Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control 12.1.0.2 - Database Template

The latest release of Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control 12c (12.1.0.2) is accompanied by a Database template pre-configured for the repository. I was quite pleased to see this addition, since installing Enterprise Manager required some upfront footwork in configuring the database to be used as the repository. Personally, I was a bit annoyed every time the installer complained about parameters that it needed changed on the repository database during installation  (though some we not mandatory during installation).

As a pre-requisite to using the template you should have a software-only installation of a Oracle 11.2.0.3 RDBMS software.

The installation instructions warn that the template is suitable for a Simple Install. However you may also use it as a basis of an Advanced Installation. You can read the rest of the instructions here.

Note: The instructions in the documentation has a screenshot of a Oracle Database 12c DBCA instead of the 11.2.0.3 DBCA. I suspect this is a documentation bug.

To get started you will need to download the new Database Template. This is shown in the red box below.

You can either extract the software on your host or a location where the installer can be accessed by the host and copy them to the ORACLE_HOME/assistants/dbca/templates directory of the database home

or unzip them directly to the location. I chose to do the former.

[oracle@oem3 orastage]$ cd EM12cR2/

[oracle@oem3 EM12cR2]$ ls

DB11.2.0.3_EM_seed_database_linux64      em12cr2_linux64_disk1.zip  em12cr2_linux64_disk3.zip  jdk       oms      Release_Notes.pdf  runInstaller  wls

DB11.2.0.3_EM_seed_database_linux64.zip  em12cr2_linux64_disk2.zip  install                    libskgxn  plugins  response           stage         WT.zip

[oracle@oem3 EM12cR2]$ cd DB11.2.0.3_EM_seed_database_linux64

[oracle@oem3 DB11.2.0.3_EM_seed_database_linux64]$ ls

DB11.2.0.3_EM_seed_database.ctl  DB11.2.0.3_EM_seed_database.dbc  DB11.2.0.3_EM_seed_database.dfb  shpool.sql

[oracle@oem3 DB11.2.0.3_EM_seed_database_linux64]$ cp * /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1/assistants/dbca/templates/

Proceed to run DBCA in order to create the repository. Here I will only show the screens specific to the template.

Choose Create Database then select the option with the new DB11.2.0.3 seed database

 Enter your database name and SID

I noticed that the "Configure Enterprise Manager" checkbox was still checked. I don't think this should be selected since we will be using it for a new repository.

 Uncheck the box and continue to the next screen.

The template will also execute a script after the database has been created. This script sets the shared pool size to 300M.

Memory parameters are conservative for a simple installation. AMM is enabled, SGA set to 768M and PGA 256M. (Server was configured with 4GB)

The processes parameter has been set to 300 as is recommended by the installer in 12.1.0.1

At this point it's business as usual and you can proceed to click finish to review the summary for the database.
There you have it - a pre-configured database ready for your new EM installation without any annoying  dialog boxes... or is it?

I actually kicked off the EM 12.1.0.2 installer and received the following warning message.

It indicated that it wasn't able to complete some of the pre-requisites checks for the repository database and suggested that it be done manually via the EMPrereqkit. The logs didn't offer any help in identifying the error so I clicked OK as this is just a sandbox. For production or test environments I recommend to re-run the EMPrereqkit manually and try to identify any checks that fail.

In summary, this is a very welcomed addition to the Enterprise Manager 12c. It simplifies and speeds up the process of deploying the software.

Now to take EM12c R2 for a test drive...