http://ebsplatforms.us.oracle.com/platforms/linux/chart_el_11i.shtm

Now for the R12 certification information

“Any specific problem isolated to the hardware vendor virtualization technology (i.e. a problem that cannot be reproduced in a standard, non-virtualized environment) will need to be referred to the specific vendor for resolution.”

Metalink Note #794016.1

Also:

“Oracle has not certified any of its products on VMware virtualized
environments. Oracle Support will assist customers running Oracle products on VMware in the following manner: Oracle will only provide
support for issues that either are known to occur on the native OS, or
can be demonstrated not to be as a result of running on VMware.”

Note #249212.1

If you want to run Oracle, your best bet is Oracle VM (Note #464754.1 lists all supported software offerings).

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

1. Oracle OVM version 2 supports hot swappable adding and removing of processors and memory? I wish they would have told us this for our proof of concept that used 3.0.3 and it doesn’t support hot swapping.

2. Running a 32bit apps tier 11.5.10.2 with a 64 bit database tier isn’t going to be an issue for Oracle Linux or the new Servers being purchased.

3. The Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK) has benefits that may be worth while — and the links specify exactly what the benefits are.

http://oss.oracle.com/el5/docs/RELEASE-NOTES-U7-en.html#unbreakable_ent_kernel

4. We have access to the 11.5.10.2 media — I just need to find the best place for it since It is approximately 20 gigabytes to download.

5. Our shared filesystem architecture should use the ext 3 filesystem type with NFS with lock management turned on.

It seems that if you don’t have a really large box meaning two plus sockets for processors — you may not really nead the UEK kernel.  I’ve been told that UEK is Oracle’s Kernel for Exadata machines (a machine with >=2 sockets).  Oracle won’t tell you UEK won’t work on smaller machines but Oracle will recommend using a different kernel — so the headache and tuning issues can be shared with other companies like redhat.  — Just my .02

two tier configuration with  shared appl_top and common_tops –

Database tier will stay the same running -  Oracle Enterprise RDBMS 11.2.0.2  64bit — it will run on OEL 6.X

Apps tier  will go from a 64 bit  AIX OS    to running 32-bit apps 11.5.10   from a 32bit   OEL 5.7 — OS.

You can help me if you can find out –  Can Greg  keep our apps tier at  a 64bit OS — running the 32bit apps.

On AIX – we only had to apply a patch or two  to AIX 5.3  to keep the 32 bit apps running on 64bit OS.

I have not read anything from Oracle or found enything on certify — that indicates OEL 5.7  64bit  is certified to  run the 32bit apps 11.5.10.

I did open a Service Request and had it immediately closed….. I was sent this e-mail  —

Hello Greg,
The requested version E-Business Suite 11.5.10.2 for Linux x86 has become
obsolete, the latest available version is Oracle E-Business Suite Release
12.1.1 Media Pack v6 for Linux x86.
If you still require E-Business Suite 11.5.10.2 for Linux x86 Kindly  provide us the Business Justification.”

  Here is the solution:

First Open the correct kind of Servie Request — the procedure are below:

Login to My Oracle Support

once in — Navigate to upper right hand corner and click on “Contact Us”

Then put in your CSI #
Pick Category of : —Software and OS Media Requests

Then for Request Summary —> Tell Oracle what your requesting and/or trying to do..

Then fill in the next section called Request Details.  Which will provide oracle with you shipping address details.

After I created my Service Request.. About a day later I got an e-mail from somebody in India… apparently this is where the group resides

that can make oracle software available over the internet.. 

Yes,  We did get the e-mail above — and ultimately we did get our software — we did however have to provide a business justification.  This is what we provided:

We are migrating our applications from AIX to Linux.  We requrie the Linux media at this time.  We have customizations and third party software that we own that are currently keeping us at 11.5.10.2.  We fully intend to upgrade to R12.X — However, first we must migrate.  If you have any questions or concerns please contact me immediately.

This  should do the trick.

Then came the big question of :

Physical Media or download it from E-delivery.   Yes — I did have to ask the guys in our TAX department if getting the physical CD’s mattered.

My take was this — Its old software we have bought it and paid for it a long time ago. We only continue to pay maintenance (so I believe).

You may get provided a URL like the one below..   G and K can be changed…. but the part numbers may just help you along.
http://gdelivery.orakle.com/EPD/GetUserInfo/get_form?caller=obsolete_media&aru=7715880,7715881,7715882,7715883,7715884,7715885,7715886,7715887,7715888&desupport_token=1336546800_acfdedfc5d3bc5e35419dc641f9f71ad

copy and paste the above URL

Hope this helps.

