Oracle E-Business Suite

Release 11i & Release 12

Apps DBA 101




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Copyright 2012 by Red River Solutions
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Other trade and service marks are the property of their respective owners.

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PREFACE ............................................................................................ 7
CHAPTER 1 THE BASICS ................................................................. 11
CHAPTER 2 THE ARCHITECTURES ................................................... 13
EBS RELEASE 11I AND EBS RELEASE 12 MULTI-TIERED ARCHITECTURES ........ 13
PLANNED RELEASE 12.2 MULTI-TIERED ARCHITECTURE .............................. 14
What is WebLogic? ..................................................................... 15
WebLogic Benefits ...................................................................... 15
Do You Need to be a Guru to Support WebLogic?...................... 15
Online Patching Features ........................................................... 16
COMPARISON OF THE ARCHITECTURE TIERS FOR R11I, R12.0/R12.1 AND R12.2
........................................................................................................ 17
Desktop Tier ............................................................................... 17
Application (Middle) Tier ............................................................ 18
Oracle Process Management and Notification (OPMN)................... 19
Database Tier Oracle 10gR2 or Oracle 11gR2 ......................... 20
Oracle 10gR2 Improvements ........................................................... 20
Oracle 11gR2 Improvements ........................................................... 21
Multiple Oracle Homes ............................................................... 24
CHAPTER 3 LIFETIME SUPPORT ..................................................... 25
APPLICATIONS UNLIMITED ..................................................................... 25
FUSION MIDDLEWARE SUPPORT, INCLUDING DISCOVERER ........................... 30
ORACLE DATABASE SUPPORT ................................................................. 30
MANDATORY EXTENDED SUPPORT BASELINE PATCHING .............................. 30
So Whats the Risk? .................................................................... 32
Can I Pick and Choose Which Patches I Apply? .......................... 32
Why are There So Many Patches to Apply? Why is This So
Complicated?.............................................................................. 33
Can I Unlicense Modules? .......................................................... 34
CHAPTER 4 UPGRADING THE DATABASE ....................................... 35
WHY UPGRADE TO ORACLE 11GR2?....................................................... 35
SHOULD WE UPGRADE EVERYTHING AT ONCE? ......................................... 35
MUST WE UPGRADE? .......................................................................... 36
CHAPTER 5 UPGRADING THE APPLICATIONS ................................. 39
SHOULD WE UPGRADE TO RELEASE 12? .................................................. 39
MUST WE UPGRADE TO RELEASE 12.1? .................................................. 40

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UPGRADE PATHS ................................................................................. 40
SHOULD YOU WAIT FOR RELEASE 12.2? .................................................. 41
UPGRADE BY REQUEST .......................................................................... 41
CHAPTER 6 - RELEASE 12 ADMINISTRATION AND MAINTENANCE
TOOLS: OEM, OAM AND OCM ......................................................... 43
E-BUSINESS SUITE ADMINISTRATION AND MAINTENANCE TOOLS .................. 43
LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT ...................................................................... 44
WHAT IS ORACLE ENTERPRISE MANAGER (OEM)? .................................... 44
WHAT IS ORACLE APPLICATIONS MANAGER (OAM)?................................. 45
Applications Patching with OAM ............................................... 47
AutoConfig with OAM ................................................................ 48
iSetup with OAM ........................................................................ 49
License Manager with OAM ....................................................... 51
Oracle eBusiness Suite Diagnostics with OAM ........................... 51
Other OAM Tools ........................................................................ 54
WHAT IS ORACLE CONFIGURATION MANAGER (OCM)? ............................. 54
CHAPTER 7 - HOW DO OEM AND OAM AND THE E-BUSINESS SUITE
PLUG-IN WORK TOGETHER? ............................................................ 57
WHAT IS THE E-BUSINESS SUITE PLUG-IN? ............................................... 58
Discovery .................................................................................... 59
Monitoring ................................................................................. 60
Cloning ....................................................................................... 61
DEALING WITH CUSTOMIZATIONS, PATCHING AND SETUP ........................... 62
WHAT CAN YOU DO WITHOUT THE E-BUSINESS SUITE PLUG-IN? ................. 64
WHAT CANT YOU DO WITHOUT THE E-BUSINESS SUITE PLUG-IN? ............... 65
IS THE E-BUSINESS SUITE PLUG-IN WORTH THE EXTRA MONEY? .................. 66
CHAPTER 8 - TOOLS THAT ARE STILL RUN FROM THE COMMAND LINE
........................................................................................................ 69
Rapid Install Wizard ................................................................... 69
adadmin ..................................................................................... 69
Database and CPU/PSU Patching............................................... 70
CHAPTER 9 - APPLICATIONS PATCHING ............................................ 71
RELEASE 12 APPLICATIONS PATCHING CHANGES ........................................ 71
Codelines and Codelevels ........................................................... 71
TYPES OF APPLICATIONS PATCHES ........................................................... 72
Release Update Pack (RUP) ........................................................ 72
Critical Patch Update (CPU/PSUs) .............................................. 74
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Oracle Database Vault ............................................................... 76
Applications Technology Group (ATG) ....................................... 76
MORE APPLICATIONS PATCHES ............................................................... 79
AUTOPATCH (ADPATCH) ...................................................................... 80
APPLIED PATCHES AND PATCH WIZARD .................................................... 81
PATCH APPLICATION ASSISTANT (PAA) .................................................... 82
DATABASE AND CPU/PSU PATCHING ..................................................... 83
CHAPTER 10 - ORACLE INTEGRATION REPOSITORY (IREP) ................ 85
CHAPTER 11 HOW FUSION FITS IN ................................................ 87
TERMINOLOGY .................................................................................... 87
FUSION APPLICATION DESIGN PRINCIPLES ................................................. 88
FOCUS ON BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT AND IMPROVEMENT ............... 90
FUSION MIDDLEWARE IS THE ENABLER ................................................. 90
FUSION MIDDLEWARE AREAS ................................................................. 91
FUSION COMPONENTS TO KNOW ............................................................ 92
APPLICATIONS ROADMAP OVERVIEW ..................................................... 101
HOW THE FUSION APPLICATIONS FIT IN ................................................. 102
THE ROAD TO FUSION - ROADMAP CONCEPTS ......................................... 103
CONCLUSION ................................................................................. 105
LINKS AND MY ORACLE SUPPORT (MOS) NOTES AND DOCUMENTS ............ 107
ABOUT THE AUTHORS ......................................................................... 113


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Preface
This guide describes the new features, functionality and
utilities available to Applications DBAs with Release 12 of
the E-Business Suite of Applications. We will start by
comparing the Release 11i and Release 12 architectures to
lay the foundation for understanding the wide assortment of
tools available to manage and maintain the Release 12
environment (and most are available for use for Release 11i
environments as well).
The tools include Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM),
Oracle Applications Manager (OAM), Oracle
Configuration Manager (OCM), the E-Business Suite Plug-
in (aka Oracle EBS Application Management Suite 4.0),
Rapid Install Wizard, Rapid Clone, AutoConfig, Patch
Wizard with the Patch Information Bundle (PIB),
AutoPatch, OPatch and n-apply CPU/PSU patching, Oracle
E-Business Suite Diagnostics, and the Oracle Integration
Repository (iRep).
This guide also discusses the considerations for upgrading
your database to Version 11gR2, and the E-Business Suite
of Applications to Release 12, and includes a brief
discussion about Fusion Applications and where they
appear to be heading.

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For more details about E-Business Suite patching, check
out our latest book:



Available at:

http://www.redriversolutions.com




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Chapter 1 The Basics
Well start with a list of things you need to know about the
E-Business Suite of Applications:
Release 12 is also known as R12
Each new point release of R12 is packaged in a RUP
(Release Update Pack)
Current R12 RUPs are 12.0.1, 12.0.2, 12.0.3, 12.0.4,
12.0.5, 12.0.6, 12.1.1 (aka EBS 12.1 RUP 1), 12.1.2
(aka EBS 12.1 RUP 2), and 12.1.3 (aka EBS 12.1 RUP
3)
RUPs may include new applications, performance
improvements, security fixes and new or enhanced
functionality for existing modules
You should read the Release Content Documents
(RCDs) on My Oracle Support (MOS) to see what
changed between RUPs
Release 12 is constantly changing, and it is the
Applications DBAs job to be constantly vigilant,
watching MOS for changes
You should check MOS often, even if you think you
dont have any problems!
When you install Release 12, you install all modules,
whether you license specific modules or not (over 220+
modules)
Release 11i had 200,000 objects and Release 12 has
over 300,000 objects
You should expect your Release 12 disk space
requirements to go up by a minimum of 20% or more
over Release 11i because of new modules and
functionality (even if you dont plan to use those new
modules or additional functionality)

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Certain additional patches should be applied on a
regular schedule (e.g., Quarterly Critical Patch Updates
(CPU/PSUs) For simplicity use the PSU Method for
Database and Applications (starting with the January
2010 Quarterly CPU)
Quarterly Release 12 Upgrade Packs (RUPs) can
change, add and remove functionality along with
adding, upgrading or removing specific technology
components significant testing is required for every
RUP
The Applications Technology (ATG) Group or pseudo
product modules are an integrated set of modules used
by all of the other modules: FND, OAM, OWF, FWK,
JTT, JTA, TXK, XDO, ECX, EC, AK, ALR, UMX,
BNE, and FRM
Oracle now has minimum mandatory patching
requirements to ensure Extended Support for both
Release 11i and Release 12.0.x
Oracle announced modified support timelines for
Release 11i and Release 12 that allow customers more
time to prepare for Release 12 and more time on
Extended Support once they have upgraded to Release
12. See Steven Chans EBS 11i and 12.1 Support
Timeline Changes for more details.
The following chapters fill you in on all of the details for
the above basics.
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Chapter 2 The Architectures
EBS Release 11i and EBS Release 12 Multi-
Tiered Architectures
If you look at Figures 1 and 2, you can see that Release 12
has changed considerably from Release 11i, specifically
within the Technology Stack, or, more appropriately, the
Application Tier:

* JInitiator is no longer supported for the Desktop.
** Oracle 9i comes as part of the install, Oracle 10.2.0.5 and Oracle 11.2.0.3
are the latest certified database versions.
Figure 1 Current Release 11i Architecture Components

* RDBMS Versions 10.2.0.5 and 11.2.0.3 are the latest certified database
versions.
Figure 2 Current Release 12 Architecture Components

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Planned Release 12.2 Multi-Tiered
Architecture
Release 12.2 will include significant changes. Release 12.2
will replace several of the Application Server technology
components with WebLogic components. On the
Application Tier, Oracle plans to replace the OracleAS
10.1.3 ORACLE_HOME with Fusion Middleware 11g.
Fusion Middleware 11g will include Oracle HTTP Server
(OHS) and WebLogic Server (WLS).
The Database Tier will also change, because it will need to
use RDBMS Version 11.2.0.2 or higher to enable Edition
Based Redefinition for hot patching, also called online
patching. Online Patching will allow users to continue to
use the E- Business Suite while a DBA applies patches.
This will reduce downtime to minutes instead of hours or
days, and will make the downtime windows very
predictable. Patches will be applied while the Production
environment remains online.
Patching will change significantly thanks to an RDBMS
Version 11gR2 database feature called Edition Based
Redefinition, and cloning will change by necessity because
the cloning scripts will need to be rewritten to support
WebLogic instead of OracleAS 10.1.3.

* RDBMS Version 11.2.0.3 will be included for Release 12.2
Figure 3 Future Release 12.2 Architecture Components
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See Minimizing Oracle E-Business Suite Maintenance
Downtimes, Santiago Bastidas, Principal Product Manager,
Elke Phelps, Sr. Principal Product Manager, Oracle
Corporation for more details about Release 12.2.
What is WebLogic?
WebLogic is a tool acquired by Oracle when they
purchased BEA in 1998. The E-Business Suite Release
12.2 will replace the 10.1.3 Oracle Home with the Oracle
HTTP Server (OHS) and WebLogic Server (WLS). OC4J
will be replaced by WebLogic. The Application
Technology Stacks 10.1.2 Oracle Home will stay the
same. This will be a major technology change and learning
challenge for Applications DBAs even those with years
of experience managing and maintaining the E-Business
Suite.
WebLogic Benefits
End users will experience always on applications and
services. WebLogic includes comprehensive, low-overhead
application monitoring and deep diagnostics. WebLogic
will integrate with Oracle RAC to provide the highest
levels of application availability. WebLogic will enable
rapid development of applications without lost time due to
system restarts. Comprehensive tooling will simplify
customization development and speed new application
delivery.
Do You Need to be a Guru to Support WebLogic?
Youll follow the My Oracle Support upgrade
documentation (when it is released) to upgrade to Release
12.2, and that will install WebLogic. You may want to take
training to learn how to configure WebLogic to take
advantage of more advanced features you may need a
WebLogic Administrator on your staff. Fortunately, there

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are experts in the field WebLogic is widely used in the
industry.
Online Patching Features
Online Patching will allow users to continue to use the E-
Business Suite while a DBA applies patches. This will
reduce downtime to minutes instead of hours or days, and
will make the downtime windows very predictable. Patches
will be applied while the Production environment remains
online. Online Patching will allow an application to
efficiently store multiple editions of its Application
Definition in the same database. This will provide an
isolation mechanism (The Edition) that allows pre-upgrade
and post-upgrade schemas to co-exist. The client code will
choose the particular Edition that it wants to connect to.
To use online patching, users will continue to use the
Applications while the Applications DBA creates a Patch
Edition, patches it, and synchronizes any changes between
the Run Edition and the Patch Edition. When patching is
done, the Apps DBA will set the Patch Edition as the new
Run Edition and restart the application servers so users
point to it.
For more details, see Technical Preview of EBS 12.2
Online Patching: Kevin Hudson, Senior Director and one
of the Online Patching architects, discusses one of the
cornerstone new features in our upcoming Oracle E-
Business Suite 12.2 release. This ground-breaking feature
is based upon Edition-Based Redefinition, a new 11gR2
Database feature that was built to Oracle Applications
division specifications to allow the E-Business Suite's
database tier to be patched while the environment is
running. Online Patching combines the use of Edition-
Based Redefinition and new E-Business Suite technologies
to allow patching to the E-Business Suite's database and
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application tier servers while the environment is being
actively used by its end-users. (June 2012)
Comparison of the Architecture Tiers for R11i,
R12.0/R12.1 and R12.2
Desktop Tier
On the desktop tier, Release 11i uses a browser and either
JInitiator or the Sun J2SE Plug-In for the user interface,
while Release 12 requires Suns J2SE Plug-in. There are
two types of forms that can be accessed when running the
Applications. The first is an HTML-based form that looks
just like a web page. The second is an Oracle Professional
form, and it is accessed using a java applet. Called the Java
desktop client, the JInitiator or the Sun J2SE Browser Plug-
in are automatically downloaded to a users PC the first
time they log into an Oracle Professional form within the
Applications.
As Release 11i users prepare for Release 12, there are a
number of reasons to get the migration to Sun J2SE Plug-in
out of the way early in the upgrade process. First, there are
the usual desupport issues: both JInitiator 1.1.8 and
JInitiator 1.3 for Release 11i are no longer supported. Most
importantly, JInitiator is a modified version of Suns
original java product and has been desupported by Oracle
for quite some time. The Sun J2SE includes all the features
that Oracle enhanced for the JInitiator to support Oracle
Forms. Be aware that J2SE is software and, therefore can
have bugs that affect its functionality monitor Steven
Chans blog frequently for the most up to date information
at:
http://blogs.oracle.com/stevenChan/




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If your company is still using JInitiator, it is time to
upgrade to the Sun J2SE Browser Plug-in.
Application (Middle) Tier
The Application Tier hosts the many different services that
process the business logic and manage communication
between the Desktop Tier and the Database Tier. For
Release 11i, the Application Tier contains the Web
Services, the Forms Server, the Report Server, the
Concurrent Processing Server and an Admin Server.
Release 11i runs iAS 1.0.2.2.2 (Apache and JServ) for its
web services, and the 8.0.6.3 ORACLE_HOME handles
the admin, concurrent processing, reporting and forms
services. The Release 11i JServ component is a simple Java
applications server that supports Java Server Pages (JSP)
and Servlets and little else.
For Release 12.0 and Release 12.1, the Application Tier
contains the Web Services, the Forms Server, the
Concurrent Processing Server and an Admin Server.
Components of the Web Services, which runs the 10.1.3
ORACLE_HOME, include the Web Listener, OC4J and the
Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server (OPMN).
Please note that starting with Release 12.1.2, all Oracle-
seeded reports utilize the XML (BI) publisher.
Release 12.0 and Release 12.1 now use 10gAS Version
10.1.2 for Forms, which replaces Release 11is Version
8.0.6 ORACLE_HOME. Release 12.0 and Release 12.1 use
10gAS Version 10.1.3 for the Web Server with Oracle
Containers for Java (OC4J), which is the equivalent to
Release 11is Version 8.1.7 ORACLE_HOME.
Release 12.2 will use Fusion Middleware 11g, which
includes the Oracle HTTP Server (OHS) and WebLogic
Server (WLS) in place of the OracleAS 10.1.3
ORACLE_HOME.
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10gAS can run multiple containers of OC4J, not for
scalability (which was why you could configure multiple
JServ instances), but for division of processing. Each
instance of OC4J is used as a compartment to contain one
portion of the OAS 10g functionality. This allows the
individual instances to be tuned for their actual workload,
and helps to prevent them from competing for resources.
10gAS also supports Oracle Identity Management, running
Oracle Internet Directory (OID) Versions 10.1.4 and 11g
(11.1.1.5.0) for security. With OID, it will be easier to
integrate into corporate security infrastructure for
companies that use LDAP directories. Oracle is now
recommending the Oracle Access Manager (OAM) for
Single Sign-on.
A key difference between the Release 11i and Release
12.0/Release 12.1/Release 12.2 Application Tiers is that
10gAS positions us to take advantage of new Fusion
Middleware features, which in turn prepares us for the next
Release after Release 12 the Fusion Applications.
Oracle Process Management and Notification (OPMN)
Oracle Process Management and Notification (OPMN) is
automatically installed and configured with every Oracle
Application Server. This tool is essential for running the
Oracle Application Server by providing an integrated way
to manage all Oracle Application Server components,
including Discoverer and OC4J.
OPMN checks to see if a service has terminated and tries to
restart the service automatically (this is called death
detection). OPMN creates a file for each managed process
and can rotate log files.
You can customize process management by using Dynamic
Resource Management (DRM). For example, you could
modify OPMN to spawn an additional OC4J process if

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average response time exceeds a threshold and if there are
less than four processes already running. Or you could start
an additional OC4J process to run every day at 5pm during
peak hours.
The Resource Management Directive (RMD) tells DRM
when and what to do. Directives are configured in the
opmn.xml file. You can see examples of code to do these
types of customizations in section 3 of the manual Oracle
Process Manager and Notification Server Administrators
Guide 10g Release 3 (10.1.3.).
Note: If you encounter issues with the Oracle Application
Server 10.1.3, check out MOS Doc. ID: 454178.1, Oracle
Application Server Diagnostic Tools and Log Files in
Applications Release 12. This document covers common
problem scenarios and Oracle Application Server
Diagnostic tools for OPMN, Java Object Cache, Forms
Servlet and Class Loads and includes where to find log files
for OPMN, the HTTP Server, and J2EE Application
Modules. Another MOS Note, Doc. ID: 373548.1, Using
Forms Trace in Oracle Applications Release 12, describes
debugging tools available for Forms.
Database Tier Oracle 10gR2 or Oracle 11gR2
The Database Tier for Release 11i runs Oracle 9iR2, but
can be upgraded to Oracle 10gR2 (which moved to
Extended Support on July 31, 2010) or 11gR2. Release
12.0 and Release 12.1 are certified to run Oracle 10gR2 (in
Extended Support) or 11gR1 or 11gR2 (preferred). Release
12.2 will require RDBMS 11gR2 to support Online
Patching.
Oracle 10gR2 Improvements
Oracle 10g offers a number of improvements over Oracle
9i, including improvements in performance - PL/SQL runs
two times faster; manageability, including tools like the
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Automatic Workload Repository (AWR) and Automatic
SGA Tuning; and optimizer improvements. The latest (and
terminal release) version of Oracle 10g, Version 10.2.0.5, is
certified with Release 11.5.10.2 and 12.0.X, with later
releases (12.1.X) not certified as Oracle 10gR2 moved to
Extended Support at the end of July 2010.
Oracle 11gR2 Improvements
Oracles Database Version 11gR2 offers a number of
exciting new features that specifically benefit the current E-
Business Suite Releases (11i and 12), including Database
Replay, SQL Performance Analyzer, Data Pump
improvements, Advanced Compression, and Active Data
Guard.
Database Replay and SQL Performance Analyzer are
two tools in Oracles Real Application Testing database
pack:
Database Replay Allows you to record all
database operations and then replay them, so that
you can more effectively test the effects of a change
to your database environment. See
http://www.oracle.com/technology/pub/articles/orac
le-database-11g-top-features/11g-replay.html for
more details.
SQL Performance Analyzer Allows you to
capture specific SQL statements and replay them,
which can help with performance tuning.

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Figure 4 Upgrading to 11g Best Practices by Ashish Agrawal,
Oracle Corporation
SQL Plan Management - You can use SQL Plan
Management to control resource consumption more
effectively than the way we used to do this, with hints,
stored outlines, or initialization parameters. With SQL
Plan Management, you can create a SQL Baseline of
trusted execution plans and then force the optimizer to
use those trusted plans or take recommendations
provided by the SQL Plan Management feature.
Data Pump Improvements Oracle has improved the
performance of Data Pump Export and Data Pump
Import, particularly compared to the Export and Import
utilities. Data Pump uses multiple worker processes and
parallelism to use all available resources and maximize
throughput. See Oracle Database Utilities 11g Release
2 (11.2), Part Number E10701-02 for more details.
Advanced Compression Delivers compression rates
of two to four times across all types of data and
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applications. Advanced Compression improves query
performance by reading fewer blocks from disk.
Savings include the database space itself, as well as
improved database and network performance and
backup times. If youre curious to see how much of a
space savings you might see, check out the Oracle
Compression Advisor.
You can run this tool against Oracle 9i to 11g databases
to determine the potential impact of advanced
compression on your specific data.
Active Data Guard Use Active Data Guard to
offload resource intensive activities from a production
database to a synchronized standby database. Active
Data Guard also enables fast incremental backups, high
availability and disaster recovery. For those customers
who have considered Active Data Guard to create a
mirror of an E-Business Suite database for hardware or
software failure, it would be really valuable to be able
to use that database for reporting.

For Active Data Guard to work for querying, you would
have to break the mirror. However, Oracle has
completed a series of enhancements to ADG that allows
you to run reads against the real-time copy of the
database. This functionality requires either RDBMS
Version 11.1.0.7 or 11gR2 with the Active Data Guard
database option, and EBS Release 12.1.3. The one catch
is that not all E-Business Suite reports will work in this
environment; EBS reports that perform writes against
the database are not supported. For more details, see
Steven Chans Offloading (Some) EBS 12 Reporting to
Active Data Guard Instances.

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Multiple Oracle Homes
These changes in software do not decrease the number of
ORACLE_HOMES that you will support with Release 12
youll have at least three ORACLE_HOMEs: 10gAS
ORACLE_HOME (10.1.3) on the Application Tier, a
10.1.2 ORACLE_HOME on the Application tier, and a
10.2.0.2 or 10.2.0.3 ORACLE_HOME on the database tier.
There is now also an Instance specific tier for the
database that is using the software. The Instance Top is
designated as $INST_TOP and includes the database SID.
Supporting and maintaining multiple ORACLE_HOMES is
here to stay. In fact, if you use Discoverer, youll have a
fourth ORACLE_HOME. Oracle has also renamed the
Server Partitioned or Split Configuration terminology that
we used to describe for the 8.0.6/8.1.7 relationship. Now it
is correct to state that you are running a Mixed Platform
Architecture.
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Chapter 3 Lifetime Support
Youll notice that this guide does not talk much about
Release 12 functionality. For an Applications DBA, if your
end user community decides they need to upgrade because
of functionality that is included in a higher release, then
your decision about whether to upgrade or not is made for
you. The area where you may need to influence your
companys decision making comes down to Oracles
support strategy for the database, technology and E-
Business Suite, called Applications Unlimited, and how
much support your company needs or is willing to pay.
Applications Unlimited
Oracle offers three types of support, Premier, Extended and
Sustaining:
Premier Support includes certification with new third
party products/versions and Oracle products.
Extended Support provides certification with most
existing products instead of new third party products /
versions and Oracle products. Extended Support may not
include certification with some new third-party
products/versions. If youre still running Oracle 9i and have
purchased extended support from Oracle, then if you find a
new problem with an existing certified configuration,
Oracle will help you resolve the problem. Just keep in mind
that Extended Support for Oracle 9i ended in July 2010,
and Oracle RDBMS 10gR2 moved to Extended Support on
August 1, 2010.
Extended Support only lasts for three years, so after that if
you do not upgrade, you move to Sustaining Support.

Sustaining Support does not include new updates, fixes,
security alerts, data fixes and Critical Patch Updates
(CPU/PSUs); new tax, legal and regulatory updates; new

26
upgrade scripts; certification with new third-party
products/versions; or certification with new Oracle
products. If you have a question and theres already an
answer on MOS, Oracle Support will point you to it. If
youre still running Release 11.0.3, youre on Sustaining
Support (which ended in January 2009).
NEW! Extended Sustaining Support (ESS) for Release
11.5.10.2 was announced at Oracle OpenWorld (OOW)
2012. ESS is an exception to Oracles support policies
covering the first 13 months of Sustaining Support on
Oracle EBS Release 11.5.10 from December 1, 2012 to
December 31, 2014.
For more details, see Steven Chans EBS 11i and 12.1
Support Timeline Changes. ESS includes three
components:
1. New fixes for Severity 1 production issues
2. United States Form 1099 2013 year-end updates
3. Payroll regulatory updates for the United States,
Canada, United Kingdom, and Australia for fiscal
years ending in 2014
Note, however, an important caveat to receive Severity 1
support, you must be on the Release 11i Extended Support
Minimum Baseline, covered in MOS Doc. ID: 883202.1,
Patch Requirements for Extended Support of Oracle E-
Business Suite Release 11.5.10. If you are not on the
minimum baseline, patching current is a significant effort
that requires careful planning and testing.
You might wonder why support levels are important to you,
the DBA. The answer is that if your company hits a
technical or functional show-stopping issue and you do not
have Premier Support or Extended Support or Extended
Sustaining Support from Oracle in resolving it (Oracle
cannot reproduce the same error in their support
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environments), you might find yourself having to patch or
perform an upgrade in a big hurry and, since patches and
upgrades require so much testing, this is certainly not a
good position for any customer to find themselves.
The following chart shows the current plans for support. If
you are still running on Release 11.0.3, the fact that even
Sustaining Support has an end date January 2009
should be particularly important/alarming to you. If you are
running releases prior to Release 11.5.10.2, you should be
concerned that Oracle does not offer Extended Support.
From our perspective, the biggest issue with staying on
these earlier releases is that without Premium Support, you
may not be able to stay current on the security patches
provided by the Quarterly Critical Patch Updates
(CPU/PSUs). But theres another issue well talk later in
the guide about upgrade paths the further behind you are,
the more complicated your upgrade path will be.

