2 Starting and Stopping OracleAS Reports Services

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

• Starting and Stopping Reports Server

• Starting and Stopping the Oracle Reports Bridge

• Starting and Stopping the COS Naming Service

• Verifying that the Oracle HTTP Server Is Running

• Verifying that the Reports Servlet and Server Are Running

  
  

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

  
  

2.1 Starting and Stopping Reports Server

The best way to run Reports Server is through the Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server (OPMN). OPMN provides a centralized mechanism for initializing, maintaining, and shutting down your Oracle HTTP Server, OC4J processes, and OracleAS Reports Services. For more information on configuring Reports Server through OPMN, see Section 3.7, "Configuring Reports Server with the Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server and Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g".

Important: You must start or stop a Reports Server registered with Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g only through Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g/OPMN. OPMN automatically restarts Reports Server if it stops responding for some reason. On Windows, OPMN itself is run as a Windows service. Beginning with Oracle Reports 10g Release 2 (10.1.2), running Reports Server as a Windows service is no longer supported (rwserver -install server_name). As a result, the related command line keywords INSTALL and UNINSTALL are also obsolete. If you start or stop a Reports Server that is managed by OPMN running as a Windows service or through the command line, you may face the following issues: The Reports Server's status will not be reflected accurately in Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g. Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g may display errors when starting or stopping Reports Server. For more information about the obsolescence of running Reports Server as a Windows service, see A Guide to Functional Changes Between Oracle Reports 6i and 10g on the Oracle Technology Network (OTN).

2.1.1 Starting, Stopping, and Restarting Reports Servers from Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g

When the standalone Reports Server is configured through OPMN, you can start, stop, and restart it through Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g.

Note: The in-process server, available as part of OC4J_BI_Forms, is automatically configured in OPMN and thus registered with Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g during installation of Oracle Application Server. If you add any Reports Servers after installing Oracle Application Server, you must register the new server(s) in the Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g's targets.xml file and the Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server's opmn.xml file. Or, you can run addnewservertarget.bat to register the new server(s). For more information, see Section 3.7, "Configuring Reports Server with the Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server and Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g".

To start, stop, or restart a Reports Server:

1. On the Reports Server's main page:

   • Click Start to start the server.

   • Click Stop to stop the server.

   • Click Restart to restart the server.

   These buttons appear on a Reports Server's main page according to the server's current state:

   • When the server is down, the Start and Stop buttons display.

   • When the server is up, the Restart and Stop buttons display.

Note: Oracle Enterprise Manager lists all the Reports Server dependencies on the Reports Server main page.

2.1.2 Starting, Stopping, and Restarting Reports Servers from the Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server

You can use the following command lines to start, stop, and restart Reports Server if it was configured through the Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server:

ORACLE_HOME/opmn/bin/opmnctl startproc ias-component=reports_server_name
ORACLE_HOME/opmn/bin/opmnctl startproc process-type=reports_server_name
ORACLE_HOME/opmn/bin/opmnctl stopproc ias-component=reports_server_name
ORACLE_HOME/opmn/bin/opmnctl restartproc ias-component=reports_server_name

The Reports Server name must match the name in the ias-component id in the opmn.xml file.

You can also query the status of the Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server, by using the following command:

ORACLE_HOME/opmn/bin/opmnctl status

For more information on configuring Reports Server through the Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server, see Section 3.7, "Configuring Reports Server with the Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server and Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g".

2.1.3 Alternative Methods of Starting and Stopping Reports Server

If you choose not to run Reports Server through OPMN and maintain it through Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g, you can use these older methods of running Reports Server:

• Starting the In-process Server (Windows and UNIX)

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

• Stopping Reports Server

Important: Beginning with Oracle Reports 10g Release 2 (10.1.2), running Reports Server as a Windows service is no longer supported, as mentioned at the beginning of this section.

2.1.3.1 Starting the In-process Server (Windows and UNIX)

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

To directly start the in-process server from a URL, enter the following from your Web browser:

http://your_machine_name:your_port_num/reports/rwservlet/startserver

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

You can also start Reports Server as a standalone server on Windows 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

Important: If DISPLAY is not set, you must start Reports Server in batch mode (batch=yes). Refer to Section 3.10, "Removing DISPLAY and Printer Dependencies on UNIX" for more information on the removal of DISPLAY and printer dependencies on UNIX. Refer to Section B.1.39, "REPORTS_DEFAULT_DISPLAY" for more information on the REPORTS_DEFAULT_DISPLAY environment variable.

