Deploying Oracle® Application Server 10g on Dell PowerEdge™ Servers with Linux By Larry Pedigo January 2007
Deploying Oracle Application Server 10g on Dell PowerEdge Servers with Linux Contents Page Executive Overview Introduction – Oracle Application Server 10g Oracle Application Server Key Components J2EE and Web Cache Tier Portal and Wireless Tier Business Intelligence and Forms Tier Infrastructure Tier Other Components Oracle Application Server Release 2 Features Oracle Application Server Release 3 Features Choosing Oracle Application Server Deploying Oracle Application Server 10g Choosing the Number of
Repository Together Installing the Metadata Repository in an Existing Database Installing the Portal/Wireless Tier Installing the Business Intelligence and Forms Tier Post-Installation Oracle Application Server Configuration Configuring Oracle Application Server Environment Variables Checking Oracle Application Server Ports Accessing the Oracle Applications Server Welcome Page 35 37 42 44 45 46 46 47 48 48 51 Oracle Application Server Administration Starting and Stopping Oracle Application Server Adminis
Executive Overview Over the past ten years, one of the most significant trends in corporate IT has been the emergence of the Application Platform Suite (APS). An Application Platform Suite provides the infrastructure for corporations to develop and deploy their own applications, as well as deploying third-party applications. The main enabling technology for Application Platform Suites is Java™ 2 Enterprise Edition software.
deployment decisions for an Oracle Application Server 10g implementation. This paper will examine a variety of deployment options including two-tier, three-tier, and multi-tier topologies. An example architecture for an Enterprise Business Intelligence/Forms topology will also be discussed. The main focus of this whitepaper is to provide a step-by-step deployment guide for installing Oracle Application Server 10g on the Red Hat Linux Operating System with Dell PowerEdge Servers and Dell/EMC storage.
Introduction – Oracle Application Server 10g Overview Oracle Application Server 10g is a layered product. It consists of multiple interdependent software modules, logically grouped into tiers. The various software tiers can be installed together on a single server, or can be installed in a distributed fashion across multiple severs.
J2EE and Web Cache Tier The J2EE and Web Cache tier contains the core components that are necessary to develop and deploy Enterprise Java applications. Following is a description of the key components. Oracle HTTP Server – provides the underlying deployment platform for a variety of programming languages and technologies. Oracle HTTP Server is based on the timetested technology of the Apache HTTP Server, with significant enhancements in the areas of load balancing, administration, and configuration.
These tools allow developers to easily build high-quality, standard J2EE components, including applets, JavaBeans, JavaServer pages, servlets, and Enterprise JavaBeans. Portal and Wireless Tier The Portal and Wireless tier is a middle tier that is built over a base of Oracle HTTP server and OC4J components.
Oracle Application Server Forms Services – OracleAS Forms Services enables corporations to develop and deploy forms based applications, similar in functionality to the classic Oracle Forms. One of the key differences is that instead of a heavy client deployment, Forms applications are deployed to Java clients in a Web environment. OracleAS Forms Services automatically optimizes performance, and scalability is enhanced by automatic load-balancing across all available Forms servers.
Authority supports PKI-based (strong) authentication methods and provides assertion services. Other Components There are several other optional components that may be important in some cases, depending on corporate business requirements. These components include: Oracle Integration – Oracle Integration provides a true Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) that can be used to build an enterprise infrastructure for application-to-application communication.
• o OracleAS Wireless Business Intelligence and Forms – this install type includes all of the J2EE and Web Cache components, the Portal and Wireless components, and the following components: o OracleAS Personalization o OracleBI Discoverer – includes the following components: OracleBI Discoverer Plus OracleBI Discoverer Viewer OracleBI Discoverer Portlet Provider o OracleAS Reports Services o OracleAS Forms Services The Infrastructure tier components include: • OracleAS Metadata Repository – optiona
• Infrastructure tier Choosing Oracle Application Server Releases Since OracleAS 10.1.3 is not a complete replacement for OracleAS 10.1.2, Administrators attempting either an upgrade or a fresh install may be confused by the options presented by the two versions. Fortunately, the decisions required are not as difficult to make as it first may appear. Depending on your requirements, it is fairly easy to make some general recommendations. First of all, it is important to understand that OracleAS 10.1.
Deploying Oracle Application Server 10g Deploying Oracle Application Server10g isn’t quite as simple as picking a server and placing a CD in the media tray. Rather, a number of decisions have to be made up front that will influence how OracleAS is deployed. The first decision is to choose the architectural model. This can include the choice of one-tier, two-tier, three-tier, or multitier options. Of course, the success of the implementation will also depend on the choice of servers.
