4 Creating Operating System Groups and Users

The chapter explains what operating system groups and users you need to create and how to create them. In particular, this chapter covers the following:

What Operating System Groups and Users Are Required?
How to Create the Operating System Groups and Users?

What Operating System Groups and Users Are Required?

The following operating system group and user are required for all installation types:

The Oracle Inventory Group (typically, oinstall)

You must create this group the first time you install Oracle software on the system. The default name chosen for this group is oinstall. This group owns the Oracle inventory that is a catalog of all Oracle software installed on the system.

Note:
If Oracle software is already installed on the system, then the existing Oracle Inventory group must be the primary group of the operating system user that you use to install other Oracle software.
The Oracle Software Owner User (typically, oracle)

You must create this user the first time you install Oracle software on the system. This user owns all of the software installed during the installation. This user must have the Oracle Inventory group as its primary group.

Note:
In Oracle documentation, this user is referred to as the oracle user.

A single Oracle Inventory group is required for all installations of Oracle software on the system. After the first installation of Oracle software, you must use the same Oracle Inventory group for all subsequent Oracle software installations on that system.

How to Create the Operating System Groups and Users?

The following sections describe how to create the required operating system users and groups:

Creating the Oracle Inventory Group
Creating the Oracle Software Owner User

Note:

As an alternative to creating local users and groups, you can create the appropriate users and groups in a directory service, for example, Network Information Services (NIS). For information about using directory services, contact your system administrator or refer to your operating system documentation.

Creating the Oracle Inventory Group

You must create the Oracle Inventory group if it does not already exist. The following subsections describe how to determine the Oracle Inventory group name if it exists, and how to create it if necessary.

Determining Whether the Oracle Inventory Group Exists

When you install Oracle software on the system for the first time, the oraInst.loc file is created. This file identifies the name of the Oracle Inventory group and the path to the Oracle Inventory directory.

To determine whether the Oracle Inventory group exists, enter the following command:

$ more /etc/oraInst.loc

Note:

the oraInst.loc file is available in the /etc directory for Linux and other platforms. On Solaris platforms, it is available at /var/opt/oracle/.

If the oraInst.loc file exists, then the output from this command looks like:

inventory_loc=/u01/app/oracle/oraInventory
inst_group=oinstall

The inst_group parameter shows the name of the Oracle Inventory group, oinstall.

Creating the Oracle Inventory Group

If the oraInst.loc file does not exist, or if the file exists but the Oracle Inventory group is different, then create the Oracle Inventory group oinstall using the following command:

# /usr/sbin/groupadd oinstall

Creating the Oracle Software Owner User

You must create an Oracle software owner user in the following circumstances:

If an Oracle software owner user does not exist, for example, if this is the first installation of Oracle software on the system
If an Oracle software owner user exists, but you want to use a different operating system user, with different group membership, to give database administrative privileges to those groups in a new Oracle Database installation

Determining Whether an Oracle Software Owner User Exists

To determine whether an Oracle software owner user named oracle exists, run the following command:

$ id oracle

If the oracle user exists, then the output from this command looks like this:

uid=440(oracle) gid=200(oinstall) groups=201(dba),202(oper)

If the user exists, then determine whether you want to use the existing user or create another oracle user.

To use the existing user, ensure that the user's primary group is the Oracle Inventory group.
To modify an existing user, refer to the Modifying an Oracle Software Owner User.
To create a user, refer to Creating an Oracle Software Owner User.

Note:

If necessary, contact your system administrator before using or modifying an existing user.

Creating an Oracle Software Owner User

If the Oracle software owner user does not exist or if you require a new Oracle software owner user, then follow these steps to create one. In the following procedure, use the user name oracle unless a user with that name already exists.

To create the oracle user, enter a command similar to the following:
```
# /usr/sbin/useradd -g oinstall oracle
```
In this command, the -g option specifies the primary group, which must be the Oracle Inventory group, for example oinstall.
Set the password of the oracle user:
```
# passwd oracle
```

Note:

Oracle recommends you to use the same UIDs across all the OMS instances, especially when you use Oracle Software Library. If the UIDs are different, then the files created by one OMS cannot be modified by another OMS.

Modifying an Oracle Software Owner User

If the oracle user exists, but its primary group is not oinstall, then enter a command similar to the following to modify it. Specify the primary group using the -g option.

# /usr/sbin/usermod -g oinstall oracle