Customizing AutoConfig

Customizing AutoConfig Environment

Customizing an AutoConfig enabled environment used to be cumbersome. If you

have edited the final configuration files directly, they were overwritten each time
AutoConfig was run.

The way to do customization was to insert custom code between the Begin
Customization and End Customization blocks in the XML file. It was difficult to
document and keep track of the customizations that were made. Now Oracle has
come up with a better way to manage and maintain customizations.

As you have noted from the earlier discussion, AutoConfig uses template files to
generate final files. So the logical place would be to create a custom template file in
the same location and tell AutoConfig process to look at this custom template file
rather than the normal template file that comes out of the box.

Customization Steps

First find out the corresponding AutoConfig template file for the configuration file to
be customized

For example, if you want to customize

$COMMON_TOP/html/bin/appsweb_$CONTEXT_NAME.cfg, execute:
$AD_TOP/bin/adtmplreport.sh contextfile=$APPL_TOP/admin/$APPL_TOP/admin/
(CONTEXT_NAME).xml \
target=$COMMON_TOP/html/bin/appsweb_$CONTEXT_NAME.cfg

The adtmplreport utility returns the name and location of the AutoConfig template
file. For the above example it would return:
$FND_TOP/admin/template/appsweb.cfg.

If you need to customize something on the Database side, you can use similar
command structure $ORACLE_HOME/appsutil/bin/adtmplreport.sh contextfile= \
$ORACLE_HOME/appsutil/(CONTEXT_NAME).xml target= (Configuration File with Full
Path)

Note: You cannot customize all AutoConfig template files. The AutoConfig template
file cannot be customized if the "LOCK" keyword appears in the template file's entry
in the product driver file.
AutoConfig ignores custom template files that are marked with "LOCK".

For example, the following entry in /admin/driver/adtmpl.drv would prevent

customization of the file adconfig.txt:

ad admin/template adconfig.txt INSTE8 /admin adconfig.txt 600 LOCK

Create the custom template directoryCreate a directory named "custom" at the

location where the AutoConfig template file resides.
For example, if you want to customize $FND_TOP/admin/template/appsweb.cfg,
execute the following command as the applmgr user: mkdir
$FND_TOP/admin/template/custom

Copy the AutoConfig template fileCopy the AutoConfig template file to the custom
template file.

Execute the following command as the applmgr user: cp -i For example: cp -i

$FND_TOP/admin/template/appsweb.cfg \
$FND_TOP/admin/template/custom/appsweb.cfg

Edit the custom template file Edit the custom template file with a text editor with
required customizations.

Note: Do not edit the original template files. It will violate your support contract with
Oracle support

Other useful features in AutoConfig

Reviewing and migrating existing customizations

If you implemented customizations between "Begin/End customization" blocks in the

past, then you have to migrate those settings now. Execute the following command:

Application Tier /bin/adcustomizer.sh contextfile=$APPL_TOP/dmin/.xml

Database Tier /appsutil/bin/adcustomizer.sh contextfile=$APPL_TOP/admin/
(CONTEXT_NAME).xml

This utility :
Detects all configuration files that have "Begin/End customizations" blocks.
Copies the corresponding AutoConfig template files to custom template files.
Appends the contents between "Begin/End customizations" blocks at the end of the
custom template files.
Removes the "Begin/End customizations" blocks from the configuration file.
Review the logfile generated by the adcustomizer script. Ensure that all your
customizations were successfully migrated to the custom template file(s) by
examining the generated custom template file(s).
Adding New context variable to the context file

You can add a new context variable to be managed by AutoConfig. You can use
AutoConfig context editor that comes up Oracle Applications Manager to accomplish
this. Note that this is available from OAM.H patch level

Creating templates for your Custom Application

This is different from customizing an existing template. When you have a custom
application developed and use CUSTOM_TOP , you can create template files in the
similar directory structure as the other PRODUCT_TOPs to let AutoConfig manage the
configuration process.

AutoConfig Internals
AutoConfig Internals

So what happens when you run adconfig.sh script? Remember it uses the XML file
generated using adbldxml command. This XML file itself is build based upon the
environment settings. You should ensure that the environment is set correctly by
executing (CONTEXT_NAME).env script.

So one half of the equation comes from the XML file that we generated. The other
half is the templates for each of the configuration file the AutoConfig process
ultimately generates.

