Is starter database mandatory? Short on disk space

When I install Oracle, is there any harm done in skipping the creation of a starter database at the end? (i.e. ignoring the database creation wizard).

Would SQL*Plus work, if no database exists?

I needed to install Oracle 9i on Solaris 2.7 - I won't be using it to create database application per se, but to install a third-party application which needs a database system (like Oracle, MSSQL, etc) installed as a prerequisite.

I know that this third-party app will create its own database within Oracle, but I'm not sure it'll work if SQL*Plus doesn't work.

I've installed Oracle on NT before, but Oracle 9i on Solaris seems HUGE - it says it needs 2.4GB just for the server. I didn't seem to have much luck trying to disable some options from installing - it seems like most of the time an option is either mandatory, or disabling it causes many other options to become disabled, some of which I want.

I got it down to needing 2.3GB (wow).

After this installs (about 2.5 hours), it gets to the database creation wizard, and it's already threatening to take up another 0.5 - 1 GB.

Does Oracle 9i on Solaris really need this huge amount of disk space? Can I ignore the starter database, or tell the wizard to make an empty one?

At the moment, I'm at that awkward stage of having installed the server, and having skipped the database creation wizard, which means I'd have to run 'dbca' manually if I want to create a sample db. SQL*Plus gives the errors:
  ORA-01034: Oracle Not available
  ORA-27101: Shared Memory Realm not avaible

Regards,
Sandra Received on Tue Mar 11 2003 - 08:50:46 CST