Oracle Enterprise Manager Getting Started with the Oracle Standard Management Pack
Release 9.0.1

Part Number A88749-02

Home

Book List

Contents

Index

Master Index

Feedback

Go to previous page Go to next page

6
Using Change Manager

The Change Manager application is the change management central interface. Change Manager gives you direct or indirect access to all of the change management operations (in cases where Change Manager cannot directly perform an operation, such as capturing or comparing object definitions, Change Manager starts the application that performs that operation).

Running Change Manager Connected to an Oracle Management Server or Standalone

You can run Change Manager connected to an Oracle Management Server or not connected to an Oracle Management Server. When you run Change Manager without connecting to an Oracle Management Server, you are running Change Manager standalone.

When you run Change Manager connected to an Oracle Management Server:

When you run Change Manager standalone:

Creating a Standalone Repository for Change Management Applications

A standalone repository is required to store Change Management Packchange management objects created during a standalone change management session. Read and follow the steps to perform before creating a standalone repository in the Oracle Enterprise Manager Configuration Guide.

The next time you start Change Manager standalone, a repository login dialog box prompts you for the Username, Password, and Service credentials of the user that owns the schema to be used for your standalone repository. When you provide the credentials for that user, the standalone repository tables needed by the change management applications will be created for you in that user's schema.

Changing Your Standalone Change Management Repository

At some point after creating a standalone repository for change management objects created during your change management sessions, you might decide that you want to use a different standalone repository.

To start using a different standalone repository, you must:

  1. Make sure that you have followed the steps in the Oracle Enterprise Manager Configuration Guide that are a prerequisite for creating the new standalone repository.
  2. In the ORACLE_HOME/sysman/config/ClientConfig.properties file (where ORACLE_HOME is the directory in which Oracle Enterprise Manager is installed), delete the lines that contain the following parameters:
    • OEM.REPOSITORY.USER
    • OEM.REPOSITORY.PASSWORD
    • OEM.REPOSITORY.DATABASE

    Removing these lines from ClientConfig.properties removes information about the current standalone repository that is being used for standalone change management objects.

  3. The next time you start Change Manager standalone, you are prompted for repository credentials for your standalone repository. Specify the Username, Password, and Service credentials of the user that owns the schema to be used for your standalone repository. The Username, Password, and Service information that you specify for the new standalone repository is stored in the ClientConfig.properties file.

    Change Manager uses the information in the ClientConfig.properties file to determine the standalone repository in which to store information from your change management session.

Starting Change Manager

You can start the Change Manager application in any of the following ways:

See "Starting Change Management Applications from Change Manager" for more information on starting the other change management applications from Change Manager.

Using the Change Manager Main Window

The Change Manager main window has a navigator tree on the left and a detail view on the right.

When Change Manager is running connected to an Oracle Management Server, the navigator tree displays the following change management objects, organized by owner:

The tree contains the Baselines and Comparisons folders, even if objects of these types have not been created yet.

If Change Manager is running standalone, the tree displays only the change management objects belonging to the owner of the standalone repository being used.

If the Change Manager navigator tree contains no objects, this means that no baselines or comparisons have been created in the repository. When you create these objects, they appear in the Change Manager tree.

When you select a change management object or object folder and click the right mouse button, a context menu is displayed that lists the operations that can be performed in the current context. If you select an object that you do not own, some of the operations on the context menu are unavailable (for example, you cannot remove or modify an object that you do not own, because you have read-only access to objects owned by other users). On the context menu, choose any available operation that you are interested in performing.

When the Change Manager Users folder (the root of the Change Manager tree) is selected, the detail view to the right of the Change Manager tree provides information about change management applications and the operations that they can perform. Click on an application's icon in the detail view to learn more about the operations that the application can perform.

When other folders or objects are selected in the Change Manager tree, the detail view provides related information about the selected folder or object.


Note:

Change Manager provides right mouse button support for some operations.

After you select an object in the Change Manager navigator, click the right mouse button to display a menu of options. Any menu options that are not appropriate for the given object are unavailable from the menu. 


Starting Change Management Applications from Change Manager

You start the other change management applications and viewers from Change Manager, as follows:

You can also start a change management application by clicking the Change Manager toolbar icon for that application.

When you start a change management application from Change Manager, the mode in which Change Manager is running (connected to the Oracle Management Server or standalone) determines the mode in which the other change management application will run.

Working with Baselines

Table 6-1 describes how to use Change Manager to perform different types of baseline operations.

Table 6-1 Performing Baseline Operations  
Operation  Steps for Performing the Operation 

Create a new baseline 

Choose Object->Create Baseline and follow the steps in the Create Baseline application. 

View a baseline 

Select the baseline in the tree, then choose Object->View Baseline

Delete a baseline 

Select the baseline in the tree, then choose Object->Remove. This deletes all the versions of the baseline. 

Export a baseline to a file 

Choose Tools->Export Plans/Baselines/Comparisons, then specify the baseline to export and the name of the export file. 

Import a baseline from a file 

Choose Tools->Import Plans/Baselines/Comparisons, then specify the name of the export file and the baseline to import. 

