Peopletools 8.53 RVP (new recut ?)

The first Peopletools 8.53 release value proposition has been write down in July, please have a look there :
https://blogs.oracle.com/peopletools/entry/oracle_peoplesoft_peopletools_8_53
However, if you go to the given note, it's now dated from September. I do not know how far it has been modified, but if it goes like this, here are few of the new features which may change the Peoplesoft guy's life :
=========================
1. Lifecycle Management :
=========================
1.1. Data Migration Workbench
As far as I understand, one source, multiple targets, that's a new tool between AppDesigner (copy project) and a database refresh (customer's script only). It will do much more than the first, and will be much secure than the latter.
1.2. Update Manager :
I can understand many of the Peoplesoft's customers apply the maintenance packs when they arrive, but I like very much the idea to be able to avoid it to apply one particular fix without the need to applied dozens of prerequisites if there is already big lag. To be used carefully anyway.
=========================
2. Server administration and Infrastructure
=========================
* Windows Xp (already out in PT8.52) and Vista are definitely gone.
* Many versions of components currently in use in Peopletools 8.52 are discontinued (Weblogic, Tuxedo, JRE...). It could raise some issue and headache when upgrading.
* The good is that AppServer/Batch server won't need that 32bit Oracle client libraries anymore on Windows. Much less confusing now.
* A new home PS_CUST_HOME to host customers code will come around, again a new home, I'm not sure though if it will do the all picture for the better. I was already not entirely convinced by PS_CFG_HOME and PS_APP_HOME... so, one more... what will be next ?
* A new plugin for OEM GC 12c
=========================
3. Secure by default
=========================
* A very nice initiative here, prompting passwords for each of the well known default users when during installation (not 100% sure what means "installation", I assume it is database creation... ?).
* Salt enabled password (SHA-1)
=========================
4. Integration technology
=========================
* Automated Network Status and Real-Time Notification of Errors. This point has greatly been improved over the years, and it's again the case. This enhancement is now for automatization of integration network supervision (by email, I assume that's an equivalent of OEM alert if something is going wrong).
* Gateway configuration is now upgrade persistent, so far an upgrade and web redeploy overwrites the file, it should not be the case anymore.
* The Network Bulk Change also simplifies the life by deploying the changes across all the systems instead of doing it manually one by one.
=========================
5. Peoplesoft Online documentation
=========================
I'd say finally, we'll get a proper and nice GUI for the Online Documentation. So far it was looking so bad and not very attractive. Hopefully the Peoplebooks will also be improved in terms of response time.
=========================
6. Others
=========================
* Unlike in the Peopletools .852 RVP, there's not a word about PSOMV... hopefully Peoplesoft won't discontinue it.
* Back to February 2012, the document PeopleSoft Long Term Investment Plan and Roadmap [ID 1320581.1] mentioned about Peoplesoft available on TimesTen (IMDB- InMemoryDataBase), please see page 63, but it seems it has been abandoned for now.
* And obviously there are other improvements /enhancements, probably more developer related.

To be seen soon, new Peopletools release is usually coming around the OOW which is itself around the corner (30-SEPT/04-OCT).

Nicolas.

PSOVM FSCM 9.1 Feature Pack 2 (Peopletools 8.52.03) / July-2012

Only three months after the previous availability of the ‘same’ template on FSCM, here is a new one. As I said in an earlier post, I don’t expect much thing, but bugs fixes.

1. The database server
After creating the virtual machine, start it up.
On the boot, it can take several minutes to complete, a check is forced (after 1364 days without checking!).

Then, as usual for the PSOVMs, choice for DHCP or not (however, how could it be otherwise) and all the networking properties prompts.



And as usual, CSS fails to start, it does not matter anyway, database is created successfully.
 
Note that I specified a database name in lower case, I have had to update PSDBOWNER to make DBNAME in upper case.
English only is installed, default SYSADM’s password is SYSADM (upper case), and profile DEFAULT has all unlimited limits.
Despite I wanted the database to start on server boot, it does not.
Well, nothing unusual here, all works as expected.

2. The App/Batch/PIA server
Once the database server virtual machine as been deployed, we can go now for the App/Batch/PIA virtual machine.

Here, it does not prompt for DHCP or not (and that’s right, how a server could have a non-fixed IP address?), and you have to give all the networking properties. On this point, this is an improvement (or rather a bug fix) of the previous template as I explained here.
 

You are also asked for Demo/Decoupled questions, you must reply “y” to both of them.
And of course, we want an Application here. However, you may want to deploy only Batch or PIA, I did not tested yet how it works if I deploy only one of those.
Here below, specify all the requirements for the database and port connectivity.
 
Then, it starts relatively quickly the AppServer.
 
As well as the Batch server.
  
Do you ever want to test COBOLs as well onto your virtual machine ? Reply “y” to the Microfocus license agreement :
 
And if you want the PIA running onto the same VM, then reply “y” to the following question :

In the end, you are asked few question to create a link between the PIA and the AppServer (server name and port). And also if you want to have the report repository to be configured (if “y”, it will restart the Batch Server with proper value).
 
Now, everything is configured and started, we can go to the front end.

And happy to see the connection is working.

Let’s run few sample programs (SQR, AE and COBOL):
 
And from the process monitor :

The COBOL fails to run.
After digging a lot, I found that for some reasons, the COBOLs have not been compiled at all, despite I replied “y” earlier during the VM deployment.
There are few reasons of this, I explain it in this thread on OTN Peoplesoft OVM forum, but here my solution to work around :
1. As root, start LMF (this has to be done only once)
cd /opt/oracle/psft/pt/cobol/microfocus
./mflmman
2. As psadm1, set proper env. variable and compile (setting env variable has to be done each time you want to compile COBOLs)
export COBDIR=/opt/oracle/psft/pt/cobol/svrexp-51_wp4-64bit
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$COBDIR/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
export PATH=$COBDIR/bin:$PATH
cd $PS_HOME/setup
./pscbl.mak
./psrun.mak
3. As psadm2, set proper env. variable and reconfigure psprcs.cfg, restart, restart (setting env variable has to be done each time you want to start the process scheduler, so probably better to append these in the .bash_profile)
export COBDIR=/opt/oracle/psft/pt/cobol/svrexp-51_wp4-64bit
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$COBDIR/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
export PATH=$COBDIR/bin:$PATH
cd $PS_HOME/appserv
./psadmin
4. Same as step 2, but with user psadm3.

