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Oracle® Application Server Release Notes
10g (9.0.4) for Solaris Operating System (SPARC)
Part No. B10629-15
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28 Oracle Enterprise Manager

This chapter describes issues with Oracle Enterprise Manager. It includes the following topics:

28.1 General Issues and Workarounds

This section describes general issues and their workarounds for the Oracle Enterprise Manager Application Server Control. It includes the following topics:

28.1.1 Using Multiple Browser Windows When Managing Multiple Application Servers on the Same Host

When you are making configuration changes within the Application Server Control, the browser keeps track of the state of your editing session. For example, the browser keeps track of the changes you make and your location within on-screen configuration wizards before you click Finish or Apply.

A problem with the browser state can occur if you have installed multiple application server instances on a single host and you open two or more browser windows to manage the OC4J instances on the host. If you switch between the windows while making configuration changes, you could experience some unpredictable behavior. For example, the browser may display a message saying that the session has expired.

To avoid this problem, start a new browser instance from the desktop and close any new windows opened from the original browser session.

If you are using Netscape 7 you will need to create a new Netscape Profile for additional browser windows.

28.1.2 Oracle HTTP Server Must Be Running To Collect OC4J Metrics

In order to collect performance metrics for the OC4J instances in an application server installation, the Oracle HTTP Server for the application server instance must be up and running. If the Oracle HTTP Server component is down, OC4J metrics will not be collected and, as a result, will not be available in the Application Server Control.

28.1.3 Virtual Hosts Must Have at Most One IP:Port Pair

The Application Server Control does not support the ability to enter multiple IP address pairs in the Virtual Host directive in the Oracle HTTP Server httpd.conf configuration file.

In other words, do not enter more than the following in the httpd.conf file when using the Application Server Control to manage your Oracle HTTP Server instance:

<VirtualHost 1.2.3.4:5678 >
  ...
</VirtualHost>

28.1.4 Protocol Used for OracleAS Web Cache Admin Port Must Match the Protocol for the Statistics Port

Oracle Application Server Web Cache provides two ports. One port is the Administration port, which is used to access the Web Cache Manager. The other port is used to gather Web Cache performance statistics.

If you change the protocol for Oracle Application Server Web Cache, you must be sure to use the same protocol for the Administration Port and the Statistics port. If the protocol for these two ports does not match, the Application Server Control may not be able to gather performance metrics and the link to the Web Cache Manager on the Web Cache target home page will not function properly.

28.1.5 No Support for Path Information When Configuring JAZN

OC4J security employs a user manager to authenticate and authorize users and groups that attempt to access a J2EE application. One of the user managers that can be used to designate the users and groups for an application is the JAZN user manager.

With the Enterprise Manager Application Server Control, you can specify that the JAZN user manager be associated with an application. Using the Deploy Application: User Manager page for Enterprise Manager, you can specify that the application use either a JAZN XML configuration or a JAZN LDAP configuration.

When you use Enterprise Manager to specify an XML-based JAZN configuration, the following line is entered into the orion-application.xml file:

<jazn provider="XML" location="./jazn-data.xml" />

When you use Enterprise Manager to specify an LDAP-based JAZN configuration, the following line is entered in the orion-application.xml file:

<jazn provider="LDAP" default-realm="sample_subrealm" />

Some applications may prefer to specify a JAZN configuration by providing a path to a jazn.xml file, but Enterprise Manager does NOT support this type of JAZN configuration. This type of JAZN configuration would be specified as follows in the orion-application.xml file:

<jazn config="jazn.xml"/>

If you manually specify this type of JAZN configuration in the orion-application.xml file, you will either NOT be able to use the Enterprise Manager OC4J Security page or you may experience problems even after apparently using the page successfully.

For more information about using user managers specifying users and groups for a J2EE application, see Oracle Application Server Containers for J2EE Security Guide.

28.1.6 Lookup Error When Deploying OC4J Application

When you are attempting to deploy an OC4J application using the Application Server Control, you may receive the following error:

Deployment failed: Nested exception
Root Cause: Lookup error: javax.naming.NoPermissionException: Not allowed to
look up java:comp/ServerAdministrator, check the namespace-access tag setting
in orion-application.xml for details; 

This error may appear if the user manager for the OC4J default application does not include the user admin and the group administrators.

