Here are few more Interview questions for Oracle Application DBA’s and same can be

used as 1Z0-233 Install Patch and Maintain Applications dump for certification.

Desktop tier
Application EBS (Forms, Reports, Concurrent Processing, Web, Admin, Disc)Q. Find
application server version ?
FND_PRODUCT_GROUPS

Q. How will you find the Apache, forms, reports version in an EBS suite?

http –v – Apache
f60gen – Forms
ar60run – Reports

Q. Find jinitiator version?

Client side – Control panel

Server side – SID_hostname.xml (s_jinit_ver_)

Q. Whatis US directory in $AD_TOP or under various product TOP’s .

US directory is default language directory in Oracle Applications. If you have multiple
language Installed in your Applications then you will see other language directories
beside US, that directory will contain reports, fmx and other code in that respective
directory like FR for France, AR for arabic, simplifies chinese or spanish.

Q. Whats main concurrent Manager types.

ICM - Internal Concurrent Manager which manage concurrent Managers
Standard Managers - Which Manage processing of requests.
CRM - Conflict Resolution Managers , resolve conflicts in case of incompatibility.

Q. Where is Concurrent Manager log file location ?

By default standard location is $APPLCSF/$APPLLOG , in some cases it can go to
$FND_TOP/log as well.

Q. List some ad utilities and their functions?

adadmin, adctrl, adpatch, adlicmgr, admrgpch, adsplice and adworker

Q. List out the modules related to oracle Apps DBA ?

FND – Application Object Library, AU – Application Utilities, AD – Application DBA

Q. What are profile options, what are various type of profile options ?

User, application, responsibility and site

Q. List some profile options with their function?

 ICX: Session timeout, ICX: Forms Launcher, ICX: Limit Connect

Q. How will you take the forms trace?

http://hostname:port/dev60cgi/f60cgi?play=&record=collect&log=filename

Q. How you put Applications 11i in Maintenance mode ?

Use adadmin to change Maintenance mode is Oracle Apps. With AD.I you need to enable
maintenance mode in order to apply apps patch via adpatch utility. If you don’t want to
put apps in maintenance mode you can use adpatch options=hotpatch feature.

Q. What are the different types of oracle patches available ?

One-off, mini, diagnostics, cu, rup, language, help, platform specific, OS, OPatch,
Interoperability, family pack and maintenance pack.

Q. What are the different patch drivers available?

C driver, D driver, G driver and U driver.

Q. Explain the steps for applying apps patch and database patch ?

Q. What is autoconfig?

Q. How will you find the autoconfig is enabled?

Q. List out the following logfile locations?

Patch log, autoconfig log, reports output, reports log and Concurrent manager log.

Q. List out the important env files?

Appsora.env, appsSID_hostname.env, adovars.env, APPSSID_hostname

Q. How to enable diagnostics for oracle applications?

FND: Enable Diagnostics.. Tell about RDA and its use?

Q. Explain Oracle Applications architecture – Components?

Desktop tier
 Application EBS (Forms, Reports, Concurrent Processing, Web, Admin, Disc)Q. Find
application server version ?

FND_PRODUCT_GROUPS

Q. How will you find the Apache, forms, reports version in an EBS suite?

http –v – Apache
f60gen – Forms
ar60run – Reports

Q. Find jinitiator version?

Client side – Control panel

Server side – SID_hostname.xml (s_jinit_ver_)

Q. Whatis US directory in $AD_TOP or under various product TOP’s .

US directory is default language directory in Oracle Applications. If you have multiple
language Installed in your Applications then you will see other language directories
beside US, that directory will contain reports, fmx and other code in that respective
directory like FR for France, AR for arabic, simplifies chinese or spanish.

Q. Whats main concurrent Manager types.

ICM - Internal Concurrent Manager which manage concurrent Managers
Standard Managers - Which Manage processing of requests.
CRM - Conflict Resolution Managers , resolve conflicts in case of incompatibility.

Q. Where is Concurrent Manager log file location ?

By default standard location is $APPLCSF/$APPLLOG , in some cases it can go to
$FND_TOP/log as well.

Q. List some ad utilities and their functions?

adadmin, adctrl, adpatch, adlicmgr, admrgpch, adsplice and adworker

Q. List out the modules related to oracle Apps DBA ?

FND – Application Object Library, AU – Application Utilities, AD – Application DBA

Q. What are profile options, what are various type of profile options ?

User, application, responsibility and site

Q. List some profile options with their function?

ICX: Session timeout, ICX: Forms Launcher, ICX: Limit Connect

Q. How will you take the forms trace?

http://hostname:port/dev60cgi/f60cgi?play=&record=collect&log=filename

Q. How you put Applications 11i in Maintenance mode ?

Use adadmin to change Maintenance mode is Oracle Apps. With AD.I you need to enable
maintenance mode in order to apply apps patch via adpatch utility. If you don’t want to
put apps in maintenance mode you can use adpatch options=hotpatch feature.

Q. What are the different types of oracle patches available ?

One-off, mini, diagnostics, cu, rup, language, help, platform specific, OS, OPatch,
Interoperability, family pack and maintenance pack.

Q. What are the different patch drivers available?

C driver, D driver, G driver and U driver.

Q. Explain the steps for applying apps patch and database patch ?

Q. What is autoconfig?

Q. How will you find the autoconfig is enabled?

Q. List out the following logfile locations?

Patch log, autoconfig log, reports output, reports log and Concurrent manager log.

Q. List out the important env files?

Appsora.env, appsSID_hostname.env, adovars.env, APPSSID_hostname

Q. How to enable diagnostics for oracle applications?

FND: Enable Diagnostics.. Tell about RDA and its use?

Q. Describe about Discoverer Configuration and Oracle 10g AS installation ?

So start sharing information which can be useful to others like scripts, document
Here are few Apps DBA interview questions you can expect, if recruiter is looking for
SSO-Apps Integration expertise

Q. How to find if your E-Business Suite is integrated with SSO/OID (10g Identity
Management)

- There are multiple ways to find out Apps 11i/R12 is integrated with SSO/OID
a) Check if SSOSDK schema exists (in Apps 11i/R12) and check table in SSOSDK
schema
b) Check if log file exists at $OAD_TOP/rgf/$CONTEXT_NAME/sso
c) Profile option Option “Application SSO Types”

Q. If Single Sign-On server & OID is down, can users still login ?
Yes, use localLogin

Q. Name few Profile Option w.r.t. SSO Integration

- Application SSO Types
- Application SSO login types
- Application SSO Auto link User

* Make sure you know about these profile option as explain these profile option and how
they effect SSO Integration

Q. Which SSO build version you are currently working ?

- Build 1, 2.1, 2.2, 3, 3.1, 4, 5, 6

Q. What is OID version you used for Apps-SSO/OID Integration ?

Latest certified OID version is 10.1.4.0.1 (Other certified were 10.1.2.0.2, 9.0.4 )

Q. What was direction of User synchronization ?

- From OID to Apps
- Apps to OID
- Bidirectional

Q. What extra steps you need to do after changing apps password in SSO Integrated Apps
Instances ?
- Update provisioning profile in OID with new apps password

Q. If new users created is not able to login, how will you troubleshoot ?
- Check if user exist in both Apps (FND_USER) and OID (If not check if user
provisioning is working fine)
- If user exist check Password (in FND_USER) is set to External (If set to LOCAL user
should try AppsLocalLogin.jsp)

Q. User is currently set to Login via SSO, what steps you need to do to change user for
Local Login
(AppsLocalLogin.jsp)
- Set Profile Option “Applications SSO Login Types” to LOCAL or BOTH
- Reset User Password using FNDCPASS
- Login using URL /OA_HTML/AppsLocalLogin.jsp

Q. Where is log file for Apps Registration to SSO/OID ?

$APPLRGF/sso ($COMMON_TOP/rgf/$CONTEXT_NAME/sso)

Q. Where is log file for User Provisioning ?

On OID Node under $ORACLE_HOME/ldap/odi/log

Q. How you clone Oracle Apps (11i/R12) Instance Integrated with OID/SSO

On Apps
- Clone E-Business Suite using Rapid Clone

On OID/SSO
- Migrate User/Groups from source to target using ldifwrite & bulkload.sh
- Migrate Password Policy, DAS Admin Group

and finally Register target Apps to Target OID/SSO

Q. What all issues you encountered during SSO/OID Integration ?

Q. What is Subscription List ?

Q. What is mapping file w.r.t. User provisioning between Apps & OID and what is
default location of oracle shipped

mapping file in Apps ?

