Preface

This guide describes how to install and configure Oracle Database Client 11g release 1 (11.1) on Linux x86.

The preface contains the following topics:

• Audience

• Documentation Accessibility

• Command Syntax

• Accessing Documentation

• Related Documentation

• Typographic Conventions

Audience

This guide is intended for anyone responsible for installing Oracle Database Client 11g release 1 (11.1) on a single Linux x86 systems.

Documentation Accessibility

Our goal is to make Oracle products, services, and supporting documentation accessible, with good usability, to the disabled community. 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

Oracle provides dedicated Text Telephone (TTY) access to Oracle Support Services within the United States of America 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For TTY support, call 800.446.2398.

Command Syntax

UNIX command syntax appears in monospace font. The dollar character ($), number sign (#), or percent character (%) are UNIX command prompts. Do not enter them as part of the command. The following command syntax conventions are used in this guide:

dd if=/dev/rdsk/c0t1d0s6 of=/dev/rst0 bs=10b \ 
count=10000

.DEFINE {macro1}

cvtcrt termname [outfile]

CHKVAL fieldname value1 value2 ... valueN

library_name

FILE filesize [K|M]

Accessing Documentation

The documentation for this release includes platform-specific documentation and generic product documentation.

Platform-Specific Documentation

Platform-specific documentation includes information about installing and using Oracle products on particular platforms.

This guide contains information required to install Oracle Database 11g release 1 (11.1) on various platforms of Linux. Ensure that you review information related to the platform on which you intend to install Oracle Database 11g.

The platform-specific documentation for this product is available in both Adobe portable document format (PDF) and HTML format on the product DVD. To access the platform-specific documentation on DVD:

1. Use a Web browser to open the welcome.htm file in the top-level directory of the installation media.

2. For DVD only, select the appropriate product link.

3. Select the Documentation tab.

If you prefer paper documentation, then open and print the PDF files.

Product Documentation

Product documentation includes information about configuring, using, or administering Oracle products on any platform. The product documentation for Oracle Database 11g products is available in both HTML and PDF formats in the Oracle Database 11g Release 1 (11.1) Online Documentation Library. To check for updates to this document and to view other Oracle documentation, select the Documentation link or the Software & Patches link on the Oracle Database 11g release 1 Beta Program Web site.

Related Documentation

The platform-specific documentation for Oracle Database 11g products includes the following manuals:

• Oracle Database Release Notes for Linux

• Oracle Database Client Installation Guide for Linux

• Oracle Database Examples Installation Guide

• Oracle Database Installation Guide for Linux

• Oracle Real Application Clusters Installation Guide for Linux and UNIX

• Oracle Enterprise Manager Grid Control Installation and Basic Configuration

• Oracle Database Administrator's Reference for Linux and UNIX

• Oracle Database Storage Administrator's Guide

• Oracle Clusterware Installation Guide for Linux

• Oracle Database Upgrade Guide

• Oracle Database 2 Day DBA

For information about Oracle error messages, see Oracle Database Error Messages. Oracle error message documentation is available only in HTML. If you only have access to the Oracle Database 11g Release 1 (11.1) Online Documentation Library, you can browse the error messages by range. Once you find the specific range, use your browser's "find in page" feature to locate the specific message. When connected to the Internet, you can search for a specific error message using the error message search feature of the Oracle online documentation.

Many books in the documentation set use the sample schemas of the seed database, which is installed by default when you install Oracle. Refer to Oracle Database Sample Schemas for information on how these schemas were created and how you can use them yourself.

Printed documentation is available for sale in the Oracle Store at

http://oraclestore.oracle.com/

To download free release notes, installation documentation, white papers, or other collateral, please visit the Oracle Technology Network. You must register online before using OTN; registration is free and can be done at

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

If you already have a user name and password for Oracle Technology Network, then you can go directly to the documentation section of the Oracle Technology Network Web site at

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

Refer to Oracle Database Release Notes for Linux for important information that was not available when this book was released. The release notes for Oracle Database 11g are updated regularly. The most recent version is available on Oracle Technology Network at:

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

Typographic Conventions

The following text conventions are used in this document: