1) Describe the
architecture of Oracle Applications?
• Oracle
Applications follow a 3 Tier architecture
- Database Tier
- Middle Tier
- Desktop Tier
• Database tier
contains RDBMS database called as oracle database server.
• Database tier
stores all the data needed by oracle applications.
• Middle tier or
Application Tier containing various servers configured with listeners like web
server, forms server, admin server, reports server.
• Database
server communicates with middle tier, doesn’t directly communicate with desktop
tier.
• Desktop tier
contains client desktop where users access oracle applications through web
browsers.
2) How do you
delete a responsibility from oracle applications?
• Responsibility
is a level of authority given to Oracle Applications users.
• It is a
collection of requests, forms and menus attached to user.
• Records are
used for monitoring and security purpose so we can’t disable responsibilities.
• However,
responsibilities can be disabled by assigning an end date to the effective
period.
• We can delete
a responsibility from both backend and frontend.
3) What are the
components of Oracle Applications technology layer?
Oracle
Applications technology layer comprises the following products
• Oracle
Applications DBA (AD)
• Oracle
Applications object library (FND)
• Oracle Common
Modules (AK)
• Oracle
Applications Utilities (AU)
• Oracle Alert
(ALR)
• Oracle
Workflow (WF)
• Oracle
Applications Framework (FWK)
• Oracle XML
Publisher (XML)
4) How many
Oracle Homes are there in Oracle Applications and what is the importance of
each one of them?
Oracle
Applications have three Oracle Homes
• Oracle Home is
an environment where oracle products run.
• Database
Oracle Home in the database tier that acts as the Oracle Home for the Oracle
database.
• Oracle Home in
the application tier called as 8.0.6 Oracle Home. It is called the technology
stack Oracle Home and used by forms, reports and discoverer.
• IAS Oracle
Home, used by the Oracle HTTP Server (Web Listener).
• We can run
multiple releases of same products simultaneously by using multiple oracle
homes.
5) Can I enable
real application clusters in the database tier along with oracle applications?
• Yes, real
application clusters can also be configured with Oracle Applications
• RAC allows
multiple instances to mount and open a single database.
• RAC requires
shared disk storage and a dedicated network interconnect.
• When any one
of the node fails, database services can be still available on remaining nodes.
6) Where are
Apache log files and configuration files stored and list each of them?
• Apache log
files are stored in $IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Apache/logs.
• The log files
are error_log, error_log_pls, access_log and access_log_pls.
• Apache
configuration files are stored in $IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apche/Apache/conf directory.
• The main
configuration files are httpd.conf, apps.conf, httpd_pls.conf,
7) How to recreate
a DBC file and where is it located?
• Running
Autoconfig will recreate the DBC file
• DBC is a
database connect descriptor file which stores database connection information
used by application tier (web browsers) to connect to database.
• The file is located
in FND_SECURE directory.
• you can also
create the DBC file by running the script adgendbc.sh
• We can find
the above script at $COMMON_TOP/admin/install directory.
8) Which utility
is used for changing the password of the application users and how it runs?
• The password
of the application users can be changed using the FNDCPASS utility.
• You must have
system and applications password for running FNDCPASS.
• FNDCPASS will
run in the following manner:
• FNDCPASS
apps/apps 0 Y system/manager SYSTEM APPLSYS WELCOME.
• FNDCPASS
apps/apps 0 Y system/manager ORACLE GL GL1
• FNDCPASS
apps/apps 0 Y system/manager USER VISION WELCOME.
9) What is a
patch and name some different types of patches?
• Patch is a
program which fixes the bug.
There are 4
different types of patches
• One-off patch:
o This is the
simplest type of patch. It is created to resolve a particular problem.
• Mini pack
Patch:
o It is a
collection of one-off patches related to a particular module or product.
o Mini Pack
version of module is denoted by Alphabetic characters.
• Family pack
patch:
o This is a
collection of mini pack patches in one family.
o Alphabetic
characters denote the family pack version.
• Maintenance
pack patch:
o This is a
collection of family pack patches.
o Oracle
Applications Release 11.5.10 is an example of Maintenance pack.
10) What are the
contents of patch and drivers present in patching?
Contents of
patch:
• Readme files
• Driver files
• Metadata files
• Replacement
files
Drivers present
in patching:
• C driver - It
copies all the files and links the executables
• D driver – It
is responsible for running SQL scripts which updates the database.
• G driver - It
is responsible for generating forms, reports and message files.
• U driver – It
is a united driver containing all copy and database actions.
11) What do you
do if patch fails?
• Evaluate log
files to determine the cause of the error.
• Repair the
cause of error.
• Now Restart
Adpatch.
• Answer 'Yes'
when adpatch asks if you want to continue the previous session.
• Adpatch starts
from where it left off by skipping all completed jobs.
12) How can I
determine the effects a patch will have on my application system?
This can be done
by patch wizard in the Oracle Applications manager.
• Checking total
number of files in the patch and which are installed.
• Products that
contain updated files.
• Total no of
files introduced by the patch.
• Files on the
target system changed by the patch.
• Files which
depend on patched files.
13) How can you
reduce the downtime when you have to apply multiple patches?
• You can reduce
the downtime by merging all the patches into one single patch using
admergepatch (admrgpch) tool.
• You can also
apply multiple patches one by one by choosing options nocompiledb,
nocompilejsp, and nolink.
• Compilation of
invalid objects, jsp’s and relinking can be skipped till the last patch is
applied.
• In the last
patch you can compile all of them and then relink.
• You can also
choose the max number of workers which your CPU permits.
14) List out the
Log Files created on running patch?
Running the
patch creates the following log files
• Adpatch.log:
Information about the patch run will be stored here..
• Adpatch.lgi:
It contains information about the which has been discarded by adpatch.log
• For example,
the files which has not been copied by the adpatch.
• Adrelink.log:
Relinking information performed by patch will be stored here..
• Adworkxx.log:
Workers log details will be stored here.
15) What are the
important AD tables and define their importance?
• AD_APPL_TOPS:
It contains information about all APPL_TOP’s using the instance.
• AD_BUGS: It
stores information about all different bug fixes applied.
• AD_PATCH_DRIVER_MINIPACKS:
Mini_packs information will be stored here.
•
AD_PATCH_RUN_BUGS: It stores information about all applied and updated bug
fixes.
• AD_FILES: It
stores information about files.
16) Is it
possible to revert the patch application? Explain in detail how?
• Yes, it’s
possible to revert the patching but not 100% sure.
• In test
environment it’s always recommended to take the full backup of the database,
apply the patch and revert from backup.
• Adpatch is
responsible for copying the files from the patch.
• From the patch
log, drop the database objects created by the patch.
• Similarly
forms in the G driver should be replaced from the backup taken by Adpatch and
should be manually generated.
17) What is a
view and how do you recreate a view which becomes invalid when you recreate a
patch?
• View is used
for accessing a particular portion of a table.
• A view is also
called as virtual table.
• For recreating
the view you can search for the view name in the SQL directory.
• We can
recreate the views running scripts located in the Product top/patch/115/sql
directory.
• Most views are
recreated using sql script.
• adpreclone.pl
prepares the source system and adcfgclone.pl configures the target system.
• Both the
scripts are located in $COMMON_TOP/admin/scripts/contextname directory.21)
Difference between ad_bugs table and ad_applied_patches?
• When you apply
the patch from adpatch utility ad_applied_patches table will get updated.
• Ad_applied
_patch doesn’t store the information which was not applied using adpatch.
• Such type of
information will be stored in ad_bugs table.
• Also, if all
the patches are applied using the adpatch utility, that information is also
stored in the ad_bugs_table.
18) What things
you do to reduce patch timing?
• Admrgpch
utility is used for merging all the patches.
• Various
adpatch options like nocompiledb or nocompilejsp are used for reducing patch
timing.
19) What are GSM
and FNDSM?
• GSM stands for
Generic Service Management Framework.
• Oracle
E-Business suite contains many services used to start at their own earlier, but
managing these services are distributed across network.
• So, GSM is an
extension of concurrent processing which manages all your services.
• With GSM all
services are centrally managed.
• FNDSM is
executable and core component in GSM.
20) What is the
purpose of cluster?
• Cluster is
used storing table data.
• It contains
group of tables that share the same data blocks.
• Suppose if you
cluster EMP and DEPT table, both share same DEPTNO column.
• Oracle stores
all rows of each department physically from both the EMP and DEPT tables in the
same data blocks.
