Important Questions

1. What all activities you do when you go to office?

Ans Check the contents of ALERT log file located in RDBMS_TOP r
ORACLE_HOME/admin/<context name>/bdump for resolving users errors.

Check whether any CORE files are created in cdump located at
ORACLE_HOME/admin/<context name>/cdump.

**A core file is generated only when there is a major server issue(server error)**

Execute health checkup script that is going to check the size of tablespace
SGA, Redolog buffer, log buffer,ram,swap.

Purge Concurrent Managers logfile and outputfile on Scheduled basis.

Check whether Archive has sufficient space or not.

Change of APPS password according to companys Schedule.

2. Mention APPS DBAs activities?
Ans. Implementing Security
Setting up new users
Auditing users
Setting users profiles
Managing concurrent processing
Tunning oracle application and database
Auditing system resource.
Incorporating custom programming
Printupset
Intallation and 11i configuration
Client setup
Patch management
Backup and recovery
Documentation of apps activities carried out.


3. Explain what is patch and what are the contents of patch file?
Ans A patch is a bug fix.It consists of 3 files and some times only one file:
C driverIt is used to extract and copy files to the patch desired location.
D driverIt is used to execute db commands.
G driverGenerates forms,reports,tables,db objects.
U driveUnified drive it internally calls C,D,G drives.
J driveC drive takes care of J patch

4. Explain types of patches?
Ans. Individual Patch, One-off, Standalone .
Patch Set, Mini Pack .
Family Pack.
Release Update, Maintenance Pack .
NLS Patches .
Consolidated Patch.
Minor Release.
Interoperability Patch etc

Standalone/Oneoff patches : This is used to define patch created to fix
single/particular problem.

Mini Pack : This is group of oneoff patches for a particular product like INV, GL, AP
and named like 11i.GL.E ( means this group of patches contain fix for 11i GL product
(General Ledger till time E is released ) This is cummutative which means it will
include 11i.GL.A, 11i.GL.B ....11iGL.D till 11i.GL.E earlier in 10.7 it used to called
as patchset.
Family Pack : Group of mini packs in one family buldeled together is called as family
pack. they are usually named as 11i_PF. Few example of falilies are SCM (
11i.SCM_PF.G ), ATG ( 11i.ATG_PF.H ) _PF indicate Product Family Pack
Maintenance Pack : Group of family pack together is called as maintenance pack. So
if you say your Verison is 11.5.10 then its maintenance pack 10 ( 3rd digit is
maintenance pack ).

*** few one off patch make mini pack , few mini pack related to same family
bundeled together as family pack & all family pack fixed till that time are
bundeled in Maintenance pack .***

LS Patch : ( When you have more than one language , like english & arabic or
french .. ) then apart from normal patch you have to apply patch for specific language
Installed in your system called as NLS patch.
COSOLIDATED Patch : This Patch has to be applied to make an instance ready
for upgradation.
ITEROPERABILTY Patch: This patch is applied to make a patch compatible
with all other patches.

5. Explain patch application?
Ans.-Search the patch from metalink.
-Check whether the patch has been applied .
-Load the patch under one directory named patch.
-Unzip the patch *** unzip <patch>.zip***
-chmod R 777 <patch> *** patch should have all permissions i.e. read,write and
execute.***
-su applmgr
-cd /u01/prodappl
-. ./APPSPROD_orapps.env
-. ./APPSORA.env
-. ./PROD.env
-. ./PROD_orapps.env *** Source the environmental files***
-adadmin *** Bring the instance into maintenance mode ***
-*******READ THE README FILE THROUGHLY TO UKOW WHAT ARE THE PREREQUISITES AD
POSTREQUISITES FOR PATCH APPLICATIO******
-Perform the prerequisite steps as specified in readme file.
-Apply the patch *** adpatch***
It asks for system specific parameters such as System password,Instance
name,patch file location,patch log file name(It should be alwaz <patchname.log>)
Perform this step once for each drive(C,D,G or only once for U)
-After applying the patch check patch log file for any errors(e.g./error,fail,warning)

