Oracle E-Business Suite Technology tag:blogs.oracle.com,2009:/stevenChan//101 2009-11-21T02:44:20Z The latest news directly from E-Business Suite Development Movable Type Enterprise 4.23-en EBS 12 Certified with 10gR2 10.2.0.4 DB on Windows Server x64 (64-bit) tag:blogs.oracle.com,2009:/stevenChan//101.15670 2009-11-20T22:26:15Z 2009-11-21T02:44:20Z Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 is already certified with the 10gR2 10.2.0.4 database for several platforms. Our Applications Platforms Group continues to certify additional platforms on a regular basis. They have just completed their certification of Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 versions 12.0.4 and 12.1.1 with Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and 2008 for x64 (64-bit) platforms. Steven Chan http://blogs.oracle.com/stevenChan/about.html windows-logo.jpg

Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 is already certified with the 10gR2 10.2.0.4 database for several platforms.  Our Applications Platforms Group continues to certify additional platforms on a regular basis.  They have just completed their certification of Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 versions 12.0.4 and 12.1.1 with Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and 2008 for x64 (64-bit) platforms.

Prerequisites

You should review the system requirements from the relevant Oracle Database 10gR2 documentation (Installation Guide, Release Notes, Upgrade Guide) prior to installing the database on these platforms.

]]> These are database-tier only certifications (previously known as "split configurations" in Apps 11i).  The application tier must be on a fully-certified Oracle E-Business Suite R12 platform.

References
Related Articles

]]> Critical Data Protection + Security in EBS (OpenWorld 2009 Recap) tag:blogs.oracle.com,2009:/stevenChan//101.15636 2009-11-19T08:24:21Z 2009-11-18T22:09:39Z Everyone gives lip service to the importance of security, but it's often relegated to the back-burner in actual practice. For example, my anecdotal experience is that when conference attendees are polled about Critical Patch Updates, usually fewer than 50% of the respondents state that they're up-to-date on the latest CPU. One potentially complicating factor is that there are many things that one can do to secure the E-Business Suite, and it may be hard to know where to start. At minimum, all Apps DBAs should be intimately familiar with these documents: * Best Practices for Securing Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i (Note 189367.1) * Best Practices for Securing Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 (Note 403537.1) There are many other security-related Oracle products that you can use with your E-Business Suite environment, too. Eric Bing and Robert Armstrong profiled all of the latest security-related tools and options that are relevant to E-Business Suite users in their recent OpenWorld 2009 session: * Critical Data Protection and Security in Oracle E-Business Suite (S307960, PDF, 1 MB) Steven Chan http://blogs.oracle.com/stevenChan/about.html
One potentially complicating factor is that there are many things that one can do to secure the E-Business Suite, and it may be hard to know where to start.  At minimum, all Apps DBAs should be intimately familiar with these documents:
There are many other security-related Oracle products that you can use with your E-Business Suite environment, too.  Eric Bing and Robert Armstrong profiled all of the latest security-related tools and options that are relevant to E-Business Suite users in their recent OpenWorld 2009 session:

defense_in_depth.png
]]>
  • Business drivers and security challenges
    • Database Defense-in-Depth
    • Options for monitoring, access control, and encryption & masking
    • End-to-end security strategies
  • Building a secure E-Business Suite configuration
    • Password policies for Apps and DB accounts (and reference notes)
    • Security profile option settings and recommendations
    • FND Validation Level feature
    • Fixed Key profiles
    • Non-reversible password hashing
  • Externalizing EBS security from the apps tier
    • Apps schema access via SOA Suite Apps Adapter
    • Application Data Source implementation
    • Java Authentication & Authorization Service (JAAS) for E-Business Suite
    • Using Oracle Access Manager
  • Other EBS security integrations and technologies
    • Oracle Audit Vault and client identifiers
    • Oracle Database Vault and segregation of duties
    • Oracle Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) for columns and tablespaces
    • Oracle Label Security (OLS) and Virtual Private Database (VPD)
  • Future directions for E-Business Suite security
Listening to the Session

If you registered for OpenWorld, here's a link to the OpenWorld On Demand page where you can download the presentation or listen to the live recording of this session.

