk groups using large numbers of similar type
disks:
– Same size characteristics
– Same performance characteristics
Disk Group: Best Practices

Create two disk groups: one for the database area and the other for the flash recovery area.
However, more disk groups can be created; using two will be easier to manage.
Automatic Storage Management performs load balancing. Using disks with the same size and
performance characteristics will assist ASM to properly balance the files across the disks.

Summary

• Install and initialize ASMLib
• Mark disks for ASMLib
• Create an ASM instance

Installing and Configuring ASMLib and ASM

• Installing Oracle ASMLib RPMs
• Configuring ASMLib
• Configuring disks
• Marking disks for ASM
• Creating an ASM instance

Creating the Database

Objectives

• Create an Oracle database that uses ASM
• Identify the location of various Oracle files
• Implement OS authentication

Creating a Database
$ dbca
Creating a Database
You can use DBCA to create a database, either in silent mode or via a graphical interface. Using the
graphical interface, you answer about 12 questions, and then the creation process starts. Some of the
questions are regarding the name of the database, passwords for users, and the storage mechanism to
use.

Choosing the Storage Mechanism
Choosing the Storage Mechanism

You have three options for your database’s storage: File System, Automatic Storage Management
(ASM), and Raw Devices. These options are explained in detail in the lesson titled “Managing
Storage.” If you choose Automatic Storage Management, then there must be an ASM instance
running at the time.

Specifying the ASM Disk Groups
Specifying the ASM Disk Groups

If you choose ASM for the storage mechanism, then you are presented with a list of existing ASM
disk groups. Select the disk groups that you plan to use for this database. In the example in the slide,
there are two disk groups displayed: DF and FRA. In this case, for example, you may intend to use
DF for the data files and FRA for the flash recovery area for this database, so both are selected.

Assigning ASM Disk Groups
Assigning ASM Disk Groups

Now that dbca is aware of the ASM disk groups that are to be used for this database, you can assign
them to be used for database file locations and the flash recovery area. In this example, Oracle-
Managed Files is being used, and the +DF disk group is to contain those files. After specifying that,
you can specify if there is a flash recovery area, and where it is to be stored. This example is
following the Oracle-recommended practice of having a separate disk group for the flash recovery
area.

dbca Log Files
The $ORACLE_HOME/cfgtoollogs/dbca/<SID> directory

contains text log files of the following, during and after the
creation of the database:
• Creation of the database objects
• Configuration of Enterprise Manager
• Importing of example schemas
dbca Log Files

To see the details of the dbca execution, you can navigate to the
$ORACLE_HOME/cfgtoollogs/dbca/<SID> directory and view the log files there, using a
text editor. Here are some sample contents of the tts_example_imp.log file, which shows the
log of the import of the EXAMPLE tablespace:
$ head tts_example_imp.log
Connected to: Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release

10.2.0.1.0 - Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP and Data Mining options
Export file created by EXPORT:V10.02.01 via conventional path

About to import transportable tablespace(s) metadata...
import done in US7ASCII character set and AL16UTF16 NCHAR
character set
. importing SYS's objects into SYS
. importing SYS's objects into SYS
. importing HR's objects into HR

The Instance admin Directory
The files that serve as diagnostics are located in

$ORACLE_BASE/admin:
$ cd $ORACLE_BASE/admin
$ ls
+ASM orcl
The orcl database instance
The ASM instance
There is a subdirectory for each instance.
The Instance admin Directory

In the $ORACLE_BASE/admin directory, there is a subdirectory for each instance. The slide shows
there are two instances in this case, the ASM instance, called +ASM, and the conventional database
instance, orcl.

Parameter and Dump Files
The following subdirectories are in the

$ORACLE_BASE/admin/$ORACLE_SID directory:
• adump: Audit files
• bdump: Background process trace files
• cdump: Core dump files
• udump: User process trace files
• dpdump: Default Data Pump output directory
• pfile: Oracle database initialization parameter files
Parameter and Dump Files

There is a set of diagnostic directories under each of these instance subdirectories. These can be
referred to when looking for information such as trace files and core dumps, among other things.
Here is an example of the contents of two of the subdirectories:
$ ls -l *
+ASM:
total 16
drwxr-x--- 2 oracle oinstall 4096 Sep 26 05:38 bdump
drwxr-x--- 2 oracle oinstall 4096 Sep 25 08:16 cdump
drwxr-x--- 2 oracle oinstall 4096 Sep 26 05:13 pfile
drwxr-x--- 2 oracle oinstall 4096 Sep 26 05:38 udump
orcl:
total 24
drwxr-x--- 2 oracle oinstall 4096 Sep 26 06:05 adump
drwxr-x--- 2 oracle oinstall 4096 Sep 26 05:39 bdump
drwxr-x--- 2 oracle oinstall 4096 Sep 26 05:16 cdump
drwxr-x--- 2 oracle oinstall 4096 Sep 26 05:16 dpdump
drwxr-x--- 2 oracle oinstall 4096 Sep 26 05:26 pfile
drwxr-x--- 2 oracle oinstall 4096 Sep 26 05:39 udump

The portlist.ini File
The portlist.ini file contains all of the port number information for
Oracle-related applications, including:
• iSQL*Plus
• Enterprise Manager Console
$ cd $ORACLE_HOME/install
$ cat portlist.ini
iSQL*Plus HTTP port number =5560
Enterprise Manager Console HTTP Port (orcl) = 1158
Enterprise Manager Agent Port (orcl) = 3938
The portlist.ini File

The portlist.ini file is in the $ORACLE_HOME/install directory and contains the record
of port numbers that are used for browser-based applications. For example, this portlist.ini
file indicates that 1158 is the port number for Enterprise Manager Console for the orcl instance.

URL Deployment Information
$ cd $ORACLE_HOME/install
$ cat readme.txt
The following J2EE Applications have been deployed and
are accessible at the URLs listed below.
iSQL*Plus URL:
http://EDRSR9P1:5560/isqlplus
iSQL*Plus DBA URL:

http://EDRSR9P1:5560/isqlplus/dba
Enterprise Manager 10g Database Control URL:

http://EDRSR9P1:1158/em
URL Deployment Information

The readme.txt file in the $ORACLE_HOME/install directory lists the URLs for any J2EE
applications that have been deployed.
To start the Enterprise Manager Database Control application, enter the following command as the
owner of the Oracle software installation (for example, oracle):
$ emctl start dbconsole

Miscellaneous Files
Show the record of installations on this system:

$ cat /etc/oraInst.loc
inventory_loc=/u01/app/oracle/oraInventory
inst_group=oinstall
Set up the Oracle environment:

$ . oraenv
ORACLE_SID = [orcl] ? <Enter>
Show the current ORACLE_HOME directory setting:

$ dbhome
/u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/db_1
Miscellaneous Files
The /etc/oraInst.loc file contains a pointer to the Oracle software inventory directory. It also
specifies the Linux group name that owns the Oracle software. This directory gets created
automatically when using the Oracle Universal Installer (OUI), but it must be created and populated
manually if you are performing a silent installation, and it does not already exist. If Oracle products
have already been installed on the system, then it exists already.
The oraenv script, located in the $ORACLE_HOME/bin directory, sets up your Oracle
environment for you based on the value of ORACLE_SID. This is useful to run if you need to switch
from one database to another on the same system.
The dbhome script reports the current Oracle home directory.

Background Processes
$ ps -eo pid -o command | grep _orcl | grep ora_

3900 ora_pmon_orcl
3902 ora_psp0_orcl
3904 ora_mman_orcl
3906 ora_dbw0_orcl
3908 ora_lgwr_orcl
3910 ora_ckpt_orcl
3912 ora_smon_orcl
3948 ora_q001_orcl
14072 ora_o000_orcl
21647 ora_j000_orcl
.
.
.
There are several processes that make up the executable part of an Oracle instance. You can list these
in Linux by issuing the ps command. Just listing all processes will be too much information, if you
want to see only the processes that belong to a single instance. So, you can use grep to filter the
information out. All the database instance process names start with the string ora_ and end with the
string _<SID>. So, if you are interested in the orcl instances processed, grepping as shown in the
slide shows you that.
The ASM instance process names all start with _asm and end with the string _<SID>. So, the
following command shows you the processes for the +ASM instance:
$ ps -eo pid -o command | grep _+ASM | grep asm_
6985 asm_pmon_+ASM
6987 asm_psp0_+ASM
6989 asm_mman_+ASM
6991 asm_dbw0_+ASM
6993 asm_lgwr_+ASM
.
.
.

SQL> select spid, program from v$process

2 where program like '%(DBW0)' or
3 program like '%(LGWR)';
SPID PROGRAM
------ ----------------------
3908 oracle@EDRSR9P1 (LGWR)
3906 oracle@EDRSR9P1 (DBW0)
$ ps -eo pid -o command | grep _orcl | \

> grep -e lgwr -e dbw0
3906 ora_dbw0_orcl
3908 ora_lgwr_orcl
Background Processes (continued)

After the instance is run, you can map the process IDs from the v$process view to the process IDs
listed by OS commands. The SPID column of the v$process view contains the OS process ID, or
in Linux, this is referred to as the PID.

Server Processes
$ sqlplus hr/hr@orcl
SQL>
$ sqlplus hr/hr
SQL>
$ ps kpid -eo pid -o args | grep oracleorcl

4422 oracleorcl (LOCAL=NO)
5112 oracleorcl
(DESCRIPTION=(LOCAL=YES)(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=beq)))
Server Processes
In an instance that is running in dedicated server mode, there is a one-to-one correspondence of
session to server process. A server process is the process that gets started that is dedicated to
accessing the data files on behalf of a database session, with the purpose of executing commands and
returning results.
On Linux, all the server processes are named with this pattern: “oracle<SID>”. So, in this case,
where the instance name is orcl, all the server process names are oracleorcl. You can see
server processes appear and disappear from the Linux process list, as sessions are created and
disconnected.
In the example in the slide, there are two sessions. One was started with a service name specifier,
which resulted in process 4422 being spawned. Note that the argument says LOCAL=NO. That is
because it came through the listener. Then another SQL*Plus session was established, this time
without using a service name. The server process for that session is 5112, and the argument indicates
that LOCAL=YES.
Note: For shared server mode, there are other processes involved, called dispatchers, and there is no
longer a one-to-one correspondence of session to server process. For more information about shared
server mode, refer to the Oracle Database Administrator's Guide.

Process Hierarchy
PID PPID COMMAND

1 0 init [5]
6474 1 gnome-terminal
17664 6474 bash
18556 17664 sqlplus as sysdba
18557 18556 oracleorcl
(DESCRIPTION=(LOCAL=YES)(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=beq)))
Process Hierarchy
When one process starts another process, the first process is referred to as the parent, and the
spawned process is referred to as the child process. This can be observed in Oracle Database
processes if you list the parent process IDs in Linux.
The example in the slide shows the session details for a particular session that was created using
SQL*Plus. So, the database records the client process ID as 18556, which is the SQL*Plus process.
This process started the dedicated server process, identified by a process ID of 18557. So, in the ps
listing, the SQL*Plus process is the parent of the server process. You can continue to follow the
process hierarchy until you get to the init process. The SQL*Plus program was invoked from inside
the bash shell (running in the Gnome windowing system), which was invoked by the init process,
which started the operating system at boot time.

Implementing OS Authentication for DBAs
OS authentication is the provisioning of access to the

database based on the OS username rather than a
database username, and is implemented by doing the
following:
1. Create the needed OS accounts for users.
2. Define the OSDBA and OSOPER operating system
groups.
3. Assign those groups to the users you want
authenticated.
4. Set REMOTE_LOGIN_PASSWORDFILE parameter to NONE.
Now, as one of those users, you can log in, including AS

SYSDBA or AS SYSOPER in the connect string.
Implementing OS Authentication for DBAs

Provisioning of access is the process of authenticating a user to the database, that is, allowing access
to it. Operating system authentication is a type of access provisioning that imposes the operating
system credentials onto the database, allowing the database to discern access based on that, rather
than the database requiring username and password information. By default, the database is
configured to allow certain users to connect without a password. The database considers the OS to be
trusted to provide the authentication service. The configuration shown is for privileged users and is
configured by default when using the Oracle Universal Installer. A privileged user is granted the
SYSDBA or SYSOPER privilege.
Any OS user that is a member of the OSDBA group, named dba by default, can connect to the
database with “/ as SYSDBA” included in the connect string.

Summary

• Create an Oracle database that uses ASM
• Identify the location of various Oracle files
• Implement OS authentication

Creating a Database

• Creating a database that uses ASM storage
• Interrogating the installation

Customizing Oracle on Linux

Objectives

• Create automated startup/shutdown scripts
• Automate tasks using scheduling tools
• Configure Linux startup and shutdown sequence

Controlling Oracle Database
After a server restart, all Oracle processes will be stopped

by default. In order for the database server to be used,
they must be started in one of the following ways:
• Manually
• Automatically
Controlling Oracle Database

By default, the database instance and its related services do not start when the Linux server is
started. Depending on your needs you will want to start all or some of the following services:
• Database Listener
• ASM Instance
• Database Instance
• DB Console
• iSQL*Plus
These can be started manually through standard commands:
• lsnrctl start
• sqlplus “/ as sysdba” and then execute the startup command
• emctl start dbconsole
• isqlplusctl start
Or, they can be started automatically. The next few pages discuss how to start the Oracle
database and related services automatically.

Linux Startup Sequence
Kernel
BIOS

Although there are distribution-specific differences, most servers running Linux will start up
basically in the same way.
The first step is to initialize the Built-In Operations System (BIOS). BIOS resides in a ROM
chip, usually on the system motherboard. BIOS initializes the hardware on the motherboard and
much of the hardware that is attached to the motherboard in preparation for loading the actual
operating system. BIOS will also look for a bootable device, searching in the order defined
within the BIOS program. When it finds a bootable device, it checks the Master Boot Record
(MBR) of that disk for a boot loader. As soon as the boot loader is found, BIOS loads the code
into memory and passes control of the system over to the boot loader. Enterprise Linux uses the
GRand Unified Bootloader (GRUB).
There are other boot loaders available such as the Linux Loader (LILO), but none as flexible as
GRUB, which can load Linux, Windows, and more. The boot loader displays a menu of boot
options from the MBR. (In a dual boot system, this is where you are offered the chance to select
which operating system [OS] will be used.) It then uses the settings found in the MBR to load
the selected operating system kernel.

