Oracle 19c Production Deployment on Oracle Linux 8

This guide gets you from zero to a rock-solid Oracle Database 19c (19.3) setup on Oracle Linux 8. Perfect for labs, staging, or production (with security notes). We'll cover OS prep, tuning, install, CDB/PDB creation, and everything to make it production-ready.

Quick Planning: What You'll Need

Component	Minimum	Recommended (Prod)
RAM	4 GB	8–16 GB
Swap	2 GB	1.5× RAM (if <16GB)
Disk (Software)	10 GB	20 GB
Disk (Data)	20 GB	Workload-dependent
CPU	2 cores	4+ cores

Pro tip: For production, aim for SSDs and separate disks for data/FRA.

1. Prep Your OS

First, update everything and grab Oracle's required packages:

$ sudo dnf update -y && sudo reboot

$ sudo dnf install -y bc binutils compat-libstdc++-33 elfutils-libelf elfutils-libelf-devel fontconfig-devel glibc glibc-devel ksh libaio libaio-devel libXrender libXrender-devel libX11 libXau libXi libXtst libgcc librdmacm-devel libstdc++ libstdc++-devel libxcb make net-tools  nfs-utils python3 smartmontools sysstat gcc unixODBC libnsl libnsl2

2. Memory & Swap Setup

Check your RAM:

$ sudo free -h

If needed, create swap (e.g., 8GB):

$ sudo fallocate -l 8G /swapfile

$ sudo chmod 600 /swapfile

$ sudo mkswap /swapfile

$ sudo swapon /swapfile

$ sudo echo '/swapfile swap swap defaults 0 0' | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab

3. Kernel Tuning

Edit /etc/sysctl.conf and add these Oracle 19c parameters:

$ sudo vi /etc/sysctl.conf

# Oracle 19c Kernel Parameters

fs.file-max = 6815744

kernel.sem = 250 32000 100 128

kernel.shmmni = 4096

kernel.shmall = 1073741824     # ~4GB in pages

kernel.shmmax = 4398046511104  # Match your max SGA

fs.aio-max-nr = 1048576

net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range = 9000 65500

net.core.rmem_default = 262144

net.core.rmem_max = 4194304

net.core.wmem_default = 262144

net.core.wmem_max = 1048576

wq! --Save file

Apply: $ sudo sysctl -p

4. HugePages for Production

Disable Transparent HugePages (causes latency):

$ sudo grubby --update-kernel=ALL --args="transparent_hugepage=never"

$ sudo reboot

$ sudo cat /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/enabled  # Should show "never"

Calculate & set static HugePages:

Estimate SGA (e.g., 6GB = 6144MB)

HugePages = SGA / 2MB = ~3072 pages

Add to $ sudo vi /etc/sysctl.conf: 

vm.nr_hugepages=3072

$ sudo sysctl -p

Why? HugePages eliminate TLB overhead—10-20% perf gain.

5. Oracle User & Directories

$ sudo groupadd -g 54321 oinstall

$ sudo groupadd -g 54322 dba

$ sudo groupadd -g 54323 oper

$ sudo useradd -u 54321 -g oinstall -G dba,oper oracle

$ sudo passwd oracle

$ sudo mkdir -p /u01/app/oracle/product/19.0.0/dbhome_1 /u01/app/oraInventory

$ sudo mkdir -p /u02/oradata /u03/fra

$ sudo chown -R oracle:oinstall /u01 /u02 /u03

$ sudo chmod -R 775 /u01 /u02 /u03

6. Lab Only: Disable Firewall/SELinux

# systemctl stop firewalld && sudo systemctl disable firewalld

# setenforce 0

Production: Open only port 1521: 

# firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=1521/tcp 

# firewall-cmd --reload

7. Oracle Environment (as oracle user)

$ su - oracle

$ cat > ~/.bash_profile << 'EOF'

export ORACLE_BASE=/u01/app/oracle

export ORACLE_HOME=$ORACLE_BASE/product/19.0.0/dbhome_1

export ORACLE_SID=cdb1

export PATH=$ORACLE_HOME/bin:$PATH

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$ORACLE_HOME/lib

EOF

source ~/.bash_profile

8. Install Oracle Software (Silent Mode)

$ cd $ORACLE_HOME

$ unzip LINUX.X64_193000_db_home.zip

$ export CV_ASSUME_DISTID=OEL7.6  # OL8 compatibility trick

$ ./runInstaller -silent -waitforcompletion -responseFile $ORACLE_HOME/install/response/db_install.rsp oracle.install.option=INSTALL_DB_SWONLY ORACLE_HOME=$ORACLE_HOME ORACLE_BASE=$ORACLE_BASE oracle.install.db.InstallEdition=EE DECLINE_SECURITY_UPDATES=true

Run root scripts when prompted:

$ sudo /u01/app/oraInventory/orainstRoot.sh

$ sudo /u01/app/oracle/product/19.0.0/dbhome_1/root.sh

9. Apply Latest RU

Download from My Oracle Support. Then:

$ORACLE_HOME/OPatch/opatch version

$ORACLE_HOME/OPatch/opatch apply -silent

$ORACLE_HOME/OPatch/opatch lspatches

10. Create CDB + PDB

$ dbca -silent -createDatabase \

-templateName General_Purpose.dbc \

-gdbname cdb1 -sid cdb1 -createAsContainerDatabase true \

-numberOfPDBs 1 -pdbName pdb1 \

-characterSet AL32UTF8 \

-totalMemory 4096 -storageType FS \

-datafileDestination "/u02/oradata"

11. Production Essentials

Enable Archivelog:

$ sqlplus / as sysdba

SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE;

STARTUP MOUNT;

ALTER DATABASE ARCHIVELOG;

ALTER DATABASE OPEN;

ARCHIVE LOG LIST;

Fast Recovery Area:

ALTER SYSTEM SET db_recovery_file_dest='/u03/fra' SCOPE=BOTH;

ALTER SYSTEM SET db_recovery_file_dest_size=50G SCOPE=BOTH;

12. Auto-Start with systemd

Create /etc/systemd/system/oracle-rdbms.service:

$ vi /etc/systemd/system/oracle-rdbms.service

[Unit]

Description=Oracle Database Service

After=network.target

[Service]

Type=forking

User=oracle

ExecStart=/u01/app/oracle/product/19.0.0/dbhome_1/bin/dbstart $ORACLE_HOME

ExecStop=/u01/app/oracle/product/19.0.0/dbhome_1/bin/dbshut $ORACLE_HOME

Restart=no

[Install]

WantedBy=multi-user.target

wq! --Save file

Enable:

$ sudo systemctl daemon-reload

$ sudo systemctl enable oracle-rdbms

13. Quick Validation

-- DB status

SELECT name, open_mode, log_mode FROM v$database;

-- PDBs

SHOW PDBS;

-- Memory

SHOW PARAMETER sga; SHOW PARAMETER pga;

-- Invalid objects

SELECT owner, object_name, status FROM dba_objects WHERE status='INVALID';

Listener: lsnrctl status

14. Security Hardening

ALTER USER sys IDENTIFIED BY YourStrongPass123!;

ALTER USER system IDENTIFIED BY YourStrongPass123!;

-- Lock sample schemas

ALTER USER hr ACCOUNT LOCK;

-- etc. for sh, oe, pm, ix, sa

15. RMAN Backup Config

rman target /

CONFIGURE RETENTION POLICY TO RECOVERY WINDOW OF 7 DAYS;

CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP ON;

16. Health Check Commands

What	Command
Listener	lsnrctl status
Archivelog	ARCHIVE LOG LIST;
FRA	SELECT * FROM v$recovery_file_dest;
Tablespaces	SELECT * FROM dba_tablespace_usage_metrics;
Alert Log	tail -f $ORACLE_BASE/diag/rdbms/cdb1/cdb1/trace/alert_cdb1.log

17. Common Fixes

ORA-12514 (TNS:listener doesn't know service): ALTER SYSTEM REGISTER;

ORA-00845 (MEMORY_TARGET not supported on this system): Switch to ASMM:

ALTER SYSTEM SET memory_target=0 scope=spfile;

ALTER SYSTEM SET sga_target=4G scope=spfile;

ALTER SYSTEM SET pga_aggregate_target=1G scope=spfile;

SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE; STARTUP;