Clone Apps 11i Instance

Another important & useful utility under AD_TOP which Apps dba perform quite often isCloning Oracle Application 11i Instance.

Cloning is process of creating replica of your source apps 11i Instance ( lets say you have one apps Instance with name DEVELOPMENT and you want to create similar instance ( including same patches & user data) like DEVPRD then you will use adclone utility (Also called as Rapid Clone these days). In this case source Instance will be DEVELOPMENT and target Instance will be DEVPRD. There are lot for scenario in which you wish to clone your E-Business Suite 11i Instance , like you want to Test if everything is OK in Test & then after testing want to create Production instance or you want to move your Instance from one machine to other machine or if you are highly experienced Apps DBA you can use clone as staged environment during Upgrade to reduce downtime ( this concept is called as staged appl_top or staged patching/upgrade , p.s. this is different from shared APPL_TOP)

So here are some broad level steps you can use to clone apps instance .

Step1 . Prerequisites Steps you do before start cloning using rapid clone
a)Verify source and target nodes software versions
b)Apply the latest AutoConfig Template patch
c) Apply the latest Rapid Clone patches

Step2 . Clone Source to Target
a) Run preclone on DB tier
b) Run preclone on Apps or middle tier
c) Copy source file system to target file system
d)Configure db tier
e) Configure apps/middle tier

Step 3 Finishing Task
a) Update profile options
b) Update printer settings (If printers are not configured or you don't want to use printer you can skip this step)
c) Update workflow configuration settings (Important)

For more detailed steps check Metalink Note # 230672.1

Don't forget to leave me a comment about what you want to hear & any confusion if you have in apps 11i.

Startup Shutdown Apps Services Startup / Shutdown Apps

This post covers startup & shutdown of Oracle Application :

As you are aware by now there is Database Tier ( Database & DB Listener ) and Application Tier ( WebServer, Forms, Reports, Concurrent Manager, Discoverer, Apps Listener, OnetoOne Fullfillment Server )

Order of StartUp of Services Should be --> First DB Listener, Database & then Application Tier Services
Order of ShutDown of Services Should be--> First Application Tier Services then Database & DB Listener
Database Startup/Shutdown Scripts

Depending on your AD Version these will be in ORACLE_HOME / appsutil/scripts /SID_hostname

addbctl.sh database startup shutdown script

addlnctl.sh database listener Script

Where
AD --> is for Application

DB--> is for database

DLN --> is database listener

CTL--> is control

-----Application Tier Startup/Shutdown Scripts

Depending on your AD Version these will be in
OAD_TOP/admin/scripts/ SID_hostname
adalnctl.sh --> Apps Listener Control Script

adapcctl.sh --> Apache/Web Server Control Script

adcmctl.sh --> Concurrent Manager Control Script

addisctl.sh --> Discoverer Control Script

adfrmctl.sh--> Forms server Control Script

adrepctl.sh --> Report Server Control Script

adstpall.sh --> Stop All Middle/Application Tier

adstrtall.sh --> Start All Middle/Application Tier

Where AD & CTL --> See above

adl --> stand for Apps Listener

apc --> stand for Apache

cm --> Concurrent Manager

dis --> Discoverer

frm--> forms

rep--> report

Apps Architecture

This Topic is quite important and I recommend you to go through this thoroughly.

First get to know the terminology which you will encounter in the wonderful world of Oracle.

Server - is a process or group of processes and provides a particular functionality/service .For example, Database Server listen and process database requests, similarly Web Server listens for and processes HTTP requests.

Tier - is a logical grouping of services, may be on single machine or spread across more than one physical machine.For Example, Middle Tier in Oracle apps consist Form,Web,Report...Services. Forms & Report can be one machine 1 & Web Server can be on machine 2, still they will be part of same tier called as Application Tier or Middle Tier.

Node - is referred as Machine, Each tier may consist of one or more node and each node can potentially have more than one tier.

Desktop Tier - Oracle Applications/E-Business Suite is built on three tier Architecture with first Desktop Tier ic client machines accessing applications via browser(HTML based Self service applications) or Java Applet(Jinitiator) for Form based interface.

Application/Middle Tier - Second is Application Tier also called as middle tier consists of WebServer Forms, Reports, Concurrent processing, Discoverer and Admin Server. I suppose its known as Middle tier because it lies between our desktop & third tier called database tier.

Database Tier - Third is Database Tier contain Orale database server which store all your application data. I am sure if you are DBA you know it :)

Oracle Apps Patch Basics

Lot of you asked me about patch basics & even I was confused with Apps Patches terminology initially as I used to hear family pack, mink pack, maintenance pack, patchset, security patch and lot many other type of patches so I thought of introducing you with patching terminology & to Oracle terminology that impresses and confuses people like you & me.

OK lets now start with patch basics / terminology Standalone/Oneoff patches :

This is used to define patch created to fix single/particular problem.Mini Pack : This is group of oneoff patches for a particular product like INV, GL, AP and named like 11i.GL.E ( means this group of patches contain fix for 11i GL product (General Ledger till time E is released ) This is cummutative which means it will include 11i.GL.A, 11i.GL.B ....11iGL.D till 11i.GL.E earlier in 10.7 it used to called as patchset.

Family Pack : Group of mini packs in one family buldeled together is called as family pack. they are usually named as 11i_PF. Few example of falilies are SCM ( 11i.SCM_PF.G ), ATG ( 11i.ATG_PF.H ) _PF indicate Product Family Pack

Maintenance Pack : Group of family pack together is called as maintenance pack. So if you say your Verison is 11.5.10 then its maintenance pack 10 ( 3rd digit is maintenance pack ) so
To wind up things you can say few one off patch make mini pack , few mini pack related to same family bundeled together as family pack & all family pack fixed till that time are bundeled in Maintenance pack .

NLS Patch ( When you have more than one language , like english & arabic or french .. ) then apart from normal patch you have to apply patch for specific language Installed in your system called as NLS patch .

Let me know ...if you need more details. I can find out and post here as I am not a DBA.