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lriffel
Contributor
Contributor

Windows 2008 R2 64 bit and Oracle 11g R2 64 bit

I am trying to install Oracle 11g R2 64 Bit on Windows 2008 R2 64 Bit. A software only install works fine, but creating a new database as part of the installation does not. The installer reaches 100% progress and then fails on the "Oracle Net

Configuration Assistant" step. The error is "[INS-20802] Oracle Net

Configuration Assistant failed. The details say the cause was "The

plug-in failed in its perform method". The log it refers to says an

unexpected error has been detected by HotSpot Virtual Machine:

EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION ...64-Bit Server VM (1.5.0_17-b04 mixed mode)

Problematic frame: [ntdll.dll+0x35039. Even if I do a

sucessful software only installation the Net Configuration Asistant does not run

nor does the Database Configuration Assistant.

After opening a case with Oracle their immediate response was the following:

It looks like you are running in a virtual environment. If this is the
case, you will need to reproduce this in a non-vmware environment. See
VM Support policy - Note: 466346.1

I have opened dozens of cases in the past without them mentioning the VMWare environment, so they seem to be pretty certain that this is VMware related. I am working on creating a similar physical envoronment, but in the meantime is anyone else having this problem and if so do you have any solutions or workarounds?

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AntonVZhbankov
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Oracle has its own hypervisor, Oracle VM, so it will try to transfer customers from VMware vSphere to Oracle VM. No surprise here.

Actually there are some possible problem causes other than VMware:

1) Faulty hardware - run hardware tests, memtest first

2) "Bad" Windows - make new VM, clean Windows installation, try to reproduce


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lriffel
Contributor
Contributor

I think we can rule out faulty hardware, because we have been running Windows 2008 R1 32 Bit VMs with Oracle 11.1 on them fine for over a year now. We've been using the same OS image for multiple installs, but you are right in that it probably can't hurt to try a fresh install in case that is the problem. Thanks for the post.

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

Anyway, you can avoid the use of DBCA and NETCA. You can create the DB and Listener configuration in the "old-fashioned" way with scripts. Or, if you have another 11gR2 or R1 installed up and running in other OS, you can use DBCA and instead of create DB, you can export the creation scripts... It's tricky, but maybe could be another option to avoid the use of DBCA and NETCA.

Paulo Garcia. OCP 10g, OCP 11g, RAC Certified Expert, VCP4.

lriffel
Contributor
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I''m considering doing everything manually, but not knowing what is actually the problem, I am concerned what other things might not work.

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RParker
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I am trying to install Oracle 11g R2 64 Bit on Windows 2008 R2 64 Bit.

My only question is WHY?!?!? Oracle is designed for Linux, windows was an afterthought. I would put Oracle on a Linux box, call it a day. Easier to install, less pre-requisites. If you want to use Windows 2008 R2 64 bit use SQL.

Oracle on Linux, SQL on Windows. That's their native OS.

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lriffel
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Oracle was first available for Linux in 1998 and was running for us on Windows well before that, but given its heritage, I can see why you would say that. Easier to install, it certainly wasn’t for us. I’m not sure what you mean by fewer pre-requisites.

SQL Server is indeed for windows because it can only run on windows. Surely you’re not suggesting I switch to an inferior database just because of the OS I’m running.

Oracle fully supports windows with windows specific documentation, 100% feature parity, and complete support for even the latest versions. We use windows boxes almost exclusively, so that is what I know best and that is what our SAs know best. I don’t see what we would gain by switching to Linux.

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admin
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Hi,

I'm not going to be the guy who defends Msft. But, in the past (prior 2003R2) I agree with you. The best option to run oracle, from my point of view, was Linux/Unix. After 2003R2, I'm not totally agree, although in my understanding, Unix is a best option for Oracle DB, you'll commit a big mistake if you discard Windows withou a deep analysis.

If you read the document I attached maybe you can get a big surprise, the same I got 3 years ago. Oracle RAC (and this is a worst case than a single instance...) in Win2003R2 runs at least equals than Linux... And in high load, the graphs shows thar performs better. Windows is starting to be a "serious operating system", so please, control "urban legends". You should choose your OS bearing in my mind your requirements and what you have in terms of platform, envoronment, knowledge, skills and customer preferences.

Cheers,

Paulo Garcia. OCP 10g, OCP 11g, RAC Certified Expert, VCP4.

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lriffel
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I've done a fresh install of Windows 2008 R2 64 Bit to a new VM on a different cluster and am not getting the Oracle problem. I'm and slowly now rebuilding it to look like the failing systems to see if I can discover what made it break.

Update: I've now eliminated the cluster as the problem as well as VMWare Tools. I need to look at VNC, windows updates, and adding it to the domain.

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

Look for changes in your PATH environment variable. In Win you don't have a specific LIB variable, it uses PATH. While you install app, this variable is changed, and the lookup order is important, and maybe you can find a file(library) but it's not the correct/expected versión for your software. I suffered this issue with several Oracle products in windows, with abnormal termination or strange behaviours. Keep track of PATH, maybe it helps.

Cheers,

Paulo.

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lriffel
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Thanks for the info, but I beleive I have the problem narrowed down to the domain. As soon as we add the virtual box to the domain the problem occures and as soon as we un-join it from the domain the problem resolves itself. I've fixed and broken a box a few times this way and have fixed another box that was broken by un-joining it from the domain. I have a physical box joined to the domain that does not have this problem, so I am going to virtualize it to see what happens.

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RParker
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Well first I am a SQL Administrator and LAN Admin MCSE, so I already KNOW the benefits of Microsoft.

I was referring SPECIFICALLY to Oracle. It will run BETTER on Linux, I know this because I work for a software development company, and anyone that KNOWS data wharehousing will install Oracle on Linux / AIX / Unix BEFORE Windows. I am not bashing Windows, but the Oracle developers developed it (and designed it) FOR AIX/Linux systems, NOT Windows. Feel free to call them if you don't believe me.

2 Identical systems with same memory Oracle-Linux will beat Oracle-Windows hands down, that's not a fault of Windows, that's just how Oracle designed it.

Oracle and Sun will tell you the SAME thing, Oracle is PREFERRED on Unix / Linux systems NOT Windows. If you are going to run Windows you should run SQL that's my point!

Run the DB for which it's natively designed for.

Oracle on Linux / Unix

SQL on Windows.

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RParker
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so that is what I know best and that is what our SAs know best. I don’t see what we would gain by switching to Linux.

Well you may know windows but you have a lot to learn about databases.

If you are using Microsoft then use SQL then... That will run better than Oracle, you missed my ENTIRE point.

Oracle MAY work on Windows, but it's designed for Linux, if you are using it, then it should be installed on a Linux / AIX / Unix platform. If you are using Windows, SQL will run better than any OTHER DB on Windows. Period.

Keep running Oracle, have fun with it, you like it? GREAT! But don't complain when you find out later that SQL will be a MUCH better product.

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lriffel
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We run quite a few SQL Server databases, but even our SQL Server admins prefer oracle. I'm not saying that oracle may not run faster on Linux. You may be right about that even for most workloads, however, even for the best/worst case difference caused by the OS choice I beleive my time could be better served making code more efficient than changing operating systems.

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lriffel
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I've reproduced the problem on the physical box now. I'm contacting Oracle and working on narrowing down what changed.

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lriffel
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The problem turned out to be related to the permissions assigned to the group that the computer was in when added to  the domain.  We discovered similar problems with Windows 7 boxes before this, so once we identified Windows 2008 R2 as having the same problem it was a simple matter to move them to the different group and everything worked as expected.  We have not taken the time yet to identify what permissions are causing the problem.

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