Purge old files on Linux/Unix using “find” command

I've noticed that one of our interface directories has a lot of old files, some of them were more than a year old. I checked it with our implementers and it turns out that we can delete all files that are older than 60 days. I decided to write a (tiny) shell script to purge all files older than 60 days and schedule it with crontab, this way I won't deal with it manually. I wrote a find command to identify and delete those files. I started with the following command: find /interfaces/inbound -mtime +60 -type f -maxdepth 1 -exec rm {} \; It finds and deletes all files in directory /interface/inbound that are older than 60 days. "-maxdepth 1" -> find files in current directory only. Don't look for files in sub directories. After packing it in a shell script I got a request to delete "csv" files only. No problem... I added the "-name" to the find command: find /interfaces/inbound -name "*.csv" -mtime +60 -type f -maxdepth 1 -exec rm {} \; All csv files in /interface/inbound that are older than 60 days will be deleted. But then, the request had changed, and I was asked to delete "*.xls" files further to "*.csv" files. At this point things went complicated for me since I'm not a shell script expert... I tried several things, like add another "-name" to the find command: find /interfaces/inbound -name "*.csv" -name "*.xls" -mtime +60 -type f -maxdepth 1 -exec rm {} \; But no file was deleted. Couple of moments later I understood that I'm trying to find csv files which is also xls files... (logically incorrect of course). After struggling a liitle with the find command, I managed to make it works: find /interfaces/inbound \( -name "*.csv" -o -name "*.xls" \) -mtime +60 -type f -maxdepth 1 -exec rm {} \; :-) Aviad

Upgrade Java plug-in (JRE) to the latest certified version

If you have already migrated to Java JRE with Oracle EBS 11i you may want to update EBS to the latest update from time to time. For example, if your EBS environment is configured to work with Java JRE 6 update 5 and you want to upgrade your clients with the latest JRE 6 update 13. This upgrade process is very simple: Download the latest Java JRE installation file The latest update can be downloaded from here. Download the "JRE 6 Update XX" under "Java SE Runtime Environment".   Copy the above installation file to the appropriate directory: $> cp jre-6uXX-windows-i586-p.exe $COMMON_TOP/util/jinitiator/j2se160XX.exe We have to change the installation file name by the following format:   "j2se160XX.exe"  where XX indicates the update version.   Execute the upgrade script: $> cd $FND_TOP/bin $> ./txkSetPlugin.sh 160XX That's all.... Since we upgraded our system to JRE 6 update 13 (2 weeks ago), our users don't complain about mouse focus issues and some other forms freezes they have experienced before. So... it was worth it... If you haven't migrated from Jinitiator to the native Sun Java plug-in yet, it's highly recommended to migrate soon. Jinitiator is going to be desupported soon. See the following post for detailed, step by step, migration instructions: Upgrade from Jinitiator 1.3 to Java Plugin 1.6.0.x. You are welcome to leave a comment. Aviad

