1 Installation Overview

Oracle Fusion Middleware is a collection of standards-based software products that spans a range of tools and services from J2EE and developer tools, to integration services, business intelligence, collaboration, and content management. Oracle Fusion Middleware offers complete support for development, deployment, and management.

This chapter contains the following content:

1.1 Special Instructions for Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.1.0) Users

If you installed and configured Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.1.0), then you should be aware of the following:

  • At the time this document was published, the latest release of Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g was 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.2.0), which provides new features and capabilities that supersede those available in Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.1.0).

  • This guide, as well as the other installation guides available in the Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g documentation library, provides instructions for installing a new, fresh installation of Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.2.0).

  • For information about migrating from Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.1.0) to 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.2.0), refer to Oracle Fusion Middleware Using Patch Assistant to Migrate from 11.1.1.1.0 to 11.1.1.2.0.

  • For information on upgrading from Oracle Application Server 10g to Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.2.0), refer to the Oracle Fusion Middleware Upgrade Planning Guide, as well as the other upgrade guides in the Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g documentation library.

1.2 System Requirements, Prerequisites and Certification

Before performing any installation you should read the system requirements and certification documentation to ensure that your environment meets the minimum installation requirements for the products you are installing.

The system requirements document covers information such as hardware and software requirements, minimum disk space and memory requirements, and required system libraries, packages, or patches:

http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/ias/files/fusion_requirements.htm

The certification document covers supported installation types, platforms, operating systems, databases, JDKs, and third-party products:

http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/ias/files/fusion_certification.html

1.3 Oracle Fusion Middleware Concepts for All Users

This section describes several important Oracle Fusion Middleware concepts. You should be familiar with these concepts before proceeding with an installation.

1.3.1 Oracle Fusion Middleware Components

Oracle Fusion Middleware provides two types of components:

  • Java Components

    Oracle Fusion Middleware components that are deployed as one or more Java EE applications and a set of resources. Java components are deployed to an Oracle WebLogic Server domain as part of a domain template. Examples of Java components are the Oracle SOA Suite and Oracle WebCenter components.

  • System Components

    Manageable processes that are not deployed as Java applications. Instead, system components are managed by the Oracle Process Manager and Notification (OPMN). The system components are:

    • Oracle HTTP Server

    • Oracle Web Cache

    • Oracle Internet Directory

    • Oracle Virtual Directory

    • Oracle Forms Services

    • Oracle Reports

    • Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer

    • Oracle Business Intelligence

Java components and system components are considered peers.

1.3.2 Oracle Fusion Middleware Environment

After installation, a typical Oracle Fusion Middleware environment contains the following (Figure 1-1):

Figure 1-1 Oracle Fusion Middleware Environment

Description of Figure 1-1 follows
Description of "Figure 1-1 Oracle Fusion Middleware Environment"

1.3.2.1 Oracle WebLogic Server Domain

An Oracle WebLogic Server administration domain is a logically related group of Java components. An Oracle WebLogic Server domain includes a special server instance called the Administration Server, which is the central point from which you configure and manage all resources in the domain. Usually, you configure a domain to include additional Oracle WebLogic Server instances called Managed Servers. You deploy Java components, such as Web applications, EJBs, and Web services, and other resources to the Managed Servers and use the Administration Server for configuration and management purposes only.

Managed Servers in an Oracle WebLogic Server domain can be grouped together into a cluster (see Figure 1-2).

The directory structure of an Oracle WebLogic Server domain is separate from the directory structure of the Oracle WebLogic Server home. It can reside anywhere; it need not be within the Middleware home directory.

Figure 1-2 shows a domain with an Administration Server, three standalone Managed Servers, and three Managed Servers in a cluster.

Figure 1-2 Oracle WebLogic Server Domain

Description of Figure 1-2 follows
Description of "Figure 1-2 Oracle WebLogic Server Domain"

1.3.2.2 System Components

System components are configured in an Oracle Instance directory, which contains files such as configuration files, log files, and temporary files that can be updated. All system components in an Oracle Instance directory must reside on the same machine.

An Oracle Instance directory is a peer of an Oracle WebLogic Server domain in that both contain specific configurations outside of their Oracle product home directories. However, it is important to note that an Oracle WebLogic Server domain may cross machine boundaries and may contain a distributed business application. An Oracle Instance directory contains a portion of a topology restricted only to a single machine.

Each instance of a system component must be uniquely identified within the Oracle Instance directory.

1.3.2.3 Administration Servers

The Administration Server operates as the central control entity for the configuration of the entire domain. It maintains the domain's configuration documents and distributes changes in the configuration documents to Managed Servers. You can also use the Administration Server as a central location from which to monitor all resources in a domain.

