Payables Workbenches
Oracle Payables includes two fully integrated workbenches, the Invoice Workbench and the Payment Workbench. You can perform most of your transactions in Payables using the Invoice Workbench or the Payment Workbench. You enter, adjust, and review invoices and invoice batches in the Invoice Workbench. You create, adjust, and review payments and payment batches in the Payments Workbench.
Payables workbenches let you find critical information in a flexible way. For example, in the Invoice Workbench, you can find an invoice based on supplier, purchase order number, status, or other criteria. Then, for that invoice, you can review distributions, scheduled payments, payments, holds, and other detailed invoice information. You can also perform matching, submit invoice validation, apply and release holds, or initiate payment. You can query an invoice then perform several transactions without having to find the invoice again. You can also keep multiple windows open at one time.

The Invoice Workbench
The Invoice Workbench is a group of windows that you use to enter, adjust, and review your invoices and invoice batches. The following is the window hierarchy in the Invoice Workbench:

• Invoice Batches
  • Find Invoice Batches
• Invoices
  • Find Invoices
    • Calculate Balance Owed
  • Distributions
    • Find Invoice Distributions
  • Invoice Actions
    • Apply/Unapply Prepayments
• Invoice Overview

The following diagram shows how you can navigate between the windows in the Invoice Workbench. You navigate into the Invoices window or Invoice Batches window through the Navigator, and navigate to most regions by choosing tabs. You can access the Find windows from the View menu, and the Apply/Unapply Prepayment window by selecting the appropriate check box in the Invoice Actions window. You access the matching windows from the Invoices window by selecting Invoice, Purchase Order, or Receipt from the match poplist and then choosing the Match button.

The Payment Workbench
The Payment Workbench is a group of windows that you use to create, adjust, and review payments and payment batches. The following is the window hierarchy in the Payment Workbench:

• Payment Batches
  • Find Payment Batches
  • Copy To
  • Payment Batch Actions
    • Modify Payment Batch
    • Confirm Payment Batch
• Payments
  • Find Payments
  • Select Invoices
  • Payment Actions
• Payment Overview

The following diagram shows how you can navigate between windows in the Payment Workbench. You navigate into the Payments, Payment Batches, and Payment Overview windows through the Navigator, and navigate to most of the other windows by choosing buttons. You can access the Find windows from the View menu, and the Modify Payment Batch and Confirm Payment Batch windows by selecting the appropriate check box in the Payment Batch Actions window.

Product Overview
Oracle Applications for Human Resources enable an organization to hire, train, and deploy, assess, motivate and reward its people more effectively than ever before, turning HR into a strategic-level function and key contributor to an organization’s success. By automating its administrative duties, providing self-service for non-HR professionals, and managing information more efficiently, HR professionals can devote their energy and creativity to delivering the maximum value for the organization’s investment in people.

The Oracle HRMS application modules include:
Oracle Human Resources, Oracle Payroll, Oracle Training Administration, and Oracle Time Management.

Delivering Integrated HRMS Functionality
The Oracle HRMS applications are part of the integrated, enterprise-wide solution Oracle ebusiness Suite for information management that includes software for managing finance, sales and marketing, the supply chain and manufacturing. The HRMS software, for example, is linked to the financial applications to streamline such processes as employee compensation and managing training costs and expenditures.
All the Oracle HRMS applications use the Oracle database as their single source of information, which eliminates data redundancy, reduces the possibility of conflicting data in different databases, and creates a consistent, complete, reliable picture of every employee.
All the Oracle HRMS applications offer a sophisticated, easy-to-use graphical user interface to give users fast, easy access to all HR data. The intuitive windowing, mouse actions, icons, and built-in drill downs allow transactions and inquiries to flow naturally and quickly. Everyone involved in managing a workforce benefits from easy access to the information needed to make timely and informed decisions.

Oracle Human Resources – Oracle Human Resources is a proactive management solution that helps control costs while developing and supporting an effective workforce for the enterprise. Oracle HR can be configured to match the organization’s business objectives and processes and be automated to complete a variety of tasks including: organization and position control, recruitment processing, employee profiling,
career development and the management of compensation and benefit policies.
Implementing these practices can help turn HR departments into a strategic function that is highly valued within the enterprise.

Oracle Training Administration – Oracle Training Administration ensures that the organization improves the abilities of its employees or external students to meet current and future objectives in a cost-effective and targeted way. The module allows organizations to manage any event-based development activities which improve skills, such as remote site learning, work experience, formal class tuition, external seminars and conferences. Training events can be scheduled and tracked based on many combinations of criteria. In addition, enrollment information can be extensively tracked so that student competencies are available for career planning as well as candidate placements, performance appraisals, and other activities. Oracle Training Administration is fully integrated with Oracle Human Resources and the Oracle Financials applications to enable organizations to harness training delivery to the skill requirements of jobs and positions.

Oracle Payroll – Oracle Payroll is a high-performance, graphical, rules-based payroll management system designed to keep pace with the changing needs of the enterprise and its workforce. Each company’s unique payroll requirements demand the ability to configure its payroll solution without losing the benefits of a standard, supported package.
Oracle Payroll offers that capability via a unique, data-driven approach that enables organizations to define and manage its diverse payroll requirements.

Oracle Time Management – Time collection and processing is a complex and time consuming task that must be 100 percent accurate to generate a correct paycheck. Automated, accurate time management can benefit other functions within an organization. Oracle Time Management enables organizations to manage complex pay structures, track total hours worked, job classifications, vacation time, and a range of company and union pay organization.
Ot provides an automated and/or manual time collection interface that directly accepts, consolidates, and processes employee time against employer-specific parameters and legal requirements ("organization. Ot permits an employer to monitor any violation of its rules and take appropriate steps to resolve the problem prior to incurring further inefficiencies and/or the production of an inaccurate organization. On addition, earning policies can be created that apply to
groups of people such as union workers, temps, full-time and part-time organization.
Oracle Time Management ensures that the correct number of time entries and hours are received from remote locations, which in turn produces a valuable analysis of employee productivity.

The Oracle Advantages
Each module is designed to deliver key benefits that reflect the most current thinking in the HR field.

Best Practice in HR Management – The HRMS modules cover all the functions an HR department performs to enable more efficient management of HR procedures, saving time and decreasing organization. Ohe applications are structured around proven procedures, yet allow organizations to make modifications to suit its unique organization. This flexibility is vital to effectively manage the HR function, enabling organizations to choose best practices as it sees fit, without having them imposed on its existing HR procedures.

Rapid Business Policy Adoption – The Oracle HRMS applications make it easy for organizations to change HR practices to reflect changes in business policy, regulations, and organization. Ohanges can be implemented through the rules-based payroll engine, business events defined with workflow functions, and flexibility of data access and data entry is ensured for increased organization. Configuration puts real choice in the hands of the day-to-day user by enabling them to make changes quickly and implement them immediately.

Direct Access – Oracle understands both the HR function and the possibilities of the organization. Oirect access is about providing a low-cost, convenient solution to multiple audiences within the organization on demand; this greatly improves the service the HR department provides and frees them up to deliver strategic value to the organization.
Then employees themselves can conveniently access records to perform such tasks as updating personal information or completing self-assessment forms, HR staff members have more time to devote to such tasks as strategic planning, defining core competencies, and creating more effective incentive organization. Complementing Oracle HRMS applications enables the HR staff to provide more autonomy to employees while retaining control over information and ensuring the organization complies with all organization. This process of "consultative HR" positions the HR department as an information provider and involves employees in planning and shaping their careers.

Competency-Based Skills Improvements – The applications take a competency-driven approach to managing human organization. Ohe Oracle HRMS system supplies individual knowledge and skills information to enable users to properly position employees within the organization, with a close fit between an employee’s competencies and the requirements of a organization. Oy providing a framework for the HR department to hire, train, and compensate employees based on compe
tency and performance, Oracle HRMS applications improve the capacity of the HR group to help meet enterprise goals.

Global Reach on a Global Foundation – Oracle recognizes the importance of building multinational capabilities into business-critical organization. Oesigned from the start with a global perspective, Oracle HRMS software is localized to the currency structure, taxation policies, and reporting conventions of the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, and parts of organization. Oracle works with local employees and partners to ensure the HRMS applications accurately reflect not only the legislative requirements of each country, but also the HR processes commonly practiced, different methods of inputting and using data, language differences, different policy rules, and cultural differences.

Rapid Response to Industry Trends – The Oracle HRMS applications offer unparalleled flexibility, which derives from the structure of the organization. Each module consists of a set of "core" functions, which are used by the majority of HR departments, regardless of their organization or organization. Oround that core, Oracle adds a layer of other functions, which allows for a rapid response to industry trends that affect any or all organization. Ohe result is that all users benefit from powerful core functionality and users in specific industries benefit, such as the government sector,from custom enhancements.

Unique Features and Benefits
Easy-to-use Configuration Options — There are many configuration options to tailor the features and functions of the organization. Oonfigurations are easy to perform via a Forms interface; they are fully supported by Oracle, preserved when upgraded, and date-effective so they can be changed as needs change.
Configuration options allow users to specify access to forms, define security
functions that control information available to different users, create menus that facilitate user navigation, and create forms that display data on groups of people, assignments or events in easily updated lists, among other choices.
Web applications can be configured directly for display on Web screens.
Web-based Administrative Automation — By increasing self-sufficiency and empowering employees to manage personal HR information, Oracle’s Web-based applications benefit organizations in a variety of ways, including: automating business rules and policies, reducing errors, minimizing paper handling, reducing administrative costs, eliminating bottlenecks, and adding convenience for organization. Ohe cumulative effect of these benefits is to greatly reduce the time the HR organization spends on administrative tasks and enable it to operate in a strategic capacity. Effective Training To Meet Corporate Goals — Once the organization defines its goals and the core competencies required to meet them, Oracle Applications enable HR departments to hire employees with the right competencies and train existing employees so that their skills remain aligned with the organization’s organization. Applying this approach in a consistent, systematic way across the enterprise–for appraisals, assessment, recording accomplishments, and other activities–results in a workforce equipped with the skills and knowledge to give the organization a competitive advantage.

The Best Global Solution — Multilingual capabilities enable applications to communicate in one language while generating documents in organization. This capability enables organizations to quickly convert and consolidate records from worldwide organization. Omong the software’s key global features are: multi-currency; multilingual; multiple address styles for any country for any person, no matter what their country of employment; multiple legislations on the same database, so that a U.S. and a U.K. organization may both be represented, with their appropriate legislative, cultural, and functional rules; structures common among countries are stored in the core HRMS software to facilitate global inquiry and reporting; ability to create global views of data across business groups which represent different legislations.
Oracle Applications is the leading provider of packaged client/server solutions for the enterprise. In an extremely competitive marketplace, Oracle Applications "best in class" differentiation is achieved through several strong technology advantages:
Oracle’s core technology stack, comprising enterprise-caliber database server
software, development tools and packaged applications; customized critical applications solutions; and, the delivery of total solutions which leverage Oracle’s Web-enablement, online analytical processing (OLAP), and modular, "rapid solutions assembly" technologies.
By providing customers with assurance, accountability and flexible end-to-end solutions, Oracle Applications is establishing new standards for excellence in enterprise applications and extending its leadership in the applications arena.

For more information about Oracle and its HRMS Applications:
http://www.oracle.com/applications/h…ces/intro.html

One can use UTL_FILE else OS editors/utilities. The best is using undocumented KSDWRT procedure of the DBMS_SYSTEM package.

This procedure has two parameters,  The first one must be “2” to write to the alert file,  the second one is the message you want to write.

execute sys.dbms_system.ksdwrt(2,to_char(sysdate)|| ‘ — ‘);

I used it to write “ORA-“ Error messages at Alrtlog to Test grid alerts for targets.

1. Configure “Notification Methods” to receive alerts.

Login at OMS Console and click on “Setup” at top right hand corner.Click on “Notification Methods” at Left hand side.

Enter Email server details like Outgoing Mail (SMTP) Server, Username, Password  & click on “Test Email Servers” link to verify settings.

2. Configure target Email address for Alerts.

Click on “Preferences” at top right hand side and click on Left Hand “General” Tab option

3. Setting Up Preferred Credentials to run scripts at targets (databases,hosts)

Select relevant option and click on “Set Credentials” icon. I am picking up “Host” here to add ssh login details at following screen.

3. Notification Schedule

We can setup time of the day and respective email addresses for notifications here. This way we can divert alrts to daytime email during working hours and to mobile email address at evenings/night.

4. Notification Rules

We now know when and who should be notified when an event occurs, let’s setup WHAT we want to be notified of.

Navigate to “Preferences” at right hand top corner , now select “Rules” from Left hand menu and click on

That will pop up following screen.

By default OEM will show “Target Type“ as “Database Instance”. You could  alter as your needs and select any of the options as below 

You will also notice as per the target type selected option  would change.

Click on   and select list of hosts which should fall under your rule. You can filter your selection at the pop up “Search and Select: Targets“ screen.

After selecting target, click on “availability” and select options you like.

I have selected notifications if “Database Instance goes down, OMA is unreachable and if any metric errors detected. At next screen we will select Metric values we want to monitor.

Add metric screen should show you about 129+ options like “Archive Area Used (%),Archiver Hung Alert Log Error,Blocking Session Count, Dump Area Used ,Generic Alert Log Error,Tablespace Free Space (MB), Tablespace Space Used (%)”

I wanted to remove one my client node from OMS. I used following GUI option but it returned errors  as below

I clicked “Remove” tab which returned error message “There are other monitored targets on this Host. Before removing this Host, you must first remove all the other targets”

How to Fix this?

Run following SQL at OMR

select distinct target_name,target_type  from SYSMAN.MGMT$TARGET where target_name like ‘%HOSTNAME%’

TARGET_NAME,                  TARGET_TYPE
bmau0.uk.pri.o2.com,          host
bmau0.uk.pri.o2.com:1831,   oracle_emd
bmau0:1831,                     oracle_emd
LISTENER_TEST0_bmau0,    oracle_listener
LISTENER_TEST_bmau0,      oracle_listener
LISTENER_DBAS_bmau0,      oracle_listener

Now use following API to remove each of these targets from OMR

exec sysman.mgmt_admin.cleanup_agent(‘bmau0.uk.pri.o2.com:3872’);
exec sysman.mgmt_admin.cleanup_agent(‘bmau0.uk.pri.o2.com:1831’);

(Release 12)

Login as database user
cd $ORACLE_HOME/appsutil/scripts/<SID_hostname>

./addbctl.sh start <Database Name> : To start Database

./addlnctl.sh start <Listener Name> : To start Listener

Login as apps user “applmgr”

cd $APPLCSF/scripts/<SID_hostname>
./adstrtal.sh apps/<apps_password>

You can stop the application by:
Login as apps user “applmgr”
./adstpall.sh apps/<apps_password>

For stopping listener and database:
./addlnctl.sh stop <listener_name> : Stop the listener

./addbctl.sh stop immediate : would carry “shutdown immediate” at database

================= Release 12 log ==============

[oracle@apps ~]$ . APPSVIS_ebs.env

Start database and listener before starting middle tier

Login as database user , Locate “addbctl.sh” and run this script

[oracle@apps ~]$ ./addbctl.sh

You are running addbctl.sh version 120.1

addbctl.sh: too few arguments specified.

addbctl.sh [start|stop] {normal|immediate|abort}

[oracle@apps ~]$ ./addbctl.sh start

You are running addbctl.sh version 120.1

Starting the database VIS …

SQL*Plus: Release 10.2.0.3.0 – Production on Sat Feb 14 13:07:25 2009

Copyright (c) 1982, 2006, Oracle. All Rights Reserved.

