Sunday, January 31, 2016

Weekend Learning: Bill Presentment Architecture (BPA) setup

Do you use XML for your PDF generation?  Have you looked at "Bill Presentment Architecture Set Up And Usage" on My Oracle Support from document ID 786553.1?  You should!  Find out if you can upgrade your processes and environment!!

Friday, January 29, 2016

R12.1.3: Is there a problem with AME rules not being executed due to notification delegation?

In any busy environment you know that delegation is incredibly important to make sure workflows keep moving and business keeps happening, but is there a flaw with AME rules being fired when delegated?  My Oracle Support note "AME Rule Is Not Getting Executed With The Notification Being Delegated" from article ID 2015185.1 has all the details including a very good explanation for the answer!

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Linux VM: Server crash due to Fatal Machine kernel panic

As our systems become more and more complicated, and we look for more and more ways to consolidate and save money I am sure more technologists will need to learn about bugs associated with the Linux VM platform!  Tonight is one such lesson from MOS note "Server Crashed with Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal Machine check" via ID 2093734.1 as the vmcore output shows very clearly that the kernel did panic which resulted in the server crashing, but just as important as knowing that information is WHY Oracle indicates this happened!

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

R12.2.3 Payables: Maximum value size is violated for DFF

The issue described in MOS article "DFF Error - The Maximum Value Size For Segment Is X. Truncating Value To Xxx (R12.2)" from document ID 1960243.1 may be due to a direct upgrade from 11.5.10.2 right to 12.2.3 but I will bet it could also be seen if you upgrade from an earlier version of R12 as well!  Check out the associated bug and patch for all the details and update your testing suites accordingly!

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Solaris: ZFS root pools hang system when unavailable

While we are talking about ZFS and not ZFSSA "Systems with a ZFS Root Filesystem Running Certain Solaris 10 patches or Solaris 11 SRUs may Hang if the Disks of the Root Pool Become Temporarily Unavailable" is still a good document to read on My Oracle Support from article ID 2098232.1 so you can learn what symptoms are possible on Solaris just in case this happens to your system!

Monday, January 25, 2016

R12.1.3 Payables: APP-SQLAP-10264 error is thrown while new operating unit is setup In Financials During Setup Of New Operating Unit [2096022.1]

Article "R12 AP: Error APP-SQLAP-10264 In Financials Options During Setup Of New Operating Unit" on My Oracle Support via document ID 2096022.1 is a good one to read about why data validation is important and how automatic numbering can trip the system up.

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Weekend Learning: Whitepaper on Exadata monitoring with Enterprise Manager

Do not miss this whitepaper on Monitoring Exadata Storage Server Grids with Enterprise Manager from the Maximum Availability Architecture (MAA) team which has the entire step by step process and all the SQL you need to set up all of the conditions you need to alert on!

Saturday, January 23, 2016

Weekend Learning: Defining the TCP Socket (KGAS) wait event

I have talked about this wait event before as a potential warning sign of network issues, as well as an indicator when you have database traffic misbehaving, but what does Oracle say about the TCP Socket (KGAS) wait event?  I am SO glad you asked!  Wait no more, check out MOS article "What are 'TCP Socket (Kgas)' Waits?" from document ID 416451.1 for the official word on why this wait event is not a cause to open an SR with Support, and what issues it could be representing!

Friday, January 22, 2016

Oracle Forms: Frmall.jar and Frmwebutil.jar files are set to expire soon

So when I say soon, I mean the .jar files may have already expired in your system or will expire tomorrow.  Oops.  Find out more about this from My Oracle Support article "How to Extend Frmall.jar and Frmwebutil.jar Expiration Beyond 22, 23-Jan-2016" via note ID 2072400.1 to learn what can be done for 10gR2, 11gR1, and 11gR2!

Thursday, January 21, 2016

R12 Workflow: Automated replies give "Client was not authenticated" errors

On R12.1.3 and R12.1 "Automatic Reply To Unsolicited Mail shows erros 530 5.7.1 Client was not authenticated" from MOS document ID 1991613.1 indicates this can be resolved with a patch but it seems like the root cause is when the SMTP server gets changed!

