Re: [PLUG] /usr/local vs. /opt

[bergman@merctech.com]

In the message dated: Tue, 24 Jan 2006 10:07:56 EST,
The pithy ruminations from Douglas Muth on 
<Re: [PLUG] /usr/local vs. /opt> were:
=> On 1/24/06, John Von Essen <john@essenz.com> wrote:
=> > Well, oracle goes in /u01 - but thats a different story all together.
=> >
=> > /opt is big in the Sun world. Sun likes /usr/local for non-core system
=> > things, while /opt is used for everything else.
=> >

Yes. This is mainly to facilitate complicated network environments, with things like
workstations having read-only /usr, and mounting the correct flavor of /opt
depending on their architecture. Anyone remember "The Network is the
Computer"? :)

=> > You cant get away from it because alot of Sun packages are built to
=> > install in /opt.

Sort of. The installation is easy, but you are still likely to end up with a
huge $PATH or messy symlinks, since there's typically no
/opt/{bin,lib,include,share,etc} as you'd find under /usr/local, but
applications install into their own tree, such as /opt/framemaker.

=> >
=> 
=> Perhaps my information on Oracle is outdated. It was based on my
=> experience with Oracle 7.3 running on an SGI IRIX box. (This was in
=> many years past ;-)

Nope, your info isn't outdated.

=> 
=> I'd be interesting in knowing what the rationale was for putting in
=> /u01 now, though.

Well, I've just started reading the excellent booklet "The Sysadmin's Guide to 
Oracle" by Ben Rockwood (part of the sporadic Usenix series "Short Topics in 
System Administration"...see www.usenix.org for info). Anyway, he explains:
	
	The layout of files in an Oracle installation can be confusing. Often
	you'll see installations of Oracle in /u01 and data placed in /u02, /u03,
	and so on. If you do a fresh install of Oracle, though, that installation
	layout may not be suggested. Why, then, do so many database admins do
	it that way?
	
	The answer is the OFA (Optimal Flexible Architecture--note: "Optimal,"
	not "Oracle"). The OFA was created by Cary Milsap at the Oracle Users
	Conference in 1991. The OFA was an attempt to create a standardized set
	of conventions for Oracle file locations and file naming. The OFA has
	been widely adopted and is considered an Oracle Best Practice. Besides
	creating order from chaos, the OFA ensures that your installation will
	always be able to scale to larger databases, new versions of Oracle, etc.

=> 
=> (Maybe we should take this offlist, since we're starting to stray from Linux...)

IMHO, I don't think we're straying too far. The examples in the Sysadmin's
Guide to Oracle booklet were done, in part, from use of Oracle on Gentoo
Linux.

Mark

----
Mark Bergman
bergman@merctech.com
Seeking a Unix/Linux sysadmin position local to Philadelphia or via telecommuting

http://wwwkeys.pgp.net:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=bergman%40merctech.com

=> 
=> -- doug


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