This chapter provides an overview of Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management Elastic Charging Engine (ECE) installed components and of the ECE installation process.
See the discussion about system architecture in BRM Elastic Charging Engine Concepts for information about ECE components.
When you install ECE, you are given the option to install individual ECE software components or to install all ECE software components at once.
The components you choose to install depends on what you want to do with ECE:
For your first installation, you typically install the ECE Server component only. This is called an ECE standalone installation. This is a test system only. Use this installation to get familiar with ECE and charge simulated usage by using sample data and sample programs provided with ECE. You use this installation before integrating ECE with other products.
For your second or subsequent installation, you typically install the ECE Server component and the ECE integration packs. This is called an ECE integrated installation. Use this installation to integrate ECE with Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management (BRM), Pricing Design Center (PDC), and other products required for running ECE in an integrated end-to-end system. You use this installation for a test or production system.
The installed components depend on whether you perform an ECE standalone installation or perform an ECE integrated installation. For information about installed components for each type of installation, see the following topics:
For an ECE standalone installation, you install and configure the following components:
Third-party software, such as Groovy
Groovy is a prerequisite for running the ECE installer. Groovy is also used for launching the Elastic Charging Controller (ECC), which is the ECE command line interface.
Java Runtime Environment (JRE) from Java Development Kit (JDK), if it is not already installed
ECE Server software
ECE Server software includes the core processes required for receiving and processing requests, responding to systems that send requests, and publishing rated event data.
For an ECE integrated installation, you install and configure the following components:
Third-party software, such as Groovy
Groovy is a prerequisite for running the ECE installer. Groovy is also used for launching the Elastic Charging Controller (ECC), which is the ECE command line interface.
Java Runtime Environment (JRE) from Java Development Kit (JDK), if it is not already installed
The following products required in an integrated test or production system, if they are not already installed:
PDC
PDC requires that you also install Oracle WebLogic Server
Oracle WebLogic Server is not part of the core ECE installation, but it is used by ECE when ECE is implemented in an integrated charging solution.
Oracle NoSQL Database
BRM
Online or offline network mediation software
See "Software Requirements" for information about network mediation software that is designed to be used with ECE.
Network mediation software is required for sending requests to ECE in an integrated charging solution. The ECE installation process does not have a dependency on network mediation software. The network mediation software is installed after ECE is installed since it is a client of ECE.
The following ECE software components, which you install by running the ECE installer:
ECE Server software
ECE Server software includes Diameter Gateway and the core processes required for receiving and processing requests, responding to systems that send requests, and publishing rated event data.
ECE BRM Integration Pack
ECE PDC Integration Pack
The installation procedure follows these steps:
Plan your installation. When planning your installation, you do the following:
Determine the scale of your implementation, for example, a small test system or a large production system.
Determine how many physical machines you need, and which software components to install on each machine.
Plan the system topology, for example, how the system components connect to each other over the network.
Review system requirements. System requirements include:
Hardware requirements, such as disk space
System software requirements, such as operating system (OS) versions and OS patch requirements, and JVM process requirements (such as memory settings)
Information requirements, such as IP addresses and host names
Perform pre-installation tasks.
If you are installing an ECE integrated installation:
Ensure you have installed and configured the following products:
PDC
Oracle NoSQL Database
BRM
Set up a JMS queue for ECE notification events
Create the required Oracle Advanced Queuing (AQ) database queues (DBMS AQs) for BRM update requests
Install ECE.
Perform post-installation tasks.
If you are installing an ECE integrated installation, create required Oracle AQ database queues for ECE acknowledgment events (Acknowledgments Queue) and ECE suspense events (Suspense Queue).
If you are using Diameter Gateway for network integration for online charging, add Diameter Gateway instances and configure each instance (Diameter Gateway was installed when you installed ECE Server software).
Verify the installation.
If you are installing an ECE integrated installation, install and configure your network mediation software.
For example, for offline charging (and if you are using the product), install and configure Oracle Communications Offline Mediation Controller. For online charging (and if you are not using Diameter Gateway for network integration), install your third-party network mediation software for online charging.
If you install an ECE integrated installation, you need to perform some system administration tasks after ECE is installed; for example:
Configure system security, including user names and passwords.
Depending on the security mode in which you choose to run ECE, you may also need to set security-related system parameters in the JVM tuning file (defaultTuningProfile.properties).
See BRM Elastic Charging Engine Security Guide for more information.
Configure system-level configuration options such as logging and Coherence configurations.
See the discussion about configuring ECE in BRM Elastic Charging Engine System Administrator's Guide for more information.
Configure usage-charging business parameters and notifications.
See the discussion about configuring charging in BRM Elastic Charging Engine Implementation Guide for more information.
If you are upgrading ECE 11.3 or an ECE 11.3 Patch Set, see "Upgrading Existing ECE 11.3 Installation".
To create a disaster recovery system, you must install and configure ECE and other components required for the ECE integrated system at least at two different sites. This ensures that if one site fails, another one is available to process requests.For more information, see the discussion about configuring ECE for disaster recovery in BRM Elastic Charging Engine System Administrator's Guide.
You can install ECE in two ways:
GUI installation: Use the GUI installation when you want to interact with the installer GUI during installation.
Silent installation: The silent installation enables you to perform a non-interactive installation of ECE. The silent installer uses a response file that contains the installation parameters and values. Use the silent installation when you are repeatedly installing ECE using the same configuration. Silent installation is a way of setting installation configurations only once and then using those configurations to duplicate the installation on many machines.
The silent installer runs in the background without requiring any user intervention. To obtain the silent installation response file, you run the GUI installation using the record option for the first install. The GUI installer creates a response file with the parameters and values that you specify during the installation. You can then copy and edit the response file to reflect the specifics of your target system, and to contain your preferred installation options.
The ECE installation should be performed only by qualified personnel. You must be familiar with your operating system.
Follow these guidelines:
As you install each component (for example, Groovy and JDK), verify that the component installed successfully before continuing the installation process.
Pay close attention to the system requirements. Before you begin installing the software, make sure your system has the required base software. In addition, make sure that you know all of the required configuration values, such as host names and port numbers.
As you create new configuration values, write them down. In some cases, you need to re-enter configuration values later in the procedure.
Table 1-1 shows the placeholders that are used in this guide to refer to the directories that contain ECE system components.