Related Articles
]]> Application Change Management Pack for EBS (OpenWorld 2009 Recap) tag:blogs.oracle.com,2009:/stevenChan//101.15618 2009-11-18T16:26:07Z 2009-11-18T16:53:56Z I recently wrote about the eternal dilemma of the Apps system implementer: whether it's worth customizing the E-Business Suite or not. Customizations and extensions introduce the challenge of deploying your customizations between multiple development, QA, and production environments. Our new Application Change Management Pack for Oracle E-Business Suite has the potential to help to with that, and a few other notable systems management tasks, too. The Application Change Management Pack is one of the most-interesting new lifecycle management products released recently from our Applications Technology Group. The Application Change Management Pack is an optional add-on to the Application Management Pack. The Application Management Pack is an Oracle Enterprise Manager Grid Control plug-in for the E-Business Suite. Ken Baxter and Biju Mohan covered the new Application Change Management Pack for Oracle E-Business Suite in detail in their OpenWorld 2009 session: * Application Change Management Pack for Oracle E-Business Suite: An Introduction (Session S309527, PDF, 2 MB) Steven Chan http://blogs.oracle.com/stevenChan/about.html acmp_amp_plugin.pngI recently wrote about the eternal dilemma of the Apps system implementer: whether it's worth customizing the E-Business Suite or not.  Customizations and extensions introduce the challenge of deploying your customizations between multiple development, QA, and production environments.  Our new Application Change Management Pack for Oracle E-Business Suite has the potential to help to with that, and a few other notable systems management tasks, too.

The Application Change Management Pack is one of the most-interesting new lifecycle management products released recently from our Applications Technology Group.  The Application Change Management Pack is an optional add-on to the Application Management Pack.  The Application Management Pack is an Oracle Enterprise Manager Grid Control plug-in for the E-Business Suite. 

The Application Change Management Pack for Oracle E-Business Suite (sometimes oddly referenced as "ACP" instead of "ACMP") has three noteworthy new capabilities:
  1. Customization Manager:  Takes all files associated with a custom application, report or extension and bundles them into an Oracle patch.  Standard AD utilities can then be used to apply the patch to different Apps instances.
  2. Patch Manager: Auomates many of the manual tasks associated with applying EBS patches, as well automates installing patches in multiple EBS instances.
  3. Setup Manager:  Automates the migration of configuration/setup data across instances. Provides over 300 functional APIs (AOL, Financials, Manufacturing, Distribution) for setup data management.
Ken Baxter and Biju Mohan covered the new Application Change Management Pack for Oracle E-Business Suite in detail in their OpenWorld 2009 session:

]]>
  • Use cases for managing E-Business Suite customizations
    • New workflow when using the Customization Manager
  • Use cases when patching multiple E-Business Suite environments 
    • New patching process when using the Patch Manager
    • Defining a "Patch Run" to apply patches to multiple Apps environments in parallel
  • Use cases for configuring E-Business Suite environments
    • New process for transferring setups from one environment to another with the Setup Manager
    • Example use case: rolling out "Sets of Books" to multiple instances
Listening to the Session

If you registered for OpenWorld, here's a link to the OpenWorld On Demand page where you can download the presentation or listen to the live recording of this session.

Related Articles
]]> E-Business Suite Technology Essentials (OpenWorld 2009 Recap) tag:blogs.oracle.com,2009:/stevenChan//101.15187 2009-11-17T21:20:14Z 2009-11-17T21:41:56Z I'm part of the Applications Technology Integration group within the E-Business Suite Development division. One of this team's responsibilities is to ensure that new Oracle technologies are integrated into -- or work with -- the E-Business Suite. Lisa Parekh leads our team, and every year she manages to pack a survey of the increasingly-broad EBS technology stack landscape at OpenWorld into her session. If you're interested in getting a quick overview of everything that we consider important about the latest EBS technology stack capabilities, download her presentation here: Steven Chan http://blogs.oracle.com/stevenChan/about.html
Lisa Parekh leads our team, and every year she manages to pack a survey of the increasingly-broad EBS technology stack landscape at OpenWorld into her session.  If you're interested in getting a quick overview of everything that we consider important about the latest EBS technology stack capabilities, download her presentation here:
EBS-R12-architecture-diagram2.png]]>
  • E-Business Suite technology stack priorities
  • Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12's three-tier architecture
  • Supported R12 browsers
  • Application Server Tier components and layout
  • Standard and optional 10gR2 and 11g Database features
    • Partitioning, compression, tablespace encryption
  • Exadata V2 
  • External optional Fusion Middleware certifications
  • R12 User Interface improvements 
  • Secure Enterprise Search
  • WebCenter integration
  • Single Sign-On and Oracle Internet Directory integration
  • Third-party authentication and LDAP integration
  • SOA enablement and integration
  • Application Integration Architecture
  • Business Intelligence
    • Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE)
    • Oracle Business Intelligence Applications (OBIA)
  • BI Publisher
  • Systems management capabilities via Oracle Enterprise Manager
    • Application Management Pack
    • Application Change Management Pack for Oracle E-Business Suite
    • Wizards and AutoConfig 
  • Virtualization and Oracle VM
    • Coming soon: Oracle VM templates for the E-Business Suite 12.1.1
  • Technology Uptake Guidance
    • Upgrading to R12.1
    • Database upgrade options
    • New certifications coming
Listening to the Session

If you registered for OpenWorld, here's a link to the OpenWorld On Demand page where you can download the presentation or listen to the live recording of this session.

