Maintenance Utilities

You use Oracle Applications system maintenance utilities to perform a variety of operations from installing and upgrading Oracle Applications systems, to updating configuration parameters, to maintaining and patching your database and file system, to producing system reports.

Command Line Utilities

The tools generally referred to as Applications DBA (AD) utilities are started and run from the command line. They initiate processes that perform a variety of system maintenance tasks, such as applying and merging patches. As they run, the utilities prompt you for system-specific parameters necessary to perform the maintenance task.

In addition, many of the utilities produce reports that contain information such as job timing and file versions.

AD Command Line Utilities

AD Administration (adadmin) Performs maintenance tasks for Oracle Applications.

AD Check Digest (adchkdig) Checks the integrity of Oracle Applications patches downloaded from My Oracle Support.

AD Configuration (adutconf.sql) Reports standard information about the installed configuration of Oracle Applications.

AD Controller (adctrl)  Manages parallel workers in AD Administration and AutoPatch.

AD Merge Patch (admrgpch) Merges multiple patches into a single merged patch.

AD Relink (adrelink.sh) Relinks Oracle Applications executable programs with the Oracle server product libraries.

AutoPatch (adpatch) Applies patches and other system updates.

Patch Application Assistant (admsi.pl) Generates customized installation instructions for a
patch.

Web-Based Utilities

Oracle Applications Manager (OAM) provides a Web-based interface where system administrators can monitor system status, administer services, examine system configuration, manage Oracle Workflow, view applied patches, and measure system usage. It provides a concise overview of the state of your Oracle Applications system, and serves as a gateway to utilities for tasks such as managing system configuration, reviewing patch history, determining which patches will bring your system up to date, registering additional products and languages, and other maintenance activities.

OAM utility "Applied Patches" Uses key patch information in the patch history database.

OAM utility  "AutoConfig"  Use to view current context files, edit parameters contained in the context files, view previous context files, and compare current context files against previous ones.

OAM utility "Patch Wizard"  Determines patches that have not been applied, but that should be applied to keep the system current. Downloads and merges patches from My Oracle Support.

OAM utility  "Timing Reports" Helps you monitor jobs that are running or view statistics of completed AutoPatch and AD Administration maintenance sessions.

Command Line Help

For the AD command line utilities, you can request a list of arguments by entering the utility name with help=y appended.

C:\oracle\PROD\apps\apps_st\appl>adadmin help=y

usage: adadmin [help=y]

       adadmin
               [printdebug=y|n][localworkers=<localworkers>]
               [flags=hidepw|trace]

       adadmin Non-Interactive mode
               [defaultsfile=<$APPL_TOP/admin/SID/defaultsfile>]
               [logfile=<logfile>][interactive=y|n]
               [workers=<workers>][menu_option=<TASK_NAME>][restart=y|n]
               [stdin=y|n]

where
 * <localworkers>  = Used in Distributed AD. The number of workers to
                     run on the local machine.
 * <flags>         = Generic flags passed to AD utilities.  The available
                     values for Adadmin are hidepw and trace.
 * <defaultsfile>  = The defaults file name that is located under
                     $APPL_TOP/admin/SID/ directory.
 * <stdin>         = If "stdin=y" then password will be prompted.
                     Default - No.
 * <menu_option>   = Skips the menu in Adadmin and executes the task
                     provided on the command line.
                     Valid values for the menu options are listed below.
RELINK               Relink Applications programs
GEN_MESSAGES         Generate message files
GEN_FORMS            Generate form files
GEN_REPORTS          Generate reports files
GEN_JARS             Generate product JAR files
VALIDATE_APPS        Validate APPS schema
CMP_INVALID          Compile APPS schema
CMP_MENU             Compile menu information
CREATE_GRANTS        Recreate grants and synonyms for APPS schema
CMP_FLEXFIELDS       Compile flexfield data in AOL tables
MAINTAIN_MLS         Maintain multi-lingual tables
CHECK_DUAL           Check DUAL table
RELOAD_JARS          Reload JAR files to database
COPY_FILES           Copy files to destinations
CHECK_FILES          Check for missing files
LIST_SNAPSHOTS       List snapshots
UPDATE_CURRENT_VIEW  Update current view snapshot
UPDT_PROD_CURR_VIEW  Updates the current view snapshot for a product
CREATE_SNAPSHOT      Create named snapshot
EXPORT_SNAPSHOT      Export snapshot to file
IMPORT_SNAPSHOT      Import snapshot from file
DELETE_SNAPSHOT      Delete named snapshot(s)
CONVERT_CHARSET      Convert character set
SCAN_APPLTOP         Scan the APPLTOP for exceptions
SCAN_CUSTOM_DIR      Scan a CUSTOM directory for exceptions
ENABLE_MAINT_MODE    Enable Maintenance Mode
DISABLE_MAINT_MODE   Disable Maintenance Mode

C:\oracle\PROD\apps\apps_st\appl>

Obtaining Help in OAM

OAM Help is available by clicking the Help link in the top right-hand section of any Oracle Applications Manager screen.

Log Files

All AD utilities record their processing actions and any errors that they encounter in log files.

The default file name is <utility name>.log. For example, for AD Administration, the default log file is adadmin.log. For AutoPatch, it is adpatch.log.

AD Administration (and AutoPatch) place their log files in the following locations:
UNIX:
$APPL_TOP/admin/<SID>/log
Windows:
%APPL_TOP%\admin\<SID>\log
Some utilities may not prompt you for a log file name: instead, they will write the log file in the directory from which the utility was run.

C:\oracle\PROD\apps\apps_st\appl>echo %APPL_TOP%
C:\oracle\PROD\apps\apps_st\appl

Restart Files

Restart files contain information about what processing has already been completed.
They are located in $APPL_TOP/admin/<SID>/restart (UNIX) or in %APPL_
TOP%\admin\<SID>\restart (Windows).

If a utility stops during processing due to an error, or you use AD Controller (in the case of parallel processing) to shut down workers while they are performing processing tasks, you can restart the utility. If you do, it looks for restart files to determine if there was a previous session. If the files exist, the utility prompts you to continue where the processing left off, or to start a new process. If you choose to continue, it reads the restart files to see where the process left off, and continues the process from that point.

Warning: Restart files record passwords for your Oracle Applications products. You should restrict access to all restart files (located in $APPL_TOP/admin/<SID>/restart). If you are running a utility with options=nohidepw, the log files may also contain passwords on lines
prefixed with HIDEPW.

Configuration and Environment Files

Most AD utilities require access to system parameters stored in various configuration and environment files when processing maintenance tasks.

Configuration and environment files are generated by AutoConfig during an installation or upgrade.

For more information please click here for my another post.

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