Pre-installation Tasks for an Oracle Database :: SAS(R) Decision Manager 3.1: Administrator's Guide

About the Oracle Pre-installation Tasks

If you are using Oracle for your SAS Decision Manager database, perform the following steps before you install SAS Decision Manager:

Verify that you have the correct JDBC drivers.
Verify that you have a tnsnames.ora file for your Oracle client that corresponds to your database.
Determine the required database information.
Specify the required database privileges.
Test the connection to your database.

Verify JDBC Drivers for Oracle

Verify that you have the correct JDBC drivers. To ensure proper installation of SAS Decision Manager, the drivers must be on each middle-tier server, and they must be in a directory that does not contain any other files.

The JDBC drivers for Oracle are located in the Oracle installation directory. You can also download the ojdbc6.jar file for Oracle Database 11g from http://www.oracle.com/us/downloads/index.html. Select JDBC drivers. Download the latest Oracle 11.2x driver. The JDBC driver version must match the database version.

For more information about supported database drivers, see the system requirements documents at http://support.sas.com/documentation/installcenter/.

Determine the Information Required for the Oracle Database

During the installation and configuration of SAS Decision Manager, the SAS Deployment Wizard requires information about the Oracle database that SAS Decision Manager uses. Record the information in the following table.

You enter this information in the SAS Decision Manager Database Properties and SAS Decision Manager Database JDBC Properties windows.

SAS Deployment Wizard Information for Oracle
Prompt	Description
Host Name	Specifies the fully qualified host name of the server on which the database is installed.
Port	Specifies the port number that is used by the database. The default port for Oracle is 1521.
Directory containing JDBC driver jars	Specifies the location of the database vendor’s JDBC JAR file. This file must be available on the middle tier and on any machine on which you are deploying SAS Decision Manager in order to configure SAS Decision Manager database. See Verify JDBC Drivers for Oracle for more information.
Database SID or Service Name	Specifies the Oracle database name. The database name must match either the service name or the Oracle site identifier (SID), both of which can be found in the tnsnames.ora file. If you select Use Oracle database name as a Service Name, then you must enter the service name that is specified in the tnsnames.ora file. For example, if you had the following entry in the tnsnames.ora file, you would enter `monitordb` in the Database SID or Service Name field: monitordb = (DESCRIPTION = (ADDRESS_LIST = (ADDRESS = (COMMUNITY = TCP_COMM) (PROTOCOL = TCP) (HOST = hostname.your.company.com) (PORT = 1521) ) ) (CONNECT_DATA = (SERVICE_NAME = monitordb) ) ) Note: In the tnsnames.ora file, the Net Service Name and the Service Name fields must be the same. You can also find the Oracle SID in the tnsnames.ora file. Alternatively, you can run the following query using a database user ID on your Oracle instance: `select instance from v$thread`
User ID	Specifies the user ID of the database user whose credentials are used to access SAS Decision Manager data on the server.
Password	Specifies the password of the user ID whose credentials are used to access SAS Decision Manager data on the server.
Schema Pattern	Specifies the schema name for the database. The default schema is the same as the user ID.

Specify the Required Database Privileges for Oracle

Ensure that the users of your database have the required database privileges. Here are the required privileges for Oracle databases:

CONNECT
CREATE SESSION
RESOURCE
CREATE TABLE
CREATE VIEW
CREATE SEQUENCE
CREATE TRIGGER

Test the Connection to Your Database

Execute a command from the terminal to verify that your database is set up. For example, to use an Oracle database, you can execute the following command using SQL*Plus:

sqlplus USER/PASSWORD@ORACLE_SID

You must be able to execute this command from any directory. If you are able to execute a database command such as this only from the database installation directory, then verify that the PATH variable is set up correctly. The database client application must be installed and available on the path specified by the PATH variable.