Coopers Consulting Solutions Limited

Shame on me for not getting around to this sooner! Thank you to those who took the trouble to comment on the first part of this ‘project’ – several of you have been asking for part 2 so hopefully your wait would not have been in vain…

So, as a recap. If you have gone through the steps featured in part one of this, you should have a machine with CentOS 5.3 installed, and with various settings configured ready for the Oracle install.

At the time of originally doing this install, the latest version of EBS was 12.0.4. I am aware that 12.0.6 and 12.1 are now out, however for the purposes of continuity I am proceeding with the 12.0.4 install. When I get around to doing it, I will document a 12.1 install.

Groups and Users

The following groups and users need to be created on the system. As these instructions assume a single-user/single-node installation of EBS we do not need an “applmgr” user. Execute the following commands as specified, from the “root” account…

groupadd oinstall
groupadd dba
groupadd oper
groupadd apache

Note that the apache group may already exist. Next we need to create the users and assign them to the groups…

useradd –g oinstall –G dba oracle
passwd oracle 
useradd –g oinstall –G apache apache
passwd apache

Again note that the apache user may already exist.

As can be seen, for my installation I have set the passwords to be the same as the usernames.

Create install directory

It is best practice to adhere to the Oracle Flexible Architecture (OFA) configuration for RDBMS / Applications installation directory structures irrespective of how your hardware may be configured. To this end you will need to issue the following commands (as the “root” account) which will create the top-level directory node into which the Oracle software will be installed…

mkdir –p /u01
chown –R oracle:oinstall /u01

Modify the Oracle user profile

Login as the oracle user and add the following to the end of the .bash_profile file. To modify this file ensure that your are in the default home directory of the oracle user…

cd

or

cd $HOME

Then issue…

vi .bash_profile

The chances are this file is empty or does not exist (so a new file will be created). These are the lines to add:

# Added for Oracle 10g
if [ $USER = “oracle” ]; then
  if [ $SHELL = “/bin/ksh” ]; then
    ulimit –p 16384
    ulimit –n 65536
  else
    ulimit –u 16384 –n 65536
  fi
fi

Create and set-up the stage area

Next step is to set up the installation stage area for the Oracle Applications software. For my install I executed the following steps as the “root” account, and then retro-applied directory permission changes afterwards to ensure that there would be no access issues later…

mkdir /StageR12
cd /StageR12

This is the start here directory

mkdir startCD

This is for APPL_TOP

mkdir oraApps

This is for RDBMS

mkdir oraDB

This is for Tools

mkdir oraAS

This is for databases

mkdir oraAppDB

Once this is done you then need to copy across the contents of the DVD’s / CD’s into the appropriate directories. The media is clearly labelled to assist. Note that this is a lengthy (and tedious) process. It should also be noted that there is (apparently) a PERL script that will do all of this for you. However I was unable to get this to execute correctly and so resorted to the manual methods above. Either way, you still need to be on hand to swap the media over as required. I would get a cup-of-tea and a good book to keep you company during this phase.

Once done you should end up with a stage directory structure that looks like this diagram:

 

Installing EBS

We’re now ready (at long last I hear you cry) to start the installation.

If you are not already in as oracle, log into your machine as the oracle user and open up a terminal session.

Start the Rapid Install Wizard by issuing the following commands:

cd /StageR12/startCD/Disk1/rapidwiz

chmod u+x rapidwiz

./rapidwiz

The following pages provide screenshots of typical rapidwiz install (although these are not the actual shots from my install – I was unable to screen-capture them!)

Welcome Screen

The rapidwiz executable will fire up a new GUI window. the first screen presented to you will be the welcome screen.

 

 

Select Wizard option

The next screen enables you to select the wizard operation. By default the screen looks like this:

 

 

However we wish to perform an Express Installation.

This sets up a fully configured single-user / single-machine system with a Vision Demo Database. By choosing to do an Express Installation the rapid install will use default values for many of the options. Check the “Use Express Install” checkbox and the click “Next”

Oracle Configuration Manager

Oracle Configuration Manager (OCM) is an optional component that is designed to facilitate support for your Oracle products. OCM provides continuous tracking of key Oracle and system statistics of the machine it is running on. The data collected by OCM is sent via secure HTTPS back to Oracle Support.

 

It is strongly recommended that you check the “Decline” checkbox. Remember that we are installing a trial / demo system for our own training purposes, and as such are not an officially licensed Oracle Applications Client! Click on the “Next” button.

Express Configuration Manager

The express configuration information screen prompts for minimal configuration values. Default values are provided for all fields.

