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Oracle Explorer User's Guide

Chapter 1 Oracle Explorer How-To's (FTP, NFS, Installation, Upgrade)

This chapter explains how to perform the following Oracle Explorer administrative procedures:

Note –

Oracle Explorer includes some third-party redistributable software. Please read the Chapter 1, Oracle Explorer Third Party License Agreement, in Oracle Explorer Third Party License Agreement, which explains the terms and conditions under which this software is included and is available for use.

How to Download Oracle Explorer

The Oracle Explorer is distributed on the Services Tools Bundle (STB) and is made available via its download link.

First, please read the Oracle Explorer Third Party License Agreement located on the Oracle Explorer Document Collection web page, which explains the terms and conditions under which the third-party software that is included in Oracle Explorer is available for use.

Use the following procedure to download the latest Services Tools Bundle:

  1. Go to the STB site at: http://www.sun.com/service/stb/index.jsp and click the Software Download and Documentation link in the Resources section.

  2. In the drop-down lists, select the appropriate Platform and Language for your download.

  3. Review the STB License Agreement and mark the I agree check box to proceed with downloading.

    The Sun Download Center might require you to log in before proceeding.

  4. Click install_stb.sh to download the installer.

Refer to How to Install Oracle Explorer Manually for the instructions regarding the Installation/Extraction of Oracle Explorer from STB.

How to Install Oracle Explorer Through Services Tools Bundle (STB)

The downloaded Services Tools Bundle is a self extracting installer bundle by which Oracle Explorer can be Installed directly or can be extracted:

How to Install Oracle Explorer in pkg(5) Form Through Services Tools Bundle (STB) for OpenSolaris

The downloaded Services Tools Bundle for OpenSolaris is a self extracting installer bundle by which Oracle Explorer can be Installed directly.

How to Install Oracle Explorer Manually

Use the following procedure to install Oracle Explorer after you have downloaded the latest installer, as described in How to Download Oracle Explorer.

Note –

Oracle Explorer must be installed in the global zone if you are installing it on the Solaris 10 Operating System (Solaris OS). In Solaris 10, the pkgadd command includes a -g flag that restricts installation to the global zone.

  1. If a version of Oracle Explorer is installed on the host, remove the SUNWexplo and SUNWexplu packages before installing the new Oracle Explorer package.

  2. Become superuser.

  3. 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 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.

  4. Extract Oracle Explorer from Services Tools Bundle (STB) using -ext option .

    To obtain the STB installer options, type ./install_stb.sh -help

  5. 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 Explorer from an alternate path, proceed to step 2 in How to Use Explorer from an Alternate Path.

  6. To install Explorer and create directories called SUNWexplo and SUNWexplu type the following command at the prompt as superuser:

    pkgadd -d . SUNWexplo SUNWexplu

Note –

If this is an NFS installation that will support clients running Solaris 7 or older, use the following command:


echo "EXP_NFS_DEPLOY=1" > response
pkgadd -d . -r response SUNWexplo SUNWexplu

How to Use Explorer from an Alternate Path

Use the following procedure to install and use Explorer from an alternate path after you have downloaded the latest installer How to Download Oracle Explorer.

  1. Complete steps 1 - 7 in How to Install Oracle Explorer Manually.

  2. As superuser, install Explorer using Run pkgadd -R <alternate root> -d . SUNWexplo SUNWexplu

  3. Create default configuration file for alternate root instance as <alternate root>/etc/opt/SUNWexplo/default/explorer running <alternate root>/opt/SUNWexplo/bin/explorer -g.

  4. To run Explorer from alternate path, use the -d option to locate the alternate default configuration file:<alternate root>opt/SUNWexplo/bin/explorer -d <alternate root>/etc/opt/SUNWexplo/default/explorer

How to Install Oracle Explorer With Limited Interaction

To upgrade or install Oracle Explorer 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 uses the defined values whenever possible. If host_B does not have a defaults file, Oracle Explorer 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 installation on each system.

Perform the following steps to upgrade or install using limited interaction:

  1. Install Oracle Explorer on host_A using pkgadd.

  2. Run explorer -g on host_A to accept the license and update or create the defaults file.

  3. Save the defaults file.

    The file must be located in the directory that other hosts are able to access.

  4. Install the new Oracle Explorer release on another system (host_B).

  5. 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, Oracle Explorer 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.

How to Install Oracle Explorer 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 release package.

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


    tar xvf Explorer_<release no>.tar.Z

  2. Copy the exp_admin file in the SUNWexplo/install directory to a temporary location.


    cp SUNWexplo/install/exp_admin /tmp/exp_admin

  3. Change the value of basedir in the /tmp/exp_admin file to the desired installation directory.

  4. 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

How to Upgrade Oracle Explorer

Upgrading an existing Oracle Explorer installation to a newer release consists of three steps: removing any existing SUNWexplo and SUNWesply packages, downloading the latest version of Oracle Explorer, and installing the new package.

This section describes the procedure for upgrading an existing Oracle Explorer installation. See How to Install Oracle Explorer With Limited Interaction for the procedure for updating Oracle Explorer with limited interaction.

  1. Become superuser.

  2. Remove the current SUNWexplo package and SUNWexplu packages (if they exist).


    # pkgrm SUNWexplo 
# pkgrm SUNWexplu

    Removing the existing SUNWexplo and SUNWexplu packages deletes all Oracle Explorer 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.

