5 Procuring Resources for an Enterprise Deployment

It is essential to procure the required hardware, software, and network settings before you configure the Oracle WebCenter Portal reference topology.

This chapter provides information on how to reserve the required IP addresses and identify and obtain software downloads for an enterprise deployment.

• Hardware and Software Requirements for the Enterprise Deployment Topology
  It is important to understand the hardware load balancer requirements, host computer hardware requirements, and operating system requirements for the enterprise deployment topology.
• Reserving the Required IP Addresses for an Enterprise Deployment
  You have to obtain and reserve a set of IP addresses before you install and configure the enterprise topology. The set of IP addresses that need to be reserved are listed in this section.
• Identifying and Obtaining Software Distributions for an Enterprise Deployment
  Before you begin to install and configure the enterprise topology, you must obtain the software distributions that you need to implement the topology.

Hardware and Software Requirements for the Enterprise Deployment Topology

It is important to understand the hardware load balancer requirements, host computer hardware requirements, and operating system requirements for the enterprise deployment topology.

This section includes the following sections.

• Hardware Load Balancer Requirements
  The section lists the wanted features of the external load balancer.
• Host Computer Hardware Requirements
  This section provides information to help you procure host computers that are configured to support the enterprise deployment topologies.
• Operating System Requirements for an Enterprise Deployment Topology
  This section provides details about the operating system requirements.

Hardware Load Balancer Requirements

The section lists the wanted features of the external load balancer.

The enterprise topology uses an external load balancer. The features of the external load balancer are:

• Ability to load-balance traffic to a pool of real servers through a virtual host name: Clients access services by using the virtual host name (instead of using actual host names). The load balancer can then load balance requests to the servers in the pool.

• Port translation configuration should be possible so that incoming requests on the virtual host name and port are directed to a different port on the backend servers.

• Monitoring of ports on the servers in the pool to determine availability of a service.

• Ability to configure names and ports on your external load balancer. The virtual server names and ports must meet the following requirements:

  • The load balancer should allow configuration of multiple virtual servers. For each virtual server, the load balancer should allow configuration of traffic management on more than one port. For example, for Oracle HTTP Server in the web tier, the load balancer needs to be configured with a virtual server and ports for HTTP and HTTPS traffic.

  • The virtual server names must be associated with IP addresses and be part of your DNS. Clients must be able to access the external load balancer through the virtual server names.

• Ability to detect node failures and immediately stop routing traffic to the failed node.

• It is highly recommended that you configure the load balancer to be in fault-tolerant mode.

• It is highly recommended that you configure the load balancer virtual server to return immediately to the calling client when the backend services to which it forwards traffic are unavailable. This is preferred over the client disconnecting on its own after a timeout based on the TCP/IP settings on the client machine.

• Ability to maintain sticky connections to components. Examples of this include cookie-based persistence, IP-based persistence, and so on.

• The load balancer should be able to terminate SSL requests at the load balancer and forward traffic to the backend real servers by using the equivalent non-SSL protocol (for example, HTTPS to HTTP).

• SSL acceleration (this feature is recommended, but not required for the enterprise topology).

• The ability to route TCP/IP requests; this is a requirement for Oracle SOA Suite for healthcare integration, which uses the Minimum Lower Layer Protocol (MLLP) over TCP.

Host Computer Hardware Requirements

This section provides information to help you procure host computers that are configured to support the enterprise deployment topologies.

It includes the following topics.

• General Considerations for Enterprise Deployment Host Computers
  This section specifies the general considerations that are required for the enterprise deployment host computers.
• Reviewing the Oracle Fusion Middleware System Requirements
  This section provides reference to the system requirements information to help you ensure that the environment meets the necessary minimum requirements.
• Typical Memory, File Descriptors, and Processes Required for an Enterprise Deployment
  This section specifies the typical memory, number of file descriptors, and operating system processes and tasks details that are required for an enterprise deployment.
• Typical Disk Space Requirements for an Enterprise Deployment
  This section specifies the disk space that is typically required for this enterprise deployment.

General Considerations for Enterprise Deployment Host Computers

This section specifies the general considerations that are required for the enterprise deployment host computers.

Before you start the process of configuring an Oracle Fusion Middleware enterprise deployment, you must perform the appropriate capacity planning to determine the number of nodes, CPUs, and memory requirements for each node depending on the specific system's load as well as the throughput and response requirements. These requirements vary for each application or custom Oracle WebCenter Portal system being used.

The information in this chapter provides general guidelines and information that helps you determine the host computer requirements. It does not replace the need to perform capacity planning for your specific production environment.

Note:

As you obtain and reserve the host computers in this section, note the host names and system characteristics in the Enterprise Deployment workbook. You will use these addresses later when you enable the IP addresses on each host computer. See Using the Enterprise Deployment Workbook.

Reviewing the Oracle Fusion Middleware System Requirements

This section provides reference to the system requirements information to help you ensure that the environment meets the necessary minimum requirements.

Review the Oracle Fusion Middleware System Requirements and Specifications to ensure that your environment meets the minimum installation requirements for the products that you are installing.

The Requirements and Specifications document contains information about general Oracle Fusion Middleware hardware and software requirements, minimum disk space and memory requirements, database schema requirements, and the required operating system libraries and packages.

It also provides some general guidelines for estimating the memory requirements for your Oracle Fusion Middleware deployment.

Typical Memory, File Descriptors, and Processes Required for an Enterprise Deployment

This section specifies the typical memory, number of file descriptors, and operating system processes and tasks details that are required for an enterprise deployment.

The following table summarizes the memory, file descriptors, and processes required for the Administration Server and each of the Managed Servers computers in a typical Oracle WebCenter Portal enterprise deployment. These values are provided as an example only, but they can be used to estimate the minimum amount of memory required for an initial enterprise deployment.

The example in this topic reflects the minimum requirements for configuring the Managed Servers and other services required on WCPHOST1, as depicted in the reference topologies.

When you procure systems, use the information in the Approximate Top Memory column as a guide when determining the minimum physical memory that each host computer should have available.

After you procure the host computer hardware and verify the operating system requirements, review the software configuration to be sure that the operating system settings are configured to accommodate the number of open files listed in the File Descriptors column and the number processes listed in the Operating System Processes and Tasks column.

See Setting the Open File Limit and Number of Processes Settings on UNIX Systems.

Managed Server, Utility, or Service	Approximate Top Memory	Number of File Descriptors	Operating System Processes and Tasks
Administration Server	3.5 GB	3500	165
WLS_WSM	3.0 GB	2000	130
WLS_Portal	4.0 GB	3100	240
WLS_Portlet	4.0 GB	2200	180
WLST (connection to the Node Manager)	1.5 GB	910	20
Configuration Wizard	1.5 GB	700	20
Node Manager	1.0 GB	720	15
TOTAL	18.5 GB*	13130	770

* Approximate total, with consideration for Operating System and other additional memory requirements.

Typical Disk Space Requirements for an Enterprise Deployment

This section specifies the disk space that is typically required for this enterprise deployment.

For the latest disk space requirements for the Oracle Fusion Middleware 12c (12.2.1.3.0) products, including the Oracle WebCenter Portal products, review the Oracle Fusion Middleware System Requirements and Specifications.

In addition, the following table summarizes the disk space that is typically required for an Oracle WebCenter Portal enterprise deployment.

Use the this information and the information in Preparing the File System for an Enterprise Deployment to determine the disk space requirements required for your deployment.

Server	Disk
Database	nXm n = number of disks, at least 4 (striped as one disk) m = size of the disk (minimum of 30 GB)
WEBHOSTn	10 GB
WCPHOSTn	10 GB*
WCCHOSTn	20 GB*

* For a shared storage Oracle home configuration, two installations suffice by making a total of 20 GB.

Operating System Requirements for an Enterprise Deployment Topology

This section provides details about the operating system requirements.

The Oracle Fusion Middleware software products and components that are described in this guide are certified on various operating systems and platforms, which are listed in Oracle Fusion Middleware System Requirements and Specifications.

Note:

This guide focuses on the implementation of the enterprise deployment reference topology on Oracle Linux systems.

The topology can be implemented on any certified, supported operating system, but the examples in this guide typically show the commands and configuration steps as they should be performed by using the bash shell on Oracle Linux.

Reserving the Required IP Addresses for an Enterprise Deployment

You have to obtain and reserve a set of IP addresses before you install and configure the enterprise topology. The set of IP addresses that need to be reserved are listed in this section.

Before you begin installing and configuring the enterprise topology, you must obtain and reserve a set of IP addresses:

• Physical IP (IP) addresses for each of the host computers that you have procured for the topology

• A virtual IP (VIP) address for the Administration Server

• Additional VIP addresses for each Managed Server that is configured for Whole Server Migration

  For Fusion Middleware 12c products that support Automatic Service Migration, VIPs for the Managed Servers are typically not necessary.

• A unique virtual host name to be mapped to each VIP.

You can then work with your network administrator to be sure that these required VIPs are defined in your DNS server. Alternatively, for non-production environments, you can use the /etc/hosts file to define these virtual hosts.

For more information, see the following topics.

