Peopletools 8.50 : a first look

Last Friday, September 2009, the 18th, Peopletools 8.50 has been released. The announcement is here.

As usual, it is available on http://edelivery.oracle.com

The Peopletools are now in 3 CDs (instead of 7 for PT8.49 !) :
V17557-01 => 1.2Gb
V17558-01 => 1.9Gb
V17559-01 => 308Mb
I'm still wondering why not doing on DVD format, or why doing a third CD so small ?

Tuxedo is coming with version 10gR3, reference and size are depending of your plateform, but here for Linux (only 64bits is available) :
V15055-01 => 71Mb

Finally, Weblogic , coming in version 11gR1 (it is rather confusing, actually the version is 10.3.1), reference and size are depending of your plateform, but here for Linux :
V16997-01 => 587Mb

The documentation is also available on usual website, http://www.oracle.com/technology/documentation/psftent.html and especially the installation guide, depending of the database type you are installing Peopletools onto :
http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E15742_01/psft/html/docset.html
Note, the licence code are provided in a pdf document format.
I'm still wondering why the need of this licence code, why not just ask for the database type ?
I suggested it on http://mix.oracle.com, feel free to add your voice :
https://mix.oracle.com/ideas/104482-peopletools-install-remove-the-licence-code

Time to have a first look into it.
I'll write tutorial in a few weeks time, maybe once Peoplesoft 9.1 will come out (there will come based on Peopletools 8.50).
Ok, now the installation. I'm doing this installation on my lab, OEL5.3 64-bits and Oracle database 11gR2 64-bits (I know it is not yet certified, but on the way).

1. Tuxedo :
By running the installer, we are feeling the Oracle touch, you are prompted to create an Oracle home directory to install Tuxedo :

===============================================================================
Choose Oracle Home
------------------


    1- Create new Oracle Home

Enter a number: 1
Specify a new Oracle Home directory: /apps/bea/tuxedo/10gR3

Well, nothing much to say, standard install, and finally checking :

[tuxedo@orion2:/nfs/software/PeopleSoftCD/BEA/Tuxedo/Oracle_Tuxedo_10gR3_Linux_64]$ cd /apps/bea/tuxedo/10gR3
[tuxedo@orion2:/apps/bea/tuxedo/10gR3]$ export TUXDIR=/apps/bea/tuxedo/10gR3
[tuxedo@orion2:/apps/bea/tuxedo/10gR3]$ . $TUXDIR/tux.env
[tuxedo@orion2:/apps/bea/tuxedo/10gR3]$ $TUXDIR/bin/tmadmin -v
INFO: Oracle Tuxedo, Version 10.3.0.0, 64-bit, Patch Level (none)
[tuxedo@orion2:/apps/bea/tuxedo/10gR3]$

2. Weblogic :
Again, the installer has been greatly modified to make it "more Oracle" like.

<-- Oracle Installer - WebLogic 10.3.1.0 ------->

Choose Middleware Home Directory:
---------------------------------

    "Middleware Home" = [Enter new value or use default "/home/weblogic/Oracle/Middleware"]

Enter new Middleware Home OR [Exit][Previous][Next]> 

Here you're also promted to keep update with the lastest version of Oracle :
<----- Oracle Installer - WebLogic 10.3.1.0 ----------->

Register for Security Updates:
------------------------------

Provide your email address to be informed of security issues, 
install the product, and initiate configuration manager. 
http://www.oracle.com/support/policies.html

   1|Email:[]
   2|My Oracle Support Password:[]
   3|Receive Security Update:[Yes]

Enter index number to select OR [Exit][Previous][Next]> 3

<----- Oracle Installer - WebLogic 10.3.1.0 ----------->

Register for Security Updates:
------------------------------

Provide your email address to be informed of security issues, 
install the product, and initiate configuration manager. 
http://www.oracle.com/support/policies.html

    "Receive Security Update:" = [Enter new value or use default "Yes"]

Enter [Yes][No]? No

<----- Oracle Installer - WebLogic 10.3.1.0 ----------->

Register for Security Updates:
------------------------------

Provide your email address to be informed of security issues, 
install the product, and initiate configuration manager. 
http://www.oracle.com/support/policies.html

    "Receive Security Update:" = [Enter new value or use default "Yes"]

    ** Do you wish to bypass initiation of the configuration manager and
    **  remain uninformed of critical security issues in your configuration?