An improvement to the two-tier model is to install the Metadata Repository component into the pre-existing corporate database with the “Repository Creation Assistant” tool. This splits the Metadata Repository from the other Infrastructure components, but it removes the need to host a small database on the OracleAS server. Even in a two-tier model, separating the Metadata repository out from the other components improves performance.
Figure 3. Basic Three-Tier Deployment Topology With three OracleAS servers, the components in the three-tier model can be distributed for improved performance. An example is illustrated in Figure 4. The first middle tier server hosts the Portal/Wireless components and the second middle tier server hosts the Business Intelligence/Forms components. J2EE and Web Cache components are also installed on both middle tier servers. The Infrastructure tier is implemented on the third server.
Figure 4. Preferred Three-Tier OracleAS Deployment Topology With four or more servers, a simple multi-tier topology can be built. An example with five OracleAS servers is illustrated in Figure 5. This topology places two OracleAS clustered servers with J2EE and Web Cache components “in front” of the other two servers, intercepting user requests and input, and caching frequently accessed web content for rapid response.
Figure 5. Basic Multi-Tier OracleAS Deployment Topology An Enterprise Deployment Scenario There are a couple of good reasons why it may be desirable to consider more complex deployment models. The more advanced topologies require more than three servers and potentially more than three tiers. One reason to utilize a multi-server, multi-tier model is scalability. Oracle active-active clustering techniques can be used to increase performance as you add servers.
The key step that coordinates the members of a farm is registration of all member components with a common Metadata Repository. In addition, OracleAS Cluster technology (based upon OC4J containers) is used to “clone” application servers. These OracleAS clusters have built-in failover capabilities. Load balancing is provided by the use of load balancing routers. These routers must be capable of load balancing a variety of protocols, including TCP/IP, http, and LDAP.
Figure 6. Enterprise Deployment Architecture for MyBIF.com (courtesy of Oracle Corporation, “Oracle Application Server Enterprise Deployment Guide 10g Release 2 (10.1.
Advantages of Running OracleAS on Dell PowerEdge Servers One of the key decisions in planning an Oracle Application Server deployment is the choice of hardware. By choosing Dell hardware, you can be confident that your deployment will be a success. Dell PowerEdge Servers and Dell/EMC Enterprise Storage provide a robust, scalable platform for deploying Oracle Application Server 10g applications.
tier configuration detailed above, a PowerEdge 1950 is ideal for a stand-alone J2EE server or one or more servers utilizing Web Cache as a front-end for a set of application servers. In the Enterprise topology, PowerEdge 1950 servers are ideal for clustered J2EE and Web Cache servers. Dell PowerEdge 2950 servers are useful for a wide variety of OracleAS roles. These are 2U rack servers with two processor sockets and three expansion slots. These servers are ideal for the middle or infrastructure tiers.
To install and manage OracleAS, a monitor is recommended, whether locally attached or networked through a KVM. The monitor should support at last a 256 color display. If problems are encountered with a monitor, they are more commonly the fault of improper driver settings at the OS level, rather than an actual hardware restriction.
OracleAS Tier or OS Component J2EE and Web Cache Portal and Wireless Business Intelligence and Forms OracleAS Infrastructure /tmp Swap Space Disk Requirement 900 MB 1.2 GB 2 GB 3.
Validated Configuration” link. Choose the correct Red Hat version, and you may then download two CD ISO images and documentation. These CDs are designed for preparing the operating system for an Oracle Database 10g database install, but they work for preparing for an Oracle Application 10g install, as well. To start the Linux installation, boot from the first CD. At the menu, choose option 4 to select “Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 AS for Oracle Database (x86_64)”.
Post-Installation OS Configuration After the Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS operating system is installed; there are several post-installation steps that are required to prepare your servers for OracleAS installation. The first step is to check which version of the OS is installed (3.0 or 4.0), especially if you did not perform the OS installation yourself. To check the OS version, use the command: # cat /etc/issue It is important to install the required Red Hat update version, as listed above for Red Hat 3.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • compat-glibc-7.x-2.2.4.32.6 compat-libstdc++-7.3-2.96.128 compat-libstdc++-devel-7.3-2.96.128 gcc-3.2.3-42 gcc-c++-3.2.3-42 libstdc++-3.2.3-42 libstdc++-devel-3.2.3-42 openmotif21-2.1.30-8 pdksh-5.2.14-21 setarch-1.3-1 make-3.79.1-17 gnome-libs-1.4.1.2.90-34.1 sysstat-4.0.7-4.EL3.3compat-db-4.0.14-5 The following rpms are required (same version or higher) for Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS/ES 3.0 x86_64 (64-bit): • glibc-2.3.2-95.27.x86_64.rpm • glibc-3.2.3-95.27.i686.