• What is a Virtual IP (VIP) Address?
  This section defines the virtual IP address and specifies its purpose.
• Why Use Virtual Host Names and Virtual IP Addresses?
  For an enterprise deployment, in particular, it is important that a set of VIPs--and the virtual host names to which they are mapped--are reserved and enabled on the corporate network.
• Physical and Virtual IP Addresses Required by the Enterprise Topology
  This section describes the physical IP (IP) and virtual IP (VIP) addresses that are required for the Administration Server and each of the Managed Servers in a typical Oracle WebCenter Portal enterprise deployment topology.

What is a Virtual IP (VIP) Address?

This section defines the virtual IP address and specifies its purpose.

A virtual IP address is an unused IP Address that belongs to the same subnet as the host's primary IP address. It is assigned to a host manually. If a host computer fails, the virtual address can be assigned to a new host in the topology. For the purposes of this guide, virtual IP addresses are referenced, which can be reassigned from one host to another, and physical IP addresses are referenced, which are assigned permanently to hardware host computer.

Why Use Virtual Host Names and Virtual IP Addresses?

For an enterprise deployment, in particular, it is important that a set of VIPs--and the virtual host names to which they are mapped--are reserved and enabled on the corporate network.

Alternatively, host names can be resolved through appropriate /etc/hosts file propagated through the different nodes.

In the event of the failure of the host computer where the IP address is assigned, the IP address can be assigned to another host in the same subnet, so that the new host can take responsibility for running the Managed Servers that are assigned to it.

The reassignment of virtual IP address for the Administration Server must be performed manually, but the reassignment of virtual IP addresses for Managed Servers can be performed automatically by using the Whole Server Migration feature of Oracle WebLogic Server.

Whether you should use Whole Server Migration or not depends upon the products that you are deploying and whether they support Automatic Service Migration.

Physical and Virtual IP Addresses Required by the Enterprise Topology

This section describes the physical IP (IP) and virtual IP (VIP) addresses that are required for the Administration Server and each of the Managed Servers in a typical Oracle WebCenter Portal enterprise deployment topology.

Before you begin to install and configure the enterprise deployment, reserve a set of host names and IP addresses that correspond to the VIPs in Table 5-1.

You can assign any unique host name to the VIPs, but in this guide, each VIP is referenced by using the suggested host names in the table.

Note:

As you obtain and reserve the IP addresses and their corresponding virtual host names in this section, note the values of the IP addresses and host names in the Enterprise Deployment workbook. You will use these addresses later when you enable the IP addresses on each host computer. See Using the Enterprise Deployment Workbook .

Table 5-1 Summary of the Virtual IP Addresses Required for the Enterprise Deployment

Virtual IP	VIP Maps to...	Description
VIP1	ADMINVHN	ADMINVHN is the virtual host name used as the listen address for the Administration Server and fails over with manual failover of the Administration Server. It is enabled on the node where the Administration Server process is running.

Identifying and Obtaining Software Distributions for an Enterprise Deployment

Before you begin to install and configure the enterprise topology, you must obtain the software distributions that you need to implement the topology.

The following table lists the distributions used in this guide.

For general information about how to obtain Oracle Fusion Middleware software, see Obtaining Product Distributions in Planning an Installation of Oracle Fusion Middleware.

For more specific information about locating and downloading specific Oracle Fusion Middleware products, see the Oracle Fusion Middleware Download, Installation, and Configuration Readme Files on OTN.

Note:

The information in this guide is meant to complement the information contained in the Oracle Fusion Middleware certification matrixes. If there is a conflict of information between this guide and the certification matrixes, then the information in the certification matrixes must be considered the correct version, as they are frequently updated.

Distribution	Installer File Name	Description
Oracle Fusion Middleware 12c (12.2.1.3.0) Infrastructure	fmw_12.2.1.3.0_infrastructure.jar	Download this distribution to install the Oracle Fusion Middleware Infrastructure, which includes Oracle WebLogic Server and Java Required Files software required for Oracle Fusion Middleware products. This distribution also installs the Repository Creation Utility (RCU), which in previous Oracle Fusion Middleware releases was packaged in its own distribution.
Oracle HTTP Server 12c (12.2.1.3.0)	fmw_12.2.1.3.0_ohs_linux64.bin	Download this distribution to install the Oracle HTTP Server software on the Web Tier.
Oracle Fusion Middleware 12c (12.2.1.3.0) WebCenter Portal	fmw_12.2.1.3.0_wcportal.jar	Download this distribution to install the Oracle WebCenter Portal software.
Oracle Fusion Middleware 12c (12.2.1.3.0) WebCenter Content	fmw_12.2.1.3.0_wccontent.jar	Download this distribution if you plan to add Oracle WebCenter Content to the WebCenter Portal topology.
Oracle Fusion Middleware 12c (12.2.1.3.0) SOA Suite and Business Process Management	fmw_12.2.1.3.0_soa.jar	Download this distribution if you plan to add Oracle SOA Suite to the WebCenter Portal topology.