Tag: articles

Oracle Database 19c on Oracle Linux 9 (OL9): Installation Articles and Vagrant Builds

Earlier this year I wrote a rant about the lack of product certifications on Oracle Linux 9 (OL9).

One of the points I made was we are having to replace OL7 servers, but were forced to go to OL8 because Oracle 19c was not certified on OL9, and Oracle 23c on-prem is not available.

This blog post by Mike DieTrich changed all that because now 19c is certified on OL9, provided you are on patch 19.19 or above, and are on the correct version of UEK or the RHEL kernel. See Mike’s post for details.

Installation Articles

Of course, this triggered some installation articles.

Vagrant Builds

There are database, RAC and Data Guard vagrant builds here.

Odd Occurrence

I noticed something a little odd when doing these builds using the 19.21 RU patches.

For the database and Data Guard builds I used the DB RU and OJVM combo patch, and I was still forced to fake the distribution using the CV_ASSUME_DISTID environment variable. For the RAC build I used the GI RU and OJVM combo patch, and I didn’t need to fake the distribution.

I went back to the DB build, and instead used the GI RU and OJVM combo patch, and I no longer needed to fake the distribution. So it looks like there is something different about the database patches between these two types of RUs that slightly affect the installation process. It’s no big deal, but it might catch you out.

Oracle 19c is old. Why do you care?

We are in the process of replacing a load of VMs that are currently running OL7, and we want to go to OL9. Prior to this announcement were were going to have to do one of two things.

  • Migrate to 19c on OL8, which would be OK for 23c when it drops, but not ideal as building an OL8 box now seems like a fail.
  • Wait for 23c on-prem to drop and move to 23c on OL9. The problem here is we could run out of time waiting for 23c to come.

This announcement gives us a new option.

  • Migrate to 19c on OL9, then upgrade to 23c when the on-prem version drops.

This third option is way better for us!

Remember

There are a couple of things to remember.

  • You need to be on 19c to upgrade to 23c, so getting your 19c database on an OS that is supported for 23c is important. We’ve had confirmation that 23c will be available for OL8 and OL9 on release.
  • The extended support waiver for 19c was increased from 1 year to 2 years. Mike also wrote about this here. That means you get free extended support for 19c until April 30, 2026.

Conclusion

This is massive for us. I’m very happy!

Cheers

Tim…

Life Update : The first rule of Oracle Games Console…

Life has been a little quiet on the publishing front recently. You may have noticed I’ve not posted many new articles or blog posts of late. This situation is likely to continue for some time, and I thought I would drop a post to let you know why…

I’m currently spending most of my time playing with a certain beta product, and all of that is covered by a non disclosure agreement (NDA). Over the last few weeks I’ve written a bunch of articles, but I can’t hit the publish button on them yet. Over the coming months I’ll continue to write new articles and give feedback to Oracle, but of course you will not be seeing any of this.

Once the product goes live I’ll be able to release all this stuff, with the obligatory edits/rewrites to take account of the changes between the beta and live versions of course. The total amount of content will be no different in the long run, but there will be a baron period for a few months followed by a glut of content. I suspect this situation will be similar for a number of folks in the Oracle community.

The rules are a bit different for Oracle employees, so you will be seeing teasers for new functionality from them, but not from the rest of the community…

Over the next few months I’ll mostly be posting memes and “from the vault” links on social media, just so you don’t forget I exist, but it is going to be a relatively quiet time…

Cheers

Tim…

Oracle Database 21c : Installation Articles, Vagrant and Docker Builds

As you have no doubt heard, Oracle database 21c was released on Friday. I went to work over the weekend doing the relevant articles and builds. They’ve been on the front page of the website since Sunday, but I was waiting for the release of the 21c preinstall package before announcing them. That has arrived now, so this is what I was up to at the weekend.

Installation Articles

First the articles for single instance, Data Guard, RAC and RPM installations.

Vagrant

There are a bunch of associated Vagrant builds on Oracle Linux 8 and 7.

Single instance database installs, using the conventional installation method, and the RPM installation.

Data Guard installs.

RAC installs.

Docker

There are two database builds for 21c database in containers.

Caution

As I wrote in my previous post, Oracle 21c is an innovation release. It’s good to play with this, but be careful when considering it for production.

Cheers

Tim…

PS. I’m struggling to notice the difference between “21” and “12” when reading at the moment. 🙂

Some new Oracle Database 12c Articles

I’ve recently put some new Oracle 12c articles on the website.

The privilege usage stuff is really cool. Normally, trying to figure out what you can remove from a user is always a complete pain in the ass. Some of the databases I’m currently working with have used GRANT like it’s going out of fashion. Trying to identify what is really necessary is a tough job. Features like this are going to be hard to wait for…

Cheers

Tim…

 

Another batch of Linux articles (RHCSA)…

I’ve just put another batch of Linux articles live.

As before, they are focussing on the RHCSA exam objectives, so a lot of it is pretty basic information.

The Firewall and SELinux objectives are the only ones left now. These two objectives were the main reasons I decided to start this process. I left them until last because I figured if I started with them, I might never get round to doing the other articles. 🙂

As far as the Linux firewall goes, if it can’t be done with the point and click GUI (or TUI), I don’t do it, so taking a look at iptables from the command line has been on my list for a very long time. The RHCSA objective suggests using the GUI/TUI interface should be sufficient, since it says, “using system-config-firewall or iptables”. In contrast, the RHCE objectives explicitly mention iptables, possibly suggesting tasks that may not be possible from the GUI? The question is, how much do I trust my own judgement on this matter? I would prefer go in to the RHCSA exam with too much information, rather than not enough, so I guess I’ll take a look at iptables from the command line before attempting the RHCSA exam.

I know even less about SELinux than I do about the firewall. For Oracle installations I typically disable it. 🙂 So I guess this objective is going to be a magical mystery tour. 🙂

If anyone has sat the RHCSA exam for RHEL6, I would be interested to hear your thoughts on the Firewall and SELinux objectives. I think I’ve got a pretty good handle on the other objectives, but I’m kinda shooting in the dark with these two. It would be a shame to waste £400 on a failed exam. 🙂

Cheers

Tim…