Oracle® Application Management Pack for Oracle Communications

Release Notes

Release 12.1.0.1

E47713-01

November 2013

These release notes list the new features and known issues and documentation notes in this release of Oracle Application Management Pack for Oracle Communications.

This document contains the following sections:

About Application Management Pack for Oracle Communications

Application Management Pack for Oracle Communications is an Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control plug-in providing management functions for the following Oracle Communications applications:

  • Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management

  • Oracle Communications Elastic Charging Engine

  • Oracle Communications Pricing Design Center

  • Oracle Communications Pipeline Configuration Center

  • Oracle Communications Network Charging and Control

  • Oracle Communications Order and Service Management

  • Oracle Communications Unified Inventory Management

  • Oracle Communications ASAP

You use the plug-in with Enterprise Manager Cloud Control to discover, provision, control, patch, and monitor Oracle Communications applications in your environment. Not all functions are supported for each application in this release.

For more information about plug-in features and application support see Application Management Pack for Oracle Communications System Administrator's Guide.

Known Problems

This section provides known problems and workarounds for this release.

Communications Provisioning Procedure

The following issues are related to the Communications Provisioning Procedure.

Provisioning Applications Fails Due to Missing Directory Structure

SR number: NA

BugDB number: 17544317

The Communications Suite Provisioning procedure fails when installing Oracle Communications applications on a host if the installation path provided does not exist. The procedure does not validate the user provided installation path entered during the interview process.

To fix this issue, ensure that the directory paths you specify during the provisioning procedure interview exist on the target host before executing the job.

Cannot Specify Alternative Domain Home During Provisioning

SR number: NA

BugDB number: 17544245

When provisioning Oracle Communications applications that run on Oracle WebLogic, the Communications Suite Provisioning procedure creates domains in only the following location:

middleware_home/user_projects/domains/domain_home

Application Home Created on Administration Server Instead of Target Host

SR number: NA

BugDB number: 17581621

When using the Communications Suite Provisioning procedure to provision Oracle WebLogic based applications in non-clustered deployments on multiple host targets, application home directories are created on the administration server instead of the target hosts.

In such implementations, use the administration server to access application homes and to control services running on the WebLogic servers on host targets.

Installation Home Directory Not Populated After Provisioning Operation Support System Applications

SR number: NA

BugDB number: 17641127

The Communications Suite Installation procedure fails to populate the InstallDirectory property after provisioning Order and Server Management, Unified Inventory Management and ASAP.

To fix this problem populate the InstallDirectory property for any provisioned operations support systems:

  1. Log into the Enterprise Manager Cloud Control Administration Console.

  2. Click Targets, then Communications Targets.

  3. Expand the Comms Suite target where you installed the application.

  4. Click the target link for the provisioned operation support system application.

  5. Expand the application Target menu located under the target name. For example, expand the ASAP Target menu.

  6. Select Target Setup, then Monitoring Configuration.

  7. Populate the InstallDirectory field with the application's installation path.

  8. Click OK to save the updated configuration.

Inability to Fix Cluster Property Error During User Entry

SR number: NA

BugDB number: 17517959

When providing cluster information, such as an OSM cluster database service name, during the Communications Suite Provisioning procedure interview process, an invalid entry causes redundant error messages to appear when adding subsequent target hosts.

To fix this problem perform one of the following:

  • Select the Defer Validation until Submit check box in the procedure parameter entry screen to prevent validation until all parameters for all target hosts have been entered.

  • Deselect the target host row causing the error, select the cluster configuration row, and then correct the invalid parameter before proceeding with your configuration.

Cannot Provision Applications onto Oracle RAC Database

SR number:

BugDB number: 17516601

Provisioning of Oracle Communications applications using Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) database is not supported. However, you can use the plug-in to discover and monitor existing application instances using RAC databases. Only versions of applications with official support for RAC database are discoverable.

Insufficient Validation when Specifying Installer Credentials

SR number: NA

BugDB: 17261070

The Communications Suite Provisioning procedure does not provide sufficient validation of some parameters used by the Communications applications product installers. For example, when installing the Pricing Design Center, the procedure progresses if you specify the same value for user name and password but will fail during actual product installer execution.

To fix this issue, you must consult the application documentation installation guides and verify the parameter requirements for each installer.

Insufficient Validation when Removing Provisioning Procedure Rows

SR number: NA

BugDB number: 17510464

When using the Remove button in the Communications Suite Provisioning procedure target configuration table, lack of removal validation consequences can allow invalid configurations.

To ensure that your configurations are valid:

  • Do not remove ADMIN rows as they are required for applications using WebLogic.

  • Do not remove individual application rows when provisioning suite or high availability configurations.

Starting Administration and Managed Servers May Require Retry

SR number: NA

BugDB number: 17229573

When running the Communications Suite Provisioning procedure for applications using WebLogic, new administration and managed servers in the configuration may not initially start. This may be due to memory shortages on the target hosts.