Linux Startup Sequence (continued)
After the kernel is loaded, it checks /sbin and starts the init process. This is process number
one. The init process reads /etc/inittab, which contains instructions telling the kernel to
run a basic setup script that describes actions such as how to set the system clock, where the
swap file is located, and what the global environment variables are.
In Enterprise Linux, that basic setup script is /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit.
Here is where you become concerned as the administrator. After the basic setup script is run, the
init process continues reading /etc/inittab and makes its decisions on what to do next
based on which of the seven runlevels you have booted to. The runlevel you select will
determine who can log on, how many users can be logged on, and what services are available.
The runlevels are described in detail later in the lesson.
In Enterprise Linux, there are a series of directories under /etc/rc.d with names such as
rc0.d, rc1.d…rc6.d. For example, if you were to boot to runlevel 5 (the default), then the
init process would run scripts located in rc5.d. On most systems, you will find that the
scripts are not actually in these directories, rather there are links to the scripts.

rc0.d Power off
init /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit
rc1.d
• Runlevels 1 through 5 are
available on boot. rc2.d
• Runlevel 0 is the system
halt state, entered from rc3.d
runlevels 1–5 before
shutdown. rc4.d
• Runlevel 6 initiates a
system restart. rc5.d
rc6.d

Each runlevel is associated with its own subdirectory. Within any given level’s subdirectory, you
will see scripts with names like these. These files are from rc5.d:
K02NetworkManager K74nscd S10network S56rawdevices
K05saslauthd K74ntpd S12syslog S56xinetd
K10dc_server K87auditd S13irqbalance S80sendmail
K10psacct K89netplugd S13portmap S85gpm
K12dc_client K90bluetooth S14nfslock S90canna
K12FreeWnn K94diskdump S15mdmonitor S90crond
K20nfs S01sysstat S25netfs S95anacron
K24irda S05kudzu S26apmd S95atd
K35smb S08arptables_jf S28autofs S97messagebus
K35vncserver S08iptables S55sshd S99local
The scripts are executed in alphabetical sequence as the runlevel is entered. In this case, as
runlevel 5 is entered, the script S01sysstat is executed, then S05kudzu, and so on until all
scripts have completed. Scripts beginning with a “K” (for “kill”) are intended to stop services,
scripts beginning with an “S” (for “start”) are intended to start services.
Linux allows movement between runlevels through the init command. From runlevels 1–5,
you can move to any other runlevel, including the two special runlevels 0 and 6. Runlevel 6
initiates a system reset. Runlevel 0 enters the system halt state (all services stopped) and is used
to properly shut the system down before the power is turned off.
Linux Runlevels
Runlevels determine which services are available.

• Linux runlevels:
– 0 = halt
– 1 = single user
– 3 = multiuser, network
– 5 = multiuser, X
• The default runlevel is usually 5 but can be changed.
• Servers usually use runlevel 3.
• Runlevels can also be changed with the init
command.
# init 3
Linux Runlevels
Linux uses runlevels to determine which services to start or stop. For example, at certain
runlevels the graphic user interface might not be started. The meaning and services started at the
different runlevels is distribution dependent, but for Enterprise Linux it is as follows:
• Runlevel 0: Halt. It is used to shut down the system.
• Runlevel 1: Single-user (maintenance) mode. Only root may log in.
• Runlevel 2: Multiuser mode, text-based console only
• Runlevel 3: Multiuser mode with networking
• Runlevel 4: For custom use
• Runlevel 5: The default mode; multiuser with networking and active X session
• Runlevel 6: Reboot. This shuts everything down and then starts it back.
Booting to a Nondefault Runlevel
The GRand Unified Bootloader (GRUB) provides a way to specify the runlevel on startup from
the OS selection menu. For Enterprise Linux, you press [E] then scroll down to select the kernel,
press [E] again, press the spacebar, enter the runlevel you want to boot to, then press [B].
Your current and previous runlevel can be found with the runlevel command.

Database Startup and Shutdown
Create a dbora service script to automate startup and

shutdown.
• Create a script named dbora.
• Place it in the /etc/rc.d/init.d directory.
• Use chkconfig to set the runlevels.
Startup Database Shutdown
Database Startup and Shutdown

Most servers are not shut down often, and the system administrator may not be familiar with the
commands for doing a proper shutdown of the database. Because of this, it is a good idea to
provide a script to shut down the database in each of the runlevel directories. This ensures that
the database does a proper shutdown without DBA involvement. If a server crashes, you want
the database to be open as soon as possible after the machine is started. By placing startup
scripts in each of the proper runlevel directories, the database and related services can be started
automatically.
Create a Script Named dbora
The name of this script is arbitrary. Naming it dbora can be convenient because the name of
the script is echoed to the console during the boot process. This script can start all the database-
related processes as is shown in the example, or the script may be broken into multiple scripts
that start and stop the processes separately. In this example, the order in which the processes are
started is important. Start the listener first, next the ASM instance, then the database, and finally
DB Console (because it connects to a repository in the database on startup).

Database Startup and Shutdown (continued)
The stop commands are in sequence and the database is stopped in the end. Any process that is
not stopped here is stopped by the killall command later during the shutdown process.
Enterprise Linux uses a subsystem lock file at /var/lock/subsys/<service_name>.
The stop script runs only if the lock file exists.

Administrative Scripts
Oracle provides a set of administrative scripts.

• Start up and shut down databases by using:
– dbstart
– dbshut
Administrative Scripts
Oracle provides the dbstart and dbshut scripts that must be modified for your site. These
scripts read the oratab file, determine which databases participate in automated startup or
shutdown, and start up or shut down these databases.
The oratab file is created by root.sh and updated by the Database Configuration Assistant
(DBCA) when creating a database.
A colon, “:”, is used as the field terminator. A new line terminates the entry. Lines beginning
with a pound sign, “#”, are comments.
Entries are of the form:
$ORACLE_SID:$ORACLE_HOME:<N|Y>
The first and second fields are the system identifier and home directory of the database,
respectively. The third field indicates to the dbstart utility whether the database should be
brought up at system boot time, indicated by Y or N, meaning yes or no, respectively.
Example of the entries in /etc/oratab :
+ASM:/u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/db_1:Y
orcl:/u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/db_1:Y
ASM and database instances created without using DBCA will not appear in the oratab file.
Entries will need to be made manually in the file for those instances.

Administrative Scripts (continued)
dbstart
dbstart first starts the listener, then scans oratab twice. Databases that use ASM for
managing storage require the ASM instance to be started before the database instance. On the
first scan, dbstart looks for ASM instances with a “Y” in the third field. Values of
$ORACLE_SID which start with a “+” denote an ASM instance. When found the instances are
started. On the second scan, the script looks for database instances with a “Y” in the third field.
The dbstart script that is provided with 10.2.0.1.0 contains an error. The Metalink note
336299.1 documents this issue. To solve this problem, perform the following steps:
1. Edit $ORACLE_HOME/bin/dbstart
2. Go to line 78.
3. Replace the line with:
ORACLE_HOME_LISTNER=$ORACLE_HOME
4. Save the file and exit the editor.
5. Execute dbstart.
The script can be customized to start other utilities, such as DB Control.
dbshut
The dbshut performs shutdown immediate. This mode terminates all connections and
then shuts down the database. The dbshut script can be modified to shut down DB Console
before shutting down the database. This would allow for a faster shutdown of the database.

Managing Services with chkconfig
# chkconfig: 2345 99 10 rc0.d

# description: starts and
stops oracle instances
rc1.d
• Create a startup script,
S99dbora, in runlevels 2 rc2.d
through 5.
rc3.d
• Create a kill script, rc4.d

K10dbora, in runlevels 0, 1,
and 6. rc5.d
rc6.d
Managing Services with chkconfig

System administrators must create a link in each runlevel directory for each service that should
be available at that runlevel. A manual creation of these links is time consuming and prone to
errors. A tool called chkconfig is provided in Linux distributions modeled after a tool on
IRIX, which provides a simple way to add and delete services to runlevels. You can also use the
graphical tool system-config-services to manage services.
A service script named dbora can have the following comment lines. These comment lines
specify the runlevels and the order numbers for the start and kill.
# chkconfig: 2345 99 10
# description: starts and stops oracle instances
This says that the links to this script should be named S99dbora and K10dbora. The start
scripts will be present at the runlevels 2, 3, 4, and 5. The kill scripts will be present at the
runlevels 0, 1, and 6.
With these comment lines in place, the chkconfig --add dbora command
adds the links to the script into the appropriate directories. chkconfig --del dbora
removes the links and chkconfig --list dbora shows the runlevels and the state of the
dbora service at each runlevel.

Automating Jobs
Automate the following jobs to leverage your time:

• Backups
• Database startup and shutdown
• Gathering database statistics
• Monitoring database health
• Monitoring processes: listener, agent, HTTP server
Automating Jobs
Much of your work as a DBA must be done outside normal working hours, or at least during off-
peak hours. In many companies, you are asked to support more databases and more hours of the
day or night. Automating routine jobs is a way of reducing the work load. These routine jobs
include:
• Doing backups and maintaining backup scripts
• Starting up and shutting down the database
• Gathering statistics on the database and OS
• Monitoring the health of the database and related processes
Ensure that the database starts up when the machine boots, and more importantly make sure that
the database does a proper shutdown before the machine is shut down. Monitor the database and
related processes so that you are aware of a problem before the users start contacting you.

OS Scheduling Tools
Linux offers the standard UNIX tools for scheduling:

• cron and anacron
• at and batch
• Task Scheduler
OS Scheduling Tools
Linux offers several scheduling tools that usually are a variation of the standard cron and at
tools, or a GUI for one of these tools. Task Scheduler is one of these user interfaces that makes
cron and at easier to use.
cron
The system cron daemon is started as part of the boot process. Security for cron is handled by
the system administrator by using the /etc/cron.allow and /etc/cron.deny files.
Only users listed in the /etc/cron.allow file are allowed to use cron, users listed in the
/etc/cron.deny file cannot use cron. If neither of these files exist, only the superuser is
allowed to use cron. The cron daemon checks the system-level schedule in the
/etc/crontab file and user-level schedules in the /var/spool/cron directory. In
Enterprise Linux, there is also a set of directories /etc/cron.hourly,
/etc/cron.daily, /etc/cron.weekly, and /etc/cron.monthly that hold
executable scripts. If the system administrator puts an executable script into one of these
directories, then cron runs the script at the appropriate interval.

OS Scheduling Tools (continued)
cron (continued)
The format of an entry in the crontab file is <minute> <hour> <day> <month>
<weekday> <cmd>. If any of these fields has a “*”, then the meaning is “every.” A crontab
entry to run a backup script might look like the following:
14 22 * * 1-5 su - oracle -c /usr/local/bin/backup.cmd >/dev/null 2>&1
This command runs 14 minutes after 10 p.m. every weekday of every month, Monday through
Friday. The command says, log in as the oracle owner and execute backup.cmd, sending
the standard out to /dev/null, the bit bucket, and standard error to the same place.
anacron
It is an interesting variation of cron that does not require the system to be running
continuously. The anacron daemon periodically checks the /etc/anacrontab file, and
verifies whether the task has been executed within the time specified in the Period field of the
configuration file. If not, anacron executes the command specified after waiting for the
number of minutes specified in the Delay field.
at and batch
The at command executes a command once at a specified time, as opposed to cron that
executes recurring commands. The atd daemon runs the at commands and the batch
commands. The batch commands wait until the system load average drops below 0.8, and then
executes the given commands.
Task Scheduler
There are GUI task schedulers available that are front ends for cron in both the Gnome and the
K(ommon) Desktop Environment (KDE).

Job Capabilities of DB Console
DB Console provides a way to schedule jobs against the

database or node. You can schedule:
• SQL scripts
• PL/SQL blocks
• Stored procedures
• RMAN scripts
• PERL scripts
• OS commands
Job Capabilities of DB Console

Using DB Console, you can schedule a job to run at a particular time or interval. Each job can be
run against the database instance or the node. A job can be SQL scripts, OS commands, RMAN
scripts, PERL scripts, a PL/SQL block, or a stored procedure. DB Console uses
dbms_scheduler from the database providing a convenient way to centralize your recurring
jobs. You can use the Job Wizard to create, register, execute, and save jobs.
Using Oracle Enterprise Manager Grid Control to manage your node and database provides even
greater flexibility in the types of jobs that can be created.

Database Backups
Database backups are essential. The options for backing

up your database are:
• User-managed backup with OS tools
• User-managed backup with third-party tools
• Server-managed backup with RMAN
Database Backup
Database Backups
Backups are required by most businesses. The method and the frequency are often dictated by
business requirements. The method should be chosen based on availability requirements,
convenience, performance, and mean time to recover (MTTR).
User-Managed Backups with OS Tools
Backups can be created by using standard OS tools, such as tar, cpio, and cp. It is the user’s
responsibility to understand the limitations of these tools.
User-Managed Backups with Third-Party Tools
There are several third-party backup solutions. The most important consideration is whether the
tool you choose coordinates with the Oracle database. The database must be shut down, or the
tablespaces put into backup mode before the back up takes place. Many vendors provide an
Oracle database agent module to provide this functionality.
Server-Managed Backups with RMAN
Oracle Corporation provides an integrated tool called Recovery Manager (RMAN) to perform
backups or use the DB Console interface to RMAN. This tool works with the database instance
to make reliable backups.
Note: Use the full pathname to invoke RMAN: $ORACLE_HOME/bin/rman. By doing this,
you avoid any path problems. There is a different Linux utility named rman.
Backing Up with RMAN
Recovery Manager is the recommended solution, because

it:
• Provides tight integration with the Oracle database
• Understands raw partitions
• Can be scripted and scheduled
• Allows finer-grained recovery options
• Is required to back up an ASM-based database
RMAN> BACKUP DATABASE;
Backing Up with RMAN

The Recovery Manager tool is bundled with every installation of the Oracle database. It uses the
instance to facilitate the backup. RMAN handles raw partitions in the same manner that the
database instance does. RMAN can be scripted and scheduled from OS schedulers or as an
Enterprise Manager Job. A full database backup can be simple (such as the command shown in
the slide) or complex, depending on your requirement. Recovery Manager has a full range of
commands that allow detailed control of the backup.
You should use the available tools to make the backups self-scripting so that the backup scripts
have zero maintenance.
Automatic Storage Management requires RMAN for taking backups.
RMAN backups are covered in the Oracle Database 10g: Administration Workshop II and the
Oracle Database 10g: Backup and Recovery course and in the Backup and Recovery Basics and
Backup and Recovery Advanced User’s Guide.
Oracle Secure Backup is also available for backups. Oracle Secure Backup delivers tape data
protection for the Oracle database and file systems in distributed Linux and Network Attached
Storage (NAS) environments. Safeguarding data and access to the backup domain, Oracle
Secure Backup leverages the proven security technologies of secure sockets layer (SSL) and
encryption.

Server Parameter File
With an Oracle 10g database, you can use a server

parameter file SPFILE or the initialization parameter file
PFILE:
• An SPFILE is recommended.
• SPFILE is maintained by the server.
• The STARTUP command always uses the
same SPFILE.
• The default location for the SPFILE with ASM is
<diskgroup>/<sid>/.
Initialization Parameter Files

When you start the instance, an initialization parameter file is read. There are two types of
parameter files:
• Server parameter file: This is the preferred type of initialization parameter file. It is a
binary file that can be written to and read by the database server and must not be edited
manually. It resides in the server that the Oracle database is executing on, and is persistent
across shutdown and startup. This is often referred to as an SPFILE. The default name of
this file, which is automatically sought at startup, is spfile<SID>.ora located in
$ORACLE_HOME/dbs. For a database using ASM, the default name of the SPFILE is
spfile<sid>.ora with the file located in <diskgroup>/<sid>/ (for example,
+DF/orcl/spfileorcl.ora)
• Text initialization parameter file: This type of initialization parameter file can be read by
the database server, but it is not written to by the server. The initialization parameter
settings must be set and changed manually by using a text editor so that they are persistent
across shutdown and startup. The default name of this file, which is automatically sought at
startup if an SPFILE is not found, is init<SID>.ora.
It is recommended that you create a server parameter file (SPFILE) as a dynamic means of
maintaining initialization parameters. By using a server parameter file, you can store and
manage your initialization parameters persistently in a server-side disk file.

Summary

• Create automated startup/shutdown scripts
• Automate tasks using scheduling tools
• Configure Linux startup and shutdown sequence

Automating Tasks

• Automating the startup and shutdown of
the database
• Adding starting and stopping DB Control to dbstart
and dbshut
Practice 7 Overview: Automating Tasks

For detailed instructions on performing this practice, see Practice 7 in Appendix A.

