Oracle Apps DBA R12.2.x Interview Questions and Answers

 1. What is Online Patching?

Ans: Online patching is a new patching mechanism that is available with R12.2 that allows the application of patches while the system is up and running, and the users are working as normal.

2. Which Oracle E-Business Suite releases Online Patching feature is available?

Ans: Online patching is used with Oracle E-Business Suite 12.2 and higher.

3. What types of patch are applied online?

Ans: All Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2 patches are applied online. This includes one-off patches, patch rollups, consolidated updates and security patches.

4. What is the Online Patching cycle?

Ans: The Online Patching cycle is a sequence of inter-related steps (phases) used to apply patches to an Oracle E-Business Suite system.

5. What tool is used to apply online patches?

Ans: The AD Online Patching (adop) command-line utility is used to manage the Online Patching cycle.adop invokes adpatch is the background only

6: Is there any downtime in Online Patching?

Ans: There is a short period of downtime when the application tier services are shut down and restarted. The database remains open all the time.

7 Once I upgrade to Release 12.2, can I still apply patches in the traditional way?

Ans: No. All patches for Release 12.2 will be online patches. The traditional, pre-12.2 method of applying patches will not work.There are option like downtime and hotpatch which works more like traditional way but they are used for patches directed by Oracle

8. What is the Online Patching infrastructure?

Ans:This infrastructure includes database objects edition and patch/run file system components.

9. Does Online Patching require the 11gR2 Oracle Database Edition Based Redefinition (EBR) feature?

An: Yes. Online patching depends on the Edition Based Redefinition (EBR) feature that was introduced in the Oracle 11gR2 Database. Most notably, EBR allows editioning of code objects in the database. To do this, it provides new object types such as editions, editioning views, and cross-edition triggers, all of which are part of the Online Patching infrastructure.

10. What are the phases that make up the Online Patching cycle?

Ans: The Online Patching cycle consists of the following phases:

1.Prepare a virtual copy (patch edition) of the running application (run edition).

2.Apply patches to the patch edition of the application.

3.Finalize the system in readiness for the cutover phase.

4.Cutover to the patch edition and make it the new run edition.

5.Cleanup obsolete definitions or data to recover space.

11.What downtime is required during an Online Patching cycle? or as the name spells     online,there is not downtime in the whole process?

Ans: The cutover phase requires a short period of downtime (typically a few minutes) for transition tasks such as a restart of the application tier services.

12. Is any downtime required for the database tier?

Ans: No. In fact, the database needs to be up and running during each phase of the Online Patching cycle. Suite database.

13. How does Online Patching work on the application tier?

Ans: During Release 12.2 installation, Rapid Install will lay down two copies of the application tier file system. One of the copies will be labeled as the run file system, and the other as the patch file system. Subsequently, when a patch is applied, adop will:

1).Synchronize the contents of the run file system to the patch file system. This happens during the prepare phase.

2).Perform patching actions on the patch file system. This happens during the apply phase.

3).Finally, during the cutover phase, the adop utility restarts the application tier services. The patch file system is then promoted to be the new run file system, and the old run file system becomes the patch file system for the next patching cycle.

Note that a third file system, the non-editioned file system (fs_ne), is created to store files containing data that is needed across all file systems,such as log files.

14. How do I apply Oracle Fusion Middle-ware patches in Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2?

Ans: During the apply phase of an Online Patching cycle, you apply Oracle Fusion Middle-ware patches to the Oracle homes of the patch edition file system. Then, after the cut over phase is complete, you synchronize the file systems by performing an fs_clone operation. (Also see My Oracle Support Knowledge Document 1355068.1, as listed in Appendix A.)

15. Can I use the patch edition for testing and development purposes?

Ans: As a specialized component of the Online Patching infrastructure, the patch edition is not supported for use as a test environment. You should continue to employ a separate, dedicated test environment.

16.Can Online Patching be used with database technologies such as Active Dataguard and Flashback?

Ans:Yes. Online patching can be used alongside Active Dataguard and Flashback. In fact we can use flashback to rollback the changes after the final cutover

17. What are the key differences between the DBA_OBJECTS, DBA_OBJECTS_AE, and AD_OBJECTS tables?

Ans: DBA_OBJECTS shows object information for the current edition, but the STATUS column in this view may show the object as VALID even if the object actually needs to be compiled before use.

DBA_OBJECTS_AE is similar to DBA_OBJECTS, but shows object information across all editions. This has the drawback of showing objects in old editions that are no longer accessible to the application.

