Administering Pricing Design Center

55 Administering Pricing Design Center

Learn about basic Oracle Communications Pricing Design Center (PDC) administration tasks.

Topics in this document:

Managing PDC Security

Oracle WebLogic Server includes a security architecture that provides a secure foundation for applications. PDC depends on the WebLogic Server security framework to secure its resources and servers. Managing PDC security involves the following:

Managing security realms: Configuring new security realms, changing the default security realm, and deleting security realms.
Managing users and groups: Defining users and assigning them to a group that can be authenticated in a security realm.
Managing security providers: Managing security providers that provide security services to applications to protect WebLogic Server resources.
Managing security policies: Managing security policies that specify who can access a WebLogic Server resource.

The Wssp1.2-2007-Https-BasicAuth.xml security policy secures the connection between the PDC Web service API and the client applications using one way secure sockets layer (SSL). You can also add custom security policies to secure the PDC Web service API using WebLogic Server Administration Console.

See the WebLogic Server Administration Console Help for more information on managing security realms, managing users and groups, managing security providers, and managing security policies.

Monitoring PDC

Monitoring your system regularly ensures fast recognition and resolution of problems or issues. You can use WebLogic Server Administration Console to monitor the following:

The PDC domain
The PDC administration server and managed servers

See the WebLogic Server Administration Console Help for more information.

Managing PDC

Managing PDC involves managing the following:

The PDC database
The WebLogic server on which PDC is installed

Managing the PDC Database

To manage the PDC database and perform administrative tasks, see the Oracle Database Server documentation.

Managing the PDC WebLogic Server

Managing the WebLogic server on which PDC is installed involves:

Starting and stopping PDC
Starting and stopping the PDC administration server and managed servers

See the WebLogic Server Administration Console Help for more information on managing the WebLogic server on which PDC is installed.

Managing the PDC Transformation Process

Pricing and setup components configured in PDC must be published to Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management (BRM) subscription and rating engines, referred to as the target engines. During the publication process, the data is transformed into the format used by the BRM subscription and rating engines. The rating engines include BRM real-time rating engine (RRE), BRM batch-rating engine (BRE), and Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management (BRM) Elastic Charging Engine (ECE).

The PDC transformation process for pricing and setup components involves the following steps:

Using the PDC GUI application or the ImportExportPricing utility, you submit the pricing and setup components that you want to publish.
PDC validates the pricing and setup components.
PDC creates a transformation job for each target engine.
The job dispatcher puts the transformation job in the appropriate target engine work item queue.
The transformation engine or the ECE Pricing Updater associated with that queue retrieves the PDC components from the job dispatcher (see "About the Transformation Engines" and "About the ECE Pricing Updater").
The transformation engine or the ECE Pricing Updater converts the PDC components into the format required by the target engine (see "About the Target Engine Load Utilities" and "About the ECE Pricing Updater").
The transformation engine calls the load utility in the BRM server and Batch Rating Engine to load the PDC components into the respective databases, and ECE Pricing Updater loads the PDC components into ECE.
The transformation engine updates the tables in its cross-reference database.
The transformation engine or the ECE Pricing Updater sends the status to the job dispatcher, which notifies the PDC server.
The PDC server updates the status of the changeset.

Figure 55-1 illustrates the PDC transformation process for the ECE and BRM integration.

Figure 55-1 PDC Transformation Process

Description of "Figure 55-1 PDC Transformation Process"

About the Transformation Engines

PDC uses transformation engines to convert pricing and setup components into the XML format required by the target engines.

The following transformation engines are included with PDC and are installed when you install the BRM Integration Pack:

RRETransformationEngine: This transformation engine supports the BRM real-time rating engine.
BRETransformationEngine: This transformation engine supports the BRM batch rating engine.

The transformation engines use information in the BRM_Integration_Pack_home/apps/transformation/TransformationConfiguration.xml file (where BRM_Integration_Pack_home is the directory in which you installed BRM Integration Pack) to connect to their target engine, to the cross-reference database, to the PDC server, and to the log files of the target engine.

About the Target Engine Load Utilities

After converting pricing and setup components into the appropriate XML format, the RRE and BRE transformation engines call their associated load utilities to load the components into the respective databases. The load utilities are as follows:

loadpricelist: The RRE transformation engine uses this utility to load pricing and setup components into the target BRM database. To connect to the target database, this utility uses the Infranet.properties file. For more information, see the BRM documentation.

LoadIfwConfig: The BRE transformation engine uses this utility to load pricing and setup components into the target BRM database. To connect to the target database, this utility uses the LoadIfwConfig.reg file. For more information, see the BRM documentation.

