Jason L. Froebe - Tech tips and How Tos for Fellow Techies » 11g

How to change the default NLS_DATE_FORMAT (Date format) in Oracle 10g/11g

Jason L Froebe — Thu, 06 May 2010 20:11:00 +0000

It is really really easy to change the default NLS_DATE_FORMAT setting but to be honest, you should set it at a session level IMHO.

We basically just need to run “ALTER SYSTEM SET NLS_DATE_FORMAT=’YYYY-MM-DD’ SCOPE=SPFILE” as a user with sysdba privileges. If you started the Oracle instance without a spfile (it should be located at $ORACLE_HOME/dbs/spfile[instance name].ora), you will receive the ORA-32001 error.

SQL> ALTER SYSTEM SET NLS_DATE_FORMAT=‘YYYY-MM-DD’ SCOPE=SPFILE;
ALTER SYSTEM SET NLS_DATE_FORMAT=‘YYYY-MM-DD’ SCOPE=SPFILE
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-32001: WRITE TO SPFILE requested but no SPFILE specified at startup

Just create a new spfile, restart:

SQL> SELECT INSTANCE_NAME FROM v$instance;

INSTANCE_NAME
—————-
UAT2

SQL> CREATE spfile=‘/oracle/10g/dbs/spfileUAT2.ora’ FROM pfile=‘/oracle/10g/dbs/initUAT2.ora’;

*restart*

SQL> SELECT INSTANCE_NAME FROM v$instance;

INSTANCE_NAME
—————-
UAT2

SQL> ALTER SYSTEM SET NLS_DATE_FORMAT=‘YYYY-MM-DD’ SCOPE=SPFILE;

System altered.

*restart*

SQL> SELECT value FROM v$nls_parameters WHERE parameter =‘NLS_DATE_FORMAT’;

VALUE
—————————————————————-
YYYY-MM-DD

That’s it.

How to clean up Oracle archive logs when you don’t have a RMAN catalog (10g/11g)

Jason L Froebe — Tue, 05 May 2009 17:51:32 +0000

If you’re not using Oracle’s RMAN for backup management but you have turned on archive mode for hot backups, you can create a job in Enterprise Manager (Maintenance -> Manage Current Backups).

Recently I ran into a problem with one our Enterprise Manager installs where scheduled jobs would not run. So, I wrote a very simple RMAN script to clear out the references to any archive files that I’ve moved elsewhere or deleted:

RMAN=/oranr/10g/bin/rman

$RMAN nocatalog target / < <EOF
crosscheck backup;
crosscheck archivelog all;
delete noprompt expired archivelog all;
delete noprompt expired backup;
delete noprompt obsolete;
EOF

FW: Oracle 10g+ Security and Audit – Part 1

Jason L Froebe — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 16:44:35 +0000

Over at the Database Geek Blog, Lewis Cunningham has provided the first of three blog posts on Oracle Security. The first post is well done IMHO:

Oracle 10g+ Security and Audit – Part 1

This is a three-part definition of Oracle Security (specifically in 10g but applies to later versions also). Part 1 covers the various types of security Oracle provides. Part 2 deals with Users/Schemas, Roles, Permissions and Data Access. Part 2 will be a more technical discussion than parts 1 or 3. In part 3, I will discuss implementing an Oracle auditing scheme and how to ensure you comply with security and audit regulations.

read more…

Installing Oracle Instant Client and DBD::Oracle on Ubuntu Linux 8.04 Server JEOS

Jason L Froebe — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:49:27 +0000

Ever want to just install the minimal amount of Oracle client software for client applications on Linux? Well, Oracle has provided Oracle Instant Client to do this but they have neglected to make it intuitive to install. I’ve written a couple scripts that make it easy on Linux. I’ve tested this on Ubuntu Linux 8.04 Server JEOS.

Download the files you need

Download Oracle Instant Client

Retrieve the Instant Client packages and save them to a directory (e.g. “linux 32bit”).

