How To Series: Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g Part 1

Today I will start my How To Series for installing and configure the Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g (11.1.1.2.0).
The first part will be about how to install the Metadata Repository for the Fusion Middleware 11g.

Why we need a Metadata Repository? Most components of the Fusion Middleware 11g have to store informations in a repository, therefore we will need a database for creating the necessary schemas.

The Metadata Repository must be created for following components:

• Identity Management
• Enterprise Content Management
• WebLogic Communication Services
• SOA and BPM Infrastructure
• WebCenter Suite
• Portal and Business Intelligence

For Oracle Forms & Reports we will not need the Metadata Repository.

As preparation for the Metadata Repository, we will need an Oracle Database, my personal recommendation is use a Oracle 11.1.0.7.0 (but its also possible to use an Oracle 11.2.x). The database should be configured with following options:

• Oracle Text
• Oracle Ultra Search
• Spatial

The SGA sizing should be at least 1.5 GB and the init.ora parameters processes and sessions should be at least 500.

Download the Repository Creation Utility (RCU) from http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/middleware/htdocs/fmw_11_download.html for your platform (available for Windows or Linux). As the RCU can configure a remote database your target database can even reside on e.g. a Solaris server.
Just extract the RCU to any directory, no additional software is required as the RCU contains a full Oracle Client. Change to the directory rcuHome/bin and run for Linux "./rcu" or Windows rcu.bat.

In the following I will just show the important screens (a link to a slideshow with all the screens is given at the end).

At first the famous Welcome Screen comes up. After this you can choose between either to "Create" or to "Drop" a Metadata Repository, just choose "Create".
As next we must define the database connection to our target database:

The connection to the target database must be done with SYSDBA privileges.

Directly at the database connect the RCU will execute some prerequirement checks. After sucessfully passing these checks we can choose the components we want to install and configure in the Metadata Repository. In my example I will just install everything. Normally you should only install the components you really need.

Within the selection of the components, we also have to define the general schema prefix for the created schemas. Normally you should choose a naming convention like "DEV" for development environments, "PRD" for production environments and so on. After the selection of the components/schemas to be installed another prerequirement check is running, just aknowledge them.
As next we must define the passwords for the new schemas, here we can define one password for all schemas or we can define own passwords per schema.
After this we have to manage the new tablespaces which will be created. Aknowledge the next 2 Popup's, the first one warns you, that the tablespaces will be created if they are not already existing and the second popup is a validation for the tablespace creation. Then we are nearly at the end, just review the summary page and lets start with the creation of the choosen components/schemas.
Time for a small coffee :-) Anybody who knows the previous version of the Oracle Application Server knows that the creation of the Metadata Repository tooks quite a long time, but with the Fusion Middleware 11g it's really fast now. The reason is simply, it's just a "basic creation" of the schemas, the huge data load and so on will come when we are installing the Fusion Middleware Components himself later. So at the end: no time saving :-(

At the end of the creation process you should see a screen like this:

And ready is our Fusion Middleware Metadata Repository.

Thats all for today, the next part will contain, how to install the Oracle WebLogic Server 11g Release 1 (10.3.2), as this will be the base for all following installation.

Under slideshare.net you will find the full presentation with all the screens to install the Metadata Repository.

Fusion Middleware 11g How To Part 1

View more presentations from dirknachbar.

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Oracle 11.2.0.1.0 for Windows Platforms available

Since this weekend the Oracle Database 11.2.0.1.0 is for Windows Platforms (32 bit and 64 bit) available.

The software can be found under http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/database/index.html

The Grid Infrastructure Software is only available for 64 bit platforms.

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Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g Launch 22nd April

On 22nd April 2010 the official launch of Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g will take place in New York.
For details look look here http://www.oracle.com/dm/10q4field/46982_em11g_sales3.html?msgid=partner160oem

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My second Blog - Web 2.0 Technologies

I decided to split now my Blog post into technical Oracle stuff and stuff about Web/Enterprise 2.0.

Therefore I created a new Blog under http://web20technologies.wordpress.com.

I hope you will enjoy it :-)

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The Sixt Sense

Incredibale :-) Enjoy it - real future technology ;-)

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Enterprise Information Management - Presentation by Billy Cripe

I just see a new presentation by Billy Cripe from Fishbowl Solutions about "Enterprise Information Management 7 Trends & Why They Matter".