- $FND_TOP/admin/template/*.tmp

Q. What is difference between ICM, CRM and Standard Manager in Concurrent Manager
?

Q. Where are CM log files ?

Q. What will happen if ICM goes down ?

Q. If your output or log file from view report is not working what can be issue ?

Q. How to check if system is Autoconfig enabled ?

Q. How to check if system is rapid clone enabled ?

Q. Can c driver be applied while database is down ?

Q. What is difference between ad_bugs and ad_applied_patches ?

Q. Steps to reduce patch downtime ?

Q. How to enable maintenance mode ?

Q. Is there way to apply patch without enabling maintenance mode ?

Q. What is significance of dbc file ?

Q. How Apps decide to use particular dbc file ?

Q. What are steps included in changing Apps Password ?

Q. How will you troubleshoot self service issue ?

Q. What all profile options you change in DMZ setup ?

Q. What are issues you encountered in last few projects ?

Q. What is maintenance mode, how to enable/disable it and how to by pass maintenance

mode ?

Q. If users complain that they can’t see login page, how you will debug issue ?

Q. I am applying database patch using opatch. I don’t have oraInventory, can I apply
database patch ?
No, you can’t apply a database patch using opatch if Inventory is missing.
Register ORACLE_HOME with global Inventory (in case inventory is missing) using
steps mentioned here “3.6.2 Creating the Central Inventory”

Q. How many concurrent mangers can be used ? what is the limit ?

There is no such documented limit on number of concurrent managers, as long as you
have enough operating system resource (memory).

Q. Suppose my concurrent manager status is showing Inactive ? what is the reason ?

This could be because of multiple reasons, to name few
a) Processes value for Concurrent Manager is 0 (System Administrator > Concurrent >
Manager > Define > search for Manager > Click on the Work Shifts button and check
value of Processes)

b) Concurrent Manager was shut down by some one (Check using System Administrator
> Concurrent > Manager > Administer)

c) There is no workshift defined against Concurrent Manager (or workshift removed from
Manager)

Q. What is transaction manager ? what is the significance ?

Normal/Standard concurrent manager execute long running, data-intensive application
program asynchronously, where as transaction manager support “synchronous”
processing of particular requests.

Q. My cloning is successfully completed but my apps listener is not getting up ? What is

the problem ?
First check log file of apps listener to find root cause at
1. $OAD_TOP/admin/log/$CONTEXT_NAME/adalnctl.txt
2. $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin/apps_$SID.log (on Middle Tier)

To name few
1. Failure to create proper apps listener file via adgentns.sh during Rapid Clone process
2. FNDSM (Service Manager issues)

Q. How frequently do you preform patching ? (For work ex < 1.5 yrs)
Patching is done mainly to fix existing problem (bug) or for new features
(enhancements). Frequency of patching vary from company to company and
implementation stage.

Q. How frequently you perform cloning ? (For work ex < 1.5 yrs)
This again vary from company to company. Frequency ranging from every few days or
every few weeks to every few months.

Q. How much time it will take to complete cloning ?

Cloning time depends on
- Network speed to copy various tops (APPL_TOP, COMMON_TOP.., DATA_TOP)
- Customizations (printer setting and any post clone issue)
- Topology (Number of middle tier, is system integrated with OID & SSO, Database is
RAC or not, DMZ setup)

Time for Rapid clone for single node

Approx. 30 Minutes for pre-clone
Approx. 1-2 hours for post clone on database tier
Approx. 1-2 hours for Middle tier
+
Time to copy files from source instance to target Instance

Q. What is the purpose of the appsutil folder in ORACLE_HOME in database tier ?

appsutil directory in database ORACLE_HOME is place holder for Autoconfig and
Rapid Clone related files on database Node.

Q. After cloning my oraInventory got corrupted ? can I apply my Opatch?

No, you can’t apply database patch using opatch (Though you can apply apps patch using
adpatch). Recreate inventory as mentioned above.

Q. what command is used to kill the process which is using largest memory ?
Vary as per operating system if you wish to kill o.s. process (kill -9 <pid>)

Q. I am applying patch can I open another session and run adadmin ? (Thanks to Amit
Pancholia for pointing this out)
Yes & No (depends on stage of patching), you can run adadmin if
FND_INSTALL_PROCESSES is NOT locked (in use) by adpatch session. If this table is
in use by adpatch session then you can’t run adadmin at same time.

Q. I am applying patch can I open another session in another node and run adpatch ?
Well, question is tricky. If you are using shared appl_top (application tier) and using
distributed patching (a.k.a. Distributed AD) feature then yes you can start patch from one
node giving total number of workers and start X number of workers from node1 , then
start another adpatch session from second node mentioning remaining workers to start
from second node. (More on distributed patching in shared application tier environment
coming soon …).
Q. I am not able to start concurrent manager ? What is the problem ?
This could again be for various reasons, to check root cause of problem check log file at
$APPLCSF/$APPLLOG/$SID_MMDD.mgr (where MM is month & DD is Date on
which Concurrent Manager was started)

Q. What is wdbsvr.app file used for? What's full path of this file? What's significance of
this file ?
I'll again suggest you don't just remember answer & try to solve mystery behind this file.
First where this file exists ? You can find this file under
$IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/modplsql/cfg

Based on file location I am sure you can say this is related to Apache, & looking into
modplsql/cfg , I am sure you will say its related to mod_pls (mod plsql component of
Apache/Oracle 11i WebServer) configuration file. This file is used by mod_plsql
component of Apache to connect to database. So when you type url
http://hostname:port/pls/SID , whenever Apache(11i Web Server) finds that request is for
/pls/ then Apache delegates this request to mod_pls component which in turn pick this
file & check if there is any DAD with name SID (in our example its VISION11I) &
Sample entry in wdbsvr.app
[DAD_VISION11I]
connect_string = VISION11I
password = apps
username = APPS
default_page = fnd_web.ping

On typing http://hostname:port/pls/VISION11I , it will connect to database using apps

schema & will return you page fnd_web.ping ( where fnd_web is package & ping is
procedure or vise versa).

Q. Whats US directory in $AD_TOP or under various product TOP's .

US directory is defauly language directory in Oracle Applications. If you have multiple

languages Installed in your Applications then you will see other languages directories
besides US, that directory will contain reports, fmx and other code in that respective
directory like FR for France, AR for arabic, simplifies chinese or spanish.

Q. Whats main concurrent Manager types.

ICM - Internal Concurrent Manager which manages concurrent Managers

Standard Managers - Which Manage processesing of requests.
CRM - Conflict Resolution Managers , resolve conflicts in case of incompatibility.

Q. Where is Concurrent Manager log file location.

By default standard location is $APPLCSF/$APPLLOG , in some cases it can go to
$FND_TOP/log as well.