• Clusters can’t
be used for tables that are frequently fetched.
21) How to
confirm if Apps Listener is up and running?
Execute the
following commands
• lsnrctl status
APPS _$SID( SID is your instance name)
• For example if
our SID is test, then use
lsnrctl status
APPS_test
If the listener
is up you will observe the following output
• Services
summary
• FNDFS has 1
service handler(s)
• FNDSM has 1
service handler(s)
22) What is
Adadmin and why it is used?
• Adadmin (Ad
administration) is used to perform a number of administrative tasks to maintain
the Oracle Applications.
• For Oracle Applications
to run smoothly Adadmin is used.
• Adadmin
performs work at both database level and file system level.
• Application
users are requested to provide all inputs at Adadmin prompt which displays
various options from Adadmin menu.
• You can run
non_interactive tasks and this is really useful for scheduling routine tasks
that require no user intervention.
23) What are the
adadmin activities that can be run in a parallel way?
• Recreate
grants and synonyms.
• Compile APPS
schema
• Maintain
multiple reporting currencies schema.
• Convert to
Multi-org.
• Generate
message files.
• Generate form
files.
• Generate
report files.
24) What is the
difference between socket and servlet mode forms and list some advantages &
disadvantages of each?
• In socket
mode, we can find a dedicated connection between client desktop and the forms
server.
• In servlet
mode, Jserv processes the forms requested.
• socket mode
uses up to 40% less bandwidth than forms servlet mode.
• Socked mode is
not supported on windows-based platforms.
• Servlet
connections can be reestablished if network connections drop unexpectedly
whereas it is not possible with socket mode.
• Servlet mode
HTTP & HTTPS traffic can be easily recognized by routers, whereas socket
mode communication is treated as suspect.
25) How do I
change from socket to servlet mode and vice versa?
• First, you
must login to Oracle Applications Manager
• Then you must
navigate to sitemap, then find the Autoconfig.
• In Autoconfig
you can able to change from socket mode to servlet mode and vice versa
• Run the
autoconfig from backend and restart the forms server.
• Due to many
advantages Forms servlet mode is preferred and is always recommended for web
deployment.
26) What is
JInitiator?
• It is a java
virtual machine provided for running web based oracle forms applications inside
a client web browser.
• It is
implemented as a plug-in or ActiveX Object.
• It allows you
to specify the use of Oracle-certified JVM instead of relying on default JVM
provided by the browser.
• It is
automatically downloaded to a client machine from the application server.
• Its
installation and update is performed by standard plug-in mechanism provided by
the browser.
27) What is the
function of Oracle HTTP (Apache) server?
• Web listener
accepts the Http requests coming from the client browsers and web server
services the request.
• Apache server
forwards advanced processing requests to the servlet engine.
• Servlet engine
forwards this requests to database.
• If the Http
request needs parsing a JSP file then web listener checks the nature of the
request.
• It then
contacts the Jserv to run a JSP.
• The JSP
contacts the database for the information and returns a HTML page displayed in
the web browser.
28) What kind of
maintenance activities can be performed from admin server?
• Following
maintenance activities are performed from admin server
• Applying the
patches
• Maintaining
Oracle Applications
• Applying the
ad utilities
• Upgrading
Oracle Applications
29) What is
cloning and why is it required?
• Cloning is the
process of creating an identical copy of the Oracle application system.
It is required
due to following reasons
• Creating a
test copy of your production system before upgrading.
• Moving an
existing system to a different machine.
• To test some
patches
• Creating a
development copy of your environment to be used by the developers.
30) What is ad
splice and what does it do?
• Oracle often
releases new products known as off cycle products.
• Ad splice is
the utility which takes care of bringing an off cycle product in to oracle
applications.
• Ad splice
registers off cycle products as active in the system.
• Therefore, adutilities
recognize the off cycle products as valid product for a particular product
release.
31) How do I
check the version of Apache?
• version of
Apache can be checked using the following command
•
$IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Apache/bin/httpd –v
Output is given
as below
• httpd –v
• Server version:
Oracle HTTP server Powered by Apache/1.3.19(UNIX)
• Server built:
Dec 6 2005 13:41:10 (iAS 10.2.2.2 rollup 5)
• From the above
output we can know the version of the apache.