AD_OBJECTS is the Oracle E-Business Suite workaround to the unreliable STATUS column in DBA_OBJECTS. AD_OBJECTS shows the correct status for each object visible in the current edition. It also shows whether the object is “actual” (a real object) in the current edition, or a “stub” object (the object definition was inherited from a previous edition). You can query AD_OBJECTS to locate objects that need to be recompiled before use:

SQL>select owner, object_name, object_type from ad_objects where status = ‘INVALID’

order by 1,2,3

/

The same logic can be applied by running the script:

SQL>sqlplus apps/apps @$AD_TOP/sql/ADZDSHOWINVALID

18. Does Online Patching increase the network port requirements on an Oracle E-Business Suite instance?

Ans: Yes. Online patching requires an additional set of network ports for the Oracle WebLogic Server managed servers on the second file system. During the cutover phase, the managed servers run simultaneously on the patch file system and run file system for a brief period, in a rolling transition process.

19. Is it possible to abort an Online Patching session?

Ans: Yes. Up to cutover, you can run the abort phase to undo the changes made so far in the patching cycle. It is not possible to back out patches once cutover is complete.

20. Is the shared APPL_TOP configuration supported with Online Patching?

Ans: Yes. A shared APPL_TOP configuration is supported and recommended for multi-node application tier implementations in Release 12.2.

21. How does adop work in a multi-node environment?

Ans: The adop Online Patching tool uses remote APIs and ssh login to execute patching operations on remote nodes in a multi-node environment. The node that launches adop becomes the ‘master’ node, and the remote nodes are referred to as ‘slaves’.

22. How do I determine the status of my Online Patching session?

Ans: You can run the adop -status command. This will display information that includes phases completed and the time taken. If you want additional details of operations performed, you can run the adop -status -detail command.

23. What is downtime mode and when can it be used?

Ans: To optimize the process of upgrading to E-Business Suite Release 12.2, the AD Delta 5 Release Update Pack introduced downtime mode, which is used as follows:

$ adop phase=apply patches=<patch_number> apply_mode=downtime

Downtime mode does not use an online patching cycle. The process of applying a patch in downtime mode completes more quickly than in online mode, but at the cost of increased system downtime.

When applying Oracle E-Business Suite patches in this mode, adop will first confirm that the application tier services are down, and will then proceed to apply the patch to the run edition of the Oracle E-Business Suite database and file system.

Downtime mode is supported for:

-All patching (including post-upgrade patching) that forms part of the Release 12.2 upgrade process and is completed before the system is scaled up, the application tier services are started, and users log in to the upgraded system.

-Single-node development or test environments, where production support and high availability are not required.

Downtime mode allows the 12.2 upgrade process to be completed as quickly as possible. Once the upgrade is complete and users are online, all subsequent patching on a production system should use online mode, not downtime mode, unless the patch readme states otherwise.

Several restrictions apply to the use of downtime mode:

-You cannot validate successful patch application before cutover to the updated code takes place.

-There is no capability to abort a failed patch and return to the existing run edition.

-Release 12.2 patches are not normally tested in downtime mode.

-Use of downtime mode in a multi-node application tier environment is not tested or supported.

24. What can I do to reduce the time required for cutover?

Ans: It is important to distinguish between the time needed for the whole cutover phase, and the downtime period within the phase. The actual downtime (during which users cannot log in) is significantly shorter than the whole phase. To help reduce the overall time taken by cutover, you can do three things:

-Run the finalize phase explicitly, to obviate the need for cut over to do so.

-Shut down the concurrent managers before running cut over, to avoid having to wait for concurrent requests to complete. Alternatively, ensure no long-running concurrent jobs are submitted while a patching cycle is in progress.

-Ensure you are using the maximum number of parallel workers your system will support.

25. What is fs_clone and how is it used?

Ans: The command adop phase=fs_clone is a special command that is used to copy the run file system to the patch file system. Also see previous question.

26. Will AutoConfig and adadmin maintenance tasks such as adrelink,forms compilation,report compilation be performed online?

Ans: Yes, these maintenance tasks will be performed online. The relevant operations will be targeted to the patch file system, and should be performed during a patching cycle. They will not have any impact on the run file system.

27. Does Online Patching change the way data fix patches are applied to Oracle E-Business Suite 12.2?

Ans: Yes. Data fix patches (used to fix transactional data) require special handling. The patch readme will give full instructions.

28. How do I apply or patch my customizations in Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2?

Ans: You should apply your customizations to the patch edition during the apply phase of the Online Patching cycle. Because this happens prior to the cutover phase, your changes will be propagated to the new run edition (along with all the fixes in the patches applied during the patching cycle).

29. If custom code is installed on a separate database schema, do I have to edition-enable my custom database schema?

Ans: The coding standards in the Oracle E-Business Suite Developer’s Guide state that the first step to any custom application development is to register the custom Oracle schema with the Oracle E-Business Suite applications. The Online Patching enablement patch enables edition on all the schemas registered with the application. If you follow this process, your schema will be edition-enabled automatically.

