Peoplesoft VM : Oracle VM install/config (in VMWare)

To continue my serie about "Peoplesoft VM in Oracle VM in VMWare", after describing the architecture, the VMWare 2.0.2 install on CentOS 5.4, and the different VMWare images configuration to be used, time to install Oracle VM Manager/Server as VMWare images.

1. Oracle VM Manager installation :
This is obviously the easiest part, most of the Oracle VM Manager installation is standard regardless the fact it is inside VMWare images.
Before installating the Oracle VM Manager, you need to install an OS. I'm using OEL5.4 (downloadable on http://edelivery.oracle.com/linux, note Oracle VM Manager is also downloadable from there). The installation of OEL5.4 I followed is very stanadard. Nothing special to be installed, except : you must use fixed IP address, disable firewall and SELinux.
Following the OEL5.4 installation, you need to follow the documentation of Oracle VM Manager installation, it is very well explained in the documentation, including "screenshots" (that's why I won't reply then here).
Please, read http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E15458_01/doc.22/e15439/toc.htm

2. Oracle VM Servers installation :
This is obviously the easiest part, most of the Oracle VM Server installation are standard regardless the fact it is inside VMWare images.
The software is downloadable on http://edelivery.oracle.com/linux.
The documentation is also very good and clear enough, even for people who never did it before, please read : http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E15458_01/doc.22/e15442/ovsig.htm
Note, you must use fixed IP address, apart from that, nothing special to be done.
You'll need to do it two times, once for each Oracle VM Servers, as I described in the previous post.

3. Oracle VM configuration :
Now, configuration needs to be done from Oracle VM Manager.

3.1 Memory configuration :
Before doing any configuration from the Oracle VM Manager side, we need to set the proper memory size used by the OS.
We declare 2560Mb RAM size for each Oracle VM Server, but the size used by the OS is about 553Mb :

[root@psovmdb-host ~]# free
         total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:        566272     202640     363632          0       9764      56448
-/+ buffers/cache:     136428     429844
Swap:      1052216          0    1052216

From the output above, the Xen OS use 566272Kb=553Mb, added to 2048Mb defined for the VMWare images, that makes 2601Mb (>2560Mb defined), the Oracle VM image won't start.
We can reduce the OS reserved memory till 10% of the total RAM amount, 250Mb.
Edit the file /boot/grub/grub.conf and change the size defined for dom0_mem (4 lines), and reboot the Oracle VM Server box.
Confirm the memory size has been droped down :

[root@psovmdb-host ~]# free
         total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:        256000     197460      58540          0       9792      57072
-/+ buffers/cache:     130596     125404
Swap:      1052216          0    1052216

3.2 OVS folder :
On the Oracle VM Server, by default the OVS folder is a symbolic link to a local partition /dev/sda3. OVS hosts the templates as well as the running images you created from the templates.
Since I'm using a NFS server to host the templates as well as the running images, I'll change the mount point by following the steps below.
Add a new repository :

[root@psovmabw ~]# /opt/ovs-agent-2.3/utils/repos.py -n 192.168.1.1:/ovs-hcm-abw
[ NEW ] f0423499-3b4b-4276-beac-8d3ec1be1402 => 192.168.1.1:/ovs-hcm-abw

List of the repositories :

[root@psovmabw ~]# /opt/ovs-agent-2.3/utils/repos.py -l
[ R ] 45e89d11-9f0a-43b9-901f-b03439aef697 => /dev/sda3
[   ] f0423499-3b4b-4276-beac-8d3ec1be1402 => 192.168.1.1:/ovs-hcm-abw

Delete the previsou repository defined by default :

[root@psovmabw ~]# /opt/ovs-agent-2.3/utils/repos.py -d 45e89d11-9f0a-43b9-901f-b03439aef697
[ DEL ] 45e89d11-9f0a-43b9-901f-b03439aef697 => /dev/sda3

[root@psovmabw ~]# /opt/ovs-agent-2.3/utils/repos.py -r f0423499-3b4b-4276-beac-8d3ec1be1402
Make the new repository as the new default one :

[ R ] f0423499-3b4b-4276-beac-8d3ec1be1402 => 192.168.1.1:/ovs-hcm-abw
[root@psovmabw ~]#

Whatever method you choose, you should copy the Peoplesoft templates in the /OVS/seed_pools (that'll be take automatically when you'll import them from Oracle VM Manager).

