connect Oracle Linux to the public yum server

When you are installing a Oracle Linux system you most likely would like to keep it up to date. In a corporate environment you do not want to get updates and new software from a public location however when you are running a home system it can be very well that you would like to do this.

Oracle is providing to options, for corporate users you can connect to the Linux Support program by paying a fee towards Oracle. If you are not and just using the system for your home server for example you can connect to the public YUM server from Oracle. To be able to connect your system to the public yum server you have to simply take the following action:

# cd /etc/yum.repos.d
# wget http://public-yum.oracle.com/public-yum-el5.repo

After this you have to open the downloaded file in vi and make sure that you enable the channels you want to use for updating from the public Yum server. To enable one you have to set enabled=1 instead of enabled=0.

now you use the yum command to upgrade, update and install new software to your system. The great plus for Yum is that dependencies are taken care of and downloaded and installed when needed instead of turing your day into a dependency solving nightmare.

Oracle hardnofiles softnofiles resolved

When you are installing a Oracle product under Linux you might run into an issue with the setting for hardnofiles and softnofiles which are set for the user running the installer and who will finally run the software on your server.

The failed check during installation will look something like the one below;

Checking for hardnofiles=4096; hardnofiles=1024. Failed <<<<
Checking for softnofiles=4096; softnofiles=1024. Failed <<<<

you can resolve this by setting a new limit for the user who will be installing and running the software (most likely the user Oracle) or by setting it system wide. To set it system wide you have to edit the file /etc/security/limits.conf and add the following lines to it;

* soft nofile 65536
* hard nofile 65536

you can change 65536 to any value you think is needed. If you do not want to make it a system wide value and have it set for a specific user you can change * for the username you want to set it for. For example change * for oracle and this value will only be set for Oracle.

Oracle database failed prerequisite

When you install a Oracle product you will hit the prerequisite page at one point in time. This will tell you what is missing on your system with respect to packages, kernel parameters and things like this. If you have a clean install of Oracle Linux you will hot some of those. In the below screenshot you see an example.



Something new is that you will now have an option to have some of those fixed automatically. Click the "Fix & Check Again" button and you will see that a script named runfixup.sh is created under /tmp/.... you have to run this as root and this will solve some of your issues. This is much more easy than setting all the kernel parameters by hand.

[root@OEM CVU_11.2.0.1.0_oracle]# ./runfixup.sh 
Response file being used is :./fixup.response
Enable file being used is :./fixup.enable
Log file location: ./orarun.log
Setting Kernel Parameters...
kernel.sem = 250 32000 100 128
fs.file-max = 6815744
net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range = 9000 65500
net.core.rmem_default = 262144
net.core.wmem_default = 262144
net.core.rmem_max = 4194304
net.core.wmem_max = 1048576
fs.aio-max-nr = 1048576
uid=500(oracle) gid=500(oinstall) groups=500(oinstall),501(oper),502(dba)
[root@OEM CVU_11.2.0.1.0_oracle]# 

Even do this is quite quick it is always good to know how this can also be done by hand, so do it also every now and then by hand just to keep your knowledge of Linux up to date.

X11 forwarding on a mac

For all of you who are wondering how X forwarding works when using a mac. To be honest it is quite simple. First make sure you have a local installation of X11 on your mac, a very simple step by step guide is created for this by the Ohio State University

(0)Insert your Mac OS X install disc. (If you have two discs it will be the "Install Disc 1")
(1)In the window that pops up double click on "Optional Installs" (You may need to scroll down)
(2)In the new window that pops up double click on "Optional Installs.mpkg"
(3)In the installation window click Continue.
(4)Read through the License Agreement and choose Continue if you agree.
(5)Click the triangle next to "Applications" in order to expand the directory.
(6)Put a check in "X11".
(7)Click Continue.
(8)Click Install.
(9)Wait for the installation to complete and then click Close when it is complete.

Now we have set this up you can connect to a remote linux server as done in the example below.

johan-louwerss-macbook-pro:~ jlouwers$ ssh -X root@192.168.1.20
root@192.168.1.20's password:
Warning: untrusted X11 forwarding setup failed: xauth key data not generated
Warning: No xauth data; using fake authentication data for X11 forwarding.
Last login: Wed Jul 20 15:10:28 2011 from 192.168.1.106
/usr/bin/xauth: creating new authority file /root/.Xauthority
[root@OEM ~]#

You will see some error messages and a message stating the a new authority file is created. So the next time we login the message will look a little different;

johan-louwerss-macbook-pro:~ jlouwers$ ssh -X root@192.168.1.20
root@192.168.1.20's password: 
Warning: untrusted X11 forwarding setup failed: xauth key data not generated
Warning: No xauth data; using fake authentication data for X11 forwarding.
Last login: Wed Jul 20 20:10:54 2011 from 192.168.1.106
[root@OEM ~]#

Some of the warnings are still their however for the functionality you can ignore them. You can work on them to resolve it however I will not be covering this in this blogpost. If you now execute the command clock or xlogo you will see a the X application starting at your local machine while it is running on the machine you just connected to.