For each of the configuration file that gets generated as a result of running
AutoConfig, Oracle uses a template file that come with the initial install process.

For example, if you review the adalnctl.sh file in the $AD_TOP/admin/template

directory, you will see the template in action. Following is the extract from the
template file adalnctl.sh located in $AD_TOP/admin/template directory

# FILENAME
# adalnctl.sh
# # DESCRIPTION
# Start / Stop Applications RPC Listener process for %s_dbSid%
# Make sure the logfile directory exists
#
if [ ! -d "%s_com%/admin/log/%s_dbSid%" ];
then mkdir -p %s_com%/admin/log/%s_dbSid%
fi;
# # Set up the logfile for this instance #
if [ -n "$SRVLOG" ];
then LOGFILE=$SRVLOG
else
LOGFILE="%s_com%/admin/log/%s_dbSid%/adalnctl.txt"
fi;
touch $LOGFILE

Notice the s_dbSid variable being used in this script. The value for this variable will
be read from the XML file generated when we ran the perl script adbldxml.pl.

Following the excerpt from the actual (CONTEXT_NAME).xml file located under
$APPL_TOP/admin directory. Note that I have removed <> tags to enhance
readability.

oa_system
oa_system_name oa_var="s_systemname"SND1/oa_system_name global_db_name
oa_var="s_dbSid"snd1/global_db_name
global_db_name oa_var="s_dbGlnam">SND1/global_db_name
db_name_lower oa_var="s_dbSidLower"snd1/db_name_lower
PRINTER oa_var="s_printer"noprint/PRINTER
!oa_system_config

Now see the extract from actual adalnctl.sh in the $COMMON_TOP/admin/scripts/

directory.

As you can see, the actual file is created as copy from the template with values
replaced from XML file.
# FILENAME
# adalnctl.sh
# # DESCRIPTION
# Start / Stop Applications RPC Listener process for snd1

# # Make sure the logfile directory exists #

if [ ! -d `dirname /u10/apps/snd1/comn/admin/log/snd1_ebdev03/adalnctl.txt` ];
then mkdir -p `dirname
/u10/apps/snd1/comn/admin/log/snd1_ebdev03/adalnctl.txt`
fi;
# # Set up the logfile for this instance #

if [ -n "$SRVLOG" ]; then LOGFILE=$SRVLOG

else LOGFILE="/u10/apps/snd1/comn/admin/log/snd1_ebdev03/adalnctl.txt" fi;
touch $LOGFILE

Conclusion

We have seen how AutoConfig creates the configuration files from template files.
Posted by suresh chaganti at 11:12 AM 0 comments
Friday, May 25, 2007
Autoconfig Indepth
Background

Autoconfig is one of the central components of the 11i Architecture. AutoConfig is a

process in which several key configuration files are managed centrally by Oracle. If
you understand how Oracle uses Autoconfig process to maintain numerous
configuration files such as init.ora, listener.ora, tnsnames.ora etc.., maintaining and
administering 11i E-Business suite will be more fun and less stressful.
If your current system is not AutoConfig enabled, you can migrate it to start using
AutoConfig.

This post is introduction to AutoConfig. My other posts discuss internals of

AutoConfig and Customizing AutoConfig.

Key Terms and their meaning

CONTEXT_NAME
Logical name for your Context. Default: _In earlier versions the default was set to

AutoConfig template file

An AutoConfig template file contains named tags, which are replaced with instance-
specific information when AutoConfig runs. AutoConfig template files should not be
edited.For example:$FND_TOP/admin/template/appsweb.cfg

Custom template file

To customize AutoConfig-managed configuration files, copy the AutoConfig template
file to the custom template file and edit the custom template file. When AutoConfig
detects a custom template file, AutoConfig instantiates this file in place of the
AutoConfig template file.For example:
$FND_TOP/admin/template/custom/appsweb.cfg
AutoConfig template directory
Directory where Oracle delivers AutoConfig template files. There is an AutoConfig
template directory for every product.Location:/admin/template /appsutil/template
For example:$FND_TOP/admin/template $ORACLE_HOME/appsutil/template

Custom template directory

Directory where you keep customized AutoConfig template
files.Location:/admin/template/custom /appsutil/template/custom
For example:$FND_TOP/admin/template/custom
$ORACLE_HOME/appsutil/template/custom

Configuration file
The instantiated configuration file created when AutoConfig runs.For example:
$COMMON_TOP/html/bin/appsweb_$CONTEXT_NAME.cfg

Autoconfig process reads an XML file ( CONTEXT_NAME.xml located under

$APPL_TOP/admin in the application tier and $ORACLE_HOME/appsutil on the
Database Tier) containing parameters and values, instantiates a template, replaces
the place holders with actual values from the XML file to create an actual
configuuration file.

