Installing Oracle Database Software

 Your company has made the obvious decision and has decided to buy the Oracle database software.  Soon, you will be installing Oracle.

Installing the Oracle database software or binaries is the process of copying these binaries from the installation CD’s to the server where the Oracle database will be running.

After the installation has been done, you can start creating Oracle databases. Keep in mind that databases can also be created during the installation but this is not the best practice.

Oracle has gone a long way to simplify the database software installation from rocket science by Oracle 7 to the database appliance by Oracle 11GR2 which already comes pre-installed with the database software.

Nonetheless, since the Oracle database is extremely flexible and customizable, there are still some important decisions and complexities you will have to deal with.

What needs to be decided prior to the installation!

 Oracle is available for many different Operating Systems and in different Editions (Standard,Enterprise…).  Moreover, you may need to make your database high available and also disaster protected.

Making a final decision on what will be installed mixes budget, technical, hardware and most importantly business requirements into a final licensing agreement with Oracle.

The options range from installing the Standard Edition on and single server (simplest and cheapest) to installing the Enterprise Edition on a cluster of servers to provide high availability and making it disaster protected.

Example 1: Single server providing access to the database

Example 2: Cluster of servers providing access to the database making it high available

Example 3: Cluster of servers providing access to the database making it high available combined with an automatically maintained copy of the database on a remote site for disaster protection.

The installation

The Oracle software needs to be downloaded from Oracle’s site and copied to the environment where the database will be running.

Prior to the installation, you must follow the pre-installation documentation provided by Oracle. This documentation describes a list of tasks to be completed ahead of the installation and failing to complete these tasks may cause the installation to fail.

Next, you will finally be installing Oracle which is basically the process of going through the installation wizard. At this point you should know exactly what needs to be installed to solve your business requirements.

Going the last mile

Your database, especially your Oracle database is one of the most important and fundamental investments you will be making for business.  In today’s economy that we are all about cutting cost and controlling unnecessary expenses, the last thing you want to do to setup the most fundamental piece of software of your business in a less than perfect manner.  Do it right the first time is the perfect cliché.

The questions that you need to ask yourself and your team are:

• How current is our in-house expertise with the latest Oracle database features?
• Is the skill set of our DBA group, to support our production database or do we have the know-how, the expertise, and the visions of an Oracle database architect in-house?
• How confident are we in designing and setting up our latest Oracle database?
• Are we going to have to spend more resources reconfiguring our environment which could impact?
• Do we have the knowledgebase for taking advantage of other complimentary Oracle products – at no cost – that allows a higher ROI and a greater business agility?

Let us help you

Here at eSolution we would like a chance to show you how get most out of your Oracle investments.  With many years of experience in this field, with an eye on constant skills building and skills sharpening, our consultants are the best solution to your, long and short term needs.

Please contact us today and discuss the possibilities.