Lifecycle Management Information

4 Lifecycle Management Information

This chapter describes the installation, configuration, upgrade and migration issues associated with Oracle Forms.

The following sections are included:

Oracle Forms Installation and Configuration Issues

This section describes installation and configuration changes, issues and their workarounds.

It includes the following topics:

Oracle Forms 12.2.1.4.0 Server on IBM AIX Might Crash While Serving the User Request

After you have successfully installed and configured Forms Server 12.2.1.4.0 on IBM AIX, you might notice Forms server crashing while serving the user requests. You might also see the following error text:

exec(): 0509-036 Cannot load program frmweb because of the following errors:  
rtld: 0712-001 Symbol CreateIoCompletionPort was referenced  from module $ORACLE_HOME/lib/libclntsh.so(), but a runtime definition  of the symbol was not found.

Forms 12.2.1.4.0 is bundled with the IBM AIX Database Client 12.1.0.2.0 version. The issue is related to the IOCP API symbols dependency in Database 12.1.0.2 client library.

To resolve this issue for IBM AIX, enable the IOCP module in Forms Server installation machine.

On IBM AIX on POWER Systems (64-Bit), enable I/O completion ports (IOCP) before initiating the install process.

To check if the IOCP module is enabled, run the lsdev command: $ lsdev | grep iocp

The following sample output shows the IOCP status is set to Defined and hence not enabled: iocp0 Defined I/O Completion Ports

By default, IOCP is set to Defined.

To enable IOCP, set IOCP status to Available using the following procedure:

Log in as root and run the following command: # smitty iocp.
Select Change / Show Characteristics of I/O Completion Ports.
Change configured state at system restart from Defined to Available.

Run the lsdev command to confirm the IOCP status is set to Available:

$ lsdev | grep iocp
iocp0      Available       I/O Completion Ports

Perform a system restart to make the changes permanent.

Non-Internet Explorer Browser Proxy Settings when Using One-Button-Run

If you encounter a FORBIDDEN error when using One-Button-Run with any of the supported browsers other than Internet Explorer, verify if 127.0.0.1 (localhost) is in the proxy settings for your browser. If 127.0.0.1 is not in the exceptions list, then add it. This ensures that the browser will bypass the proxy server.

Because Internet Explorer 11 is the only browser supporting Java Plugin with embedded applet, the use of any other browser requires that you configure One-Button-Run to use Java Web Start in the Form Builder. This setting is configured on the Runtime tab of the Preferences dialog in the Builder. Add the desired configuration name to the Application Server URL setting. Here is an example.

http://localhost:9001/forms/frmservlet?config=webstart

Oracle Forms 12.2.1.4.0 Application Supports JACOB Version 1.18 and later

Oracle Forms 12.2.1.4.0 supports JACOB 1.18 and later. However, during installation, JACOB 1.18 M2 is configured with Webutil at runtime to perform the client side OLE integration. To use JACOB 1.18, webutil.cfg needs to be updated. Newer JACOB versions may be used, but doing so will require the updating of the WebUtil configuration where the JACOB libraries are referenced.

JACOB is a JAVA-COM bridge that enables you to call COM automation components from Java. It uses JNI to make native calls to the COM libraries. JACOB runs on x86 and x64 environments supporting 32 bit and 64 bit JVMs.

Forms Using 12.1.0.2.0 Database Client

The following are the issues with Forms using database client:

This Forms installation is based on Oracle Database 12.1.0.2.0. As a result, all application modules must be regenerated prior to running. Once application modules have been regenerated in the new version, they (source or runtime files) will not be backward compatible to any earlier versions. Backup copies of application modules should be created before attempting to regenerate or open in the Forms Builder. This process cannot be reversed.
User exits should be regenerated using a version 12.1.0.2.0 pre-compiler.

Update SqlDeveloper Version

If the domain being created (or extended) is to include Forms Application Deployment Service (FADS), the SqlDeveloper version installed in the associated Oracle Home must be upgraded to version 18.2 or later. This update must be completed before configuring the WLS domain to include FADS.

For more information, refer to Oracle Forms Application Deployment Services in the Working With Oracle Forms guide.

Eclipse/Jetty Version Required for Java Script and Java Web Start Integration

Eclipse/Jetty version 9.4.5 or later is required for Forms Java Script Integration (WebSocketJSI). This jar file must be signed with a trusted and known certificate. For information on how to sign jar files see Java documentation. If using Java Web Start for deployment, add the Jetty jar reference to extensions.jnlp. The required files can be downloaded from the following locations:

Post Installation Tasks

After installing and configuring Oracle Forms, administrators should identify the relevant expiration dates embedded in the provided JARs in order to be prepared for their eventual expiration.