• My Oracle Support http://support.oracle.com/           

OR

• 1 800 223 1711

The Escalation Process – Explained

The service request escalation process must be done by telephone!  Also,    until you’ve spoken to a manager from oracle support, an escalation has not occurred.

Severity increases  are different from Escalation request!! Know this!!

• Severity Levels:

  3 (I need help)              2 (Help this is causing bigger issues)   and      1 (parts of production or all of production isn’t working) 

• Escalation Levels

                        Escalations Manager (usually a shift manager and sometimes an analyst)

                        Sr. Manager  Level Escalation

Director Level Escalation

VP level Escalation

Here’s how it works;

Step 1 – Call Support  1800 223 1711. 

You can choose #1 for Existing SR or #2 for New SR. 
If you choose #1, you will be presented with the option to either Escalate or speak to an engineer. If you choose to speak to the engineer, most often you’ll get voicemail. Don’t leave a voicemail if you desire escalation – You need to speak with a HUB analyst – or person that takes notes. Remember HUB folks are there trying to help you — also most of the time they are not technical but have an idea of how to be helpful.  Let them be helpful.  They are like the receptionist at the front office building… Remember you can win more favors with Sugar than you can with spice.  Provide all the details they ask for.  Talk to them, not at them!

Get your pen handy!

Step 2 – Initiate Escalation: SAY –  I would like to speak with and receive a callback from the Escalation Manager. Heads Up – It’s not  called the Duty Manager anymore (Escalation Manager).  Then provide the explanation as to why your doing what your doing.  Write answer to the next  stuff down –

• ask who or what is the name of the analyst assigned to your SR
• What group they work in
• What country and time zone do they work in
• What are their working hours and if or when they become on duty.  (Its Global Support anymore)
• How many SR’s are they currently working and confirm yours in the highest priority.
• If you don’t like the answers provided and haven’t gotten a call back since you opened the SR… let Oracle know.  REMEMBER – This is the ESCALATION PROCESS – The first Phone call of many to come!
• Ask the HUB analyst to ping or sametime the analyst assigned to your SR and get answers for the questions above.
• If they aren’t online – this tells you something (you might be waiting for awhile).   Ask the HUB person to find out when to expect your call back.

TIP #1  -   I usually follow up my Severity 1 Service request with an immediate call for an escalation manager!

Anyway – your goal is to get someone to call you back – Hopefully an analyst calls you before the Escalation Manager calls you.

Be watching the Service Request at the my oracle support website. —   Often times you may not get a phone call or any e-mail from support – or even a call back for that matter.  Somebody just put an update into the Service Request asking for a piece of information,  and has the service request status of waiting on you.

Even if you speak with an analyst – double check the Service Request online. Analyst will often say they need time to research your questions… I try not to let them off of the phone. 

TIP #2  — Ask for an Oracle Web Conference (OWC) – this allows oracle to see what you see.  A picture is often worth a thousand words.  If you end up having a bug and development needs to see your screen – oracle can screen scrape or record what you have going on.

TIP #3   You must have a game  plan in place for how the Service Request is going to be worked.

Nothing bites worse than waiting for hours just to have an analyst ask for a piece of info that takes two minutes to gather.

TIP #4  Ultimately Oracle will ask you for an  RDA ouput.  I believe this is Remote Diagnostic assistant script output.  Provide it via the upload button. Then put a separate entry in the SR asking for what additional information they require – and urge for a phone call back.  Follow up with a phone call and let Oracle know you need assistance immediately.

TIP #5   If you have called in more than two times on an SR – and have updated the SR via the web – and you have clearly put the onus of responsibility in Oracle’s court.  You’ll get your call back. 

Oracle’s internal  system does keep track of Service Requests that are unattended. If you called twice and updated twice – something is triggerd internally –letting the Analyst or the analsyst responsible manager know they have Service Requests waiting.  If you don’t have a plan of action at the call back —- Its time for the next level of escalation.

Call 1800 223 1711 and let them know you need to speak to a person… Now you escalate the SR beyond the escalation manager. Ask to speak to a senior level escalation manager.

You should get a call back within one hour. However, if your SR isn’t in the correct group at oracle — and you don’t want your Service Request transferred around for hours on end. After that hang up and escalate to the next level.   Ask to have the service request escalated to the Vice President level.

• Step 4 – Update the SR – to say you called  and ask for an escalation – document in the Service Request that you haven’t been called in X minutes and that your not sure what is going on – or where the hang up is.