Create a new version of a baseline 

Select the baseline in the tree, then choose Object->Recapture

View a previous version of a baseline 

Select the baseline in the tree, then choose Object->Show Versions. In the Versions dialog box, click the version you want to view, then click View

Delete a previous version of a baseline 

Select the baseline in the tree, then choose Object->Show Versions. In the Versions dialog box, click the version you want to delete, then click Remove

View history entries for baseline tasks 

Choose View->Show History. In the History dialog box, view history entries for completed baseline tasks on the History page. 

For more information on working with baselines, see:

Working with Comparisons

Table 6-2 describes how to use Change Manager to perform different types of comparison operations.

Table 6-2 Performing Comparison Operations  
Operation  Steps for Performing the Operation 

Create a new comparison 

Choose Object->Compare Database Objects and follow the steps in the Compare Database Objects application. 

View a comparison 

Select the comparison in the tree, then choose Object->View Comparison

Delete a comparison 

Select the comparison in the tree, then choose Object->Remove. This deletes all the versions of the comparison. 

Export a comparison to a file 

Choose Tools->Export Plans/Baselines/Comparisons, then specify the comparison to export and the name of the export file. 

Import a comparison from a file 

Choose Tools->Import Plans/Baselines/Comparisons, then specify the name of the export file and the comparison to import. 

Create a new version of a comparison 

Select the comparison in the tree, then choose Object->Repeat Comparison

View a previous version of a comparison 

Select the comparison in the tree, then choose Object->Show Versions. In the Versions dialog box, click the version you want to view, then click View

Delete a previous version of a comparison 

Select the comparison in the tree, then choose Object->Show Versions. In the Versions dialog box, click the version you want to delete, then click Remove

View history entries for comparison tasks 

Choose View->Show History. In the History dialog box, view history entries for completed comparison tasks on the History page. 

For more information on working with comparisons, see:

Viewing History Entries for Tasks

You can view history entries that show the status of the following change management tasks:

By viewing the history entries for completed tasks, you can determine when each change management task was performed and its completion status.

To view the history entries for tasks in the current change management repository, on the Change Manager View menu, choose the Show History option, which displays the History dialog box. The History dialog box allows you to view completed tasks.

Viewing Completed Tasks

Click the History tab of the History dialog box to view completed tasks.

The history entries on the History page of the History dialog box enable you to track the change management tasks that have been completed. Each row on the History page is a history entry for one completed task. The status for a particular history entry tells you whether the task completed successfully or not.

On the History page, you can perform the operations shown in Table 6-3:

Table 6-3 Operations That Can be Performed on Completed Tasks  
Operation  Steps to Perform the Operation 

Remove a task 

Select a task and click Remove

Update the History page display 

Click the Refresh button. Any new completed tasks are displayed. 

View a task 

Select a task and click GoTo. The appropriate change management application window is opened in the correct context for viewing the task. 

Save history entries to a file 

Click the Save List button. The Save List dialog box lets you save some or all of the task history entries in a file. You have the option of viewing and printing the information to be included in the file before saving the file. 

Sort history entries 

Click a column heading on the History page. The first time you click a heading, the history entries are sorted in ascending order, using the values in that column. If you click again on the same heading, the history entries are sorted in descending order, using the values in that column. 

Working With a Particular Version of a Baseline or Comparison

After you create a baseline specification, you can use the specification to generate multiple baselines over time. Similarly, after you create a comparison specification, you can use it to generate multiple comparisons over time.

By default, when you select a baseline or comparison in Change Manager, any operations you perform are carried out on the latest version of that object. In some cases, however, you may want to view or remove an earlier version of the object. To do so, after you select the object in Change Manager, on the Object menu, click Show Versions. This displays the Versions dialog box. In the Versions dialog box, select the version of the object that you are interested in, then click View to view the selected version of the object in the appropriate change management window or click Remove to remove the selected version of the object from the Oracle Enterprise Manager repository.


Note:

When you remove a version of a baseline or comparison, the version numbers for the remaining versions of that object remain the same. 


Exporting and Importing Baselines and Comparisons

You can export and import baselines and comparisons using Change Manager. After you export one or more of these objects to a file, you can then import the objects into another repository, which copies the objects from one repository to another.

To export baselines or comparisons:

  1. In Change Manager, choose Tools->Export Plans/Baselines/Comparisons.
  2. In the Export Plans/Baselines/Comparisons dialog box, select the object or objects to export, then click Export.
  3. In the Export Plans/Baselines/Comparisons to which file? dialog box, select a file into which the selected objects will be exported, then click Save.

To import baselines or comparisons:

  1. In Change Manager, choose Tools->Import Plans/Baselines/Comparisons.
  2. In the Import Plans/Baselines/Comparisons from which file? dialog box, identify the file that contains the object or objects that you want to import, then click Open.
  3. In the Import Plans/Baselines/Comparisons dialog box, select the object or objects that you want to import, then click Import. If the import utility discovers that any of the objects being imported has the same name as an existing object in the current repository, you will be prompted to either rename the object being imported or to cancel the import operation for that object.

Go to previous page Go to next page
Oracle
Copyright © 1996-2001, Oracle Corporation.

All Rights Reserved.

Home

Book List

Contents

Index

Master Index

Feedback