Downloading and Installing Oracle XE in Linux

Oracle XE for Linux must be downloaded from the Oracle web site. The link for the latest version is:
http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/database/xe/htdocs/102xelinsoft.html
You may need a free Oracle account to be able to download the software. Use wget to optain the
Oracle rpm.
# wget http://download.oracle.com/otn/linux/oracle10g/xe/10201/oracle-xe-
10.2.0.1-1.0.i386.rpm
Depending on how much memory you have in your system you may need to adjust your swap file.
Please check the Oracle Installation Guide for additional information available at
ttp://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/database/xe/files/install.102/b25144/toc.htm#CI
HFEBGE
Oracle Swap Space Requirements for Oracle Database XE Server



Your Computer's RAM Swap Space Needed
Between 0 and 256 megabytes 3 times the size of RAM
Between 256 and 512 megabytes 2 times the size of RAM
512 megabytes and greater 1024 megabytes of RAM
We have 1 GB of RAM in our system so we need a total of 1024 MB of Swap file. You can check your
memory settings by doing:
# free –m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 1009 454 555 0 62 206
-/+ buffers/cache: 184 825
Swap: 1023 2 1021
We are short by only a few megabytes, but we will add another 1GB of swap file in /home just in case.
# cd /home
# dd if=/dev/zero of=swapfile bs=1024 count= 1048576
1048576+0 records in
1048576+0 records out
Once the swap file is created make it world readable.
# chmod 600 swapfile
Setup the swap area.
# mkswap swapfile
Setting up swapspace version 1, size = 1073737 kB
Enable the new swap file.
# swapon swapfile
If we check the memory again we should see the new swap file value added.
# free -m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 1009 927 82 0 2 736
-/+ buffers/cache: 189 820
Swap: 2047 2 2045
Make it permanently by adding the following at the end of your /etc/fstab
/home/swapfile swap swap defaults 0 0
If your location is different than /home make your changes accordingly and continue to install
Oracle XE from the /home/software directory.

# rpm –i oracle-xe-10.2.0.1-1.0.i386.rpm
Executing Post-install steps...
You must run '/etc/init.d/oracle-xe configure' as the root user to
configure the database.
If you get any errors about missing programs or libraries try adding them using yum install
“name”. Otherwise, continue to configure the database by doing the following:
# /etc/init.d/oracle-xe configure
Oracle Database 10g Express Edition Configuration

This will configure on-boot properties of Oracle Database 10g Express
Edition. The following questions will determine whether the database should
be starting upon system boot, the ports it will use, and the passwords that
will be used for database accounts. Press to accept the defaults.
Ctrl-C will abort.
Specify the HTTP port that will be used for Oracle Application Express
[8080]:
Specify a port that will be used for the database listener [1521]:
Specify a password to be used for database accounts. Note that the same
password will be used for SYS and SYSTEM. Oracle recommends the use of
different passwords for each database account. This can be done after
initial configuration: mypassw0rd
Confirm the password: mypass0rd
Do you want Oracle Database 10g Express Edition to be started on boot (y/n)
[y]:y
Starting Oracle Net Listener...Done
Configuring Database...Done
Starting Oracle Database 10g Express Edition Instance...Done
Installation Completed Successfully.
To access the Database Home Page go to http://127.0.0.1:8080/apex
In this configuration we used port 8080 for our Oracle Express HTTP port, we also used the
Oracle listener default port of 1521, selected “mypassw0rd” as the SYSTEM and SYS password
and selected to start Oracle upon boot. Edit /root/.bash_profile and add the following at the end of
the file after the JAVA variables you added when you installed Java.
export ORACLE_HOME=/usr/lib/oracle/xe/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/server
export PATH=$PATH:$ORACLE_HOME/bin
Load your new environmental variables by login off and login back in or by doing:
# source .bash_profile
Test a few Oracle settings before continuing. First let’s make sure that you can find the Oracle
listener by name. This will tell you if Oracle is responding correctly to your instance.
# tnsping ora1.nickelnetworks.com
TNS Ping Utility for Linux: Version 10.2.0.1.0 - Production on 19-AUG-2007
22:49:30
Copyright (c) 1997, 2005, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Used parameter files:
Used HOSTNAME adapter to resolve the alias
Attempting to contact
(DESCRIPTION=(CONNECT_DATA=(SERVICE_NAME=))(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=10.5.
36.22)(PORT=1521)))
OK (0 msec)
If not, make sure you can ping your server by name first or fix your DNS and host name issues.
Also, make sure that the Oracle HTTP port is working and listening in port 8080.
# netstat –an | grep tcp
tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:35106 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN
tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:515 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN
tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:3306 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN
tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:5038 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN
tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:110 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN
tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:783 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN
tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:8080 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN
tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:80 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN
tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:10000 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN
tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:1521 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN
tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:81 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN
tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:21 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN
tcp 0 0 10.5.36.4:53 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN
tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:53 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN
tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:22 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN
tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:25 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN
tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:953 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN
tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:444 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN
The line we are concerned in blue shows the Database Home page listening on port 8080, but
only for interface 127.0.0.1. We will need to change it to allow a remote web browser to be
able to access and manage the server remotely. In our configuration, we don’t have a full X
client running on the server so we cannot launch a browser and go to
http://127.0.0.1/8080/apex. We will need to enable Oracle to be accessed remotely by doing:
# sqlplus system@ora1.nickelnetworks.com
SQL*Plus: Release 10.2.0.1.0 - Production on Sun Aug 19 23:58:36 2007
Copyright (c) 1982, 2005, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Enter password: mypassw0rd
Connected to:
Oracle Database 10g Express Edition Release 10.2.0.1.0 - Production
Enter the following command and press ENTER to change allow remote connections to the
HTTP port 8080 web interface. After, type “quit;” and press ENTER to leave sqlplus.
SQL> EXEC DBMS_XDB.SETLISTENERLOCALACCESS(FALSE);
SQL> quit;
There is no need to restart Oracle for the change to take effect, but if you want you can do so
by doing:
# service oracle-xe restart
Shutting down Oracle Database 10g Express Edition Instance.
Stopping Oracle Net Listener.
Starting Oracle Net Listener.
Starting Oracle Database 10g Express Edition Instance.
You can use “netstat –an | grep tcp” again to find out which port Oracle is
using or use sqlplus by doing:
# sqlplus system@ora1.nickelnetworks.com
SQL*Plus: Release 10.2.0.1.0 - Production on Sun Aug 19 23:58:36 2007
Copyright (c) 1982, 2005, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Enter password: mypassw0rd
Connected to:
Oracle Database 10g Express Edition Release 10.2.0.1.0 - Production
SQL> select dbms_xdb.gethttpport() from dual;
DBMS_XDB.GETHTTPPORT()
----------------------
8080
SQL> quit;
You should now be able to use any browser and point it to
http://host.domain.com:8080/apex and login using your system user and
password. You have now finished the default installation for Oracle XE in
Linux.