Oracle10g installation using response file would be your solution if the Linux server your installing
is away from you or colocated somewhere, maybe at Amazon Cloud. Here I show you the basic of how
to install Oracle10g to a RHEL5.

Installation requirements:

1. Installing required packages

From the directory Server in CD#2 of RHEL 5:

rpm -Uvh gcc-c++-4.1.1-52.el5.i386.rpm
rpm -Uvh gcc-4.1.1-52.el5.i386.rpm
rpm -Uvh libstdc++-devel-4.1.1-52.el5.i386.rpm
rpm -Uvh glibc-devel-2.5-12.i386.rpm
rpm -Uvh glibc-headers-2.5-12.i386.rpm
libgrpm -Uvh omp-4.1.1-52.el5.i386.rpm
rpm -Uvh libXp-1.0.0-8.i386.rpm
rpm -Uvh compat-libstdc++-296-2.96-138.i386.rpm

rpm -Uvh setarch-*
rpm -Uvh compat-libstdc++-33*
rpm -Uvh compat-libf2c-34-*
rpm -Uvh compat-gcc-34-*
rpm -Uvh libaio-*
rpm -Uvh compat-gcc-34-c++-*
rpm -Uvh compat-libstdc++-296*
rpm -Uvh compat-libgcc-296*

From the directory Server in CD#3 of RHEL 5:

# rpm -ivh compat-db-4.2.52-5.1.i386.rpm

2. Setting the kernel parameters by adding the ff. lines to your /etc/sysctl

kernel.shmmni = 4096
kernel.sem = 250 32000 100 128
fs.file-max = 65536
net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range = 1024 65000
net.core.rmem_default = 1048576
net.core.rmem_max = 1048576
net.core.wmem_default = 262144
net.core.wmem_max = 262144

One way to do this is typing on your shell prompt:
# cat << EOF > /etc/sysctl.conf
(copy the lines above and press control-D)

OR you can use any text editor to edit this file.

Change to new kernel setting by running the command
# sysctl -p

3. Create Oracle user and groups

# groupadd oinstall
# groupadd dba
# useradd -g oinstall -G dba oracle
# passwd oracle

4. Create the required directories for Oracle

# mkdir -p /u01/app/oracle
# chown -R oracle:oinstall /u01

5. Set the session limits for Oracle user

Add the following lines to the /etc/security/limits.conf file
oracle soft nproc 2047
oracle hard nproc 16384
oracle soft nofile 1024
oracle hard nofile 65536

Add the following line in the /etc/pam.d/login file
session required pam_limits.so

Add the following lines to the /etc/profile.
if [ $USER = “oracle” ]; then
if [ $SHELL = “/bin/ksh” ]; then
ulimit -p 16384
ulimit -n 65536
else
ulimit -u 16384 -n 65536
fi
fi

6. Configure the Oracle user’s environment

Edit /etc/profile as a root user:

export ORACLE_BASE=/u01/app/oracle
export ORACLE_SID=orcl
unset ORACLE_HOME

7. Running to allow RHEL5 OS for installation.
a. Copy /etc/redhat-release to /etc/redhat-release.old
b. Edit /etc/redhat-release using your text editor.
c. Replace the first line with:
Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS release 4 (Nahant)

Note: Dont forget to rename redhat-release.old back redhat-release after oracle installation.

8. Edit your reponse file found at database/response
Edit your oracle sid, passwords. and other settings.

9. Run the installer, login as oracle user:
./runInstaller -responseFile /home/oracle/enter.rsp -silent

At the end, you will be ask to run two scripts as root user. And finally you will be ready to start your Oracle server, installing is done without a need for GUI. 🙂