--- title: How to Perform a Silent Installation of Oracle RAC 12c description: Learn how to perform silent installation of a two-node RAC cluster using only pure command line in terminal. --- [Blog | Pythian ](https://www.pythian.com/blog) # [How to Perform a Silent Installation of Oracle RAC 12c](https://www.pythian.com/blog/silent-installation-of-rac-12c-database) Written by [Andrey Goryunov](https://www.pythian.com/blog/author/andrey-goryunov) | Sep 30, 2013 4:00:00 AM Nowadays, everyone is installing Oracle Database 12c in different variants, posting screenshots, and discussing the best GUI tools. However, there is a lack of documentation regarding the silent installation of Grid Infrastructure (GI) and RDBMS—installing without graphical interfaces using only the command line. Inspired by the "RAC Attack" at OOW13, I decided to install a two-node RAC cluster on my laptop using VirtualBox to document the process. ## Preparing the operating system environment I began by creating a Virtual Machine (named `s1`) running Oracle Enterprise Linux (OEL) 6.4 with 2GB of RAM and a 30GB disk. I configured two network interfaces for public and private traffic. ### Network and package prerequisites After a basic server installation, I mounted the OEL 6.4 ISO to install the necessary prerequisite packages: ``` mount /dev/dvd /mediacd /media/Packagesrpm -Uvh compat-libcap1-1.10-1.x86_64.rpm compat-libstdc++-33-3.2.3-69.el6.x86_64.rpm \libstdc++-devel-4.4.7-3.el6.x86_64.rpm gcc-4.4.7-3.el6.x86_64.rpm glibc-devel-2.12-1.107.el6.x86_64.rpm \glibc-headers-2.12-1.107.el6.x86_64.rpm cpp-4.4.7-3.el6.x86_64.rpm cloog-ppl-0.15.7-1.2.el6.x86_64.rpm \kernel-headers-2.6.32-358.el6.x86_64.rpm ppl-0.10.2-11.el6.x86_64.rpm mpfr-2.4.1-6.el6.x86_64.rpm \libaio-devel-0.3.107-10.el6.x86_64.rpm ksh-20100621-19.el6.x86_64.rpm gcc-c++-4.4.7-3.el6.x86_64.rpm ```   I configured the `/etc/hosts` file for a two-node cluster, using a single IP for SCAN since a full DNS service wasn't required for this test: ``` 127.0.0.1       localhost.localdomain localhost192.168.56.11   s1.home s1192.168.56.12   s2.home s2192.168.56.15   s-scan.home s-scan172.16.100.11   s1-priv.home s1-priv172.16.100.12   s2-priv.home s2-priv192.168.56.13   s1-vip.home s1-vip192.168.56.14   s2-vip.home s2-vip ``` I then created the Oracle user and groups, disabled the firewall, and set SE Linux to disabled. ### Persistent ASM storage with UDEV I created two shared disks (2GB and 5GB) for ASM. To ensure persistent naming across reboots, I configured `udev` rules: ``` echo "options=-g" > /etc/scsi_id.configi=1cmd="/sbin/scsi_id -g -u -d"for disk in sdb sdc ; do  cat <> /etc/udev/rules.d/99-oracle-asmdevices.rulesKERNEL=="sd?1", BUS=="scsi", PROGRAM=="$cmd /dev/\$parent", \RESULT=="`$cmd /dev/$disk`", NAME="asm-disk$i", OWNER="oracle", GROUP="dba", MODE="0660"EOF  i=$(($i+1))done ``` After partitioning and reloading the rules, I cloned the VM to create the second node (`s2`), updated its hostname and IP addresses, and removed persistent network rules to prevent interface conflicts. ## Clustering and verification With both nodes running, I moved the GI and RDBMS software to the first node and configured passwordless SSH. ### pre-installation checks I used the Cluster Verification Utility (`cluvfy`) to identify any missing kernel parameters: ``` cd /home/oracle/install/grid./runcluvfy.sh stage -pre crsinst -fixupnoexec -n s1,s2 ``` This generated a fixup script at `/tmp/CVU_12.1.0.1.0_oracle/runfixup.sh`. I executed this script as `root` on both nodes to apply necessary kernel changes automatically. ## Silent grid infrastructure installation I created a response file (`/tmp/gi.rsp`) with the specific parameters for a standard cluster using local ASM storage. ### Executing the gi installer I ran the installer in silent mode, ignoring prerequisite warnings regarding the Management Repository (which I chose not to configure for this laptop test): ``` ./runInstaller -silent -responseFile /tmp/gi.rsp -showProgress -ignorePrereq ``` Once the installation reached 100%, I executed the following scripts as `root` on both nodes: 1. ``` /u01/app/oraInventory/orainstRoot.sh ```   2. ``` /u01/app/12.1.0/grid/root.sh ``` > ``` > root.sh > ``` ### Finalizing configuration To complete the configuration, I ran the `configToolAllCommands` script using a small response file containing the ASM passwords: ``` /u01/app/12.1.0/grid/cfgtoollogs/configToolAllCommands RESPONSE_FILE=/tmp/conf.rsp ``` I verified the GI status: ``` srvctl status asm# Output: ASM is running on s2, s1 ``` ## RDBMS silent installation With GI running, I prepared the additional ASM diskgroup for the database data using `ASMCMD`: ``` ASMCMD> mkdg ' ' ``` ### Installing the database software Finally, I created a response file (`/tmp/db.rsp`) for the RDBMS software-only installation. I mapped the administrative groups (DBA, BACKUPDBA, DGDBA, KMDBA) to the `dba` group. ``` cd /home/oracle/install/database./runInstaller -silent -responseFile /tmp/db.rsp -showProgress -ignorePrereq ``` After the software installation, I ran the `root.sh` script on both nodes. The installation was successful, completing the setup of the 12c RAC cluster environment entirely through the command line. ## Oracle Database Consulting Services **Ready to optimize your Oracle Database for the future?** [View full post](https://www.pythian.com/blog/silent-installation-of-rac-12c-database) ```json { "@context" : "http://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Andrey Goryunov" }, "dateModified" : "2026-02-18T02:00:20.502Z", "datePublished" : "2013-09-30T04:00:00Z", "headline" : "Silent Installation of RAC 12c database", "image" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "height" : 60, "url" : "/hs/hsstatic/content_shared_assets/static-1.4092/img/default-amp-logo.png", "width" : 60 }, "mainEntityOfPage" : "https://www.pythian.com/blog/silent-installation-of-rac-12c-database", "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "height" : 60, "url" : "/hs/hsstatic/content_shared_assets/static-1.4092/img/default-amp-logo.png", "width" : 60 }, "name" : "Pythian Blog" } } ```