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Oracle® Application Server Portal Configuration Guide
10g Release 2 (10.1.2) Part No. B14037-01 |
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 Next |
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Oracle® Application Server Portal Configuration Guide
10g Release 2 (10.1.2) Part No. B14037-01 |
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Previous |
Next |
This chapter provides information about the monitoring and administration tools that are available, and how to use them to successfully monitor and administer OracleAS Portal.
You can monitor and administer OracleAS Portal through the Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Grid Control Console, or the Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Application Server Control Console. Additionally, you can view OracleAS Portal Analytics to monitor OracleAS Portal performance and analyze OracleAS Portal access characteristics.
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See Also: For additional OracleAS Portal monitoring and administration information, see the OracleAS Portal Administration page on Oracle Technology Network (OTN), athttp://www.oracle.com/technology/products/ias/portal/administration.html.
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This chapter contains the following sections:
Using the Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Grid Control Console
Using Application Server Control Console to Monitor and Administer OracleAS Portal
The Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Grid Control Console is a full enterprise management framework consisting of the Oracle Management Service, Oracle Management Agent, and Oracle Management Repository. In the Grid Control Console, you can:
Manage targets in your environment
Monitor historical trends
Configure alerts
View diagnostics
Monitor application performance
Manage enterprise configuration
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Note: For more information, see Oracle Enterprise Manager Grid Control Installation and Basic Configuration. |
Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g uses a Web-based architecture that is robust, reliable, globally scalable, and easy to deploy and operate within today's Internet-enabled environments. This architecture (shown in Figure 7-1) uses four integrated software components, three of which (Oracle Management Service, Oracle Management Repository, and Oracle Management Agent) run behind the scenes, gathering, organizing, and routing management data. The Browser-based console provides a Web-based user interface so you can manage the information from a standard Web browser.
Figure 7-1 Overview of Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Grid Control Console Components
The Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Grid Control Console ships with Oracle Application Server, but must be installed separately. In the case of OracleAS Portal, the Grid Control Console can be used for monitoring, and tracking historical trends, but not for configuration.
Typically you can access the Grid Control Console by navigating to the following URL: http://<hostname>:7777/em/. You must then log in using a valid Grid Control Console username/password combination with privileges to access the OracleAS Portal targets you intend to monitor.
After logging on successfully, the Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Grid Control Console home page is displayed.
To drill down to the application server level, click the Targets tab, and then the Application Servers sub-tab. Select the application server that you want to monitor from the list of available application servers. The home page for the selected application server is then displayed.
From the application server home page, you can click any of the components listed to get detailed information. For example, if you click the Portal component, if listed, the OracleAS Portal target page is displayed as shown in Figure 7-2.
Figure 7-2 Grid Control Console - Portal Target Page
On the Portal target page, in addition to availability information, you can monitor the average home page download time on a chart.
The Grid Control Console helps you in:
In the Grid Control Console, you can look at various OracleAS Portal metrics collected over a specific time period. The range of metrics which are collected are configured (by default) when the Management Agent is installed.
Figure 7-3 shows a list of the kinds of OracleAS Portal metrics you can monitor.
Figure 7-3 Grid Control Console - OracleAS Portal Metrics
You can use the OracleAS Portal metrics to monitor historical trends. For example, if you want to see how your site has performed over the previous 31 days, follow these steps:
Navigate to the Grid Control Console home page.
Click the Targets tab, and then the Application Servers tab.
Choose the application server of interest.
From the Components table, select the Portal target.
Click the All Metrics link.
Expand the Portal Homepage Metric node.
Click the Homepage Download (msec) metric.
A table lists all the collected data for this metric over the last 24 hours, by default. Figure 7-4 shows an example of the information displayed.
Figure 7-4 Grid Control Console - OracleAS Portal Metric Information
To change the duration to 31 days, select Last 31 days from the View Data drop-down list (top right hand corner).
You can compare the details of an OracleAS Portal metric (the currently selected metric), with the details of the same metric on a different OracleAS Portal target.
For example, you can compare the Homepage Download (ms) metric on portal1 with the Homepage Download (ms) metric on portal2 and portal3. The comparisons are plotted on a Metric Value History chart.
To compare metrics:
Navigate to the OracleAS Portal metrics page, as shown in Figure 7-3.
Expand the metric node of interest and click the relevant metric link.
From the View Data drop-down list (top right hand corner), choose a suitable time period for analyzing this metric.
Click the Compare Targets link in the Related Links section.
Choose the OracleAS Portal targets that you want to compare, move them to the Selected Targets list box and then click OK.
The comparisons are plotted on the Metric Value History chart.
In the Grid Control Console, you can set up notification alerts to report that certain metrics exceed pre-set thresholds.
Check that the Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g administrator has setup at least one Notification Method for an Outgoing Mail Server, a Script (Operating System Command or PL/SQL) or an SNMP Trap:
Click the Setup link (top right hand corner).
Click Notification Methods.
Once a notification method exists, setup a Notification Rule:
Click the Preferences link (top right hand corner).
Click the Notification Rules link.
From this page you can create a notification rule and choose targets and conditions for which you want to receive notifications in Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g.
In the Grid Control Console, you can define and adjust the thresholds for OracleAS Portal metrics. Thresholds are boundary values against which monitored metric values are compared. You can specify a warning threshold so that when a monitored metric value crosses that threshold, a warning alert is generated. Alerts can notify you of impending problems which you can address in a timely manner.
Editing metric thresholds is useful because you can add or change the thresholds to fit the monitoring needs of your organization. When defining a threshold, choose a value that won't generate too many unnecessary alerts.
To edit OracleAS Portal related metrics, click the Manage Metrics link at the bottom of any OracleAS Portal target page, as shown in Figure 7-2. The metrics listed on the Manage Metrics page are either default metrics provided by Oracle, or metrics with thresholds you can change. For an example, see Figure 7-5.
Figure 7-5 Grid Control Console - OracleAS Portal Edit Metric Thresholds
A list of the most recent alerts are displayed on the OracleAS Portal target page, in the section called Alerts and Host Alerts (see Figure 7-2).
When an alert is generated to notify you of availability or performance problems, you can check the Grid Control Console for more information about the metric that triggered the alert. This includes information on the metric's historical values that might show trends over the past week or month.
In the Grid Control Console, you can use the Web Applications feature to monitor the performance of OracleAS Portal sites. You can monitor the end-user response time, or the performance of representative transactions.
End-User Response Time Monitoring - All URLs based on the application home page (specified in the Web Application properties) are monitored. URLs of particular importance can be identified in a URL Watchlist.
Representative Transaction Monitoring - Recorded application activity (transactions) is played back at regular intervals through client robots (or beacons). The availability of the application is defined as the availability of a selected subset of representative transactions, replayed through selected beacons.
You model the topography of your OracleAS Portal application by adding all the relevant targets to a single Web Application group. For example, you could add the Database and OracleAS Single Sign-On targets used by your OracleAS Portal application to the same Web Application group.
The Application Server Control Console is included when you install Oracle Application Server. From OracleAS Portal's perspective, consider this to be the administration console for the Oracle Application Server. In the Application Server Control Console you can:
Enable and disable components
Administer clusters
Start and stop services
View logs and ports
Perform real-time monitoring
Modify infrastructure services used by an Oracle Application Server middle-tier
This section contains information about:
You can access the Application Server Control Console by entering the following URL in your Web browser:
http://<hostname>:<port>
For example, http://mgmthost.company.com:1810. The port is typically on 1810, however the possible port range for the Application Server Control Console varies upwards in increments of 1.
If there is more than one standalone application server instance, your start page for the Application Server Control Console is the Oracle Application Server Farm home page. Clicking an instance, takes you to the Oracle Application Server instance home page. This page contains a table of System Components. From this table you can display the home page for each component of the application server for monitoring and administrative purposes.
If OracleAS Portal is configured, Portal:<portal schema name> appears in this table. The default portal schema name is portal.
You can also access this page directly from OracleAS Portal. Click the Administer tab on the Portal Builder page and then click Portal Service Monitoring (located on the Portal sub-tab).
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Note: If any Application Server Control Console details change, for example, the port or protocol, you must update the Portal Service Monitoring link otherwise it will not work. For instructions, see Section 7.3.9.1, "Updating Oracle Enterprise Manager Link in OracleAS Portal". |
If OracleAS Portal is being run on multiple middle-tiers, for example, using a load balancing router, the link in OracleAS Portal to the Application Server Control Console (Portal Service Monitoring link) points to the middle-tier where OracleAS Portal was first installed. If this middle-tier is unavailable for any reason, this link will fail. In this case, navigate to the Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Application Server Control Console on a middle-tier that is available, by entering the appropriate URL in your Web browser.
If Portal:portal is not listed in the System Components table, it means it is not yet configured. The Configure Component button appears above the System Components table if you have installed, but not configured, some Oracle Application Server components.
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Note: Only components that have the check box selected can be started or stopped. |
To configure OracleAS Portal perform these steps:
On the Oracle Application Server home page, click the Configure Component button.
Select Portal from the drop-down list on the Select Component page, and click Continue.
In the Login page, enter the administration password for the Oracle Application Server instance in the Administration Password field.
Click Finish.
