Oracle server under RHEL 4

[Paul B. Henson]

We are deploying Oracle 10g, and I opened a support request with Oracle to
try and clarify some of the RPM dependencies.

Oracle support indicates they do not provide an explicit list of
dependencies, and assume Oracle is being installed on top of a default RPM
installation of Red Hat.

Generally, for a server, I try to install the minimum number of packages
required for the functionality necessary. I consider this good security
practice and a basic system administrator task.

Not only does Oracle not supply an explicit list of dependencies necessary
for their software, they claim that the average system administrator does
not want to secure their system via minimization, and prefers to work from
a default RPM installation rather than a customized minimal install.

I can't imagine running a production enterprise server with all the
packages installed via the default RPM option, it includes everything but
the kitchen sink 8-/.

I'd like to see what the consensus is among Red Hat system administrators
on package installation, I would greatly appreciate it if you could reply
to the following questions:


1) In general, when deploying a Red Hat server, do you do a default install
including all RPMs, or do you do a custom install including only those that
you actually need for the server's purpose?

2) If you support Oracle software, in that specific case do you do a
default install including all RPMs or a custom install?

3) If the answer to question 2 is a default install, would you prefer a
custom install with a minimal number of packages if Oracle made it easier
to know what the dependencies were?

4) If you have an active Oracle support contract, and prefer to install a
minimal number of packages, would you be willing to open a support request
referencing mine to help convince Oracle to provide a better list of
dependencies?


Thanks much...


-- 
Paul B. Henson  |  (909) 979-6361  |  http://www.csupomona.edu/~henson/
Operating Systems and Network Analyst  |  henson at csupomona.edu
California State Polytechnic University  |  Pomona CA 91768