[Issue] Concurrent Managers Not Starting With GSM Enabled

We encountered an error on our Production Instance[12.0.4], though all the services were up and running .. we could see only single process of FNDLIBR running.
When we checked the Concurrent:GSM Enabled profile option value ; it was set to "Y".

Error ::
All requests show a status as 'Inactive No Manager' .

Cause ::
The following is one possible cause for failure of concurrent managers to start:
Inability to ping the concurrent manager node after logging in as the OS user who starts the concurrent managers.
'ping ' returns the following error:
ping: socket Permission denied
The application does a ping in order to check if the node is active.
If the ping fails, it adds the node as inactive. This prevents the concurrent managers from starting successfully.

Solution ::
The command 'ls -l ping' should return the following OS permissions in the directory where the ping command resides:
-r-sr-xr-x 1 root bin
If the permissions are different, issue the following command as root user:
'chmod 4555 ping'.
This will ensure that the OS user who starts the concurrent managers is able to ping successfully.

Refer :: Metalink note-id :311935.1

[How To] Create FTP account on REDHAT 5(tikanga)?

Step 1) check whether the server has ftp rpm installed..
if no.. then install
MySQL-shared-compat-6.0.9-0.rhel5.i386.rpm and
vsftpd-2.0.5-12.el5.i386.rpm

Step 2) create a user (say test) on the server ..
note : the home of the user shud be other than /home/test (say /u01/test_ftp)

Step 3) Give appropriate permissions to that directory.

Step 4) vi /etc/sysconfig/selinux
change the value of SELINUX=disabled

Step 5) cd /usr/sbinsetsebool -P ftp_home_dir 1 (this will set boolean permissions to the ftp home directory)

Step 6) cd /etc/vsftpdservice vsftpd start (this will start the ftp service on your service)

Step 7) Open command prompt on windows
ftp [IP address / Hostname ]

put username and password
and you are through !!

Note:: Change the settings using vsftpd.conf file..

Hurray !!

[Issue] Web ADI Configuration Error

After enabling the Web ADI responsibility in Oracle applications , user encountered an error while accessing the web-adi page:

Error ::
Web ADI Configuration Error.
BNE_UIX_PHYSICAL_DIRECTORY is not configured.

Cause ::
WebADI is not properly setup.

Solution ::
- Perform the following steps to validate the webADI configuration.

1. Check the values of the following profile option . [with Full Path]
BNE Server Log Level.....................Trace
BNE Server Log Path......................$BNE_TOP/log
BNE Servlet Path.........................../oa_servlets/
BNE UIX Base Path........................./OA_HTML/cabo
BNE UIX Physical Directory................$COMMON_TOP/webapps/oacore/html/cabo/
BNE Upload Import Directory..............$BNE_TOP/upload/import
BNE Upload Staging Directory.............$BNE_TOP/upload
BNE Upload Text Directory.................$BNE_TOP/upload

2. Replace $BNE_TOP and $COMMON_TOP with the actual values.

3. Ensure from back end that the following directories exist with 777 permissions.
$BNE_TOP/log
$COMMON_TOP/webapps/oacore/html/cabo/
$BNE_TOP/upload/import $BNE_TOP/upload

4. If any of the directories do not exist, create them and give 777 permissions.


5. Bounce the instance after the profile option change.

Refer : Metalink Note-Id : 549758.1

[Issue] FRM 92101 Error while launching the forms in R12

Hello All ,
Few days back , we installed RHEL5[tikanga] on one of the servers.
After successfully cloning the R12 [12.0.4] , we encountered an error during launching the forms.

Error ::
FRM -92101 :There was a failure in the Forms Server during startup. This could happen due to invalid configuration. Please look into the web-server log file for details.

Cause ::
Mandatory RPMS were missing on RHEL5 (tikanga).

