Installing Oracle Database 26AI on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9

Oracle Database 26AI introduces next-generation autonomous and AI-assisted database capabilities. Installing it on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 gives you a robust and secure foundation for modern data workloads. This guide walks you through the full installation process — from preparing the system to verifying the database installation.

Disclaimer: The following demonstration uses Oracle AI Database 23.26.0 (Engineered Systems binaries) for testing purposes only. It should not be treated as a production or reference guide.

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1. Prerequisites and System Requirements

Minimum Hardware

Component	Requirement
CPU	4+ cores (x86_64 architecture)
Memory	16 GB (minimum), 32 GB recommended
Disk Space	100 GB free space for Oracle home and database files
Swap Space	2x RAM if ≤16 GB, otherwise equal to RAM

Supported OS

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.0 or later (x86_64)
• Oracle Linux 9 Distributions for x86-64
• Linux 8 Distributions for x86-64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Distributions for x86-64
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 Distributions for x86-64
• Kernel: 5.14.0 or later
• Ensure SELinux and Firewall settings are adjusted before installation.

Required Packages

Install required dependencies:

sudo dnf install -y bc binutils elfutils-libelf elfutils-libelf-devel \
gcc gcc-c++ glibc glibc-devel ksh libaio libaio-devel libgcc libgfortran \
libibverbs libnsl libnsl2 libstdc++ libstdc++-devel libxcb libX11 libXau \
libXi libXrender libXtst libXext make net-tools smartmontools sysstat unzip \
compat-openssl11 fontconfig-devel policycoreutils policycoreutils-python-utils

Enable EPEL and optional repos if needed:

sudo dnf install epel-release -y
sudo dnf config-manager --set-enabled crb

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2. Create Oracle Users and Groups

Oracle recommends creating dedicated users and groups for database management.

sudo groupadd -g 54321 oinstall
sudo groupadd -g 54322 dba
sudo useradd -u 54321 -g oinstall -G dba oracle
sudo passwd oracle

Set the correct environment for the Oracle user:

sudo mkdir -p /u01/app/oracle
sudo chown -R oracle:oinstall /u01
sudo chmod -R 775 /u01

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3. Configure Kernel Parameters and Limits

Edit /etc/sysctl.conf and add:

fs.aio-max-nr = 1048576
fs.file-max = 6815744
kernel.shmall = 2097152
kernel.shmmax = 4294967295
kernel.shmmni = 4096
kernel.sem = 250 32000 100 128
net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range = 9000 65500
net.core.rmem_default = 262144
net.core.wmem_default = 262144
net.core.rmem_max = 4194304
net.core.wmem_max = 1048576

Apply changes:

sudo sysctl -p

Edit limits for Oracle in /etc/security/limits.conf:

oracle soft nproc 2047
oracle hard nproc 16384
oracle soft nofile 1024
oracle hard nofile 65536
oracle soft stack 10240

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4.Prepare Installation Directories

sudo mkdir -p /u01/app/oracle/product/26ai/dbhome_1
sudo chown -R oracle:oinstall /u01/app/oracle

Switch to the Oracle user:

su - oracle

Set environment variables in ~/.bash_profile:

export ORACLE_BASE=/u01/app/oracle
export ORACLE_HOME=$ORACLE_BASE/product/26ai/dbhome_1
export ORACLE_SID=ORCL
export PATH=$PATH:$ORACLE_HOME/bin

Reload:

source ~/.bash_profile

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5. Extract and Launch the Installer

Upload the Oracle 26AI installer ZIP (Linux x86_64) to /u01/software.

cd /u01/software
unzip LINUX.X64_260000_db_home.zip -d $ORACLE_HOME

Run the installer in silent or GUI mode.

GUI Mode (if display available)

cd $ORACLE_HOME
./runInstaller

Configuration Options

System Class

Database Edition

Installetion Location

Create Inventory

Configuration Type

Database Identifiers

Configuration Options

Database Storage

Management Options

Recovery Options

Schema Password

Operating System Groups

Root Script Process

Prerequisite Check

[root@26ai ~]# /tmp/InstallActions2025-10-20_08-51-25AM/CVU_23_oracle_2025-10-20_08-51-34_6152/runfixup.sh
All Fix-up operations were completed successfully.

Summary

Install Product

6. Finish

7. Common Issues and Fixes

Issue	Resolution
Missing libraries	Run dnf provides */libclntsh.so to identify missing packages
Display errors (X11)	Use ssh -X oracle@hostname for remote GUI
ORA-12541: no listener	Start the listener using lsnrctl start
Slow startup	Check /etc/hosts for correct hostname mapping

[root@rac1 ~]#
[main] [ 2024-08-06 13:25:27.792 UTC ] [UsmcaLogger.logException:186] SEVERE:method oracle.sysman.assistants.usmca.backend.USMInstance:configureLocalASM
[main] [ 2024-08-06 13:25:27.792 UTC ] [UsmcaLogger.logException:187] ORA-27350: This version of the Oracle Database software cannot be run on this platform
[main] [ 2024-08-06 13:25:27.792 UTC ] [UsmcaLogger.logException:188] oracle.sysman.assistants.util.sqlEngine.SQLFatalErrorException: ORA-27350: This version of the Oracle Database software cannot be run on this platform

Attempting to install Engineered system software on an On-Premise system. As the error “ORA-27350” indicates, the Oracle 26ai Software that was downloaded is not supported on the platform.

Check the following for information on availability and download of Oracle 26ai for your specific platform:

Bonus Tip: Enabling AI Features in Oracle 26AI

Oracle 26AI comes with AI Vector Search and in-database machine learning.
To enable these:

ALTER SYSTEM SET enable_vector_search=TRUE;
EXEC DBMS_CLOUD_AI.ENABLE_AI_FEATURES();

You can now use AI Vector Indexing, LLM-assisted SQL, and in-database embeddings for intelligent applications.

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Conclusion

Installing Oracle Database 26AI on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 lays the foundation for next-generation, AI-driven database operations. With proper configuration, resource allocation, and performance tuning, it delivers exceptional capabilities for managing intelligent workloads, real-time analytics, and in-database machine learning.

Oracle 26AI represents a significant leap in autonomous database technology, blending AI-native features like vector search, LLM-assisted SQL, and self-optimizing performance. This installation equips you with the environment needed to explore these powerful capabilities in both enterprise and research contexts.

For deeper insights into Oracle’s AI database innovations, visit the detailed overview here:
👉 Oracle AI Database 26AI Explained

By following the steps above, you now have a fully operational Oracle 26AI database on RHEL 9, ready for production, testing, or advanced AI development.

⚠️ Note: This setup uses Oracle AI Database 23.26.0 – Engineered Systems binaries purely for testing purposes. Please do not use this as an official installation or configuration guide.