Figure 5 Oracle E-Business Suite Support Note that Release
11.5.10 now includes Extended Sustaining Support to help ease
the transition to Release 12, and Release 12.1 Extended Support
has been pushed out to December, 2018.

28
The following chart is from Oracle Lifetime Support Policy
for Oracle Software. It shows features that are included in
each support level:

Figure 6 - Key Features Provided With Support Levels
Premier Support for Oracle E-Business Release 11.5.10.2
ended November 30, 2010. Some (most?) of us still on
Release 11.5.10.2 have moved into the Extended Support
window starting December 1, 2010 and can stay on
Extended Support for three years (2011, 2012 and
2013) assuming that we apply the minimum technology and
application patches (also referred to as the MANDATORY
minimum patch baseline) as required by Oracle support
(MOS Notes: 883202.1 and 1116887.1). With the recent
addition of Extended Sustaining Support for Release
11.5.10.2, we have a little more time to do the Release 12
upgrade, but still need to be running The Mandatory
baseline patches to receive Severity 1 support.

29
There are a significant number of patches to be applied
especially if you have not maintained your patch levels.
For HRMS customers, there are three additional MOS
documents that youll want to closely review:
R11.5.10.2 MOS Doc. ID: 111499.1, Oracle 11i Human
Resources (HRMS) US and Canadian Payroll Mandatory
Patch List,
R12.0.x MOS Doc. ID: 386434.1, Oracle EBS US and
Canadian Payroll - 12.0.x Mandatory Patches
R12.1.x MOS Doc. ID: 858794.1, Oracle EBS US and
Canadian Payroll - 12.1.x Mandatory Patches.
You should track MOS Doc. ID: 883202.1 carefully
because Oracle does update it.
The Extended Support window fee waiver for Oracles E-
Business Suite Release 11.5.10.2 and Oracle RDBMS
Version 10gR2 was announced two years ago by Oracle at
the Oracle Applications User Group (OAUG) Collaborate
conference for the first year of Extended Support only for
Release 11.5.10.2 AND RDBMS Version 10gR2. Now that
Oracle has extended the fee waiver again, customers can
avoid additional fees for Release 11.5.10.2.
If you stay on Release 11.5.10.2 after Extended Support
ends on November 30, 2013 and move to Extended
Sustaining Support (ESS), there are no additional fees for
Sustaining Support but you then have a significant support
and maintenance risk that you have to accept. While
Extended Sustaining Support us a much-needed lifeline,
customers should begin planning their upgrades to R12.1.3
immediately. This applies to the 10gR2 database support as
well; customers should be planning their upgrade to
RDBMS 11gR2 now.

30
Fusion Middleware Support, Including
Discoverer
If you use Discoverer, another area that you should track
for your environment is the Oracle BI Discoverer Support
Policies. Discoverer Support is covered under Oracles
Fusion Middleware Policy.
According to the Oracle Fusion Middleware document of
the Oracle Lifetime Support Policy, Oracle will not provide
Extended Support for Oracle 10g, and Premium Support
ended in December 2011. Discoverer users should consider
upgrading to Discoverer 11g as soon as feasible.
Premier Support for Discoverer 10g ended on
November 30, 2011. There will be no Extended
Support. Upgrade to Discoverer 11g or continue with
Sustaining Support.
Oracle Database Support
Premier Support for the 10gR2 database ended on July 31,
2010. We have moved into the Extended Support window
which started August 1, 2010 and we can stay on Extended
Support for three years (2011, 2012 and 2013). However, a
fair number of customers will, have moved back to the
Premier Support window for the 11gR2 RDBMS until
January 31, 2015 (The 11gR1 Premier Support window
ended on August 31, 2012).
To continue with Oracle 10gR2, you must patch to
Version 10.2.0.5, the terminal release for Oracle 10gR2.
Mandatory Extended Support Baseline
Patching
There was a time, not so long ago, when customers could
hold off patching their E-Business Suite environments for
31
as long as they wanted. Those times are gone, not just for
Release 11i customers, but also for Release 12 customers.
You might think this is an unreasonable requirement by
Oracle, but if youve ever looked under the hood at your
Oracle environment, then you know how complicated the
environment has become. Patching one module can affect
several others. The software footprint is so large that no
DBA can reasonably expect to make rational decisions
about which patches really are necessary without spending
countless hours investigating how those patches work with
the existing codeset.
Going forward, these are the rules of patching Oracles E-
Business Suite software:
For Release 11i, customers should reference MOS Doc. ID:
883202.1. This document tells us:
To be eligible for Extended Support of 11.5.10, the
customer's system must be patched to the patch
levels indicated in the table under Section 1 below,
requirements 1 through 6. Additionally, it is
important to note that the patch
requirements indicated at a product level in
Section 2 of this note must also be met.
For Release 12, see Steven Chans excellent blog entry
Heads-Up: Preparing for E-Business Suite 12.0 Extended
Support, which states that Release 12.0 will transition from
Premier to Extended Support in February, 2012. Release 12
customers are cautioned to apply at least the 12.0.6 Release
Update Pack (Note ID 743368.1) and the Financials CPC
July 2009 (Note ID 557869.1) by that date. The most likely
upgrade path is to upgrade to the latest version of Release
12, currently Release 12.1.3. This too requires a substantial
effort in planning and testing.

32
These mandatory upgrades for both Release 11i and
Release 12.0.X customers mean that we must now plan
upgrades in shorter timeframes than was possible in the
past.
So Whats the Risk?
Well, if you dont have any issues, then youre fine. But
what if youre in the middle of year end close and you run
into a problem that requires a substantial patch? Say, a
Family Pack upgrade? Or, worse, how about if you find out
you need to upgrade to RUP 7 to solve your problem?
Thats the risk that the business has accepted because of
the decision you made not to apply the minimum patches.
Realistically, we have to tell you about one more risk. Have
you ever applied a patch and had it create problems, rather
than fix them all? Your users will have to test your patched
environment as thoroughly as they would an upgrade, and it
is possible that theyll find new bugs when they do so.
Can I Pick and Choose Which Patches I Apply?
Can you? Well of course you can! Should you? Well, thats
another question entirely. Everything with choosing to
selectively patch comes down to risk and your ability to
move quickly if you hit an issue. Oracle does offer one
out in MOS Doc. ID: 883202.1:
Extended Support is available on a product family
by product family basis. What this means is, a
Customer can choose to patch one Applications
Product Family area, but not another. This allows
a Customer to leave areas of code that might be
extensively customized at their current levels, but
gives that same Customer the option to receive
Extended Support on other modules that are
eligible.
33
Why are There So Many Patches to Apply? Why is
This So Complicated?
Here are some more rules: You must apply patches for all
Installed, Shared and Pseudo modules. If you run
patchsets.sh, you can see the list of products at the top that
Oracle thinks you have licensed. In all likelihood, if youve
been running the E-Business Suite for several years, then
the list has more products that your company is actually
using.
To understand why there are so many patches, particularly
in Section 2 of MOS Doc. ID: 883202.1, lets start with a
short history lesson about the origins of the Oracle
Applications. In the early days of the Oracle Applications,
customers only installed the modules they used. As more
modules were released, supporting unique configurations
where every customer could have a different set of software
installed became too cumbersome for Oracle. There were
places where data needed to be shared, and it didnt make
sense to have the same tables associated with each module,
so Oracle introduced Shared Modules. Shared Modules
may have data, like customer information, that many other
modules need to access. This issue is not unique to Oracle
any vendor who offers a suite of functionality will have to
deal with this problem.
Nowadays, customers install every module, whether used
or not. You install everything, but you license only the
modules that you have purchased from Oracle.
Unfortunately, in the early days of the Oracle Applications,
the License Manager often had groupings of modules, in
addition to individual modules that could be selected. The
groupings were likely bundles that reflected some aspect of
Oracles sales process. The License Manager interface was
confusing, and it was very easy for a customer to
inadvertently over-install modules. And, at the time, there

34
werent that many modules, so over-installing didnt seem
like a big deal.
Years later, many of Oracles customers have a long list of
over-installed modules. And since the database sees them
as Installed, Shared or Pseudo modules, those modules
have to be patched. You might ask, Can I just patch the
ones we use? Thats where risk is introduced how can
you tell for sure that there isnt some code or data that is
part of what you consider an over-installed module that is
necessary for you to run the Applications? It would be nice
if Oracle could help you out here, and weve noticed that
users are logging SRs asking if they need to patch specific
modules. It cant hurt to ask, but if you have dozens of
modules, it may take Oracle a while to come up with an
answer, and you may not be satisfied with what they tell
you. The standard response is, if you installed it, you must
patch it.
You might wonder just how many patches were talking
about here. Weve actually gone through the exercise for
Release 11i for the worst case scenario, where you patch
every module listed in MOS Doc. ID: 883202.1 for a
Release 11i Vision instance, and we came up with more
than 400 patches, though that included pre-requisite and
post patches. Most customers have dozens of patches to
apply, rather than hundreds, but the research (yes, youll
have to read every Readme as you search for pre-requisites
and post patches and superseded patches) is tedious and
time consuming.
Can I Unlicense Modules?
Oracle does not provide that functionality. And, in terms of
risk, youd be taking on quite a big risk. What if youre
wrong? What if theres something in a module that really is
used by your other modules?
35
Chapter 4 Upgrading the Database
Why Upgrade to Oracle 11gR2?
In addition to the new features available with 11gR2, one
of the most compelling reasons for upgrading to Oracle
11gR2 is that it is in Premier Support until January 2015,
while Extended Support for Oracle 9i ended in July 2010,
and Oracle Premium Support for Oracle 10gR2 ended in
July 2010. Additional good news is that Oracle 11gR2
appears very stable.
Should We Upgrade Everything at Once?
You could argue that upgrading everything at once your
database as well as your Applications - comes down to two
issues: timing and risk. You absolutely can upgrade the
database and applications at the same time. The only way
youll know if you can do so within your companys
downtime window is to try it out. The biggest issue, once
youve ensured that you can complete all the tasks within
that timeframe, is the potential underlying risk that
something may go wrong and you may not be able to
isolate if the issue is a database upgrade or an applications
upgrade issue.
An argument in favor of splitting up your upgrade and
completing the database upgrade first is that it will allow
your technical staff to work with the new database version
and try out some of the new features that weve described,
separately from the applications upgrade. This is the time
for your DBAs to take 11gR2 training, to experiment with
test instances, and to consider modifications to your current
database environment perhaps fine tuning backups, for
example, and practicing cloning and recovery. DBAs might
find that by implementing Advanced Compression and
Active Data Guard in advance of the applications upgrade,
and using Data Pump as part of the applications upgrade for

36
data that needs to be migrated separately, the upgrade
performance time could be improved and the downtime
window reduced.
If you add the performance improvements that Oracles
new tools provide to their recommendation to preserve as
much information about performance as you can before the
upgrade, you may be able to avoid an issue that Oracle says
affects many customers after the upgrade: 90% of highly
visible problems attributed to an upgrade do not occur
while upgrading but appear as unanticipated performance
degradations days or weeks after the upgrade (Upgrading
to 11g Best Practices, by Ashish Agrawal, Oracle
Corporation).
If your DBA gathered information about current
performance, they could then use Database Replay and
SQL Performance Analyzer to quickly respond to those
unanticipated performance issues that appear after the
upgrade.
Note, however, that if you separate the database upgrade
from the applications upgrade, your users will have to test
both upgrades. With a single database/applications upgrade,
the business users test only once. Testing for the database
upgrade, though, is considerably different for users than
testing for the applications upgrade. For the database
upgrade, rather than worrying about functionality issues
within the applications, users will focus primarily on
performance issues. And wouldnt it be nice to get some of
those issues out of the way ahead of time?
Must We Upgrade?
The Database Tier for Oracle E-Business Applications
Release 11i installs Oracle Database Version 9iR2, but
should be upgraded to Oracle Database Version 10gR2 or,
preferably, 11gR2. Oracle E-Business Applications Release
12 is certified to run Oracle Database Version 10gR2,
37
11gR1 and 11gR2. All of these database versions are
stable, so in theory, if you arent experiencing technical
problems, you dont have to upgrade. However, you must
keep in mind that your database represents the inner
workings of your company. Eventually, Oracle must move
their attention and support to newer releases of the
database, so eventually Oracle stops supporting earlier
releases. Oracles support plans are detailed in their
Lifetime Support Policy at:
http://www.oracle.com/us/support/library/lifetime-support-
technology-069183.pdf
Knowing what is included with Oracles Extended Support
and Sustaining Support, and at what price, is important for
customers to understand. With Extended Support, you can
still log a P1 problem - but there's no guarantee that the
resolution will come quickly - it might take months. Even
within Premier Support, Oracle supports only the current
and previous database releases for 12 months after the
current database has been released. That's a subtle point
that could cause big issues for customers - if you are
running Oracle Database Version 10.2.0.5, you were
supported with Premier Support until July 2010 now that
database Version 11gR2 is generally available. If you are
running Oracle Database Version 10.2.0.3, thinking you are
supported based on what you read on the support page, you
aren't - that support stopped in February, 2009. These
policies override the E-Business Suite support
agreements.