About the ECE Pricing Updater

The ECE Pricing Updater loads pricing and setup components into ECE automatically when you publish pricing and setup components in PDC for its target engine. The ECE Pricing Updater is packaged with ECE. For more information, see the ECE documentation.

Troubleshooting Transformation Errors

See the discussion about troubleshooting PDC in the PDC Installation Guide for information about troubleshooting transformation errors.

Starting the Transformation Engines

The transformation engines do not automatically start when you start the PDC server. You must manually start them by running the following scripts:

For real-time rating: BRM_Integration_Pack_home/Transformation/apps/bin/startRRETransformer
For batch rating: BRM_Integration_Pack_home/Transformation/apps/bin/startBRETransformer. This script is optional if you are using ECE for usage rating.

When you run the scripts, at the command prompt, enter the BRM Integration Pack wallet password and start the transformation engines.

Status of the Transformation Engines

If you suspect that a transformation engine has stopped running, use standard system commands to check the status of the transformation engine process.

Following are the names of the BRM transformation engine processes:

For real-time rating: oracle.communications.brm.pdc.server.transformation.rre.RRETransformationEngine
For batch rating: oracle.communications.brm.pdc.server.transformation.bre.BRETransformationEngine

Stopping the Transformation Engines

Use the following scripts to stop the transformation engines:

For real-time rating: BRM_Integration_Pack_home/Transformation/apps/bin/stopRRETransformer
For batch rating: BRM_Integration_Pack_home/Transformation/apps/bin/stopBRETransformer

Creating the Oracle Wallet

PDC stores the configuration entries and sensitive information, such as account and database passwords, in the PDC and BRM Integration Pack wallets. PDC provides sample PDC and BRM Integration Pack wallets. You can use these wallets to store the configuration data and passwords.

To create your own PDC wallet to store the configuration data and passwords, run the following command:

./PDCWalletUtil.sh create walletlocation walletpassword

where:

walletlocation is the location in which the wallet must be created.
walletpassword is the wallet password.

To create your own BRM Integration Pack wallet to store the configuration data and passwords for the utilities in BRM Integration Pack, run the following command:

./PDCBRMWalletUtil.sh create walletlocation walletpassword

Note:

Ensure that the following wallet files are created in the specified wallet location:

cwallet.sso
cwallet.sso.lck
ewallet.p12
ewallet.p12.lck

After you create the wallets, update the appropriate wallet location in the following configuration files:

PDC_home/apps/bin/ImportExportConfiguration.xml. Specify the PDC wallet location in this file. This file is used to configure the ImportExportPricing utility. See "Importing and Exporting Pricing and Setup Components" in PDC Creating Product Offerings.
BRM_Integration_Pack_home/apps/syncpdc/SyncPDCConfiguration.xml. Specify the BRM Integration Pack wallet location in this file. This file is used to configure the SyncPDC utility. See "Synchronizing Pricing Setup Components" in PDC Creating Product Offerings.
BRM_Integration_Pack_home/apps/transformation/TransformationConfiguration.xml. Specify the BRM Integration Pack wallet location in this file. This file is used by the transformation engines to connect to their target engine.
BRM_Integration_Pack_home/apps/migration/MigrationConfiguration.xml. Specify the BRM Integration Pack wallet location in this file. This file is used to configure the MigrateBRMPricing utility. See "BRM Pricing Migration Utility" in BRM Upgrade Guide.

Changing Passwords in the Wallet

PDC stores the passwords for the WebLogic Server domain, PDC user, transformation cross-reference database, migration cross-reference database, and BRM database in the PDC and BRM Integration Pack wallets. To change the passwords in these wallets, see the following topics:

Changing the Password in the PDC Wallet

To change the password in the PDC wallet:

Go to the PDC_home/apps/bin directory, where PDC_home is the directory in which the PDC software is installed.
Run the following command:
```
./PDCWalletUtil.sh walletlocation walletpassword configentry password
```
where:
- walletlocation is the location in which the PDC wallet must be created.
- walletpassword is the PDC wallet password.
- configentry is the configuration entry to store the password. The valid values are:
  - PDC_APP_SERVER_USER_PASSWORD. Specifies the user password for the PDC server.
  - PDC_APP_USER_PASSWORD. Specifies the PDC user password.
  - TARGET_PDC_ADMIN_PASSWORD. Specifies the password for the PDC administrator in the target PDC system.
  - SOURCE_PDC_ADMIN_PASSWORD. Specifies the password for the PDC administrator in the source PDC system.
  - TARGET_PDC_USER_PASSWORD. Specifies the password for the PDC user in the target PDC system.
  - SOURCE_PDC_USER_PASSWORD. Specifies the password for the PDC user in the source PDC system.
- password is the password to be stored.
At the command prompt, enter Y.

The password is changed in the PDC wallet.

Changing the Password in the BRM Integration Pack Wallet

To change the password in the BRM Integration Pack wallet:

Go to the BRM_Integration_Pack_home/apps/bin directory.
Run the following command:
```
./PDCBRMWalletUtil.sh walletlocation walletpassword configentry password
```
where:
- walletlocation is the location in which the BRM Integration Pack wallet must be created.
- walletpassword is the BRM Integration Pack wallet password.
- configentry is the configuration entry to store the password. The valid values are:
  - MIGRATION_DB_PASSWORD. Specifies the migration cross-reference database password.
  - TRANS_XREF_DB_PASSWORD. Specifies the transformation cross-reference database password.
  - BRM_DB_PASSWORD. Specifies the BRM database password.
- password is the password to be stored.
At the command prompt, enter Y.

The password is changed in the BRM Integration Pack wallet.

Changing the SQL and EclipseLink Log Level for PDC

To change the EclipseLink log level for PDC:

Navigate to the MW_home/oracle_common/common/bin directory, where MW_home is the directory in which the Oracle Middleware components are installed.
Start the WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST) by running the following command:
```
./wlst.sh
```
Connect to the server on which you want to change the logging level by running the following command:
```
connect(UserName,Password,'t3://hostname:port')
```
Go to the custom settings by running the following command:
```
custom()
```
Note:

'custom()' can take a few minutes to run, approximately 5 minutes.
Go to TopLink by running the following command:
```
cd('TopLink')
```

List the sessions at this level by running the following command:

ls()

For example:

drw-TopLink:Name=Development-JobDispatcher#1.2.0.0.0file_/scratch/ri-user-1/data/pdc_domain/servers/AdminServer/tmp/WL_user/JobDispatcher_1.2.0.0.0/7qjzil/APP-INF/lib/jobdispatcher_entities.jar_default,Type=Configuration
drw-TopLink:Name=Development-pricingui#V2.0file/scratch/ri-user-1/data/pdc_domain/servers/AdminServer/tmp/_WL_user/pricinguiV2.0/jztz5c/APP-INF/lib/pricing_entities.jar_default,Type=Configuration
drw-TopLink:Name=Session(JobDispatcher#1.2.0.0.0file/scratch/ri-user-1/data/pdcdomain/servers/AdminServer/tmp/_WL_user/JobDispatcher1.2.0.0.0/7qjzil/APP-INF/lib/jobdispatcher_entities.jar_default) 
drw-TopLink:Name=Session(pricingui#V2.0file_/scratch/ri-user-1/data/pdc_domain/ser vers/AdminServer/tmp/WL_user/pricinguiV2.0/jztz5c/APP-INF/lib/pricing_entiti es.jar_default)

Go the session by running the following command:

cd('session')

For example:

cd('custom:/TopLink/TopLink:Name=Session(pricingui#V2.0file_/scratch/ri-user-1/data/pdc_domain/servers/AdminServer/tmp/_WL_user/pricingui_V2.0/jztz5c/APP-INF/lib/pricing_entities.jar_default)

Change the SQL and EclipseLink log level (as appropriate) by running the following command:

set('CurrentEclipseLinkLogLevel',newLevel)

Refer to Table 55-1 for a list of the different log levels and a brief description for each level.

Table 55-1 EclipseLink Log Levels

Level	Description
OFF	This setting disables the generation of the log output. You may want to set logging to OFF during production to avoid the overhead of logging.
SEVERE	This level enables reporting of failure cases only. Usually, if the failure occurs, the application stops.
WARNING	This level enables logging of issues that have a potential to cause problems. For example, a setting that is picked by the application and not by the user.
INFO	This level enables the standard output. The contents of this output is very limited. It is the default logging level if a logging level is not set.
CONFIG	This level enables logging of such configuration details as your database login information and some metadata information. You may want to use the CONFIG log level at deployment time.
FINE	This level enables logging of the first level of the debugging information and SQL. You may want to use this log level during debugging and testing, but not at production.
FINER	This level enables logging of more debugging information than the FINE setting. For example, the transaction information is logged at this level. You may want to use this log level during debugging and testing, but not at production.
FINEST	This level enables logging of more debugging information than the FINER setting, such as a very detailed information about certain features (for example, sequencing). You may want to use this log level during debugging and testing, but not at production.
ALL	This level currently logs at the same level as FINEST.

Backing Up and Restoring PDC

This section describes the tasks that you can perform to back up and restore your PDC system.

