How to install Oracle 11gR2 on Ubuntu 14.04?

Question

Please provide me with the guidance to install oracle 11gr2 on Ubuntu 14.04.

Answer 1

1. Download Oracle Database Express Edition.

2. Instructions before installing Oracle database

1. Copy the downloaded file and paste it in home directory.

2. Unzip using the downloaded .zip file:

    unzip oracle-xe-11.2.0-1.0.x86_64.rpm.zip 
   

3. Install required packages:

    sudo apt-get install alien libaio1 unixodbc # still works in 22.04
   

4. Change directories to the Disk1 directory:

    cd Disk1/
   

5. Convert .rpm package format to .deb package format (that is used by Ubuntu):

    sudo alien --scripts -d oracle-xe-11.2.0-1.0.x86_64.rpm
   

6. Create the required chkconfig script:

    sudo nano /sbin/chkconfig
   

   The nano text editor is started and the commands are shown at the bottom of the screen. Now copy and paste the following into the file and save:

    #!/bin/bash
    # Oracle 11gR2 XE installer chkconfig hack for Ubuntu
    file=/etc/init.d/oracle-xe
    if [[ ! `tail -n1 $file | grep INIT` ]]; then
        echo >> $file
        echo '### BEGIN INIT INFO' >> $file
        echo '# Provides: OracleXE' >> $file
        echo '# Required-Start: $remote_fs $syslog' >> $file
        echo '# Required-Stop: $remote_fs $syslog' >> $file
        echo '# Default-Start: 2 3 4 5' >> $file
        echo '# Default-Stop: 0 1 6' >> $file
        echo '# Short-Description: Oracle 11g Express Edition' >> $file
        echo '### END INIT INFO' >> $file
    fi
    update-rc.d oracle-xe defaults 80 01
   

7. Change the permission of the chkconfig file:

    sudo chmod 755 /sbin/chkconfig  
   

8. Set kernel parameters. Oracle 11gR2 XE requires additional kernel parameters which you need to set using the command:

    sudo nano /etc/sysctl.d/60-oracle.conf
   

9. Copy the following into the file and save:

    # Oracle 11g XE kernel parameters 
    fs.file-max=6815744  
    net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range=9000 65000  
    kernel.sem=250 32000 100 128 
    kernel.shmmax=536870912 
   

10. Verify the changes:

    sudo cat /etc/sysctl.d/60-oracle.conf 
    

11. You should see what you entered earlier. Now load the kernel parameters:

    sudo service procps start # If this doesn't work try sudo systemctl start procps 
    

12. Verify the new parameters are loaded:

    sudo sysctl -q fs.file-max
    

You should see the file-max value that you entered earlier.

13. Set up /dev/shm mount point for Oracle. Create the following file:

    sudo nano /etc/rc2.d/S01shm_load
    

14. Copy the following into the file and save.

    #!/bin/sh
    case "$1" in
    start)
        mkdir /var/lock/subsys 2>/dev/null
        touch /var/lock/subsys/listener
        rm /dev/shm 2>/dev/null
        mkdir /dev/shm 2>/dev/null
    *)
        echo error
        exit 1
        ;;
    
    esac 
    

15. Change the permissions of the file:

    sudo chmod 755 /etc/rc2.d/S01shm_load
    

16. Run the following commands:

    sudo ln -s /usr/bin/awk /bin/awk 
    sudo mkdir /var/lock/subsys 
    sudo touch /var/lock/subsys/listener
    sudo reboot
    

3. Install Oracle database

1. Install Oracle DBMS:

   sudo dpkg --install oracle-xe_11.2.0-2_amd64.deb
   

2. Configure Oracle:

   sudo /etc/init.d/oracle-xe configure 
   

3. Setup environment variables by editing your .bashrc file:

   nano ~/.bashrc
   

4. Add the following lines to the end of the file:

    export ORACLE_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/xe
    export ORACLE_SID=XE
    export NLS_LANG=`$ORACLE_HOME/bin/nls_lang.sh`
    export ORACLE_BASE=/u01/app/oracle
    export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$ORACLE_HOME/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
    export PATH=$ORACLE_HOME/bin:$PATH
   

5. Load the changes by executing your profile:

   . ~/.bashrc
   

6. Start Oracle 11gR2 XE:

    sudo service oracle-xe start
   

7. Add user YOURUSERNAME to group dba using the command:

   sudo usermod -a -G dba YOURUSERNAME
   

4. Using the Oracle XE command shell

1. Start the Oracle XE 11gR2 server:

   sudo service oracle-xe start
   

2. Start command-line shell as the system admin:

   sqlplus sys as sysdba
   

   Enter the password that you gave while configuring Oracle earlier. You will now be placed in a SQL environment that only understands SQL commands.

3. Create a regular user account in Oracle using the SQL command:

   create user USERNAME identified by PASSWORD;
   

   Replace USERNAME and PASSWORD with the username and password of your choice. Please remember this username and password. If you had error executing the above with a message about resetlogs, then execute the following SQL command and try again:

   alter database open resetlogs;
   

4. Grant privileges to the user account using the SQL command:

   grant connect, resource to USERNAME;
   

   Replace USERNAME and PASSWORD with the username and password of your choice. Please remember this username and password.

5. Exit the sys admin shell using the SQL command:

   exit;
   

6. Start the command-line shell as a regular user using the command:

   sqlplus
   

Now you can run SQL commands.

Answer 2

This worked fine, however I got the following error:

sudo /etc/init.d/oracle-xe start
[....] Starting oracle-xe (via systemctl): oracle-xe.serviceJob for oracle-xe.service failed because the control process exited with error code. See "systemctl status oracle-xe.service" and "journalctl -xe" for details.
 failed!

Looking into it:

systemctl status oracle-xe.service
Jan 27 10:01:05 <myusername> su[29699]: No passwd entry for user 'oracle'

I resolved it by simply adding a user:

sudo adduser oracle

Hope this helps someone.