Installing Oracle 10g Client in Windows 7 Screwed My System!

Dear All,

Take extra precautions before you install Oracle 10g or any other client in Windows-7 operating system (even in compactible mode).

I faced the same problem some six months back, that “time” was critical as I did not have time to research to resolve this issue, I just reinstalled my OS to make my system work, but again the same issue happened yesterday with my Laptop as soon as you install the Client in your PC it locks your C:\ drive. System will be working but when you try to open the C:\ drive system will throw you error “Access Denied” I tried all possible ways to recover from this error, I tried with our Microsoft Support guys, Our Company IT guys, System Restore Option from my recovery disk, System Repair or (System Image Recovery – did not work because there was no image recovery in the system as it has to be done manually) or accessing C:\ drive through command prompt and all the system gurus in the net and was left helpless.
You cannot even uninstall hence you will not find the installed client in your add and remove program or you cannot access C:\ drive (even through command prompt) to delete the installed folders as C:\ is locked and you find yourself nicely and tightly screwed up in a right situation when you cannot afford to lose time.
Finally I decided to reinstall my OS and obviously it has to work unless I have hardware problem.

So my dear friends, I don’t want this to happen for any of you guys, so be extra careful before you install the client. Take a backup or image recovery to a latest date and then try to install Oracle Client hence always you have an option to restore your image recovery only if you have taken a recent backup manually because system does not take an automatic image recovery instead it just has the snapshot points for system restore which will not help you, read the compactable notes of the client before you install the client.

Through some note I came to know that Oracle 11g is compatible with windows 7, hence downloaded Oracle 11g database from Oracle site and installed with lots of care and it worked finally.

If any of you guys got any solution, kindly let me know.

Thanks & Regards,
S.Grace Paul Regan

Hyperlink Leads To Production Instance or Different Instance!

Dear ,

After cloning a Instance from Production there are some profile options which has to be updated with the present instance link for the hyperlinks sent through notification to work properly. Follow the below steps:

Using the System Administrator responsibility, go to profiles -> system
- Search for the profile option "POS: External URL"
- Set the profile option to:
http or https://external_web_server_machine:port/
- Search for the profile option "POS: Internal URL"
- Set the internal profile option to:
http or https://internal_web_server:port/
- After setting the above profile options run the following script as APPS: $POS_TOP/patch/115/sql/pos_upg_usr.sql

The above script updates the user level values of profile option Applications Framework Agent and Application Servlet Agent for all supplier users using the new values in the profile option POS: External URL.

Every time the value of profile option POS: External URL is changed, it is necessary to run this script.

Thanks & Regards,
S.Grace Paul Regan

How To Create Basic Personalizations?

Download and save the document White Paper - Basic Personalizations for instructions on how to do this

Thanks & Regards,
S.Grace Paul Regan

What profile options are relevant when setting up personalization in OA Framework?

1. Set FND: Personalization Region Link Enabled (FND_PERSONALIZATION_REGION_LINK_ENABLED) to Yes

Now Personalize Region links should appear above each region in a page. Each link takes the user first to the Choose Personalization Context page, then to the Page Hierarchy Personalization page with focus on the region from which you selected the Personalize Region link.


2. Personalize Self-service Defn (FND_CUSTOM_OA_DEFINTION)

You should set this profile option to Yes at the user level for an administrator. If you set this profile option to Yes, then when you log on as the Administrator, a global Personalize Page button appears on each OA Framework-based application page. When you select the global Personalize Page button on any page, the personalization user interface prompts you for the scope and administrative level at which you wish to create your personalizations before displaying the OA Personalization Framework UI.



3. Disable Self-service Personal (FND_DISABLE_OA_CUSTOMIZATIONS)

This is a system profile option specifically created for use by Oracle Support. You can set this profile option to Yes at the site or application level. If this system profile option is set to Yes, any personalizations you make, regardless of the level at which you make the personalizations, will not be applied. Only the original base definition of each OA Framework-based application page is ever displayed. Use this profile option to help Oracle support staff determine whether a problem arises from applied personalizations or from the base application. The default is No.

Thanks & Regards,
S.Grace Paul Regan

Discoverer Error : oracle.disco.bibeans.parameter.LOVException: OK

500 Internal Server Error
oracle.disco.bibeans.parameter.LOVException: OK:

After you open the discoverer report

Go to Perferences> Under Query Governor heading you will find your LOV name > Change the default value from 15 to 60 or 120 then apply and try back.

This will solve most of the above error.

