B Collecting OCM Data in Enterprise Manager and Ops Center Environments

My Oracle Support provides a key set of features and functionality that greatly enhance the customer's interaction with Oracle Support. My Oracle Support streamlines the Service Request submission process by providing in-context information specific to a customer's configurations, as well as proactive support. To enable these features within My Oracle Support, the customer's configuration information must be uploaded to Oracle. When the configuration data is uploaded on a regular basis, customer support representatives can analyze this data and provide better service to customers.

The following mechanisms are provided to customers for collecting and uploading configuration data to Oracle.

  • Oracle Configuration Manager (OCM)

  • Oracle Enterprise Manager Harvester (Oracle Harvester)

  • Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center Harvester (Ops Center Harvester)

In particular:

  • Oracle Configuration Manager is installed and configured automatically when you install an Oracle product.

    When installing any product, the first screen asks for My Oracle Support credentials. THIS IS A PIVOTAL SCREEN in the installation. The user name and password that you provide are the credentials against which the configuration data is uploaded to Oracle.

  • Configuration collections run and the configuration data is uploaded to Oracle every 24 hours.

  • Once the data is uploaded, it can be viewed by logging into My Oracle Support (https://support.oracle.com) using the same credentials supplied during product installation.

Note: If you use Enterprise Manager or Ops Center to manage targets in your enterprise, we recommend that you use Oracle Harvester or Ops Center Harvester respectively to upload the configurations managed by them to Oracle. Otherwise, use OCM.

B.1 Oracle Configuration Manager

OCM is installed as part of the Oracle product installation. It is installed in the product Home and collects configuration data for all targets installed in that Home.

The OCM setup requires specifying the My Oracle Support account and password, or My Oracle Support account and Customer Support Identifier (CSI). Configuration data will be uploaded using this information and can be viewed by logging in to My Oracle Support using the same credentials.

OCM must be installed in every Oracle Home from which you want to upload configuration data to Oracle. In addition to being part of the product installation, OCM can also be downloaded from My Oracle Support. The Mass Deployment tool is available to help with deploying OCM across data centers. The OCM kit is available from the Collector tab on My Oracle Support.

Once OCM is installed, no additional work is required. By default, automatic updates are enabled and you are encouraged to use this feature to ensure you are always running the latest version of OCM. This feature can be disabled if required, for example, for security reasons. If you disable the feature, you can turn it on by executing the following command:

<ocm_install_root>/ccr/bin/emCCR automatic_update on

Note: If you use Enterprise Manager or Ops Center to manage your applications, we recommend that you use Oracle Harvester or Ops Center Harvester respectively to upload your configurations to Oracle. Otherwise, use OCM.

B.2 The Harvesters

Note: The harvesters only harvest data for targets that are managed by Enterprise Manager and Ops Center.

Uploading the configuration data through a harvester removes the requirement of having OCM installed in each product home.

The available harvesters are: Oracle Harvester which collects configuration data in the Enterprise Manager environment and Ops Center Harvester which collects configuration data in the Ops Center environment.

The Ops Center Harvester and Oracle Harvester have the same OCM dependencies. Each harvester enables the gathering of target configuration data by leveraging Enterprise Manager and Ops Center collection methods thus precluding the need to install OCM on target homes managed by each harvester.

Details shared by the harvesters:

  • Data is uploaded by default for all targets against the same credentials with which OCM in the Oracle Management Service (OMS) home is configured. From Enterprise Manager Cloud Control 12c, you can change this default value for a target by assigning a CSI from the CSI Assignment page. Click Setup, then My Oracle Support to get started.

  • Requires OCM to be configured and running in the OMS home for Enterprise Manager.

  • Gather target configuration data from either the Ops Center database or Management Repository

  • Automatically run periodically so no user intervention is required

B.2.1 Oracle Harvester

When you install Enterprise Manager, Oracle Harvester and Oracle Configuration Manager are automatically installed as are all the necessary subcomponents. The Oracle Harvester will run as long as the OCM in the OMS home is configured and running.

For Enterprise Manager releases 11.1 and later, OCM must be enabled in the Oracle Home of the OMS and configured (and running in connected mode) in the Instance Home of the OMS. For example:

  1. Locate the OMS instance home.

    In the $ORACLE_HOME/sysman/config/emInstanceMapping.properties file (where ORACLE_HOME is the Oracle Home of the OMS), there is an entry referencing a file called emgc.properties.

    The directory in which the emgc.properties file is located is the "instance home" of the OMS. In the following example, /u01/app/oracle/product/gc_inst/em/EMGC_OMS1 is the instance home of the OMS:

    EMGC_OMS1=/u01/app/oracle/product/gc_inst/em/EMGC_OMS1/emgc.properties

  2. Set the environment variable ORACLE_CONFIG_HOME to the directory of this emgc.properties file.

    Example:$export ORACLE_CONFIG_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/gc_inst/em/EMGC_OMS1

  3. Configure OCM.

For Enterprise Manager release 10.2.0.5, OCM must be installed and configured in the Oracle Home.