30. Are there any special considerations for creating custom patches that are compliant with Online Patching?

Ans: Yes. There are some special considerations for creating custom patches that are compliant with Online Patching. Refer to the Patching Standards section of Oracle E-Business Suite Developer’s Guide.

31: How is a non Oracle E-Business Suite database schema able to access the Oracle E-Business Suite tables?

Ans: Any third-party schema, either from third-party products or custom code, must access Oracle E-Business Suite tables via the synonyms in the APPS schema. Direct access to Oracle E-Business Suite tables may produce incorrect results.

32: What are the main technological difference between R12.2 and R12.1

Ans: R12.2 uses weblogic while R12.1 uses OC4J. Apart from that we have online patching feature in r12.2 using edition and patch/run file system

33: How to change the apps password in R12.2?

Ans: apps password is same as R12.1 with the exception of changing that in weblogic console also.

34: where are the log files stored for adop?

Ans: It is stored in the third filesystem which is non edition filesystem

35. how do you connect to the patch edition?

Ans: Source the env using patch option

/u71/R122/EBSapps.env patch

36: How to determine the web logic version in R12.2

Ans: After Logging into the application set the environment to RUN Filesystem

. /u01/oracle/R122/EBSapps.env run

Then, cat $FMW_HOME/wlserver_10.3/.product.properties | grep WLS_PRODUCT_VERSION

You will get Below Output:

WLS_PRODUCT_VERSION=10.3.6.0

To find the FMW version Oracle E-Business Suite Component Version on R12.2

$export ORACLE_HOME=/u01/oracle/R122/fs1/FMW_Home/Oracle_EBS-app1

./opatch lsinv

You will get below Output

Oracle E-Business Suite Component 11.1.1.6.0

Addidtion Info

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

Oracle WebLogic Server 10.3.6 in Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.6)

Oracle Fusion Middleware

10.3.6 WebLogic Server (WLS)

11.1.1.6 OHS (WebTier)

37. How to add and delete the manage node in R12.2?

Ans:  I was working on R12.2 Test env and I was supposed to decrease the JVM for the oacore(delete the manage server)

The procedure to increase or decrease JVM was quite simple in R12.1.X.  In Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12, the oacore, oafm, forms and forms-c4ws services were deployed as applications on OC4J instances and were managed by Oracle Process Manager (OPMN).So we just need to increase the numprocs in opmn.xml  and start the services or run autoconfig with decrease numprocs in Context file

I came to know it is quite different in R12.2.X as  Oracle WebLogic Server has replaced OC4J in Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2, these services are now deployed as applications on individual managed servers.

Only part of the configuration of these applications and managed servers is still managed via AutoConfig.Rest of things need to done quite different

I have already explained on how to add manage server in my previous post

How to add the manage server in R12.2

In the below, I would be explaining what I learned from that experience and How to delete the manage server in R12.2.  I will particularly taking the example of oacore

Steps on How to delete the manage server in R12.2

Deletion of managed servers needs to be done on the run file system when there is no active ADOP cycle. During the next adop prepare, the Configuration Change Detector identifies that the addition has been made and the managed servers are automatically synced up from the run file system to the patch file system. The synchronization also gets done when fs_clone is executed.

2. If the managed server to be deleted is running, shut it down as follows:

On UNIX:

$ sh <ADMIN_SCRIPTS_HOME>/admanagedsrvctl.sh stop <MANAGED SERVER NAME>

For example, before deleting a managed server ‘oacore_server2’, execute the following command to shut it down.$ sh <ADMIN_SCRIPTS_HOME>/admanagedsrvctl.sh stop oacore_server2

3. Run the command below on the application tier node where the managed server resides. This will delete the managed server, and also update the respective context variables that contain references to the deleted managed server.

$ perl <AD_TOP>/patch/115/bin/adProvisionEBS.pl \

ebs-delete-managedserver \

-contextfile=<CONTEXT_FILE> -managedsrvname=<MANAGED_SERVER_NAME> \

-servicetype=<SERVICE_TYPE> -logfile=<LOGFILE>

For example, for deleting a managed server ‘oacore_server2’ of type ‘oacore’, execute the following command:$ perl <AD_TOP>/patch/115/bin/adProvisionEBS.pl \

ebs-delete-managedserver \

-contextfile=<CONTEXT_FILE> -managedsrvname=oacore_server2 \

-servicetype=oacore -logfile=<APPLRGF>/TXK/delMS_oacoreserver2.log

4. Perform the following steps on all application tier nodes participating in the same cluster as the deleted managed server:

(a) Source the run file system.