Instant Client Package – Basic
Instant Client Package – JDBC Supplement
Instant Client Package – SQL*Plus
Instant Client Package – SDK
Instant Client Package – ODBC

Download DBD::Oracle and place it in the build-cfg directory

Copy your tnsnames.ora file into the build-cfg directory

Download build_oracle_instantclient.sh into the directory above build-cfg directory

Save root.sh into the build-cfg directory

Build a tar ball containing everything we need in the directory format we need.

build_oracle_instantclient.sh "../linux 32bit"

Script1: build_oracle_instantclient.sh

SOURCE_DIR="$1"
BUILD_DIR=builddir
CFG_DIR=build-cfg

if [[ -z $1 ]]
then
echo "Usage: build_oracle_instantclient.sh "
exit 1
fi

if [[ ! -d "${SOURCE_DIR}" ]]
then
echo "${SOURCE_DIR} is not a directory"
exit 1
fi

find "${SOURCE_DIR}" -name "*.zip" -type f -exec unzip {} \;

if [[ -d instantclient_11_1 ]]
then
TMP_DIR=instantclient_11_1
elif [[ -d instantclient_10_2 ]]
then
TMP_DIR=instantclient_10_2
else
echo "unable to determine extraction dir"
exit 1
fi

if [[ -d ${BUILD_DIR} ]]
then
rm -rf ${BUILD_DIR}
fi

mkdir -p ${BUILD_DIR}
mkdir -p ${BUILD_DIR}/bin
mkdir -p ${BUILD_DIR}/doc
mkdir -p ${BUILD_DIR}/java
mkdir -p ${BUILD_DIR}/lib

cp ${CFG_DIR}/* ${BUILD_DIR}
mv ${TMP_DIR}/*README* ${BUILD_DIR}/doc
mv ${TMP_DIR}/*.html ${BUILD_DIR}/doc
mv ${TMP_DIR}/*.htm ${BUILD_DIR}/doc
mv ${TMP_DIR}/lib* ${BUILD_DIR}/lib
mv ${TMP_DIR}/*.jar ${BUILD_DIR}/java
mv ${TMP_DIR}/sdk ${BUILD_DIR}
mv ${TMP_DIR}/* ${BUILD_DIR}/bin

cd ${BUILD_DIR}/lib
ln -s libclntsh.so.* libclntsh.so
ln -s libocci.so.* libocci.so
ln -s libsqora.so.* libsqora.so

cd ..
tarball=`echo ${SOURCE_DIR} | tr ‘ ‘ ‘-’`
tarball=`basename ${tarball}`
tarball=Oracle-${TMP_DIR}-${tarball}
tar cvf – * | gzip -9c > "../${tarball}.tgz"

cd ..
rm -rf ${BUILD_DIR} ${TMP_DIR}directory>

Once we have the tar ball, we can copy that file to any compatible Linux system, extract it and run the root.sh file which will copy the install to /usr/local/oracle/InstantClient, set up the system variables and build DBD::Oracle for you.

Script2: root.sh

#!/bin/bash

############################################
function copy_instantclient () {
if [[ `pwd` != "/usr/local/oracle/InstantClient" ]]
then
if [[ ! -d /usr/local/oracle/InstantClient ]]
then
echo "Creating /usr/local/oracle/InstantClient directory"
mkdir -p /usr/local/oracle/InstantClient
fi

echo "Copying Oracle Instant Client to /usr/local/oracle/InstantClient"
cp -Ra * /usr/local/oracle/InstantClient
fi
}

#———
function update_etc_profile () {
if [[ -f /etc/profile ]]
then
if [[ `grep -c "ORACLE_HOME" /etc/profile` = 0 ]]
then
echo "Updating /etc/profile"
cat >> /etc/profile < < EOF
export ORACLE_HOME=/usr/local/oracle/InstantClient
export TNS_ADMIN=\${ORACLE_HOME}
export PATH=\${ORACLE_HOME}/bin:\${PATH}
export CLASSPATH=\${ORACLE_HOME}/classes:\${CLASSPATH}
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=\${ORACLE_HOME}/lib:\${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}
export SQLPATH=\${ORACLE_HOME}/bin
EOF
else
echo "Updates to /etc/profile already applied"
fi
fi
}

