A Managing and Configuring Application Server Control

When you install Oracle Application Server, the installation procedure automatically starts Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Application Server Control and its related processes. You can then immediately start using the Application Server Control Console to manage the application server components.

You can also control and configure the Application Server Control. For example, you can start and stop the Application Server Control, change the Application Server Control Console password, and configure security for the Application Server Control.

This appendix covers how to manage and configure the Application Server Control. It contains the following topics:

• Starting and Stopping the Application Server Control

• Understanding Application Server Control Console Processes on UNIX

• Changing the ias_admin Password

• Configuring Security for Application Server Control Console

• Using the EM_OC4J_OPTS Environment Variable to Set Additional Application Server Control Options

• Enabling ODL for the Application Server Control Log File

• Enabling Enterprise Manager Accessibility Mode

A.1 Starting and Stopping the Application Server Control

To use the Oracle Enterprise Manager home pages, you must start the Application Server Control.

The Application Server Control is started automatically after you install the application server, but if you need to stop or start the Application Server Control later, refer to the following sections for more information:

• Starting and Stopping the Application Server Control Console on UNIX

• Starting and Stopping the Application Server Control Console on Windows

• Verifying That the Application Server Control Is Running

A.1.1 Starting and Stopping the Application Server Control Console on UNIX

On a UNIX system, you must start the Application Server Control manually after each system restart, or create a script to automatically start it during system start. To start or stop the Application Server Control on a UNIX system, use the emctl command shown in Table A-1.

The emctl command is available in the ORACLE_HOME/bin directory after you install Oracle Application Server.

Table A-1 Starting and Stopping the Application Server Control Console

Action	Using the emctl command
Start the Application Server Control Console in the Oracle home	emctl start iasconsole
Stop the Application Server Control Console in the Oracle home	emctl stop iasconsole
Verify the status of the Application Server Control Console	emctl status iasconsole

A.1.2 Starting and Stopping the Application Server Control Console on Windows

To start or stop the Application Server Control on Windows systems, use one of the following methods:

• From the Windows Start menu, navigate to the Oracle Enterprise Manager menu item for the Oracle home and select Start AS Console or Stop AS Console.

  For example, to start the Application Server Control on Windows 2000, select Start > Programs > Oracle - Oracle_Home Enterprise Manager > Start AS Console.

• From the Windows Services control panel:

  1. Open the Services control panel.

     For example, on Windows 2000, select Start > Settings > Control Panel > Administrative Tools and then double-click the Services icon.

  2. Locate the Application Server Control in the list of services.

     The name of the service is consists of "Oracle," followed by the name of the home directory you specified during the installation, followed by the word "ASControl." For example, if you specified AS10g as the Oracle home, the Service name would be:

     OracleAS10gASControl
     
     

  3. After you locate the service, you can use the Services control panel to start or stop the Application Server Control service.

     By default, the Application Server Control service is configured to start automatically when the system starts.

A.1.3 Verifying That the Application Server Control Is Running

You can verify the Application Server Control is started by pointing your browser to the Application Server Control Console URL:

http://hostname.domain:port

For example:

http://hostname.domain:1156

There are two ways to locate the Application Server Control Console port number:

• Review the contents of the portlist.ini file, which is located in the following directory in the Oracle Application Server Oracle home:

  (UNIX) ORACLE_HOME/install/portlist.ini
  
  (Windows) ORACLE_HOME\install\portlist.ini
  
  

• Enter the following command:

  (UNIX) ORACLE_HOME/bin/emctl status iasconsole
  
  (Windows) ORACLE_HOME\bin\emctl status iasconsole
  

See Also: Section 2.3.1, "Displaying the Application Server Control Console"

A.2 Understanding Application Server Control Console Processes on UNIX

When you start the Application Server Control, Enterprise Manager starts three distinct processes on your UNIX system. To identify these processes, you can do the following:

1. Locate and view the contents of the following file in the application server home directory:

   ORACLE_HOME/bin/emctl.pid
   
   

   This file contains the process ID for the Application Server Control. For example:

   cat emctl.pid
   
   5874
   
   

2. Use the following operating system command to list information about the process, including the parent process ID:

   ps -ef | grep process_id_from_the_emctl.pid_file
   
   

   For example:

   ps -ef | grep 5874
   
   pjones 5874 7983 0 14:40:44 pts/13 1:08/
   
   disk03/oracle/app1/jdk/bin/java -Xmx256m
   
   -DORACLE_HOME=/disk03/oracle/appserver
   
   

3. Note the number that appears immediately after the process ID; this is the process ID for the Application Server Control parent process.

