This chapter describes some common tasks that should be performed prior to beginning any Oracle Fusion Middleware installation.
The following topics are covered:
Section 3.3, "Understanding Installation and Configuration Privileges and Users"
Section 3.4, "Recovering From a Partial or Interrupted Installation or Configuration"
Section 3.5, "Creating and Starting Managed Servers on a Remote Machine"
This section contains important information that you should read before you begin to install or upgrade your system:
Section 3.1.1, "Read and Understand Oracle Fusion Middleware Concepts"
Section 3.1.2, "Review System Requirements and Specifications"
Section 3.1.5, "Obtain the Oracle Fusion Middleware Software"
Section 3.1.7, "Install and Configure a Database and Schemas"
Section 3.1.8, "Create Operating System Users for IBM DB2 Databases"
If you are new to Oracle Fusion Middleware, you should read Oracle Fusion Middleware Concepts before proceeding with an installation or upgrade. Chapter 2, "Understanding Oracle Fusion Middleware Concepts and Directory Structure", contains important information about the directory structure of Oracle Fusion Middleware installations that you should be familiar with before you install any product.
Before performing any upgrade or installation you should read the Oracle Fusion Middleware System Requirements and Specifications document to ensure that your environment meets the minimum installation requirements for the products you are installing.
This document contains information related to hardware and software requirements, minimum disk space and memory requirements, database schema requirements, and required system libraries, packages, or patches.
If you are installing on a DHCP server, non-networked computer, or multihomed computer, there are additional configuration steps that are required. These steps are also available in the system requirements document in the "Oracle Fusion Middleware System Configuration Requirements" section.
If you are installing on a Windows operating system and want to install and configure Java Access Bridge for Section 508 Accessibility, read the "Installing and Configuring Java Access Bridge" section in this document.
If you are installing on a UNIX operating system, Oracle recommends that you configure your system to enable Unicode support. For more information, read the "Enabling Unicode Support" section in this document.
Before performing any upgrade or installation you should read the System Requirements and Supported Platforms for Oracle Fusion Middleware 11gR1 document. This document contains certification information related to supported 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems, databases, web servers, LDAP servers, adapters, IPv6, JDKs, and third-party products. It is located on the Oracle Fusion Middleware Supported System Configurations page.
Before performing any upgrade or installation you should read Oracle Fusion Middleware Interoperability and Compatibility Guide for Oracle Identity and Access Management. This document contains important information regarding the ability of Oracle Fusion Middleware products to function with previous versions of other Oracle Fusion Middleware, Oracle, or third-party products. This information is applicable to both new Oracle Fusion Middleware users and existing users who are upgrading their existing environment.
Depending on your specific needs, there are multiple places where you can obtain Oracle Fusion Middleware software. For details, refer to the Oracle Fusion Middleware Download, Installation, and Configuration ReadMe Files page, where you can find the ReadMe file for your specific release.
All Oracle Fusion Middleware products (except for Oracle Web Tier and Oracle Identity Management with Oracle Internet Directory only) require an application server on your system. For Oracle Application Developer or Oracle SOA Suite and Business Process Management Suite you can choose to install Oracle WebLogic Server or IBM WebSphere as the application server. Refer to the System Requirements and Supported Platforms for Oracle Fusion Middleware 11gR1 document to determine the certified versions of these application servers for installation on your system. This document is located on the "Oracle Fusion Middleware Supported System Configurations" page.
All Oracle Fusion Middleware products must be installed in the Oracle Middleware home directory, which can be created by installing Oracle WebLogic Server as the application server on your system. If you choose to use IBM WebSphere as your application server, you must manually create a Middleware home directory in which you can install your Oracle Fusion Middleware products.
For more information about the installation directory structure, see Section 2.2, "Oracle Fusion Middleware Directory Structure".
For instructions on how to install Oracle WebLogic Server, see "Running the Installation Program in Graphical Mode" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Guide for Oracle WebLogic Server.
For instructions on how to install IBM WebSphere, see Oracle Fusion Middleware Third-Party Application Server Guide for Oracle Identity and Access Management.
Installation of most Oracle Fusion Middleware products requires the availability of a database (only Oracle Web Tier and Oracle Forms and Reports without Oracle Identity Management protection do not require a database). This database must be up and running, and does not have to be on the same system where you are installing the components. The database must also be compatible with Repository Creation Utility (RCU), which is used to create the schemas necessary for your Oracle Fusion Middleware components.
Note:
It is recommended that all metadata repositories reside on a database at the same site as the products to minimize network latency issues.
For information about which databases are certified for use with Oracle Fusion Middleware and RCU, and important database configuration information, see "RCU System and Database Requirements" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Repository Creation Utility User's Guide.
After your database is installed and configured, run the latest version of RCU to create your schemas. For instructions, see "Creating Schemas" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Repository Creation Utility User's Guide.
For more information about managing metadata repositories, refer to "Managing the Oracle Metadata Repository" in the Oracle Fusion Middleware System Requirements and Specifications document.
If you are not using an IBM DB2 database, you can skip this section.
IBM DB2 databases authenticates its database users using equivalent operating system users. Therefore, prior to running RCU, one operating system user must be created on the database host for each schema. The operating system user name must match the schema owner name and must contain only lowercase letters; no all-uppercase or mixed-case names are allowed. For example, if you plan to create a schema named DEV_MDS using RCU, then the operating system user must be named dev_mds (all lowercase letters).