#———
function update_library_cache () {
if [[ -d /etc/ld.so.conf.d ]]
then
if [[ -f /etc/ld.so.conf.d/oracle_instant_client.conf
&& `grep -c "/usr/local/oracle/InstantClient" /etc/ld.so.conf.d/oracle_instant_client.conf` != 0 ]]
then
echo "Updates to /etc/ld.so.conf.d/oracle_instant_client.conf already applied"
else
echo "Updating /etc/ld.so.conf.d/oracle_instant_client.conf"
echo "/usr/local/oracle/InstantClient" > /etc/ld.so.conf.d/oracle_instant_client.conf
/sbin/ldconfig
fi
else
if [[ `grep -c "/usr/local/oracle/InstantClient" /etc/ld.so.conf` == 0 ]]
then
echo "Updating /etc/ld.so.conf"
echo "/usr/local/oracle/InstantClient" > /etc/ld.so.conf
/sbin/ldconfig
else
echo "Updates to /etc/ld.so.conf already applied"
fi
fi

}

#———
function print_env () {
echo "Add the following to the rc.d script for any daemon processes that need to access Oracle. For example, apache"
echo ‘ export ORACLE_HOME=/usr/local/oracle/InstantClient
export TNS_ADMIN=${ORACLE_HOME}
export PATH=${ORACLE_HOME}/bin:${PATH}
export CLASSPATH=${ORACLE_HOME}/classes:${CLASSPATH}
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=${ORACLE_HOME}/lib:${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}
export SQLPATH=${ORACLE_HOME}/bin’
}

#———
function install_DBD-Oracle () {
echo "Building DBD::Oracle"
DBDORA=`ls DBD-Oracle-*`

if [[ -f ${DBDORA} ]]
then
tar zxf ${DBDORA}
cd DBD-Oracle*
TMP_DBDORA=`pwd`
TMP_DBDORA=`basename ${TMP_DBDORA}`
perl Makefile.PL -m $ORACLE_HOME/sdk/demo/demo.mk
make && make install
cd ..
rm -rf ${TMP_DBDORA}
else
echo "Unable to find DBD-Oracle file"
fi
}

############################################

export ORACLE_HOME=/usr/local/oracle/InstantClient
export TNS_ADMIN=${ORACLE_HOME}
export PATH=${ORACLE_HOME}/bin:${PATH}
export CLASSPATH=${ORACLE_HOME}/classes:${CLASSPATH}
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=${ORACLE_HOME}/lib:${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}
export SQLPATH=${ORACLE_HOME}/bin

copy_instantclient
update_etc_profile
update_library_cache
print_env
install_DBD-Oracle

Installing Oracle 10g / 11g on Ubuntu 8.04.1 (Hardy Heron) Server JEOS in VMware Server 1.0x/2.0x

Jason L Froebe — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 16:36:26 +0000

I’ve been tasked with becoming an Oracle DBA, so I need to be able to create an VMware Server image containing 32 bit Ubuntu 8.04.1 Server JEOS and Oracle 10g. Much of the work was taken from Augusto Bott‘s Installing Oracle 11g on Ubuntu Linux 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) and Peter Cooper‘s How to Install VMware Tools on Ubuntu Hardy 8.04 under VMware Fusion.

I was able to consolidate the methods to work rather well together. As soon as Ubuntu 8.10 Server JEOS (Intrepid) is released, I’ll verify the procedure on that operating system as well.

If you’re looking for instructions on how to install Oracle 11 XE on Ubuntu 8.04.1, look at Installing Oracle Database XE on Debian, Ubuntu, and Kubuntu by Todd Trichler.

Create a VMware Image with the following settings

Choose 32bit Ubuntu for the OS type
1024 MBytes RAM
16GBytes disk space
Ubuntu 8.04.1 (or higher) Server JEOS edition http://www.ubuntu.com/products/whatisubuntu/serveredition/jeos
Upon the os installation, create a non “oracle” id to use to administer the os.

