Provisioning an AWS instance for general Oracle software

This blog post describes how to provision a barebones Linux server from Amazon Web Services (AWS) for the purpose of installing general Oracle software.

This instructions optionally include adding an extra mount point, enabling NFS, and installing VNC for remote GUI connectivity.


Create an EC2 Instance

1. Login to the AWS Management Console at:

https://us-west-2.console.aws.amazon.com/console/home

2. Click on "EC2" on the left-hand menu



3. Navigate to Instances > Launch Instance

4. "Select" the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.1 instance type

5. Select an instance type (e.g., t2.medium)

6. Click on "Next: Configure Instance Details"

7. Keep all defaults

8. Click on "Next: Add Storage"

9. Click on "Add New Volume"

10. Enter the size of "10" for 10GB

11. Click on "Next: Tag Instance"

12. Enter the name of your instance (just a name, e.g., "My Oracle Server")

13. Click on "Next: Configure Security Group"

14. Provide a Security Group name and description, and add the firewall rules you want to allow

15. Click on "Review and Launch"



16. Click on "Launch" after reviewing the settings



17. Enter a new key pair name, download key pair, and click on "Launch Instances"



18. Click on "View Instances" and the instance should be up in a few minutes




Create an Elastic IP

19. Click on "Elastic IP" on the left-hand menu

20. Click on "Allocate New Address"

21. Click on "Yes, Allocate"

22. Click on "Close"

23. Right-click on the IP address and select "Associate Address"

24. Click on the Instance field and select your EC2 instance from the list

Create a Putty PPK File for SSH Access

25. Follow these instructions to convert the downloaded .pem file to a Putty compatible .ppk file

http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/putty.html

26. Login to the server via Putty or equivalent SSH client as the "ec2-user"

27. Then type sudo su - to login as the root user

Setup the Linux Server

28. Install some basic Oracle required packages

yum install telnet
yum install wget
yum install gcc
yum install gcc-c++
yum install glibc-devel
yum install libaio
yum install libaio-devel
yum install sysstat
yum install libstdc++-devel
yum install compat-libstdc++
yum install compat-libstdc

29. Define a hostname

hostname oradev.raastech.com

30. Type the following to get your local IP address

ifconfig -a | grep broadcast | awk '{print $2}'

31. Edit the local hosts by typing vi /etc/hosts file and manually add your public and private IP addresses and a hostname of your choosing

52.27.XXX.XXX    oradev-ext.raastech.com   oradev-ext
172.31.XXX.XXX   oradev.raastech.com       oradev

32. Create the Oracle unix user

groupadd oinstall
groupadd dba
useradd nobody
useradd -c "Oracle Software Owner" -g oinstall -G dba oracle
passwd oracle

33. Edit the profile for both the 'root' and 'oracle' users to something more readable

vi /root/.bash_profile /home/oracle/.bash_profile

34. Add the following and save the file

export PS1="\u@\h:\$PWD> "
alias ls='ls'
alias ll='ls -l'

35. Edit the sysctl file

vi /etc/sysctl.conf

36. Add the following and save the file, updating the hostname and domainname accordingly

# Controls the maximum shared segment size, in bytes
kernel.shmmax = 68719476736
# Controls the maximum number of shared memory segments, in pages
kernel.shmall = 4294967296
# Controls the default maxmimum size of a mesage queue
kernel.msgmax = 65536
# Controls the maximum size of a message, in bytes
kernel.msgmnb = 65535
# Semaphores: semmsl, semmns, semopm, semmni
kernel.shmmni = 4096
kernel.sem = 256 32000 100 142
fs.file-max = 6815744
fs.aio-max-nr = 1048576
kernel.hostname   = oradev.raastech.com
kernel.domainname = raastech.com
net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range = 9000 65500
net.core.rmem_default=262144
net.core.wmem_default=262144
net.core.rmem_max=4194304
net.core.wmem_max=1048576
kernel.msgmni = 2878

37. Load the sysctl settings

sysctl -p

38. Edit the configuration for the pam_limits module

vi /etc/security/limits.conf

39. Add the following to the bottom and save the file

oracle  soft    nofile  4096
oracle  hard    nofile  65536
oracle  soft    nproc   2047
oracle  hard    nproc   16384


Add an Extra 10GB Mount Point (optional)

40. Create a mount point

mkdir -p /u01
chown oracle:oinstall /u01

41. Add the extra EC2 volume and mount it

echo "View available disks"
lsblk

echo "Confirm that /dev/xvdb is a 'data' volume"
file -s /dev/xvdb

echo "Create file system, all data will be lost in it"
mkfs -t ext4 /dev/xvdb

echo "Backup fstab and edit it"
cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.orig.20150528
echo "/dev/xvdb       /u01   ext4    defaults,nofail        0       2" >> /etc/fstab

echo "Mount /u01"
mount /u01
chown oracle:oinstall /u01

echo "Confirm that /u01 is mounted and available"
df -m


Install an NFS Server (optional)

42. Install the necessary NFS packages

yum install nfs-utils

43. Create a share folder

mkdir -p /u01/share
chown oracle:oinstall /u01/share

44. Edit the /etc/exports file

vi /etc/exports

45. Add the following and save the file (the hostnames denote which clients should have access)

/u01/share oraclient1.raastech.com(no_root_squash,rw,sync)
/u01/share oraclient2.raastech.com(no_root_squash,rw,sync)

46. Start the NFS server

service rpcbind start
service nfs start

47. Open port 2049 on the local firewall to allow remote NFS access to other EC2 instances

service firewalld start
firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-port=2049/tcp
firewall-cmd --reload


Configure the NFS Clients (optional)

48. On the client servers, run the following commands

yum install nfs-utils
telnet soadb.raastech.com 2049
mkdir -p /u01/share
chown oracle:oinstall /u01/share
sudo echo "oradev.raastech.com:/u01/share   /u01/share      nfs     defaults        0 0" >> /etc/fstab
mount /u01/share
df -m


Install and Configure the VNC Server (optional)

49. Install the required VNC packages

yum groupinstall 'Server with GUI'
yum install tigervnc-server
yum install xclock

50. Open up the VNC port 5901 for remote access

service firewalld start
firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-port=5901/tcp
firewall-cmd --reload

51. Start the VNC server

vncserver :1 -geometry 1280x720 -depth 16

52. Edit the profile script

vi /root/.bash_profile

53. Add the following and save the file

xhost +

54. Edit the profile script of additional unix users that will require GUI access

vi /home/oracle/.bash_profile

55. Add the following

export DISPLAY=:1

56. Connect via a VNC client such TightVNC on port 1

Applicable Versions:

• Amazon Web Services (2015)
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.1 64-bit