Wednesday, November 27, 2013

The future of Oracle Enhancement Requests

Ever want to be on the cutting edge?  Have you thought about seeing inside Oracle's thought process about improving?  Well are you ever in luck today!

Read MOS note 1584210.1 titled "FAQ for the Enhancement Request Community", then come back here.  Back?  Good!  So what did you think?

I'm excited!  This is the future of how Oracle wants to work with their customer base to get Enhancement Requests in the queue, worked on, and ranked by the very customers they are serving.  How cool is that?!?  Also, this is going to be a template for how ERs will be worked for all the other streams so a. get in now, b. make the process better, and c. get ready to work like this for all of the other EBS modules (and maybe beyond).

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

R12: Bouncing Workflow agent process

I've regaled you with tales of our DBAs being proactive and our Workflow Mailer going down, so when we went to R12 they were put together to continue our story from yesterday as they developed a new alert to tell us when Workflow agent processes went down in order to allow us to provide better support for the users of our application.  Come to find out that during our first week of R12, the new alert is going off at odd and random times causing us and the DBAs to start researching what is going wrong.  Is it the alert?  Nope, we manually check and the Workflow Deferred Agent Listener service component is bouncing sporadically so the DBAs think we need to reference MOS Notes 958178.1 and 953103.1 but before we can run the associated SQL scripts to check what's going on the alert clears as the service component is now Running.  Odd to say the least.

The next time this starts bouncing, we get the chance to review the SQL scripts which tell us there are items in the WF_DEFERRED Advanced Queue but nothing which matches the problems described in the MOS notes so we keep digging.  Referring to MOS note ID 736898.1 it does indicate to use our current re-build notification queue script, but it has an additional step to re-create an index that currently does not exist in our environment.  We run the re-build notification queue script with no changes to the service component.  I keep digging through MOS, and I come across a really good document for Workflow issues (1191125.1) which directed me to the WF_ERROR table and that seems to be saying that the oracle.apps.ar.applications.CashApp.apply business event is causing this because the WF_ERROR table is filled with those entries.  This seems to match what the log file is saying:

oracle.apps.fnd.wf.bes.AgentListenerProcessor.listen()]:WF_EVENT.listen returned processed count: 500, error count: 0

oracle.apps.fnd.wf.bes.AgentListenerProcessor.listen()]:WF_EVENT.listen returned processed count: 223, error count: 10

oracle.apps.fnd.wf.bes.AgentListenerProcessor.read()]:10consecutive errors occurred

Looking in WF_ERROR I can eyeball the errors, and also with this script I was able to see what was being queued and then what errors are associated with that:

select * from wf_deferred a, wf_error b
where a.enq_tid = b.enq_tid
order by a.enq_tid

So what is happening is that the Workflow Deferred Agent Listener service component processes through hundreds of events and then all of a sudden there is a batch of records which has more than 10 errors and it begins the dance of restart death until it gets restarted successfully all by itself when the events get dequeued from WF_DEFERRED and WF_ERROR.

What did we do to address this?  First off, we increased the error count so the service component wouldn't stumble over just 10 errored items, no matter what business event they were from, and then we made sure to turn off the offending business event subscription.

Monday, November 25, 2013

R12: CashApp.apply and Workflow

With the Workflow system pre-R12, we assigned the owner of Workflow to be the SYSADMIN user and my boss entered his e-mail address in the FND_USER account for SYSADMIN so we could receive system e-mails and audit the account properly.  This had an unintended side effect after we went live with 12.1.3, as he promptly received thousands of error notifications for the Workflow event oracle.apps.ar.applications.CashApp.apply which was odd since nothing was wrong in the system since it had passed all of the verification steps in order to release the system.

Looking further into this issue, it appears that the event subscriptions for this were turned on for the Oracle Projects module even though we didn't install it!  You can reference MOS notes 973074.1 and 1313111.1 about how to turn off the subscription for PA_PWP_NOTIFICATION.Receive_BE and patch 8903995 if you really want to "fix" your system by installing the part of Oracle Projects that is looking for this subscription to be on.

