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10g Release 2 (10.2) for hp OpenVMS

Part Number B25413-04
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Oracle® Database

Release Notes

10g Release 2 (10.2) for hp OpenVMS

B25413-04

February 2009

This document contains important information that was not included in the platform-specific or product-specific documentation. Except where noted in the text, the information in these notes applies to Oracle Database 10g release 2 for hp OpenVMS Alpha and hp OpenVMS Itanium.

This document may be updated after it is released. To check for updates to this document and to view other Oracle documentation, see the Documentation section on the Oracle Technology Network (OTN) Web site:

http://www.oracle.com/technology/documentation/

These Release Notes are part of the following documentation set for the Oracle10g Database for hp OpenVMS:

This document contains the following topics:

1 Change in the Media Format

Oracle Database 10g release 2 installation media is available on DVD and not on CD-ROM. hp Intergrity Servers include a DVD reader, while some AlphaServers do not have a DVD reader.

If the AlphaServer system includes a DVD drive, then you can install 10g release 2 directly from the DVD media.

If the AlphaServer system does not include a DVD drive and you cannot use the download option, then you can consider the following alternatives to install the software.

2 Products Not Available in the Current Release

The following products are not available in this release. They may be available in future releases.

3 Product Issues

The following section contains information about issues related to Oracle10g and associated products such as Oracle Database installation, configuration, and upgrade:

3.1 Enabling Automated Backups

While installing Oracle Database, the Specify Backup and Recovery Options screen may appear truncated if the system does not have the required fonts installed. If the system has only fixed-width fonts, you may not be able to fully specify the required information in the Backup Job Credentials area of the screen. To work around this issue, do not select Enable Automated Backups on this screen. After the installation is complete, use Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Grid Control to enable automated backups.

3.2 Oracle interMedia

A known issue exists with Oracle interMedia on Oracle Database 10g. The problem may arise when making calls to mmtk_process() or mmtk_ext_process() in ordibody.sql, yielding errors such as the following:

ERROR at line 1:
   ORA-29400: data cartridge error 
   IMG-00714: internal error 
   ORA-28579: network error during callback from external procedure agent 
   ORA-06512: at "ORDSYS.ORDIMGEXTCODEC_PKG", line 164
   ORA-06512: at "ORDSYS.ORDIMGEXTCODEC_PKG", line 160
   ORA-06512: at line 1 
   ORA-06512: at "ORDSYS.ORDIMG_PKG", line 525
   ORA-06512: at "ORDSYS.ORDIMAGE", line 59
   ORA-06512: at "TKIDIUSER.IMG_PROCESSCOPY", line 12
   ORA-06512: at "TKIDIUSER.TKIDIPCU_MAIN", line 57
   ORA-06512: at line 1

The problem is being tracked internally by Oracle bug number 4203210.

3.3 CRS/RAC Known Issues

The following are known Cluster Ready Services (CRS) issues in the current release:

  • A CRS installation creates the following system level logicals:

    ORA_OCRCONFIG_LOC
    ORA_SCLS_SCR_PATH
    ORA_VAR_OPT
    

    If you plan to delete a CRS installation and create a non-CRS installation on the same node, ensure that you first deassign these logicals. Failure to do so will result in unintended errors or failures on assistants such as Oracle Net Configuration Assistant and Oracle Database Configuration Assistant.

  • In a CRS installation, if Private Interconnect is selected in the Private Interconnect Configuration screen, then the Private Interconnect Configuration Assistant displays a failure message even though the actual operation completes successfully. Check the oifcfg.log file in the installation directory, and verify that the operation is completed successfully. If a failure is recorded in the log file, then you must run the oifcfg manually as indicated by Oracle Universal Installer. You can ignore the Private Interconnect Assistant failure if the operation completed successfully.

  • While installing CRS, the device on which an installation is created is visible and accessible across all nodes of a cluster installation. For example, for a CRS installation created on disk A to run on nodes B and C, disk A is accessible on both nodes. For this reason, it is not necessary to copy a device across nodes. You may see error messages similar to the following in the .ERR files created under the log directory of orainventory:

    Error in copying file : rootadd.com
    oracle.ops.mgmt.cluster.ClusterException: PRKC-1004 : Problem in copying file to node
    

    These errors can be safely ignored.