Corruption in redo log file when implementing Physical Standby

Lately I started implementing Data Guard - Physical Standby - as a DRP environment for our production E-Businsess Suite database and I must share with you one issue I encountered during implementation. I chose one of our test environments as a primary instance and I used a new server, which was prepared to the standby database in production, as the server for the standby database in test. Both are Red-Hat enterprise linux 4. The implementation process went fast with no special issues (at lease I thought so...), everything seems to work fine, archived logs were transmitted from the primary server to the standby server and successfully applied on the standby database. I even executed switchover to the standby server (both database and application tier), and switchover back to the primary server with no problems. The standby database was configured for maximum performance mode, I also created standby redo log files and LGWR was set to asynchronous (ASYNC) network transmission. The exact setting from init.ora file: log_archive_dest_2='SERVICE=[SERVICE_NAME] LGWR ASYNC=20480 OPTIONAL REOPEN=15 MAX_FAILURE=10 NET_TIMEOUT=30' At this stage, when the major part of the implementation had been done, I found some time to deal with some other issues, like interfaces to other systems, scripts, configure rsync for concurrent log files, etc... , and some modifications to the setup document I wrote during implementation. While doing those other issues, I left the physical standby instance active so archive log files are transmitted and applied on the standby instance. After a couple of hours I noticed the following error in the primary database alert log file: ARC3: Log corruption near block 146465 change 8181238407160 time ? Mon Mar  2 13:04:43 2009 Errors in file [ORACLE_HOME]/admin/[CONTEXT_NAME]/bdump/[sid]_arc3_16575.trc: ORA-00354: corrupt redo log block header ORA-00353: log corruption near block 146465 change 8181238407160 time 02/03/2009 11:57:54 ORA-00312: online log 3 thread 1: '[logfile_dir]/redolog3.ora' ARC3: All Archive destinations made inactive due to error 354 Mon Mar  2 13:04:44 2009 ARC3: Closing local archive destination LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST_1: '[archivelog_dir]/arch_[xxxxx].arc' (error 354)([SID]) Committing creation of archivelog '[archivelog_dir]/arch_[xxxxx].arc' (error 354) ARCH: Archival stopped, error occurred. Will continue retrying Mon Mar  2 13:04:45 2009 ORACLE Instance [SID] - Archival Error I don't remember if I've ever had a corruption in redo log file before...  What is wrong?! Is it something with the physical standby instance ?? Actually, if it's something with the standby instance I would have expected for a corruption in the standby redo log files not the primary's.. The primary instance resides on a Netapp volume, so I checked the mount option in /etc/fstab but they were fine. I asked our infrastructure team to check if something went wrong with the network during the time I got the corruption, but they reported that there was no error or something unusual. Ok, I had no choice but to reconstruct the physical standby database, since when an archive log file is missing, the standby database is out of sync'. I set the 'log_archive_dest_state_2' to defer so no further archive log will be transferred to the standby server, cleared the corrupted redo log files (alter database clear unarchived logfile 'logfile.log') and reconstruct the physical standby database. Meanwhile (copy database files takes long...), I checked documentation again, maybe I missed something, maybe I configured something wrong.. I have read a lot and didn't find anything that can shed some light on this issue. At this stage, the standby was up and ready. First, I held up the redo transport service (log_archive_dest_state_2='defer') to see if I'll get a corruption when standby is off.  After one or two days with no corruption I activated the standby. Then I saw the following sentence in Oracle® Data Guard Concepts and Administration 10g Release 2 (10.2): "All members of a Data Guard configuration must run an Oracle image that is built for the same platform. For example, this means a Data Guard configuration with a primary database on a 32-bit Linux on Intel system can have a standby database that is configured on a 32-bit Linux on Intel system" One moment, I thought to myself, the standby server is based on AMD processors and the primary server is based on Intel's..    Is it the problem?! When talking about same platform, is the meaning same processors also? Isn't it sufficient to have same 32 bit OS on x86 machines? Weird but I had to check it... Meanwhile, I got a corruption in redo log file again which assured there is a real problem and it wasn't accidentally. So I used another AMD based server (identical to the standby server) and started all over again – primary and standby instances. After two or three days with no corruption I started to believe the difference in the processors was the problem. But one day later I got a corruption again (Oh no…) I must say that on the one hand I was very frustrated, but on the other hand it was a relief to know it's not the difference in the processors. It was so clear that when I'll find out the problem it will be something stupid.. So it is not the processors, not the OS and not the network.  What else can it be?! And here my familiarity with the "filesystemio_option" initialization parameter begins (thanks to Oracle Support!). I don't know how I missed this note before, but all is written here - Note 437005.1: Redo Log Corruption While Using Netapps Filesystem With Default Setting of Filesystemio_options Parameter. When the redo log files are on a netapp volume, "filesystemio_options" must be set to "directio" (or "setall"). When "filesystemio_options" is set to "none" (like my instance before), read/writes to the redo log files are using the OS buffer cache. Since netapp storage is based on NFS (which is stateless protocol), when performing asynchronous writing over the network, the consistency of writes is not guaranteed. Some writes can be lost. By setting the "filesystemio_options" to "directio", writes bypasses the OS cache layer so no write will be lost. Needless to say that when I set it to "directio" everything was fine and I haven't gotten any corruption again. Aviad