To view or define the users and groups for the default application user manager:

  1. Navigate to the OC4J home page for the OC4J instance you used to deploy your application.

  2. Click Applications to display the list of application deployed in the selected OC4J instance.

  3. Click the Default Application Name, which appears at the top of the Applications page.

    Enterprise Manager displays the OC4J Application home page for the default application.

  4. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Security.

    Enterprise Manager displays the Security page, which lists the Groups and Users.

28.1.7 OC4J Restart Required After Adding Users on the OC4J Security Page

After you make changes on the OC4J Security page, you must restart the OC4J instance in order for the changes to take effect. For example, if you add the user admin user and the administrators group as described in Section 28.1.6, you must restart the OC4J instance to complete the procedure.

28.1.8 "SMISession has been invalidated" Error in Browser Window

In some cases, you may see the following error message displayed in your browser window:

The SMISession has been invalidated. Resolution: Please close the current SMISession, start another one and reapply the actions

To resolve this issue, click the Refresh Data icon located to the right of the time stamp, or close and reopen the browser to start a new session. This error can be the result of multiple users performing conflicting configuration actions on a single Enterprise Manager Application Server Control at the same time.

28.1.9 NLS_LANG and LC_ALL (OS Default Locale) Must Be Defined Before Starting Management Processes

If in a non-English environment, you launch a command line tool (for example, opmnctl or emctl) to start a process, make sure the operating system default locale and the NLS_LANG settings are configured properly.

28.1.9.1 Checking the Operating System Locale

To make sure the default locale is set properly, make sure the LC_ALL or LANG environment variables are set with the appropriate value. To check the current setting, issue the following command:

$PROMPT> locale

For the specific value in each operating system, refer to the platform-specific documentation.

28.1.9.2 Checking the NLS_LANG Setting

To check the NLS_LANG setting:

  1. Make sure the NLS_LANG environment variable is set with the appropriate and compatible value with the OS default locale setting. For the specific value for the language, refer to the Globalization Support Guide of the Oracle product you are using.

  2. Check to see if the NLS_LANG setting exists in following file:

    $ORACLE_HOME/opmn/conf/opmn.xml
    
    
  3. If opmn.xml exists, make sure the NLS_LANG setting in the opmn.xml file is identical to the NLS_LANG environment variable.

  4. For example, the following content should appear in the opmn.xml file:

    <environment> 
         			<variable id="TMP" value="/tmp"/> 
         			<variable id="NLS_LANG" value="JAPANESE_JAPAN.JA16SJIS"/> 
    </environment>
    

28.1.10 Newly Created Virtual Host Access Log Not Available in the Log Viewer

When operations that affect the name, location, or creation of HTTP Server logs are performed (for example, if you create a new HTTP Server virtual host), the Log File Viewer may not reflect these updates. For example, the log files for the newly created virtual host may not appear in the Log Viewer.

This problem is caused because the Log File Viewer may cache information about HTTP Server log files. Press the Refresh Data icon on the Log File Viewer page to workaround this situation and discover the current log files.

28.1.11 Problems Displaying XML Log Files in the Log Viewer

Depending upon the version of Internet Explorer and the server platform that the application server is running on, you may not be able to display log files that are stored in XML format.

For example, if you click the name of a log file on the Log File page the Application Server Control may display an error rather than the contents of the log file.

To work around this problem, try using a different browser or browser version to display the XML log file.

28.1.12 Problems with the Oracle Application Server 10g Application Server Control After Deinstalling Oracle Application Server 9.0.2 or 9.0.3

In certain situations, deinstallation of Application Server 9.0.2 or 9.0.3 may, through an automatic procedure run at deinstall time, cause a number of configuration files in the Application Server 10g directories to be overwritten with incorrect information.

The Enterprise Manager control scripts in Application Server 10g have been modified to make as-needed backups of these files; as a result, you should be able to recover from this problem by replacing the files from the backup versions.

These files are:

$ORACLE_HOME/sysman/config/iasadmin.properties
$ORACLE_HOME/sysman/emd/targets.xml
$ORACLE_HOME/sysman/j2ee/config/jazn-data.xml
$ORACLE_HOME/sysman/webapps/emd/WEB-INF/config/consoleConfig.xml

There may be a number of backup files in each of these cases. The backups are named in the form <original-file-name>.n, where n is a number from 1 to 10.

The most recent backup of the file is .1, then next most recent .2, and so on. You should check the timestamps or inspect these files to determine which is the most recent correct version of the data. This is most likely the last backup version before you deinstalled Application Server 9.0.2 or 9.0.3.

To restore these files:

  1. Shut down the Application Server Control using the emctl command on UNIX or the Services control panel on Windows.

  2. Remove, or rename the four files listed above

  3. Copy the version of the backup file which you have determined to be the correct, working version

  4. Start the Application Server Control:.

28.1.13 Performance Notes for the Application Server Control

The following performance notes can help improve the overall performance of the Oracle Enterprise Manager Application Server Control in specific usage situations.

28.1.13.1 Deployment Performance in Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator 7.0

If you attempt to deploy an OC4J application while using Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape 7.0, the file upload may take an extremely long time (for example, 10 minutes for a 45MB .ear file as compared to 15 seconds with Netscape 7.1). This has a direct impact on the OC4J deployment wizard performance.

If you are using Netscape Navigator, upgrade to Netscape 7.1.

If you are using Internet Explorer, refer to the following Microsoft knowledge base article, which addresses this problem:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;329781

28.1.13.2 Problems Deploying Large OC4J Applications

When attempting to deploy a large application (greater than 50MB EAR or WAR file), the default configuration for the DCM Daemon is insufficient. Attempting to deploy such a large application will result in an Out Of Memory error.

To resolve this issue, use the Application Server Control to increase the java heap for the DCM Daemon:

  1. Navigate to the Application Server home page in the Application Server Control.

  2. Click Process Management to edit the opmn.xml file.

  3. Locate the DCM Daemon configuration section and append the following string to the value section of the java-parameters data tag:

    -Xmx<nnn>MB 
    
    

    For example:

    -Xmx128M
    
    
  4. Save the file.

28.1.13.3 Agent Memory Errors

Oracle Application Server includes a version of the Oracle Management Agent that gathers monitoring data for the Application Server Control. If the Management Agent is running out of memory while collecting application server metrics, the memory available to the JVM running within the Management Agent can be increased (default is 64M).

Within the emd.properties file, the agentJavaDefines property can have the -Xmx<nnn>M (for example, -Xmx128M) qualifier appended to it to increase the amount of java heap available to the Management Agent JVM. The Management Agent must be restarted for the qualifier to be recognized.

The emd.properties files is located in the following directory:

(UNIX) $ORACLE_HOME/sysman/config/
(Windows) $ORACLE_HOME/sysman/config/

28.1.13.4 Additional Performance Notes

To retrieve cached metrics (metrics which are collected by default and stored in the agents memory) for pages within the Application Server Control, define the environment variable EM_OC4J_OPTS to the following before starting the Application Server Control:

-Doracle.sysman.refreshFlag=true

To disable the processing page so that the Application Server Control waits for start, stop, and other such actions, define the environment variable EM_OC4J_OPTS to the following before starting the Application Server Control:

-Doracle.sysman.eml.util.iAS.waitForCompletion=true

To increase the timeout (default is 2 seconds) for status and host related metric retrieval for non-opmn managed components on the Application Server home page, define the environment variable EM_OC4J_OPTS to the following before starting the Application Server Control:

-Doracle.sysman.ias.ApplicationServerObject.timeout=true

28.1.14 Heap Usage Metric Incorrect on Linux and HP-UX

In the Application Server Control, the value displayed for the "Heap Usage (MB)" field in the Status section of the HTTP Server home page is not accurate for HTTP Server instances running on Linux and HP-UX platforms.

28.1.15 Oracle HTTP Server Listener Port May Be Listed Twice

On the ports page of the Application Server Control, an additional Oracle HTTP Server Listener row for Oracle HTTP Server Listener with Oracle HTTP Server Diagnostic port may be listed twice. This may happen if you execute an OPMN reload operation after making changes to the opmn.xml file. The double port listing typically occurs when a new OC4J instance is created.