It may take some time to complete this process (10-20 minutes), depending upon the speed and configuration of your hardware.
To monitor and administer OracleAS Portal, click Portal:<portal schema name> in the System Components list on the Oracle Application Server instance home page. The default portal schema name is portal. Note that OC4J_Portal is the container for portal servlets, and not actual portal servlet to monitor.
The main page for monitoring OracleAS Portal that is displayed, is shown in Figure 7-6.
You can also access this page directly from OracleAS Portal. Click the Administer tab on the Portal Builder page and then click Portal Service Monitoring (located on the Portal sub-tab).
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Note: If any Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Application Server Control Console details change, for example, the port or protocol, you must update the Portal Service Monitoring link in OracleAS Portal otherwise it will not work. For instructions, see Section 7.3.9.1, "Updating Oracle Enterprise Manager Link in OracleAS Portal". |
Figure 7-6 Application Server Control Console - Main OracleAS Portal Monitoring Page
The main OracleAS Portal monitoring page, shown in Figure 7-6, contains various sections and links:
Use this section to establish the general status of an OracleAS Portal instance, that is, whether it is currently 'up' or 'down'.
You can also see the average number of page requests for each hour, as well as the current home page download speed. Furthermore, you can check if the monitoring services are up and running.
Use this section to view metrics relating to the OracleAS Metadata Repository. This is the repository containing the OracleAS Portal schema.
You can see if the database that contains the OracleAS Metadata Repository is up and running, the version number, name of the database, and the version number of the OracleAS Metadata Repository.
From the Application Server Control Console, you can specify the OracleAS Web Cache settings that OracleAS Portal should use. Click the Portal Web Cache Settings link, under Administration, to display the Portal Web Cache Settings page shown in Figure 7-7.
When you set OracleAS Web Cache properties on this page, the Portal Dependency Settings file located on this middle-tier is updated automatically, and the OracleAS Portal schema is also updated. See Appendix A, "Using the Portal Dependency Settings Tool and File" for more details.
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Notes:
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Figure 7-7 Application Server Control Console - Portal Web Cache Settings
In the Portal Web Cache Settings page, you can modify the settings detailed in Table 7-1:
Table 7-1 Portal Web Cache Settings
| Setting | Description |
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| Published Host | The published host name. This is the published server host name used in a browser to connect to OracleAS Portal. For example, www.company.com.
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| Listening Port | The port on which OracleAS Web Cache listens. For example, 7778.
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| Listening Port SSL Enabled | Indicates whether OracleAS Web Cache is SSL enabled. Valid values are 'Yes' and 'No'. |
| Administration Port | The OracleAS Web Cache administration port. For example, 4000.
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| Invalidation Host | The OracleAS Web Cache host name that is used to send invalidation messages to. Use this only if it is different from the published host name. For example, www.internal.company.com. The published host name is used if you leave this field empty.
Typically, the host name and port number used to connect to OracleAS Portal are the OracleAS Web Cache host name and port number. This is because, in a simple configuration, browser requests go directly to OracleAS Web Cache. However, if you have a reverse proxy server front-ending OracleAS Web Cache or a load balancing router (LBR), you can still send invalidation messages directly to the OracleAS Web Cache host instead of the reverse proxy server, or LBR. In this case the published host name should be that of the reverse proxy server, or LBR and the invalidation host name should be that of OracleAS Web Cache. |
| Invalidation Port | The number of the OracleAS Web Cache invalidation port, to which invalidation messages are sent. For example, 4001.
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| Invalidation Username | The username used for sending the invalidation messages. Either invalidator or administrator.
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| Invalidation User Password | The invalidation password. The default is the same as the ias_admin password chosen at the time of the OracleAS Portal middle-tier installation.
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| Confirm Password | Repeat the password specified earlier. |
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Note: When you change OracleAS Web Cache properties in the Portal Web Cache Settings page, the properties are saved toiasconfig.xml, but not to the webcache.xml file. You must either navigate back to the Web Cache Administration page in Application Server Control Console, or click the Web Cache Administration link to start OracleAS Web Cache Manager to make the appropriate changes. Refer to the Oracle Application Server Web Cache Administrator's Guide for more information about OracleAS Web Cache.
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Example 7-1 shows how to configure OracleAS Portal to use OracleAS Web Cache on a different host, using the Portal Web Cache Settings page.
Example 7-1 Configuring OracleAS Portal to use OracleAS Web Cache on a Different Host
To configure OracleAS Portal to use OracleAS Web Cache on a different host from the one on which OracleAS Portal middle-tier is installed, follow these steps:
Access the Application Server Control Console on the middle-tier where OracleAS Portal is installed.
Select the portal instance you want to configure. Typically this is Portal:portal.