JRE Plug-in “Next-Generation” – Part II

In my last post "JRE Plug-in “Next-Generation” – to migrate or not?" I wrote about a Forms launching issue in EBS right after upgrading JRE (Java Plug-in) to version 6 update 11 which works with the new next-generation Java Plug-in architecture. The problem happens inconsistently and it only works when I disable the "next-generation Java Plug-in". Following a SR I've opened to Oracle support about this issue, I was being asked to verify that the profile option "Self Service Personal Home Page Mode" is set to "Framework Only". We have this profile option set to "Personal Home Page" as our users prefer this way to the "Framework Only" way. It's important to note that "Personal Home Page" is not a supported value for the "Self Service Personal Home Page Mode" profile option and may cause unexpected issues. After setting the profile option to "Framework Only" the problem has resolved and the screen doesn't freezes anymore. So the solution in my case was to set the profile option "Self Service Personal Home Page Mode" to "Framework Only" (we are still testing it but it look fine so far), however there are two more options that seems to work, even when the profile option set to "Personal Home Page" and "next generation Java Plug-in" is enabled. 1) Uncheck "Keep temporary files on my computer" - Navigate to Java console (start -> settings -> Control Panel -> Java,  or start -> run -> javacpl.cpl) - On General tab -> Temporary Internet Files -> Settings -> uncheck the "Keep temporary files on my computer". - Check the issue from a fresh IE session.   I'm not sure how or why, but it solves the problem, no more freezing this way.. 2) Set “splashScreen” to null - Edit $FORMS60_WEB_CONFIG_FILE file in your Forms server node. - Change this line "splashScreen=oracle/apps/media/splash.gif" to "splashScreen=" - No need to bounce any service. - Check the issue from a fresh IE session. Again, it's not so clear how or why, but it solves the problem as well. Now, we just need to convince our users to accept the "framework only" look and feel, and then we would consider upgrading all our clients to the new next-generation Java Plug-in. You are welcome to leave a comment or share your experience with the new Java Plug-in. Aviad

JRE Plug-in “Next-Generation” – to migrate or not?

It has been more than half a year since we've migrated from Oracle Jinitiator to Sun Java JRE Plug-in (Java 6 update 5) in our Oracle Applications (EBS) system, and I must say, I'm not satisfied yet. For the first months we had been struggling with a lot of mouse focus bugs which have made our users very angry about this upgrade. Although we've applied some patches related to this bugs, we still have some with no resolution. Upgrading to Developer 6i patchset 19 has solved some bugs but not all of them. As part of an SR we had opened about mouse focus issue, we was advised by Oracle to install the latest Java JRE (Java 6 update 12 this days) as a possible solution for the remaining bugs. Starting with Java 6 update 10, Sun has introduced the new "next-generation Java Plug-in", which makes troubles with Oracle EBS. You can read more about this new architecture at Sun Java site - "What is next-generation Java Plug-in". Right after installing Java 6 update 11, I encountered a problem - when trying to open forms the screen freezes. The browser window hangs inconsistently. I have no idea when it's going to be opened and when it's not. I've tried Java 6 update 12 and it's the same – sometimes it opens and sometimes it doesn’t. No matter what I did - clear java cache on client, clear Apache cache, install JRE in different directory (in case you have installed previous update of version 6), uninstall previous versions of Java Plug-in installed on same pc, I tried with explorer 6 and 7 - the problem wasn't resolved. There is an unpublished opened bug for this problem: Bug 7875493 - "Application freezes intermittently when using JRE 6U10 and later". I've been told by Oracle support that they have some incompatibilities with the new next-generation architecture and that they are working with Sun about it. Meanwhile there are 2 workarounds: (the second doesn't work for me but suggested by Oracle support) 1) Disable the "next generation Java Plug-in" option: Go to Control Panel -> Java -> Select the "Advanced" tab -> expand the "Java Plug-in" -> uncheck the "Enable the next-generation Java Plug-in" option.   This workaround always works (at least for me...). 2) Set the swap file to system managed + Tune the heap size for java: - Go to Control Panel -> System -> Select the "Advanced" tab -> click on Settings (in Performance frame) -> Select the "Advanced" tab -> Click on Change -> Select the "System managed size" option. - Go to Control Panel -> Java -> Select the "Java" tab -> Click "View..." (in Java Applet Runtime Settings frame) -> update the "Java Runtime Parameters" field with: "-Xmx128m -Xms64m". This workaround doesn't work for me. For now, I've decided to stay with the "old" Java Plug-in 6 update 5 and do not upgrade our users to the new next-generation Java Plug-in. I Hope the following updates of Java Plug-in will be better or Oracle will publish a patch to solve this problem. I’ll keep update as soon as I have more info’. Aviad