Solution ::
Install/check the below mentioned rpms on the box;
============================================
openmotif21-2.1.30-11.EL5.i386
xorg-x11-libs-compat-6.8.2-1.EL.33.0.1.i386
binutils-2.17.50.0.6-6.0.1.i386


The following i386 packages must be installed from the OEL 5 or RHEL 5 distribution media:
compat-glibc-2.3.4-2.26
gcc-4.1.2-14.el5
gcc-c++-4.1.2-14.el5
glibc-2.5-12
glibc-common-2.5-12
glibc-devel-2.5-12
libgcc-4.1.2-14.el5
libstdc++-devel-4.1.2-14.el5
libstdc++-4.1.2-14.el5
make-3.81-1.1
gdbm-1.8.0-26.2.1
libXp-1.0.0-8.1.el5
libaio-0.3.106-3.2
libgomp-4.1.2-14.el5
sysstat-7.0.0-3.el5
compat-libstdc++-296-2.96-138
compat-libstdc++-33-3.2.3-61
============================================
Refer :: Metalink note-id : 402310.1

[Issue] Error while starting OPMN Services ,Discoverer

We successfully upgraded the Infra Home to 10.1.0.5
But we faced an error while starting the opmn services :

Error :
[oraclebi@agi bin]$ ./opmnctl startall
Internal error message 684 could not be found in the msb file
opmnctl: starting opmn managed processes...

Cause :
With regard to applying a 10.1.0.5 patchset, the issue is caused due to a mismatch of the OPMN MSB filesThis error message will occur any time that the OPMN NLS message files do not match the binaries with which they are associated. Since the 10g database uses OPMN as well, a patch from the database has caused this issue. The database MSB files do not match the OPMN MSB files shipped with the Application Server.

Solution :
replace ur INFRA_HOME/opmn/mesg file with ur backuped files.
replace these files from backup :
# ensus.msb
# opmus.msb

Final output :
[oraclebi@agi bin]$ ./opmnctl startall
opmnctl: starting opmn and all managed processes...
[oraclebi@agi bin]

Refer Metalink Note-ID:: 306705.1

[Issue] Apache startup issue @12.0.4/RHEL5

After installing the RHEL5 on the box ,we cloned an R12 [12.0.4] instance on the same box.

Error:
> After successful cloning of 12.0.4 on RHEL5 , we found out that all the services are up and running except the HTTP/Apache.

Cause :
> libdb.so.2 is missing in /usr/lib directory

Solution :
> Bring down all the application services.

> Download the patch 6078836 :RH5.0 / OEL5.0 CERT : SPECIAL LIBRARY NEEDED TO RUN OHS ON REDHAT5

MACHINE (Linux x86) from metalink.

> Copy the libdb.so.2 to /usr/lib with super user as owner ;also change the permissions accordingly.

> Bring up all the services.

[ How To ] Reset the oc4jadmin password in R12

Step 1 : Login as Application User

Step 2 : cd $IAS_ORACLE_HOME/j2ee/home/config

Step 3 : cp -rp system-jazn-data.xml system-jazn-data.xml_orig

Step 4 : vi system-jazn-data.xml

Step 5 : edit the following section ::

>> the credentials part with "!" sign followed with the password

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[user]
[name]oc4jadmin[/name]
[display-name]OC4J Administrator[/display-name]
[description]OC4J Administrator[/description]
[credentials]!password123[/credentials]
[/user]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Save this file...

and restart your OPMN Services

Refer : Metalink note-id :: 576587.1

[Read Me] Useful Metalink Note-ids

1) Cloning :
406982.1 Cloning Oracle Applications Release 12 with Rapid Clone.
230672.1 Cloning Oracle Applications Release 11i with Rapid Clone.
458450.1 Steps to Manually Clone a Database.
603104.1 Troubleshooting RapidClone issues with Oracle Applications R12.

[Issue] Unable to Start OPMN Managed Process

Our Linux Server rebooted due to some unknown reason...

We encountered an error while bringing up the Infra[Middle Tier] and Discoverer OPMN services.

