Oracle Database Postinstallation Tasks

Complete configuration tasks after you install Oracle Database.

You are required to complete some configuration tasks after Oracle Database is installed. In addition, Oracle recommends that you complete additional tasks immediately after installation. You must also complete product-specific configuration tasks before you use those products.

Note:

This chapter describes basic configuration only. Refer to product-specific administration and tuning guides for more detailed configuration and tuning information.

Downloading Release Update Patches

After installation, download and install the required Oracle Release Updates or Monthly Recommended Patches through My Oracle Support by searching by patch number, bug number, or product criteria, reviewing the patch details and README, downloading, and uncompressing the files. Oracle recommends out-of-place patching with Gold Images for quarterly updates in Oracle AI Database 26ai; OPatch and OPatchAuto remain available for in-place patching, while the Free release does not support release-update patching.

Unlocking and Resetting Oracle Database User Passwords

Most Oracle administrative and predefined accounts are locked or have revoked passwords after installation, so accounts must be selectively unlocked and assigned secure passwords before use. Account status and Oracle-maintained users can be checked through data dictionary views, and accounts can be managed with EM Express or SQL*Plus using ALTER USER commands to lock, unlock, or reset passwords. Internal Oracle-maintained accounts should not be modified except through their associated installation or maintenance scripts.

Creating a Backup of the root.sh Script

Back up the root.sh script after installation because installing additional products into the same Oracle home can overwrite its contents. The backup preserves the original installation information if it is needed later.

Setting Language and Locale Preferences for Client Connections

Configure client locale and character-set settings according to the application, operating system, and connection API. OCI applications use NLS_LANG and related NLS settings, with environment variables taking precedence over Windows Registry values; an incorrect client character set can cause data loss. JDBC applications instead use the Java virtual machine’s default locale and Unicode character handling, while application servers may define their own locale settings.

Recompile Invalid Objects in the Database

After installation, patching, or upgrading, recompile invalid objects across the CDB and PDBs using Oracle’s recompilation scripts and catcon.pl. AutoUpgrade normally performs this task, while utlrp.sql and utlprp.sql can recompile all invalid objects and utlprpom.sql can prioritize Oracle-maintained objects. Parallelism and the number of PDBs processed concurrently can be configured, with execution time depending on the number of containers and invalid objects.

About Installing Oracle Autonomous Health Framework

Oracle Autonomous Health Framework provides proactive health checks and diagnostic collection across Oracle Database, Grid Infrastructure, RAC, MAA, upgrade readiness, and GoldenGate environments by incorporating ORAchk, EXAchk, and TFA capabilities. Although it is preinstalled with Oracle Database, Oracle recommends downloading and installing the latest version from My Oracle Support.

About Changes in Default SGA Permissions for Oracle Database

From Oracle Database 12c Release 2, only the Oracle software owner can read and write the SGA by default, improving security but potentially restricting DBAs who rely on OSDBA group access. The ALLOW_GROUP_ACCESS_TO_SGA initialization parameter can be set to TRUE to permit OSDBA members to access the SGA, although Oracle strongly recommends retaining the default FALSE setting.

Checking Installed Oracle Database Contents and Directory Location

Use Oracle Universal Installer from the $ORACLE_HOME/oui/bin directory to inspect installed products and their locations. Launch runInstaller, open Installed Products, select the Oracle Database product, choose Details for additional information, and then close and exit the installer without making changes.

Enabling and Disabling Oracle Database Options After Installation

The chopt utility in the Oracle home’s bin directory enables or disables supported database options, including OLAP, Partitioning, and Real Application Testing, after installation. The database must be shut down before running chopt and restarted afterward; OLAP changes also require validation procedures to update the database registry. Oracle Advanced Analytics is enabled by default and cannot be disabled with chopt.

Starting Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Express

Start EM Express by using the URL supplied by Oracle Database Configuration Assistant during database creation. If DBCA did not provide the URL or the HTTPS port must be changed, consult the EM Express configuration procedures in the Oracle Database 2 Day DBA documentation.

Creating a Fast Recovery Area

Create a fast recovery area to centralize RMAN backups, archived logs, control-file autobackups, and database copies, allowing Oracle to manage obsolete recovery files automatically. Configure it with DB_RECOVERY_FILE_DEST and DB_RECOVERY_FILE_DEST_SIZE, preferably on a separate ASM disk group sized to retain several days of recovery data or meet the database retention policy. ASMCA can create the disk group with the required name, redundancy, and member disks, and multiple databases may share the area with individually sized quotas.
Read More: Creating a Fast Recovery Area