Managing Memory

Objectives

• List the memory models available in Linux kernels
• Implement hugepages
• Describe /proc/meminfo contents
• List the implications of Linux memory configuration on
Oracle Database
• Identify the issues regarding 32-bit OS versus 64-bit
OS

Swap Space
The swap space makes more memory available to the

system even when physical memory is limited.
Physical Swap space

memory (virtual memory)
Total available memory
Swap Space
Often there are demands for more memory than what is actually installed on the machine. To
mitigate the effects of this limitation, swap space is set up. Swap space is an area of disk that is set
aside to hold some of the contents of physical memory, or RAM, at certain times. As Linux switches
from running one process to another, it may need to allocate some memory in RAM to support the
new process. If there is not enough RAM available, instead of failing the process, Linux copies the
contents of some of the RAM to the swap space. This process of copying memory contents from
RAM to disk and back again is why this disk area is referred to as swap space; Linux continually
swaps the contents of physical RAM and disk, as needed. The result is that there is effectively more
memory available for processes to use.

Swap Cache
The swap cache tracks the state of swapped pages and

reduces the swap I/O activity.
Swap
RAM Swap space
cache
Swap Cache
A closer look at the RAM/swap space interaction reveals the swap cache mechanism. The swap
cache is an area of RAM that is set aside to track the pages that are swapped out to disk, and, whether
they have been written to since that time. The purpose of this is to short-circuit any unnecessary I/O.
Consider the page out operation, where a page is swapped out to disk, and then later, is needed back
in memory. If, while it was swapped out onto disk, the in-memory page was not reused for anything
else, then there is no need to read the page back in from disk; it is already in memory. Likewise, if a
page is swapped in, and then swapped out, the swap out operation may not require that the page be
written to disk again. If the page had not been modified at all while it was swapped in, then its
contents still match what is already stored on disk, and thus, there is no need to write it to disk again.
The details of the processes that write a page out and read a page in follow.
Page Out Operation
If a page residing in memory is not used, it ages. The older a page, the more likely it is to be
overwritten. The swap looks for the oldest pages in each process every few seconds. If there is a
demand for free pages, swap overwrites the old pages. These pages are moved to the swap cache in
memory if they are dirty, or discarded if they are not dirty. If a page is needed again before being
moved from the cache to disk, then it is reloaded from the cache. Otherwise, it gets flushed from the
cache to the disk after a period of time.

Swap Cache (continued)
Page In Operation
If the process tries to access a page that is not mapped into physical memory, a page fault occurs. A
page fault causes the process to suspend. The page is read from a disk or a swap cache. The page is
loaded into a free page of memory. This page is mapped to the Translation Lookaside Buffer (TLB).
Then the process is placed on the run queue. To bring a page into memory, a free page must exist.
The swap process works to keep a pool of free pages available for these page in operations.

Sizing Swap Space
Swap space should be sized based on the amount of RAM

installed.
1 GB 1.5 GB
RAM Swap
4 GB 4 GB
RAM
= Swap
7.5 GB
10 GB Swap
Total = 2.5 GB RAM
Total = 8 GB
Total = 17.5 GB
Sizing Swap Space

The amount of swap space to allocate depends on the amount of RAM installed on the machine. The
following conditions show the RAM size followed by the reasonable swap space size, respectively:
• <= 2 GB: 150% of the RAM size
• Between 2 GB and 8 GB: Equal to the RAM size
• > 8 GB: 75% of the RAM size
Some examples are shown in the slide. You can use the free command to see the size of the swap
space, and also to see how much of it is being used. You can also view the contents of
/proc/swaps.
Note: Diagram sizes are not to scale.

/proc/meminfo
The most useful high-level statistics found in the

/proc/meminfo file are:
• MemTotal: Total usable physical RAM
• MemFree: RAM that is currently free
• Cached: Memory in the page cache
• SwapCached: Memory that was swapped back in after
being swapped out
/proc/meminfo
The /proc/meminfo virtual file shows the current state of memory for the Linux kernel. The
following information can be found there:
• MemTotal: The total physical memory in the system. All of your server's physical memory
should be reported here at all times.
• MemFree: Total amount of memory that is currently free
• Cached: Memory in the pagecache (diskcache) minus SwapCached. This does not include
SwapCache.
• SwapCached: Memory that once was swapped out and has been swapped back in, but is still in
the swap file. This is a performance feature because if memory is needed it does not need to be
swapped out again; it is already in the swap file. This saves I/O.

Evaluating Free Memory
As reported by top, the situation seems dire because it

appears that almost all memory is being used:
Mem: 16124948K used, 42724K free
But the free command shows that 13 GB of this memory

is cache, which is available to processes as needed:
shared buffers cached
1710184 351312 13330324
total used free

16167672 16129820 37852
top and free

Some of the used memory that the top command reports is actually being used for cache. That
means that it is available to be reassigned if another process requires it. The slide illustrates how the
top command memory information can be misleading. It appears that only 42 MB of memory is
free. But the free command reports that 13 GB is currently being used for cache. By the nature of
caching, that memory buffer is useful, but not all of it is always necessary. If another process starts
up, or an existing one requests more memory than is reported in the free category of the top
command, then some of this cache memory can be allocated to those memory requests, and that will
be reflected in a higher used value, and a lower cached value. So, there is more memory available
for use by processes than appears as reported by the top command.

Memory Terminology
Some terminology:
• Page table: A data structure that maps virtual
addresses to physical addresses
• Translation Lookaside Buffer (TLB): Cache in the CPU
that contains part of the page table, for performance
• Hugetlb: An entry in the TLB that point to a hugepage
• Hugetlbfs: An in-memory file system introduced in the
2.6 Linux kernel
• Page Address Extentions (PAE): A technique for
adding 4 bits onto the memory address value, allowing
a 32-bit machine to address 64 GB instead of 4 GB

Page Address Extensions (PAE)
2^32 = 4,294,967,296
4 GB
2^36 = 68,719,476,736 Very Large Memory

(VLM)
64 GB
Page Address Extensions (PAE)

A 64-bit Linux system can address 16 exabytes; an extension of the addressing system is not
necessary. But a 32-bit system can address only 4 GB of memory, because 2 raised to the thirty-
second power is roughly 4 billion.
In order to get above 4 GB virtual memory on IA-32 architecture, a technique known as Page
Address Extensions (PAE) is used. It is a method that translates 32-bit (2**32 = 4 GB) linear
addresses to 36-bit (2**36 = 64 GB) physical addresses. In the Linux kernel, the support is provided
through a compile time option that produces two separate kernels: the SMP kernel which supports
only up to 4 GB VM and the enterprise kernel that can go up to 64 GB VM (also called Very Large
Memory [VLM]). The enterprise kernel is able to use up to 64 GB pagecache without any
modifications. This means applications such as Oracle can make use of the large memory and scale
up to a large number of users without loss of performance or reliability.

Hugepages
4 MB
4 KB
4 KB 4 MB
4 KB 4 MB
Page table
Page table
Hugepages
The regular page size in Linux is 4 KB. That means each entry in the page table can point to a 4 KB
size page. A smaller page size like this not only limits the amount of memory that can be addressed,
but it also causes more overhead in the management of the page table entries because there are more
entries required.
If you increase the page size to 4 MB, this provides for a lot more addressable memory, without the
extra overhead, because the number of page table entries can remain the same. This is referred to as
hugepages. Also, hugepages are not swapped out, and thus provide for better performance because
they remain in physical memory.

Implementing Hugepages on 32-Bit Linux
To implement the hughpages feature:

• Configure Linux to mount ramfs at boot time
• Increase locked memory limit
• Configure instance parameters for VLM
• Set the hugepages kernel parameter
Note: Using this feature removes the ability to configure
automatic shared memory management. You must
configure DB_CACHE_SIZE instead.
Implementing Hugepages on 32-Bit Linux

To configure hugepages, perform the following steps:
1. Log on as root.
2. Configure Linux to mount ramfs over /dev/shm at every boot. Edit /etc/rc.local and
add the following:
umount /dev/shm
mount -t ramfs ramfs /dev/shm
chown oracle:oinstall /dev/shm
where oracle is the Oracle owner and oinstall is the group for Oracle owner account.
3. Reboot the server.
4. Log on as root.
5. Check whether /dev/shm is mounted with the type ramfs:
# mount | grep shm
6. Check the permissions of /dev/shm:
# ls -ld /dev/shm
7. Increase max locked memory limit. Edit /etc/security/limits.conf and add:
* soft memlock 3145728
* hard memlock 3145728

Implementing Hugepages on 32-Bit Linux (continued)
8. Log in as the oracle Linux user.
9. Check max locked memory limit:
$ ulimit –l
3145728
10. Configure instance parameters for VLM:
a. Convert the DB_CACHE_SIZE, DB_xK_CACHE_SIZE parameters to
DB_BLOCK_BUFFERS.
b. Add the USE_INDIRECT_DATA_BUFFERS=TRUE parameter.
c. Configure SGA size according to needs.
d. Remove SGA_TARGET if set.
11. Start up the instance.
12. Examine the memory allocation:
$ ls -l /dev/shm
$ ipcs -m
13. Configure hugepages.
a. Get Hugepagesize from:
$ grep Hugepagesize /proc/meminfo
b. Compute nr_hugepages = max(ipcs -m) / (Hugepagesize * 1024) +
1.
c. Set kernel parameter:
# sysctl -w vm.nr_hugepages=<value from above>
d. Set parameter for every boot. Edit /etc/sysctl.conf for
vm.nr_hugepages=<value from above>
14. Check the available hugepages:
$ grep Huge /proc/meminfo
15. Restart the instance.
16. Check available hugepages (1 or 2 pages free)
$ grep Huge /proc/meminfo
Note: If the setting of nr_hugepages is not effective, you may need to reboot the server.

Implementing a Large SGA
There are two methods to implement a large SGA under

Linux:
• Alter the Linux memory map so the SGA can use more
than 1.7 GB (up to about 2.7 GB).
• Relocate the Database Buffer Cache so it uses a
memory-based file system (up to 60 GB).
These methods can be combined, enabling very large
SGAs. The theoretical limit for a Linux SGA is 62 GB;
practical limitations are closer to 20 GB.

There are two Linux memory limitations that affect the maximum size of the SGA. One of those is a
process limitation and the other is a kernel limitation.
Kernel Limitations
A 32-bit processor cannot access more than 232 bytes (4 GB) of RAM without assistance. That
assistance comes in the form of PAE that breaks up the memory into chunks that can be handled by
the 32-bit processor. Those chunks are accessed through an extra layer of memory address
translation.

Standard Linux Memory Map
4.0 GB
OS Disk Buffer
Kernel use and Page cache
2.98 GB
Process memory Oracle SGA
1.25 GB
Shared libraries lib*.so
1.0 GB mapped_base
Application code Oracle Executables,

user processes
128 MB
Kernel (not paged)
Standard Linux Memory Map

With 4 GB of RAM, the Linux kernel will normally divide it up as shown in the slide. The kernel
takes up a fairly small amount of RAM at the base of the memory map (the diagram in the slide is not
to scale). The kernel will also reserve the top portion of the memory map for disk buffer caching and
memory page table maintenance. The area in between is left for applications, such as Oracle
Database.
The application area is divided into three sections: a section for application code, a section for
application memory, and a section for shared libraries. With Oracle, user processes and background
processes, such as PMON, SMON, and DBWn, reside in the application code area, whereas the SGA
resides in the application memory area. The starting point in the memory map for shared libraries and
process memory is controlled by mapped_base. As you can see, process memory can occupy the
section from about 1.25 GB to 2.98 GB, giving the SGA a maximum size of around 1.7 GB. The only
way to accommodate the SGA is to take away space from other application area sections.

Modified Linux Memory Map
4.0 GB
OS Disk Buffer
Kernel use and Page cache
2.98 GB
Process memory Oracle SGA
336 MB
Shared libraries lib*.so mapped_base
256 MB
Oracle Executables,
Application code
128 MB
user processes
Kernel (not paged)
Modified Linux Memory Map

It is possible to modify the Linux memory map and allocate more memory to the SGA. The kernel
will still take up about 128 MB at the base of the map as well as the upper 1 GB, but the three
application areas can be redistributed by changing the mapped_base.
As you can see in the slide, lowering mapped_base expands the area available to the SGA at the
expense of room for shared libraries and application code. The theoretical limit for the SGA using
this method is approximately 2.7 GB.
From a practical standpoint, you have to worry about shrinking the space for application code too
much because it does little good to have a large SGA if your users cannot create sessions to access it.
Ensure that you leave enough room below mapped_base for your applications to run.
You can check the memory mappings by looking at a /proc/<pid>/maps file for any process
ID. The lowest address for the ld*.so shared library files is where shared libraries are mapped.

Altering the Linux Memory Map
To alter the Linux Memory Map and implement an SGA

between 1.7 GB and 2.7 GB, perform the following steps:
1. Modify shmmax.
2. Modify a shell for starting the database instance by
lowering mapped_base.
3. Relocate the SGA:
a. Modify ksms.s.
b. Relink the database executables.
Altering the Linux Memory Map to Accommodate a Larger SGA

This procedure is used for setting an SGA larger than 1.7 GB and smaller than 2.7 GB on a machine
with 4 GB or less of real memory. Remember that you need to leave room for application code, so
even as this example maximizes the SGA in real life, you would probably set the mapped_base
higher. This is not especially difficult, but you have to be careful. If you perform these steps
incorrectly, you will receive unexpected error messages (ORA-3113, attach errors, or server
processes just dying, and so on).
Lowering mapped_base and Relocating the SGA Method
Advantages:
• You can increase the SGA from the default of 1.7 GB up to 2.7 GB.
• It works with any 8.1.7, 9.0.1 or 9.2.x, and 10.1 and 10.2 database.
• The entire SGA (shared pool, buffer cache, and so on) can be increased in size.
Disadvantages:
• Local startup/shutdown of the database is allowed only from a modified Linux shell.
• It requires a thorough understanding to be implemented correctly.
• Less virtual memory remains available for the PGA, so activities such as sorting need to be
tuned differently.

Altering the Linux Memory Map to Accommodate a Larger SGA (continued)
Modifying shmmax
The shmmax parameter can be changed dynamically, but unless you want to repeat the change every
time you reboot the server, you should enter the change in the /etc/sysctl.conf file. The
previous rule of thumb of limiting shmmax to half of real memory does not apply here. It is assumed
that the amount of SGA needed has already been determined. The amount of process memory needed
is also known. The sum of the SGA, the process memory, and the kernel and OS caches must be
sized to be allocated without excessive paging.
Lowering mapped_base
The mapped_base is an address in virtual memory where the mmap starts looking for a chunk of
memory to allocate to the shared memory. The larger memory addresses are considered lower in
memory. By starting the search at a lower address, a larger shared memory allocation up to 2.7 GB is
possible. The mapped_base parameter is set on a per process basis, so it cannot be set during boot
up, or for the entire system.
Lowering the mapped base is a requirement for every shell that spawns an Oracle server process on
the server. This includes any shell that is used to connect locally to the database and the shell used to
start the listener. (This way, listener-spawned processes inherit a lowered mapped_base.) This step
will have to be performed every time you start the instance. This means you will not be able to start
the instance using Oracle Enterprise Manager or other tools. The mapped_base parameter is
inherited by any process spawned by a shell that has mapped_base lowered.
Start a shell as the oracle user. In the shell, find the process ID by using ps or echo $$.
Start another shell as the root user and lower the mapped_base with the following command:
# echo 268435456 > /proc/<your process ID>/mapped_base
where 268435456 is decimal for 0 x 10000000.

