Oracle Setup

I wanted to give Oracle a try, so ended up installing and re-installing things a half-dozen times.  My trial and error is your gain.  =)

First I installed VirtualBox.  That part is straightforward, just download and install.

Next I downloaded Oracle Linux.  This requires registering an Oracle account, but that’s free.  Choose “Oracle Linux” and “x86 32 bit” then the top choice “Oracle Linux Release 6 Media Pack for x86 (32 bit)”.  Download that and then unzip it to get the Oracle Linux .iso file.

Run VirtualBox and create a new Virtual Machine (VM).  Choose Linux > Oracle Linux for the type and set the memory to 1024 MB.  Start the VM and it will prompt you asking for the install disk.  Browse to the .iso file and start the install.

Follow these instructions to install Oracle Linux.  It’s pretty straightforward, only thing you really have to set is network, and MAKE SURE you choose “Configure NOW” near the end, the default is “Configure LATER” and if you do that you will only get a command line, no GUI.  Unless, of course, you prefer a command line OS.  I don’t.  Make sure you pick Firefox to install, too.

The VM should restart and be all good.  In the VM, open Firefox and download Oracle XE.  I chose the “Universal” option.  You want the .rpm version.

Once it downloads, run the .rpm.  Once it’s done installing, configure it:

1. Run the following command:

   $ /etc/init.d/oracle-xe configure

2. Enter the following configuration information:
   • A valid HTTP port for the Oracle Database XE graphical user interface (the default is 8080)
   • A valid port for the Oracle database listener (the default is 1521)
   • A password for the SYS and SYSTEM administrative user accounts
   • Whether you want the database to start automatically when the computer starts (say Yes)

 

After all that, you should have Oracle XE up and running!

But I wanted to access Oracle running on the VM from my host machine.  To do that you’ll need a couple more steps.

On VirtualBox, choose Devices > Network Adaptors.  It should be on NAT (the default).  Click “Port Forwarding” and add 3 ports.  Leave the Host IP and Guest IP blank for them.  Here’s what you want to add (name, protocol, host port, guest port):

apex     TCP     8080     8080

oracle     TCP     1521     1521

ssh     TCP     2222     22

Then on the VM, go to System > Administration > Firewall > Other Ports and add port 1521 and 8080.

Now you should be able to go to the VM apex web interface from your host computer by going to http://localhost:8080/apex/

 

I’m still figuring things out… the next step is figuring out how to get add the OCI8 Oracle library to PHP, specifically PHP running in MAMP…