3. Peopletools client binaries
As psadm2 user (App/Batch/PIA VM), under $PS_HOME, we can find the tools binaries for a Windows client to run AppDesigner/DMS.
As for the previous templates, there’s a toolsclient.zip (Peopletools based version), but, and this is new, there’s also the patch for the tools client installation corresponding to the Peoplesoft database version/patch level, the file is toolspatchvcd.zip (you should use “install client only”).
That’s a kind of surprise here, I did not expected this, but it is coming with the entire client software (version and patch level) ! So far, only the bare-minimum binaries was provided, the file was to be unzipped and that’s all. But here, it’s the right installer of Peopletools client with license code and so forth.
Note that’s the client installer, not the server one (so, no scripts).
I won’t repeat all the client installation steps right here, I already did it last year, you can refer to this blog’s entry. Should you want to connect directly to the database, install a database 32bit client software. Should you want to connect directly to the AppServer, configure the WSL port on Appserver domain side.

Nicolas.

OEM Grid Control 12.1.0.2 released

Not less than 2 months after the availability of the Bundle Patch 1 for 12.1.0.1 for AIX (and about 6-8 months for Linux), there is now a new release.
The BP1 upgrade was really a pain, I spent quite a lot of time on it. And now have to upgrade to the release 2 ? Oh, well, whether it is announced, it does not mean I’ll do this upgrade right away !
But if we have some free time window, then why not have a look, starting by reading the Upgrade Guide.

Have fun,

Nicolas.

PSOVMs Jul-2012

Just three months after the release of the PSOVM FSCM 9.1 FP2, a new version has been delivered on edelivery earlier in July.
That’s the shortest time as never before between two PSOVMs releases for the same application.
And since the Peopletools versions (8.52.03) are the same as well as all the components out there (same Feature Pack), I’m pretty sure that’s nothing but a bug fix release.
I did not tested yet, but there was (at least) one bug. I’ve reported it on the previous PSOVM FSCM delivered in Apr-2012 in an other blog entry.
At that time, I’ve created a thread in PSOVM OTN forum dedicated, there was a good given temporarily workaround by Peopletools OVM folks.
Hopefully this new release fix it.

In the meantime, a new PSOVM has also been released for HCM 9.1 FP2 running on Peopletools 8.52.06 (the previous one was HCM9.1FP1 from Dec-2010 on Peopletools 8.51.02).

All available on https://edelivery.oracle.com/linux

To be tested as soon as my server will be up again. I moved to a new house this summer, and now need to find a room that all the family won’t be disturb that much by this noisy server…
Of course, I also could follow the very nice Jim blog’ journal on how to convert the PSOVMs for VirtualBox. But, my server contains everything needed to run Oracle VM – so why not to use it, and my laptop is probably not strong enough to do it. But worth to read.

Nicolas.

Deploying OEM Agent 12c on Windows

After having upgraded the OEM 11g to 12c which was relatively easy and painless, then upgraded to 12c BP1 which is rather complicated to achieve successfully with all the patches to be installed. One of the most painful upgrade I’ve ever seen.
Now time to deploy the Agent 12c on a Windows machine. And again, this is painful and rather tricky. One of the very first pre-requisite we can read from the documentation is the need of Cygwin installation for a ssh tunnel between the OMS host and the remote client. That’s a kind of very restrictive requirement, why Cygwin is recommanded ? And even more than recommended, because it’s hardcoded in several configuration files of deployment ? I’m sure, many shops do not like having Cygwin. Moreover, it requires to connect onto each server to install it… not really nice if you have dozens.
Anyway, since it’s there in the documentation, here we go.
Note that :
1) Cygwin needs an Internet connection to be installed straightforward as mentioned in the documentation, again, I’m sure many server do not have that access.
2) The given installation directory is C:\Cygwin, rather odd to have that drive by default (hardcoded!!). Even though that can be changed, it should be changed in configuration file (please read the documentation for more information) .

Anyway, I tried to follow the documentation here but despite multiple tries, it did not work.

So, after quite some time and digging around on Internet for a while, I found a solution to make it work on an IBM wiki page. And since I don’t want to forget it I’ll put the steps here. It could also help some of you who have to do the same task.