Relocating the SGA
Execute the following commands as the Oracle software

owner:
$ cd $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/lib
$ cp ksms.s ksms.s_orig /* if ksms.s exists,
back it up first.*/
$ genksms -s 0x15000000 > ksms.s
$ make -f ins_rdbms.mk ksms.o

$ make -f ins_rdbms.mk ioracle
Relocating the SGA

In this procedure, the ksms.s library is modified, and the database executable is relinked to use a
lowered address for the SGA. The address of 0X15000000 is safe, and lower addresses may be usable
down to about 0x12000000, but these lower addresses must be thoroughly tested. Other Oracle-
supplied executables may use addresses below 0X15000000 and can be incompatible with these
changes.
After these changes have been made, an SGA of approximately 2.7 GB can be allocated.
Reversing the Change
If things go wrong and you want to return to your original values, then you can do one of the
following:
• If ksms.s existed before you began this process:
$ cp ksms.s_orig ksms.s
• If ksms.s did not exist, use the following command to return to the default installed value:
$ genksms > ksms.s
After you restore or regenerate ksms.s:
$ make -f ins_rdbms.mk ksms.o
$ make -f ins_rdbms.mk ioracle

Relocating the Database Buffer Cache
These steps relocate the database buffer cache so that

instead of occupying a portion of the application area
within memory, it resides in a virtual file system. To do
this, perform the following steps:
1. Set shmmax to hold the entire SGA.
2. Enable hugepages for performance boost.
3. Enable shared memory file system.
4. Set the initialization parameters and restart the
5. instance. (Dynamic SGA parameters are not available.)
Relocating the Database Buffer Cache

It is possible to relocate the position of the database buffer cache so that it does not occupy space
with the rest of the SGA in the application area of the memory map. This not only allows for much
larger database buffer caches, but also frees up memory within the 2.7 GB limit for other areas of the
SGA such as the shared or Java pools.
Setting shmmax to Hold the Entire SGA
From any root Linux shell, set the shmmax kernel parameter to half the size of physical
RAM available on your system. The value for shmmax cannot exceed 4294967295, or 4 GB:
# echo 4000000000 > /proc/sys/kernel/shmmax
Again, set it at boot up by setting kernel.shmmax in /etc/sysctl.conf.

Relocating the Database Buffer Cache (continued)
Ensuring that hugepages Are Enabled
Ensure that hugepages are enabled, as described earlier in this lesson.
Mounting a Shared Memory File System (SHMFS)
As root, mount a shared memory file system and mount it at every boot up by changing the
/etc/fstab file:
# mount -t shm shmfs -o size=8g /dev/shm
Add the following line to the /etc/fstab file:
none /dev/shm tmpfs size=8g 0 0
This creates an shmfs file system on /dev/shm of 8 GB size. The size parameter accepts the
“k”and “m” multipliers as well. When the database instance is started with the extended buffer cache
feature enabled, a file is created in /dev/shm that corresponds to the SGA database buffer cache.
Configure the Instance to Use the Shared Memory File System
Set the following initialization parameters, assuming an 8 KB block size and 3.8 GB cache:
USE_INDIRECT_BUFFERS = TRUE
DB_BLOCK_BUFFERS = 475000
Note: Multiple database buffer cache block sizes and the dynamic SGA buffer cache parameters
cannot be used with INDIRECT_BUFFERS. The database buffer cache size must be set with
DB_BLOCK_BUFFERS.
Verify that the following initialization parameters are not set:
DB_CACHE_SIZE
DB_2K_CACHE_SIZE
DB_4K_CACHE_SIZE
DB_8K_CACHE_SIZE
DB_16K_CACHE_SIZE
DB_32K_CACHE_SIZE
Start up the Oracle database instance. If you are using this method in conjunction with altering the
Linux memory map, then do not forget to reset mapped_base before starting the instance. The
memory allocated to DB_BLOCK_BUFFERS will now be consumed from the shared file system
located at (in this example) /dev/shm leaving up to 2.7 GB for other SGA areas.
Note: It is possible to make your buffer cache too large to the point where it defeats any performance
gains. For details, see the Oracle Database Performance Tuning Guide.

hugemem Kernel
The hugemem kernel:

• Can address up to 64 GB of RAM
• Is required in order to address more than 16 GB of
RAM
• Supports multiple processors
• Makes use of Physical Address Extension (PAE)
• Allows up to 4 GB to be used per process
• Provides for a 3.6 GB SGA without implementing VLM
hugemem Kernel
The hugemem kernel is provided by the kernel-hugemem package. It is a kernel that was
developed to take advantage of memory greater than 16 GB. It can even provide some benefit on
systems with as little as 6 GB of memory. There is no definite RAM size that defines where the
cutoff of benefit is, but if you have processes that can take advantage of up to 4 GB of address space,
then this kernel may provide some advantage. That is because the hugemem kernel not only
provides for addressing up to 64 GB of memory, but it also provides up to 4 GB of memory per
process. So even if you have only 12 GB, but you have a process that requires a large amount of
memory for itself, then the hugemen kernel can be beneficial.

Summary

• List the memory models available in Linux kernels
• Implement hugepages
• Describe /proc/meminfo contents
• List implications of Linux memory configuration on
Oracle Database
• Identify issues regarding 32-bit OS versus 64-bit OS

Managing Memory

• Understanding the contents of /proc/meminfo
• Viewing shared memory segment information

Using Linux Measurement Tools

Objectives

• Use Linux monitoring tools
• Interpret memory measurements
• Interpret I/O measurements

Basic Tuning Methodology
Tune the database

for the hardware.
Tune the hardware

for the database.
Basic Tuning Methodology

When you tune your system, you have to work in a cycle. In most cases, you start with a given
hardware configuration where you deploy your Oracle database. First, you work with this
hardware and tune it for best performance.
Be ready to reevaluate your hardware configuration as system requirements change. When
evaluating new hardware, your primary considerations should be based on memory, storage I/O
capability, and CPU power. For most systems, the requirements should be evaluated in that
order.
Over time, your system requirements change and you need to modify your hardware. For this,
you may need to tune your database. This process continues for the life of your system.

Standard Measurement Tools
Linux has measurement tools that are common to

UNIX platforms:
• Top Resource Consumers: top
• System Activity Reporter: sar
• Virtual Memory Statistics: vmstat
• I/O Statistics: iostat
• System Log files: /var/log/messages
Standard Measurement Tools

Linux, like every operating system (OS), has tools available for measuring system performance.
The Open Source community has developed a series of tools that measure almost everything that
you want to measure. Many of those are traditional tools adopted from the UNIX environment.
The tools mentioned here are the ones that are available across most UNIX and Linux
environments. However, this is not an all-inclusive list. These tools are either installed by
default with your distribution or freely available via the World Wide Web.
Top Resource Consumers: top
The real-time monitoring tool top is available on almost every flavor of UNIX/Linux. It shows
the CPU load averages, memory usage, I/O waits, and a detailed listing of the top processes
sorted by some resource, and CPU utilization, by default. Use top to begin your tuning and then
drill down with other tools.
top is particularly useful for diagnosing CPU and I/O issues, though not as reliable for Oracle
memory issues. Although top’s aggregate memory statistics are dependable, individual process
memory numbers should not be relied upon. Memory statistics for a process show all allocated
memory, including shared memory. Because Oracle processes share the System Global Area
(SGA), it shows up multiple times. The same shared memory segment will show up as belonging
to PMON, SMON, CKPT, and the other Oracle processes.

Standard Measurement Tools (continued)
System Activity Reporter: sar
sar provides a variety of ways to look at the system activity including memory, I/O, and CPU
usage. In addition to viewing snapshots of system activity, sar collects regular samples of
statistics to a file that can be queried for particular activity at particular times. If you are already
familiar with sar from some other UNIX variant, check the man pages to verify the options
because they are different on Linux. It is usually executed with three arguments:
$ sar <options> <interval> <count>
The <options> flag determines what the output of sar will be. The report can include
statistics on memory use, I/O, system processes, interrupts, network and so on.
In addition to providing real-time metrics, sar samples the /proc file system at 10-minute
intervals and records the data in /var/log/sa as a sa# file where # is the day of the month.
A full month’s worth of statistics are retained so that the administrator can use sar to view past
statistics as well as current. For example, to view the CPU statistics for the 23rd of the month:
sar –u 2 4 –f /var/log/sa/sa23
Virtual Memory Statistics: vmstat
Probably the best tool for monitoring memory usage, the vmstat program reports information
about processes, memory, paging, block I/O, traps, and CPU activity. It is usually executed with
two arguments:
$ vmstat <interval> <count>
with <interval> being the number of seconds between statistics samplings and <count>
being the number of samples to take. Unlike sar, the vmstat report allows very little
customization. (You can give a –n option before the interval to suppress the report page header.)
I/O Statistics: iostat
Disk activity, disk queue lengths, and hot spots are all important pieces of information for tuning
the I/O related to the database. The iostat program provides these statistics, overlapping and
extending the disk statistics available from sar.
System Log Files: /var/log/message ../syslog
The operating system maintains various log files that can be of use in monitoring and tuning the
system.

Linux Tools
Linux also has tools that are specific to this operating

system:
• X-based tools: xosview
• The /proc virtual file system
• Free and used memory: free
Linux Tools
Graphical Measurement Tools
For Linux systems running the X Window System (X), there are a variety of graphical tools that
can be installed to monitor performance. They have the advantage of being easy to interpret.
X-Operating System View: xosview
The xosview tool shows CPU, disk, memory, and network activity. SuSE and UnitedLinux
install xosview by default. The package for xosview is distributed with Enterprise Linux,
but is not part of the default installation.
Note: Remember that X-based tools tend to influence the output by their own load on the CPU;
because of this, they may not be the most accurate measurements of CPU usage.
Virtual Process File System: /proc
The /proc file system is a virtual file system that provides a look into the background
workings of the operating system. You can think of it as the Linux equivalent to Oracle’s v$
views. The /proc file system exists in many UNIX variants, whereas its contents are greatly
expanded under Linux.
Free Memory: free
The free command displays the total amount of free and used physical and swap memory in
the system, as well as the shared memory and buffers used by the kernel.
Linux Tools (continued)
Process Tree: pstree
This tool displays the relationship between processes in a tree structure, with parents to the left
and children to the right:
$ pstree
init-+-2*[Xvnc]
|-apmd
|-oafd
|-26*[oracle]
|-perl-+-emagent---emagent---4*[emagent]
`-java---java---52*[java]
Because the init process is system process number 1, it will always appear to the left. In this
snippet from the pstree output, you can see that there are two Xvnc processes running, 26
Oracle process running, and that the perl process has started two children, each of which has
started several other processes.
Resource Limits: ulimit
This tool shows the resources available to your shell. This tool is shell dependent; with the C
shell you would use limit –h instead.
/> bash
# ulimit –a (the –a flag shows all current limits)
core file size (blocks, -c) 0
data seg size (kbytes, -d) unlimited
file size (blocks, -f) unlimited
max locked memory (kbytes, -l) 4
max memory size (kbytes, -m) unlimited
open files (-n) 1024
pipe size (512 bytes, -p) 8
stack size (kbytes, -s) 10240
cpu time (seconds, -t) unlimited
max user processes (-u) 7168
virtual memory (kbytes, -v) unlimited
And many more
If it is measurable, chances are that there is a Linux package already written to measure it. Many
more utilities may be available depending on your distribution and which packages you have
installed. Consult your distribution-specific documentation for more information. Also, Oracle
provides Oracle Enterprise Manager DB Control, which provides a great deal of performance-
monitoring information about the systems it is monitoring.

Common Areas to Tune
CPU I/O
Memory
Network
Common Areas to Tune

System performance depends on how efficiently system resources are used. In most systems, the
key resources that affect performance are CPU, memory, disk I/O, and network.
Central Processing Unit (CPU)
The CPU is the heart of your system. If CPU performance is poor it does not matter what else
you tune, your system will be slower than it could be.
Memory
Memory is a common system bottleneck. It is usually divided into two generic categories: real
and virtual (swap). Any running process consumes some memory.
Disk Input/Output (I/O)
Although other device I/O can affect performance, disk I/O is usually the most critical type of
I/O. How fast and reliably can you move data to and from a disk? This is often the slowest factor
in a system, and can be one of the most difficult to tune.
Network
The network is the gateway into your system. Few modern systems are self-contained within a
single server. Most depend on external connections either from clients or middle-tier machines.

Monitoring and Tuning CPU
Tools for monitoring and tuning CPU include:

• top
• pstree
• vmstat
• mpstat –p All
• sar -u
• xosview
• xload
Monitoring and Tuning CPU

Before you start tuning the CPU, you must identify if the CPU is a bottleneck for system
performance. For this step, you normally use high-level tools such as top, pstree, or one of
the many graphical utilities available for Linux, such as xosview and xload. If CPU is a
problem for your system, then you drill down to find the source of that bottleneck with fine-
grained tools such as sar or vmstat.
/proc Virtual File System
All the tools mentioned in the slide use the /proc virtual file system as a source of
performance information. The raw data contained within /proc exposes a wealth of
information about CPU resources. Interesting files include:
• /proc/cpuinfo
• /proc/stat
• /proc/loadavg

Is the CPU a Bottleneck?
Is the CPU a bottleneck?

• How many CPUs does the machine have?
• What is the load average?
• What is the load factor?
– <1: CPU probably not a bottleneck
– Between 1 and 2: Running at capacity
– >2: CPU may be a bottleneck, investigate
• Partial output from top:
09:11:01 up 59 min, 12 users, load avg: 4.32, 5.03, 4.72
320 processes: 307 sleeping, 12 running, 1 zombie, 0
stopped
cpu states: 69.8% user 4.6% system 1.5% nice 0.0% iowait
23.9% idle
Is the CPU a Bottleneck?