4. Use the following operating system command to list all the processes associated with the Application Server Control Console:

   ps -ef | grep parent_process_id
   
   

   Sample output from this command is shown in Example A-1. Descriptions of each process shown in the example are provided in Table A-2.

Example A-1 Viewing Application Server Control Console Processes

ps -ef | grep 7983

pjones  5873  7983 0 14:40:44 pts/10 14:42 /disk03/oracle/app1/bin/emagent

pjones  7983    1  0 14:40:41 pts/10  0:27 /disk03/oracle/app1/perl/bin/perl

pjones  5874  7983 0 14:40:44 pts/10  2:05 /disk03/oracle/app1/jdk/bin/java

-Xmx256m -DORACLE_HOME=/private/90

Table A-2 Summary of Application Server Control Console Processes

Process	Description
emagent	This is the first process shown in Example A-1. This process is for the Oracle Management Agent, which is a local version of the Management Agent designed specifically for monitoring Oracle Application Server components.
perl	This is the second process shown in Example A-1. This process is for the Management Watchdog Process, which monitors the Management Agent and the Application Server Control to make sure both processes are running and available at all times.
java	This is the third process shown in Example A-1. This process is for the Application Server Control itself.

A.3 Changing the ias_admin Password

The ias_admin password is required to use the Application Server Control Console. The following sections describe how you can change the ias_admin user password:

• Changing the Password Using the Application Server Control Console

• Changing the Password Using the emctl Command-Line Tool

  
  

  Caution: If you use OracleAS Infrastructure 10g, you must adhere to the Oracle Internet Directory password policy when setting the ias_admin password. This is because, even though the ias_admin password is not stored in Oracle Internet Directory, it may be used to set component passwords within Oracle Internet Directory. The default password policy is a minimum of five characters, with at least one numeric character. For more information, see the Oracle Internet Directory Administrator's Guide.

  
  

A.3.1 Changing the Password Using the Application Server Control Console

To change the ias_admin user password using the Application Server Control Console:

1. Navigate to the Application Server home page and select Preferences in the top right corner of the page.

   Application Server Control Console displays the Change Password page.

2. Enter the current ias_admin password, the new password, and the new password again for confirmation.

   The new password must be between 5 and 30 characters, it must begin with an alphabetic character, and it must contain at least one number.

3. Click OK to reset the ias_admin password for the current application server instance.

   The next time you log in, you must use the new password.

A.3.2 Changing the Password Using the emctl Command-Line Tool

To change the ias_admin user password using a command-line tool:

1. Enter the following command in the Oracle home of your Oracle Application Server installation:

   (UNIX) ORACLE_HOME/bin/emctl set password old_password new_password
   
   (Windows) ORACLE_HOME\bin\emctl set password old_password new_password
   
   

   For example:

   (UNIX) ORACLE_HOME/bin/emctl set password m5b8r5 b8s0d9
   
   (Windows) ORACLE_HOME\bin\emctl set password m5b8r5 b8s0d9
   
   

2. Restart the Application Server Control.

   
   

   See Also: Section A.1, "Starting and Stopping the Application Server Control"

   
   

A.4 Configuring Security for Application Server Control Console

The Application Server Control Console relies on several underlying technologies, including a version of the Management Agent that is designed to provide monitoring data to the Application Server Control Console.

By default, you access the Application Server Control Console through your Web browser using the non-secure, HTTP, protocol. In addition, communications between the local Management Agent and the Application Server Control Console are transferred over insecure connections.

To secure the communications between the Management Agent and the Application Server Control Console, and to provide HTTPS browser access to the Application Server Control Console, Enterprise Manager provides the emctl secure iasconsole command-line utility.

Note: You can also use the SSLConfigTool to accomplish the task described in this section. For information on the SSLConfigTool, see Chapter 12.

The emctl secure iasconsole utility enables HTTPS and public key infrastructure (PKI) components, including signed digital certificates, for communications between the Application Server Control Console and the local Management Agent.