Here’s how it plays out:

• A manager will call you back to discuss the technical details and review the Service Request with you.   Typically, the first level escalation managers  make  excuses for your engineers and try to get you to someone else. – Your supposed to give that manager an opportunity to make thing correct. However, typically the don’t have access to the resources to fix your issue.  Next tell the manager you want this issue brought to attention of the director.  You must say “I am requesting a director level escalation of my Service request”.  Chances are this manager doesn’t have the resources you need under his/her control.  Let the next level manager do this.
• At this time, discuss any concerns you have. (time to respond, time to resolve, technical direction, key milestones at risk, etc.) Work up an agreed upon action plan and ask for the name of the director that’s call you back – find out when they work and where and when the call back is coming.
• As a customer, document the action plan in the Service Request. Write, “I just spoke to so-n-so and we agreed to the following” The manager should be doing the same.
• Know when the next follow-up will be. Is a follow up phone call necessary? Discuss it.

Managers have control of the resources and time of the support engineers. They may reassign it to someone else on the team. They may free up the time of the current engineer to devote more time to your problem. They will review what can and can’t be accommodated.

DON’T HANG UP with any manager until you know these 3 things:

1-The Manager’s name

2-A piece of contact information from that manager (office phone, cell phone, or email address) Go direct to the source for updates

What if the Service Request has a Bug Associated with it?

Still use the Escalation Manager(s) to get in touch with Development Management.

TIP #6  Ask that only one analyst put entries into the Service Request. Make sure Oracle development knows how this bug is affecting your business.  

What if I’ve done what you’ve prescribed and it didn’t work?

Simply call the 800# again, state either the escalation manager you’ve spoken too isn’t able to help you, or the escalation call wasn’t returned, then request to RE-escalate the issue to the next level of management.  Go to the top until you get things your way!  However, be sure you escalate in the order defined – Oracle won’t allow you to skip an escalation manager.

• Sr. Manager  Level Escalation
• Director Level Escalation

VP level Escalation TIP #1  -   I usually follow up my Severity 1 Service request with an immediate call for an escalation manager!

Each one of these escalation requires a separate phone call to oracle and a bit of time is wasted between each call.  You’ll be working with one analyst – and all they are going to do is — collect information.  

TIP #7 – You can have another teammate call in on the Service Request on your behalf   and ask to have it escalated.  While you are working with lower level analysts.

Say simply – there is no game plan yet and all we are doing is collecting information. We need someone on the phone on a Oracle Web Conference that is capable of collecting data – analyzing data and providing a feasable a solution.  The person we are working with is not it.   We don’t need to be waiting on three separate people.   Senior level escalation managers at oracle can get these “go to people” on the phone for you rather quickly.  Just be sure to ask for each of the escalation in the SR at different intervals of time – in-between the support notes and updates.

TIME IS MONEY WITH A DOWN PRODUCTION SYSTEM – YOU ARE PAYING FOR SUPPORT SO GET THE MOST OUT OF IT.

and plopping it into another virtual space with ease…  you may want to read  this…..   As a hardware architect (HA)  (which I will say — I am not)  Are you familiar with Oracle tool called Enterpise Manager?  Well if not you better get there and quick.  OEM 12c   which is a Weblogic server plugin…. .. Also — as a hardware architect — are you familiar with how to added extents to a tablespace that has filled up?  If not you better get their.   Also as a HA are you familiar Weblogic Server and how to tune and configure it?  You might want to get ready for this…. then Mr. or Mrs…  HA how do feel about working with your DBA?  I hope the relationship is good!!!  otherwise the age old problem of  where the sysadmin responsibility ends and the DBA’s responsibilities begin will certainly be revisited in your company.  However, this is only a problem if you have finger pointing or if you have stubborn (lets say persistent) people that can never do wrong….. :-)     I thought OVM was going to be a bit complex and I was correct — I found myself knee deep into other peoples turf… areas that were seldom talked about — you know the Vlans  and switches and Storage Area Networks interconnects behind the scenes.   Cool  if you like learning new stuff!!!   —-> but when I finally got to tool that was of most interest to me — the Virtual Assembly Builder — you know the tool that lets me  —> the Applications DBA   create templates of my financials environments — I got a huge let down… When it was demonstrated — the presentation should have been PREFACED with — might only be used by HUGE telecommunications companies.  This tool Virtual Assembly Builder (VAB) or ovab as it is refferred to— will blurr all boundaries in your company — I actually asked who would be the primary user of the tool — the apps dba — the hardware architect –the sysadmin or the networking team… and oracle couldn’t give me an answer.   “Thats a good questions — Were not sure”.   For sure if won’t be the apps dba  — and let me tell you I believe the tool is way expensive….   Ohhh and you need to know about OEM also…. the OEM 12c was free –but if you want any of the good functionality of OEM — like  looking into your e-business or people soft environments — you better prepared to open the checkbook because those plugins to weblog cost extra.  I never did fully get an understanding of how OVAB would help me — because I was overwhelmed with the scheer complexity of it.  If you thought Oracle Worflow was tuff — Stop now and don’t bother with OVAB — unless you are a HUGE – HUGE company and your in MENSA and you personally ware all the hats in you company (have all the responsibility)… just my .02 on the topic.

