How to install Oracle Solaris 11.4 within VirtualBox 6.0.2 and install Oracle Database

The below tutorial was performed on a machine running OEL7.4 using an Intel processor x86-64

The first step is to create the VM virtual hardware

Now we will proceed to download the OS installer, for that, we will go to this place:

https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/server-storage/solaris11/downloads/install-2245079.html

Then we need to configure the VM media to boot with the installer and set the para-virtualization to KVM (if you are doing this with windows then use Hyper-V)

Installing Solaris

Then F2 key

Configuring SSH on Solaris

As root vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config look for PermitRootLoginand set it to yes

This will make our life easier, now let’s connect to the VM using ssh, this will be done using a port-forwarding rule that way we will be able to connect using Putty or any other ssh client.

After this, you can connect to the VM using ssh, that will help you copy and paste the rest of the commands used here 🙂 you might need to restart the service or even better, shutdown the VM and take a snapshot just in case something goes wrong

Solaris configuration

Guest Additions

Recommendation, install the guest additions to allow have better control of the Solaris VM, also, if you are going to use this for testing, you may want to quit the password for the sudo users.

In case of problems mounting the device (on some cases the guest additions image does not get mounted automatically) you can manually mounted using

eject -l //this will show you the device name like /dev/dsk/c1t0d0s1

then mount it using

mount -F hsfs -o ro /dev/dsk/c1t0d0s1 /cdrom

more info here and here then reboot

Passwordless sudo

As root execute vim /etc/sudores then go to the end of the file.

Once connected using ssh to the VM, in my case

ssh -p 11300 root@localhost

Let’s update the system

pkg update --accept
groupadd oinstall
groupadd dba
usermod -g oinstall -G dba oracle

The next step is to setup some kernel parameters (all processes and tasks then created within the project inherit these controls)

projadd user.oracle
projmod -U oracle -sK "process.max-file-descriptor=(basic,65536,deny)" \
user.oracle
projmod -U oracle -sK "project.max-shm-memory=(priv,8589934592,deny)" \
user.oracle

Now we have to install the dependencies required by the Oracle version you want to run, to do it, we will use the preinstall package

//for 121*
pkg install oracle-rdbms-server-12-1-preinstall
/for 122*
pkg install oracle-rdbms-server-12-2-preinstall
//if you are installing 18
pkg install oracle-rdbms-server-18c-preinstall

The next step is to create the partition where the database files will live, in my case as this machine is only for testing, I will only create a folder and change its owner

mkdir /databases
chown -R oracle:dba /databases

Then we need to set the password of the oracle user

passwd oracle

As a final step, change the limits of the Oracle user

-bash-4.4$ ulimit -a
core file size          (blocks, -c) unlimited
data seg size           (kbytes, -d) unlimited
file size               (blocks, -f) unlimited
open files                      (-n) 65536
pipe size            (512 bytes, -p) 10
stack size              (kbytes, -s) 8192
cpu time               (seconds, -t) unlimited
max user processes              (-u) 29995
virtual memory          (kbytes, -v) unlimited
-bash-4.4$ ulimit -s 32768
-bash-4.4$ ulimit -a
core file size          (blocks, -c) unlimited
data seg size           (kbytes, -d) unlimited
file size               (blocks, -f) unlimited
open files                      (-n) 65536
pipe size            (512 bytes, -p) 10
stack size              (kbytes, -s) 32768
cpu time               (seconds, -t) unlimited
max user processes              (-u) 29995
virtual memory          (kbytes, -v) unlimited

(usually oracle is not a sudoer user, if that is the case you will have to change the limits from an admin user)

Oracle RDBMS Installation

Connected as root execute

pkg install oracle-rdbms-server-18c-preinstall

Once the preinstall finished, we can proceed to install Oracle RDBMS, in this case we will do it with two version

Oracle 18.3 and Oracle 12.2

The installation will be performed using the silent mode since Solaris does not come with a GUI, also because even if you try to install one using something like this you might face a lot of problems.

Installing a GUI may induce to a kernel panics on your system on some hosts, if you plan to do it, take a snapshot of your system and also follow this fix to prevent those kernel panics due to slow CPU communication between the host and the guest

The Oracle installation changed from version 12c to version 18c

Installing Oracle 18c in silent mode

Download the Oracle installer from here

//create the home directory & unzip the file
mkdir /databases/product/18.3.0/dbhome_1
cd  /databases/product/18.3.0/dbhome_1
unzip -q ~/Download/OracleRDBMS18c.zip

//export the env variables
export ORACLE_HOME=/databases/product/18.3.0/dbhome_1
export ORACLE_BASE=/databases
export PATH=$ORACLE_HOME/bin:$PATH

