Beginner - Starting 8i personal on my home PC.

Hi,

I am new to Oracle yet very proficient in Access97. I have recently installed Oracle 8i Personal on my PC at home.

They have a sample database that you can play with however I can't START the database? It always asks me for a userid, Connection String and Name? At work this is easy as someone has already done it for me. How can I do this at home however?

Thanks.
Dave

Your tnsnames.ora file needs to be updated for the instance you are trying to access. This file is usually found in oracle_home/network/admin.

When you create a new instance, a default user account system with password 'manager' is created. Use this account to connect to your database.

system/manager@instancename

Sorry.

I couldn't find any directory called ORACLE_HOMES?

When I try to start the database it promts me for a password. I downloaded it free from the internet so would do you thing the password should be?

Sorry I'm new to Oracle yet very good at MS Access.

Thanks
Dave

I have the same problem as Dave. Created the database on NT. When I created on NT
1.I created folders for database DB01.
2.Then I went to start--Run--Regedit--HKey_local_machine and changed local to db01.
3. Mycomputer-- environment entered the path and DB01
4. I went to control panel--services and checked whether oracle service db01 is started automatic, TNS Listener started automatic
5. I went to C prompt and entered oracle_sid= DB01
6. At svrmgr I connected as system/manager as sysdba
7. created pwdfile with oradim
8. created database.
This I did at my friend's house where the software was set up. I am not very familiar with installation. I just managed to download psoracle 8i for windows. I went to explore and looked for all the directories. I found starter and stage files. I cant find the path oracle_home/network/admin. I am little bit lost. I would appreciate if somebody could help in this direction. I tried to use system/manager for the password.
HELP badly needed

Hi,

If you could contact me at this email address then probably ,i'll be able to walk you both through the installation procedure.

-Anand

Anand,
It looks like you forgot to give your email address. Thanks for offering your help.

'Oracle_home' is lingo for the directory on your hard dirve where the Oracle executables where installed. By defalut it will be something like c:\orant or a newer version might be d:\Oracle (by default Oracle will look for the drive with the most space)

Also the default database is usually called Orcl, this will also be the connect string, it works like this:

Username/password@connectstring

or

System/Manager@Orcl

Dave, as you must know by now Oracle is nothing like Access, which is almost totally GUI. Oracle was not really designed to be user friendly, just powerfull, that also makes it unforgiving if things are not exactly the way the syntax calls for.

Good luck
Frank

Mercedes:
It sounds as if you have not installed Oracle. Bear in mind the distinction between downloading the software and installing it on your PC. I have not done an installation from the downloaded files and can offer you no guidance there. Poke around for files named setup.exe, install.exe, and so forth.
Davo:
What OS are you using? Windows 95/98 handles starting Oracle slightly differently than does NT. Whichever OS you are using, you will want to start out by using a modified command line mode interface called SQL Plus. When you fire this program, it will ask for your user name and password (it will also ask for a connect string, but I assume you are doing all of this on one computer so the connect string is not necessary in this situation. The connect string parameter relates to accessing Oracle through a network. If you are using Oracle in standalone mode {client on same machine as server) then you need enter nothing for this parameter......it will connect you to the database without it.) Also it is not necessary for you to worry about which particular database you will be connecting to at this stage, as the installation programs create only one database and will configure this as the default database. When you issue the correct username and password it will automatically connect you to this database. Whithin this basic database there are several different usernames/passwords you may use, one of which is Scott/Tiger. Using this you will be able to see a small number of tables with limited data. Try "select * from tab". Also you may add another schema (username/password and an associated set of tables) called demo by running a script called demobld.sql. This schema has more objects and data and is slightly more interesting to monkey around with.
Please respond with further questions or let us know how it goes.

Thanks JDoyle!

That clears things up a little. I thought this might have been the case. I have tried Scott/Tiger (plus numerous others) and I'm going to try sys/change_on_install and system/manager when I get home from work. I have both the client and the server on the same machine so I don't need the connection string (Thanks for the tip).

Davo.
: - }

Doyle,
I found all the files in orawin95. Db_name is sample. I tried to log on from sql*plus with system?manager @sample. I get ORA 12154: TNS could not resolve the service name. Iwent to network/admin/sample/tns and changed the sid to sample. It didn't work. Please guide me from this point. It looks like I am almost there. My OS is 98. On NT I go to the registry and change home to sid. I mentioned how I created the database in the previous message

Hey Mer:
Jeez, there are several possibilities for what could be wrong. I am unclear as to whether you're working in a standalone mode or not. If you are, try logging on through SQLPLus without specifying a service name. Supply only username and password and hit enter. Let me know what happens. If you get through, then you at least know that your basic DB installation was successful.
There are some very useful debugging tips in the Documentation, Chapter 8 of the NET8 Administrator's Guide. Sorry for suggesting that you might have confused download with install.
Johnny D.