6. Where are patch log and output files located?
Ans. APPL_TOP/admin/<SID>/log
APPL_TOP/admin/<SID>/out

7. List the files that are updated during patch application?
Ans APPL_TOP/install/log.
APPL_TOP /admin/<SID>/log.
APPL_TOP /admin/<SID>/log/adfrmgen.log.
APPL_TOP /admin/<SID>/log/adlibout.log.
APPL_TOP /admin/<SID>/log/adlibin.log.
APPL_TOP /admin/<SID>/log/admvcode.log
APPL_TOP /admin/<SID>/out.

8. If a patch fails half the way do you reapply that patch?
Ans. *** Read the metalink doc Patch FAQs
You can always reapply patches without a problem.***

9. How do you check whether a patch is applied or not?
Ans. SELECT * FROM AD_BUGS WHERE BUG_UMBER LIKE <PATCHO>;
SELECT * FROM AD_APPLIED_PATCHES;

10. What the temporary tables created during patch application?
Ans. Dnt get answer.

11. How do you check the patch level?
Ans. SELECT PATCH_LEVEL FROM FD_PRODUCT_ISTALLATIOS;

12. How do find the version of application?
Ans. SELECT RELEASE_AME FROM FD_PRODUCT_GROUPS.

13. How do you check whether your installation is single node or Multinode?
Ans. SQL> SELECT * FROM FD_ODES;



14. How do you activate the failed workers?
Ans Using AD Controller utility ***adctrl***
Ad controller menu
1.Show worker status.
2.Tell workers to restart a failed job.
3.Tell workers to quit.
4.Tell manager that a worker failed its job.
5.Tell manager that a worker acknowledges quit.
6.Restart the worker on current machine.
7.Exit

15. Explain briefly steps carried out for cloning(what all scripts you run)?
Ans. Cloning is process of creating replica of your source apps 11i Instance.
The Basic Steps for Cloning
Step1 . Prerequisites Steps you do before start cloning using rapid clone
1.1 Verify source and target nodes software versions
1.2 Apply the latest AutoConfig Template patch
1.3 Apply the latest Rapid Clone patches

Step2 . Clone Source to Target
2.1 Run preclone on DB tier -adpreclone.sh
2.2 Run preclone on Apps or middle tier -adpreclone.sh
2.3 Copy source file system to target file system
2.4 Configure db tier
2.5 Configure apps/middle tier -adcfgclone.sh

Step 3 Finishing Task
3.1 Update profile options
3.2 Update printer settings (If printers are not configured or you don't want to use
printer you can skip this step)
3.3 Update workflow configuration settings (Important)

16. What is the task of Concurrent Manager?
Ans. The concurrent managers in the Oracle e-Business suite serve several important
administrative functions. Foremost, the concurrent managers ensure that the
applications are not overwhelmed with requests, and the second areas of
functions are the management of batch processing and report generation.

17. How do administer Concurrent Managers?
Ans. From the ADMINISTER CONCURRENT MANAGERS form.
*System administrationConcurrentManagerAdminister

18. Name important concurrent managers and their functionality?
Internal Concurrent Manager The master manager is called the Internal
Concurrent Manager (ICM) because it controls the behavior of all of the other
managers, and because the ICM is the boss, it must be running before any
other managers can be activated. The main functions of the ICM are to start
up and shutdown the individual concurrent managers, and reset the other
managers after one them has a failure.
Standard Manager Another important master Concurrent Manager is
called the Standard Manager (SM). The SM functions to run any reports and
batch jobs that have not been defined to run in any specific product manager.
Examples of specific concurrent managers include the Inventory Manager,
CRP Inquiry Manager, and the Receivables Tax Manager.
Conflict Resolution Manager The Conflict Resolution Manager (CRM)
functions to check concurrent program definitions for incompatibility rules.
However, the ICM can be configured to take over the CRM's job to resolve
incompatibilities.
19. How do you tune Concurrent Manager?
Ans. All successful Oracle Apps DBAs must understand how to monitor and tune
each of the Concurrent Managers.It includes the following things:
Tuning the Concurrent Manager
o Tuning the Internal Concurrent Manager