Connected to an idle instance.
ORACLE instance started.

Total System Global Area 159383552 bytes
Fixed Size 1260600 bytes
Variable Size 88081352 bytes
Database Buffers 58720256 bytes
Redo Buffers 11321344 bytes
Database mounted.
Database opened.
Disconnected from Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.3.0 – Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP and Data Mining options

addbctl.sh: exiting with status 0

2. Start listener

[oracle@apps ~]$ cd /oradb/oracle/VIS/db/tech_st/10.2.0/appsutil/scripts/VIS_apps/
[oracle@apps VIS_apps]$ ./addlnctl.sh start VIS

You are running addlnctl.sh version 120.1

Logfile: /oradb/oracle/VIS/db/tech_st/10.2.0/appsutil/log/VIS_apps/addlnctl.txt

Starting listener process VIS …

addlnctl.sh: exiting with status 0
[oracle@apps VIS_apps]$

Let’s start the middle Tier

[applmgr@apps scripts]$ ./adstrtal.sh apps/apps

You are running adstrtal.sh version 120.13.12000000.3

Executing service control script:
/orapps/oracle/VIS/inst/apps/VIS_apps/admin/scripts/adopmnctl.sh start
script returned:
****************************************************

You are running adopmnctl.sh version 120.4.12000000.3

Starting Oracle Process Manager (OPMN) …

adopmnctl.sh: exiting with status 0

adopmnctl.sh: check the logfile /orapps/oracle/VIS/inst/apps/VIS_apps/logs/appl/admin/log/adopmnctl.txt for more information …

.end std out.

.end err out.

****************************************************

Executing service control script:
/orapps/oracle/VIS/inst/apps/VIS_apps/admin/scripts/adapcctl.sh start
script returned:
****************************************************

You are running adapcctl.sh version 120.6.12000000.2

Starting OPMN managed Oracle HTTP Server (OHS) instance …

adapcctl.sh: exiting with status 150

adapcctl.sh: check the logfile /orapps/oracle/VIS/inst/apps/VIS_apps/logs/appl/admin/log/adapcctl.txt for more information …

.end std out.

.end err out.

****************************************************

Executing service control script:
/orapps/oracle/VIS/inst/apps/VIS_apps/admin/scripts/adoacorectl.sh start
script returned:
****************************************************

You are running adoacorectl.sh version 120.11.12000000.2

Starting OPMN managed OACORE OC4J instance …

adoacorectl.sh: exiting with status 204

adoacorectl.sh: check the logfile /orapps/oracle/VIS/inst/apps/VIS_apps/logs/appl/admin/log/adoacorectl.txt for more information …

.end std out.

.end err out.

****************************************************

Executing service control script:
/orapps/oracle/VIS/inst/apps/VIS_apps/admin/scripts/adformsctl.sh start
script returned:
****************************************************

You are running adformsctl.sh version 120.12.12000000.3

Starting OPMN managed FORMS OC4J instance …

adformsctl.sh: exiting with status 204

adformsctl.sh: check the logfile /orapps/oracle/VIS/inst/apps/VIS_apps/logs/appl/admin/log/adformsctl.txt for more information …

.end std out.

.end err out.

****************************************************

Executing service control script:
/orapps/oracle/VIS/inst/apps/VIS_apps/admin/scripts/adoafmctl.sh start
script returned:
****************************************************

You are running adoafmctl.sh version 120.6.12000000.2

Starting OPMN managed OAFM OC4J instance …

adoafmctl.sh: exiting with status 204

adoafmctl.sh: check the logfile /orapps/oracle/VIS/inst/apps/VIS_apps/logs/appl/admin/log/adoafmctl.txt for more information …

.end std out.

.end err out.

****************************************************

Executing service control script:
/orapps/oracle/VIS/inst/apps/VIS_apps/admin/scripts/adalnctl.sh start
script returned:
****************************************************

adalnctl.sh version 120.3

Checking for FNDFS executable.
Starting listener process APPS_VIS.

adalnctl.sh: exiting with status 0

adalnctl.sh: check the logfile /orapps/oracle/VIS/inst/apps/VIS_apps/logs/appl/admin/log/adalnctl.txt for more information …

.end std out.

.end err out.

****************************************************

Executing service control script:
/orapps/oracle/VIS/inst/apps/VIS_apps/admin/scripts/adcmctl.sh start
script returned:
****************************************************

You are running adcmctl.sh version 120.14

Starting concurrent manager for VIS …
Starting VIS_0214@VIS Internal Concurrent Manager
Default printer is noprint

adcmctl.sh: exiting with status 0

adcmctl.sh: check the logfile /orapps/oracle/VIS/inst/apps/VIS_apps/logs/appl/admin/log/adcmctl.txt for more information …

.end std out.

.end err out.

****************************************************

Executing service control script:
/orapps/oracle/VIS/inst/apps/VIS_apps/admin/scripts/jtffmctl.sh start
script returned:
****************************************************

You are running jtffmctl.sh version 120.3

Validating Fulfillment patch level via /orapps/oracle/VIS/apps/apps_st/comn/java/classes
Fulfillment patch level validated.
Starting Fulfillment Server for VIS on port 9300 …

jtffmctl.sh: exiting with status 0

.end std out.

.end err out.

****************************************************

adstrtal.sh: Exiting with status 4

adstrtal.sh: check the logfile /orapps/oracle/VIS/inst/apps/VIS_apps/logs/appl/admin/log/adstrtal.log for more information …

(Release 11)

Before 9i

After 9i 

How to start Oracle Application Server?

Starting an application server instance

a) login to server with oracle Userid
b) set the environment
c) cd $ORACLE_HOME/opmn/bin
d) opmnctl startall (to start)

How to stop Oracle Application Server?

Stopping an application server instance

a) login to server with oracle Userid
b) set the environment
c) cd $ORACLE_HOME/opmn/bin
d) opmnctl stopall (to stop)

How to query the status of an Oracle Application Server?

Status of an application server instance

a) login to server with oracle Userid
b) set the environment
c) cd $ORACLE_HOME/opmn/bin
d) opmnctl status

How to start/stop/restart a component of Oracle Application Server?

a) login to server with oracle Userid
b) set the environment
c) cd $ORACLE_HOME/opmn/bin
d) opmnctl startproc ias-component=HTTP_Server (to start HTTP server)
e) opmnctl stopproc ias-component=HTTP_Server (to stop HTTP server)
f) opmnctl restartproc ias-component=HTTP_Server (to restart HTTP server)

Where are the important OAS configuration files?

