ESX - Enable SSH support

From time to time there is a need to access ESX beside Vsphere Client. One way is to connect with SSH protocol. To enable SSH protocol you need to go directly to sever console and click "Troubleshooting Options":

and then "Enable Remote Tech Support (SSH)":

A problem is preventing Windows from accurately checking the license for this computer. Error Code: 0x80070002

Check if the following files are present in the System32 Folder

%SystemRoot%\System32\secupd.dat
%SystemRoot%\System32\oembios.dat　
%SystemRoot%\System32\oembios.bin

If any of these files are missing, restore these files, from the setup disk, I386 folder or from another system.


d:\I386>expand oembios.bi_ %SystemRoot%\System32\oembios.bin
d:\I386>expand oembios.da_ %SystemRoot%\System32\oembios.dat

where %SystemRoot% is your windows installation folder (eg. C:\Windows)Reboot the system.

Your problem must be solved. After rebooting some messages about MS software licenses may pop up. Just ignore and reboote once more. If problem with licenses persist than re-register them.

BI Publisher 11.1.1.6.0 Change Catalog Type

After i try to log as super user (or any other user) and try to create new folder in Catalog, i got error:

 

 

" Please select a folder"

 

 

Problem is that in default configuration of BI Publisher 11.1.1.6.0 Catalog type is set to ORACLE BIEE katalog.

 

 

Solution:

 

 

Log on to BI Publisher as Administrator or super user.

 

 

Go to Administration --> Server Configuration --> Catalog --> Catalog Type --> Oracle BI Publisher system folders --> enter Path.

APEX Listener stop responding after some time

After some time or server restarts i tried to get APEX page live. After trying to access login page i got error:

"Requested url

http://apextest:7001/apex/f is currently unavailable."

I found that the problem is when APEX listener is started it created file named apex-config.xml in current TEMP file in Windows.

There are two solutions.

First one is to go to page :

http://wlstest:7001/apex/listenerconfigure and re-instantiating APEX listener.

Another solution is to follow Oracle manual for Apex listener and unzip apex.war, edit web.xml file so param-name config.dir is enabled, and enter any value (C:\apex_config\...). Zip everything and redeploy apex.war and restat apex web aplication (Weblogic server component).

How to display image as a logo in APEX application?

Step1: Upload image:

Go to Home -> Application Builder -> Application 100 > Shared Components -> Images -> Create

Select Application to associate image with. Browse image location on disk and click update.

Step2:

Home -> Application Builder -> Application 100 -> Shared Components -> Admin

Step3:

Home -> Application Builder -> Application 100 -> Edit Application Definition

Select Logo Tab

Select image as Logo Type (or Text if you want to implement cliskcable Logo)

Use next substitution to get logo to page: #WORKSPACE_IMAGES#imagr_name.jpg

Oracle Business Intelligence 11.1.1.6.0 - Create Database Schemas Using the Repository Creation Utility (RCU)

Here are the steps to install schemas needed to install Oracle BIE 11.1.1.6.

You need to have already installed database. In this example i installed Oracle Database 11R2 on Oracle Enterprise Linux 5.8.

First step is to copy and unzip file : ofm_rcu_linux_11.1.1.6.0_disk1_1of1 downloaded from web page :
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/bi-enterprise-edition/downloads/bi-downloads-1525270.html

I use Midnight Commander to unzip files on linux, or SFTP already unzipped file to the directory i use for installing software on Linux:

Location of software is

/software/rcuHome

and also did:

chmod -R 777 /software/rcuHome

Go to the directory /software/rcuHome/bin and start: ./rcu

First screen is welcome screen:

Since this is the new database we are going to create new schemas:

Enter Database Connection details

Database Type : Oracle Database (or other)

Host_name : Insert either Host_name or Host_ip address

Port : 1521 (default)

Service_name: SID

Enter username/password for sysdba (preffered) account

If everything you entered is correct you should see next screen:

Next step is to select schemas needed for installation of BIE.

Click the plus sign (+) next to the Business Intelligence component group. Then, click Business Intelligence Platform so that a check appears next to it. This action automatically selects the Metadata Services (MDS) schema (under the AS Common Schemas group), which is also required by Oracle Business Intelligence.