1. Connect to a client machine with Internet access, go to http://www.cygwin.com and click on setup.exe
2. Do not install but download on local drive only (without installing)
3. Check zip and unzip under Archive folder, openssl and openssh from Net folder
4. Follow the instruction, accept to download the dependencies
5. Copy the files onto a temporary folder on your target server
6. Run the installer, and choose an installation from a local drive
7. Install it on C:\Cygwin, the easiest way to achieve a successful install
8. Again, be sure the zip and unzip under Archive folder, openssl and openssh from Net folder are all checked
9. Once installed, modify the file C:\cygwin\cygwin.bat as indicated in the documentation as follow (the 4th line has been added):
@echo off
C:
chdir C:\cygwin\bin
set CYGWIN=binmode ntsec
bash --login –i
11. Do not execute cygwin.bat now
12. Define which user it has to be used for ssh connection from OMS to the remote Agent
13. Here and below steps, I follow the instructions given here.
See, “Grant local permissions” for this one :
To allow SSH access to the gateway for domain accounts, the “CYGWIN sshd” service must be run as an administrative domain user, not as a local user. Regardless of domain or local installation, the account you choose must have the following local permissions defined on the gateway server: 
    => Adjust memory quotas for a process.
    => Create a token object.
    => Log on as a service.
    => Replace a process-level token.
The easiest way to set the permissions is to run the secpol.msc command or navigate to Control Panel --> Administrative Tools --> Local Security Policy.
14. Run C:\cygwin\cygwin.bat
15. From the opened window, run the following commands :
mkpasswd -l > /etc/passwd
mkpasswd -u Administrator -D MYDOMAIN -S '_' >> /etc/passwd
(replace Administrator by the name of your domain user name which has been set as administrator and defined properly within the previous step, replace MYDOMAIN by your own domain name)
16. From the Cygwin window opened on previous step, run the following :
mkgroup -l > /etc/group
mkgroup -D -S '_' >> /etc/group
17. Now run the following :
ssh-host-config
18. Answer yes to all the “yes/no” questions, the value of CYGWIN for the daemon is binmode ntsec (as given in the Oracle documentation), and the user will be something like MYDOMAIN_Administrator (you will be asked for the password as well).
19. The service has been created, you can start it manually by running cygrunsrv -S sshd or with the Windows menu.
20. You can validate the entire installation, connect to the OMS host, and run :
ssh MYDOMAIN_Administrator@your_agent_hostname
You’ll be prompted for the password, once connected, you’ll see the Cygwin content folder.
21. Now we are able to deploy the agent from the Grid Control (the connection user is MYDOMAIN_Administrator).

Of course, there can be some (strange) errors such as :
* For instance, I have had an error because the ORACLE_BASE folder I was installing the Agent in was marked as hidden…
INFO:Error Message found  Agent Configuration Failed SEVERE:OUI-10094:Problem in saving inventory. Installation cannot continue. C:\Program Files\Oracle\Inven
tory\ContentsXML\inventory.xml (Access is denied)SEVERE:File handle exception:C:\ADE\v\oracle\work\Shiphome\oracle\core\12.1.0.1.0\install\oragchomelist (The system cannot find the path specified)

* Then, wanted to install the agent in D:\appl\oracle\product\agent12c, I received the following error :
Error Message:checkdir warning: path too long; truncating core/12.1.0.1.0/.patch_storage[…]
I don’t think the given path was particularly too long, but changing the recipe to D:\appl\oracle\agent12c solves the issue, maybe not really happy.

* Sometimes, if deploying agent in ORACLE_BASE on a Windows remote host, you may receive the following error :
Execution of command C:/cygwin/bin/sh.exe -c 'export NEED_EXIT_CODE=1 && D:/appl/oracle/agent12c/agent_inst/bin/emctl.bat start agent' on host <your_hostname> Failed Error Message:The Oracleagent12c1Agent service could not be started. A service specific error occurred: 2. More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 3547.
Exit Code :2 Fix the cause of the error and retry the operation (or) manually run the following commands on the remote host
•C:/cygwin/bin/sh.exe -c 'export NEED_EXIT_CODE=1 && D:/appl/oracle/agent12c/agent_inst/bin/emctl.bat secure agent'
•C:/cygwin/bin/sh.exe -c 'export NEED_EXIT_CODE=1 && D:/appl/oracle/agent12c/agent_inst/bin/emctl.bat start agent'
•C:/cygwin/bin/sh.exe -c 'export NEED_EXIT_CODE=1 && D:/appl/oracle/agent12c/agent_inst/bin/emctl.bat config agent 
=> According to the note 1464991.1, in that case, the agent should be installed outside the ORACLE_BASE in a pre-created folder…

* Some other errors may also be solve by running the given command line manually directly onto the remote server.

Honestly, nothing straightforward in agent deployment on remote Windows host.

Hope this help,

Nicolas.

Ref. :
=>https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/wikis/display/tivoliaddm/Setting+up+a+Cygwin+OpenSSH+Server+for+Windows+Domains+on+a+TADDM+Gateway+Server
=>http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E24628_01/install.121/e22624/preinstall_req_cygwin_ssh.htm#CBHCDFCH

PSOVM FSCM 9.1 Feature Pack 2 (Peopletools 8.52.03) / Apr-2012

Exactly one year after the previous PSOVM template on FSCM9.1 FP1 (Peopletools 8.51.x), there’s a new one, based on FSCM 9.1 Features Pack 2 and Peopletools 8.52.03. So, it looks particularly an interesting step forward.
As usual, it’s downloadable on https://edelivery.oracle.com/oraclevm
The documentation about this new template can be found here : http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E29416_01/psft/html/docset.html

Whether there’s nothing much new in the database template (the database seems to be stucked on Oracle 11.1.0.7), there’re several things we should take care of before going on. The questions prompted on the first Apps template instantiation must be clearly understood to avoid further problem and mistake.
1) Demo environment [y|n] : choose ‘y’ if you want the AppServer connect to a FSCM template, ‘n’ otherwise.
2) Configure a Decoupled Appl Home [y|n] : choose ‘y’ if you want to work on an Application database (here FSCM), ‘n’ otherwise (Peopletools only database).
Depending of the answers you are given, there’re some other questions prompted which are not totally clear yet, at least not documented.

Last and not least, the Apps/Batch/PIA template deployment suffers of a bug, there’s nothing about network configuration (IP address, Netmask, Gateway, DNS). So, it’s using DHCP, period. That’s certainly not what we want from a server, especially on a PIA server which must be reachable from any client in the network.
There’s a workaround though.

For the two aspects mentioned above, getting more explanation about the prompted questions and the workaround to make the template deployment successful, I only can advise you to read the following thread I’ve created in OTN Forum dedicated to Peoplesoft OVM, there’re very answers from Sheshi : About the template FSCM9.1 FP2 Peopletools 8.52.03 (v3)

That’s a pity, the lack of documentation and the deployment bug on Apps/Batch/PIA may refrain people to use PSOVMs even though they’re still good for those who want to build quick (but not dirty) environment.

Awaiting a new recut, I hope this help people trying to make it work,

Nicolas.

OEM12c : database page personalization corruption

Few weeks ago we upgraded our Enterprise Manager from 11g to 12c.
There’s still no Peoplesoft plugin for OEM12c, even though it is planned there’s no given date yet (#1370012.1).
As I said few months ago in a previous post, in my opinion, one of the main problem with OEM12c is the supported agent. Only agent 12c, that’s a big limitation.
Since few of our plateforms do not support agent 12c, we first have had to create a dedicated 11g OMS/repository for those and move the agents to this new OMS (and repository), you could follow the note #413228.1 for more details about moving agent between different OMSs and repository.
Then we upgraded the other agents, OMS and repository to OEM12c. And to my surprise, whether it took a lot of time, everything went smoothly. At least the upgrade was much better than previous upgrade from 10gR5 to 11g.
There’re a lot of steps against the agents prior the upgrade itself, but in the end we got it. I won’t go through all the steps though, it’s not the subject here (and if it sounds tricky in the beginning, it is rather well documented here).

OEM12c revamps all the menus across the GUI, it’s some times not very easy to find out what is where. As a DBA, you can choose to make your homepage the databases page :

You might or might not like it. If you don’t, there’s an option to personalize the view of that page. Rather useful, personally I don’t like the default preview of databases page. So, here we go :
There’s too much wasting space on the top of the page for nothing, unfortunately that cannot be changed.
You can choose to modify the layout. Moreover, there’s an option allow you to add content, let’s try it :
Exactly what I would like, adding a summary on a part of the databases page :

And now what ? Error “ADFC-10009: An exception occurred during invocation of 'getData' method.” is raised, followed by an internal error. Your user and databases page are corrupted… err… for ever.

Close the content pagelet :

From now, where ever you click, you’ll get an error :
    
No way, close the browser, reopen it, relogin, clear the caches, internal error is always triggered. Drop and recreate the user is surprisingly even not an option, error comes back again. And since the databases page has been choose has the homepage, there’s no way to connect anymore for my user : 


  
However, if I use a direct link to any of other pages of OEM, I can connect, looks like the databases page only is corrupted. But as a DBA this is the most of interest in OEM.

At this point of time, there was nothing much in My Oracle Support to help and suggest a workaround. Just a similar bug  #1408243.1, opened since Oct’11, but nothing suggested.
I asked the question in OTN Enterprise Manager forum, and a big thanks to Leslie who helps me a lot across my thread, as well as Sushil and Daniel. Find out more here : OEM12c : ADFC-10009 after homepage personalized
Finally, following this thread, the note #1399625.1 (Personalizing or Customizing a Database Target Page Gives Error: ADFC-10009: An exception occurred) has been created on My Oracle Support and we got a workaround to make this corrupted user able to logon again on OEM. That’s really good to see that Oracle team is listening customers. The note is not entirely true in the given example (actually the paths directories of the 2 given docs are wrong), so within the thread link above, you should be able to have the fix.
UPDATE 12-MAR-2012 : the note #1399625.1 has again been updated and everything from there should work fine now.

Honestly, before this error and all the Leslie’s suggestions, I had no idea about MDS, WLST and Metadata. A lot has been learnt on my side.

I hope this will help some of you who encountered this error which puzzled me for several days.

As a side note, if you are lucky enough to have your OMS 12c on Linux, this bug is solved in OEM12c patch 1 available from Feb-2012. Otherwise you may have to wait for the Q3-2012, read to the note #1395505.1.

Enjoy,

Nicolas.

Peoplesoft HCM 9.1 Feature Pack 2

It has been announced today, the HCM 9.1 feature pack 2 comes with Peopletools 8.52 and a lot more new features including “A new search-based, menu-free navigation capability allows users to easily locate and navigate to relevant information quickly and in context from any page”, find out the press release here.

It is not available for download yet on edelivery but that should be a matter of hours.
We could also expect the corresponding Peoplesoft OVM template to be release pretty soon, keep tracking edelivery/linux.

Nicolas.

GUID on Web domain

I was managing Peoplesoft Web domains in OEM Grid Control (11.1) within the Peoplesoft plugin. After cloning different environments some strange behavior came out.

First, the GUID must be unique across the all the Peoplesoft databases (table PSOPTIONS), otherwise databases are somehow pointing to each other. Before starting with the whole OEM configuration, it’s probably better to set it to blank and restart the Application Server. A new value will be given when Application Server will start.

Then I came to know that a Webserver configuration file also contains the GUID. If it is the wrong one, your Web domain will point to the wrong database… fix it by updating the file $PIA_HOME/webserv/…/domain/webprof/option.prop within the proper GUID value.

Nicolas.

DomainConnectionPwd parameter

A quick note after an issue I was facing to.
On Peopletools 8.51, I cloned an existing database, creating new application server domain and copied an existing web domain. Everything went fine, I could connect onto the front-end application and work… until I bounced the application server. On the Peoplesoft login page, an error was returned complaining that application server was down at that time… where it was obviously up and running.
Checking the application server log file reveals the following :
"ERROR: Jolt client (ip address <ip_address_is_given_here>) does not have proper application password"
After few minutes, solution came in the top of my head. A new parameter introduced in 8.50, DomainConnectionPwd, should match between configuration files of application server (psappsrv.cfg) and web server (configuration.properties).
Once fixed and bounced application server, it worked again. But I just wondering why and how it worked in a first place.

Nicolas.

