Oracle E-Business Suite Technology

If I read your article correctly, as a Discoverer 10g (10.1.2.3) shop running with EBS 11i, my premier support ends at the end of this year. To boot, there is currently no certification with Discoverer 11g. Forgive me for being cynical, but isn't that a bit short fused for even the most agile organization? It looks an awful lot like a way for Oracle support to make a little extra money supporting my product.

Hi, Kevin,

I appreciate your comment.

There isn't a Machievellian plan to drive support revenues here, although I can understand how it might seem that way. The Fusion Middleware division doesn't coordinate their release cycles with the E-Business Suite division. This means that there might be times when there's a lag between the release of a FMW version and our EBS certification.

We started our Discoverer 11g certification as part of our EBS 12.1.2 release cycle. It's taking us a little longer than we had expected, but we hope to complete this very soon.

Regards,
Steven

Hi Steven,

I’m currently working on two EBS 11i projects that are both integrated with AS10g portal/SSO/OID. They both have PKI enabling, partner applications, user management, and security management that depend on SSO.

What are the exact migration plans for replacing SSO? I read that Oracle has shifted the preferred IDM product to access manager, but it’s not clear if that covers all the features such as PKI enabling, managing partner/external applications, integration with portal 11g, etc. Could you please provide more elaboration on the topics and some interim certification updates to ease our transition?

The scope of this transition may require substantial architecture changes that may be larger than the upgrade to R12. Oracle doesn’t have the certification complete at this point. Do you think it’s possible to waive the first year Extended Support fee to allow additional time to budget, plan, and upgrade these Oracle products?

As always, your insight and help are greatly appreciated.

Best Regards,
Jennifer.

Jennifer, I was just going to ask the same thing. One of my clients has a completely customized security and user management system based on 11i EBS and 10.1.4.3 SSO/OID/portal/disco/siteminder. Not every ebs client fits into the 3 or 4 scenarios that will probably be handled by a standard upgrade. Even if they started today and there are no certification issues it is unlikely that they could get it done by Dec2010.

Hello, Mike, Jennifer,

This is very useful feedback. I've passed your questions and comments on to the Fusion Middleware Identity Management team directly.

If other EBS + SSO users have concerns about the upcoming end of Premier Support for Oracle Single Sign-On 10g in December 2010, I would encourage you to post a comment here or drop me a private email. I will ensure that the Fusion Middleware team gets all of your feedback.

Regards,
Steven

Hi Steven,

I believe oracle will not desupport Oracle Discoverer 10g integrated with E-Bus R12 (externally) before it certifies Discoverer 11g with E-Bus. R12.

Please clarify.

Hi, Lardy,

We're working on certifying Discoverer 11g with the E-Business Suite right now. We're waiting for some patches from the Discoverer team. As soon as we verify that those patches work, we'll release this certification.

Oracle's Revenue Recognition rules prohibit us from discussing certification and release dates, but you're welcome to monitor or subscribe to this blog for updates, which I'll post as soon as soon as they're available.

Regards,
Steven

Hi Steven,

What about oracle's support for Oracle Single Sing-on 10g ( 10.1.4.3) and Oracle Internet directory 10g (10.1.4.3)? I am on R12.1.2 and following metalink note 376811.1 for sso and oid integration.
Please advice support for these two products. Would appreciate your suggestions.

thanks
Pravin

Steven -- as requested (and in the same boat as Jennifer and Mike), we have concerns about product certifications for EBS+SSO. We've got both 11i and R12 + 10.1.4.3 oid/sso The sso/oid has a customized PKI [crpytocard] component. btw - 10.1.4.3 broke it and we had to change our code.

I admit to being confused. There's OSSO 10gR3; OAM 10gR3; OID 11g+DIP 11g... What do I combine to stay certified, still have custom pki work, and not require ANOTHER change in the near term? I don't see a certified upgrade path right now.

Hello, Brad,

I understand your concerns. I believe that a conversation between you and the Fusion Middleware Identity Management product managers would be useful in evaluating the different options, based on the latest Oracle Access Manager roadmap. I've copied you on an private email to the Fusion Middleware product manager; she should be following up with you directly.

Regards,
Steven

Hi Steven,

What about oracle's support for Oracle Single Sing-on 10g ( 10.1.4.3) and Oracle Internet directory 10g (10.1.4.3)? I am on R12.1.2 and following metalink note 376811.1 for sso and oid integration.
Please advice support for these two products. Would appreciate your suggestions.

thanks
Pravin

Hehe - well, I guess I should be happy my main client has *finally* decided to upgrade from unsupported Disco 4 to Discoverer 10g starting in April.