Select Portal Web Cache Settings.
Update the Published Host property with the new host name, along with any other property changes you want to make.
Click Apply.
Lists the Oracle Application Server components used by OracleAS Portal and indicates their current status. You can drill down and find more information about individual Oracle Application Server components, by clicking on a link. The listed components are:
For performance reasons, less critical metric data, that is, non-response metrics, is collected by the Application Server Control Console metric cache and it can become slightly out of date. To display the most up to date metric data, click the Refresh link in the top left corner of a page.
The Dynamic Monitoring Service (DMS) collects metric data for mod_plsql, Parallel Page Engine and the Providers. DMS starts collecting metric information when the middle-tier starts up. DMS metrics are flushed whenever the middle-tier is restarted, and a new set of metric data is collected when the middle-tier starts up again. For more information on DMS, see Oracle Application Server Performance Guide.
Clicking the HTTP Server link takes you to the Oracle HTTP Server home page. This is the starting point for managing a single instance of Oracle HTTP Server. For example, you can restart the Oracle HTTP Server from here.
Clicking the mod_plsql Services link takes you to the mod_plsql Services home page shown in Figure 7-8. From here you can configure, as well as monitor, mod_plsql related settings and metrics.
Figure 7-8 Application Server Control Console - mod_plsql Services Monitoring Page
The following sub-sections in this page help you monitor and configure mod_plsql services:
General
Indicates whether the mod_plsql module loaded into memory successfully. It also shows the number of requests for every hour, received by mod_plsql since the server was started, and the percentage of all requests that have been successful.
SQL Errors
Provides a link to SQL error information:
Last ten SQL errors mod_plsql has encountered.
SQL errors that mod_plsql has encountered, grouped by type of error.
HTTP Response Codes
Displays the HTTP response and error codes. For each response code, the number of requests and the percentage this number represents overall is shown.
Cache
Here you can see the number of requests for cached content, including the percentage of cache hits and misses. In the case of a cache miss you can see if the miss was due to stale content, or new content being added. If you see a high percentage of misses, you can tune the cache.
Cache Settings are shown in Figure 7-9. To update cache configuration settings on this page, click Configure.
Figure 7-9 Application Server Control Console - Cache Settings
DADs
Displays the status of existing DADs. A Database Access Descriptor (DAD) is a set of values that specify how an application connects to an Oracle Database to fulfill an HTTP request. You can also create, edit, and delete DADs here. See also Section 4.5.3, "Configuring a Portal DAD".
Clicking the Web Cache link takes you to the OracleAS Web Cache home page. Use this page to gather overall performance statistics for OracleAS Web Cache, including status, resource utilization, and cache efficiency. The following sections in this page enable you to monitor and configure OracleAS Web Cache settings:
Home - Displays the current status, cache resource, and performance information of OracleAS Web Cache.
Performance - Enables you to monitor overall cache performance, monitor the status and performance of the origin servers, and view the most popular requests since the cache was started.
Administration - Enables you to configure and administer OracleAS Web Cache.
Clicking the Parallel Page Engine Services link takes you to the Parallel Page Engine (PPE) monitoring page shown in Figure 7-10. From here you can get detailed PPE metrics, such as:
Portlet response codes
Page level caching
Status of the OC4J Portal container
PPE request queue metrics
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See Also: For more information about the PPE, refer to Appendix D, "Configuring the Parallel Page Engine". |
Figure 7-10 Application Server Control Console - Parallel Page Engine Services Monitoring Page
In the Component Status table, the Providers status is shown to be 'Up' when none of the portlets' last response code was a failure and the slowest average portlet performance is quicker than the current portlet performance warning threshold.
Clicking the Providers link takes you to the Providers monitoring page shown in Figure 7-11. From here you can get an overview of the performance, status, and HTTP response codes (portlets only) of providers and portlets that are requested by the Parallel Page Engine (PPE) in the Application Server Control Console.
Figure 7-11 Application Server Control Console - Providers Monitoring Page
On the Providers page, Web Providers are distinguished from Database Providers. You can click a provider to get details about individual portlets that have been accessed through that provider.
Metrics you can monitor include:
Avg Time (seconds) - The average response time to request a portlet.
Max Time (seconds) - The maximum response time to request a portlet.
Slowest Portlets Avg Time (seconds) - The average performance of a provider's slowest portlet (in seconds).
Requests - The number of requests serviced by this provider.
Cache Hits - The number of times the cache has been accessed.
Online - Indicates if a provider is currently online.
Performance - Indicates whether the providers are performing as expected.
Status - Indicates whether a specific provider is up or down.
