1 Oracle Explorer Data Collector Installation

The Oracle Explorer Data Collector is a collection of shell scripts and a few binary executable that gathers information and creates a detailed snapshot of a system's configuration and state.

Explorer output enables Oracle's engineers to perform assessments of the system by applying the output against knowledge-based rules engine.

Note:

The Oracle Explorer Data Collector is supported on Oracle Solaris Releases 8, 9, 10, 11 Express, and 11.

Download Oracle Explorer Data Collector

The Oracle Explorer Data Collector is distributed as part of the Services Tools Bundle (STB) and is made available for download as a My Oracle Support patch. Because the Oracle Explorer Data Collector uses the Remote Diagnostic Agent (RDA) tool to collect part of its information and because RDA is part of the STB, it is highly advised to install the entire STB bundle.

First, please read the "Oracle Explorer Data Collector Third-Party License Agreement", which explains the terms and conditions under which the third-party software that is included in Oracle Explorer is available for use.

Following the procedure below to download the latest Services Tools Bundle:

Login to My Oracle Support (https://support.oracle.com).
Click the Patches & Updates tab.
In the Patch Search pane, click the Product or Family (Advanced Search) link.
In the Product drop-down menu, select Services Tools Bundle. Then in the Release drop-down, select version 6.3 of the Services Tools Bundle.
Click Search.

The Patch Name will appear in a search results list with the Patch ID number for downloading the Services Tools Bundle. Click this Patch ID for a description of the patch and select the download option you prefer.

It is highly recommended that you always install the entire Services Tools Bundle. There is a possibility to extract the individual packages from the Services Tool bundle and install from the extract location. See Extracting Individual Packages for more information..

Oracle Explorer Data Collector Installation Options

Depending on your software installation preferences, you have several options for installing the Oracle Explorer Data Collector.

Install Through Oracle Services Tools Bundle for Sun Systems

The downloaded Services Tools Bundle is a self-extracting installer bundle by which Oracle Explorer Data Collector can be installed directly or can be extracted. To install the tool:

Make sure the install script is executable:
```
chmod +x install_stb.sh
```
Run ./install_stb.sh

Extracting Individual Packages

Following the procedure below to install Oracle Explorer Data Collector after you have downloaded the latest installer, as described in "Download Oracle Explorer Data Collector".

Note:

Beginning with Oracle Solaris 10, local zones are now supported. However, the Oracle Explorer Data Collector must be installed in the global zone.

If a version of the tool is installed on the host, remove the SUNWexplo and SUNWexplu packages before installing the new Oracle Explorer Data Collector package.
Become superuser.

Type the following command at the prompt: pkgrm SUNWexplo

If the SUNWexplu package is also installed, type the following command at the prompt: pkgrm SUNWexplu

Note:

Removing the current SUNWexplo and SUNWexplu package saves the Oracle Explorer Data Collector defaults file.

In Oracle Explorer 3.6.2 and earlier versions, the defaults file is explorer_install_dir/etc/default/explorer.

In Oracle Explorer 4.0 and later versions, the defaults file is /etc/opt/SUNWexplo/default/explorer.

You can save the defaults file and use it as input when you run the explorer -g command to create or update the defaults file. During installation of Oracle Explorer version 4.0 or later, this file is moved from the explorer_install_dir/etc/default/explorer directory to the /etc/opt/SUNWexplo/default/explorer directory. The contents of the defaults file are displayed as the default responses when you run the explorer -g command.

The output directory of the most recent Oracle Explorer run is saved in the explorer_install_dir/output directory.

Extract Oracle Explorer Data Collector from Oracle Services Tools Bundle for Sun Systems using the -ext option.

To obtain the STB installer options, type ./install_stb.sh -help
Uncompress and untar the Explorer_<version>.tar.Z file:

cd /var/tmp/stb/extract/Explorer

Decide which of the following commands you should use to untar the file:
- If you do not have zcat installed, type:
  
  uncompress Explorer_<version>.tar.Z tar xvf Explorer_<version>.tar
- If you have zcat installed, type:
  
  zcat Explorer_<version>.tar.Z | tar xvf -
Note:
If you want to use Oracle Explorer Data Collector from an alternate path, proceed to step 2 in How to Use Explorer from an Alternate Path.
To install Explorer and create directories called SUNWexplo and SUNWexplu type the following command at the prompt as superuser:

pkgadd -d . SUNWexplo SUNWexplu

Install with Limited Interaction

To install Oracle Explorer Data Collector with limited interaction, modify the Oracle Explorer defaults settings on host_A and then run explorer -g -d to use the settings from host_A when installing on other hosts (such as host_B). If host_B has an existing defaults file, Oracle Explorer Data Collector uses the defined values whenever possible. If host_B does not have a defaults file, the tools uses the host_A defaults file settings.

This procedure updates the modification date and EXP_DEF_VERSION variable, and replaces ${EXP_HOME}with /opt/SUNWexplo in the EXP_LIB variable.

