DBA Strategies for a Successful E-Business Suite Upgrade · • Platform Migration? • New...

transcript

Session ID:

Prepared by:

DBA Strategies for a

Successful E-Business Suite

Upgrade

@jjmorrow

James J. Morrow

Sr. Oracle Applications DBA

BlueStone Solutions Group, Inc

mailto:morrow.james@bluestonesolutionsgroup.com

James Morrow

• Oracle Applications DBA

• Atherio, Inc. SME/Consultant

• 21+ years as an E-Business Suite DBA

• 23+ years as a Unix/Linux Administrator

• E-Business Suite versions 9.4 through R12.2

• Oracle RDBMS 7.0.16 through 12.1.0.1

The Toolkit

The Toolkit: Client Connectivity

VNC Client

• RealVNC

• TightVNC

• MobaXTerm

• Linux running in a VirtualBox VM

X-Windows

• Reflection X

• Hummingbird Exceed

• MobaXterm

The Toolkit: Client Connectivity

SSH Client

• PuTTY

• SecureCRT

• OpenSSH

• MobaXterm

The Toolkit: Server-Side

Generally available in most Unix/Linux systems

• VNC Server

• GNU Screen

• ASCII Web Browser (Links, Lynx)

The Toolkit: Documentation

Screen Capture Tool

• Windows Snipping Tool

• TechSmith SnagIT!

Word Processor/Spreadsheet

• Microsoft Office

• OpenOffice

• LibreOffice

Project Planning Tool

• Microsoft Project

Research, Research, Research

• EBS Fresh Install generally simpler than Upgrade

• What components to install?

• What components need to be upgraded/patched

after installation?

• Operating System Upgrade?

• Database Upgrade?

• Platform Migration?

• New Hardware?

• External Integrations

– Discoverer

– OBIEE

– Single Sign-on

– SOA

EBS R12.2 Upgrade

Decision Process

Flowchart

MOS 1585857.1

No Job is Finished Until

the Paperwork is Done

Four documents for each iteration of the upgrade

project:

• Patch Spreadsheet (Microsoft Excel)

• Project Plan/Gantt Chart (Microsoft Project)

• Upgrade Runbook (Microsoft Word)

• Upgrade Transcript (Microsoft Word)

The Patch Spreadsheet

the Paperwork is Done:

Patch Spreadsheet

• Used to plan, sequence, and group patches applied

during the upgrade process.

• Useful for planning merges and for

checking/documenting prerequisites.

Patch Spreadsheet

Database & Tools (opatch) portion

Patch Spreadsheet

E-Business Suite Portion (adpatch) portion

Patch Spreadsheet

Columns:

• Merge Name

• Merge Order

• Patch Number

• Patch Name

• Type

• Size

• Date Released

• Description

• MOS Note(s)

• Disposition

Patch Spreadsheet

About that prerequisite column:

• All (or all major) prerequisite patches listed

• Prerequisites that are already satisfied crossed out

• Prerequisites that will be applied as part of this

process are in red and should appear on the patch

The Project Plan/Gantt Chart

Project Plan/Gantt Chart

• Only using to plan the DBA tasks

• Focusing on the Blackout Window

• Generic resources (“DBA” “Functional” “Developer”)

• 24 hour calendar

Project Plan/Gantt Chart

Used for

• Sequencing Tasks

• Planning Dependencies

• Determining which tasks can be performed “out of

band”

• Estimating Timing

The Upgrade Runbook

Upgrade Runbook

• Have a serviceable MS Word style template (simple

headers)

• First Iteration Runbook

– Build (somewhat) in advance

– Lay out the major tasks

– Use this to create your Transcript

• Runbooks for subsequent iterations created from

the Transcript of the previous iteration

The Upgrade Transcript

Upgrade Transcript

• Upgrade Transcript built using the Runbook as a

starting point

• Record command syntax

• Record start/stop times

• Record any errors encountered

– Including portions of log files

– Keep track of solutions tried, SR’s, MOS research

Upgrade Transcript

Sample Transcript

Upgrade Transcript

• Use transcript to create runbook for next iteration

– Re-sequence tasks

– Add steps to avoid errors from previous iteration

Practice, Practice, Practice

• NOT LESS THAN FOUR (4) ITERATIONS

• Use an early iteration to produce project instances

and clone from that

• Subsequent iterations may not all need to be used

by the project

• Use the iterations to test your Runbook and refine

your process

• PASS1 Transcript becomes PASS2 Runbook

– Lather, rinse, repeat.

Practice, Practice, Practice

• Perform a “dry run” (PROD-1) iteration

– Close to go-live

– Use a recent clone of the source

– Patch list finalized

– On target hardware (if possible)

– Exercise/Test your Runbook

– Establish timings

The Big Event

• Upgrade on new hardware if possible

– Allows you to leave the source untouched

• Plan your outage

– One DBA vs. Working in shifts

– Make sure building is prepared (power, lights, HVAC)

– Have something to keep you occupied/awake

– Wear comfortable clothes

– Bring snacks

The Big Event

• Communicate!

– Simple Status Email Template

– Periodically send to key project personnel (or

distribution list)

– List major milestones

– Don’t advertise times in the status email

Please complete the session evaluationWe appreciate your feedback and insight

DBA Strategies for a Successful

E-Business Suite Upgrade

Session #10583

James J. Morrow

BlueStone Solutions Group, Inc.

mailto:morrow.james@bluestonesolutionsgroup.com

http://www.bluestonesolutionsgroup.com

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