3.3 Server pool :
Connect onto the Oracle VM Manager web server (with admin user, and password set during the Oracle VM Manager installation), go to the tab "Server Pools", and create two new server, one for each VM image you created earlier (each one correspond to one VMWare image and one Oracle VM Server) :

Then, you'll got two also servers ("Servers" tab) :


3.4 Import the templates from server pool :
On the "Resources" tab, from the server pool dedicated to the db server, import the template relative to the database, from the other one, import the two templates for App/Batch and PIA servers. You should obtain something like the following :

3.5 Create the image from templates :
Go to the "Virtual Machines" tab, and create the virtual machine, you can name them as you want (not necessarly like the templates). Do it for every single template (the three of them).
That can take a while, it is copying the files from /OVS/seed_pools to /OVS/running_pools, then you should obtain such screen :
Next step, start the VMs.
You could see for the Database server I already post here.

Enjoy,

Peoplesoft VM : VMWare images configuration

After installing VMWare 2.0.2 on my server CentOS 5.4, time to configure the VMWare images.
As I explained in my architecure description, I'll need three VMWare images :

1. The VMWare image for Oracle VM Manager :
This image is optional, but since I'm not very well with the Xen command lines, and since I have enough RAM to have one more image running, I prefer to get the GUI (web based application) to manage the Oracle VM coming from the templates.
Oracle VM Manager 2.2.0 has to be installed on top of an OS, I'll use OEL5.4.
It should be large enough for the OS, a small database and the software required by Oracle VM.
I configured 20Gb (max., not fixed size) of hard disk, within 2048Mb RAM, and 1 CPU.

2. The VMWare image for Oracle VM Server (Database server) :
This image will host the Oracle VM Server used to host the Database server image.
Oracle VM Server 2.2.0 has to be installed from scratch (no OS), a small size is needed (less than 5Gb) for the software itself. But the image should be large enough to receive the database template (OVM_EL5U2_X86_64_HCM91_PVM) under /OVS/seed_pool AND the image itself under /OVS/running_pool which you'll work on.
The template is about 60Gb, same for the running_pool, that means you'll need about 130Gb all together.
Unless, like me, you have a NFS server which can host all the files (this can be configured on the Oracle VM Server before doing anything - I'll describe this step later).
Since I'll store all the seed and running pool on a NFS server, I don't need that much space onto the VMWare image itself. I configured 8Gb (max., not fixed size) of hard disk, within 2560Mb RAM (2048Mb required for the Oracle VM image), and 2 CPUs.

3. The VMWare image for Oracle VM Server (App/Batch and PIA) :
This image will host the Oracle VM Server used to host the App/Bacth server AND the PIA (web) server image.
Oracle VM Server 2.2.0 has to be installed from scratch (no OS), a small size is needed (less than 5Gb) for the software itself.
But the image should be large enough to receive
a) the App/Bacth template (OVM_EL5U2_X86_64_AB85002_HCM91_PVM) under /OVS/seed_pool AND the image itself under /OVS/running_pool which you'll work on.
This template is about 15Gb, same for the running_pool, that means you'll need about 30Gb all together.
b) the PIA template (OVM_EL5U2_X86_64_PIA85002_PVM) under /OVS/seed_pool AND the image itself under /OVS/running_pool which you'll work on.
This template is about 10Gb, same for the running_pool, that means you'll need about 20Gb all together.
That means, for this VMWare image, you'll need around 60Gb.
Unless, like me, you have a NFS server which can host all the files (this can be configured on the Oracle VM Server before doing anything - I'll describe this step later).
Since I'll store all the seed and running pool on a NFS server, I don't need that much space onto the VMWare image itself. I configured 8Gb (max., not fixed size) of hard disk, within 2560Mb RAM (1024Mb required for each Oracle VM image), , and 2 CPUs (maximum allowed by VMWare Server, but 2CPUs for App/Batch and 1 for PIA - that should not cause any troubles since they should not be overloaded).

Next step, the Oracle VM (Manager/Server) installations.

Nicolas.

VMWare 2.0.2 on CentOS 5.4

In order to get a working environment I described here, I need to install VMware 2.0.2 on my OS, CentOS 5.4.
VMware 2.x is very different than VMWare 1.x, it is a web based application, and a lot of bugs have been fixed.
Unfortunately, it was not workable, after few minutes up and running, the webserver was hanging and crashing. Unless you reboot the server, no way to make anything inside VMWare.