The duplicate row will go away when you restart Oracle HTTP Server.

28.1.16 Misleading Error Message When Applying Properties to an OC4J Instance within an Oracle Application Server Cluster

Changes applied on the OC4J Server Properties page to an OC4J instance within an Oracle Application Server cluster will always show the message "Server properties have been applied across the cluster." In fact, changes to environment variables, ports, islands, and number of island processes will only be applied to the current OC4J instance currently under administration and not to other OC4J instances within the cluster. Other values on this page (for example, Java Options) will be applied across the cluster.

Information concerning which values are applied cluster wide is displayed in a tip at the top of the page; however, the confirmation message may be incorrect.

28.1.17 Unknown Oracle Home Error When Changing the Metadata Repository for an Application Server Instance

From the Infrastructure page in Application Server Control, you can change the Metadata Repository used by a mid tier. After changing the Metadata Repository, the following error may appear:

Error retrieving information of database managed cluster. Cluster Manager
initialization failure Root Cause: Unknown Oracle_Home:
"/private/iasinst/OraHome1". Resolution: Please refer to the base exception for
resolution, or call Oracle support.

To avoid this problem, review the check box on the last page of the Change Database Managed Cluster wizard. By default, this check box is selected for backup and recovery scenarios. However, in cases where you want to change the Metadata Repository due to reasons other than backup and recovery, you should clear the check box.

If it is too late to avoid the problem described above, then work around the error by going through the Change Database Managed Cluster wizard a second time to revert back to the original Metadata Repository. Then run the Change Database Managed Cluster wizard a third time to change the Metadata Repository to the proper database and clear the check box on the last page of the wizard.

If you perform an OracleAS Infrastructure installation, then the OC4J instance labeled 'home' will be enabled by default. However, if you perform an Oracle Application Server J2EE and Web Cache, Portal and Wireless, or Business Intelligence and Forms installation, the OC4J instance labeled 'home' will be disabled by default. This is expected behavior.

28.1.18 Administration Tasks Performed Via the Command Line Are Not Reflected in Application Server Control Pages

If administration or configuration changes (including the dmctl command line applyarchiveto command) occur outside of the Application Server Control, changes won't be reflected until the Application Server Control cache is cleared. To clear the cache, click the Refresh Data icon, which is located to the right of the time stamp, or close and reopen the browser to start a new session.

28.1.19 Problems When Using Internet Explorer 5.5 in SSL Mode

When using the Application Server Control in SSL mode, you may get intermittent problems when using Internet Explorer 5.5.

For example, you may receive a "500 Internal Server Error" message when you attempt to deploy a J2EE application. For another example, you may receive the following error immediately after you respond to a confirmation page, such as the page that prompts you to restart the Oracle HTTP Server:

Error: Processing already completed

To correct this problem, upgrade to a newer version of Internet Explorer or refer to the Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 265369, which explains how to increase the SSL time-out value.

28.1.20 No Support for Changing Schema Passwords for OracleAS ProcessConnect or Oracle Workflow Components

For Oracle Application Server 9.0.4, the Application Server Control does not support changing the OracleAS ProcessConnect or Oracle Workflow Metadata Repository schema passwords.

28.1.21 Home Instance Disabled By Default in Infrastructure Installations

If you perform an OracleAS Infrastructure installation, then the OC4J instance labeled 'home' will be disabled by default. However, if you perform an Oracle Application Server J2EE and Web Cache, Portal and Wireless, or Business Intelligence and Forms installation, the OC4J instance labeled 'home' will be enabled by default. This is expected behavior.

28.1.22 Using the Infrastructure Page for Standalone Versions of OracleAS Forms Services and OracleAS Reports Services

If you install Oracle Forms and Reports Standalone Server 10g, launch Application Server Control, and then display the Infrastructure property page, you will see the following error in the Metadata Repository section of the page:

Error retrieving information of default metadata repository. Unable to establish secure connection to Oracle Internet Directory Server

In addition, the Configure button appears in the Identity Management section of the page. Both of these Infrastructure components are not applicable to the Forms and Reports Standalone Server 10g installation. As a result, you may disregard the error message and should not click on the Configure button.

28.1.23 Errors and Limitations When Editing HTTP Server Advanced Properties in Netscape Navigator

If you use Netscape Navigator 4.79 to apply or revert any changes to files opened from HTTP Server Advanced Server Properties page, you may receive the following error:

A network error occured while Netscape was receiving data
(Network Error: Connection aborted)

In addition, you will not be able to use the Netscape search feature to search for content within the configuration file you are editing on the Advanced Properties page.

This error does not occur if you use a supported version of Microsoft Internet Explorer.

28.1.24 Workaround for Redeploying WAR Applications With Enterprise Manager

On the OC4J Applications Page in the Application Server Control, you can deploy EAR files (applications with a file type of .ear) and deploy WAR files (web applications with a file type of .war).

To deploy a WAR file using Enterprise Manager, click Deploy War file on the OC4J Applications Page. This starts the deployment process for the WAR file.

The first time you deploy a WAR file, Enterprise Manager launches a deployment tool that automatically wraps the WAR application into a J2EE application (.ear file) before deploying it. The .ear file that Enterprise Manager creates to deploy your WAR file contains an application.xml file that describes the application modules. The .ear file is given an application name that you supply when you step through the deployment tool. After the WAR application is deployed, the name of the new application (.ear file) appears in the Deployed Applications table.

After you have deployed a WAR file using Enterprise Manager, it cannot be redeployed by selecting the application (.ear file) on the OC4J Applications Page and clicking Redeploy.

Instead, to redeploy a WAR file using Enterprise Manager, you must undeploy the application first, then deploy it again by following these steps:

  1. In the Deployed Applications table on the OC4J Applications Page, select the application (.ear file) in which the WAR file was wrapped and deployed.

  2. Click Undeploy.

  3. Click Deploy War file. In the deployment tool, specify the same application name as you specified the first time for the application (.ear file) in which the WAR file was wrapped and deployed.

After the WAR application is deployed, the name of the web application (.ear file) appears in the Deployed Applications table.

28.1.25 Page Cannot Be Displayed Error When Linking to Web Cache Administration Pages

When you monitor Oracle Application Server Web Cache using the Application Server Control Console, you can link directly from the Web Cache pages in the Application Server Control Console to the Web Cache Manager administration pages.

However, sometimes, when using Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0, you may get the following error when attempting to connect to the Web Cache Manager pages:

The page cannot be displayed

This error occurs after you have updated your system with one of the Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 security updates.

To workaround the problem:

  1. When the error appears in your browser, immediately review the URL in the Address field of the Internet Explorer browser.

  2. Remove the following text string in the URL:

    administrator:badpassword@
    
    
  3. Press Enter and, when prompted, enter the credentials for the Web Cache administrator account.

28.1.26 Deinstalling or Removing an Enterprise Manager Grid Control 10.1.0.2 Management Agent on a Computer with Oracle Application Server 10g (9.0.4)

If you installed the Enterprise Manager Grid Control 10.1.0.2 Management Agent on a computer which has one or more instances of Oracle Application Server 10g (Release 9.0.4), you must take certain actions to safely deinstall or remove the Management Agent.

If Oracle Application Server 10g was installed prior to the Management Agent, it will have been automatically discovered during the Management Agent installation and configuration phase. When you use the Grid Control Console, you should see the application server instance listed as a set of targets on the host where the Management Agent resides.

In addition, if you explicitly configured Central Management from the Application Server Control Console, or if you discovered the Oracle Application Server 10g instance by clicking the Add button on the Grid Control Console Application Servers subtab, you will need to follow these instructions if you want to remove the Management Agent:

  1. Before removing the Management Agent, remove the Application Server 10g instance from Grid Control Console using the following steps:

    1. In the Grid Control Console, select Targets, then Applications Servers.

    2. Select the instance that you want to remove, and click Remove.

    3. Confirm your action, and wait for the operation to complete.


    Note:

    You should wait for all the subtargets of the application server instance to be removed as well. You can check on the progress of this asynchronous operation by clicking Deleted Targets on the Management Services tab. Wait for all the targets pending deletion to be removed.