Q. Where would i find .rf9 file, and what execatly it dose ?

These files are used during restart of patch in case of patch failure because of some
reason.

Q. Where is appsweb.cfg or appsweb_$CONTEXT.cfg stored & why its used ?

This file is defined by environment variable FORMS60_WEB_CONFIG_FILE This is
usually in directory $OA_HTML/bin on forms tier.

This file is used by any forms client session. When a user try to access forms , f60webmx
picks up this file and based on this configuration file creates a forms session to
user/client.

Q. What is multi node system ?

Multi Node System in Oracle Applications 11i means you have Applications 11i
Component on more than one system. Typical example is Database, Concurrent Manager
on one machine and forms, Web Server on second machine is example of Two Node
System.

Q. Can you clone from multi node system to single node system & vice versa ?
Yes , this is now supported via Rapid Clone, Check if your system has all prereq. patches
for Rapid Clone and you are on latest rapid clone patch.

Q. Does rapid clone takes care of Updating Global oraInventory or you have to register
manually in Global OraInventory after clone ?
Rapid Clone will automatically Update Global oraInventory during configuration phase.
You don't have to do any thing manually for Global oraInventory.

Q. What is .dbc file , where its stored , whats use of .dbc file ?
dbc as name says is database connect descriptor file which stores database connection
information used by application tier to connect to database. This file is in directory
$FND_TOP/secure also called as FND_SECURE

Q. Whats things you do to reduce patch timing ? You can take advantage of following -

Merging patches via admrgpch

Use various adpatch options like nocompiledb or nocompilejsp
Use defaults file
Staged APPL_TOP during upgrades
Increase batch size (Might result into negative )

Q. How you put Applications 11i in Maintenance mode ?

Use adadmin to change Maintenance mode is Oracle Apps. With AD.I you need to enable
maintenance mode in order to apply apps patch via adpatch utility. If you don't want to
put apps in maintenance mode you can use adpatch options=hotpatch feature.

Q. Can you apply patch without putting Applications 11i in Maintenance mode ?
Yes, use options=hotpatch as mentioned above with adpatch.
Thanks Yatish for pointing this out

Q. What are various options available with adpatch ?

Various options available with adpatch depending on your AD version are
autoconfig, check_exclusive, checkfile, compiledb, compilejsp, copyportion,
databaseprtion, generateportion, hotpatch, integrity, maintainmrc, parallel, prereq,
validate

Q. adident utility is used for what ?

adident utility in oracle apps is used to find version of any file . AD Identification.
for ex. "adident Header <filename>
Q. What is adsplice utility ?
adsplice in oracle apps is utility to add a new product.

Q. How can you licence a product after installation ?

You can use ad utility adlicmgr to licence product in Oracle Apps.

Q. What is MRC ? What you do as Apps DBA for MRC ?

MRC also called as Multiple Reporting Currency in oracle Apps. Default you have
currency in US Dollars but if your organization operating books are in other currency
then you as apps dba need to enable MRC in Apps. How to enable MRC coming soon...

Q. Whats is JVM(Java Virtual Machine) and which component uses JVM ?

JVM stands for Java Virtual Machine,

Q. What is profile options, What are various type of profile options ?

Q. What is APPS listener ? Why its used ?

Q. How do you start/stop apps listener ?

Q. If users complaining Oracle Applications 11i system is running slow , what all things
you will check at broad level ?

Q. What is Autoconfig ?

Q. What is context file ?

Q. Why appsutil directory under Database ORACLE_HOME used for ?

Q. How to create User in Oracle Applications 11i ? Can you delete a User ?

Q. What is Single Sign On ? ( If you are using portal 3.0.9 or 10G )?

Q. How to configure portal with 11i ? ( If you are using portal 3.0.9 or 10G )? Q. What is
access_log in apache , what entries are recored in access_log ? Where is default location
of thsi file ?
access_log in Oracle Application Server records all users accessing oracle applications
11i. This file location is defined in httpd.conf with default location at
$IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Apache/logs. Entries in this file is defined by directive
LogFormat in httpd.conf Typical entry in access_log is
198.0.0.1 - - [10/Sep/2006:18:37:17 +0100] "POST /OA_HTML/OA.jsp?.... HTTP/1.1"
200 28035
where 200 is HTTP status code & last digits 28035 is bytes dowloaded as this page(Size
of page)
Q. Where is Jserv configuration files stored ?
Jserv configuration files are stored in $IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Jserv/etc

Q. What is session time out parameter & where all you define these values ?

Q. Where is applications start/stop scripts stored ?

applications start/stop scripts are in directory
$COMMON_TOP/admin/scripts/$CONTEXT_NAME

Q. What are main configuration files in Web Server (Apache) ?

Main configuration files in Oracle Apps Web Server are

httpd.conf, apps.conf, oracle_apache.conf, httpd_pls.conf

jserv.conf, ssp_init.txt, jserv.properties, zone.properties
plsql.conf, wdbsvr.app, plsql.conf

Q. How to check if Apps 11i System is Autoconfig enabled ?

Under $AD_TOP/bin check for file adcfginfo.sh & if this exists use
adcfginfo.sh contextfile=<CONTEXT> show=enabled

If this file is not there , look for any configuration file under APPL_TOP if system is
Autoconfig enabled then you will see entry like
# AutoConfig automatically generates this file. It will be read and .......

Q. How to check if Oracle Apps 11i System is Rapid Clone enabled ?

For syetem to be Rapid Clone enabled , it should be Autoconfig enabled (Check above
How to confirm if Apps 11i is Autoconfig enabled). You should have Rapid Clone
Patches applied , Rapid Clone is part of Rapid Install Product whose Family Pack Name
is ADX. By default all Apps 11i Instances 11.5.9 and above are Autoconfig & Rapid
Clone enabled.

Q. Whats is difference between two env files in <CONTEXT>.env and

APPS<CONTEXT>.env under $APPL_TOP ?
APPS<CONTEXT>.env is main environment file which inturn calls other environment
files like <CONTEXT>.env under $APPL_TOP, <CONTEXT>.env under 806
ORACLE_HOME and custom<CONTEXT>.env for any Customized environment files.

Q. What is access_log in Apache ?

access_log file keeps record of users accessing Oracle Apps 11i Webserver.

Typical entry in access_log is like

198.0.0.1 - - [25/Aug/2006 :03:15:13 +0100] "GET /OA_JAVA /oracle /forms
/registry/Registry.dat HTTP/1.1" 200 4117
Which means client with IP 198.0.0.1 requested for file mentioned above on 25 Aug
2006 at 03:15 AM , 200 is status code returned by Apache which means page returned
successfully (Status Code 302 means page redirected , 404 page not found, 500+ Internal
Server error)
last digit 4117 in above entry of access_log means file size which is 4117 bytes. This file
is quite useful in monitoring your Web Server.

Please note above format might defer on your system as this is dependent log_format in
Apache configuration file ( httpd.conf)

Q. Whats is location of access_log file ?

access_log file by default is located in $IAS_ORACLE_HOME/ Apache/Apache/logs.
Location of this file is defined in httpd.conf by patameter CustomLog or TransferLog

Q. What is your Oracle Apps 11i Webserver Version and how to find it ?
From 11.5.8 to 11.5.10 Webserver version is iAS 1.0.2.2.2, In order to find version under
$IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Apache/bin execute ./httpd -version
./httpd -version
Server version: Oracle HTTP Server Powered by Apache/1.3.19
Server built: Dec 6 2005 14:59:13 (iAS 1.0.2.2.2 rollup 5)

Q. What is Location of Jserv configuration files ?

Jserv configuration files are located in $IAS_ORACLE_HOME /Apache/Jserv/etc .