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Transparent HugePages on several Linux kernels should be turned off

Even though the document "ALERT: Disable Transparent HugePages on SLES11, RHEL6, RHEL7, OL6, OL7 and UEK2 Kernels" in note ID 1557478.1 on MOS has been out there for years, it is still good information to have that the Transparent HugePages (not regular HugePages) feature is enabled by default AND that it can cause instability in RAC or non-RAC environments!  Since Oracle recommends turning this off in all your database machines, do you know if it is off in your systems?

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

11gR2: Performance with NVL or NVL2 is slow

My Oracle Support article ID 2093132.1 for the document "Slow Performance With NVL or NVL2 Referencing PL/SQL Function Even When Ignoring the Function's Result" directs us not to an issue but to a basic fundamental part of PL/SQL that is certainly worth checking out!  Without looking at the document, can you guess why this is happening?

Monday, January 18, 2016

R12 Payables: AP events unprocessed but new header is created

Is the most important lesson from the article "R12:AP/XLA: Event Left Unprocessed and Creates a New Header Each Time Invoice is Attemped for Accounting" on MOS via document ID 2097911.1 that a custom object is at fault here?  No!  The most important lesson is the referenced documents to learn something more that might be able to be applied later when you have a problem with the AP or XLA modules!

Sunday, January 17, 2016

Weekend Learning: MySQL binary logs and when they are purged

How much do you know about MySQL?  Could you learn more?  Check out My Oracle Support article "When Are Binary Logs Purged?" from document ID 1937267.1 that talks about when they are purged, and then click on the links below in the article to learn about what binary logs actually are!  Always be learning and adding to your toolbox!

Saturday, January 16, 2016

Weekend Learning: Creating statistics on global temporary tables

While the note "How to Create Statistics on Global Temporary Tables" on My Oracle Support from article ID 351190.1 is talking about post 9.2.0.6 Oracle databases, it also has specific information on how this is different for 12c and introduces the idea of dynamic sampling as well!  How does this apply to you?  Well, I have seen system generated global temporary tables perform badly where you really do not have any control over it, so this could possibly give you some kind of control!

Friday, January 15, 2016

R12.1 Oracle HR: Receiving FRM-40654 error when trying to modify name

You will not believe the root cause of the MOS article "FRM-40654: Record has been updated. Requery block to see change Error When Updating a Person's Name" from note ID 2096800.1 but it sure is a good reminder to add data checks like this to your testing suites!!

Thursday, January 14, 2016

R12.1.3 OAF: Menu disappears after login for Oracle EBS

The article on My Oracle Support "Main Menu Getting Disappeared In Oracle EBS After Login" via document ID 2078117.1 apparently has come up so many times that it is "Customer Recommended"!  If you are planning on going to R12.1.3 because you are not on it yet, make sure you check this out and verify what patches are applied so you can avoid this problem!

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

R12 Payables: Invoice numbers can be duplicated

Even though this main article is directed at R12.2, I know we have had this issue reported in our R12.1.3 instance AND the linked document in MOS article "R12:AP:Duplicate Invoice Numbers Got Created For Same Supplier and Site" from ID 2094877.1 is for all versions of R12 after R12.0.1 so consider yourself warned that a custom index needs to be created to prevent this from happening to you!

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

R12.1.3 Workflow: Hiding information within a workflow

Check out My Oracle Support note "Is it Possible to Hide Request Information Button In Email But Keep In Notifications Page?" in document ID 2086835.1 to learn how to hide objects within a workflow and from the notifications page too!!

Monday, January 11, 2016

R12.1.3 Purchasing: System checks that prevent PO from being merged

In R12.1.3 do you know "What checks are Done to a Prevent PO From Being Merged When Running Supplier Merge"?  Find out via My Oracle Support document ID 2095172.1 tonight so you can tell the business why the data might not be in the right conditions to let this happen!

Sunday, January 10, 2016

Weekend Learning: Calculating swap space on Linux

Want to learn something interesting this weekend?  Then check out the article "Swap Space on Oracle Linux Server and RedHat Enterprise Linux Server" on MOS from note ID 225451.1 because you never know when this tool in your toolbox will become handy!!

Saturday, January 9, 2016

Weekend Learning: Proactive Oracle Support Event Calendar

Make sure you take a look at My Oracle Support's "Get Proactive Dynamic Event Calendar" from note ID 125716.1 because there are some very good sessions on the upcoming calendar about Accreditation, Administration, Working Effectively, and Service Requests!

