Re: Help critical install shared cdroms

On 5/15/05, Mark Bole <makbo_at_pacbell.net> wrote:
> At least two other respondents indicated a preference for downloading an
> installation bundle over the Internet instead of simply copying the
> install media at hand... I'm curious if there are any "war stories" or
> other rationale for this advice...?

In my case it's down to a few occasions where a copy of the installation media has simply failed to work for no apparent reason and the fact that downloading from technet you're getting the latest version.

I'd long suspected that Oracle is in the practice of silently fixing problems in the downloadable version of the install media (changes to dates on files, small differences in OUI &c). One day a support tech said the solution to an install problem I was having was to download the install file sets from the technet site. I pointed out that I was installing from a set of files I'd downloaded the previous week, to which he replied that the files had been updated the previous day with a fix for the problem I was having. There was nothing obvious I could see on the page that would indicate that. I know it sounds like and urban legend, I wouldn't believe it if it hadn't happened to me.

Now, if I can, I always download directly to the machine (more recently I've appropriated an E3500 and I download to that then NFS share the filesystem). I don't know if Oracle still update the install file sets without saying, but better safe than sorry. Or, more to the point, better safe than having to place a support call that will probably be picked up by someone who doesn't speak any of the same languages as me and will be unable to comprehend my use of idiomatic English (it probably doesn't help that I have a strong Birmingham accent that is difficult for non-Brummies to understand and, I'm told, can be quite grating).

Stephen

--=20
It's better to ask a silly question than to make a silly assumption.

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