To answer this, you have to know a few things about your system:
• How many CPUs does your machine have? You can find this by checking
/proc/cpuinfo or with commands such as mpstat.
• What is the average load on your system? There are many ways to find this, but the easiest
is to use top. The output from top shows you the load average for the past 10 minutes
with three samples (now, 5 minutes ago, and 10 minutes ago).
load average: 4.32, 5.03, 4.72
• What is the load factor for your system? The load average does not mean a lot taken by
itself. It gives only the number of processes receiving service from the CPUs at any given
time. These numbers would be a matter for concern on a uniprocessor box (or even a two-
processor box), but would not be something to worry about on a four or more processor box.
Load factor is a more relevant metric. To calculate the load factor, divide the load average
by the number of CPUs:
load average = load factor
#CPUs

Is CPU a Bottleneck? (continued)
• If your load factor is:
- <1, you have CPU capacity to spare and it is unlikely that you are CPU bound
- Between 1 and 2, your system is running at capacity
- >2, CPU may be a bottleneck in your system, and you should investigate further using
other tools such as sar or vmstat
Full Output from the top Command
09:11:01 up 59 min, 12 users, load average: 4.32, 5.03, 4.72
320 processes: 307 sleeping, 12 running, 1 zombie, 0 stopped
CPU states: 69.8% user 4.6% system 1.5% nice 0.0% iowait 23.9% idle
Mem: 385112k av, 378740k used, 6372k free, 0k shrd, 37812k buff
287620k actv, 0k in_d, 6384k in_c
Swap: 779144k av, 303648k used, 475496k free 90592k cached
PID USER PRI NI SIZE RSS SHARE STAT %CPU %MEM TIME CPU COMMAND
1973 root 25 0 23480 9872 956 R 59.4 2.5 4:28 0 X
2487 oracle 15 0 29596 24M 1576 S 2.5 6.6 1:41 0 jre
2816 susan 15 0 21768 19M 1036 S 2.3 5.1 0:15 0 jre
2126 oracle 16 0 1080 1048 420 S 2.1 0.2 0:56 0 top
3218 root 16 0 1504 1504 860 R 2.1 0.3 0:02 0 top
3028 oracle 25 10 2820 2636 2052 R N 1.5 0.6 0:06 0 sproingies
2061 oracle 15 0 5852 2168 1100 S 0.9 0.5 0:08 0 rhn-applet-gui
1675 root 15 0 1800 728 540 S 0.7 0.1 0:12 0 snmpd
2602 oracle 15 0 8284 6452 1552 S 0.7 1.6 0:30 0 dbsnmp
1426 root 15 0 200 164 116 R 0.5 0.0 0:08 0 syslogd
2329 root 15 0 25876 9M 824 R 0.5 2.6 6:52 0 X
15 root 15 0 0 0 0 SW 0.3 0.0 0:09 0 kjournald
3008 root 15 0 12612 11M 7864 S 0.3 3.0 0:04 0 rhn-applet-gui
2212 root 15 0 26124 10M 812 R 0.1 2.7 9:01 0 X
2262 rlowenth 15 0 5836 2144 1084 S 0.1 0.5 0:12 0 rhn-applet-gui.
Many people do not realize that top is an interactive utility. From within top, you can enter
“?” to see a list of options. One more useful interactive command is “u” which allows you to
identify a single user for the top display output. For example, if you enter “u” and then type in
“oracle” then your list of processes would include only processes started by oracle. The
top displays’ default refresh rate is every two seconds, but you can change that interval with the
“s” command. When top is run by root, you can kill processes directly from within top by
using the “k” command.

CPU Measurements
Identify the following CPU statistics and interpret them:

• CPU idle time
• CPU time spent executing user code
• CPU time spent executing system code
• Processes waiting for CPU time (run-queue)
CPU Measurements
Although there are dozens of different CPU measurements that you can look at, the ones listed in
the slide are the most important. These have the same meaning but slightly different labels
depending on the tool that is used to view them.
CPU Idle Time
This indicates the amount of time that CPU is in an idle state. Idle time is labeled %idle in
sar, id (under the CPU heading) in vmstat, and idle in top. If you are experiencing
performance problems, and CPU shows high idle time, then the system is not CPU bound.
CPU Time Spent Executing User and System Codes
These statistics have to be considered together. Together they represent the useful work that is
being done by the CPU. User time indicates the time that is spent in executing code in the user
space. System time measures the time that is spent in executing system calls. Every application
has a characteristic ratio of user to system. With an Oracle database, you should expect a ratio of
approximately 60% user code to 40% system code. If the user code percent is significantly
higher, then there may be inefficiencies in the application code. If the system code percentage is
significantly higher, look for system activity, such as high rates of disk I/O or memory swap.

CPU Measurements (continued)
run-queue size
The run queue size indicates the number of processes that are ready to run. Processes that are
blocked (waiting on I/O or for other reasons) are not counted in the run queue. All the processes
in the run queue are waiting for a time slice of the CPU. If the run queue size is more than one,
performance could probably be increased by adding additional CPUs.
Obtaining CPU Measurements
There are several ways to obtain the key CPU metrics. Each of these tools gives a slightly
different view of the same information about the CPU activity.
# vmstat <interval> <count>
# mpstat -P <CPU> <interval> <count>
# sar -u <interval> <count>
# sar -q <interval> <count>
# iostat -c <interval> <count>
vmstat, mpstat, and iostat get their information directly from the /proc file system.

Measuring CPU Activity with vmstat
# vmstat <interval> <count>
# vmstat 2 5
procs system cpu
r b w … in cs us sy id
0 0 0 … 11 42 3 1 96
1 0 0 … 106 141 0 1 99
0 0 0 … 109 134 0 0 100
1 0 0 … 103 146 7 1 92
0 0 0 … 107 125 0 0 100
Note: Memory and IO statistics removed for readability
Measuring CPU Activity with vmstat

The output of vmstat shows the key CPU metrics measured over the specified interval and
time period. In the partial listing in the slide:
• cpu / us = CPU time spent executing user code
• cpu / sy = CPU time spent executing system code
• cpu / id = Idle CPU time
• procs / r = Processes waiting for CPU (run-queue size)
Other CPU metrics shown are:

• procs / b = Processes in uninterruptible sleep
• procs / w = Processes swapped out, but runnable
• system / in = Interrupts per second
• system / cs = Context switches per second
A full example of the vmstat command follows:

# vmstat 2 2
procs memory swap io system cpu
r b w swpd free buff cache si so bi bo in cs us sy id
0 0 0 78748 48720 97540 453688 0 0 4 60 11 42 3 1 96
1 0 0 78748 48716 97540 453688 0 0 0 8 106 141 0 1 99

Measuring CPU Activity with mpstat
Unlike the vmstat command, the mpstat command allows you to drill down into CPU
statistics by processor. In a multiprocessor system, this can give you a more detailed picture of
what your CPUs are doing other than vmstat. Unfortunately, mpstat will not show you the
run-queue size. A full example of the mpstat command is as follows:
$ mpstat -P ALL 1 1
Linux 2.4.9-e.3enterprise (delphi) 04/01/2003
08:09:21 AM cpu %user %nice %system %idle intr/s
08:09:22 AM all 19.50 0.00 31.50 49.00 111.00
08:09:22 AM 0 27.00 0.00 42.00 31.00 111.00
08:09:22 AM 1 12.00 0.00 21.00 67.00 111.00
Measuring CPU Activity with sar
You can also use the System Activity Reporter (sar) command to retrieve information about
CPU performance. Like the mpstat command, the sar command returns information about
the division of work within the system.
$ sar -u 2 5
08:12:14 AM cpu %user %nice %system %idle

08:12:16 AM all 30.50 0.00 1.75 67.75
08:12:18 AM all 39.75 0.00 1.00 59.25
08:12:20 AM all 36.25 0.00 1.75 62.00
08:12:22 AM all 23.75 0.00 1.50 74.75
08:12:24 AM all 33.25 0.00 1.50 65.25
Average: all 32.70 0.00 1.50 65.80

Measuring CPU Activity with sar (continued)
To monitor the processor queue, including the run-queue (displayed with sar as runq-sz),
you can use the sar –q command.
#sar -q 2 5
08:12:30 AM runq-sz plist-sz ldavg-1 ldavg-5

08:12:32 AM 1 79 1.17 0.98
08:12:34 AM 1 79 1.17 0.98
08:12:36 AM 2 79 1.16 0.98
08:12:38 AM 1 79 1.16 0.98
08:12:40 AM 1 79 1.16 0.98
Average: 1 79 1.16 0.98
Also shown with sar -q are:
plist-sz: Process list size showing the number of processes running in memory
ldavg: The load average for the last minute and the last five minutes
Measuring CPU Activity with iostat
Although it is normally used to measure data flow to and from disk devices, iostat also
produces basic CPU statistics.
$ iostat -c 2 3
avg-cpu: %user %nice %sys %idle

3.50 0.05 0.83 95.61

Interpreting CPU Measurements
When interpreting CPU measurements, observe cases

where the system has:
• High idle time with poor response time
• Too much time spent executing user code
• Too much time spent executing system code
• Run-queue size more than double the number of CPUs
• Extremely high context requests per second
Interpreting CPU Measurements

The key to understanding the CPU measurements is that CPU is consumed on behalf of the
application. Therefore, if an Oracle instance and processes are consuming all the CPU resources,
check the database application and tune the SQL. Some key points to consider when interpreting
CPU measurements are:
• High idle time with poor response time indicates that the processes are getting blocked. This
means I/O, network, and swapping should be checked.
• If the %user to %system ratio on the Oracle server processes is much greater than the
60:40 ratio expected, then it indicates that the application code must be tuned. If the ratio is
much lower, that is, %system is larger, then look for I/O or virtual memory problems.
• On a properly sized system, the run-queue size should seldom be more than the number of
CPUs. If the run-queue size is greater than two times the number of CPUs available, then
check sar -wW or vmstat for swapping and switching activity. A large run-queue size
indicates a CPU bottleneck. This could indicate an undersized system or possibly
insufficient memory.

Interpreting CPU Measurements (continued)
• Each process takes virtual memory. When more process memory is required than is
available in real memory, paging takes place. As more processes are added, more memory
is required, and more CPU overhead is required to process the paging and context switching
requests. This can continue until the CPU spends most of its time paging and switching.
This situation is called thrashing.

Reducing CPU Bottlenecks
If you determine that CPU is the limiting factor in your

system:
• Increase CPU resources
• Decrease CPU demand
• Schedule CPU demand more efficiently
Reducing CPU Bottlenecks

CPU is usually a finite resource. Sometimes it is possible to increase CPU resources (upgrade
the processor or add additional processors), but it is usually difficult or expensive unless you are
working in a grid system. Therefore, you usually concentrate on either using existing resources
more efficiently or offloading unnecessary work to other systems.
Using Your CPU More Efficiently
There are some basic things you can do to make your CPU more efficient:
• Schedule non-time-critical jobs to run during times when CPU is less loaded. For example,
database backups, index rebuilds, optimizer statistics collection, and batch jobs could run at
night rather than during the day.
• Employ a resource management system (such as Oracle Resource Manager) to ensure that
your most important jobs are serviced first, and that too many batch jobs cannot be started
simultaneously. The use of system process priority manipulation to assign resources to more
important processes is not recommended for Oracle processes because Oracle has its own
built-in process management system.
• Reduce the demand on your CPU by eliminating unnecessary work or offloading work to a
different server.

Monitoring and Tuning Memory
Tools for monitoring and tuning memory include:

• top
• free
• vmstat
• sar -B
• xosview
• System Monitor
Gnome System Monitor
Monitoring and Tuning Memory

In addition to the tools listed in the slide, a great deal of information about system memory use
can be obtained from the /proc virtual file system.

Measuring Memory Usage
Measure memory utilization and paging. Significant

memory statistics include:
• Total memory
• Context switches
• Pages in and out
• Inactive pages
• Demand rate
Page out
Page in
Measuring Memory Usage

The instance uses SGA memory to increase performance. Linux uses the buffer cache and page
cache memory to increase performance. A well-tuned memory reduces the I/Os by caching
frequently used pages. Poorly tuned or insufficient memory often shows up first as an I/O
bottleneck with high activity on the swap partition.
Total Memory
Use free, top, or cat /proc/meminfo to find the total memory on your system. Physical
memory is labeled mem in these tools.
Context Switches
Context switches can be seen in vmstat under the system group of columns. They are in the
column labeled cs. A context switch takes place each time the CPU starts working on a
different process. In a context switch, the TLB is reloaded for the new process, and other
housekeeping details are taken care of.

Measuring Memory Usage (continued)
Pages Out
Pages out and pages in are measured in 1 KB blocks, even though the memory page size is 4
KB. Pages out are seldom zero, and should not be a cause for concern as some “page out”
activity is normal. The swap process frequently moves a few pages out to swap to be sure that
free pages are always available for page in operations. As more pages of real memory are
needed, the number of pages moved to swap increases.
Pages In
The number of pages in is a good measure of RAM shortage. A page in operation occurs when a
memory page is pulled from virtual memory back to RAM. As processes access pages that are
not mapped or have been paged out, a page in is registered. Ideally, the average pages in over
time is near zero. This means that all the processes fit in real memory. As more processes start
and require memory, the pages in increase. This is a key measurement when adjusting the SGA
size for the database. If the pages in increases significantly after an increase in SGA size, it may
indicate that the SGA is too large.
Inactive Pages
This is also known as free or freeable memory. Inactive “clean” pages can be immediately
replaced by other memory pages. Inactive “dirty” pages are free but must be written to disk
before they can be used.
Demand Rate
This is also known as “Inactive Page Target.” This is one of the most important memory
statistic. It is shown as the inatarpg column with sar -B. The value shown is the average
number of pages per second, within the last minute, the system needed to make “free” to meet
memory demands. This value may also be seen as inact_target in /proc/meminfo. This
is the goal the kernel tries to reach to make sure that there are enough inactive pages available.

Measuring Total Memory
#top
#free
#cat /proc/meminfo
Measuring Total Memory

The top command gives an excellent overview of the system activity. In the header portion, the
Mem line shows total physical memory, memory used, free memory, shared memory, amount of
memory in the buffer cache, and amount of memory in the page cache in kilobytes. Remember
that individual process memory reported with top is meaningless for Oracle processes because
shared memory is reported for each process.
#top
9:12pm up 15:44, 4 users, load average: 1.02, 0.65, 0.33
235 processes: 231 sleeping, 4 running, 0 zombie, 0 stopped
cpu states: 40.2% user, 59.7% system, 0.0% nice, 0.0% idle
Mem: 512284K av, 508348K used, 3936K free, 5200K shrd, 67428K buff
Swap:522072K av, 115088K used, 406984K free 242740K cached
PID USER PRI NI SIZE RSS SHARE STAT %CPU %MEM TIME COMMAND
1017 root 15 0 5944 5544 4360 S 0.7 1.0 2:10 Xvnc
20866 oracle 15 0 86360 67M 54228 S 0.5 13.4 0:10 java
1212 root 16 0 1188 1188 832 R 0.3 0.2 0:00 top
1 root 15 0 508 460 460 S 0.0 0.0 0:04 init
2 root 15 0 0 0 0 SW 0.0 0.0 0:00 keventd

Measuring Total Memory (continued)
The free command also shows total memory and swap usage. The -/+ buffers/cache
line indicates the adjustment to free and used memory by the kernel’s disk buffers and page
cache (how much a process could get if it requested it—the kernel will dump its own page cache
and disk buffers to support running processes):
#free
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 512284 506880 5404 5200 68196 239984
-/+ buffers/cache: 198700 313584
Swap: 522072 114884 407188
All the utilities that collect statistics gather information from the /proc file system. The virtual
meminfo “file” gives an instantaneous snapshot of memory usage.
# cat /proc/meminfo
total: used: free: shared: buffers: cached:
Mem: 1054806016 1029685248 25120768 0 136949760 617668608
Swap: 534601728 22032384 512569344
MemTotal: 1030084 kB
MemFree: 24532 kB
MemShared: 0 kB
Buffers: 133740 kB
Cached: 585920 kB
SwapCached: 17272 kB
Active: 674312 kB
ActiveAnon: 214892 kB
ActiveCache: 459420 kB
Inact_dirty: 0 kB
Inact_laundry: 159476 kB
Inact_clean: 14016 kB
Inact_target: 169560 kB
HighTotal: 130524 kB
HighFree: 2032 kB
LowTotal: 899560 kB
LowFree: 22500 kB
SwapTotal: 522072 kB
SwapFree: 500556 kB
HugePages_Total: 0
HugePages_Free: 0
Hugepagesize: 4096 kB
A few key statistics from the meminfo output are:

• Mem: The current state of physical RAM in the system, including a full breakdown of total,
used, free, shared, buffered, and cached memory utilization in bytes
• MemFree: The amount of physical RAM left unused by the system. It is usually very low.
• Active: The total amount of buffer or page cache memory that is in active use
• Inact_dirty: Buffers that might need writing to disk or swap. It should be relatively
low.
• Inact_target: Demand rate. This is the goal the kernel tries to reach to make sure that
there are enough inactive pages available.
• SwapFree: The total amount of swap free. It should not stay below 20% of SwapTotal.