Related Articles
]]> Running E-Business Suite on Exadata V2 tag:blogs.oracle.com,2009:/stevenChan//101.15536 2009-11-12T19:34:48Z 2009-11-12T20:08:05Z The Exadata Database Machine Version 2 was released at OpenWorld 2009 to great fanfare. Since its unveiling, I've been getting a steady stream of questions from E-Business Suite customers who are intrigued by Exadata V2's potential. All 11gR2 Database Applications are Compatible The E-Business Suite and other OLTP applications will run on the Exadata V2 system if they're certified with the 11gR2 Database on Linux. Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i is certified on the 11gR2 database, so it can run on Exadata V2 today. Steven Chan http://blogs.oracle.com/stevenChan/about.html Exadata Database Machine Version 2 was released at OpenWorld 2009 to great fanfare.  Since its unveiling, I've been getting a steady stream of questions from E-Business Suite customers who are intrigued by Exadata V2's potential.

exadata_v2_feature_main.pngAll 11gR2 Database Applications are Compatible

The E-Business Suite and other OLTP applications will run on the Exadata V2 system if they're certified with the 11gR2 Database on Linux. 
 
Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i is certified on the 11gR2 database, so it can run on Exadata V2 today.

]]>
Apps Benchmarks are Coming Soon

As you can probably imagine, our Applications Performance Group was very excited to get access to one of these amazing machines.  They're working on a detailed set of performance benchmarks for the E-Business Suite on this hardware right now.
 
Oracle's Revenue Recognition rules prohibit me from discussing dates for either the R12+11gR2 Database certification or these benchmarks.  You're welcome to monitor or subscribe to this blog for updates, which I'll post as soon as soon as they're available.  

Related Articles

The preceding is intended to outline our general product direction.  It is intended for information purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any contract.   It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decision.  The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described for Oracle's products remains at the sole discretion of Oracle.

]]> To Customize or Not to Customize? tag:blogs.oracle.com,2009:/stevenChan//101.15484 2009-11-10T20:30:57Z 2009-11-11T01:32:30Z Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black. ~ Henry Ford Ford's now-famous words seem a little quaint today. We live in the Golden Age of the Consumer, where virtually everything can be customized or personalized in some way. If you can customize mass-produced consumer goods, it seems reasonable to expect that you should be able to customize something as strategic and mission-critical as an enterprise resource planning system, too. But just because you can, does this mean that you should? Steven Chan http://blogs.oracle.com/stevenChan/about.html Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black.
~ Henry Ford

Ford's now-famous words seem a little quaint today.  We live in the Golden Age of the Consumer, where virtually everything can be customized or personalized in some way.  If you can customize mass-produced consumer goods, it seems reasonable to expect that you should be able to customize something as strategic and mission-critical as an enterprise resource planning system, too.  But just because you can, does this mean that you should?

]]> Personalizations are Persistent

The E-Business Suite has acquired increasingly-powerful personalization features over the years.  These features allow you to personalize existing EBS screens with your own branding, corporate logos, colour schemes, field names, explanatory messages, and more.  My fellow blog authors have previously written about personalization options here (for Forms personalization) and here (for OA Framework personalization). 

These types of personalizations are metadata-driven, which means that they are preserved and work even when the underlying screens are updated by EBS product teams via new patches.  This is the primary benefit of using the standard Apps personalization features: your changes are persistent and will continue to work even if the underlying screens are patched at a later date. 

Going Beyond Personalizations

You might have a unique service offering, product, or business process.  You might need to capture or manage information about your business, products, or customers in a way that differs markedly from the way the E-Business Suite's designers originally intended. 

From a system administrator's perspective, you might need to deploy the E-Business Suite in an architecture, topology, or system configuration that aren't supported via AutoConfig yet. 

The E-Business Suite's personalization features, while useful, may not be sufficient to meet these types of specialized requirements.  At this point of your analysis, it will be useful to consider the advantages, disadvantages, and implications of customizing your the E-Business Suite in an invasive way.

There are many ways of customizing or extending your EBS environment.  These include:
  • New business rules or data transformations
  • New or custom screens
  • Integrations with external systems
  • Use of third-party utilities or extensions
  • Creation of new reports
  • Creation of new workflows
  • Integrations with standalone APEX applications
All of these customizations need to be considered in terms of their invasiveness.  The more invasive the change, the greater the long-term implications.

Advantages of Customizations
  1. Functionality meets your requirements more closely
Disadvantages of Customizations
  1. More costly than deploying a "plain vanilla" solution
  2. Requires specialized development skills
  3. May require updates, testing, and maintenance whenever:
    • New EBS patches are released
    • New architectures are deployed
    • New technology certifications are released
  4. Increases support complexity and overhead
  5. Can potentially complicate upgrades to new EBS releases
Understanding the Implications of Customizations

As regular readers of this blog know, we frequently release new technology stack patches, certifications, architectures, and systems management features.  Apps product families (e.g. Financials, Supply Chain, Human Resources, etc.) aren't standing still, either.  They're constantly updating their products with new features and enhancements, too.

