Managing Oracle Application Server Configurations with Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Release 2
Managing Oracle Application Server Configurations with
Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Release 2
This OBE describes how to manage Oracle Application Server
configurations using Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Grid Control Release
2. Using Grid Control, you can view, compare, and track changes to Oracle Application
Server configurations.
Approximately ½ hour
This OBE covers the following topics:
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functionality in the Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Grid Control console.
Configuration management for the Oracle Application Server
enables IT organizations to do away with manually maintaining spreadsheets of
installed software and hardware that support a company's applications. Administrators
can rely on Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Grid Control to automatically discover
installed hardware and software across the enterprise and store the collected
configuration data in a Configuration Management Database. Stored data can then
be analyzed as needed - whether it be to view collected data; compare data,
or track configuration changes performed in the past.
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Before performing the tasks mentioned in the OBE, you should
have already discovered at least one Oracle Application Server instance by installing
a Management Agent. You can also navigate to the Targets -> Application Servers
subtab and select Oracle Application Server from the Add drop-down list and
navigate through the wizard to add the instance.
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Linda was just given the responsibility of managing middleware
software that supports one of her company's production applications. She would
like to create an inventory of this software, and its underlying hardware, in
order to understand its configuration and to be better prepared to manage the
environment.
After a few days, Linda notices that the application is experiencing
a problem. This same application was functioning properly when it was recently
tested in QA. Linda would like to determine if any differences exist between
the production and QA environments that would cause such a problem. She would
also like to understand what changes - if any - were recently made to the production
environment that could have also attributed to the problem.
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Grid Control automatically collects Oracle Application Server
configuration information - as well as host configuration information - and
stores the data in the Oracle Management Repository. Configuration that Grid
Control displays for an Oracle Application Server is the configuration information
currently stored for that application server in the Management Repository. The
configuration information is collected and stored in the repository when (1)
the Management Agent starts on the host, (2) the automatic update - occurring
every 24 hours - of the application server configuration occurs, or (3) the
administrator clicks the Refresh button to manually refresh collected application
server configuration. Perform the following steps to view the configuration
of the application server:
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1.
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Open the browser and enter the
following URL:
http://<management
service hostname>.<domain>:<port>/em/
The default port value on a clean machine is 7777. However,
if there are other instances running on the machine, then the port may
be different.
The login page will be displayed. Enter the User Name
and Password, and then click the Login button.
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2.
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Click the Targets tab.
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| 3. |
Click the Application Servers subtab.
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| 4. |
Click any of the Oracle Application Server instances.
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| 5. |
Click the Administration property page.
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| 6. |
Click the Last Collected Configuration link under Configuration
section.
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| 7. |
The General section provides information on the type of installation,
the Oracle Application Server version, the type of Farm Repository (database
or file), the URL for Oracle Application Server Control Console, and so
on. The Components section displays a list of Oracle Application Server
components. The OPMN section provides information on the local, remote
and request port numbers, the logging level for the notification server
and the process manager, and so on. The information shown on this page
pertains to the selected Oracle Application Server instance and its components.
You can further drilldown to view the configuration data collected for
the individual components as well. Click the J2EE Applications
property page.
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| 8. |
Use this page to view a list of J2EE applications deployed in the OC4J
instances of the selected Oracle Application Server. By default, the configuration
information is refreshed daily. In addition, you may refresh this information
at any time and display the most recently collected configuration by clicking
Refresh. Click the Configuration Files property page.
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| 9. |
Use this page to view a list of Oracle Application Server configuration
files with their size and modification time. Click the name of the configuration
file to view its contents. Click Save to either save the last collected
configuration information to the Oracle Management Repository or export
it to a file. Click the General property page.
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| 10. |
Click any of the OC4J components from the Components section.
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| 11. |
Use the Last Collected Configuration General page to view the:
- Port ranges for Remote Method Invocation (RMI), Java Message Service
(JMS), Apache JServ Protocol (AJP) and Internet inter-ORB Protocol (IIOP).
- Heap size settings for Oracle Application Server Containers for J2EE
(OC4J).
Click the Applications property page.
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| 12. |
The Applications section lists the applications and its parent applications
deployed in the OC4J instance. The Modules section provides information
about the individual modules of the applications. The section covers details
like the module name, the module type, the application name, the URL to
which the application is bound (Web modules only), whether or not the
classes for the Web modules should be loaded at application startup time
(Web modules only), and so on. Click the JDBC Resources property page.
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| 13. |
Use the Last Collected Configuration JDBC Resources page to view a list
of data sources used by all the applications deployed in Oracle Application
Server Containers for J2EE (OC4J) instance. The J2EE Applications deployed
in OC4J use data sources that define how to connect to their databases.
Data sources store all details required to successfully establish connectivity
with the database and serve the requests appropriately. Click the Configuration
Files property page.
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| 14. |
Use the Last Collected Configuration: Configuration Files page to view
a list of Oracle Application Server Containers for J2EE (OC4J) configuration
files with their size and modification time. Click the name of the configuration
file to view its contents.
Apart from viewing the last collected configurations you can also use
predefined searches provided out-of-box with Grid Control. You can use
them to find the OC4J datasources, OC4J J2EE modules and so on. You will
now search and see the ports for application servers. Click the Application
Server locator link.
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| 15. |
Click the Administration property page.
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| 16. |
Select Ports for Application Servers from the Configuration Searches
section and click the Go button.