The status of a portlet is considered to be 'Up' if - no portlets' last response code was a failure and the slowest average portlet performance is quicker than the Portlet performance warning threshold set against the target. Down - At least 1 Portlet's last response code was a failure.
Clicking the Ultra Search link takes you to Oracle Ultra Search administration pages. From here you can configure Oracle Ultra Search. For more information, see Chapter 8, "Configuring the Search Features in OracleAS Portal".
Lists the Oracle Application Server components used by OracleAS Portal that indicate severity status. Table 7-2 describes the severity status levels that are reported.
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Note: Severity level thresholds are set intargets.xml. See Section 7.3.5.1, "Setting Severity Thresholds Manually in targets.xml".
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Table 7-2 Severity Level Status Descriptions
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| OK | The component is running normally. |
| Warning | There is some problem with the component. |
| Critical | The component is having critical problems. |
| Unknown | There is not enough information to establish status as the component is down. |
In the Grid Control Console, you can define and adjust the thresholds for OracleAS Portal metrics using the Manage Metrics link (for instructions, see Section 7.1.4, "Setting OracleAS Portal Metric Thresholds"). This feature is not available in the Application Server Control Console but you can edit the severity level thresholds manually, in the Oracle Enterprise Manager configuration file targets.xml, if necessary.
For the Application Server Control Console, this file is located at ORACLE_HOME/sysman/emd/targets.xml, where ORACLE_HOME is the Oracle Application Server Home. You can edit the following threshold values:
PPESuccessfulResponsesCriticalThreshold - A threshold value used by OracleAS Portal to determine whether the status of the Parallel Page Engine Services is reported to be critical, that is, when the percentage of successful responses drops below this value. The default is 80%.
PPESuccessfulResponsesWarningThreshold - Parallel Page Engine Services are considered to be in a warning state if the percentage of successful responses is higher than PPESuccessfulResponsesCriticalThreshold and lower than this value. The default is 90%.
modplsqlSuccessfulResponsesCriticalThreshold - A threshold value used by OracleAS Portal to determine whether the status of the mod_plsql Services is reported to be critical, that is, when the percentage of successful responses drops below this value. The default is 80%.
modplsqlSuccessfulResponsesWarningThreshold - mod_plsql Services are considered to be in a warning state if the percentage of successful responses is higher than modplsqlSuccessfulResponsesCriticalThreshold and lower than this value. The default is 90%.
portletResponseCriticalThreshold - A threshold value used by OracleAS Portal to determine whether the status of a Provider's Portlet Timing is reported to be critical, that is, when the average portlet response time (in milliseconds) is greater than this value (in milliseconds). The default is 4500 milliseconds.
portletResponseWarningThreshold - Portlet response times are considered to be in a warning state if the average response time for Provider portlets is less than PPESuccessfulResponsesCriticalThreshold and greater than this value (in milliseconds). The default is 4000 milliseconds.
If you do edit metric thresholds manually in targets.xml, you must reload the configuration file in the appropriate Application Server Control Console. To update targets.xml in the Oracle Application Server 10g home (ORACLE_HOME) and load the new target information in the Application Server Control Console, follow these steps:
Create a backup copy of ORACLE_HOME/sysman/emd/targets.xml. For example, ORACLE_HOME/sysman/emd/targets.xml.31stAugust2004.
Open ORACLE_HOME/sysman/emd/targets.xml in your favorite Text Editor.
Edit the XML segment describing your OracleAS Portal target thresholds.
<Target TYPE="oracle_portal" NAME="Name" DISPLAY_NAME="Display_Name" VERSION="1.0">
...
<Property NAME='PPESuccessfulResponsesCriticalThreshold' VALUE='80' />
<Property NAME='PPESuccessfulResponsesWarningThreshold' VALUE='90' />
<Property NAME='modplsqlSuccessfulResponsesCriticalThreshold' VALUE='80' />
<Property NAME='modplsqlSuccessfulResponsesWarningThreshold' VALUE='90' />
<Property NAME='portletResponseCriticalThreshold' VALUE='4500' />
<Property NAME='portletResponseWarningThreshold' VALUE='4000' />
...
</Target>
Reload the targets in the Application Server Control Console:
On Solaris/Linux, enter:
ORACLE_HOME/bin/emctl reload
On Windows:
ORACLE_HOME\bin\emctl reload
This section contains several links: link Portal End User Default Homepage, which also contains an All Metrics link that displays a single comprehensive list of all the metrics available for this OracleAS Portal instance.
Portal End User Default Homepage - This link takes you to the home page of the OracleAS Portal being monitored.
All Metrics - this link displays a single comprehensive list of all the metrics available for this OracleAS Portal instance. It is not possible to view historical metric data from the Application Server Control Console but you can start collecting metric data and display the results graphically in real-time.