Hope this helps

Greg B.

However,  the sad truth is this OVM technology  is just not ready -VMWare is way ahead of oracle here!!- there may be a few folks out there on OVM and using it in production … but OVM is not exactly what it seems.  If you haven’t yet — in your brain you need to associate OVM or VMWare with hardware and system Architecture.  Bottom line is  Oracle is really going to confuse folks that have knowledge of VMWARE– becuase they are trying to certify OVM to hardware. (now that they own sun — they are a hardware company also).

(FYI — I’m really new to virtualization and have tons to learn).
Having said that — Isn’t the point of virtualizaton to have an operating system (OS) and Applications (RDBMS or E-Business, CRM, CUSTOM APPS, etc.) be virtual? Doesn’t virtual mean NOT dependent upon hardware?

My take on the concept of virtualizaton is Software is to be used like an appliance to plugin to other virtual spaces -(operating system and applications)- This point being important — REGARDLESS OF HARDWARE. I keep reading that Oracle only SUPPORTS their virtual SOFTWARE OVM with their Operating system and specific hardware list. SUPPORTS being the key word.

Does not having application support not allow me to take a template created from – XEN or VM Ware or other virutal provider and do mix and match? Do so at your own risk? {somebody chime in here } (Limiting competition).

Been reading that if you want to USE OVM — you need to use a certified hardware platform (A hardware platform that Oracle chooses) Seems like dictates… ? Somebody correct me if I’m wrong. see link below:

http://linux.oracle.com/pls/apex/f?p=117:1:5773793518142288:::::

Again this is just my .02 but only supporting your databases and applications on OVM specific to a particular hardware vendor (approximately six vendors) Seems counter productive to the entire concept of being VIRTUAL.

Virtualization should take the hardware out of the equation for applications and database. The name OVM seems like a marketing ploy to sell another ORACLE support service (not a product since its free) and essentially limit (mess with the name and intentions) something great that the Open Source community has provided.

As of April 20th 2012 OVM version 3.0.3 is not ready for the big time — it doesn’t seem to compare to vmWare’s —
must important to me or my largest concern has been with stability of the virtualzation layer.  with OVM 3.0.3 you can not on the fly add and remove processors to an up and running environement — it requires a reboot.

Having been through the installation of OVM — your hardware guys and gals are gonna hate OVM — becuase now OVM tools are owned and controlled by an oracle account — not ROOT.    To expand on the architecture of the OVM — the physical or hardware layer is is where the issues will occur — you know at the bottom of the chart… typically we expect the hardware layer to be the most solid — since the applications give us the problems…. (most of the time anyway in my 13+ years production support).  An oracle database is behind the scenes — being used by the OVM software configureation tool.   yes  I know other virtual tools use sqlserver or access or have their own flavor of database —but now it and oracle database — Standard edition or Enterprise edition… and it is a seperate installation when getting OVM running.  What — My architecture guys are going to be dependent on the DBA’s to manage the architecture??? Yes that is correct!!!

Anyhow — I love change   and OVM is going to be a whopping change if it ever catches on.. but as long as oracle is going to force folks to use the hadware they certify to only — and as long as you can only use an oracle database to controll ovm — I’m not seeing a whole lot of takers in the immediate future….. However,,, once they start talking about how applications can be deployed and ready to go via a template immediately  out of the box — their will be some lookers…. bottom line  —wait till version 3.1 of OVM —- it MIGHT be on par with VMWare.

currently in my opinion OVM 3.0.3 is xen with a few mods — in other words open source code to run your hardware architecture on

Hope this helps

Greg B.

alter user apps identified by imamoron;

you’ll be in a heap of hot water if you do… Why — because apps in not just a database user account — it is directly tied to the applsys user account and lets just say its got oracle magic that prevents you from ever issueing this command above as a DBA–   OK  it Oracle apps.. don’t expect things to be simple.    So you now  know what not to do .. Then  What do I need to do?    ANSWER

Learn about FNDCPASS  this utility is located down the $FND_TOP/bin directory  (all upper case).   here is my 100 level course on the topic.