Each Oracle WebLogic Server domain must have one server instance that acts as the Administration Server.

To interact with the Administration Server, you can use the Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console, Oracle WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST), or create your own JMX client. In addition, you can use Oracle Enterprise Manager Fusion Middleware Control for some tasks.

Fusion Middleware Control and the WebLogic Administration Console run in the Administration Server. Fusion Middleware Control is a Web-based administration console used to manage Oracle Fusion Middleware, including components such as Oracle HTTP Server, Oracle SOA Suite and Oracle WebCenter, Oracle Portal, Forms, Reports, and Discoverer, and the Oracle Identity Management components. Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console is the Web-based administration console used to manage the resources in an Oracle WebLogic Server domain, including the administration server and managed servers in the domain.

1.3.2.4 Managed Servers and Clusters

Managed Servers host business applications, application components, Web services, and their associated resources. To optimize performance, Managed Servers maintain a read-only copy of the domain's configuration document. When a Managed Server starts up, it connects to the domain's Administration Server to synchronize its configuration document with the document that the Administration Server maintains.

When you create a domain, you create it using a particular domain template. That template supports a particular component or group of components, such as the Oracle SOA Suite. The Managed Servers in the domain are created specifically to host those particular Oracle Fusion Middleware system components.

Java-based Oracle Fusion Middleware system components (such as Oracle SOA Suite, Oracle WebCenter, and some Identity Management components), as well as customer-developed applications, are deployed to Managed Servers in the domain.

If you want to add other components, such as Oracle WebCenter, to a domain that was created using a template that supports another component, you can extend the domain by creating additional managed servers in the domain, using a domain template for the component which you wish to add.

For production environments that require increased application performance, throughput, or high availability, you can configure two or more Managed Servers to operate as a cluster. A cluster is a collection of multiple Oracle WebLogic Server instances running simultaneously and working together to provide increased scalability and reliability. In a cluster, most resources and services are deployed identically to each Managed Server (as opposed to a single Managed Server), enabling failover and load balancing. A single domain can contain multiple Oracle WebLogic Server clusters, as well as multiple Managed Servers that are not configured as clusters. The key difference between clustered and non-clustered Managed Servers is support for failover and load balancing. These features are available only in a cluster of Managed Servers.

1.3.2.5 Node Manager

Node Manager is a Java utility that runs as separate process from Oracle WebLogic Server and allows you to perform common operations for a Managed Server, regardless of its location with respect to its Administration Server. While use of Node Manager is optional, it provides valuable benefits if your Oracle WebLogic Server environment hosts applications with high-availability requirements.

If you run Node Manager on a machine that hosts Managed Servers, you can start and stop the Managed Servers remotely using the Administration Console or the command line. Node Manager can also automatically restart a Managed Server after an unexpected failure.

For more information about Node Manager, refer to Oracle Fusion Middleware Node Manager Administrator's Guide for Oracle WebLogic Server.

1.3.2.6 WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST)

The WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST) is a command-line scripting environment that you can use to create, manage, and monitor Oracle WebLogic Server domains. It is based on the Java scripting interpreter, Jython. In addition to supporting standard Jython features such as local variables, conditional variables, and flow control statements, WLST provides a set of scripting functions (commands) that are specific to Oracle WebLogic Server.

1.3.2.7 Templates

WebLogic uses a template mechanism to create a domain and deploys an application. Templates (Java Archive (JAR) file) contain the main attributes for defining or extending a particular domain. There are two types of templates:

  • Domain Templates

    Domain templates define the full set of resources within a domain, including infrastructure components, applications, services, security options, and general environment and operating system parameters.

  • Extension Templates

    An extension template defines applications and services that can be used to extend an existing domain. This type of template is used when you are updating a domain (for example, the EM template would be a extension template).

1.4 Oracle Fusion Middleware Directory Structure and Concepts

During the installation process, you will be asked for a variety of directory locations. This section defines each of these directories and explains the contents of each directory.

1.4.1 Middleware Home and Oracle WebLogic Home Directories

The top-level directory for all Oracle Fusion Middleware products is called the Middleware home; this directory is created when Oracle WebLogic Server is installed. The WebLogic home directory is inside the Middleware home, and is also created when Oracle WebLogic Server is installed. Figure 1-3 shows the directory structure after an Oracle WebLogic Server installation:

Figure 1-3 Directory Structure after an Oracle WebLogic Server Installation

Description of Figure 1-3 follows
Description of "Figure 1-3 Directory Structure after an Oracle WebLogic Server Installation"

1.4.2 Oracle Home and Oracle Common Home Directory

Each Oracle Fusion Middleware product must be installed in its own Oracle home location. When a product is installed, two Oracle home directories are created: the product Oracle home and the Oracle Common home.

