3 Evaluating Single Sign-On Installations

This chapter includes the following topics:

Note:

Existing Oracle Single Sign-On 10g users are encouraged to upgrade to Oracle Access Manager 11g for a more advanced single sign-on solution.

3.1 Important Notes for Oracle Portal 11g Installations

New installations of Oracle Portal 11g require Oracle Single Sign-On 10g during the installation process. Such Oracle Portal 11g users should use their existing Oracle Single Sign-On 10g installation. If you must perform a new installation of Single Sign-On 10g, consider hardware issues, system corruption, and any unforeseen issues. Oracle recommends that you follow the system framework supported by 10g for a new Single Sign-On 10g installation.

After installing Oracle Portal 11g, you may upgrade Oracle Single Sign-On 10g to Oracle Access Manager 11g. For more information, see Oracle Fusion Middleware Upgrade Guide for Oracle Identity Management.

3.2 Before You Begin

Before performing any upgrade or installation, you should read the following documents to ensure that your Oracle Fusion Middleware environment meets the minimum installation requirements for the products you are installing.

3.2.1 Review System Requirements and Specifications

Oracle Fusion Middleware System Requirements and Specifications document is available at:

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/ias/downloads/fusion-requirements-100147.html

This document covers information such as hardware and software requirements, database schema requirements, minimum disk space and memory requirements, and required system libraries, packages, or patches.

3.2.2 Review Certification Information

Oracle Fusion Middleware Supported System Configurations document is available at:

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/ias/downloads/fusion-certification-100350.html

This document contains certification information related to supported 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems, databases, web servers, LDAP servers, adapters, IPv6, JDKs, and third-party products.

3.2.3 Review Interoperability and Compatibility Information

For interoperability and compatibility issues that may arise when installing, refer to Oracle Fusion Middleware Interoperability and Compatibility Guide.

This document contains important information regarding the ability of Oracle Fusion Middleware products to function with previous versions of other Oracle Fusion Middleware, Oracle, or third-party products. This information is applicable to both new Oracle Fusion Middleware users and existing users who are upgrading their existing environment.

3.3 Single Sign-On Options

Following are the options available for a single sign-on solution:

3.4 Single Sign-On Preparation Considerations

Consider the following when preparing for a single sign-on solution:

  • What Oracle Fusion Middleware products will be installed or configured to use a single sign-on solution?

  • Will the single sign-on solution be configured during installation or as a post-installation step?

  • If you have an existing Oracle Single Sign-On 10g, when will this installation be upgraded to Oracle Access Manager 11g?

  • Oracle Access Manager 11g is an additional installation after installing Oracle Internet Directory 11g.

3.5 Oracle Single Sign-On Known Limitations

Following are the Oracle Single Sign-On known limitations:

  • New installations of Oracle Portal 11g require Oracle Single Sign-On 10g (10.1.2.3 or 10.1.4.3) during the configuration phase.

  • Premier support ends for Oracle Single Sign-On 10g (10.1.2.3) and Oracle Single Sign-On 10g (10.1.4.3) soon. For complete information, refer to the Oracle Lifetime Support Policy document available at:

    http://www.oracle.com/us/support/library/lifetime-support-middleware-069163.pdf

  • Premier support has been extended until December 2012 for the use of Oracle Single Sign-On 10g (10.1.4.3) with existing Oracle Portal, Forms, Reports, and Discoverer 11g environments, thereby enabling you to prepare for Oracle Access Manager 11g upgrade.

  • New installations of Oracle Single Sign-On 10g (10.1.2.3) are not supported against the 11g environment.

  • New installations of Oracle Single Sign-On 10g (10.1.4.3) have been supported with the 11g environment through version 11.1.1.4.

3.6 Recommendations

Oracle recommends that you carefully consider the following requirements and options when choosing a single sign-on solution:

  • If an Oracle Single Sign-On 10g with Delegated Administration Services environment is necessary, use an existing Oracle Single Sign-On 10g with Delegated Administration Services environment.

  • If a new Oracle Single Sign-On 10g environment must be installed, install under previously supported framework. For example, a full Oracle Identity Management 10g infrastructure, with the intention of upgrading to Oracle Access Manager 11g in near future and decommission rest of 10g.

  • If you are not using Oracle Portal, install and configure Oracle Fusion Middleware products with Oracle Access Manager 11g.

  • If you are installing Oracle Portal 11g for upgrade purposes, use an existing Oracle Single Sign-On 10g connection during the installation, and upgrade to Oracle Access Manager 11g at a later time. For more information on upgrading to Oracle Access Manager 11g, see Oracle Fusion Middleware Upgrade Guide for Oracle Identity Management.

    If you are using Delegated Administration Services, ensure that you run it on Oracle Application Server Containers for J2EE. Move from Oracle Single Sign-On 10g to Oracle Access Manager 11g on Oracle WebLogic Server.

  • New Oracle Forms and Oracle Reports installations should use Oracle Forms and Oracle Reports Release 2 (11.1.2). This installation has an option to install with Oracle Single Sign-On 10g or Oracle Access Manager 11g. You may upgrade Oracle Single Sign-On 10g to Oracle Access Manager 11g before or after this installation. For more information, see Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Guide for Oracle Forms and Reports.

  • If you are installing only Oracle Discoverer, do not install the Oracle Single Sign-On solution during Oracle Discoverer installation. Configure Oracle Access Manager 11g after the installation.