Measuring Memory with sar
#sar -B <frequency> <count>
#sar -R <frequency> <count>
#sar -B 2 3
#sar -R 2 3
sar
The System Activity Reporter (sar) has many options.
The -B option shows pages in and pages out per second (pgpgin/s, pgpgout/s); the
number of active pages (activepg); and the inactive dirty, inactive clean, and inactive target
pages (inadtypg, inaclnpg, inatarpg). The inactive target is the demand rate.
# sar -B 2 3
Linux 2.4.9-e.3 (EDD1R28P1) 02/26/2003
08:19:03 PM pgpgin/s pgpgout/s activepg inadtypg inaclnpg inatarpg

08:19:05 PM 1994.00 126.00 85630 18848 4802 32733
08:19:07 PM 2934.00 11680.00 85968 23722 3605 32733
08:19:09 PM 940.00 420.00 88629 4175 20266 32733
Average: 1898.80 5554.40 87859 12015 12492 32733

sar (continued)
The -R option shows the number of pages freed per second, the number of additional shared
memory pages, buffer pages, and cache pages used, frmpg/s, shmpg/s, bufpg/s, and
campg/s. Negative values indicate fewer pages used.
# sar -R 2 3
Linux 2.4.9-e.3 (EDD1R28P1) 02/26/2003
08:18:47 PM frmpg/s shmpg/s bufpg/s campg/s

08:18:49 PM 0.50 0.00 0.00 -109.50
08:18:51 PM 3.50 0.00 -1.50 140.50
08:18:53 PM -4.00 0.00 -4.00 -93.00
Average: 0.10 0.00 -1.10 -61.30
vmstat
The vmstat command has two parameters: frequency and count. Frequency is the number of
seconds between samples, and count is the number of samples to take.
In this example, vmstat samples every two seconds for a total of five samples. The first output
line of vmstat shows all the activity since the last reboot. The following example shows a
loaded system, but with little swapping. Pages in are represented by “si” and pages out are
shown with “so.”
Note: The first line of output includes all activity since the last vmstat report.
# vmstat 2 5
1 0 0 296004 3092 73268 61324 0 3 11 51 135 588 10 4 86
1 0 0 296004 3076 73268 61324 0 0 0 2 109 372 66 34 0
1 0 0 296004 3076 73268 61324 0 0 0 32 109 199 59 41 0
1 0 0 296004 3072 73268 61316 0 0 0 24 110 331 40 60 0
1 0 0 296004 3076 73268 61300 0 0 2 10 107 373 51 49 0

Interpreting Memory Measurements
When interpreting memory measurements, observe cases

where the system has:
• High swap memory usage
• Kernel file cache that continue to be allocated despite
low system memory
• High page ins/page outs
• Low inactive pages
Interpreting Memory Measurements

Remember that a single measurement is meaningless. The key to using memory statistics is
measurement over a period of time. You can use the average demand rate (when the system
performance is acceptable) as a baseline to compare with when the system performs poorly.
This, along with the pages in over the same time periods, may indicate memory problems.
High Swap Memory Usage
Indicates memory demand is too high for the available RAM. If this is consistently high, then
consider adding RAM.
Kernel File Cache Continues to Be Allocated Despite Low System Memory
This may be an indication of kernel problems. (Earlier Linux kernels did not release file cache
quickly enough.)

Interpreting Memory Measurements (continued)
High Page Ins
This can indicate that the SGA is too large for available memory, or that the SGA needs to be
“locked” into RAM. If you are using a supported enterprise distribution, then use the hugepages
feature. If using a nonenterprise kernel, then set lock_sga=true to lock the SGA into RAM.
Note that this requires the oracle user to have the CAP_IPC_LOCK privilege granted through
and advanced permissions management system such as the Linux Intrusion Detection System
(LIDS).
Low Inactive Pages
This indicates that you do not have enough memory. The best solution is to increase RAM.

Reducing Memory Bottlenecks
If you determine that memory is the limiting factor in your

system, then:
• Increase memory resources
• Decrease memory demand
Reducing Memory Bottlenecks

All the solutions are in the form of Use less memory or Get more memory.
• Identify nonessential memory consumption and eliminate it. Look for running non-Oracle
processes and eliminate those you can do without.
• Use Linux hugepages.
• Reducing the SGA is not usually acceptable, but check the installation and configuration.
Are you using the Java Virtual Machine (JVM)? If not, reduce JAVA_POOL_SIZE to zero.
Can your buffer cache be reduced without affecting performance? Although the SGA would
not complain about excessive pool sizes (within reason), your server certainly will.
• Reduce the number of user processes. Without restricting the number of users, the number
of user processes can be reduced by using shared servers if the workload supports them.
• Reduce the amount of process memory with PGA_AGGREGATE_TARGET.
• Add memory to your server.

Monitoring and Tuning I/O
You should monitor the I/O across all devices to balance

which device gives the best overall performance. Tools for
monitoring I/O include:
• /proc file system
• sar -d
• iostat –d -p
• vmstat
• xosview
Monitoring and Tuning I/O

Which tools you use to tune disk I/O really depend on your storage system. Tools such as sar
and iostat are common, but tend to show I/O measurements from the operating system’s
point of view rather than from a hardware standpoint. If your hardware includes large storage
arrays from vendors, such as EMC, Network Appliance, HP/Compaq, and Veritas, then you will
normally use monitoring tools provided by your vendor. If you are using the Just a Bunch Of
Disks (JBOD) technology, then the information provided by operating system tools, such as sar
and iostat, should be sufficient.

Is I/O a Bottleneck?
Is I/O a bottleneck?
• Take and retain baseline I/O measurements.
• Individual measurements (snapshots) are usually of
little value. I/O monitoring should be done over time.
• I/O issues with the swap partition should be treated as
memory problems first.
Is I/O a Problem?
With databases, disk I/O is a primary concern. Disk I/O is the single largest performance cost.
Most I/O measurements are meaningless without a baseline, so ensure that you capture and
retain that. When you notice performance degradation, look for high queue and wait statistics to
determine whether I/O is the culprit.
Remember that virtual memory is maintained on disk, and will also show up as I/O. If you spot
high I/O statistics on the swap partition, you should troubleshoot it as a memory issue first, then
address it as an I/O issue.

I/O Measurements
I/O measurements concentrate on volume and speed:

• Read I/O operations
• Write I/O operations
• Request queue size
• Transfer rate
• Wait time
• Service time
I/O Measurements
I/O measurements usually concentrate on either the volume of data being handled or the speed
with which that data is handled.
Volume
Obviously, the more work that is being done the longer it will take to do that work. When you
measure volume, look at read and write volume separately. Also, if your tools allow you to view
it, monitor sequential operations as compared with random access. It is usually quicker to write
1 MB of sequential data than to write 20 KB in multiple locations on the disk because of the
time required for disk head positioning.
Speed
When monitoring speed, look for transfer rate (bytes per second), wait time (how much time was
spent waiting for I/O to respond), and service time (how long does each I/O operation take from
start to finish). Of these three, the wait time is the most important from a database performance
standpoint.

Measuring I/O with iostat
I/O measurements concentrate on volume and speed:

• Read I/O operations
• I/O statistics by device
iostat -d <interval> <count>
#iostat -d 2 2
Linux 2.6.9-22.EL (HOSTNAME) 10/27/2006
Device: tps Blk_read/s Blk_wrtn/s Blk_read Blk_wrtn
hda 4.85 49.16 84.01 60104671 102704241
• I/O activity by partition

iostat –d -p <interval> <count>
Measuring I/O with iostat

The iostat command is used for monitoring system I/O device loading by observing the time
the devices are active in relation to their average transfer rates. The first report provides statistics
concerning the time since the system was booted. Subsequent reports cover the time since the
previous report.
To view I/O statistics by device, use (the –d option suppresses CPU statistics):
iostat -d <interval> <count>
Transfer rate is shown by the tps, Blk_read/s and Blk_wrtn/s columns. Volume
measurements for read and write operations can be seen in the blk_wrtn and blk_read
columns.
To see I/O activity by partition, use:
iostat –d -p <interval> <count>
The iostat -p command presents the I/O statistics by partition with the same statistics that
can be seen from V$FILESTAT on database files.
To display extended statistics by device, use (the -d –x option, -x and –p are mutually
exclusive and cannot be used together):
iostat –d –x <interval> <count>

Measuring I/O with iostat (continued)
Speed measurements are shown in three ways: merged requests as rrqm/s and wrqm/s (how
many operations were performed), requests as r/s and w/s (how many requests were made of
the I/O system), and sectors handled per second as rsec/s and wsec/s.
Volume statistics are shown including average requests size avgrq-sz.await gives the
average wait time for requests. avgqu-sz is a key metric that shows the length of the request
queue (this is the I/O equivalent of CPU load). Service time, another key metric, appears as
svctm. %util is the percentage of time the CPU spends handling I/O requests.
The output of the following command has been reformatted to fit the page.
# iostat –d -x 2 2
Linux 2.6.9-22.EL (EDRSR24P1) 10/27/2006
Device: rrqm/s wrqm/s r/s w/s rsec/s wsec/s rkB/s wkB/s

hda 0.26 8.09 2.44 2.39 48.99 83.83 24.50 41.92
<would normally appear on same line as above>
Device: avgrq-sz avgqu-sz await svctm %util
hda 27.51 0.34 70.08 2.89 1.40
#iostat -d -p 2 2
Linux 2.6.9-22.EL (EDRSR24P1) 10/27/2006
Device: tps Blk_read/s Blk_wrtn/s Blk_read Blk_wrtn

hda 4.84 49.08 83.93 59993375 102593945
hda1 0.02 0.01 0.00 15083 5179
hda2 0.00 0.00 0.00 1595 70
hda3 0.59 2.30 2.40 2806293 2932664
hda5 12.60 46.77 81.52 57168926 99656032
As you can see in the above example, hda5 is the only partition that is really affecting system
performance.

Measuring I/O with sar
sar –b shows transfer rate as tps. The transfers are broken down into read/write with
rtps/wtps showing the number of requests per second and bread/s and bwrtn/s
showing the number of data blocks per second.
sar –d shows transfer rates and blocks per second per device.
# sar -d 2 2
02:57:44 PM DEV tps blks/s
02:57:46 PM dev3-0 6.50 96.00
02:57:46 PM DEV tps blks/s

02:57:48 PM dev3-0 1.50 112.00
Average: DEV tps blks/s

Average: dev3-0 4.00 104.00
Remember that sar can show history information for up to one month in the past, so this tool
allows you to easily compare current rates with historical figures.
Measuring I/O with vmstat
vmstat provides information on overall I/O throughput.
• bo: Blocks sent to the storage array (write)
• bi: Blocks received from the storage array (read)
# vmstat 3 3
1 0 0 424800 12540 84636 376516 0 0 10 58 3 31 12 5 24
2 0 0 424800 12536 84636 376516 0 0 0 11 107 451 1 0 99
3 0 0 424800 12536 84636 376516 0 0 0 56 110 451 1 0 99

Interpreting I/O Measurements
Look for changes from baseline measurements, especially

in queue size or wait times:
• High volume or queue size across multiple devices
• High volume or queue size for one device
• High wait times without corresponding high queue
sizes
Interpreting I/O Measurements

Like memory measurements, the key to using I/O statistics is measurement over a period of
time. Take periodic measurements of I/O volume and speed so that when performance degrades,
you can identify probable problem devices.
High Request Volume or Queue Size Overall
This indicates that the I/O devices are unable to handle the rate of I/O requests. This means that
there are either not enough channels to I/O devices or that existing channels are too slow.
High Request Volume or Queue Size for One Device
It indicates that I/O may not be properly balanced across available devices.
High Wait Times
If wait times are high and queue size is not, verify whether asynchronous I/O is being used if the
storage arrays supports it. If not, ensure that I/O slaves are in use. This may also be indicative of
hardware problems.

Reducing I/O Bottlenecks
To reduce I/O as a bottleneck:

• Reduce the volume of I/O through application and
memory tuning
• Increase I/O throughput by parallelizing I/O
– Multiple disk controllers
– Multiple disks
– Multiple data bus adapters
• Select your hardware carefully, and build your storage
arrays with performance in mind
• Separate redo, data, and index files
Reducing I/O Bottlenecks

A good rule of thumb is to tune the application and memory to reduce or eliminate I/O as much
as possible. When this is accomplished, balance the remaining I/O across all the available drives
and controllers. In general, the more disks and controllers you are working with, the greater your
I/O performance can be.
Carefully consider how your storage arrays are built. If you mix drives with different
performance characteristics, keep the fastest drives on a different bus than the slowest drives.
The controller bus speed is limited to the speed of the slowest device. More data channels means
more data bandwidth. Consider adding additional Host Bus Adapters (HBAs).
If you are using Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks (RAID), choose hardware-based RAID
over software-managed RAID. Software-managed RAID consumes CPU and memory resources
and seldom performs as well as hardware-based RAID. Additionally, RAID 5 generally
performs well for read operations, but poorly for write due to the parity calculations required.
Try to minimize the number of stripe columns in RAID 5. More columns means more
calculations to generate the parity bit.
Remember to place files with different requirements on different disks. For example, your redo
log members should be placed on separate disks (away from data and control files) and should
be on your fastest disks, bus, and controllers.

Summary

• Use Linux monitoring tools
• Interpret memory measurements
• Interpret I/O measurements

Using Linux Measurement Tools
This practice covers using:

• sar to measure CPU loads
• vmstat to measure memory usage
• iostat to measure disk I/O loads
Practice 9 Overview: Using Linux Measurement Tools

For detailed instructions on performing this practice, see Practice 9 in Appendix A.

Tuning Oracle on Linux

Objectives
After completing this lesson, you should be able to do the

following:
• Tune supported file systems
• Configure initialization parameters
• Implement asynchronous input/output (I/O)
• Implement advanced memory management techniques

Basic Oracle Database Optimizations
• Use locally managed tablespaces (default).

• Use a larger database buffer cache (within reason).
• Use an appropriately sized database block.
• Use a larger redo log buffer.
• Use multiple database writer processes on Symmetric
Multiprocessing (SMP) machines.
• Use Automatic Shared Memory Management.
Basic Oracle Database Optimizations

Oracle Database has a set of well-known (but often overlooked) features that enhance performance.
Locally Managed Tablespaces
Locally Managed Tablespaces (LMT) are the default in Oracle Database 10g. Starting with Oracle9i
Release 2, even the system tablespace may be locally managed. LMT reduces I/O by managing the
extent allocation within a file with a bitmap in that data file instead of updating tables in the data
dictionary. This decreases the I/O requirements for the system tablespace. Performance increases of
2% to 15% have been documented using LMT, depending on the application.
Larger Database Buffer Cache
The database instance caches the most recently used blocks in the database buffer cache. The larger
the cache, the more data blocks can be cached. Because a disk access takes much longer than a
memory access, each database block that can be cached and reused improves performance. Size the
cache according to the db_cache_advice feature in Oracle Enterprise Manager. Do not make the
cache so large that paging increases or (in extreme cases) it takes longer to search for a block in
memory than it would have to just read the block from disk. Performance gains depend on the
amount of reuse in the data blocks.