This forwarding is used for X applications running on some server which is not having a terminal or to which you have no direct access and for example need to do a installation. Downside of using this is is that if your connection brakes your application gets killed which can be an issue when you do a installation so in those cases you might want to look into other options to forward the screen to your local machine.

Oracle mobile project management

"iPhone App, Enhancements Available in Oracle's Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management", this presentation is shared by Oracle online and free for you to watch. From a personal experience and from a personal point of view I think that Oracle is making a great move at this point to intergrate project management and portfolio applications with mobile applications. This is not all the presentation is touching however for me it is a important part. 

Why is the mobile option such a big deal? When you are working on a project, or in my case on multiple projects the same time you most likley will be running from place to place and you are always in need of the latest information. This is why I love e-mail on my mobile, you can send and read your mail always on the go and now you also have the option to look into the details of a project and add information to the project. This is especially handy when you are commuting daily by train and have some time on your hands while waiting for the train to come or when you are on the train. Making things more mobile and available always, everywhere and on all devices is in my personal opinion the way to go forward. 

We will see this trend picking up in the upcoming years and I expect that we will see more and more applications in the business area adding a mobile part to it. For some companies this will not be a very big plus however for most companies this is a very big thing and it will help you as a employee to work always and everywhere you want. The new applications from Oracle do have a native app for the iPhone and the iPad and do have options to connect to other mobile devices, for example Android, by making use of a mail interface. If you would like to view the presentation please refer to the Oracle site at this location.

The transcript of the presentation reads:

The latest release of Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management offers many significant enhancements, including a new iPhone app and a streamlined architecture that enables companies to more effectively plan and operate business processes.

The new release’s integration with e-mail and smart phones improves communication among project managers, schedulers, and field personnel to ensure that projects stay on track and delays are minimized. Teams can comment on tasks via e-mail, view project to-do lists, and distribute photos via their mobile devices.

Other key benefits allow organizations to

    * Unite project teams and stakeholders with a host of collaboration and feedback capabilities

    * Reduce the risks of cost and schedule overruns

    * Better optimize resources for maximum ROI

    * Clearly monitor and visualize project performance versus plans to help workgroups achieve project commitments

The new release is designed for easy scalability—to aid a single person overseeing a small project, or tens of thousands of users engaged in millions of complex activities across hundreds of projects. And the application’s role-based capabilities address each team member’s needs and responsibilities. For example, senior managers can view real-time performance summaries for the organization while interactive dashboards, Web applications, and simple forms help workers across all levels easily communicate status updates and issue scope changes.

Interactive activity Gantt charts allow planners, schedulers, and project managers to communicate a more accurate and complete graphical representation of a project’s schedule. Top-down or bottom-up resource requests and staffing processes help groups match the right people with projects. And finally, calendar and activity network views provide team members with a clear view of ongoing assignments. 

I you like to see the presentation slides without the audio and just want to have a quick look please check the document below;

iPhone App Oracle's Primavera P6

Posted via Johan Louwers his Posterous page to his blogger page.

Connecting in the cloud

We currently see a trend that more and more companies are moving into the cloud. Some time ago the word cloud was a buzz word now it is becoming more common. Cloud is not the perfect world, it is just another way of handling and looking at IT. It will make that datacenters are no longer within a customer, it means that it will be at some other company who will take care of most parts of your application which in some cases you share with thousands of other companies. 

 

People are still concerned about the multi tenancy as this is in conflict with all that has been IT for the past years. However we now see that companies start to make the move. This is a smart move and solves a lot of issues however it is also introducing some new issues. To be honest, those issues where already their in the past however now they are more clear. In none cloud landscapes you had the problem of systems that where not connected now we have the issue of clouds which are not connected. HOwever we are currently at another level of thinking. People are more into the SOA way of thinking and the SOA in the cloud way of thinking. 

 

What we now see is that new solutions are coming to the market which help customers connect clouds. This is a great way forward and we will see a lot of companies picking up speed in this area. One example video from Capgemini is below which I personally think is a great way of looking at the issue and dealing with it.  Capgemini Immediate is helping you with some of those issues. 

 

Posted via Johan Louwers his Posterous page to his blogger page.

Oracle's strategy and approach to cloud computing

A video form Oracle on their strategy and approach to cloud computing.

Short video howeve nice to watch to build your view on the subject.

Posted via Johan Louwers his Posterous page to his blogger page.