Though GUI is a preferable method to do client installation, But sometimes DBAs might be not to be able to xmanager to enable GUI for the server. In that case, installation using response file will be useful.

In this example, we will do the installation of Oracle client 12.1.0.2 version.

1. Download Oracle client software from oracle portal.-  

2. Copy and unzip the software in the server

unzip solaris.sparc64_12102_client.zip
cd client
-rwxr-xr-x   1 debmadm  dmgrp        500 Feb  6  2013 welcome.html
-rwxr-xr-x   1 debmadm  dmgrp      16872 Jul  8  2014 runInstaller
drwxr-xr-x  14 debmadm  dmgrp         31 Dec 26 11:49 stage
drwxr-xr-x   4 debmadm  dmgrp         14 Dec 26 11:49 install
drwxr-xr-x   2 debmadm  dmgrp          4 Dec 26 16:05 response

3. Update the response file.

a sample response file comes with the software itself. We just need the update the response file with required values.

RESPONSE FILE LOCATION – > $SOFTWARE/client/response/client_install.rsp

In the response file, we will update only the below values.

NOTE – Here we have selected installation type as Administrator

INVENTORY_LOCATION=/dmapps/product/oraInventory
SELECTED_LANGUAGES=en,ar
ORACLE_HOME=/dmapps/product/release/oracle/oracle/product/12.1.0/client_1
ORACLE_BASE=/dmapps/product/release
oracle.install.client.installType=Administrator

The response file will look like this – >  client_install

If you wish you to customize the installation, then you can go through the response file and update accordingly.

4. Now do the installation silently.

COMMAND – ./runInstaller -ignoreSysPrereqs -showProgress -silent -responseFile /software/client/response/client_install.rsp

cd /software/client

$ ./runInstaller -ignoreSysPrereqs -showProgress -silent -responseFile  /software/client/response/client_install.rsp
Starting Oracle Universal Installer...

Checking Temp space: must be greater than 180 MB.   Actual 19107 MB    Passed
Checking swap space: must be greater than 150 MB.   Actual 33400 MB    Passed
Preparing to launch Oracle Universal Installer from /tmp/OraInstall2018-12-26_04-05-08PM. Please wait ...                                                                                            webmadm@prewmis4:~/software/client$ [WARNING] [INS-13014] Target environment does not meet some optional requirements.
   CAUSE: Some of the optional prerequisites are not met. See logs for details. /dmapps/product/oraInventory/logs/installActions2018-12-26_04-05-08PM.log
   ACTION: Identify the list of failed prerequisite checks from the log: /dmapps/product/oraInventory/logs/installActions2018-12-26_04-05-08PM.log. Then either from the log file or from installation manual find the appropriate configuration to meet the prerequisites and fix it manually.
You can find the log of this install session at:
 /dmapps/product/oraInventory/logs/installActions2018-12-26_04-05-08PM.log

Prepare in progress.
..................................................   7% Done.

Prepare successful.

Copy files in progress.
..................................................   14% Done.
..................................................   20% Done.
..................................................   25% Done.
..................................................   30% Done.
..................................................   37% Done.
..................................................   42% Done.
..................................................   47% Done.
..................................................   52% Done.
..................................................   57% Done.
..............................
Copy files successful.

Link binaries in progress.
..........
Link binaries successful.

Setup files in progress.
..................................................   62% Done.
..........
Setup files successful.

Setup Inventory in progress.

Setup Inventory successful.
..........
Finish Setup in progress.
..................................................   67% Done.

Finish Setup successful.
The installation of Oracle Client 12c was successful.
Please check '/dmapps/product/oraInventory/logs/silentInstall2018-12-26_04-05-08PM.log' for more details.

Prepare for configuration steps in progress.

Prepare for configuration steps successful.
..................................................   83% Done.

Oracle Client Configuration in progress.
..................................................   100% Done.

Oracle Client Configuration successful.
Successfully Setup Software.

ORACLE CLIENT INSTALLATION COMPLETED SUCCESSFULLY. 🙂