38
39
Chapter 5 Upgrading the Applications
Should We Upgrade to Release 12?
The E-Business Suite Release 11.5.10 software is 8 years
old this year. There are no plans to add another CU
(Consolidated Update #3), so the only way to stay current
is to apply Family Packs to Release 11i. E-Business Suite
Release 11.5.10 Premier Support lasted six years from
November 2004. That means at the end of November,
2010, Premier Support ended and all customers still on
Release 11i (11.5.10.2) moved to Extended Support. To
stay supported on Oracles E-Business Release 11.5.10.2
after that, you would normally have to pay an additional fee
for support to run in "Extended Support," but Oracle
waived the fees.
Oracle strongly recommends not running production in
Extended Support mode unless you have no other choice.
There is also a Minimum Patch Baseline for the software
that must be met for the Extended Support. You should
review MOS Doc. ID: 883202.1 and 1116887.1 to make
sure that you are staying at the minimum patch baseline.
Also, Oracle updates these documents, so you should
recheck them periodically.
In terms of functionality, Release 12 includes new and
improved modules. In fact, the biggest difference for
Release 12 is on the functional side; much more so than on
the technical side. Release 12 uses a new user interface
called the Swan Interface.
If you are planning an upgrade, you should consider
upgrading to Release 12.1. Youll be positioned to upgrade
to the Fusion Applications when an upgrade path is
provided. If the software is stable, always upgrade to the
latest release if you need the new features and functionality.
Release 12.1 is stable!

40
Must We Upgrade to Release 12.1?
Oh for the days when we could linger on an E-Business
Suite release for years and years! Those days are over,
mostly because Oracle is constantly changing the
Applications, as much to add new functionality as to
correct issues with existing functionality. With the need to
apply security patches added into the mix, your company
will need to consider what your overall patching strategy
will be, and then plan to follow that strategy. Decisions
about how long to wait to upgrade will affect the cost for
Oracles support, as well as how difficult the upgrade will
be. Stragglers on releases earlier than Release 11.5.7, for
example, will have to follow a much more complex
upgrade path than those who have stayed more current with
patching.
Upgrade Paths
There are two upgrade paths for upgrading to Release 12.1;
the two phased and single phased upgrades.
Two Phase - Unfortunately, if you are running a release
prior to Release 11.5.7, you must first upgrade to Release
11.5.10.2 and then upgrade to Release 12.1. If you are not
already running Oracle 10g or Oracle 11g, then you must
upgrade the database before upgrading to Release 12.1.
This upgrade path is called a dual phase upgrade. The good
news is, the two phases do not have to occur during the
same critical downtime.
As part of this upgrade, if you havent already converted to
the Oracle Applications Tablespace Model (OATM), youll
need to convert your data at some point in the near future.
Although it is not a requirement as part of the upgrade, all
of the new product modules are in the OATM format.
OATM features include automatic restart of the generation
and execution of migration commands, configurable default
extent size and a new Tools tablespace for products such
41
as Oracle Portal, Oracle Discoverer, Oracle Internet
Directory and Oracle Application Server Single Sign-On.
Single Phase - If you are running Release 11.5.7 or later,
youll need to upgrade to Oracle 10g or Oracle 11g and
Release 12.1 during the same critical downtime.
For both upgrades, we recommend that you upgrade to the
latest certified version of Oracle 11g (currently 11gR2),
and that you upgrade to the latest certified version of
Release 12 (currently 12.1.3).
Should You Wait for Release 12.2?
The new technical features of Release 12.2 are exciting and
will have a significant impact on patching downtime, but
Oracle does not recommend that you wait. Upgrade to
12.1.3, and when Release 12.2 is released, consider the
timing and training requirements and plan accordingly.
Upgrade by Request
Upgrade by Request is an option that allows you to limit
how much data you upgrade during the Release 12.1
upgrade. The default is about six months of a fiscal years
data. You can come back to the remaining data and upgrade
it later. If you have a narrow upgrade window, Upgrade by
Request can help you reduce the scope of the upgrade and
then process less essential historical data later, after the
upgrade is complete.
Currently, Upgrade by Request covers historical data
within financials and procurement, projects, supply chain
management, and CRM. The upgrade depends on which
module you are upgrading. For some products, only SLA
data is upgraded, while for others, both transactions and
accounting data will be upgraded.
To use Upgrade by Request, youll choose the range of
periods of historical data you want to upgrade before you

42
run the Release 12 upgrade, and youll run a pre-upgrade
concurrent program. After youve finished your upgrade,
youll run an SLA post upgrade concurrent program to
complete the processing for the rest of your data.
The details for Upgrade by Request are covered in
Appendix G of the Release 12 Upgrade Manual.
43
Chapter 6 - Release 12 Administration and
Maintenance Tools: OEM, OAM and OCM
E-Business Suite Administration and
Maintenance Tools
Oracle offers a number of tools to manage the E-Business
Suite environment, including Oracle Enterprise Manager
(OEM), Oracle Applications Manager (OAM), Oracle
Configuration Manager (OCM), the E-Business Suite Plug-
in, Patch Wizard, AutoConfig, AutoPatch, iSetup, OPatch,
and napply CPU/PSU, Diagnostics, and Oracle Integration
Repository (iRep).
Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM), Oracle Application
Manager (OAM) and Oracle Configuration Manager
(OCM) are included free with the database and
Applications software. Oracle Applications Manager
integrates with several tools that are also provided free,
including AutoConfig, AutoPatch, iSetup, Diagnostics and
Oracle Integration Repository.
There are a few tools that are still run from the command
line, including adadmin, OPatch and napply CPU/PSU.
And, finally, there is the Oracle E-Business Suite Plug-in
4.0 for OEM 11g (11.1.0.1), which used to be two separate
additional cost Management Packs, the Application
Management Pack and the Application Change
Management Pack. The E-Business Suite Plug-in integrates
with Oracle Enterprise Manager and Oracle Applications
Manager to add additional functionality.
This chapter focuses on the features, functionality and
utilities provided by Oracle Enterprise Manager, Oracle
Applications Manager, and Oracle Configuration Manager.
The next chapter will describe how the e-Business Suite
Plug-in fits into the picture. And the chapter after that will
cover the tools that are still run from the command line.

44
Lifecycle Management
Lets start by discussing the reason you might need all
these tools. Lifecycle Management is Oracles term for
how we install, maintain, monitor, manage and upgrade our
E-Business Suite Applications. Because the Applications
are so complex, they require a number of different tools.
Over the years, many of us have written our own sets of
scripts and procedures to deal with the different tasks
necessary for managing the Applications. Third party
vendors have also offered products to simplify certain
tasks. And Oracle provides a number of tools to help. Some
of the tools, like OEM and OAM, are included with the
Applications licenses. Others, called Management Pack
Plug-ins, like the E-Business Suite Plug-in, cost extra.
To understand whether the E-Business Suite Plug-in is
necessary for your environment, we need as a foundation to
understand how the different tools work together, what you
can do without the E-Business Suite Plug-in, and what you
cant do unless you have licensed the E-Business Suite
Plug-in.
What is Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM)?
Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Grid Control and OEM 11g
Grid Control allow you to monitor E-Business Suite
performance, availability and configuration changes. You
can monitor multiple E-Business systems and drill down
into Oracle Applications Manager (OAM). You can read
more about OEM in MOS Doc. ID: 787749.1, Oracle
Enterprise Manager Grid Control Release Notes for
Solaris (SPARC) 10g Release 5 (10.2.0.5), which includes
details about known problems.
OEM features described in The Oracle Enterprise Manager
Concept manual for 10g Release 5 (10.2.0.5), Part Number
B31949-10 include enhanced management and monitoring
45
support for new 11g features including ADDM for RAC,
Real-time SQL Monitoring, Partition Advisor, Automatic
SQL Tuning, Database Replay, Cloning, Enhanced Data
Masking, High Availability features and security features.
Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g Grid Control includes
additional features, including My Oracle Support
integration, the Oracle Virtual Manager (VM) Pack, and the
ability to discover and monitor WebLogic domains. See
http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E11857_01/em.111/e1
1982/whats_new.htm for more details about Enterprise
Manager 11g Grid Control new features.
In addition to all these features, OEM is also integrated
with the E-Business Suite Plug-in that we will describe
later. If you choose to implement the E-Business Suite
Plug-in, youll have an integrated suite of tools that provide
end-to-end monitoring and management for your entire E-
Business Suite environment.
What is Oracle Applications Manager (OAM)?
Oracle Applications Manager (OAM) is a tool included
with the E-Business Suite that extends your Applications
management capabilities. To run OAM, log onto the
applications as the System Administrator responsibility and
then choose from the list of Oracle Application Manager
options:

46

Figure 7

Figure 8 - Choose "Dashboard" from the list under Oracle
Applications Manager
If youre an old hand at managing the E-Business Suite
Applications, then you probably know the commands to
run several of these tools from the command line. OAM
provides a framework to make it simpler to manage your
Applications. Notice that OAM is focused on managing
one instance. While it does have some summary reporting
capabilities, it does not have features for comparing
47
instances, or for applying changes to multiple instances at
the same time.
Applications Patching with OAM
Applications patching is Oracles way of releasing code
fixes, functionality enhancements or new functionality.
Patches can update or create new file system objects like
forms, reports and sql scripts. Patches can also execute
code within the database to change seeded data.
To upgrade an E-Business Suite environment from Release
11i to Release 12, or to apply a Release 12 RUP, Family
Pack, Mini-Pack, or other applications patch, youll use the
AutoPatch (adpatch) tool.
You can use OAMs Patch Wizard with the Patch
Information Bundle (PIB) file to help decide which patch to
apply and to determine what code or data it will change.
The PIB file is updated nightly by Oracle and a current
copy of the file should be downloaded before any patch
impact analysis.
You can also use the Patch Application Assistant to help
track and apply manual patch steps. Oracle has a new
manual called Oracle Applications Patching Procedures
that covers the details youll need to know to patch your
applications.
OAMs Patch Wizard helps you determine what
patches to apply, what code the patches will change, and
can download the patches. You then use AutoPatch to
apply patches. Tracking customizations, packaging a
customization into Oracles patching format,
interfacing with Source Control Software, and change
control are accomplished using the E-Business Suite
Plug-in.

48
AutoConfig with OAM
AutoConfig automatically configures an Oracle
Applications Release 12 instance. All the necessary
information is saved in the Applications Context File or the
Database Context File. The Applications Context File is an
XML repository in $INST_TOP that contains the
configuration information for the Applications tier. The
Database Context File is an XML repository in the
RDBMS ORACLE_HOME that holds database tier
information.
AutoConfig logfiles are stored under
$INST_TOP/admin/log for the Application Tier and
$ORACLE_HOME/appsutil/log/<CONTEXT_NAME
> for the Database Tier. AutoConfig Template files have
named tags that are replaced with instance-specific
information located in
<product_top>/admin/template. Note that this
file should not be edited. You can create a custom template
file by copying the template file and then editing it. To do
so, create a directory named custom in the same directory
as the template file you are customizing. Copy that
customized template file into the directory you just created
and AutoConfig will recognize that it is a custom template
that supersedes the original template file. When
AutoConfig detects a custom template file, it uses it.
AutoConfig comes with a set of scripts that include:
adchkcfg.sh run this program before running
AutoConfig to review changes. It generates a report
showing the differences between the current and
modified AutoConfig file
adtmplrpt.sh provides information about the location
of AutoConfig templates
49
restore.sh use this script to roll back an AutoConfig
session
See MOS Doc. ID: 387859.1, Using AutoConfig to Manage
System Configurations in Oracle E-Business Suite Release
12 for more details about AutoConfig.
Changes to AutoConfig configurations can be made
through OAM (highly recommended), or by manually
making changes to files and running scripts.


Figure 9 Use OAM to make changes to your AutoConfig context
files
iSetup with OAM
So your developers have been working on creating some
new concurrent programs in your test environment. Or
perhaps theyve got some new request groups, printer
setups, new responsibilities or other customized objects that
need to be migrated out of the test environment and into

50
production. Or perhaps youd like to add users to a test
environment that are already set up on production. It turns
out you have three options:
1. Manually - Open up a screen pointing to your test
environment and a screen pointing to your production
environment, and manually copy (type) everything you
want to move. Uggh thats how we did it in the olden
days, but it is certainly not how we want to do it today.
Manually making the changes takes too long, and its
too easy to make mistakes. A thorough and time-
consuming test of each migration would have to be
included in your project plan.
2. FNDLOAD Oracles command line utility can be
used to download application data from an Oracle
Applications instance into a portable, editable text file
(.ldt file). The data in the FNDLOAD .ldt file can then
be uploaded into another Oracle E-Business Suite
instance. With FNDLOAD, youre working from a
Unix account and have to have a thorough
understanding of the objects that you want to move.
Youll still need to do a thorough test of the objects that
youve migrated, but errors are less likely than if you
hand-typed the information.
3. iSetup iSetup is a module provided within the E-
Business Suite that allows you to easily migrate setups
using a user-friendly interface. Youll work through E-
Business Suite screens rather than at the Unix level, so
you do not have to be a programmer or DBA to feel
comfortable using this tool. iSetup includes templates
that make it easy to move commonly migrated objects,
and, unlike our other two options, iSetup documents the
configuration changes to allow you to compare changes
across instances and timelines.

51
OAM allows you to use iSetup to make configuration
changes. The E-Business Suite Plug-in supports
simultaneous iSetup changes across multiple E-Business
Suite instances.
License Manager with OAM
You can run License Manager from OAM to enable
licensed E-Business Suite modules.