 

In order for the install to proceed you will need to amend the Base Directory entry. Remember that earlier we created the top-node “/u01”? Click into the “Base Directory” entry box and replace the default “/d01” with “/u01”

The screen will automatically amend the entry in the Instance Directory field.

 

You can now click on the next button.

Validate System Configuration

Rapid install runs and displays a series of pre-install tests.

When the tests are complete then the pre-install check screen is displayed.

If there is an exclamation mark or X icon shown click on it to see the details stored during the checking process.

You may proceed with the installation if there are any exclamation marks or X icons shown, however the rapid install process will warn you with an alert screen. You are on your own if you do proceed however!

Assuming all is well with the pre-installation checks then you can click on the Next button to proceed with the installation.

Review and start the installation

You will be presented with the installation review screen…

Click on the next button

Click on the Yes button to proceed

Installation in progress

Whilst the installation is in progress you will see a progress screen similar to the one shown below…

You will be prompted at intervals to point rapid install at the filesystem location for the various install stage directories that we created earlier.

The installation on my machine took approximately 90 minutes to complete. This will vary depending on the machine resources and also whether you stage directories are on the PC or held on an external drive.

Post-install and finish rapidwiz

Assuming all the post install checks are successful you will see the following screen:

If any issues occur during the installation then you will see one or more X icons against the areas of concern. All being well you can click on the next button.

Click the finish button to exit the Rapid Install Wizard.

Post-installation tasks

There are a surprising number of post installation tasks that need to be carried out before you can really start to use the system.

I am not entirely sure of the correct sequence that these tasks need to be completed, so I have documented them in the order I executed them in. Apart from the Java/JRE issues that I encountered (see later) most other things seemed to go smoothly.

Modify the oracle shell profile

You need to modify the shell profile for the oracle user to ensure that all of the environment settings are correctly initialized upon login.

You would also need to perform this step if you plan to create and user other accounts on your machine (such as a named user account for development tasks).

Edit the .bash_profile file under the oracle user’s home directory. Open a terminal session.

cd $HOME
vi .bash_profile

You will need to add in the following extra lines at the end of the script.

# Additional items to set path for EBS
DB_HOME=/u01/oracle/VIS/db/tech_st/10.2.0; export DB_HOME
APPL_TOP=/u01/oracle/VIS/apps/apps_st/appl; export APPL_TOP
COMMON_TOP=/u01/oracle/VIS/inst/apps/VIS_localhost; export COMMON_TOP
# Now set environment
. $APPL_TOP/APPSVIS_localhost.env 

Create start-up and shut-down scripts

Obviously there are supplied scripts to start-up and shut-down the various services, however the following scripts make it a lot easier to shut down and start up the environment. I created 2 scripts, located in the home directory of the oracle user.

The ‘start_VIS.sh’ script looks like this…

# commands to start EBS
cd $DB_HOME
. ./VIS_localhost.env
cd $DB_HOME/appsutil/scripts/VIS_localhost
# start the listener
./addlnctl.sh start VIS
# start the database tier
./addbctl.sh start
cd $INST_TOP/admin/scripts
# start EBS services (apps tier)
./adstrtal.sh apps/apps
# start the internal conc manager
./adcmctl.sh start apps/apps

 and the ‘stop_VIS.sh’ script looks like this…

 # commands to shutdown instance
cd $INST_TOP/admin/scripts
# stop all EBS services (apps tier)
./adstpall.sh apps/apps
cd $DB_HOME
. ./VIS_localhost.env
cd $DB_HOME/appsutil/scripts/VIS_localhost
# stop the listener
./addlnctl.sh stop VIS
# stop the database
./addbctl.sh stop immediate

Make sure that you make these scripts executable by issuing the following commands:

chmod u+x start_VIS.sh
chmod u+x stop_VIS.sh

To run either, simply type

./start_VIS.sh

etc

Verify the OAM portal page

Once the installation is complete, the Oracle Applications manager portal page (formerly known as the rapid installation portal) can be accessed using the following information:

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

Username is SYSADMIN and the password is SYSADMIN

The front screen of the portal looks something like this…

Apply latest JDK update

I came across several on-line references that suggested that I should apply the latest JDK/JRE versions to the apps tier and also install JRE on the database tier to ensure that the apps tier and DB tier match.

The Metalink note 384249.1 provides excellent details on how to upgrade the JDK on the apps tier, so I’ll not repeat them here, however it is an important post-install step.