To prevent any data loss and minimize the impact of software or hardware failure, back up your system immediately after installing or updating the system. Repeat the backup process whenever you make any changes in the data or in the configuration files.

If you do not back up the PDC system regularly, you need to reinstall and reconfigure PDC if the system is corrupted due to operational or system errors. Reinstalling and reconfiguring eliminates any chance of recovering and reprocessing data processed by the PDC system at the time of the error.

To perform a complete backup of your PDC system, make a complete offline copy of the following:

The WebLogic server domains directory; by default, MW_home/user_projects/domains/PDC. For instructions, see "Backing Up a Directory".
The PDC installation directory and its content: PDC_home. PDC_home contains the PDC keystore. For instructions, see "Backing Up a Directory".
The Oracle Inventory (oraInventory) directory. Open the /etc/oraInst.loc (Linux) file or the /var/opt/oracle/OraInst.loc (Solaris) file to find the default location of the oraInventory directory. For instructions, see "Backing Up a Directory".
BRM Integration Pack and its content: BRM_Integration_Pack_home. This pack includes the keystore for BRM Integration Pack. For instructions, see "Backing Up a Directory".
The PDC directory and its content: PDC_BRM_home. For instructions, see "Backing Up a Directory".
The PDC database schema. Make a complete offline backup of your PDC database schema using the appropriate backup tools for your schema version.

For example, on the machine on which the PDC users are created, run the Oracle database export (exp) utility to export the data in the PDC database to a file and then store it in a safe location. You can later run the import (imp) utility to import the data from the file into the PDC database when you restore PDC. See your database documentation for more information on performing full database backups.
The transformation cross-reference database schema. Make a complete offline backup of your transformation cross-reference database schema using the appropriate backup tools for your schema version.

For example, on the machine on which the PDC users are created, run the Oracle database export (exp) utility to export the data in the transformation cross-reference database to a file and store it in a safe location. You can later run the import (imp) utility to import the data from the file into the transformation cross-reference database when you restore PDC. See your database documentation for more information on performing full database backups.
The migration cross-reference database schema, if you installed the migration utility during the PDC 11.1 Patch Set 4 or PDC 11.1 Patch Set 5 installation. Make a complete offline backup of your migration cross-reference database schema using the appropriate backup tools for your schema version.

For example, on the machine on which the PDC users are created, run the Oracle database export (exp) utility to export the data in the migration cross-reference database to a file and store it in a safe location. You can later run the import (imp) utility to import the data from the file into the migration cross-reference database when you restore PDC. See your database documentation for more information on performing full database backups.
The PDC database.

Make a complete offline backup of your PDC database using the appropriate backup tools for your database version and ensure that the backup is completely valid and usable. The backup must contain both the database definition and all the database contents. See your database documentation for more information on performing full database backups.

Note:

Store this backup in a safe location. The data in these files will become necessary if you encounter any issues or during system failure.

Backing Up a Directory

To back up a directory:

Go to the directory for which you want to create a backup.
Copy the content of the directory to a new directory:
```
cp -R DirectoryName NewName
```
where NewName is the name for the new directory.
Create an archive of the entire directory:
```
tar cvf NewName.tar NewName
```
A compressed TAR file, of all copied files, is created with the extension tar (for example, weblogic_domain_bkp.tar).
Store the backup copy in a safe location (for example, in a different file system outside of PDC).

Restoring a Complete System Backup

To restore a complete PDC system backup:

On the machine in which PDC is installed, delete or rename the damaged directories.
- To delete, run the following command:
```
rm -r Directory_Name
```
- To rename, run the following command:
```
mv Directory_Name
```
Retrieve the backup TAR files.
Extract the backup copy of the directories from the TAR files:
```
tar xvf Directory_Name.tar
```
The command re-creates the directories in your restored installation directory.
Import the following schemas into an Oracle database or databases in the restored machine or in another machine:
- PDC database schema
- Transformation cross-reference database schema
- Migration cross-reference database schema (if applicable)
For example, if you have exported the data into a file by using the Oracle database export (exp) utility, run the Oracle database import (imp) utility to import the data from the file into an Oracle database. See your database documentation for more information.
Ensure that PDC is connected to the database or databases in which the schemas that you imported in step 4 are available by updating the database connection details in the following files:
- BRM_Integration_Pack_home/apps/syncpdc/SyncPDCConfiguration.xml
- PDC_home/apps/bin/ImportExportConfiguration.xml
- BRM_Integration_Pack_home/apps/migration/MigrationConfiguration.xml
- BRM_Integration_Pack_home/apps/transformation/TransformationConfiguration.xml
Start all PDC processes.
Verify that the PDC configuration and the PDC data are recovered.