iSelfSchooling - Manuscript for how to de-install Oracle9iAS from Windows

If multiple 9iAS installations need to be de-installed from the same machine, then the steps listed in this article can be applied on each 9iAS installation to be de-installed, starting with 9iAS installations (Mid Tiers), followed by 9iAS Infrastructure installations.

Because the de-install process will include steps that require manual removal and/or update of files that may be shared by other existing Oracle products, it is highly recommended to take a full backup of the system before starting the de-install process.

The steps listed in this article have been tested on an NT machine, which has the following installed products:

1- Oracle Server 8.1.7

2- Oracle Developer 6i

3- Oracle9i Developer Suite Release 2 (9.0.2)

4- Oracle Application Server (4.0.8)

5- Oracle9i Application Server Release 1 (1.0.2.2)

6- Oracle9i Application Server Release 2 (9.0.2) - Infrastructure nstallation

7- Oracle9i Application Server Release 2 (9.0.2) - J2EE & Webcache Mid Tier install type.

8- Oracle9i Application Server Release 2 (9.0.2) - BI & Forms Mid Tier install type

The J2EE & Webcache Mid Tier install type (#7 above) has been de-installed using this article and a new Business Intelligence & Forms Mid Tier install type (without Portal configuration) has been installed successfully using the same Oracle Home Name, Oracle Home Path and instance name.

Steps to De-install a 9iAS Installation on Windows

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The following steps need to be taken for each 9iAS installation to be de-installed:

1- Verify dependencies

2- Identify the Oracle Home

3- Stop the instance

4- De-install using OUI

5- Remove configuration information from OID

6- Remove Oracle Home

7- Remove Registry entries

8- Clean up the environment

9- Delete the Software and Start Menu icons

10- Reboot the machine

1- Verify Dependencies

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Because de-installing a 9iAS installation may affect other associated 9iAS installations, dependencies need to be verified. Based on the 9iAS installation classification, a different set of action may need to be taken to other related 9iAS installation prior to de-install.

A 9iAS installation can be classified as one of the following:

a) A standalone installation

b) An installation that is acting as the Primary 9iAS Instance

c) An installation that is associated with an Infrastructure

d) A standalone Infrastructure installation

e) An Infrastructure installation that is used by other installations

(Mid-Tiers)

a. A standalone installation

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A standalone installation can only be a J2EE and Web Cache install type. In this case, no dependency on/from other installations and no additional actions to be taken at this step.

b. An installation that is acting as the Primary 9iAS Instance

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When multiple 9iAS installs are performed on a host, there is only one Oracle Home which will contain the active Oracle Enterprise Manager to enable the Oracle Enterprise Manager Website. All 9iAS instances on a single host are administered by this Enterprise Manager. The instance which contains the active Oracle Enterprise Manager is referred to as the Primary 9iAS Instance.

To identify whether the 9iAS installation to be de-installed is acting as the Primary 9iAS instance or not, use regedit.exe to start the Registry Editor. Click on \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE folder. Check the EM_LOC key. If the value of the EM_LOC key is matching the Oracle Home Path being de-installed, then this 9iAS instance is acting as a Primary 9iAS instance. Depending on this 9iAS instance version 9.0.2 or 9.0.3 different different actions may need to be taken:

i. 9iAS 9.0.2:

OUI will prompt the user to designate an alternate Primary instance from the remaining instances on the host while de-installation.

Refer to the Oracle9i Application Server Installation Guide, Release 2 (9.0.2) for Windows NT/2000, Chapter 8 – De-installation and Re-installation, De-installation topic for more details.

ii. 9iAS 9.0.3:

You need to switch the active Oracle Enterprise Manager to one of the remaining instance. If you have a remaining 9iAS 9.0.3 instance, you must switch your active Oracle Enterprise Manager to that instance.