Let's assume that you have the resources to address the first two potential issues of increased cost and skills.  What remains are the implications of keeping up with your friendly developers at Oracle:

Testing Implications

I've spoken with a number of customers who tell me that their customizations have prevented them from applying the latest ATG Rollup or upgrading to the latest database release.  They might have had staff to perform the original customizations years ago, but they no longer have the capacity to regression test their environments with new patches or technology stack components.  In some cases, formal development records detailing the customizations have been lost, making it extremely difficult to perform any impact analyses or tests.  These customers can't go forward, and they can't undo their customizations, either.  These customers are stuck.

If you've customized your E-Business Suite environment in some way, you need to ensure that every new certification, patch, or newly-supported architectures work in your customized environment.  Depending upon what you're considering introducing into your environment, you may need to perform functional tests, performance benchmarks, scalability testing, and even security reviews.  If you're thinking of customizations, it is extremely important not to underestimate the costs of maintaining and testing them.

Support Implications

If I were an IT manager considering customizing the E-Business Suite, the primary factor affecting my decision would be the support implications.  Oracle certifies and supports generic E-Business Suite environments.  If you invasively customize your system in some way, you should understand and plan for the fact that Oracle can only provide patches for issues that can be reproduced in uncustomized, "plain vanilla" E-Business Suite environments.

Customers who can succinctly describe their customizations when logging Service Requests with Oracle Support will have a distinct advantage over those customers who wait for Oracle Support to stumble over a customization. 

Upgrade Implications

Premier Support for E-Business Suite Release 11i ends in November, 2010.  At OpenWorld this year, it was abundantly clear that many of you are planning your upgrades to E-Business Suite Release 12 now. 

If you've customized your Apps 11i environment in some way, your Apps 12 upgrade plan needs to consider whether those customizations are still needed.  Given the many new features in EBS 12, it's entirely possible that your customizations may now be redundant or obsolete.  One major Apps 11i customer with several thousand customizations observed that at least half of those were already built directly into R12, obviating the need for forward-porting.
Tipping the Scales

I've had the pleasure of working with countless EBS customers over the years.  My impressions are that systems administrators with uncustomized Apps environments are generally more-receptive to keeping up with the latest patches, are more willing to consider upgrades and trying new technologies.  This makes a lot of intuitive sense.

As a battle-scarred Oracle developer, I would venture that very few customers can justify the extremely-high costs and long-term systems management implications that come along with invasive customizations. 

That said, every customer has their own business case for customizations.  Your mileage will vary.  Everyone going through this analysis will have their own factor weightings, costs, and benefits of customizing their EBS environments.

I'd be interested in hearing your war stories about customizations, both good and bad.  Feel free to share them in a comment or by dropping me a line. 

Related Articles
]]> OracleAS 10.1.3.5 Certified with E-Business Suite Release 12 tag:blogs.oracle.com,2009:/stevenChan//101.15276 2009-10-29T16:58:07Z 2009-10-30T02:34:44Z Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.0 originally shipped with OracleAS 10.1.3 Oracle Containers for J2EE (OC4J) for running its Java-based content. Regular readers of this blog know that we certified OracleAS 10.1.3.4 with Apps 12 at the end of 2008, with additional operating system platforms following shortly afterwards. We've now certified Oracle Application Server 10g 10.1.3.5 OC4J with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12. You can upgrade to OracleAS 10.1.3.5 OC4J directly from OracleAS 10.1.3, 10.1.3.3, or 10.1.3.4. This certification allows you to upgrade the OC4J components in your R12 techstack to get take advantage of the latest performance and stability improvements in this incremental patchset. Steven Chan http://blogs.oracle.com/stevenChan/about.html Java Compatible Enterprise Edition steaming coffee cup logoOracle E-Business Suite Release 12.0 originally shipped with OracleAS 10.1.3 Oracle Containers for J2EE (OC4J) for running its Java-based content.  Regular readers of this blog know that we certified OracleAS 10.1.3.4 with Apps 12 at the end of 2008, with additional operating system platforms following shortly afterwards.

We've now certified Oracle Application Server 10g 10.1.3.5 OC4J with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.  You can upgrade to OracleAS 10.1.3.5 OC4J directly from OracleAS 10.1.3, 10.1.3.3, or 10.1.3.4.  This certification allows you to upgrade the OC4J components in your R12 techstack to get take advantage of the latest performance and stability improvements in this incremental patchset.  To make sure that there's no misunderstanding about what can be upgraded, the full name of this patchset is:
It's important to note that either OracleAS 10.1.3.3, 10.1.3.4, or 10.1.3.5 are mandatory prerequisites if you plan to upgrade your Release 12 application tier to the latest certified version of Java 6.