  • During a Custom installation of Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC), Oracle Network Configuration Assistant (NETCA) is displayed at the end of the installation procedure even though the Database Creation option is not selected. You must run Virtual IP Configuration Assistant (VIPCA) before running NETCA for RAC. To do so, perform one of the following tasks:

    • Cancel the NETCA, and then run VIPCA, NETCA and Database Configuration Assistant (DBCA) in that order.

    • Run VIPCA from a separate window, then continue with NETCA that is displayed during custom installation, and then run DBCA.

  • In the RAC database alert log files, messages similar to the following are displayed:

    SSKGXP_IP: Primary interface down
    operation
    location
    error error 0
    

    These messages are displayed if a private interconnect is not selected for RAC cluster communication, and the public IP address of the nodes are used for cluster communication. These messages can be ignored.

  • While running srvctl or crs_* commands, you must enclose the arguments to these commands in double quotes. For example:

    SRVCTL START DATABASE "-d" "orcl"
    CRS_STAT "-p" "ora.ORCL.ORCL1.inst"
    

    Unlike Java, OpenVMS is case insensitive. Thus, the SRVCTL commands throws an error if the arguments are not passed with the right case. Moreover, the resource name you enter for CRS_* commands should match the name it is registered with in the Oracle Cluster Registry (OCR).

  • While running Virtual IP Configuration Assistant (VIPCA), tracing information is displayed on the terminal from where VIPCA is run. You can ignore this information. To suppress the tracing information, you must define the following logical name before running VIPCA.

    $ DEFINE X$SRVM_TRACE X
    

3.4 Security for External Jobs

Refer to section 1.5.6 of Administrator's Guide to set the security for external jobs.

3.5 Non-Applicable Parameters

The following INIT.ORA parameters are not applicable to OpenVMS. Do not change their default values:

  • BACKUP_TAPE_IO_SLAVES

  • BWR_IO_SLAVES

  • DISK_ASYNCH_IO

  • TAPE_ASYNCH_IO

  • DB_WRITER_PROCESSES

3.6 Known Problems

The following are known problems in the current release:

  • Bug 4420104: Temporary files PERLPIPE*.COM created in login directory

    This has no impact on the functioning of the EMAgent. The temporary files can be manually deleted. Refer to the bug for more details and latest updates.

  • Bug 4420248: Deadlock detection error during RAC instances startup by DBCA

    Refer to the bug for the solution and latest updates.

  • Bug 4420463: Delays in Listener Start/Stop from Console

    This problem has not been observed in an Oracle installation, but has only been observed within the internal test QA area, which was set up with additional spooling of debugging information. However, the latency may reproduce in a customer environment, although very unlikely. To correct this, repeat the operation or perform the operation directly on the Server box where the listener is running. The modified status is automatically picked by the EM console within a few minutes of the direct operation.

  • 5333539: ORA errors with additional information are incorrectly reported in 10g release 1.

    The ORA errors that contain additional errors, the additional information get translated into VMS errors.

  • If you select 'Generate Database Create Scripts' when running the Database Configuration Assistant, then error messages similar to the following are displayed:

    P2-0310: unable to open file
    "DISK:[INSTALL_TEST.DHAYTER.Home15]/sysman/admin/emdrep/sql/core/latest/admin/admin_check_repos_user.sql"
    
    SP2-0310: unable to open file
    "DISK:[INSTALL_TEST.DHAYTER.Home15]/sysman/admin/emdrep/sql/core/latest/admin/admin_create_repos_user.sql"
    

    These errors can be safely ignored. It is not required to create a repository on OpenVMS, since the Database Console product is not supported.

  • When performing an Oracle Database Custom installation, the following message may appear in the ORA_ROOT:[ADMIN.sid.CREATE]JSERVER.LOG file:

    1 :ORA-06512: at "SYS.DBMS_JAVA", line 236
    1 :ORA-06512: at line 2
    1 :ORA-29558: JAccelerator (NCOMP) not installed. Refer to Install Guide for instructions.
    

    This message can be safely ignored as the JAccelerator component is not supported.

  • During an Oracle Cluster Ready Services (CRS) installation from the CRS release media, the following error message is displayed when you click Next on the Cluster Configuration screen:

    Each node must have both private and public node name

    This error message is displayed even if you enter valid public and private node names. Click Ok, and then click Next to proceed.

