How To: Download, install, configure and verify you have the latest version of Opatch

On this post we will discuss all the steps necessary to ensure you have the correct version of the OPatch patching utility for oracle software running on your system. If you find this post useful please or Share our site!

Environment Variables:

Set your ORACLE_INSTANCE path to a valid OBIEE 11g instance

Set your ORACLE_HOME path to the OBIEE 11g home (Oracle_BI1)

Validating Your Environment:

OPatch is installed by default, locate it go to the ORACLE_HOME path for your OBIEE installation:

\Oracle_BI1\OPatch

To verify your current session is correctly configured verify the installed version by running the following command:

opatch version

Minimum Required Versions:

OBIEE 11.1.1.5.0 -> OPatch version 11.1.0.8.3 or higher (do NOT use OPatch 12.x)

OBIEE 11.1.1.6.0 -> No OPatch packages available as of March 12, 2012

Downloading a Newer Version of OPatch:

To find and download the appropriate version of OPatch for yor system please go to ORacle Support and find the knoledge base article below:

Note 224346.1 – Opatch – Where Can I Find the Latest Version of Opatch?

Installing OPatch:

To install OPatch once you have downloaded the appropriate version follow the steps below:

  1. Rename your current OPatch directory (ORACLE_HOME\OPatch)
  2. Copy the zip file to your ORACLE_HOME
  3. Unzip the zip file
  4. Verify that the upgrade succeeded

    cd OPatch
    opatch version

File System Access:

OPatch will update the local Oracle Inventory so the user account running OPatch must have acces to the location of the OUI Inventory, to verify this you can run the following command:

opatch -lsinventory

Patch Directory Location (PATCH_TOP):

If you have a centralized location where you store code / releases it is a good idea to create a directory called PATCH_TOP to store patches as they are applied to each environment (DEV, QA, STAGE, PRD).

On this post we will discuss all the steps necessary to ensure you have the correct version of the OPatch patching utility for oracle software running on your system.

How to: Install the Oracle Web Tier / Oracle HTTP Server

This post will guide you through the steps to deploy Oracle Web Tier 11.1.1.2.0. This instance will later be upgraded to 11.1.1.5.0 by applying PatchSet 1 (12395155) and configured to serve as a front end for WebLogic as part of an Oracle Business Intelligence environment. If you find this post useful please or Share it!

Pre-Install Tasks

Implementation

  • Run the setup.exe file to start your installation
  • Click next on the welcome screen

    Click next on the welcome screen

  • Select the Install and Configure option and click next

    Select the Install and Configure option and click next

  • Verify that all pre-requisite tests are successfull and click next

    Verify that all pre-requisite tests are successfull and click next

  • Specify the location of your oracle middleware home and the name of your new web tier oracle home directory

    Specify the location of your oracle middleware home and the name of your new web tier oracle home directory

    Note: The WebLogic server must already be installed in the same middleware home you specify.

  • Select to configure instances of Oracle HTTP Server and Oracle Web Cache, also select to associate these components with your weblogic domain

    Select to configure instances of Oracle HTTP Server and Oracle Web Cache, also select to associate these components with your weblogic domain

  • Enter the host name and port of your weblogic domain and then enter the domain’s admnistrator credentials

    Enter the host name and port of your weblogic domain and then enter the domain's admnistrator credentials

  • Confirm the instance name, location and component names and click next

    Confirm the instance name, location

  • Enter a password for the administrator of your new web cache instance

    Enter a password for the administrator of your new web cache instance

  • Allow the installer to perform automatic port configuration using the default port numbers for services

    Allow the installer to perform automatic port configuration using the default port numbers for services

  • Provide your Oracle Support credentials, this will register this instance so that it will be available for support and, if specified, allow you to receive security updates via e-Mail

    Provide your Oracle Support credentials, this will register this instance so that it will be available for support and, if specified, allow you to receive security updates via e-Mail

  • Review theconfiguration presented in the summary screen is correct and click Install to begin the process.

    Review the configuration presented in the summary screen is correct and click Install to begin the process.

  • Review the information on the completed install progress screen, make a note of the install log location and click next.

    Review the information on the final summary screen, make a note of the install log location and click next.

  • Review the information presented in the final summary screen, make a note of component urls and click finish to finalize the initial install and configuration process

    Review the information presented in the final summary screen, make a note of component urls and click finish to finalize the initial install and configuration process

Real Time Operational Business Intelligence with GoldenGate

Oracle Golden Gate ArchitectureOracle Corporation’ (ORCL) acquisition of Golden Gate Software on July of 2009 was a big step for Oracle in its quest to build a open and heterogeneous product line that will be more appealing to enterprise customers with complex OLTP and data warehouse environments. You can find a detailed presentation of the considerations that were taken into consideration regarding this acquisition here. In the data warehousing space this is a welcome addition to the earlier acquisition of Sunopsis (now Oracle Data Integrator) a Extract-Load-Transform alternative to traditional ETL tools such as Informatica and IBM Information Server (DataStage) that plays nice in heterogeneous database environments and is significantly easier to use, and more stable than the displaced Oracle Warehouse Builder (OWB). Key areas where Golden Gate can be of use in a heterogeneous database environment:

  • Simplifying disaster recovery by maintaining near-real time copies of transactional databases
  • Change Data Capture and extraction and staging for data warehouse environments
  • Real-Time operational business intelligence by means of a message queue and a Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) or Business Process Management (BPM) solution

 

Under the last scenario events can be fed into real time alerts or dashboard Key Performance Indicator’s in real time in addition to triggering additional events when the event is orchestrated via an enterprise bus. Here’s a link to a step by step installation and configuration demo at Oracle Technology Network (OTN). Stay tunned for additional product reviews and OBIEE tips and tricks that are coming soon and check my review of Oracle Data Integrator here..

Sunopsis seven years after it’s acquisition

Oracle Data Integrator (ODI) Logo

Oracle Data IntegratorOn October of 2006 Oracle acquired Sunopsis a sofware company whose flagship product was one of the up-and-coming players in the datata warehousing arena. Sunopsis for easy integration in environments with multiple database systems and differentiated itself by adopting an Extract-Load-Transform architecture that decreased the learning curve for database developers that were immediately able to create transformation using familiar SQL syntax. By utilizing the computing power in the target database Sunopsis’ ELT architecture potentially decreased the need for additional computing power in a dedicated ETL server. Fast forward five years and Sunopsis is now Oracle Data Integrator, it is a key component of the Fusion Middleware Data Integration product line and it’s looking good, a few features that large enterprise customers will find interesting are:

  • SOA enabled an can deploy and consume web services for data transformation and integration
  • Integrates well into your data cleansing (names, addresses) and Master Data Management framework
  • Out of the box CDC functionality with a Publish-and-Subscribe model implemented either via triggers or log mining (Oracle and DB2)
  • As previously stated, by utilizing the source and target database’s computing power ODI decreases it Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

It seems as if the merging of Oracle Warehouse Builder and Sunopsis’ functionalities has been beneficial to the end product and, in general, to the enterprise customer. Now it remains to be seen how aggressively Oracle”s sales force can take market share from ODI’s top competitors IBM Information Server and Informatica PowerCenter. Stay tunned for additional product reviews and, of course, OBIEE and Business Intelligence updates…