Figure 10 - You can run License Manager from OAM
You can use License Manager within OAM, or you can
manually run License Manager scripts from the
command line.
Oracle eBusiness Suite Diagnostics with OAM
The Oracle eBusiness Suite Diagnostics are free utilities.
New diagnostics are delivered in a standard Oracle Patch
and are applied using AutoPatch. The diagnostics dont
alter data or setup, and the latest patch is included in

52
Release 12.1.3 (Patch 9239092). While Diagnostics were
not initially required, Oracle now expects you to have the
Diagnostics installed and will often ask you to run a
particular Diagnostic to help problem solve a Service
Request (SR). You should stay current on Diagnostic
patches, as the Diagnostic programs are useful in
troubleshooting.
To Run Diagnostics:
1. Login to the E-Business Suite using an account that has
the Oracle Diagnostics Tool responsibility
2. Select the "Oracle Diagnostics Tool" responsibility
3. Choose a diagnostic test from the Test Summary list.
You can see which tests are available for an
Application by clicking on the number under
Registered Tests:
53

Figure 11 - Diagnostics
4. Enter input parameters if there are any for the test that
you have selected
5. Click on the 'Run Test' button
6. To review the test output, click on the 'Report' icon
displayed in the status line
Access Diagnostics through OAM.

54
Other OAM Tools
You can also use OAM to administer concurrent managers
and workflow components, including starting and stopping
concurrent managers and controlling workflow services.
OAM includes Diagnostic Wizards for Concurrent
Manager Recovery, Service Infrastructure, GCS and Forms
Monitoring, CP Signature and Dashboard Collection
Signature.
The Dashboard Collection Program collects metrics for
many services, web components and other features of an
Oracle Applications instance. OAM includes a Dashboard
Setup Wizard that can be used to enable or disable the
monitoring of individual metrics.
The CP Signature Wizard performs many key Concurrent
Processing related data collections and gathers important
configuration and log files to be saved to the Support cart
for more efficient interaction with Support.
Release 12.1.1 added Advanced Configuration Wizards that
Enable/Disable HTTP load balancing, SSL, and SSL
Accelerator to reduce the SSL traffic and workload off the
web servers, and Forms Socket Mode (R11i) and Servlet
Mode (R12).
What is Oracle Configuration Manager (OCM)?
Lets face it, the Oracle environment is a complicated
beast. Now, imagine how hard it must be for Oracle
Support to draw important information out of a person who
has logged a Support Request. Does everyone in your
company who might log a Support Request know all the
configuration information about your environment? Do
they know your environments:
Hardware configuration (CPU, memory, storage,
network, etc.)
55
Operating System patches, kernel parameter settings
and installed packages
Oracle software (databases, middleware and
applications) details such as patches, patch sets, init
parameters and configuration settings
Oracle Application Server details such as patches, patch
sets, components and configuration settings
Oracle WebLogic Server configuration settings such as
ports in use, resource usage settings, deployed
applications and JDBC resources
Probably not. Thats why Oracle includes another toolset
that gathers information about your Oracle configuration;
the Oracle Configuration Manager. This toolset gathers the
information, and when you log a Service Request, you can
either automatically or manually upload the information to
Oracle Support. While the tool isnt mandatory yet, Oracle
Support will often request that you run it when you log a
Service Request, so you might as well make sure you have
the latest version and start using it.

56


57
Chapter 7 - How Do OEM and OAM and the
E-Business Suite Plug-in Work Together?
OEM Grid Control allows you to monitor multiple Oracle
E-Business Suite systems from a single console. You can
drill down into Oracle Applications Manager (OAM) to
control, configure, troubleshoot, and maintain individual
EBS systems. If you want to have the ability to take a step
back and see and manage all of your instances, youll need
to consider adding another product to your toolset the E-
Business Suite Plug-in, Version 4.0, which was formerly
called Application Management Pack (AMP) and the
Application Change Management Pack (ACP).
Implementing this set of tools can help lower your
maintenance and administration costs for the highly
complex E-Business Suite environment. We will cover the
features and functionality available in Version 4.0, the most
recent version of the E-Business Suite Plug-in. Well also
discuss the value add of the Plug-in.
In Figure 12, you can see that OEM, OAM, and the E-
Business Suite Plug-in work together to provide end-to-end
management and monitoring of E-Business Suite
environments. To make all three products work together,
there are a few caveats:
1. If you license the E-Business Suite Plug-in, youll need
to apply an interoperability patch on OEM to make the
Plug-in update information that comes from OAM.
2. You need to set the Preferences global link in OAM, or
metrics wont be updated.

58

Figure 12 - Based on Application Management Pack and
Application Change Management Pack 3.1 Now Available, by
Steven Chan, Oracle. Also see Application Change Management
Pack for Oracle E-Business Suite An Introduction, by Ken Baxter,
Biju Mohan, Oracle
What is the E-Business Suite Plug-in?
With Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM) setting out to
show the big picture in monitoring your Oracle
environments, and Oracle Applications Manager (OAM)
giving you a detailed view of each E-Business Suite
instance, it seems only natural for the E-Business Suite
Plug-in to integrate OEM and OAM together to provide a
birds eye view of your entire environment.
The E-Business Suite Plug-in 4.0 extends Oracle Enterprise
11g Grid Control to help monitor and manage EBS systems
and provide a consolidated end-to-end E-Business Suite
management solution (the earlier release, Version 3.1 of
AMP and ACP, works with Oracle Enterprise 10g Grid
Control). It integrates Oracle Application Manager with
Grid Control and provides advanced features to monitor
59
and manage EBS systems, including Cloning, Application
Service Level Management, Extended Performance
Metrics, Data Scrambling and links from Grid Control to
OAM. The Plug-in has six main features: Discovery,
Monitoring, Cloning, Customization Manager, Patching
Manager, and Setup Manager.
The E-Business Suite Plug-in monitors the Oracle
Applications Service, the Oracle Applications
Infrastructure Service, the Concurrent Processing Service,
the Forms Applications Service, the Concurrent Manager,
Workflow, Custom Objects, and Patch Information. The
Plug-in monitors your system for security problems, usage
characteristics, configuration changes and performance. Its
key capabilities include automated cloning, including
cloning of very complex configurations, automatic
discovery of E-Business Suite Systems, configuration
management, service level management, extended
performance metrics, and links from OEM Grid Control to
OAM. It includes the ability to use either the Enterprise
Manager Grid Control User Interface or a Command Line
Interface to discover and register components of the E-
Business System.
You can read more about System Management for E-
Business Suite in MOS Doc. ID: 1224313.1, Getting
Started with Oracle E-Business Suite Plug-in, Release 4.0,
and on Steven Chans blog, Oracle E-Business Suite Plug-
in 4.0 Released for OEM 11g (11.1.0.1).
Discovery
The Discovery Wizard dashboard uses OEM Grid Control
to discover/register each database instance. The Discovery
Wizard will by default enable discovery and monitoring of
Workflow and create an Oracle Workflow Service, Forms
Service, SSA Service, Patching Information Object,
Custom Objects, and Order Management Services. The

60
Wizard adds a new Oracle Applications tab under the
Targets tab of Grid Control, and once you apply the Oracle
Applications Enterprise Manager interoperability patch,
you can drill down to OAM. In addition to applying the
interoperability patch, you need to set the Preferences
global link in OAM, or metrics wont be updated.
The Discovery Wizard locates the Database Context and
Applications Context, and then discovers the Oracle Forms
and JVM Usage for the Applications Context.
Monitoring
The E-Business Suite Plug-ins monitoring features include
the Concurrent Processing Dashboard, which provides a
detailed overview of the efficiency of Concurrent
Managers and Programs. You can build a watch list of
specific concurrent managers and concurrent programs.
The Plug-in also allows end to end tracing, including the
ability to analyze the E-Business Suite database load. You
can also easily trace top database sessions back to the end
user.
Another unique feature of the Plug-in monitoring is the
ability to view and compare E-Business Suite
configurations. You can see what products are installed,
take advantage of new internal system alerts, review which
patches have been applied, see site level profile options that
have changed, and see which context files have been
edited.
Because the Plug-in is integrated with OEM, you can drill
down to the OEM Grid Control host and drill down to
OAM as well.
A feature that is relatively new to the Plug-in is Service
Level Monitoring. You can define Service Models that
represent business functions or applications in your
enterprise, and then measure the performance and
61
availability of critical business functions. You can set up
alerts to notify you when there is a problem, and identify
common issues and diagnose causes of failures. For those
companies who provide internal Service Level Agreements,
the Service Level Monitoring feature can be particularly
helpful in determining if you are meeting those agreements.
Cloning
You can clone an E-Business Suite instance using
RapidClone or the E-Business Suite Plug-in. RapidClone is
the most commonly used tool for cloning. Oracle continues
to refine it and releases new patches periodically. See MOS
Doc. ID: 406982.1, Cloning Oracle Applications Release
12 with Rapid Clone, to stay current on available patches.
MOS Doc. ID: 603104.1, Troubleshooting RapidClone
issues with Oracle Applications R12 is also highly
recommended.
The intention with the E-Business Suite Plug-ins cloning
feature is to provide automated cloning that will also
support cloning with data scrambling (data masking). The
Plug-in allows the following methods of cloning:
Clone Source to Target: the source system data is
extracted and applied on to a target system. On
completion of the clone process, the source and target
systems will have the same data and patch set level.
The benefit of this procedure is that it creates an
identical copy of production system.
Clone Source to Image: the source system data is
extracted and stored. The image extracted can be
applied to any number of target systems. The benefit of
this procedure is that it facilitates periodic backing up
of the source system.
Deploy Image to Target: an image is deployed on to a
target system. The benefit of this procedure is that it

62
allows for rapid deployment of standard pre-configured
target systems.
Hot Mode Clone Source to Target, Source to Image and
Image to Target, where the source system does not need
to be shut down.
A Clone Status page shows the status of all clone jobs (In
Progress, Scheduled, Saved, Completed). You can add
comments to the status of any clone job, and the cloning
procedure includes a step-by-step interview process.
With the Plug-ins Smart Clone capability, you can use a
database target cloned using an external solution (EMC,
NetApp FlexClone, certain IBM tools) as an input to the
Plug-ins cloning procedures. Smart Clone also supports
more complex, advanced E-Business Suite deployments,
including configuring a single instance database, a RAC
database, cloning a single-node applications tier to a single-
node applications tier, creating a scale-down clone of a
multi-tier applications tier with a shared file system node to
a single-node applications tier, and creating a scale-down
clone of a multi-tier applications tier without a shared file
system node to a single-node applications tier.
Dealing With Customizations, Patching and
Setup
The E-Business Suite Plug-in provides a feature that has
been sorely needed in the Applications world: a
sophisticated tool that manages changes introduced by
customizations, patches and functional setups during
implementation or maintenance activities. This tool shows
that Oracle recognizes that its customers do, in many cases,
have to customize the Applications, and that providing a
framework to help track and manage those changes will
make upgrading to new releases simpler, and easier to
accomplish. The Plug-in also allows DBAs to apply
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patches simultaneously across multiple instances, and
includes a Change Approval mechanism so that both
customizations and Oracle-provided patches can be applied
using a rigorous approval process. The Plug-in also uses
iSetup to migrate changes between Applications
environments.
The Plug-in includes three toolsets: Customization
Manager, Patch Manager and Setup Manager.
Customization Manager With Customization
Manager, you can monitor and manage E-Business
Suite changes, register new custom applications, and
track and validate existing custom applications in a
standard way. Reporting options include the ability to
report on a single package, compare two packages, or
compare a package against an instance. Customization
Manager integrates with most source control systems,
and includes a change approval framework that
provides an audit trail which can be particularly useful
when preparing to upgrade, and improves user
productivity by automating change deployment. This
tool validates customized code against software coding
best practices, and packages changes so they can be
applied like any other Oracle application patch.
Patch Manager automates applying application patches
across multiple instances. Patch Manager recommends
application patches, provides details about what a patch
will change, and shows what patches have modified a
specific file. A unique feature is Prerequisite Patch
Impact Analysis, which determines if there are
prerequisites, and allows adding prerequisites to the
patch job if they arent already available. Patch
Manager also allows scheduling application patch
application, and allows you to enter comments in the
Patch Run Details, including the Patch Run Name,
Description, Justification, Requester, and Notification

64
E-mails. Patch Manager is integrated with
Customization Manager as well as with My Oracle
Support, which makes downloading patches a simple
task.
Setup Manager is the next generation of iSetup. You
can extract and load data from one E-Business Suite
instance to another, use Projects to control the
sequence of a load, schedule timing of a load, and
manage simultaneous loads to multiple instances. Setup
Manager also allows Offline Transformation users
can download setup data into Excel, edit or add to it,
and then upload it.
What Can You Do Without the E-Business
Suite Plug-in?
You dont have to buy the Plug-in. In all likelihood, youve
developed your own set of procedures to deal with
managing the E-Business Suite. For example:
Customization You can continue to follow your
companys current procedures for how to design, test,
and roll out customizations. If you have a lot of
customizations, or if you are preparing to upgrade and
need to migrate your customizations, you may want to
look closer at the Plug-in.
Patching You can research and apply patches using
OAM. If you have multiple E-Business Suite instances
and need to apply changes to those other instances
simultaneously, the Plug-in could be useful. The Plug-
in is also very useful if youd like to standardize your
patch process so that all patches look the same just
like an Oracle patch. And if you need a change control
process, the Plug-in provides that, including the ability
to have specific users sign off on changes and be
notified when patches are applied.
65
Setup Migrate setups using iSetup, FNDLOAD, or
other third-party tools. If you need to migrate setups to
multiple instances, the Plug-in could cut down the time
to apply those changes with its ability to apply setups
simultaneously across multiple instances.
Monitoring OAM comes with a number of seeded
monitoring metrics for an individual instance, including
New Internal System Alerts, Patches Applied, Patch
Wizard, Site Level Profile Options Changed, and
Context Files Edited metrics. The Plug-in includes even
more monitoring metrics, including Service Level
Agreement monitoring.
Cloning Oracle has provided cloning procedures
(including Data Scrambling) that are well-tested and
continue to be enhanced. Those procedures are manual,
though, and the Plug-ins ability to deal with so many
different configuration scenarios is very appealing.
What Cant You Do Without the E-Business
Suite Plug-in?
You can do all the things that the Plug-in supports -
Customization, Patching, Setup, Monitoring, and Cloning
but
The devil is in the details it is easy to lose track of
where a customization has been applied or whether a
setup has been correctly cascaded. And going back
several years to prepare to migrate customizations,
when its time to do an upgrade, can be a formidable
task.
Oracle is providing a supported framework and toolset
that allow you to manage your applications more easily,
with an audit trail, reporting features, and the ability to
compare and contrast multiple E-Business Suite