Peopletools 8.52 : the PS_APP_HOME variable

Up to Peopletools 8.51, the application installation (e.g. HRMS, FSCM…) must be done in the exact same folder where the Peopletools have been installed, known as PS_HOME directory. Otherwise you were not able to load any data in a newly created database (through the database setup of FataMover, no option was appearing). It was quite confusing, expecially for new comers in the Peoplesoft world.
As of Peopletools 8.52, it has been changed. You can install the application where ever you want, and say to the Peopletools where it is through a new variable PS_APP_HOME. That’s not an environment variable, but rather has to be set within the Configuration Manager.
Let’s have a look.
First you should create a profile for the database you want to load data in :

Then you will define it has a “database” (2tier connection) :
 
Next window, a new field is there to define where is the application installed :
 
Go till the end of the profile definition.
Now you should be able to see the application in Datamover, database setup :

And all the path directories are properly set for the INPUT datafiles in the created dms :
 

Now we can discuss the exact use of having separate home for Peopletools and Application, it could really be a debate in the organization.

Nicolas.

Peopletools 8.52 : managing PIA with psadmin

Peopletools 8.52 introduces new options in the psadmin menu, that’s rather interesting to see. Let’s see the PIA part, totally new here.
It can be managed within the command line
[ptools852@orion5 appserv]$ ./psadmin -help
Usage:

Miscellaneous options:
----------------------
  psadmin                              (Interactive utility)
  psadmin -h                           (Display this message)
  psadmin -v                           (Display version number)
  psadmin -env                         (Display environment as set by psadmin)
  psadmin -replicate -ch <PS_CFG_HOME>

Pure Internet Architecture (PIA) Options:
-----------------------------------
  psadmin -w command -d domain       (Perform command on PIA domain)
    where 'command' must be one of the following:
             start     (Start the domain)
             shutdown  (Shutdown this domain)
             shutdown! (Forced shutdown of this domain)
             status    (Show status for this domain)
             remove    (Delete the domain)

  psadmin -w configure -d domain -c c_set -p p_set
    where 'c_set' specifies domain settings, having the following format:
          minHeapSize/maxHeapSize/maxThreads/authTokenDomain
      and 'p_set' specifies port settings, having the following format:
          httpPort/httpsPort

  psadmin -w configure -d domain -s site -c c_set
    where 'c_set' specifies site settings, having the following format:
          appSrvConnString/webProfile/pooling/reportPath/webProfUser/webProfPword/appSrvConnPword
<…snipped…>

Or within the menu
[ptools852@orion5 appserv]$ env|grep PIA_HOME
PIA_HOME=/appl/psoft/hcm91fp1_web
[ptools852@orion5 appserv]$ env|grep CFG_HOME
PS_CFG_HOME=/appl/psoft/hcm91fp1_dom
[ptools852@orion5 appserv]$ ./psadmin

PSADMIN -- Tools Release: 8.52.02
Copyright (c) 1996, 2011, Oracle. All rights reserved.

--------------------------------
PeopleSoft Server Administration
--------------------------------

  Config Home:  /appl/psoft/hcm91fp1_dom

  1) Application Server
  2) Process Scheduler
  3) Search Server
  4) Web (PIA) Server
  5) Switch Config Home
  6) Replicate Config Home
  q) Quit

Command to execute (1-6, q): 4

-----------------------------
PeopleSoft PIA Administration
-----------------------------

  PIA Home:   /appl/psoft/hcm91fp1_web

  1) Administer a domain
  2) Create a domain
  3) Delete a domain

  q) Quit

Command to execute:

=> Let’s create a new web domain for my new Peopletools 8.52 installation.
[ptools852@orion5 appserv]$ ./psadmin

PSADMIN -- Tools Release: 8.52.02
Copyright (c) 1996, 2011, Oracle. All rights reserved.

--------------------------------
PeopleSoft Server Administration
--------------------------------

  Config Home:  /appl/psoft/hcm91fp1_dom

  1) Application Server
  2) Process Scheduler
  3) Search Server
  4) Web (PIA) Server
  5) Switch Config Home
  6) Replicate Config Home
  q) Quit

Command to execute (1-6, q): 4

-----------------------------
PeopleSoft PIA Administration
-----------------------------

  PIA Home:   /appl/psoft/hcm91fp1_web

  1) Administer a domain
  2) Create a domain
  3) Delete a domain

  q) Quit

Command to execute: 2

---------------------------------------------
PeopleSoft PIA Administration - Create Domain
---------------------------------------------

  PIA Home: /appl/psoft/hcm91fp1_web

  1) Create a domain
  2) Replicate a domain

  q) Quit

Command to execute: 1

---------------------------------------------
PeopleSoft PIA Administration - Create Domain
---------------------------------------------

  PIA Home:   /appl/psoft/hcm91fp1_web

  1)  Domain name                  :[peoplesoft]
  2)  Web server                   :[weblogic]
  3)  Web server root directory    :[/opt/oracle]
  4)  Web server login id          :[system]
  5)  Web server password          :[Passw0rd]
  6)  Website name                 :[ps]
  7)  Application server           :[orion5.phoenix.nga]
  8)  JSL Port                     :[9000]
  9)  HTTP Port                    :[80]
  10) HTTPS Port                   :[443]
  11) Authentication Token Domain  :[]
  12) Web profile                  :[PROD]
  13) Web profile user id          :[PTWEBSERVER]
  14) Web profile password         :[PTWEBSERVER]
  15) PeopleSoft reports directory :[/appl/psoft/hcm91fp1_web]

  c) Create the domain as shown
  q) Quit

Command to execute:

Note that some strange behavior, especially when changing the Web Profile, when enter 12 as command to execute, it switches to the next one instead of prompting, it means you have to enter “12” until reaching the expected web profile.
---------------------------------------
PeopleSoft PIA Administration - Create Domain
---------------------------------------------