Sizing Database Blocks
The DB_BLOCK_SIZE parameter should be set according to

the type of application:
• 8 KB block size gives good overall performance.
• Smaller blocks give better concurrency with
OLTP applications.
• Larger blocks reduce the amount of overhead for data
warehouse/decision support system (DW/DSS)
applications.
Sizing Database Blocks

The size of the database block has a large impact on the performance of the application. Tests have
shown that the best block size is usually 8 KB. The database block must always be the same size or a
multiple of the memory page size. On Linux, the page size is 4 KB but (as discussed in the lesson
titled “Linux Measurement Tools”) can be increased to 2 or 4 MB using hugepages.
The database block should also be the same size or a multiple of the file system block size. The block
size on the ext3 file system is 4 KB. Other file systems may use other block sizes.
OLTP Applications
An online transaction processing (OLTP) application is characterized by a large number of
concurrent users and relatively small transactions. As the blocks get larger, the probability of two or
more users requesting access to the same block simultaneously also increases. This leads to “buffer
busy” waits, because only one process can access a block at a time. Smaller blocks reduce the
number of rows in the block, which then reduces the likelihood of concurrent access. If your
application has these characteristics, then consider setting DB_BLOCK_SIZE to 4 KB.

Sizing Database Blocks (continued)
DSS/DW Applications
Data warehouse–type applications are characterized by large data sets and frequent full table scans.
Because the data sets are so large that the database buffer cache cannot hold the full set, the set must
be read from disk. In this case, use the largest block size available (16 KB on 32-bit Linux). This
reduces the percentage of space used by block headers, and increases the number of rows per block,
thus reducing the number of I/Os by packing more data into the same number of bytes.
Effect of Block Size on Indexes
In databases with large tables and small database blocks, consider a very large OLTP application
such as credit card processing. The indexes may get quite large. Index lookups are always done
serially: first the root block is accessed, and then the first-level branch block is accessed. This
process continues to the n-1 level branch, finally reaching the leaf block, which is the nth level. This
lookup may require n I/Os for an n-level index, if the blocks needed are not already in the cache.
Ideally, the index is no more than three levels deep, meaning n should be three or less.
In the following example, a 20-level index is chosen to simplify the mathematics. Realistically, an
index would seldom get that large.
To illustrate the effect of the block size on an index, assume a 2 KB block size and a 20-level index.
If this index were in a database with 4 KB block size, then each leaf would hold at least twice as
many index row entries, so that half as many leaf blocks would be used. The first-level branch blocks
would hold twice as many leaf pointers, but there would be only half as many leaf blocks, so the
number of first-level branch blocks would be reduced to 1/4 of the original index.
Continuing with this exponential reduction in branches would reduce the number of levels to five.
The first index required 20 reads for an index lookup, and the rebuilt index requires five reads. This
significantly improves the performance of index lookups.
Because of this, you may want to use a larger block size if the application has very large indexes, or
consider using partitioned indexes.

LOG_BUFFER and Redo Log File
Increasing the size of the redo log components can help

the performance of high data manipulation language (DML)
applications.
• Examine performance reports for waits on the redo log
components.
• Tune the redo log file and archive log file
transfers first.
• Increase the size of the LOG_BUFFER parameter.
LOG_BUFFER and Redo Log File

Every DML statement produces some amount of redo information. This data must be written to the
redo log files on commit. The server process does not report Commit complete to the user until
the redo information has been written to the redo log file. When the current log file is full, a log file
switch occurs.
If the LGWR process cannot write to the log files fast enough to clear space in the log buffer for other
processes that are attempting to execute DML statements, then various wait statistics are
incremented. For example, if there is no space in the log buffer at the time an attempt is made to
write to it, there will be a log buffer space wait event. Increasing the size of the LOG_BUFFER
can reduce or eliminate these waits. The minimum LOG_BUFFER size is 64 KB. An optimal setting
for LOG_BUFFER varies with application. High-volume DML applications can benefit from a LOG
BUFFER set to something higher than the default value.

LOG_BUFFER and Redo Log File (continued)
Sizing redo log files is dependent on the speed at which redo is generated. If the switch is delayed for
any reason, the processes trying to write into the LOG_BUFFER have to wait, and a wait event log
file completion is recorded. You want to eliminate these waits and at the same time, do not
want to size the files so large that they become unmanageable. Redo log files in the range of tens to
hundreds of megabytes are considered reasonable. A tentative guideline is to size them such that the
log file switch occurs every 20 to 30 minutes. For details, refer to the Oracle Database 10g:
Performance Tuning course and the Oracle Database 10g Performance Tuning Guide.

Advanced Features of Oracle Server
There are a few advanced initialization parameters that

affect performance on Linux:
• DB_WRITER_PROCESSES
• DBWR_IO_SLAVES
• PRE_PAGE_SGA
Advanced Features of Oracle Server

The parameters listed here are considered advanced parameters. Very few initialization parameters
depend on the OS. The parameters listed in the slide are the ones that are most affected by the OS.

Multiple DBWR Processes
DB_WRITER_PROCESSES:
• These processes are set to no more than CPU_COUNT,
up to 20.
• Multiple DBWR processes write from LRU to disk.
• These processes can use asynchronous I/O.
• These processes are best used in OLTP environments.
LRU lists
DBWR processes
Multiple DBWR Processes

In high-volume OLTP databases, the standard configuration of the DBWR process may not be able to
write changed data blocks back to the disk fast enough to maintain the pool of free buffers for new
blocks coming into the database buffer cache. The usual first step is to increase the
DB_CACHE_SIZE, but this may not be enough.
The next step is to increase the number of DB_WRITER_PROCESSES. This starts the specified
number of DBWR processes. This can be up to 20 as of Oracle9i, Release 2. Each DBWR process
handles one or more LRU lists moving dirty buffers to the disk for those lists. If asynchronous I/O is
turned on, then all the DBWR processes make use of it.
The default value for DB_WRITER_PROCESSES is (CPU_COUNT+7)/8. For example, with between
one and eight CPUs, DB_WRITER_PROCESSES is set to one. If your CPU_COUNT = 20, then
DB_WRITER_PROCESSES is set to three. The value of DB_WRITER_PROCESSES must be
adjusted incrementally. When increasing the number of DB_WRITER_PROCESSES, consider the
number of disk controllers that are available and monitor the disk I/O queues. Too many
DB_WRITERS_PROCESSES can cause contention for the controller channel.

DB Writer Slaves
DBWR_IO_SLAVES:
• Used to simulate asynchronous I/O
• One DBWR, multiple writers to disk
Buffer
cache DBWR
I/O slaves
DB Writer Slaves
On systems without asynchronous I/O capability, the database instance provides a way to simulate
asynchronous I/O with the DBWR_IO_SLAVES.
Set this parameter to no more than two times the number of disks that the database is spread across.
When increasing DBWR_IO_SLAVES, consider the number of disk controllers and monitor the disk
I/O queues for contention. Also, when increasing the number of slaves, add only a few at a time,
because each of these processes has an overhead cost. If you add too many at once, the overhead of
all the processes may outweigh the benefit of the additional processes. Each slave must have a
communication area for I/O buffers. This area is taken from the large pool if it is configured, or from
the shared pool if the large pool does not exist. Turning on DBWR_IO_SLAVES forces
DB_WRITER_PROCESSES to one, and sets the number of slave processes used by the ARCH and
LGWR processes to four. Even though I/O slaves are generally used to simulate asynchronous I/O, the
slaves use asynchronous I/O if it is turned on.
Note: The use of multiple DBWR processes and I/O slaves are mutually exclusive.

Changing SGA Behavior
• Normally, unused memory allocated to the System

Global Area (SGA) is not mapped to the physical
memory until it is used, and infrequently used pages
are paged out.
• To touch all the SGA at startup, use PRE_PAGE_SGA:
– The SGA is mapped to physical memory.
– The SGA could slow connection processing.
Changing SGA Behavior

The normal behavior is that shared memory up to SGA_MAX_SIZE is allocated and set up in virtual
memory at startup. Unused pages in the SGA are not mapped to physical memory until they are used,
and pages in the SGA that are not frequently used may be paged out.
The PRE_PAGE_SGA initialization parameter causes each server process that starts to touch every
page of the SGA. This has the advantage of mapping all the SGA pages to physical memory, so that
when they are required later, they will be already mapped. The disadvantage is that with large
number of pages, each server process that starts touches all the pages, thus increasing the connection
time. If some pages are swapped out, those pages have to be swapped in for the touch. This in turn
may force other more active pages to swap, further reducing performance. Set PRE_PAGE_SGA =
true only when there is sufficient real memory to hold the entire SGA.

Automatic Shared Memory Management
• Automatically adapts to workload changes

• Maximizes memory utilization
• Helps eliminate out-of-memory errors
Buffer cache
Buffer cache
Example:
Large pool
Large pool
Shared pool Shared pool

Java pool Java pool
Streams pool Streams pool
Online users Batch jobs
Automatic Shared Memory Management

Automatic Shared Memory Management (ASMM) is another key self-management enhancement in
the Oracle database. This functionality automates the management of the most important shared
memory structures used by an Oracle database instance, and relieves you of having to configure these
components manually. Besides making more effective use of available memory and thereby reducing
the cost incurred for acquiring additional hardware memory resources, the ASMM feature
significantly simplifies Oracle database administration by introducing a more dynamic, flexible, and
adaptive memory management scheme.
For example, in a system that runs large online transactional processing (OLTP) jobs during the day
(requiring a large buffer cache) and runs parallel batch jobs at night (requiring a large value for the
large pool), you would have to simultaneously configure both the buffer cache and the large pool to
accommodate your peak requirements.
With ASMM, when the OLTP job runs, the buffer cache grabs most of the memory to allow for good
I/O performance. When the data analysis and reporting batch job starts up later, the memory is
automatically migrated to the large pool so that it can be used by parallel query operations without
producing memory overflow errors.

Basic Linux Optimizations
Basic changes to the Linux default setup can give some

performance improvements.
• Use the latest supported kernel.
• Turn off last time-read updates for
the database files.
Basic Linux Optimizations

Apply the latest supported kernel patches through the .rpm files provided by the distribution vendor.
This ensures that you are using the most efficient kernel available.
By default, the last time-read attribute (atime) is updated every time a file is read. For database
files, this is not an important statistic and you can turn it off to reduce the number of I/Os. This
parameter can be set for a file with chattr +A <filename> or for a directory with chattr -
R +A <directory name>. To make this change persistent across reboots, change it for a file
system by changing the /etc/fstab file and adding the noatime option to the fourth column.
/dev/hdb7 /u3/app/oracle/ ext3 rw,noatime 1 1

Choosing a Kernel
Choose the appropriate kernel for best performance:

• If you have more than 4 GB of physical memory, then
use the enterprise or hugemem kernel.
• If you have more than one CPU, then use the smp
kernel.
• Otherwise, use the uniprocessor kernel.
Choosing a Kernel
The Linux installers tend to make good choices about which kernel to install, and install the kernel
that uses your hardware and gives a good performance. If you have to choose which kernel to use,
follow these guidelines.
For machines with more than 4 GB of physical memory, an enterprise kernel is required. The
enterprise kernel includes the Physical Address Extensions (PAE) that are required to address
more than 4 GB of physical memory. This includes a three-level memory page table, so if you have
less than 4 GB of physical RAM, then the three-level page table is an extra overhead that is not
required.
For multiprocessor machines, the installer chooses an smp kernel. The smp kernel has the required
extensions to handle scheduling processes on more than one CPU.
The uniprocessor kernel handles up to 4 GB of physical memory on a single processor. An example
of the uniprocessor name is 2.4.9-e.3. (Note that there is no special designator.)
An enterprise or smp kernel may be used on a uniprocessor machine, but has extra overhead
associated with the unused features.

Summary

• Evaluate file systems
• Tune supported file systems
• Configure initialization parameters
• Implement asynchronous input/output (I/O)
• Implement advanced memory management techniques

Tuning Performance

• Adjusting the block size of database objects
• Identifying poorly performing sessions at the operating
system level

Dedugging Oracle on Linux

Objectives

• Install and configure OS Watcher
• Use Oracle Support’s Remote Diagnostics Agent
• Trace programs and processes with strace
• Gather required information for resolving ORA-600 and
ORA-7445 errrors

OS Watcher
OS Watcher (OSW) is a set of scripts that continually run in

the background, collecting information about:
• Processes
• I/O
• Memory
• Network
OS Watcher
OS Watcher (OSW) is a collection of shell scripts intended to collect and archive operating
system and network metrics to aid support of generic performance issues. OSW operates as a set
of background processes on the server and gathers OS data on a regular basis, invoking such
utilities as vmstat, netstat and iostat.
Note: For more details, refer to the OS Watcher user’s guide in MetaLink note 301137.1. The
MetaLink note contains the link for downloading OS Watcher.

Installing OSW
$ tar -xf osw.tar

$ cd osw
$ ls -gG
total 56
drwxr-xr-x 11 4096 Sep 30 13:50 archive
-rwxr-xr-x 1 1731 Mar 29 2005 Exampleprivate.net
-rwxr-xr-x 1 4451 Apr 5 2005 OSWatcherFM.sh
-rwxr-xr-x 1 10231 Aug 2 2005 OSWatcher.sh
-rwxr-xr-x 1 334 Mar 28 2005 oswnet.sh
-rwxr-xr-x 1 401 Mar 21 2005 oswsub.sh
-rw-r--r-- 1 3029 Mar 22 2005 README
-rwxr-xr-x 1 1101 Mar 18 2005 startOSW.sh
-rwxr-xr-x 1 560 Dec 16 2004 stopOSW.sh
-rwxr-xr-x 1 57 Jun 14 2005 tarupfiles.sh
-rwxr-xr-x 1 409 Mar 18 2005 topaix.sh
Installing OSWatcher
Installation is very simple. Untar the osw.tar file, which creates the directory structure under
the current directory. The parent directory of all the extracted files is called osw. At that point,
the software is installed.

Configuring OSW
Configure OSW by changing the command that it runs,

which are stored in the OSWatcher.sh file:
#########################################################
# CONFIGURATION Determine Host Platform
#########################################################
case $PLATFORM in
Linux)
IOSTAT='iostat -x 1 3'
VMSTAT='vmstat 1 3'
TOP='eval top -b -n 1 | head -50'
PSELF='ps -elf'
MPSTAT='mpstat 1 3'
MEMINFO='cat /proc/meminfo'
SLABINFO='cat /proc/slabinfo'
Configuring OSW
OSWatcher can be configured by editing the CONFIGURATION section of the
OSWatcher.sh script. Here, the commands, along with their arguments, are listed. You can
edit these here to cause the behavior and output of the commands to change. The default setting
for the Linux platform is shown in the slide.
For example, the output from iostat with the –x option, as shown above, shows the statistics
of the hard drive but not the partitions. You could change the –x option to –p /dev/hda and
the output would show the individual partitions.

Running OSW
$ ./startOSW.sh 30 24
Testing for discovery of OS Utilities... Snapshot
VMSTAT found on your system. interval
IOSTAT found on your system. in seconds
MPSTAT found on your system.
NETSTAT found on your system.
TOP found on your system. Hours
Discovery completed. to run
Starting OSWatcher V1.3.2 on Sat Sep ...
With SnapshotInterval = 30
With ArchiveInterval = 24
Starting Data Collection...
osw:Sat Sep 30 13:50:30 PDT 2006
osw:Sat Sep 30 13:51:01 PDT 2006 $ ./stopOSW.sh
osw:Sat Sep 30 13:51:31 PDT 2006
Terminated
Running OSW
To run OSW, simply invoke the startOSW.sh script:
startOSW.sh <snapshot_interval> <hours>
where the snapshot_interval is the number of seconds there should be between each data sample,
and hours is the number of hours for which to collect data. Even if the number of hours has not
been reached, you can run the stopOSW.sh script to stop it at any time.
In the example in the slide, data is being sampled every 30 seconds, and the script will run for 24
hours. But, after three samples have been taken (90 seconds have passed) the stopOSW.sh
script is run to stop the data collection.