  3. Download the newest version of Oracle Explorer by following the procedure in the How to Download Oracle Explorer section.

  4. Install the new SUNWexplo and SUNWexplu package:

    1. Copy the tar file to the /var/tmp directory.


      cp Explorer_<release no>.tar.Z /var/tmp

    2. Uncompress and untar the file.


      cd /var/tmp
uncompress Explorer_<release no>.tar.Z
tar xvf Explorer_<release no>.tar

      Or, if you have zcat installed:


      zcat Explorer_<release no>.tar.Z | tar xvf -

    3. Become superuser.

    4. Type the following to extract the contents of the archive into a directory called SUNWexplo located in the current directory:


      pkgadd -d . SUNWexplo SUNWexplu

      When you install the SUNWexplo package, the defaults file is updated only if the defaults file is /etc/opt/SUNWexplo/default/explorer.

    5. (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.

How to Run Explorer With NFS

Installing Oracle Explorer on multiple servers can be a time-consuming task. To reduce the installation time, install Oracle Explorer on one system and then use NFS mount to share the install directory with other systems.

This section describes the procedure for configuring Oracle Explorer to run over an NFS mount.

  1. Create a Oracle Explorer defaults file for the NFS client by performing the following substeps on the NFS server with Oracle Explorer installed:

    Note –

    Most values in the NFS server's Oracle Explorer defaults file are valid for all servers in the environment.

    1. Record the NFS client's host name and host ID.

    2. Become superuser.

    3. Go to the Oracle Explorer default directory. 


      cd /etc/opt/SUNWexplo/default

    4. Copy and rename the defaults file to associate it with the host (for example, explorer.hostname).


      cp explorer nfs_dir/explorer.hostname

    5. Edit the new explorer.hostname file to reset the following variable (where hostid is the client's hostid):


      EXP_SERIAL_$hostid="Client's serial number"

  2. Reference the client's Oracle Explorer defaults file.

    Note –

    When using the explorer command on an NFS client, you must specify the Oracle Explorer defaults file as input, and you must specify the output directory location. If you do not specify the client's Oracle Explorer defaults file, the NFS server's defaults file is used. If you do not specify the output directory location, an attempt is made to write the output to the NFS server's explorer_install_dir/output directory. The NFS mounted file system might not allow writing over the NFS mount.

    Use the following Oracle Explorer options:

    • Specify the defaults file with -d nfs_client_accessible_dir/explorer.host-name.

    • Specify the directory in which to write the output with -t /var/tmp (which is a local writable directory).

  3. Direct output to a local, writable directory by performing the following substeps on the NFS client:

    1. Become superuser.

    2. Mount the explorer_install_dir directory from the NFS server.

    3. Change directories into the mount point.

    4. Execute the following command to send output to the client's /var/tmp/output directory:


      # explorer -d nfs_dir/explorer.hostname -t /var/tmp

  4. Do the following to schedule Oracle Explorer to run on an NFS client using cron:

    1. Verify that the NFS server is available.

    2. Verify that the explorer_install_dir directory is mounted on the NFS server.

    3. Do not send messages to standard output or to standard error.

    4. Redirect to specific files or /dev/null.

How to Use FTP to Submit Oracle Explorer Files

This section describes the procedure to manually submit a Oracle Explorer output file to the Oracle Explorer database (ConfigDB).

AMER & APAC Submissions

  1. Open a terminal window and type the following:


    ftp supportfiles.sun.com

  2. Type the following user name and password to log in:

    Username: anonymous

    Password: your_email_address

  3. Type the following commands at the ftp prompt:


    ftp> cd /explorer 
ftp> bin 
ftp> hash
ftp> put explorer.filename
    Note –

    explorer.filename is the name of the file to upload. Use explorer as the file name prefix.

    For example, explorer.80a711xy.abcdf-2002.04.01.12.40-tar.gz

EMEA Submissions

  1. Open a terminal window and type the following command:


    ftp sunsolve.sun.co.uk

  2. Type the following user name and password to log in:

    Username: anonymous

    Password: your_email_address

  3. Type the following commands at the ftp prompt:


    ftp> cd cores/uk/incoming 
ftp> bin 
ftp> hash
ftp> put explorer.filename
    Note –

    explorer.filename is the name of the file to upload. Use explorer as the file name prefix.

    For example, explorer.80a711xy.abcdf-2002.04.01.12.40-tar.gz

How to Use HTTP/HTTPS to Submit Oracle Explorer Files

This section describes the procedure to manually submit a Oracle Explorer output file to the Oracle Explorer database (ConfigDB).

For HTTP, the upload link is: http://supportfiles.sun.com/upload

For HTTPS, the upload link is: https://supportfiles.sun.com/upload

The Oracle Explorer files need to be uploaded to the following destinations for automatic submission to the correct configdb.

How to Run Explorer for Different Modules/Groups

Explorer can be run for the following modules/groups:

Note –

./explorer -w default,<module name>

How to Remove Oracle Explorer pkg(5) Completely

Because Image Packaging System (IPS) packaging mechanism does not support automatic invoking to procedural scripts of any application pkg(5), a new command line option has been provided for manual cleaning of all traces of Oracle Explorer pkg(5).