Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud Software
 
Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud X2-2 Full Rack
 

PLA-Support>Database Technology>Engineered Systems>Oracle Exalogic>MW: Exalogic Core
 

Oracle Configuration Manager (OCM) for Oracle Exalogic

Applies to:

Purpose

Using OCM and RDA to collect configuration information in Exalogic environment

Details

What is an Engineered System?

An Engineered System is a system where the software and hardware are engineered together for maximum performance with minimum setup and operational cost. Current Engineered Systems include:

• Oracle Exadata Database Machine
• Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud
• SPARC SuperCluster T4-4
• Oracle Database Appliance
• Oracle Exalytics In-Memory Machine
• Oracle Big Data Appliance 

OCM and RDA

Oracle Support strongly encourages the use of OCM (Oracle Configuration Manager) and RDA (the Remote Diagnostic Agent) because they greatly reduce service request resolution time by minimizing the number of requests from Oracle Support for more information. OCM and RDA are designed to be as unobtrusive as possible; they do not modify systems in any way. They collect useful data for Oracle Support only and a security filter is provided if required. OCM and RDA capture data and provides Oracle Support with a comprehensive picture of the customer's environment which aids in problem diagnosis.

Using OCM and RDA to collect configuration information from your system takes a few minutes, but saves much more time than that when resolving your Service Request because the support engineer working on your issue has all the needed configuration information immediately, rather than having to ask for it all again. Because this saves time both for us and for you, we also provide Priority Handling for any Service Request (SR) which includes a configuration

What types of information are collected by OCM?

• Installed patches
• Deployment dates, versions, and type
• Deployed components and applications
• Configuration files
• Network configurations

OCM Support for Oracle Exalogic:

From the latest OCM release version of 10.3.7.0.0, OCM is supported on Exalogic. In this release, it supports patch recommendations in My Oracle Support, Oracle Configuration Manager collects patch information from WebLogic Server, Oracle JRockit, and Oracle Coherence environments in Oracle Exalogic.

Oracle Configuration Manager (OCM) for Exalogic:

OCM is installed along with FMW 11g + installation of Weblogic Server by default. If OCM has been deleted on your system, or it was not installed when WebLogic Server was, you can download it separately. In My Oracle Support, go to the Patches & Updates tab and choose "Product or Family." Search for "Oracle Configuration Manager" and choose the release corresponding to your product version. You will be able to download it from there.

For an Engineered System, we strongly recommend using the most recent version of Oracle Configuration Manager 10.3.7, and associate the OCM instance with the Engineered System's Hardware Support Identifier. This will enable you to log Service Requests (SRs) for both hardware and software products installed on your Engineered System. 

Where is OCM located?

FMW 11g installs the OCM binaries by default. The binaries are located in the following places depending on the 11g install type residing in the Middleware Home.
For FMW 11g Install Types featuring System Components (e.g "11gR1 Portal/Forms/Reports/Discoverer", "11gR2 Forms/Reports" and "Identity Management"), the binaries are located in:

For FMW 11g Install Types featuring only Java (WebLogic based) Components (e.g Weblogic 'standalone', SOA, Web Center) the binaries are located in:

Configuring the Oracle Configuration Manager (OCM)

If you are using Fusion Middleware 11g or higher (that is, Weblogic Server 10.3.4 +), we automatically Install OCM with weblogic server installation and collect OCM configuration information whenever you run RDA, as long as you have OCM 10.3.7 version configured. OCM configuration information is also automatically uploaded if you have OCM configured in connected mode. Here's how to make sure that you get the OCM data uploaded. 

If during the install of the Middleware software, or when running the Configuration Assistant to create an instance, you have chosen to "Register for Security Updates" OCM will be configured in 'Connected Mode'. If you chose not to "Register for Security Updates" then OCM binaries will exist but OCM will not be configured.

STEP 1: Verification

1. You may have already configured OCM when you installed WebLogic Server, so let's start by checking that. Open a command window at <MW_HOME>/utils/ccr/bin. 

          NOTE: <MW_HOME> == Oracle Middleware Home. In most cases, this is equivalent to what we called <BEA_HOME> prior to Fusion Middleware 11g.

2. Run this command: emCCR status
   If you cannot run emCCR or it doesn't exist in the directory, OCM is not currently set up: please skip to below step 5..
3. If you see results like this :
   
   user023@elorl02cn06 bin]$ ./emCCR status
Oracle Configuration Manager - Release: 10.3.7.0.0 - Production
Copyright (c) 2005, 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Start Date
Last Collection Time -
Next Collection Time 15-Jun-201x 12:45:00
Collection Frequency Daily at 12:45
Collection Status idle
Log Directory /refresh/user023/wlsinstall/1034/utils/ccr/hosts/elorl02cn06/log
Registered At 14-Jun-201x 13:50:05
Automatic Update On
Collector Mode Connected
   Then OCM is already enabled and connected. 

If you see results like below :

user023@elorl02cn06 bin]$ ./emCCR status
Oracle Configuration Manager - Release: 10.3.7.0.0 - Production
Copyright (c) 2005, 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Log Directory /refresh/user023/wlsinstall/1034/utils/ccr/hosts/elorl02cn06/log
Collector Mode Disconnected

        Then OCM is installed but it is in disconnected mode

     4.  To switch OCM from disconnected mode to connected mode please run the command

•    /refresh/user023/wlsinstall/1034/utils/ccr/bin/configCCR

ccr/bin/configCCR
Username: <your username>
Password: <your password>

OCM is now ready perform a collection and upload it automatically to My Oracle Support. It will also check your system daily for any changes to your configuration and will upload those changes to My Oracle Support as well, so that your configuration is kept up-to-date.If the OCM is not found , skip to step 5 for instructions on installing OCM.

  STEP 2 : Configuration:

If OCM is not enabled/configured or you are unable to run emCCR status, please follow the below steps:

The procedure for manually configuring / running OCM is slightly different depending on the following 3 types of installation.

• Install Types with only Java Components (e.g Weblogic, SOA, WebCenter)

• Install Types with only System Components (e.g Web Tier)

• Install Types with a mix of Java and System Components (e.g 11gR1 PFRD, 11gR2 Forms / Reports, IDM)

You can configure OCM in two modes.

Connected Mode:

• Data collection and upload is automated 
• Utility (emCCR set collection_interval) can be used to change frequency 
• OCM initiates outbound communications with Oracle. 
• Note: OCM does not listen for inbound communications, so firewall protections are preserved) 
• By default OCM automatically updates itself to newer versions 

Command:

$MIDDLEWARE_HOME/utils/ccr/bin/setupCCR

Note:
The OCM setup command will prompt for My Oracle Support credentials.

Reference:
Oracle Configuration Manager Installation and Administration Guide Release 10.3.6
3.2.3 Sample setupCCR Command Output 

If you do not supply username and password values the OCM setup will still proceed. However, the collections will be uploaded to My Oracle Support anonymously and you will NOT be able to view the collection via the My Oracle Support Dashboard.

Disconnected Mode:

• OCM will not collect data automatically nor attempt to connect to Oracle 
• It is necessary to manually perform a collection and upload the resulting ocmconfig.jar to Oracle via My Oracle Support. See notes. 
• You must manually update OCM to newer versions 

Command:

$MIDDLEWARE_HOME/utils/ccr/bin/setupCCR -d 

Type 1 : Install Types with only Java Components

For Java only products, there is no OCM shipped in ORACLE_HOME. The OCM installed by WebLogic Server 11g in MW_HOME/utils/ccr should be used. All configuration information is part of the WebLogic domain, and subject to collection by the OCM collector in the utils directory.

Set the environment variables for the target Weblogic domain and set ORACLE_HOME to the utils directory. Then run setupCCR to configure OCM.

Example : 

cd /u01/oracle/middleware/user_projects/domains/<domain name>/bin
. ./setDomainEnv.sh
ORACLE_HOME=/u01/oracle/middleware/utils; export ORACLE_HOME

Connected Mode :
$ORACLE_HOME/ccr/bin/setupCCR

Disconnected Mode :
$ORACLE_HOME/ccr/bin/setupCCR -d

Stop (if previously running) and start the admin server for your domain. During WebLogic Server's bootstrap process, it creates the file ccr/domainlocation.properties file that OCM uses to discover the domain. You are now ready to run the collector.