Q. What is plssql/database cache ? In order to improve performance mod_pls (Apache

component) caches some database content to file. This database/plssql cache is usually of
type session & plsql cache

session cache is used to store session information.

plsql cache is used to store plsql cache i.e. used by mod_pls

Q. Where is database/plssql cache stored ?

plssql & session cache are stored under $IAS_ORACLE_HOME/
Apache/modplsql/cache directory.

Q. How to determine Oracle Apps 11i Version ?

select RELEASE_NAME from fnd_product_groups;
You should see output like
RELEASE_NAME
-----------------------
11.5.9 or 11.5.10.2

Q. What is *.dbc file & whats is location of dbc file ?

dbc as name stands for is database connect descriptor file used to connect to database.
This file by default located in $FND_TOP/secure directory also called as
$FND_SECURE directory.

Q. What is content of dbc file & why its important ?

DBC file is quite important as whenever Java or any other program like forms want to
connect to database it uses dbc file. Typical entry in dbc file is
GUEST_USER_PWD
APPS_JDBC_URL
DB_HOST
...., I will explain these parameters in other questions else in my BLOG

Q. There are lot of dbc file under $FND_SECURE, How its determined that which dbc
file to use from $FND_SECURE ?
This value is determined from profile option "Applications Database ID"

Q. What is RRA/FNDFS ?
Report Review Agent(RRA) also referred by executable FNDFS is default text viewer in
Oracle Applications 11i for viewing output files & log files. As most of apps dba's are not
clear about Report Server & RRA,

Q. What is PCP is Oracle Applications 11i ?

PCP is acronym for Parallel Concurrurent processing. Usually you have one Concurrent
Manager executing your requests but if you can configure Concurrent Manager running
on two machines (Yes you need to do some additional steps in order to configure Parallel
Concurrent Processing) . So for some of your requests primary CM Node is on machine1
and secondary CM node on machine2 and for some requests primary CM is on machine2
& secondary CM on machine1.

Q. Why I need two Concurrent Processing Nodes or in what scenarios PCP is Used ?
Well If you are running GL Month end reports or taxation reports annually these reposrts
might take couple of days. Some of these requests are very resource intensive so you can
have one node running long running , resource intensive requests while other processing
your day to day short running requets.

another scenario is when your requests are very critical and you want high resilience for
your Concurrent Processing Node , you can configure PCP. So if node1 goes down you
still have CM node available processing your requests.

Q. Output & Logfiles for requests executed on source Instance not working on cloned
Instance

Here is exact problem description - You cloned an Oracle Apps Instance from
PRODBOX to another box with Instance name say CLONEBOX on 1st of August. You
can any CM logs/output files after 1st of August only becuase these all are generated on
CLONEBOX itself, But unable to view the logs/output files which are prior to 1st
August. What will you do & where to check ?

Log , Output file path & location is stored in table FND_CONCURRENT_REQUESTS.

Check
select logfile_name, logfile_node_name, outfile_name, outfile_node_name from
fnd_concurrent_requests where request_id=&requestid ;
where requestid is id of request for which you are not able to see log or out files. You
should see output like
/u01/PRODBOX/log/l123456.req, host1,/u01/PRODBOX/out/o123456.out, host1

Update it according to your cloned Instance Variables.

Q. How to confirm if Report Server is Up & Running ?

Report Server is started by executable rwmts60 on concurrent manager Node & this file
is under $ORACLE_HOME/bin .execute command on your server like
ps -ef | grep rwmts60
You should get output like
applmgr ....... rwmts60 name=REP60_VISION
where VISION is your Instance name.

Else you can submit a request like "Active Users" with display set to PDF, check output
& log file to see if report server can display PDF files.

Q. What is difference between ICM, Standard Managers & CRM in Concurrent

Manager ?

ICM stand for Internal Concurrent Manager, which controls other managers. If it finds
other managers down , it checks & try to restart them. You can say it as administrator to
other concurrent managers. It has other tasks as well.
Standard Manager These are normal managers which control/action on the requests &
does batch or single request processing.
CRM acronym for Conflict Resolution Manager is used to resolve conflicts between
managers & request. If a request is submitted whose execution is clashing or it is defined
not to run while a particular type of request is running then such requests are
actioned/assigned to CRM for Incompatibilities & Conflict resolution.

Q. What is use of Apps listener ?

Apps Listener usually running on All Oracle Applications 11i Nodes with listener alias as
APPS_$SID is mainly used for listening requests for services like FNDFS & FNDSM.

Q. How to start Apps listener ?

In Oracle 11i, you have script adalnctl.sh which will start your apps listener. You can also
start it by command
lsnrctl start APPS_$SID (Replace sid by your Instance SID Name)

Q. What is difference between adpatch & opatch ?

adpatch is utility to apply oracle apps Patches whereas

opatch is utility to apply database patches

Q. Can you use both adpatch & opatch in Apps ?

Yes you have to use both in apps , for apps patches you will use adpatch utility and for
applying database patch in apps you will opatch utility.

Q. Where will you find forms configuration details apart from xml file ?

Forms configuration at time of startup is in script adfrmctl.sh and

appsweb_$CONTEXT_NAME.cfg (defined by environment variable
FORMS60_WEB_CONFIG_FILE) for forms client connection used each time a user
initiates forms connection.

Q. What is forms server executable Name ?

f60srvm

Q. What are different modes of forms in which you can start Forms Server and which one
is default ?

You can start forms server in SOCKET or SERVLET by defualt Forms are configured to
start in socket mode.

Q. How to confirm if Apps Listener is Up & Running ?

execute below command
lsnrctl status APPS_$SID (replcae SID with your Instance Name)
so If your SID is VISION then use lsnrctl status APPS_VISION out put should be like
Services Summary...
FNDFS has 1 service handler(s)
FNDSM has 1 service handler(s)
The command completed successfully

Q. What is Web Listener ?

Web Listener is Web Server listener which is listening for web Services(HTTP) request.
This listener is started by adapcctl.sh & defined by directive (Listen, Port) in httpd.conf
for Web Server. When you initially type request like
http://becomeappsdba.blogspot.com:80 to access application here port number 80 is Web
Listener port.
Q. How will you find Invalid Objects in database ?

using query
SQLPLUS> select count(*) from dba_objects where status like 'INVALID';

Q. How to compile Invalid Objects in database ?

You can use adadmin utility to compile or you can use utlrp.sql script shipped with
Oracle Database to compile Invalid Database Objects.

Q. How to compile JSP in Oracle Apps ?

You can use ojspCompile.pl perl script shipped with Oracle apps to compile JSP files.
This script is under $JTF_TOP/admin/scripts. Sample compilation method is
perl ojspCompile.pl --compile --quiet

Q. How you will start Discoverer in Oracle Apps 11i ?

In order to start dicoverer you can use script addisctl.sh under

$OAD_TOP/admin/scripts/$CONTEXT_NAME or startall.sh under
$ORACLE_HOME/discwb4/util (under Middle/Application Tier)

Q. How many ORACLE HOME are Oracle Apps and whats significance of each ?

There are three $ORACLE_HOME in Oracle Apps, Two for Application Tier (Middle
Tier) and One in Database Tier.

ORACLE_HOME 1 : On Application Tier used to store 8.0.6 techstack software. This is

used by forms, reports & discoverer. ORACLE_HOME should point to this
ORACLE_HOME which applying Apps Patch.
ORACLE_HOME 2: On Application Tier used by iAS (Web Server) techstack software.
This is used by Web Listener & contains Apache.
ORACLE_HOME 3: On Database Tier used by Database Software usually 8i,9i or 10g
database.

