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Showing posts from July, 2009

AWS using Ansible? Yes, it's possible!

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  Although, I've used Ansible extensively for a lot of automation and orchestration tasks, using Ansible for AWS was indeed, a new territory for me.  This turned out to be a blessing, since along with using Ansible for AWS tasks, I also learnt how to use WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) on a Windows machine. Though WSL's been around for some time, I still hadn't come around to using it since I was mostly using my Macbook pro. Not anymore, though!  Anyway, I have listed below the steps to: Install WSL on Windows 11 23H2 patch Install AWS CLI on Ubuntu 22.04 (Exact version - 22.04.3 LTS) Install Ansible and the amazon.aws collection Use AWS CLI to get the list of  VPCs in the region - us-east-1 (or a region of your choice) Create a python file/script to get the list of VPCs in the region - us-east-1 (or a region of your choice) Create an Ansible playbook to get the list of VPCs in the region - us-east-1 (or a region of your choice.   You may download the comple...
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Extract Controlfile from a backupset using RMAN

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In my previous post, I had talked about extracting controlfiles, datafiles and archivelogs from RMAN backupsets using the package dbms_backup_restore. In this post, I would like to throw light upon using RMAN as an alternate method that could be employed to extract controlfiles from RMAN backupsets. This method uses the RMAN command "restore controlfile from '<FULL_PATH_TO_CONTROLFILE_BACKUP>'". The RMAN method can be used in 3 scenarios. So, make sure that at least any one of the backups is indeed available. Else, you are DOOMED! I. the controlfile autobackup is turned on in RMAN. In this case the file format would be "c<DBID>-<DATE>-<COUNT>". It is turned on using the command: configure controlfile autobackup on; configure controlfile autobackup format for device type disk to '/opt/apps/vision/backup/%F'; II. the controlfile snapshot backup is configured in RMAN. It is turned on using the command: configure snapshot control...
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Extract Controlfile, Datafiles & Archivelogs from RMAN Backupsets

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The other day, one of my colleagues posed me this interesting and thought-provoking question/scenario: "Suppose, you were to lose both your production and your RMAN catalog databases irrevertably. You do have a full/incremental RMAN backup, however. How are you going to recover?" How indeed? I scratched my head and shone a torch upon the dark recesses of my memory to come up with an answer. The light (of the torch) did indeed reveal something - that is that a note existed in Metalink which list the method that could be used to delve into a RMAN backup set to extract the controlfile, the datafiles and also the archivelogs and Voilà, I hit the nail right on the head. I did some more digging and found a bunch of "Notes" in Metalink that pointed me to the eventual answer to the above question. The Notes that I am referring to are listed below. A summary of the procedure to be followed in such scenarios is also provided. All the notes mentioned use the package dbms_backu...
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Creating defaultsfile - an easy guide!

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This post is for the automation fanatics and enthusiasts. Of course, the others aren't excluded! The defaultsfile option that can be used with adutilities is a handy option to save time during patching or other maintenance activities. Though the defaultsfile gets a mention by almost everyone in the context of reducing downtime, the method of creating it is not, unfortunately. In this post, I'd like to share this using an example - compiling apps schema using adadmin. Note: The full explanation of creating a defaultsfile is mentioned in Chapter 2 (Maintaining Your System) of the Oracle Applications Maintenance Procedures . 1. Run adadmin command as below: adadmin defaultsfile=$APPL_TOP/admin/$TWO_TASK/<DEFAULTS_FILE_NAME> e.g.: adadmin defaultsfile=$APPL_TOP/admin/$TWO_TASK/adadmin_cmpl_apps_schema.txt The above command searches for a file with name adadmin_cmpl_apps_schema.txt in $APPL_TOP/admin/$TWO_TASK directory. If it exists, it uses the values provided in that file. ...
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Check if UTL_FILE and FND_FILE are working fine

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Yesterday, while troubleshooting a vexing ORA-29280 error, I came across 2 useful PL/SQL anonymous blocks that can be used to test FND_FILE and UTL_FILE to find out whether they are indeed working fine. UTL_FILE set serveroutput on DECLARE file_location VARCHAR2(256) := '<first entry on utl_file_dir>'; file_name VARCHAR2(256) := 'utlfile1.lst'; file_text VARCHAR2(256) := 'THIS IS A TEST'; file_id UTL_FILE.file_type; BEGIN file_id := UTL_FILE.fopen(file_Location, file_name, 'W'); UTL_FILE.put_line(file_id, file_text); UTL_FILE.fclose(file_id); EXCEPTION WHEN UTL_FILE.INVALID_PATH THEN dbms_output.put_line('Invalid path ' || SQLERRM); WHEN OTHERS THEN dbms_output.put_line('Others '|| SQLCODE || ' ' || SQLERRM); END; / References: Metalink (MOS) Note ID: 261693.1 FND_FILE set serveroutput on exec FND_FILE.PUT_LINE(FND_FILE.LOG, 'THIS IS A TEST'); HTH....
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Modify retention period of workflow queues

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Yesterday, there was a requirement to increase the retention period of WF_DEFERRED and WF_BPEL_Q so that the developers could troubleshoot issues involving business events. This can be done this way: 1. Check the retention period of existing workqueues. SQL> SELECT owner, name, retention FROM all_queues WHERE name LIKE 'WF%'; OWNER           NAME                                                RETENTION --------------- --------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ APPS                 WF_BPEL_Q                                                0 APPLSYS         WF_INBOUND_QUEUE              ...
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Clone database home (clone.pl) deprecated in Oracle 19c

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Back to blogging, at last. Well, this time it's about clone.pl. Background about clone.pl The easiest way to install a patched and up-to-date Oracle home is to physically copy it from a source server (that is already patched and up-to-date) and use clone.pl on the target server so that the binaries are linked to the target server's OS binaries (like gcc, libstdc++ etc.,), registered with the Oracle Inventory etc. The alternative to clone.pl is to: Install Oracle binaries using GUI or command line Apply the latest patchset (PSU/CPU patches) As you can see now, clone.pl is really useful in order to cut down time to build a database in a new server. More about clone.pl here and here (12c), here (18c). However, in Oracle 19c, Oracle has officially said - " Starting from oracle database 19c ,the clone.pl script is deprecated  and can be removed in a future release. Hence, Oracle recommends that you use the software-only installation option, available in the database installe...
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