Fadi Hasweh

Preparation been made this year for Oracle open world conference 2009. The conference will take place in San Francisco between 11-15 Oct. there is a high chance that I will attend this conference. I will post here again once confirmed so we can meet there if any one is planning to attend. I will use this chance of attending to back to blogging again as its been a while since I last update my blog.
For more information about OOW 2009 please check http://www.oracle.com/openworld/index.html
Fadi

Today I received an email from my friend mohammad muhtadi telling me that Oracle Corporation the largest enterprise software company acquired Sun Microsystems and thought of sharing that with you.
http://www.sun.com/aboutsun/media/presskits/2009-0420/index.jsp
http://www.oracle.com/sun/index.html
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a38_8MJNSjR4&refer=home

It seems oracle now acquiring different type of business and this is a big step from Oracle

fadi

I faced the following error while configuring database when cloning apps 11i with 10g database and it happens directly after entering the path of the third data_top (by the way the script will always assume you have 4 data_tops even if you have more/less data_tops)

StackTrace:
java.lang.NullPointerException
at oracle.apps.ad.context.CloneContext.createContextFileForDbhomes(CloneContext.java:2816)
at oracle.apps.ad.context.CloneContext.getInputFromUsers(CloneContext.java:1485)
at oracle.apps.ad.context.CloneContext.doClone(CloneContext.java:627)
at oracle.apps.ad.context.CloneContext.main(CloneContext.java:6085)

On metalink there was the solution on Note:427981.1 Subject:RC-50004 When Specifying DATA_TOPS While Cloning a 10.2 Database
And the solution is to apply a patch with a version of CloneContext.java above 115.203. the following are possibilities patches

Patch 5473292, Patch 5732291, Patch 5604818, Patch 5456078, Patch 5474116

Well I did not do that because this means that I have to apply the patch and recopy the database, which take time.
So I recreate the database manually using control file. And when try to open the database I issued
SQL>alter database open resetlogs;
It failed with the following
alter database open resetlogs
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01113: file 1 needs media recovery
ORA-01110: data file 1: '/ora_dev/data/system01.dbf'
Even though the database was completely down when I copied it I faced this error the good thing is 2 days ago I was reading bas post http://basklaassen.blogspot.com/2008/01/recover-database.html
I followed the steps for recovery and provided the path to my online log files and the recovery completed successfully.
Next down time for the production database for sure I will apply one of the patches above.

Hope that helped
Fadi

Dears,
As a part of my study in my masters program we have to create a blog related to e-business course and it must be evaluated and one of the evaluation criteria is the number of users accessing it and comments so if you have free time can you access it and leave comments the blog has a good and helpful information.
the blog talks about soft skills and how they are important in our life check for example (speed reading post and managing a busy schedule post and many others)
please check and leave comments if you can
Thank you
Fadi

Please read http://oracle-magic.blogspot.com/2008/02/add-new-node-to-apps.html before reading the steps below,

After finishing configuring the clone instance by running adcfgclone.pl I had to run the adaddnode.pl script according to note 464018.1.
While running adaddnode.pl I faced the following error
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-00001: unique constraint (APPLSYS.AD_APPL_TOPS_U2) violated
ORA-06512: at line 16

I followed note 394615.1 to solve it and after I did the steps in the note I run adaddnode.pl again and I faced error related to AD_TIMESTAMPS_U1 I checked on metalink but I could not find anything then I search on google and found post by dave http://newappsdba.blogspot.com/2006/09/dont-hit-ctrl-c-while-running.html from his post I took a backup the ad_timestamps and then truncate it after that I run adaddnode.pl and it completed successfully.
Then I updated the xml file to have only the forms and web servers running on this new node following the same note 464018.1 I run autoconfig the start the service on both nodes a now able to access both nodes.

What I want to do now is to configure web cache as load balancer also I want to implement Step 2.4.1.2. Implement Forms Listener Servlet Support from note (Advanced Configurations and Topologies for Enterprise Deployments of E-Business Suite 11i) Note:217368.1 in order to have Forms Server Load Balancing, so when one form server go down in one node users will be connect to the other forms node.Because the current configuration if I am connect to webnode1 and forms on that node is down I will not be able to connect to forms and I will receive an error but if load balancing is implemented it will take me to the other working forms server node.


Fadi

Oracle Community
it the new site for oracle social networking, http://www.oraclecommunity.net/to make oracle community even smaller.

enjoy
Fadi

A customer want to add new web/forms node to his current multi-node apps 11.5.10.2 production system also we have to configure a web cache load balancer.
The current system is 2 nodes (db node, apps tire node).
I am currently doing the configuration on test environment, I followed note (
How to Add a New Node to The Application Tier, and Make It a Web Server Node Only, Note: 464018.1 same as instructions of "Part 4: Adding a new node to an existing system" under "Section 4: Advanced Cloning Options" of Note 230672.1"Cloning Oracle Applications Release 11iwith Rapid Clone".

I am currently cloning the apps tire to the new server after that I will run adcfgclone.pl then adaddnode.pl in order to configure it. One important note is to disable SQL*Net Access so that the new node can access the database.
after that i will try to configure the webcache as load balancer.
I will update you once done.

Enjoy
Fadi

Dears apps dbas,
I hope thing are well with you, I received the following questions from a friend of mine and I promised him to answer them and wanted to share them with you maybe you can help me answer most of them.
Appreciate your help.

(we have some of the answers by dave (thank you) in the comments and all of them under http://www.teachmeoracle.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4102)

1. How do we know that particular instance is cloned or normal installed?
2. How can you know that how many modules are already implemented in this instance?
3. How to enable archive log without shutting down your database?
4. How can we know that whether we already applied latest AUTOCONFIG patch or not at our instance?
5. Is this possible to clone a database from hotbackup? If yes plz tell how?
6. Suppose your database size is 2000GB now you want to clone a particular one datafile or tablespace. Plz tell how co clone a datafile or tablespace?
7. You are applying a patch but suddenly it HANGS but log file didn’t showing any error what should be the reason for that HANG?
8. How to clone from multimode to single node?
9. How to apply patch on forms/reports server?

Thanks again for help
Fadi

Gareth Roberts tagged me in the current round of OraBlog tag, you can check the rules.

Below are the 8 things you might not know about me:

1- Athens, Greece, Masters: I am currently doing my masters in managing business innovation and technology thurogh a scholarship here in Athens, Greece.
2- Having to change your job is a good thing: I started my oracle career after I had to change my previous job (well my old manager claims that my work was done there and the project i was working on was over, actually it turns out to be a good thing after that I changed my career path from Microsoft to Oracle)
3- Travel: I like to travel a lot and I am welling to take any chance to visit any new country/places.
4- Documentary: I am a T.V documentary addict; I can watch any type of documentary but prefer political ones.
5- Jogging: I jog 3-4 KM every other day I like jogging a lot.
6- Single: well still I am currently single. (Marry to oracle apps I guess ;-).
7- Reading: currently I am trying to get used to reading I have this book called (the management bible by John Wiley and sons) it’s a good book I guess every manager should read it, although I am not a manager yet but be prepared always. You never now what will happen next.
8- Sky is the limit and think big: Sky is the limit is my personal message at MSN messenger, and think big will be my next personal message at MSN.

My turn in tagging, I will tag.
OCP Advisor
Syed Jaffar Hussain
Lutz hartmann
Mark Rittman
Grant Ronald
Senthil Rajendran
Vikram Das
Famy Rasheed

have a nice tagging

fadi

I participate recently in a post from our famous Bolger OCP advisor, it a nice blog that help apps community with info. About Apps certification.
I am trying to be active again.
You can check his post here.

Good luck with your certification
Fadi

I received the following email from oracle certification program
“Oracle University is pleased to announce the availability of the following new Oracle E-Business Suite (R12) certification exam in beta version:
Oracle EBS R12: Install, Patch and Maintain Applications [1Z0-238]
This new exam is required as part of earning the new Oracle EBS R12 Applications Database Administrator Certified Professional certification.
By participating in this beta exam, you have the opportunity to provide the Oracle Certification program with feedback about exam content which is integral to the process of exam development. We depend on the contributions of experienced professionals and developers as we continually improve exam content and maintain the value of Oracle certifications.

Beta exam period runs:
January 03 – April 04, 2008
These beta periods are subject to change, please check the exam pages for the most up-to-date information
“

Good luck with your exams
fadi

Oracle wiki
is the new site from oracle where members of the Oracle community (employees and non-employees) collaboratively create and share content about Oracle-related subjects they're passionate about. http://wiki.oracle.com/

See you there
Fadi

Oracle mix
Is it a new product no its not, it the new site from oracle for social networking, http://mix.oracle.com to make oracle community even smaller. It’s a grate site but still has some small bugs. I encourage you to register there so you will be closer to other oracle guys around the world

See you there
Fadi

It been a while since my last post, today I will post about some oracle books that can be viewed online using http://books.google.com go there and search for 11i or for “oracle e-business suite”+ altasen for workflow and sysadmin books of course not all the books are available online for free but only some parts, it will give you a good hint about the book before you buy it.

Good for google and good for us and sharing is caring

Fadi
My next post will be technical so keep visiting.

Dear all,

I would like to inform you that I am currently at a transition period i moved to a new country and I am trying to explore my options there and that’s why I am not able to post/reply at forums and email list, but every thing will be back to normal within a month.
Wish me luck
Fadi

For the last 45 days my end user faced an issue accessing the following path
Audience super user responsibility ->AUDIENCE ADMINISTRATION DASHBOARD and then click link------->Audience Workbench

It will work fine if the user don’t have and lists attached to his workbench, if he created a list he will not be able to access the audience workbench, there will be no errors but after 7 minutes the user will receive the page cannot be displayed and no errors in the error_log or jserv.log.

After a long investigation and many OWCs and after creating a bug a smart engineer form oracle support (libby) and from her first update figure out that it might be a display issue since accessing the (Audience Workbench) when a list is attached the page will draw a chart for that list, so she gave me the following update to try

1.Please create a small jsp say testXServer.jsp and place it in the OA_HTML directory for the env and point your browserto it. If the DISPLAY setting is okay you will see a message stating the same, else you will see an exception.

please check the note to get the code for the test file (note 456424.1)

2. Invoke the jsp using the following url :http://.us.oracle.com:/OA_HTML/testXServer.jsp

3. If the DISPLAY is pointing to a valid xserver then the page will come up very quickly with the success message

When I tried the page it returned the page cannot be displayed error so I figured out that there is something with the display, I fixed the display issue and now every thing is working fine.

A new note has been created under metalink with the number (456424.1) for that issue.

Hope that helped
Fadi

I have the "purge Obsolete Workflow Runtime Data" concurrent request scheduled to run on a weekly basis but I find out that this request is not purging all data that can be purged, so I searched metalink for similar cases and found more that one note talking about the same issue, anyway one of the notes (165316.1) (bde_wf_data.sql - Query Workflow Runtime Data That Is Eligible For Purging) has the bde_wf_data.sql script that can be downloaded from metalink, this script will create a bde_wf_data.lst file that looks like a script but it needs some cleansing, the script has commands like the following
Ex.

exec WF_PURGE.ITEMS('POAPPRV','10289-20146',SYSDATE,FALSE);
exec WF_PURGE.ITEMS('REQAPPRV','4941-13066',SYSDATE, FALSE);

Which will purge data eligible to be purged, also at the end of the .lst file there are statements to delete/build the tables stats for the following tables
WF_ITEM_ACTIVITY_STATUSES, WF_ITEM_ACTIVITY_STATUSES_H, WF_ITEM_ATTRIBUTE_VALUES, WF_ITEMS, WF_NOTIFICATIONS, WF_NOTIFICATION_ATTRIBUTES

Since the script do a lot of purging/delete form those tables so the stats needs to be build again

EXEC DBMS_STATS.DELETE_TABLE_STATS(ownname=>'APPLSYS',tabname=>'WF_ITEM_ACTIVITY_STATUSES');
EXEC FND_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS(ownname=>'APPLSYS',tabname=>'WF_ITEM_ACTIVITY_STATUSES',percent=>10,granularity=>'DEFAULT');

And during the search I found note (144806.1) (A Detailed Approach To Purging Oracle Workflow Runtime Data) which I recommend so much for reading

have a nice free bugs day
fadi

I was checking customization upgrade subject since we faced it and I found this interesting note (451934.1)


The note is talking about how to make custom forms that where created and working fine on 11i to work the on R12.
And according to the note
"All custom forms that were build and working fine on releases 11i are designed and compiled using the Form Builder 6i, while the developer version for R12 is 10G.So you need to open the custom forms in Form Builder release 10G and compile them and save then upload them again."

I did not try the solution yet but thought of sharing it since many were asking bout this subject lately.
Also i found the (Custom forms does not work after upgrade to 12i) forum helpful

We have a customized Point of Sale module that is integrated with our Apps standard CRM and financial modules; we faced a serious issue on this customized module that is when users are trying to sale through this module they receive an ORA-02049 Timeout: Distributed Transaction Waiting for Lock, which require them to keep trying until they make the sale. This error used to show on daily basis on the peak hours only but we could not tell what the cause of it, simple search of the error on metalink return note 1018919.102 that advices that we should increases the distributed_lock_timeout value in the INIT.ORA file the default value was 60 seconds so we increased it to 300 seconds even though we don’t have any distributed transactions on the system all the transactions were local. We restart the issue and the problem became worse because now the end users have to wait for 5 minutes (300 seconds) before they receive the error message (ORA-02049) and because of that we had to set the value back to 60 seconds.

After that we tried to trace the error using different event trace levels but with no luck we were not able to determine what is causing the error.

We thought that it’s a database bug and oracle advised us to upgrade the database from 9.2.0.5 to 9.2.0.7 we did that but still the issue is there.

After a month of investigation/tracing and snapshot of when the problem is happing we managed to find out what was causing the problem. It was a bitmap index that was built on the table we were trying to insert data on.

When an end user was trying to sale without committing his transaction for some reason and at the same time another end user tries to sale he will receive the error message and a lock on the table happened and the error pops-up.

We solved the issue by dropping the bitmap index and creating a normal b-tree index even though the column has only three distinct values.