Q. Where is HTML Cache stored in Oracle Apps Server ?

Oracle HTML Cache is available at $COMMON_TOP/_pages for some previous
versions you might find it in $OA_HTML/_pages

Q. Where is plssql cache stored in Oracle Apps ?

Usually two type of cache session & plssql stored under

$IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/modplsql/cache

Q. What are few profile options which you update after cloning ?
Rapid clone updates profile options specific to site level . If you have any profile option
set at other levels like server, responsibility, user....level then reset them.

Q. How to retrieve SYSADMIN password ?

If forgot password link is enabled and sysadmin account is configured with mail id user
forget password link else you can reset sysadmin password via FNDCPASS.

Q. If you have done two node Installation, First machine : Database and concurrent
processing server. 2nd machine: form,web Which machine have admin server/node?

Admin Server will be on First machine with concurrent processing server. More on
Admin Server coming soon..

Q. Whats is TWO_TASK in Oracle Database ?

TWO_TASK mocks your tns alias which you are going to use to connect to database.
Lets assume you have database client with tns alias defined as PROD to connect to
Database PROD on machine teachmeoracle.com listening on port 1521. Then usual way
to connect is sqlplus username/passwd@PROD ; now if you don't want to use @PROD
then you set TWO_TASK=PROD and then can simply use sqlplus username/passwd then
sql will check that it has to connect to tnsalias define by value PROD i.e. TWO_TASK

Q. What is GWYUID ?
GWYUID , stands for Gateway User ID and password. Usually like APPLSYSPUB/PUB

Q. Where GWYUID defined & what is its used in Oracle Applications ?

GWYUID is defined in dbc i.e. Database Connect Descriptor file . It is used to connect to
database by think clients.

Q. What is difference between GUEST_USER_PWD (GUEST/ORACLE) & GWYUID ?

GUEST_USER_PWD(Guest/Oracle) is used by JDBC Thin Client where as GWYUID is

used by Thick Clients like via Forms Connections.

Q. How to check number of forms users at any time ?

Forms Connections initiate f60webmx connections so you can use

ps -ef | grep f60webmx | wc -l

Q. What is 0 & Y in FNDCPASS, FNDLOAD or WFLOAD ?

0 & Y are flags for FND Executable like FNDCPASS & FNDLOAD where
0 is request id (request ID 0 is assigned to request ID's which are not submitted via
Submit Concurrent Request Form.
'Y' indicates the method of invocation. i.e. it is directly invoked from the command-line
not from the Submit Request Form.

Q. In a Multi Node Installation, How will you find which node is running what
SErvices ?
You can query for table FND_NODES and check for column , SUPPORT_CP ( for
Concurrent Manager) SUPPORT_FORMS ( for forms server) , SUPPPORT_WEB (Web
Server), SUPPORT_ADMIN( Admin Server), and SUPPORT_DB for database tier.
You can also check same from CONTEXT File (xml file under APPL_TOP/admin)

Q. If your system has more than one Jinitiator, how will the system know, which one to
pick. ?

When client makes a forms connection in Oracle Applications, forms client session uses
configuration file defined by environment variable FORMS60_WEB_CONFIG_FILE
also called as appsweb config file. These days this file is of format
appsweb_$CONTEXT.cfg The initiator version number defined by parameter
jinit_ver_name in this file will be used .

Q. While applying Apps patch using adpatch, if you want to hide the apps password, how
will that be possible ?

Use adpatch flags=hidepw while applying patches in apps to hide apps or system
password being displayed on Users Screen.

Q. What is importance of IMAP Server in Java Notification Mailer ?

IMAP stands for Internet Message Access Protocol and Java Notification mailer require
IMAP server for Inbound Processing of Notification Mails.

Q. What is difference between Socket & Servlet Mode in Apps Forms ?

When forms run SOCKET Mode these are dedicated connection between Client Machine
& Form Server (Started by adfrmctl.sh). When Forms run in servlet mode the forms
requests are fulfilled by Jserv in Apache . There will be additional JVM for Forms
Request in that case and you won't start form via adfrmctl.sh.

Q. How to find OUI version ?

OUI stands for Oracle Universal Installer. (opatch lsinventory list the OUI version)

Q. What is make program in Unix ?

make is utility in Unix/Linux to maintain , update & generate an file mainly executable.

Q. If by mistake you/someone deleted FNDLIBR can this executable be restored if Yes,

How & if no, what will you do ?
Yes, you can restore FNDLIBR executables
run adadmin on concurrent manager node
select option 2. Maintain Applications Files menu
then select 1. Relink Applications programs
when prompts for
Enter list of products to link ('all' for all products) [all]
select FND
when prompt for
Generate specific executables for each selected product [No] ? YES
select YES
& from list of executables select FNDLIBR
This will create new FNDLIBR executables.

Q. What is .pls files which you see with apps ?

.pls file stands for plsql files. In apps patch these files contain code to create package spec
or package body or both.

Q. What are .ldt & .lct files which you see in apps patch or with FNDLOAD ?

.ldt & .lct stands for Loader datafile & Loader configuration files, used frequently in
migrating customization, profile options, configuration data, etc.. across Instances.

Q. What are .odf file in apps patch ?

odf stands for Object Description Files used to create tables & other database objects.

Q. What to find Form Server log files in forms ?

Form Server Start up log file default location is

$OAD_TOP/admin/log/$CONTEXT_NAME/f60svrm.txt

Forms Run Time Diagnostics default location is

$ORACLE_HOME/forms60/log/$CONTEXT_NAME

Q. How to convert pll to pld file or pld file to pll ?

Pll->Pld f60gen module=MSCOSCW3.pll module_type=library userid=apps/<passwd>

module_access=file output_file=MSCOSCW1.pld script=yes

Pld -> pll f60gen module=MSCOSCW3.pld userid=apps/<passwd> module_type=library

module_access=file output_file=MSCOSCW1.pll parse=y batch=yes
compile_all=special
Q. Is APPS_MRC Schema exists for MRC in 11.5.10 and higher ?
No , apps_mrc schema is dropped with 11.5.10 Upgrade & 11.5.10 new Install. This is
replaced by more Integrated Architecture.

Q. If APPS_MRC schema is not used in 11.5.10 and higher then How MRC is working ?
For products like Payable, Recievables which uses MRC and if MRC is enabled then
each transaction table in base schema related to currency now has an assoicated MRC
Subtables.

Q. When you apply C driver patch does it require database to be Up & Why ?

Yes , database & db listener should be Up when you apply any driver patch in apps. even
if driver is not updating any database object connection is required to validate apps &
other schema and to upload patch history information in database tables.
Q. Can C driver in apps patch create Invalid Object in database ?
No , C driver only copies files in File System. Database Object might be invalidated
during D driver when these objects are created/dropped/modified.

Q. What is dev60cgi & f60cgi ?

cgi stands for Common Gateway Interface and these are Script Alias in Oracle Apps used
to access forms server . Usually Form Server access directly via
http://hostname:port/dev60cgi/f60cgi

Q. Why does a worker fails in Oracle Apps Patch and few scenarios in which it failed for
you ?

This question sounds stupid but this is asked quite often in Apps DBA Interview. Apps
Patch worker can fail in case it doesn't find expected data, object, files or any thing which
driver is trying to update/edit/modify. Possible symptoms may be underlying
tables/objects are invalid, a prereq patch is missing , login information is incorrect,
inconsistency in seeded data...

Q. What is difference between mod_osso & mod_ose in Oracle HTTP Server ?

mod_osso is Oracle Single Sign-On Module where as mod_ose is module for Oracle
Servlet Engine.

mod_osso is module in Oracle's HTTP Server serves as Conduit between Oracle Apache
Server & Singl Sign-On Server where as mod_ose is also another module in Oracle's
HTTP Server serves as conduit between Oracle Apache & Oracle Servlet Engine.