(b) If the deleted managed server is part of the cluster configuration defined on the current node, execute the following command to delete details of the managed server from the OHS configuration files mod_wl_ohs.conf and apps.conf on the current node:

$ perl <FND_TOP>/patch/115/bin/txkSetAppsConf.pl \

-contextfile=<CONTEXT_FILE> \

-configoption=removeMS \

-oacore=<host>.<domain>:<port> \

-oafm=<host>.<domain>:<port> \

-forms=<host>.<domain>:<port> \

-formsc4ws=<host>.<domain>:<port> \

-ekanban=<host>.<domain>:<port> \

-accessgate=<host>.<domain>:<port> \

-yms=<host>.<domain>:<port>where¦The argument contextfile accepts the complete path to the context file.

¦The arguments oacore, oafm, forms, formsc4ws, ekanban, accessgate and yms accept a comma-separated list of managed server details in the following format:

<host>.<domain>:<port> ¦host, domain and port are the hostname, domain and port of the managed server whose reference is to be deleted.

For example, to remove references of the deleted managed server oacore_server2 with port 9705 on host ‘myserver’ and domain ‘go.com’, the following command should be executed:

$ perl <FND_TOP>/patch/115/bin/txkSetAppsConf.pl -contextfile=<CONTEXT_FILE> \

-configoption=removeMS -oacore=myserver.go.com:9705

3. If Oracle HTTP Server is enabled on the node, restart it as follows:

On UNIX:

$ sh <ADMIN_SCRIPTS_HOME>/adapcctl.sh stop

$ sh <ADMIN_SCRIPTS_HOME>/adapcctl.sh start

As I told earliar ,the steps are very different from R12.1.X  in R12.2.X.

38. Where are the log file located in R12.2 Apache and Weblogic?

Ans: Apache Logs

$IAS_ORACLE_HOME/instances/*/diagnostics/logs/OHS/EBS_web_*/*log

OPMN Log

$IAS_ORACLE_HOME/instances/*/diagnostics/logs/OPMN/opmn/*

Weblogic Logs

$IAS_ORACLE_HOME/../wlserver_10.3/common/nodemanager $EBS_DOMAIN_HOME/servers/oa*/logs/*

$EBS_DOMAIN_HOME/servers/forms*/logs/*

$EBS_DOMAIN_HOME/servers/AdminServer/logs/*

$EBS_DOMAIN_HOME/sysman/log/*

39. How to stop and start the services in R12.2

Ans: When we want to stop all application services using script adstpall.sh , we provide apps password in R12.1.3.But in R12.2 it will ask weblogic admin password in addition to bring down to all services .

We need to provide Weblogic admin password

Component                                                             Command

Node Manager                                       $adnodemgrctl.sh start Enter Weblogic Admin Password:

Weblogic Admin Server                               $adadminsrvctl.sh start Enter Weblogic Admin Password:

Application Listener                               $adalnctl.sh start

Oracle Process Manager                                $adopmnctl.sh start

Apache Services                                       $adapcctl.sh start

Managed Server for OACORE Services     $admanagedsrvctl.sh start oacore_server1 Enter Weblogic Admin Password:

Managed Server for FormsServices      $admanagedsrvctl.sh start forms_server1 Enter Weblogic Admin Password:

Managed Server for Fusion MiddleWare  Services $admanagedsrvctl.sh start oafm_server1 Enter Weblogic Admin Password:

Managed Server for Forms web  Services $admanagedsrvctl.sh start forms-c4ws_server1 EnterWeblogic Admin Password:

Concurrent Manager Service                        $adcmctl.sh start apps/apps

Fullfillment Serer Services                         $jtffmctl.sh start

40. Do we need to copy the Oracle fusion middleware in R12.2 cloning?

Ans: It is not required in R12.2 cloning as adpreclone copies the Oracle fusion middle in compressed format on the application tier

41.  What is domain in Web Logic?

Ans: Domain is logical grouping of resources and services and consist of Administration Server, Managed Server and cluster.  There can only be one administration Server in domain and zero to N Managed Server.

Note: Before creating domains let us understand Domain, Administration Server, Managed Server and Cluster in Oracle Web Logic. How to create basic Domain (Administration Server only) and Domain with Managed Server Cluster (one Administration Server and two Managed Server in cluster) using Configuration Manager.

42. What is Administration Server?

Ans: Administration Server is WebLogic Server instance that maintains configuration data for a domain. You can deploy your application on administration Server but it is recommended to create managed Server and deploy your application in managed server and leave Administration domain for configuration and maintenance.

—There will always be at least one Administration Server in a domain.

43. What is Managed Server?

Ans: Any WebLogic Server instance apart from Administration Server is called as Managed Servers. This is weblogic server where you deploy your application (Though you can deploy your application in Administration server as well but it is not recommended in production/UAT instance)

44. What is Cluster in WebLogic ?

Ans: Group of WebLogic Managed Server Instances that work together to provide high availability and scalability for applications is called cluster. WebLogic Servers with in cluster can run on same machine or different machines. These are also called as managed Server cluster.