After a lot of research, it appears that VMWare 2.0.2 does not like the glibc and glibc-common libraries coming within CentOS 5.4.
So, we need to downgrade them to their version of CentOS 5.3. Here are the steps :

1. Go to /etc/yum.repos.d and copy the file CentOS-Base.repo to CentOS53-Base.repo
2. In CentOS53-Base.repo, rename all the packages within 53 :
[base] will become [base53]
[updates] => [updates53]
[addons] => [addons53]
[extras] => [extras53]
[centosplus] => [centosplus53]
[contrib] => [contrib53]
3. In CentOS53-Base.repo, replace all the occurences of release=$releasever by release=5.3
4. Downgrade the glibc and glibc-common libraries by running the following :
yum downgrade glibc glibc-common
3 packages are installed, 15 are removed.
5. To avoid further upgrade/update of those libraries (awaiting a fix of VMWare), we need to exclude them from the update's list. Add the following line in /etc/yum.conf :
exclude=glibc glibc-common glibc-devel glibc-headers nscd
6. Finally, reboot the server, and re-run vmware-config.pl, and everything should work fine !

UPDATE (16-MAY-2010) : problem solved within CentOS 5.5

Enjoy,

Peoplesoft VM : about the database image (in VMWare)

I created an virtual machine from the database server template downloaded from edelivery (OVM_EL5U2_X86_64_HCM91_PVM), here are my first screenshots and comments.

1. In Oracle VM Manager, list of the templates downloaded from edelivery :

2. In Oracle VM Manager, list of the virtual machines, created from the Peoplesoft templates :
3. First start of the database VM (OVM_EL5U2_X86_64_HCM91_PVM) :4. Once the VM is in running status, click on "console" button :

5. Enter the VM password :
6. Nice, we arrive on the database server, bare is progressing :
7. Don't configure the DHCP :
8. Give the IP address, netmask, DNS and server name :
9. I want the database start on server boot, and set my own database password :

10. My database name will be H91TMPLT :
11. Finally, first login onto the database server (default root password is ovsroot):


It quite a fast process, if we except the large amount Gb to download and to be created as virtual machine.

So far, only few remarks/bugs :
1. On the first boot of the machine I configured the database to be started on boot (step 9 above), , unfortunately it looks like the database and listener do not start automatically on the virtual machine start.
2. The /etc/oratab does not contain the database name I gave during the first VM setting, but only the following (it could explain the point 1) :

orcl:/u01/app/oracle/product/11.1.0/db_1:N

3. The database password given on the first VM boot are not taken in account, e.g. SYSTEM's password is manager, not the one I gave during the initialization (step 9 described above)
4. An other point, the image is about 60Gb, but less than 30Gb are used onto the VM, that's a pitty, so much wasting space onto the host for nothing :

[root@psovmdb ~]# df -k
Filesystem           1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/xvda2             3177204   1039168   2138036  33% /
/dev/xvda1               31077      8277     21196  29% /boot
tmpfs                  2097152         0   2097152   0% /dev/shm
/dev/xvdb1             9851308   4478364   4872524  48% /u01
/dev/xvdc1            25806268  19211972   5283396  79% /opt/oracle/psft/ptdb
[root@psovmdb ~]#

Speaking about size, note the database is only 16.3Gb datafiles :

SQL> select sum(bytes)/1024/1024 from dba_data_files
2  union all
3  select sum(bytes)/1024/1024 from dba_temp_files;

SUM(BYTES)/1024/1024
--------------------
           16007
             320
SQL>

5. Be aware, the SYSADM's password is in capital letter :

SQL> conn sysadm/sysadm
ERROR:
ORA-01017: invalid username/password; logon denied

Warning: You are no longer connected to ORACLE.
SQL> conn sysadm/SYSADM
Connected.
SQL>

6. Only English language is installed :

SQL> select language_cd from pslanguages where installed=1;

LANGUAGE_CD
------------
ENG

Well, enjoy it !

7. (added the 21st of MARCH 2010 ) : the password of PEOPLE and SYSADM is limited in time, please read my post here

Nicolas.

Oracle VM Template for PeopleSoft... in VMWare Server

Note : I posted a very similar article two weeks ago, but version of VMWare was different, and I got several unexpected network errors and unstable and non-workable images, so I decided to remove that article. Right now, after many tests with many different versions, I got a working environment. I'd like to apologies to Jim Marion who posted a comment in my previous article, and to other people who ask for this article when it has been removed (especially to Duncan Davies). Don't hesitate if you have questions, I'll be happy to help. Anyway, I'll keep posting on that subject to describe all the steps.

***DISCLAIMER : this not supported, not certified configuration, probably not very stable environment depending of your hardware configuration, this is ONLY for training and learning purpose, if something goes wrong, don't complain***

Oracle VM template for Peoplesoft is very nice, very useful for all customers who want to have a DEMO database and/or a SAND database to play around.

A DEMO database is always interesting to host on client side to be able to reproduce the bugs encountered in production regarding standard components.
A DEMO database is also the best way to learn Peoplesoft (as a developer, or administrator).
So, I think everyone needs it, test and play around those templates.