Q. What is difference between COMPILE_ALL=SPECIAL and COMPILE=ALL while

compiling Forms ?

Both the options will compile all the PL/SQL in the resultant .FMX, .PLX, or .MMX file
but COMPILE_ALL=YES also changes the cached version in the source .FMB, .PLL,
or .MMB file. This confuses version control and build tools (CVS, Subversion, make,
scons); they believe you've made significant changes to the source.
COMPILE_ALL=SPECIAL does not do this.
Q. What is ps -ef or ps command in Unix ? for work ex < 1 yr

ps is unix/linux utility or executable to find status of process. Used mainly to find if

services/process is running or not.
Q. What is GSM in Oracle application E-Business Suite ?
GSM stands for Generic Service Management Framework. Oracle E-Business Suite
consist of various compoennts like Forms, Reports, Web Server, Workflow, Concurrent
Manager ..

Earlier each service used to start at their own but managing these services (given that)
they can be on various machines distributed across network. So Generic Service
Management is extension of Concurrent Processing which manages all your services ,
provide fault tolerance (If some service is down ICM through FNDSM & other processes
will try to start it even on remote server) With GSM all services are centrally managed
via this Framework.

Q. What is FNDSM ?

FNDSM is executable & core component in GSM ( Generic Service Management

Framework discussed above). You start FNDSM services via APPS listener on all Nodes
in Application Tier in E-Business Suite.

Q. What is iAS Patch ?

iAS Patch are patches released to fix bugs associated with IAS_ORACLE_HOME (Web
Server Component) Usually these are shiiped as Shell scripts & you apply iAS patches by
executing Shell script. Note that by default ORACLE_HOME is pointing to 8.0.6
ORACLE_HOME and if you are applying iAS patch export ORACLE_HOME to iAS .
You can do same by executing environment file under $IAS_ORACLE_HOME
Q. If we run autoconfig which files will get effected ?
In order to check list of files changes during Autoconfig , you can run adchkcfg utility
which will generate HTML report. This report will list all files & profile options going to
change when you run AutoConfig.

Q. What is difference between .xml file & AutoConfig ?

Autoconfig is Utility to configure your Oracle Application environment. .xml file is

repository of all configuration from which AutoConfig picks configuration and polulates
related files.

Q. What is .lgi files ?

lgi files are created with patching along with .log files . .lgi files are informative log files
containing information related to patch. You can check .lgi files to see what activities
patch has done. Usually informative logs.
Q. How will you skip worker during patch ?

If in your adctrl there are six option shown then seventh is hidden option.(If there are
seven options visible then 8th option is to Skip worker depending on ad version).
Q. Which two tables created at start of Apps Patch & drops at end of Patch ?
FND_INSTALLED_PROCESSES &AD_DEFFERED_JOBS are the tables that get
updated while applying a patch mainly d or unified driver.

Q. How to compile an Oracle Reports file ?

Utility adrepgen is used to compile Reports. Synatx is given below

adrepgen userid=apps\<psswd> source = $PRODUCT_TOP\srw\filename.rdf

dest=$PRODUCT_TOP\srw\filename.rdf stype=rdffile dtype=rdffile logfile=x.log
overwrite=yes batch=yes dunit=character

Q. What is difference between AD_BUGS & AD_APPLID_PATCHES ?

AD_BUGS holds information about the various Oracle Applications bugs whose fixes
have been applied (ie. patched) in the Oracle Applications installation.

AD_APPLIED_PATCHES holds information about the "distinct" Oracle Applications

patches that have been applied. If 2 patches happen to have the same name but are
different in content (eg. "merged" patches), then they are considered distinct and this
table will therefore hold 2 records.

Q. What exactly happens when you put an Oracle Apps instance in maintenance mode ?

Maintenance mode provides a clear separation between normal runtime operation of

Oracle Applications and system downtime for maintenance. Enabling the maintenance
mode feature
a) shuts down the Workflow Business Events System and
b) sets up function security so that no Oracle Applications functions are available to
users.

Used only during AutoPatch sessions, maintenance mode ensures optimal performance
and reduces downtime when applying a patch. (Source Metalink Note: 233044.1)

ASM and RAC questions:

======================

What is RAC?
RAC stands for Real Application cluster. It is a clustering solution from Oracle
Corporation that ensures high availability of databases by providing instance failover,
media failover features.
Mention the Oracle RAC software components:-
Oracle RAC is composed of two or more database instances. They are composed of
Memory structures and background processes same as the single instance database.Oracle
RAC instances use two processes GES(Global Enqueue Service), GCS(Global Cache
Service) that enable cache fusion.Oracle RAC instances are composed of following
background processes:
ACMS—Atomic Controlfile to Memory Service (ACMS)
GTX0-j—Global Transaction Process
LMON—Global Enqueue Service Monitor
LMD—Global Enqueue Service Daemon
LMS—Global Cache Service Process
LCK0—Instance Enqueue Process
RMSn—Oracle RAC Management Processes (RMSn)
RSMN—Remote Slave Monitor

What is GRD?

GRD stands for Global Resource Directory. The GES and GCS maintains records of the
statuses of each datafile and each cahed block using global resource directory.This
process is referred to as cache fusion and helps in data integrity.
Give Details on Cache Fusion:-
Oracle RAC is composed of two or more instances. When a block of data is read from
datafile by an instance within the cluster and another instance is in need of the same
block,it is easy to get the block image from the insatnce which has the block in its SGA
rather than reading from the disk. To enable inter instance communication Oracle RAC
makes use of interconnects. The Global Enqueue Service(GES) monitors and Instance
enqueue process manages the cahce fusion. Give Details on ACMS:-
ACMS stands for Atomic Controlfile Memory Service.In an Oracle RAC environment
ACMS is an agent that ensures a distributed SGA memory update(ie)SGA updates are
globally committed on success or globally aborted in event of a failure.
Give details on GTX0-j :-
The process provides transparent support for XA global transactions in a RAC
environment.The database autotunes the number of these processes based on the
workload of XA global transactions.
Give details on LMON:-
This process monitors global enques and resources across the cluster and performs global
enqueue recovery operations.This is called as Global Enqueue Service Monitor.
Give details on LMD:-
This process is called as global enqueue service daemon. This process manages incoming
remote resource requests within each instance.
Give details on LMS:-
This process is called as Global Cache service process.This process maintains statuses of
datafiles and each cahed block by recording information in a Global Resource
Dectory(GRD).This process also controls the flow of messages to remote instances and
manages global data block access and transmits block images between the buffer caches
of different instances.This processing is a part of cache fusion feature.
Give details on LCK0:-
This process is called as Instance enqueue process.This process manages non-cache
fusion resource requests such as libry and row cache requests.
Give details on RMSn:-
This process is called as Oracle RAC management process.These pocesses perform
managability tasks for Oracle RAC.Tasks include creation of resources related Oracle
RAC when new instances are added to the cluster.
Give details on RSMN:-
This process is called as Remote Slave Monitor.This process manages background slave
process creation andd communication on remote instances. This is a background slave
process.This process performs tasks on behalf of a co-ordinating process running in
another instance.

What components in RAC must reside in shared storage?

All datafiles, controlfiles, SPFIles, redo log files must reside on cluster-aware shred
storage.

What is the significance of using cluster-aware shared storage in an Oracle RAC

environment?

All instances of an Oracle RAC can access all the datafiles,control files, SPFILE's,
redolog files when these files are hosted out of cluster-aware shared storage which are
group of shared disks.
Give few examples for solutions that support cluster storage:-
ASM(automatic storage management),raw disk devices,network file system(NFS),
OCFS2 and OCFS(Oracle Cluster Fie systems).

