Re: Copying an Oracle Software "Gold Image" without Cloning?
Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2013 13:09:23 -0600
Message-ID: <CA+fnDAbsqRKnGKS7NVZqhqa3TEpf8w=YPpKnbrB1CwErV96q=g_at_mail.gmail.com>
I can't quite tell if you're talking about removing gcc from a client system or a server system.
On a client system, I don't remember for sure, but I didn't think the instant client needed to be linked. Seems to me you should be able to get by without gcc. Are you installing a full client in addition to the instant client?
On a server system, I don't think you can go without gcc. First off, as you yourself pointed out - some maintenance operations (like installing PSUs or CPUs) will require build tools to relink the binaries. Second, there are database features - such as PL/SQL native compilation - which actually use GCC to compile code on the fly. While your database may startup and probably won't crash if you remove gcc after install/clone, I suspect Oracle support would simply say that you're not running in a supported configuration if you run into problems.
Using clone.sh is the only official approach AFAIK for cloning servers. But I didn't think clone.sh actually ran a relink for non-RAC systems, though I might be wrong about that. You said that you were getting errors from clone.sh. (Are your errors from a prereq check? I think there's a way to skip those.)
If you do any more testing I'd be very interested to hear the outcomes. Lots of people on this list use gold-images (with clone.sh) quite extensively - myself included!
-Jeremy
-- http://about.me/jeremy_schneider On Tue, Nov 19, 2013 at 2:38 PM, Austin Hackett <hacketta_57_at_me.com> wrote:Received on Mon Nov 25 2013 - 20:09:23 CET
> Hi List
>
> I was hoping to pick the brains of those who've had a similar challenge:
>
> I've automated installation of the Oracle Client in my company via
> scripted cloning (unzip the software gold image, run the clone script in
> the unzipped home, and finally run root.sh). All the machines needing the
> client are RHEL 6.x x86-64bit, and a mixture of 11gR1 and 11g2 clients.
>
> This works great for us.
>
> However, our SAs now want to harden the OS build used for App Servers and
> the like by excluding tools like gcc. I tried our clone script on the
> hardened build and (as expected) the cloned home was non-functional (errors
> due to missing libs) and the oracle generated clone actions log reported
> errors that gcc could not be found.
>
> The view of the SAs is that we ought to be creating an RPM of the Oracle
> Client that doesn't require the clone.pl script, and thus gcc etc. I
> accept their point that if all OS build are identical it shouldn't really
> be necessary to relink the software and so on.
>
> Initially I wondered if the Instant Client was the answer, but based on my
> reading of the docs, it seems to need all the same RPMs as the client.
>
> Removing the RPMs of concern after the client install may be feasible, but
> we need to apply PSUs regularly, and perhaps some interims too. I believe
> opatch needs these RPMs, so re-installing and then uninstalling the RPMs at
> patching time is far from ideal.
>
> All the examples I can find of copying an ORACLE_HOME use clone.pl,
> including this blog post which uses a custom RPM:
> http://martincarstenbach.wordpress.com/2011/12/13/provision-oracle-rdbms-software-via-rpm
>
> Assuming my gold image contains (in addition to the ORACLE_HOME) the
> inventory directory, oraInst.loc, /usr/local/bin/oraenv etc. AND that the
> source and target OS build are identical I can see this *should* work.
>
> Is there anyone out there doing it this way? Does Oracle support doing it
> this way, or is clone.pl the only officially mandated approach?
>
> Thoughts from those with some time to spare would be much appreciated...
>
> Thanks
>
> Austin--
> http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l
>
>
>
-- http://about.me/jeremy_schneider On Tue, Nov 19, 2013 at 2:38 PM, Austin Hackett <hacketta_57_at_me.com> wrote:
> Hi List
>
> I was hoping to pick the brains of those who've had a similar challenge:
>
> I've automated installation of the Oracle Client in my company via
> scripted cloning (unzip the software gold image, run the clone script in
> the unzipped home, and finally run root.sh). All the machines needing the
> client are RHEL 6.x x86-64bit, and a mixture of 11gR1 and 11g2 clients.
>
> This works great for us.
>
> However, our SAs now want to harden the OS build used for App Servers and
> the like by excluding tools like gcc. I tried our clone script on the
> hardened build and (as expected) the cloned home was non-functional (errors
> due to missing libs) and the oracle generated clone actions log reported
> errors that gcc could not be found.
>
> The view of the SAs is that we ought to be creating an RPM of the Oracle
> Client that doesn't require the clone.pl script, and thus gcc etc. I
> accept their point that if all OS build are identical it shouldn't really
> be necessary to relink the software and so on.
>
> Initially I wondered if the Instant Client was the answer, but based on my
> reading of the docs, it seems to need all the same RPMs as the client.
>
> Removing the RPMs of concern after the client install may be feasible, but
> we need to apply PSUs regularly, and perhaps some interims too. I believe
> opatch needs these RPMs, so re-installing and then uninstalling the RPMs at
> patching time is far from ideal.
>
> All the examples I can find of copying an ORACLE_HOME use clone.pl,
> including this blog post which uses a custom RPM:
> http://martincarstenbach.wordpress.com/2011/12/13/provision-oracle-rdbms-software-via-rpm
>
> Assuming my gold image contains (in addition to the ORACLE_HOME) the
> inventory directory, oraInst.loc, /usr/local/bin/oraenv etc. AND that the
> source and target OS build are identical I can see this *should* work.
>
> Is there anyone out there doing it this way? Does Oracle support doing it
> this way, or is clone.pl the only officially mandated approach?
>
> Thoughts from those with some time to spare would be much appreciated...
>
> Thanks
>
> Austin--
> http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l
>
>
>
-- http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l