]]> Prerequisites
  • Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.0.3 (Release Update Pack 3) or higher
Certified Platforms
  • Linux x86 (Oracle Enterprise Linux 4, 5)
  • Linux x86 (RHEL 4, 5)
  • Linux x86 (SLES 9, 10)
  • Linux x86-64 (Oracle Enterprise Linux 4, 5)
  • Linux x86-64 (RHEL 4, 5)
  • Linux x86-64 (SLES 9, 10)
  • HP-UX Itanium (11.23, 11.31)
  • HP-UX PA-RISC (64-bit) (11.11, 11.23, 11.31)
  • IBM AIX on Power Systems (64-bit) (5.3, 6.1)
  • Microsoft Windows Server (32-bit) 2003, and 2008 for Apps 12.1.1+ only
  • Sun Solaris SPARC (64-bit) (8, 9, 10)
References
Related Articles
]]> E-Business Suite 12.1.2 Release Content Documents Now Available tag:blogs.oracle.com,2009:/stevenChan//101.15224 2009-10-27T21:29:44Z 2009-10-28T00:55:28Z Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1.1 was released in early May 2009. Our next upcoming release will be EBS 12.1.2. The Release Content Documents (RCD) for Apps 12.1.2 have now been published here: * Release Content Documents for E-Business Suite Release 12.1 and 12.1.x Release Update Packs (RUPs) (Note 561580.1) Steven Chan http://blogs.oracle.com/stevenChan/about.html will end in November 2010.  If the standing-room only R12 upgrade sessions were any indication, it seems that many of you are now planning your Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 upgrades or migrations.

EBS-R12-architecture-diagram2.png

Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1.1 was released in early May 2009.  Our next upcoming release will be EBS 12.1.2.  The Release Content Documents (RCD) for Apps 12.1.2 have now been published -- in advance of the actual General Availability of R12.1.2 -- here:
]]>
It's important to remember that functionality released prior to 12.1 is not described in those documents. For a complete overview of all functionality included in Release 12, the 12.1.2 documents should be read in conjunction with the equivalent documents for Release 12.0.x. These Release Content Documents can be found here:
When Will EBS 12.1.2 Be Released?

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

Don't Forget the R12 Upgrade Forum

If you'd like to discuss your R12 upgrade plans, progress, or issues with your peers, remember that we have a discussion forum dedicated to EBS R12-related techstack topics here:
This forum has attracted a very strong community of readers and participants, including members of the inner-circle of the Oracle Applications User Group (OAUG).  Thanks to their contributions, particularly from the astonishingly-prolific and skilled user 'hsawwan', it's possible that an R12-related technology question posted to this forum might get an answer before Oracle Support even sees your Service Request.

Related Articles
]]> Database 11gR1 11.1.0.7 Certified With EBS 12.1.1 on Windows Server 2003 (x64) tag:blogs.oracle.com,2009:/stevenChan//101.15186 2009-10-26T08:34:54Z 2009-10-26T07:49:03Z Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1.1 is now certified with Oracle Database Server 11gR1 version 11.1.0.7 on Microsoft Windows x64 (Windows Server 2003). Steven Chan http://blogs.oracle.com/stevenChan/about.html
Screenshot of download page for 11-1-0-7 database patchset for Windows x64 platforms]]>
References
Related Articles

]]> Secure Enterprise Search 10.1.8.4 Certified with E-Business Suite 11i tag:blogs.oracle.com,2009:/stevenChan//101.15008 2009-10-23T20:40:00Z 2009-10-23T19:45:56Z Secure Enterprise Search 10.1.8.4 was certified with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.0 earlier this year. Our Applications Technology Group has just released their certification of Secure Enterprise Search 10.1.8.4 with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i and 12.1.1. Steven Chan http://blogs.oracle.com/stevenChan/about.html
If you missed that earlier announcement, here's a recap of the basics. Secure Enterprise Search (SES) provides new search capabilities for EBS: Apps users can search for E-Business Suite data using a unified search engine, with search results displayed based upon their Applications responsibilities. Searches can be performed on structured and unstructured data. Notably, search results respect multi-level security, including:
  • Role-based access control (RBAC) functional and data security
  • Product-specific security policies
Secureenterprisesearch1.jpg
]]>
SESsearchresults2.jpgIntroducing the Search Modeller

This certification also has an added bonus:  it includes the new Search Modeler for E-Business Suite customers.  Search Modeler Version 1.1 is certified with Apps 11i as well as Apps 12 releases.

Search Modeler is a web-based tool that allows you to create search solutions tailored to your business needs. You can create search solutions for any E-Business Suite product. In most cases you can also include custom application objects as part of your search solution, if your custom applications as registered in the EBS Application Object Library.