To fix this issue use the Retry button to start the servers if they do not start automatically. You may need to attempt restarting a server more than once if it does not respond. Additionally, you can attempt to free some memory on the target host if the problem continues to persist.

Patching Solaris Billing and Revenue Management to Version 7.5 PS6 Fails at Post-Patch Steps

SR number: NA

BugDB number: 17703769

Patching of Billing and Revenue Management 7.5 to patchset version PS6 on the Solaris 10 operating system using the BRM Patching Procedure fails at the Automate Post Patch Steps PortalBase step.

To fix this issue and allow patching to patchset version PS6:

  1. Open a terminal session on the Billing and Revenue Management server being patched.

  2. Change directory to the pin_home directory where pin_home is the Billing and Revenue Management installation directory.

  3. Source the source.me.csh or source.me.sh environment variable file depending on your shell.

  4. Change directory to the pin_home/staging/patching/PATCH_BRM_SCRIPTS directory where pin_home is the Billing and Revenue Management installation directory.

  5. Run the postPatchBRM.pl perl script for both the Portal Base specifying the following parameters listed in Table 1.

    Table 1 Required postPatchBRM.pl Parameters

    Parameter Description

    pin_home/staging/patching

    The Billing and Revenue Management patching staging directory.

    pin_home

    The Billing and Revenue Management application home directory.

    pin_home/tmp

    The Billing and Revenue Management temporary directory.

    sys_password

    The database system user password.

    pin_pwd

    The database Billing and Revenue Management user password.

    oracle_sid

    The Billing and Revenue Management database SID identifier.

    package_name

    The Billing and Revenue Management package name.

    thirdparty_loc

    The Billing and Revenue Management Third Party package location.

    oracle_home

    The database Oracle home directory.

    tns_admin

    The location of the tnsnames.ora file for the Billing and Revenue Management server.

    nls_lang

    The NLS language setting for the Billing and Revenue Management database.


    For example:

    perl postPatchBRM.pl /export/opt/brm/portal/7.5/staging/patching
     /export/opt/brm/portal/7.5 /export/opt/brm/portal/7.5/tmp syspin orcl p17407200_750_SOLARIS.zip Portal_Base
     /export/opt/brm/portal/7.5/ThirdParty/export/oracle_11.2.0.1/ /export/oracle_11.2.0.1/network/adminAMERICAN_AMERICA.UTF8
    

    You can obtain the full command to execute in your terminal session from the Procedure Activity page in the Enterprise Manager Cloud Control Administration Console.

    To view the perl command:

    1. In the Enterprise Manager Cloud Control Procedure Activity page for the BRM PS6 Patch Portal Base select the failed Automate Post Patch Steps Portal Base in the Procedure Steps table.

    2. In the Actions menu, select Update and Retry.

    3. View and copy the perl command to execute in your terminal session in the os_script text field.

  6. In the Enterprise Manager Cloud Control Procedure Activity page for the BRM PS6 Patch Portal Base select the failed Automate Post Patch Steps Portal Base in the Procedure Steps table.

  7. In the Actions menu, select Ignore at procedure step to continue the patching procedure.

BATCH_CONTROLLER Process Not Started After BRM Provisioning

SR number: NA

BugDB number: 17593991

After provisioning a Billing and Revenue Management instance containing the Batch Controller component the batch_controller process does not start.

To fix this issue you must manually configure and start the Batch Controller for your environment using the instructions in the chapter on controlling batch operations in Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management System Administrator's Guide.

Manual Steps Required for Billing and Revenue Management Account Migration Tool

SR number: NA

BugDB number: 17170461

When using the Communications Suite Provisioning procedure to provision the Billing and Revenue Management Account Migration Tool the following additional steps are required on the host:

  1. Log on to the Billing and Revenue Management host where the Account Migration Tool is installed with a terminal session.

  2. Change directory to brm_home/setup/script, where brm_home is the installation directory for Billing and Revenue Management.

  3. Run the pin_amt_install.pl perl script using the following command:

    perl pin_amt_install.pl
    
  4. Using SQLPlus, connect to the BRM database instance to be used by the Account Migration Tool as the Billing and Revenue Management database user (for example, pin).

  5. Execute the following SQLPlus command:

    UPDATE amt_metadata_t SET srch_type='P' WHERE table_name='recycle_suspended_usage_t';
    

Pricing Design Center and Pipeline Configuration Center Provisioning Do Not Support SSL

SR number: NA

BugDB number: 17593368

The Communications Suite Installation procedure does not support provisioning of Pricing Design Center or Pipeline Configuration Center with SSL.

There is no workaround for this issue.

Discovery

The following issues are related to discovery.

