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Oracle® Collaboration Suite Installation and Configuration Guide
Release 2 (9.0.4.1) for hp-ux PA-RISC (64-bit), Linux x86, and Solaris Operating Environment (SPARC 32-bit)

Part Number B10874-04
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4 Oracle Collaboration Suite Deployment Methods

This section describes different methods for deploying the three Oracle Collaboration Suite installations and lists deployment recommendations. It also covers database tuning if you plan to use existing Oracle9i databases with Oracle Collaboration Suite components.

This chapter contains this topic:

4.1 Oracle9iAS Infrastructure Deployments

Oracle9iAS Infrastructure deployment typically includes one Oracle9iAS Single Sign-On instance and one Oracle Internet Directory instance in a network, with one or more installations of Oracle Management Server.

To configure Oracle Internet Directory and Oracle9iAS Single Sign-On on separate hosts, perform the following procedures when prompted at the Select Configuration Options screen during installation:

  1. Select the configuration of Oracle Internet Directory and deselect the configuration of Oracle9iAS Single Sign-On on the first host, Host 1, during installation.

  2. Select configuration of Oracle9iAS Single Sign-On and deselect configuration of Oracle Internet Directory on the second host, Host 2, during installation.

  3. Point the Oracle9iAS Single Sign-On configuration on Host 2 to the Oracle Internet Directory configuration on Host 1 during installation.

    If you plan to install Oracle Internet Directory on more than one host to form a directory replication network, configure Oracle9iAS Single Sign-On with only one of the Oracle Internet Directory instances. The remaining instances of Oracle Internet Directory must not associate with any Oracle9iAS Single Sign-On configuration.


    See Also:

    Oracle Internet Directory Application Developer's Guide available on Oracle Technology Network at

    http://otn.oracle.com/


4.2 Oracle Collaboration Suite Information Storage Deployment

Some Oracle Collaboration Suite components that interact with customer data use the information storage database for metadata schema storage. Multiple Oracle Collaboration Suite component installations of the same type can use the same, or different, information storage databases. A single database instance can hold metadata schemas and data for different Oracle Collaboration Suite components.

4.3 Oracle Collaboration Suite Middle Tier Deployment

All Oracle Collaboration Suite middle tier installations require Oracle9iAS Infrastructure. You can use the Oracle9iAS Infrastructure included in the Oracle Collaboration Suite CD pack, or you can upgrade an existing Oracle9iAS Infrastructure 9.0.2.0.0 or 9.0.2.0.1 version to use with Oracle Collaboration Suite.

You must have Oracle Internet Directory and Oracle9iAS Single Sign-On installed and configured on your network. Oracle Corporation also recommends a separate Oracle9iAS Metadata Repository for all your middle tier applications. If you have an existing Oracle9iAS Infrastructure, see "Upgrading Oracle9iAS Infrastructure".

All Oracle Collaboration Suite middle tier applications can share the same Oracle9iAS Metadata Repository, and typically do not share the same Oracle9iAS Metadata Repository as Oracle Internet Directory.

You can install only one middle tier per host but you can configure multiple instances of the Oracle Collaboration Suite from a single host. Note that Oracle Email should only be configured once on a single host. However, you cannot install the Oracle Collaboration Suite middle tier into an Oracle9iAS Infrastructure Oracle home or an existing Oracle9iAS middle tier Oracle home.

The Oracle Collaboration Suite consists of several middle tier applications, including Oracle9iAS Portal and Oracle Ultra Search. Oracle9iAS Portal and Oracle Ultra Search can connect to either an:

Oracle Ultra Search indexing is automatically stored in an Oracle9iAS Metadata Repository or it can be stored in an Oracle9i database. Store Oracle Ultra Search indexing in an Oracle9iAS Metadata Repository other than the repository used by Oracle Internet Directory.

Oracle Email components must connect to an Oracle9i release 2 (9.2) database in order to store voice mail and faxes in an Oracle Email inbox.

All Oracle Collaboration Suite middle tier applications except Oracle Email, Oracle Files, and Oracle Calendar automatically store their information in an Oracle9iAS Metadata Repository.


Notes:

  • The Oracle Collaboration Suite middle tier can be installed as a single instance or as multiple instances on one or many hosts. If you install more than one instance of Oracle Collaboration Suite middle tier on a single host, do not configure Oracle Email or Oracle Calendar more than once.

  • Upgrade of an Oracle9iAS middle tier to this version of Oracle Collaboration Suite is not supported.


This section contains these topics:

4.3.1 Deploying Oracle Calendar

When Oracle Calendar is installed, many components are installed on the computer. These include Oracle Calendar server components such as engine, daemons, and utilities, and Web components, such as Oracle Calendar Web client, Oracle Calendar Administrator, Oracle Calendar Sync Server, and Oracle Calendar Web services. If more than one instance of Oracle Calendar server is installed on the same computer, redundant copies of some components will exist.

In order to avoid redundancy, it is recommended that the software be distributed on two computers: a front-end server and a back-end server, with the Web applications on the front-end server and the Oracle Calendar server components on the back-end server. This helps eliminate the multiple copies of Web applications and Oracle HTTP Server instances and a load balancing approach can be taken for the Web server by increasing the number of front-end servers, as shown in Figure 4-1.

This configuration also allows you to isolate the back-end server behind a firewall and to set up a DMZ.

Figure 4-1 Oracle Calendar Deployment

See the surrounding text for a description of this image

4.3.2 Deploying Oracle Email

Review the following considerations before installing the Oracle Collaboration Suite middle tier and configuring Oracle Email:

  • Configure only one Oracle Email instance on a single computer.

  • Use an Oracle Collaboration Suite information storage database or tune an existing Oracle9i database.

4.3.3 Deploying Oracle Files

Review the following considerations before installing the Oracle Collaboration Suite middle tier and configuring Oracle Files:

  • Review "Verify Requirements and Choose a Deployment Type".

  • Use an Oracle Collaboration Suite information storage database or tune an existing Oracle9i database.


    See Also:

    Oracle Files Planning Guide and "Oracle Files Concepts" in Oracle Files Administrator's Guide for information on planning your Oracle Files deployment

4.3.3.1 Verify Requirements and Choose a Deployment Type

Evaluate your hardware resources, using the detailed information regarding Oracle Files hardware and sizing requirements described in the Oracle Files Planning Guide, and choose an appropriate deployment path:

Multiple Computer Deployment for Production Environments for Oracle Files

Oracle Files is designed to run as middle tier, application server software supported by Oracle Collaboration Suite. For optimal performance, run the database on one computer, Oracle Files on another computer, and the Oracle9iAS Infrastructure on a third computer.

A component of Oracle9iAS Infrastructure, Oracle Internet Directory, is required for managing Oracle Files user credentials.

Single Computer Deployment for Oracle Files

Oracle Files and all of its required components can be installed on a single computer if the computer meets all hardware and software requirements listed in the Oracle Files Planning Guide. To install and deploy Oracle Files:

  1. Install and configure Oracle Internet Directory, a part of Oracle9iAS Infrastructure, into one Oracle home.

  2. Install and configure Oracle Collaboration Suite Information Storage into a different Oracle home.

  3. Install the Oracle Collaboration Suite middle tier and configure Oracle Files into a third Oracle home.

  4. Use the Oracle Files configuration assistant to configure Oracle Files by following the instructions in Chapter 12, "Configuring Oracle Files".

4.3.4 Deploying Oracle Ultra Search

Oracle Ultra Search requires Oracle Text. Oracle Text is installed with the Oracle9iAS Infrastructure and Oracle Collaboration Suite information storage installations. If you are using an existing Oracle9i database, ensure that Oracle Text is installed and configured.

Oracle Corporation recommends installing and configuring a separate Oracle9iAS Metadata Repository if you plan to use the Oracle Ultra Search indexing feature. Oracle Ultra Search indexing is automatically stored in the Oracle9iAS Metadata Repository. Store Oracle Ultra Search indexing in an Oracle9iAS Metadata Repository other than the repository used by Oracle Internet Directory.

Review the following considerations before installing the Oracle Collaboration Suite middle tier and configuring Oracle Ultra Search:

4.3.4.1 Sufficient RAM

The Ultra Search indexing engine runs within Oracle. Therefore, it is important that the system have enough memory to accommodate a large Oracle installation. The Oracle instance system global area must be a minimum of 50 MB.


See Also:

Oracle9i Database Performance Tuning Guide and Reference

The Ultra Search Web crawler runs as a separate Java process on the same host. Allocate 50 MB of memory for the Web crawler alone.