Prerequisites
  • Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i version 11.5.10.2
  • Oracle Applications Technology 11i.ATG_PF.H.delta.6 (Release Update Pack 6)
  • Oracle Secure Enterprise Search 10.1.8.4
Supported Platforms

Secure Enterprise Search may be optionally installed on standalone external server and integrated with EBS 11i. The operating system platforms supported for the standalone Secure Enterprise Search instance are:
  • Linux x86 (Oracle Enterprise Linux 4, Red Hat Linux 3, 4; SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9)
  • Linux x86-64 (Oracle Enterprise Linux 4, Red Hat Linux 3,4; SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9)
  • Solaris SPARC (Solaris 8, 64-bit; Solaris 9, 64-bit; Solaris 10, 64-bit)
  • HP-UX PA-RISC (11.11 64-bit; 11.23 64-bit)
  • AIX 5L Based Systems (AIX 5.2 ML01, 64-bit; 5.3, 64-bit
  • HP-UX Itanium 11i v2 (11.23)
  • Windows Server (2003 - all editions)
References
Related Articles
]]> Interim Update #2: Certifying Windows 7 with Oracle E-Business Suite tag:blogs.oracle.com,2009:/stevenChan//101.15167 2009-10-22T18:56:28Z 2009-10-22T20:26:37Z This is the second of a series of regular updates on our Windows 7 certification projects for the E-Business Suite. Microsoft Windows 7 was officially released today. Here's a recap of our plans for certifying the Oracle E-Business Suite with Microsoft's latest operating system. As always, the answers to these questions may change as we move through the certification cycle. You're welcome to monitor or subscribe to this blog for later updates. Our Progress on Windows 7 We're certifying Windows 7 with the E-Business Suite right now. We've already tested several of the Win7 betas and release candidates, and those tests have gone very smoothly. At this point, E-Business Suite product teams need to complete their certification tests with Windows 7 desktop clients. Once those tests are completed, we'll release our certification. For the usual reasons that regular readers could have predicted, I can't share any specific schedules or date estimates here. I can provide an interim update on the following Win7 questions: 1. Which EBS releases will be certified with Windows 7? 2. Which browsers will be certified? 3. Will Oracle JInitiator be certified for EBS on Windows 7? 4. Which Windows 7 editions will be certified? 5. What about Windows 7E? 6. What about Windows XP Mode? Steven Chan http://blogs.oracle.com/stevenChan/about.html windos7_logo2.pngThis is the second of a series of regular updates on our Windows 7 certification projects for the E-Business Suite. 

Microsoft Windows 7 was officially released today.  Here's a recap of our plans for certifying the Oracle E-Business Suite with Microsoft's latest operating system. As always, the answers to these questions may change as we move through the certification cycle. You're welcome to monitor or subscribe to this blog for later updates. 

Our Progress on Windows 7

We're certifying Windows 7 with the E-Business Suite right now.  We've already tested several of the Win7 betas and release candidates, and those tests have gone very smoothly.  At this point, E-Business Suite product teams need to complete their certification tests with Windows 7 desktop clients.  Once those tests are completed, we'll release our certification.

For the usual reasons that regular readers could have predicted, I can't share any specific schedules or date estimates here. I can provide an interim update on the following Win7 questions:
  1. Which EBS releases will be certified with Windows 7?
  2. Which browsers will be certified?
  3. Will Oracle JInitiator be certified for EBS on Windows 7?
  4. Which Windows 7 editions will be certified?
  5. What about Windows 7E?
  6. What about Windows XP Mode?
]]> 1. Which EBS Releases Will Be Certified with Windows 7?

We plan on certifying the following Oracle E-Business Suite release with Windows 7:
  • EBS 11i version 11.5.10.2
  • EBS 12.0.4 and and higher
2. Which Browsers Will Be Certified?

We plan on certifying the following browsers with the E-Business Suite on Windows 7:
  • Internet Explorer 8
  • Firefox 3.5
3. Will Oracle JInitiator Be Certified for EBS on Windows 7?

No.  Oracle JInitiator is no longer supported for E-Business Suite customers.

Oracle JInitiator 1.1.8 was desupported in December 2008, and Oracle JInitiator 1.3 was desupported for EBS customers in July 2009.  For more information about JInitiator desupport and switching your EBS end-users from JInitiator to the Sun JRE, see:
We plan to certify only the native Sun Java Runtime Engine (JRE) with Windows 7.  We have no plans to certify Oracle JInitiator with Windows 7. 

4. Which Windows 7 Editions Will Be Certified?

We plan to test E-Business Suite compatibility against Windows 7 Professional Edition with the E-Business Suite.  We fully expect that other Win7 editions will work, but we have no current plans to explicitly test the Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Ultimate, or Enterprise Editions with the E-Business Suite.