To analyze historical trends, use the Grid Control Console. For more information, see Section 7.1.1, "Monitoring Historical Trends".
To perform detailed diagnostics, using log files, click the Logs link. In the Application Server Control Console, this link is located at the top and bottom of every Oracle Application Server component home page.
See Appendix K, "Troubleshooting OracleAS Portal" for more information.
To display a graphical representation of your application server topology, including OracleAS Portal instances, click the Topology link. In the Application Server Control Console, this link is located at the top and bottom of every Oracle Application Server component home page.
This section contains the following sections:
In OracleAS Portal there is a link to the Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Application Server Control Console that is monitoring and managing the portal. To access the Portal Service Monitoring link, click the Administer tab in OracleAS Portal and locate the Services portlet.
If any details relating to the Application Server Control Console change, for example, the port or protocol, the link in OracleAS Portal must be updated otherwise it will not work.
To do this, follow these steps:
Edit the file iasconfig.xml on the OracleAS Portal middle-tier.
This is usually located in ORACLE_HOME/portal/conf. For details, see Appendix A, "Using the Portal Dependency Settings Tool and File".
Update the EMComponent element for your OracleAS Portal instance, as required.
Run the following script to update the Oracle Application Server Metadata Repository with the new settings:
ORACLE_HOME/portal/conf/ptlconfig -dad <dad> -em
In OracleAS Portal, clear the OracleAS Web Cache cache to update the Portal Service Monitoring link.
In the Services portlet, click Global Settings, the Cache tab and then select Clear The Entire Web Cache.
In the Services portlet, click the updated Portal Service Monitoring link to access the Application Server Control Console.
You can use an Oracle9iAS Portal Repository version 9.0.2 in an Oracle Application Server 10g Release 2 (10.1.2) middle-tier. If you want to monitor this version of Oracle9iAS Portal in the Application Server Control Console, some additional steps are required after installation.
Without these steps, Oracle9iAS Portal version information and Oracle9iAS Portal Metadata Repository information (database version and start time) is not accessible in the Application Server Control Console. You will also see 'missing package' errors (WWC_MONITORING) in the Oracle HTTP Server logs.
In SQL*Plus, connect as SYS.
Run the script cfgvr902.sql, using <portal schema name> as an argument.
This script is located in the middle-tier Oracle home, under <upgrade_directory>/wwc/. For example, if the Oracle9iAS Portal Repository (9.0.2) schema name is portal and the middle-tier is running from ORACLE_HOME, enter (for Solaris/Linux):
MID_TIER_ORACLE_HOME/portal/admin/plsql/wwc/cfgvr902.sql portal
Similarly, in Windows, run:
MID_TIER_ORACLE_HOME\portal\admin\plsql\wwc\cfgvr902.sql portal
Note that this script only exists in the Oracle Application Server 10g middle-tier with which the Oracle9iAS Portal Repository (9.0.2) is connected. The script does not exist in the Oracle home running the infrastructure.
Grant access to the new package WWC_MONITORING:
In SQL*Plus, connect as PORTAL.
Enter:
grant execute on WWC_MONITORING to PUBLIC;
The configuration file targets.xml defines attributes for all the targets managed by Oracle Enterprise Manager, including your OracleAS Portal targets. For the most part, the content of targets.xml is maintained automatically, so there is no need to edit this file manually. However, when the Oracle HTTP Server in your environment is SSL enabled, you must maintain Oracle HTTP Server port changes manually (in targets.xml) for all OracleAS Portal targets running on that server. If the HTTP Port information in targets.xml does not match the actual listening port of the Oracle HTTP Server, the targets appear to be 'down' in the Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Application Server Control Console.
So, whenever Oracle HTTP Server listening port details are changed, either in the configuration file httpd.conf, or using the Oracle HTTP Server's administration pages in Oracle Enterprise Manager, update the corresponding property (HTTPPort) in targets.xml manually as described in the following sections.
If OracleAS Web Cache is SSL-enabled, the PortalListeningHostPort property must be changed too.
Follow the steps appropriate to your SSL environment:
SSL-enabled Oracle HTTP Server and non-SSL OracleAS Web Cache
Non-SSL Oracle HTTP Server and SSL-enabled OracleAS Web Cache
SSL-enabled Oracle HTTP Server and SSL-enabled OracleAS Web Cache
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Note: Manual configuration is not required in non-SSL environments. |
SSL-enabled Oracle HTTP Server and non-SSL OracleAS Web Cache
Make a backup copy of targets.xml located in the MID_TIER_ORACLE_HOME/sysman/emd directory.