There are three Oracle VM templates, all based on OEL5.2 64-bit, HCM9.1, Peopletools8.50.02: one for the database server, one for the application and batch server, the last one for the webserver (PIA - Weblogic 11gR3).
Well, Oracle VM is a good tool, but you'll need to dedicate one of your server to host Oracle VM Server and your virtual machines.
If like me, you don't have any spare server, or you don't want to sacrify one, or just want to see, there is a solution... a little bit weird, I agree, but there is.
I have a Dell server PE2900III (with a quite large amount of RAM and HD space) based on CentOS5.4, which already manages a lot of virtual machines within VMWare Server v2.0.2. I don't have other available server and don't want to remove everything.
VMWare Server is nice, pretty easy to use (without any strong knowledge of VM), free and a stable virtualization software.
There are some limitations (hey, it's free) : the RAM per virtual machine cannot be higher than 3600Mb (added on the 03-JAN-2010 : this is not true anymore on VMWare 2.x - unfortunately, I discovered it too late for this config, I could avoid one VMWare image by embedding all the Oracle VM Server into the same VMWare image), the number of CPU cannot be higher than 2.
Those limitations are problematic in our case, the requirements for the three templates we want are indeed bigger : for the database server 2Gb RAM and 2CPU, for the application and batch server 1gb RAM and 2 CPU and finally the webserver requires 1Gb RAM and 1CPU. In total, 4Gb and 5CPU...

So I decided to cut it in two pieces (two VMWare images), prepare an spreadsheet, there are a lot of machines and IP addresses to be configure (not less than 6 in total : 3 for VMWare images, 3 for Oracle VM images) :
=> one for the database server (2560Gb RAM and 2CPU defined) - VMWare image 2 in schema below
=> one other for application and batch server and webserver all together (2560Gb RAM, 2CPU defined) - VMWare image 3 in schema below
To complete the picture, and it is optional if you are good enough to manage the Oracle VMs within command lines, but I'll add an other VMware image for the Oracle VM Manager (installed on OEL5.4) - VMWare image 1 in schema below
And finally, I'd like to get something like the following (I hope the picture will be self-explanatory) :

In orange : VMWare Server product or images
In red : named Oracle product installed in VMWare images
In blue : Peoplesoft VMs in Oracle VM images

We can get a working environment without breaking anything in the existing environment, just the VMWare images containing Oracle VMs are started when needed, and depending of your server don't wait for performance.
An other keypoint I did not mentioned so far, is the required disk space, (60Gb for the database, 15Gb for application and batch server, 8Gb for webserver), it is reasonnable sizes nowadays, but you could always use some external hard drive and mount file system as NFS point (need to be defined on the server pool side).

There are some tricky parts I'll describe later, including to get a working VMWare 2.0.2 on CentOS5.4 (it was crashing, hanging after being few minutes up and running), some memory configuration on the Oracle VM images to be done, some specific configuration on database and App/Batch servers, but finally everything is working fine as described in the schema above.

Please, read the following :

• VMWare 2.0.2 on CentOS 5.4
• PSOVM : VMWare configuration
• PSOVM : Oracle VM install/config
• PSOVM : Database
• PSOVM : App/Batch
• PSOVM : PIA
• PSOVM : Batch posting

Nicolas.

OracleVM Template for Peoplesoft

October'09, the 26th, Oracle provided new OracleVM templates. These ones are special for Peoplesoft community, there are for Peoplesoft HRMS9.1 running on Peopletools8.50.02.
Please, read the announcement here.
We can download from edelivery website the three following templates (all based on OEL5.2 64-bit) :
1. One template for database (Oracle 11.1.0.6).
2. One template for application and process scheduler server.
3. One template for webserver.

Please read carefully this, there is also a wiki page dedicated to these templates.
Once more, a very nice job !

Right now, OracleVM need to be installed on a spare server to be tested...

Nicolas.

Peopletools 8.50 got certification on Oracle 11.2

As of last week, Peopletools 8.50 are becoming supported on Oracle 11.2 (64-bit only).
So far, it is only for RHEL/OEL 5.x, a very good job done by the Peoplesoft team ! I think it was rather quick to get it. A side note, it is not yet supported within 11.2 64-bit RAC.
SLES-11 is also on the way, awaiting the availability of Oracle 11.2 on other plateforms...

Enjoy,

Nicolas.

CentOS 5.4

...is available : http://mirror.centos.org/centos/5/isos/
After a "yum update" from a 5.3 CentOS, and a little bit more than 200Mb of downloaded packages, CentOS 5.4 is installed :

[root@hercules /root]# rpm -q centos-release
centos-release-5-4.el5.centos.1
[root@hercules /root]#

Enjoy,

Nicolas.