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

2.1.3.3 Stopping Reports Server

There are several ways to stop Reports Server on Windows and UNIX, as follows:

• If Reports Server is running on Windows through the rwserver executable, or on UNIX through a shell script, rwserver.sh, click Shutdown in the Reports Server dialog box.

• If you are not running Reports Server from the command line, launch Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g, and navigate to the Reports Server you wish to shut down, then click Stop on the selected Reports Server's home page. For more information on Reports Server and Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g, see Chapter 19, "Managing and Monitoring OracleAS Reports Services".

• If Reports Server is running as an in-process server through the Reports Servlet, issue the following URL:

  http://your_host_name:port_number/reports/rwservlet/stopserver
  
  

• If Reports Server is running from a command line on Windows or UNIX, use any of the following commands, depending on how you want to shut down the Reports Server.

  
  

  Note: On UNIX, use rwserver.sh instead of rwserver.

  
  

  To shut down the server normally (that is, finish pending jobs and then stop):

  rwserver server=server shutdown=normal authid=username/password
  
  

  To shut down the server immediately (that is, stop without finishing pending jobs):

  rwserver server=server shutdown=immediate authid=username/password
  
  

  To shut down the server without displaying any related messages:

  rwserver server=server shutdown=normal authid=username/password batch=yes
  
  

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

  
  

  Note: authid is Reports Server's administration user name and password. For a secure Reports Server, this user must be a member of the RW_ADMINISTER privilege group in Oracle Internet Directory. For a non-secure Reports Server, this user is defined in the identifier element. The following bullet contains more information on how to stop a non-secure Reports Server using the command line.

  
  

• When you stop or shut down a non-secure Reports Server from the command line using either rwserver.sh or rwrqv.sh, you need to provide a valid authid, which must match the value set in the identifier element in the server configuration file. However, the identifier element is set during Reports configuration while installing Oracle Application Server 10g and encrypted by Reports Server. You can reset the identifier element to any value. If you have registered this Reports Server with Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g and OPMN, you also need to change the corresponding properties in targets.xml for Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g integration to work. Perform the following steps:

  1. In the non-secure Reports Server's configuration file, server_name.conf, modify the identifier element to specify the username/password and set the encrypted attribute to no. For example:

     <identifier confidential="yes" encrypted="no">scott/tiger</identifier>
     
     

  2. Stop and restart Reports Server manually for the changes made to the server_name.conf file to take effect.

     
     

     Note: You must restart Reports Server for any configuration changes to take effect.

     
     

     Reports Server will now encrypt the username/password value of the identifier element. After Reports Server reads the changes made in the server_name.conf file, the following commands should execute successfully (with scott/tiger as the username/password):

     ./rwserver.sh server=server_name shutdown=normal authid=scott/tiger
     ./rwrqv.sh server=server_name shutdown=normal authid=scott/tiger
     
     

  3. For Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g integration, edit the targets.xml file (in ORACLE_HOME/sysman/emd/) using any text editor, as follows:

     • Search for target with TYPE="oracle_repserv" and DISPLAY_NAME="Reports Server: server_name".

     • In the entry, set the UserName property and the Password property to the same user name and password as in the identifier element in the server_name.conf file. Set the ENCRYPTED attribute to FALSE for these two properties.

     • Restart Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g for the changes to take effect.

  You should now be able to stop and shut down a non-secure Reports Server using Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g.

  
  

  Note: These steps are required only for a non-secure Reports Server and not for secure Reports Servers.

  
  

2.2 Starting and Stopping the Oracle Reports Bridge

The Oracle Reports bridge is used to connect two subnets. It acts as a gateway between Oracle Reports components running in different subnets.

Note: In Oracle Reports 10g Release 2 (10.1.2), the Oracle Reports bridge is not integrated with Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g. Therefore, you cannot see the Oracle Reports bridge status or start and stop it from the Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Application Server Control.

For troubleshooting scenarios and diagnosis, see Section D.8, "Diagnosing Oracle Reports Bridge Problems".