  PIA Home:   /appl/psoft/hcm91fp1_web

  1)  Domain name                  :[peoplesoft]
  2)  Web server                   :[weblogic]
  3)  Web server root directory    :[/appl/mdlware/weblogic]
  4)  Web server login id          :[system]
  5)  Web server password          :[Passw0rd]
  6)  Website name                 :[hcm91fp1]
  7)  Application server           :[orion5.phoenix.nga]
  8)  JSL Port                     :[9000]
  9)  HTTP Port                    :[8000]
  10) HTTPS Port                   :[8443]
  11) Authentication Token Domain  :[]
  12) Web profile                  :[DEV]
  13) Web profile user id          :[PTWEBSERVER]
  14) Web profile password         :[PTWEBSERVER]
  15) PeopleSoft reports directory :[/appl/psoft/hcm91fp1_web/reports/hcm91fp1]

  c) Create the domain as shown
  q) Quit

Command to execute: c

Creating the domain. This may take several minutes, please be patient.
..............................................................
The domain has been created

-----------------------------
PeopleSoft PIA Administration
-----------------------------

  PIA Home:   /appl/psoft/hcm91fp1_web

  1) Administer a domain
  2) Create a domain
  3) Delete a domain

  q) Quit

Command to execute: 1

------------------------------------------------------
PeopleSoft PIA Domain Administration - Choose a Domain
------------------------------------------------------

  1) peoplesoft

  q) Quit

Command to execute: 1

------------------------------------
PeopleSoft PIA Domain Administration
------------------------------------

  PIA Home:      /appl/psoft/hcm91fp1_web
  PIA Domain:    peoplesoft

  1) Boot this domain
  2) Shutdown this domain
  3) Get the status of this domain
  4) Configure this domain
  5) Edit configuration files
  6) View log files
  7) Administer a site
  8) Delete a site

  q) Quit

Command to execute: 1

Starting the domain.....
Server state changed to STARTING..............
Server state changed to STANDBY.
Server state changed to STARTING.............
Server state changed to ADMIN.
Server state changed to RESUMING.
Server state changed to RUNNING.
Verifying domain status......
The domain has started.

Now, I’m a bit struggled with the variable PIA_HOME, it appears not working afterwards until and unless I set PS_CFG_HOME=$PIA_HOME. Or maybe I did not understood very well that variable usage.
Anyway, with command line everything become much simpler than ever to start the entire street :
[ptools852@orion5 ~]$ cd $PS_HOME/appserv
[ptools852@orion5 appserv]$ env|grep PIA_HOME
PIA_HOME=/appl/psoft/hcm91fp1_web
[ptools852@orion5 appserv]$ env|grep PS_CFG_HOME
PS_CFG_HOME=/appl/psoft/hcm91fp1_dom
[ptools852@orion5 appserv]$ ./psadmin -c boot -d hcm91fp1
Attempting to boot bulletin board...
tmadmin - Copyright (c) 2007-2008 Oracle.
Portions * Copyright 1986-1997 RSA Data Security, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Distributed under license by Oracle.
Tuxedo is a registered trademark.
No bulletin board exists. Entering boot mode.

> INFO: Oracle Tuxedo, Version 10.3.0.0, 64-bit, Patch Level 071

Booting admin processes ...

exec BBL -A :
        process id=24244 ... Started.
1 process started.
Attaching to active bulletin board.

> Attempting to boot ...
INFO: Oracle Tuxedo, Version 10.3.0.0, 64-bit, Patch Level 071

Booting server processes ...

exec PSWATCHSRV -o ./LOGS/stdout -e ./LOGS/stderr -A -- -ID 200223 -D hcm91fp1 -S PSWATCHSRV :
        process id=24248 ... Started.
exec PSAPPSRV -o ./LOGS/stdout -e ./LOGS/stderr -s@psappsrv.lst -- -D hcm91fp1 -S PSAPPSRV :
        process id=24249 ... Started.
<…snipped…>
exec JSL -o ./LOGS/stdout -e ./LOGS/stderr -A -- -n //orion5.phoenix.nga:9000 -m 9 -M 12 -I 5 -j ANY -x 40 -S 10 -c 1000000 -w JSH :
        process id=24374 ... Started.
exec JREPSVR -o ./LOGS/stdout -e ./LOGS/stderr -A -- -W -P /appl/psoft/hcm91fp1_dom/appserv/hcm91fp1/jrepository :
        process id=24384 ... Started.
15 processes started.
[ptools852@orion5 appserv]$ ./psadmin -p start -d hcm91fp1
Attempting to boot bulletin board...
tmadmin - Copyright (c) 2007-2008 Oracle.
Portions * Copyright 1986-1997 RSA Data Security, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Distributed under license by Oracle.
Tuxedo is a registered trademark.
No bulletin board exists. Entering boot mode.

> INFO: Oracle Tuxedo, Version 10.3.0.0, 64-bit, Patch Level 071

Booting admin processes ...

exec BBL -A :
        process id=24391 ... Started.
1 process started.
Attaching to active bulletin board.

> Attempting to boot ...
INFO: Oracle Tuxedo, Version 10.3.0.0, 64-bit, Patch Level 071

Booting server processes ...

exec PSMSTPRC -o ./LOGS/stdout -e ./LOGS/stderr -A -- -CD hcm91fp1 -PS PSUNX -A start -S PSMSTPRC :
        process id=24410 ... Started.
exec PSAESRV -o ./LOGS/stdout -e ./LOGS/stderr -- -CD hcm91fp1 -S PSAESRV :
        process id=24419 ... Started.
<…snipped…>
exec PSMONITORSRV -o ./LOGS/stdout -e ./LOGS/stderr -A -- -ID 88726 -PS PSUNX -S PSMONITORSRV :
        process id=24473 ... Started.
8 processes started.
[ptools852@orion5 appserv]$ ./psadmin -w start -d peoplesoft
Domain Not Found: peoplesoft
[ptools852@orion5 appserv]$ export PS_CFG_HOME=$PIA_HOME
[ptools852@orion5 appserv]$ ./psadmin -w start -d peoplesoft

Starting the domain........
Server state changed to STARTING...........
Server state changed to STANDBY.
Server state changed to STARTING........
Server state changed to ADMIN.
Server state changed to RESUMING.
Server state changed to RUNNING.
Verifying domain status......
The domain has started.

[ptools852@orion5 appserv]$

Same behavior when using the interactive menu of psadmin, once the webserver is created as I showed above, it does not take it in account anymore :
[root@orion5 ~]# su - ptools852
[ptools852@orion5 ~]$ cd $PS_HOME/appserv
[ptools852@orion5 appserv]$ env|grep PIA_HOME
PIA_HOME=/appl/psoft/hcm91fp1_web
[ptools852@orion5 appserv]$ env|grep PS_CFG_HOME
PS_CFG_HOME=/appl/psoft/hcm91fp1_dom
[ptools852@orion5 appserv]$ ./psadmin

PSADMIN -- Tools Release: 8.52.02
Copyright (c) 1996, 2011, Oracle. All rights reserved.

--------------------------------
PeopleSoft Server Administration
--------------------------------

  Config Home:  /appl/psoft/hcm91fp1_dom

  1) Application Server
  2) Process Scheduler
  3) Search Server
  4) Web (PIA) Server
  5) Switch Config Home
  6) Replicate Config Home
  q) Quit

Command to execute (1-6, q): 4

-----------------------------
PeopleSoft PIA Administration
-----------------------------

  PIA Home:   /appl/psoft/hcm91fp1_dom <—here it is not my predefined $PIA_HOME

  1) Administer a domain
  2) Create a domain
  3) Delete a domain

  q) Quit

Command to execute:

Well, from the Peoplebooks, we can read “If you have the PIA_HOME environment variable set, this overrides the use of PS_CFG_HOME for PIA installations.”, that’s fine, it worked as I showed above for install, but does it mean it won’t override PS_CFG_HOME afterwards ? Or preferably, you change PS_CFG_HOME on-line, or before running psadmin to the desired PIA_HOME.

Nicolas.

Peopletools 8.52 : psadmin

There are few interesting changes in the Peopletools 8.52 psadmin menu :
PeopleSoft Server Administration
--------------------------------

  Config Home:  /appl/psoft/hcm91fp1_dom

  1) Application Server
  2) Process Scheduler
  3) Search Server
  4) Web (PIA) Server
  5) Switch Config Home
  6) Replicate Config Home
  q) Quit

Option 4 and 5 have been added compared to the previous Peopletools version.
The option 5 is rather good, be able to change the PS_CFG_HOME on-line without exiting from the program. Managing different home is now greatly simplified :
Command to execute (1-6, q): 5

Please provide new Config Home location or q to quit:

The option 4, managing the PIA within the psadmin is useful if and only if the webserver is hosted on the same server.
[ptools852@orion5 appserv]$ ./psadmin

PSADMIN -- Tools Release: 8.52.02
Copyright (c) 1996, 2011, Oracle. All rights reserved.

--------------------------------
PeopleSoft Server Administration
--------------------------------

  Config Home:  /appl/psoft/hcm91fp1_dom

  1) Application Server
  2) Process Scheduler
  3) Search Server
  4) Web (PIA) Server
  5) Switch Config Home
  6) Replicate Config Home
  q) Quit

Command to execute (1-6, q): 4

-----------------------------
PeopleSoft PIA Administration
-----------------------------

  PIA Home:   /appl/psoft/hcm91fp1_web

  1) Administer a domain
  2) Create a domain
  3) Delete a domain

Here we can see the output of the PIA_HOME variable, if it is not set in the environment, it is set by default to PS_CFG_HOME (Config Home).
Well, I’m not sure how to quantify the customer having such configuration (Peopletools installed onto the webserver), but as far as I know from the shops I worked for, that’s rather rare. Anyway, I’ll test this option in a coming blog entry.

There’s also some new options in the psadmin command line, PIA management, delete an application domain, find out more within the command “psadmin –help”.
Find out more in the OTN hosted Peoplebooks : http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E25688_01/pt852pbr0/eng/psbooks/tsvt/book.htm?File=tsvt/htm/tsvt06.htm#H2001

Now, building a new environment for Peopletools 8.52 on Oracle Linux 6.1 (well, it is not certified yet, but looks to work like a charm), create a new application domain can return the following error :
----------------------------------------------
Quick-configure menu -- domain: hcm91fp1
----------------------------------------------
      Features                      Settings
     ==========                    ==========
  1) Pub/Sub Servers   : No    16) DBNAME     :[hcm91fp1]
  2) Quick Server      : No    17) DBTYPE     :[ORACLE]
  3) Query Servers     : No    18) UserId     :[PS]
  4) Jolt              : Yes   19) UserPswd   :[PS]
  5) Jolt Relay        : No    20) DomainID   :[hcm91fp1]
  6) WSL               : No    21) AddToPATH  :[.]
  7) PC Debugger       : No    22) ConnectID  :[people]
  8) Event Notification: No    23) ConnectPswd:[peop1e]
  9) MCF Servers       : No    24) ServerName :[]
10) Perf Collator     : No    25) WSL Port   :[7000]
11) Analytic Servers  : No    26) JSL Port   :[9000]
12) Domains Gateway   : No    27) JRAD Port  :[9100]

      Actions
     =========
13) Load config as shown
14) Custom configuration
15) Edit environment settings
  h) Help for this menu
  q) Return to previous menu

Enter selection (1-27, h, or q): 13
Performing load prechecks ...
/appl/psoft/ptools852/bin/ubbgen: error while loading shared libraries: libtux.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

==============ERROR!================
UBBGEN encountered an error while configuring!

