PeopleSoft Cloud Manager FAQ
Find the answers to all your questions about PeopleSoft and the cloud.
1. What is Cloud Manager?
PeopleSoft delivers PeopleSoft Cloud Manager to help you automate the management of your PeopleSoft environments, delivering capabilities not found anywhere outside of Oracle Cloud. Some of the things that Cloud Manager can assist you with include:
- Provision PeopleSoft environments on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure using Exadata Cloud Services (EXaCS) and Oracle Database Cloud Services (DBCS).
- Automatically download application PUM images, application PRPs, and PeopleTools patches.
- Automatically apply Infrastructure Deployment Packages (IDPKs), for CPU patches with Policy Manager.
- Perform automated PeopleTools patching and upgrades.
- Migrate an on-premises environment to Oracle Cloud.
- Create reusable deployment templates.
- Use self-service provisioning of PeopleSoft environments.
- Manage multiple environments from a single page.
- Perform on-demand health checks on environments.
- Enable application lifecycle management in Oracle Cloud.
- Clone environments by creating templates from running instances.
- Review scaling recommendations and/or dynamically scale environments using OCI Data Science.
2. Do I need to separately license the PeopleSoft Cloud Manager application?
No, all PeopleSoft customers paying application maintenance can deploy PeopleSoft Cloud Manager with no additional application licensing cost. See the PeopleTools Licensing Information manual for details.
3. What is the minimum PeopleSoft version supported by Cloud Manager?
Cloud Manager only supports PeopleSoft environments that are on application version 9.2 and PeopleTools 8.55 or later. The minimum version for PeopleSoft Interaction Hub is 9.1.
Cloud Manager is tested only with supported PeopleTools releases. While Cloud Manager initially required a minimum of PeopleTools 8.55.12 when it was first released, it is strongly recommended that only patch-eligible PeopleTools releases are used with Cloud Manager.
4. Do I have to patch my Oracle Database before I do a lift to DBCS?
Platform details are subject to change. Please refer to the Cloud Manager Home Page, Doc ID 2231255.2 on My Oracle Support for more details.
5. If I deploy Cloud Manager to manage my PeopleSoft environments, is a separate database license required to run the Cloud Manager application?
Please refer to the PeopleTools Licensing Information manual for complete licensing details. But no, a standard edition 2 (SE2) license is provided to run the Cloud Manager application.
6. I already have a license for the Oracle database; can I use this for PeopleSoft environments managed with Cloud Manager?
Yes, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure environment is a "bring your own license" platform. An additional license is required if you choose to deploy the database on the Oracle DBCS.
7. Cloud Manager provides an ability to have your on-premises Oracle Enterprise Manager with AMS for PeopleSoft to monitor Cloud Manager instance; how does this impact my on-premises AMS for PeopleSoft license with respect to CPUs or named usage?
If you have already licensed AMS for your on-premises PeopleSoft management, you can deploy the PeopleSoft plug-in to the Hybrid EM Agent on your PeopleSoft OPC/IaaS instance.
8. Can I use Cloud Manager to lift and shift an instance with a very large database?
There is no limit to the size of the Oracle database on Linux that can be compressed and copied to the cloud. For exceptionally large databases, there is an option of creating a backup and manually installing the backup in a cloud data center. For more information on that process, please contact your Oracle technical sales representative.
9. If I run a non-Oracle database, what parts of Cloud Manager can I use?
Cloud Manager is only certified to support PeopleSoft applications that use the Oracle database. However, there are benefits to using Cloud Manager’s automation capabilities for things like automatically obtaining and deploying new PUM images, environments for new feature evaluation, and development environments.
10. Why is Cloud Manager important for me and my team?
Running PeopleSoft applications takes time and resources. Shifting the running of the applications to the Oracle Cloud can reduce the cost and the time it takes to manage PeopleSoft applications. Cloud Manager provides even more. It simplifies administrative tasks that are required when running PeopleSoft applications and it gives you and your team options to use PeopleSoft environments in different ways.
For the ways that you can use PeopleSoft on the Oracle Cloud, please see the PeopleSoft on OCI FAQ.
11. Are there limits to the number of environments Cloud Manager can manage?
The number of environments is limited only by the capacity of your Oracle Cloud Infrastructure account. Please see your Oracle technical sales representative for metered licensing options.
12. How long does it take Cloud Manager to create an environment?
It depends on several factors. The size of the deployment, the complexity of the topology, and the size of the database. A standard PUM environment that deploys on a single VM is typically created in less than an hour.
13. I've heard about templates. What are these and how can I use them?
Templates are the term used to describe a set of metadata that defines all the parts necessary to create a PeopleSoft instance. Administrators create templates and they are used by self-service end users to create PeopleSoft instances.
14. I've heard about zones. What are they and how do I use them?
A zone is a logical grouping of environments based on their use. For example, all development environments could belong to a development zone and all testing environments could belong to a testing zone. Currently, Cloud Manager does not use this for any purpose other than categorizing the environments.
15. I've heard about environment shapes. What are these?
Shape typically defines the capacity of a single virtual machine on the cloud. Shape may include the number of CPUs and the amount of memory available. Topology describes the shape of each virtual machine and also describes which part of PeopleSoft runs on the VM.
16. Can I copy or move an existing environment into the cloud and make copies of it using Cloud Manager? Who would do that, how does it work?
Yes. Copying an environment to the cloud is easy using the lift and shift process delivered with Cloud Manager, or other database tools. Once in the cloud and running, you can use Cloud Manager to clone the environment. The process of cloning an environment will create DPKs (deployment packages) from the environment and create a template that describes all the different parts. Environments moved to Oracle Cloud not using Cloud Manager tools may be imported into Cloud Manager, so they can then be managed by Cloud Manager.
17. If I want to use Cloud Manager, do I have to move everything over? Can I still use my existing on-premises environments for other things?
When you move to the Oracle Cloud, you have the option to decide which environments you want to move. It's very practical to choose to run some environments on premises and others in the cloud. You might even choose to run some development environments on premises and other development environments in the cloud. Information can be passed between environments through application data sets, PeopleTools projects, change packages, and any other standard means provided by PeopleSoft.
18. What are the advantages to running PeopleSoft on the Oracle Cloud with Cloud Manager versus other cloud platforms such as AWS?
Oracle is a leading provider of both Infrastructure as a Service and Platform as a Service. The PeopleSoft Cloud Manager only runs on the Oracle Cloud, so all the capabilities provided by Cloud Manager are not available on other cloud platforms.
19. Can I use Cloud Manager with my on-premises PeopleSoft environments?
Cloud Manager only runs in the Oracle Cloud and works with environments in the Oracle Cloud. However, you can create change packages in the Oracle Cloud and transfer them back and use with your on-premises applications.
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20. How much does Cloud Manager cost?
As noted above, there are no additional license costs for Cloud Manager; it is available to PeopleSoft customers that are current on maintenance, free of charge. You must have an Oracle Cloud account and purchase compute services separately to run Cloud Manager.
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21. Where do I get Cloud Manager?
It is available on the Oracle Cloud Marketplace.
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22. What is the "shared responsibility" model for cloud security?
The shared responsibility model is a holistic approach to security, dependent on robust customer security processes that begin well before a customer moves to the cloud. A move to the cloud does not ensure a secure environment by itself. Sound security practices in the cloud begin with a well-designed security architecture in the on-premises configuration. There are several resources that expand on this that should be reviewed to develop a well-secured PeopleSoft environment: