3 Issues Affecting Linux for Oracle Database 18c

These topics contain last-minute features and changes for Linux for Oracle Database 18c.

• Unsupported Products for Linux
  This topic describes products or features that are unavailable for Oracle Database 18c.
• Product Support
  This topic describes the supported products or features for Oracle Database 18c.
• Linking Applications with Oracle Client Libraries for Linux
  You must use the dynamic Oracle client libraries to link the client code on Linux. 
• Preinstallation Requirements for the Linux Platform
  Refer to the installation guides for the preinstallation requirements for Oracle Database 18c.
• Installation, Configuration, and Upgrade Issues for Linux
  This topic describes information about issues that affect Oracle Database installation, configuration, and upgrade.
• Open Bugs Affecting Linux
  These topics contain last-minute features and changes for Oracle Database 18c.

3.1 Unsupported Products for Linux

This topic describes products or features that are unavailable for Oracle Database 18c.

In addition to the list of unavailable products or features in this release of Oracle Database 18c, the following product is not supported for Linux:

• IPv6 Networks Support

  The IPv6 based IP addresses to configure the private networks for a cluster is not supported on IBM: Linux on System z. It is currently under testing and the support will be announced after testing is successfully complete.

Refer to the list of unavailable products or features for all platforms in Oracle Database 18c.

See Also:

Features Not Available or Restricted

3.2 Product Support

This topic describes the supported products or features for Oracle Database 18c.

The supported products or features are:

• Database Smart Flash Cache Support

  Database Smart Flash Cache is supported on Oracle Linux.

• Oracle ACFS and Oracle ADVM Support

  Although Oracle ADVM supports raw disks in Oracle Automatic Storage Management disk groups, Oracle ADVM device special files created through raw are not supported; Oracle ADVM only supports block device special files.

  For the latest information about supported platforms and releases, see the Note 1369107.1 on My Oracle Support at https://support.oracle.com

• Oracle ASM Filter Driver Support

  Oracle Automatic Storage Management Filter Driver (Oracle ASMFD) is supported only on Linux x86-64.

• Share-based Instance Caging

  Share-based Instance Caging is supported on Oracle Linux.

3.3 Linking Applications with Oracle Client Libraries for Linux

You must use the dynamic Oracle client libraries to link the client code on Linux. 

Do not link the static Oracle client libraries.

3.4 Preinstallation Requirements for the Linux Platform

Refer to the installation guides for the preinstallation requirements for Oracle Database 18c.

3.5 Installation, Configuration, and Upgrade Issues for Linux

This topic describes information about issues that affect Oracle Database installation, configuration, and upgrade.

• Bug 28153162
  
• Bug 28237088
  
• Bug 28745602
  
• Bug 28897417
  

3.5.1 Bug 28153162

After upgrading to Oracle Database 18c, Oracle Cluster Health Advisor (CHA) does not monitor databases that were configured in 12c Release 2 (12.2). This applies to standard cluster configurations only.

Workaround:

Manually re-enable monitoring all databases after an upgrade using the command:

GI_HOME/bin/chactl monitor database -db db_unique_name [-model model_name] 

Repeat for all databases that need monitoring.

3.5.2 Bug 28237088

During the rollback from an 18.3 Release Update (RU) to Oracle Database 18c for Member Cluster, the following post-patch error occurs:

Database connect failed with: ORA-12154: TNS:could not resolve the connect identifier specified (DBD ERROR: OCIServerAttach)

Workaround:

Perform these 18.3 Release Update (RU) reapply steps immediately after the rollback to recover from post-patch rollback errors:

$GI_HOME/perl/bin/perl -I$GI_HOME/perl/lib -I$GI_HOME/crs/install $GI_HOME/crs/install/rootcrs.pl -prepatch -nonrolling -rollback

$GI_HOME/perl/bin/perl -I$GI_HOME/perl/lib -I$GI_HOME/crs/install $GI_HOME/crs/install/rootcrs.pl -postpatch -nonrolling -rollback

opatchauto rollback -nonrolling

3.5.3 Bug 28745602

Creation of Grid Naming Service (GNS) client data manifest file from a standalone cluster using the command srvctl export gns -clientdata <manifest_xml_file> -role client fails with the following error: 

"java.lang.StackOverflowError: operating system stack overflow
error message:
./srvctl export gns -clientdata /scratch/gnswrap.xml -role client  Exception in thread "main" java.lang.StackOverflowError: operating system  stack overflow 

Workaround:

Update the srvctl command by adding -Xmso2048k to JAVA_STACK_SIZE   so that  JAVA_STACK_SIZE="-Xss2048k -Xmso2048k on IBM: Linux on System Z.

3.5.4 Bug 28897417

Installing 32-bit Oracle Database Client software on IBM: Linux on System Z fails with Java core dump and returns the following error:

Unhandled exception
Type=Segmentation error vmState=0x00052fff

Workaround:

Export the environment variable IBM_JAVA_OPTIONS to -Xjit:disableInvariantArgumentPreexistence and launch the installer.

For example,

$ export IBM_JAVA_OPTIONS="-Xjit:disableInvariantArgumentPreexistence"
$ runInstaller

3.6 Open Bugs Affecting Linux

These topics contain last-minute features and changes for Oracle Database 18c.

• Bug 21546793
  
• Bug 26708302
  
• Bug 24939744
  
• Bug 26929665
  

3.6.1 Bug 21546793

When creating a database on Linux Container, Database Configuration Assistant (DBCA) incorrectly shows the available memory of the host server instead of the Linux Container on the Specify Configuration Options page. When you choose to allocate the percentage of memory based on the value shown, the database creation fails in case where the total consumable memory for that Linux Container is less than the allocated memory.

Workaround:

You must allocate physical memory for the database according to the configuration of the Linux Container system.

3.6.2 Bug 26708302

Deinstallation of Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) home on shared Network Attached Storage (NAS) fails to delete the directory $ORACLE_HOME/deinstall and returns the following error:

Failed to delete the directory $ORACLE_HOME/deinstall. Either user has no permission to delete or it is in use.

Workaround:

Manually delete the $ORACLE_HOME/deinstall folder as either the Oracle RAC owner or as root.

3.6.3 Bug 24939744

The Cairo package in Oracle R Enterprise fails to load on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 when the libtiff.so.3 version is missing.

Workaround:

Create a symlink for libtiff.so.3 from libtiff5.so.5.

3.6.4 Bug 26929665

Oracle Cluster Health Advisor (CHA) models fail to restore in the Oracle Grid Infrastructure Management Repository (GIMR) after downgrading Oracle Grid Infrastructure on a member cluster to Oracle Database 12c Release 2 (12.2).

Workaround:

Perform the following steps:

1. Run the R$GI_HOME/bin/srvctl stop cha command.

2. Run the $GI_HOME/bin/chactl import model \ -file $GI_HOME/cha/model/os_gold.svm -name DEFAULT_CLUSTER

3. Run the $GI_HOME/bin/chactl import model \ -file $GI_HOME/cha/model/db_gold.svm -name DEFAULT_DB

4. Run the $GI_HOME/bin/srvctl start cha command.