• Once OCM is configured as described above, perform a manual collection by executing this command: emCCR collect.

IMPORTANT TO NOTE:
One FMW 11g Middleware Home can contain one or more individual Weblogic domains. For information to be collected from a domain, a line referencing that domain must exist in the file

• ../utils/ccr/domainlocation.properties

This file will appear in the "ccr" directory as soon as the Admin Server of the first ever created Weblogic domain is started. Thereafter, lines are appended to the file whenever new domains are created. A line, referencing a newly created domain, is only added to the file when the Admin Server of the newly created domain is started.

The domainlocation.properties is created and dynamically maintained regardless of whether or not the OCM collector is configured in the "utils" directory. When the collector is configured and run, it will collect configuration data from the domains which are referenced in the domainlocation.properties.

Type 2:Install Types with System Components

For install types containing System Components only (e.g Web Tier) the OCM collector in the ORACLE_HOME needs to be configured and run.

In addition the environment variable ORACLE_CONFIG_HOME needs to be set to point at ORACLE_INSTANCE. Setting ORACLE_CONFIG_HOME enables the OCM Shared Home feature.

Reference:
Note:728989.1 Oracle Configuration Manager Installation and Administration Guide

Read "Appendix A Shared Homes" in the Oracle Configuration Manager
Installation and Administration Guide

The example below is for a Web Tier Oracle Home and Oracle Instance.
Example : 

BEA_HOME=/u01/oracle/middleware; export BEA_HOME
ORACLE_HOME=/u01/oracle/middleware/WebTier; export ORACLE_HOME
ORACLE_INSTANCE=/u01/oracle/middleware/instances/WT_inst1; export ORACLE_INSTANCE
ORACLE_CONFIG_HOME=$ORACLE_INSTANCE; export ORACLE_CONFIG_HOME

Connected Mode :
$ORACLE_HOME/ccr/bin/setupCCR

Disconnected Mode:
$ORACLE_HOME/ccr/bin/setupCCR -d

Running the setupCCR script will create a subset of the OCM configuration in the instance targeted by the ORACLE_CONFIG_HOME environment variable
e.g :

ORACLE_INSTANCE/ccr

Thereafter you are ready to run the collector.

• Once OCM is configured as described above, perform a manual collection by executing this command: emCCR collect.

Type 3: Install Types with System and Java Components

For install types containing a mix of Java and System components (e.g 11gR1 Portal/Forms/Reports/Discoverer, 11gR2 Forms/Reports, Identity Management), the OCM collector has to be run twice.

1. To collect the Weblogic / Java component information, configure and run the collector which resides in the "utils" directory. See instructions for "Install Types with only Java Components".

2. To collect the System component information (i.e the log and configuration data from an instance - ORACLE_INSTANCE), configure and run the collector which resides in the MIDDLEWARE_HOME/ORACLE_HOME/ccr directory.

In addition the environment variable ORACLE_CONFIG_HOME needs to be set to point at ORACLE_INSTANCE. Setting ORACLE_CONFIG_HOME enables the OCM Shared Home feature.

Reference:
Note:728989.1 Oracle Configuration Manager Installation and Administration Guide

Read "Appendix A Shared Homes" in the Oracle Configuration Manager
Installation and Administration Guide

Notes:

a) It is important to set the environment variables correctly before running setupCCR. These environment variables settings will determine the contents of

    

     If the environment variables are not set correctly in this file, an 'emCCR collect' post setup will only capture host operating system information.

b)  For a manual collection only, the ORACLE_CONFIG_HOME must be set prior to running 'emCCR collect' otherwise information from the ORACLE_INSTANCE will not be collected. OCM configured in 'Connected Mode' will recognize the existence of shared homes and collect data from them accordingly.

c) After an initial setup is done, the setupCCR script disappears and is replaced by configCCR. This is expected behaviour.

d) If you have additional Oracle Instances, which are not yet subject to OCM collections, you can configure them for OCM collections as follows:

       - Set the ORACLE_CONFIG_HOME environment variable to point at the ORACLE_INSTANCE directory
       - Run the command

• Connected Mode:

          ORACLE_HOME/ccr/bin/configCCR -a

                or

• Disconnected Mode:

          ORACLE_HOME/ccr/bin/configCCR -a -d

No such action is required with regards to OCM in the "utils" directory. Provided OCM is configured in the "utils" directory, the initial startup of an AdminServer of a newly created WebLogic domain will result in an update to the /ccr/domainlocation.properties file. The collector - when run from the "utils" directory - will collect information from any domain referenced in this domainlocation.properties file.

e) You can use 'configCCR' to switch between Connected and Disconnected Modes.

    For Java Components i.e OCM running in the "utils" directory run the command

• To switch from Connected to Disconnected:

          /utils/ccr/bin/configCCR -d

• To switch from Disconnected to Connected:

         /utils/ccr/bin/configCCR

For System Components i.e OCM running in ORACLE_HOME you have to first remove the existing OCM configuration from the ORACLE_INSTANCE

and then run configCCR again to switch modes - and in doing so recreate the "ccr" sub directory under ORACLE_INSTANCE.

• To switch from Connected to Disconnected:

           ORACLE_HOME/ccr/bin/configCCR -d

• To switch from Disconnected:

           ORACLE_HOME/ccr/bin/configCCR

Once OCM is configured as described above, perform a manual collection by executing this command: emCCR collect.

 You can review the results by opening the ccr/hosts/<hostname>/state/review/targetMap.xml file in a browser. This will also allow you to check exactly what information OCM collects. You should see target for Exalogic present in the targetMap.xml file.

NOTE:

If your WebLogic Server system is offline, you may set up OCM in disconnected mode instead. You will need to do a manual collection as described above in order to include your OCM data with your SR. To setup OCM in disconnected mode, run setupCCR -d instead of setupCCR.

For more information, please go to the My Oracle Support Collector tab and/or reference the Oracle Configuration Manager Quick Start Guide

Installing Latest Version of OCM

OCM shipped with Oracle Middleware 11g Rel 1 / 11g Rel 2 base media and/or Exalogic elastic cloud weblogic version is not the latest OCM version. Therefore it is highly recommended to upgrade to the latest OCM 10.3.7 or above version.

Do this as follows:

1. For each place you find the OCM binaries check whether OCM is already configured.

    To check the OCM status review the output from the command

    /ccr/bin/emCCR status

     You can also make the following checks:

• If  OCM is configured ORACLE_HOME/ccr/setupCCR script should not exist 

• The following file should exist ORACLE_HOME/ccr/hosts/mymachine.mycompany.com/config/emCCRenv 

•  If  OCM is not configured, the 'emCCR' command will only become available once the setupCCR has been run. In other words OCM has to be configured before it can be updated. Running the setupCCR will configure OCM and as such you can choose whether OCM is configured in 'Connected' or 'Disconnected' mode.

• If  OCM is configured in 'Connected Mode' then the OCM feature 'automatic_update' is enabled. This means any new version of OCM made available by Oracle will automatically be downloaded, replacing the existing version. No action or reconfiguration is required.

2. If  OCM is configured in 'Disconnected Mode' upgrading the version of OCM is a manual task.

• Download the latest OCM version via Patch:5567658
• Run the emCCR update_components command e.g

./emCCR update_components -distribution="/home/oracle/patches/OCM/p5567658_1033_LINUX.zip"
Oracle Configuration Manager - Release: 10.3.6.x.x - Production
Copyright (c) 2005, 2010, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Deploying core - Version 10.3.7.0.0
.
.
Deploying scripts - Version 10.3.7.0.0
.

OCM Collection Results:

•  Once a collection is performed using the command line 'emCCR collect', When OCM is running in Disconnected mode, the collection will result in a file called "ocmconfig.jar" in the "/ccr/hosts/<hostname>/state/upload" directory

e.g :

$MIDDLEWARE_HOME/utils/ccr/hosts/mymachine.oracle.com/state/upload/ocmconfig.jar

The individual xml files can be found in

$MIDDLEWARE_HOME/utils/ccr/hosts/mymachine.oracle.com/state/review

 

If OCM is running in connected mode no ocmconfig.jar is created. Instead the xml configuration files are automatically uploaded to the CCR.