The product's software binaries will be installed into the product Oracle home; no runtime process can write to this directory.

The Oracle Common home contains the binary and library files required for the Oracle Enterprise Manager Fusion Middleware Control and Java Required Files (JRF). There can be only one Oracle Common home within each Middleware home.

Both the product Oracle home (in the example shown in Figure 1-4, the SOA Oracle home) and Oracle Common home directories must reside inside an existing Middleware home directory:

Figure 1-4 Directory Structure with Oracle Home Directories

Description of Figure 1-4 follows
Description of "Figure 1-4 Directory Structure with Oracle Home Directories"

1.4.2.1 Creating the Product Oracle Home

The product Oracle home directory can be created in the following ways:

  • Before running the installation, you can create your Oracle home directory on your system. Remember that the Oracle home must reside inside the Middleware home directory, and it must also be an empty directory. Then, when you run the installer and are asked to provide the location of your Oracle home, you can specify the directory you have created.

  • While running the installer, you can specify the name of a new directory. This directory will automatically be created for you by the installer and will be located inside the Middleware home directory.

1.4.2.2 Creating the Oracle Common Home

The Oracle Common home directory is created in the following ways:

1.4.2.3 Checking Port Numbers Across Multiple Oracle Homes

Each product requires its own Oracle home directory. If you are creating an environment where you will have multiple products (and therefore, multiple Oracle home directories), Oracle recommends that you use the staticports.ini file, so that you will have a record of all the ports that are in use on your system to help avoid conflicts.

To use the staticports.ini file, select Specify Ports using Configuration file on the Configure Ports screen during installation.

1.4.3 WebLogic Domain

After a product is installed, it can be configured into a WebLogic Domain (see Section 1.3.2.1, "Oracle WebLogic Server Domain".

The User Projects directory is created when you create or configure a domain (in this case, a SOA domain). By default, new domains are created inside the Domains folder, but you can choose to create these elsewhere if you want.

Figure 1-5 Directory Structure after an WebLogic Domain is Created

Description of Figure 1-5 follows
Description of "Figure 1-5 Directory Structure after an WebLogic Domain is Created"

1.4.4 Multiple Products with Multiple WebLogic Domains

If you install multiple products and choose to create a separate domain for each product, then your directory structure would look something like the one shown in Figure 1-6:

Figure 1-6 Directory Structure with Multiple Oracle Fusion Middleware Products

Description of Figure 1-6 follows
Description of "Figure 1-6 Directory Structure with Multiple Oracle Fusion Middleware Products"

Notice that each product has its own Oracle home directory. To differentiate among all the product Oracle home directories, the install guides typically refer to each Oracle home by product name; for example, the Oracle home for Oracle SOA Suite is referred to as the SOA Oracle home, while the Oracle home for Oracle WebCenter Suite is referred to as the WebCenter Oracle home.

1.4.4.1 Notes for Creating Multiple Domains

If you choose to create multiple domains on a single machine, make sure that each domain has a unique name. When you are running the Configuration Wizard to create and configure your domains, be sure to specify a unique domain name on the Specify Domain Name and Location screen. For example, in Figure 1-6, the WebCenter domain might have the name webcenter_domain, while the SOA domain could be called soa_domain. Refer to the product installation guides for more information.

When you are configuring multiple domains inside a single Middleware home, you must also make sure that the Administration Server and managed servers in each domain use a unique port number. There is no provision for checking port numbers across multiple domain, so you will have to keep track of this manually.

To customize the Administration Server port number, select Administration Server on the Select Optional Configuration screen in the Configuration Wizard. This will cause the Configure the Administration Server screen to appear, on which you can specify the Administration Server port number.

To customize the managed server port numbers, select Managed Servers, Clusters and Machines on the Select Optional Configuration screen in the Configuration Wizard. This will cause the Configure Manager Servers screen to appear, on which you can specify the port numbers for your managed servers.