How to enable trace for a CRM session

I was being asked to examine a performance issue within one of our CRM application screens, after some users complained about a specific long time action. First thing, I tried to enable trace for the CRM session, but It turned out that it’s definitely not simple to identify a CRM session. Especially in my case, when a session opens two (sometimes more) database sessions. It’s quite impossible actually. So how it is possible to trace those CRM sessions anyway? Oracle has provided an option to execute custom code for every session opened in the database through a system profile. This profile called “Initialization SQL Statement - Custom” (the short name is 'FND_INIT_SQL') and allows customize sql/pl*sql code. Once setting this profile in user level, each session opened for this user will first execute the code within the profile. No matter which type of activity the user does – Forms, CRM, Concurrent request, or anything else that opens a database session – the content of this profile will be executed. So, clearly we can use this capability to enable Trace for users sessions. Steps to enable trace for specific user: Login with “Application Developer” responsibility Open the “Create Profile” form –> Query the profile “FND_INIT_SQL” Make sure that “visible” and “updateable” are checked in user level.   Switch responsibility to “System Administrator” Navigate to Profile –> System –> Query the profile “Initialization SQL Statement - Custom” in user level for the user we would like to enable trace for.   Update the profile option value in user level to the following: BEGIN FND_CTL.FND_SESS_CTL('','', '', 'TRUE','','ALTER SESSION SET TRACEFILE_IDENTIFIER='||''''||'AVIADE' ||''''||' EVENTS ='||''''||' 10046 TRACE NAME CONTEXT FOREVER, LEVEL 12 '||''''); END;     ** Just replace AVIADE with the user you enable trace for.    Now, after the user logout from the application (the user you enabled trace for), the user can login and reproduce the issue.   When finish to reproduce the issue, you should disable the trace by clearing the profile option value and update it to NULL. (profile “Initialization SQL Statement – Custom” of course..) The trace file/s will wait for you in your udump (user_dump_dest init’ parameter) directory. Since I enabled and disabled the trace quite a few times while investigating my performance issue, I wrote these handy simple programs which enable and disable the trace for a user in a quick and easy manner. Execute this program to enable trace for a specific user: (substitute step 6 above) DECLARE   l_ret     boolean;   l_user_id number; BEGIN   select user_id     into l_user_id     from fnd_user    where user_name = '&&USER_NAME';   l_ret := fnd_profile.SAVE(X_NAME        => 'FND_INIT_SQL',                             X_VALUE       => 'BEGIN FND_CTL.FND_SESS_CTL('''','''','''', ''TRUE'','''',''ALTER SESSION SET TRACEFILE_IDENTIFIER=''||''''''''||''&&USER_NAME'' ||''''''''||'' EVENTS =''||''''''''||'' 10046 TRACE NAME CONTEXT FOREVER, LEVEL 12 ''||''''''''); END;',                             X_LEVEL_NAME  => 'USER',                             X_LEVEL_VALUE => l_user_id);   commit;   dbms_output.put_line('Profile has updated successfully'); EXCEPTION   when others then     dbms_output.put_line('Failed to update the profile: '||sqlerrm); END;   Execute this program to disable trace for a specific user: (substitute step 8 above) DECLARE   l_ret     boolean;   l_user_id number; BEGIN   select user_id     into l_user_id     from fnd_user    where user_name = '&USER_NAME';   l_ret := fnd_profile.DELETE(X_NAME        => 'FND_INIT_SQL',                               X_LEVEL_NAME  => 'USER',                               X_LEVEL_VALUE => l_user_id);   commit;   dbms_output.put_line('Profile has erased successfully'); EXCEPTION   when others then     dbms_output.put_line('Failed to erase the profile: '||sqlerrm); END; Hope you find it helpful… Feel free to leave a comment or share your thought about this issue. Aviad