I can strongly recommend this presenation.

Enterprise Information Management

View more presentations from Billy Cripe.

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How To Series: Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g

As now the new Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g becomes common within the Oracle World, I will start within this week a small series with some How To's:

• Concept of Oracle Fusion Middleware
• Installation of simple and complex Fusion Middleware environments
• Configuration of Fusion Middleware Components
• and a focus on Web Center Suite (which is in my opinion a really cool Product Stack, but the price is also cool :-) )

If you have any special request for a How To, drop me here a comment or follow me on LinkedIn (see button on the left side)

Hope you will enjoy this series and hopefully it will help some people to see a little bit more clear about the "Mega" Fusion Middleware 11g :-)

• How To Series: Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g Part 1 - Metadata Repository
• How To Series: Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g Part 2 - Oracle WebLogic Server

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Oracle WebLogic Security Patch CVE-2010-0073 released

A few days ago Oracle released a security patch for the Oracle WebLogic Server, mainly all releases of the Oracle WebLogic Server are affected

• Oracle WebLogic Server 10.3.1 & 10.3.2
• Oracle WebLogic Server 10.3.0
• Oracle WebLogic Server 10.0
• Oracle WebLogic Server 7.0 & 8.1 & 9.0 & 9.1 & 9.2

The CVSS Base Score for this security hole is 10 (!!), but only on Windows Platforms. On Unix Platforms the Base Score is just 7.5 (which is still high enough).

So it's really advisable to install this Security Patch, detailed informations can be found under http://www.oracle.com/technology/deploy/security/alerts/alert-cve-2010-0073.html

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Web 2.0 - Blessing or Curse?

Nearly everbody is using Web 2.0 in one way or another, mostly with Social Networking like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and so on.

Normally I should be a maintainer of Web 2.0 technologies due to my job, but if you are really getting tired of all your Social Networking accounts and what to get ride of them and return into the real world :-) here is a really good solution: http://suicidemachine.org/

If you are sitting in a bar with some friends and you communicating with them through your mobile phone, then maybe it's time to click the link above :-)

N.B.: At the moment the website is a little bit overloaded, so be patient

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How to create a valid tnsnames.ora from Oracle Internet Directory (OID)

Many of customers are using now an Oracle Internet Directory (OID) to store the tnsnames.ora entries in order to avoid a rollout to every client workstation, if a tnsnames.ora entry has been changed, deleted or added.
From time to time my customers asking me, how to spool out / create a tnsnames.ora file out of the entries of the Oracle Internet Directory.

Here two commands which you can use:

ldapsearch -b "" -s sub '((objectclass=orclNetService)(objectclass=orclService))' orclnetdescstring '((objectclass=orclNetService)(objectclass=orclNetServiceAlias))' orclnetdescstring aliasedobjectname > /tmp/temp_tnsnames.txt

sed -e 's/orclnetdescstring=/ /' -e 's/cn=//' -e 's/,dc=/./g' -e 's/,cn=OracleContext//' -e '/^$/d' -e 's/$/=/g' -e 's/)=/)/' -e '/)))/G' /tmp/temp_tnsnames.txt > /tmp/tnsnames.ora

Be aware both commands must be each in one line !

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Oracle WebCenter Suite: People Connection Service

Nearly silently Oracle integrates in the latest Release of Oracle WebCenter Suite 11.1.1.2 a new service: People Connection Service.

People who are registered with Services like Linkedin or Xing will feel really familiar :-) So now Oracle is also providing a complete Social Networking Stack.

More details on People Connection Service can be found in the Documentation, just search for "People Connection"
A sample in Oracle TechNet is also availabile, click here :-)

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Enterprise Content Management Superstar Billy Cripe moved to Fishbowl Solutions

The first entry for this year will just be a small notice on that Billy Cripe (formerly working for Oracle) has been moved to Fishbowl Solutions.

If you got ever the chance to join a presentation of him: JUST DO IT !!! :-) If you don't got the possiblity to see him live, checkout his presentations at http://www.slideshare.net/billycripe

His new blog can be found under following link: http://cfour.fishbowlsolutions.com/

N.B.: @Billy: If you read this: good luck in your new position

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Happy New Year

So, that's the last entry for this year.