Oracle Application Server comprises of various components which together provide 3-tier application deployment environment. Following are the important configuration file in various components.

Oracle HTTP Server

$ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Apache/conf/httpd.conf

Oracle AS Forms Services

$ORACLE_HOME/forms/server/forms.conf
$ORACLE_HOME/forms/server/formsweb.cfg
$ORACLE_HOME/forms/server/default.env
$ORACLE_HOME/forms/java/oracle/forms/registry/Registry.dat

Oracle AS Report Services

$ORACLE_HOME/reports/conf/rep_hostname.conf

Oracle AS Web Cache

$ORACLE_HOME/Webcache/Webcache.xml

How to deploy forms to Oracle Application Server?

a) FTP the forms to Oracle Application Server

b) Create the following directory structure under /opt/forms/ORACLE_SID

i. Config – for any application configuration files

ii. Logfiles – for log files

iii. Source – for application source code (*.fmb, *.pll, *.mmb)

iv. Executables – for compiled application code (*.fmx, *.plx etc)

v. Images – for application images

vi. Reports – for reports

c) Compile forms (*.fmb), libraries (*.pll) and menus (*.mmb)

(Refer to how to compile a form for more information)

d) Modify default.env, reports.sh and rep_hostname.conf application server configuration files

$ORACLE_HOME/forms/server/default.env – ADD /opt/forms/ORACLE_SID/executables directory to FORMS_PATH & CLASS_PATH. ADD /opt/forms/ORACLE_SID/images directory to FORMS_PATH.

$ORACLE_HOME/bin/reports.sh – ADD /opt/forms/ORACLE_SID/reports directory to REPORTS_PATH.

$ORACLE_HOME/reports/conf/rep_hostname.conf – ADD /opt/forms/ORACLE_SID/reports directory to SourceDir XML tag.

e) Restart the application server.

How to compile a form on UNIX environment?

I have written 6 shell scripts to compile various forms and reports components

Compile.sh – To compile a form

Compileall.sh – To compile all forms

Compilepll.sh – To compile a library

Compileallpll.sh – To compile all libraries

Compilemenu.sh – To compile a menu

Compileallmenu.sh – To compile all menus

a) Set the DISPLAY variable (e.g. DISPLAY=172.17.21.167:0.0; export DISPLAY)

b) cd /opt/forms/ORACLE_SID/forms

c) ./compile.sh form_name (to compile a form) or ./compileall.sh (to compile all forms)

What are the important log files on Oracle Application Server?

The trace and diagnostic information is distributed across a number of different places in oracle application server 3-tier architecture.

Jinitiator Trace File

The first place to look for trace information is on the client machine. Jinitiator is a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) responsible for running the Forms Java client. Setting the following Java runtime parameters in the Jinitiator Control Panel will enable Jinitiator tracing.

-Djavaplugin.trace=true

-Djavaplugin.trace.option=basic|net|security|ext|liveconnect.

This will produce a trace file, Jinitiator<version>.trace in the User Home Directory. For example, if the User Home Directory is C:\Documents and Settings\username and Jinitiator version1.3.1.9 is used, the file C:\Documents and Settings\username\jinitiator1319.trace will be produced.

Oracle HTTP Server Access_log and Error_log

When a Forms application is running on the Web, the HTTP Server is responsible for the transmission of metadata, between the Forms client and the Forms runtime, as standard HTTP(S) messages.

The HTTP Server is enabled by default to log basic information about all HTTP

requests to the access_log file and report errors in the error_log file. It is possible to increase the logging level on the HTTP Server using the LogLevel directive in httpd.conf. However, the default basic logging information is sufficient to troubleshoot the Forms Listener Servlet and detailed logging is not required

Oracle HTTP Server Access_log and Error_log are found in the following

directory on the application server:

$ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Apache/logs

OC4J_BI_Forms Application.log

Finally, the Forms Listener Servlet is responsible for marshalling the communication between the individual Forms clients and their corresponding Forms runtime processes. Basic diagnostic information for this component is found in the application.log when the Forms Listener Servlet is used in the default mode.

Detailed diagnostic information can be obtained from the application.log by enabling debugging in the Forms Listener Servlet as follows:

– appending the /debug option to serverURL in the formsweb.cfg file

Eg: serverURL=/forms/lservlet/debug

The application.log is found in the following locations:

$ORACLE_HOME/j2ee/OC4J_BI_Forms/formsapp/OC4J_BI_Forms_default_island_1/

How to configure WEBUTIL on Oracle Application Server?

a) Download webutil version 1.0.6 from the following location http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/forms/index.html

b) After you have downloaded and extracted, the WebUtil directory structure has these folders:

doc
java
server
webutil

c) Webutil.pll, Webutil.olb and the create_webutil_db.sql exist in the Forms directory. When you extract the WebUtil Zip file, its contents are extracted into the ORACLE_HOME\forms folder. All files will be copied to the respective directories in the ORACLE_HOME\forms.

d) Create ‘webutil’ user on your database and execute create_webutil_db.sql script. This script creates WEBUTIL_DB package, create a public synonym of this package to make it available for everyone.

e) Add the following parameter to $ORACLE_HOME/forms/server/formsweb.cfg file

webUtilArchive=/forms/java/frmwebutil.jar, /forms/java/jacob.jar

baseHTMLjinitiator=webutiljini.htm

baseHTMLjpi=webutiljpi.htm

baseHTML=webutilbase.htm

f) Recompile webutil.pll, use the following command:

g) Frmcmp.sh module=$ORACLE_HOME/forms/webutil.pll userid=<webutil/webutil@dbconnect> module_type=library compile_all=yes

h) Do the following to deploy Jacob.jar file

1. Download http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/jacob-project/jacob_18.zip

2. From the JACOB Zip file, extract both jacob.dll and jacob.jar into the ORACLE_HOME\forms\WebUtil and ORACLE_HOME\forms\java directories respectively.

3. You need to sign both frmwebutil.jar and jacob.jar with the same digital certificate. This is a one-time operation which allows your end-users to trust that the JACOB routines can access client side resources. If you do not have an existing signing certificate, or if you are not sure how to sign Jar files, a script is in the forms\WebUtil directory to help you. This script is called sign_webutil.sh

To sign the Jar files:

Check that ORACLE_HOME/jdk/bin is in the path. If it is not, add it.

Issue sign_webutil.sh $ORACLE_HOME/forms/java/frmwebutil.jar to sign frmwebutil.jar file and sign_webutil.sh $ORACLE_HOME/forms/java/jacob.jar to sign jacob.jar

1. Database monitoring
2. Apache monitoring
3. Forms monitoring
4. Concurrent Manager monitoring
5. Server monitoring
6. Network monitoring
7. Additional monitoring and troubleshooting

1. Database monitoring :

• Check Database alert log files & Database listener log file
• Check Database is up and running using “ps –ef | grep “ commands
• Look for Database sessions (idle sessions, high active sessions, high CPU consumers, total sessions, long running sessions, and blocking sessions). You will find number of sql/shell scripts on google for it.
• Database storage (datafile sizing, objects that are unable to extend, and maximum extent issues)

2.Apache monitoring : Check status of apache using  “ adapcctl.sh status ”

• The $APACHE_TOP/Apache/logs directory contains files such as error_log and error_log_pls.
• The JServ log files are located in the $APACHE_TOP/Apache/Jserv/logs and $APACHE_TOP/Apache/Jserv/logs/jvm directories.

