Print this article Edit this article

General Information About ECN's Oracle Install

Overview

This document describes helpful information about using Oracle at ECN. This document is only applicable to those users that require at Oracle account. Not everyone gets an Oracle account by default.

An account has been set up for you with the Oracle database named ecn2 that is installed on oracle.ecn.purdue.edu. The account name is your UNIX account name and the password is currently set to "password". You must change your Oracle password the first time you connect to the database. If the password is not changed within two weeks of the account creation, the account will be disabled and you will be required to contact ECN to have it enabled.

(There are instructions below on how to change your Oracle password.)

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT ORACLE INSTALLED AT ECN

Summarized here is information about the ECN Oracle database installation under the headings:

  • CONNECTING TO THE DATABASE,
  • CHANGING YOUR ORACLE PASSWORD,
  • ONLINE DOCUMENTATION, and
  • IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Please review all this information *before* you connect to the ECN Oracle database.

CONNECTING TO THE DATABASE

There is a file on all ECN Linux machines named /etc/tnsnames.ora. This file defines how a Linux machine can connect to the Oracle database installed on oracle.ecn.purdue.edu.

There is also a "setup" shell script in /usr/local/bin that you should source that will define some environment variables needed by Oracle. The script also adds the path to the Oracle routines into your search path. If you use Bourne shell or ksh, source the file by typing:

. /usr/local/bin/oracle_setup.sh

(Note the "." at the beginning of the line. It is important and must be there.) If you wish, you may add the line above to your .profile. If you use csh or tcsh, to source the file type:

source /usr/local/bin/oracle_setup.csh

If you wish, you may add the line just above to your .cshrc file.

Please use the Oracle setup files provided in /usr/local/bin and do not explicitly reference Oracle pathnames in any of your files. The Oracle installation may change in the future and the Oracle setup files will be kept up-to-date to reflect any changes.

After sourcing the appropriate Oracle setup file, you are ready to connect to the database by typing:

sqlplus <account>@ecn2

and Oracle will prompt you for your password. Enter your Oracle password and you will get an SQL*Plus prompt SQL>. You are now connected and can enter Oracle SQL*Plus commands.

The database should be available any time oracle.ecn.purdue.edu is up. Announcements in the message of the day will describe times Oracle will be down for maintenance, which is rarely.

CHANGING YOUR ORACLE PASSWORD

To change your Oracle password, connect to the database and type

alter user <account> identified by <your_new_Oracle_password>;

where you substitute a new password for "<your_new_Oracle_password>" in the command above. Note that this password is completely independent of your UNIX account password.

ONLINE DOCUMENTATION

There is a large set of documentation that comes from Oracle that is available online on docs.oracle.com.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Please note that your Oracle account/password is completely independent of your ECN login/password. Your Oracle account has been set to be the same your login as a convenience. Any changes to your ECN login or password do not affect your Oracle account or password. Nor do any changes to your Oracle account or password affect your ECN login or password.

The Oracle "ecn2" database is backed up daily at 12:00midnight.

Last Modified: Sep 23, 2021 4:14 pm America/New_York
Created: Aug 9, 2006 12:59 pm GMT-4 by admin
JumpURL: