Oracle Apps Architecture

When Oracle first came out with ERP package it was all character based and basically was a centralized computing architecture. In apps release 10.7, the character release of Applications primarily had the database and its end-user forms defined in character based forms. The database was Oracle 7.3.2, and forms version was SQL forms 3 (character forms). The users had to telnet to the server to be able to access the applications. After connecting to the server they had to issue the command found to be able to invoke the form that used to connect them to the server. The client machines used to connect to the server were primarily dumb terminals. e.g. VT100 etc. In Release 10.7 there were three options: 1. The original 2. Smart Client (which was basically 3. NCA (Network Computing Architecture) char client-server based architecture)

In a Smart Client Install of 10.7, the database was Oracle 7.3.2 and the front end constituted of Developer 1.3.1 or 1.3.2. The clients used to connect to the server with the help of the named service or TCP/IP link made in the file tnsnames.ora. The SQL*Net protocol or the Net80 protocol was used for connectivity. In NCA oracle apps was finally available in The Three Tier Architecture. There were three distinct Tiers now and client side could be much lighter (generally a java enabled browser). This architecture has been taken into release 11 and 11i, and from what I hear and read about release 12, there will not be any major change in this architecture. The three disctinct Tiers in Oracle apps 11i (11.5.10.2 is the latest as of now) are: 1. 2. 3. Database Tier Desktop Application Tier Tier

The following image taken from Oracle Applications Concepts illustrates the three tiers:

Lets talk breifly about these tiers individaully:

1. Deskptop Tier: Its is nothing but a simple web browser (Internet explorer or Netscape etc) from which end-user logs into the application. Important thing to remember is that browser has to be java enabled. The componants required on the desktop tier are Forms Client Applet and Oracle Jinitiator. a. Forms Client Applet: Most of the Oracle Applications is based on Oracle Forms and Reports (Oracle Developer) and to display oracle forms on a clients browser an applet is used. This forms client applet displays Oracle Applications screens and support field level validation, multiple windows and list of values (LOVs). The forms client applet is paclaged as Java Archive (JAR) files that contain all java classes for forms applet. These jar files are downoaded from Web server at the beginning of the clients session and remains in the cache known as Jcache. b. Oracle Jinitiator: The Forms Client Applet must run within a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) on the client machine. For Oracle Apps the JVM is provided by Oracle Jinitiator which acts as a plug-in (Active X componant in IE) in the web browser. Please note that for Oracle apps we do not use other JVMs e.g. Microsoft JVM, Sun JVM etc.. When end-user enters the desired Oracle Applications signon URL withing the web browser, the browser will execute the Oracle Jinitiator. If Jinitiator has not been previously installed, end user will be prompted to download the necessary installation executable to the desktop. Once Jinitiator is installed, the forms client applet is started and Oracle Forms sessions is opened. 2. Application Tier : The application Tier, as the name suggest is nothing, but location of application servers. This Tier is sometimes referred to as middle tier and provided business logic and code processing. There are five servers in Applications tier: a. HTTP b. Forms c. d. Reports e. Admin Server server (powered by Oracle server (This host all you Oracle Concurrent Processing Server (host all the Oracle Apache) forms) Server reports)

3. Database Tier : The database tier contains the Data Server and holds all the data stored and maintained by Oracle Applications system. There are basically two types of database objests: Data Objects like Oracle apps Tables, Indexes, sequences etc.. and Code Objects like Stored Procedures, Packages, functions,triggers etc.. Important thing to remember is that database tier does not directly communicates with desktop tier, but rather with servers on the middle tier which in turn provides the end-users with the information as required in interface which is more user friendly. Hence almost all the processing is handled at Applications and Database Tier (which are much bigger machines) leaving client machines free of any processing.

At this point you must be having a basic understanding of Oracle Applications Architecture. I suggest that for deeper understaning of the various componants of Oracle Applications, one should carefully read chapter 1 (Applications Architecture) of Oracle Applications Concept Manual (Oracle Applications Concept)

Archive for the AD utilities Category

Cloning Basics
If you are trying to learn oracle apps dba skills, cloning would be first practical thing would try to learn and try. So what exactly is cloning ?? Cloning is a process by which you can literally copy all of your Oracle Apps instance to another location and bring it up. The copied instance will inherit virtually everything (patches, profiles, data, code etc) from source instance, hence it is called cloned instance. The reason why you would clone an instance are varied. As per official Oracle Metalink note on cloning (Note:230672.1), you would clone:
1. Creating a copy of the production system for testing updates. 2. Migrating an existing system to new hardware. 3. Creating a stage area to reduce patching downtime.

Let us briefly discuss how cloning works. For example you have a production instance called PROD and want to create a testing instance for developers and others to play around, this instance is called TEST. In this case source instance is PROD and target instance is TEST. As you know oracle apps has three distinct tiers (see my post Apps Architecture), the desktop tier, apps tier, db tier. You would have to first clone your db tier (As Oracle DBAs you must be familier with cloning db). Once target database and listeners are up and running, copy your application tier files and change configuration files to reflect target instance (e.g. hostname, ports etc). This step of configuring your apps tier is the most difficult step until release 11i when adclone,autoconfig and rapidclone came into the picture. I would suggest you to go through following metalink notes and get your self familiar with cloning. I will discuss in detail about cloning steps in my future posts on cloning. References: Note: 216664.1 FAQ : Cloning Oracle Applications Release 11i

Note 282930 Cloning Oracle Applications Release 11i Note ID 230672.1 Cloning Oracle Applications Release 11i with Rapid Clone