Error ::


Cause :
On being restarted after a failure, OPMN uses information in the ${ORACLE_HOME}/opmn/logs/states directory to attempt recovery. From the various files in the "states" directory it determines if a process ID (PID) of a processes it was managing before the abnormal exit is still running.
If such a process is found, OPMN will first attempt to reconnect to the process and determine it's condition (with an appropriate OPMN "ping" message).
In the event a managed process cannot be contacted it will attempt to terminate the process (first gracefully and then using "kill -9") and restart it.
In rare cases following a restart, it is possible that by pure chance:
1. a process exists which matches the PID of a previously managaged OPMN process(ie a current PID matches one listed in a file within the $ORACLE_HOME/opmn/logs/states directory).
2. the process running with this PID is NOT an OPMN managed process nor owned by the operating system account that was used to install Application Server and which governs the permissions of the current OPMN process.As a result OPMN cannot communicate meaningfully with the OPMN managed process.

Solution :
1. Fully stop opmn and all oc4j instances.
2. At this point there will be no oc4j managed processes running, so there should be need for no files in $ORACLE_HOME/opmn/logs/states directory, so it should be safe to remove these.
3. For safety, rename the current $ORACLE_HOME/opmn/logs/states directory and create a new empty states directory in it's place:
% cd $ORACLE_HOME/opmn/logs
% mv states states.old
% mkdir states
4. Restart OPMN and the desired OPMN managed processes:
% opmnctl start
% opmnctl startproc process-type=OID
% opmnctl startproc process-type=HTTP_Server
% opmnctl startproc process-type=OC4J_SECURITY
5. Confirm that all processes have started correctly using "opmnctl status -l"

The OC4J process should have a status of "Alive" and it's port section should show valid ports for ajp, rmi and jms.After confirming all processes have started and validating that the functionality of all opmn managed processes, the "states.old" directory can then be removed.


Refer Metalink note-id : 331969.1 [Unable to Start OPMN Managed Process]

[Read Me] Reset ias_admin password in Apps [R12]

How to reset the ias_admin password , if you have forgotten it earlier ....

step1: Login as application user ........say appltest

step2: cd $ORACLE_HOME/sysman/j2ee/config (10.1.2 wala HOME)

Step3: backup the jazn-data.xml and edit the following section;

to look like ::

save the file ..


step4: $ORACLE_HOME/bin/emctl set password reset


step5: Restart you application services and check for the password change.


or $ORACLE_HOME/bin/emctl authenticate


To just change the ias_admin password:


emctl set password old_password new_password


Refer : 280116.1,220622.1 metalink note id

[Issue] Too Many Open Files Error

Hi All,
We faced an issue during Request Set run of DBI Initial load .

Current setup :
Database :10.2.0.3
Application : 12.0.4
OS : Redhat Advanced server 5 (Tikanga)


Error:
APP-FND-01564: ORACLE error - 1116 in SUBMIT: others
Cause: SUBMIT: others failed due to ORA-01116: error in opening database file 13
ORA-01110: data file 13: '.dbf' '
ORA-27041: unable to open file
SVR4 Error: 24: Too many open files
Additional information: 3
The SQL statement being executed at the time of the error was: &SQLSTMT and was executed from the file &ERRFILE.


Cause :
Refer metalink Note-id :397119.1 for more details


Solution :
(before proceeding with the solution , we should always check for the following parameter at OS level)
cat /etc/security/limits.conf
* hard nofile 65535
* soft nofile 4096
* hard nproc 16384
* soft nproc 2047
oracle soft nproc 2047
oracle hard nproc 16384
oracle soft nofile 1024
oracle hard nofile 65536


If you do not have these parameters required values ; then make the changes accordingly ; followed by server bounce.

1) Apply the opatch 5257698 on to ur Application database. [Make sure all your Application/Database services are down]
2) cd $ORACLE_HOME/nls/data/old
3) perl cr9idata.pl [This will recreate the *.nlb file in $ORACLE_HOME/nls/data] Set the environment as mentioned.
4) Start your database and applications services.
5) Retest your issue.

Happy Reading !! :)

[Read Me]Oracle Database Family...

I came across an interesting article on the web ..so thought to share with you all..
This article has various versions of Oracle Database ; with release date and features added..