==============ERROR!================

It is nothing but LD_LIBRARY_PATH not set. Adding it in the .bash_profile as below :
[ptools852@orion5 ~]$ more .bash_profile
# .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

TUXDIR=/appl/mdlware/tuxedo; export TUXDIR
ORACLE_BASE=/appl/oracle; export ORACLE_BASE
ORACLE_HOME=$ORACLE_BASE/product/11.2.0; export ORACLE_HOME
ORACLE_BIN=$ORACLE_HOME/bin

PS_HOME=/appl/psoft/ptools852; export PS_HOME
PS_CFG_HOME=/appl/psoft/hcm91fp1_dom; export PS_CFG_HOME
PIA_HOME=/appl/psoft/hcm91fp1_web; export PIA_HOME

LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:$ORACLE_HOME/lib:$TUXDIR/lib; export LD_LIBRARY_PATH

PATH=$TUXDIR/bin:$ORACLE_BASE:$ORACLE_HOME:$ORACLE_BIN:$PATH

. $PS_HOME/psconfig.sh
[ptools852@orion5 ~]$

Now, disconnect, reconnect and rerun the configuration menu, it should work :
----------------------------------------------
Quick-configure menu -- domain: hcm91fp1
----------------------------------------------
      Features                      Settings
     ==========                    ==========
  1) Pub/Sub Servers   : No    16) DBNAME     :[hcm91fp1]
  2) Quick Server      : No    17) DBTYPE     :[ORACLE]
  3) Query Servers     : No    18) UserId     :[PS]
  4) Jolt              : Yes   19) UserPswd   :[PS]
  5) Jolt Relay        : No    20) DomainID   :[hcm91fp1]
  6) WSL               : No    21) AddToPATH  :[.]
  7) PC Debugger       : No    22) ConnectID  :[people]
  8) Event Notification: No    23) ConnectPswd:[peop1e]
  9) MCF Servers       : No    24) ServerName :[]
10) Perf Collator     : No    25) WSL Port   :[7000]
11) Analytic Servers  : No    26) JSL Port   :[9000]
12) Domains Gateway   : No    27) JRAD Port  :[9100]

      Actions
     =========
13) Load config as shown
14) Custom configuration
15) Edit environment settings
  h) Help for this menu
  q) Return to previous menu

Enter selection (1-27, h, or q): 13
Performing load prechecks ...
Loading validation table...
  setting DBName=hcm91fp1
  setting DBType=ORACLE
  setting UserId=PS
  setting UserPswd=PS
  setting ConnectId=people
  setting ConnectPswd=peop1e
  setting ServerName=
  setting Port=7000
  setting Port=9000
  setting Listener Port=9100
  setting Domain ID=hcm91fp1
  setting Add to PATH=.
New CFG file written with modified Startup parameters

Log Directory entry not found in configuration file.
Setting Log Directory to the default... [PS_SERVDIR/LOGS]
Spawning disabled for server PSAPPSRV.
Configuration file successfully created.
CFG setting changes completed
Loading configuration...
Domain configuration complete.

Nothing new here, it has always been like that on Linux, but that’s always good to remind it. 

As an other side note, creating a new process scheduler domain, you also may encounter the following warning (I don’t like warning, they sound like repeating error !) :
WARNING: PSDSTSRV is configured with Min instance set to 1. To avoid loss of service, configure Min instance to atleast 2.
Rather strange to have this when creating a default prcs, better to change it now, modify the configuration file $PS_CFG_HOME/appserv/prcs/hcm91fp1/psprcs.cfg and reload.

Nicolas.

Peopletools 8.52 client installation

Peopletools 8.52 is shipped with a client binaries installer. That’s new, but what is it exactly ? Well, it is the bare-minimum you need to work on a Peoplesoft database instance. That’s rather good if you have developers around, they probably do not need the entire installation on their own workstation. For those who know the Peoplesoft OVM template, there was something similar in the latest one with the zipfile toolsclient.zip, please see here.
It is a much lighter installer, about 500Mb, from http://edelivery.oracle.com, select product pack “PeopleSoft Enterprise”, choose a platform (it does not actually matter which one), and click on “PeopleSoft PeopleTools 8.52 Media Pack”. Download “PeopleSoft PeopleTools 8.52 Client Only”, part V27722-01.
Note that the client is only for Windows plateform.
After unzipping, let’s go for the client install (here below on Windows 2008) :
  


The license code is the same for the “standard” Peopletools install :

Usually, the Non-Unicode/Unicode type is for the data we are loading into the database, since it won’t install any of the loading scripts and data files, I’m wondering why the question is there and what it does exactly, but keep consistency with you whole environment:
 
Choose a directory to install into :



Here also I’m not sure to understand why the PSEMHUB is there, it is used by the PSEMAgent, but you probably don’t want to manage remotely the client installation, but again, here we go :




In the process above, that’s interesting to note the installer never prompt for the Oracle binaries (%ORACLE_HOME%\bin) like it is for the server Peopletools installation on Windows.

The client can also be patch with the latest Peopletools patch, since the patch 8.52.02 is already available, let’s apply it on that client. So far, there’s no patch dedicated to the client only installation, so the patch is twice bigger than the client installer… :

 




Here you decide what kind of installation you are doing. However, I’m not sure what will happen if you choose to patch a client and here below check “Full Install”. Is your client become a server ? It probably has to be tested. Let’s have a client only patch install :






In the end of the process, here are the different folders present in the client home :

It’s really a light install, no script, no data. Should you load a database, do not use that installation, go for a full (or server) installation instead.
But that’s still good to have for developers’ local workstation installation.
***
You may receive the following error when launching AppDesigner and DataMover (“the application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect”) :

In that case, run from the client home, \setup\psvccrt\psvccrt_retail.msi, and follow the instruction :

It should solve the problem, and you will be able to run AppDesigner and DataMover from now.

Last but not least, it is not certified on Windows XP, I tried it though. “Not certified” has never meant “not working”, so, whether the installer Disk1\setup.bat seems hanging forever, the exe file under “Disk1\InstData\setup.exe” run fine and Peopletools 8.52 is installing successfully on my Windows XP SP3 Pro workstation.

Nicolas.