Oracle EBS R12 Applications DBA Beta Exam Released !!

Dear All,

I got an email from Oracle about Certification on Oracle EBS R12 Applications DBA Beta Exam. I wanna share the info about that exam.

Why take a Beta Exam?

1. Significantly reduced cost! $50 USD (savings of $145 USD)
2. If you pass the beta exam, your record will indicate a passing score and you will receive credit toward certification for this exam. Therefore, you will not need to retake the final released version of the exam.
3. The beta exam is a great way to identify your strengths and weaknesses in the exam content being tested.

Oracle University is pleased to announce the availability of the following new Oracle E-Business Suite (R12) certification exam in beta version:

Oracle EBS R12: Install, Patch and Maintain Applications [1Z0-238]

This new exam is required as part of earning the new Oracle EBS R12 Applications Database Administrator Certified Professional certification.

By participating in this beta exam, you have the opportunity to provide the Oracle Certification program with feedback about exam content which is integral to the process of exam development. We depend on the contributions of experienced professionals and developers as we continually improve exam content and maintain the value of Oracle certifications.

There are a limited number of seats available for the beta exam. The beta version of the exam is only available for a limited period as well. Take advantage of this opportunity and book your seat today.

Note: You will be given 3-3.5 hours to complete the beta exam. Please plan accordingly.

Testing is held at Prometric testing centers worldwide, although this exam may not be available in all countries. You must register at least 24 hours prior to taking the exam. Contact your exam provider for seat availability. (Please note: all testing centers will have the capability to offer this exam in its live version.)

Please read the following registration information carefully as schedules vary depending on which testing center you choose:

Registration begins:
December 13, 2007

Beta exam period runs:
January 03 – April 04, 2008

http://education.oracle.com/pls/web_prod-plq-dad/db_pages.getpage?page_id=42

Regards,
Sabdar Syed,

http://sabdarsyed.blogspot.com

Wikipedia on OCP, Oracle DBA and Oracle Apps DBA

Hi Friends,

I do get mails from newbie asking that what is OCP, Oracle DBA, and Oracle Apps DBA, and their responsibilities?. The Wikipedia has good information on these questions. Please follow the links given below.

Database administrator
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database_administrator

Oracle Apps DBA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_Apps_DBA

Oracle Certification Program
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_Certification_Program

Regards,
Sabdar Syed,
http://sabdarsyed.blogspot.com/

A new book on Oracle Applications DBA

Hello Folks,

A new book on Oracle Applications DBA

Title: Oracle Applications DBA
Author: Joyjeet Banerjee
Publisher: Tata McGraw-Hill
ISBN: 9780070621121

Tata Mc Graw hills have just now launched a book on Oracle Apps DBA. This book has already been released in India and expected to release worldwide in a couple of months. This book covers both 11i and R12 and maintains a well balance between them. This book is embellished with over 350 screenshots and illustration making the manage of complex Oracle Applications system in a easy way.

This book has got the information on the below Contents.

Chapter Details

The book contains the following chapters
1. Oracle E-Business Suite: An Overview
2. Oracle Application Architecture
3. Oracle Application File System
4. Installing Oracle Applications
5. Checking and Configuring Oracle Applications
6. Managing Oracle Applications
7. Concurrent Processing and Concurrent Manager
8. Patching Oracle Applications
9. AD Utilities
10. Cloning
11. Oracle Application Manager
12. Upgrading Oracle Applications
13. Printer Setup
14. Managing Application Security

Referernces:

http://www.grenleaf.com/idtitle.aspx?titleid=709
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_Apps_DBA

Regards,
Sabdar Syed.
http://sabdarsyed.blogspot.com/

Oracle Applications Schema Password Change Utility - (FNDCPASS)

Changing passwords periodically helps ensure database security. Oracle Applications provides a command line utility, FNDCPASS, to set Oracle Applications schema passwords. In addition to changing the schema password in the database, this utility changes the password registered in Oracle Applications tables (FND Tables). This utility can also change Applications End User passwords.

