Instructions for Cloning a Database

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http://psst0101.digitaleagle.net/2010/04/14/instructions-for-cloning-a-database/

In an OTN Discussion Thread, I saw that Nicholas Gasparotto pointed out a document with instructions on cloning PeopleSoft instances.

The document is ID #643499.1 on support.oracle.com.  You can find it by pasting the document ID in the search box on the upper right-hand corner just after you login.

The information seemed like it had some great pointers, and if you haven’t already seen it, you might want to read through the steps to make sure you are taking all these things into account.  On the other hand, I think it is very important to keep a step by step list of tasks for your particular system that you keep up to date.  You will probably have specific things that you have to do for your environment that are unique to your installation.  For example, if you are cloning to a test environment, what about blanking out the email addresses so that test emails don’t get sent out as production emails.  Also, some people put a special message in the heading of the test instances so that it is obvious when you are in Test versus Production.

Thanks, Nicholas for the pointer — this is something I want to keep handy.

PeopleTools 8.50 App Server Location

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In installing PeopleTools 8.50/HCM91, I noticed that PeopleTools began placing its Application Server configuration files in a different location.  Instead of finding them in %PS_HOME%/appserv, I found them at %USERPROFILE%\psft\pt\.  The culprit appears to be the PS_CFG_HOME environment variable. I found the documentation for this on page 30 of the Enterprise PeopleTools 8.50 Installation for Oracle (Task 1-5-7: Defining Server Domain Configurations).  I also just found a pretty good link in PeopleBooks about the settings. In order to fix my problem, I did the following:

• Shut the Application Server and the Process Scheduler Server down
• Configured the PS_CFG_HOME variable
  • Right click on My Computer
  • Choose Properties
  • Go to the Advanced Tab
  • Click on the Environment Variables
  • Add a new system variable
  • Enter PS_CFG_HOME for the variable name
  • Enter the path to the PeopleSoft Home directory for the value
• Copied everything from the %USERPROFILE%\psft\pt to the PeopleSoft Home directory.  There were several folders that it wanted to merge, but I didn’t see any files that it wanted to overwrite.  I skipped the peopletools.properties file because it was the same in both locations.
• Checked the value of %PS_CFG_HOME% in a Command Window.  If the value is not accurate, you might need to close the window and reopen a new one.
• Reconfigured the Application Server and Process Scheduler (I didn’t change any values, but this let it regenerate the configuration files)
• Booted the Application Server and Process Scheduler

PeopleSoft HCM9.1/PeopleTools 8.50 Virtual Images

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http://psst0101.digitaleagle.net/2010/01/15/peoplesoft-hcm9-1peopletools-8-50-virtual-images/

Back in September, I talked about Virtual Images from Oracle.  Well, I have downloaded the images and started tinkering with a little bit.  It’s not much, but here is what I have so far.

You can download the images from:

http://edelivery.oracle.com/oraclevm

The images are compressed multiple times.  If you are in Windows, I would recommend using 7-zip for extracting.  WinZip will probably do the trick too.  In, Linux, FileRoller did the trick for me.  The unzip and tar commands would do just as well.

Here are the sizes that I found:

Application/Batch Server

• V18477-01.zip = 3.6 GB
• Extracts to OVM_EL5U2_X86_64_AB85002_HCM91_PVM.tgz = 3.6 GB
• Extracts to folder: OVM_EL5U2_X86_64_AB85002_HCM91_PVM = 13.9 GB

Web Server

• V18478-01.zip = 2.0 GB
• Extracts to OVM_EL5U2_X86_64_PIA85002_PVM.tgz = 2.0 GB
• Extracts to folder OVM_EL5U2_X86_64_PIA85002_PVM = 9.9 GB

Database

This one is a little more complicated because it came in two parts.

Part 1

V18479-01.zip = 3.4 GB

Extracts to OVM_EL5U2_X86_64_HCM91_PVM.tgz.1of2 = 3.5 GB

Part 2

V18480-01.zip = 3.2 GB

Extracts to OVM_EL5U2_X86_64_HCM91_PVM.tgz.2of2 = 3.3 GB

Combining:

cat OVM_EL5U2_X86_64_HCM91_PVM.tgz.1of2 OVM_EL5U2_X86_64_HCM91_PVM.tgz.2of2 > OVM_EL5U2_X86_64_HCM91_PVM.tgz

OVM_EL5U2_X86_64_HCM91_PVM.tgz = 6.8 GB

This extracted to the folder OVM_EL5U2_X86_64_HCM91_PVM = 55.6 GB

You could save yourself some disk space by piping the cat output directly to tar (I didn’t test this):

cat OVM_EL5U2_X86_64_HCM91_PVM.tgz.1of2 OVM_EL5U2_X86_64_HCM91_PVM.tgz.2of2 | tar -xz

Cat is a Linux/Unix command.  I am not sure how you would do that in Windows.