• • • • sysstat-5.0.5-1 compat-db-4.1.25-9 control-center-2.8.0-12 xscreensaver-4.18-5.rhel4.2 The following rpms are required (same version or higher) for Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS/ES 4.0 x86_64 (64-bit): • binutils-2.15.92.0.2-13.x86_64.rpm • compat-db-4.1.25-9.i386.rpm (32-bit) • compat-db-4.1.25-9.x86_64.rpm • control-center-2.8.0-12.x86_64.rpm • gcc-3.4.3-22.1.x86_64.rpm • gcc-c++-3.4.3-22.1.x86_64.rpm • glibc-2.3.4-2.9.i686.rpm (32-bit) • glibc-2.3.4-2.9.x86_64.rpm • glibc-common-2.3.4-2.9.x86_64.
Directories for Oracle software installation should be created before installation. Use the following commands to create the directories, set ownership, and set permissions: # mkdir /opt/oracle # mkdir /opt/oracle/oraInventory # mkdir /opt/oracle/product # mkdir /opt/oracle/product/10.1.2 # mkdir /data # mkdir /data/db # chown –R oracle.oinstall /opt/oracle # chown –R oracle.dba /data/db # chmod –R 775 /opt/oracle /data/db By default, the oracle user utilizes the bash shell as the login shell.
Web Cache HTTP Listen port = port_num Web Cache HTTP Listen (SSL) port = port_num Web Cache Administration port = port_num Web Cache Invalidation port = port_num Web Cache Statistics port = port_num Log Loader port = port_num ASG port = port_num # Business Intelligence and Forms Reports Services SQL*Net port = port_num Reports Services discoveryService port = port_num Reports Services bridge port = port_num # Infrastructure Oracle Internet Directory port = port_num Oracle Internet Directory (SSL) port = por
All of the changes in /etc/sysctl.conf will automatically become effective at the next boot. To make the changes effective immediately, simply issue the command: # sysctl -p Configuring the Dell Hardware Following OS configuration, there are several steps that need to be performed to configure the Dell hardware. These include installing and configuring Dell PowerConnect™ network switches, configuring networking on the servers, and configuring external storage.
HOSTNAME=node1.domain.com 4. Type: service network restart 5. Type ifconfig to verify that the IP addresses are set correctly. 6. To check your network configuration, ping each public IP address from a client on the LAN outside the cluster. 7. Connect to each node to verify that the public network is functioning and type ssh to verify that ssh is working. 8.
IPADDR=172.168.0.10 NETMASK=255.255.255.0 NETWORK=172.168.0.0 BROADCAST=172.168.0.255 GATEWAY=172.168.0.1 ONBOOT=yes BOOTPROTO=none USERCTL=no 5. The entries for NETMASK, NETWORK, BROADCAST, and GATEWAY are optional. DEVICE=bondn is the required name for the bond, where n specifies the bond number. IPADDR is the private IP address. To use bond0 as a virtual device, you must specify which devices will be bonded as slaves. 6. For each device that is a bond member, perform the following steps: 7.
3. 4. 5. 6. 7. c. Be sure to use slots with the same PCI version and bus speed for both HBAs on each cluster server (there is a diagram of slots on the top inside cover of the servers). Initialize the CXx00 array – This involves accessing the storage array through a serial connection or cross-over cable, and setting key parameters, such as the IP addresses for the management interface for each storage processor. In addition, any required array based software is installed or upgraded at this time.
Once PowerPath software is configured, new logical disk devices of the form /dev/emcpowera are added to the end of the list. These logical devices correspond oneto-one to the actual physical LUNs. Do not be alarmed if the emcpower logical devices do not show up immediately after installing PowerPath. Often, you have to reboot each server to see the logical disk devices.
Installing and Configuring Oracle Application Server The following sections describe basic installation procedures for a three-tier OracleAS topology. In addition, post-installation procedures for several OracleAS components are described. Installation Process – Three-tier Topology In this topology, one server will be reserved for Portal components, the second server is reserved for Business Intelligence/Forms components, and the third server is reserved for the Infrastructure tier.
