In-Process Reports Server

From time to time I am receiving questions concerning the Oracle In-Process Reports Server which come by default with the configuration of Oracle Forms & Reports.

Mainly the questions are, how can start or stop the In-Process Reports Server or how to disable the default In-Process Reports Server completely?

Start and Stop of the In-Process Reports Server

To start, simple open a Browser and point to http://<your_server_name>:<Port_of_ManagedServerReports>/reports/rwservlet/startserver

To stop just use http://<your_server_name>:<Port_of_ManagedServerReports>/reports/rwservlet/stopserver

Disable the In-Process Reports Server

In order to completely disable the default In-Process Reports Server, you have to edit the rwservlet.properties file, which is located under $DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/servers/<Name_ManagedServerReports>/applications/reports_12.2.1/configuration

#
# Align the line from
<inprocess>yes</inprocess>
# to
<inprocess>no</inprocess>

After that restart the ManagedServer for Reports and you are done.

In Oracle Reports 11.x Releases, you can disable the default In-Process Reports Server via the Enterprise Manager Fusion Middleware Control under the Reports Menu. 

But in Oracle Reports 12.x the management of Reports is no longer available within the Enterprise Manager Fusion Middleware Control, so you will have to do it manually directly in the rwservlet.properties file.

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Oracle Reports 11.1.1 Reports Configuration Error

You might run in an error while you are installing Oracle Reports 11.1.1.2.0 / 11.1.1.3.0 / 11.1.1.4.0, that the configuration step "Executing: opmnctl startproc ias-component ..." will throw an error.




The error message just state that while executing the command "opmnctl startproc ias-component=ReportsServer_<servername>_<instance>" an error occurs. If you check the corresponding Install Logfile, you will not find something really usefull. Only stuff like "failed to start a manage process after the maximum retry limit".

Only a look in the Reports Logfile will give you a hint whats the problem :-) The Reports Logfile you can find under $MW_HOME/<instance>/diagnostics/logs/ReportsServerComponent/ReportsServer_<servername>_<instance>/rwserver_diagnostic.log

Here you can see the error message REP-50600, that Broadcasting is disabled.
This error message points to a problem with the network, as Oracle Reports is using a multicast mechanism to publish his Reports Servicename into the network.

Normally this problem is related to a missing or wrong "Default Gateway" on the server.










Just set your default gateway and retry after the changes the configuration step which has been failed.

After that the configuration step "Executing: opmnctl startproc ias-component ..." should pass successfully.

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Oracle Reports desname Bug fixed with Fusion Middleware 11g

This time I come back with an old stuff, which I publish nearly 4 years ago (ups, I'm getting old): The famous Oracle Reports desname Bug, my White Paper concerning this can be found under following Link A Security Hole in Oracle Application Server (Reports) and how to ... (Website of my previous employer). Due to this bug (which was never fixed from Oracle in the Oracle Application Server 10g) it was/is possible to override any file to which the oracle user got access (details see in my mentioned White Paper).

And now start claping Oracle introduce in the Oracle Reports 11g (Part of the Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g) a new Configuration Element <folderAccess> with which we can limit the read and write access for the Reports Server :-) Cool ...

The <folderAccess> Element can be defined in the $DOMAIN_NAME/servers/WLS_REPORTS/stage/reports/reports/configuration/rwserver.conf Configuration File for In-Process Servers or in the $ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/ReportsServerComponent/<reports_name>/rwserver.conf Configuration File for Standalone Reports Servers:

<folderAccess>
   <read>/u01/applications/demoapp/reports</read>
   <write>/u01/applications/reports_output</write>
</folderAccess>

With the Sub-Element <read> we can define to which directories the Reports Server got read access (multiple directories can be added separated with a semicolon) and the most important Sub-Element <write> defines to which directories the Reports Server got write access (multiple directories can be added separated with a semicolon). So an Oracle Reports Call with the option destype=file and desname=<target_output_dir> can only write output files to the defined write-Directory: no chance to damage other files outside this directory :-)

So, that's really a good reason to move to Oracle Reports 11g

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