This tip is an excerpt from the paper "Tips on successfully installing Oracle Applications 11i on Windows 2000/NT" and is brought to you by the International Oracle Users Group (IOUG). Become a member of the IOUG to access the paper referenced here and a repository of technical content created for Oracle users by Oracle users.
Part 1: Pre-installation steps
Part 2: Using RapidWiz
Part 3: Post-installations steps
RapidWiz is a robust utility that walks through the process of installing the
necessary components of the 11i E-business suite. Oracle support routinely
modifies the tool. As a result, a new version is available about every four to
six weeks. Once all the pre-installation steps are complete and proper functionality
is verified, use the supplied RapidWiz utility to automate the 11i Apps
installation process. The step-by-step process is outlined below.
1. Copy CDs to operating system
Nineteen CDs are needed to install the 11i Apps version 11.5.8 (21 CDs
with 11.5.7). Two installation methods are available for copying the 11i
Apps CDs to your hard drive. You can install them yourself or use a script
that will automate the process for you. If you choose the manual method,
you need to make sure to review the first chapter of the "Installing Oracle
Applications" document to confirm the proper directory structure. For
the automated process, you can use one of several scripts available online.
Metalink has scripts available; see note 230458.1 for 11.5.8 and note
218997.1. As an alternative, you can find scripts for 11i written by Randy Giefer from Solution
Beacon.
After copying the CDs to your O/S, navigate to RedCDDisk1rapidwiz and
execute "RapidWizVersion" to check your version of the RapidWiz utility.
If your version of RapidWiz is not the latest version described in the 11i
Windows Readme file, you will need to download the latest version listed
in the file.
2. Get the latest version of RapidWiz
Oracle support recommends you utilize the latest version of RapidWiz.
To get the latest version of the RapidWiz utility you will need to review
the latest "Readme for Windows" document. Refer to Metalink note:
215868.1 for your specific maintenance release Readme notes. Oracle
support updates this document each time a new release is available. The
latest version for 11.5.8 is currently 11.5.8.15. If your RapidWiz version is
not 11.5.8.15 you will need to download patch 2849734.
Once the latest version of RapidWiz is downloaded, navigate to
RedCDDisk1 and remove the directory RapidWiz. When you extract
your patch to RedCDDisk1, it will recreate a RapidWiz directory with
the necessary components. To verify you have the correct version you can
run "RapidWizVersion" after the patch has been extracted.
3. Running RapidWiz
The first screen will prompt you for your installation action. Here you can
choose to have a normal installation or reconfigure your existing system
under the 'Upgrade Actions' section. Under the Upgrade section, you have
the choice to create an upgrade file system (to add another 11i Apps envi-ronment
such as DEV) or to configure an existing 11i Apps instance. For
the normal installation make sure 'Install Oracle Applications' is selected
and click next.
After advancing to the next screen you are prompted to select the installation
type. Default installation type is "Single Node" which installs all tiers (Db,
Apps, and Web) on the same node. Here you can choose to install your envi-ronment
in a "Two-Node" method, which will install your Database and
Concurrent Processor on one node and your Apps/Web tier on another node.
The third option is to install your environment in a 'Multi-node' method, which will install all tiers on separate nodes. If you choose to use the "Two-Node"
or "Multi-Node" methods you will have to copy the configuration file
generated by RapidWiz to the other nodes and repeat the RapidWiz process
there to copy the necessary components on the other nodes. At any point-in-time
you can migrate your "Single-node" installation to a multi-tiered method
as well using the "Configure existing Application instance" selection from the
previous screen.
After selecting the installation method you are prompted to select the application
instance to install. Here you can install a 'shell' or empty 11i environment
ready for data entry by selecting PROD, TEST or highlight the text and
assigning it a unique name such as DEV. You can also install the VISION
demo system at this point by selecting the VIS instance. Under the database
type you can choose which type of database to install with your unique
instance name. You can install either a "fresh install database," a pre-configured
database for the applications which is ready for data entry, or a 'vision
demo database,' which is a pre-configured database that has seeded data
already placed in the tables or no database at all.
If you choose a 'fresh install database' and click next you will be prompted to
enter the products you wish to license with your install. You can use the
"Applications suite licensing" option, which includes everything or you, can
choose each product individually under the 'component applications license'
option. If you do not want to license the entire product suite you can review
the individual products that make it the product suite by clicking on the
"Prod Detail" button. If you choose either the 'Vision database or no database
at all' you bypass this screen.
After choosing your unique name, database type and license agreement you are
prompted to enter the "TOP" locations for your components that are needed
for your E-business environment (e.g. APPL_TOP, COMMON_TOP, etc).
You are also prompted for the NT userid and password for the owner of
these files and the correct domain name of your server. Default user is
applmgr but you can change this to Oracle or any other unique userid for
your environment. The default domain name is actually picked from the
registry, so if this entry is not correct, you need to ascertain the differences.
The next screen will prompt you for detailed locations of your e-business
suite components. These values are derived from your settings entered on
the previous screen. You will need to review these entries and make sure the
locations are correct before proceeding to the next screen (e.g. MKS, MSDEV
(C++), JDK, etc).
The next screen will prompt you for the database System Identifier (SID),
Name, Character Set and territory. Most of these values should be adequate
as the default since these values were derived from previous settings.
However you should verify these to see if any need modification. Also, on this
screen you are prompted for the port numbers for your E-business suite. If
this is your first installation on the server the defaults should be sufficient.
However, if you have any other Oracle software running on your server you
need to verify the port numbers to make sure you are not using a port that is
already being used. The Port pool at the top will increment all port numbers
by the number chosen to save you time from editing each one.
The next screen will prompt you to enter the full path to create a configura-tion
file. All settings to this point are placed in this configuration file. If you
choose a multi-tired install this file will need to be copied over to the other
nodes so that RapidWiz can read its settings and proceed with your install. If
for any reason you need to reinstall your e-business environment you can
bypass all the screens up to this point and just access the configuration file to
populate the same settings as before. Once you click next, RapidWiz will
perform all the necessary checks to make sure your install will be successful.
Checks are performed on port numbers, operation system specifications, file
system space and permissions, domain name and all prerequisite software
listed above. If everything is fine with your system you will see all green
check marks by each check. If you see a red explanation mark, you have an
error, which you should investigate and fix. To restart the checks again,
simply go back to the configuration file screen to restart the process.
After you received all green check marks, you can proceed to the next
screen, which will start the installation process. You are prompted one last
time to start the installation. By clicking "yes", your install process begins.
After the install has finished, you should see a list of post installation checks.
Just like the pre-installation checks, RapidWiz will run several scripts after
the installation is completed to verify that all components installed properly.
You should see all green check marks beside each check. If you see any red
exclamation marks, something has happened during your installation, which
you will need to investigate and correct.
If everything checked out okay in your post-installation check, then you are
ready to log into your 11i instance using the following URL:
http://server.domain:port/OA_HTML/US/ICXINDEX.htm
Part 3 covers post-installation steps.
About the Author:
Richard Stroupe has been an Oracle DBA for more than six years
working with core and Apps technologies. He is the founder of TRS
Consulting LLC, a Northern Virginia based Oracle consulting firm
specializing in advanced Oracle solutions and training for various
government and commercial organizations. He holds both 8i and 9i
DBA certifications as well as a Masters of Science degree in Systems
Engineering from George Washington University. Prior to starting TRS
Consulting LLC, Richard worked as a principal consultant for Oracle's
Advanced Programs Group.
