Link back: This guide is a part of the Virtual Oracle RAC project, the index to

the whole project is here.

This part of the project provides instructions on preparing Oracle software inst
allation in Oracle Enterprise Linux 5 (which itself is in Virtual Box).
In previous guides we have installed OEL5 U3 as a guest machine in Virtual Box.
This is our first node of the RAC. Once we finished with all software installati
ons on that node we will simply clone it, thus saving a lot of time and effort.
Network verification and configuration:
Please refer to the /etc/hosts file that was introduced in Openfiler installatio
n and setup, it will be placed in all of our Linux machines.
Edit /etc/hosts on odbn1? by copy and paste it or use ftp.
Notice, that node name(s) are not present in the loopback address. Thats right, t
hey should not be there for the RAC to work properly.
Some adjustments must be done in the kernel for the network (those commands do n
ot make the changes permanent):
sysctl -w net.core.rmem_default=1048576
sysctl -w net.core.rmem_max=1048576
sysctl -w net.core.wmem_default=262144
sysctl -w net.core.wmem_max=262144
Same changes have to be made permanently in /etc/sysctl.conf file, add following
lines to the config file:
net.core.rmem_default=1048576
net.core.rmem_max=1048576
net.core.wmem_default=262144
net.core.wmem_max=262144
Verify that firewall is indeed stopped by running this command:
/etc/rc.d/init.d/iptables status
Use the command below if the firewall is active:
/etc/rc.d/init.d/iptables stop
Now is the time to install Linux packages needed by Oracle.
Attach the installation DVD to the odbn1? machine (right click on CD image in the
running guest window, select more CD/DVD Images):