//execute the clonner
$ORACLE_HOME/perl/bin/perl $ORACLE_HOME/clone/bin/clone.pl ORACLE_BASE="$ORACLE_BASE" ORACLE_HOME="$ORACLE_HOME" OSDBA_GROUP=dba OSOPER_GROUP=dba -defaultHomeName -nowait

once the binaries are installer we can proceed to create a database

// NonCDB 18c
dbca -silent -createDatabase \
-templateName General_Purpose.dbc \
-gdbname db18300 -sid db18300 -responseFile NO_VALUE \
-characterSet AL32UTF8 \
-sysPassword admin123 \
-systemPassword admin123 \
-createAsContainerDatabase false \
-databaseType MULTIPURPOSE \
-automaticMemoryManagement false \
-totalMemory 1536 \
-storageType FS \
-datafileDestination "/databases/oradata/" \
-redoLogFileSize 50 \
-emConfiguration NONE \
-ignorePreReqs

//CDB 18c
dbca -silent -createDatabase \
-templateName General_Purpose.dbc \
-gdbname cdb18300 -sid cdb18300 -responseFile NO_VALUE \
-characterSet AL32UTF8 \
-sysPassword admin123 \
-systemPassword admin123 \
-createAsContainerDatabase true \
-numberOfPDBs 1 \
-pdbName pdb \
-pdbAdminPassword admin123 \
-databaseType MULTIPURPOSE \
-automaticMemoryManagement false \
-totalMemory 1536 \
-storageType FS \
-datafileDestination "/databases/oradata/" \
-redoLogFileSize 50 \
-emConfiguration NONE \
-ignorePreReqs

Installing Oracle 12cR2 in silent mode

Download Oracle 12c from here

Once the binaries are in place we will proceed to the installation

mkdir -p /databases/product/12.2.0/
cd /databases/product/12.2.0/
unzip -q ~/Downloads/OracleRDBMS12cR2.zip

//this will create a directory called database on the current dir
cd database

./runInstaller -silent -showProgress -force \
oracle.install.option=INSTALL_DB_SWONLY \
UNIX_GROUP_NAME=oinstall \
ORACLE_HOME=/databases/product/12.2.0/dbhome_1 \
ORACLE_BASE=/databases \
oracle.install.db.InstallEdition=EE \
oracle.install.db.isCustomInstall=false \
oracle.install.db.DBA_GROUP=dba \
oracle.install.db.OPER_GROUP=dba \
oracle.install.db.OSBACKUPDBA_GROUP=dba \
oracle.install.db.OSDGDBA_GROUP=dba \
oracle.install.db.OSKMDBA_GROUP=dba \
oracle.install.db.OSRACDBA_GROUP=dba \
DECLINE_SECURITY_UPDATES=true

Now we will proceed to create a couple of databases

export ORACLE_HOME=/databases/product/12.2.0/dbhome_1
export ORACLE_BASE=/databases
export PATH=$ORACLE_HOME/bin:$PATH

Then call dbca in silent mode

//non cdb 12c
dbca -silent -createDatabase \
-templateName General_Purpose.dbc \
-gdbname db12200 -sid db12200 -responseFile NO_VALUE \
-characterSet AL32UTF8 \
-sysPassword admin123 \
-systemPassword admin123 \
-createAsContainerDatabase false \
-databaseType MULTIPURPOSE \
-automaticMemoryManagement false \
-totalMemory 1536 \
-storageType FS \
-datafileDestination "/databases/oradata/" \
-redoLogFileSize 50 \
-emConfiguration NONE \
-ignorePreReqs

//cdb 12c
dbca -silent -createDatabase \
-templateName General_Purpose.dbc \
-gdbname cdb12200 -sid cdb12200 -responseFile NO_VALUE \
-characterSet AL32UTF8 \
-sysPassword admin123 \
-systemPassword admin123 \
-createAsContainerDatabase true \
-numberOfPDBs 1 \
-pdbName pdb \
-pdbAdminPassword admin123 \
-databaseType MULTIPURPOSE \
-automaticMemoryManagement false \
-totalMemory 1536 \
-storageType FS \
-datafileDestination "/databases/oradata/" \
-redoLogFileSize 50 \
-emConfiguration NONE \
-ignorePreReqs

that’s all, now you can switch to the database using . oraenv followed by the ORACLE_SID you chose

References

https://community.oracle.com/docs/DOC-910652
https://docs.oracle.com/en/database/oracle/oracle-database/12.2/cwsol/checking-resource-limits-for-oracle-software-installation-user.html#GUID-293874BD-8069-470F-BEBF-A77C06618D5A
https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E26502_01/html/E29006/gizfl.html
https://oraclefact.wordpress.com/2018/04/06/how-to-install-11-2-12-1-12-2-database-client-software-in-silent-mode-with-without-using-response-file-doc-id-885643-1/