Operating system configuration settings for Oracle 11g and Solaris 10

Oracle's Health Check utility recommends that you set certain parameters when installing on Solaris 10. Here is a summary of some common parameters and how to set them:



Host Name
RDA Rule A00320: /etc/hosts Format (Missing host.domain)
This rule checks that the host name is configured the way that Oracle wants to see it. To fix this, edit /etc/hosts to append the domain name to the existing host name. Also include the tab-separated bare host name or the server may not boot:

123.45.678.90   myhost.domain.local        myhost      

Kernel Parameters
Rule A00330: Kernel Parameters OK? (NOEXEC_USER_STACKUndef)
There is a lot of confusion about how to set kernel parameters since things have changed with Solaris 10. This particular parameter can be set in /etc/system under the "set" section:

set noexec_user_stack=1

There is an additional problem with Solaris when you are doing a preinstallation check with RDA. Some modules are only loaded into memory the first time they are accessed by an application. Therefore, when you run the RDA check before Oracle is installed they will not show correctly, even if they are set correctly. To force the modules to load at boot time you can add these lines to /etc/system under the "forceload" section:

forceload: sys/shmsys
forceload: sys/semsys

Reboot after making these changes.

Clean the header of an ASM volume so it can be reused

As root run the dd command on the device, which will write zeroes to the first 40 MB, wiping the header.

Example:

dd if=/dev/zero of=c9t50060E8006CFCC11d9s0 bs=1048576 count=40

124861-15 patch prerequisite can be safely ignored when installing Oracle 11g on Solaris 10

When installing 11gr2 db on Solaris 10 the following error comes up:

OS Patch:124861-15 
- This is a prerequisite condition to test whether the patch "124861-15" is available on the system.
Expected Value
 : Patch 124861-15
Actual Value
 : Patch missing
 List of errors: 
 - 
PRVF-9809 : Proper OS Patch is not found on node "&ltNode Name>" 
[Expected = "124861-15" ; Found = "Patch missing"]  - Cause:  Required OS Patch is not applied.  
- Action:  Apply the required OS Patch. 

This can be safely ignored according to MOS doc id 969497.1:

Cause
OUI should only check for this optional patch while installing the Pro*C precompiler.

If Pro*C is not being installed, OUI should not check for this patch.

Support opened Bug 9214210 for this issue