Exported OVA file

Hi everyone;
I've finally got it.
I've got a virtual machine with oracle 5.5 and updated oracle-verified packages.

It is ready to receive an install of grid and dbms products.
Just like we did in the lab.

Oracle user and ORACLE_BASE are setup.

You just login as oracle and follow the installation guides for
grid and then install the dbms.


As soon as I upload the .ova file to a shared server,
I will update this link.

Installing Your Operating System

VirtualBox will take just about any Operating System
and Virtualize it.

We will run Oracle Enterprise Linux 5.5.

Downloaded from OTN it arrives as a compressed archive file.
You'll need to unpack it to obtain an .iso file  which can
be burnt to disk and used later.

Alternatively you can setup a shared directory between the host Operating
System and the Guest Operating Systems, put the files on the host in the
shared folder, then startup the virtual machine and access the
external information from there.

Creating your virtual machine inside VirtualBox

You need to create the virtual machine inside  the VirutalBox application.This will instruct VirtualBox what kind of machine, and how much resources
to use.

For our purposes we need to create a machine for
OEL 5.5  that is capable of running Oracle 11gR2 grid and dbms.

For now that means
1) at least 1.5 gB virtual machine RAM
2) 16gB virtual hard drive space (total)

===================================================

- Start Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager 4.1.16 in the normal way.
- Select the blue New button on the upper left side.
- Click Next,
- Enter a descriptive name, such as OEL5.5 in the Name box
and select the Operating system(linux) and Version (oracle)
if the interface doesn't do it for you.
- Click Next
- Move the slider to at least 1.5 gB, better to use 2gb if you can.
- Click Next
- Click Start-up Disk and select Create New Hard Disk
- Click Next
- Select VDI
- Click Next
- Select Dynamically allocated  (or fixed if you have enough free space)
- Click Next
- You can select a new location for your virtual disk files on the host OS
- Move the slider for the virtual disk in megabytes to 16gB
- Click Next
- Confirm the deatils
- Click Next
===================================================

Enable Networking In VirtualBox

You'll need to enable networking in VirtualBox
in order to get the automatic update features for your
linux OS.

In VirtualBox manager, select the VM you want to work with.
Click the settings button up top, and select the Network
function from the list on the left.

In the Adapter 1 tab,
a) Check Enable Network Adapter
b) select Bridged Adapter from the Attached to: pull-down list
c) select your host machines network adapter from the Name: pull-down list
   

Now when you start your VM, you should be able to
run Firefox and connect to some well-known website
like google.com

Which OS to use?

Clearly there are several Operating Systems to choose from.
If you want to emulate the setup in the classroom labs then
you need linux.

There are several versions of linux.

At least you'll need Oracle Enterprise Linux (OEL)

Pick 5.5 if you want a well-known and certified version
of the OS.

Pick 6.0 if you want a newer OS it may not be as well-known
or stable as 5.5

Pick 6.2 if you want a challenge to make Oracle products run
on an OS for which they have not yet been certified.

Installing Oracle VirtualBox Vm

We are going to use Oracle VM 4.1.16 (the current release)
running under Windows 7 x64 ( 64bit Enterprise edition).
VM 4.1.16 has support for usb devices built-in, so you
probably don't need to add the extensions package
at this time.

Note that when we started the training with the intro SQL
course we had VirtualBox 4.1.14, but there have
been updates for us since that time.


There are several approaches to getting VirtualBox.
Pick your favourite.


For more info on how to setup your new virtual machine
see the online docs at
https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/UserManual.html
 and in particular at:
http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch01.html#gui-createvm

A couple of items of note here:
1a)
You'll need to link the virtual machine to the local disk
to setup a dedicated cache for the virtual machine and provide
some hooks to load an OS.


1b)
  You'll need an OS to load, so have Oracle Enterprise Linux 5.5 .iso ready FIRST.
   Either burn to a disk or have it ready to load on the local disk.  VirtualBox is
   smart enough to read an .iso file directly.  
  No OS means VirtualBox will startup a machine that does nothing and just waits to boot.
  Which would be useless to you, in every way.

Download a fresh version of the VirtualBox
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/server-storage/virtualbox/downloads/index.html
Just select your host OS, and install the downloaded binaries.


2)
If you are a glutton for punishment, you could download the source code
and build your own VirtualBox environment. 

See otn for more info on this option.

DBA I - Homework for Week 1

Homework  for the first week of DBA I


1) Register for OTN  
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/index.html
or
http://otn.oracle.com

If you haven't already done this then stop, and go do it now!
It's free, It's easy.  Note that Oracle will ask many questions about you.
Fill out the registration forms carefully.

2) Register for Oracle Magazine
It's Free. It can be done when you register for OTN or afterwards if you like.
Check the email you used when you register as in 1) above.

3) Install Oracle 
There are many ways you can go about this task.
See the separate post about this topic.


4) Google for oracle11g training exam questions
Do I really need to post a link to Google here?


5) Review All the material
Yup.
You know what to do.
MEMORIZE those Ekits.

Good vi reference pages

For those times when you're stuck in the default sql*plus editor and don't know what to do;
Try quitting vi.

References, guides, and tutorials can be found here:
https://beausanders.org/main/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=63:how-to-learn-the-vi-editor&catid=52:how-to&Itemid=135

vi Cheat Sheets:
http://www.lagmonster.org/docs/vi.html
http://fisica.ehu.es/ref/vi.html

Of course you could always try to read these docs if you were interested in increasing your skill set.
They make great resume filler.

A bash guide (default shell environment in linux for VMbox)

A bash guide (default shell environment in linux for VMbox)

http://writers.fultus.com/garrels/ebooks/Machtelt_Garrels_Bash_Guide_for_Beginners_2nd_Ed.pdf


Try entering "man ps" or "man kill" if you want to know what those crazy commands like ps -9 and kill
will do.

Some links regarding the SQL tests

Follow the links for the for SQL test

http://www.choudhari.net/downloads/Certifications/11g/1Z0-051/Oracle%2011g-%20SQL%20Fundamental%20Exam%20Guide%20(Exam%201Z0-051).pdf

http://www.wiziq.com/online-tests/22407-1z0-051-oracle-11g-sql-exam

http://www.examcollection.com/oracle/Oracle.Certkey.1Z0-051.v2011-04-20.by.Simon.137q.vce.file.html

Help us all and add your links too!

Welcome to the blog

Welcome to the blog for students of Oracle 11g training Summer 2012 at YorkU.

This blog is for you to share your info and experiences with the class and the various
products we'll use to get through the certification exams.

Please be courteous with your posts.
You may post links to external content.
Please do not post any files or other downloadable content here.

I wish you all great success in your endeavours.
Your pal, The Blog Emperor