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| 17. |
By default, a list of ports used for this
application server instance is identified. If you wanted to view one or
more ports in use across multiple application server instances, for example,
you could quickly do so by modifying the Search Criteria section.
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Grid Control collects Oracle Application Server configuration.
It also enables you to compare the configurations and determine the differences
between two or more application servers. The Compare Wizard allows you to compare
various types of current or saved configurations with one or more current or
saved configurations. You can use the comparison results to determine the cause
of any difference in performance.
Using this Compare Wizard, you can perform the following tasks:
- Compare the current configuration of the selected application
server with one or more current configurations of other application servers.
- Compare saved configurations with one or more saved configurations
of the same or other application servers.
- Compare saved configurations with one or more current configurations
of the same or application servers.
- Schedule a job to compare the current configuration or
saved configuration with multiple other application server configurations.
Perform the following steps to compare the configurations
of two Oracle Application Servers:
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1.
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Click the Targets tab.
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2.
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Click the Application Servers subtab.
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| 3. |
Click any of the Oracle Application Server instance.
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| 4. |
Click the Administration property page.
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| 5. |
Click the Compare Configuration link under Configuration section.
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| 6. |
Select the second instance by choosing any one of the other instances
and click the Compare button.
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| 7. |
The Summary page provides the names of the two Oracle Application Servers
selected for comparison, and the date and time when their configurations
were collected. It provides a summary of the differences in applications
deployed and configuration files. This helps you understand if the configurations
between multiple Oracle Application Servers are the same or different.
Click the General property page.
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| 8. |
The General section compares various configuration settings of two Oracle
Application Servers, and shows if they are the same or different. The
Components section compares the components that are configured for one
application server versus the other. Click the J2EE Applications
property page.
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| 9. |
The table compares the deployed J2EE applications and their configurations
between the two application servers. Click the Configuration Files
property page.
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| 10. |
The table compares the file size and modification time of the configuration
files, and shows if they are the same, different, or missing from one
of the configurations. You can also compare the contents of the configuration
files. Click the General property page.
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| 11. |
Select the HTTP_Server component from the Components section and
click the Compare button.
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| 12. |
The Summary page provides a summary of the differences in their ports
and virtual hosts, security settings, and configuration files. This helps
you understand if the configurations between two Oracle HTTP Servers are
the same or different. Click the General property page.
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| 13. |
The General section compares the server names, error logging levels,
mod_oc4j load balancing policies of two Oracle HTTP Servers, and shows
if their settings are the same or different. The Request Handling section
helps you identify the differences in their performance by comparing the
number of simultaneous requests processed by them or handled by each of
their child processes, their request timeout settings, and so on. Click
the Ports and Virtual Hosts property page.
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| 14. |
The Ports and Virtual Hosts page provides the names of the two Oracle
HTTP Servers selected for comparison, and the date and time when their
configurations were collected. The Default Port section compares the default
ports used by the two Oracle HTTP Servers, and helps you identify if the
default ports are the same or different.
The Listening Addresses and Ports section compares all the listening
addresses and ports used by the two Oracle HTTP Servers, and shows if
their settings are the same or missing from one of the configurations.
The Virtual Hosts section compares the virtual hosts of two Oracle HTTP
Servers, and indicates if they are the same or missing from one of the
configurations. Click the Security property page.
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| 15. |
The Security page provides the names of the two Oracle HTTP Servers selected
for comparison, and the date and time when their configurations were collected.
The SSL Session Timeout table compares the SSL Session Timeout settings
of two Oracle HTTP Servers, and helps you identify if the settings are
the same or different. The SSL Cipher Suite Settings table compares the
SSL cipher suites used during the SSL handshakes. This helps you identify
if the cipher suites are the same or missing from one of the configurations.
Click the Configuration Files property page.
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| 16. |
The table compares the file size and modification time of the configuration
files of two Oracle HTTP Servers, and shows if they are the same, different,
or missing from one of the configurations. While the configuration files
property page lists the differences, they are only based on the file size
and the modification time. Select the OHS config file
httpd.conf and click the Compare File Contents button
to compare the contents of the two httpd.conf
files.
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| 17. |
Differences between the two configuration files are highlighted with
different colors and symbols indicating the point of insertion, deletion,
or modification. The differences in configuration files may exist due
to inserted, deleted or modified lines.
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Because Grid Control collects Oracle Application Server configuration
information on a regular basis, any changes made to the configuration are also
stored in the Management Repository. You can use Grid Control to view a history
of these configuration changes so you can determine if any of the changes could
have negatively impacted your environment. Perform the following steps to track
configuration changes to the application server:
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1.
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Click the Targets tab.
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2.
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Click the Application Servers subtab.
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| 3. |
Click any of the Oracle Application Server instances.
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| 4. |
Click any of the OC4J components from the Components section.
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| 5. |
Click the Administration property page.
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| 6. |
Click the History link under the Configuration section.
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| 7. |
You see the history captured across the selected target. You can define
filters to view the history of one or more categories and targets. You
can specify the time interval, type of change, changed value and the old
/ new values of the changed items. Click the link under the History Records
for OC4J: Application category to drill-down further and check which application
was changed or added to the selected OC4J.
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| 8. |
Type of change column tells you that that this change is due to the addition
of a new application to the OC4J instance. Click the Details icon
for more details.
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| 9. |
By drilling down into the details, you can see that the history reveals
that the Petstore application was added to this OC4J instance.
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In this lesson, you learned how to:
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View Configurations |
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Compare Configurations |
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Track Configuration
Changes |
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