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Starting and Stopping Oracle9iAS Reports Services

This chapter provides information on starting and stopping Oracle9iAS Reports Services. It includes the following main sections:

• Starting the Reports Server

• Verifying the Reports Servlet and Server Are Running

• Verifying that the Oracle HTTP Server Is Running

• Stopping the Reports Server

  Note: The examples in this chapter use ORACLE_HOME to denote where the Oracle9i Application Server is installed. This includes Oracle9iAS Reports Services.

If you plan to run reports on the Web, you must first start the Oracle HTTP Server. You'll find information on doing this in your Oracle9iAS documentation. When you follow any of the procedures in this chapter, we assume you have already started the Oracle HTTP Server.

2.1 Starting the Reports Server

You have these options for running the Reports Server:

• Installing and Starting the Reports Server as a Service (Windows NT/2000)

• Starting the Reports Server as a Servlet (Windows and UNIX)

• Starting the Reports Server from a Command Line (Windows and UNIX)

The following subsections tell you how to set up each of these options.

2.1.1 Installing and Starting the Reports Server as a Service (Windows NT/2000)

By default, the Reports Server is installed as an in-process server, but, if you wish, you can install the Reports Server as a service on a Windows NT/2000 machine. To do so, at the command prompt enter:

rwserver -install <server_name> [batch=yes/no] [autostart=yes/no]

For batch, the default is no. Enter yes if you don't want to be prompted for confirmation during installation. For autostart, the default is no. Enter yes if you want the service to start automatically at reboot without requiring a user to logon and manually start the Reports Server.

Add the cluster name to this command if this server will be a member of a cluster. For example:

rwserver -install <server_name>.<cluster_name> [batch=yes/no] [autostart=yes/no]

To learn more about clustering servers together, see Chapter 6, "Reports Server Clusters".

Note: To remove the Reports Server NT/2000 service, at a command prompt enter: rwserver -uninstall <server_name>. Include the cluster name if the server is a member of a cluster, for example: rwserver -uninstall <server_name>.<cluster_name>.

To start your Reports Server on Windows NT/2000:

1. On the machine that hosts the Reports Server, choose Start > Settings > Control Panel and double-click in the Control Panel folder.

2. In the Services dialog box, choose Oracle Reports Server [repserver], where <repserver> is the name of the Reports Server instance, and click Startup. The Services dialog window displays.

3. In the Services dialog window, select This Account in the Log On As section, and select an operating system user name and password. This specifies the user account under which the server process is run.

   Note: If you want to output to Postscript or to a printer, then ensure the user running the Reports Server service has access to a default printer. Do this by using a specific, real user who has printer access when you set up the Log On As section of your NT/2000 service. Typically, the System Account does not have access to printers. For that matter, the user running the Reports Server service must have access to anything the server may need. For example, the server may need write access to another drive.

4. Set the Startup Type of the service to Automatic when the system is started.

5. Click OK.

6. Click Start.

   A Service Control message box indicates when your Reports Server has started.

2.1.2 Starting the Reports Server as a Servlet (Windows and UNIX)

If you are using the Reports Server as an in-process server (the default configuration), just sending a request starts up the servlet; however, if you are sending a request via a command line, the servlet must be invoked via a URL first. When you have successfully started the servlet, this also means you have successfully started the HTTP Server.

To start the Reports Servlet from a URL, enter the following from your Web browser:

http://<your_machine_name>:<your_port_num>/reports/rwservlet

2.1.3 Starting the Reports Server from a Command Line (Windows and UNIX)

You can also start the Reports Server as a stand-alone server on Windows NT/2000 using the following command:

rwserver server=<server_name>

Add the BATCH command line keyword to start up the server without displaying dialog boxes or messages.

rwserver server=<server_name> batch=yes

You can run this command on UNIX using the following syntax:

rwserver.sh server=<server_name>

Or:

rwserver.sh server=<server_name> batch=yes

You can run this command from any directory as long as the executable can be reached in your PATH environment variable.

2.2 Verifying the Reports Servlet and Server Are Running

To verify that the Oracle9iAS Reports Servlet is running, navigate to the following URL:

http://<your_machine_name>.<domain_name>:<your_port_
number>/reports/rwservlet/help

Note that the URL is case sensitive. If this URL executes successfully, you should get a help page describing the rwservlet command line arguments.

To verify that the Reports Server is running, navigate to the following URL:

http://<your_machine_name>.<domain_name>:<your_port_
number>/reports/rwservlet/showjobs?server=<server_name>

The server=<server_name> argument is not required if you are using the default Reports Server name (rep_<machine_name>) or the Reports Server specified in the servlet configuration file, rwservlet.properties (ORACLE_HOME\reports\conf\). If this URL executes successfully, you should see a listing of the job queue for the specified Reports Server.

Note: You'll find more information about the servlet configuration file in Chapter 3, "Configuring Oracle9iAS Reports Services".

2.3 Verifying that the Oracle HTTP Server Is Running

To verify that the Oracle HTTP Server is running, in your browser, navigate to the following URL:

http://<server_name>.<domain>:<port_number>/

2.4 Stopping the Reports Server

This section discusses how to stop the Reports Server on Windows NT/2000 and UNIX.

• If the Reports Server is running on NT/2000 as a service, stop it through the Services control panel.

• If the Reports Server running on NT/2000 through a batch file, or on UNIX through a shell script, click the Shutdown button in the Oracle Reports Server dialog box.

• Launch Oracle Enterprise Manager, and navigate to the Reports Server you wish to shut down; click the Stop button on the selected Reports Server's home page. For more information about Reports and Oracle Enterprise Manager, see Chapter 13, "Managing and Monitoring Oracle9iAS Reports Services".

• If the Reports Server is running as an in-process server via the Reports Servlet, shut down OC4J through the Oracle Program Manager (OPMN). See the Oracle9iAS documentation for more information on OPMN.

• If the Reports Server running from a command line on NT/2000 or UNIX, at the command prompt enter the following command:

  For Windows NT/2000 and UNIX (on UNIX use rwserver.sh in lieu of rwserver):

  This shuts down the server normally (i.e., finishes pending jobs and then stops):

  rwserver server=<server> shutdown=normal authid=<admin/pword>
  

  This shuts down the server immediately (i.e., stops without finishing pending jobs):

  rwserver server=<server> shutdown=immediate authid=<admin/pword>
  

  This shuts down the server without displaying any related messages:

  rwserver server=<server> shutdown=normal authid=<admin/pword> batch=yes
  

The keywords used with the rwserver command are described in Appendix A, "Command Line Arguments".