Thanks & Regards,
S.Grace Paul Regan

Windows-7 Audo Drivers (Work Around) !

Dear All,

Hope by this time most of the Techie should have installed windows-7 operating system like me if you have installed the OS in some old machines you will find some difficulty in downloading the Audio drivers and other drivers

Before you search for the driver with Microsoft windows-7 release or your PC manufacturers site (Eg: HP Driver Support Site) go to Control Panel > Sound > Speaker > Properties > Controller Information > Properties > General Tab Check for the Manufacturer name if its different from Microsoft (Eg: Realtech) then go the manufacturers site to download the driver, If its Microsoft go to Microsoft's site or go to the next tab Driver and press the update driver button to download the driver from the Internet. Most of the PC manufacturers has not updated their driver support data base with the windows-7 compatible drivers, So you will not find the drivers with your PC Manufacturer.

These tips above are very simple but if you are confused where to find the driver please follow these instructions to download the driver.

This works for other supporting hard ware drivers also like Web-Cam, USB Port, Sync ..

Thanks & Regards,
S.Grace Paul Regan
965(66382159)

Oracle Application on Windows-7

Internet Explorer and Firefox:

1. Download and install the latest version of Java (such as Version 6, Update 11).
You can get it here.

2. Copy the file C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\client\jvm.dll to folder C:\Program
Files\Oracle\Jinitiator 1.3.1.21\bin\hotspot. (Overwrite the existing jvm.dll.)
In folder C:\Program Files\Oracle\Jinitiator 1.3.1.21\lib,

3. rename “font.properties.zh.5″ to “font.properties.zh.6″ and “font.properties.zh.
5.1″ to “font.properties.zh.6.1″

4. If you use multiple languages, use a text editor (such as Notepad) to open
file “C:\Program Files\Oracle\Jinitiator 1.3.1.21\lib\font.properties”. Search
for “\u5b8b\u4f53=SIMSUN.TTF” and change it to “\u5b8b\u4f53=SIMSUN.TTC”. This is
an optional step

5. Go to Tools> Internet Options> Advanced. Disable 3rd Party Extensions by
unchecking

Firefox:

Go to C:\Program Files\Oracle\Jinitiator 1.3.1.21\bin. Find “NPJinit13121.dll” and copy it.
Paste it into C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\plugins\

Thanks & Regards,
S.Grace Paul Regan

Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC)

Dear All,

Some FAQ about RAC which I came across very recently.

What is RAC and how is it different from non RAC databases?

RAC stands for Real Application Clusters. It allows multiple nodes in a clustered system to mount and open a single database that resides on shared disk storage. Should a single system fail (node), the database service will still be available on the remaining nodes.

A non-RAC database is only available on a single system. If that system fails, the database service will be down (single point of failure).


Can any application be deployed on RAC?

Most applications can be deployed on RAC without any modifications and still scale linearly (well, almost).

Applications with 'hot' blocks (the same data blocks continuously accessed by processes on different nodes) may not work well. This is because data blocks will constantly be moved from one Oracle Instance to another. In such cases the application may need to be partitioned based on function or data to eliminate the contention.


Do you need special hardware to run RAC?

RAC requires the following hardware components:

A dedicated network interconnect - might be as simple as a fast network connection between nodes; and
A shared disk subsystem.
Example systems that can be used with RAC:

Windows Clusters
Linux Clusters
Unix Clusters like SUN PDB (Parallel DB).
IBM z/OS in SYSPLEX
HP Serviceguard extension for RAC


How many OCR and voting disks should one have?

For redundancy, one should have at lease two OCR disks and three voting disks (raw disk partitions). These disk partitions should be spread across different physical disks.

How does one convert a single instance database to RAC?

Oracle 10gR2 introduces a utility called rconfig (located in $ORACLE_HOME/bin) that will convert a single instance database to a RAC database.

$ cp $ORACLE_HOME/assistants/rconfig/sampleXMLs/ConvertToRAC.xml racconv.xml
$ vi racconv.xml
$ rconfig racconv.xml
One can also use dbca and enterprise manager to convert the database to RAC mode.

