13
Oracle Enterprise Manager Forms Support
13.1 Introduction
This chapter describes how to install and configure Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM) for use with Forms. It also describes the features and functions of OEM. OEM is a system management tool that consist of a graphical Java console, management server, agents, and tools that provide you with an integrated systems management platform for managing Oracle products.
This chapter contains the following sections:
Detailed OEM documentation is located in:
- Oracle Enterprise Manager - Concepts Guide
- Oracle Enterprise Manager - Administration Guide
- Oracle Enterprise Manager - Configuration Guide
13.2 Why Should I Use OEM?
The OEM Forms administrator interface provides the following basic functions:
- Automatic node and service discovery: Forms Listener, Forms Server, Load Balancer Server, and Load Balancer Client are automatically discovered by OEM's Intelligent Agent on the node to be administered, and appears in the Navigator tree of the OEM console.
- Node and service control: Some basic controls such as startup and shut down are provided for discovered nodes and services.
- Node and service monitoring: Discovered Forms Listeners, Forms Servers, Load Balancer Servers, and Load Balancer Clients are monitored for the following events: Service down, Excessive memory usage, and Excessive CPU usage. When one of these events occurs, a pre-programmed action is taken to either alert the system administrator, or to try and fix the problem automatically.
13.3 OEM Components
There are three OEM components that you need to install in order to manage Forms Servers:
- OEM Management Server (OMS): This is the software that controls and acts as the central repository for OEM. Install OMS on only one machine. This OMS machine will manage the other machines.
- OEM Console: This software provides the user interface for OMS.
- OEM Agent: This software collects Forms Server data and sends it back to OMS. The OEM Agent must be installed on every Forms Server machine that is to be managed by OMS.
13.4 Installing and Configuring OEM Components for Use with Forms
The OEM Management Server (OMS), OEM Console, and OEM Agent software are installed as part of Oracle Internet Application Server.
13.4.1 Configuring Forms Support for OEM
After Forms and OMS are installed, do the following. Be sure that the OMS service is not running while performing the following steps.
- On the machine where OMS is installed, change directories to $ORACLE_HOME\sysman\admin.
- Connect to the OEM repository database using a login that has system privileges (e.g. system).
- Run the "createOEMFormsUser.sql" script to create an OEM Forms User who will support Forms specific data in the OEM repository. (You can modify this script to add default tablespace, quota, and so on. However, you cannot change the user name and password in the script.)
- Connect to the database as the OEM Forms User. (See the SQL script you just ran for the user name and password.)
- Run the "createOEMFormsTables.sql" script to create the necessary tables in the OEM repository.
- On the machine where the console is installed, create a TNS entry in the Tnsnames.ora file to connect to the OEM repository database. Use the same TNS alias as the one used to connect to the EM repository on the OMS machine.
13.4.2 Starting the OMS Service
To start the OMS Service, type:
oemctrl start oms
or start the service from the control panel on Windows NT.
13.5 Managing Forms Servers from the OEM Console
You cannot manage a pre-existing Forms Listener from OEM. You must create it first from the OEM console.
13.5.1 Locating Nodes
Before OEM can manage a remote Forms Server machine, it has to locate it. To do this:
- In the OEM Console, choose Discover Node from the menu.
- Enter the node name. For example, formssrv-pc.
13.5.2 Entering the Administrative User's Credentials in the OEM Console
To enter the administrative user's credentials in the OEM console:
- Start the OEM Console.
- Choose Preferences from the System menu.
- Choose the Preferred Credentials tab.
- Find the name of the remote Forms Server machine you want to administer in the Service Name column. Be sure to select a row where the Service Type is Node.
- Enter the operating system user name and password for the user that has performed the Oracle Internet Application Server instalation on this node.
Note: On Windows NT, the user needs to be granted the "Log on as a service" user right in the User Manager.
13.5.3 Viewing Forms Runtime Instances from the OEM Console
To view Forms Runtime Instances from the OEM Console:
- From the OEM Console, select Developer Servers, Forms_Listeners_<RemoteMachineName>, .
- Right-click and select List Runtime Processes.
13.6 OEM Menu Options
The following menu options are available for managing Forms Listeners, Forms Servers, Load Balancer Servers, and Load Balancer Clients.
13.6.1 Controlling Forms Listeners Group
The commands available from the right mouse menu are:
- Create New: You are prompted for a list of parameters before a new listener process is created. Once the listener process is created, an entry is displayed in the Navigator tree, and the listener is started.
