I finally decided to set up a VBox VM running Oracle Linux 7.4 and to try out 12.2 available from OTN download.
- Oracle Grid 12.2 standalone server with Oracle Restart
- Database Enterprise Edition 12.2
As usual, this means installing Grid before installing the database. The Grid installation went fine, but when attempting to install Oracle Database, using the usual /u01/app/oracle as ORACLE_BASE, it prompted the following:
Attention: INS-32056: The specified Oracle Base contains the existing Central Inventory location.
Recommendation: Oracle recommends that the Central Inventory location is outside the Oracle Base directory. Specify a different location for the Oracle Base.
I remember there are some concerns with Oracle clusterware and Oracle Restart and root access required for patching, but I don't remember seeing that warning in previous installations. Why did the Oracle Grid installation choose /u01/app/oracle as ORACLE_BASE in the first place if this is causing trouble? Perhaps I should have better chosen /u01/app/grid?
According to https://docs.oracle.com/en/database/oracle/oracle-database/12.2/ladbi/database-installation-guide-linux.pdf
Chapter 5-2 states:
Determine if you have existing Oracle central inventory, and ensure that you use the same Oracle Inventory for all Oracle software installations.
Then a few paragraphs below it states:
Note: Do not put the oraInventory directory under the Oracle base directory for a new installation, because that can result in user permission errors for other installations.
So what should it be? Installing Grid and Oracle Database on different disks? How are you installing it?