So I downloaded R12.1.1 from Oracle eDelivery. 40 files in excess of 45Gb to the joy of my ISP.

NOTE until 20/11-2009 there was a corrupt file on eDelivery and it took me a while to convince Oracle that it was the case.

The sick file was: V15571-01_2of3.zip

However the file has been fixed after the above date but be sure to test your downloaded files anyway using ziptest.

Otherwise follow the procedure for R12 Installation.

Some of the initial rapidwiz screen has changed though.

The Welcome screen is saying 12.1.1 – great:

Select express install:

Just click next on this one:

Update base directory:

Before logging in you should compile the jsp pages – see how to Compile JSP.

And then it is business as usual like in R12.0.4

Also in you environment script – the one I call vis.sh change this:

from:
TECHENV=/oracle/VIS/db/tech_st/10.2.0/$CONTEXT_NAME.env
to:
TECHENV=/oracle/VIS/db/tech_st/11.1.0/$CONTEXT_NAME.env

Have fun…

This approach is recommended when downloading huge amounts of data like when downloading Oracle R12 installations files.

In addition to testing the downloaded files also be sure to use a download manager.

The basic zip test command is:

$ unzip –t –qq {zipfile}

I made a Linux script for it named ziptest.sh:

A similar script can be made for Windows names ziptest.cmd:

As command line programming in windows isn’t great we need to call a subprogram names ziptest_call:

That should be it.

Be sure to update directory references for your own purpose.

I’m running R12.0.4 on OEL5.3 with Virtualbox 2.2.2 having a Windows 7 machine.

R12

R12 is installed on OEL with the hostname: localhost.localdomain

Firefox works locally against R12 so the EBS stack in working at this point.

Start the database, listener and apps. See Managing R12:

$ addbctl start

$ addlnctl start VIS

$ adstrtal apps/apps

To test if a database network connection would work try:

$ sqlplus apps/apps@VIS

Virtualbox

Installed Vbox 2.2.2 on OEL. Get it from http://www.virtualbox.org

Setup Vbox host-only network in \File\Preferences

and give it a ip like 192.168.2.7 on the adapter tab:

and setup the dhcp tab like this:

When the Vbox machine is started you should be able to ping it:

Windows 7 in Virtualbox

I use Windows 7 RC.

Create a Vbox machine and mount the downloaded Win7 ISO as CDROM and run install:

You get it from here:

Setup Vbox networking like this:

This will communicate through the 192.168.2.7 ip address.

When Window 7 is installed create a new entry in the file:

C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

like this:

Pointing to localhost.localdomain so Firefox R12 login works.

To ensure everything work try to ping localhost:

SQLDeveloper

If you want to do development then this tool is great. Get it from:

http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/database/sql_developer/index.html

I installed version 1.5.1.

Setup the connection:

I just used the ip address here and it works fine.

Firefox

To run R12 forms and framework you need Firefox 2.

Install Firefox 2 in Win7. I installed version 2.0.0.14. Get it from:

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-older.html

Allow localhost.localdomain is Firefox security:

and pop-ups:

To start R12 enter the URL:

http://localhost.localdomain:8000/OA_HTML

And you get the login screen:

Java

Java is a must for R12. Check the version required when you have logged in to R12 and click a forms screen

In 12.0.4 it is 1.5.0.13:

Then install Java 1.5.0.13 to ensure you don’t get plug-in issues with R12. Get it from:

http://java.sun.com/products/archive/j2se/5.0_13/index.html

As Firefox only supports one Java plug-in at any one time check the directory for plug-ins:

C:\ > DIR “C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\plugins”

Ensure you only have one Java plug-in here. If it is missing the do this:

C:\ > copy C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_13\bin\NPJPI150_13.dll C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\plugins

Restart Firefox and now everything should work.

OEL does not seem to be a complete operating system – it feels like Linux 5 years ago with loads of drivers missing and command line fiddling.

One chapter for each part…

Graphics

This does work out of the box but the built in driver is not great and make the fan run at full all the time.

If you installed in Virtualbox then fix the graphics card by getting this driver:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux_display_ia32_180.51.html

You have to install it outside X11 so issue this command:

$ init 3

To exit X11 and login to a command prompt.

Then run the Nvidia install script:

$ ./NVDIA*run

When done then:

$ init 5

To get X11 back.

Network

Should work. Ensure that \System\Administration\Network has a entry using Marvell network driver.

Wireless

I configured the network is two steps.

First ensure you got a wlan0 device in \System\Administration\Network in Devices and Hardware tab.

Next ensure you have define wlan security in \System\Preferences\More Preferences\Network Connections in Wireless tab.