Oracle Communications Applications Discovery Does Not Create Database Targets

SR number: NA

BugDB number: 17228719

When discovering existing Oracle Communications application targets the associated database instance targets are not automatically discovered and created.

To fix this issue, manually add the database instance to your Enterprise Manager Cloud Control management server as managed targets. See the chapter on discovering and monitoring targets in Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control Administrator's Guide.

Rediscovery of Existing Target Does Not Update Provisioned Components

SR number: NA

BugDB number: 17535398

Changes to targets consisting of multiple components are not reflected when rediscovering the target. For example, if you remove or add optional Billing and Revenue Management components on a target and run discovery again for the target the changes are not reflected in the Enterprise Manager Cloud Control console.

To fix this problem, completely remove the target from Enterprise Manager Cloud Control and then perform discovery for the target again.

Starting and Stopping Application Processes

The following issues are related to starting and stopping application processes using the Enterprise Manager Cloud Control Administration Console.

Failure Starting Billing and Revenue Management Pipelines from Administration Console

SR number: NA

BugDB number: 17624494

In the Enterprise Manager Cloud Control Administration Console, clicking Start or Restart on the target home page for a provisioned Billing and Revenue Management realtime or batch pipeline component pipeline fails to start the pipeline.

To fix this problem you must make the following changes in the pin_ctl.conf file located on the target hosting the pipelines:

  1. Open a terminal session on the pipeline host.

  2. Change directory to IFW_HOME/bin where IFW_HOME is the pipeline installation directory.

  3. Using an editor, open pin_ctl.conf.

  4. Comment out the LD_LIBRARY_PATH and LD_LIBRARY_PATH_64 variable lines referencing Solaris. For example:

    #common env_platform:solaris env_variable:LD_LIBRARY_PATH #common env_platform:solaris env_variable:LD_LIBRARY_PATH_64
    
  5. Set the NLS_LANG variable to the proper value for your environment. For example:

    env_val:American_America.UTF8
    

Patching Recommendations

The following issue is related to the Enterprise Manager Cloud Control patch recommendation feature.

Billing and Revenue Management Patch Recommendations Are Not Supported

SR number: NA

BugDB number: 17163647

The Application Management Suite for Oracle Communications plug-in does not support the patch recommendation feature in Enterprise Manager Cloud Control administration console. You will not see any recommended Oracle Communications applications patches. You can manually search and apply Billing and Revenue Management patches using the administration console.

Enterprise Manager Cloud Control administration console still displays host and security related patch recommendations for targets.

Monitoring

The following issue is related to monitoring Billing and Revenue Management targets after they have been provisioned using the Communications Suite Installation procedure.

Incorrect Target Status Reported for ASAP Targets After Discovery

SR number: NA

BugDB number: NA

After discovering Oracle Communications ASAP instances not installed with the Communications Suite Installation procedure Enterprise Manager Cloud Control incorrectly reports that the ASAP instance is down.

The Oracle Enterprise Database on which ASAP is configured has a maximum processes number set too low (for example 150). To fix this issue, configure a higher number of maximum server processes available to the ASAP database.

Billing and Revenue Management Monitoring Parameters Not Configured

SR number: NA

BugDB number: 17594459

The installation procedure may fail to set BRM Target monitoring parameters when provisioning Billing and Revenue Management in Basic and Advanced modes. Enterprise Manager Cloud Control requires these parameters for monitoring Billing and Revenue Management targets.

To set the required parameters:

  1. Log into the Enterprise Management Cloud Control Administration Console.

  2. Navigate to the BRM Target home page.

  3. From the BRM Target menu located under the target name, select Target Setup, then Monitoring Configuration.

  4. Provide the parameter values for your Billing and Revenue Management environment. For more information on the parameters see Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management System Administrator's Guide.

  5. Click OK.

Viewing Topology

The following issue is related to viewing topology in the Enterprise Manager Cloud Control administration console.

Billing and Revenue Management Database Targets Not Included in Topology

SR number: NA

BugDB: 17593279

After provisioning a Billing and Revenue Management instance the associated database target is not visible in the BRM System topology view.

To view the Billing and Revenue Management database topology:

  1. In the Enterprise Manager Cloud Control administration console, navigate to the Billing and Revenue Management Target home page.

  2. Expand the BRM Target menu.

  3. Select Configuration, then Topology.

  4. In the View menu, select Uses.

    The Billing and Revenue Management's database instances are displayed.

You can also use the Enterprise Manager Cloud Control Systems and Dynamic Groups features to configure a custom view of your instance that includes the database in the topology. See the section on using systems and dynamic groups for monitoring in Application Management Pack for Oracle Communications System Administrator's Guide for more information.

Documentation Accessibility

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Access to Oracle Support

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Oracle Application Management Pack for Oracle Communications Release Notes, Release 12.1.0.1

E47713-01

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