o Purging Concurrent Requests

o Troubleshooting Oracle Apps performance problems

o Adjusting the Concurrent Manager Cache Size

o Analyzing the Oracle Apps Dictionary Tables
Monitoring Pending Requests in the Concurrent Manager

Changing the dispatching priority within the Concurrent Manager
Tuning the Internal Concurrent Manager (ICM)
The ICM performance is affected by the three important Oracle parameters PMON
cycle, queue size, and sleep time.

PMON cycle This is the number of sleep cycles that the ICM waits between
the time it checks for concurrent managers failures, which defaults to 20. You
should change the PMON cycle to a number lower than 20 if your concurrent
managers are having problems with abnormal terminations.
Queue Size The queue size is the number of PMON cycles that the ICM
waits between checking for disabled or new concurrent managers. The default
for queue size of 1 PMON cycle should be used.
Sleep Time The sleep time parameter indicates the seconds that the ICM
should wait between checking for requests that are waiting to run. The default
sleep time is 60, but you can lower this number if you see you have a lot of
request waiting (Pending/Normal). However, reducing this number to a very
low value many cause excessive cpu utilization.
All of the concurrent managers, with the exception of the ICM and CRM, can be
configured to run as many processes as needed, as well as the time and days a
manager can process requests. However, the number of processes needed is
dependent on each organization's environment. An Applications DBA must monitor
the concurrent processing in order to decide how to configure each manager. For a
fresh install of the applications, initially configure the standard manager to run with
five processes, and all the other managers with two processes. After the applications
have been in operation for a while, the concurrent managers should be monitored to
determine is more operating system process should be allocated.

Purging Concurrent Requests

One important area of Concurrent Manager tuning is monitoring the space usage for
the subsets within each concurrent manager. When the space in
FND_CONCURRENT_PROCESSES and FND_CONCURRENT_REQUESTS exceed 50K,
you can start to experience serious performance problems within your Oracle
Applications. When you experience these space problems, a specific request called
"Purge Concurrent Requests And/Or Manager Data" should be scheduled to run on a
regular basis. This request can be configured to purge the request data from the FND
tables as well as the log files and output files on accumulate on disk.
Adjusting the Concurrent Manager Cache Size

Concurrent manager performance can also be enhanced by increasing the manager
cache size to be at lease twice the number of target processes. The cache size
specifies the number of requests that will be cached each time the concurrent
manager reads from the FND_CONCURRENT_REQUESTS table. Increasing the cache
size will boost the throughput of the managers by attempting to avoid sleep time.
Analyzing Oracle Apps Dictionary Tables for High Performance

It is also very important to run the request Gather Table Statistics on these tables:
FND_CONCURRENT_PROCESSES

FND_CONCURRENT_PROGRAMS

FND_CONCURRENT_REQUESTS

FND_CONCURRENT_QUEUES.
Run the request "Analyze All Index Column Statistics" on the indexes of these tables.
Since the APPLSYS user is the owner of these tables, so you can also just run the
request Analyze Schema Statistics for APPLSYS.
To troubleshoot performance, a DBA can use three types of trace:

A module trace, such as PO or AR, can be set by enabling the module's profile
option Debug Trace from within the applications.

Second, most concurrent requests can be set to generate a trace file by changing the
request parameters. To enable trace for a specific request, log in as a user with the System
Administrator responsibility. Navigate to Concurrent -> Program -> Define. Query for
the request that you want to enable trace. At the bottom right of the screen you can check
the box Enable Trace.