Oracle Database Resource Manager 11g - Undocumented New Parameters

I've played around with Oracle Database Resource Manager in 10g and it's quite nice and might be very useful for high CPU usage systems, but I found the inability to limit I/O as a drawback since in most cases I've faced the need to limit I/O is more necessary than CPU limit. When you have, let's say, 8 CPU's on your machine, you need all the 8 to be 100% utilized by Oracle sessions for the resource manager start limit sessions. However, if your machine I/O capabilities are 50 mbps, you need only one or two sessions which perform intensive I/O (batch job/heavy report) to make the database very heavy. In Oracle Database 11g Release 1, Resource Manager has gotten some new features related to I/O. So I've installed the 11g, made some tests and found some interesting issues. I'm not going to write about Resource Manager basics or about 11g enhancements as some great articles have already been published about it. For example, you can read Tim's blog post - "Resource Manager Enhancements in Oracle Database 11g Release 1" But... I'm going to discuss one missing capability (in my opinion) that will hopefully be available with Oracle Database 11g Release 2 with 2 new parameters which have already available but inactive and undocumented. For those who are not familiar with Oracle Database Resource Manager I'll try to give a short basic introduction: Oracle Database Resource Manager helps us to prioritize sessions to optimize resource allocation within our database by: Creating groups of sessions (Consumer Groups) based on similar resource requirements Allocate resources to those groups (Resource Plan Directive) Resource Plan - is a container of Resource Plan Directives that allocate resources to Consumer Groups Only one Resource Plan is active at a time. When Oracle Database 11g was introduced, some new features for Resource Manager related to I/O have been revealed. Among them: I/O Calibration - New procedure which helps to assess the I/O capabilities of the database storage. The output of this procedure (CALIBRATE_IO) is max_iops, max_mbps and actual_latency.   Per Session I/O Limits - Unlike previous versions, you can limit I/O requests (or I/O MB) for a session before it moved to a new consumer group. (switch_io_megabytes and switch_io_reqs have been added to CREATE_PLAN_DIRECTIVE procedure)   Oracle have added the option to "capture" Oracle sessions by the I/O requests or by the megabytes of I/O they issued in order to move them to a lower priority consumer group. I have a very fundamental doubt about this enhancements as I don't get the meaning of "capturing" an intensive I/O session and move it to a low priority consumer group which can have only CPU limit ... ?!  The reason we "capture" this session is the amount of I/O it makes, and when we move it to a low priority consumer group we can just limit its CPU resources. We can't limit the amount of I/O for a Consumer Group. It could have been very useful if Oracle had added the ability to limit I/O for a Consumer Group, like we can limit CPU (with mgmt_pN) for a Consumer Group. What is missing here is the ability to limit I/O for a specific Consumer Group in terms of Maximum I/O per second or Maximum megabytes per second. Will Oracle enhance Resource Manager in 11g Release 2 to fulfill this capability? I don't have a confident answer for this question but I assume they will. While playing around I've noticed two new parameters to the CREATE_PLAN procedure - MAX_IOPS and MAX_MBPS. On first sight it looked like the answer to my question - the ability to limit I/O for session within a plan, but it's not... Those two parameter are undocumented and totally ignored in Oracle 11g Release 1 Documentation but available in 11g Release 1 database: -- create a new resource plan -- -- Input arguments: --   plan                       - name of resource plan --   comment                    - user's comment --   cpu_mth                    - allocation method for CPU resources --                                (deprecated) --   active_sess_pool_mth       - allocation method for max. active sessions --   parallel_degree_limit_mth  - allocation method for degree of parallelism --   queueing_mth               - type of queueing policy to use --   mgmt_mth                   - allocation method for CPU and I/O resources --   sub_plan                   - whether plan is sub_plan --   max_iops                   - maximum I/O requests per second --   max_mbps                   - maximum megabytes of I/O per second -- PROCEDURE create_plan(plan IN VARCHAR2,                       comment IN VARCHAR2,                       cpu_mth IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL,                       active_sess_pool_mth IN VARCHAR2                       DEFAULT 'ACTIVE_SESS_POOL_ABSOLUTE',                       parallel_degree_limit_mth IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT                       'PARALLEL_DEGREE_LIMIT_ABSOLUTE',                       queueing_mth IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT 'FIFO_TIMEOUT',                       mgmt_mth IN VARCHAR2 DEFAULT 'EMPHASIS',                       sub_plan IN BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE,                       max_iops IN NUMBER DEFAULT NULL,                       max_mbps IN NUMBER DEFAULT NULL                       ); I tried to create a new plan using one of these two parameters, but it returned an error for each value I tried. It turned out that the only valid value to MAX_IOPS and MAX_MBPS is null. begin   dbms_resource_manager.create_plan(plan => 'PLAN_EX_1'                                    ,comment => 'Plan Example 1'                                    ,max_iops => 100); end; / begin * ERROR at line 1: ORA-29355: NULL or invalid MAX_IOPS argument specified ORA-06512: at "SYS.DBMS_SYS_ERROR", line 86 ORA-06512: at "SYS.DBMS_RESOURCE_MANAGER", line 38 ORA-06512: at line 2 I've confirmed it with Oracle support and their answer was: "This is currently an expected behaviour, we can not explicitly set either max_iops or max_mbps to any value other than null, that's why these parameters are currently not included in the documentation." So here is my guess: It looks like Oracle are going to enhance Resource Manager to allow I/O limit, but unlike CPU limit through Plan Directive (mgmt_pN), it's going to be a limit in Plan level, so you can create a sub plan with limited I/O resources allocated. Maybe the allocation method parameter (mgmt_mth) will get more valid options except for EMPHASIS and RATIO. I'll keep track of it as soon as Oracle Database 11g Release 2 will be announced and I'll update. You are welcome to leave a comment and/or share your opinion about this topic. Aviad

