Geeky Project Part 8: Create a WebCenter VM

So, I’m back on track after yesterday’s detour to configure 11g and get it ready for the WebCenter schemas.

I’m working off the WebCenter installation guide, by the way, Section 2.1.3 Create Schemas for Oracle WebCenter.

Next step is to download and run Repository Creation Utility (RCU) which handily creates all the Fusion Middleware schemas for you, no fuss, no mess.

After executing John’s script with all my Oracle environment variables, I need to fire up the listener, then start the database.

[oracle@theappslab-oel-vm ~]$ lsnrctl start

LSNRCTL for Linux: Version 11.2.0.1.0 - Production on 15-DEC-2009
10:06:25
Copyright (c) 1991, 2009, Oracle.  All rights reserved.
Starting /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1/bin/tnslsnr:
please wait...
TNSLSNR for Linux: Version 11.2.0.1.0 - Production
System parameter file is /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1/
network/admin/listener.ora
Log messages written to /u01/app/oracle/diag/tnslsnr/theappslab-
oel-vm/listener/alert/log.xml
Listening on: (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=theappslab-
oel-vm)(PORT=1521)))
Connecting to (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=)(PORT=1521))

STATUS of the LISTENER
------------------------
Alias                     LISTENER
Version                   TNSLSNR for Linux: Version 11.2.0.1.0 -
Production
Start Date                15-DEC-2009 10:06:27
Uptime                    0 days 0 hr. 0 min. 1 sec
Trace Level               off
Security                  ON: Local OS Authentication
SNMP                      OFF
Listener Parameter File   /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1/
network/admin/listener.ora
Listener Log File         /u01/app/oracle/diag/tnslsnr/theappslab-
oel-vm/listener/alert/log.xml
Listening Endpoints Summary...
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=theappslab-oel-vm)
(PORT=1521)))
The listener supports no services
The command completed successfully

Sweet. Looking good, until I hit a snag when I ran sqlplus.

ORA-12162: TNS:net service name is incorrectly specified

OK, back to Google, which found this useful and terse tip. So, I added a new line to John’s script:

export ORACLE_SID=theappslab

And tried again, this time with great success.

Enter user-name:  / as sysdba
Connected to an idle instance.

SQL> startup
ORACLE instance started.
Total System Global Area  238530560 bytes
Fixed Size                  1335724 bytes
Variable Size             117444180 bytes
Database Buffers          117440512 bytes
Redo Buffers                2310144 bytes
Database mounted.
Database opened.

Feels good to see that.

OK, so onward to RCU and another wizard.

Obviously, I need to create the schemas.

This time through I have all the information I need.

I ignored this strange warning about AL32UTF8 character sets. Hoping that’s not a problem, the WebCenter install guide doesn’t mention anything about it.

More good news, I passed the prequisites.

Consulting the WebCenter installation guide again, I picked the WebCenter Suite components . . .

And promptly hit an error, namely:

error: RCU-6107:DB Init Param Prerequisite failure for: PROCESSES

So, I headed back to Google and found an OTN thread with the solution. Basically execute this command in sqlplus:

SQL> alter system set processes=300 scope=spfile;

Then shutdown and start the database. You can probably retry RCU step 3, but I started over again. Anyway, after increasing the PROCESSES parameter, I was good to go.

You might notice the step numbers changed. I have no idea why. Maybe there’s some caching thing that affects the counter when you run these wizards multiple times. Anyone know?

Making headway, now setting schema passwords.

This is pretty heavy stuff, important in an enterprise, but not so much to me in my bio-dome of a VM. Accepting defaults.

Tablespaces created. I’m a big fan of the counters too, by the way. Very nice for my impatient gene.

Hmm, that Create button says I didn’t create everything yet. I guess one more step.

OK, now I’m done for sure. Feeling pretty good, so I’ll push onward in the installation guide.

The next step is to install WebLogic, which I’ve already done. I did break into a cold sweat when I saw this note:

In order to be configured properly, Oracle WebCenter requires that Configuration Wizard and Upgrade Framework is selected.

Luckily, I did select that option when I installed WebLogic. Whew.

So, as with the other parts, this one got pretty long in a hurry. I’m expecting (fingers crossed) to have two more parts, one for the install and one for the WebCenter configuration and post-installation tasks.

I’m sure this is getting tedious, so my goal is to finish this week and pepper in some posts about other topics.

Thanks for hanging in there while I flail in public.

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