45. Things you should know before creating domain in WebLogic Server ?

Ans: You use configuration wizard to create or extend domain but this can be used only in offline mode (when weblogic server is not running)

— You can also use WLST (WebLogic Scripting Tool), command line tool to create and extend domains in WebLogic Server.

— You can also use unpack command to create new domain. This command can’t be used to extend domain.

— Extending a domain means, you already created domain and now wish to extend it (use more application, add managed server, create cluster…)

— Configuration wizard can be run in Graphical Mode (interactive GUI) or Console Mode (interactive text based)

— For silent mode use WLST (WebLogic Scripting Tool)

— While creating domain you specify Startup Mode (Development or Production). In development mode, you get autodeploy option and security is low. In production mode you need username/password to deploy applications.

— When you create domain, it creates following directories

i) autodeploy ii) bin iii) config (config.xml for domain sits here)  iv) console-ext v) lib vi) security vii) servers

–You use config.cmd (windows) or config.sh (unix) from $BEA_HOME/ wlserver_<ver>/ common/ bin to start configuration manager to create domain

- Below Flowchart (image from Oracle Documentation) displays steps to create domain.

Patch Application Assistant (admsi.pl) in Oracle Apps R12

PAA (Patch Application Assistant) is tool/Perl script to generate customized installation instructions for a patch in Oracle Applications R12 which helps user totrack and perform manual steps during patching.

1. admsi.pl is under $AD_TOP/bin

2. You can run admsi.pl (Patch Application Assistant) in two mode
i) GUI (Graphical User Interface)
ii) CLI (Command Line Interface)

3. Once you complete manual steps as instructed in PAA report, you can record that step as completed.

.
How to Run PAA (Patch Application Assistant) in R12
1.Source environment file i.e. $ORACLE_R12_BASE/ apps/ apps_st/ appl/ APPS[SID]_[hostname].env

2.Run PAA using admsi.pl in either CLI or GUI

2.1 CLI

perl admsi.pl -patch_top=[patch-top-directory]-appspass=[apps-password]

For example to generate PAA report for 12.0.6 patch (6728000) run it as  

perl $AD_TOP/bin/admsi.pl -patch_top=/stage/ oracle/ patches/ r12/ 6728000 -appspass=apps

Gathering Information..
Logfile for this session is located at admsi.log
Generating installation instructions for patch 6728000..
Updating database….
install_6728000.html generated successfully
install_6728000.txt generated successfully

Now view report (text or html format) containing manual steps for 12.0.6

 .

2.2 GUI

 Invoke PAA in GUI by running admsi.pl as shown below

3. Once you get list of manual steps, follow instructions in report
4. Apply apps patches using AUTOPATCH utility (adpatch)

Source : http://onlineappsdba.com/index.php/2008/11/11/admsipl-patch-application-tool-in-oracle-apps-r12/

Clearing JSP cache in R12 (s_jsp_main_mode)

There is a change in the default behaviour of handling JSP cache
in R12 as opposed to 11i. Remember, JSPs were handled by Apache
Jserv engine in 11i and is being handled by OC4J (10.1.3 AS) in R12.

In 11i, when we clear cache ($COMMON_TOP/_pages) and try to
access JSP pages, it gets automatically recompiled. However, this
is not the case in R12 by default.

So, in an R12 instance, if you clear _pages and restart apache,
you will only get a blank screen since AppsLocalLogin.jsp wouldn’t
get compiled by default. You will not even see a new _pages directory.

To overcome this, as per Oracle, whenever JSP cache is cleared, we have to run
“ojspcompile.pl” to recompile ALL jsp pages in the Application.
This will take roughly around 15 to 20 mts. However, in the real world
(atleast in the pre-production stage) this is not affordable.

The solution to this is to change the XML file parameter
s_jsp_main_mode to a value of “recompile” from the default value of
“justrun” and run autoconfig. JSP pages will be recompiled automatically
after this change.

Source : http://oraclepitstop.wordpress.com

How to clear cache for a specific component in R12?

As we all know the normal tendency for clearing cache in Oracle Apps is to delete the $COMMON_TOP/_pages directory. In 11i, after deleting we dont have to recompile the jsps but in R12 we have to recompile the pages since s_jsp_main_mode is set to justrun by default which is in turn updated in orion-web.xml. Click here for more info.

Ok coming to this post, how can i clear cache for a specific component of Oracle Apps R12 viz., iprocurement, istore etc., Is this even possible ? Yes it is and this option comes handy when somebody modifies a jsp page which is part of say istore, then it makes sense to clear cache for istore and not for the whole server.

Clearing cache for specific Component/Application in R12

Login as sysadmin
Select “Functional Administrator” responsibility
Go to Core Services ==> Caching Framework ==> Tuning
Query the application (for example iStore) or by Name or code.
Select the component and clear the cache.