How to enable SSL for Agile Proxy server

Following the last post about Agile PLM - Web Proxy Server Installation, in this post I'll show how to enable SSL for Agile Proxy server to make Web access to Agile more secure. Apply the SSL certificate Have a signed SSL certificate file (.pfx file) from a Well-known Certificate Authorities (such as VeriSign) Login to the Agile Proxy server with administrator user Navigate to: Start -> Administrative Tools -> Internet information services (IIS) Manager Right click on Agile PLM Web Site -> properties -> Select the Directory Security tab Click on Server Certificate -> next Select Import a certificate from a .pfx file -> next Enter Path and file name of the certificate file (.pfx file) -> next Enter the password for the certificate -> next Update the iFS_External File Manager Open the Agile Java Client Select 'Admin' Tab -> expand 'Server Settings' -> open 'Locations' Select the 'File Manager' tab -> Double click on the iFS_External file manager. Update the File Manager URL from http://... to -> https://... Now you can login to Agile through the Agile Proxy server via https://servername.domain/Agile/PLMServlet. When you'll try to work with files (get file or add new) you might encounter the following error: "The preferred file server : https://servername.domain/Filemgr/AttachmentServlet for user : UserName is down. Please contact the system administrator." You'll although see the following error within OC4J~home~defaulet~island~1 (at [OASHome]/opmn/logs): 08/09/23 10:23:11 javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException: sun.security.validator.ValidatorException: No trusted certificate found 08/09/23 10:23:11     at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.BaseSSLSocketImpl.a(DashoA12275) 08/09/23 10:23:11     at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.a(DashoA12275) 08/09/23 10:23:11     at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.a(DashoA12275) 08/09/23 10:23:11     at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.SunJSSE_az.a(DashoA12275) ..... .....   The reason for this error is the certificate for root authority that is not installed on the OAS. The solution is to import Root CA certificate in the JDK embedded inside OAS: Open a web browser and access the Agile web client via https://... Double click on the padlock in the lower right corner of the browser window Select Details and then select the "Copy to File" button Answer the prompts using the defaults and select a filename for the .cer file. Open a command window (Start -> Run -> cmd) Navigate to the [OASHome]\jdk\bin directory Type the following command: keytool -import -keystore [OASHome]\jdk\jre\lib\security\cacerts -file c:\temp\AgileProxy.cer When prompted for the Certificate store password type changeit and then hit Enter When prompted to load the certificate, type yes and hit enter Restart OAS Related: Note 569235.1 - Unable to add or get file attachments because OAS cannot recognize SSL Cert loaded on Proxy server You are welcome to leave a comment.. Aviad