** Oracle 10g Release 2 (10.2.0) – September 2005 **
Transparent Data Encryption
Async commits
CONNECT ROLE can not only connect
Passwords for DB Links are encrypted
New asmcmd utility for managing ASM storage

** Oracle 10g Release 1 (10.1.0) **
Grid computing – an extension of the clustering feature (Real Application Clusters)
Manageability improvements (self-tuning features)
Performance and scalability improvements
Automated Storage Management (ASM)
Automatic Workload Repository (AWR)
Automatic Database Diagnostic Monitor (ADDM)
Flashback operations available on row, transaction, table or database level
Ability to UNDROP a table from a recycle binAbility to rename tablespaces
Ability to transport tablespaces across machine types (E.g Windows to Unix)
New ‘drop database’ statement
New database scheduler – DBMS_SCHEDULER
DBMS_FILE_TRANSFER Package
Support for bigfile tablespaces that is up to 8 Exabytes in size
Data Pump – faster data movement with expdp and impdp.

** Oracle 9i Release 2 (9.2.0) **
Locally Managed SYSTEM tablespaces
Oracle Streams – new data sharing/replication feature (can potentially replace Oracle Advance Replication and Standby Databases)
XML DB (Oracle is now a standards compliant XML database)
Data segment compression (compress keys in tables – only when loading data)
Cluster file system for Windows and Linux (raw devices are no longer required).
Create logical standby databases with Data Guard
Java JDK 1.3 used inside the database (JVM)
Oracle Data Guard Enhancements (SQL Apply mode – logical copy of primary database, automatic failover
Security Improvements – Default Install Accounts locked, VPD on synonyms, AES, Migrate Users to Directory

** Oracle 9i Release 1 (9.0.1) – June 2001 **
Traditional rollback segments (RBS) are still available, but can be replaced with automated System Managed Undo (SMU). Using SMU, Oracle will create it’s own “Rollback Segments” and size them automatically without any DBA involvement.
Flashback query (dbms_flashback.enable) – one can query data as it looked at some point in the past. This feature will allow users to correct wrongly committed transactions without contacting the DBA to do a database restore.
Use Oracle Ultra Search for searching databases, file systems, etc. The UltraSearch crawler fetch data and hand it to Oracle Text to be indexed.
Oracle Nameserver is still available, but deprecate in favour of LDAP Naming (using the Oracle Internet Directory Server). A nameserver proxy is provided for backwards compatibility as pre-8i client cannot resolve names from an LDAP server.
Oracle Parallel Server’s (OPS) scalability was improved – now called Real Application Clusters (RAC). Full Cache Fusion implemented. Any application can scale in a database cluster. Applications doesn’t need to be cluster aware anymore.
The Oracle Standby DB feature renamed to Oracle Data Guard. New Logical Standby databases replay SQL on standby site allowing the database to be used for normal read write operations. The Data Guard Broker allows single step fail-over when disaster strikes.
Scrolling cursor support. Oracle9i allows fetching backwards in a result set.
Dynamic Memory Management – Buffer Pools and shared pool can be resized on-the-fly. This eliminates the need to restart the database each time parameter changes were made.
On-line table and index reorganization.
VI (Virtual Interface) protocol support, an alternative to TCP/IP, available for use with Oracle Net (SQL*Net). VI provides fast communications between components in a cluster.
Build in XML Developers Kit (XDK). New data types for XML (XMLType), URI’s, etc. XML integrated with AQ.
Cost Based Optimizer now also consider memory and CPU, not only disk access cost as before.
PL/SQL programs can be natively compiled to binaries.
Deep data protection – fine grained security and auditing. Put security on DB level. SQL access do not mean unrestricted access.
Resumable backups and statements – suspend statement instead of rolling back immediately.
List Partitioning – partitioning on a list of values.
ETL (eXtract, transformation, load) Operations – with external tables and pipelining.
OLAP – Express functionality included in the DB.
Data Mining – Oracle Darwin’s features included in the DB.

** Oracle 8i (8.1.7) **
Static HTTP server included (Apache)
JVM Accelerator to improve performance of Java code
Java Server Pages (JSP) engine
MemStat – A new utility for analyzing Java Memory footprints
OIS – Oracle Integration Server introduced.
PLSQL Gateway introduced for deploying PL/SQL based solutions on the Web
Enterprise Manager Enhancements – including new HTML based reporting and Advanced Replication functionality included.
New Database Character Set Migration utility included.