2.2.1 Starting, Stopping, and Restarting the Oracle Reports Bridge from the Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server

Before you can start the Oracle Reports bridge with Oracle Process Manager and Notification (OPMN), you must add the bridge to OPMN, as shown in the following example:

cd $ORACLE_HOME/bin
setenv ORACLE_HOME youroraclehome
addNewReportsBridge.sh bridgename
cd $ORACLE_HOME/opmn/bin
opmnctl reload (If opmn is up and running)
opmnctl start (If opmn is not running)

To start the Oracle Reports bridge if it was configured through the Oracle Process Manager and Notification (OPMN) Server, use either of the following commands:

ORACLE_HOME/opmn/bin/opmnctl startproc ias-component=bridgename
ORACLE_HOME/opmn/bin/opmnctl startproc process-type=bridgename

To stop the Oracle Reports bridge, use the following command:

ORACLE_HOME/opmn/bin/opmnctl stopproc ias-component=bridgename

To restart the Oracle Reports bridge, use the following command:

ORACLE_HOME/opmn/bin/opmnctl restartproc ias-component=bridgename

The Oracle Reports bridge name must match the name in the ias-component id in the opmn.xml file.

You can also query the status of the Oracle Process Manager and Notification bridge, using the following command:

ORACLE_HOME/opmn/bin/opmnctl status

For more information on configuring the Oracle Reports bridge through the Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server, see Section 3.7.1.4, "Oracle Reports Bridge Specification".

2.2.2 Starting and Stopping the Oracle Reports Bridge from the Command Line

To start the Oracle Reports bridge from the command line, use the following commands:

On Windows:

rwbridge.bat name=bridgename

On UNIX:

rwbridge.sh name=bridgename

For example, to start an Oracle Reports bridge named foo on Windows, use the following command:

rwbridge.bat name=foo

See Also: For more information about the rwbridge executable: Section A.2.9, "rwbridge"

Oracle Reports creates a configuration file, repbrg_bridgename.conf when the Oracle Reports bridge is started for the first time. This file is generated based on the settings in the rwbridge.template file and is located in the ORACLE_HOME/reports/conf directory. Edit the repbrg_bridgename.conf file to specify remote Oracle Reports bridges to connect to other subnets.

Note: You must restart the Oracle Reports bridge for any configuration changes to take effect.

To stop an Oracle Reports bridge, use the following command:

On Windows:

rwbridge.bat name=bridgename shutdown=normal authid=username/password

On UNIX:

rwbridge.sh name=bridgename shutdown=normal authid=username/password

For example, to stop an Oracle Reports bridge named foo on UNIX, use the following command:

rwbridge.sh name=foo shutdown= normal authid=scott/tiger

In the configuration file, repbrg_bridgename.conf, modify the identifier element to specify the username/password and set the encrypted attribute to no. This is to indicate that the password is not encrypted. This password will be encrypted once the Oracle Reports bridge is started.

For example:

<identifier confidential="yes" encrypted="no">scott/tiger</identifier>

Usage Notes

• If the identifier element is commented, then it is possible to stop the Oracle Reports bridge without specifying authid.

• It is not possible to stop the Oracle Reports bridge remotely.

See Also: Section 3.3.2.3, "identifier"

2.3 Starting and Stopping the COS Naming Service

The Common Object Service (COS) naming service orbd, provided by Sun Microsystem's JDK, can be used for Reports Server discovery instead of the default broadcast mechanism. Refer to the JavaIDL page on Sun Microsystem's Web site (http://java.sun.com) for more details on the orbd executable.

To start the naming service, use the following commands:

On Windows:

namingservice.bat port_number

On UNIX:

namingservice.sh port_number

The naming service will start, using the specified port number. You need to configure the Reports Server discovery mechanism accordingly to use the naming service. For information on configuring the Reports Server discovery mechanism, see Section 3.3, "Configuring the Reports Server Discovery Mechanism".

To stop the naming service, use the following command:

On Windows:

namingservice.bat port_number shutdown

On UNIX:

namingservice.sh port_number shutdown

To use OPMN to control the naming service, refer to Section 3.7.1.5, "COS Naming Service Specification".

2.4 Verifying that the Oracle HTTP Server Is Running

OracleAS Reports Services depends upon the Oracle HTTP Server component. Before starting Reports Server through Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g or OPMN, you must verify that your Oracle HTTP Server is running. For more information about performing this task in Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g, refer to your Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g documentation.

Alternatively, you can verify that the Oracle HTTP Server is running,in your browser, by navigating to the following URL:

http://server_name.domain:port_number/

2.5 Verifying that the Reports Servlet and Server Are Running

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

http://your_machine_name.domain_name:your_port_number/reports/rwservlet/getserverinfo?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 Section 3.4, "Configuring Reports Servlet".