Oracle® Database

5.1 Installing Enterprise Security Manager

To install Oracle Security Manager, install Oracle Client and then select the Administrator installation type.

5.2 Installing Oracle Database on a Computer That has an Automatic Storage Management Instance

Oracle Universal Installer displays an error message that reads 0. This message is displayed after you specify the database home and path in the Specify Home Details screen and click Next. Ignore the error message whenever it is displayed, and continue the installation.

5.3 extjob Executable Required Directory Permissions

To enable the extjob executable to locate required libraries, the $ORACLE_HOME/lib directory and all of its parent directories must have execute permissions for group and other.

5.4 Modifying a Virtual IP Address Node Application

When modifying the name, IP address, or netmask of an existing virtual IP address (VIP) resource, use the srvctl modify nodeapps command and include the existing interfaces for the VIP in the -A argument. For example:

srvctl modify nodeapps -n mynode1 -A 100.200.300.40/255.255.255.0/eth0

This issue is tracked with Oracle bug 4500688.

6.1 Materialized View and Partition Change Tracking Rewrite

When the query has single column in-lists, the materialized view has ranges, and partition change tracking rewrite is used, you might get stale results with Query Rewrite. Turn off the fresh partition containment rewrite to avoid this problem by using the following command:

SQL> alter session set "_query_rewrite_fpc" = false;

6.2 Host-Based Mirroring

The host-based mirroring is not supported with ASM. Note that there is no issue with resilvering for storage based mirroring.

Workaround: Use ASM redundancy.

This issue is tracked with Oracle bug 4466206.

6.3 Importing a User Certificate Into Oracle Wallet Using Oracle Wallet Manager

Oracle Wallet Manager will fail to recognize the user certificate as valid if you capture the user certificate contents from the Oracle Certificate Authority site and save this as a flat file. This is because when saving as a flat file, all the lines of the user certificate are run together with no line breaks.

Workaround: Edit the user certificate. Insert a new line after -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- and a new line before -----END CERTIFICATE-----.

6.4 Removing Metrics for Wait Classes Removes Them Permanently

Do not remove the key values for the wait class metrics. Doing so removes them permanently and currently there is no easy way to recover them.

This issue is tracked with Oracle bug 4602952.

6.5 Preventing Loss of Quorum

If a storage area network (SAN) device is used to provide access to a shared storage and IO Multi-pathing (MPxIO) is enabled, then you must install the following patches on all the nodes of the cluster.

• 119375-13

• 119716-10

Without these patches, a node can lose access to the shared storage being accessed through the physical link that gets disconnected or fails.

6.6 Solaris the SMF Boot Archive Service

In Solaris 10 update 1, the boot archive service is introduced. The main purpose of this service is to reduce the boot time and simplify the boot loader. Due to an aggressive shutdown, the boot archive verification service may require manual intervention during boot.

During a patch installation or software upgrade, if you do not shutdown the computer properly, then kernel modules are reported to be out of sync. In such a case, start the computer to the fail-safe menu entry, follow the prompts to re-sync the archive, and then reboot. If you do not want the manual intervention, you can disable the check by running the following commands:

# svcprop -p start/exec boot-archive:true
# svcadm refresh boot-archive

However, if the kernel modules are not reported to be out of sync, then you can clear the check by logging into the single user shell and running the following command:

# svcadm clear boot-archive

It is possible to disable the boot archive check on production computer to avoid manual intervention during aggressive reboots. To do so, the patch application and installation of driver or kernel software must be followed by a boot archive update. The kernel software includes the non-Solaris kernel modules.

The boot archive update can be achieved by applying a graceful reboot or an explicit re-sync of the boot archive by running the following command:

bootadm update-archive

Oracle recommends that you remove the node from the cluster before patch installation and software installation or upgrade. When using CRS this can be done by completing the following steps:

1. Stop the CRS service by using the following command:

   $CRS_HOME/bin/crsctl stop crs
   
   

2. Disable the CRS service by using the following command:

   $CRS_HOME/bin/crsctl disable crs
   
   

3. Install or upgrade the required patch or software

4. Reboot or re-sync the boot archive

5. Enable the CRS service by using the following command:

   $CRS_HOME/bin/crsctl enable crs
   
   

6. Start the CRS service by using the following command:

   $CRS_HOME/bin/crsctl start crs
   
   

Complete the following steps to remove the node from the cluster if you are using using Sun Cluster:

1. Reboot the node in the maintenance mode

   See Also:

   Sun Cluster documentation for details on rebooting a node in maintenance mode

2. Install or upgrade the required patch or software

3. Reboot the node in the cluster mode

A fix for the boot archive service will be integrated in a future Solaris 10 update. After this fix is in place there will be no need to disable the check or to provide manual intervention during a reboot. The boot archive check can be re-enabled by running the following commands:

# svccfg -s boot-archive setprop start/exec=/lib/svc/method/boot-archive
# svcadm refresh boot-archive

6.7 Increasing the CSS misscount Parameter

When the Solaris fiber channel port driver senses that a link is down, it gives two minutes timeout period before offlining the LUN path associated with the port. The purpose of this delay is to prevent a premature fail over in as a result of a transient link failure. If there are alternate active paths to the LUNs and SCSI reservations are not active, then within this timeout MPxIO automatically reconfigures to use the alternate path.