See Also: Oracle Application Server Security Guide

To configure security for the Application Server Control Console:

1. Stop the Application Server Control Console by entering the following command:

   (UNIX) ORACLE_HOME/bin/emctl stop iasconsole
   
   (Windows) net stop SERVICE_NAME
   

   
   

   See Also: Section A.1, "Starting and Stopping the Application Server Control"

   
   

2. Enter the following command:

   (UNIX) ORACLE_HOME/bin/emctl secure iasconsole
   
   (Windows) ORACLE_HOME\bin\emctl secure iasconsole
   
   

   Enterprise Manager secures the Application Server Control Console. Sample output of the emctl secure iasconsole command is shown in Example A-2.

3. Start the Application Server Control Console by entering the following command:

   (UNIX) ORACLE_HOME/bin/emctl start iasconsole
   
   (Windows) net start SERVICE_NAME
   
   

4. Test the security of the Application Server Control Console by entering the following URL in your Web browser:

   https://hostname.domain:port/
   
   

   For example:

   https://mgmthost1.myco:1156/
   
   

5. If you are using OracleAS Portal, update the Portal Service Monitoring link in OracleAS Portal so you can continue to access the Application Server Control Console directly from OracleAS Portal.

   
   

   See Also: "Updating Oracle Enterprise Manager Link in OracleAS Portal" in the Oracle Application Server Portal Configuration Guide

   
   

Example A-2 Sample Output from the emctl secure iasconsole Command

./emctl stop iasconsole

Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Application Server Control Release 10.1.4.0.1

Copyright (c) 1996, 2006 Oracle Corporation.  All rights reserved.

http://appserv1.acme.com:1811/emd/console/aboutApplication 

Stopping Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Application Server Control ...  ... 

Stopped.


./emctl secure iasconsole

Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Application Server Control Release 10.1.4.0.1

Copyright (c) 1996, 2006 Oracle Corporation.  All rights reserved.

http://appserv1.acme.com:1811/emd/console/aboutApplication

Generating Standalone Console Root Key (this takes a minute)...   Done.

Fetching Standalone Console Root Certificate...   Done.

Generating Standalone Console Agent Key...   Done.

Storing Standalone Console Agent Key...   Done.

Generating Oracle Wallet for the Standalone Console Agent...   Done.

Configuring Agent for HTTPS...   Done.

EMD_URL set in /dsk02/oracle/appserv1/sysman/config/emd.properties

Generating Standalone Console Java Keystore...   Done.

Configuring the website ...   Done.

Updating targets.xml ...    Done.

A.5 Using the EM_OC4J_OPTS Environment Variable to Set Additional Application Server Control Options

The following topics describe how you can use the EM_OC4J_OPTS environment variable to configure some additional Application Server Control options:

• Summary of Options You Can Set with the EM_OC4J_OPTS Environment Variable

• Setting the EM_OC4J_OPTS Environment Variable

A.5.1 Summary of Options You Can Set with the EM_OC4J_OPTS Environment Variable

You can use the EM_OC4J_OPTS environment variable to set the following options, which can affect the performance of the Application Server Control Console pages:

• By default, Application Server Control retrieves metric data as it is requested. In other words, each time you display a page that contains performance metrics, Application Server Control retrieves the data in real time by running a series of tasks that often involve connections to other software components. Depending upon the type of metric and the type of component, these operations can affect how quickly the page is displayed.

  To retrieve cached metrics (metrics which are collected and stored in memory by the Oracle Management Agent) define the environment variable EM_OC4J_OPTS to the following:

  -Doracle.sysman.refreshFlag=true
  
  

  Setting this option to TRUE can improve the performance of specific pages in the Application Server Control Console; however, the data displayed on those pages may not be as recent as it would be when this option is set to FALSE.

• By default, the Application Server Control Console displays a progress page when operations take time to complete. To disable the processing page so that the Application Server Control Console waits for start, stop, and other such actions without displaying a progress page, define the environment variable EM_OC4J_OPTS to the following before starting the Application Server Control Console:

  -Doracle.sysman.eml.util.iAS.waitForCompletion=true
  
  

• By default, when Application Server Control attempts to retrieve performance data, it waits two (2) seconds before displaying the requested page. If the data has not been retrieved within 2 seconds, some metric values do not appear on the page when it is rendered in the Web browser. To display the data after the page has been rendered, click the Refresh Data icon near the timestamps on the page.

