RE: Oracle Home naming convention

From: Patterson, Joel <Joel.Patterson_at_crowley.com>
Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2012 12:37:50 -0500
Message-ID: <C95D75DD2E01DD4D81124D104D317ACA1C764F21E8_at_JAXMSG01.crowley.com>



The SE, EE conundrum is an interesting twist and I can see a use for the sixth subdir.. db_1 etc.

Joel Patterson
Database Administrator
904 727-2546

-----Original Message-----
From: Norman Dunbar [mailto:oracle_at_dunbar-it.co.uk] Sent: Monday, November 26, 2012 10:29 AM To: Patterson, Joel
Cc: oracle-l_at_freelists.org
Subject: Re: Oracle Home naming convention

Hi Joel,

On 26/11/12 15:17, Patterson, Joel wrote:

> /orasoft/app/oracle/product/11.2.0.3.0/dbhome
> /orasoft/app/oracle/product/11.2.0.3.3/dbhome
> etc..

We have a similar convention, viz:

/opt/oracle/product/11.2.0.3/db_1
/opt/oracle/product/11.2.0.3/db_2
/opt/oracle/product/11.2.0.2/client_1

etc.

You can see where my problem came from! Is db_1 Enterprise or Standard? Well, I got it wrong!

When we have to patch an Oracle Home with a one-off patch, we need to create a new home for that, install (or clone) and then patch. Any database affected by the bug that requires the patch will be switched to the new home in the usual /etc/oratab manner.

Ditto PSU.

It does require a decent amount of free space in /opt/oracle/product, or we can mount another LUN at the appropriate level. It also messes up having multiple databases per server - but then again, what doesn't!

Eventually, of course, there's a home or two with no attached databases. Then that can get binned and the disc space recovered - ready for the next one-off patch or CPU.

I think, to avoid my original problem, we should be calling our homes something like:

/opt/oracle/product/11.2.0.3/EE/
/opt/oracle/product/11.2.0.3/SE/
/opt/oracle/product/11.2.0.2/client_1

And maybe, as PSUs are applied:

/opt/oracle/product/11.2.0.3.x/EE/
/opt/oracle/product/11.2.0.3.x/SE/
/opt/oracle/product/11.2.0.2.x/client_1

What I've done to try and prevent me, and others, from getting the wrong home assigned is to add a couple of entries to /etc/oratab:

11203ee:/opt/oracle/product/11.2.0.3/db_1:N 11203se:/opt/oracle/product/11.2.0.3/db_2:N

Etc.

Cheers,
Norm.

--
Norman Dunbar
Dunbar IT Consultants Ltd

Registered address:
Thorpe House
61 Richardshaw Lane
Pudsey
West Yorkshire
United Kingdom
LS28 7EL

Company Number: 05132767
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Received on Mon Nov 26 2012 - 18:37:50 CET

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