Figure 1: Troubleshooting Concurrent Manager Performance.


Another popular way to troubleshoot the Concurrent Managers is to generate a trace
file. This is done by setting the OS environment variable FNDSQLCHK to FULL, and
running the request from the command line.

Monitoring Pending Requests in the Concurrent Managers
Occasionally, you may find that requests are stacking up in the concurrent managers
with a status of "pending". This can be caused by any of these conditions:
1. The concurrent managers were brought down will a request was running.
2. The database was shutdown before shutting down the concurrent managers.
3. There is a shortage of RAM memory or CPU resources.
When you get a backlog of pending requests, you can first allocate more processes
to the manager that is having the problem in order to allow most of the requests to
process, and then make a list of the requests that will not complete so they can be
resubmitted, and cancel them.
To allocate more processes to a manager, log in as a user with the System
Administrator responsibility.
*Navigate to Concurrent -> Manager -> Define.
Increase the number in the Processes column. Also, you may not need all the
concurrent managers that Oracle supplies with an Oracle Applications install, so you
can save resources by identifying the unneeded managers and disabling them.

Figure 2: Allocating more processes to the Concurrent Manager.

However, you can still have problems. If the request remains in a phase of RUNNING
and a status of TERMINATING after allocating more processes to the manager, then
shutdown the concurrent managers, kill any processes from the operating system
that won't terminate, and execute the following sqlplus statement as the APPLSYS
user to reset the managers in the FND_CONCURRENT_REQUESTS table:
update fnd_concurrent_requests
set status_code='X', phase_code='C'
where status_code='T';

Changing Dispatching Priority within the Concurrent Manager
If there are requests that have a higher priority to run over other requests, you can
*navigate to Concurrent --> Program --> Define
to change the priority of a request. If a priority is not set for a request, it will have
the same priority as all other requests, or it will be set to the value specified in the
user's profile option Concurrent:Priority.

Also, you can specify that a request run using an SQL optimizer mode of
FIRST_ROWS, ALL_ROWS, RULE, or CHOOSE, and this can radically effect the
performance of the SQL inside the Concurrent request. If several long running
requests are submitted together, they can cause fast running requests to have to
wait unnecessarily. If this is occurring, try to schedule as many long running
requests to run after peak business hours. Additionally, a concurrent manager can be
created to run only fast running requests.

Using data Dictionary Scripts with the Concurrent Manager
Few Oracle Applications DBAs understand that sophisticated data dictionary queries
can be run to reveal details about the workings within each Concurrent Manager.
Oracle provides several internal tables that can be queried from SQL*Plus to see the
status of the concurrent requests, and the most important are
FND_CONCURRENT_PROGRAMS and FND_CONCURRENT_REQUESTS.
Oracle supplies several useful scripts, (located in $FND_TOP/sql directory), for
monitoring the concurrent managers:

afcmstat.sql Displays all the defined managers, their maximum capacity, pids,
and their status.
afimchk.sql Displays the status of ICM and PMON method in effect, the ICM's log
file, and determines if the concurrent manger monitor is running.

afcmcreq.sql
Displays the concurrent manager and the name of its log file that
processed a request.
afrqwait.sql Displays the requests that are pending, held, and scheduled.
afrqstat.sql Displays of summary of concurrent request execution time and
status since a particular date.
afqpmrid.sql Displays the operating system process id of the FNDLIBR process
based on a concurrent request id. The process id can then be used
with the ORADEBUG utility.
afimlock.sql Displays the process id, terminal, and process id that may be
causing locks that the ICM and CRM are waiting to get. You should
run this script if there are long delays when submitting jobs, or if
you suspect the ICM is in a gridlock with another oracle process.