The Ultra Search administration tool is a J2EE 1.2 standard Web application. It can be installed and run on a separate host from the Ultra Search server component. However, running this component on the same host as the Ultra Search server component may limit scalability. Regardless of your choice, allocate enough memory for the J2EE engine. Oracle Corporation recommends using the Oracle HTTP server with the Oracle9iAS Containers for J2EE. Allocate enough memory for the Oracle HTTP server and the JDK that runs the J2EE engine.

4.3.4.2 Sufficient Disk Space

Because customer requirements vary widely, Oracle cannot recommend a specific amount of disk space. The following minimal requirements are meant as general guidelines:

  • Allocate the same amount of disk space as needed to install the Ultra Search server component for each remote crawler host.

  • Create a temporary tablespace as large as available, depending on the RAM on your host.

  • Create the tablespace for the Ultra Search instance user as large as the total amount of data that you want to index. For example, if you estimate that the total amount of data to be crawled and indexed is 10 GB, then create a tablespace that is at least 10 GB for the Ultra Search instance user. Make sure to assign that tablespace as the default tablespace of the Ultra Search instance user.


    Note:

    The Ultra Search instance user is a database user that you must explicitly create. All data that is collected and processed as part of the crawling and indexing process is stored in this user's schema.

4.3.4.3 Software Requirements

The Ultra Search middle tier components are Web applications. Therefore, they require a Web server to run. Oracle Corporation recommends the Oracle HTTP Server and Jserv or Oracle HTTP Server and the Oracle9iAS Containers for J2EE.

4.3.4.4 Performance Factors and Sizing Guidelines

This section describes the hardware required for Oracle Ultra Search to provide uniform search capabilities across the repositories of typical small, medium, and large organizations.

Crawling and indexing performance depends on the number of documents to search, average size of documents, the kinds of documents (whether or not these documents require conversion from a native format through INSO), and other factors.


Note:

The actual data collected due to crawling and indexing is not stored in the user's schema. However, tokens from the data are stored.

Query performance depends on the number of users querying in consecutive, simultaneous fashion within a given, small time period, say 15 minutes. Query performance also depends on the data set size and computer resources (CPUs/memory).

Small, medium, and large corporations are defined in Table 4-1:

Table 4-1 Performance Factors for Small, Medium, and Large Corporations  

Performance Factors Small Medium Large
Number of Documents on Corporate Intranet 50000 500000 2500000
Average Size of Document (KB) 50 50 50
Concurrent Search Users <10 <10 <10

Sample hardware configurations for small, medium, and large corporations are given in Table 4-2:

Table 4-2 Sizing Guidelines for Small, Medium, and Large Corporations  

Tier Small Medium Large
Database

(Oracle9iAS Metadata Repository or Oracle9i database release 1 (9.0.1) or later)

One SUN Ultra 60 with 2 GB RAM SUN Enterprise 450 (or equivalent) with 4 CPUs

2 GB RAM

10-15 GB free disk space

HP-UX PA-RISC (64-bit) Superdome with 16 CPU

48 GB RAM

500 GB free disk

Oracle Collaboration Suite Middle Tier 10 GB free disk space Windows 2000 Server with 2 GB RAM each Windows 2000 Server with 2 GB RAM each


Note:

For small configurations, both the database tier and Oracle Collaboration Suite middle tier are installed on the same computer. The hard disk space requirements mentioned do not include the space required to install the software. See "Hardware Requirements" for hard disk space requirements.

4.3.5 Deploying Oracle Voicemail & Fax

Oracle Voicemail & Fax requires a Windows 2000 Computer Telephony (CT) Server for telephony services.


See Also:

Oracle Voicemail & Fax Administrator's Guide for hardware and software requirements and installation instructions

4.3.6 Deploying Oracle Web Conferencing

Oracle Web Conferencing delivers its end-user functionality as a middle tier application within Oracle Collaboration Suite. Oracle Web Conferencing is the current offering from the Oracle Real-Time Collaboration group of products.

To plan Oracle Web Conferencing deployment:

  • Review the Oracle Web Conferencing related sections of this guide

  • Review the Oracle Web Conferencing Administrator's Guide

  • For the latest information, workaround, and tips, go to

    http://otn.oracle.com/
    
    

Oracle Collaboration Suite requires the use of a compatible version of Oracle9iAS Single Sign-On server, and must be associated with Oracle Internet Directory. These are available from the Oracle9iAS Infrastructure.