Install the required updates and packages

$ sudo aptitude update
$ sudo aptitude safe-upgrade
$ sudo aptitude install build-essential xinetd linux-headers-`uname -r` openssh-client openssh-server unzip libaio1 gawk ksh rpm libmotif3 alien lsb-rpm libtool libxtst-dev libxtst6 libstdc++5

Add swap

$ sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/extraswap bs=1M count=1536
$ sudo mkswap /extraswap
$ sudo swapon /extraswap
$ sudo echo "/extraswap none swap sw 0 0" >> /etc/fstab
# "/sbin/swapon -s" should show the added swap space
$ /sbin/swapon -s
Filename Type Size Used Priority
/dev/mapper/oracle10g-swap_1 partition 401400 92 -1
/extraswap file 1048568 0 -2

If VMware Server version is 2.0x or higher, install VMware tools:

$ sudo su – root
$ mount /dev/cdrom
$ cp /media/cdrom/*.gz ~
$ tar zxvf VMwareTools*.tar.gz
$ cd vmware-tools-distrib
$ ./vmware-install.pl

If VMware Server version is 1.0x, install VMware tools:

$ sudo su – root
$ mount /dev/cdrom
$ cp /media/cdrom/*.gz ~
$ aptitude install libgtk2.0-dev libproc-dev libdumbnet-dev xorg-dev wget
$ wget http://mesh.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/open-vm-tools/open-vm-tools-2008.04.14-87182.tar.gz
$ tar xzvf VMware*.gz ; sudo tar xzvf open-vm-tools*.gz ; cd open-vm-tools-2008.04.14-87182/
$ ./configure && make
$ cd modules/linux/
$ for i in *; do mv ${i} ${i}-only; tar -cf ${i}.tar ${i}-only; done
$ cd ../../..
$ mv -f open-vm-tools-2008.04.14-87182/modules/linux/*.tar vmware-tools-distrib/lib/modules/source/ ; cd vmware-tools-distrib/
$ sudo ./vmware-install.pl
$ sudo reboot

Append to /etc/sysctl.conf

$ sudo cat >> /etc/sysctl.conf << EOF
fs.file-max = 65535
kernel.shmall = 2097152
kernel.shmmax = 2147483648
kernel.shmmni = 4096
kernel.sem = 250 32000 100 128
net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range = 1024 65535
net.core.rmem_default = 1048576
net.core.rmem_max = 1048576
net.core.wmem_default = 262144
net.core.wmem_max = 262144
EOF

Append to /etc/security/limits.conf

$ sudo cat >> /etc/security/limits.conf << EOF
oracle soft nproc 2047
oracle hard nproc 16383
oracle soft nofile 1023
oracle hard nofile 65535
EOF

Append to /etc/pam.d/login

$ sudo cat >> /etc/pam.d/login << EOF
session required /lib/security/pam_limits.so
session required pam_limits.so
EOF

Set up user / groups

$ sudo su – root
$ addgroup oinstall ; addgroup dba ; addgroup nobody ; usermod -g nobody nobody ; useradd -g oinstall -G dba -p password -d /home/oracle -s /bin/bash oracle
$ passwd oracle
Password changed.
$ mkdir /home/oracle ; chown -R oracle:dba /home/oracle ; ln -s /usr/bin/awk /bin/awk ; ln -s /usr/bin/rpm /bin/rpm ; ln -s /usr/bin/basename /bin/basename ; mkdir /etc/rc.d
$ for i in 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 S ; do ln -s /etc/rc$i.d /etc/rc.d/rc$i.d ; done
$ mkdir -p /dbms/oracle ; chown -R oracle:dba /dbms/oracle ; sysctl -p
$ reboot

Retrieve Oracle 10g zip file

Copy the Oracle install zip file from disc or somewhere
Unzip it

Retrieve IP of the network card

$ ifconfig |grep "Bcast"

Install / Configure oracle manually verifying any requirements:

$ ssh -C -X oracle@(ipaddress)
…
$ cd /home//database
$ ./runInstaller -ignoreSysPrereqs

iSQL*Plus URL:

http://(ipaddress):5560/isqlplus

iSQL*Plus DBA URL:

http://(ipaddress):5560/isqlplus/dba

Enterprise Manager 10g Database Control URL:

http://(ipaddress):1158/em