If you want to enable additional logging, you can modify level of debug messaging in the jserv.log file.
The location of the jserv.log file is defined by the log.file parameter in the jserv.properties file.

Steps for enabling additional logging:

1. Set LogLevel to DEBUG in $APACHE_TOP/Apache/conf/httpd.conf.
2. Set ApJservLogLevel to DEBUG in $APACHE_TOP/Jserv/etc/jserv.conf.
3. Make the following changes to $APACHE_TOP/Jserv/etc/jserv.properties:

• Add wrapper.bin.parameters=-Djbo.debugoutput=console
• Set log=true
• Set log.channel=true
• Set log.channel.info=true
• Set log.channel.debug=true

Once these changes are made, review the log files for information to assist with troubleshooting the underlying issue.

Troubleshooting iAS Configuration :

The most comprehensive tool is the AOL/J Test.

• To access AOL/J Test tool directly, use  :/OA_HTML/jsp/fnd/aoljtest.jsp”>http://<hostname>:<port>/OA_HTML/jsp/fnd/aoljtest.jsp
• Enter the requested information, and click the Test button to continue.
• The program will establish a connection to database and return a screen with the Java version and classpath environment settings.  From this screen, the user can select a link to Enter AOL/J Setup Test
• The AOL/J Setup Tests page can be used to verify DBC file settings, display and test the Web Agent settings, display and test the Servlet Agent settings, and test X Server access.

Testing Java Servlet Configuration :

To validate Java servlet configuration access following URL:
http://[host IP:port]/oa_servlets/oracle.pps.fnd.text.HelloWorldServlet

Monitoring the JVM Pool : http://[hostname]:[port]/servlets/OAAppModPoolMonitor

With the 5.10 Framework, above link is invalid, and global Diagnostics button or OAM is the source for this information instead.

3. Forms monitoring  : One can monitor Forms server using GUI tool OAM  (oracle applications manager)

Monitoring Forms Dump Files : Forms Server dump files are created on Forms Node. These files are created in the directory where Forms process was started. The dump files are named f60webmx_dump_xxxx, where xxxx is a process number.

4. Concurrent Manager monitoring

Monitoring Concurrent Manager log Files :

Concurrent Manager log and output files are located in the $APPLCSF/$APPLLOG and $APPLCSF/$APPLOUT directories.

Reviewing active concurrent requests :

This could be done using OAM or running script SQL>@$FND_TOP/sql/afcmrrq

Monitoring pending concurrent requests:

At OAM select “Site Map > Administration > Concurrent Request > Pending Requests menu”

Canceling active concurrent requests :

This could be done using OAM or use TOAD/SQLplus to look for resource intensive SQL session. Killing such session should release pressure on system.

5. Server monitoring:

Make sure Server is accessible, use OS commands to look at CPU/DISK/IO/Memory Utilisation

6. Network monitoring  :

Use “ping” and “tracert“ commands

7. Additional monitoring and troubleshooting

Monitoring configuration issues:
Monitoring database and system backups: Often nightly backups overlap working hours causing database performance issues
Troubleshooting JInitiator :  If users encounter problems running applications on their workstations,try
• Clearing the JAR cache
• Using the Java console

Oracle Applications is installed on the servers of a company and every user from the CEO down to a factory staff is given a user name and password. They use their browsers to connect to the servers in their LAN and typically get a menu called responsibilities to choose from. Once they choose their responsibility, accordingly they get another menu of functions they can perform. For example if it is a Purchasing user, he may be able to create RFQs (Request for quotations), Purchase Requisitions, Purchase Orders, Receive material etc. Hence whatever that is happening at the factory ground needs to be entered in a particular form in APPS. If something is not right, APPS will not allow the process to flow further. Hence mistakes will be arrested at each step. Besides there are dozens of reports in a variety of formats for Business Intelligence and better understanding of what is actually happening for the decision makers.
So now, you understand how Oracle apps is used, but how is it structured?
The following image represents the directory structure of APPS.

The APPL_TOP directory contains all the oracle applications products (modules) folders including the au folder where all all your form binaries or *.fmb files are located.
Now let us look at the logical architecture of Oracle Applications.

Essentially, it is a three-tier architecture, with the end-user located at the Desktop Tier, and the application software(s) and Database installed on the server(s). For ease of maintenance you may find the same physical server hosting the Application and Database tiers.
Each user logs in to Oracle Applications through the E-Business Suite Home Page on a desktop client web browser. The user interface is provided in two ways, either through HTML for the newer HTML-based JSP applications, or through a Java applet in a Web browser for the traditional Forms-based interface.
The Home Page provides a single point of access to HTML-based applications, Forms-based applications, and Business Intelligence applications (like Oracle Discoverer).
The Forms client applet is packaged as a collection of Java Archive (JAR) files. The JAR files contain all Java classes required to run the presentation layer of Oracle Applications forms. The Forms client applet must run within a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) on the desktop client. The Oracle JInitiator component (which needs to be installed on the user machine) allows use of the Oracle JVM on web clients, instead of the browser’s own JVM.

The figure below demonstrates Java Servlet Access with JSP Pages

An HTML-based Applications module uses the following access path:
1. The user clicks the hyperlink of a function from a browser.
2. The browser makes a URL request to the Web listener.
3. The Web listener contacts the Servlet engine (JServ) where it runs a JSP.
4. The JSP obtains the content from the Applications tables and uses information from
the metadata dictionary to construct the HTML page.
5. The resulting HTML page is passed back to the browser, via the Web server.

The figure below explains very well how the forms interface works.

When a user initiates an action in the Forms client applet, such as entering data into a field or clicking a button, data is passed to the Forms server on the application tier. The user interface logic runs in the Forms server, and determines the appropriate user interface effect based on the user’s action. For example, a window may open, or another field value may be populated. If necessary, the database tier is contacted for any data not already cached on the application tier, or for data-intensive processing.

The Databse tier is the core Oracle RDBMS where all the tables, views, packages etc are stored. Different modules are organized into different schemas like PO, INV, GL schemas etc. However the APPS schema is granted all permissions on all oracle applications schemas. The APPS database user is the user user who performs all the database activities for the APPS database.

The following is a brief Guideline on steps to follow to clone you Oracle Applications from PROD to TEST

• log In to PROD Server as applprod user
• go to /applprod/prodappl
• run APPSORA.env
• sqlplus system/manager
• SQL> alter database backup controlfile to trace;
• This will generate a trace file in $ORACLE_HOME//admin/<sid>_<hostname>/udump/*.trc
• Go to above directory
• Run ls – alt
• Find out latest trace file and edit the trace file
  • SID to desired SID (PROD to TEST)
  • Change dbf path accordingly.
• Shutdown database (Shutdown normal both production & test server by using prod_stop.sh , your PROD stop script, and test_stop.sh your TEST stop script, respectively )
• Now ftp to your server as applprod user and download the file from PROD server to Test server in /appltest directory .
• Rename /appltest/testdata directory to /appltest/testdatabk
• Create a new testdata directory in /appltest
• Copy all datafiles, control file etc.of to new /appltest/testdata from PROD
  • (E.g rcp applprod @ ebsnode2:/applprod/proddata/*.dbf) and rename cntrl*.dbf to cntrl*.bak on test server
• Run TEST instance .env file from /appltest/testdb/9.2.0 .
• Now run the edited trace file (this will recreate the TEST database with PROD configuration) (sqlplus /nolog @edited script.sql)
• This will start up TEST oracle database