Oracle Web Conferencing requires the use of a Oracle9i database release 9.2, or later. You can choose to use the Oracle Collaboration Suite information storage database you may already have installed for other Oracle Collaboration Suite components, such as Oracle Files, or you can provide connection information to an appropriate separate database during installation of the middle tier. If you plan to use a database different from the Oracle Collaboration Suite information storage database, ensure you have verified the tablespace-related requirements for Oracle Web Conferencing from this guide.

Oracle Web Conferencing has higher processing power consumption in order to deliver real-time collaboration. Depending on the deployment configurations you are using, you might have to reconfigure the Oracle HTTP Server and mod_osso configurations for the $ORACLE_HOME in which Oracle Web Conferencing is to be installed. Therefore, Oracle Corporation recommends that Oracle Web Conferencing is installed in its own $ORACLE_HOME, apart from any other Oracle Collaboration Suite component products.

If you have multiple middle tier hosts for your Oracle Collaboration Suite implementation, set up Oracle Web Conferencing on the host which can provide the highest possible memory and CPU resources to Oracle Web Conferencing alone, and which has the largest bandwidth network connection to end-users.

Oracle Web Conferencing can be deployed on as many middle tiers as you choose. Each instance of Oracle Web Conferencing is configured by default to cooperate with all Oracle Web Conferencing middle tiers using the same database.

Oracle Web Conferencing can be installed and configured with other Oracle Collaboration Suite components in the same $ORACLE_HOME.

Oracle Web Conferencing core components can also be configured where the entire Oracle Collaboration Suite, including the infrastructure, information store, and all the middle tier Oracle homes, exist on the same host, as long as the host satisfies all the requirements listed in this guide and relevant documentation for Oracle Collaboration Suite components.


Note:

An instance of Oracle Web Conferencing with a document conversion server and a voice conversion server requires a computer with Microsoft Windows 2000 installed. The functionality provided by this type of Oracle Web Conferencing instance might not be available if your deployment does not include a document conversion server or voice conversion server, but the core functionality of Oracle Web Conferencing is still available.

4.3.7 Deploying Oracle9iAS Wireless

If you are installing the Oracle9iAS Wireless component of Oracle Collaboration Suite against an existing Oracle9iAS Infrastructure 9.0.2.0.0 or 9.0.2.0.1, the Oracle9iAS Wireless schema in the Oracle9iAS Metadata Repository is automatically upgraded. If you have existing Oracle9iAS Wireless middle tiers, versions 9.0.2.6.0 or lower, pointing to the same Oracle9iAS Infrastructure, you must apply the Oracle9iAS Wireless 9.0.2.8.0 patch to each of the Oracle9iAS Wireless middle tiers. This patch is available on OracleMetaLink at

http://metalink.oracle.com/

If you are installing the Oracle9iAS Wireless middle tier from the Oracle Collaboration Suite CD Pack, no upgrade is required.

4.3.7.1 High Availability for Oracle9iAS Wireless

In Oracle9iAS Wireless, applications cannot be clustered using the Oracle9iAS clustering mechanism. However, it is still possible to configure Oracle9iAS to achieve a high availability deployment.

Complete the following steps for high availability deployment:


Note:

Back up all files before modifying them.

  1. Install the Oracle9iAS infrastructure on a computer, and install multiple middle tiers on separate computers. Ensure that each of these middle-tier installations points to the infrastructure.

  2. Shut down the Distributed Confinguration Manager and all process using the following command:

    $ORACLE_HOME/dcm/bin/dcmctl stop
    
    
  3. Shut down Oracle Enterprise Manager using following the command:

    $ORACLE_HOME/bin/emctl stop
    
    
  4. Verify that the $ORACLE_HOME/opmn/conf/ons.conf file on each of the middle tiers and on the infrastructure contains IP address entries for all the other tiers. If not, file and add missing IP address entries.

  5. On each middle tier, increase the number of processes that need to participate in the default island for the OC4J_Wireless OC4J instance to the desired number. This can be done from the Oracle Enterprise Manager console or by modifying the $ORACLE_HOME/opmn/conf/opmn.xml file.


