Oracle Apps DBA

2006-08-12T03:16:00.000-07:00

Oracle Applications 11i Patching ( adpatch)

If you are an Oracle Apps DBA and want to learn everything about oracle Apps patching , like what are different type of patches , whats mini pack, family pack, maintenance pack, how to improve patch performance and all parameters in patching then visit my blog http://becomeappsdba.blogspot.com Updated every alternate day.

Orcale Apps DBA

2006-07-31T11:40:00.000-07:00

Applications WebServer in Nutshell

This post is useful for Apps DBA's who are clear with Oracle Components. If you are new to Apps or Beginner then first watch my Post at http://becomeappsdba.blogspot.com . Here I am covering first & very important component of E-Business Suite or Oracle Applications 11i i.e. Web Server also called at Oracle-Apache Server . When Client makes a request in browser for Oracle Application using URL like http // servername : port number , where servername is your webserver name & port number is port on which your webserver is listening . If no port is given & using http that means webserver is listening on port 80 ( 443 for https ) . I am currently not taking proxy server or loadbalancer into account for this post .

Oracle-Apache is nothing but Oracle has added some component (mod_plsql, mod_jserv, mod_osso) in to Apache Webserver & realeased it as Oracle-Apache Server.
File System & important file
Where it exists on File System : As you know there are three ORACLE_HOME in Apps so WebServer is under IAS_ORACLE_HOME ( iAS stands for internet Application server ) under INSTALL_BASE/ora9/iAS directory.
Importanf files/dir in iAS Directory : As Apps DBA following files/dir are important to us SID_Hostname.env, Apache, network . Env file is to set environment variable to iAS_ORACLE_HOME (During iAS patching )
Apache is main directory where your most webserver configuration Sit also called as APACHE_TOP . Imp. files/dir under this directory is Apache, Jserv and plsql .
As you know Apache is build on modules Apache directory contains config & executable files for main Apache Module, mod_jserv related stuff goes in Jserv directory, mod_plsql related under plsql .
mod_jserv caters Jserv requestes like Self Service, Servlets, jsp pages
mod_plsql caters plssql requests like anything after /pls ( executing packages & procedures in DB)

Though there are lot of important file but I am naming those which come across in Apps DBA life quite often
Under iAS/Apache/Apache important directory/files is bin (executable, apachectl,httpd) , conf ( httpd.conf, httpd_pls.conf, oracle_apache.conf ), logs ( access_log, access_log_pls, error_log, error_log_pls, httpd.pid )
Under iAS/Apache/Jserv files you want to know are etc (config files), logs( jvm, mod_jserv.log)
Under iAS/Apache/modplsql its cache (cookie , plsql) , cfg (wdbsvr.app , *.conf)
Its not feasible to explain features/importance of all files here so I will explain these in details sometime later. Later check how WebServer Starts in Oracle Apps or Oracle Application Server .

Startup Sequence
In Oracle apps as DBA you start your services from OAD_TOP or COMMON_TOP / admin /scripts /CONTEXT_NAME ( SID_HOSTNAME ) (This location might differ depending on you apps version this is for 11.5.8 or Higher) , you use adstrtall.sh script which in turn calls ServiceControl ( In current Version ) earlier used to call adapcctl.sh in same directory( where ad application's DBA apc Apache ctl control ) . So adapcctl.sh is used to start stop oarcle application WebServer . This script calls shell script apachectl ( in IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Apache/bin , This is text file & you can open and read it ) which in turn calls httpd (executable for http daemon ) .

Configuration files it uses when oarcle apps webserver starts
when httpd starts it starts with httpd.conf ( in Apache/Apache/conf ) This is main Apache configuration file which has configuration related to Main Apache Server like ServerName , port and Listen( I will discuss about these parameters in my next post tomorrow )
This httpd.conf file calls jserv.conf ( in Apache/Jserv/etc ) for mod_jserv configuration ( All your Self Service servlets requests are via mod_jserv like discoverer view, xml services or OAM login (So you know now where to look if issue happens in these services , if not I will discuss this in my next post ) .
httpd.conf also include oracle_apache.conf ( in Apache/conf) for Oracle developed modules like mod_ossl, mod_pls .
httpd.conf also include oprocmgr.conf ( in Apache/conf) for Oprocmgr configuration. This module is used to identify remote apache instance that are sending requests to processes (Jserv ...), managed by local Apache Instance.
oracle_apache.conf ( which contain configuration file for modules developed by oracle like mod_pls..) . These files are plsql.conf (Apache/modplsql/cfg ) for mod_pls configuration.

I will discuss about httpd.conf parameters like port , access_log error_log where to look for Issues how to find errors & lot more in my next post here day after tomorrow .

Do you know you can tell who all accessed your applications at what time , how much time it took to get a page ?
How to tune Apache Web Server ?
How to check Jserv errors, your JVM issues & how to start multiple JVM instance to increses your webserver capabilities ?

If you are beginners with Oracle Applications & want Sysadmin/Apps DBA basics visit my Post for Basics at http://becomeappsdba.blogspot.com

Please leave feedback , for any doubts send mail to atul_iiit@yahoo.com

2006-07-27T13:06:00.000-07:00

Oracle E-Bsuiness Suite Certification

Oracle has recently released Certification for E-Business Suite
If you are looking for some Certification Course or Test Paper Demo, click on Ad displaying on top of this page (I am planning to Buy one & will share with you as soon as I have them )

Here is official site for Oracle Applications E-Business Suite 11i Certification path
http://www.oracle.com/global/us/education/certification/ebusiness_index.html

Basically three paths a) 11i Financial Consultant b) 11i Supply Chain Consultant c) 11i Application Technology Administrator

For DBA's third one Apps Tech Administrator , You should clear three Exams 231, 232 and 233 it can be in any order but you should clear all thee in order to pass.

