Beginning Oracle Database 11g Administration From Novice to Professional

CHAPTER 5
Software Installation
The third little pig met a man with a load of bricks, and said, “Please, man, give me
those bricks to build a house with;” so the man gave him the bricks, and he built his
house with them. So the wolf came, as he did to the other little pigs, and said,—
“Little pig, little pig, let me come in.”
“No, no, by the hair of my chiny chin chin.”
“Then I'll huff, and I’ll puff, and I’ll blow your house in.”
Well, he huffed, and he puffed, and he huffed, and he puffed, and he puffed, and he
huffed; but he could not get the house down.
—The Nursery Rhymes of England, Fifth Edition, by James
Orchard Halliwell (Frederick Warne and Co., 1886)
We’re almost ready to create a database. Chapter 4 covered the planning process. In
this chapter, I’ll go over a few prerequisites such as obtaining the software, installation
guides, and reference manuals. I’ll also discuss the installation of software that precedes
the creation of a database. I’ll show you how I installed the Oracle software on my laptop
running Windows XP Professional. I hope that you take the opportunity to install Oracle
on your own XP or Vista laptop—the best way to learn is by doing.
You’ll go through the process of creating your first database in Chapter 6.
Oracle Technology Network
One of the reasons that Oracle dominates the database market is that it makes its software
and its software manuals available for download without any artificial restrictions
such as license keys and limited trials. Oracle’s motto is free to download, free to learn,
unlimited evaluation. All one needs is an Oracle Technology Network (OTN) account,
available free of charge.
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