After all this wireless still doesn’t work but try these two lines:

$ chkconfig NetworkManager on
$ service NetworkManager start

This starts the wireless service and now it should work.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth does not work immediately – for some reason it does not detect any devices. You normally get this:

$ hcitool scan
Scanning …
Inquiry failed: Connection timed out

First reset Bluetooth to enable discovery:

$ hciconfig hci0 reset

If the Bluetooth does not discover after reboot try to add the reset to /etc/modprobe.con

options hci_usb reset=1

Then scan for any devices:

$ hcitool scan
00:1D:D8:98:6F:23       Microsoft Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000

Bingo – things start to work now…

Next configure the security settings by editing /etc/bluetooth/hcid.conf and change to (in bold):

Then ensure the Bluetooth manager discovers the device by editing /etc/default/bluetooth:

Then restart Bluetooth:

$ /etc/init.d/bluetooth restart

Connect to the new device using:

$ hidd –search
Searching …
Connecting to device 00:1D:D8:98:6F:23

And everything should work now!!!

At least my MS BT mouse did except for the scroll wheel.

MS BT Mouse – Microsoft Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000

First get the Bluetooth to work as above.

Touchpad

When touching my touchpad it is erratic.

First get hold of your input devices.

Probe the mouse devices using this command:

$ udevinfo -a -p `udevinfo -q path -n /dev/input/mouse1`

And change the mouse# until you get an output like:

The ALPS is your touchpad.

Update your /etc/X11/xorg.conf to include mouse1:

Now we need to fix the erratic behaviour.

Edit /boot/grub/menu.lst and include “i8042.nomux=1” when starting Linux:

Reboot and the touchpad should work now.

OEL is in reality a Red Hat Enterprise Linux, which is a bit amputated in term of applications and drivers.

The reason for this constellation is OEL 5.3 Supports eBusiness Suite R12 and RDBMS 10g.

Next step is to make Win7 to speak to a R12 installation.

Using
c:> net use x: d:/path
To assign drive.

Copy and paste of files works fine but if you try to install any software from the shared drive or read media it doesn’t work.

Even running WIN7 on top of Vista resulted in errors using shared folders.

Would be nice to resolve this problem…

Until then just copy/paste files from the shared drive to C: and work from there.

Firefox

Firefox 3 does not work with R12. I could get forms to work however framework pages had problems with buttons. So install Firefox 2 instead.

Java Plug-in

For R12.0.4 on OEL desktop you want to use JRE 1.5.0.13 otherwise you have to fiddle with the context file.

You can always connect to the EBS from Windows but you want to test if the EBS stack works at all first.

I tried and could not get it to work in Linux with any other JRE version.

Download Java plug-in JRE 1.5.0.13 from:

http://java.sun.com/products/archive/j2se/5.0_13/index.html

For Linux

Install JRE using this script (java.sh):

The script is using the plugin in …/ns7/… otherwise Firefox will regularly crash especially “manage addons” in preferences.

For WindowsXP

First ensure no NP* plug-in files exist in C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\plugins:

$ del C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\plugins\NP*

Manually copy the correct java version plug-in to the Mozilla plug-in:

$ copy C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_13\bin\NP* C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\plugins

In case you have more than one version of java installed you may need to disable Mozilla Java plugin scan.

Enter the URL: about:config like this:

In the filer box enter JRE and you will get:

Double click on the value and update to 1.9 which is a java version that does not exist yet and hence essentially disables the java plug-in scan.

Close and restart the browser and now 1.5.13 should always be the default.

Connect

Enter the following URL in Firefox to connect to EBS

http://localhost.localdomain:8000/OA_HTML/AppsLogin

Login as SYSADMIN and password SYSADMIN

I recommend you to start with this article to get R12 up and running.

Run as Oracle user:

$ . ./vis.sh

Note the dot and space in front of a script to assign variables to the current environment.

EBS 12.0.4 on OEL5.3
EBS 12.1.1 on OEL5.4
RDBMS 10g on OEL5.3
RDBMS 11g on OEL5.3 and OEL5.4

I recommend you to start with this article to get R12 up and running.

Login

This is my own login script which you can see here.

Login to OEL as Oracle and run login script:

$ . ./vis.sh

Ensure you also got the first dot so it is the current environment you are setting environment variables for.

Startup

Start database:

$ addbctl start

Start database listener:

$ addlnctl start VIS

Start application server and concurrent managers:

$ adstrtal apps/apps

Shutdown

Start with shutting down application server and concurrent managers:

$ adstpall apps/apps

Wait until all concurrent processes has stopped.

I use this commend to check for that:

$ ps –fed | grep VIS

When only the database processes are left then shut down the database:

$ addbctl stop

Then finally stop the listener:

$ addlnctl stop VIS

Connect

Enter the following URL in Firefox to connect to EBS

http://localhost.localdomain:8000/OA_HTML/AppsLogin

Login as SYSADMIN and password SYSADMIN

Modify Managers

After installing R12 you have more than 200 oracle processes running – check with:

$ ps –fed | grep VIS | wc –l

The managers take up cpu and disk i/o.