For prior releases, follow these steps:

Shut Down your Database:
SQL> CONNECT SYS AS SYSDBA
SQL> SHUTDOWN NORMAL
Enable RAC - On Unix this is done by relinking the Oracle software.
Make the software available on all computer systems that will run RAC. This can be done by copying the software to all systems or to a shared clustered file system.
Each instance requires its own set of Redo Log Files (called a thread). Create additional log files:
SQL> CONNECT SYS AS SYSBDA
SQL> STARTUP EXCLUSIVE

SQL> ALTER DATABASE ADD LOGFILE THREAD 2
SQL> GROUP G4 ('RAW_FILE1') SIZE 500k,
SQL> GROUP G5 ('RAW_FILE2') SIZE 500k,
SQL> GROUP G6 ('RAW_FILE3') SIZE 500k;

SQL> ALTER DATABASE ENABLE PUBLIC THREAD 2;
Each instance requires its own set of Undo segments (rollback segments). To add undo segments for New Nodes:
UNDO_MANAGEMENT = auto
UNDO_TABLESPACE = undots2
Edit the SPFILE/INIT.ORA files and number the instances 1, 2,...:
CLUSTER_DATABASE = TRUE (PARALLEL_SERVER = TRUE prior to Oracle9i).
INSTANCE_NUMBER = 1
THREAD = 1
UNDO_TABLESPACE = undots1 (or ROLLBACK_SEGMENTS if you use UNDO_MANAGEMENT=manual)
# Include %T for the thread in the LOG_ARCHIVE_FORMAT string.
# Set LM_PROCS to the number of nodes * PROCESSES
# etc....
Create the dictionary views needed for RAC by running catclust.sql (previously called catparr.sql):
SQL> START ?/rdbms/admin/catclust.sql
On all the computer systems, startup the instances:
SQL> CONNECT / as SYSDBA
SQL> STARTUP;


How does one stop and start RAC instances?

There are no difference between the way you start a normal database and RAC database, except that a RAC database needs to be started from multiple nodes. The CLUSTER_DATABASE=TRUE (PARALLEL_SERVER=TRUE) parameter needs to be set before a database can be started in cluster mode.

In Oracle 10g one can use the srvctl utility to start instances and listener across the cluster from a single node. Here are some examples:

$ srvctl status database -d RACDB
$ srvctl start database -d RACDB
$ srvctl start instance -d RACDB -i RACDB1
$ srvctl start instance -d RACDB -i RACDB2
$ srvctl stop database -d RACDB
$ srvctl start asm -n node2
Before Oracle 8.0, use the following command sequence from each node (using the old server manager):

SVRMGR> connect INTERNAL
SVRMGR> set retries 5
SVRMGR> startup parallel retry .. or SVRMGR> startup shared
You can also use the SET INSTANCE instanceN command to switch between instances (if defined in TNSNAMES.ORA).


Can I test if a database is running in RAC mode?

Use the DBMS_UTILITY package to determine if a database is running in RAC mode or not. Example:

BEGIN
IF dbms_utility.is_cluster_database THEN
dbms_output.put_line('Running in SHARED/RAC mode.');
ELSE
dbms_output.put_line('Running in EXCLUSIVE mode.');
END IF;
END;
/

For Oracle 8i and prior releases:

BEGIN
IF dbms_utility.is_parallel_server THEN
dbms_output.put_line('Running in SHARED/PARALLEL mode.');
ELSE
dbms_output.put_line('Running in EXCLUSIVE mode.');
END IF;
END;
/

Another method is to look at the database parameters. For example, from SQL*Plus:

SQL> show parameter CLUSTER_DATABASE
If the value of CLUSTER_DATABASE is FALSE then database is not running in RAC Mode.


How can I keep track of active instances?

You can keep track of active RAC instances by executing one of the following queries:

SELECT * FROM SYS.V_$ACTIVE_INSTANCES;
SELECT * FROM SYS.V_$THREAD;
To list the active instances from PL/SQL, use DBMS_UTILITY.ACTIVE_INSTANCES().


Can one see how connections are distributed across the nodes?

Select from gv$session. Some examples:

SELECT inst_id, count(*) "DB Sessions" FROM gv$session
WHERE type = 'USER' GROUP BY inst_id;
With login time (hour):

SELECT inst_id, TO_CHAR(logon_time, 'DD-MON-YYYY HH24') "Hour when connected", count(*) "DB Sessions"
FROM gv$session
WHERE type = 'USER'
GROUP BY inst_id, TO_CHAR(logon_time, 'DD-MON-YYYY HH24')
ORDER BY inst_id, TO_CHAR(logon_time, 'DD-MON-YYYY HH24');


What is pinging and why is it so bad?

Starting with Oracle 9i, RAC can transfer blocks from one instance to another across the interconnect (cache fusion). This method is much faster than the old "pinging" method, where one instance had to write the block to disk before another instance could read it.