Viewing OSW Output
The archive subdirectory contains the output of an OSW

execution, categorized into directories related to each
command that runs.
$ ls
oswiostat oswmpstat oswprvtnet oswslabinfo oswvmstat
oswmeminfo oswnetstat oswps oswtop
$ head -4 oswmeminfo/EDRSR9P1_meminfo_09.30.06.1300.dat
zzz ***Sat Sep 30 13:50:31 PDT 2006
MemTotal: 1035320 kB
MemFree: 451920 kB
Buffers: 1020 kB
Viewing OSW Output

The only directory immediately under the osw installation directory is called archive. That is
where all output is stored. In that directory is a subdirectory for each command that is being
repeatedly run during the session. The subdirectory names are made up by prepending the string
“osw” to the command name. They are:
• oswiostat
• oswmeminfo
• oswmpstat
• oswnetstat
• oswprvtnet
• oswps
• oswslabinfo
• oswtop
• Oswvmstat
Under each of those directories are the files that contain the collected data. The names of those
files follow this pattern for organizational purposes:
<hostname>_<command>_<timestamp>.dat

Remote Diagnostics Agent
The Remote Diagnostics Agent (RDA) is a tool you can run

on your database server that gathers information relevant
to:
• Performance issues
• Installation/configuration issues
• ORA-600, ORA-7445, and ORA-3113 errors
• Upgrade, migration, and linking issues
Remote Diagnostics Agent (RDA)

The Remote Diagnostics Agent is a tool that you can use to gather comprehensive information
about your database server, including Linux parameters, database settings, and network
information, and so on. This information is compiled into HTML, and so is easily browseable by
category.
The output is written in the form of HTML files, which are also collected into a single ZIP file.
This makes it easy to send the information to Oracle Support for analysis. It is also a good way
for you to see a summary of your entire system.
Note: See MetaLink Note 314422.1 for details on downloading, installing, and running the
RDA.

Installing the RDA
$ gunzip rda_4.5-060912.tar.gz
$ tar -xf rda_4.5-060912.tar
$ cd rda
$ ls -gG
total 112
-r--r--r-- 1 4087 Jul 6 01:58 DISCLAIM.txt
drwxr-xr-x 2 4096 Sep 30 12:07 hcve
drwxr-xr-x 2 4096 Sep 30 12:07 modules
drwxr-xr-x 4 4096 Sep 30 12:07 RDA
-r-xr-xr-x 1 3415 Apr 25 05:50 rda.cmd
-r-xr-xr-x 1 40066 Sep 8 08:03 rda.pl
-r-xr-xr-x 1 3442 Apr 25 05:50 rda.sh
-r--r--r-- 1 13103 Aug 4 06:41 README_Unix.txt
-r--r--r-- 1 14539 Aug 4 06:41 README_VMS.txt
-r--r--r-- 1 13101 Aug 4 06:41 README_Windows.txt
Installing the RDA

Installation is very simple. Extract the gzip file using gunzip, and then untar the extracted tar
file, which creates the directory structure under the current directory. The parent directory of all
the extracted files is called rda. At that point, the software is installed; there is no need to run
an installation script.

Running the RDA
Prompts with
several questions Gathers
data
$ ./rda.sh –S
.
.
$ ./rda.sh -v
Collecting diagnostic data ...
---------------------------------------------------------
RDA Data Collection Started 22-Sep-2006 11:59:37 AM
---------------------------------------------------------
Processing Initialization module ...
Processing CFG module ...
Processing Sampling module ...
Processing OCM module ...
Processing OS module ...
Running the RDA

There are two steps involved in running the RDA:
1. Setup: Run the rda.sh script with the –S parameter to perform the setup. This prompts
you for information about your installation including Oracle home directories, ASM
instance information, and location of certain files such as the initialization file.
2. Gather data: This step actually collects the data about your system. As each area (referred
to as module) is interrogated, the name is output on the command line.
Note: Root cannot connect to a database as “/ as sysdba.” When running rda.sh as the root
OS user, choose a different schema for connecting to the database.

Viewing the RDA Output
Viewing the RDA Output

Run a browser, and open the file that is referenced at the end of the data collection run. That
displays the main page, an example of which is shown in the slide. There are frames to easily
navigate to the various categories of information.

Navigating the RDA Output
Navigating the RDA Output

In the example in the slide, you see that you can choose to look at the Operating System Setup,
and then choose Miscellaneous Linux Information.

strace
• Diagnostic utility
• Records system calls
• Trace a specified command
• Trace an existing process
$ strace –aef –Ttt –o /tmp/date.out date
$ strace –p 1287 –o /tmp/ora_pmon_orcl.out
strace
Strace is a utility that intercepts and records the system calls, which are called by a process, and
the signals, which are received by a process. The name of each system call, its arguments and its
return value are printed on standard error or to the file specified with the -o option.
strace can trace running background processes or be used when executing a program.
Using a simple shell script, you can see a sample of the output from strace. Script
helloworld.sh invokes a bash shell, echoes “Hello World!,” and then exits.
helloworld.sh shell script:
#!/bin/bash
echo “Hello World!”
exit 0
The shell script is executed using strace:
strace –o /tmp/helloworld.out ./helloworld.sh

strace (continued)
The full output of the trace is 102 lines. The listing below contains the last few lines of the trace.
.
.
.
open("./helloworld.sh", O_RDONLY|O_LARGEFILE) = 3
ioctl(3, SNDCTL_TMR_TIMEBASE or TCGETS, 0xbffb28c8) = -1 ENOTTY
(Inappropriate ioctl for device)
_llseek(3, 0, [0], SEEK_CUR) = 0
read(3, "#!/bin/bash\necho \"Hello World!\"\n"..., 80) = 39
_llseek(3, 0, [0], SEEK_SET) = 0
getrlimit(RLIMIT_NOFILE, {rlim_cur=64*1024, rlim_max=64*1024}) = 0
dup2(3, 255) = 255
close(3) = 0
fcntl64(255, F_SETFD, FD_CLOEXEC) = 0
fcntl64(255, F_GETFL) = 0x8000 (flags
O_RDONLY|O_LARGEFILE)
fstat64(255, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0755, st_size=39, ...}) = 0
_llseek(255, 0, [0], SEEK_CUR) = 0
rt_sigprocmask(SIG_BLOCK, NULL, [], 8) = 0
read(255, "#!/bin/bash\necho \"Hello World!\"\n"..., 39) = 39
fstat64(1, {st_mode=S_IFCHR|0620, st_rdev=makedev(136, 5), ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) =
0xb7de3000
write(1, "Hello World!\n", 13) = 13
rt_sigprocmask(SIG_SETMASK, [], NULL, 8) = 0
munmap(0xb7de3000, 4096) = 0
exit_group(0) = ?

ORA-600 Errors
Alert log entry:
Tue Oct 3 05:13:08 2006

Errors in file
/u01/app/oracle/admin/orcl/udump/orcl_ora_18464.trc:
ORA-00600: internal error code, arguments: [kcfrbd_3],
[1], [3932239], [1], [62720], [62721], [], []
ORA-600
ORA-600 errors are raised from the kernel code of the Oracle Database software when an
internal inconsistency is detected or an unexpected condition is met. This situation is not
necessarily a bug, it might be caused by problems with the operating system, lack of resources,
hardware failures, or other conditions.
With the ORA-600 error comes a list of arguments in square brackets. The first of these
arguments tells us from where in the code the error was caught and thus is the key information in
identifying the problem. This argument is either a number or a character string. The remaining
arguments are used to supply further information such as values of internal variables.
When an ORA-600 error is raised a trace file is generated in either USER_DUMP_DEST or
BACKGROUND_DUMP_DEST depending on whether the error was caught in a user or a
background process. The error is also written in the alert log with the name of the trace file. The
trace file contains vital information about what led to the error condition.

ORA-7445 Errors
Alert log entry:
Tue Oct 3 05:26:06 2006

Errors in file
/u01/app/oracle/admin/orcl/udump/orcl_ora_18732.trc:
ORA-07445: exception encountered: core dump [0046A7A2]
[SIGSEGV] [unknown code] [0x4A49] [] []
ORA-7445 Error
An ORA-7445 error is raised by an Oracle server process when it has received a fatal signal
from the operating system. The error may be raised in either a foreground or background
process. The process will normally write an error to the alert log, write a trace file in either
USER_DUMP_DEST or BACKGROUND_DUMP_DEST, and create a core dump in
CORE_DUMP_DEST.
There are many “illegal” operations the operating system can trap; a common example is a
process writing to an invalid memory location. To protect the system, the offending process will
be sent a fatal signal. Typically, the signals seen are SIGBUS (signal 10, bus error) and
SIGSEGV (signal 11, segmentation violation).
There are other Linux signals and exceptions that may happen; however, those are likely caused
by an OS program rather than a problem in the Oracle database.
Examples of other signals are SIGINT, SIGKILL, and SIGSYS.
An ORA-7445 is a generic error, and can occur from anywhere in the Oracle code. The precise
location of the error is identified by the trace file it produces.

Resolving
ORA-600/ORA-7445 Errors
File a service request with Oracle Support providing:

• The database alert log located in
BACKGROUND_DUMP_DEST
• The trace file mentioned in the alert log
• Recent changes to the system environment
– Hardware modifications
– Operating system upgrades
– Restore of data files
– Power failures
• Data generated by RDA
Resolving ORA-600/ORA-7445 Errors

Unless you are able to identify the cause and possible fix for an ORA-600 error using the
references mentioned below, it should be considered as a potentially serious issue and reported
to Oracle Support for identification.
Every ORA-600 and ORA-7445 error generates a trace file. The name and location of the trace
file is also written to alert.log. To help Oracle Support determine what caused the error,
you should open a service request and supply the following information:
• The database alert log located in BACKGROUND_DUMP_DEST
• The trace file mentioned in the alert log
• Recent changes to the system environment:
- Hardware modifications
- Operating system upgrades
- Restore of data files
- Power failures
• Data generated by the Remote Diagnostic Agent
The trace file generated contains a call stack trace. A call stack trace or stack trace is the list of
routine calls, with the most recently called routine at the top of the list. The stack trace in the
trace file is a small portion of the trace starting with the header “Call Stack Trace.”

Resolving ORA-600/ORA-7445 Errors (continued)
Trace file stack trace:
----- Call Stack Trace -----
calling call entry argument values in hex
location type point (? means dubious value)
------------------- ---- --------------- ----------------------------
ksedst()+27 call ksedst1() 0 ? 1 ?
ksedmp()+557 call ksedst() 0 ? 0 ? 0 ? 0 ? 0 ? 0 ?
ksfdmp()+19 call ksedmp() 3 ? BFFFADD0 ? AC05C15 ?
CBC2A40 ? 3 ? CB740C0 ?
kgerinv()+177 call 00000000 CBC2A40 ? 3 ?
kgesinv()+52 call kgerinv() CBC2A40 ? B72A0020 ?
C50DAE0 ? 5 ? BFFFAE34 ?
ksesin()+46 call kgesinv() CBC2A40 ? B72A0020 ?
kcfrbd()+444 call ksesin() C50DAE0 ? 5 ? 0 ? 1 ? 0 ? 0 ?
kco_blkchk()+815 call kcfrbd() 2 ? BFFFAED4 ? 1 ? 3C004F ?
1 ? 0 ?
kcb_blkchk()+247 call kco_blkchk() 291A37A4 ? 24580000 ? 0 ?
2000 ? 0 ?
kcb_apply()+870 call kcb_blkchk() 291A37A4 ? 247EE40C ? 0 ?
ktichg_noundo()+770 call kcb_apply() BFFFB014 ? BFFFB02C ? 0 ? 1 ?
29166220 ? 0 ? 292C95D0 ? 0 ?
ktbchgro()+351 call ktichg_noundo() 29166220 ? 0 ? 1 ? BFFFB02C ?
BFFFB014 ? 291A37A4 ?
ktsfbfmt()+808 call ktbchgro() 0 ? 1 ? CC0F4A4 ? 291A37A4 ?
Copy the call stack trace from the trace file into the service request filed with Oracle Support.
Doing so will assist Support in resolving the issue.

Summary

• Use OS Watcher
• Use the Oracle Support’s Remote Diagnostics Agent
• Trace programs and processes with strace
• Gather information for resolving ORA-600 and
ORA-7445 errors

Debugging Oracle on Linux

• Installing and configuring OS Watcher
• Gathering OS and database information using RDA
• Tracing programs and processes using strace
• Forcing ORA-600 and ORA-7445 errors, and then
gathering the needed information for Oracle Support

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Oracle Database 10g: Managing

Oracle on Linux for DBAs

Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

After completing this lesson, you should be able to:

1-2 Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Oracle Database 10g: Managing Oracle on Linux for DBAs 1 - 2

7: Customizing Oracle on Linux

1-3 Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Oracle Database 10g: Managing Oracle on Linux for DBAs 1 - 3

x86 x86-64 Itanium

1-4 Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Supported Linux Distributions

Oracle Database 10g: Managing Oracle on Linux for DBAs 1 - 4

• The core parts of the Linux system are the following:

1-5 Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Linux Distribution: Overview

Oracle Database 10g: Managing Oracle on Linux for DBAs 1 - 5

The Linux system is made up of software that is delivered

1-6 Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Oracle Database 10g: Managing Oracle on Linux for DBAs 1 - 6

The Linux kernel is the core of the operating system. It is:

1-7 Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Oracle Database 10g: Managing Oracle on Linux for DBAs 1 - 7

• Execute the uname -r command to see the kernel

• Check the release number returned in MetaLink

1-8 Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Verifying the Kernel

Oracle Database 10g: Managing Oracle on Linux for DBAs 1 - 8

Base kernel version

1-9 Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Interpreting the Linux Kernel Version Number

Oracle Database 10g: Managing Oracle on Linux for DBAs 1 - 9

1 - 10 Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

A Tainted Linux Kernel

Oracle Database 10g: Managing Oracle on Linux for DBAs 1 - 10

Determine whether a kernel is tainted by:

1 - 11 Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Checking for a Tainted Kernel

Oracle Database 10g: Managing Oracle on Linux for DBAs 1 - 11

• Oracle Corporation does not certify hardware;

1 - 12 Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Oracle Database 10g: Managing Oracle on Linux for DBAs 1 - 12

• ls: List files

1 - 13 Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Oracle Database 10g: Managing Oracle on Linux for DBAs 1 - 13

• cat: Show and concatenate files

1 - 14 Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Oracle Database 10g: Managing Oracle on Linux for DBAs 1 - 14

1 - 15 Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Navigating the File System

Oracle Database 10g: Managing Oracle on Linux for DBAs 1 - 15

The virtual file system on Linux is referenced as the /proc

1 - 16 Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

The Virtual File System

Oracle Database 10g: Managing Oracle on Linux for DBAs 1 - 16

You use the virtual file system to:

1 - 17 Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Using the Virtual File System

Oracle Database 10g: Managing Oracle on Linux for DBAs 1 - 17