66
environments more easily in an automated fashion to
reduce overall maintenance costs.
The E-Business Suite Plug-in provides an automated
framework and packaging methodology that eliminate
manual work and make processes more productive and
efficient. With the Plug-ins automated cloning features,
much of the manual effort required by the DBA when using
RapidClone is eliminated.
Outside of the E-Business Suite Plug-in, Metric Collection,
Comparison Reporting, and the ability to see all your
environments from inside Grid Control does not exist, and
does not have the Oracle proprietary information needed to
support highly complex E-Business Suite Applications
topologies.
There are also certain things that you can only do with the
E-Business Suite Plug-in:
Integrated Customization Management
Automated Service Level Management
Automated Cloning using a supported toolset, rather
than scripts or manual procedures
Automated Change Control Notification
Apply your customized patches that look and run just
like your E-Business Suite patches
Is the E-Business Suite Plug-in Worth the
Extra Money?
The Applications DBA and Applications System
Administrators jobs are very complex and require attention
to detail and, often, managing multiple tedious but
necessary tasks. Anything you can do to automate tasks and
leave an audit trail is well worth considering. With these
tools in place, your next DBA or SA will have a better view
67
of the history of changes and setups and may not have to
recreate or invent tools to handle tasks that should be
automated already.

68
69
Chapter 8 - Tools That Are Still Run From
the Command Line
Inside the framework that OEM, OAM, and the E-Business
Suite Plug-in provide are links to several tools that weve
been using all along with Release 11i and Release 12,
including Rapid Clone, AutoConfig, AutoPatch, iSetup,
and Oracle E-Business Suite Diagnostics. There are a few
tools that havent been integrated, including patchsets.sh,
adadmin, OPatch and napply CPU/PSU. The direction
Oracle is heading shows their goal of providing an end-to-
end administration suite that can simplify the management
of Oracles many moving parts.
Rapid Install Wizard
Youll use the Rapid Install Wizard if you are installing a
fresh install of the E-Business Suite. The Rapid Install
Wizard installs the ORACLE_HOMEs and databases, and
the APPL_TOP and COMMON_TOP directories that
contain the Applications code. A new concept for Release
12 is the Instance Home, or $INST_TOP. Located at
$ORACLE_BASE/inst/apps/context_name, where
context_name is the dbsid_host, the Instance Home
facilitates setting up a shared application file system for
multi-node configurations and creates a common location
for all objects specifically related to an instance (logs, some
config files, concurrent manager output, etc.).
adadmin
The adadmin toolset handles tasks required for maintaining
and administering an Oracle E-Business Suite instance.
Typical tasks include generating applications files,
maintaining applications files, compiling and reloading
applications database entities, and enabling or disabling
Maintenance Mode.

70
Database and CPU/PSU Patching
Well talk about database and CPU/PSU patching later in
the next chapter.
71
Chapter 9 - Applications Patching
Applications patching is Oracles way of releasing code
fixes, functionality enhancements or new functionality.
Patches can update or create new file system objects like
forms, reports and sql scripts. Patches can also execute
code within the database to change seeded data. To upgrade
an E-Business Suite environment from Release 11i to
Release 12, or to apply a Release 12 RUP, Family Pack,
Mini-Pack, or other applications patch, youll use the
AutoPatch tool. You can use OAMs Patch Wizard to help
decide which patch to apply and to determine what code or
data it will change. You can also use the Patch Application
Assistant to help track and apply manual patch steps.
Oracle has a new manual called Oracle Applications
Patching Procedures.
Release 12 Applications Patching Changes
With Release 12, Oracle keeps major new features and bug
fixes separate. In fact, major new functionality is now
reserved for point releases. Oracle creates a new
maintenance branch for each point release of the
Applications. New feature introduction into maintenance
branches is limited and requires executive approval (by
Oracle executives). To provide better change control,
Release 12 introduced some new terminology for patching
called codelines and codelevels that should make checking
for prerequisites easier.
Codelines and Codelevels
Patches are grouped into codelines. A codeline begins with
a point release and progresses to include all patches
required to maintain that point release. So Release 12.0
would be Codeline A, and Release 12.1 would be called
Codeline B. The unique set of product features for a point
release or a product family are a codelevel. In Release 11i,

72
patches could require other individual patches as
prerequisites, making it difficult to determine if a new
patch included all the functionality of an older patch. In
Release 12, patches can only require a codelevel as a
prerequisite. Read MOS Doc. ID: 459156.1, Oracle
Applications Patching FAQ for Release 12 to learn more
about Release 12s patching features.
Types of Applications Patches
As the Applications DBA, you will need to be particularly
aware of three types of Applications patches provided for
Release 12: RUPs, CPUs and the ATG.
Release Update Pack (RUP)
Each new point release of Release 12 is packaged in a RUP
(Release Update Pack), and current Release 12 Release
Update Packs are Releases 12.0 and 12.1. Oracle has
muddied their list of acronyms with the Release Update
Pack, because for years they have been releasing Release
Update Patches, also called RUPs, which are an entirely
different animal. ATG_PF.H RUP 6 is an example of a
Release 11i Release Update Patch. For Release 12, the
point releases for Release 12.1 are called Release 12.1 RUP
1 (12.1.1), Release 12.1 RUP 2 (Release Update Patch
12.1.2) and Release 12.1 RUP 3 (Release Update Patch
12.1.3). Confusing? Just a little.
For those of you who were in the trenches with Releases
11.5.1 through 11.5.4, were happy to say that Release
12.1+ is exponentially more stable.
A Release Update Pack for Release 12 is similar to a
Release 11i CU, or Consolidated Update; its a point
release. Like the Release 11i CU2, also called Release
11.5.10.2, a Release Update Pack may include stub
applications, performance improvements and new or
enhanced functionality. To get an idea of the changes
73
between RUPs, read the Release Content Documents
(RCDs) on My Oracle Support. To find the RCDs and other
Release 12 documentation, click on the Knowledge Tab at
the top of the screen when you first log into My Oracle
Support, then the Tools and Training tab, toward the
bottom left, then E-Business Suite, and then the release that
you are researching (in the example below, we chose
Release 12.1 Info Center.

Figure 13 - You can access RCDs from My Oracle Support
Figure 14 shows what the screen looks like that has links to
the RCDs:

74

Figure 14
Critical Patch Update (CPU/PSUs)
Unlike Release 11i, Release 12 RUPs contain the latest E-
Business Suite portion of the CPU (Critical Patch Update)
available at its release (it does not contain the Opatch
portion, so you still need to research the CPU and
determine what additional pieces need to be applied).

A CPU is Oracles answer to the ongoing security issues
plaguing our society. With hackers seeking access to
companies critical data, Oracle now releases a set of
patches every quarter to fend off attacks. Since CPUs
generally have been implemented at the same time as the
latest RUP, when you apply the latest Release 12 RUP your
environment will also be current on the E-Business Suite
security patches included in the latest CPU. You still have
to check, though Release 12.1.2, for example, was
released the month before the January 2010 CPU, so the
later CPU had to be applied separately. The Release 12.1.3
RUP was announced in the Application Technology Group
75
(ATG) Newsletter Issue July, 2010 Volume 10 (Doc ID
1158513.1.).

Because Oracle currently has no plans to implement a CU3
for Release 11i, you need to apply each new CPU as it is
released to remain current on security patches on your
Release 11i environments. Oracle also now releases PSU
patches, which minimize the number of individual patches
that need to be applied. Note that once you start applying
PSU patches, you must stay with that approach indefinitely.
With Oracles recent announcement of an EBS Exception
to Sustaining Support, you might wonder if there will be
CPUs released for Release 11i. Elke Phelps notes in
Critical Patch Updates During EBS 11i Exception to
Sustaining Support Period that CPUs will continue to be
released:
Oracle will continue to provide CPUs containing
critical security fixes for E-Business Suite 11i.
CPUs will be packaged and released as as
cumulative patches for both ATG RUP 6 and ATG
RUP 7.
As always, we try to minimize the number of patches
and dependencies required for uptake of a CPU;
however, there have been quite a few changes to the
11i baseline since its release. For dependency
reasons the 11i CPUs may require a higher number
of files in order to bring them up to a consistent,
stable, and well tested level.
EBS 11i customer will continue to receive CPUs up
to and including the October 2014 CPU.
You might wonder why staying current on CPUs is so
critical. If Sarbanes-Oxley compliance is important to your
company, can you afford to fall behind on security updates?

76
And of course, if you know theres a Critical Patch Update,
and you know what vulnerabilities it fixes, so do hackers.
Oracle Database Vault
While the CPUs are intended to help fend off hackers,
Oracle Database Vault is a tool intended to protect data
from insider attacks by building internal controls to support
segregation of duties and privacy requirements. Oracle
Database Vault Version 11.1.0.7 is certified for both
Release 11i and Release 12. You can read more about
Oracle Database Vault at Database Vault 11.1.0.7 Certified
with Oracle E-Business Suite.
Applications Technology Group (ATG)
For both Release 11i and Release 12, there is a set of
modules that are used by all of the other E-Business Suite
modules. These modules are also called Pseudo Products
and are part of the Applications Technology Group, or
ATG. Keeping current on the latest ATG patch is yet
another DBA concern, since these modules affect every
aspect of the E-Business Suite. Release 12 ATG modules
are FND (Application Object Library), OAM (Oracle
Application Manager), OWF (Oracle Workflow), FWK
(Oracle Applications Framework), JTT (Oracle CRM
Technology Foundation), JTA (Oracle Common
Application Components), TXK (Oracle Applications
Technology Stack), XDO (Oracle XML Publisher), ECX
(Oracle XML Gateway), EC (Oracle E-Commerce
Gateway), AK (Oracle Common Modules AK), ALR
(Oracle Alert), UMX (Oracle User Management), BNE
(Oracle Web ADI), and FRM (Oracle Report Manager).
To complicate matters just a little more, Oracle follows
strict compliance with their ATG_PF RUP policy (N-1),
which states that the latest CPU will only support the last
two ATG RUPs (where the ATG RUP in this case is a
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Release Update Patch). The January 2011 CPU will only
support ATG RUP 6 and RUP 7. So if you are running
Release 11.5.10.2 with ATG RUP 5, you must upgrade to
at least ATG RUP 6 to be able to apply the latest security
patch, the January 2011 CPU. To stay current on security,
you must stay relatively current on ATG RUPs, which
means you must stay relatively current on which release of
the Applications you are running. We HIGHLY encourage
customers move to ATG RUP 7 as soon as possible.
The introduction of CPU/PSUs is actually one of the most
important drivers for forcing a need to update your E-
Business Suite environment. While you may choose not to
upgrade because you dont need new functionality or fixes
to code, choosing to hold off on applying a security patch
can have devastating consequences for your business. With
Release 12, Oracle would like you to apply RUPs and
CPU/PSUs quarterly and to upgrade to the latest ATG RUP
whenever a new one is released, though you may find that
this is simply too aggressive a schedule to maintain because
of testing considerations. You might think that upgrading to
a higher ATG RUP is only a concern for your technicians,
but because the ATG modules are so deeply integrated
within the Applications, you really must test the entire E-
Business Suite every time you apply a new ATG RUP.
This guide covers patching considerations in much more
detail later on, but you can already see how important
staying current on the E-Business Suite will be for your
company. As the DBA, it is your job to understand and
mitigate, if possible, the risks your company is taking if
your management chooses not to stay current.
One of the things we like to say about Release 12 is that it
is constantly changing. As the Applications DBA, we must
warn you that it is your job to be constantly alert for
important patches and changes to existing patches - that

78
may affect your E-Business Suite environment. Here are
five examples of changes that you might not have noticed if
you werent actively watching My Oracle Support:
Oracle released EBS Release 12.1.2 in December 2009,
and in March 2010 announced a mandatory CUP for
anyone upgrading to 12.1.1 (thus, users on the CUP
ended up running EBS R12.1 RUP 2 CUP 1!) Users
who had already completed the upgrade, or were
upgrading to Release 12.1.2 or higher didnt need CUP
1.
Oracle released the January 2010 CPU, then modified
the January 2010 CPU in February with a mandatory
change. So if you applied the January CPU, and it
wasnt the later version, you needed to apply the
February version of the January 2010 CPU. Tracking
not only which CPU version you are running, but also
when you downloaded it increases the complexity for
DBAs.
PSUs Take a look at MOS Doc. ID: 854428.1 and
850471.1. Oracle has introduced a new patching
strategy called a PSU (Patch Set Update) that allows
you to choose only recommended or proactive
patches, rather than all of the patches provided in the
quarterly Critical Patch Update (CPU).
Oracle released RDBMS 11gR2 in October, 2010, and
then released an updated version in November, 2010
because of a security issue with MetaLink
Authentication.
Oracle released five patches to JRE in 2010 until finally
resolving a functionality issue with JRE 1.6.0_23. Then
in 2011, JRE 1.6.0_24 was released. New JRE versions
are released several times a year, so you should watch
for new ones and be prepared to upgrade more than
once a year.
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Our conclusion? Even if you arent planning to upgrade,
you still have to check My Oracle Support periodically to
stay on top of changes like these.
More Applications Patches
Weve already talked about Release 11i Consolidated
Updates (CUs) and Release 12 Release Update Packs
(RUPs). CUs can be released after a Release 11i point
release (like 11.5.10.2), and Release 12 RUPs can only be
applied to an existing Release 12 environment. Following
are additional types of patches:
Maintenance Packs are a collection of the latest product
family patchsets. Release 11.5.10 is the latest Release
11i Maintenance Pack. Consolidated Updates (CUs) are
applied to a maintenance pack, so the latest CU for
Release 11i brings 11.5.10 up to Release 11.5.10.2.
Technology Layer Updates are patchsets or mini-packs
that change the underlying services. The latest for
Release 11i is 11i.ATG_PF.H Rollup 7.
Family Packs or Product Family Release Update
Patches (RUPs) provide patches for a specific,
individual product family for a specific point release.
Product Mini-Packs are bug fixes for a specific
applications module, rather than product family.
One-off Patches/Individual Bug Fixes/Emergency
Patches are rare. A one off patch is one that fixes one
issue. An example is One-off Patch 6812211, which
fixes a potential data corruption issue in Release 12
Oracle Assets.
Pre-upgrade patch upgrade related, high priority
patches consolidated from all the products within a
product family.