Note: For some specific configuration changes, we need to bounce Apache also.

Clearing Global Cache in R12

a) Go to Functional Administrator Responsibility
b) Go to Core Services ==> Caching Framework
c) Go to Global configuration and clear all the cache from there.(Only If you want to clear all the  cache)

Source : http://oraclepitstop.wordpress.com

Apps 11i Components are replaced by Apps R12

Do we have mod_plsql,jserv,reports server in R12 ?

mod_plsql :

Mod_plsql is an Apache web server extension that can be used to develop web application pages using Server PL/SQL.
Unlike Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i, Release 12 does not include mod_plsql as part of its technology stack.
Modplsql component of Apache is removed in R12 .you have to see the alternate for custom developed programs which will be using this.
If you have developed mod_plsql extensions to Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i, and are considering upgrading to Release 12, you will have to take some action to preserve that functionality.
mod_plsql is replaced by Oracle Application Framework in R12. The reasong for replacing the mod_plsql with Oracle Application Framework in R12 is that , mod_plsql does not provide solutions for a number of important problems that must be solved in a robust and secure web application.

The following components/modules were removed from Release 12

1. mod_plsql
2. Oracle Reports Server
3. Oracle Graphics Integration with Oracle Forms
4. Oracle Applications Framework pages in the AK Repository (AK mode)

JServ :

OC4J replaces the Jserv component which is there in the current release 11i of Oracle Applications. Also as a result the mod_jserv component would be replaced by the mod_oc4j component in release 12 of Oracle Applications. The mod_oc4j is used to communicate between different OC4J instances.

The default installation Release 12 of Oracle Applications creates 3 OC4J instances

– Oacore: This runs the OA Framework -based applications.
– Forms: This runs the Forms-based applications.
– OAFM: This is responsible for running the web services.

The Jserv groups which are there current in Oracle Applications Release 11i are also planned be replaced by OC4J instances.

As mentioned earlier the OC4J properties are controlled using the XML files and OC4J.properties file. These files are managed by the standard Oracle Applications Autoconfig.

The Java code deployment in Oracle E-Business suite for OC4J is done at the time of install using rapid install and maintained by ad tools like adadmin and adpatch. New custom code deployment can be done by using the Application Server Control user interface.

The OC4J implementation In Oracle Applications Release 12 includes the following directory structure.

– applications: Contains applications deployed
– applications-deployment: Contains configuration settings for the applications deployed
– config: Contains common configuration setting for the OC4J instance.

Remember there are no jserv.properties or jserv.conf or zone.properties in R12 (new techstack), Jserv is replaced by Oacore.

Finally …

- Jserv component is removed and it is replaced in R12 by OC4J(oacore)
- mod_plsql is replaced by Oracle Application Framework
- The reports server has been removed in R12 and it runs as a spawned process called rwrun which is spawned by conc manager.

Ref Note : 726711.1

Source : http://learnwithme11g.wordpress.com

Oracle Apps DBA - Miscellaneous

1. What are the problems u have faced while shutting down applications?
Ans: While shutting down application generally concurrent manager won’t go
down because some or the other request may be running. We will see what are
the concurrent requests running by querying fnd_concurrent_requests,
fnd_concurrent_program_vl, v$session,v$process and v$sqltext. If that request is
only doing some select statement then we will kill those requests, otherwise we
will check what time it will take to complete by querying the previous runs of that
request and then we will decide what to do.

2. What are the problems u have faced while starting up applications?
Ans: Most of the time we will encounter problem with starting up concurrent
managers. Reasons, database listener may be down or FNDSM entries are
wrong in tnsnames.ora of 806_ORACLE_HOME.

3. How to find the locks and what is the resolution?
Ans: we can find general locks with the following query:
Select * from sys.dba_dml_locks order by session_id.
We can find the dead locks with the following query:
Select * from v$lock where lmode > 0 and id1 in (select distinct id1 from
v$lock where request > 0)
If it’s a dead lock, we need to kill that session.

4. How to kill a database session?
Ans: alter system kill session '&sid,&sno';

5. How to find adconfig is enabled for oracle operating system user/database?
Ans: If appsutil directory is there in RDBMS_ORACLE_HOME

6. Which files tell u the database health?
Ans: alert log file @RDBMS_ORACLE_HOME/admin//bdump

7. How to apply a RDBMS patch?
Ans: Using opatch

8. How to find opatch is enabled or not for u r database?
Ans: If Opatch directory exists under RDBMS_ORACLE_HOME.

9. What is the pre-req for applying a RDBMS patch?
Ans: Inventory should be set in file oraInst.loc @/var/opt/oracle or /etc

10. What is Inventory?
Ans: The oraInventory is the location for the OUI (Oracle Universal Installer)'s
bookkeeping. The inventory stores information about:
o All Oracle software products installed in all ORACLE_HOMES on a machine
o Other non-Oracle products, such as the Java Runtime Environment (JRE)
In a 11i Application system the RDBMS and iAS ORACLE Homes are registered in the oraInventory. The 806 ORACLE_HOME, which is not managed through OUI, is not.