Support For Enterprise Manager Release 12.1

Prior to Enterprise Manager 12.1, Oracle Harvester could only upload all targets using the Customer Support Identifier (CSI) used to register Oracle Configuration Manager in the OMS Home.

For Enterprise Manager 12.1, the default is for Oracle Harvester to upload all targets using the CSI used to register OCM in the OMS Home. However, you have the option of assigning a CSI to each target home.

The Oracle Harvester supports uploading configuration data to different CSIs for each different target home.

The steps include:

  1. Ensuring that the Oracle Harvester has run. This job runs automatically. The status of the run can be monitored from the Support Identifier Assignment page. To access this page from the Enterprise Manager home page, select Setup, then select My Oracle Support. From the menu, select Support Identifier Assignment.

  2. Setting My Oracle Support preferred credentials. From the Enterprise Manager home page, select Setup, then select My Oracle Support. From the menu, select Set credentials and supply any valid My Oracle Support credentials.

  3. Assigning the Support Identifier.

    1. From the Enterprise Manager home page, select Setup, then select My Oracle Support. Select Support Identifier Assignment and provide the correct user name and password. Select Set credentials.

    2. Select Home. Click Assign button. Select CSI and click OK.

  4. Ensuring the message displays indicating the assignment was successful. The message reads:

    Support Identifier has been assigned for 1 Oracle homes. The changes in the Customer Support Identifiers will be reflected in My Oracle Support after the next Harvester run.
    

Viewing CSIs in Enterprise Manager

You can see the CSI associated with a target by viewing the target property or by doing a configuration search with CSI set as the search criteria. Any user with operator privilege on all targets for a given Oracle Home can assign a CSI for that Oracle Home.

Refer to the help in the Enterprise Manager interface on how to access this information.

Harvestering Target Lifecycle Properties from Enterprise Manager

Oracle provides the target lifecycle property to enable you to identify the purpose of a target, for example, development, testing, and so on.

Note:

Harvesting of the target lifecycle property is supported in Enterprise Manager Cloud Control 12c and higher.

Once defined, the Oracle Harvester collects and uploads the target lifecycle property for all the targets.

You can assign target lifecycle property to any target from either the Enterprise Manager UI or the My Oracle Support UI.

The possible values of a target's lifecycle property are:

  • Mission Critical

  • Production

  • Stage

  • Test

  • Development

Harvester Job Status Metric

From Enterprise Manager Cloud Control 12c Release 12.1.0.3 and OCM 10.3.8.1.0, a Harvester Job Status metric has been added to the OMS and Repository target. This metric will provide information related to the Harvester Job. The following information is collected as part of this metric:

  • Harvester Status: Provides the status of the last harvester job run. Possible values include:

    • SUCCESS: indicates the job ran successfully.

    • ERROR: returned if job failed.

    • NOT CONFIGURED: indicates that OCM is not configured.

    • NOT AUTHENTICATE: shows that OCM is configured, but it is not in Authenticated mode.

  • Harvester Error: Shows an error message in case the harvester job fails to run.

  • Last Harvester Job Run: Shows the time the last harvester job ran.

  • Next Harvester Job Run: Shows the time of the next harvester job run.

  • Total Targets Processed: Shows the number of targets processed by the harvester job during its last run.

  • Total Targets Successful: Total number of targets successfully uploaded to MOS from Total Targets Processed.

  • Total Targets Failed: Shows the total number of target that failed to upload to MOS out of the Total Targets Processed in the Last Harvester Job Run.

  • OCM Version: Shows the version of OCM configured with Enterprise Manager.

The Harvester Job Status metric data is available from the OMS and Repository target metrics page. An ERROR threshold has been defined for the Harvester Status field. If the value of this field shows ERROR, then an incident will be created, which will appear on both the OMS and Repository home page and the Incident Manager Page.

Targets Removed from Enterprise Manager

Any targets removed from Enterprise Manager are automatically deactivated from My Oracle Support (MOS).

B.2.1.1 Supported Targets in Oracle Harvester

Oracle Harvester collects configuration data from Enterprise Manager releases 10.2.0.5, 11.1, and 12.1. Depending on the version of Enterprise Manager that Oracle Harvester is running on, Oracle collects the configuration data from a different set of target types. Only configuration data from the target types represented in the following tables are collected by Oracle Harvester.

Table B-1 shows the supported targets for Enterprise Manager Release 12.1. Table B-2 shows the supported targets for Enterprise Manager Release 10.2.0.5 and 11.1, respectively.