80
Pre-install patch patches that if applied before the
upgrade will proactively correct issues. If you miss the
pre-install patch, you may not be able to recover and
will have to search for patches that can be applied after
the fact.
Steven Chans blog article Products and Families and
Versions Oh, My! describes the different types of patches
that you might need to apply to a Release 12 environment
in addition to Release Update Packs.
As you consider applying patches to your E-Business Suite
environment, it is important that you understand the
thoroughness of Oracles testing. Consolidated Updates
(CUs) and Release Update Packs (RUPs) are the most
thoroughly tested by Oracle. Family Packs, on the other
hand, are tested only by their product teams. Where
possible, you may want to wait for a RUP rather than apply
another type of patch between RUPs. Since Oracle has
done well at meeting their quarterly dates for RUPs, if you
are staying current on patching, you should only have to
apply a non-RUP patch in limited situations. If possible,
stay current on CPUs and Technology Layer Updates, even
if you cant stay current on Release Update Packs.
AutoPatch (ADPatch)
AutoPatch applies Applications patches (not database
patches, operating system patches, or CPU/PSUs) and
records the patch details in the OAM Applied Patches
Database. OAM includes tools like Applied Patches,
Timing Reports and Patch Wizard to help determine what
patches have already been applied, how long they may take
to apply, and which ones are available. Using OAMs Patch
Wizard, there is no excuse for not knowing exactly what
right down to the SQL code is being changed by a patch.
See MOS Doc. ID: 225165.1, Patching Best Practices and
Reducing Downtime.
81
You can use AD Merge Patch to group patches together for
application, then apply the merged patch using AutoPatch.
You can also use AutoPatch Non-interactive Mode to
automate patch application. You should use a Shared
Application Tier File System for multi-node systems to
apply patches only once. MOS Doc. ID: 181665.1, Release
11i AutoPatch Basics covers patching strategies.
Applied Patches and Patch Wizard
OAM includes two very useful tools for patch research.
First, theres Applied Patches, which allows you to query
on whether youve applied a patch or not.

Figure 15
An alternative to check if you have applied a patch is to
query the tables directly:
select * from ad_bugs where bug_number
= 9860329;
Second, theres Patch Wizard, which looks at the patches
that youve applied and then compares your list with
Oracles list of available high priority patches, and
With Applied Patches, you enter a
Patch number and it will tell you in
the lower section if youve already
applied the patch.

82
recommends patches that you can apply. Patch Wizard also
allows you to automatically download patches, which can
save time over the traditional method of searching for a
patch on My Oracle Support and then downloading it.
Patch Wizard also lets you create filters or use existing
filters to limit what patches are recommended. To support
the E-Business Suite Release 11i Extended Support
Mandatory Patching exercise, Oracle created a special
filter, called Support, that will limit the patch
recommendations to those required for the mandatory
patching.

Figure 16 - The "Patch Wizard" option
Patch Application Assistant (PAA)
Oracle Patch Application Assistant (PAA) helps you track
and perform manual steps during patching. For patches
with manual steps, PAA generates a customized set of
instructions specific to your installation and displays the
relevant manual steps. For merged patches, PAA
83
automatically merges the contents of the individual patch
readme files. If you need to use PAA, the patch readme will
ask you to run admsi.pl.
Database and CPU/PSU Patching
You use the OPatch utility to apply patches to the RDBMS.
OPatch is also used to apply patches to the E-Business
Suite Plug-in. Critical Patch Updates (CPUs) and Patch Set
Updates (PSUs), the quarterly security patches that patch
the ORACLE_HOMEs, use n-Apply CPU/PSU (aka n-
apply). n-apply uses OPatch, but groups security fixes to
simplify patch conflict resolution procedures.
Note: MOS Doc. ID: 466181.1, 10g Upgrade Companion
Version 2 documents how to upgrade from Oracle 9i to
10g. MOS Doc. ID: 785351.1, Oracle 11gR2 Upgrade
Companion documents how to upgrade from Oracle 9i to
11gR2.

84



85
Chapter 10 - Oracle Integration Repository
(iRep)
You can use the Oracle Integration Repository (iRep) to
view all the interfaces in the E-Business Suite in one place.
The iRep catalog can be searched using keywords and can
be navigated by product family, interface type and
integration standard. Interface types include concurrent
request, java, java service interface, PL/SQL, Service Data
Object, Web Service, XML Gateway Map and EDI. You
need the Integration Repository responsibility to use iRep.
Read more about iRep in MOS Doc. ID: 421170.1, R12
Oracle Service Contracts And Integration Repository
Access.
1. Login to the E-Business Suite from an account that
has the Integration Repository responsibility
2. Select the "Integration Repository" responsibility
3. Select a Product Family and explore

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Figure 17 - iRep

Figure 18 - Exploring Product Families with iRep
87
Chapter 11 How Fusion Fits In
Many companies who have purchased best of breed
applications solutions over the years find themselves facing
a difficult problem - should they keep each product as a
separate entity, or is there a way to integrate the products,
choosing the best qualities of each while taking advantage
of new features and technology advancements? The
answer, of course, is what we will be discussing in this
chapter. This chapter describes a technical roadmap that
shows how Oracle Fusion Middleware, the E-Business
Suite Release 12, and Oracles Fusion Applications will fit
together. By understanding how these three pieces work
together, you can plan your organizations strategy for
dealing with Fusion.
Terminology
What is Fusion Middleware?
Oracles Fusion Middleware offers a full suite of tools for
building a service-oriented architecture. These tools are
standards-based and take advantage of leading edge
technology solutions. These software tools enable different
applications to work together, even if they werent
originally designed to do so. Fusion Middleware tools are
based on a modular architecture and follow industry
standards.
Oracle calls Fusion Middleware hot-pluggable, which
means customers will be able to protect their current
investments in technology and still have long-term
flexibility. For example, for those customers who have
invested in Microsoft SharePoint, Oracles hot-pluggable
Oracle Content Management will allow users to continue to
use the SharePoint interface that theyve become
accustomed to, while also searching and browsing for
Oracle Universal Content Management files all from
within the SharePoint interface.

88
What is E-Business Suite Release 12?
Oracles E-Business Suite Release 12 is Oracles latest
version of their business applications. Not all E-Business
Suite customers are running this latest release Oracle has
customers still using Releases 10.7/11.0 (though hopefully
not many), and a lot of customers are running on various
point releases of Release 11i, Release 12s predecessor.
Oracle also supports customers running other business
applications, including the JD Edwards, PeopleSoft and
Siebel product lines.
What are the Fusion Applications?
The Fusion Applications will unify best-of-breed
capabilities from all Oracle Applications in a complete
suite delivered on Oracles open technology. For those of
us who only support the E-Business Suite of Applications,
when Oracle says all Oracle Applications, they mean the
JD Edwards EnterpriseOne, JD Edwards World, Oracle E-
Business Suite, PeopleSoft and Siebel product lines.
These new applications will focus on end-to-end business
processes like Order2Cash, Procure2Pay, and Hire2Retire.
They will provide more cost effective integration, flexible
business processes and extensibility and they will fuse
processes, people, and products to leverage the best parts of
each. The Fusion Applications will embrace a service-
oriented and standards-based information architecture.
Fusion Application Design Principles
The application design principles for Fusion are
straightforward. First, Fusion Applications must improve
business insight by offering real-time operational analysis
to enable taking action. Oracle accomplishes this by using
Oracles Event Driven Architecture, BI Tools, and
Dashboards. Second, the Fusion Applications must mirror
Adaptive Industry Processes to make it simpler to integrate
89
and customize the applications to match your business
requirements. Oracle will accomplish this by using Service-
Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Business Process
Management (BPM). Finally, the Fusion Applications must
provide a better ownership experience. Oracles goal is to
provide applications that allow zero downtime and
increased automation. To do this, Oracle is investing
heavily in lifecycle management.
The following diagram based on E-Business Suite
Technology Stack Roadmap (April 2010) Now Available,
Steven Chan, Oracle Corporation, shows Oracles roadmap
to Fusion:

Figure 19
Some points to keep in mind as you prepare for the arrival
of the Fusion Applications:
The current version of the Fusion Applications does
not include all EBS modules
Oracle guarantees that you will be able to migrate
directly from Release 12 to the Fusion Applications.
There is no direct upgrade path from Release 11i.
You should probably upgrade to Release 12 and
then see what happens next

90
Focus on Business Process Management and
Improvement
With Business Process Management (BPM), the various
stakeholders, from business analysts to developers to end
users can work together to make process improvements
using existing applications. Business Process Analysis
(BPA) tools simulate business and process models before
implementation using real customer data. Business Process
Execution (BPE) tools allow customers to implement new
processes and then monitor and optimize those processes
using Business Process Monitoring (BAM) tools.

Figure 20
Fusion Middleware is the Enabler
Oracle has coined the term the Fusion Effect, and defines
it as the sustainable competitive advantage achieved by
continuous blending of business insight and adaptable
processes. This effect depends on Fusion Middleware and
its family of more than 40 software products. Fusion
Middleware leverages the Oracle Application Server 10g or
11g and takes advantage of software from many Oracle
acquisitions. Of course, Fusion Middleware is built on
industry standards, which is what makes it so flexible and
adaptable.
91
Fusion Middleware Areas
Fusion Middleware solutions address several areas,
including Development Tools, User Interaction, Enterprise
Performance Management, Business Intelligence, Content
Management, SOA and Process Management, the
Application Grid infrastructure, Enterprise Management
and Identity Management:

Figure 21 Oracle Fusion Middleware Technologies
From Building a SOA Solution with Oracle Fusion Middleware for
Oracle E-Business Suite, by Basheer Khan, Innowave Technology,
Samuel Tong, Forsythe Technology, and Juliana Button, Oracle
Corporation.

92
Fusion Components to Know

Figure 22
Applications Integration Architecture (AIA)
Oracles Applications Integration Architecture (AIA)
provides an open standards-based framework for creating
cross-application business processes that support the way
you run your business today, while paving the way for your
long term, strategic business transformation plans. Powered
by Fusion Middleware, the AIA includes a pre-built SOA
Integration Layer for BPEL. Best Practice Processes are
represented as abstract models and extensible execution
flows. Enterprise Business Objects provide a standard
definition of business objects. Enterprise Business Services
provide a common service definition. Best of Breed
Application Service Components provide logic and data.
Hubs are used to Consolidate Key Entities to a common
definition.
The AIA components are the Foundation Pack, the Process
Integration Packs and the Industry Reference Models. The
Foundation Pack leverages SOA (Service-Oriented
Architecture) to allow customers to create custom process
integrations more quickly and cost-effectively than
traditional approaches. The Process Integration Packs
93
provide flexible out-of-the-box process integrations that
can be easily extended and evolved as business
requirements change. Oracles Industry Reference Models
provide customers with tools and documented business
process flows to adapt to specific marketplace requirements
by using industry best practices.
This architectural model provides an open, standards-based
architecture that accelerates time-to-value. The model
provides pre-built, sustainable integrations to reduce
implementation risk and cost. The extension framework
protects your investment from upgrades. Documented best
practice reference models help you optimize business
operations. The application independent design makes it
easy to plug and play new applications, including the
Fusion Applications.
Oracle Application Integration Architecture
Figure 23 shows the Application Integration Architecture:
Best Practice Processes - Optimize business
performance leveraging Oracles extensive
experience and best practices
Process Integration Packs - Pre-built, out of the
box, integrated Oracle Applications for quick
implementation of business processes, without the
risk. (i.e. Siebel CRM to Oracle E-Business Suite)
Foundation Packs - Create custom business
processes across any of your applications utilizing
predefined, application independent object and
service definitions
Powered by Oracle Fusion Middleware - Industry
leading, open standards based SOA Middleware
platform

94

Figure 23 Oracle Application Integration Architecture
From Building a SOA Solution with Oracle Fusion Middleware for
Oracle E-Business Suite, by Basheer Khan, Innowave Technology,
Samuel Tong, Forsythe Technology, and Juliana Button, Oracle
Corporation.
95
SOA Enablement of Oracle E-Business Suite: For
Business Integration Architectures

Figure 24
Figure 25 shows the E-Business Suite Integrated SOA
Gateway. The EBS interfaces are natively exposed as web
services. These out-of-the-box services are part of the SOA
Provider. They consume standard web services with the
Service Invocation Framework. The integration is non-
intrusive with public business events in the Integration
Repository. Visibility is provided through the SOA
Monitor.