Tonight I'm bringing you essentially part one of a series, as this was the start of a much larger issue for us.  I thought after a long absence, this was a good place to start back up with the blog.  :}

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Collaborate 14: A Bench Player (and encouraged)

Well it looks like I can't replicate sharing good news about being accepted to OAUG's Collaborate 14 this year.  At least, not yet that is.  You see, I had one presentation declined outright and the other was marked as alternative so it looks like I'm on the bench ready to get called up.  That really is good news as far as I'm concerned!  It means that my abstract was strong enough to be considered with the first round of presenters, but just didn't fit in this year.  So far.  That doesn't mean I won't suggest that you (or your company) join the OAUG or at least go to the Collaborate event as a non-member.  You really should join and go, because it is absolutely worth the investment in yourself, your employees, and your company.

Friday, November 15, 2013

Weekend Reading: Troubleshooting the Linux kernel with Tanel

In this post by Tanel Poder, he lays out very simply how one can use general commands to find out what is going on with a Linux process.  No stack dumps required, no exotic debuggers, or other tools required.  I read this months ago, and flagged it for use later because I'm looking forward to using it.  Yes, I want to have a problem in our environment so I can troubleshoot it with these techniques.  :}

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Thursday Twitter - 11/14/13

After yesterday's news, I'm revitalized a bit to share a BUNCH of new things with you but it's Thursday.  You know what that means right?  That's right kids, it's time to visit Twitter!!  All that energy means that I'm sharing almost TWICE as many items as I normally do!

https://twitter.com/footballears/status/397018319657914368 - Frits Hoogland shares the BEST tweet of the week.  The week isn't even over yet, but I'm not going to see anything better than this!

Announcements:

https://twitter.com/oracleblogs/status/401071204314120192 - Oracle announces the Big Data X4-2 Appliance!

https://twitter.com/methodr/status/400352523929677824 - Cary Millsap had released a new book!

https://twitter.com/oraclecloudzone/status/400298064470368256 - Oracle now has 17 Cloud data centers!

Training/Free Stuff:

https://twitter.com/oraclepress/status/399942337427939328 - Get Chapter 8 of the brand new Oracle Database 12c: Install, Configure & Maintain Like a Professional for free!
https://twitter.com/oracle_edu/status/399963239771279360 - Test your knowledge of GoldenGate!

https://twitter.com/csierra_usa/status/400237401269760000 - Carlos Sierra's scripts and presentations.

https://twitter.com/uwehesse/status/400556683526930432 - Uwe Hesse tells us that the Exadata documentation is generally available for our continued learning!

https://twitter.com/oraclepress/status/400708598608977920 - Another free chapter, this time about tuning for EBS R12.

https://twitter.com/stevefeuerstein/status/400973819302539264 - Steve Feuerstein has a session about the power of names in code.  Sounds interesting!

General News/Information:

https://twitter.com/fritshoogland/status/400906989091319808 - Have Oracle Diagnostic Pack installed?  Frits tells you something you need to know!

https://twitter.com/dbakevlar/status/400844582113787904 - Kellyn Pot'Vin shares 10 things Linux admins should know.

https://twitter.com/oraclehardware/status/400578813283016704 - Engineering as a Service?  Really?  News to me!

https://twitter.com/oraclemagazine/status/400372431912574977 - Great snippet about being proactive.

https://twitter.com/mariselsins/status/399932917888983040 - Maris Elsins introduces us to a command line interface for downloading MOS patches.


Conference News:

https://twitter.com/nocoug/status/401057044561539072 - NoCOUG fall conference details and did you know that first-time attendees are free?  https://twitter.com/nocoug/status/401057204175765504

https://twitter.com/collab_oaug/status/400996072845107201 - OAUG let's us know that Collaborate 14 speakers will be announced on the 19th or 20th.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Hotsos in March!

The Hotsos Symposium this year has been billed as having more than 30 speakers that are global experts in Oracle performance optimization and I can tell you that when I attended in 2012 it certainly lived up to that reputation!  Why am I telling you all this?

I've been accepted to present at this prestigious event!!  I'm so excited and just besides myself with joy!  I even have my own speaker page!!

I hope to see you there in March, or at least have you watch virtually, as the conference is very well priced (especially the already mentioned virtual option) and has some of the best speakers in the Oracle business.  I'm especially excited about the Training Day offered, this year with Tanel Poder!

Friday, November 8, 2013

Thursday Twitter (on Friday) - 11/08/13

Due to some very sketchy wireless on vacation (BlizzCon if you were wondering) I've missed a few days of posting but while I'm in line this morning I wanted to at least share out some of the tweets I've favorited this week!

https://twitter.com/tanelpoder/status/398563340324069376 - The first part of Tanel Poder's troubleshooting articles, focusing on beyond the wait events.

https://twitter.com/oracle_ebs/status/398547938030657536 - I didn't know anything about this new 12.2 feature Flexfield Value Set Security.

https://twitter.com/oracleblogs/status/398517262082379776 - Have Exadata, going to it, or interested in it?  E4 is the place for you!

https://twitter.com/markrittman/status/398373327049617408 - Google helps do SQL injection attacks!

https://twitter.com/oakies_blog/status/398298896126205952 - Oak Table shares a piece by Kyle Hailey on the price of data.

https://twitter.com/cwarticki/status/398200950911172608 - Oracle Support was well represented by Chris Warticki at the EastCoastOracle (ECO) conference.

https://twitter.com/oracle_edu/status/397436989450244096 - Think you know your stuff?  Try this sample exam question for Linux!

https://twitter.com/oratweets/status/397434769534746624 - Iggy Fernandez shares the NoCOUG journal for this month.

https://twitter.com/oracle/status/397422358324973568 - New release of 12c to support DBaaS!

https://twitter.com/thatjeffsmith/status/396628968176361472 - Some tips for your online blogging/tweeting success via THAT Jeff Smith.

Monday, November 4, 2013

Oracle Secure Global Desktop webinar

Off of the R12 path, and more on the webinar path, is a glimpse into a product called Secure Global Desktop (found via Twitter) from Oracle which seems to be a type of "cloud based" (my words, not theirs) desktop tool that lets you remotely (and securely duh) access your applications and desktop from anywhere.  This webinar is being held in just over 2 days away, so register now and let me know what you think about this product.  I think it looks interesting, especially with what looks like support for a lot of different operating systems!

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Thursday Twitter (on Saturday) - 11/2/13

Since I'm posting this a few days late, I'm going to give you a LOT of links (especially around free presentations and webinars):

https://twitter.com/yvelik/status/393640724014432256 - Yury gives us a list of Oracle Aces, and then:
https://twitter.com/oracleace/status/394931066865475584 - The Oracle Ace program announces their newest crop of inductees!  Jealous!

This is our presentation/webinar part of the post:

https://twitter.com/uwehesse/status/394437352053276673 - Uwe shares a presentation by Jonathan Lewis and Maria Colgan.
https://twitter.com/dbakevlar/status/395287653349740544 - Kellyn shares the RMOUG FB group for Training Days this year.
https://twitter.com/oaug1/status/395561917483593728 - OAUG members can get some webinars too!
https://twitter.com/enkitec/status/395272871057952768 - Kerry Osborne has a 12c webinar coming up!
https://twitter.com/oakies_blog/status/395580896671436800 - Karen Morton is hosting a webinar also on being an Oracle pro!  I signed up for this one a few minutes after it hit my inbox.  :}
https://twitter.com/otnarchbeat/status/395626178436153344 - ArchBeat shares with us some Oracle ADF development session info about another Virtual Developer Day.
https://twitter.com/oracle_edu/status/396369126354345984 - GoldenGate advanced webinar free from Oracle University.

https://twitter.com/tanelpoder/status/394939333351727104 - Tanel with another performance post, this time showcasing some latch troubleshooting.

https://twitter.com/carymillsap/status/395178513890037760 - Cary shares a mind blowing stat about Amazon code moves!

https://twitter.com/oracle_ebs/status/395574583421853696 - Gathering stats for EBS from the ATG group!  Gold star blog post if there ever was one!

Friday, November 1, 2013

State of the Union (or blog in this case)

Taking a moment to thank everybody following the blog, seeing my updates on LinkedIn, or following me on Twitter!  This month I didn't top last month's view count, but it's my second month in a row of having more than 1,000 hits and more than 44 hits per post during the month.  I've even passed the 5,500 hit mark AND I've posted more than 200 articles for the blog!

Last June I started the blog with no real goal in mind, but now I've started to hit a stride and it's really great to be part of the Oracle community.  Looking forward to hearing back from several conferences that I've submitted abstracts for so I can get out of my "shell" here and participate even more!