You can create the operating system user with the following command (this example creates the operating system user dev_mds and assigns the password welcome1):
/usr/sbin/useradd dev_mds -p welcome1 -d /scratch/dev_mds
Refer to your system documentation for more information.
During installation, you will be asked whether or not you want to configure your system to automatically check for security (Specify Security Updates screen) and software (Install Software Updates screen) updates. Electing to do so installs Oracle Configuration Manager on your system.
Oracle Configuration Manager continuously tracks key Oracle and system details, providing essential data to help you manage and service your configurations. Collected data is sent via HTTPS to Oracle Support, which maintains a secure view of each configuration. My Oracle Support then provides system health checks, patch advice, and other valuable information about your Oracle products. Configuration manager does NOT collect application data, such as user passwords.
For more information, log into or create a My Oracle Support account at https://support.oracle.com/, then click on the Collector tab.
This section contains the following:
The user who installs a Fusion Middleware product owns and has read, write, and execute privileges on the binary files installed in the Oracle home. Other users in the operating system group have only read and execute privileges (no write privileges). This means they cannot write to the files, but they can use the installed binaries in the Oracle home to configure a domain or set of Fusion Middleware products.
During configuration, the files generated by the configuration process are owned by the user who ran the Configuration Wizard. The user who ran the Configuration Wizard has read, write, and execute privilege on those files. Other users in the operating system group can read and execute the files, but they do not have write privileges.
To ensure the proper permissions and privileges for all files, the same owner must perform both tasks - install the Oracle Fusion Middleware product and configure the WebLogic Server domain using the Configuration Wizard.
On UNIX operating systems, the installation of Fusion Middleware products is owned and controlled as a known user (for example, "oracle"). The file permissions associated with this installation are configured to ensure the highest level of security possible, which by default are 700 (meaning all files are owned and accessible by the owner only).
Changing the default permissions settings will reduce the security of the installation and possibly your system. Therefore, making such a change is not recommended. If access to particular files or executables is required by other users, the UNIX sudo command (or other similar command) should be considered in lieu of changing file permissions.
Refer to your UNIX operating system Administrator's Guide or contact your operating system vendor if you need further assistance.
The installation of an Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g product consists of two phases:
Installation Phase
During this phase, the installer lays down the binaries in an Oracle home directory. The Oracle home directory must be located inside the Middleware home directory (see Section 2.2.1, "Middleware Home and WebLogic Server Home Directories") and no runtime processes can write to this directory.
Configuration Phase
During this phase, the configuration of instances for system components and/or the configuration of a WebLogic Server domain for Java components occurs (see "Understanding Key Oracle Fusion Middleware Concepts" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide for more information about Java components and system components).
The Oracle Instance home (for Oracle instances) and WebLogic Server domains (for the Managed Servers that host the Java components) contain no binaries; they hold files such as configuration files, log files, and temporary files that can be updated.
The installers for Oracle SOA Suite and Oracle Business Process Management Suite, Oracle WebCenter Portal, Oracle WebCenter Content, Oracle Application Developer, and Oracle Service Bus create only Java components in a WebLogic Server domain. For these products, the installation and configuration phases are completely separate - you must run the Configuration Wizard separately after the software installation to configure your Java components.
The installer for Oracle Identity Management and Oracle Portal, Forms, Reports and Discoverer will create both system components and Java components in a WebLogic Server domain. The installer for Oracle Web Tier will create only system components, and you will have the option of associating these components with an existing WebLogic Server domain. For these products, the installer gives you the option to "Install and Configure"; if you choose this option, the installer runs and performs both the installation and configuration phase. If you do not choose to "Install and Configure" then you can install the binaries first and then run the configuration tool separately to configure your components.
The actions required to recover from a partial installation or configuration are described in the following sections:
Section 3.4.1, "Recovering From an Installation Phase Failure or Interruption"
Section 3.4.2, "Recovering From a Configuration Phase Failure or Interruption"
Additional information can be found in the Troubleshooting appendix in each product installation guide.
If the product installation is interrupted during the installation phase, the recommended approach is to deinstall the product and remove the Oracle home, then start the installation again.
If the installation phase is completed successfully but the configuration phase is interrupted and cannot be restarted, the recommended approach is to:
Address and fix the cause of the failure or interruption.
Perform one of the following:
Retry the configuration by selecting the Retry button in the graphical user interface.
Exit the installer (for system components) or Configuration Wizard (for Java components) session, deinstall and remove the failed instance or domain, then restart your configuration tool.
For product-specific deinstallation information, refer to the deinstallation chapter in your product installation guide.
To create and start a Managed Server in a WebLogic domain on a remote machine, complete the following steps:
Use the pack command located in the WebLogic_Home/common/bin (on UNIX operating systems) or WebLogic_Home\common\bin (on Microsoft Windows operating systems) directory to create a Managed Server template that contains a subset of the files in a domain that are required to create a Managed Server domain directory hierarchy on a remote machine.
The -managed={true|false} parameter of the pack command specifies whether the template is to be used to create Managed Servers on remote machines.
Use the unpack command located in the WebLogic_Home/common/bin (on UNIX operating systems) or WebLogic_Home\common\bin (on Windows operating systems) directory to create the Managed Server domain directory on the remote machine.
For more information, see the "Creating and Starting a Managed Server on a Remote Machine" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Creating Templates and Domains Using the Pack and Unpack Commands.