11. What are different types of inventories?
Ans: The Global inventory (or Central inventory)
The Local inventory (or Home inventory)

12. What is Global inventory?
Ans: The Global Inventory is the part of the XML inventory that contains the high level list of all
oracle products installed on a machine. There should therefore be only one per machine. Its
location is defined by the content of oraInst.loc.
The Global Inventory records the physical location of Oracle products installed on the machine,
such as ORACLE_HOMES (RDBMS and IAS) or JRE. It does not have any information about
the detail of patches applied to each ORACLE_HOMEs.
The Global Inventory gets updated every time you install or de-install an ORACLE_HOME on the
machine, be it through OUI Installer, Rapid Install, or Rapid Clone.
Note: If you need to delete an ORACLE_HOME, you should always do it through the OUI deinstaller
in order to keep the Global Inventory synchronized.

13. What is local inventory?
Ans: There is one Local Inventory per ORACLE_HOME. It is physically located inside the
ORACLE_HOME at $ORACLE_HOME/inventory and contains the detail of the patch level for
that ORACLE_HOME.The Local Inventory gets updated whenever a patch is applied to the ORACLE_HOME, using OUI.

14. What is rapid clone?
Ans: Rapid Clone is the new cloning utility introduced in Release 11.5.8. Rapid Clone
leverages the new installation and configuration technology utilized by Rapid Install

15. How do I determine if my system is rapid clone enabled?
Ans: First, verify that your system is AutoConfig enabled. Then, verify that you have
applied the latest Rapid Clone patch.


16. What is the location of adpreclone.pl for oracle user?
Ans: RDBMS_ORACLE_HOME/appsutil/scripts/

17. What is the location of adpreclone.pl for applmgr user?
Ans: $COMMON_TOP/admin/scripts/

18. What is the location of adcfgclone.pl for oracle user?
Ans: $RDBMS_ORACLE_HOME/appsutil/clone/bin

19. What is the location of adcfgclone.pl for applmgr user?
Ans: $COMMON_TOP/clone/bin


20. What is form server URL?
Ans: http://hostname.domain:/dev60cgi/f60cgi

21. What is jinitiator?
Ans: Oracle jinitiator is the one which provide the required jvm to run forms
interface/applet. When we access forms applet first time, oracle jinitiator will be
installed automatically.

22. What is discoverer server?
Ans: Discoverer server is reporting tools which allow no voice user to use oracle
application reports. Discoverer will come along with oracle applications when
installed.

23. What is discoverer viewer URL?
Ans: http://hostname.domain:/discoverer4i/viewer

24. What is discoverer plus URL?
Ans: http://hostname.domain:/discwb4/html/english/welcome.htm

25. What is aoljtest and its url?
Ans: Aoljtest is a web based utility to test the availability of the different
components of oracle applications like jserv, modplsql, jsp, forms etc
URL: http://hostname.domain:/OA_HTML/jsp/fnd/aoljtest.jsp

26. What is adsplicer?
Ans: Adsplicer is a utility used to register off cycle products.

27. What is license manager?
Ans: License manager(adlicmgr) utility is used to licence/unlicence , enable new
languages,enbale country specific functionality.

28. What is tnsping?
Ans: tnsping is command used to check the connectivity to the database server
node from other nodes.
Ex: tnsping
Note: Tns entry should be there in tnsnames.ora for the database we are trying
to work this command.

29. What is top command?
Ans: top is a operating system command, it will display top 10 processes which
are taking high cpu and memory.

30. How to compile a form using f60gen?
Ans: f60gen module=/TEST/testappl/au/11.5.0/forms/F/ARXTWMAI.fmb
userid=APPS/APPS outputfile=/TEST/testappl/ar/11.5.0/forms/F/ARXTWMAI.fmx module type=form
batch=yes compile all=special

31. What is APPLPTMP environment variable?
Ans: This is the temporary file location for the pl/sql temp files. If this variable was
not set then the concurrent programs may errored out.

32. What is mean by enabling maintenance mode?
Ans: Maintenance mode is the adadmin option introduced from AD.I. When
maintenance mode is enabled user may able to login to application but they only
get profile option in the front-end navigation menu.

33. Is that necessary to enable maintenance mode while applying a patch?
Ans: We can even apply a patch without enabling maintenance mode with the
following option adpatch options=hot patch

34. How to find out oracle application framework version?
Ans: 1. through aoljtest
2. cd $COMMON_TOP/html/
3. adident Header OA.jsp

35. How to find out what are the rdbms patches applied to an oracle home?
Ans: 1. opatch –lsinventory
2. $RDBMS_ORACLE_HOME/.patch_storage directory contains the
directories with the rdbms patch number, which is applied to this oracle home.