However, during this timeout period the port failure is not perceived by CRS because the path is not offlined. If the node is evicted during this timeout period, the CRS daemons fail to reboot the node and services will not fail over to other nodes. In this case, the node will reboot only until the link is up again. After the reboot, all services belonging to the node will be up.

To avoid this problem the misscount parameter must be set to a value greater than 120 seconds. As a result, the eviction and reboot process is not affected by the Solaris timeout period. The node is evicted, it reboots and its services fail over to other nodes as expected.

After CRS installation is complete, you can change the misscount parameter by completing the following steps:

1. On any node run the $CRS_HOME/bin/crsctl set css misscount 130 command.

2. On all nodes run the $CRS_HOME/bin/crsctl stop crs command.

3. On all nodes run the $CRS_HOME/bin/crsctl start crs command.

The default value for the misscount parameter is 27. Increasing the value of this parameter increases the time the node takes to fail over. Therefore, the service level of the cluster reduces for a longer period of time. It is up to the user to decide if a longer fail over time is acceptable. Solaris has a mechanism in place to allow applications to be notified immediately of a link down.

In this release, Oracle is not using this mechanism but work is in progress to make use of this mechanism. In a future Oracle release this workaround will no longer be needed.

6.8 Node Names do not Reflect in the Specify Cluster Nodes to Add to Installation Dialog Box

In the Specify Cluster Nodes to Add to Installation dialog box, an intermittent timing issue is observed. This dialog box prompts you to enter Public Node Names, Private Node Names, and Virtual Node Names for the new nodes to be added. Even after entering the node names, the configuration specified does not reflect in the install area. To avoid this issue, you need to press Tab after the last input to this dialog box.

6.9 Invalid Link to Monitor in Memory Access Mode Feature

Do not click the link to the Monitor in Memory Access Mode feature in the database screen. This feature is not available in Enterprise Manager Database Control 10.2.0.2 release. Clicking this link may stop an agent from responding.

This issue is tracked with Oracle bug 4866231.

6.10 Database Upgrade Fails

When using Database Upgrade Assistant to upgrade a database from 10.1.0.5 to 10.2.0.2, the following error is displayed after 75-80% completion of the upgrade process:

ERROR:
ORA-24344: success with compilation error
ORA-06512: at line 38

Workaround: Click Ignore to continue the process. After the first error, the following error is displayed:

ORA-20421: ERROR: The job type Backup references the following invalid

Click Ignore to complete the upgrade process.

This issue is tracked with Oracle bug 5351602.

6.11 Error Message While Installing HTML DB

During HTML DB installation, the java.io.FileNotFoundException message is displayed, but the installation is successful.

Workaround: Ignore this error.

This issue is tracked with Oracle bug 5335632.

6.12 Oracle Notification Server Issue in Shared Oracle Clusterware Home

While upgrading Database from 10.1 to 10.2, Oracle Notification Server shuts down if the following conditions exist:

• Oracle Clusterware 10.1 is installed with shared Oracle home

• Oracle RAC 10.1 is installed with non-shared Oracle home

Workaround: Complete the following steps to resolve this issue:

1. Use the following commands to add the usesharedinstall=true entry to the $CRS_HOME/opmn/conf/ons.config file:

   $ cd $CRS_HOME/opmn/conf$ cat >> ons.configusesharedinstall=true
   
   

2. Press Ctrl and D to exit the cat command.

3. Use the following commands to add the usesharedinstall=true entry to the $ORACLE_HOME/opmn/conf/ons.config file:

   $ cd $ORACLE_HOME/opmn/conf$ cat >> ons.configusesharedinstall=true
   
   

4. Press Ctrl and D to exit the cat command.

5. Restart the Oracle Notification Server.

This issue is tracked with Oracle bug 5325892.

6.13 Solaris 10 Resource Control and Parameter Settings

Oracle recommends that you set both resource control and /etc/system/ parameters listed in the Configuring Kernel Parameters section for Solaris 10 in the installation guides. Operating system parameters not replaced by resource controls continue to affect performance and security on Solaris 10 systems.