1 Getting Started After Installing Oracle Application Server

This chapter contains tasks to help you get started managing Oracle Application Server after installation.

It contains the following topics:

Task 1: Set Up Your Operating System User Account
Task 2: Use the Oracle Application Server Welcome Page
Task 3: Check Your Port Numbers
Task 4: Get Started with Managing Components
Task 5: Enable SSL (Optional)

1.1 Task 1: Set Up Your Operating System User Account

When you installed Oracle Application Server, you were logged in to your operating system as a particular user. You should always log in as this user to manage your installation because this user has permission to view and modify the files in your installation's Oracle home.

In order to use Oracle Application Server, you should set environment variables, as shown in the following tables:

Table 1-1, "Oracle Application Server Environment Variables for UNIX"
Table 1-2, "Oracle Application Server Environment Variables for Windows"

Table 1-1 Oracle Application Server Environment Variables for UNIX

Environment Variable	Value
`DISPLAY`	`hostname`:`display_number`.`screen_number` Beginning with Oracle Application Server 10g, very few tools require the `DISPLAY` variable. Only a few tools, such as `oidadmin`, require it.
`LD_LIBRARY_PATH`	On Solaris, make sure this contains the following directory: $ORACLE_HOME/lib32 On Linux, make sure this contains the following directory: $ORACLE_HOME/lib On HP-UX, make sure this contains the following directory: $ORACLE_HOME/lib
(Solaris only) `LD_LIBRARY_PATH_64`	Make sure this contains the following directory: $ORACLE_HOME/lib
(HP-UX only) `SHLIB_PATH`	Make sure this contains the following directory: $ORACLE_HOME/lib32
`ORACLE_HOME`	Set to the full path of the installation's Oracle home
`ORACLE_SID` (Infrastructure installations only)	Set to the OracleAS Metadata Repository SID you supplied during installation. The default is `orcl`.
`PATH`	Make sure this contains the following directories, which contain basic commands used by all installations: $ORACLE_HOME/bin $ORACLE_HOME/dcm/bin $ORACLE_HOME/opmn/bin When you start to work with specific components, you may want to add additional directories to your path, as recommended by the component documentation.

Table 1-2 shows the environment variables for Windows.

Table 1-2 Oracle Application Server Environment Variables for Windows

Environment Variable	Value
`ORACLE_HOME`	Set to the full path of the installation's Oracle home. This is automatically set by Oracle Universal Installer.
`ORACLE_SID` (Infrastructure installations only)	Set to the OracleAS Metadata Repository SID you supplied during installation. The default is `orcl`. This is automatically set by Oracle Universal Installer.
`TEMP`	Set to your temp directory, for example, `C:\temp`.
`TMP`	Set to your temp directory, for example, `C:\temp`.

Best Practices for Multiple Installations on a UNIX Host

If you have multiple installations of Oracle Application Server on a UNIX host, it is very important to completely set your environment when managing a particular installation.

Some Oracle Application Server commands use the ORACLE_HOME environment variable to determine which installation to operate on, and some use the directory location of the command. It is, therefore, not sufficient to simply reset your environment variables or cd into a different Oracle home as you move between installations. You must fully change to the new installation as follows:

Log in as the user who installed the installation you want to work on.

On UNIX hosts, you may also use the su command to switch to the user, but be sure to use the "-" (dash) option so your environment is set the same as it would have been had you actually logged in as the user.
```
su - user
```
Set the correct environment variables for the installation, as described in Table 1-1.
Execute commands in the Oracle home of the correct installation.

Multiple Installations by the Same User If you installed multiple installations as the same user, make sure that you are in the correct Oracle home and have the correct environment variables set when working on a particular installation. You may want to set up some scripts to enable you to easily change from one installation to another.

1.2 Task 2: Use the Oracle Application Server Welcome Page

The Oracle Application Server Welcome Page is a great starting point for managing your application server. It includes the following:

Details about New Features in Oracle Application Server 10g Release 2 (10.1.2)
A link to a Quick Tour that provides a graphical introduction to Oracle Application Server 10g Release 2 (10.1.2)
A link to the Oracle Application Server 10g Release 2 (10.1.2) documentation library
Release Notes for your platform
A link to the Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Application Server Control Console—a Web-based tool for managing Oracle Application Server
Demonstrations and code samples for Oracle Application Server components and features

Figure 1-1 shows the Oracle Application Server Welcome Page.

Figure 1-1 Oracle Application Server Welcome Page

Description of the illustration welcome.gif

Accessing the Welcome Page

You can locate the URL for accessing the Welcome Page on the End of Installation Screen text, which is in the following file:

(UNIX) ORACLE_HOME/install/setupinfo.txt
(Windows) ORACLE_HOME\install\setupinfo.txt

To view the Welcome Page, connect to it using the HTTP listener port on your installation. For example:

http://hostname.domain:7777

Tip If you cannot access the Welcome Page, try the following:

Check setupinfo.txt and make sure you are using the correct URL (hostname and port number).

Try restarting Oracle HTTP Server:

opmnctl stopproc ias-component=HTTP_Server
opmnctl startproc ias-component=HTTP_Server

If you have OracleAS Web Cache configured, try restarting it:

opmnctl stopproc ias-component=WebCache
opmnctl startproc ias-component=WebCache

1.3 Task 3: Check Your Port Numbers

During installation, Oracle Application Server assigned port numbers to various components and services. It is important to check these port numbers for two reasons:

You need to know these port numbers in order to start managing your application server.
Oracle Application Server takes several measures to ensure that port number assignments are unique. However, it is possible that a port assignment could conflict with a non-Oracle Application Server process on your host that was not running during the installation. If you determine there is a conflict, stop the non-Oracle Application Server process and continue with the tasks in this chapter. Once you have completed the tasks in this chapter and have verified that your installation is running properly, you can consider changing Oracle Application Server port numbers.

See Also:
Chapter 4, "Managing Ports" for information on changing port numbers

You can find the complete list of port numbers in:

(UNIX) ORACLE_HOME/install/portlist.ini
(Windows) ORACLE_HOME\install\portlist.ini

Example 1-1 shows a sample copy of this file.

Example 1-1 A Sample portlist.ini File

;OracleAS Components reserve the following ports at install time.
;As a postinstallation step, you can reconfigure a component to use a different
 port.
;Those changes will not be visible in this file.

[System]
Host Name = host1.mycompany.com

[Ports]
Oracle HTTP Server port =  7777
Oracle HTTP Server Listen port = 7778
Oracle HTTP Server SSL port = 4443
Oracle HTTP Server Listen (SSL) port = 4444
Oracle HTTP Server Diagnostic port = 7200
Application Server Control RMI port = 1850
Oracle Notification Server Request port = 6003
Oracle Notification Server Local port = 6100
Oracle Notification Server Remote port = 6200
Log Loader port = 44000
Java Object Cache port = 7000
DCM Discovery port = 7101
Application Server Control port = 1810
Enterprise Manager Agent port = 1830
Web Cache HTTP Listen port = 7777
Web Cache HTTP Listen (SSL) port = 4443
Web Cache Administration port = 4000
Web Cache Invalidation port = 4001
Web Cache Statistics port = 4002

Note the following about portlist.ini:

As you view the portlist.ini file, you may wonder how the application server determines port assignments, or you may wish to change some of the port numbers. You should leave the port numbers as they are until you have completed the tasks in this chapter and confirmed that all of your components are running properly. Then, you can consider changing port numbers. Note that some port numbers cannot be changed, and some require additional steps for updating other components.

See Also:
Chapter 4, "Managing Ports" for information about port assignments and changing port numbers
The portlist.ini file contains port numbers for components you did not select during installation. This is because Oracle Application Server reserves ports for all components during installation, even those that were not configured. These port numbers will be used if you configure components after installation.

See Also:
Section 7.2, "Configuring Additional Components After Installation"
The portlist.ini file contains the port numbers that were assigned during installation and is very useful for getting started. However, it is not updated if you modify port numbers after installation. Once you start managing the components, you should use the Application Server Control Console Ports property page for viewing port numbers, because it displays the current port numbers.
The default ports for Oracle Internet Directory are 389 (non-SSL) and 636 (SSL). However, many UNIX systems have these port numbers listed in /etc/services. This causes Oracle Application Server to assume the port numbers are in use and skip to the next port numbers in the allotted port range, which are 3060 (non-SSL) and 3130 (SSL). If you would rather use the standard port numbers (389 and 636), you can change them, after making sure you are not using those port numbers on your system.

