General recommendations

Please follow these general recommendations for every Oracle Database installation

  • Parameter NLS_CHARACTERSET must be AL32UTF8.

  • The application server uses only a dedicated server process and has its own connection pool mechanism. No dispatchers.

  • Parameter PROCESSES must be extended from default 300 to (number of censhare Servers * censhare parameter max-open JDBC connections + number of background Oracle processes). For example: for 3 censhare Servers, the number of Oracle processes should be set to 500.

  • Operating System Timezone should be the same as the master censhare server.

  • At least 5x 200MB redo log groups. For mission-critical environments, the groups should be multiplexed.

  • For maximum performance, the data files should be on SSD and the instance should be configured with ASSM on HugePages.

  • SGA can be sized between 1GB for small DEV servers to 60 GB for globally distributed environments with a few hundred concurrent censhare users. The key factor for the SGA sizing is the number of censhare assets, features, and relations.

  • censhare needs only one tablespace, which we usually name CORPUS. Sizing estimates, between 20 and 100 GB growth per year.

  • grant connect, resource, select_catalog_role on the application user named "corpus"

  • Strict separation on the login to PROD from DEV schemas (aka. source IP->DBschema pairs). For example: If PROD and DEV schemas are in the same database, then a login trigger should allow login to the PROD schema only from the IP on the PROD servers. if DEV and CONS schemas are in different databases, then a firewall or listener (validnode_checking) rules on the PROD database should allow login only from the IP address on the PROD censhare servers.

  • Monitoring with thresholds, alerts, and usage charts on Tablespace and FRA usage, Listener, and Database availability. Eg. Icinga, Enterprise Manager, etc.

Licensing

  • It's very important that the installed database edition, options, packs, and features don't violate the purchased license. 
  • It's very important that the database software is installed on a certified operating system and platform, otherwise, you may not get support and be responsible for possible database corruption and data loss.

Please refer to the official Oracle documentation for more information.

Installation

Please refer to the official Oracle documentation for the exact instructions.