Oracle9i Release Notes

Oracle9i Release Notes

Release 1 (9.0.1.1)
Sun SPARC Solaris (64-Bit)
Requirements for Installation

OS Mode To determine if you are running Solaris in 64-bit mode, run:
isainfo -kv

Memory A minimum of 512 MB of RAM is required to install Oracle9i Server. A minimum of 512 MB is required to install Oracle9i Management and Infrastructure. A minimum of 256 MB is required to install Oracle9i Client. Use the following command to verify the amount of memory installed on your system:

$ /usr/sbin/prtconf | grep "Memory size"

Swap Space An amount of disk space equal to twice the amount of RAM or at least 400 MB, whichever is greater. Use the following command to determine the amount of swap space installed on your system:

$ /usr/sbin/swap -l

and divide the value in the BLOCKS column by two.
CD-ROM A CD-ROM drive capable of reading CD-ROM disks in the ISO 9660 format with RockRidge extensions.

Disk Space 4.7 GB for database software, and an additional 1 GB for a seed database.

Temporary Disk Space The Oracle Universal Installer requires up to 400 MB of free space in the /tmp directory. If 400 MB or more is not available in /tmp, you can create a tmp directory in another file system, then set the environment variables TMP (used by Oracle) and TMPDIR (used by operating system programs like the linker "ld" and library archiver "ar") to point to this location. For example:

Bourne (sh) / Korn (ksh) Shell
$ mkdir /u03/tmp $ TMP=/u03/tmp ; export TMP $ TMPDIR=/u03/tmp ; export TMPDIR

C (csh) shell
% mkdir /u03/tmp % setenv TMP /u03/tmp % setenv TMPDIR /u03/tmp

OS--Solaris 8 (5.8) 64-Bit To determine your current operating system information, enter the following command:

$ uname -a

Sun Cluster CD-ROMs for Oracle Real Application Clusters To use Oracle9i with Oracle Real Application Clusters, obtain the following CD-ROMs from Sun Microsystems:

Cluster 3.0 CD
Cluster 3.0 Data Services Packages CD

OS Patches The following table lists the operating patches required to run Oracle programs and databases.
Sun provides patch clusters and individual patches at the following location:
http://sunsolve.sun.com

Patch Required to run
Solaris 8 (5.8) requires at least kernel patch revision #108528-01. The Oracle database
Solaris 8 (5.8) requires shared library patch for 64-bit C++ #108435-01 for Enterprise Edition installations. OLAP databases
Solaris8 (5.8) requires maintenance update 4 patch Oracle Real Application Clusters
Solaris8 (5.8) requires Cluster patch numbers 110648-04 and 110649-01 Oracle Real Application Clusters
Solaris8 (5.8) requires ORCLudlm 64 bit patch Oracle Real Application Clusters

To determine which operating system patches are installed, enter the following command:
$ showrev -p

OS Software Requirements To use Oracle9i, ensure that several operating system software packages are installed on your operating system. Determine whether they are installed with the following command:

pkginfo -i package name

For example, to determine if the SUNWarc package is installed, type:
pkginfo -i SUNWarc

The following table lists the operating system software requirements:

OS Software Requirements
OS Packages SUNWtoox, SUNWarc, SUNWarcx, SUNWbtool, SUNWhea, SUNWlibm, SUNWlibms, SUNWsprot and SUNWtoo.
X Server and Window Manager Use any X server supported by your UNIX operating system vendor. Use any Sun-supported window manager supported by your UNIX operating system vendor.
For Hummingbird Exceed, use native window manager.
For WRQ Reflections, allow remote window manager.
To determine if your X Window System is working properly on your local system, enter the following command:
$ xclock
Required Executables The following executables must be present in the /usr/ccs/bin directory: make, ar, ld, nm.

Kernel Parameters

Oracle9i uses UNIX resources such as shared memory, swap space, and semaphores extensively for interprocess communication. If your kernel parameter settings are insufficient for Oracle9i, you will experience problems during installation and instance startup. The greater the amount of data you can store in memory, the faster your database will operate. In addition, by maintaining data in memory, the UNIX kernel reduces disk I/O activity.
Use a text editor such as vi to change kernel parameter settings in the /etc/system file after making a backup copy. If you have previously changed your kernel for another program to levels equal to or higher than the levels Oracle9i requires, do not change the settings. If they are too low, change them to levels at least as high as those in the table. If you change the settings, then save the /etc/system file and restart the system. Refer to the following table to determine if your system shared memory and semaphore kernel parameters are set high enough for Oracle9i.
Use the ipcs command to obtain a list of the system's current shared memory and semaphore segments, and their identification number and owner.
The parameters in the following table are the minimum values required to run Oracle9i with a single database instance.

Kernel Parameter Setting Purpose
SEMMNI 100 Defines the maximum number of semaphore sets in the entire system.
SEMMNS 256 Defines the maximum semaphores on the system. Set to the sum of the PROCESSES parameter for each Oracle database, adding the largest one twice, and then adding an additional 10 for each database.
SEMMSL 256 Defines the minimum recommended value, for initial installation only.
SHMMAX 4294967295 Defines the maximum allowable size of one shared memory segment. 4 GB = 4294967295
SHMMIN 1 Defines the minimum allowable size of a single shared memory segment.
SHMMNI 100 Defines the maximum number of shared memory segments in the entire system.
SHMSEG 10 Defines the maximum number of shared memory segments one process can attach.