Change profile_option_values from FND_profile_option_values table

Select * from fnd_concurrent_queues
Where control_code=’N’
Update fnd_concurrent_queues
set target_node=NULL
Table ICX_Parameters set session_cookie= null

Clear concurrent Manager table from toad by using the following commands:

UPDATE fnd_concurrent_processes
SET process_status_code = ‘K’
WHERE process_status_code not in (‘K’, ‘S’);

UPDATE fnd_concurrent_queues
SET running_processes = 0, max_processes = 0;

UPDATE fnd_concurrent_queues
SET control_code = NULL
WHERE control_code not in (‘E’, ‘R’, ‘X’) AND control_code IS NOT NULL;

UPDATE fnd_concurrent_queues
SET target_node = null;

UPDATE fnd_concurrent_requests
SET phase_code = ‘C’, status_code = ‘E’
WHERE status_code =’T’ OR phase_code = ‘R’

• Copy the Server_ID from $FND_TOP/secure/ebsnode1_test.dbc and update the server_id column of FND_NODES table with that. Also change the NODE_NAME = EBSNODE1
• Run the . APPSORA.env from /appltest/testappl directory
• Now run following Java commands from command prompt:

java oracle.apps.fnd.security.AdminAppServer apps/apps AUTHENTICATION OFF DBC=/appltest/testappl/fnd/11.5.0/secure/TEST_ebsnode1/test.dbc
java oracle.apps.fnd.security.AdminAppServer apps/apps AUTHENTICATION OFF DBC=/appltest/testappl/fnd/11.5.0/secure/ebsnode1.<<domain>>_test.dbc
java oracle.apps.fnd.security.AdminAppServer apps/apps AUTHENTICATION OFF DBC=/appltest/testappl/fnd/11.5.0/secure/ebsnode1_test.dbc

• Shutdown the Oracle database.
• Start application by using test_start.sh from /appltest dir
• If anything goes wrong check at http://<domain>:8000/OA_HTML/jsp/fnd/aoljtest.jsp
• Login to Oracle Applications
• Change Profile options from Application –
• System Administrator(Responsibility) Profile-> System-> concurrent: GSM enabled = ‘N’

Original Article hosted here

If you carry Agent auto discovery, the display names cannot be configured.

To configure the display names of the targets in the GRID Control console, the targets must be manually discovered.

If the targets are already added, then they would have to be removed from the console and then added manually:

1) Remove the target from grid control.

Targets > All Targets > Search for the target in question > Select the radio button next to the target and choose Remove.

2) Wait for the delete to be completed.

3) Verify that the delete is complete by connecting to the repository database as the sysman user:

set pages 1000
select * from mgmt_targets_delete;
The DELETE_COMPLETE_TIME must be populated, do not continue until this is populated.

4) Add the new database manually in GC.  This can be done in a couple of places depending on the target type.

Targets > All Targets > Add:

Setup link (Top right of console) > Agent subtab (blue bar across the top of the console) > click on the link for the agent that monitors the target (this goes to the agent homepage) > Add the target here.

If the target is not already in the console, manually using the same steps noted.

rman> shutdown immediate;
rman> startup mount

1. Let’s validate if there is ample of space for backup at Target device type i.e DISK/TAPE

ALLOCATE CHANNEL c1 DEVICE TYPE sbt;

RMAN>
run {
ALLOCATE CHANNEL c1 DEVICE TYPE sbt;
BACKUP VALIDATE DATABASE;
}

allocated channel: c1
channel c1: sid=18 devtype=SBT_TAPE
channel c1: VERITAS NetBackup for Oracle – Release 4.5MP6 (00000000)

Starting backup at 14-JAN-09
channel c1: starting full datafile backupset
channel c1: specifying datafile(s) in backupset

input datafile fno=00010 name=/oradata/oradataTEST/tspace/TESTO5TEST_TESTmes_idx_01.dbf
input datafile fno=00007 name=/oradata/oradataTEST/tspace/TESTO5TEST_TESTtrn_dat_01.dbf
input datafile fno=00009 name=/oradata/oradataTEST/tspace/TESTO5TEST_TESTmes_dat_01.dbf
input datafile fno=00017 name=/oradata/oradataTEST/tspace/TESTO5TEST_TESTtrn_idx_02.dbf
input datafile fno=00019 name=/oradata/oradataTEST/tspace/TESTO5TEST_TESTvch_idx_02.dbf

2. If validate doesn’t return any errors go head with following script to backup entire database.

rman target sys/manager nocatalog

RMAN> shutdown immediate

RMAN> startup mount

RMAN>
run { allocate channel c1 device type disk format ‘%Directory%\backup_db_%d_S_%s_P_%p_T_%t’;
# I need to create a compressed backup set due to lack of drive space.
# The entire database backup was compressed from 77GB to 5GB (10G new feature) so it does work well.
backup as compressed backupset full skip inaccessible
tag rman_backup_Offline_full
filesperset 10
(database include current controlfile);
delete obsolete;
crosscheck backup
}

The primary and standby database have the same filesystem layout, i.e. archive redo is at same place on both servers.

References: Metalink note 150214.1 – Synchronization of primary and standby database due to log transfer gap

Identify the missing log sequence numbers by running this SQL on the STANDBY database:

SQL> select thread#, low_sequence#, high_sequence#  from v$archive_gap;

Identify the filenames of the missing logs by running this SQL on the PRIMARY database:

SQL>SELECT   NAME
FROM   V$ARCHIVED_LOG
WHERE   DEST_ID = 1 AND SEQUENCE# BETWEEN &Low_Sequence AND &High_Sequence;

1. Cancel managed recovery in the STANDBY database

SQL> ALTER DATABASE RECOVER MANAGED STANDBY DATABASE CANCEL;

2. Copy the missing archive redo logs from primary to standby server.

This can be done using any available O/S utility. If you use ftp make sure the transfer is done in binary mode. We assume here that the redo files are going to the same location on the standby server.

3. Recover the STANDBY database

SQL> RECOVER AUTOMATIC STANDBY DATABASE;

When all logs have been applied Oracle will ask for the next, as yet unarchived, redo log. At this point cancel the recovery, e.g.

ORA-00279: change 2668131127884 generated at 12/16/2004 07:45:58 needed forthread 2
ORA-00289: suggestion : /oraarchive/standby/arc2_00000001992.log
ORA-00280: change 2668131127884 for thread 2 is in sequence #1992
ORA-00278: log file ‘/oraarchive/standby/arc2_00000001992.log’no longer needed for this recovery
ORA-00308: cannot open archived log ‘/oraarch01/smp/arch/arc2_00000001992.log’
ORA-27037: unable to obtain file status
Linux Error: 2: No such file or directory
Additional information: 3
Specify log: {<RET>=suggested | filename | AUTO | CANCEL}
CANCEL

4. Put the STANDBY database back into managed recovery mode:

SQL> ALTER DATABASE RECOVER MANAGED STANDBY DATABASE DISCONNECT;

5. Check that the archive redo gaps have been resolved byt running thie SQL on the STANDBY database:

SQL> select thread#, low_sequence#, high_sequence# from v$archive_gap;

Output of Commands

$ export ORACLE_HOME=/opt/oracle/product/oms10g/
$ echo $ORACLE_HOME
/opt/oracle/product/oms10g/

