The Oracle9iAS Infrastructure Oracle Application Server Tips by Burleson Consulting

This chapter moves deeper into the administration and management of Oracle9iAS as we start to look at management of the Oracle9iAS infrastructures.  The Oracle9iAS infrastructure is the heart of the Oracle9iAS Farm and is the central metadata repository for many critical application components.  While many administrator limit their definition of the infrastructure to the metadata database (often referred to as the Iasdb instance), the infrastructure consists of much more.  For the purpose of this chapter, we will examine the Infrastructure components of the Metadata repository (Isadb), the Single Sign-on (SSO) security framework, and the Oracle9iAS Management services.  Let?s begin our discussion with an overview of these components and how they work together.

Overview of Oracle9iAS Infrastructure                              

The Oracle9iAS infrastructure is an Oracle database instance and a collection of important administrative components within Oracle9iAS.  In this chapter we will examine the following infrastructure components of Oracle9iAS:

• Oracle9iAS Repository ? The Oracle9iAS metadata repository (the iasdb database) contains important configuration and usage information for all Oracle9iSAS components.  In addition to iasdb, we also have the Oracle LDAP server (Oracle Internet Directory, OID) to provide non-database information for use by Oracle9iAS components.

• Oracle9iAS Security ? Oracle SSO provides centralized security control across all Oracle9iAS instances.  This removes the need to independently manage each component of Oracle9iAS and provides a simple, centralized security system.

• Oracle9iAS Management Services ? The Oracle9iAS OEM console screens provide complete administrative facilities for all Oracle9iAS farms, clusters, instances and components.  Virtually every Oracle9iAS management task can now be done using the OEM console.

In Oracle9iAS we can use the enhanced Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM) tool to administer these Oracle9iAS infrastructure components.  As an Oracle9iAS administrator it is your job to become familiar with all of these components.  Of course, your shop may not have some of the optional components such as Single Sign-On, but it is imperative that you understand how these infrastructure tools communicate with each other to provide the administrative framework for Oracle9iAS.

Let?s begin with an overview of the repository data structures, the standard Oracle9iAS OEM administrative components, and then wrap-up with a look at Oracle Single Sign-On (SSO).

The Oracle9iAS Infrastructure Repository

As the scope of Oracle9iAS expanded, Oracle recognized that a centralized data repository was required to handle all of the metadata required by Oracle9iAS.  This need was achieved by creating an Oracle database on the Oracle9iAS mid tier called Isadb.  The metadata repository is known by several names, including the Oracle9iAS infrastructure repository, the infrastructure instance, and Isadb.  The Isadb name is the default $ORACLE_SID for the Oracle9i database that hold the data.

The metadata repository holds configuration for many of the Oracle9iAS components, and is also extended for use by SSO.  As of release 9.0.4, there are nearly 20 Oracle9iAS components, and many of these use iasdb for centralized metadata storage.  Also, starting in release 9.0.4, the infrastructure may be any supported release of Oracle9i that is at the correct version and patch level.

Remember, not all Oracle9iAS components make the same use of Isadb. For example, OID and SSO uses Isadb to store security access data, while other components such as OHS and Web Cache only store configuration information in Isadb.

The core of the infrastructure is the Oracle Iasdb instance.  This database contains all of the metadata and internal information for all SSO components, Oracle Portal, Oracle wireless and some DCM components.   The infrastructure repository holds data for all Oracle9iAS components in a Farm, and is critical to the proper operation of these components:

• OID ? Oracle Internet Directory (LDAP)

• DCM ? The Distributed Configuration Manager

• Portal ? The web development component of Oracle9iAS

• OEM ? The repository for many OEM components

• SSO ? Oracle single Sign-on

• Wireless ? Oracle wireless metadata

Let?s begin with a quick tour of the Iasdb database and examine the various schemas within this database and see how each schema is used by the Oracle9iAS components.  We will also examine the Iasdb log files and look at queries that can be automated for easy viewing.

The Iasdb database instance has many individual schemas.  Each of these schemas has a special function to help control and manager each of the various Oracle9iAS components.  The list of the Oracle9iAS schemas within Iasdb is shown in Table 2.1.  Please note that these schema components are always installed in the Infrastructure database, even if you are not using a component.

AURORA$JIS$UTILITY$	Oracle Servlet Engine schema
AURORA$ORB$UNAUTHENTICATED	Oracle Servlet Engine schema
DCM	Distributed Configuration Manager
DISCOVERER5	Oracle9iAS Discoverer
DSGATEWAY	Oracle9i Syndication Server
INTERNET_APPSERVER_REGISTRY	Contain the COMPONENTS table
IP	TCP/IP replication (advanced queuing) and Internet audit log tables
OCA	Oracle9iAS certificate Authority
ODS	Oracle Internet Directory metadata
ORAOCA_PUBLIC	Oracle9iAS certificate Authority synonyms
ORASSO	Oracle9iAS Single Sign-On
ORDSYS	Oracle InterMedia Audio schema
ORDPLUGINS	Oracle InterMedia Audio schema
OSE$HTTP$ADMIN	Oracle Servlet Engine
OWA_MGR	Oracle Workflow
PORTAL	Oracle9iAS Portal
PORTAL_APP	Oracle9iAS Portal
PORTAL_DEMO	Oracle9iAS Portal demonstration schema
PORTAL_PUBLIC	Oracle9iAS Portal Public synonyms
UDDISYS	Oracle9iAS Web Services
WFADMIN	Oracle workflow
WIRELESS	Oracle9iAS Wireless
WKSYS	Oracle Ultra Search
WK_PROXY	Oracle Ultra Search
WK_TEST	Oracle Ultra Search

Table 2.1: The Iasdb schema components:

Once we understand the schema owner?s purpose, we can dive-down and examine the complexity of each schema.  As the Oracle9iAS administrator you must become intimate with these schemas and understand which schemas control what system functions.  The Iasdb instance has schemas that must be locked, other schemas whose password may be changed at will and schemas that are registered with the OID and should only be changed using OEM.

This is an excerpt from "Oracle 10g Application Server Administration Handbook" by Don Burleson and John Garmany.