See Also:
Section 4.4.2, "Changing Oracle Internet Directory Ports"

1.4 Task 4: Get Started with Managing Components

This task provides an introduction to managing components and includes instructions for accessing component administration tools, postinstallation notes about components, and pointers to more information. It contains the following topics:

Getting Started with Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server (OPMN)
Getting Started with Distributed Configuration Management (DCM)
Getting Started with Oracle HTTP Server
Getting Started with Oracle Application Server Containers for J2EE (OC4J)
Getting Started with OracleAS Web Cache
Getting Started with OracleAS Portal
Getting Started with OracleAS Wireless
Getting Started with OracleBI Discoverer

See Also:

Appendix C, "URLs for Components" for a quick reference on how to access components

1.4.1 Getting Started with Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server (OPMN)

Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server (OPMN) manages and monitors most Oracle Application Server components. It is installed and configured in every middle-tier and OracleAS Infrastructure installation and is essential for running Oracle Application Server.

To get started with OPMN, use the opmnctl command to query the status of the components in your installation:

opmnctl status

Example 1-2 shows sample output from the command. It displays the component name, process type, operating system process ID (PID), and status of each process.

Example 1-2 Sample Output from opmnctl status Command

Processes in Instance: mid.myhost.myco.com
-------------------+--------------------+-------+---------
ias-component      | process-type       |   pid | status  
-------------------+--------------------+-------+---------
DSA                | DSA                |   N/A | Down    
HTTP_Server        | HTTP_Server        |   399 | Alive   
LogLoader          | logloaderd         |   N/A | Down    
dcm-daemon         | dcm-daemon         |   715 | Alive   
WebCache           | WebCache           |   400 | Alive   
WebCache           | WebCacheAdmin      |   401 | Alive   
OC4J               | home               |   412 | Alive   
OC4J               | OC4J_Portal        |   413 | Alive   
wireless           | performance_server |   416 | Alive   
wireless           | messaging_server   |   420 | Alive   
wireless           | OC4J_Wireless      |   404 | Alive

You can use OPMN to start and stop your application server, monitor components, configure event scripts, and perform many other tasks related to process management.

Notice that the following two processes are down after you finish installing Oracle Application Server:

Log Loader: This is a feature that compiles log messages from various log files into a single repository. If you would like to use Log Loader, you can start it after installation.

See Also:
Section 5.5.1, "Starting and Stopping Log Loader" and Chapter 5, "Managing Log Files"
DSA: This is the OracleAS Guard server. If you are using OracleAS Guard, you can start this after installation.

See Also:
Oracle Application Server High Availability Guide

1.4.2 Getting Started with Distributed Configuration Management (DCM)

Distributed Configuration Management (DCM) enables you to manage configuration information for application server instances, OracleAS Clusters, Oracle HTTP Server, Oracle Application Server Containers for J2EE (OC4J), Oracle Application Server Java Authentication and Authorization Service (JAAS) Provider (JAZN) and OPMN.

DCM is installed and configured with every middle-tier and OracleAS Infrastructure installation. All DCM installations use a DCM repository. There are two types of DCM repositories:

Database: This repository is stored in the OracleAS Metadata Repository in the DCM schema. This repository type is used by Portal and Wireless, and Business Intelligence installations. It is the repository for J2EE and Web Cache installations if you chose join an OracleAS Database Farm during installation.
File Based: This repository is stored in the file system in your Oracle home. This repository type is used by J2EE and Web Cache installations if you chose to join a File-based farm during installation.

Y ou can determine your repository type as follows:

dcmctl whichFarm

During installation, DCM created a copy of your initial configuration with the dcmctl saveInstance command. If, after you start configuring your application server, you would like to return to the initial configuration, you can use the dcmctl restoreInstance command.

You can use DCM to save and restore configuration information, deploy applications, manage OracleAS Clusters, and much more.

1.4.3 Getting Started with Oracle HTTP Server

Oracle HTTP Server is installed and configured with every middle-tier and OracleAS Infrastructure installation.

