Oracle Database on Oracle Linux: Pre-requisite Setup Guide (Beginner Edition with Pre-install RPM 19c and 21c Edition)

Oracle Database on Oracle Linux: Pre-requisite Setup Guide (Beginner Edition with Pre-install RPM) 

This guide prepares a fresh Oracle Linux system for installing Oracle Database (19c or 21c), using the oracle-database-preinstall RPM to automate most of the setup.

1. Base OS Setup

• OS Version: Oracle Linux 7 or 8 (64-bit), minimal install preferred

Update System

sudo yum update -y

sudo reboot

Enable Required Repos:

sudo yum install -y oraclelinux-release-el7

sudo yum-config-manager --enable ol7_latest ol7_optional ol7_addons

📦 2. Install Oracle Pre-install RPM

Oracle provides a pre-install RPM that configures:

• Required OS packages
• Kernel parameters
• Shell limits
• Oracle user and groups

For Oracle 19c on Oracle Linux 7:

sudo yum install -y oracle-database-preinstall-19c

For Oracle 21c on Oracle Linux 8:

sudo dnf install -y oracle-database-preinstall-21c

💡 This step automatically creates the oracle user, oinstall and dba groups, and sets kernel/shm parameters.

📁 3. Create Oracle Base Directory

Even though the RPM sets up the user, you still need to create the Oracle base manually:

sudo mkdir -p /u01/app/oracle sudo chown -R oracle:oinstall /u01 sudo chmod -R 775 /u01

🧠 4. Verify Kernel Parameters and Limits

The RPM sets values in /etc/sysctl.conf and /etc/security/limits.d/oracle-database-preinstall-19c.conf. You can verify with:

sysctl -a | grep shm ulimit -a

👤 5. Set Oracle Environment Variables

Edit /home/oracle/.bash_profile:

export ORACLE_BASE=/u01/app/oracle export ORACLE_HOME=$ORACLE_BASE/product/19.0.0/dbhome_1 export ORACLE_SID=ORCL export PATH=$ORACLE_HOME/bin:$PATH export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$ORACLE_HOME/lib

🧪 Adjust paths if you're installing 21c or using a custom ORACLE_HOME.

🧩 6. Optional: GUI Setup for Installer

If using Oracle’s GUI installer:

• Install X11 packages:

sudo yum install -y xorg-x11-utils xorg-x11-xauth

• Enable SSH X11 forwarding:

ssh -X oracle@your-host

• Or use VNC for remote GUI access

✅ Final Checklist Before Installation

Item	Minimum Requirement
Swap Space	2 GB or more
Disk Space in /u01	10–15 GB free
Hostname	Properly set and resolvable
Oracle User	Created by RPM
Kernel & Limits	Set by RPM