Reduce the number of concurrent managers running to something like this:

Use Define Concurrent Managers and reduce to workshift to 0 for non-essential managers.

Also reduce the Standard Manager to 2. You need a minimum of two of a program starts a sub process.

This should get you down to around 120 processes. The system should feel more responsive now.

If you need to work with Inventory or similar find the managers relating to this application and re-activate.

Errors

Remove Persistent Locks (error 204)

If the adstrtal.sh returns error 204 it may be due to locks. Use the following script rmlock.sh:

Timeouts (error 150)

If the adstrtal.sh returns error 150 it may be due to timeouts. This can happen for any of the subscripts called by adstrtal.sh especially if you try to start EBS within Virtualbox or you have a slow USB disk.

To remedy do the following:

$ vi $CONTEXT_FILE

Manually search and replace >100< with >900<

$ vi opmn/config/opmn.xml

Manually update timeout from >600< to >1800<

Internal Server Error (error 500)

If the browser comes out with:

500 Internal Server Error

…and much more…

Then the JSP files may be corrupt.

I fixed it by compiling them:

Compile JSP:

$ cd $FND_TOP/patch/115/bin
$ perl ojspCompile.pl –compile –flush -p 2

Temp Tablespace Exceeded (ORA-01652)

The default temp tablespace datafile is around 1G which may be too small

In order to change this you can issue this command from SQL as SYSTEM:

sql> alter database tempfile ‘/oracle/VIS/db/apps_st/data/temp1_01.dbf’ autoextend on maxsize 10000m ;

Which enables the system to extend the file to 10Gb

Be sure to extend all tempfiles which on a standard VIS installation is temp1_01.dbf and temp2_01.dbf.

Unable to authenticate session

You might see this screen instead of the login screen.

If this happends in Firefox but IE works ok then try to clear the Firefox cache in \Tools\Clear Private Data and then ensure to also select Cookies.

Slow database connection

You might see Oracle Applications starting very slowly – like taking more than a half an hour. This could be due to slow sqlnet connection.

First open a command line and type:

$ sqlplus apps/apps

This should connect fast as it bypasses sqlnet. If not you have a CPU or IO performance problem.

Next try:

$ sqlplus apps/apps@VIS

If this is slow then you might have a slow sqlnet connection.

Check /etc/hosts:

# Do not remove the following line, or various programs
# that require network functionality will fail.
127.0.0.1               localhost.localdomain localhost
::1                     localhost.localdomain localhost

I have experiences either the ::1 is missing or pointing to the wrong ip name. Ensure the two lines points to the same name. The problem arises as the new sqlnet has started to use ipv6 which is the ::1 entry.

In 12.0.4 ipv6 was not used but in 12.1.1 ipv6 was introduces maybe with RDBMS 11g

ORA-01031: insufficient privileges

If you get this during database startup on 11g on OEL 5.4 it may be because you have incorrect security setup.

This was not a problem in 10g but Oracle can’t stop changing things…this is also called progress!

1. Check /etc/passwd and ensure you got the following line:

oracle:x:500:500:oracle:/home/oracle:/bin/bash

This is normally set correct. The important bit is the default group – the second 500 value.

2. Check /etc/group and ensure you got the following lines:

bin:x:1:root,bin,daemon,oracle
deamon:x:2:root,bin,daemon,oracle
sys:x:3:root,bin,adm,oracle
adm:x:4:root,adm,daemon,oracle
oracle:x:500:oracle
oinstall:x:501:oracle

So add oracle user not only to the usual oralce created groups but also to bin,daemon,sys and adm groups.

I recommend you to start with this article to get R12 up and running.

Laptop

My laptop is a Dell XPS M1530 with the following specs:

Virtualbox

Get it from http://www.virtualbox.org

I have tried to run EBS from Vbox both using a VDI and direct to EXT3 however it just doesn’t perform on a laptop.

I even tried to use my eSATA as well to no avail.

Ubuntu

Get it from http://www.ubuntu.com/

Using Virtualbox you install Ubuntu to a VDI and when booted into this you can install it onto a USB stick attached with a USB Vbox filter.

If you then boot into Ubuntu using a USB stick file transfers is much faster. Very useful indeed when transferring Oracle files from NTFS to the external OEL USB disk.

I recommend you to start with this article to get R12 up and running.

Update the SOURCE environment variable with your source dir.

First try to run

$ ./rpmall.sh chk

to show what is missing and then install with:

$ ./rpmall.sh inst

But beware this script is flawed. I did change it a few times and you will have to as well.