If the CD or DVD is not mounted, issue the following commands (one should work): # mount /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom # mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom 3. Setup X-Windows access: # xhost + 4. Log in as the oracle user: # su - oracle 5. Set the DISPLAY environment variable to your current location: # export DISPLAY=hostname:0.0 6. From the current directory, launch the installer (do not launch from the CD or DVD mountpoint): CD: # mountpoint/1012disk1/runInstaller DVD: # mountpoint/application_server/runInstaller 7.
e. Do not select OracleAS Certificate Authority f. Do not select High Availability and Replication. g. Click Next. 16. In the Specify Port Configuration Options screen, select Automatic and click Next. 17. In the Specify Namespace in Internet Directory screen, select Suggested Namespace and click Next. 18. In the Specify Database Configuration Options screen, enter the following: a.
If the CD or DVD is not mounted, issue the following commands (one should work): # mount /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom # mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom 3. Setup X-Windows access: # xhost + 4. Log in as the oracle user: # su - oracle 5. Set the DISPLAY environment variable to your current location: # export DISPLAY=hostname:0.0 6. From the current directory, launch the installer: CD: # mountpoint/runInstaller DVD: # mountpoint/repca/runInstaller 7. In the Welcome screen, click Next. 8.
log file directory. You may run the prerequisite checker several times, correcting any problems noted after each run. After successfully running the prerequisite checker, the Repository Creation Assistant can be run. The details of the installation depend on the type of database (standalone, Oracle RAC) and the storage option chosen (file system, raw, CFS, ASM). The following example assumes that ASM Disk Groups are utilized: 1.
a. Internet Directory Hostname - enter the hostname or fully qualified hostname of the computer that is running Oracle Internet Directory. b. Internet Directory Port - enter the port number for Oracle Internet Directory. c. Use SSL to Connect to Oracle Internet Directory for Registration Purposes - select this option if you want perform registration by connecting to the Oracle Internet Directory using SSL. d. Click Next. 13.
# xhost + 4. Log in as the oracle user: # su - oracle 5. Set the DISPLAY environment variable to your current location: # export DISPLAY=hostname:0.0 6. From the current directory, launch the installer (do not launch from the CD or DVD mountpoint): CD: # mountpoint/1012disk1/runInstaller DVD: # mountpoint/application_server/runInstaller 7. In the Welcome screen, click Next. 8. In the Specify inventory directory and credentials screen, enter the following: a.
17. In the Specify Repository screen, enter the following to identify the existing Metadata Repository: a. Username – Enter a username with DBA privileges to log into the Repository database b. Password – enter the DBA user’s password c. Hostname and Port – enter the hostname and Listener port for the database, i.e. host:port. d. Service Name – enter the fully qualified service name used to connect to the database, i.e. mydb.mycompany.com e. Click Next. 18.
a. Name – enter a name to identify the new Oracle software home directory, i.e.OH_PORTAL b. Path – Enter the full path to the new Oracle software home. Oracle will create the directory, if necessary. Example: c. opt/oracle/product/10.1.2/oraPortal d. Click Next. 6. In the Select a Product to Install screen, select Oracle Application Server 10g and click Next. 7. In the Select Installation Type screen, select Oracle Portal and Wireless and click Next. 8.
15. In the Summary screen, verify the selections and click Install. The installation now proceeds. 16. When the Run root.sh dialog appears, open a command window as the root user and run the root.sh script in this instance’s Oracle Home directory. After finishing the script, click OK. 17. The Configuration Assistants screen appears automatically and shows the progress of the Configuration Assistants. 18. When the End of Installation screen appears, click Exit to finish the installation.
d. Select Oracle Application Server Forms Services e. Click Next. 29. In the Specify Port Configuration Options screen, select Automatic and click Next. 30. In the next screen, enter information for connecting to the previously installed Oracle Internet Directory: a. In the Register with Oracle Internet Directory screen: i. Hostname – enter the hostname of the Infrastructure server where OID is configured. ii. Port – enter the port that the Oracle Internet Directory listens on.
Configuring OracleAS Environment Variables Before attempting any OracleAS administration, the default environment variables for the Oracle OS user need to be setup. Edit the /home/oracle/.bash_profile file. The final result should appear as follows (leaving previous settings in place). export ORACLE_HOME=/opt/oracle/product/10.1.
Oracle HTTP Server SSL port = 4443 Oracle HTTP Server Listen (SSL) port = 8250 Oracle HTTP Server Diagnostic port = 7200 Application Server Control RMI port = 1850 Oracle Notification Server Request port = 6003 Oracle Notification Server Local port = 6100 Oracle Notification Server Remote port = 6200 Log Loader port = 44000 Java Object Cache port = 7000 DCM Discovery port = 7101 Application Server Control port = 1156 Enterprise Manager Agent port = 1830 Web Cache HTTP Listen port = 7777 Web Cache HTTP Liste
Figure 8. OracleAS Welcome Page Administering Oracle Application Server There are a variety of tools for managing Oracle Application Server. These include command line tools and web based tools. All of the Oracle Application Server 10g tools are fully integrated within the Oracle Grid Control framework. These tools can be used to perform administrative tasks such as starting and stopping components, configuring components, and monitoring OracleAS resources.