Personally, I chose not to go with JDK 6.0 but stuck with JDK 5.0. I used JDK 5 update 13 (15013) simply because I already had the downloaded files to hand. All current and historic versions of JDK are downloadable from Sun. Whichever version you decide to go with you will need to use the FND_TOP program txkSetPlugin.sh to ensure that the correct JRE version is then updated into the various apps scripts.

References

Since this was quite a learning curve for me I did make extensive use of a variety of online resources to aide in the performing this install (and the post install steps). The ones from memory are as follows (and are in no particular order or importance, unless indicated)…

• Oracle Applications: Installation Guide using Rapid Install – Release 12 part number B31295-07
• Oracle Applications Installation and Upgrade Notes Release 12 for Linux (32-bit) – metalink note 402310.1
• Oracle Applications Release Notes Release 12 – metalink note 405293.1
• Using Latest update of JDK 5.0 with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 – metalink note 384249.1
• Overview of using Java with Oracle EBS Release 12 – metalink note 418664.1
• R12 Rapidwiz post install step HTTP, Login page, Virtual directory, JSP, Help page fails – metalink note 414414.1
• Installation notes – JDK 5.0 Linux (32-bit) – http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/install-linux.html
• Manual Installation and Registration of Java Plug-in – linux – http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/manual_install_linux.html

The following OTN forum posts were read and whilst may not have been directly relevant did help to steer me down the correct paths to investigate various issues, especially with JRE and the apps forms. In particular, the first reference was very useful. Without it I would have not known about the txkSetPlugin command…

• Forum Home >> E-Business Suite >> Technology – EBS on Linux
  Thread: EBS Client Running on Linux, posted by Glen Palmer on 27^th May 2008
• Forum Home >> E-Business Suite >> EBS General Discussion
  Thread: EBS forms not opening in Linux client machine

Looking at the notes i’d written when i did this i thought it best to break this up into 2 parts.

This first part looks at the installation and configuration of the server. Part 2 will focus on the install of R12 and the post install steps.

Right-o let me set the scene. This install is onto a 1-node-1-user machine; i.e. a laptop
I’ve done the install before, and that was onto a laptop with Oracle Enterprise Linux (OEL) 4.7. However this time i wanted to step away from the usual enterprise distro’s and go with one of the more common respin’s.

For the uninitiated, CentOS is based on Red Hat enterprise – So 5.2 (or 5.3 in this case) is built on RHEL 5.2

Hardware

For this install, i am using a Dell Vostro 1710 laptop that i bought for the sole purpose of putting Linux and my linux development toolkit onto. The core specs are as follows:

• CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo T5870 (2.0 GHz, 800MHz FSB, 2MB cache)
• Display: 17in widescreen WUXGA (running an impressive 1900×1200 resolution)
• Graphics: The usual Dell fare of NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS (featuring 256MB DDR2)
• Memory: 4Gig – 667MHz DDR2 Dual channel
• Hard Drive: 500GB (Dual 250GB Seagate Momentus G-Force 7200rpm 16MB cache SATA) – This was not standard on the Dell configurator so was a post deliver mod
• Network:  Fairly standard Realtek RTL8168C PCI-E Gigabit ethernet, which fits nicely with my wired Gigabit network at home
• Optical Drive: 8x DVD+/-RW/RAM Drive

It came shipped from Dell with a downgrade to XP. The XP install lasted long enough for me to boot it to verify that all hardware was present and correct before the whole lot was wiped.

OS Install

The media for the install was a free DVD supplied with the December edition of linux format magazine. I’d already tried it out under Virtual Box, running on my OEL4.7 install on the same hardware, and had been impressed that it had nailed the Soundcard and Wireless card straight away (unlike the OEL install).

Anyway, booting up from the DVD i went through the partioning configurator and set up the following:

• The dual HDD’s were configured as a single logical volume (500GB)
• The boot partition /boot was configured to be 15MB fixed size
• The swap partition /swap was configured to be 4096MB (ie same size as the installed memory)
• The root partition / was configured to fill the remaining available disk space. I had to double check this, as my first attempt using automatic partitioning did not fill the remaining space and i was left with a large area effectively closed off from the OS!

Important!
Make sure that you elect to have NO firewall, and that the “Enable SELinux?” option is set to DISABLED. This is advice given in the original notes i followed when doing the OEL install last year. Aparently it causes issues later on when you come to install EBS R12.

