Re: How many ORACLE_HOME values are there supposed to be?

Comments embedded...

gl_at_arlut.utexas.edu said...
>
>
> i'm a newbie.
>
> i got directed to the "concepts" manual earlier. took a look at it.
> a huge chunk of it is basically "Oracle's version of postgres",
> ie, a whole lot of stuff about how oracle operates once it's
> up and running, ie, SQL. ignoring those chapters, i picked out and
> printed the chapters i thought would be of some use to me.
> that turned out to be: 1,3,5-6,8-9,22-23. 22-23 are
> security, and i expect those will be of some use eventually.
>
> i looked at the others closely enough to see they weren't going
> to help.
>

That's a good start. You'd be surprised how many people don't read the manuals. I'm a little confused by your comment about "Oracle's version of postgres." Oracle was around for decades before Postgres was even a gleam in some developer's toolkit. But that's beside the point.

> how many different values of ORACLE_HOME are there supposed to be?
> i have to install the application server, too, and it seems to
> indicate that there needs to be an ORACLE_HOME value for
> the infrastructure and the application server. i can't remember now
> if they're all supposed to be distince DB, IAS, and infrastructure,
> and that's part of what i'm asking. will i need three?
>

Oracle releases of 9iAS are a little like the open source releases ... a bunch of scattered pieces gathered together into one release. Well, some of the Oracle pieces are taken from different versions of Oracle ... some from version 8.0.6 (from somewhere back in the stone age). Those pieces require their own oracle home (similar to what you'd have if you put apache and perl on the same server).

> if i cruise through the response files for the DB alone, there's
> at least five places to enter a value for ORACLE_HOME. i guess they
> need to be the same, because I don't get prompted five or more times
> during an interactive install. is my surmise correct?
>

In the interactive install, the installer "knows" what pieces it dragged up from retirement (eg, 8.0.6 stuff) and will ask about those. It's pretty tough to make up response files when you haven't gone thru the interactive install first.

Playing with multiple oracle homes is one of the joys (?) of working with oracle. Knowing what they represent will be one of the most useful things you can learn about Oracle. Just wait until you try to connect to the database ... and the tnsnames.ora file you need is in the *other* oracle home (which, can be fixed quite easily, by the way).

> and another thing, is ORACLE_HOME going to be used to set the PATH
> variable? is it just important during the install?
>

ORACLE_HOME is an environment variable which acts like all other environment variables. You should include it in your PATH; it doesn't set your PATH. It tells Oracle where to find all of its software components like executables and parameter files.

> seems like there needs to be something that lets me decide these
> questions without trying to tease it out.
>

Oracle is no different than any other software vendor, I suppose. Documentation always seems to get pushed to the back of the development cycle. A lot of times, changes are made to Oracle software that never make it into the doc set ... or the doc set uses an old name for a feature that has been given a new marketing-oriented name.

Sadly, in the software/hardware field, teasing out information seems to be a required skill. We're not alone in this either. Have you ever looked at the manual that comes with electronic equipment, where every model is documented and it's up to you to ferret out the parts that apply to your particular model?

-- 
/Karsten
DBA > retired > DBA