5. What About Windows 7E?

Microsoft has changed its plans for Windows 7E since I published our first interim update on this certification.  At present, it appears that Microsoft has no plans to release a special version of Windows 7 for Europe.  Debate around default browser selection screens for Europe continues, so we'll continue to monitor this.

If Microsoft's plans change, and a European variant is released, our current plans are to certify the generic edition of Windows 7 with the E-Business Suite and the browsers listed above. 

6. What About Windows XP Mode?

Microsoft indicates that end-users will be able to run Windows XP in a virtualized environment running via Windows Virtual PC on a Win7 desktop client.  This will presumably be functionally-equivalent to running Windows XP natively.

We have no plans to conduct separate EBS certification efforts for WinXP+Virtual PC images running on Win7 clients.

What Are Your Organization's Plans for Windows 7?

Anecdotal reports from some EBS customers seem to suggest that your plans for Windows 7 will parallel that of Windows Vista:  namely, that new PCs that arrive with Windows 7 will either stay that way or will be downgraded to WinXP for the short term.  I have heard of a few customers with plans to deploy widespread Win7 upgrades across the enterprise, but these customers seem to be in the minority so far.

I'd be very interested in hearing your plans for rolling out Windows 7 in your organization.  Feel free to post a comment here or drop me an email with more details about your deployment plans.

Related Articles
The preceding is intended to outline our general product direction. It is intended for information purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any contract. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decision. The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described for Oracle's products remains at the sole discretion of Oracle.
]]> Critical Patch Update for October 2009 Now Available tag:blogs.oracle.com,2009:/stevenChan//101.15141 2009-10-21T15:51:21Z 2009-10-21T15:58:11Z The Critical Patch Update (CPU) for October 2009 was released on October 20, 2009. Oracle strongly recommends applying the patches as soon as possible. Steven Chan http://blogs.oracle.com/stevenChan/about.html
The Critical Patch Update Advisory is the starting point for relevant information. It includes a list of products affected, pointers to obtain the patches, a summary of the security vulnerabilities, and links to other important documents.

Supported Products that are not listed in the "Supported Products and Components Affected" Section of the advisory do not require new patches to be applied.

Also, it is essential to review the Critical Patch Update supporting documentation referenced in the Advisory before applying patches, as this is where you can find important pertinent information.

The Critical Patch Update Advisory is available at the following location:
The next four Critical Patch Update release dates are:
  • January 12, 2010
  • April 13, 2010
  • July 13, 2010
  • October 12, 2010

]]> Oracle Application Testing Suite 9.0 Supported with Oracle E-Business Suite tag:blogs.oracle.com,2009:/stevenChan//101.15123 2009-10-20T17:20:53Z 2009-10-20T18:04:33Z Our recent article about our internal use of automated regression testing tools within E-Business Suite Development prompted many questions about the Oracle Application Testing Suite. I'm pleased to announce that the Oracle Application Testing Suite 9.0 is supported for use with the E-Business Suite. Steven Chan http://blogs.oracle.com/stevenChan/about.html
oats-load-testing-screenshot.pngThe Oracle Automated Testing Suite (OATS) is built on the foundation of the e-TEST suite of products acquired from Empirix in 2008.  The testing suite is comprised of:
  1. Oracle Load Testing for scalability, performance, and load testing
  2. Oracle Functional Testing for automated functional and regression testing
  3. Oracle Test Manager for test process management, test execution, and defect tracking

]]> Oracle E-Business Suite Accelerators Now Available

This latest version includes new Oracle E-Business Suite Accelerators, which offer support for automated functional testing and load testing for both Oracle E-Business Suite Releases 11i and 12.

You can now create test scripts that automate both E-Business Suite Web and Oracle Forms-based screens. Using the new OpenScript graphical scripting interface, your end-users can record automated test scripts by stepping through their Oracle E-Business Suite business transactions in their browsers. You can use the same interface to run scripts, parameterize script inputs, add custom test cases to validate content and extend scripts programmatically in Java.

You can also use the same interface to create automated load test scripts for Oracle Load Testing to simulate thousands of concurrent virtual users.  

When Will New Test Starter Kits be Available?

As I mentioned in a previous article, our E-Business Suite Quality Assurance teams have been working with the Oracle Application Testing Suite for some time now.  We're excited about using this new set of tools, and the OATS team is even building out some new enhancements specifically for our internal Apps testing requirements.

Our EBS QA teams haven't provided any firm schedules on when our existing E-Business Suite WinRunner and QTP automated test scripts will be fully converted to OATS.  The number of existing test scripts that need to be converted is very large, with separate sets of scripts that span at least three Oracle Apps releases:  11.5.10.2, 12.0.4, and 12.1.

It wouldn't be surprising if the conversion process takes some time.