What is an interconnect network?

an interconnect network is a private network that connects all of the servers in a cluster.
The interconnect network uses a switch/multiple switches that only the nodes in the
cluster can access.

How can we configure the cluster interconnect?

Configure User Datagram Protocol(UDP) on Gigabit ethernet for cluster interconnect.On

unia and linux systems we use UDP and RDS(Reliable data socket) protocols to be used
by Oracle Clusterware.Windows clusters use the TCP protocol.
Can we use crossover cables with Oracle Clusterware interconnects?
No, crossover cables are not supported with Oracle Clusterware intercnects.

What is the use of cluster interconnect?

Cluster interconnect is used by the Cache fusion for inter instance communication.

How do users connect to database in an Oracle RAC environment?

Users can access a RAC database using a client/server configuration or through one or
more middle tiers ,with or without connection pooling.Users can use oracle services
feature to connect to database.

What is the use of a service in Oracle RAC environemnt?

Applications should use the services feature to connect to the Oracle database.Services
enable us to define rules and characteristics to control how users and applications connect
to database instances.

What are the characteriscs controlled by Oracle services feature?

The charateristics include a unique name, workload balancing and failover options,and
high availability characteristics.

Which enable the load balancing of applications in RAC?

Oracle Net Services enable the load balancing of application connections across all of the
instances in an Oracle RAC database.

What is a virtual IP address or VIP?

A virtl IP address or VIP is an alternate IP address that the client connectins use instead
of the standard public IP address. To configureVIP address, we need to reserve a spare IP
address for each node, and the IP addresses must use the same subnet as the public
network.

What is the use of VIP?

If a node fails, then the node's VIP address fails over to another node on which the VIP
address can accept TCP connections but it cannot accept Oracle connections.
Give situations under which VIP address failover happens:-
VIP addresses failover happens when the node on which the VIP address runs fails, all
interfaces for the VIP address fails, all interfaces for the VIP address are disconnected
from the network.

What is the significance of VIP address failover?

When a VIP address failover happens, Clients that attempt to connect to the VIP address
receive a rapid connection refused error .They don't have to wait for TCP connection
timeout messages.
What are the administrative tools used for Oracle RAC environments?

Oracle RAC cluster can be administered as a single image using OEM(Enterprise

Manager),SQL*PLUS,Servercontrol(SRVCTL),clusterverificationutility(cvu),DBCA,NE
TCA

How do we verify that RAC instances are running?

Issue the following query from any one node connecting through SQL*PLUS.
$connect sys/sys as sysdba
SQL>select * from V$ACTIVE_INSTANCES;
The query gives the instance number under INST_NUMBER column,host_:instancename
under INST_NAME column.

What is FAN?

Fast application Notification as it abbreviates to FAN relates to the events related to

instances,services and nodes.This is a notification mechanism that Oracle RAc uses to
notify other processes about the configuration and service level information that includes
service status changes such as,UP or DOWN events.Applications can respond to FAN
events and take immediate action.
Where can we apply FAN UP and DOWN events?
FAN UP and FAN DOWN events can be applied to instances,services and nodes.
State the use of FAN events in case of a cluster configuration change?
During times of cluster configuration changes,Oracle RAC high availability framework
publishes a FAN event immediately when a state change occurs in the cluster.So
applications can receive FAN events and react immediately.This prevents applications
from polling database and detecting a problem after such a state change.

Why should we have seperate homes for ASm instance?

It is a good practice to have ASM home seperate from the database

hom(ORACLE_HOME).This helps in upgrading and patching ASM and the Oracle
database software independent of each other.Also,we can deinstall the Oracle database
software independent of the ASM instance.

What is the advantage of using ASM?

Having ASM is the Oracle recommended storage option for RAC databases as the ASM
maximizes performance by managing the storage configuration across the disks.ASM
does this by distributing the database file across all of the available storage within our
cluster database environment.

What is rolling upgrade?

It is a new ASM feature from Database 11g.ASM instances in Oracle database 11g
release(from 11.1) can be upgraded or patched using rolling upgrade feature. This enables
us to patch or upgrade ASM nodes in a clustered environment without affecting database
availability.During a rolling upgrade we can maintain a functional cluster while one or
more of the nodes in the cluster are running in different software versions.
Can rolling upgrade be used to upgrade from 10g to 11g database?
No,it can be used only for Oracle database 11g releases(from 11.1).
State the initialization parameters that must have same value for every instance in an
Oracle RAC database:-
Some initialization parameters are critical at the database creation time and must have
same values.Their value must be specified in SPFILE or PFILE for every instance.The
list of parameters that must be identical on every instance are given below:
ACTIVE_INSTANCE_COUNT
ARCHIVE_LAG_TARGET
COMPATIBLE
CLUSTER_DATABASE
CLUSTER_DATABASE_INSTANCE
CONTROL_FILES
DB_BLOCK_SIZE
DB_DOMAIN
DB_FILES
DB_NAME
DB_RECOVERY_FILE_DEST
DB_RECOVERY_FILE_DEST_SIZE
DB_UNIQUE_NAME
INSTANCE_TYPE (RDBMS or ASM)
PARALLEL_MAX_SERVERS
REMOTE_LOGIN_PASSWORD_FILE
UNDO_MANAGEMENT
Can the DML_LOCKS and RESULT_CACHE_MAX_SIZE be identical on all
instances?
These parameters can be identical on all instances only if these parameter values are set
to zero.

What two parameters must be set at the time of starting up an ASM instance in a RAC
environment?The parameters CLUSTER_DATABASE and INSTANCE_TYPE must be
set.

Mention the components of Oracle clusterware:-

Oracle clusterware is made up of components like voting disk and Oracle Cluster
Registry(OCR). What is a CRS resource?
Oracle clusterware is used to manage high-availability operations in a cluster.Anything
that Oracle Clusterware manages is known as a CRS resource.Some examples of CRS
resources are database,an instance,a service,a listener,a VIP address,an application
process etc.
What is the use of OCR?

Oracle clusterware manages CRS resources based on the configuration information of

CRS resources stored in OCR(Oracle Cluster Registry).

How does a Oracle Clusterware manage CRS resources?

Oracle clusterware manages CRS resources based on the configuration information of

CRS resources stored in OCR(Oracle Cluster Registry).

Name some Oracle clusterware tools and their uses?

OIFCFG - allocating and deallocating network interfaces

OCRCONFIG - Command-line tool for managing Oracle Cluster Registry
OCRDUMP - Identify the interconnect being used
CVU - Cluster verification utility to get status of CRS resources

What are the modes of deleting instances from ORacle Real Application cluster
Databases?

We can delete instances using silent mode or interactive mode using DBCA(Database
Configuration Assistant).

How do we remove ASM from a Oracle RAC environment?

We need to stop and delete the instance in the node first in interactive or silent
mode.After that asm can be removed using srvctl tool as follows:
srvctl stop asm -n node_name
srvctl remove asm -n node_name
We can verify if ASM has been removed by issuing the following command:
srvctl config asm -n node_name

How do we verify that an instance has been removed from OCR after deleting an
instance?

Issue the following srvctl command:

srvctl config database -d database_name
cd CRS_HOME/bin
./crs_stat

How do we verify an existing current backup of OCR?

We can verify the current backup of OCR using the following command : ocrconfig -
showbackup

What are the performance views in an Oracle RAC environment?

We have v$ views that are instance specific. In addition we have GV$ views called as
global views that has an INST_ID column of numeric data type.GV$ views obtain
information from individual V$ views.

What are the types of connection load-balancing?

There are two types of connection load-balancing:server-side load balancing and client-
side load balancing.

