Oracle server under RHEL 4

[Coleman, Kelley (HAC)]

In response to 

Paul B. Henson
Sent: Monday, March 03, 2008 11:49 AM
To: redhat-sysadmin-list at redhat.com
Subject: Oracle server under RHEL 4

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?

	We had no previous experience with Linux when we began our
Oracle on Linux project. We made the decision early on to 'just install
everything' with Linux because we hit barriers determining minimum RPM
requirements and we were on a deadline.  I regret that decision often,
especially when it comes to dealing with patching Redhat. I expend a lot
of effort patching programs that we will NEVER use because of that
decision made early on.  We will be rebuilding our environments over the
next few months and we will come up with a minimum RPM installation even
if we have to figure it out ourselves.  


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?

	Instead of going the support route, you might consider
contacting your Oracle Sales Rep.  Depending on how connected and
pro-active they are, they can be very helpful. They can get you to
support engineers who are more technically savvy than the usual Oracle
Help Desk support types. 

Kelley Coleman
303-331-7521-o
303-944-9453-c