Ben Ruset Sysadmin, etc.

Oracle and Linux Pre-Requisites

As a sysadmin, I like to make sure that my servers are as lean as possible. I'm of the philosophy that less is more, and when I build servers, I typically limit the packages that I install to the bare minimum, and add only what I need. The net is a system with fewer running services by default, less disk space used, and less vectors for attack.

Oracle, on the other hand, suggests that - when you build a Linux server (and we're speaking in Red Hat specifics here) - you should take the default set of RPMs. A minimal install of RHEL clocks in at somewhere around 700MB. A default install of RHEL works out to be much larger (I want to say around 7GB, but I'm not 100% sure -- I know it's in the multi-GB range) and includes a bunch of things that you wouldn't want on your Oracle server like a full blown Gnome Desktop, Apache, and Samba Server.

So, what if you decide to do a minimal install of Red Hat, load Oracle, and then add missing dependencies yourself? Well, Oracle's official answer is that you need to reinstall Linux. They offer this flawed analogy to explain their stance. I will bold some of the more braindead verbage. This comes from Metalink note 376183.1:

All Oracle development, coding, testing, documentation, certification and support experience for Oracle on RHEL is based upon this "foundation" of a "default-RPMs" installation of RHEL AS/ES. In the same way that you would not expect the wood framing for a tudor-style house to fit on a ranch-style concrete foundation, please do not expect the Oracle RDBMS software to successfully install upon a "less-than-default-RPMs" foundation of RHEL AS/ES.

At this point, a common question is “Why can’t I just fix the wrong foundation of Linux that I already have? Why do I have to re-install Linux? Or continuing the analogy above, “Why can’t I just go down to the local hardware store, rent a jackhammer, buy a couple of bags of instant concrete, and MAKE it fit?

The answer is “experience”. In the experience of Oracle Global Support, you will continue to experience an infinite series of “installation” or “patching” or “instructions not working” or “GUI tool” or “stability” problems until you re-build this system. Customers who have tried to “just fix it” invariably spend days and in some cases even weeks of frustration before they just “do the right thing” and re-install the correct foundation of Linux.

You would not allow your concrete contractor to try to MAKE your brand-new house fit onto his mistake. In the same way, do not allow yourself to try to MAKE your brand-new Oracle RDBMS installation fit onto the Linux mistake of a "less-than-default-RPMs" installation. Additional RPMs (beyond any documentation) may be needed if a "less-than-default-RPMs" installation of RHEL AS/ES is performed. Oracle Support Services has no experience to advise you on what these additional RPMs may be.

A more cynical translation of that is that Oracle support is lazy, and doesn't want to take the time to tell you what packages and libraries are needed to run their product. It's far easier to tell you to install everything then give you a list of exact prerequisites. Also, you're probably a terrible systems administrator who wouldn't be able to install the necessary RPM's anyway, given our lack of effort at generating a list.

It is absolutely astounding to me that an Enterprise-grade software vendor would not give you a list of packages that are required to install their software on Linux. Interestingly enough, though, the instructions for installing it on Solaris gives you a package by package list of what needs to be installed.