Oracle 8i and below:

Pinging is the process whereby one instance requests another to write a set of blocks from its SGA to disk so it can obtain it in exclusive mode. This method of moving data blocks from one instance's SGA to another is extremely slow. The challenge of tuning RAC/OPS is to minimize pinging activity.


Thanks & Regards,
S.Grace Paul Regan

Open Oracle Application R-12 screen in Mozilla Firefox Web Browser

JRE Client Plug-in Download

The JRE Plug-in will not automatically download from the server, if the correct JRE version is not already installed on the client, when using the Firefox browser. This is due to bug 5855986, which is scheduled to be fixed in release 12.1
To workaround this problem, the user can either download and install the JRE Plug-in, before launching the Oracle E-Business Suite, or can still download it from the server as follows.

Clicking on a forms link through Firefox will activate the 'Plug-in Finder Service'. The user will then see the message 'Additional plug-ins are required to display all the media on this page' in the taskbar.

•Click on the 'Install Missing Plug-ins' button. (This will open a new window, search for the plug-in but will not find it)

•Click on the 'Manual Install' button. This will open another window which will say;
Forbidden

You don't have permissions to access /OA_JAVA/ on this server.
•In the URL line on this window change http://:/OA_JAVA to http://:/OA_HTML/oaj2se.exe.

•When asked if you wish save the oaj2se.exe file. Click the 'Save File' button and install the file onto your desktop

•Once it has installed successfully, close down the firefox window and start a new session to access the Oracle E-Business Suite.

Multiple Sessions

You may only access a single Oracle E-Business Suite instance from a single desktop session when using the Firefox browser. Currently 'Internet Explorer' is the only browser that allows you to access multiple instances or multiple Application Responsibilities concurrently from the same desktop session, through the use of multiple browser sessions.

Tab functionality in the Firefox Browser

Firefox 2.0.x uses tabbed browsing by default. This facility can also be enabled in Firefox 1.5.x from the browser menu through Tools > Options > Tabs. Forms in the Oracle E-Business Suite are supported and launched through a separate frame. Therefore, even with tabs enabled, the forms navigator and the forms windows will continue to open in a new window and not in a new tab. This is intended functionality and is not a bug.

Personal Homepage Setting

The ICX 'Personal Homepage' setting is not supported with the Firefox browser.

Rich Text Editing

The Cut, Copy and Paste buttons within the Rich text Editor on Oracle Applications Framework do not work by default when using a Firefox browser. This is due to a security feature within Firefox. We recommend that the keyboard shortcut keys, which do still work by default are used for this functionality. If you still wish to use the buttons, this can be enabled by editing the users Firefox preference file. Further information is available at,
http://www.mozilla.org/editor/midasdemo and http://www.mozilla.org/editor/midasdemo/securityprefs.html.

BIDI Language Users

BIDI Languages are not supported with Self Service Applications using the Firefox Browser.

Thanks & Regards,
S.Grace Paul Regan

Oracle Application User Creation

I have attached a small video secession of User Creation and Responsibility addition in Oracle Application using sys-admin responsibility.

User Creation and Responsibility Addition Video Secession
Click Me - Google On-line streaming Video
Click Me - Download .wmv format video session

Any comments or up-dates can be mailed to : regan.gpr@gmail.com, Help this free learning link grow and reach the needy with your valuable comments.

Thanks & Regards,
S.Grace Paul Regan.

Oracle Application on IE-7

Dear All,
Its a common issue that most of the guys get issue on opening Oracle Application in Internet Explorer 7. One of the shortest way to change the settings of internet explorer 7 is to

1. Go to Tools>Internet Options>Advanced>Restore Advanced Settings and Reset... after resetting, restart the Internet Explorer and try to Open Oracle Applications again and you may suceed.
2. Always keep the Pop-up blocker and Pishing filter in OFF mode, Most of the time your Pop-up bocker and Pishing filter may block the Oracle jinitiator screen.To turn off the Pop-up blocker go to >Tools>Pop-Up blocker>Turn Off Pop-up blocker, To turn off the Pishing Filter go to>Tools>Turn off automatic web site checking.....

The above simple steps will most of the time help you resolve the issue in viewing Oracle Application in Internet Explorer-7. Still if you face issues please do post your queries, I will try my best to help you.

