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Before You Begin

Oracle Portal 3.0 is packaged and installed with Oracle9i Application Server.

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.

Please refer to the Oracle9i Application Server documentation for additional information about the Oracle HTTP Server powered by Apache, Oracle HTTP modules (mods), and the overall Oracle9i Application Server architecture. Installation instructions are contained in the "Oracle9i Application Server Installation Guide, Release 1.0.2."

See: Preface, "Related Publications"

This chapter contains the following sections:

• System Requirements

• Beta Features

Text description of the illustration elem_pri.gif

Figure 1-1 Oracle9i Application Server services and components

1.1 System Requirements

Before you install Oracle Portal 3.0, you must have an Oracle8i database and Oracle9i Application Server running, including the Oracle HTTP Server powered by Apache.

Ensure that your system also meets the following requirements before you install Oracle Portal 3.0.

1.1.1 Operating Systems

• Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 3 or above

• Solaris 2.6 or above

1.1.2 Oracle Databases

Oracle Portal can be installed in the following databases:

• Oracle8i Release 8.1.6.2 Enterprise Edition

• Oracle8i Release 8.1.7 Standard and Enterprise Edition

• You must have the SYS user password on your Oracle database.

• The database where you plan to install Oracle Portal must be up and running.

Notes: 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 powered by Apache. 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 3, "Configuring the PL/SQL Gateway".

1.1.3 Oracle Home

• With Oracle8i Release 8.1.6.2 Enterprise Edition, Oracle Portal must be installed in a separate Oracle home directory.

• With Oracle8i Release 8.1.7 Standard and Enterprise Edition, Oracle Portal can be installed in the same or separate Oracle Home.

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

The tablespace requirements are as follows:

• SYSTEM tablespace = 150 MB

• Default tablespace = 100 MB

Note: Content areas are part of the Oracle Portal schema so you do not have to allocate additional tablespace for each content area that you create.

1.1.6 init.ora settings

The init.ora parameters in the Oracle Home containing your Oracle Portal installation should be set as follows:

max_enabled_roles = 25 (minimum)
open_cursors = 50 (minimum)
compatible = 8.1.0 (or above)
java_pool_size = 20971520
shared_pool_size = 15728640  

Note: If you are encountering error number 503 in the Oracle HTTP Server powered by Apache, it could be that the database is not configured with enough sessions to handle the load. As a remedy, you should 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

The TNS alias or connect string must be pointing to the location where you installed Oracle Portal. Otherwise, the Oracle HTTP Server powered by Apache is unable to connect to Oracle Portal.

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

setenv TNS_ADMIN path  

where:

path is the path to the tnsnames.ora file.

Note: This command differs depending on the shell.

You can also use the TNS_ADMIN variable to point to your tnsnames.ora. However, be sure to add this variable to the following files:

• <ORACLE_HOME>/Apache/Apache/bin/apachectl

1.1.8 Terminal settings

You must 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

If you want 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 Oracle8i documentation for more information about installing and configuring an Oracle8i database to use interMedia Text.

  Note: interMedia Text should be installed in the same Oracle Home as the database. It is not installed if you choose to perform a Typical or default Custom installation of the Oracle8i database.

• Install Oracle Portal 3.0 according to the instructions provided 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
  
  

• The listener.ora and tnsnames.ora files, which are located in your Oracle8i (8.1.6.2 only) database's Oracle Home location, must be properly configured for External Procedure calls.

See also: Chapter 4, "Using interMedia Text in Oracle Portal" "Net8 Administrator's Guide" for more information about creating these configuration files

1.2 Beta Features

You can switch on and off Beta features from the Oracle Portal 3.0 Global Settings page.

1. In the Services portlet, click Global Settings. By default, the Services portlet is located on the Oracle Portal home page's Administer tab.

   
   Text description of the illustration beta.gif

2. In the Beta Features section, select the check box to enable the appropriate Beta feature or clear the check box to disable the feature.

Note: In this release of Oracle Portal, Image Charts From Query Wizard is the only Beta feature offered. If you disable this feature, you cannot create any new components of this type. However, you can still edit, run, and manage the existing components that you have already created.