96
Oracle E-Business Suite Integrated SOA Gateway

Figure 25 Oracle E-Business Suite SOA Gateway
From Building a SOA Solution with Oracle Fusion Middleware for
Oracle E-Business Suite, by Basheer Khan, Innowave Technology,
Samuel Tong, Forsythe Technology, and Juliana Button, Oracle
Corporation.

97
Business Benefits: Oracle E-Business Suite Integrated
SOA Gateway

Figure 26
Business Intelligence Tools
Business Intelligence (BI) is the process of getting
information about your business from available data.
Oracle provides a number of different BI tools, including:
Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition
(OBIEE) formerly Siebel Analytics, OBIEE is a
comprehensive suite of enterprise BI products that
deliver a full range of analysis and reporting
capabilities
BI Publisher formerly XML Publisher, is an
enterprise reporting solution that allows users to
create, manage and deliver all kinds of highly
formatted documents
Oracle Discoverer use this tool for creating and
maintaining a business-oriented view of relational
data

98
Business Activity Monitor (Dashboards) allows
executives to monitor key business services and
processes and to quickly make changes in business
process to take corrective action
Oracle Business Intelligence Warehouse Builder
use this tool to design, implement and maintain a
data warehouse environment and the metadata for
building reports
Daily Business Intelligence a set of reporting and
analysis applications that deliver accurate, timely,
actionable information to executives, managers and
front-line workers
Event Driven Architecture (EDA)
Oracles Event Driven Architecture (EDA) is built into the
Fusion Middleware products. It allows customers to
monitor, analyze and respond to business events and
requires minimal coding to do so. Creating a new user, for
example, might create a business event that triggers
emailing the new user a user guide, or shipping a security
token, or scheduling training. EDA is designed to control
Workflow, and does so by working outside the Application
Suites. EDA leverages Business Activity Monitoring
(BAM) and uses Enterprise Messaging (JMS). Best of all,
EDA will be interoperable with non-Oracle applications,
providing a tremendous amount of flexibility for customers.
Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)
A Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) implements
applications as a small series of building blocks, each of
which performs a discrete step or function. These blocks
are then combined using another software component to
create a complete application. By building this solution in a
Java Enterprise toolkit, it is possible to create a solution
that is based upon vendor-neutral standards, has the
99
potential to interoperate with other applications, and can
exploit Grid Computing to its best potential.

Figure 27 Service Oriented Architecture

Figure 28 Oracle SOA Platform
From Building a SOA Solution with Oracle Fusion Middleware for
Oracle E-Business Suite, by Basheer Khan, Innowave Technology,
Samuel Tong, Forsythe Technology, and Juliana Button, Oracle
Corporation.

100

Figure 29 Fusion Middleware Areas

Figure 30 - Oracle E-Business Suite: Business Integration
Technologies
Master Data Management (MDM)
Master Data Management (MDM) tools allow customers to
consolidate/federate master information from disparate
systems and business lines into one repository. Users can
cleanse and enrich data centrally, and distribute data as a
101
service from a single point of truth to consuming
applications, enterprise business processes and decision
support systems.
Identity Management Components
Identity management solutions provide the security
backbone for Oracle Fusion Middleware. These tools assist
with administration, configuration management,
provisioning, end-to-end monitoring, service level
management and security capabilities. Identity
Management Components provide a centralized console
that manages and monitors both Oracle and non-Oracle
products. Tools include:
Web Access - Oracle Access Manager
Provisioning - Oracle Identity Manager
Federation - Oracle Identity Federation
Password Synch - Oracle Identity Manager
Virtual Directory - Oracle Virtual Directory
Meta-Directory - Oracle Directory Integration
Platform
Directory - Oracle Internet Directory
Authentication/PKI - Oracle Certificate Authority
Web Services - Oracle Web Services Manager
Enterprise SSO - Oracle Enterprise Single Sign-On
Suite
Applications Roadmap Overview
The following chart shows the upgrade paths for Oracles
different product suites:


102

Figure 31
How the Fusion Applications Fit In
You might say that the Fusion Applications will be just
another Applications product line, just like JDE, EBS,
PeopleSoft and Siebel are product lines. Customers can
choose an end to end solution based on one product line, or
they can take a best of breed approach with components for
each. For example, a customer could integrate E-Business
Suite Financials with PeopleSoft Human Resources and
Siebel CRM. It is Fusion Middleware that all customers
will use, regardless of the applications product line they
choose.

R12 R12.1 R12.x
8.0 8.1 8.2

9.0 9.1 9.x

V1.0

EOne 8.12
World A9.1
EOne 9.0
World A9.2
EOne 9.1
103

Figure 32
The Road to Fusion - Roadmap Concepts
We leave you with the following recommendations for
preparing for Fusion:
Pick Your Fusion Applications Jump-off Point
for E-Business Suite, you must be running Release
12. If you are not running Release 12 and want to
migrate to the Fusion Applications when they
become available, you will have to upgrade first.
Upgrade to Your Jump-off Point as soon as
possible.
Upgrade to Oracle RDBMS Version 11g as soon as
possible.
Implement Standard NAS/SAN Utilities for
Snapshots
Implement Standard Oracle Utilities like Oracle
Enterprise Manager with the E-Business Suite Plug-
in

104
Stay Current on your Jump-off Point. Youll need
to stay current on the ATG Release Update Pack,
year-end patches, and Critical Patch Updates
(CPUs) especially Release 11i customers (MOS
Doc. ID: 883202.1 and MOS Doc. ID: 1116887.1).
Evaluate and document your customizations.
Determine what customizations you have, map
them to Applications functionality and
decommission customizations where possible if the
Applications provide the same functionality. Youll
want to convert customizations to Fusion
technology-based solutions where decommission is
not possible. As an example, since we know that
Workflow will be replaced by BPEL for the Fusion
Applications, now is the time to learn BPEL. Any
existing workflow customizations or new ones
should be written using BPEL.
Start Leveraging Your Available Fusion Tools.
Fusion is already here! Fusion tools that can already
be used with the E-Business Suite include XML
(BI) Publisher, the SOA Suite and WebCenter, and
Business Intelligence tools like OBIEE or DBI and
Discoverer 10g or, preferably, Discoverer 11g.
105
Conclusion
There is no lack of communication on Oracles part as to
where the Applications are going in the next few years.
With what you know about Oracles Applications
Unlimited support offerings, you can plan your migration
to the Fusion Applications today. The Fusion Middleware
tools are already here, so you can begin learning to use
them now, rather than wait until you have no choice.
Oracle has clearly placed a tremendous emphasis on
stabilizing their Release 12 products, and is providing us
with a wealth of tools to help manage our Release 12
environments. In return, they expect us to patch, and patch
often. With Applications Unlimited support options and the
requirement that customers stay within the current versions
or the one prior on the ATG technology upgrades to be able
to apply the latest Critical Patch Update, customers will
need to define an upgrade process and stick to it.
When we log Service Requests to Oracle Support, we can
now expect to be asked to run Oracle Change Management
(OCM) and specific Diagnostics programs to provide better
information for problem solving. Were also seeing a
tremendous improvement in the availability of
documentation and the ease in locating documentation on
My Oracle Support. In the end, its a tradeoff Oracle is
working very hard to provide tools to encourage us to stay
patched current now all we have to do is learn how to use
them and forge ahead.

106


107
Links and My Oracle Support (MOS) Notes
and Documents
My Oracle Support Doc. ID: 181665.1, Release 11i
AutoPatch Basics
My Oracle Support Doc. ID: 225165.1, Patching Best
Practices and Reducing Downtime
My Oracle Support Doc. ID: 373548.1, Using Forms
Trace in Oracle Applications Release 12
My Oracle Support Doc. ID: 387859.1, Using
AutoConfig to Manage System Configurations in
Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12
My Oracle Support Doc. ID: 406982.1, Oracle
Applications Release 12 with Rapid Clone
My Oracle Support Doc. ID: 421170.1, R12 Oracle
Service Contracts And Integration Repository Access
My Oracle Support Doc. ID: 454178.1, Oracle
Application Server Diagnostic Tools and Log Files in
Applications Release 12.
My Oracle Support Doc. ID: 459156.1, Oracle
Applications Patching FAQ for Release 12
My Oracle Support Doc. ID: 466181.1, 10g Upgrade
Companion Version 2
My Oracle Support Doc. ID: 603104.1,
Troubleshooting RapidClone issues with Oracle
Applications R12
My Oracle Support Doc. ID: 783188.1, Certified RAC
Scenarios for E-Business Suite Cloning
My Oracle Support Doc. ID: 785351.1, Oracle 11gR2
Upgrade Companion

108
My Oracle Support Doc. ID: 787749.1, Oracle
Enterprise Manager Grid Control Release Notes for
Solaris (SPARC) 10g Release 5 (10.2.0.5)
My Oracle Support Doc. ID: 812294.1,
Troubleshooting Guide and Known Issues List for the
Oracle Application Management Pack for Oracle E-
Business Suite, Release 3.0
My Oracle Support Doc. ID: 829450.1, Known Issues
with the Oracle Application Change Management Pack
for E-Business Suite
My Oracle Support Doc. ID: 846628.1, Interesting links
about Applications Management Pack and Applications
Change Management Pack for E-Business Suite
My Oracle Support Doc. ID: 854428.1, Patch Set
Updates for Oracle Products
My Oracle Support Doc. ID: 850471.1, Oracle
Announces First Patch Set Update For Oracle
Database Release 10.2
My Oracle Support Doc. ID: 883202.1, Minimum
Baseline Patch Requirements for Extended Support on
Oracle E-Business Suite 11.5.10
My Oracle Support Doc. ID: 1116887.1, Critical E-
Business Suite11i (11.5.10) Extended Support
Information on Minimum Baseline Patch Requirements
My Oracle Support Doc. ID: 1224313.1: Getting
Started with Oracle E-Business Suite Plug-in, Release
4.0
My Oracle Support Doc. ID: 1495337.1,
Announcements: E-Business Suite 11.5.10 Sustaining
Support Exception & 12.1 Extended Support Now to
Dec. 2018
109
Steven Chans blog, Oracle E-Business Suite Plug-in
4.0 Released for OEM 11g (11.1.0.1)
My Oracle Support Doc. ID: 982302.1, Getting Started
with Oracle Application Management Pack and
Application Change Management Pack for Oracle E-
Business Suite Version 3.1
Oracle Application Management Pack for Oracle E-
Business Suite Users Guide Release 3.1, Part No.
E14597-02
Oracle Application Change Management Pack for
Oracle E-Business Suite Users Guide, Release 3.1,
Part No. E14530-02
Oracle Lifetime Support Documents:
Lifetime Support Policy: Oracle Technology
Products (PDF)
Lifetime Support Policy: Oracle Fusion Middleware
Products (PDF)
Lifetime Support Policy: Oracle Applications (PDF)
Lifetime Support Policy: Oracle Retail Applications
(PDF)
Lifetime Support Policy:Oracle Financial Service
Products (PDF)
http://blogs.oracle.com/stevenchan - Steven Chan,
Director of Applications Technology Integration for
Oracle wonderful articles explaining the nuances of
the Applications
www.Integrigy.com E-Business Suite Security,
including CPU vulnerability evaluation. Integrigy now
offers free webinars on CPU/PSU patches.
www.OnCallDBA.com E-Business Suite books and
concurrent manager expertise

110
www.justadba.com John Stouffers website
www.drhealthchecks.com and
www.redriversolutions.com E-Business Suite
consulting, free E-Business Suite books
111
About the Authors
John Stouffer has more than 19 years experience with
Oracle database administration and more than 16 years
experience supporting Oracles E-Business Suite
Applications environments, including architectural design,
installation, implementations, upgrades and system
assessments in the federal, public and commercial
industries. John is an Oracle ACE for his contributions in
the area of Oracle EBS Applications. John is the past chair
of the OAUG Upgrade SIG, was the founding co-chair for
OAUGs Fusion Council and actively participates in other
GEO and SIG activities. John is also serving on the 2010-
2011 OAUG Board.

Special Thanks To:

Neeraj Chauhan Manager, Product Management, Oracle
EBS ATG, and Vijay Shanmugam Principal Software
Engineer, Development, Oracle EBS ATG, Peter Um,
Oracle Director, Enterprise Architecture, for allowing us
to incorporate several of their slides from their presentation
Integration Architecture for Oracle E-Business Suite:
Technical Insight
Basheer Khan, CEO, Innowave Technology, Samuel Tong,
Systems Architect, Forsythe Technology, and Juliana
Button, Director, Product Management, Oracle
Corporation, for allowing us to incorporate some of their
slides from their presentation Building a SOA Solution
with Oracle Fusion Middleware for Oracle E-Business
Suite
Steven Chan, Director of Applications Technology
Integration, Oracle Corporation, for allowing us to
incorporate material from his blog,
http://blogs.oracle.com/stevenchan

112
Also Ken Baxter, Senior Product Strategy Manager, and
Biju Mohan, Senior Product Manager, Oracle Corporation,
for their presentation, Application Change Management
Pack for Oracle E-Business Suite An Introduction, Ashish
Agrawal, Oracle Corporation, for Upgrading to 11g Best
Practices and Tom Kyte, Oracle Database 11g - What
Does it Mean?