Note:

The EXP_PLATFORM_NAME_$hostid, EXP_SERIAL_$hostid, and EXP_ZONES settings are not saved in the defaults file. If you use those settings, run the Oracle Explorer Data Collector installation on each system.

Perform the following steps to install using limited interaction:

Install Oracle Explorer on host_A using pkgadd.
Run explorer -g on host_A to accept the license and update or create the defaults file.
Save the defaults file.

The file must be located in the directory that other hosts are able to access.
Install the new Oracle Explorer release on another system (host_B).
Run explorer -g -d file on host_B.

The -d file option specifies the defaults file saved in Step 3.

The defaults file for host_B is /etc/opt/SUNWexplo/default/explorer. If there is already a Oracle Explorer defaults file on host_B, the tool will try to use the existing values on host_B. Otherwise, the values are the same as for host_A. The values for EXP_PLATFORM_NAME_$hostid, EXP_SERIAL_$hostid, and EXP_ZONES in the defaults file are null.

Install to a Non-Default Directory

This procedure describes installing SUNWexplo into a non-default directory. The command option is pkgadd -a admin. A template of the admin file is in the Oracle Explorer Data Collector release package.

Untar the Explorer_<release no>.tar.Z file.

tar xvf Explorer_<release no>.tar.Z
Copy the exp_admin file in the SUNWexplo/install directory to a temporary location.

cp SUNWexplo/install/exp_admin /tmp/exp_admin
Change the value of basedir in the /tmp/exp_admin file to the desired installation directory.

Execute the pkgadd -a admin command.

pkgadd -a /tmp/exp_admin -d . SUNWexplo

For example:

# cp SUNWexplo/install/exp_admin /tmp/exp_admin
# vi /tmp/exp_admin
# pkgadd -a /tmp/exp_admin -d . SUNWexplo

Upgrade Oracle Explorer Data Collector

The safest way to upgrade to a new version of the Oracle Explorer Data Collector is to install the new version of the Services Tool Bundle (STB), which contains the new version of Oracle Explorer Data Collector and at the same time a corresponding version of the Oracle Remote Diagnostic Agent (RDA). The STB install will automatically migrate the defaults file and the input files.

Upgrading an an existing Oracle Explorer installation to a newer release consists of these steps:

Removing any existing SUNWexplo, SUNWexplu, and SUNWrda packages.
Downloading the latest version of the Services Tools Bundle (STB).
Extracting the SUNWexplo, SUNWexplu, and SUNWrda packages.
Installing the new packages.

This section describes the procedure for upgrading an existing Oracle Explorer Data Collector installation. See "Install with Limited Interaction" for the procedure for updating the tool with limited interaction.

Become superuser
Remove the current SUNWexplo, SUNWexplu, and SUNWrda packages (if they exist):
```
# pkgrm SUNWexplo
# pkgrm SUNWexplu
# pkgrm SUNWrda
```
Removing the existing SUNWexplo, SUNWexplu, and SUNWrda packages deletes all Oracle Explorer and Oracle RDA components except the Oracle Explorer defaults file and the most recent Oracle Explorer output directory.

The most recent Oracle Explorer output directory is located at explorer_install_dir/output/

The defaults file is stored in these locations:
- For Oracle Explorer 3.6.2 and earlier versions: explorer_install_dir/etc/default/explorer
- For Oracle Explorer 4.0 or later: /etc/opt/SUNWexplo/default/explorer
The defaults file is preserved to be used as input during the upgrade process from Oracle Explorer 3.6.2 to Oracle Explorer 4.0 or later. The defaults file is relocated to /etc/opt/SUNWexplo/default/explorer. The contents of the defaults file are displayed as the default responses during the identification phase of the upgrade.
Download the latest version of the STB and extract the packages as described in Extracting Individual Packages.
Install the new SUNWexplo, SUNWexplu, and SUNWrda packages:
```
cd /var/tmp/stb/extract/Explorer
pkgadd -d . SUNWexplo SUNWexplu
cd /var/tmp/stb/extract/rda
pkgadd -d . SUNWrda
```
(Optional) Run the explorer -g command if you want to change the defaults file. If you want to use the defaults file “a -is,” do not run the explorer -g command.

Remove Oracle Explorer Data Collector pkg(5) Completely

On Solaris systems that support the Image Packaging System (IPS), Oracle Explorer Data collector can possibly be installed by it. Take the following steps to remove the Oracle Explorer Data Collector:

Check if Oracle Explorer Data Collector was installed using the Image Packaging system (IPS). Run:
```
pkg info SUNWexplo
```
Only in the case that information on the SUNWexplo package comes back, Oracle Explorer Data Collector was installed via IPS and you need to proceed with the following step.
Run:
```
explorer -clean
```
This command removes the cron entry, the configuration files, and all other traces of Oracle Explorer Data Collector.

The -clean command line option for Oracle Explorer Data Collector has been provided because the older versions of the IPS packaging system do not support the invocation of procedural scripts to do this cleanup.