  • During a Database Enterprise installation, the installation log and orainstall error file displays the following errors:

    Performing fastcopy operations based on the information in the file 'oracle.server_EE_1.xml'.

    Performing fastcopy operations based on the information in the file 'setperms1.sh'.

    Exception occured during spawning:Child creation error: no such file or directory.

    These errors are can be safely ignored.

  • While installing Oracle Database Client, do not select individual products in the Custom install option. Instead, select all the products from the menu.

  • During an Oracle Database installation, the following messages may be displayed after the relinking phase.

    Redefining LNM$FILE_DEV...
    %RMS-E-FNF, file not found
    %RMS-F-ISI, invalid internal stream identifier (ISI) value
    

    These messages can be safely ignored.

  • After running the RUNINSTALLER command, messages similar to the following may appear on the terminal session from which the command was started:

    Unknown host: _WSA38
        X Toolkit Warning: Cannot convert string
      "-*-Menu-Medium-R-Normal--*-120-*-*-P-*-ISO8859-1" to type FontStruct
    

    The Installer GUI should still appear and these messages can be ignored.

4 Other Product Issues

The following sections provide information about issues that affect other Oracle products:

4.1 NetCA Help

In the Oracle Net Configuration Assistant (NetCA) help, the link to the Select Oracle Context help topic is broken. The text for this topic is as follows:

Directory Usage Configuration, Select Oracle Context

Oracle administrative content has been found in more than one location in the directory. Oracle administrative content is stored in Oracle Context, a subtree in the directory that stores Oracle entries.

From the list, select or enter the location you want to use as the default Oracle Context location from which this computer will access Oracle entries, such as connect identifiers.

4.2 NetCA IPC Protocol

If you select the use of the IPC protocol for the network layer, NetCA cannot reliably determine whether or not the key value specified in the protocol is in use. To let the user specify whether or not the key is actually available, NetCA displays the following message:

The information provided for this listener is currently in use by other software on this computer. You can proceed with this configuration as it is, but it will not be possible to start this listener until the conflict is resolved. Would you like to continue with the configuration anyway?

When this message is displayed, you should check if there are other listener processes on the system. In addition, you should ensure that the key value you have specified is not already in use. If it is not in use, then proceed with the configuration session. If it is in use, then shut down the listener using the key. Alternatively, you can use the NetCA screen to specify that you do not want to continue with the installation and then select a key value that is not in use on the system.

4.3 Grid Features

Oracle Database New Features for Oracle Database 10g release 1 (10.1) lists two Grid features that are not available in this release of Oracle Database 10g: Resonance and Transparent Session Migration.

4.4 Installing Enterprise Security Manager

To install Enterprise Security Manager (ESM), install Oracle Client and choose the Administrator installation type.

4.5 Full-Text Searching with Oracle Text

For full-text searching with Oracle Text, you must create XML tables manually.

If you will need to use Oracle Text indexes for text-based ora:contains searches over a collection of XML elements, then do not use the XML schema annotation storeVarrayAsTable="true". This annotation causes element collections to be persisted as rows in an Index Organized Table (IOT). Oracle Text does not support IOTs.

To be able to use Oracle Text to search the contents of element collections, set parameter genTables="false" during schema registration. Then create the necessary tables manually, without using the ORGANIZATION INDEX OVERFLOW clause. The tables will then be heap-organized instead of index-organized (IOT), as shown in the following example:

CREATE TABLE PurchaseOrder of XMLTYPE
  XMLSCHEMA http://localhost:8080/home/SCOTT/poSource/xsd/purchaseOrder.xsd
  ELEMENT "PurchaseOrder"
  VARRAY "XMLDATA"."ACTIONS"."ACTION"
    STORE AS TABLE ACTION_TABLE ((PRIMARY KEY 
       (NESTED_TABLE_ID, ARRAY_INDEX)))
  VARRAY "XMLDATA"."LINEITEMS"."LINEITEM"
     STORE AS TABLE LINEITEM_TABLE ((PRIMARY KEY 
       (NESTED_TABLE_ID, ARRAY_INDEX)));

4.6 Oracle Net Configuration Files

Files such as LISTENER.ORA, TNSNAMES.ORA, SQLNET.ORA, if configured manually, or copied and edited from earlier releases of Oracle Database may have record attributes that are incompatible with Oracle Database 10g release 2. The software cannot read such files. The required record format is stream_lf and the record attributes are carriage_control and carriage_return.

