1
Verifying Requirements

Before installing Oracle Portal, make sure that your system meets the necessary requirements which are presented in this chapter.

As part of a typical Oracle Portal installation, the following components are installed:

• Oracle Portal Database Objects: images, demos, content areas, common services, utilities, required support files, documentation, Single Sign-On (SSO), and so on.

• Oracle9i Application Server Web Server: Servlets, Oracle PL/SQL Gateway (including mod_plsql) and the Oracle HTTP Server powered by Apache.

See also: Preface, "Related Publications" Oracle HTTP Server documentation in the Oracle9i Application Server Documentation Library for detailed information about Oracle HTTP Server, Oracle HTTP modules (mods), and the overall Oracle9i Application Server architecture. "Oracle9i Application Server Installation Guide" for your particular operating system

The following is an illustration of the various components packaged with the Oracle9i Application Server. Oracle Portal is packaged below Portal Services.

Figure 1-1 Oracle9i Application Server services and components

Text description of the illustration elem_web.gif

1.1 System Requirements

Before you install Oracle Portal 3.0.8, you must have an Oracle8i database and Oracle9i Application Server running, including the Oracle HTTP Server powered by Apache.

Oracle Portal is packaged and installed with the Oracle9i Application Server, in the same Oracle Home location, but in a separate Oracle Home location from the Oracle8i database.

Ensure that your system also meets the following requirements before you install Oracle Portal.

1.1.1 Operating Systems

Windows NT/2000 4.0 with Service Pack 3 or above

UNIX 2.6 or above

1.1.2 Oracle Databases

Oracle Portal can be installed in the following databases:

Oracle8i Release 8.1.6.2.0 Enterprise Edition

Oracle8i Release 8.1.7 Standard and Enterprise Edition

Note: If you are planning to enable interMedia Text in Oracle Portal on Windows NT/2000, you must have an Oracle 8.1.7 database.

Also, verify that the following conditions exist on your database before installing Oracle Portal:

Oracle JServer Option, which includes the Enterprise JavaBeans and CORBA Tools, Java Virtual Machine, and Oracle Java Tools, are installed.

You have the SYS user password on your Oracle8i database.

Your Oracle8i database is up and running.

Notes: You can obtain the Oracle8i database Release 2 Patch Set version 8.1.6.2.0 by contacting your Oracle Support representative. Oracle 8.1.6.2 is required since Oracle Portal makes extensive use of Oracle8i PL/SQL features like Native Dynamic SQL, Bulk Collect, Autonomous Transactions, nested tables and objects. Additionally, some of the newer features are exposed through Java. The PL/SQL Gateway is dependent on Oracle 8.1.7 client libraries and is installed along with the Oracle HTTP Server. With the PL/SQL Gateway, you can Web-enable any procedures stored either in the local database or any remote 8.x database. For more information, see Chapter 6, "Configuring the PL/SQL Gateway".

1.1.3 Oracle Home

You must install Oracle9i Application Server and its component, Oracle Portal, in a separate Oracle home directory from your Oracle8i database.

1.1.4 Web Browsers

Netscape 4.0.8 and 4.72

Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0.1 with Service Pack 1 and 5.0.1

Note: You may encounter JavaScript errors if you use a browser older than the recommended minimum.

1.1.5 Tablespace Requirements

You require the following minimum tablespace amounts in your database before installing Oracle Portal. If you have existing Oracle products, make sure that you increase the tablespace size by the following amounts.

SYSTEM tablespace = 250 MB

Default tablespace = 150 MB

If you are using a FAT file system in your Windows NT/2000 environment, double the amount for the default tablespace (for example, 300 MB).

Notes: Before installing Oracle Portal, it is a good idea to increase the sizes for your tablespaces, tables, and indexes to shorten the installation time and improve performance overall. For more information, see the tip. During installing, you are prompted to select a tablespace from the database in which to install the Oracle Portal schema and database objects. The default tablespace set by the Oracle Portal Configuration Assistant is USERS. Do not allocate additional tablespace for each content area that you create since content areas are part of the Oracle Portal schema.

1.1.6 init.ora Settings

Set the init.ora parameters in the Oracle Home containing your Oracle Portal installation as follows:

MAX_ENABLED_ROLES = 25 (MINIMUM)
OPEN_CURSORS = 50 (MINIMUM)
COMPATIBLE = 8.1.0 (OR ABOVE)
JAVA_POOL_SIZE = 20971520 
SHARED_POOL_SIZE = 31457280  

Note: If you are encountering error number 503 in the Oracle HTTP Server, it could be that the database is not configured with enough sessions to handle the load. Try doubling the number of database processes configured in the init.ora file.

1.1.7 tnsnames.ora Settings

The network file, tnsnames.ora, which is generated by Oracle Net8 Assistant must be located in the following location:

<ORACLE_HOME>/network/admin

Also, the tnsnames.ora file in the Oracle Home location containing your Oracle9i Application Server must have a connect string entry pointing to the database where your Oracle Portal installation is located.

In the C shell, for example, type the following at a command line prompt:

setenv TNS_ADMIN path  

where:

path points to the tnsnames.ora file. This command differs depending on the shell.

1.1.8 Terminal Settings

On UNIX, set your terminal (using the set TERM command) to one of the following types:

3151 386 386s 386u 386x 
ansi avx3 
dec dgd2 dgd4 
hft hftc hp iris ncd 
sun sun5 tandm 
vt100 vt220 
wy150 wy50 
xsun xsun5    

1.1.9 interMedia Text Requirements

To enable interMedia Text searching in Oracle Portal, make sure that the following requirements are met:

• Install and configure the Oracle8i database with the interMedia Text option by running the Oracle Universal Installer (OUI) and the Database Configuration Assistant. See the appropriate Oracle8i installation guide for more information about installing and configuring an Oracle8i database to use interMedia Text.

  Notes: If you are planning to enable interMedia Text in Oracle Portal on Windows NT/2000, the following requirements apply: Oracle Portal must be installed in an Oracle 8.1.7 database. Disable connection pooling from the Database Access Descriptor page. See "Accessing the Gateway DAD Configuration Page" to access this page. interMedia Text should be installed in the same Oracle Home as your database. It is not installed if you perform a Minimal installation of the Oracle8i database.

• Install Oracle Portal 3.0.8 according to the instructions in the "Oracle9i Application Server Installation Guide".

• Set the LD_LIBRARY_PATH to the following before starting your database and Net8 Listener:

  $LD_LIBRARY_PATH:$ORACLE_HOME/ctx/lib
  

See also: Chapter 7, "Setting Up the Search Feature in Oracle Portal Content Areas" "Net8 Administrator's Guide" for more information about creating the tnsnames.ora and listener.ora configuration files

If you encounter any problems during installation, check the installation session log that describes the actions performed and the components created upon installation. You can check the log file for ORA and PLS errors that may have occurred during installation. The log file is located in the following location:

<ORACLE_HOME>/assistants/opca/install.log

See also: Chapter 9, "Troubleshooting"