Setting Up Oracle

Before you can use Oracle you must set up an account. To do this follow the instructions on the TSG web page , which, in summary, is:

  1. Log in to one of the School's Unix servers (Tuck, Robin, etc.)
  2. Add oracle to your list of packages. To do this
    1. This assumes that you use bash, which most students are set up to do. If you use csh or some other shell please follow the instructions on the TSG website
    2. Go to your home directory if you are not already there. You can do this with the command
      cd ~
    3. Edit the file .profile with your favourite Unix text editor. For example, to edit it with emacs use
      emacs .profile
    4. If your .profile has a line that starts
      PACKAGES=
      then add oracle to your list of packages. For example, if your packages line read
      PACKAGES="x11 pbm"
      you would change it to
      PACKAGES="x11 pbm oracle"
      Note that you are looking for a line that starts "PACKAGES=...", not "# PACKAGES=...". The first is a line that defines your packages, the second is a comment that gives you an example of how to define your packages. Lines starting with "#" are comments and are ignored.
    5. If your .profile does not have a packages line already then add the line
      PACKAGES="oracle"
      at the start of the file (or just after the comment lines which start with #)
    6. Save the file and exit your editor
    7. Refresh your settings either by logging out then back in again, or by using the command
      source .profile
  3. At the command prompt type
    create_oracle
    You will be given a password when you do this. Remember this password, you will need it very soon.
  4. You can now start Oracle's SQL interface using the command
    sqlplus
  5. Once you have started sqlplus you can change the password to something more memorable using the command
    password
    and following the online instructions.
  6. You can now enter SQL commands, which must end with a semicolon, or to exit sqlplus type
    exit
    and press return.

Troubleshooting

If when you type sqlplus you get a message that the command cannot be found:
This usually means that you have not set up your packages correctly in your .profile, as described above. If you type
echo $PATH
in bash you should get a long string including the text /cs/oracle1/app/oracle/product/10.1.0.2/bin:/cs/oracle1/bin: If this is not in your path then the system doesn't know where to look for sqlplus. Check that If this doesn't help, then come along to the lab times for assistance.