FNDCPASS changes

• Oracle Applications Database System Users (APPS, APPLSYS)
• Oracle Applications Product Schema Passwords (GL, AR, AP, etc,)
• Oracle Applications End User Account Passwords (SYSADMIN, OPERATIONS etc)

Note: the utility, FNDCPASS, cannot be used for changing the database SYSTEM and SYS users. Only users that are registered in FND meta data tables need to be changed using FNDCPASS. Normally, the APPS database user password and APPLSYS password need to be the same. When changing the APPLSYS password using FNDCPASS, the APPS password is also changed.

Syntax of FNDCPASS command:

FNDCPASS logon 0 Y system/password mode username new_password

Where logon is username/password[@connect]
System/password is password of the system account of that database
Mode is SYSTEM/USER/ORACLE
Username is the username where you want to change its password
new_password is the new password in unencrypted format

Example:

$ FNDCPASS apps/apps 0 Y system/manager SYSTEM APPLSYS WELCOME

$ FNDCPASS apps/apps 0 Y system/manager ORACLE GL GL1

$ FNDCPASS apps/apps 0 Y system/manager USER VISION WELCOME

Note: The FNDCPASS has a new mode, "ALLORACLE", in which all Oracle Application schema passwords can be changed in one call. Apply the patch (Patch No# 4745998) to have this option, if not available currently with your Apps.

Syntax:

FNDCPASS 0 Y ALLORACLE

Example:

$ FNDCPASS apps/apps 0 Y system/manager ALLORACLE WELCOME

To change APPS/APPLSYS password, we need to give mode as SYSTEM
To change product schema passwords, i.e., GL, AP, AR, etc., we need to give mode as ORACLE
To change end user passwords, i.e., SYSADMIN, OPERATIONS etc., we need give mode as USER

Note: Till 11.5.9 there is bug in FNDCPASS, which allows FNDCPASS to change APPS&APPLSYS passwords. Doing so will corrupt the data in FND meta data tables and cause to the application unusable. Because of that it is recommend taking backup of the tables FND_USER and FND_ORACLE_USERID before changing the passwords.

After changing the APPS/APPLSYS or APPLSYSPUB user, following extra manual steps needs to be done.

If you changed the APPS (and APPLSYS) password, update the password in these files:

• iAS_TOP/Apache/modplsql/cfg/wdbsvr.app
• ORACLE_HOME/reports60/server/CGIcmd.dat

If you changed the APPLSYSPUB password, update the password in these files:

• FND_TOP/resource/appsweb.cfg
• OA_HTML/bin/appsweb.cfg
• FND_TOP/secure/HOSTNAME_DBNAME.dbc

Note: I would you suggest you to first try changing the passwords using FNDCPASS on your test Apps Instances, once you are done with this without any errors or issues then you can move this to production, and also request you to search in metalink for more information about FNDCPASS utility and it's usage.

Happy Reading !

With Best Regards,
Sabdar Syed,
http://sabdarsyed.blogspot.com

Oracle Applications R 12 Release date announced !!

Dear All,

Much awaited release of Next Oracle Applications (after 11i) /E-Business Suite has been announced by Oracle. As per Schedule Oracle is releasing Apps R 12 on Jan 31, 2007 / February 1, 2007.

The key Technology changes

On Middle Tier

o Application Server version 1.0.2.2.2 will change to 10g Application Server i.e. 10.1.3.X
o mod_jserv will be replaced by mod_oc4j
o Apache which is part of Application Server mentioned above will be changed from version 1.3.19 to 1.3.34
o Biggest change will be in long running Forms & Reports Version 6i (8.0.6) to Forms & Reports Version 10g i.e. 10.1.2.X
o Java/ JDK version 1.3.X or 1.4.X will be replaced by JDK 1.5.X

On File System

o There will still be three ORACLE_HOME, one for Web Server another for Forms & Reports & third one for Database but with New versions i.e. 10g AS for Web Server, 10g AS for forms & reports, 10g R2 for database.

* There will be new TOP called as Instance TOP

o In Oracle Apps R12, You can see new TOP called INSTANCE_TOP in Application Tier. This TOP will now hold any configuration files (specific to that server), Certificates (If SSL is enabled SSL Certificates & any other certificates specific to that server) and related log files or PID files (for Apache or any other process) and INSTANCE_TOP will be specific to Server.

Regards,
Sabdar Syed.