These are minimum kernel requirements for Oracle9i. If you have previously tuned your kernel parameters to levels equal to or higher than these values, continue to use the higher values. A system restart is necessary for kernel changes to take effect.

Documentation

Additional product README files are located in their respective product directories under the $ORACLE_HOME directory and in the
$ORACLE_HOME/relnotes directory.

Multiple CD-ROM Installation

During installation of Oracle9i release 9.0.1, you will be prompted to insert additional CD-ROMs from the set that make up Oracle9i release 9.0.1. After inserting the requested disk, change the path in the Disk Location dialog to reflect the root directory of the newly mounted CD-ROM.
For example, when you insert Disk 3 with a directory path of /cdrom/orcl901_3, change the path in the Disk Location dialog to /cdrom/orcl901_3.

runInstaller Script

In an X Window environment, it is possible to launch Oracle Universal Installer by running the runInstaller script from a shell or by clicking on the script in the File Manager window. Oracle Corporation recommends that you do not launch the script by clicking on the script from the File Manager window since you will not be able to eject a software CD-ROM until you end the installation session. The Oracle9i installation uses multiple CD-ROMs, and it is necessary to insert and eject more than one CD-ROM.

Oracle Universal Installer

The following error message can be ignored during the migration of the database from release 8.1.x to release 9.0.1:

ORA-00604: error occurred at recursive SQL level 1

Installation with Response Files

For installation with a response file, the path to the response file must be the full path on the machine. The Oracle Universal Installer will not properly handle relative paths.

Product-Related Issues

Oracle Internet Directory

Upgrade from Oracle8i release 8.1.7 Enterprise Edition

If you are upgrading from an Oracle8i release 8.1.7 Enterprise Edition with Oracle Internet Directory, then first upgrade Oracle Internet Directory to release 3.0.1 before upgrading to Oracle9i release 9.0.1 Enterprise Edition.

Upgrade from Previous Release of Oracle Internet Directory

Oracle9i release 9.0.1 supports upgrades for releases of Oracle Internet Directory release 2.1.1.x.0 to Oracle Internet Directory release 3.0.1.

Password Management

When performing an Oracle Internet Directory installation the Database Configuration Assistant opens an alert window and shows the passwords for the SYS and SYSTEM database roles. Do not change these passwords. Click OK.

Global Database Name and Oracle SID

When performing a custom Oracle Internet Directory installation, do not change the global database name or the Oracle SID.

Oracle9i OLAP Services

After you install all required patches, configure the file olap.key with the following command:
$ORACLE_HOME/olap/admin/regctrl /infile olap.cfg

For information about installation errors, refer to the OLAP installation log, which is at the following location:
$ORACLE_HOME/install/olap.log

Oracle Personalization

The Oracle9i Database CD Pack includes an "Oracle9i Personalization and Oracle9i Data Mining" CD. Of these two components, Oracle Data Mining is an option to Oracle9i Enterprise Edition. However, Oracle Personalization is a feature of Oracle9i Application Server. The Oracle9i database does not include a license for Oracle Personalization.

Oracle Real Application Clusters Pre-Installation Task

The following pre-installation instructions are in addition to the procedure described in the Solaris section under "Oracle Real Application Clusters" in Chapter 2, Pre-Installation, Oracle9i Installation Guide, Release 9.0.1 for UNIX Systems. This is not change to Oracle9i Real Application Clusters Installation and Configuration.
Add the following step after the section that discusses installing the ORCLudlm package from the opspatch directory on the CD. To perform this step, be using UDLM version 3.3.4.3 or greater.
You must create a file to redirect memory access to allow the Process Global Area (PGA) to increase in size beyond 100 MB. You must also create this file if Oracle displays the following error:
ORA-04030: out of process memory when trying to allocate n bytes

Where n is the number of bytes Oracle was attempting to allocate.
To perform this step, become root user and on all nodes in the cluster create the following file:
/opt/SUNWcluster/lib/udlm_shmem_addr_file.txt

The file must contain the following entry:
0x12000000

The attach address that this entry refers to is the address for a memory segment associated with the Solaris clusterware. If your system requires more PGA memory than this entry provides, increase the value of the entry in the file.
Re-start the clusterware on all the nodes in the cluster after you create this file.

Oracle Real Application Clusters

In Oracle9i Installation Guide for UNIX Systems, "Additional Steps to Perform as the root user for Installing Real Application Clusters on HP or Solaris" in Chapter 2, you are referred to a file in the opspatch directory that contains installation instructions for installing a required patch for Real Application Clusters. The name of that file is README.udlm.

Oracle Real Application Cluster Guard

Sun Cluster File System Compatibility:

Oracle Real Applications Clusters Guard is not supported on Sun Cluster File System.

