Oracle Database Express Edition (XE)

Hi, guys
I spent a lot of time trying to fight this problem on my own, but... I am not a DBA. I just wanted to have linux/oracle environment for practice... A while ago I downloaded "Oracle Developers Days" package that contains Oracle VirtualBox, Linux RedHat operating system, Oracle database and APEX. After installation everything looked OK. I could start VirtualBox and login to linux as oracle user. I could work in linux without any problem. But!!! Database does not work.... Actually it is not true. Database is up and running.
ps -ef | grep orcl
oracle 2518 1 0 12:30 ? 00:00:03 ora_pmon_orcl
oracle 2520 1 0 12:30 ? 00:00:08 ora_vktm_orcl
oracle 2524 1 0 12:30 ? 00:00:00 ora_gen0_orcl
oracle 2526 1 0 12:30 ? 00:00:01 ora_diag_orcl
oracle 2528 1 0 12:30 ? 00:00:00 ora_dbrm_orcl
oracle 2530 1 0 12:30 ? 00:00:00 ora_psp0_orcl
oracle 2532 1 0 12:30 ? 00:00:08 ora_dia0_orcl
oracle 2534 1 0 12:30 ? 00:00:00 ora_mman_orcl
oracle 2536 1 0 12:30 ? 00:00:00 ora_dbw0_orcl
oracle 2538 1 0 12:30 ? 00:00:00 ora_lgwr_orcl
oracle 2540 1 0 12:30 ? 00:00:02 ora_ckpt_orcl
oracle 2542 1 0 12:30 ? 00:00:00 ora_smon_orcl
oracle 2545 1 0 12:30 ? 00:00:00 ora_reco_orcl
oracle 2547 1 0 12:30 ? 00:00:02 ora_mmon_orcl
oracle 2550 1 0 12:30 ? 00:00:02 ora_mmnl_orcl
oracle 2552 1 0 12:30 ? 00:00:00 ora_d000_orcl
oracle 2554 1 0 12:30 ? 00:00:00 ora_s000_orcl
oracle 3874 3842 0 16:20 ? 00:00:00 oracleorcl (DESCRIPTION=(LOCAL=YES)(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=beq)))
oracle 4387 3168 0 20:02 pts/1 00:00:00 grep orcl

So DB processes are OK.

Now i tried to connect to database:
*****oracle@orcl[home/oracle]*****
$ sqlplus /nolog

SQL*Plus: Release 11.1.0.7.0 - Production on Tue Mar 6 20:10:27 2012

Copyright (c) 1982, 2008, Oracle. All rights reserved.

SQL> connect / as sysdba
Connected to an idle instance.
SQL> select * from dual;
select * from dual
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01012: not logged on
Process ID: 0
Session ID: 0 Serial number: 0

SQL> shutdown immediate
ORA-24324: service handle not initialized
ORA-24323: value not allowed
ORA-03113: end-of-file on communication channel
SQL> shutdown abort
ORA-01031: insufficient privileges
SQL>

Listener status:

[oracle@localhost admin]$ lsnrctl status

LSNRCTL for Linux: Version 11.2.0.1.0 - Production on 06-MAR-2012 20:06:11

Copyright (c) 1991, 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Connecting to (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=0.0.0.0)(PORT=1521)))
STATUS of the LISTENER
Alias LISTENER
Version TNSLSNR for Linux: Version 11.2.0.1.0 - Production
Start Date 06-MAR-2012 20:05:46
Uptime 0 days 0 hr. 0 min. 25 sec
Trace Level off
Security ON: Local OS Authentication
SNMP OFF
Listener Parameter File /home/oracle/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1/network/admin/listener.ora
Listener Log File /home/oracle/app/oracle/diag/tnslsnr/localhost/listener/alert/log.xml
Listening Endpoints Summary...
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=0.0.0.0)(PORT=1521)))
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=0.0.0.0)(PORT=80))(PROTOCOL_STACK=(PRESENTATION=HTTP)(SESSION=RAW)))
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=0.0.0.0)(PORT=21))(PROTOCOL_STACK=(PRESENTATION=FTP)(SESSION=RAW)))
The listener supports no services
The command completed successfully

So i added :

SID_LIST_LISTENER =
(SID_LIST =
(SID_DESC=
(GLOBAL_DBNAME=orcl)
(ORACLE_HOME=/home/oracle/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1)
(SID_NAME=orcl)
)
)
into listener.ora, bounce listener and bounced the entire Virtual Box...
Now listener status is different:
*****oracle@orcl[home/oracle]*****
$ lsnrctl status

LSNRCTL for Linux: Version 11.2.0.1.0 - Production on 06-MAR-2012 20:19:07

Copyright (c) 1991, 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Connecting to (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=0.0.0.0)(PORT=1521)))
STATUS of the LISTENER
Alias LISTENER
Version TNSLSNR for Linux: Version 11.2.0.1.0 - Production
Start Date 06-MAR-2012 20:17:40
Uptime 0 days 0 hr. 1 min. 26 sec
Trace Level off
Security ON: Local OS Authentication
SNMP OFF
Listener Parameter File /home/oracle/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1/network/admin/listener.ora
Listener Log File /home/oracle/app/oracle/diag/tnslsnr/localhost/listener/alert/log.xml
Listening Endpoints Summary...
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=0.0.0.0)(PORT=1521)))
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=0.0.0.0)(PORT=80))(PROTOCOL_STACK=(PRESENTATION=HTTP)(SESSION=RAW)))
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=0.0.0.0)(PORT=21))(PROTOCOL_STACK=(PRESENTATION=FTP)(SESSION=RAW)))
Services Summary...
Service "orcl" has 2 instance(s).
Instance "orcl", status UNKNOWN, has 1 handler(s) for this service...
Instance "orcl", status BLOCKED, has 1 handler(s) for this service...
The command completed successfully

Tried to connect to oracle again:

[oracle@localhost ~]$ sqlplus /nolog

SQL*Plus: Release 11.2.0.1.0 Production on Tue Mar 6 20:22:35 2012

Copyright (c) 1982, 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved.

SQL> connect / as sysdba
Connected to an idle instance.
SQL> select * from dual;
select * from dual
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01012: not logged on
Process ID: 0
Session ID: 0 Serial number: 0

SQL>
..............................

That's it.... I do not know what to do... Tried to search internet, but did not find anything that solve this issue...

Will appreciate any help...
Thnks in advance...

Mike

P.S. I placed this Q in Virtualization thread but was told that this is XE problem...