20. What is the command used to check whether concurrent manager is up or not?
Ans ps eaf |grep FDLIBR.
14.

21. Where are the concurrent managers log n output files stored?
Ans. /u01/prodcomn/admin/log/PROD_orapps/
/u01/prodcomn/admin/out/PROD_orapps/

22. How do you control concurrent processing?
Ans. We control the concurrent processing by defining concurrent programs and
assigning them to concurrent managers to execute that program.
Checkout the following link he has given very nice descripton of concurrent
processing
http://www.exforsys.com/content/view/1507/342/

23. Mention the type of concurrent processes?
Ans A Concurrent process can be of two types
Immediate(single process)
Spawned(Multiple processes)

24. Which script do you use to start database,web server,forms server,concurrent
manager, report server, all servers?
Ans. Database: addbctl.sh
Database listener addlnctl.sh

Web Server adalnctl.sh
adapcctl.sh
Concurrent Manager adcmctl.sh
Discoverer Server addisctl.sh
Forms server adfrmctl.sh
Report Server adrepctl.sh
Start all servers adstrtall.sh
Stop all servers adstpall.sh

25. Where are the scripts to startup and shutdown the application located?
Ans. COMMO_TOP/admin./scripts/<contextname>/

26. What is the sequence in which all servers should be startup and shutdown?
Ans. Order of Startup of Services Should be
Database
DB Listener,
Application Tier Services

Order of ShutDown of Services Should be
Application Tier Services
DB Listener
Database

Database Startup/Shutdown Scripts
Depending on your AD Version these will be in
RDBMS_ORACLE_HOME / appsutil/scripts /SID_hostname
addbctl.sh database startup shutdown script
addlnctl.sh database listener Script

Where
AD is for Application DBA
DB is for database
DL is database listener
CTL is control

Application Tier Startup/Shutdown Scripts
Depending on your AD Version these will be in

COMMO_TOP/admin/scripts/ SID_hostname

adalnctl.sh Apps Listener Control Script
adapcctl.sh Apache/Web Server Control Script
adcmctl.sh Concurrent Manager Control Script ****parameters are apps/apps****
addisctl.sh Discoverer Control Script
adfrmctl.sh Forms server Control Script
adrepctl.sh Report Server Control Script
adstpall.sh Stop All Middle/Application Tier
adstrtall.sh Start All Middle/Application Tier ****parameters are apps/apps****


adl stand for Apps Listener
apc stand for Apache
cmc Concurrent Manager
dis Discoverer
frm forms
rep report


27. What should be the downtime?
Ans Always our backup time should be (DB backup + Patch application + Restore time).


28. What are the types of Database startup and shutdown?
Ans. Startup-ORMAL
FORCE
RESTRICT

Shutdown-ORMAL
-IMMEDIATE
-TRASACTIOAL
-ABORT


29. How do you connect to database?
Ans. $ Sqlplus /nolog;
SQL> Connect /as sysdba;
SQL> Startup ;

30. How do find how many users are accessing your application?
Ans. SELECT * FROM FD_USER from backand and from front end
Navigate System administrator>Security>User>Monitor.

31. How do you define a new user?
Ans. Navigate System administrator>Security>User>Define.

32. How do you resolve conflicts between users?
Ans. When there is conflict between two users then we will kill one of the users session.
To do that we need session id and serial no which we get by executing the
following command.
SELECT * FROM V$LOCK WHERE SID=<form num of that user>;
SELECT * FROM V$SESSIO WHERE SID=< form num of that user>;

As SYSTEM user execute following command
ALTER SYSTEM KILL SESSIO SID,Serial # no;
COMMIT;

33. Why do you create two users i.e. applmgr and oracle?
Ans. We create two user basically for following reasons
1. Security Implementation.
2. Maintenance.
3. To source appropriate environment variables such as
ORACLE_HOME=/u01/proddb/9.2.0 for oracle user.
ORACLE_HOME=/u01/prodora/8.0.6 or iAS for applmgr.