• A collection may also be performed behind the scenes if you run RDA. The RDA output will include a file called "RDA_OCM_payload.jar"

•  An OCM collection can be uploaded to the OCM Repository via the My Oracle Support 'Create SR' process. If all you want to do is upload an OCM collection to the Repository, you do not actually have to submit the Service Request. In the Upload Files screen upload an RDA zip (which includes the RDA_OCM_payload.jar) or upload an ocmconfig.jar. Then click the "Save as Draft" button. You can then exit the SR creation process. Even if you delete the draft SR, the uploaded OCM collection will remain in the OCM Repository for future use and reference. It will take a few minutes before the uploaded configuration becomes visible in the Dashboard.

•  If you do ahead and submit a SR which includes an upload of "ocmconfig.jar" or a RDA zip file (which includes a "RDA_OCM_payload.jar"), within a few minutes a message should appear in the SR that the OCM data collection has been uploaded to the Configuration Repository. Once this happens the configuration can be viewed in the Systems and Targets Tables which can found on the My Oracle Support Dashboad.

•  Once a configuration is uploaded you can also assign the System ("OCM collection") to any Project or Service Requests.

Sample targetMap.xml file information from Exalogic node

The below sample output from running OCM 10.3.7 on Exalogic machine shows the Exalogic specific targets ("Exalogic Elastic Cloud" and "Exa Rack")  

<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="/refresh/user023/wlsinstall/1034/utils/ccr/admin/xsl/preview_targets.xsl"?>

 <Targets collection_time="2012-03-21 12:18:17" host_name="elorl02cn06.us.oracle.com"><Target name="elorl02cn06.us.oracle.com" type="Host">

    <Collection name="ll_host_config" file="180AA9042179E5D9EE906C2595A66C70-ll_host_config.xml" collection_timestamp="2012-03-21 12:18:17 America/New_York"/>

    <Collection name="Infiniband_HCA_Configuration" file="180AA9042179E5D9EE906C2595A66C70-Infiniband_HCA_Configuration.xml" collection_timestamp="2012-03-21 12:18:29 America/New_York"/></Target>

  <Target name="Oracle Configuration Manager" type="Oracle Configuration Manager">

    <Collection name="livelink_config" file="4C4D513479A734657152F9AB29978EF0-livelink_config.xml" collection_timestamp="2012-03-21 12:18:29 America/New_York"/>  </Target>

  <Target name="/ExalogicCloud_AK00002161" type="Exalogic Elastic Cloud">

    <Collection name="exalogic_system_config" file="229062D37B07F252B8BD8D02BB39DD75-exalogic_system_config.xml" collection_timestamp="2012-03-21 12:18:33 America/New_York"/>  </Target>

  <Target name="/ExalogicCloud_AK00002161/AK00002161" type="Exa Rack">

    <Collection name="exa_rack_config" file="A4BA9F3D6269D012FF3C5EAC72EA60AD-exa_rack_config.xml" collection_timestamp="2012-03-21 12:18:33 America/New_York"/> </Target>

Logging Service Requests (SRs) for Engineered Systems using OCM

Since Engineered Systems have both hardware AND software components, Oracle has designed a Service Request (SR) creation process specific to Engineered System incidents. To take advantage of this process, we ask that you follow these guidelines:

• Check your My Oracle Support User Profile to make sure your Support Identifiers are up-to-date and that both hardware and software Support Identifiers are listed for your Engineered Systems.

• Use Oracle Configuration Manager (OCM) to open an SR whenever possible. This will provide critical information to our Support Teams which will help expedite the resolution process.

Refer to the following Documents for further information

• Logging an Engineered System Service Request Using a Software Support Identifier
• Enhancements to Exadata and Exalogic Service Request Creation

OCM 10.3.7 Documentation :

OCM Documentation link 

Additional OCM reference documents:

The below Doc id contains screenshots of the download and installation process for OCM

• Documents Overview for the use of Configuration Information.
• Using OCM (Oracle Configuration Manager) With Core Oracle Fusion Middleware Components

This solution has no attachment