Peopletools patch 8.50.02 zipped

Around three weeks after the GA of Peopetools 8.50, we got now the patch 8.50.02.
I won't follow every single patch, usually one every three or four weeks at the beginning of a release life, but we have to note the format of the package. This is a zip, not a exe file anymore, which we are able to unzip on Unix/Linux and still password protected (you need an access to My Oracle Support), here OEL5.3 :

[root@orion2 PeopleTools8.50.02]# unzip 85002.zip
Archive:  85002.zip
   creating: cd85002/Disk1/
   creating: cd85002/Disk1/InstData/
[85002.zip] cd85002/Disk1/InstData/emocmutl.jar password:

Few weeks ago, I suggested this change on Oracle Mix here.
Thanks to the Peoplesoft team, that will greatly simplify the copy onto the Unix/Linux server...

Nicolas.

Peoplesoft and non-certified OS

I recently give answers on OTN forums about Peoplesoft installation on non-certified plateforms. Like usual, non-certified does not mean that won't work, that just means its on your own risk and responsibility.

The first one was Peopletools 8.49 on CentOS 5.3. Since CentOS is a recut of RHEL, and Peoplesoft is certified on RHEL, that should work.
There is some tricky stuff to get it work, but it works. Find out my post here.

The second one was Peopletools 8.50 on Windows XP (32-bits).
Peoplesoft has never been certified as a server (application server, process scheduler and webserver) on Windows XP, however, for learning purpose I can understand the need to install it there. Furthermore, as long as Peoplesoft won't provide the Application Designer tool for an other plateform, Windows is still required to do some tasks (from client side perspective).
From Peopletools 8.50, only 64-bits OS are supported. So, the main question was if that works on a 32-bits XP machine.
Finally, I got it work on Windows XP Pro 32-bits, everything was installed and running fine without any tricky stuff. Find my post here.

Interestingly, the second question makes a remark. All the PT8.50 components provided on edelivery for Windows are 32-bits (you can even read on the certification matrix the need of the 32-bits database libraries...). Knowning Peoplesoft is certified only on 64-bits OS server (W2k3/W2k8), that makes a full 32-bits application certified only on a 64-bits Windows OS. Why such restriction ?

Again, it is not certified. So, keep it for learning purpose only.

Enjoy,

Nicolas.

HRMS9.1 available

September 2009... the list of new product versions delivered by Oracle this month becomes very inpressive.
In the already long list, a new comer, on the Peoplesoft side, one week after the Peopletools 8.50, Peoplesoft HRMS9.1 is now available !

Read the announcement :
http://blogs.oracle.com/peopletools/2009/09/peoplesoft_hrms_91_is_now_gene.html

Enjoy !

Nicolas.

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.

Peopletools 8.50

Again, we can say September' 2009 is rich in events for Oracle.
After Oracle database 11gR2, OEL5.4, one more proof, Peopletools 8.50, waited for a while is released !

Go through http://edelivery.oracle.com/ to do download
Go through http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E15742_01/psft/html/docset.html for the installation doc !

Enjoy !

Nicolas.

Update 19-SEPT-2009 :
The patch 1 is now available on the usual ftp website with the password protection getting from My Oracle Support.
PT8.50 has also been announced on the Peoplesoft Technology blog.

Nicolas.

OEL5.4 available

September' 2009 is beeing a very rich month regarding new Oracle software version.

After the Oracle database 11gR2, this is now for Oracle Entreprise Linux 5.4 to be available only few weeks after the linux based version RHEL5.4.
We'll see later if there is added value by Oracle in this release compared to RHEL.

Now, I'm awaiting the CentOS 5.4 which is the OS of my lab.
But since CentOS is a free OS developped on free time, it is always coming much later, one or two months...

Enjoy,

Nicolas.

Get rid off segment of empty table (11gR2)

I'm trying to get rid off segment of empty table, according to the documentation it should be possible to alter the table with the clause "SEGMENT CREATION DEFERRED", but it does not look like so obvious :

SQL> create table mytable1(id number);

Table created.

SQL> create table mytable2(id number);

Table created.

SQL> select segment_name,bytes from user_segments where segment_name like 'MYTABLE_';

no rows selected

SQL> insert into mytable1 values(1);

1 row created.

SQL> commit;

Commit complete.

SQL> select segment_name,bytes from user_segments where segment_name like 'MYTABLE_';

SEGMENT_NAME   BYTES
----------     ------
MYTABLE1       65536

SQL> truncate table mytable1;

Table truncated.

