Configuring Software Owner User Environments

Understand the software owner user environments to configure before installing Oracle software.

You run the installer software with the installation owner user account (oracle or grid). However, before you start the installer, you must configure the environment of the installation owner user account. If needed, you must also create other required Oracle software owners.

Environment Requirements for Oracle Software Owners

Review these requirements for Oracle software owner environments.

You must make the following changes to configure Oracle software owner environments:

Set the installation software owner user ( grid, oracle ) default file mode creation mask (umask) to 022 in the shell startup file. Setting the mask to 022 ensures that the user performing the software installation creates files with 644 permissions.
Set ulimit settings for file descriptors and processes for the installation software owner ( grid, oracle ).
Set the DISPLAY environment variable in preparation for running an Oracle Universal Installer (OUI) installation.

Caution:

If you have existing Oracle installations that you installed with the user ID that is your Oracle Grid Infrastructure software owner, then unset all Oracle environment variable settings for that user.

Procedure for Configuring Oracle Software Owner Environments

Configure each Oracle installation owner user account environment:

Start an X terminal session (xterm) on the server where you are running the installation.
Enter the following command to ensure that X Window applications can display on this system, where hostname is the fully qualified name of the local host from which you are accessing the server:
```
$ xhost + hostname
```
If you are not logged in as the software owner user, then switch to the software owner user you are configuring. For example, with the user grid:
```
$ su - grid
```
On systems where you cannot run su commands, use sudo instead:
```
$ sudo -u grid -s
```
To determine the default shell for the user, enter the following command:
```
$ echo $SHELL
```
Open the user's shell startup file in any text editor:
- Bash shell (bash):
```
$ vi .bash_profile
```
- Bourne shell (sh) or Korn shell (ksh):
```
$ vi .profile
```
- C shell (csh or tcsh):
```
% vi .login
```
Enter or edit the following line, specifying a value of 022 for the default file mode creation mask:
```
umask 022
```
If the ORACLE_SID, ORACLE_HOME, or ORACLE_BASE environment variables are set in the file, then remove these lines from the file.
Save the file, and exit from the text editor.
To run the shell startup script, enter one of the following commands:
- Bash shell:
```
$ . ./.bash_profile
```
- Bourne, Bash, or Korn shell:
```
$ . ./.profile
```
- C shell:
```
% source ./.login
```
Use the following command to check the PATH environment variable:
```
$ echo $PATH
```
Remove any Oracle environment variables.
Unset any Oracle environment variables.
If you have an existing Oracle software installation, and you are using the same user to install this installation, then unset the $ORACLE_HOME, $ORA_NLS10, and $TNS_ADMIN environment variables.

If you have set $ORA_CRS_HOME as an environment variable, then unset it before starting an installation or upgrade. Do not use $ORA_CRS_HOME as a user environment variable, except as directed by Oracle Support.
If you are not installing the software on the local system, then enter a command similar to the following to direct X applications to display on the local system:
- Bourne, Bash, or Korn shell:
```
$ export DISPLAY=local_host:0.0
```
- C shell:
```
% setenv DISPLAY local_host:0.0
```
In this example, local_host is the host name or IP address of the system (your workstation, or another client) on which you want to display the installer.
If the /tmp directory has less than 1 GB of free space, then identify a file system with at least 1 GB of free space and set the TMP and TMPDIR environment variables to specify a temporary directory on this file system:

Note:
You cannot use a shared file system as the location of the temporary file directory (typically /tmp) for Oracle RAC installations. If you place /tmp on a shared file system, then the installation fails.
1. Use the df -h command to identify a suitable file system with sufficient free space.
2. If necessary, enter commands similar to the following to create a temporary directory on the file system that you identified, and set the appropriate permissions on the directory:
```
$ sudo -s
# mkdir /mount_point/tmp
# chmod 775 /mount_point/tmp
# exit
```
3. Enter commands similar to the following to set the TMP and TMPDIR environment variables:
  
  Bourne, Bash, or Korn shell:
```
$ TMP=/mount_point/tmp
$ TMPDIR=/mount_point/tmp
$ export TMP TMPDIR
```
  C shell:
```
% setenv TMP /mount_point/tmp
% setenv TMPDIR /mount_point/tmp
```
To verify that the environment has been set correctly, enter the following commands:
```
$ umask
$ env | more
```
Verify that the umask command displays a value of 22, 022, or 0022 and that the environment variables you set in this section have the correct values.

Unsetting Oracle Installation Owner Environment Variables

Unset Oracle installation owner environment variables before you start the installation.

The environment variables you have set for the Oracle installation owner account you use to run the installation can cause issues if they are set to values that conflict with the values needed for installation.

If you have set ORA_CRS_HOME as an environment variable, following instructions from Oracle Support, then unset it before starting an installation or upgrade. You should never use ORA_CRS_HOME as an environment variable except under explicit direction from Oracle Support.

If you have had an existing installation on your system, and you are using the same user account to install this installation, then unset the following environment variables: ORA_CRS_HOME, ORACLE_HOME, ORA_NLS10, TNS_ADMIN, and any other environment variable set for the Oracle installation user that is connected with Oracle software homes.

Also, ensure that the $ORACLE_HOME/bin path is removed from your PATH environment variable.