Otherwise, you can switch to any 9iAS 9.0.2 instance. Use the following commands to switch the active Oracle Enterprise Manager:

DOS> cd <ORACLE_HOME>\bin

DOS> emctl switch home

This displays a dialog where you can select another 9iAS instance to contain the active Oracle Enterprise Manager

c. An installation that is associated with an Infrastructure

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After de-installing the installation, for example, Portal and Wireless install type, OUI will remove all configuration information related to this installation from the DCM repository of the Infrastructure. However, in some cases OUI may not properly de-install the installation, therefore the following steps are recommended to be followed:

i. Before de-installing the installation:

Get the name of the instance, by running the following command in a DOS window. Replace <ORACLE_HOME> with the complete path of the 9iAS installation home to be de-installed:

DOS><ORACLE_HOME>\dcm\bin\dcmctl whichInstance

ii. After de-installing the installation:

Remove the instance information from the DCM repository of the Infrastructure, by running the following command in a DOS window.

Replace <ORACLE_HOME> with the complete path of the Infrastructure installation home:

DOS><ORACLE_HOME>\dcm\bin\dcmctl destroyInstance -i <instance_name>

d. A standalone Infrastructure installation

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There is no dependency and no further actions need to be taken at this step.

e. An Infrastructure installation used by other installations (Mid-Tiers)

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In this case, all installations associated with this Infrastructure installation need to be de-installed prior to de-installing the infrastructure.

2- Identify the Oracle Home

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Many steps explained later in this article require that the Oracle Home Name, Path and Number of the 9iAS installation being de-installed to be identified.

The Oracle Home Path is the file system location where this 9iAS installation resides. The Oracle Home Name is the logical name provided during the installation and is associated with the Oracle Home Path.

From the Oracle Home Path, for example, D:\ias902_infra, we will need to identify the Oracle Home Name and Number. This information can be retrieved from the Windows Registry. Use regedit.exe to start the Registry Editor. The registry folders will be displayed as a hierarchical tree one the left hand side panel, while the keys of the folder will be displayed in the right hand panel when a folder is highlighted.

follow the below steps to get the Oracle Home Name and Number:

a. Expand the \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\ALL_HOMES folder.

b. Search each IDx folder underneath, where x is an integer number 0, 1, 2, etc. representing the Oracle Home Number

c. Identify the IDx folder which has the PATH key value matching your Oracle Home Path of the 9iAS installation being de-installed, for example

D:\Ias902\BI_F. The NAME key value in this IDx folder will be the Oracle Home Name. The branch name IDx will indicate the Oracle Home Number.

The Oracle Home Number, Name and Path of the 9iAS installation to be de-installed identified above will be used later in this article.

For simplicity we will refer to their values with <ORACLE_HOME_NUMBER>,

<ORACLE_HOME_NAME> and <ORACLE_HOME_PATH> respectively.

3- Stop the Instance

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Stop all Oracle services related to the 9iAS installation to be de-installed.

On NT, choose Start > Settings > Control Panel > Services. On 2000/XP, Right click on My Computer > Manage > Services and Applications > Services.

Services related to a specific 9iAS installation can be identified from the Oracle Home Name included in the Service name.

In a typical 9iAS Release 2 installation the following Services will exist:

a. J2EE & Webcache Mid Tier installation:

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Oracle<ORACLE_HOME_NAME>Agent

Oracle<ORACLE_HOME_NAME>EMWebsite

Oracle<ORACLE_HOME_NAME>ProcessManager

Oracle<ORACLE_HOME_NAME>WebCache

Oracle<ORACLE_HOME_NAME>WebCacheAdmin

Oracle<ORACLE_HOME_NAME>WebCacheMon

b. Portal & Wireless Mid Tier installation:

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Same Services as (a) above

c. Business Intelligence & Forms Mid Tier installation:

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Same Services as (a) above plus:

Oracle<ORACLE_HOME_NAME>ClientCache

Oracle<ORACLE_HOME_NAME>Discoverer

d. Infrastructure installation:

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Same Services as (a) above plus:

Oracle<ORACLE_HOME_NAME>ClientCache

Oracle<ORACLE_HOME_NAME>InternetDirectory_iasdb

Oracle<ORACLE_HOME_NAME>PagingServer

Oracle<ORACLE_HOME_NAME>TNSListener

OracleServiceIASDB

4- De-install using OUI

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Use the Oracle Universal Installer (OUI) to de-install the installation.

Select the Oracle Home to be de-installed in the OUI Inventory Screen and click Remove.