  To increase the timeout for status and host-related metrics such as Memory and CPU usage on the Application Server home page, define the environment variable EM_OC4J_OPTS to the following before starting the Application Server Control Console:

  -Doracle.sysman.ias.ApplicationServerObject.timeout=true
  
  

  When this option is set to TRUE, certain Application Server Control Console pages may take longer to display, but you will experience fewer metric collection errors.

  Note that this setting affects only components that are not managed by Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server (OPMN).

  
  

  See Also: Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server Administrator's Guide for a complete list of the Oracle Application Server components that are managed by OPMN

  
  

A.5.2 Setting the EM_OC4J_OPTS Environment Variable

On UNIX systems, set the EM_OC4J_OPTS environment variable as follows:

setenv EM_OC4J_OPTS "-Doracle.sysman.eml.util.iAS.waitForCompletion=true"

To set multiple configuration options with the EM_OC4J_OPTS variable, separate the options with a space and enclose the entire value of the variable within quotation marks. For example:

setenv EM_OC4J_OPTS "-Doracle.sysman.eml.util.iAS.waitForCompletion=true

-Doracle.sysman.ias.ApplicationServerObject.timeout=true"

On Windows systems, use the System Properties control panel to define EM_OC4J_OPTS as a system variable.

A.6 Enabling ODL for the Application Server Control Log File

By default, the log file generated for Application Server Control is saved in text format. However, you can configure Application Server Control so its log file will be saved using the Oracle Diagnostic Logging (ODL) format.

When you enable ODL for the Application Server Control log files, the logging and diagnostic information is saved in XML format and the contents of the log files are loaded automatically into the Log Repository. You can then use the Log Repository to search for diagnostic information generated by the Application Server Control.

See Also: Chapter 5, "Managing Log Files"

By default, Application Server Control logs information and errors to the following log file in the application server home directory:

(UNIX) ORACLE_HOME/sysman/log/emias.log

(Windows) ORACLE_HOME\sysman\log\emias.log

After you perform the following procedure, Application Server Control will instead log information and error messages to the following file, which formats the data according to the ODL standard:

(UNIX) ORACLE_HOME/sysman/log/log.xml

(Windows) ORACLE_HOME\sysman\log\log.xml

As soon as Application Server Control creates the log.xml file and you start the Log Loader, the Log Loader begins loading the logging data into the Oracle Application Server Log Repository on the Log Loader's next run.

Refer to the following sections for more information:

• Configuring the Application Server Control Logging Properties to Enable ODL

• About the Application Server Control ODL Logging Properties

• Configuring Logging Properties When ODL Is Not Enabled

A.6.1 Configuring the Application Server Control Logging Properties to Enable ODL

To configure the Application Server Control to support ODL:

1. Use a text editor to edit the following file in the Oracle Application Server home directory:

   (UNIX) ORACLE_HOME/sysman/config/emiasconsolelogging.properties
   
   (Windows) ORACLE_HOME\sysman\config\emiasconsolelogging.properties
   
   

2. Follow the instructions in the file to replace the default properties with those that are commented by default.

   Example A-3 shows the properties in the emiasconsolelogging.properties file that enable ODL for the Application Server Control log file.

3. Save and close the emiasconsolelogging.properties file.

4. Restart Application Server Control.

Example A-3 ODL Logging Properties for the Application Server Control Console

# To support the ODL log appender, replace the lines above

# with the following and restart EM.  The resulting ODL log files

# will be read by the Log Loader and written to the Log Repository.

#

# log4j.appender.emiaslogAppender=oracle.core.ojdl.log4j.OracleAppender

# log4j.appender.emiaslogAppender.ComponentId=EM

# log4j.appender.emiaslogAppender.LogDirectory=/private/shiphomes/

  m21_infra/sysman/log

# log4j.appender.emiaslogAppender.MaxSize=20000000

# log4j.appender.emiaslogAppender.MaxSegmentSize=5000000

A.6.2 About the Application Server Control ODL Logging Properties

Table A-3 describes the Oracle Diagnostic Logging (ODL) logging properties available in the emiasconsolelogging.properties file.