Table B-1 Supported Targets in Enterprise Manager 12.1 Releases

Target Plug-in Release Enterprise Manager Release
12.1 12.1.0.2 12.1.0.3 and later

BI

12.1.0.3

No

Yes

Yes

Host

not applicable

Yes

Yes

Yes

Management Agent

not applicable

Yes

Yes

Yes

Management Repository

not applicable

Yes

Yes

Yes

Oracle Application Server

all versions

Yes

Yes

Yes

Oracle Database

all versions

Yes

Yes

Yes

Oracle Database Machine

all versions

Yes

Yes

Yes

Oracle Exadata Storage Server

all versions

Yes

Yes

Yes

Oracle Exalogic

12.1.0.2

12.1.0.3

No

No

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Oracle Fusion Applications

all versions

Yes

Yes

Yes

Oracle Fusion Middleware

all versions

Yes

Yes

Yes

Oracle Home

not applicable

Yes

Yes

Yes

Oracle Identity Manager for configurations: OIF, OID, OVD and DIP

 

No

Yes

Yes

Oracle Identity Manager for configurations: OIM, OAM and OAAM

all versions

Yes

Yes

Yes

Oracle Management Service

not applicable

Yes

Yes

Yes

Oracle SOA Suite

all versions

Yes

Yes

Yes

Oracle Virtual Manager

all versions

Yes

Yes

Yes

Oracle WebLogic Server

all versions

Yes

Yes

Yes

Siebel

12.1.0.3

No

No

Yes


Table B-2 Supported Targets in Enterprise Manager Release 10.2.0.5 and 11.1

Target Plug-in Release Enterprise Manager Release
10.2.0.5 11.1

Host

not applicable

Yes

Yes

Oracle Application Server

all versions

Yes

Yes

Oracle Database

all versions

Yes

Yes

Oracle Exadata Storage Server

all versions

No

Yes

Oracle Home

not applicable

Yes

Yes

Oracle Virtual Manager

all versions

No

Yes

Oracle WebLogic Server

all versions

No

Yes


B.2.1.2 Configuration Data Not Available in My Oracle Support

Configuration data for targets collected from Oracle Harvester running in Enterprise Manager releases 10.2.0.5 and 11.1 will show up in My Oracle Support only if one of the following conditions is met:

  • OCM collector is not configured in connected mode where the target is present and is not uploading the configuration for the target.

  • Thirty days have passed since the OCM collector last uploaded the configuration data for the target.

Configuration data for targets collected from Oracle Harvester running in Enterprise Manager release 12.1 display in My Oracle Support immediately.

In Enterprise Manager release 11.1, if you do not want to wait for 30 days for Oracle Harvester collected configuration data to display in My Oracle Support, you can execute the following SQL script against the Management Repository:

sql> insert into mgmt_ocm_upl_props (name,str_value) values('is_gc_force','true');
sql> commit;

Bounce the OMS after executing the SQL script.

B.2.2 Ops Center Harvester

The Ops Center Harvester leverages the scale of Ops Center manageability by providing OCM collection capabilities for all systems managed by the Ops Center starting with release 11.1.

Ops Center Harvester collects configuration data from the Management Repository creating a host target for each managed asset and an Ops Center target containing summary information about the Ops Center instance.

OCM and the Ops Center Harvester are bundled with Ops Center, and are installed in a fixed location on the Ops Center Enterprise Controller. Ops Center Harvester requires OCM to be installed in: /var/opt/sun/xvm/ocm/ which is governed by the Ops Center Installer.

The Ops Center Harvester utilizes the credentials entered during the OCM setup for uploading configuration data. You must explicitly configure OCM during the overall Ops Center install process, that is, you must complete the OCM configuration. Otherwise the Ops Center Harvester will not run.

Host targets collected by the Ops Center Harvester should appear in My Oracle Support with a Source of "Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center Harvester".

Additional information on Ops Center Harvester is available at:

http://wd0338.oracle.com/archive/cd_ns/E11857_01/nav/management.htm

B.3 Additional Information

To find additional information about My Oracle Support, see:

https://support.oracle.com

To find more information about OCM, perform the following steps:

  1. Log into My Oracle Support at https://support.oracle.com

  2. To access the Collector tab, click More and select Collector from the drop-down menu. The Collector page contains useful information.

B.4 Troubleshooting Configuration Data Collection Tools

The following sections describe how to resolve issues with the configuration data collections.

In Enterprise Manager releases 10.2.0.5 and 11.1, ensure that collection data is uploaded to Oracle by using the emccr status command. Look at the last uploaded date and time.

Note: This emccr status command shows that collected data was uploaded, but does not ensure the Oracle Harvester collections were successful and uploaded.