This may result in:

  • Inability to start the listener

  • Services not registered with the listener

  • Inability to connect to other databases

  • ORA-12154: TNS:could not resolve service name

Run the following command on each file affected:

$ DIR/FULL filename

An output similar to the following may be displayed:

Record format:      Variable length, maximum 255 bytes
Record attributes:  Carriage return carriage control

If the output includes the preceding entries, then run the following command:

$ CONVERT/FDL=SYS$INPUT filename filename
RECORD
 CARRIAGE_CONTROL CARRIAGE_RETURN
 FORMAT STREAM_LF
^Z

5 Known Restrictions

The following sections lists current restrictions for using Oracle Database 10g.

OpenVMS

OpenVMS always performs its I/O asynchronously. Several INIT.ORA parameters that mimic asynchronous behavior are not needed on OpenVMS. Refer to the Oracle Database Administrator's Guide, section 1.5.3, for the list of parameters that are not supported on OpenVMS.

Copying Oracle Executables

Moving executables from one OpenVMS machine to another is not recommended due to the usage of shared libraries and to the difficulty of ensuring valid referencing. Oracle recommends that you relink on the node where the executable will run.

Oracle Targets Paths in the Enterprise Manager Agent

Due to an inherent characteristic of the Perl language, wherein it attempts to translate any string with the '$' character in it as a Perl variable, it is strongly recommended that the paths used for Oracle targets, such as oracle_home, listener_ora_dir do not contain the '$' (dollar) character in them. This issue is tracked through Oracle bug 4299411.

Installation Time

During installation, when you click Next on the Installation Details screen, Oracle Universal Installer processes the information that you provided up to that point. This may take 10 minutes. During this time, it may appear that Oracle Universal Installer is not responding. There may be similar delays on other installer screens.

Database Configuration Assistant Runtime Considerations

When running the Database Configuration Assistant, the assistant performs background operations such as running databases. As a result, some of the assistant screens do not change for 10 minutes or more, depending on the system performance.

If the Password Management button on the last Database Configuration Assistant screen is not visible, then expand the Database Configuration Assistant window to use the Password Management feature.

Silent Installation

Silent Installation is not supported with this Oracle Database release on OpenVMS. Customers are free to attempt silent installation and many install scenarios should pose no problem, but if issues do arise, installation must be done interactively.

SCSNODE and TCPIP$INET_HOST

Installation of Oracle Database 10g will fail if the values of the SYSGEN parameter SCSNODE and the logical name TCPIP$INET_HOST are not the same. These must be configured to deliver same value, at least temporarily, for the install to succeed.

6 Documentation Accessibility

Our goal is to make Oracle products, services, and supporting documentation accessible to all users, including users that are disabled. To that end, our documentation includes features that make information available to users of assistive technology. This documentation is available in HTML format, and contains markup to facilitate access by the disabled community. Accessibility standards will continue to evolve over time, and Oracle is actively engaged with other market-leading technology vendors to address technical obstacles so that our documentation can be accessible to all of our customers. For more information, visit the Oracle Accessibility Program Web site at http://www.oracle.com/accessibility/.

Accessibility of Code Examples in Documentation

Screen readers may not always correctly read the code examples in this document. The conventions for writing code require that closing braces should appear on an otherwise empty line; however, some screen readers may not always read a line of text that consists solely of a bracket or brace.

Accessibility of Links to External Web Sites in Documentation

This documentation may contain links to Web sites of other companies or organizations that Oracle does not own or control. Oracle neither evaluates nor makes any representations regarding the accessibility of these Web sites.

TTY Access to Oracle Support Services

To reach AT&T Customer Assistants, dial 711 or 1.800.855.2880. An AT&T Customer Assistant will relay information between the customer and Oracle Support Services at 1.800.223.1711. Complete instructions for using the AT&T relay services are available at http://www.consumer.att.com/relay/tty/standard2.html. After the AT&T Customer Assistant contacts Oracle Support Services, an Oracle Support Services engineer will handle technical issues and provide customer support according to the Oracle service request process.


Oracle Database Release Notes, 10g Release 2 (10.2) for hp OpenVMS

B25413-04

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