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Oracle – Verify ORACLE_HOME installation

Hi there, if you are a DBA you had probably installed an Oracle database software before but what happen if the software is already installed by someone else and you need to use it, for example you have to create a database using an existing software binary already installed.

How do you check if software installed is correct?

So, there are couple of things that I suggest to take a look:

• Confirm that the owner, group, and mode of the $ORACLE_HOME/bin/oracle file are as follow:
  • Owner: the user that is owner of the software, normally is oracle
  • Group: normally is dba, oinstall
  • Mode: -rwsr-s–x
• Verify that the listener binaries exist in the $ORACLE_HOME/bin directory.
• Check the installation logs, you can find the logs installation in the oracle inventory directory. If you are not sure where is your oracle inventory:
  • Unix/Linux and Solaris: cat /etc/oraInst.loc
  • HP-UX: cat /var/opt/oracle/oraInst.loc
  • Windows: Navigate to the C:\Program Files\Oracle\Inventory directory (or C:\Program Files (x86)\Oracle\Inventory on 64-bit systems). Look for the ContentsXML directory within the Inventory directory. This is where the installation and component logs are stored.

cat /etc/oraInst.loc
inventory_loc=/opt/oracle/oraInventory
inst_group=oinstall

• There you will see all the logs information:

• Check Oracle Utilities: Verify that essential Oracle utilities like sqlplus (SQL*Plus) and dbca (Database Configuration Assistant) are accessible, If the utilities launch without errors, it’s a good sign that the Oracle software is installed properly, don’t forget to use the full path to the binaries, otherwise set the ORACLE_HOME environment variable.

$ORACLE_HOME/bin/sqlplus 
$ORACLE_HOME/bin/dbca

It is RAC enabled in the installation?: Sometimes we don’t know if the software installation include RAC enabled or not, how do you check it? quite simple actually.

To check whether Oracle binary is RAC enabled, as ORACLE_HOME owner:

Linux/UNIX except AIX:

ar -t $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/lib/libknlopt.a|grep kcsm.o

AIX:

ar -X32_64 -t $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/lib/libknlopt.a|grep kcsm.o

If above command does not return anything, RAC option is not linked in. A RAC enabled oracle binary should return “kcsm.o”.

There is more information about this topic in MOS: How to Check Whether Oracle Binary/Instance is RAC Enabled and Relink Oracle Binary in RAC (Doc ID 284785.1)

I hope you find this information useful, don’t forget to use the thumbs up if you like this post and comment below if you have any query, I did not explain how to install Oracle database binaries if you are interested let me know!