Entries from Oracle E-Business Suite Technology tagged with 'Support policies'
OpenWorld 2009: E-Business Suite Technology Stack Certification Roadmap
OpenWorld 2009 has kicked off with a bang. As in previous years, I was invited to share our latest E-Business Suite technology stack certification roadmap with the OAUG EBS Technology Stack Special Interest Group (SIG) members. Most of what I covered in this Roadmap discussion will be familiar to regular readers of this blog. Even if you've been keeping up with this blog's announcements, the convenient thing about this Roadmap presentation is that it summarizes our latest techstack certifications, desupport notices, support policy updates, and other important topics from the last year in a single, cohesive presentation.
Six Options for Getting Help for E-Business Suite Issues
Some E-Business Suite implementations go smoothly. Some don't. Even battle-scarred veteran Apps sysadmins have to call upon Oracle for help at some point. One of the most-surprising things I hear from customers is that many of you don't know what options exist for you to get help when you need it. Depending on your circumstances, there's a wide range of alternatives that may work for your needs. Taking the wrong approach can waste a lot of time and efforts on all sides. If you need help, here's a list of the best options for ensuring that you get the help that you need:
Confused About E-Business Server vs. Desktop Operating System Certifications?
The E-Business Suite is designed with a three-tier architecture, with functions running on a client tier, an applicatione server tier (also called a middle tier), and a database tier. I handled a customer question on an internal Oracle mailing list today that confused our certification policies for these tiers. I then realized that I've answered variants of this question many times lately, so it's clearly of broader interest. These two questions are mirror images of each other: * Can I install the E-Business Suite on a desktop operating system like Windows Vista? * Can I run end-user E-Business Suite functions on a server operating system like Oracle Enterprise Linux?
Can E-Business Users Apply Database Patch Set Updates?
The Oracle Server Technologies' division introduced a new release vehicle in late July 2009: Patch Set Updates (PSU). Patch Set Updates are cumulative patches containing between 50 to 100 recommended bug fixes for the Oracle Database. Patch Set Updates include: * Field-tested fixes for critical technical issues that may affect a large number of customers * Critical Patch Update fixes
Is It Safe to Use SANs for EBS R12 Instance Tops?
Our documentation about sharing filesystems between multiple Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 application servers recommends that you install the Instance Top (INST_TOP) on a local filesystem. This has prompted an interesting discussion about whether this is really mandatory, or whether it's technically feasible to put the Instance Top on, say, a dedicated fibre-attached SAN.
Our guidance on the INST_TOP being installed on a local file system is based on three major considerations:
- Separation of duties and security implications
- Impact of SAN performance on Apache
- Additional troubleshooting complexity
Latest Apps 11i Techstack (ATG RUP 7) Now Available
I'm very pleased to announce that the latest ATG Family Pack H Rollup 7 for the E-Business Suite Release 11i technology stack is now available for download from Metalink.
The official name for this patch is:
- Oracle Applications Technology 11i.ATG_PF.H.delta.7 (RUP7) (Patch 6241631)
In other words, this is the seventh consolidated rollup of patches released on top of 11i.ATG_PF.H. For the Oracryptoanalysts out there who like to track nomenclature variants of these things, this patch is also referred to as the Applications Technology Group (ATG) Family Pack H Rollup 7.
This Rollup patch is a collection of technology-stack patches that can safely be applied on top of the ATG Family Pack H. This Rollup patch is cumulative: all previous patches released for Family Pack H since the initial 11.5.10 release are included in this latest patch, including:
- ATG Rollup 6 (Patch 5903765)
- ATG Rollup 5 (Patch 5473858)
- ATG Rollup 4 (Patch 4676589)
- ATG Rollup 3 (Patch 4334965)
Choosing a Shared File System for Oracle E-Business Suite
It's possible to scale up your E-Business Suite environment with multiple application tier servers to improve fault tolerance and performance. It's also possible to share a single filesystem between them: all application tier files are installed on a single shared disk resource that's mounted from each application tier node. In Release 12, that would look like this:
This allows you to apply patches once to the central filesystem, rather than maintaining each application tier server node individually. We recommend this approach; it reduces maintenance overheads for those multiple servers and shortens your patching downtimes.
Beginning with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12, we also allow you to share an applications tier file system between multiple E-Business Suite database instances, too. For more details about this advanced option, see this article.
Customers embarking upon this path inevitably ask, "Which shared filesystem do you recommend?" The short answer is that we don't recommend any specific filesystem, but there's more to it than just that.
Roundup: Oracle JInitiator 1.3 Desupported for EBS Customers in July 2009
We've covered the impending demise of JInitiator and the certification of the native Sun Java client in many articles already. With the sun setting on Oracle Jinitiator next month, this is a good time to summarize the essentials about Windows-based Java clients with the E-Business Suite:
- Sun's Java Runtime Engine (JRE) is certified with both EBS 11i and 12
- JInitiator 1.3 will be desupported at the end of July 2009
- JInitiator 1.1.8 was desupported at the end of December, 2008
- JInitiator cannot be run on Vista Desktops
If you haven't already started migrating your end-users to the native Sun JRE plug-in, I'd strongly recommend that you begin this process immediately.
Support Policies for Virtualization Technologies and Oracle E-Business Suite
We've previously written about our certification and support stance for virtualization technologies with the E-Business Suite in a series of related articles (see below). Our Applications Platforms Group has revisited this subject and has published an official statement in a new Metalink Note:
- Platform Vendor Virtualization Technologies and Oracle E-Business Suite (Metalink Note 794016.1)
If you've been looking for an authoritative Metalink Note that summarizes our previous blog articles succinctly, this is what you've been waiting for.
Running JInitiator on Vista Desktops
Somewhere in this now-sprawling blog is an article about using JInitiator on Vista. Sadly, I can't find it. I've been seeing a few troubling things popping up on the web about various JInitiator hacks, so it's time to reprise that content.
It's not possible to run Oracle JInitiator 1.3 on Microsoft Vista. Here's why:
Certified Oracle RAC Scenarios for Oracle E-Business Suite Cloning
[Editor's note: EBS cloning can be pretty involved. There are many different cloning scenarios, including cloning a RAC-based environment to an identical RAC environment, cloning from a RAC-based environment to a non-RAC environment, and adding or subtracting RAC nodes while cloning. Our Applications Technology Group has had to make some decisions about the relative priority of these scenarios. Filesystems like ASM, OMF, OCFS2, and NFS add further complexity to the certification matrix. If you would like to share your opinions about these decisions, post a comment below. Your feedback will be sent directly to our ATG Product Management team.]
Cloning an Oracle E-Business Suite system that uses an Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) enabled database involves numerous different technology components and steps, and would therefore be a complex, error-prone process if carried out manually. To speed up, simplify, and enhance the reliability of the process, Oracle offers the following tools for use in cloning RAC-enabled Oracle E-Business Suite systems:
On Apps Tier Patching and Support: A Primer for E-Business Suite Users
The Oracle Server Technologies division issued some important updates to their support policies in the following document:
- Database, FMW, EM Grid Control, and OCS Software Error Correction Support Policy (Metalink Note 209768.1)
I discussed the implications of the database-related policy updates for E-Business Suite users in this recently-published article. It's time to discuss the implications of these policy updates for E-Business Suite application tier servers and externally-integrated Oracle Application Server instances. This article also discusses the E-Business Suite application tier certification process and the safety of applying interim Fusion Middleware patches to your Apps environments.
If you've read the previous article about database patching implications, parts of this new article will sound very familiar. But stick with us; the implications for E-Business Suite application tier servers are subtly different and it's important that EBS sysadmins get the whole picture for both tiers.
On Database Patching and Support: A Primer for E-Business Suite Users
The Oracle Server Technologies division has issued some important updates to their support policies in the following document:
- Database, FMW, EM Grid Control, and OCS Software Error Correction Support Policy (Metalink Note 209768.1)
These changes affect support policies for the database, Oracle Enterprise Manager, Fusion Middleware, and Collaboration Suite. These changes are important enough to warrant an in-depth discussion about the implications of the database-related updates for E-Business Suite customers. This article also discusses the E-Business Suite database certification process and the safety of applying interim patches to your Apps environments. I'll cover the Apps-specific implications for the other technology products in a future article.
Reminder: Migrate Your JInitiator Clients to Sun JRE Now!
The significance of many problems lessens over time, so procrastination has its place as a stress management technique. Unfortunately, putting off your EBS end-user migration from Oracle JInitiator to the native Sun Java plug-in doesn't fall into that category. We are down to the last grains of sand in this particular hourglass.
Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i end-users access Forms-based content either with the native Sun Java Runtime Engine (JRE) client or Oracle JInitiator. Oracle JInitiator comes in two flavors: 1.8 and 1.3. The sun is setting for both JInitiator versions.
Error Correction Support (ECS) for JInitiator 1.1.8 will end on December 31, 2008. In other words, the Oracle Forms group will no longer issue bug fixes for the JInitiator 1.1.8 codeline as of tomorrow.
Error Correction Support for JInitiator 1.3 will end on July 31, 2009.
The Case of The Missing Database Links
Here's a scenario that might sound familiar to some of you: a customer built an extension for the E-Business Suite Release 11i using database links. When they upgraded their 9iR2 database to 10gR2, they were dismayed to find that those database links stopped working. They logged a Service Request and were surprised to be informed that, "Database links aren't supported with the E-Business Suite."
I ended up being involved in the resulting discussion. The support statement above isn't entirely correct, and the actual truth is more nuanced than you might think. This case illustrates something much more fundamental about "certification" and "support" of generic database features and options that all EBS developers should understand.
Certification and Support for Third-Party Products
One of the most frequently asked questions I answer daily is this: "Is my third-party product __________ certified with the E-Business Suite?"
To understand how this affects you, we need to make a distinction between certification and support for third-party products in E-Business Suite environments.
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