  2. Once this operation is done for each Oracle Application Server 10g instance on the host, you can then remove the Management Agent.

If you have already removed the Management Agent (through deinstallation or otherwise), remove the <AGENT_HOME> entry from the centralagents.lst file from the <AS_HOME>/sysman/emd directory. If the <AGENT_HOME> is the last entry, you can delete the centralagents.lst file. You must do this for each Oracle Application Server 10g instance. If you do not follow these steps, you may encounter errors when modifying your Oracle Application Server 10g configuration; for example, when creating or removing OC4J instances.

28.1.27 Enable Cookies for OracleAS Web Cache Management and Functionality Monitoring in Application Server Control

When you are using Application Server Control, you must have cookies enabled in your Web browser in order to manage and functionality monitoring of OracleAS Web Cache. For more information about enabling cookies, see the online help for your Web browser.

28.1.28 Problem Viewing Performance Charts and Configuring Identity Management Using a Macintosh Browser

When using the Apple Safari browser on a Macintosh computer, it is not possible to use the Application Server Control Console to configure or change the Identity Management configuration for an Application Server middle-tier installation.

Specifically, the problem occurs when you click Configure in the Identity Management section of the Infrastructure page in the Application Server Control Console. You can enter the host and port for the Identity Management host, but you cannot display the next page in the wizard.

In addition, the performance charts on the Application Server Home page do not display correctly in the Macintosh browser. Instead of a chart, small question marks appear in their place.

To fix this problem, perform the following procedure:

  1. Stop the Application Server Control using the following command:

    $ORACLE_HOME/bin/emctl stop iasconsole
    
    
  2. Use a text editor to open the following configuration file in the Oracle Home of the application server instance you are attempting to modify:

    $ORACLE_HOME/sysman/j2ee/config/emd-web-site.xml
    
    
  3. Locate the following entry in the file:

    <!-- The default web-app for this site, bound to the root -->
     <default-web-app application="em" name="default" />
    <web-app application="em" name="emd" root="/emd"  load-on-startup="true" />
    
    
  4. Add the following argument to the <web-app> tag:

    shared="true"
    
    

    For example:

    <!-- The default web-app for this site, bound to the root -->
       <default-web-app application="em" name="default" />
          <web-app application="em" name="emd" root="/emd"
             load-on-startup="true" shared="true"/>
    
    
  5. Save your changes and close the em-web-site.xml file.

  6. Start Application Server Control using the following command:

    $ORACLE_HOME/bin/emctl start iasconsole
    
    

28.1.29 Problems with the Progress Page When Using a Macintosh Browser

Often, when you perform an operation with the Application Server Control, such as creating a new OC4J instance, Enterprise Manager displays a progress page, which indicates that the operation is still in progress.

When using the Apple Safari browser on a Macintosh computer, the progress page continues to display even after the operation is complete. As a result, the operation confirmation page does not display as it should.

To solve this problem, set the EM_OC4J_OPTS environment variable to the following value and restart the Application Server Control:

-Doracle.sysman.emSDK.eml.util.iAS.waitForCompletion=true

See Also:

"Performance Notes for the Application Server Control" in the "Troubleshooting Application Server Control" appendix of the Oracle Application Server 10g Administrator's Guide for more information about using the EM_OC4J_OPTS environment variable

28.2 Documentation Errata

This section describes known errors in the documentation and online help. It includes the following topic:

28.2.1 Incorrect Location of the setupinfo.txt File

The setupinfo.txt file contains information about the URLs and port numbers you can use to access the Application Server Control, as well as other information about the Oracle Application Server installation.

The online help topic "Displaying the Application Server Control" incorrectly identifies the location of this file after the application server installation. The correct location of the file is:

$ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Apache/setupinfo.txt

28.2.2 Procedure Not Supported for Oracle Application Server 10g

Section 4.1.2 of the Oracle Application Server 10g Installation Guide, states that you can consolidate multiple instances of Oracle Enterprise Manager on the same computer to reduce memory usage. This procedure is not supported for this release of Oracle Application Server 10g.