Doyle
1. I went to orawin95/networ/admin/sample/listener.ora
(GLOBAL_DBNAME=salesdb.mycompany)
(SID_NAME=sid1)
(ORACLE_HOME=/private/app/oracle/product/8.0.3)


2. I went to TNSnames.ora and checked
CONNECT_DATA=
(SID=)
3. I uncommented the lines in listener.ora

4. I went to init.ora ---- db_name=SAMPLE

5. I went to sql*plus and tried to log
system/manager@SAMPLE
system/manager@sid1
system/manager@oracle_sid
I get error ORA 12154

6. I checked for the solution --- reconfigure QUEUESIZE in listener.ora. I couldn't find this paramer in the file to correct
Please somebody help me to log on so that I can practice on my home PC. It will be of great help

Doyle,
Sorry for bothering you a lot. What are friends for. I tried to log on SQLPLUS giving system and manager, no service name. I get the error ORA 01034 ORACLE not available. I have all the files on my D drive. I dont understand that error. Is there any site where I can look up how to solve this errors. Some body mentioned it on this site, but I lost it. I will try to look into the documentation.

where can I find documentation

Oracle not available means the instance has not been startted.

Use the startup commands to start the instance before you connect to the database. To startup you need to connect as internal/oracle.

Nizar

you can read online docuymentation in Technet.oracle.com, you can download them from there as well.

Naibagh,
i know I have to connect and then start the instance. The problem is from where to connect. When I go to programs__oracle-DEFAULT_HOME--Database administration, I get the menu box with start database
Stop Databse
databse configuration Asst
I click on start database and enter manager as password I get the error cannot log on. I went to c prompt and set oracle_sid= sid1. I tried sample also
At c prompt I entered svrmgr and tried to start the utility. I get a message bad command or file name. If I get the svrmgr prompt I know how to start the service. Help me here

All,

Thanks for your help. I found that the best solution was to reinstall the O8i personal edition as the first installation failed to create a sample database due to the lack of memory space. I created more space and got the Universal Installer to create a sample database for me. Now all of the passwords work.

Thanks for your help!
Davo

Mercedes:
Let's back up a bit. The files tnsnames and listener have only to do with Oracle networking. They do not apply in the case of just using Oracle in standalone mode (server and client(say SQLPlus)on the same machine). The first thing to do is to determine if your installation was done correctly and this is done by starting Oracle and then logging on with SQLPlus. In this situation you can consider that no networking is required and therefore no host string is required. If you get Oracle not available, then I suspect that the installation was flawed. Your failure to get SVRMGR started may indicate incomplete installation or simply that your environment variables do not point to the directory in which SVRMGRL lives. The directory is root/Oracle/Ora81/bin/svrmgrl. Try using windows explorer to click on this program. If it aint there then your installation is bogus and you should reinstall. Reinstallation, however, is not a straightforward. If you get to this stage then holler.

Hi
Thanks for your help. I realised why I couldn't get thesvrmgr started I forgot to include l next to r. Finally I got svrmgrl started. I looked into init.ora file. Db_name is sample . I used set oracle_sid= sample. At svrmgrl I tried to connect as system?manager as sysdba, sys/oracle as sysdba. I get ORA --01031 insufficient privileges. I typed SHOW SGA. I get another message ORA --01012 not logged on. Do you think I should check my pwdfile. You should guide me from this point

The usernames and default passwords for the two most privileged users are:
internal/oracle
sys/change_on_install

Connect to svrmgr using one of these.

Best of luck
Johnny D.

No, I have more than enough memory. I have 160 mb of RAM and on my Oracle drive I have over 2 gig on hd space free on the current drive. Any other ideas?

Doyle,
I reinstalled. I went toSVRMGRL and entered connect internal/oracle as sysdba. I tried change_on install too. Still insufficient privileges message. I typed show it says instance is local.

Running out of ideas.
Leave out the "as sysdba" and connect internal/oracle

Mercedes,

First make sure if you created the passwordfile or not.

If No, then check to see if the init parameter is set to:

remote_login_passwordfile=none

Then startup svrmgrl and try connecting as

internal/oracle.

Hope this solves your problem.

Nizar