Enter [Yes][No]? Yes

I find it rather confusing, "No" I don't want to receive security update and "Yes", I want to keep "uninformed"...

The documentation about Weblogic installation strongly recommand to get the latest patch of the JDK/JRockit.
Why not having it by default ?

3. Peopletools on Linux (64bits) - console :
Only three CDs have to be unzipped (disk1, disk2 and disk3 folders in one directory).
Here changes are doing life simpler, firstly the command line is simply "setup.sh" and the licence code is only one field to fill up.
But again, you're prompt to keep (un)informed of security update... maybe it is me, but here we're talking about a server installation, not a workstation...
And, a good one, we are not prompt for the next CD anymore like it was in the previous release.

4. Peopletools on Windows (client) - GUI :
The main difference with a console mode, the licence code are still divided in 6 fields...
This is a Java, and you could have to allow the program to be executed onto Windows :


5. Database :
I did not create database from scratch, need more time and disk space, but I reused a FSCM9 database (working on Peopletools 8.49).
So, I just managed an upgrade to the latest Peopletools release, the steps very similar of previous release, with some slight differences, including an activation of TIMESTAMP (script upgdboptions_enabletimestamps.sql), and some additional Application Engine (UPGPTSERVOPR, UPGPT850PTFP).
Again, patience and time are required, the project are very big and the project load and build take quite a while.

6. Application server :
Here two warning with big differences compared with Peopletools 8.4x, some environment variables are not set by default into psconfig.sh.
TUXDIR must be set to the Tuxedo home directory, otherwise you cannot configure and start a domain.
PS_CFG_HOME must also be set to the directory you want your domain configuration files, otherwise those files are going into /home//psft/appserv...
You can set those variables in the .profile (or .bash_profile, depending of your plateform), i.e. :

[ptools@orion2:/home/ptools]$ more .bash_profile
# Get the aliases and functions
if [ -f ~/.bashrc ]; then
        . ~/.bashrc
fi

# User specific environment and startup programs

PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin

export PATH
unset USERNAME
export ORACLE_HOME=/apps/oracle/product/11.2.0

export TUXDIR=/apps/bea/tuxedo/10gR3
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$TUXDIR/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:$ORACLE_HOME/lib
export PATH=$TUXDIR/bin:$PATH:$ORACLE_HOME/bin

export PS_HOME=/apps/psoft/ptools850
export PS_CFG_HOME=$PS_HOME
. $PS_HOME/psconfig.sh

[ptools@orion2:/home/ptools]$

I'm not sure to understand why it has be remove from standard configuration settings, but I'm sure that'll cause some headache if they are not set to find the config files.

7. PIA :
Again, the installer command line has been greatly simplify, just run setup.sh. Oracle Applicatoin Server has been removed from the choice, we've now only Weblogic and WebSphere, quite understandable.
A slight difference is about the password of the system user, you should take care about if you're upgrading an existing database (and used by report node) :

Please enter the administrator login and password for WebLogic domain.

   Login ID [system]:

   Password [Passw0rd]:

   Re-type Password [Passw0rd]:

Press 1 for Next, 2 for Previous, 3 to Cancel or 5 to Redisplay [1] :

8. Connection :
Few very first impression, the "Processing" on the top right has been replace by a kind of wheel, and some dialog box are coming up in front, looks nice and more "modern" style.





9. (update 21-SEPT-2009) Following the advice from Bauke Gehem (see comment below), I changed the settings to get a very nice look :
Thanks so much Bauke !

Enoy this version.

Nicolas.