Why does Oracle Database Configuration failed on ubuntu?

Question

I'm trying to install Oracle Database 11g Express Edition on my ubuntu server. After running command:

sudo service oracle-xe start

I get following result after configuration:

Starting Oracle Net Listener...Done
Configuring database...
Database Configuration failed.  Look into /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/xe/config/log for de                                                                              tails

in log files I found the following informations:

CloneRmanRestore.log:

    LRM-00116: syntax error at 'sessions' following '='
ORA-01078: failure in processing system parameters
select TO_CHAR(systimestamp,'YYYYMMDD HH:MI:SS') from dual
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01034: ORACLE not available
Process ID: 0
Session ID: 0 Serial number: 0


declare
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01034: ORACLE not available
Process ID: 0
Session ID: 0 Serial number: 0


select TO_CHAR(systimestamp,'YYYYMMDD HH:MI:SS') from dual
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01034: ORACLE not available
Process ID: 0
Session ID: 0 Serial number: 0

postDBCreation.log

begin
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01034: ORACLE not available
Process ID: 0
Session ID: 0 Serial number: 0


create spfile='/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/xe/dbs/spfileXE.ora' FROM pfile='/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/xe/config/scripts/init.ora'
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01078: failure in processing system parameters
LRM-00116: syntax error at 'sessions' following '='


ORA-01034: ORACLE not available
ORA-27101: shared memory realm does not exist
Linux-x86_64 Error: 2: No such file or directory
ORA-01078: failure in processing system parameters
LRM-00109: could not open parameter file '/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/xe/dbs/initXE.ora'
select 'utl_recomp_begin: ' || to_char(sysdate, 'HH:MI:SS') from dual
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01034: ORACLE not available
Process ID: 0
Session ID: 0 Serial number: 0


BEGIN utl_recomp.recomp_serial(); END;

*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01034: ORACLE not available
Process ID: 0
Session ID: 0 Serial number: 0


select 'utl_recomp_end: ' || to_char(sysdate, 'HH:MI:SS') from dual
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01034: ORACLE not available
Process ID: 0
Session ID: 0 Serial number: 0

cloneDBCreation.log:

Create controlfile reuse set database "XE"
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01034: ORACLE not available
Process ID: 0
Session ID: 0 Serial number: 0


BEGIN dbms_backup_restore.zerodbid(0); END;

*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01034: ORACLE not available
Process ID: 0
Session ID: 0 Serial number: 0


ORA-01034: ORACLE not available
ORA-27101: shared memory realm does not exist
Linux-x86_64 Error: 2: No such file or directory
LRM-00116: syntax error at 'sessions' following '='
ORA-01078: failure in processing system parameters
Create controlfile reuse set database "XE"
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01034: ORACLE not available
Process ID: 0
Session ID: 0 Serial number: 0


alter system enable restricted session
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01034: ORACLE not available
Process ID: 0
Session ID: 0 Serial number: 0


alter database "XE" open resetlogs
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01034: ORACLE not available
Process ID: 0
Session ID: 0 Serial number: 0

postDBCreation.log:
begin
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01034: ORACLE not available
Process ID: 0
Session ID: 0 Serial number: 0


create spfile='/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/xe/dbs/spfileXE.ora' FROM pfile='/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/xe/config/scripts/init.ora'
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01078: failure in processing system parameters
LRM-00116: syntax error at 'sessions' following '='


ORA-01034: ORACLE not available
ORA-27101: shared memory realm does not exist
Linux-x86_64 Error: 2: No such file or directory
ORA-01078: failure in processing system parameters
LRM-00109: could not open parameter file '/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/xe/dbs/initXE.ora'
select 'utl_recomp_begin: ' || to_char(sysdate, 'HH:MI:SS') from dual
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01034: ORACLE not available
Process ID: 0
Session ID: 0 Serial number: 0


BEGIN utl_recomp.recomp_serial(); END;

*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01034: ORACLE not available
Process ID: 0
Session ID: 0 Serial number: 0


select 'utl_recomp_end: ' || to_char(sysdate, 'HH:MI:SS') from dual
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01034: ORACLE not available
Process ID: 0
Session ID: 0 Serial number: 0

postScripts.log:

CREATE OR REPLACE LIBRARY dbms_sumadv_lib AS '/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/xe/lib/libqsmashr.so';
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01034: ORACLE not available
Process ID: 0
Session ID: 0 Serial number: 0


BEGIN dbms_datapump_utl.replace_default_dir; END;

*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01034: ORACLE not available
Process ID: 0
Session ID: 0 Serial number: 0


commit
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01034: ORACLE not available
Process ID: 0
Session ID: 0 Serial number: 0


create or replace directory XMLDIR as '/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/xe/rdbms/xml'
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01034: ORACLE not available
Process ID: 0
Session ID: 0 Serial number: 0


DROP DIRECTORY ORACLE_OCM_CONFIG_DIR
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01034: ORACLE not available
Process ID: 0
Session ID: 0 Serial number: 0


DROP DIRECTORY ADMIN_DIR
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01034: ORACLE not available

How can I fix it and configure my database? I have 256 MB of RAM memory, is it enough to run Oracle? Can it be an issue?

Answer 1

The Oracle documentation says that 512Mb of RAM is recommended to run Oracle XE, with 256Mb minimum required. In reality, with anything else running on the Linux box/VM, you're really going to struggle with just 256Mb.

Make sure you've adhered to all of the pre-requisites in the documentation (kernel params, adding 2Gb of swap space) before you try and re-install.

I've successfully had it running on a Digital Ocean VM with 512Mb of RAM - I just added a 4Gb swap file on the disk - and it ran like a dream. Well, a slow dream :-)

Answer 2

This error pops up during the installation of the init.ora files and other initXE* files that are in the folder:

/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/xe/config/scripts

You need to edit these configurations, and look for the line that says:

MEMORY_TARGET =

If this is empty, like in the line above, we must add the memory we want to assign. in my case I put 1Gb in both files:

MEMORY_TARGET = 1G

After making this change in both files, you have to save it and run the Oracle configuration script again.

Normally everything should be fine now.

Answer 3

Just had a similar problem. Tried the solutions given so far - here my 2 cents: Ram and kernel parameters must be set correctly. These are my settings in /etc/sysctl.conf:

kernel.sem = 250 32000 100 128
fs.file-max = 6815744
kernel.shmmax=4294967295
kernel.shmmni=4096
kernel.shmall=2097152

Regarding the initXE* files in u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/xe/config/scripts: setting MEMORY_TARGET = 1G didn't work for me. So I removed the line "MEMORY_TARGET =" alltogether (i.e. put a hash in front of it and transforming it to a comment). Installation worked ok without further glitches. Hurray!

Answer 4

Commenting out memory_target in init.ora and initXE.ora worked for me.