Friday, January 8, 2016

Windows: 12c forms instance does not exist after startup

Are you running 12c on Windows?  We don't really run on Windows, but MOS document "Forms 12c Instance (FORMS_INSTANCE) "forms1" and Forms Related Registry Variables Do not Exist after Starting Nodemanager and Adminserver" via note ID 2094031.1 taught me something new tonight about the folder structure and what the solution is for this problem so maybe someday I can use it!

Thursday, January 7, 2016

Oracle Linux: Getting alias to run within bash scripts

Were you aware that aliases do not get expanded when the shell is not interactive?  Learn how to get the alias command to run in bash via My Oracle Support note "Oracle Linux 5 & 6 - Why does "alias" not work with bash scripts?" from article ID 2092019.1 so this is in your toolbox just in case you run into this situation while scripting automated solutions!

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

R12 Purchasing: Approval of PO with AME ends in ORA-00060 error

If you are on R12.1.3 or R12.2 make sure that you bone up on MOS article "When approving a Purchase Order using AME, the Approval Workflow completes with ORA-00060 and "ECX_PROGRAM_EXIT_EMBD" errors" from note ID 1585839.1 as a certain Transmission Method can cause an ORA-00060 error to happen in the AME Workflow.

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

ZFS Storage Appliance may hit 100% CPU on Linux due to ungraceful shutdown

Do not miss out on My Oracle Support note "ZFS Storage Appliance (ZFSSA) Software 2013.*.*.* May Experience 100% CPU Utilization With Linux Clients Using kernel-uek-2.6.39-400.247.1 or Earlier" via document ID 2091319.1 if you are on either one of these versions of the application as NFSv4 protocol states are lost and error messages are reported until resolved!

Monday, January 4, 2016

Payables: Reversing swept transactions or sweeping future period transactions?

As I work on the Close for Receivables tonight, the document on MOS "How do you unsweep/reverse the sweep for transactions swept by the Unaccounted Transaction Sweep Program? How do you sweep transactions entered in a future period that was mistakenly opened to a previous period?" from article ID 2094016.1 seems especially penitent!  Check this out for the answers AND participate in the Payables Community by voting on the associated Enhancement Request!

Sunday, January 3, 2016

Exadata: Cellsrv process could crash on Storage Servers during cell-to-cell offload operations

If you are running Exadata platforms, do you know what version of software you have in your Storage Servers or what is running on your Grid Infrastructure?  Find out because the article "(DB35) Cellsrv process on storage servers may crash when performing a cell-to-cell offload operation" on My Oracle Support affects only certain combinations of software and note ID 2074393.1 details both of the patches that are needed to combat this situation!

Saturday, January 2, 2016

Weekend Learning: Backing up and recovering Hyperion Planning applications

Tonight we have our first Weekend Learning of the year, and it is a pretty good one if you have Hyperion Planning in your environment from My Oracle Support article "How to Backup And Recover a Hyperion Planning Application" via document ID 1195635.1 and while I will be glad I had this at hand I really hope I never need to use it.  :}

Friday, January 1, 2016

Happy 2016 Everybody!!

Happy New Year!!  Last year on this day I put up a set of resolutions that I think I did a good job of working and reaching towards most of them, but I haven't had a lot of time to think about what I want the resolutions for the blog this year to be yet!  Well, now that I have said it, now I need to do it!  Look for some resolutions later in the month after I spend some time reflecting, but from last year here is what I would consider my scorecard to be:
  • Return to my weekly Twitter column - F+ - I really have not realized the opportunity that Twitter provides, so I will be working towards that this year!
  • (Super secret project) - C- - I did some work towards this, but did not get it anywhere near completed.
  • Continue to create new presentation content - B - This one I worked on at the end of this year, but it was not what I expected to be working on, and it was submitted and accepted as an alternate!
  • Visit new conferences - A+ - Last year I was on my way to RMOUG, and this year I am on my way to COLLABORATE for the first time to present multiple presentations!!
  • Get published again - B- - This is something I need to work on more, but stay tuned for more information about this soon!
  • Start discussions about Support - F - I really did not do anything on this, and I will need to focus on it!
  • Keep working towards Oracle ACE - D+ - While I did not do anything directly on this, even though I had planned on it, I have some plans and checkboxes for this in the coming year!