Package Groups

During the OS install you will face the package manager. Presenting you with an array of scintillating choices. As i had disk space to play with i went a bit mad and selected the following:

• X Window System (required for EBS)
• GNOME Desktop environment (also required for EBS)
• Editors (your choice – i’m a big fan of Vi )
• Graphical internet
• Server configuration tools
• Development tools
• Administration tools

• System Tools

Required Packages

This list is taken from the Metalink note 402310.1 – Oracle Applications Installation and Upgrade Notes Release 12 (12.0.4) for Linux 32-bit

The following are required packages for EBS R12 (running on OEL 5 but also for CentOS). All versions are minimum required versions (except where stated):

• compat-glibc-2.3.4-2.26
• gcc-4.1.2-14.el5
• gcc-c++-4.1.2-14.el5
• glibc-2.5-12
• glibc-common-2.5-12
• glibc-devel-2.5-12
• libgcc-4.1.2-14.el5
• libstdc++-devel-4.1.2-14.el5
• libstdc++-4.1.2-14.el5
• make-3.81-1.1
• gdbm-1.8.0-26.2.1
• libXp-1.0.0-8.1.el5
• libaio-0.3.106-3.2
• libgomp-4.1.2-14.el5
• sysstat-7.0.0-3.el5
• compat-libstdc++-.296-2.96-138
• compat-libstdc++-33-3.2.3-61

In addition, i needed to pull the following files from the Oracle compatability project archive, which is found at http://oss.oracle.com/projects/compat-oracle/files/Enterprise_Linux

• openmotif21-2.1.30-11.EL5.i386 (this must be this version exactly!)
• xorg-x11-libs-compat-6.8.2-1.EL.33.0.1.i386
• binutils-2.17.50.0.6-6.0.1.i386

In checking whether you have all the required packages, you can query each package individually using:
rpm -q glibc
etc

or you could query all packages and put the output into a text file, and then view this file to search for each package:
rpm -qa >rpm_files.txt

view rpm_files.txt

For the files downloaded from Oracle, i placed then into a separate directory and them manually installed them using rpm:
rpm -Uvh libaio-0*

Software requirements

The following maintenance tools must also be installed and their locations specified in the PATH of the account that will run Rapid Install. Both times i’ve done this install these programs have (a) been installed, and (b) present in the path.

• ar
• gcc
• g++
• ld
• ksh
• make
• X Display Server

You can easily verify these by using the which command:
which make
>> /usr/bin/make

My final step to finish off the OS install itself was to run the automatic updater yum update as this applied a load of patches to take the OS to 5.3.

Onto the home straight now for the server config…

Kernel Settings

I then had to edit the file /etc/sysctl.conf to configure my kernel settings. The following table is taken from the metalink note i referred to earlier.

DNS resolver parameters

Two Domain Name System (DNS) resolver parameters are set by default to low values when the OS is installed. These low values may cause attempted network connections to an Oracle database to fail. It is reccomended that these minimum settings are set in the /etc/resolv.conf file:
options attempts:5
options timeout:15

Verifying Host Names

I verified that the /etc/hosts file was formatted as follows:
127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost
<ip_address> <node_name>.<domain_name> <node_name>

I then had to verify that the /etc/sysconfig/network file was formatted as follows:
HOSTNAME=<node_name>.<domain_name>

If the /etc/sysconfig/networking/profiles/default/network file exists then delete it! No such file existed on my install so i skipped this step.

I then restarted my laptop (again).!

Other settings

I modified the /etc/security/limits.conf file to ensure the values for “hard” and “soft” open file descriptor limits were at least the minimum as given below:

* hard nofile 65536
* soft nofile 4096
* hard nproc 16384
* soft nproc 2047

It states in the install notes (metalink) that if any of these values are already higher then not to lower them!

Oracle HTTP Server Patch

This step was originally missed out when i first tried this install. Shame on me, as it caused no end of troubles. It was only when i looked back at the metalink notes that i realised i’d missed it and it was rather important!

I needed to download and install the patch 6078836 from Oracle Metalink. It fixes an issue with the Oracle HTTP server that is bundled with EBS. Its only applicable to OEL5 or RHEL5, but as we’ve established, CentOS is a RHEL respin so needed to apply as well. For those wondering….I have a Metalink account so was able to do this. In fact i actually have 2 accounts; i have one linked to the site that i’m currently contracted to, and i also have a personal account linked to an OEL license pack that i purchased last year. Probably the best $100 my company has spent in ages

Once i’d studiously followed the patch install instructions, i then had to perform the following task; essentially this is a patch post-install step to link the Motif library for OAS 10.1.2 – this needed to be done as root:

unlink /usr/lib/libXtst.so.6
ln -s /usr/X116R6/lib/libXtst.so.6.1 /usr/lib/libXtst.so.6

And there you have it. End of part one. We have a configured server waiting for an install of EBS