$ /opt/oracle/product/oms10g/opmn/bin/opmnctl status -l

Processes in Instance: EnterpriseManager0.test
-------------------+--------------------+---------+----------+------------+----------+-----------+------
ias-component      | process-type       |     pid | status   |        uid |  memused |    uptime | ports
-------------------+--------------------+---------+----------+------------+----------+-----------+------
DSA                | DSA                |     N/A | Down     |        N/A |      N/A |       N/A | N/A
LogLoader          | logloaderd         |     N/A | Down     |        N/A |      N/A |       N/A | N/A
HTTP_Server        | HTTP_Server        |     749 | Alive    | 1325924656 |   194208 | 123:54:07 | http1:7778,http2:7200,https1:4444,https2:1159,http3:4889
dcm-daemon         | dcm-daemon         |     629 | Alive    | 1325924655 |    24956 | 123:54:39 | N/A
OC4J               | home               |   23906 | Alive    | 1325924658 |    33148 | 121:24:21 | ajp:12502,rmi:12402,jms:12602
OC4J               | OC4J_EMPROV        |   23907 | Alive    | 1325924659 |    57724 | 121:24:21 | ajp:12503,rmi:12403,jms:12603
OC4J               | OC4J_EM            |   12150 | Alive    | 1325924667 |   242044 | 1193:01:~ | ajp:12501,rmi:12401,jms:12601
WebCache           | WebCache           |   23908 | Alive    | 1325924660 |   106924 | 121:24:21 | http:7777,invalidation:9401,statistics:9402
WebCache           | WebCacheAdmin      |   23909 | Alive    | 1325924661 |    15652 | 121:24:21 | administration:9400

$ opmnctl status

Processes in Instance: EnterpriseManager0.test
-------------------+--------------------+---------+---------
ias-component      | process-type       |     pid | status
-------------------+--------------------+---------+---------
DSA                | DSA                |     N/A | Down
LogLoader          | logloaderd         |     N/A | Down
HTTP_Server        | HTTP_Server        |     749 | Alive
dcm-daemon         | dcm-daemon         |     629 | Alive
OC4J               | home               |   23906 | Alive
OC4J               | OC4J_EMPROV        |   23907 | Alive
OC4J               | OC4J_EM            |   12150 | Alive
WebCache           | WebCache           |   23908 | Alive
WebCache           | WebCacheAdmin      |   23909 | Alive

To Start and stop individual ias components use :  opmnctl startproc ias-component=OC4J (See IAS-Component Above)

To Start and stop individual processes use :  opmnctl startproc process-type=OC4J_EMPROV (See Process-Type Above)

$ /opt/oracle/product/oms10g/opmn/bin/opmnctl stopall

opmnctl: stopping opmn and all managed processes...
================================================================================
opmn id=test:6201
    5 of 6 processes stopped. ias-instance id=EnterpriseManager0.test
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ias-component/process-type/process-set:
    OC4J/OC4J_EM/default_island

Error
--> Process (pid=12150)
    time out while waiting for a managed process to stop
    Log:
    /opt/oracle/product/oms10g/opmn/logs/OC4J~OC4J_EM~default_island~1
opmnctl: graceful stop of processes failed, trying forceful shutdown...

$ opmnctl status

Unable to connect to opmn.
Opmn may not be up.

$ opmnctl  startall

opmnctl: starting opmn and all managed processes...
================================================================================
opmn id=test:6201
    5 of 6 processes started.

ias-instance id=EnterpriseManager0.Test
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ias-component/process-type/process-set:
    OC4J/OC4J_EM/default_island

Error
--> Process (pid=6900)
    failed to start a managed process after the maximum retry limit
    Log:
    /opt/oracle/product/oms10g/opmn/logs/OC4J~OC4J_EM~default_island~1

If “opmnctl startall” fails use “ias-component” and “process-type” to start individual components

$ opmnctl startproc ias-component=OC4J

opmnctl: starting opmn managed processes...
================================================================================
opmn id=Test:6201
    0 of 1 processes started.

ias-instance id=EnterpriseManager0.Test
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
ias-component/process-type/process-set:
    OC4J/OC4J_EM/default_island

Error
--> Process (pid=20563)
    failed to start a managed process after the maximum retry limit
    Log:
    /opt/oracle/product/oms10g/opmn/logs/OC4J~OC4J_EM~default_island~1

$ opmnctl status

Processes in Instance: EnterpriseManager0.Test
-------------------+--------------------+---------+---------
ias-component      | process-type       |     pid | status
-------------------+--------------------+---------+---------
DSA                | DSA                |     N/A | Down
LogLoader          | logloaderd         |     N/A | Down
HTTP_Server        | HTTP_Server        |    4750 | Alive
dcm-daemon         | dcm-daemon         |     N/A | Down
OC4J               | home               |    4752 | Alive
OC4J               | OC4J_EMPROV        |    4751 | Alive
OC4J               | OC4J_EM            |     N/A | Down
WebCache           | WebCache           |    4754 | Alive
WebCache           | WebCacheAdmin      |    4755 | Alive

Processes in Instance: EnterpriseManager0.o2hp127
-------------------+--------------------+---------+---------
ias-component      | process-type       |     pid | status
-------------------+--------------------+---------+---------
DSA                | DSA                |     N/A | Down
LogLoader          | logloaderd         |     N/A | Down
HTTP_Server        | HTTP_Server        |   27225 | Alive
dcm-daemon         | dcm-daemon         |     N/A | Down
OC4J               | home               |   27230 | Alive
OC4J               | OC4J_EMPROV        |   27226 | Alive
OC4J               | OC4J_EM            |   27227 | Alive
WebCache           | WebCache           |   27228 | Alive
WebCache           | WebCacheAdmin      |   27229 | Alive

When troubleshooting problems in the Grid Control framework, it is important to remember that Grid Control is a J2EE application deployed to the Oracle Application Server 10gJ2EE and Web Cache installation using an Oracle database as a repository.When faced with a problem, first localize the problem to the affected component Troubleshooting the OMR Troubleshooting the OMS Troubleshooting the OMA

1. Troubleshooting the OMR ( Repository/Database )

Connectivity: Access to the OMR is through the database listener. Please locate listener log file at ORACLE_HOME/network/log. The log file contains record of every connection and connection request received by the listener. Listener errors are recorded in the log file with a TNS-xxxxx format. If necessary, enable tracing for listener to record more diagnostic information. Trace files for the listener can be found in ORACLE_HOME/network/trace

Availability: If OMR database is unavailable for some other reason, check database alert log and trace files to determine the root cause.

Space usage: Space problems may occur in the OMR database if the OMR tablespaces are unable to accept new information due to lack of free space in the data files.

Performance: OMR database performance problems will normally trigger Grid Control alerts as metric threshold values are crossed.

2. Troubleshooting the OMS ( Management Service )

OMS log files are produced for – 1> Oracle Web Cache, 2> Oracle HTTP Server, 3>  Oracle Application Server Containers for J2EE, and 4> the Oracle Process Monitor and Notification subcomponents.

1> Oracle Web Cache

Log files may be found in ORACLE_HOME/webcache/logs.

There are two key log files for Web Cache: the access_log (which records every connection to the Web Cache) and the event_log (which contains data about Web Cache availability and errors).

2> The Oracle HTTP Server

provides the access_log and error_log in ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Apache/logs. As with Web Cache, the access_log can grow very large and is therefore “rotated” every 12 hours. Older logs are preserved in ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Apache/logs.