SQL> select segment_name,bytes from user_segments where segment_name like 'MYTABLE_';

SEGMENT_NAME   BYTES
----------     ------
MYTABLE1       65536

SQL> alter table mytable1 move;

Table altered.

SQL> select segment_name,bytes from user_segments where segment_name like 'MYTABLE_';

SEGMENT_NAME   BYTES
----------     ------
MYTABLE1       65536

SQL> alter table mytable1 move segment creation deferred;
alter table mytable1 move segment creation deferred
                          *
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-14133: ALTER TABLE MOVE cannot be combined with other operations


SQL> alter table mytable1 segment creation deferred;
alter table mytable1 segment creation deferred
                     *
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01735: invalid ALTER TABLE option

Ok, then let's try to export and import tables to see if it is easy :

[oracle@orion2:/oradata/DMOFSCM9/dpdump]$ expdp sysadm/sysadm dumpfile=mytable.dmp logfile=mytable.log directory=data_pump_dir tables=mytable1,mytable2

Export: Release 11.2.0.1.0 - Production on Tue Sep 8 21:57:36 2009

Copyright (c) 1982, 2009, Oracle and/or its affiliates.  All rights reserved.

Connected to: Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition Release 11.2.0.1.0 - 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options
Starting "SYSADM"."SYS_EXPORT_TABLE_01":  sysadm/******** dumpfile=mytable.dmp logfile=mytable.log directory=data_pump_dir tables=mytable1,mytable2
Estimate in progress using BLOCKS method...
Processing object type TABLE_EXPORT/TABLE/TABLE_DATA
Total estimation using BLOCKS method: 0 KB
Processing object type TABLE_EXPORT/TABLE/TABLE
. . exported "SYSADM"."MYTABLE1"                             0 KB       0 rows
. . exported "SYSADM"."MYTABLE2"                             0 KB       0 rows
Master table "SYSADM"."SYS_EXPORT_TABLE_01" successfully loaded/unloaded
******************************************************************************
Dump file set for SYSADM.SYS_EXPORT_TABLE_01 is:
  /oradata/DMOFSCM9/dpdump/mytable.dmp
Job "SYSADM"."SYS_EXPORT_TABLE_01" successfully completed at 21:57:46

Then standard import (without particular options) :

[oracle@orion2:/oradata/DMOFSCM9/dpdump]$ impdp sysadm/sysadm dumpfile=mytable.dmp logfile=mytable_imp.log directory=data_pump_dir sqlfile=mytable.sql

Import: Release 11.2.0.1.0 - Production on Tue Sep 8 21:58:04 2009

Copyright (c) 1982, 2009, Oracle and/or its affiliates.  All rights reserved.

Connected to: Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition Release 11.2.0.1.0 - 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options
Master table "SYSADM"."SYS_SQL_FILE_FULL_01" successfully loaded/unloaded
Starting "SYSADM"."SYS_SQL_FILE_FULL_01":  sysadm/******** dumpfile=mytable.dmp logfile=mytable_imp.log directory=data_pump_dir sqlfile=mytable.sql
Processing object type TABLE_EXPORT/TABLE/TABLE
Job "SYSADM"."SYS_SQL_FILE_FULL_01" successfully completed at 21:58:06

[oracle@orion2:/oradata/DMOFSCM9/dpdump]$ more mytable.sql
-- CONNECT SYSADM
ALTER SESSION SET EVENTS '10150 TRACE NAME CONTEXT FOREVER, LEVEL 1';
ALTER SESSION SET EVENTS '10904 TRACE NAME CONTEXT FOREVER, LEVEL 1';
ALTER SESSION SET EVENTS '25475 TRACE NAME CONTEXT FOREVER, LEVEL 1';
ALTER SESSION SET EVENTS '10407 TRACE NAME CONTEXT FOREVER, LEVEL 1';
ALTER SESSION SET EVENTS '10851 TRACE NAME CONTEXT FOREVER, LEVEL 1';
ALTER SESSION SET EVENTS '22830 TRACE NAME CONTEXT FOREVER, LEVEL 192 ';
-- new object type path: TABLE_EXPORT/TABLE/TABLE
CREATE TABLE "SYSADM"."MYTABLE1"
   (    "ID" NUMBER
   ) SEGMENT CREATION IMMEDIATE
  PCTFREE 10 PCTUSED 40 INITRANS 1 MAXTRANS 255 NOCOMPRESS LOGGING
  STORAGE(INITIAL 65536 NEXT 1048576 MINEXTENTS 1 MAXEXTENTS 2147483645
  PCTINCREASE 0 FREELISTS 1 FREELIST GROUPS 1 BUFFER_POOL DEFAULT FLASH_CACHE DEFAULT CELL_FLASH_CACHE DEFAULT)
  TABLESPACE "PSDEFAULT" ;