If you have another MDS schema installed to use with Oracle Business Intelligence, clear the Metadata Services (MDS) box and ignore the warning message that appears in the Messages box.

Do not select the Oracle AS Repository Components option, as this configures the RCU to install many other schemas that are not required by Oracle Business Intelligence.

Webcenter Portal and Portal schemas selected as shown on this image are for different purpose and not needed for this installation.

If everything is ok you should get this:

Next step is to enter password for different schemas:

I used same password for all schemas. After that we need to remap each schema to tablespace in database:

Keep everything as suggested and tablespaces will be created in next step:

After we click "OK" installation of schemas start and if everything is ok we get next screen as end of our installation:

Short notes on installing Oracle Grid Standalone Server and DB 11GR2 on Vmware ESXi

These are short notes what is needed to do to install:
           - Oracle Grid Standalone Server 11.2.0.2
           - Oracle Database 11GR2 11.2.0.2

Infrastructure:
ESXi VMware v 3.5
Oracle EL 5.8
MEM 4GB
LAN 10GB
Disks 2x40 GB VHD

Installation steps:

Demands for a SWAP space:

                RAM Swap Space:

                               Between 1 GB and 2 GB 1.5 times the size of the RAM

                               Between 2 GB and 16 GB Equal to the size of the RAM

                               More than 16 GB 16 GB

1.       Enabling wget over proxy so we can get YUM public repository files:

Set http_proxy=http://proxy:port/ or http_proxy=ip:port

Set use_proxy=on

2.       Next step is to install YUM Public

# http_proxy=ip:port                    (-- This can be entered in shell_profile file)

# export http_proxy

# cd /etc/yum.repos.d

# wget http://public-yum.oracle.com/public-yum-el5.repo

Edit .repo file by putting "1" instead "0" in enabled lines for each repository that you want to use.

3.       Install FTP:

# yum install ftp.i386

# yum install vsftp*

/etc/xinetd.d/vsftpd. Should look like this:

service ftp

{

disable = no

socket_type = stream

wait = no

user = root

server = /usr/sbin/vsftpd

server_args = /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf

nice = 10

per_source = 5

instances = 50

log_on_success += PID HOST DURATION

log_on_failure += HOST

}

 Add "vsftpd: ALL" to /etc/hosts.allow. Replace "ALL" with your subnet, machine list, or whatever if you don't want everyone to be able to connect. ALL will let every machine connect, but you still need a login and password.

If you want to ftp as root or any other user that is normally restricted, remove them from /etc/vsftpd/ftpusers and in /etc/vsftpd/user_list.

# service iptables stop

# chkconfig iptables off

4.       Install MC:

# yum install mc

5.       Install Grid Standalone:

5.1 Checking if there is enough space in /tmp (minimum 1GB)

                              

                                # df -h /tmp

5.2. Checking the size of shared memory (/dev/shm)

                               # df -h /dev/shm/

Reason: If you use AMM (paremeters: MEMORY_MAX_TARGET and MEMORY_TARGET ) then value of those parameters must be lower than shared memory.

How to resize shared memory:

                              

# mount -t tmpfs shmfs -o size=7g /dev/shm

                               # add to /etc/fstab --> shmfs /dev/shm tmpfs size=7g 0

5.3. Checking disk size for DB installation:

                # df -h

Recommended Size:

·         Installation Type Requirement for Software Files (GB)

§  Enterprise Edition 3.95

§  Standard Edition 3.88

·         Installation Type Disk Space for Data Files (GB)

§  Enterprise Edition 1.7

§  Standard Edition 1.5

                                                                                                             

5.4.  Package requirements

Ssome of packages mentioned in installation guide will be installed as dependenices of these):

                                # yum install binutils*

                               # yum install compat-libstdc*

                               # yum install elfutils*

                               # yum install gcc*

                               # yum install ksh*

                               # yum install pdksh*

                               # yum install libaio*

                                                              

5.5.  Installation unixODBC drivers:

                                # yum install unixOD*

                                              