There are several signatures embedded within some of the provided JARs (for example, frmall.jar). Each signature has a unique purpose and expiration date. For information about how digital signatures work, refer to the Oracle Java documentation.

The signed JAR files can be found in the ORACLE_HOME/forms/java directory.

You can test the desired JARs using the jarsigner executable in the JDK included in the installation. For example:

On Windows: jarsigner -verify -verbose frmall.jar | find "expire"
On Unix/Linux: jarsigner -verify -verbose frmall.jar | grep "expire"

The relevant expiration dates in the provided files are:

Signer Certificate: 01-FEB-2020
Timestamp: 17-JAN-2028

The Signer Certificate date represents the last date that the certificate can be used to sign new JAR files. Since the provided JARs were signed before that date, this expiration is mostly irrelevant and can be ignored. However, it may be used in the event the Timestamp cannot be validated, which requires an Internet connection.

The Timestamp is used to ensure that the JAR was signed during a valid period. This validation test can continue through the expiration date of the Timestamp. As mentioned, if the Timestamp cannot be validated the Signer Certificate expiration is assumed to be the last valid date the JAR can be used.

If you have JAR files that are approaching the Timestamp expiration, contact Oracle Support in order to receive updated files.

Upgrade and Migration Issues

This section describes issues associated with the upgrade and migration process of Oracle Forms.

It includes the following topics:

Upgrade Guidance

To view the list of Oracle Forms changed or obsolete features, see Preparing to Upgrade.

To upgrade from Oracle Forms 10g or Oracle Forms Services 11g (11.1.x), see:

Improved Security Handling for the `formsweb.cfg` File

In the 12.2.1.4.0 release, we have enhanced the security handling of the formsweb.cfg file. All userid entries in the file are automatically encrypted when the server starts. This feature is enabled by default on new installations. When upgrading, the administrator must manually enable this feature.

Complete these steps when upgrading from 11.x.x.x.x or 12.2.1.x.x to 12.2.1.4 to enable the auto encryption of the userid parameter. If you are performing a ZDT upgrade, complete all the three steps. If you are performing a non-ZDT upgrade, skip step 1 and complete steps 2 and 3.

Set the forms.userid.encryption.enabled server parameter to true for the Admin Server and the Forms Managed Servers.
Refer to Customizing Domain Wide Server Parameters in the Administering Server Startup and Shutdown for Oracle WebLogic Server guide and set the forms.userid.encryption.enabled parameter using the setUserOverridesLate.sh file (setUserOverridesLate.cmd for Windows).

Run the following commands using WLST (online mode) to provide grants to the Forms application/mbeans to access the Forms application keystore.

Commands for zero downtime (ZDT) upgrade

grantPermission(codeBaseURL="file:${common.components.home}/../forms/provision/
forms-config-mbeans.jar",permClass="oracle.security.jps.service.keystore.KeyStoreAccessPermission",
permTarget="stripeName=formsapp,keystoreName=formsks,alias=*", permActions="*")


grantPermission(codeBaseURL="file:${domain.home}/servers/${weblogic.Name}/tmp/_WL_user/
formsapp_12.2.1/-",permClass="oracle.security.jps.service.keystore.KeyStoreAccessPermission", 
permTarget="stripeName=formsapp,keystoreName=formsks,alias=*",permActions="*")

Commands for Non-ZDT upgrade

grantPermission(codeBaseURL="file:${common.components.home}/../forms/provision/
forms-config-mbeans.jar",permClass="oracle.security.jps.service.keystore.KeyStoreAccessPermission",
permTarget="stripeName=formsapp,keystoreName=formsks,alias=*", permActions="*")

grantPermission(codeBaseURL="file:${domain.home}/servers/${weblogic.Name}/
tmp/_WL_user/formsapp_12.2.1/-",permClass="oracle.security.jps.service.keystore.KeyStoreAccessPermission", 
permTarget="stripeName=formsapp,keystoreName=formsks,alias=*",permActions="*")

Restart the Admin Server and the Forms Managed Servers.

Enhanced Forms Webutil File Transfer Speeds

In this release, we have improved Forms Webutil file upload and download transfer speeds by up to 30% by increasing the maximum allowable value of WebUtilMaxTransferSize to 24573.

Note:

When upgrading, run the create_webutil_db.sql script included in the 12.2.1.4 installation to ensure you can take advantage of the improved file transfer speeds. Make sure you generate and use the webutil.pll file that is included in the 12.2.1.4 installation. Do not copy this file from an earlier version.