** Oracle 8i (8.1.6) **
PL/SQL Server Pages (PSP’s)
DBA Studio Introduced.
Statspack.
New SQL Functions (rank, moving average).
ALTER FREELISTS command (previously done by DROP/CREATE TABLE).
Checksums always on for SYSTEM tablespace allowing many possible corruptions to be fixed before writing to disk.
XML Parser for Java.
New PLSQL encrypt/decrypt package introduced.
User and Schemas separated.
Numerous Performance Enhancements.

** Oracle 8i (8.1.5) **
Fast Start recovery – Checkpoint rate auto-adjusted to meet roll forward criteria
Reorganize indexes/index only tables which users accessing data – Online index rebuilds
Log Miner introduced – Allows on-line or archived redo logs to be viewed via SQL
OPS Cache Fusion introduced avoiding disk I/O during cross-node communication
Advanced Queueing improvements (security, performance, OO4O support
User Security Improvements – more centralisation, single enterprise user, users/roles across multiple databases.
Virtual private database
JAVA stored procedures (Oracle Java VM)
Oracle iFS
Resource Management using priorities – resource classes
Hash and Composite partitioned table types
SQL*Loader direct load API
Copy optimizer statistics across databases to ensure same access paths across different environments.
Standby Database – Auto shipping and application of redo logs. Read Only queries on standby database allowed.
Enterprise Manager v2 delivered
NLS – Euro Symbol supported
Analyze tables in parallel
Temporary tables supported.
Net8 support for SSL, HTTP, HOP protocols
Transportable tablespaces between databases
Locally managed tablespaces – automatic sizing of extents, elimination of tablespace fragmentation, tablespace information managed in tablespace (i.e moved from data dictionary) improving tablespace reliability
Drop Column on table (Finally !!!!!)
DBMS_DEBUG PL/SQL package, DBMS_SQL replaced by new EXECUTE IMMEDIATE statement
Progress Monitor to track long running DML, DDL
Functional Indexes – NLS, case insensitive, descending.

** Oracle 8.0 – June 1997 **
Object Relational database
Object Types (not just date, character, number as in v7
SQL3 standard
Call external procedures
LOB >1 per table
Partitioned Tables and Indexes
export/import individual partitions
partitions in multiple tablespaces
Online/offline, backup/recover individual partitions
merge/balance partitions
Advanced Queuing for message handling
Many performance improvements to SQL/PLSQL/OCI making more efficient use of CPU/Memory. V7 limits extended (e.g. 1000 columns/table, 4000 bytes VARCHAR2)
Parallel DML statements
Connection Pooling ( uses the physical connection for idle users and transparently re-establishes the connection when needed) to support more concurrent users.
Improved “STAR” Query optimizer
Integrated Distributed Lock Manager in Oracle PS (as opposed to Operating system DLM in v7).
Performance improvements in OPS – global V$ views introduced across all instances, transparent failover to a new node
Data Cartridges introduced on database (e.g. image, video, context, time, spatial)
Backup/Recovery improvements – Tablespace point in time recovery, incremental backups, parallel backup/recovery. Recovery manager introduced
Security Server introduced for central user administration. User password expiry, password profiles, allow custom password scheme. Privileged database links (no need for password to be stored)
Fast Refresh for complex snapshots, parallel replication, PL/SQL replication code moved in to Oracle kernel. Replication manager introduced.
Index Organized tables
Deferred integrity constraint checking (deferred until end of transaction instead of end of statement).
SQL*Net replaced by Net8
Reverse Key indexes
Any VIEW updateable
New ROWID format

** Oracle 7.3 **
Partitioned Views
Bitmapped Indexes
Asynchronous read ahead for table scans
Standby Database
Deferred transaction recovery on instance startup
Updatable Join Views (with restrictions)
SQLDBA no longer shipped.
Index rebuilds
db_verify introduced
Context Option
Spatial Data Option
Tablespaces changes – Coalesce, Temporary Permanent,
Trigger compilation, debug
Unlimited extents on STORAGE clause.
Some init.ora parameters modifiable – TIMED_STATISTICS
HASH Joins, Antijoins
Histograms
Dependencies
Oracle Trace
Advanced Replication Object Groups
PL/SQL – UTL_FILE

** Oracle 7.2 **
Resizable, autoextend data files
Shrink Rollback Segments manually
Create table, index UNRECOVERABLE
Subquery in FROM clause
PL/SQL wrapper
PL/SQL Cursor variables
Checksums – DB_BLOCK_CHECKSUM, LOG_BLOCK_CHECKSUM
Parallel create table
Job Queues – DBMS_JOB
DBMS_SPACE
DBMS Application Info
Sorting Improvements – SORT_DIRECT_WRITES

** Oracle 7.1 **
ANSI/ISO SQL92 Entry Level
Advanced Replication – Symmetric Data replication
Snapshot Refresh Groups
Parallel Recovery
Dynamic SQL – DBMS_SQL
Parallel Query Options – query, index creation, data loading
Server Manager introduced
Read Only tablespaces

** Oracle 7.0 – June 1992 **
Database Integrity Constraints (primary, foreign keys, check constraints, default values)
Stored procedures and functions, procedure packages
Database Triggers
View compilation
User defined SQL functions
Role based security
Multiple Redo members – mirrored online redo log files
Resource Limits – Profiles
Much enhanced Auditing
Enhanced Distributed database functionality – INSERTS, UPDATES,DELETES, 2PC
Incomplete database recovery (e.g SCN)
Cost based optimiser
TRUNCATE tables
Datatype changes (i.e VARCHAR2 CHAR, VARCHAR)
SQL*Net v2, MTS
Checkpoint process
Data replication – Snapshots

** Oracle 6.2 **
Oracle Parallel Server

** Oracle 6 – July 1988 **
Row-level locking
On-line database backups
PL/SQL in the database

** Oracle 5.1 **
Distributed queries

** Oracle 5.0 – 1986 **
Supporting for the Client-Server model – PC’s can access the DB on remote host

** Oracle 4 – 1984 **
Read consistency

** Oracle 3 – 1981 **
Atomic execution of SQL statements and transactions (COMMIT and ROLLBACK of transactions)
Nonblocking queries (no more read locks)
Re-written in the C Programming Language

** Oracle 2 – 1979 **
First public releaseBasic SQL functionality, queries and joins

[Read Me]Steps in Processing an SQL Statement

Before going through this article.Plz refer to the oracle 9i architecture.. for better understanding.

@> Assume a user issues an update stmt on the table such that more than 1 user is affected by the update .This stmt is passed to the USER process .Then the server(rather Query processor )will check whether the SQL stmt is already contained in the library cache such that corresponding info(parse tree, execution plan) can b used .If the stmt can not be found , it is parsed aftr verifying the stmt (usr privileges, affected tables and columns) using data from the data dictionary cache, a query execution plan is generated by the query optimizer .Together with the parse tree, this plan is stored in the library cache.

@> For the objects affected by the stmt (table) it is cheked, whether the corresponding data blocks already exist in the database buffer .If not , the user process reads the data blocks into the database buffer .If thr is not enough space in the buffer , the least recently used blocks of other objects are written back to the disk by the “DBWR” process.

@> The modifications of the tuples affected by the update, occurs in the database buffer.Before the database blocks are modified the “before image” of the tuples is written to the rollback segments by the DBWR process.

@> While the redo-log buffer is filled during the data blocks modifications ,LGWR process writes entries from the redo-log buffer to the redo-log files.

@> Aftr all tuples (or data blocks ) have been modified in the database buffer , the modifications can be committed by the user using the commit command.

@> As long as no commit has been issued by the user , modifications can be undone using the rollback stmt. In this case , the modified data blocks in the database buffers are overwritten by the original blocks stored in the rollback segments.

@> If the user issues a commit , the space allotted for the blocks in the rollback segments is deallocated and can be used by other transactions . Furthermore the modifications in the database buffers are unlocked such that other users now can read the modified blocks.The end of the transaction (more precisely the commit) is recorded in the redo-log files.The modified blocks are only written to the disk by the DBWR process ,if the space allocated for the blocks is needed.

...Referred from Oracle Fundamentals