1.4.4.2 For More Information...

For more information about multiple products and multiple domains, refer to the following documentation:

1.4.5 Extending a Domain

During installation and configuration, you may chose to extend an existing domain rather than creating a new domain. Extending a domain means that you add products and funtionality to an existing domain. If, for example, you first install Oracle SOA Suite to create a new domain, then install Oracle WebCenter Suite while choosing to extend the existing Oracle SOA Suite domain, then your topology would look like the one shown in Figure 1-7:

Figure 1-7 Directory Structure with Multiple Oracle Fusion Middleware Products in a Single Domain

Description of Figure 1-7 follows
Description of "Figure 1-7 Directory Structure with Multiple Oracle Fusion Middleware Products in a Single Domain"

In essence, you are adding the products and functionality of Oracle WebCenter Suite to the existing Oracle SOA Suite domain.

1.4.6 Oracle Instance and WebLogic Domain

Figure 1-8 shows the directory structure when two products are installed, but one product (Oracle SOA Suite) is configured in a WebLogic domain (because it consists of Java components) while the other product (Oracle WebTier) is configured in an Oracle Instance (because it consists of system components):

Figure 1-8 Directory Structure with an Oracle Instance and a WebLogic Domain

Description of Figure 1-8 follows
Description of "Figure 1-8 Directory Structure with an Oracle Instance and a WebLogic Domain"

Fore more information about Java components and system components, refer to Section 1.3, "Oracle Fusion Middleware Concepts for All Users".

1.4.7 Oracle Metadata Repository

Some Oracle Fusion Middleware products, such as Oracle BPEL Process Manager, Oracle Business Activity Monitoring, and Oracle Portal, require an existing metadata repository before those products can be successfully installed and configured. This is done by selecting a metadata repository when you run the Repository Creation Utility (RCU) to create component schemas prior to installation. RCU creates the necessary schemas in your database that are required for installation to be successful.

Note:

It is recommended that all metadata repositories reside on a database at the same site as the products to minimize network latency issues.

Oracle Fusion Middleware supports multiple repository types. A repository type represents a specific schema or set of schemas that belong to a specific Oracle Fusion Middleware component (for example, Oracle SOA Suite or Oracle Internet Directory.)

A particular type of repository, the MDS repository, contains metadata for most Oracle Fusion Middleware components, such as Oracle B2B, and for certain types of applications.

For more information about managing metadata repositories, refer to "Managing the Oracle Metadata Repository" in Oracle Application Server Administrator's Guide.

1.5 Oracle Fusion Middleware Documentation Roadmap

This section contains information about the Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) documentation and the order in which the documentation should be read to get your products installed and configured.

  1. Read the System Requirements and Certification documentation to ensure that your environment meets the minimum installation requirements for your products:

    1. The system requirements document covers information such as hardware and software requirements, minimum disk space and memory requirements, and required system libraries, packages, or patches:

      http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/ias/files/fusion_requirements.htm

    2. The certification document covers supported installation types, platforms, operating systems, databases, JDKs, and third-party products.

      http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/ias/files/fusion_certification.html

  2. If the products you are installing require a database, make sure you have installed a database and that it is up and running.

  3. If the products you are installing require schemas, create the schemas in your database by running RCU. See Oracle Fusion Middleware Repository Creation Utility User's Guide for more information. In addition, each product installation guide contains instructions for creating the schemas necessary for that product.

  4. If the products you are installing require Oracle WebLogic Server, install Oracle WebLogic Server on your system. Refer to Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Guide for Oracle WebLogic Server for more information. In addition, each product installation guide contains instructions for installing Oracle WebLogic Server.

  5. Install and configure your products. Refer to the instructions in your product installation guide or quick installation guide for more information. For example, to install and configure Oracle WebCenter Suite, you would go to:

    1. Oracle Fusion Middleware Quick Installation Guide for Oracle WebCenter

    2. Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Guide for Oracle WebCenter

    Some products allow you to install and configure in one step using the Oracle Universal Installer; others require that you run the Oracle Fusion Middleware Configuration Wizard after you install the software. For detailed information about using the Oracle Fusion Middleware Configuration Wizard, see Oracle Fusion Middleware Creating Domains Using the Configuration Wizard.

  6. If you are installing your products with a complex topology, you should refer to the enterprise deployment guides. The following enterprise deployment guides are available for 11g Release 1 (11.1.1):

    1. Oracle Fusion Middleware Enterprise Deployment Guide for Oracle SOA Suite

    2. Oracle Fusion Middleware Enterprise Deployment Guide for Oracle WebCenter

    3. Oracle Fusion Middleware Enterprise Deployment Guide for Oracle Identity Management

  7. If you are installing in a high availability environment, you should refer to the Oracle Fusion Middleware High Availability Guide for more information.

  8. After your products are installed and configured, you should refer to the administration guides for information on how to begin managing your products and applications:

    1. Oracle Fusion Middleware 2 Day Administration Guide

    2. Oracle Application Server Administrator's Guide