FNDCPASS apps/nevergonagetit  0 Y system/nottodayfriend  SYSTEM  APPLSYS  mynewpasswrd

This command might have you asking questions about why is the old apps password needed and why system database password and why the heck is system (the word) in here so many times. — OK for starters  This utility FNDCPASS has other features besides just changing the apps password — actually it does lots of cool stuff see notes 159244.1 for more info.

So  the Zero and the Y –  I’m not sure from memory — so ask the oracle developers — but  if you know the database system password — you can esentaily guarantee that your a DBA and can change any database level password.  The old or current apps password is needed to change all of the apps passwords that  you are about to specify by adding the words SYSTEM APPLSYS here is a better exampel to follow:

$FND_TOP/bin/FNDCPASS apps/notallowd 0 Y system/notmanager SYSTEM APPLSYS appsgodacount

Cool — so you changed the apps and applsys password  now how do I accomidate the finance user that just called me — and I don’t want to be inside the GUI to help — perhaps the plugins or the applications take to long to load…

Do this:   $FND_TOP/bin/FNDCPASS apps/notallowd 0 Y system/notmanager USER DBECK gobuckeyes    —> changed a switch from system to user

ohh — the guy called me and said he forgot his database login — he know the applications login but has to use discoverer  and can’t remember his database password — you know every month they get our of sync since apps passwords are easy to expire. then do this

$FND_TOP/bin/FNDCPASS apps/notallowd 0 Y system/notmanager ORACLE MSCORE gastonia  –> changed a swith from USER to the word ORACLE  –> this takes care of both locations database and applications.

Now for the GOTCHA’s

Opps apps won’t startup the GUI that is— since I changed the apps password — ohh lord what do I do

Don’t panic — know this:

$IAS_TOP/Apache/modplsql/cfg/wdbsvr.app         &

$ORACLE_HOME/reports60/server/CGIcmd.dat
You don’t necessarily need to go run autoconfig every time you change the apps password… just be sure to edit the two files above and hardcode the new apps password in them -shutdown all the applsys processes and restart them with the new hard coded passwords- depending on the version of autoconfig you use — autocofig might not even fix these files for you.   And to boot  you don’t need to go and play with $FND_TOP/secure files — regenerating these files should be mitigated period.  so in other words avoid messing with you machine_instance.dbc files.

Hope this helps

Greg B.

NOT an entire clone – Which can be pretty complex especially if your reading six or seven oracle notes that should all be condensed.

Oracle doesn’t have a real friendly way  of supporting you in this effort… It seems more like an all or nothing ordeal.  This kinda bytes — when really all your trying to do — IN MY WORDS — is a “database refresh”.

here is/are some of the tools and steps I follow when making a clone… now I don’t want this to read as a how to — because my envirnment may not be like yours  (use my info at your own risk) – but I may  later expect some questions answered in return… Quid Pro Quo.

Get the database copied to the new location and or course get it renamed… RMAN is great for doing this… but I’m not going to do an RMAN how to…. You can follow notes 230672.1  Append B for a high level

Post copying or refreshing the database to its new environment – once the database is up and running

1.- Run the library update script against the Database
cd [RDBMS ORACLE_HOME]/appsutil/install/[CONTEXT NAME]
sqlplus “/ as sysdba” @adupdlib.sql [libext]

Where [libext] should be set to ‘sl’ for HP-UX, ‘so’ for any>> other UNIX platform,     or ‘dll’ for Windows.

2. as the apps user  > exec   fnd_conc_clone.setup_clean
then rerun adconfig (autoconfig)  on all nodes starting  with the db tier. That should fix the concurrent manager issues… typically the fnd_nodes table needs to get cleaned then populated –fnd_conc_clone.setup_clean  does  whipe it clean  then  autoconfig will do the populating  of new entries .  If you have a multi node environment do it from all the nodes in the environment. –

With this method — I also  clean off the unix box  $APPLCSF/out and log directories and any of the other log directories that have old data out there.  My users never expect to see old concurrent requests in this new type of clone environment — this is a test env — not a reporting environment.

Instance Site Name:

Use this sql to update the instance site name — you know:  What users see on the banner when they log in to the GUI.

update applsys.fnd_profile_option_values POV

set POV.profile_option_value = ‘ My Test box Cloned April 20th 2012′

where POV.profile_option_id = (select OPT.profile_option_id from applsys.fnd_profile_options OPT where OPT.profile_option_name = ‘SITENAME’);

Hope this helps

Greg