CREATE TABLE "SYSADM"."MYTABLE2"
   (    "ID" NUMBER
   ) SEGMENT CREATION DEFERRED
  PCTFREE 10 PCTUSED 40 INITRANS 1 MAXTRANS 255 NOCOMPRESS LOGGING
  TABLESPACE "PSDEFAULT" ;

The SEGMENT CREATION IMMEDIATE is there for my table mytable1 (eventhough it is empty).
Let's try to remove storage of table during import :

[oracle@orion2:/oradata/DMOFSCM9/dpdump]$ impdp sysadm/sysadm dumpfile=mytable.dmp logfile=mytable_imp.log directory=data_pump_dir transform=storage:n sqlfile=mytable.sql

Import: Release 11.2.0.1.0 - Production on Tue Sep 8 21:58:17 2009

Copyright (c) 1982, 2009, Oracle and/or its affiliates.  All rights reserved.

Connected to: Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition Release 11.2.0.1.0 - 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options
Master table "SYSADM"."SYS_SQL_FILE_FULL_01" successfully loaded/unloaded
Starting "SYSADM"."SYS_SQL_FILE_FULL_01":  sysadm/******** dumpfile=mytable.dmp logfile=mytable_imp.log directory=data_pump_dir transform=storage:n sqlfile=mytable.sql
Processing object type TABLE_EXPORT/TABLE/TABLE
Job "SYSADM"."SYS_SQL_FILE_FULL_01" successfully completed at 21:58:19

[oracle@orion2:/oradata/DMOFSCM9/dpdump]$ more mytable.sql
-- CONNECT SYSADM
ALTER SESSION SET EVENTS '10150 TRACE NAME CONTEXT FOREVER, LEVEL 1';
ALTER SESSION SET EVENTS '10904 TRACE NAME CONTEXT FOREVER, LEVEL 1';
ALTER SESSION SET EVENTS '25475 TRACE NAME CONTEXT FOREVER, LEVEL 1';
ALTER SESSION SET EVENTS '10407 TRACE NAME CONTEXT FOREVER, LEVEL 1';
ALTER SESSION SET EVENTS '10851 TRACE NAME CONTEXT FOREVER, LEVEL 1';
ALTER SESSION SET EVENTS '22830 TRACE NAME CONTEXT FOREVER, LEVEL 192 ';
-- new object type path: TABLE_EXPORT/TABLE/TABLE
CREATE TABLE "SYSADM"."MYTABLE1"
   (    "ID" NUMBER
   ) SEGMENT CREATION IMMEDIATE
  PCTFREE 10 PCTUSED 40 INITRANS 1 MAXTRANS 255 NOCOMPRESS LOGGING
  TABLESPACE "PSDEFAULT" ;

CREATE TABLE "SYSADM"."MYTABLE2"
   (    "ID" NUMBER
   ) SEGMENT CREATION DEFERRED
  PCTFREE 10 PCTUSED 40 INITRANS 1 MAXTRANS 255 NOCOMPRESS LOGGING
  TABLESPACE "PSDEFAULT" ;

No more luck.

Finally, let's remove the segment attribute :

[oracle@orion2:/oradata/DMOFSCM9/dpdump]$ impdp sysadm/sysadm dumpfile=mytable.dmp logfile=mytable_imp.log directory=data_pump_dir transform=segment_attributes:n sqlfile=mytable.sql

Import: Release 11.2.0.1.0 - Production on Tue Sep 8 21:58:34 2009

Copyright (c) 1982, 2009, Oracle and/or its affiliates.  All rights reserved.

Connected to: Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition Release 11.2.0.1.0 - 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options
Master table "SYSADM"."SYS_SQL_FILE_FULL_01" successfully loaded/unloaded
Starting "SYSADM"."SYS_SQL_FILE_FULL_01":  sysadm/******** dumpfile=mytable.dmp logfile=mytable_imp.log directory=data_pump_dir transform=segment_attributes:n sqlfile=mytable.sql
Processing object type TABLE_EXPORT/TABLE/TABLE
Job "SYSADM"."SYS_SQL_FILE_FULL_01" successfully completed at 21:58:36