36. Is that necessary to shutdown database while applying a database patch?
Ans: Yes.

37. What is the command line utility to submit a concurrent request?
Ans: CONSUB

38. What is the significance of utl_file_dir parameter in init.ora file?
Ans: The value of this parameter is the group of directories to which u r database
can write, means u r database packages have permission to write to flat files in
these directories.

39. How you will find out discoverer version?
Ans: cd $806_ORACLE_HOME/discwb4/lib
Strings libd* | grep 'Version:'

Oracle Apps DBA - Configuration

1. How to find out what component of u r oracle applications was installed on
which node?
Ans: Xml file (context file)

2. How to find the version of httpd/Apache web server?
Ans: $IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Apache/bin/httpd –version

3. What is the configuration file for httpd and what is the location of it ?
Ans: httpd.conf @IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Apache/conf

4. Where you will see when you have some problem with u r web server
(httpd/Apache)?
Ans: access_log & error_log @IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Apache/logs

5. When Apache starts what other components its start?
Ans: PL/SQL Listener, Servlet Engine, OJSP Engine

6. What is jserv?
Ans: jserv is nothing but servlet engine which will run u r servlets. It’s a module of apache which supports servlets.

7. What is self service application?
Ans: Whatever part of u r oracle application u r able to see through web browser is self service.

8. Where u will see when u r not able to get self service applications?
Ans: access_log, error_log, error_pls, jserv.log, wdbsvr.app(for apps password)

9. What is the location of jserv.log?
Ans: IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Jserv/log

10. What is the location of wdbsvr.app?
Ans: IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/modplsql/cfg

11. What are jserv.conf and jserv.properties files?
Ans: These are the configuration files which were used to start jvm’s (servlet
engine) by apache.

12. What is mean by clearing cache and bouncing apache?
Ans: 1. Stop apache (adapcctl.sh stop apps)
2. Clear cache – Go to $COMMON_TOP/html/_pages and delete _oa_html
directory (rm –r _oa__html)
3. Start apache (adapcctl.sh start apps)

13. What is forms configuration file and its location?
Ans: appsweb_contextname.cfg @$COMMON_TOP/html/bin

14. What are the different modes u can start u r form server?
Ans: socket and servlet

15. What is the difference between socket and servlet mode?
Ans: In socket mode forms sessions are represented by f60webmx
In servlet mode forms sessions are represented by apache processes.

16. What are forms metric server and client?
Ans: When there are more than one form sever instances then forms metric
server and client will be used to load balance.

17. Where the forms server related errors will be logged?
Ans: access_log and error_log

18. What are report server configuration and log file name and its location?
Ans: Configuration file – REP_.ora
Log file – REP_.log @806_ORACLE_HOME/reports60/server
 
19. What is CGIcmd.dat file and its location?
Ans: CGIcmd.dat file is the run time parameter file the report server located @
806_ORACLE_HOME/reports60/server

20. What is the significance of DISPLAY variable?
Ans: Vnc server should be up and running at the specified port value in DISPLAY variable, otherwise report server may not able to show the graphics in
Reports.

21. Where is the concurrent manager log file located?
Ans: $COMMON_TOP/admin//log or $APPLCSF/$APPLLOG
 
22. Is apps password necessary to start all the components of oracle
application?
Ans: No. Only to start/stop concurrent manager’s apps password is needed.

23. What are dbc file and its location?
Ans: dbc file contain database connection information. DBC file is used by oracle applications to connect to database. Its location is $FND_TOP/secure

24. What is the other script by which u can start apache other than adapcctl.sh?
Ans: apachectl @IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/bin

25. What is the configuration file for PL/SQL listener?
Ans: httpd_pls.conf @IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Apache/conf

26. How to find form server version?
Ans: f60gen and press enter, it will tell u the form server version or we can find out from the front-end using help menu.

27. What is RRA?
Ans: RRA stands for Report Review Agent. RRA is nothing but FNDFS which is
part of apps listener. RRA job is to pick the log/out file from the file system and show on the editor when u press view log/out button in ‘View concurrent requst form’.

28. What is apps listener?
Ans: Apps listener is the combination of FNDFS and FNDSM. FNDSM is service
manager which will monitor application services on that node when GSM: enable profile value is ‘Y’.

29. What is GSM?
Ans : GSM stands for Generic service Manager, which will monitor application
processes like web, forms etc and restarts any of this processes if goes down.

30. How to find the application version like 11.5.8/11.5.9….?
Ans: select release_name from fnd_product_groups;

31. How to find out what are the languages enabled in u r applications?
Ans: Query fnd_languages