34. Who is an APPS user?
Ans. APPS is an super user.He has all privileges as all users provide him privilege to
access tables using grant command.Specifically he doesnt own any data but can
access all DB data.APPS user has views and synonyms of all tables of all users and
if any changes are happening the changes are done to views and then the respective
user put the appropriate data into their respective table.

35. How do you delete an user?
Ans. We never delete an user but time out them. Expire their time.

36. Where is apache servers output stored?
Ans. /u01/prodora/iAS/apache/apache/log.
*** All log files start with key word access_log.some number ***

37. What are the contents of control file?
Ans. yet to be answered

38. Explain hot backup?
Ans. SQL> ALTER TABLESPACE <TAME> BEGI BACKUP;
$ cp /u01/proddata/user01.dbf /u02/proddata/user01.dbf;
SQL> ALTER TABLESPACE <TAME> ED BACKUP;

39. List the parameters in parameter file?
Ans. Instance name
Database name/SID
Shared pool size
Log buffer cache
Data buffer cache
Compatibility(version of oracle home)
Control file location
U_dump-destination
B_dump_destination
C_dump_destination

40. What is config.txt file? Where is it located?
Ans. It is one of the important text file created during installation.It contains information
related to installation.Such as
File path.
Port information.
Display information of server.
IP address.
Node specific information.

41. What is a context file? what does it contain?
Ans. Oracle stores all the environment specific values in an xml file stored in
$APPL_TOP/admin directory, which they call an application context file. This file
is created by running adbldxml.sh/adbldxml.pl (Located in $AD_TOP/bin).
Adbldxml.sh in turn runs oracle.apps.ad.context.GenerateContext java class.

42 What is OFA?
Ans. The OFA(Optimal flexible architechture) standard is a series of recommendations
for naming files and folders when installing and implementing an Oracle database.

43. Briefly describe the oracle 11i file structure?
Ans. Oracle 11i file structure consists of 5main directories:
APPL_TOPOracle application product files.
ORA_TOPOracle home for oracle application technology stack.(Apache and 8.0.6)
COM_TOPcommon files such as HTML,java,log,out,scripts.
DATA_TOPOracle 9i database files used by oracle application.
DB_TOPOracle home for the oracle 9i RDBMS

44. Where is the alert log file located?
Ans RDBMS_ORACLE_HOME/admin/<contextname>/bdump.

45. What is a server? What is a Tier ? What is a Node?
Ans. A server is a process or group of processes that runs on a single machine and
provides a particular functionality, often referred to as a service. For example, the
HTTP server is a process that listens for and processes HTTP requests, and the
Forms server is a process that listens for and processes requests for activities related
to Oracle Forms.
A tier is a logical grouping of services, potentially spread across more than one
physical machine.
A node is a physical m/c in a cluster of m/cs.

46. How do you change tablespace name?

47. How do you add a datafile to the tablespace?
A. ALTER TABLESPACE <TNAME> ADD DATAFILE /PATH SIZE 3M;

48. How do you change database name?
A. - Alter database backup controlfile to trace;
-Edit the trace located at ORACLE_HOME/admin/<context name>/udump and
grab text for controlfile and paste it in con.sql and make the following changes:
Remove startup nomount.
Remove recover database.
Remove Alter database open.
Remove Reuse(control file).
Change database to Reset database.
Change name of database(in quotes).

-Shutdown.
-Change ORACLE_SID in init<SID>.ora file(after shutdown).
-Rename .ora files(according to new database name).
-Change DB_name parameter in .ora file.
-Remove .ctl files for old ORACLE_SID
-$ Sqlplus /nolog;
SQL> Connect /as sysdba;
SQL> Startup nomount;
-Run edited con.sql.
-Alter database open resetlogs;
-Alter database rename global_name to <newname>;
***Changes made to INIT.ORA file will be effective only on next start up.So if you want
to make permanent changes recreate the control file.***

49. How do you analyze a issue or steps carried out for trouble shooting?
Ans.

50.Which is the most interesting issue that you trouble shooted?