Prerequisites for the Oracle database setup

This topic describes the prerequisites for the Oracle database setup.

Required schemas

You need the following schemas for Oracle:

Portal content store
Reports data warehouse
ETL (ODI) master repository
ETL (ODI) work repository

Required database instances

If you are using Oracle for your database instances, BMC recommends that you use three database instances: one for BMC Server Automation and two for the databases used by BMC Decision Support for Server Automation.

The following table shows the recommended setup for the database instances:

Recommendations for the database instances

Database instance	Database
Instance 1	portal content store This must be Unicode AL32UTF8.
Instance 2	reports data warehouse ETL master repository ETL work repository

These recommendations are based on the following information:

Because extract, transform, and load (ETL) uses a lot of database resources, setting up the BMC Server Automation database on a separate instance eliminates the impact on the BMC Server Automation data set by ETL.

You might want to configure the reports data warehouse differently from a real-time database (for example, SGA configuration).

Portal content store needs to use a Unicode character set. If the BMC Server Automation database and the reports data warehouse are not using a Unicode character set, the portal content store must be on a separate instance. If the BMC Server Automation database and the reports data warehouse are using a Unicode character set, the portal content store and reports data warehouse can be on the same instance.

Database naming and password conventions

When setting up your databases for the BMC Decision Support for Server Automation installation and when adding sites after the installation, ensure that the database names meet these requirements:

Database names contain only Latin alphabet letters, numbers, and underscores (_).
Database names do not begin with a number.
Database names do not contain hyphens (-) in the names. While database names with hyphens work in BMC Server Automation, they do not work in BMC Decision Support for Server Automation.

Database passwords must meet the following requirements:

Database passwords do not begin with the equal sign (=) character.
Database names do not begin with an integer.
Database names do not contain spaces.

Other database requirements

Ensure that the Oracle databases meet the following requirements:

The recommended setting for the NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS parameter for the reports data warehouse schema is CHAR.
Customers using non-English databases (such as Asian customers) should use the nchar character set. Customers using English databases (such as LATIN-1) can use the char character set.
The reports data warehouse schema type must align with the BMC Server Automation database in one of the following ways:
- If you have one or more BMC Server Automation databases that use the char schema, the reports data warehouse must use the char schema.
- If you have one or more BMC Server Automation databases that use the nchar schema, the reports data warehouse must use the nchar schema.
- If you have multiple BMC Server Automation databases and some use the char schema and others use the nchar schema, the reports data warehouse must use the nchar schema.
See the instructions in To determine the schema being used by the BMC Server Automation database for the schema being used by the BMC Server Automation database.
See the instructions in To determine the schema being used by the BMC Decision Support for Server Automation database for the schema being used by the reports data warehouse.

The character set of the schema type of the BMC Server Automation database and reports data warehouse must match. For example, if the BMC Server Automation database uses LATIN-1, the reports data warehouse must use the same character set or its subset character set. If the BMC Server Automation database uses AL32UTF8, the reports data warehouse must use the same character set or its subset character set.
If you are using nchar schema, you must use a Unicode value of AL16UTF16 (NLS_NCHAR_CHARACTERSET=AL16UTF16).
The global_names parameter for the Oracle instance where BMC Decision Support for Server Automation is located must be set to false to ensure that the database link name generated by the configuration process is resolved correctly. (If the global_names parameter is not set to false, the primary site installation fails.)
Note

After you install the product, you can set this parameter to true if needed, as described in Setting global_names to true for Oracle databases.

The parameter for the content store database instance compatibility level is set to 9.2.0 or higher. The parameter name is compatible.
The portal content store must be created on a Unicode database instance. For instructions about how to verify that the database is Unicode, see To verify that the database is Unicode.

The BMC Server Automation database user must have Execute permission on the DBMS_JOB and DBMS_LOCK Oracle packages. For verification instructions, see To ensure that the BMC Server Automation database user has the Execute permission on these packages.
Ensure that the tnsnames.ora file on the reports data warehouse database server contains the TNS entry of the BMC Server Automation database instance and the TNS name matches with the Service name.

To determine the schema being used by the BMC Server Automation database

Log on to SQL Plus as any user (for example, system).
Type the following command:
```
 select data_type from user_tab_columns where table_name = 'SYSTEM_PROPERTY' and column_name like 'NAME' 
```
If the schema is char type, VARCHAR2 is returned as the output. If the schema is nchar type, NVARCHAR2 is returned as the output.

To determine the schema being used by the BMC Decision Support for Server Automation database

Log on to SQL Plus as any user (for example, system).
Type the following command:
```
select * from user_tab_columns where table_name = 'BL_SITE' and column_name like 'NAME'
```
If the schema is char type, VARCHAR2 is returned as the output. If the schema is nchar type, NVARCHAR2 is returned as the output.

To ensure that the BMC Server Automation database user has the Execute permission on these packages

Log on to SQL Plus as SYS on the Oracle database instance where the BMC Server Automation user is located.

Type the following commands:

Grant execute on dbms_job to <BMCBladeLogicDatabaseUser>

Grant execute on dbms_lock to <BMCBladeLogicDatabaseUser>

<BMCBladeLogicDatabaseUser> is the BMC Server Automation database user name.

To verify that the database is Unicode

Log on to SQL Plus as any user (for example, system).
Type the following command:
```
select parameter, value from nls_database_parameters where parameter='NLS_CHARACTERSET'
```
Verify that a Unicode value is returned (AL32UTF8 or AL16UTF16). If a non-Unicode value is returned, create a new Unicode database and specify a Unicode value of AL32UTF8 or AL16UTF16. For instructions, see the database software documentation.

Supported scenarios for secondary BMC Server Automation sites

If you plan to use a system arrangement in which a secondary site uses a different character set, refer to the following scenarios for guidelines about supported setups.

The following setup is supported:

Application Server 1 uses char.
Application Server 2 uses nchar.
BMC Decision Support for Server Automation server 1 uses nchar.

BMC Decision Support for Server Automation server 1 cannot use char because you cannot run ETL from an nchar (Application Server 2 database) database to a char database (BMC Decision Support for Server Automation server 1 reports data warehouse)