Thanks & Regards,

S.Grace Paul Regan

Open Oracle Application 11i Screen in Windows Vista

I have Windows Vista Home Basic and I was trying to open Oracle Applications to work on it. Here is what I did: 1 - Install JAVA jdk1.6.0_02 - http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp or of the J-Initiator is installed.... 2 - Copy the jvm.dll file under C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_02\jre\bin\client to C:\Program Files\Oracle\Jinitiator\bin\hotspot, where is the jinit version. While you paste the system will ask weather to replace or create a new file, We can replace when prompted.
Thanks & Regards,

S.Grace Paul Regan

Oracle Apps on Linux

Easy steps for Java plugins for firefox in GNU/Linux(debian).
Download and install the java j2sdk1.4.2_05 from http://java.sun.com/ .
Download the j2sdk_1.4.2_05 and install.
Say you have installed it to your /usr/local/java, then you would have a a plugin file : $JAVA_HOME/jre/plugin/i386/ns610-gcc32/libjavaplugin_oji.
so Find the location of your firefox plugins in your firefox install directory. It will be usually available /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins
Make a link to the libjavaplugin_oji.so from your plugins directory.You can use the command from the firefox_plugin_directory as
ln -s /usr/local/java/j2sdk1.4.2_05/jre/plugin/i386/ns610-gcc32/libjavaplugin_oji.so
Now you have Java
To get Oracle apps working on linux.
Restart your firefox and goto the url : about:plugins
Now you should have java plugins and the page should show
application/x-java-bean;jpi-version=1.4.2_05 Java Yes
Goto your ~/.mozilla/firefox/ directory and open your pluginreg.dat A small hack here can get you your Oracle apps working on Linux. Just change the following
14:application/x-java-applet;jpi-version=1.4.2_05:Java::$
to
14:application/x-java-applet;jpi-version=1.4.1:Java::$
and also there is another similiar entry for the x-java-bean mime type to.
Also add the following lines to the pluginreg.dat
29:application/x-jinit-applet;version=1.1.8.16:Java::$ 30:application/x-jinit-applet;version=1.1.8.13:Java::$ 31:application/x-jinit-applet;version=1.1.8.19:Java::$
Also remember to change the count of the plugins on top of the plugins These are the contents of my pluginreg.dat.
[PLUGINS]
/usr/local/j2re1.4.2_05/plugin/i386/ns610-gcc32/libjavaplugin_oji.so:$ :$ 1090693490000:1:5:$ Java(TM) Plug-in 1.4.2_05:$ Java(TM) Plug-in 1.4.2_05-b04:$ 32 0:application/x-java-vm:Java::$ 1:application/x-java-applet:Java::$ 2:application/x-java-applet;version=1.1:Java::$ 3:application/x-java-applet;version=1.1.1:Java::$ 4:application/x-java-applet;version=1.1.2:Java::$ 5:application/x-java-applet;version=1.1.3:Java::$ 6:application/x-java-applet;version=1.2:Java::$ 7:application/x-java-applet;version=1.2.1:Java::$ 8:application/x-java-applet;version=1.2.2:Java::$ 9:application/x-java-applet;version=1.3:Java::$ 10:application/x-java-applet;version=1.3.1:Java::$ 11:application/x-java-applet;version=1.4:Java::$ 12:application/x-java-applet;version=1.4.1:Java::$ 13:application/x-java-applet;version=1.4.2:Java::$ 14:application/x-java-applet;jpi-version=1.4.1:Java::$ 15:application/x-java-bean:Java::$ 16:application/x-java-bean;version=1.1:Java::$ 17:application/x-java-bean;version=1.1.1:Java::$ 18:application/x-java-bean;version=1.1.2:Java::$ 19:application/x-java-bean;version=1.1.3:Java::$ 20:application/x-java-bean;version=1.2:Java::$ 21:application/x-java-bean;version=1.2.1:Java::$ 22:application/x-java-bean;version=1.2.2:Java::$ 23:application/x-java-bean;version=1.3:Java::$ 24:application/x-java-bean;version=1.3.1:Java::$ 25:application/x-java-bean;version=1.4:Java::$ 26:application/x-java-bean;version=1.4.1:Java::$ 27:application/x-java-bean;version=1.4.2:Java::$ 28:application/x-java-bean;jpi-version=1.4.1:Java::$ 29:application/x-jinit-applet;version=1.1.8.16:Java::$ 30:application/x-jinit-applet;version=1.1.8.13:Java::$ 31:application/x-jinit-applet;version=1.1.8.19:Java::$
Thanks & Regards, S.Grace Paul Regan.