In this post we are going to see, step by step, how to install Oracle Linux 8.5 inside a VirtualBox VM.
As I was starting a new step in my BI journey, I wanted to do a full Oracle BI Server installation from scratch. I am a great fan of Virtual Machines (VM) because they allow you to test software and operating system without having to reinstall everything on your computer. I have been using VirtualBox for that purpose during years and I decided to create a new VM with VirtualBox and to start with fresh installation of Oracle Linux 9.5. I had never used Oracle Linux before, so I wanted to test it, and it had seen that it had some preconfigured Oracle packages that would ease the installation and configuration of some Oracle products.
So the first step here was therefore to create a new VM and to use it to install Oracle Linux.
I downloaded the latest Oracle Linux .iso file at that moment (that was OracleLinux 8.5) from the Oracle Linux ISOs website:
VirtualBox was already installed on my computer, you can see how to install it in this page. You can download the latest version from Oracle VirtualBox website in case of need.
The computer (the “host”) I used to create this VM is a Lenovo laptop with an 8th Gen Intel CPU (with 2 Cores and 4 threads), 32 GB DDR4 RAM and a NVME Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD. Nothing fancy, but the amount of RAM and the fast SSD would allow the VM to load quickly.
So let’s see, step by step, how I installed Oracle Linux 8.5 in a virtual machine:
1) I launched VirtualBox and I created a new virtual machine with 16 GB RAM, 2 CPUs, a HDD with 40 GB of capacity and a DVD drive.
2) I inserted the Oracle Linux 8.5 iso file in the DVD and I started the VM.
3) The VM started with the Oracle Linux installer:
I selected the first option to start the Oracle Linux 8.5.0 installation.
2) The installer started to load…
… and after a few seconds the welcome screen appeared with the language selection:
Many languages were available in case of need but I didn’t change the language so I clicked the “Continue” button.
3) The next screen was the installation summary. It had many sections and some of them had a small orange warning symbol meaning that they required some attention.
I wanted to change the keyboard layout so I clicked the Keyboard link, I added the Spanish keyboard layout (I live in Spain), I removed the English-American keyboard that I was not going to use and I clicked the “Done” button:
4) Then I clicked the “Installation Destination” link:
I selected the 40 GB virtual HDD I had created in the VM setup and I clicked the “Done” button.
5) I clicked the “Root Password” link to set a password for the root user:
I entered and I confirmed the password and I clicked the “Done” button:
6) Then I clicked the Network link
I enabled the virtual Ethernet network card, I gave the computer a name and I clicked the “Done” button:
7) I clicked the “Time & Date” link
I selected my location, I enabled the “Network Time” to automatically configure the time and date (it requires the VM to have internet access) and I clicked the “Done” button:
8) I clicked the “Software Selection” link to choose the software to be installed initially:
I chose “Server with GUI” and decided not to select anything else as I would add missing packages manually later, then I clicked “Done“:
9) I clicked the “User Creation” link to add an additional user:
I named the new user “oracle“, I chose a “strong” password and I clicked the “Done” button.
10) I clicked the “Begin Installation” button as I was now ready to begin the installation:
11) The installation started creating the file systems, the devices and later with the installation of the software packages and boot loader:
12) The installation took something like 10 minutes (that time depends mainly on the SSD speed and amount of packages to install) until the VM was ready to be rebooted:
13) By default, the fresh installation of Oracle Linux 8.5 Boot menu has three linux kernel entries: the first one is an “Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel“, the second one is a “Red Hat Compatible Kernel” and the last one is a rescue kernel. I chose the first one…
… Oracle Linux 8.5 took a few second to load and…
… the initial setup screen with the license information was displayed:
14) I clicked the License Information button and accepted the license agreement after reading it:
15) I could now finish the initial setup:
16) And after a reboot I was presented with the Oracle Linux 8.5 login window:
Oracle Linux 8.5 was now up and running in the VirtualBox VM. The next step was now to configure the user preferences after the first login.
Disclaimer
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