Forms Server in R12 Oracle Applications

Forms Server in R12 Oracle Applications can be configured in two different
modes: Servlet and Socket
Servlet mode: -------------
Forms Server is started in Servlet mode using the script
<>/adformsctl.sh
- All the variables required by Forms Server in Servlet mode are defined in
<>/ora/10.1.2/forms/server/default.env
Forms Server when started in Servlet mode reads the name-value pairs
defined in the file <>/ora/10.1.2/forms/server/default.env to
determine the values for different variables .
Socket mode: ------------
- Forms Server is started in Socket mode using the script
<>/adformsrvctl.sh
- All the variables required by Forms Server in Socket mode are set in
<>/ora/10.1.2/forms/server/socket.env
- Forms Server when started in Socket mode reads the values for different
variables from the environment
- All the variables are set in the environment by the script
<>/adformsctl.sh by sourcing the file
<>/ora/10.1.2/forms/server/socket.env before starting the Forms
Server.

R12 AND OC4J STANDARD

1)OC4J is used for executing Servlets,Java Server Pages (JSP), Enterprise Java Beans (EJB)
2)OC4J replaces the older JServ implementation for running servlets on the web server
3)Oracle Application Server 10gR3 (10.1.3) is the latest production version

OC4J is based on J2EE standards:Specific directory structure,File requirements (content & naming conventions),XML file definitionOC4J instances run in JVM’s and communicate through mod_oc4j / Apache

R12 creates 3 OC4J instances:
**************************************
Oacore: runs OA Framework-based applications
Forms: runs Forms-base applications
OAFM: runs web services, mapviewer, ascontrol

Number of OC4J instances for each group will be determined by corresponding nprocs context variable ( s_oacore_nprocs, s_forms_nprocs/s_frmsrv_nprocs, s_oafm_nprocs).

Servlets deployed to OC4J server adhere to J2EE specification
Deployment is through an Enterprise Archive (EAR) file, which contains the application definition and Web Application (WAR) files, which in turn includes the web application code (JAR), and associated configuration files (servlet definitions), JSP code,HTML

Forms.EAR 10.1.2 is deployed to the OC4J container in Application Server 10.1.3AutoConfig is used for configuration management similar to Release 11i.

Important files used for configuation of OC4J instances

Oc4j.properties : defines basic Apps directory aliasing,dbc file location is defined in this fileServer.xml : defines J2EE applications and their shared libraries for runtime OC4J.
Orion-application.xml : defines location of Java classes of all J2EE web modules deployed under J2EE. applicationOrion-web.xml : defines servlet level parameters for J2EE web modules.

These files are synomynous with jserv.conf,jserv.properties in 11i.

Oracle Process Manager and Notification server (OPMN) manages AS components and consists of:

Oracle Notification Server (ONS):

Delivers notifications between components
OHS<->OPMN<->OC4J

Process Manager (PM) start,stop, restart, death detection

($ADMIN_SCRIPTS_HOME contains the Apps equivalent scripts called ad*)
Single configuration file(opmn.xml) is used OPMN to manage the services.
Config file location is given as $ORA_CONFIG_HOME/10.1.3/opmn/conf/opmn.xmlServices managed by opmn are 1) HTTP_Server
2) oacore
3) forms
4) oafm

Autoconfig Reverts to old Context File Values

Symptoms
=========
Each time AutoConfig contextfile is amended and Autoconfig is run the changes made to the Contextfile are not implemented in the instance and the changed values in the Contextfile revert to their previous values.
Cause
========
Each Contextfile version has a serial number given in the parameter:

When autoconfig is run, this serial number is written to the table: FND_OAM_CONTEXT_FILES against the version of the Context file:

For example for a Context file containing the following information:
- apps_contextfile
67

However it is possible that the Apps Tier Contextfile serial number can become unsynchronised with the serial number information in the table.If the serial number in the filesystem reads a lower value compared with that showing in the table for the same contextfile version, then each time Autoconfig is run, AutoConfig will see that the table is showing the higher value and it will replace the Contextfile in the filesystem with the parameter values from the contextfile associated with the serial number in the table. This results in any changes made to the filesystem Contextfile being ignored.
The adconfig log file will show the following:
---------------------------------------------------------------- File system Context file :/u11/app//appl/admin/apps_contextfile.xml
Checking the Context file for possible updates from the Database Comparing the Context file stored in database with the Context file in the file system
Result : File system Context is below par with respect to the data base Context
Action to be taken : Copy the Data Base Context onto the file system Result : Context file successfully copied
Solution1. Manually change the serial number parameter "s_contextserial" in the Apps Tier Contextfile on the Filesystem to a value which is one more than the highest version of the serial number in the FND_OAM_CONTEXT_FILES table, for the relative Contextfile version. 2. Run AutoConfig.

OC4J expands to Oracle Containers For Java.

Originally based on the IronFlare Orion Application Server, has developed solely under Oracle's control since Oracle Corporation acquired the source.( this is the reason why you see config files are named as orion-web.xml, orion-application.xml etc.,)

In laymans terms OC4J can be described as "Oracle's Implementation of J2EE specification set".Sample specification set can be found here.For example you have finance application which got developed using JSP and servlet specifications.

You can package them as war/ear files and deploy them in OC4J containers which will run the applications as per the clients' request from web browser. There are lot more done by OC4J but above one was a simple example.

It will have xml based config files.

In R12 we have 3 groups of OC4J's. OC4J replaces Jserv(Java servlet containers) which came with earlier 11i techstack.
oacore OC4J - Supports framework based applications

forms OC4J - Supports forms based applications

oafm OC4J - expands to Oracle Application Fusion Middleware - for mapviewer, webservices, ascontrol

Number of OC4J instances for each group will be determined by corresponding nprocs context variable ( s_oacore_nprocs, s_forms_nprocs/s_frmsrv_nprocs, s_oafm_nprocs).-bash-

To be more precise, forms.ear application is deployed in forms OC4J to server forms based applications. ( $IAS_ORACLE-HOME/j2ee/forms/applications/forms.ear)oafm.ear, mapviewer.ear, ascontrol.ear applications (can be found at $IAS_ORACLE-HOME/j2ee/oafm/applications/) are deployed under oafm OC4J container.

But remember, even if one file change in ear file, will leads to creation of new ear file and redeployment, which is time consuming. hence the dummy ear file is used and config files are tweaked to support adpatching in ebiz R12.OC4J deployment will create specific directory structure and similar config files. I will cover them in detail in forthcoming posts.I hope You understood bit about OC4J

Why does R12 have both 10.1.2 and 10.1.3 homes

R12 Ebiz and Application Server 10g
Application server versions 9iAS:
Oracle 9iAS R1: 1.0.2.0 - 1.0.2.2.2
Oracle 9iAS R2: 9.0.2.0.0 - 9.0.3.0.0

Oracle 10g AS:
Oracle 10gAS R1: 9.0.4.0.0 - 9.0.4.3
Oracle 10gAS R2: 10.1.2 - 10.1.2.2.0
Oracle 10gAS R3: 10.1.3.0 - 10.1.3.3

In R12, 10.1.2 AS and 10.1.3 AS Homes are newly introduced in lieu of 8.0.6 and iAS(1.0.2.2) - 11i Architecture.

You may ask why do we have 10.1.2. AS and 10.1.3 AS?
Well, here is the answer.10.1.2 AS installation will be supporting forms based applications.
It is Stanalone 10.1.2 forms/reports server installation. Other components are not included.10.1.3 AS techstack will be used by java based applications.10.1.3 AS instance brings latest OC4J code which is successor of 10.1.2 AS.
10.1.3 AS release doesn't contain forms/reports products. Hence to take advantage of latest oc4j code 10.1.3 AS got introduced.
But to support ebiz forms applications 10.1.2 AS introduced.
Recently 10.1.3.3 got certified with R12 Suite.