You can access Oracle HTTP Server as follows:

http://hostname.domain:port

In the example, port is the Oracle HTTP Server Listen port number, which is listed in:

(UNIX) ORACLE_HOME/install/portlist.ini
(Windows) ORACLE_HOME\install\portlist.ini

For example:

http://hostname.domain:7778

When you access Oracle HTTP Server, you will see the Oracle Application Server Welcome Page.

1.4.4 Getting Started with Oracle Application Server Containers for J2EE (OC4J)

Oracle Application Server Containers for J2EE (OC4J) is a complete Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) environment.

When you install an instance, you get the following OC4J instances, depending on your configuration:

home: The default OC4J instance that comes with every middle-tier installation
OC4J_BI_Forms: Contains servlets that support OracleBI Discoverer
OC4J_Portal: Contains a servlet that supports OracleAS Portal.
OC4J_Security: Supports Identity Management Services
OC4J_Wireless: Contains a servlet that supports OracleAS Wireless
oca: Supports OracleAS Certificate Authority

See Also:
Oracle Application Server Containers for J2EE User's Guide

1.4.5 Getting Started with OracleAS Web Cache

If you configured OracleAS Web Cache during installation, you can access it as follows:

http://hostname.domain:port

In the example, port is the Web Cache HTTP Listen port number as listed in:

(UNIX) ORACLE_HOME/install/portlist.ini
(Windows) ORACLE_HOME\install\portlist.ini

For example:

http://hostname.domain:7777

When you access OracleAS Web Cache, you will see the Oracle Application Server Welcome Page.

Accessing OracleAS Web Cache Manager

You can use the Application Server Control Console to manage OracleAS Web Cache, as described in Section 2.3. In addition, you can use OracleAS Web Cache Manager, which is a graphical user interface tool for configuring and monitoring OracleAS Web Cache.

You can access OracleAS Web Cache Manager by navigating to the following URL:

http://hostname.domain:port/webcacheadmin

In the example, port is the Web Cache HTTP Administration port number listed in:

(UNIX) ORACLE_HOME/install/portlist.ini
(Windows) ORACLE_HOME\install\portlist.ini

For example:

http://hostname.domain:4000/webcacheadmin

You can log in to OracleAS Web Cache Manager as ias_admin or administrator. The password for both accounts is the ias_admin password you supplied during installation.

See Also:

Oracle Application Server Web Cache Administrator's Guide for a list of postinstallation configuration tasks

1.4.6 Getting Started with OracleAS Portal

If you configured OracleAS Portal during installation, you can access it as follows:

http://hostname.domain:port/pls/portal

In the example, port is the Web Cache HTTP Listen port number listed in:

(UNIX) ORACLE_HOME/install/portlist.ini
(Windows) ORACLE_HOME\install\portlist.ini

For example:

http://hostname.domain:7777/pls/portal

You can log in as portal using the ias_admin password you supplied during installation.

See Also:

Oracle Application Server Portal Configuration Guide for information on getting started and managing OracleAS Portal

1.4.7 Getting Started with OracleAS Wireless

If you configured OracleAS Wireless during installation, you can access it as follows:

http://hostname.domain:port/webtool/login.uix

In the example, port is the Web Cache HTTP Listen port number listed in:

(UNIX) ORACLE_HOME/install/portlist.ini
(Windows) ORACLE_HOME\install\portlist.ini

You can log in as orcladmin using the orcladmin password.

1.4.8 Getting Started with OracleBI Discoverer

If you configured OracleBI Discoverer during installation, you can access it as follows:

Discoverer Viewer:

http://hostname.domain:port/discoverer/viewer

Discoverer Plus:

http://hostname.domain:port/discoverer/plus

Discoverer Portlet Provider:

http://hostname.domain:port/discoverer/portletprovider

In the example, port is the Web Cache HTTP Listen port number in:

(UNIX) ORACLE_HOME/install/portlist.ini
(Windows) ORACLE_HOME\install\portlist.ini

See Also:

Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer Configuration Guide for additional steps for configuring Discoverer, including installing Discoverer workbooks and End User Layer (EUL) into each database that contains data to be analyzed

1.5 Task 5: Enable SSL (Optional)

During installation, SSL is not configured for some components. If you would like to enable SSL, refer to Part IV, "Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)".