These commands start and stop the following in the Oracle Home for the Infrastructure: • The Metadata Repository Instance • The Net Listener • OracleAS Instance processes for Oracle Identity Management, Oracle Internet Directory, OC4J_Security, DCM, and OPMN • Enterprise Manager Database Control and Application Server Control Console These commands start and stop the following in the Oracle Home for the middle tier: • OPMN and all of the processes that OPMN manages, including: DCM, Oracle HTTP Server, OC4J
Similar to the above, if the Middle tier is located on a different server than the Infrastructure tier, you can issue the following commands from the middle tier Oracle Home to start and stop the instance: $ORACLE_HOME/bin/runstartupconsole.sh start $ORACLE_HOME/bin/runstartupconsole.
3. Stop any Infrastructure instances that contain only a Metadata Repository instance. 4. Stop any Infrastructure instance that contains Oracle Internet Directory. If the same server contains an OID instance and a Metadata Repository instance, stop the Metadata Repository instance first. The Application Server Control Console can also be used to start, stop, and restart components: 1. From the OracleAS Welcome page, click the link to the Application Server Control Console home page. 2.
OC4J | OC4J_Portal WebCache | WebCache WebCache | WebCacheAdmin HTTP_Server | HTTP_Server Discoverer | ServicesStatus Discoverer | PreferenceServer wireless | performance_server wireless | messaging_server wireless | OC4J_Wireless | 2987 | Alive | | | | | | | | 2967 2958 2959 2961 2960 2963 2985 2986 | | | | | | | | Alive Alive Alive Alive Alive Alive Alive Alive Another command line tool is dcmctl, which is used with Distributed Configuration Management.
To manage Reports Services, use the following URL. Use the Web Cache port number: http://hostname.domain:7777/reports/rwservlet/getserverinfo Login with the oracladmin user with the oracladmin password. Oracle Internet Directory is administered with the following command line tool: # $ORACLE_HOME/bin/oidadmin To access the OracleAS Single Sign-On Administration pages, use the following URL: http://hostname.domain:7777/pls/orasso Use the ias_admin login and password.
• • Process Management –allows you to monitor OPMN managed processes and sub-processes All Metrics – links to a page with all performance metrics Figure 9. The Application Server Control Console home page The Topology link presents a page with a graphical view of OPMN, which is particularly useful for OracleAS Farms. Drill-down is available, with enhanced performance monitoring and management control at the component level.
Figure 10. Oracle Application Server Topology View From the main home page, clicking on the host name opens the Host Home page. This page gives a detailed breakdown of host resource usage. Useful links for monitoring Top Processes and Filesystems are included at the bottom of the page. Figure 11. The Host Home Page One of the most useful pages for monitoring Application Server performance is available from the main home page.
Figure 12. The All Metrics Page Dell/Oracle Best Practices for OracleAS The following are some Best Practices for deploying Oracle Application Server 10g with Dell hardware: 1. It is a best practice to distribute functions in middle tiers across OracleAS Farms. For example, you could place J2EE and Web Cache components on one server, Forms and Reports on a second server, and Portal and Wireless applications on a third server.
4. It is a best practice to use the Repository Creation Assistant to install the Oracle Metadata Repository in an existing Oracle Database. 5. To achieve scalability for the Infrastructure/Data tier, it is a best practice to host the Metadata Repository/Corporate Database on Oracle Real Application Clusters. This configuration provides high availability and enhanced database performance.
References “Dell Server Solutions"; 2006, Dell Corporation; http://www.dell.com/servers “Dell Storage Solutions"; Dell Corporation, 2006; http://www.dell.com/storage “Oracle Application Server 10g Administration Handbook”; Authors: John Garmany, Jr., Donald K. Burleson; Oracle Press, McGraw-Hill/Osborne; 1st edition (2004); ISBN 007-222958-6 “Oracle Application Server Administrator’s Guide, 10g Release 2 (10.1.2)”, Part No.
“Oracle Application Server Quick Installation Guide 10g Release 2 (10.1.2) for Linux x86”, Part No. B19311-01; Oracle Corporation, August, 2005 “Oracle Application Server Release Notes10g Release 2 (10.1.2) for Linux x86”, Part No. B19312-06; Oracle Corporation, May, 2006 “Oracle Application Server Upgrade and Compatibility Guide10g Release 2 (10.1.2) for UNIX”, Part No.