Creating an AutoConfig enabled environment on the Application Tier involve

as following steps

Setting the environment correctly by sourcing the relevant .env file

Generate an XML file containing parameters and values
Run the AutoConfig process to create the configuration files
Lets look at the detailed steps

AutoConfig on Application Tier

If you have an existing xml file in the directory /admin/(CONTEXT_NAME).xml, take

the backup of the file. The perl script adbldxml.pl file during this process will
overwrite this file.
Make sure you source the environment correctly by running .env file located under
$APPL_TOP. If the environment is not sourced correctly, i.e COMMON_TOP,
APPL_TOP,IAS_ORACLE_HOME, ORACLE_HOME are not established correctly, the
xml file being generated in this step will contain incorrect values. That would
generate incorrect configuration files in the AutoConfig run phase in step
Generate the xml file using adbldxml.pl perl script
cd $AD_TOP/bin
perl adbldxml.pl tier=apps appsuser= appspasswd= (apps password )
Review the xml file generated in the above step to ensure all parameters and values
are set correctly.
Run adautocfg.sh using the above generated XML file as an input to generate the
required configuration files such as tnsnames.ora, Listener.ora, etc.
$AD_TOP/bin/adconfig.sh contextfile= appspass=

AutoConfig on Database Tier

Creating an AutoConfig enabled environment on the Database Tier is a similar
process
Generate appsutil.zip file on the Application Tier
Ftp the appsutil.zip to the DB tier
Unzip and run the AutoConfig on the DB Tier
Now lets see those steps in detail

On the Application Tier (as the APPLMGR user):

Log in to the APPL_TOP environment (source the environment file)
cd $AD_TOP/bin
perl admkappsutil.pl
This will create appsutil.zip in $APPL_TOP/admin/out directory
Ftp the appsutil.zip created in the step 1 to the $RDBMS ORACLE_HOME on the
Database Tier
Unzip appsutil.zip in the $ORACLE_HOME on the Database Tier.
cd $ORACLE_HOME on the DB Tier
unzip -o appsutil.zip
If there is (CONTEXT_NAME).xml file in $RDBMS ORACLE_HOME/appsutil, review the
file and take a backup.
cd $ORACLE_HOME on DB Tier
. (CONTEXT_NAME) .env to source the environment
cd $ORACLE_HOME/appsutil/bin
perl adbldxml.pl tier=db appsuser= appspasswd=
Review the xml file generated in the step above. Ensure that all parameters and
values are set correctly.
Enable AutoConfig by running adconfig.sh using the above generated XML file as an
input to generate the required configuration files such as tnsnames.ora, Listener.ora,
etc..
cd $ORACLE_HOME/appsutil/bin
adconfig.sh contextfile= ( XML file name with full path) appspass= (apps Password)

Reviewing AutoConfig Log files

AutoConfig logfiles are stored under the following directories:

Application Tier
(APPL_TOP)/admin/(CONTEXT_NAME)/log/(MMDDhhmm)
Database (
RDBMS ORACLE_HOME)/appsutil/log/(CONTEXT_NAME)/(MMDDhhmm)

There will be one log file per AutoConfig session, and it will contain exact information
for every action that AutoConfig performed.

Rolling back an AutoConfig session

Each execution of AutoConfig creates a rollback script in case you need to revert to
the previous configuration settings. The script and all backup configuration files from
each AutoConfig session are stored in:
Application
(APPL_TOP)/admin/(CONTEXT_NAME)/out/(MMDDhhmm)
Database
(RDBMS ORACLE_HOME)/appsutil/out/(CONTEXT_NAME)/(MMDDhhmm)
where::(MMDDhhmm) = (month, day, hour, minute of AutoConfig run)
To roll back an AutoConfig session:
restore.sh