How to Install a brand new Exadata X5 (part 2)

All the installation steps are performed by a script named install.sh (provided by OEDA) with the help of the well known <client>-<cluster>.xml XML file. It is quite straightforward. All steps can be launched in one command but I recommend launching them step by step, it is easier to troubleshoot if needed. One important thing is to not jump over a failed step; resolve the failed step first and then continue.

As explained in Part 1, we will use the install.sh script that has been provided by OEDA which is located in the /u01/Exadata_software/linux-x64/ directory as well as the <client>-<cluster>.xml configuration file.

Step 1

As the install.sh script is meant for many different configurations, the step 1 will perform some checks and adapt the list of steps that are needed for your particular configuration.

Check the output of the script to see if anything is wrong and we can then continue.

List of Steps

The -l option can be used to list all those steps now that the step 1 has adapted it to your configuration.

Step 2

This step will check for all the ISO files needed for all the installation steps, you will be prompted for missing files then copy the missing files in the WorkDir directory and relaunch the step.

Step 3

This step will create the required users

Step 4

This step will set up the cell connectivity creating the /etc/oracle/cell/network-config/cellip.ora and /etc/oracle/cell/network-config/cellinit.ora files

Step 5

This step will check the Infiniband configuration and test the performances of it using the infinicheck  script

Step 6

This step will check the cells using the cellcli -e calibrate command. It also tests the performance of the cell disks and report any issue.

Step 7

This step will create the cell disks, flashlog and flashcache

Step 8

This step will create the grid disks

Step 9

This step will install the Grid Infrastructure 12.1.0.2

Step 10

This step will run the root.sh script on all the nodes.

Note : if any issue occurs during this step, you will have to deinstall the GI :

Then reinstall the GI (step 9) and relaunch root.sh (step 10).

Step 11

This step will install Oracle database — this was 11.2.0.4 in this case (not 12c, I installed it manually later on)

Step 12

This step will relink the installed Oracle databases homes with RDS (protocol to use Infiniband)

Step 13

This step will create the ASM diskgroups according to what has been defined by the client in the XML configuration file (this is the perfect timing to double check, triple check, etc…  the name of the diskgroups before creating it to avoid to have to rename the diskgroups later)

Step 14

This step will create the databases as defined in the <client>-<cluster>.xml file. In my cases, no databases were defined there as the client wanted to create them manually.

But you can easily do it like that :

Step 15

This step applies some security fixes; the error below is due to the fact that the Step 14 has not been executed.

Step 16

This step installs the Exachk tool

Step 17

This step creates an installation summary

Step 18

This step is to “Resecure the machine”; this step is meant to :

• expire all passwords (need to be changed at next login)
• implement password aging and complexity
• tightened some permissions
• drop the root ssh keys

You may want to bypass this step depending on the client security policy.

You are now done, and everything is now installed properly. You can now create many databases and start to enjoy Exadata !