3> Oracle Application Server Containers

For J2EE for generated log files for Grid Control may be found in ORACLE_HOME/j2ee/OC4J_EM/log/OC4J_EM_default_island_1. OC4J generates several log files that provide diagnostic information, including:

default-web-access.log:

Contains information about each request received by the component. Information includes the IP address of the requester, date and time of the request, the URL that was specified in the request, and the result code. All requests should come from the OHS; all result codes should indicate success (200). This information is valuable when troubleshooting connection difficulties between the OHS and OC4J.

em-application.log:

Contains information about all events, errors, and exceptions associated with the EM application. This is excellent information for troubleshooting Java errors.

global-application.log:

Contains information about events, errors, and exceptions relating to the OC4J JVM that are not specific to the EM application. This is also a good source of information for troubleshooting Java errors.

server.log:

Includes availability information for the OC4J_EM component, including start and stop times.

4> Oracle Process Monitor and Notification (OPMN) system provides logs for each of the OMS components in ORACLE_HOME/opmn/logs. Key log files include:

HTTP_Server: In cases where the OHS will not start, this log file often contains pertinent error messages that can help diagnose the problem.

OC4J~OC4J_EM~default_island~1: Contains any errors received while starting the OC4J_EM component. This can be helpful in troubleshooting Java errors and global configuration problems.

3.  Troubleshooting the OMA ( Management Agent )

Connectivity between the OMA and OMS: When a single management agent is unable to connect to the OMS, the problem will normally be found on the OMA’s server. If multiple agents are unable to connect, the problem may lie with the OMS or underlying network. Check AGENT_HOME/sysman/config/emd.properties and verify that the repository URL is correct.

Ensure you can ping the host identified as the repository URL. attempt to telnet to the OMS host.

Upload throughput as the OMA reports information on metric targets through the OMS to the OMR: OMA logs may be found in AGENT_HOME/sysman/log. OMA upload errors are recorded in AGENT_HOME/sysman/log/emdctl.trc.

Target discovery as new targets are added to a server: Use emctl config listtargets or check AGENT_HOME/sysman/emd/targets.xml to determine which targets are monitored by the agent. Remember to make a backup copy of the targets.xml file prior to any modifications. Errors with target discovery will be reported in AGENT_HOME/sysman/log/agentca.log.

I was trying to execute following SQL through client side tools and found network delays were contributing to the SQl execution times. This SQL normally returns in less than 50 millisec and now taking more than 700 Msec. I am addicted to TOAD -TORA GUI created Execution plans and was looking for a an easy way to get execution times as well as plans on sqlplus. Here is how you do it .

SQLPLUS> set autotrace on; – Will display formatted explain plan

SQLPLUS> set timing on;
– Oracle will automatically display the elapsed wall-clock time for each SQL command you run subsequently.
– The format is HH:MM:SS.hundredths of a second for example 00:00:00.81 is .81 seconds

If you get error like “PLAN_TABLE not found” use $ORACLE_HOME/utlxplan to create PLAN_TABLE and pass on access to relevant user.

SQLPLUS> set autotrace on;
SQLPLUS> set timing on;
SQL> select count(*) from voucher;

COUNT(*)
———-
144189820

Elapsed: 00:01:55.05 format is HH:MM:SS.hundredths of a second

Execution Plan
———————————————————-
0      SELECT STATEMENT Optimizer=FIRST_ROWS (Cost=3 Card=1)
1    0   SORT (AGGREGATE)
2    1     INDEX (FAST FULL SCAN) OF ‘VOUCHER_P0001001’ (UNIQUE) (Cost=3 Card=126665996)

Statistics
———————————————————-
0  recursive calls
0  db block gets
622158  consistent gets
621830  physical reads
0  redo size
522  bytes sent via SQL*Net to client
651  bytes received via SQL*Net from client
2  SQL*Net roundtrips to/from client
0  sorts (memory)
0  sorts (disk)
1  rows processed

PLAN_TABLE is the default table for results of the EXPLAIN PLAN statement. It is created by $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/utlxplan.sql, and it contains one row for each step in the execution plan.

For 10G:

create table PLAN_TABLE (
statement_id varchar2(30),
plan_id number,
timestamp date,
remarks varchar2(4000),
operation varchar2(30),
options varchar2(255),
object_node varchar2(128),
object_owner varchar2(30),
object_name varchar2(30),
object_alias varchar2(65),
object_instance numeric,
object_type varchar2(30),
optimizer varchar2(255),
search_columns number,
id numeric,
parent_id numeric,
depth numeric,
position numeric,
cost numeric,
cardinality numeric,
bytes numeric,
other_tag varchar2(255),
partition_start varchar2(255),
partition_stop varchar2(255),
partition_id numeric,
other long,
distribution varchar2(30),
cpu_cost numeric,
io_cost numeric,
temp_space numeric,
access_predicates varchar2(4000),
filter_predicates varchar2(4000),
projection varchar2(4000),
time numeric,
qblock_name varchar2(30)
);

For last many years I worked for number of clients using all sort of latest technologies. One of my duties was tuning and monitoring system performance which formed part of Capacity planning. I have been using number of tools and when I saw 10G grid first time I could see a real way forward where a database technology could work towards client needs to deliver end result.

There is an ever increasing trend on companies using managed service contract for Database and Application support. The Billing for these services is derived from time spent on fixing problems/issues. For every managed service contract you have to use case management tools like Remedy,Clarify, Hp Openview . These tools raise work cases on a specific event and could be tracked up and down different departments responsible for an activity.

Also a tool like 10G grid needs to be capable monitoring range of other systems like Sybase,SQL Server,Mysql , SAN file systems.

The initial version of 10g grid was not capable of working with case management tools or monitoring heterogeneous systems  and as a result 10g grid pick up was slow by most companies. But now Oracle have released following  connectors to liaise with these systems.

• Login to grid control using sysman or any admin user and click on deployments tab

• Scroll down at same screen and click on “Install Agent” under “Agent Installation” section

• Select “Fresh Install” at this screen

• At this screen select Client platform, Agent version, Installation Base Directory, OS Credentials

• Scroll down to Management Server Security section and specify registration password. Providing password will configure the agents to run in secure mode after installation.

• Click on Continue. Grid will start installing an agent at Target after initial checks.

Once installed make sure Agent is running at Target and locate it at grid control

Agent Deploy Log Files

Advantages of using grid control to schedule jobs

• Could be run against multiple targets at any given time
• Run a job immediately or repeatedly on a schedule
• Could be submitted against number of targets
• Could be shared using job library

1. View Jobs at Grid Control:

Login at Grid and click on Top tab –> Jobs –> Click on “Job Library” option to view number of jobs.

To see activity of job click on “Job Activity”

2. Create a new Job : I often see massive trace files consuming disk space. I will “create a dbms job to delete bdump trace files” (*.trc) older than 7 days i.e “find /opt/oracle/admin/repAAA/bdump -type f -mtime +7 -exec rm -f {} \;”

Select “Create Library Job”  -> “OS command” and hit <Go>

Add Description of a Job like “Delete udump trace files”

Add OS command at COMMAND box  “find /opt/oracle/admin/repAAA/bdump -type f -mtime +7 -exec rm -f {} \;”.  I selected “Single Operation” as it is a single UNIX command to delete files. If you have a UNIX script then please make sure you select Script at a dropdown box.

Enter OS credentials for a Target System

Add a schedule on what times you want to run “command/script”.

Now select “Save to Library” from right hand top menu.

Click on Database Tab at grid Control

Scroll down at database page and select “Metric and Policy Settings” under “Related Links”

Please select Metric you want to alter and click “OK”