Happy new year, guten Rutsch (german) and bonne et joyeuse année 2010 (french) to all my readers.

Next year I will continue with more stuff about Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g and Enterprise Content Management. So stay tune ... :-)

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Fun with DUAL Table

Try this "little hack":

connect to Database as sysdba and execute following commands:

select * from dual;
D
-
X
select count(*) from dual;
COUNT(*)
--------
1
insert into dual values ('Y');
commit;

Connect in another session with a normal user and try to drop one table:

conn scott/tiger
drop table t1;
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-00604: error occurred at recursive SQL level 1
ORA-01422: exact fetch returns more than requested number of rows
select * from dual;
D
-
X

Cool the dual just shows one row as expected

Go back to the session with the connect as sysdba

select * from dual;
D
-
X

Upps, here is the same, one row in the dual.

create table copy_dual as select * from dual;
select * from copy_dual;
D
--
X
Y

And here we can see the two rows :-)
To clean up, just delete the second row in dual table

delete from dual where dummy = 'Y';
commit;

Addendum: Under Oracle 11.2.0.1.0 the error with the drop table command doesn't come up again

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Explaining Enterprise 2.0

Today I discover a really cool presentation from Oracle concerning Enterprise 2.0 http://getsocial.oracle.com/?id=d2d

I can strongly recommend this interactive presentation to you, it's one of the best presentations I ever see from Oracle.

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DOAG Conference 2009 - Training Day

From the 17th until 19th November is in Nürnberg/Germany the DOAG Conference and in access on the 20th November 2009 I will give on the Training Day a workshop for "Identity Management for DBA's", details can be found under http://www.doag.org/konferenz/doag/2009/konferenz/schulung.

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Oracle Fusion Middleware 11.1.1.2.0 available

The latest release of the Oracle Fusion Middleware 11.1.1.2.0 is now available on http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/middleware/htdocs/fmw_11_download.html

To find the new features/changes of this new release is a little tricky :-) so here is the link to the new features http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E15523_01/core.1111/e10105/whatsnew.htm#ASADM10740

The major new feature in the FMW 11.1.1.2.0 is the implementation of the Automatic Diagnostic Repository (ADR). Oracle DBA's are used to this component since Oracle 11g, so now even a classical DBA got a chance to manage a little bit the Fusion Middleware :-)

The corresponding chapter in the documentation for the ADR can be found here: http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E15523_01/core.1111/e10105/diagnostics.htm

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Method-R for Non-Technicals

Today I discover some nice article from Cary Millsap explaining Method-R for non-technical people: http://method-r.com/faq/31-method-r/44-can-you-explain-method-r

But I wonder if this model will work, if you try to adapt this model to a shopping tour with your girlfriend :-)

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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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Security Hole in Fusion Middleware 11g WebLogic Admin Server

After a little bit playing with the new Fusion Middleware 11g I found a small security hole in the WebLogic Admin Server.

In order to start the WebLogic Admin Server Oracle provides you a shellscript $MW_HOME/user_projects/domains/$DOMAIN_NAME/startWebLogic.sh

The first way you can use this script is in an interactive way, just execute the script and it will prompt you for the WebLogic Admin-User and his Password. But this methode is not usefull for e.g. RunLevel Scripts :-)
So the second way is, you can buildup a wrapperscript in which you define two Variables (WLS_USER and WLS_PW for the WebLogic Admin-User and his Password) and execute out of this wrapperscript the startWebLogic.sh script to start the WebLogic Admin Server without prompting of the User and Password.

But be aware, if you use the second option, the WebLogic Admin-User and his Password will be displayed in cleartext in the ps-List :-(

In the last line of the ps-List you will see username=weblogic and password=oracle11g

To get out of this problem, just create under your directory $MW_HOME/user_projects/domains/$DOMAIN_NAME/servers/AdminServer/security a file named boot.properties with the content

username=your_admin_user

password=your_admin_user_password

and with this boot.properties file you will not be prompted for the WebLogic Admin-User and his Password and moreover it will not be displayed at the ps-List :-)

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