Installing 9i/10g on RHEL 3

Prerequisite: RHEL 3 has been installed with all required packages(see bottom of this post)
Also check, if you need OS Patch. For install of 9i u need 3006854 patch.Not needed for oracle 10g

Install the 3006854 patch:
unzip p3006854_9204_LINUX.zip
cd 3006854
sh rhel3_pre_install.sh

1. system configuration change
Login from root user and add following entries to /etc/sysctl.conf file:

kernel.shmmax = 2147483648
kernel.shmmni = 4096
kernel.shmall = 2097152
kernel.sem = 250 32000 100 128
fs.file-max = 65536
net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range = 1024 65000

In addition the following lines can be added to the /etc/security/limits.conf file:
oracle soft nofile 1024
oracle hard nofile 65536
oracle soft nproc 2047
oracle hard nproc 16384

2. install groups/user creation
Create the new groups and users:

groupadd oinstall
groupadd dba

useradd -g oinstall -G dba oracle

change password for oracle user
passwd oracle

3. install directory creation /setup
Create the directories in which the Oracle software will be installed and give ownership to install user

mkdir /u01
chown oracle.dba /u01
chmod 777 /u01

4. install user configuration
Login as the install user ,here oracle user and add the following lines at the end of the .bash_profile file:

# Oracle 9i /10g
export ORACLE_BASE=/u01/app/oracle
export ORACLE_HOME=$ORACLE_BASE/product/9.2.0.1.0
export PATH=$PATH:$ORACLE_HOME/bin
export ORACLE_SID=orcl
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$ORACLE_HOME/lib
export CLASSPATH=$ORACLE_HOME/JRE:$ORACLE_HOME/jlib:$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/jlib:
export CLASSPATH=$CLASSPATH:$ORACLE_HOME/network/jlib;
export LD_ASSUME_KERNEL=2.4.1

5. run OUI
For 9i /mnt/cdrom/runInstallerv

10g does not support installation by cd so
For 10g ,copy the 10g software install cd to disk and begin installation .

Now follow the steps suggested by OUI , for troubleshooting , see the install log etc.

required package selection list

1. X Window System.
2. GNOME Desktop Environment.
3. Graphical Internet.
4. Text-based Internet.
5. Server Configuration Tools.
6. FTP Server.
7. Legacy Network Server.
8 Development Tools.
9. Legacy Software Development.
10. Administration Tools.
11. System Tools.

be careful with 7,8,9
click on details and try to select all inside components of the packages.

I hope it helps you.