Oracle Real Application Cluster Guard Packs:

If Oracle Real Applications Clusters Guard packs are running, and both the nodes of the cluster simultaneously fail, or if at any time all the nodes are stopped without first stopping the packs with the pfsctl command, then Oracle Real Application Clusters Guard packs will start automatically when the nodes are subsequently booted.
To stop the Oracle Real Application Clusters Guard packs from restarting automatically, use the following commands as root:
$ cd $ORACLE_HOME/pfs/bin $ pfsctl PFSCTL>pfshalt

Oracle Transparent Gateways

In the HTML versions of the Transparent Gateways administrator's guides, the hyperlinks to generic Oracle documentation are not active. To access the generic documentation, use the Oracle9i release 1 (9.0.1) generic documentation CD-ROM.

Oracle Database Configuration Assistant

When you use Oracle Database Configuration Assistant to create a custom database that includes Oracle JServer, it can take over an hour to load Oracle JServer into the database. The amount of time depends on your system's hardware configuration.

Demo Schema

If you select a multibyte character set or UTF as the national character set in Oracle9i release 9.0.1, then recreate the demo schema and database installation.
For more information on creating schemas, schema dependencies and requirements, refer to the readme.txt file in the
$ORACLE_HOME/demo/schema directory.

Character Sets

Oracle9i NCHAR Datatypes

In Oracle9i release 9.0.1, the SQL NCHAR datatypes are limited to the Unicode character set encoding (UTF8 and AL16UTF16). Alternative character sets such as the fixed-width Asian character set JA16SJISFIXED in Oracle8i are no longer supported.
To migrate existing NCHAR, NVARCHAR, and NCLOB columns, export and import NCHAR columns, do the following:

Export all SQL NCHAR columns from Oracle8i.

Drop the SQL NCHAR columns.

Migrate the database to Oracle9i.

Import the SQL NCHAR columns in to Oracle9i.

AL24UTFFSS Character Set

Oracle9i release 9.0.1 does not support the Unicode character set AL24UTFFSS introduced in Oracle7. This character set was based on the Unicode standard 1.1, which is now obsolete.
Oracle9i release 9.0.1 supports the Unicode database character sets AL32UTF8 and UTF8. These database character sets include the Unicode enhancements based on the Unicode standard 3.0.
To migrate the existing AL24UTFFSS database, upgrade your database character set to UTF8 before upgrading to Oracle9i. Oracle Corporation recommends that you use the Character Set Scanner for data analysis before attempting to migrate your existing database character set.

Character Set Scanner

Set the LD_LIBRARY_PATH variable to include the $ORACLE_HOME/lib directory before running the Character Set Scanner (csscan) from the $ORACLE_HOME directory. If you do not correctly set the LD_LIBRARY_PATH variable, then the csscan utility will fail.

Calling External Subprograms from PL/SQL (extproc)

The extproc binary installed in the $ORACLE_HOME/bin directory is a 64-bit binary. A 32-bit version of the extproc binary, extproc32, is also installed in the $ORACLE_HOME/bin directory.
To use 32-bit external subprograms, change the PROGRAM value for the entry used for extproc in the listener.ora file as follows:

Set the PROGRAM entry to extproc32:
(PROGRAM=extproc32)

Set the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable to point to $ORACLE_HOME/lib32
Shut down and restart the listener. You can configure the listener to use either 32-bit external subprograms or 64-bit external subprograms. You cannot configure the listener to use both versions at the same time.

Products Not Supported for Oracle9i Release 1 (9.0.1.1) on Sun SPARC Solaris (64-Bit)

The following products are not supported for Oracle9i Release 1 (9.0.1.1) for Sun SPARC Solaris (64-Bit)

Sqlmod*Ada

Precompiler option Sqlmod*Ada is not supported by this release.

Oracle Advanced Security

On Sun SPARC Solaris, Entrust/PKI and CyberSafe authentication methods are not supported for this release.

Post-Installation Issues

Relink Script Errors

The relink script is located in $ORACLE_HOME/bin. If you run the command relink all, the relink script tries to relink the Oracle Names and Oracle Connection Manager executables even when these products are not installed. If you did not install Oracle Names and Oracle Connection Manager, you will see the following errors:
ld: fatal: File processing errors. No output written to names
make: Fatal error: Don't know how to make target
'<ORACLE_HOME>/network/lib/s0nfpc.o'

These errors should be ignored. They will not occur if Oracle Names and Oracle Connection Manager are installed.

Kernel Parameter	Setting	Purpose
SEMMNI	100	Defines the maximum number of semaphore sets in the entire system.
SEMMNS	256	Defines the maximum semaphores on the system. Set to the sum of the PROCESSES parameter for each Oracle database, adding the largest one twice, and then adding an additional 10 for each database.
SEMMSL	256	Defines the minimum recommended value, for initial installation only.
SHMMAX	4294967295	Defines the maximum allowable size of one shared memory segment. 4 GB = 4294967295
SHMMIN	1	Defines the minimum allowable size of a single shared memory segment.
SHMMNI	100	Defines the maximum number of shared memory segments in the entire system.
SHMSEG	10	Defines the maximum number of shared memory segments one process can attach.