I'm pretty sure I know the answer but I'm asking to placate some internal business users:

Will there by any direct migration path from Discoverer 4 to Discoverer 11g?

(hope this made you laugh like I did when asked)

Thanks as always

J

Hi, Jay,

Yes, we'll both try to do this with a straight face.

Discoverer 4i was out of Premier Support in October 2006. Only Discoverer 10g was in Premier Support when Discoverer 11g was released, so I believe that there is no direct upgrade path from 4i to 11g. I haven't checked the Discoverer 11g documentation, though; this is merely my assumption. Someone from the Discoverer 11g team might know of an undocumented upgrade path; it can't hurt to ask them via a formal SR.

Regards,
Steven

Hi Steven

My understanding of the current position with Discoverer support is:

10g Discoverer is to be de-supported at the end of 2010
11g Discoverer is not yet certified

After a number of SR's with Oracle Support we decided to go along with Oracle's suggestion and migrate from 10.1.2.2 to 10.1.2.3. We are on Release 11i.

It now makes no sense for us to roll out 10.1.2.3 and undergo all of the testing that involves because of the imminent de-support. We are also unable to go to 11g because of the certification status.

I hope my understanding of this is correct!

Regards,
Derek

Hi, Derek,

That's correct: Discoverer 11g isn't certified with the E-Business Suite yet. We found a large number of platform-specific Discoverer interoperability issues in our testing. We're waiting for the Discoverer team to provide us with patches for those issues right now.

As soon as we can validate those patches, we'll release the long-awaited Discoverer 11g certifications for E-Business Suite environments.

My apologies for the delay -- I know that this puts increased pressure on everyone in light of the upcoming end of Premier Support for Oracle Application Server 10g this year. We're putting as much pressure on the Discoverer team as we can right now to wrap up this certification.

Regards,
Steven

Hi, Pravin,

The end of Premier Support for Oracle Application Server 10g applies to Oracle Single Sign-On and Oracle Internet Directory 10g, too. I'll forward your question to someone in the Fusion Middleware Identity Management team to advise you on your upgrade options.

Regards,
Steven

Sir:

Can you point me to a document that contains like information about OAS/Fusion - current patch set, end of support etc much like the following notes (742060.1 & 161818.1) provide the inforamtion the database. I need to ensure that all products that are currently deployed thru out our network are current and are receiving support.

Thank you for you time

Patrick Houtakker

Hi, Patrick,

I'm afraid that the Fusion Middleware team is still working on producing their equivalent of the database documents that you cited. I'll pass your comment on to them directly, to let them know that you (and others) are still looking forward to these documents.

Regards,
Steven

Hi Steven-
You mention in the 2nd paragraph that- "As you can see from the second document, Premier Support for Oracle Application Server 10g versions 10gR2 10.1.2 and 10gR3 versions 10.1.3 ends in December 2010."

Additionally - the SOD on the oracle.com Discoverer page also shows Premiere Support ending in Dec. 2010.

[See page#6 --URL: http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/discoverer/pdf/discoverer_sod_jan2009.pdf]

However - in the referenced document - 'Lifetime Support for Fusion Middleware' - on page#4 - the table has Premiere Support for 10gR2 ending in ***Dec. 2011***?

Could you please clarify?

Thanks.
Anuj.

Hi, Anuj,

Yes, that's right. See:

Premier Support Date Changed for Oracle Application Server 10gR2
http://blogs.oracle.com/stevenChan/2010/04/oas_10gr2_premier_support_change.html

Regards,
Steven

I am planning to upgrade to 11gR2 database for OAS 10.1.3.x SOA suite, is it true that 11gR2 does not support the XA deployments. If so then why Oracle says OAS 10.1.3.x is certified with 11g R2.

Thanks
Shobhit

Shobhit,

It sounds like you're asking about a generic Fusion Middleware Oracle Application Server 10g 10.1.3 installation rather than an E-Business Suite install.

I'm afraid that I'm not familiar with the Oracle Application Server 10g + 11gR2 feature support matrix. Your best bet would be to log a formal Service Request via My Oracle Support (formerly Metalink) to get one of our Fusion Middleware specialists engaged.

Regards,
Steven