Table A-3 ODL Properties in Application Server Control Console Logging Properties

Property	Description
log4j.appender.emiaslogAppender.LogDirectory	Determines the directory where the log.xml file will be saved.
log4j.appender.emiaslogAppender.MaxSize	Determines the maximum amount of disk space to be used by the log.xml file and the logging rollover files.
log4j.appender.emiaslogAppender.MaxSegmentSize	Determines the maximum size of the log.xml file. When the log.xml file reaches this size, a rollover file is created.

When you enable ODL, the resulting log.xml file increases in size over time as information is written to the file. The file is designed to reach a maximum size, determined by the MaxSegmentSize property described in Table A-3. When the file reaches the predefined maximum size, Application Server Control renames (or rolls) the logging or trace information to a new file name and starts a new log or trace file. This process keeps the log file from growing too large.

To be sure you have access to important log information, Application Server Control will rollover the log.xml file until the log file and its rollover files consume a predefined, maximum amount of disk space, determined by the MaxSize property shown in Example A-3. When the log file and its rollover files reach this predefined target, Application Server Control deletes the oldest rollover file.

As a result, you will often see multiple log files in the log directory. The following example shows three Application Server Control rollover files and the current log file in the log directory:

log.xml

log1.xml

log2.xml

log3.xml

A.6.3 Configuring Logging Properties When ODL Is Not Enabled

If you do not enable ODL, you can still configure the logging properties for the Application Server Control by modifying the following configuration files:

• emiasconsolelogging.properties

  Modify the properties in this file to configure the amount of information saved to the emias.log file, which contains general logging information about the Application Server Control.

• emagentlogging.properties

  Modify the properties in this file to configure the amount of information saved to the emagent.log file, which contains logging information specific to the Management Agent.

For more information about the configuration settings in these files, see "Locating and Configuring Log Files" in Oracle Enterprise Manager Advanced Configuration.

A.7 Enabling Enterprise Manager Accessibility Mode

The following sections provide information on the benefits of running Enterprise Manager in accessibility mode, as well as instructions for enabling accessibility mode:

• Making HTML Pages More Accessible

• Providing Textual Descriptions of Enterprise Manager Charts

• Modifying the uix-config.xml File to Enable Accessibility Mode

A.7.1 Making HTML Pages More Accessible

Enterprise Manager takes advantage of user interface development technologies that improve the responsiveness of some user operations. For example, when you navigate to a new record set in a table, Enterprise Manager does not redisplay the entire HTML page.

However, this performance-improving technology is generally not supported by screen readers. When you enable accessibility mode, you disable this feature, and as a result, make the Enterprise Manager HTML pages more accessible for disabled users.

A.7.2 Providing Textual Descriptions of Enterprise Manager Charts

Throughout Enterprise Manager, charts are used to display performance data. For most users, these charts provide a valuable graphical view of the data that can reveal trends and help identify minimum and maximum values for performance metrics.

However, charts do not convey information in a manner that can be read by a screen reader. To remedy this problem, you can configure Enterprise Manager to provide a complete textual representation of each performance chart. When you enable accessibility mode, Enterprise Manager displays a small icon for each chart that can be used as a drill-down link to the textual representation.

Figure A-1 shows an example of the icon that appears below each chart after you enable accessibility mode.

Figure A-1 Icon Representing the Textual Representation of a Chart

Description of "Figure A-1 Icon Representing the Textual Representation of a Chart"

A.7.3 Modifying the uix-config.xml File to Enable Accessibility Mode

1. Locate the uix-config.xml configuration file in the Oracle Application Server home directory:

   (UNIX) ORACLE_HOME/sysman/webapps/emd/WEB-INF
   
   (Windows) ORACLE_HOME\sysman\webapps\emd\WEB-INF
   
   

2. Open the uix-config.xml file using your favorite text editor and locate the following entry:

   <!-- An alternate configuration that disables accessibility features  -->
   
   <default-configuration>
   
     <accessibility-mode>inaccessible</accessibility-mode>
   
   </default-configuration>
   
   

3. Change the value of the accessibility-mode property from inaccessible to accessible.

4. Save and close the file.

5. Restart the Application Server Control Console.