    See Also:

    Oracle9iAS Containers for J2EE documentation for details and concepts of OC4J instance and islands

    For instance, if you modify opmn.xml, a typical entry to start four OC4J processes in the default island would be of the form:

    <oc4j maxRetry="3" instanceName="OC4J_Wireless" gid="OC4J_Wireless"
    numProcs="4">
    
    
  6. In the mod_oc4j configuration file for each middle tier (specifically, $ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Apache/conf/mod_oc4j.conf), modify the mount point entries for the Oracle9iAS Wireless runtime. If two middle tiers (m1 and m2, in the following examples) are used, modify the entries, as follows:

    Oc4jMount /ptg
    instance://m1.c1.mysite.com:OC4J_Wireless,m2.c2.se4637-u-sr006.us.oracle.com
    :OC4J_Wireless
    
    

    and

    Oc4jMount /ptg/*
    instance://m1.c1.mysite.com:OC4J_Wireless,m2.c2.se4637-u-sr006.us.oracle.com
    :OC 4J_Wireless
    
    

    where c1 and c2 are the respective Oracle9iAS instance names and can be determined by running the command:

    $ORACLE_HOME/dcm/bin/dcmctl whichInstance
    
    

    These entries should be exactly the same for all middle-tier computers.

  7. Run $ORACLE_HOME/dcm/bin/dcmctl updateConfig to update the Distributed Confinguration Manager repository with the configuration file changes.

    On slower systems, it is likely that a Distributed Confinguration Manager error (timeout) of the form ADMN-906005 is displayed. If this occurs, run the $ORACLE_HOME/dcm/bin/dcmctl getReturnStatus command and wait until the command exits. This confirms that the changes have been propagated to the Distributed Confinguration Manager repository.

  8. Add a <cluster-config/> tag under the <orion-web-app> tag in the following file:

    $ORACLE_HOME/j2ee/OC4J_wireless/application-deployments/ptg/ptg-web
    /orion-web.xml
    
    
  9. Start the Distributed Confinguration Manager and all processes by running the following command:

    $ORACLE_HOME/dcm/bin/dcmctl start
    
    
  10. Start Oracle Enterprise Manager by running the following command:

    ORACLE_HOME/bin/emctl start
    
    
  11. Configure a hardware load-balancer to point to the middle tiers.

    Currently, high availability support is only available for the core server runtime (by default mapped to the URI /ptg/rm).


    See Also:

    Oracle9iAS Containers for J2EE documentation for more information

4.4 Deployment Recommendations and Considerations

Oracle Corporation recommends:

You can achieve optimal performance for extensively-used components by connecting to an Oracle9iAS Metadata Repository located on a separate host. The following procedure describes how to assign a component to its own repository.

  1. Install Oracle9iAS Infrastructure for Oracle Internet Directory and Oracle9iAS Single Sign-On support (and optionally for Oracle Management Server support).

  2. Install the Oracle Collaboration Suite, which includes the middle tier applications.

  3. Install a second Oracle9iAS Infrastructure without configuring Oracle Internet Directory or Oracle9iAS Single Sign-On.

  4. Browse to the Oracle Enterprise Manager Web Site for this instance of Oracle Collaboration Suite and go to the Oracle9iAS Instance Home Page.

  5. Select Configure Schema.

    From the Configure Schema page, you can change the database and schema for the selected application.


    See Also:

    The online help topic "Configuring the Schema for an Oracle9iAS Component" in the Enterprise Manager Web Site online help for additional information about performing this task

4.5 Removing Oracle Collaboration Suite Release 1 (9.0.3)

If you install Oracle Collaboration Suite Release 2 (9.0.4.1) on a machine that contains an existing installation of Oracle Collaboration Suite Release 1 (9.0.3), without performing an upgrade, then the Oracle Collaboration Suite Release 1 (9.0.3) directory will continue to be the active Oracle Enterprise Manager directory. If you later decide to remove the Oracle Collaboration Suite Release 1 (9.0.3) installation, you must first run the emctl command from the Oracle Collaboration Suite Release 1 (9.0.3) directory to change the Oracle Enterprise Manager directory to the Oracle Collaboration Suite Release 2 (9.0.4.1) directory or another location.


See Also:

  • Oracle Enterprise Manager Administrator's Guide for information on working with the emctl command

  • "Upgrading the Oracle Collaboration Suite Middle Tier", for information on upgrading Oracle Collaboration Suite Release 1 (9.0.3) to Oracle Collaboration Suite Release 2 (9.0.4.1)