[oracle@orion2:/oradata/DMOFSCM9/dpdump]$ more mytable.sql
-- CONNECT SYSADM
ALTER SESSION SET EVENTS '10150 TRACE NAME CONTEXT FOREVER, LEVEL 1';
ALTER SESSION SET EVENTS '10904 TRACE NAME CONTEXT FOREVER, LEVEL 1';
ALTER SESSION SET EVENTS '25475 TRACE NAME CONTEXT FOREVER, LEVEL 1';
ALTER SESSION SET EVENTS '10407 TRACE NAME CONTEXT FOREVER, LEVEL 1';
ALTER SESSION SET EVENTS '10851 TRACE NAME CONTEXT FOREVER, LEVEL 1';
ALTER SESSION SET EVENTS '22830 TRACE NAME CONTEXT FOREVER, LEVEL 192 ';
-- new object type path: TABLE_EXPORT/TABLE/TABLE
CREATE TABLE "SYSADM"."MYTABLE1"
   (    "ID" NUMBER
   ) ;

CREATE TABLE "SYSADM"."MYTABLE2"
   (    "ID" NUMBER
   ) ;

[oracle@orion2:/oradata/DMOFSCM9/dpdump]$

Unfortunately, no more tablespace... that means every single imported table will be (re)created into the user's default tablespace, which is not good enough.

Looks like as soon as we have a segment for a table, it is rather difficult to "remove" it.

To be continued,

Nicolas.

Peoplesoft on 11gR2 64-bits

I should start to say, Peoplesoft (any version) is not supported yet on 11gR2 (64/32 bits).
But I would like to test it how it is working.

1. Install the 11gR2 64-bits, as I explained here

2. Upgrade your database, here below a FSCM9 database (or create from scratch - I did not tested it yet)
The upgrade is quite standard, start the db with old version and run the 11.2 check utility :

@/apps/oracle/product/11.2.0/rdbms/admin/utlu112i.sql

Then start your db in upgrade mode, and run the upgrade script (with 11.2 binaries) :

@$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/catupgrd.sql

After restarting the db in normal mode, check it afterwards :

@$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/utlu112s.sql

There is an additional script to run :

@$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/catuppst.sql

And finally, recompile the objects :

@$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/utlrp.sql

3. Because 11gR2 64-bits is not coming with 32-bits libraries, as I wrote here, you'll need to install a 32-client into a new Oracle home for the application and batch server clients.
That is fine, nothing much to say about the client install, check the runtime option :

4. Create the required symbolic link $ORACLE_HOME/lib/libclntsh.so.9.0 pointing to $ORACLE_HOME/lib/libclntsh.so.11.1 (assuming ORACLE_HOME is
your Oracle client home path directory). Do not forget to configure the tnsnames.ora as well.

5. Change the ORACLE_HOME env variable to the Oracle client home pathdirectory of the Peoplesoft Unix account, and reconfigure the
application and batch domains.

Finally every should run fine.

One very interesting  feature of 11gR2 for Peoplesoft is the possibility to deferred the segment creation, it will be very nice to
avoid segment creation for thousands of unused and empty tables., I should also have a try to rebuild the tables without segments...

Enjoy,

Nicolas.

11gR2 64-bits : where is lib32 ?

From the Peopletools 8.49.14, Peoplesoft is fully certified on a 64-bits OS and 11gR1 64-bits (application server and batch server), I already post an article few months ago.
Peoplesoft was still a 32-bits application, but in 11gR1 64-bits, Oracle provided a lib32 directory containing all the required 32-bits libraries, and it worked fine by doing a symbolic link from $ORACLE_HOME/lib/libclntsh.so.9.0 to $ORACLE_HOME/lib32/libclntsh.so.11.1.

Here we go, 11gR2 does not provide anymore the 32-bits libraries, no more $ORACLE_HOME/lib32 directory.
Consequently, Peopletools 8.49 (application server and batch server) cannot be used within 11gR2 64-bits.

What’s up if you are already on a 64-bits OS ? The thing is, you cannot install 11gR2 32-bits client server on 64-bits Linux (blocked by the Installer).
So, what ?
Well, Peoplesoft does not say anything yet about 11gR2, but most likely, Peoplesoft 8.49.x won't be certified soon on 11gR2 64-bits... you must stay on 11gR1 64-bits, or move your application/batch server to 11gR2 32-bits client (sigh)…

I don't hink that'll easy for Peoplesoft to get this certification (11gR2 64-bits client) for existing Peopletools (8.49). Hopefully, that won’t be an issue for the coming Peopletools 8.50 (note, it won't be certified anymore on Linux 32-bits).
This is an issue not only for Peoplesoft application, but for all the 32-bits application running out an Oracle 64-bits client so far.

Update 1 (07-Sept-09): well it seems to be possible by installing the 11gR2 32-bit client onto a new Oracle home on Linux 64-bits, thanks to Fredrik Adolfsson for pointing me out the right documentation :
http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E11882_01/install.112/e10841/install_overview.htm#BABFICCG