Now, that you have them extracted, the next step is to get them booted.  I didn’t try to install the Oracle VM or Xen.  My plan is try to get them to run in Virtual Box, but I haven’t accomplished that yet.  More on that to come.  I hope the file sizes and such help for now.

PeopleSoft Home Subdirectories

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http://psst0101.digitaleagle.net/2009/04/14/peoplesoft-home-subdirectories

Lee requested a list of directories in a default PeopleSoft install.  Here is my two cents, and please add comments to correct or add anything I miss.  Keep in mind that this is just off the top of my head — I don’t know of any references for this information.

• appserv — home to the Application Server and Process Scheduler Server; location of psadmin where you start, stop, and manage those servers
• bin — location of all the binary programs such as Application Designer (pside.exe), Data Mover (psdmtx.exe), and so on; also location of SQR (sqrw.exe)
• cblbina — location of compiled COBOL programs
• class — location of Java packages
• crw — location of Crystal Reports that will be run from online
• data — location of Data Mover Data files that have been or will be loaded into the database
• doc — location of Word documents used with the Process Scheduler
• excel — location of Execl documents such as the ExcelToCI utility
• maint — data mover scripts and such; typically associated with tax updates or bundles
• nvision — NVision reports
• PSEMAgent — home of the Enterprise Management Agent, which is the program that crawls the drive and reports installation information to the EMHub and also copies files to and from the home directory with the Hub
• PSEMViewer — home of a utility application for working with teh EMHub
• scripts — various data mover scripts typically associatedwith tax updates and bundles
• sdk — Software Developement Kits for writing external applications that interface with PeopleSoft such as Java and VB kits for accessing Component Interfaces
• sendmaster — an application for use with testing Integration Broker messaging
• setup — location of various installers such as the PIA installer and the Database installer that builds the PeopleSoft database in your RDBMS system
• sqr — location of the SQR reports
• src — location of various source code; COBOL source code is the most prominent
• tuxedo — home of the tuxedo application used by Application Designer, the Application Server, etc
• verity — home of the Verity Search Engine used by PeopleBooks and the Portal Menu search
• webserv — home of the PIA, which is the online web application that talks with the Application Server and sends the HTML to the browser for the application
• winword — location of Word documents used with Process Scheduler

Windows Update Tip

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http://psst0101.digitaleagle.net/2009/02/26/windows-update-tip/

Yesterday, I was told of a great tip regarding Windows updates. I have had trouble many a time when Windows inadvertently rebooted while I left something to run overnight.

Step-by-Step: Windows Update – Disabling Auto-Restart for Automatic Updates

Here is a quick summary just in case the link goes away:

Open the group policy editor: Start > Run, gpedit.msc

Computer Configuration –> Administrative Templates –> Windows Components –> Windows Update

Enable the setting: No auto-restart for scheduled Automatic Updates installations

Documenting an Install

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http://psst0101.digitaleagle.net/2009/01/22/documenting-an-install/

I have been recommended to document a PeopleSoft installation by printing out the installation notes and writing down in the margins what I did and what problems I ran into.  I think that is a great idea.

But, what if I could convert the installation notes into Microsoft Word or Open Office so that I could take my notes directly in the document.  The advantage is that I would have something I could search through for reference or in case of problems.  Also, I could easily include screen shots and such.

The problem is that I haven’t found a way to convert the PDF.  Here is a link that I tried, it and might help you if you have a smaller PDF.  I think the installation notes are too large.  It didn’t work for me.  Let me know if you get it to work.

I am exploring some other options, too.

Please let me know if you have any other ideas for PDFs or for installation documentation.

Step By Step Virtual PS Install: Database Creation

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http://psst0101.digitaleagle.net/2009/01/21/step-by-step-virtual-ps-install-database-creation/

This is a continuation of my virtual PeopleSoft installation.  In this step, we will create the database in an already installed Oracle Database system.  So, this assumes that the Oracle Database software is already installed.  Loading the PeopleTools data will be covered in the next step.  To see the complete list of steps, click here.

Step by Step PS Install: Load the Database

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http://psst0101.digitaleagle.net/2009/01/13/step-by-step-ps-install-load-the-database/

This is a continuation of my virtual PeopleSoft installation.  In this step, we will run Data Mover to load the database.  To see the complete list of steps, click here.

Step By Step Virtual PS Install: Application Install

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http://psst0101.digitaleagle.net/2008/12/18/step-by-step-virtual-ps-install-application-install/

This is a continuation of my virtual PeopleSoft installation.  In this step, we will discuss how to install the Application into the PS Home.  This is necessary for the client programs.  To see the complete list of steps, click here.

Step By Step Virtual PS Install: Windows PS Home Install

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http://psst0101.digitaleagle.net/2008/12/18/step-by-step-v…s-home-install/

This is a continuation of my virtual PeopleSoft installation.  In this step, we will discuss how to install a Windows version of the PeopleSoft home.  This is necessary for the client programs.  To see the complete list of steps, click here.