Have you ever wondered whats 1Z0 before all exams & sometime (very few ) 1Z1 as well so whats difference between then . Well 1Z0 is actual test & 1Z1 is beta Exam . So actual Exma is
not released yet but still you can go for Beta Exam . I am planning to go for certification but don't have demo test papers ( Though you can find some in sponsored link on this blog but I am not sure how useful are these )

As soon as I have some demo papers I will share with you all .

If you have any doubt in Certification Path donot forget to mail me at atul_iiit@yahoo.com

2006-07-25T14:07:00.000-07:00

Autoconfig in Nutshell

Which is most important file in entire E-Business Suite 11i ?
My network team is changing Hostname or IP of my E-Business Server, what should I do ?
Is there a single file which records entire system configuration ?
Oracle asked me to apply g driver patch on forms/reports tier only , how to confirm for forms/reports tier ?
Last week developers gave me some customization to put in some config file and they are gone now , why and how can I save them over written by other program ?

Well answer to all these questions is Autoconfig tool & Context file ( Very powerful file with XML tags which contain application configuration and details) So Context file is xml tagged file with format TWO_TASK_HostName.xml sitting under$APPL_TOP/admin on Application Tier and ORACLE_HOME/appsutil on Database tier ( Yes there is context file for database as well , but only for E-Business Suite database's )

So open context file and try to understand some tags (Yes these are Self explanatory and very simple to understand) : I will discuss few here

oa_system tag is for system configuration like
TIER_FORMS oa_var="s_isForms" YES TIER_FORMS YES : Means this tier is forms tier
oa_host tag is for host information like
host oa_var="s_hostname" appsserver host : means host name of this tier
domain oa_var="s_domainname" co.uk domain : means domain name so If sysadmin says they are changing hostname or domain name of system change here runautoconfig & couple of more steps , ( isn't this simple )
oa_environments Environment related configuration
TIER_ADFORMS oa_var="s_isAdForms" YES TIER_ADFORMS
TIER_ADNODE oa_var="s_isAdConc" NO TIER_ADNODE Means this is Forms Tier but not concurrent Manager Tier
GL_TOP oa_var="s_gltop" oa_type="PROD_TOP" oa_enabled="TRUE" /d10/avision/VIS11I/appl/gl/11.5.0 GL_TOP
GMA_TOP oa_var="s_gmatop" oa_type="PROD_TOP" oa_enabled="FALSE" /d10/avision/VIS11I/appl/gma/11.5.0 GMA_TOP
Means this product GL is enabled and GMA not

Cutomizing Autoconfig Enabled Services

Standard build In most of Production Environment don't meet your need , like you want to start more than One Jserv to cater lot of self Service Request or You want to Integrate forms with third party Java version ....I know you will confidently say I know how to Implement it , Using "Begin/End Customization" but are you aware that there is better way of doing this now i.e. Autoconfig Supported way .

Follow Metalink Note # 270519.1 Customizing an AutoConfig Environment
NoteNote:165195.1 Using AutoConfig to Manage System Configurations with Oracle
Note:218089.1 Autoconfig FAQ

You still thinking about Autoconfig , Go and ask your manager about any Test Instance & Start playing with Autoconfig but Study a lot about Autoconfig first ;-)

Have you left comment for this blog , if not plssssss leave one about anything and everything ..
Atul Kumar
mailto:Kumaratul_iiit@yahoo.com

2006-07-24T14:07:00.000-07:00

Very Basics of E-Business Suite Web Server

I will be covering Oracle E-Business Suits 11i Basics and slowly moving to Advanced Setup/Configuring of Oracle E-Business Suite. This will cover all components of Oracle E-Business Suite including WebServer(Apache), Forms, Reports, Concurrent Manager, Discoverer, Database . Later this will include Oracle Apps DBA tasks like patching, cloning, upgrade, troubleshooting where to look for issues and where is log/configuration files of each component. Some of the content might sound stupid for you initially but I will start with real basics and might be interesting to know how & why it works like this in Oracle Apps i.e. E-Business Suite 11i. So here I start first with WebServer we wil call webserver, Oracle-Apache or iAS intermittently

Starting point is when you access/hit URL, it is of format

protocol://servername_domainname:port_number

So lets break parts of this URL which we use to access apps

protocol can be http or https ( non ssl or ssl depending on your web server i.e. Apache component )
server-name : webserver name usually this is server name on which Webserevr/Apache exists. It can be different then physical hostname of machine in case of Virtual Host setup.
port number : is port number of Web Server , where to find this port number ? We will discuss this in future in our Oracle-Apache blogs.

so if your Machine Name where your Oracle-Apache(WebServer ) exists is appsserver.com and WebServer listen port is 8021 listening on Non ssl port you will be using URL

http://appswebserver.com:8021

Have you noticed that sometime you access URL like

http://appswebserver.com
https://appswebserver.com

Where the hell port number gone or am I accessing webserver without any port ( Which can't be possible ) so how its working .

By default if you don't specify any port number after protocol http that means it will take default port i.e. 80 and for https it will take port 443 so your webserver or proxy server sitting ahead of webserver or your loadbalancer should be listening on port 80 or 443 and passing request to Webserver (Oracle-Apache).

This doubt was haunting me for a month back in year 2000 so I thought of discussing this first in my blog . I will start with Architecture in my next blog. Don't forget to send feedback ;-)

For any doubts or any queries/doubts on above post please shoot a mail to atul_iiit@yahoo.com

Atul Kumar
atul_iiit@yahoo.com