- List Runtime Processes: This will bring up a separate window with a list of Forms runtime processes running on this node. See Runtime Processes List Window.
- Refresh: This will discover existing Forms Listeners running on this node, and will also refresh the running/not running status of all Forms Listener instances on this node.
13.6.2 Controlling Forms Listeners Instance
The commands available from the right mouse menu are:
- Start: The listener starts, if the listener is currently down.
- Stop: The listener is shut down, and the Listener instance is marked as down with a special icon.
- Create Like: Much like a copy command, it creates another listener with the same parameters as the current one. You are prompted by a dialog similar to the Create New command to make any necessary changes.
- Modify: A dialog box allows you to modify the startup parameters and environment variables.
- Delete: The Listener instance is deleted from the navigator tree. A Forms Listener instance can only be deleted if there are no Runtime processes associated with this listener. A deleted listener is shut down from the node automatically.
- Properties: Brings up a list of parameters, environment variables, and runtime processes associated with this Forms Listener instance.
13.6.3 Runtime Processes List Window
This is a table type listing of all the current Forms Runtime processes on a particular node. Each row represents a Runtime process. The following fields are displayed:
- Listener name
- Node name
- IP address
- User
- PID
- Connect time
- Dynamic logging status
- Memory usage
- CPU %
13.6.4 Controlling Forms Runtime Processes
The commands available from the right mouse menu are:
- Kill: A kill signal is sent to the Runtime instance to stop its execution. This is mainly used to stop a malicious runtime process from doing further damage.
- Logging ON: Turns on dynamic logging for the Runtime instance. The log will be written to a temporary file with a generated file name. The file format is the same as the one generated by Forms Runtime Diagnostic (FRD).
- Logging OFF: Turns off dynamic logging for the Runtime instance.
- View Log: Displays the log file generated from the dynamic logging command.
13.6.5 Controlling Load Balancer Server Group
The command available from the right mouse menu is:
- Create New: A Load Balancer Server instance is created. Supported parameters are: <port #1> <port #2> <max. no. of client> <trace level>.
Load Balancer Server is also known as Metrics Server.
13.6.6 Controlling Load Balancer Server Instance
The commands available from the right mouse menu are:
- Start: Load Balancer Server is started.
- Stop: The server is shut down.
- Create Like: Much like a copy command, it creates another Load Balancer Server with the same parameters as the current one.
- Modify: A dialog box is displayed to allow you to modify the start up parameters and environment variables.
- Delete: Deletes Load Balancer Server from the Navigator tree. A deleted server is shut down from the node automatically.
- Properties: Bring up a separate window that shows any relevant information about this Load Balancer Server.
Load Balancer Server is also known as Metrics Server.
13.6.7 Controlling Load Balancer Client Group
The commands are exactly the same as the Load Balancer Server object type. The supported parameters are:
<Master Server host name> <Remote port> <Local port> <Scale Factor>
Load Balancer Client is also known as Metrics Client.
13.6.8 Controlling Load Balancer Client Instance
The commands are exactly the same as the Load Balancer Server object instance.
Load Balancer Client is also known as Metrics Client.
13.6.9 Monitoring Functions
Events are listed in the Events Management window of the OEM console. They can be turned on or off by registering or un-registering with OEM. Once an event is created and registered with OEM, OEM can notify the system administrator or run a fixit job when an event occurs.
The following events are available for you to register:
- Listener down: This event can be scheduled with or without a Listener fixit job. A Listener fixit job is available to restart the Listener when this event occurs. Whenever a Listener goes down, an entry is written to the Event log, which is viewable from the OEM console.
Note:
You must schedule a fixit job before you can schedule an event with a fixit job.
- Load Balancer server down: Similar to Listener down. This event can be scheduled with or without a Load Balancer server fixit job.
- Load Balancer client down: Similar to Load Balancer server down. This event can be scheduled with or without a Load Balancer client fixit job.
- Excessive CPU usage by Runtime Process: The system administrator is notified when a Runtime Process consumes too much CPU time. This event is checked every X seconds; you set the time interval. You can select an Alert threshold, Warning threshold, and the number of occurrences.
- Excessive virtual memory usage by Runtime Process: When virtual memory is consumed beyond a certain amount by a Runtime process, the system administrator is notified. This is similar to the Excessive CPU usage event. You can set the following parameters: event interval, warning threshold (in KB of virtual memory), alert threshold (in KB of virtual memory), and number of occurrences.
