To install your Oracle Database software, use Oracle Universal Installer (OUI). OUI is a graphical user interface utility that enables you to install new Oracle Database software. Online Help is available to guide you through the installation process.
During the installation process, you are given the opportunity to create a database. If you choose to do so, then OUI automatically starts Oracle Database Configuration Assistant (DBCA) to guide you through the process of creating and configuring a database.
Before you start the installation process, see the following sections for information about prerequisites and installation choices:
If you do not create a database during installation, then you must run DBCA at some point after installation to create a database.
Note:
After you create a database, either during installation or as a standalone operation, you do not have to create another. Rather than requiring that you create multiple databases to accommodate different applications, you can separate data into different schemas within a single Oracle Database. See "About User Accounts" for more information about schemas.
Starting with Oracle Database 12c, it is also possible to create a multitenant container database (CDB) that can support zero, one, or many user-created pluggable databases (PDBs). All Oracle databases created before Oracle Database 12c are non-CDBs. This manual describes the OUI and DBCA options for creating CDBs and PDBs, and subsequent chapters provide information on managing CDBs and PDBs. See Oracle Database Concepts and Oracle Database Administrator's Guide for more information about CDBs and PDBs.