5.6. Setup UDP and TCP Kernel Parameters

                               # cat /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_local_port_range --> check ports range

                               # vi /etc/sysctl.conf

                                               net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range = 9000 65500

                               # service network restart

5.7. Create install groups and users:

                               # groupadd oinstall

                               # groupadd -g 502 dba

                               # groupadd -g 503 oper

                               # groupadd -g 504 asmadmin

                               # groupadd -g 506 asmdba

                               # groupadd -g 505 asmoper

                               # useradd -u 502 -g oinstall -G dba,asmdba oracle

                               # passwd oracle

                              

5.8. Setting resource shell limits

                              

                               Add proceeding lines in vi /etc/security/limits.conf :

                               oracle              soft    nproc   2047

                               oracle              hard    nproc   16384

                               oracle              soft    nofile  1024

                               oracle              hard    nofile  65536

                               oracle              soft    stack   10240

                              

5.9. Set kernel parameters (minimum values - suggestion is to tune them on production)

                               If not set adjust next valuse in /etc/sysctl.conf

                                fs.aio-max-nr = 1048576

                                fs.file-max = 6815744

                                kernel.shmall = 2097152

                                kernel.shmmax = 4294967295

                                kernel.shmmni = 4096

                                kernel.sem = 250 32000 100 128

                                net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range = 9000 65500

                                net.core.rmem_default = 262144

                                net.core.rmem_max = 4194304

                                net.core.wmem_default = 262144

                                net.core.wmem_max = 1048576

                                              

                                # sysctl -p --> change parameters

                                # sysctl -a --> verify

5.10. Creating base directory:

               

                                # mkdir -p /u01/app/oracle

                               # chown -R oracle:oinstall /u01/app/oracle

                               # chmod -R 775 /u01/app/oracle

                               

5.11. Installing and Configuring the Automatic Storage Management Library Driver Software:

               

                               #yum install oracleasm*

                              

5.12. Using OracleASM to "mark" disks we should use as ASM disks:

                              

                                # fdisk -l /dev/sdb

                               # fdisk /dev/sdb

                               # dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb1

                               # oracleasm createdisk DISK1 /dev/sdb1

                              

5.13. Installing CVU (Cluster verify utility package exists in installation package):

                               # rpm -Uvh cvuqdisk-1.0.7-1.rpm

                                              

5.14. Installing Grid Standalone Server :

 Use manuals that comes with software distribution. It's NNF (Next-Next-Finish) method with some answers to write (passwords, ORACLE_BASE, ORACLE_HOME)

                                              

5.15. During the instalation Oracle DB software asks to execute some scripts as root user: When you try to execute: /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid/root.sh

this error may appear:  "/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid/bin/clscfg.bin: error while loading shared libraries: libcap.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory"

                Solution is to:

                               # yum install compat-libcap1.i686

                               # yum install oracle-valida*

If we need to redo root.sh script first we need to ininstall CRS configuration

#/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/grid/crs/install/rootcrs.pl -deconfig -force

                                              

5.16. After Instaling Grid Standalone server if you want to install Oracle Database 11GR2 on same server you need to:

                               # yum install kernel-devel.i686                                

                               # yum install kernel-uek-devel kernel-uek-headers

                                              

                                              

5.17. Problem that may be shown after installation database when we try to use sqlplus:

"sqlplus: error while loading shared libraries: /u01/app/11.2.0/grid/lib/libclntsh.so.11.1: cannot restore segment prot after reloc: Permission denied. (You should also see these errors in the logfile $ORACLE_HOME/cfgtoollogs/crsconfig/rootcrs_$HOSTNAME.log )

To resolve, deconfigure the Oracle clusterware stack, change the SELinux security context of the shared library and re-run root.sh. Everything as the root user:"

Solution:

               

                                # su - root

                                # $ORACLE_HOME/crs/install/rootcrs.pl -verbose -deconfig -force

                                # chcon -t textrel_shlib_t /u01/app/11.2.0/grid/lib/libclntsh.so.11.1

                                # $ORACLE_HOME/root.sh

5.18. Install Apache:

               

                                # yum install http*

                                # service httpd start

                                # chkconfig httpd on

5.19. Install webmin:

               

                                # rpm -Uvh webmin-1.580-1.noarch.rpm