Agile PLM - Web Proxy Server Installation

It has been a while since I've posted about Agile PLM stuff.. In this post I'll go through implementing and configuring an Oracle Agile PLM Web Proxy Server. Previous related posts: Agile PLM 9.2.2.1 - Part I - Introduction Agile PLM 9.2.2.1 – Part II – Database Node Installation Agile PLM 9.2.2.1 – Part III – Application Node Installation First, who needs a Web Proxy server for Agile PLM? In order to make Agile PLM accessible to external users, a Web Proxy server should be installed to allow connections from the internet. This solution include a new server on DMZ behind a firewall which forwards calls to the internal Agile application server. (* Image from Oracle Agile documentation) The Agile Web Proxy Server installation consists of the following steps: Installing and Configuring the IIS Install the Agile Web proxy files on the IIS server in the DMZ Configuring IIS as a Proxy Server for Agile PLM Configuring IIS as a Proxy Server for Agile File Manager Create new external File Manager   Now I'll show a detailed procedure to install Agile Web Proxy Server on Windows using IIS (Microsoft Internet Information Server). *** When installing on Unix/Linux OS you'll use Apache as the web proxy server. Installing and Configuring the IIS Install IIS on the new Agile Proxy Server (will be called agiledmz) Login to agiledmz server with administrator user Navigate to: Start -> Administrative Tools -> Internet information services (IIS) Manager Right click on Web Sites -> new -> Web Site -> Next     Enter description: Agile PLM Web Site -> Next   Enter the following: Ip: All unussigned port: 80 host: null -> Next Path: C:\Inetpub\wwwroot -> Next   Check the Read option only -> Next   Click Finish   Right click on Agile PLM Web Site -> properties Select tab Directory Security -> Under 'Authentication and Access Control' click on Edit -> Uncheck the 'Integrated Windows authentication'   Disable the default Web Site:  Right Click on Defaule Web Site -> Stop   Install the Agile Web proxy files on the IIS server in the DMZ Make sure IIS is up and running (Go to services screen - services.msc - and check that "IIS Admin Service" process is in Started state)   Execute setup.exe from [INSTALLATION_BASE_DIR]\PN00168\Windows directory   Click Next -> accept the license -> Next   Enter User name, Company name and License key -> Next   Check the Web Proxies only -> Next   Specify directory on which agile files will be installed (D:\Agile\Agile9221)-> Next   Select Oracle Application Server 10g -> Next   Enter the Web Proxy server name (or IP) and port (80) -> Next   Enter the server name and port on which Agile application is installed (The Agile Application Server) -> Next   Keep the default "Agile" for Agile Application Server Virtual Path-> Next   Keep the default "Use internal user account (ifsuser)" -> Next   Keep the default "Filemgr" for Agile Primary File Manager’s Virtual Path -> Next   Enter Agile's File Manager host name and port (might be the same as Agile Application Server)-> Next   Click on Install Click on Done   Configuring IIS as a Proxy Server for Agile PLM Navigate to: Start > Administrative Tools > Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager Right click on Agile PLM Web Site -> properties Click the Home Directory tab -> update the execute permissions to Scripts and Executables   Click the ISAPI Filter tab -> click Add  Filter name: oproxy , Executable: D:\Agile\Agile9221\AgileProxies\oracle_proxy.dll -> Ok -> Ok   Right click on Agile PLM Web Site -> New -> Virtual Directory -> Next   Alias: oproxy -> Next   Path: D:\Agile\Agile9221\AgileProxies -> Next   Check the Read and Execute -> Next -> Finish   Select the Web Service Extensions -> Select the All Unknown ISAPI Extensions -> Click Allow -> Click Yes   Close IIS Manager window Restart IIS from services screen Right Click on Agile PLM Web Site -> properties -> select the ISAPI Filters tab -> you should see a green arrow pointing up for oproxy.     Configuring IIS as a Proxy Server for Agile File Manager Login to the File Manager server Note the Connector Port number from [AGILE_HOME]\Tomcat\conf\server.xml   <!-- Define a Coyote/JK2 AJP 1.3 Connector on port 8009 -->     <Connector port="8009" enableLookups="false" redirectPort="8443" debug="0" protocol="AJP/1.3"/> Edit jk2.properties from [AGILE_HOME]\Tomcat\conf Add the following line at the end and save the file: channelSocket.port=8009     Login to agiledmz - (The Web Proxy Server) Navigate to: Start > Administrative Tools > Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager Right click on Agile PLM Web Site -> properties Click the ISAPI Filter tab -> click Add Filter name: Jakarta IIS Connector , Executable: D:\Agile\Agile9221\AgileProxies\isapi_redirect.dll -> Ok -> Ok   Right click on Agile PLM Web Site -> New -> Virtual Directory -> Next   Alias: Jakarta -> Next Path: D:\Agile\Agile9221\AgileProxies -> Next Check the Read and Execute -> Next -> Finish   Open the workers.properties file in [AGILE_HOME]\AgileProxies and make sure the File Manager server is correct in the following entry:   worker.ajp13w.host=<File Manager host name>     Restart IIS  Right Click on Agile PLM Web Site -> properties -> select the ISAPI Filters tab -> you should see green arrows pointing up for both oproxy and jakarta.     Create new external File Manager Open the Agile Java Client Select 'Admin' Tab -> expand 'Server Settings' -> open 'Locations' Select the 'File Manager' tab -> click on the 'new' icon (you must have license for unlimited File Managers to enable it) Enter the following: Name - iFS_External File Manager URL - Use the web proxy server name (registered on the web) or IP, e.g. http://agile.company.domain/Filemgr/AttachmentServlet or http://111.11.11.111/Filemgr/AttachmentServlet Enabled - Yes Primary File Server - No   Click on 'Ok' Expand the 'User Settings' -> open 'Users' -> find the user you want to use the external iFS and open his settings -> select the 'Preferences' tab -> update the 'Preferred File Manager' to 'iFS_External'.   *** Important Note Agile architecture compels you to configure specific File Manager for each user. Users configured to use the internal iFS will be able to utilize the File Manager from within the network only! They'll be unable to utilize the external iFS when login to Agile through the Agile Web Proxy Server. The same behaviour for users configured to use the external iFS - They will be able to utilize the external iFS only.   Now you can login to agile from the internet through the Agile Web Proxy Server. Use the following URL to get the login screen:   http://[Agile Web Server Proxy IP or Name]/Agile/PLMServlet Next post I'll show how to secure connections to Agile through the Proxy server using SSL (https) connection. You are welcome to leave a comment and/or share your experience with Agile installation. Aviad