5- Remove configuration information from OID

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When you de-install a 9iAS installation (Mid-Tier) that is associated with an Infrastructure using Oracle Universal Installer, the configuration information stored in Oracle Internet Directory for this installation is not automatically removed. This is necessary if you need to install/re-install a new 9iAS installation (Mid-Tier) with the same name as the previously de-installed one.

6- Remove Oracle Home

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Manually remove the Oracle Home of the de-installed installation. Assuming that <ORACLE_HOME_PATH> is D:\Ias902\BI_F, use the Windows Explorer to delete the D:\Ias902\BI_F directory.

7- Remove Registry Entries

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Because the following steps include manual delete of Windows Registry entries and since deleting ncorrect entries can severely compromise your computer, take extreme care while editing the Registry. Note that some of the below mentioned registry folders and keys may have already been removed by OUI in step 4 above.

Using the <ORACLE_HOME_NUMBER>, <ORACLE_HOME_NAME> and <ORACLE_HOME_PATH> values identified in step 2 above follow the below steps:

a. Click on the \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\ALL_HOMES folder. Check the DEFAULT_HOME, HOME_COUNTER and LAST_HOME keys value and:

i. Decrease the HOME_COUNTER key value by 1

ii. If the LAST_HOME key value is the same as <ORACLE_HOME_NUMBER>, change it to any other existing Oracle Home Number

iii. If the DEFAULT_HOME key value is the same as <ORACLE_HOME_NAME>, change its value to any other existing Oracle Home Name

b. Remove the \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\ALL_HOMES\IDx folder, where x is the <ORACLE_HOME_NUMBER>

c. Remove the \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\HOMEx folder, where x is the <ORACLE_HOME_NUMBER>

d. Click on \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE folder. Delete all keys that has a reference to the <ORACLE_HOME_PATH>.

e. If you are de-installing an Infrastructure installation, remove the \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\OLAP folder if it exists.

f. Click on \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Apache Group\Apache\1.3.22 folder.

If the ServerRoot key value is referencing the <ORACLE_HOME_PATH>, change it to the Apache\Apache directory of any existing 9iAS Release 2 installation on the same machine. For example, D:\Ias902\BI_F\Apache\Apache.

If not remaining 9iAS Release 2 installations exist on the machine, then remove the \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Apache Group\Apache\1.3.22 folder.

g. Expand the \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services folder.

Delete all underneath folders that starts with Oracle<ORACLE_HOME_NAME>.

Refer to step 2 above for a typical list of Services to delete for each install type.

Note:

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If you are de-installing an Infrastructure, you need to delete the \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\OracleServiceIASDB folder as well.

h. Expand the \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog\Application folder. Delete all underneath folders that starts with Oracle and has a EventMessageFile key value which references the <ORACLE_HOME_PATH>.

In a typical 9iAS Release 2 installation the following folders will Exist:

i. J2EE & Webcache Mid Tier installation:

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Oracle9iAS<ORACLE_HOME_NAME>Agent

Oracle9iAS<ORACLE_HOME_NAME>EMD

ii. Portal & Wireless Mid Tier installation:

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Same folders as (i) above

iii. Business Intelligence & Forms Mid Tier installation:

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Same folders as (i) above plus:

OracleDiscoverer902

iv. Infrastructure installation:

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Same folders as (i) above plus:

Oracle.iasdb

8- Clean up the Environment

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Edit the Environment Variables.

On NT, choose Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Environment tab.

On 2000 and XP, choose Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Advanced tab > Environment variables. Click on the PATH Environment Variable. Remove any directory from the PATH Environment Variable value that references the <ORACLE_HOME_PATH>.

Check each and every Environment Variable and remove any reference to the <ORACLE_HOME_PATH>. If the Environment Variable contains references to ONLY the <ORACLE_HOME_PATH>, remove the Environment Variable.

Make sure to Click on APPLY and OK after finishing.

9- Delete the Software and Start Menu icons

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Using Windows Explorer, explore the Programs folder. On NT, this folder should be located under %SystemDrive%\Winnt\Profiles\All Users\Start Menu. On 2000/XP, it is located under %SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu.

Remove the following folder if it exists:

Oracle9i Application Server - <ORACLE_HOME_NAME>

10- Reboot the machine

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To complete the de-installation process, it is recommended to reboot the machine.

Good Luck!