Open MID_TIER_ORACLE_HOME/sysman/emd/targets.xml in a text editor.
Search for OracleAS Portal targets, that is, TYPE="oracle_portal".
Change the HTTPProtocol property value from http to https. For example:
<Property NAME="HTTPProtocol" VALUE="https"/>
Change the HTTPPort property value so that it matches the SSL-enabled Oracle HTTP Server listening port value. For example:
<Property NAME="HTTPPort" VALUE="7782"/>
To verify the current listening port of the Oracle HTTP Server, look in httpd.conf and determine the value of the Listen property. Alternatively, click the Site link on the OracleAS Web Cache Administration page and determine the port number displayed in the Origin Servers field.
Save the changes to targets.xml.
Add the Base 64 certificate of the SSL server to the Enterprise Manager certificate configuration file.
To do this, follow the instructions described in Configuring Beacons to Monitor Web Applications over HTTPS, in Oracle Enterprise Manager Advanced Configuration. See also Section 6.3.2.4.11, "Configure Enterprise Manager to Monitor SSL-Enabled OracleAS Portal".
Restart the Application Server Control Console (to load the updated OracleAS Portal targets and certificate file) by navigating to the MID_TIER_ORACLE_HOME/bin directory and running this command:
emctl stop iasconsole emctl start iasconsole
Non-SSL Oracle HTTP Server and SSL-enabled OracleAS Web Cache
Make a backup copy of targets.xml located in the MID_TIER_ORACLE_HOME/sysman/emd directory.
Open MID_TIER_ORACLE_HOME/sysman/emd/targets.xml in a text editor.
Edit the PortalListeningHostPort property, which is the OracleAS Web Cache route for some of the status metrics. Replace http with https. For example:
<Property NAME="PortalListeningHostPort" VALUE=https://host:<Web Cache port>/>
Save the changes to targets.xml.
Add the Base 64 certificate of the SSL server to the Enterprise Manager certificate configuration file.
To do this, follow the instructions described in Configuring Beacons to Monitor Web Applications over HTTPS, in Oracle Enterprise Manager Advanced Configuration. See also Section 6.3.2.4.11, "Configure Enterprise Manager to Monitor SSL-Enabled OracleAS Portal".
Restart the Application Server Control Console (to load the updated OracleAS Portal targets and certificate file) by navigating to the MID_TIER_ORACLE_HOME/bin directory and running this command:
emctl stop iasconsole emctl start iasconsole
SSL-enabled Oracle HTTP Server and SSL-enabled OracleAS Web Cache
Make a backup copy of targets.xml located in the MID_TIER_ORACLE_HOME/sysman/emd directory.
Open MID_TIER_ORACLE_HOME/sysman/emd/targets.xml in a text editor.
Search for OracleAS Portal targets, that is, TYPE="oracle_portal".
Change the HTTPProtocol property value from http to https. For example:
<Property NAME="HTTPProtocol" VALUE="https"/>
Change the HTTPPort property value so that it matches the SSL-enabled Oracle HTTP Server listening port value. For example:
<Property NAME="HTTPPort" VALUE="7782"/>
To verify the current listening port of the Oracle HTTP Server, look in httpd.conf and determine the value of the Listen property. Alternatively, click the Site link on the OracleAS Web Cache Administration page and determine the port number displayed in the Origin Servers field.
Edit the PortalListeningHostPort property, which is the OracleAS Web Cache route for some of the status metrics. Replace http with https. For example:
<Property NAME="PortalListeningHostPort" VALUE=https://host:Web Cache port>/>.
Save the changes to targets.xml.
Add the Base 64 certificate of the SSL server to the Enterprise Manager certificate configuration file.
To do this, follow the instructions described in Configuring Beacons to Monitor Web Applications over HTTPS, in Oracle Enterprise Manager Advanced Configuration. See also Section 6.3.2.4.11, "Configure Enterprise Manager to Monitor SSL-Enabled OracleAS Portal".
Restart the Application Server Control Console (to load the updated OracleAS Portal targets and certificate file) by navigating to the MID_TIER_ORACLE_HOME/bin directory and running this command:
emctl stop iasconsole emctl start iasconsole
OracleAS Portal analytics includes:
A set of OracleAS Portal Activity reports are available that execute against data collected by the performance logging service of mod_plsql. To implement this logging service, refer to Section 9.5, "Generating Performance Reports". These reports contain information such as:
Peak login time each day
Number of logins the portal receives each day
Portlet execution time
Slowest portlet
Total hits received by the portal each day
Most/least popular portlets
Frequency of pages or portlets viewed by users
Number of unique users login each day
Portlets that were accessed
Number of hits received by every page each day
Number of hits received by every portlet each day
Breakdown of information by IP address or host name
You can find additional information in the technical note "Usage Reporting from Performance Logs in OracleAS Portal", on Oracle Technology Network, http://www.oracle.com/technology/.
You can choose how objects and actions are logged in OracleAS Portal and generate reports for analyzing the data. For example, you can add an entry into the Activity Log tables every time OracleAS Portal users create, edit or delete a particular page.
Any authorized user can view the OracleAS Portal Log Registry records. However, only the portal administrator can set up what information is to be logged. See Section 7.4.2.2, "Choosing Which Events Are Logged".
Table 7-3 lists the events that can be logged for portal objects.
Table 7-3 Logged Events for OracleAS Portal Objects
| Portal Object | Event |
|---|---|
| Pages | Create, Edit, Delete, Customize |
| Items | Create, Edit, Delete, Move, Check Out, Check In |
| Application Components | Create, Edit, Delete, Execute (except for Reports, Charts, and Hierarchies), Copy, Export, Rename, Generate, Access Control, Manage, Insert, Update, Save |
| Portlets | Add to Page, Delete from Page |
| Portlet Instances | Hide, Customize |
| Searches | Search |
|
Note: User and Group actions such as Create, Edit, and Delete are logged by Oracle Internet Directory and may be viewed from Oracle Directory Manager, if logging is enabled. For more information, refer to the Oracle Internet Directory Administrator's Guide. |
You can choose which events are logged in OracleAS Portal Log Registry records.
In the Services portlet, click Log Registry Administration.
|
Note: By default, the Services portlet is on the Portal sub-tab of the Administer tab on the Portal Builder page. |
The Administer Log Registry page is displayed as shown in Figure 7-12.
Figure 7-12 Administer Log Registry Page
Figure 7-12 shows two logging requests. The first creates an entry in the Activity Log every time a portlet is customized. The second creates an entry every time a page is created. If you want to log all possible requests, choose % for each field.
Do one of the following:
Click Add New Log Registry Record to create a new Log Registry record and specify logging criteria.
Or,
Edit logging criteria for an existing Log Registry record. To do this, perform the following steps:
Click the Edit icon to edit logging criteria for an existing Log Registry record (under Edit/Delete Log Registry Record).
The Edit Log Registry Record page is displayed as shown in Figure 7-13.
Figure 7-13 Edit Log Registry Record page
Choose the objects that you wish to log, from the Sub Domain list. Valid objects are listed in Table 7-3.
Choose which actions (or events) you want to log, from the Action list. Valid actions are listed in Table 7-3.
Specify other logging criteria as required.
Click OK.
Several Activity Log views are available (named wwlog_*). These views exist in the schema in which OracleAS Portal is installed. These views are granted to public; however, the logs are secure according to the object's security. For example, information about pages is available only on pages for which the user has access privileges.
Table 7-4 lists all the Activity Log views and their descriptions. You can create simple OracleAS Portal DB Provider reports and charts based on these views if required.
Table 7-4 Activity Log Views
| Log View | Description |
|---|---|
| wwlog_portal_admin_logs | All logs (only has records if the user is the portal administrator). |
| wwlog_user_logs | All logs created by current user. |
| wwlog_all_portlet_logs | Portlet instances on pages that the current user can view. |
| wwlog_all_document_logs | Documents that the current user can view. |
| wwlog_all_search_logs | Searches that the current user can view. |
| wwlog_all_item_logs | Items that the current user can view. |
| wwlog_all_component_logs | Components that the current user can view. |
| wwlog_all_object_logs | Summary view, which encompasses all the preceding views. |
You can also access information in the Activity Log views from outside of the OracleAS Portal browser-based interface, that is, using SQL*Plus., , and so on. To do this, you must first set the portal security context for your database session using the wwctx_api.set_context API:
wwctx_api.set_context ( p_user_name => 'portal_username', p_password => 'portal_pw' );
In Application Server Control Console, the Application Server Ports page shows a list of all the ports currently in use by the components of a particular Oracle Application Server instance. This page is important when you are troubleshooting port conflicts among the various application server components.
Whenever possible, Application Server Control Console provides a link to the appropriate Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g configuration page where you can modify the port settings for the component.
To access port information for your application server:
Access the Application Server Control Console, for details see Section 7.2.1, "Accessing the Application Server Control Console".
If there is more than one standalone application server instance, your start page for the Application Server Control Console is the Oracle Application Server Farm home page.
Click an instance to take you to the Oracle Application Server instance home page.
Click the Ports link to display port information, as shown in Figure 7-14.
Figure 7-14 Oracle Application Server Ports Page
For information on managing ports, refer to the Oracle Application Server Administrator's Guide.