I would expect that a set of new Test Starter Kits containing the OATS scripts will be released in the future, but I don't have any details about which E-Business Suite products will be covered.

You're welcome to monitor or subscribe to this blog for updates, which I'll post as soon as soon as they're available.

Have You Tried OATS with EBS Yet?

Our Oracle Application Testing Suite team is eager to hear about your experiences with their latest release in E-Business Suite environments.  You're welcome to post your comments here, or drop me a line privately.  I'll be sure to pass on your feedback and questions on to the OATS team for you.

Related Articles
The preceding is intended to outline our general product direction.  It is intended for information purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any contract.   It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decision.  The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described for Oracle's products remains at the sole discretion of Oracle.

]]> E-Business Suite Release 12.1.1 Certified on Windows Server 2008 (32-bit) tag:blogs.oracle.com,2009:/stevenChan//101.15097 2009-10-19T17:27:47Z 2009-11-20T22:51:20Z Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 (12.1.1) is now certified on Microsoft Windows Server 2008 (32-bit) running on x86/x86-64 hardware. Note that MS Windows Server 2008 x64 (64-bit) and MS Windows Server 2008 R2 are not covered by this announcement. Steven Chan http://blogs.oracle.com/stevenChan/about.html windows-logo.jpgOracle E-Business Suite Release 12 (12.1.1) is now certified on Microsoft Windows Server 2008 (32-bit) running on x86/x86-64 hardware.  Note that MS Windows Server 2008 x64 (64-bit) and MS Windows Server 2008 R2 are not covered by this announcement.

The following editions of MS Windows Server 2008 (32-bit) are certified for Oracle E-Business Suite:
  • Windows Server 2008 Standard (x86)
  • Windows Server 2008 Enterprise (x86)
  • Windows Server 2008 Datacenter (x86)
  • Windows Web Server 2008 (x86)
  • Windows Server 2008 Standard without Hyper-V (x86)
  • Windows Server 2008 Enterprise without Hyper-V (x86)
  • Windows Server 2008 Datacenter without Hyper-V (x86
Oracle E-Business Suite does not support Hyper-V or Server Core in Windows Server 2008.

]]> Platform Information and Requirements
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2008 (x86) Service Pack 1 or higher
  • Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 (12.1.1 or higher)
  • Oracle Database 11.1.0.7 with Rollup Patch 10 (8416539) or higher
  • See the Microsoft Hardware Compatibility site for a list of servers compatible with Windows Server 2008 (x86)
Where can I find more information?
Related Articles
]]> Using Oracle Application Server 10g with E-Business Suite (OpenWorld 2009 Recap) tag:blogs.oracle.com,2009:/stevenChan//101.15078 2009-10-16T19:38:54Z 2009-10-19T21:28:05Z Every year I provide an OpenWorld update on the various ways that E-Business Suite users can use different Oracle Application Server 10g components. This presentation covers many of the topics that I visit regularly on this blog, neatly summarizing them in a single package with the latest Fusion Middleware certified versions (and desupport notices) in one place: * Using Oracle Application Server 10g with E-Business Suite (Session S307958, PDF, 1.3 MB) Steven Chan http://blogs.oracle.com/stevenChan/about.html Oct 19 2009 Update: If you registered for OpenWorld, here's a link to the OpenWorld On Demand page where you can download or listen to the live recording of this session as well as the presentation materials.]

Every year I provide an OpenWorld update on the various ways that E-Business Suite users can use different Oracle Application Server 10g components.  This presentation covers many of the topics that I visit regularly on this blog, neatly summarizing them in a single package with the latest Fusion Middleware certified versions (and desupport notices) in one place:

Architecture diagram showing sso oid and third-party LDAP integration with E-Business Suite
]]> This presentation covers:

  • A quick overview of the various Oracle Application Server 10g products that can be optionally integrated with the E-Business Suite, including:
    • Oracle Single Sign-On and Oracle Internet Directory
    • Oracle Access Manager and Oracle Identity Manager
    • Web Center and Portal
    • Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition and Discoverer
    • Web Cache
    • Oracle SOA Suite
    • Oracle Enterprise Manager
  • How Oracle Single Sign-On works with the E-Business Suite
  • How EBS users can be managed using Oracle Internet Directory
  • How EBS can be integrated via Oracle Single Sign-On with third-party authentication systems such as:
    • Windows Native Authentication via Kerberos
    • Netegrity Siteminder
    • IBM Tivoli Access Manager
    • PKI X.509v3 Digital Certificates
  • How EBS can be integrated via Oracle Internet Directory with third-party LDAP directories such as:
    • Microsoft Active Directory
    • Sun Java System Directory
    • Novell eDirectory
    • OpenLDAP
Related Articles

I've covered all of these topics already on this blog, with articles discussing the conceptual topics as well as new certification announcements.  See:
]]>