What is the differnece between server-side and client-side connection load balancing?

Client-side balancing happens at client side where load balancing is done using listener.In
case of server-side load balancing listener uses a load-balancing advisory to redirect
connections to the instance providing best service.
Give the usage of srvctl:-
srvctl start instance -d db_name -i "inst_name_list" [-o start_options]srvctl stop instance -
d name -i "inst_name_list" [-o stop_options]srvctl stop instance -d orcl -i "orcl3,orcl4" -o
immediatesrvctl start database -d name [-o start_options]srvctl stop database -d name [-o
stop_options]srvctl start database -d orcl -o mount

ASM:

What is ASM?

ASM is a Volume Manager and a file system for Oracle Database Files that supports
single instance Oracle Database and Oracle Real Application cluster (RAC)
configuration.
What is the recommended storage management solution from Oracle?Why?
ASM is the recommended storage management solution from oracle as it provides an
alternative to conventional volume managers,file systems and raw devices.

How is datafile stored in ASM?

ASM uses disk groups to store data files.

What is an ASM disk group?

An ASM disk group is a group of disks that ASM manages as an unit.Within the
diskgroups an file system interface maintains the Oracle database files. ASM simplifies
database storage by consolidating disks into disk groups.This reduces I/O overhead.
How is the performance of disk group comparable to raw disks?/Are disk groups a good
alternative to raw disks?
The files distributed across the set of disks in a disk group are striped or distributed
across the disks to eliminate hot spots and improve performance.Thus they perform
equally well as raw disks.
How does ASM eliminate downtime?

Disks can be added and removed from the disk groups online,(i.e)during the operation of
the database without any downtime. When disks are added or removed ASM
automatically redistributes the contents without any downtime.Thus ASM eliminates
downtime.
Give details on server-based mirroring:-
This is a flexible option provided by ASM. The normal and redundant options of ASM
provides two and three way mirroring. We can use external option to enable
RAID(Redundant Array Of Independent Disks).

How does an ASM manage files?/How is the file management simplified using ASM?

ASM uses the Oracle Managed Files(OMF) feature which simplifies file
management.Files are created at specified location,renames files,deletes files when
operations at tablespace level happens(say tablespace deletion).
Give some interfaces used to manage ASM:-
Oracle Enterprise Manager(OEM),SQL*PLUS,ASMCMD command-line interface are
some interfaces that can be used with ASM.
Can ASM co-exist with non-ASM system:-
Yes,ASM can co-exist with non-ASM third-party file systems and thus can be integrated
into pre-existing environments.OEM has an interface for migrating non-ASM files to
ASM.

What is an ASM instance?

An ASM instance is the instance that manages ASM disk groups. It composes of System
Global Area(SGA) and background processes. ASM instance mounts a disk group that is
made available to the database instance. An ASM instance manages the metadata of a
disk group and provides file layout information to the database instances.
Will the SGA(System Global Area) of ASM is comparable in size to an Oracle database
instance?
No.The SGA size of an ASM is smaller than that of an Oracle database instance,as an
ASM performs fewer tasks than a database.

Can ASM instance mount a database?

No.An ASM instance can mount a disk group that can be used by a database instance.

What is ASM metadata and where is it present?

ASM metadata is the information that ASM uses to control the disk group.It is present
within a disk group.

What is an ASM metadata composed of?

An ASM metadata includes the following:
1) The disks that belong to a disk group
2) Amount of space available within a disk group
3) The filenames of the files within a disk group
4) The location of disk group datafile data extents
5) A redo log that records information about automatically changing data blocks

What are the possible ASM configurations?

ASM and database instances share access to disks in a disk group.

1) There can be one ASM instance and one database instance serving single database in a
node
2) There can be one ASM instance,multiple database instances serving many database in
a node. If the ASM instance fails,all the databases fails.The advantage is that this doesn't
demand a Server reboot(Operating system restart)
3) There can be clustered ASM instances that are clustered using Oracle Clusterware.
(i.e)One ASM instance on each node that are integrated using Oracle clusterware.

How does an ASM instance communicate with a database instance?

The ASM instance manages the metadata and provides space allocation for the ASM
files.When a database instance creates or opens an ASM file,it communicates those
requests to the ASM instance.In response the ASM instance provides the file extent map
information to the database instance.

What is cache fusion in RAC ?

What is the significance of freelists table setting in RAC ?
What is cluster_interconnect init parameter ? What value needs to be setup here ?
Why do you need a seperate network switch for the RAC nodes interconnect
configuration?
What is the interconnect bandwidth you recommend for private connect network switch ?
How many NICS you used in the RAC Install ?
What is local_listener setting ? Where do you set this parameter ? What is the value
should be ?
What is remote_listener setting ? Where do you set this parameter ? What is the value
should be ?
What is rconfig ? When do you use this ? Can you use this with raw devices ? Where do
you find this tool ?
What is ocrconfig ? When do you use this ?
Do we need $ORACLE_HOME on all RAC nodes ?
What is OCFS ? Did you used it before ? What is cluvfy ? When do you use this ?
What is ASM ?
What is runcluvfy.sh ? cluvfy ? When do you use ?
What is racdiag.sql and RDA.sh ? What information it will provide ?
Did you ever noticed ORA-29740 ? When do you encounter this error ? How do you
solve this ?
what is cmcfg.ora ? What is ocmstart.sh ?
What is CRS ? Do you need clusterware when you use CRS ?
What are the various clusterwares available in the market ? Does 9iRAC requires
clusterware ?
What are the three different load balancing techniques you can use with RAC ? Where do
you set this up ?
What is gsdctl ? When do you use this ?
What is ORION tool ?
What is LPAR ? Did you ever worked with those ?
Which os requires hangcheck process ? What does it do ?
What is OCR/voting file ?
What is crsctl ? When do you use this tool ?
What is srvconfig_loc setting ? Where do you set this value ?
How do you initialize the raw volume where your SRVM configuration file is located ?
When do u use srvmconfig -init command ?
How do you start the global services daemon ? when do you use gsdctl start command?
What is srvctl command ?
How do you list the number of instances running in a RAC environment ?
How do you start or stop RAC db ?
When do you use DBCA_RAW_CONFIG setting ? Where do you set this setting ?
What is fal_server and fal_client ? Where do you need to set this ? What the values
would be ?
How do you setup physical standby and logical stand by ? Give me the steps in detail ?
What are the differences ?
What is oracle streams ? How do you enable the replication with streams ? Give me the
steps ?
How do you resolve/skip the data errors which comes with logical standby ?
How do you skip or exclude specific tables from replication in the logical standby
configuration ?
How do you identify the latency and issues with logical standby ?
How do you bypass the database guard and allow modifications to the tables ?
Give me the Top 5 init parameters which needs to be setup in the source db in the
physical standby config ?
Give me the Top 5 init parameters which needs to be setup in the target db in the physical
standby config ?
How do you handle the nologging issues, If force logging is not enabled in the physical
standby environment ?
How do you ensure the 0% data loss in physical standby configuration ?
How do you perform the switch over from primary to standby and standby to primary ?
What is the lock_name_space setting ? When do you need to use this ?
Give me the syntax to create a standby controlfile using RMAN ?
How do you identify the list of stand alone patches applied ?
How do you rollback a stand alone patches ?
Give me the list of steps, approach you take for patch set upgrade ?
Give me the list of steps, approach you take for database release upgrades(9i-10g) ?
How do you apply the standby alone patches ?
How do you figure out the pre-req os patches/packages required for a specific database
release ?
How do you compile the steps for a database upgrade ?
How do you perform the cross platform migrations ?
How do you raise a service request with oracle when you can't resolve certain upgrade
issues