Note:

The emCCR status command displays the state of the scheduler, when a collection was last performed, when the next collection will run and the schedulers start time. These times may appear to be inconsistent.

The system's TZ variable affects how the time stamps are stored. Collections performed manually vs. automatically store their collection times based upon the TZ variable of the process invoking the collection.

To resolve this inconsistency, insure the cron daemon is started with the correct system time zone.

Location of error logs:

  • Oracle Harvester error logs:

    • For Enterprise Manager release 10.2.0.5 look at:

      ORACLE_HOME/sysman/log/emoms.trc
      
    • For Enterprise Manager release 11.1, look at:

      INSTANCE_HOME/sysman/log/emoms.trc
      
    • For Enterprise Manager release 12.1, look at:

      INSTANCE_HOME/sysman/log/emoms_pbs.trc
      
    • UI errors, for example CSI Assignment errors, look at:

      INSTANCE_HOME/sysman/log/emoms.trc
      

      For example:

      /gc_inst/user_projects/domains/GCDomain/servers/EMGC_OMS1/sysman/log/emoms.trc
      
  • Ops Center Harvester error log is located at:

    /var/opt/sun/xvm/logs/ocharvester.log
    
  • Oracle Configuration Manager log is located at:

    ccr/hosts/<hostname>/log/collector.log
    

B.4.1 Oracle Harvester Collection Fails If the state/upload/external Directory Is Missing

If the Oracle Harvester collection fails with the following error, the required directory named external is missing.

[JobWorker 75210:Thread-61] ERROR gcharvester.GcCollectionMgr initOcm.? - GC OCM
Harvester: Caught GC Harvester exception from GCInit.init(): The installed version
of Oracle Configuration Manager in the ORACLE_HOME
(/scratch/aime/work/midlwre8937/oms11g) is prior to 10.3.1. The Grid Control
Configuration harvesting requires at a minimum, 10.3.1

The external directory is missing in one of the following:

  • $ORACLE_HOME/ccr/hosts/<local_host_name>/state/upload directory (Enterprise Manager release 10.2.0.5)

  • $ORACLE_INSTANCE_HOME/ccr/state/upload directory (Enterprise Manager releases 11.1 and later).

To resolve this issue:

  • In Enterprise Manager release 10.2.0.5, create the directory $ORACLE_HOME/ccr/hosts/<local_host_name>/state/upload/external.

  • In Enterprise Manager releases 11.1 and later, create the directory $ORACLE_INSTANCE_HOME/ccr/state/upload/external.

(Bug 12795503)

B.4.2 Oracle Configuration Manager Is Not Running

When OCM is not running, you may see the following error:

2012-08-29 16:34:20,709 [JobWorker 97285:Thread-60] WARN
gcharvester.HarvesterJobUtils performOCMCollections.? - GC OCM Harvester: OCM was
stopped and is not running 

To resolve this issue, verify that the OCM is correctly installed and configured in the appropriate directories. In particular:

  • For Enterprise Manager release 10.2.0.5, OCM must be installed and configured (and running in connected mode) in the Oracle Home of the targets it is managing.

  • For Enterprise Manager releases 11.1 and later, OCM must be installed in the OMS Oracle Home and configured (and running in connected mode) in the OMS Instance Home.

B.4.3 Configuration Data Not Available in My Oracle Support

When you look at My Oracle Support and do not find configuration data, it could be that the Oracle Harvester collection did not run.

To resolve this issue, verify that the OCM was installed and configured in the appropriate directories (execute emCCR status). In particular:

  • For Enterprise Manager release 10.2.0.5, OCM must be installed and configured (in connected mode) in the Oracle Home of the OMS. To verify that OCM is running, execute the following command:

    $ORACLE_HOME/ccr/bin/emCCR status
    
  • For Enterprise Manager releases 11.1 and later, OCM must be installed in the OMS Oracle Home and configured (and running in connected mode) in the OMS Instance Home. To verify that OCM is running, perform the following steps:

    1. Set ORACLE_CONFIG_HOME to the INSTANCE HOME

    2. Execute $ORACLE_HOME/ccr/bin/emCCR status

B.4.4 Only a Subset of the Targets Is Collected by the Oracle Harvester

If many targets are uploaded to the Management Repository but only a subset of the targets is collected by the Oracle Harvester, it could be because the same error was encountered 10 times during a collection, causing the Oracle Harvester to stop collecting. Look at the appropriate log file to verify that this error has occurred.

Resolve the issue by running the following SQL script against the Management Repository. This script forces the Oracle Harvester to ignore this collection error and continue collecting the remaining target information.

sql> insert into mgmt_ocm_upl_props (name,str_value) values('ignore_errors','true');
sql> commit;

Bounce the OMS after executing the SQL script.

(Bug 11734389)