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To install Ubuntu 13.04 in a fresh VirtualBox image, create a VirtualBox image as described in the blog post on installing Ubuntu 11.04 in VirtualBox. Focus on the Prepare Ubuntu install in VirtualBox section.

In the latest versions of VirtualBox you can choose multiple types of virtual disks (.vdi , .vmdk , et cetera). This is most relevant if you want to share your image across multiple virtualization platforms. If you have no specific requirements go with the default.

Install Ubuntu 13.04 in VirtualBox

• Go to the settings of the newly created VirtualBox image;
• In the storage section add an IDE Controller pointing to the installation disk: ubuntu-13.04-desktop-i386.iso for 32 bit or ubuntu-13.04-desktop-amd64.iso for 64 bit;
• Ensure that you have asigned the VBox image enough processing power and memory;
• Boot the installation iso by starting the VirtualBox image;
• Watch Ubuntu 13.04 booting;
• Choose your language and install Ubuntu;
• After Ubuntu prepared it’s install and checks some stuff for best results, click Continue to go on with the installation;
• In a new VirtualBox image you can safely choose to erase all stuff on disk and install Ubuntu (it will use ext4 as a file system);
• Select the created VBOX Harddisk to do so. Choose install now;
• Choose the location while Ubuntu continues creating the file system in the background;
• While Ubuntu keeps copying files choose your keyboard layout;
• Choose your name, the computer’s name, your username and password. For additional security you choose to encrypt your home folder;
• Restart the Virtual Machine and log in;

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VirtualBox Guest additions

The screenshots in the gallery also show how to install the VirtualBox guest additions in Ubuntu 13.04. Check this post for more details to install Vbox guest additions to install the VirtualBox guest additions.

While creating a Ubuntu 12.10 machine VirtualBox I ran into an error – VirtualBox VERR_VMX_MSR_LOCKED_OR_DISABLED – on my company issued HP ProBook. This halts the startup process of the virtual machine. You won’t be able to use it.

Here is the complete log and a screenshot:


Failed to open a session for the virtual machine Ubuntu 12.10.

Result Code: E_FAIL (0x80004005)
Component: Console
Interface: IConsole {db7ab4ca-2a3f-4183-9243-c1208da92392}


I remembered that there were issue were issues with HP bios from the VirtualBox FAQ using ENABLE VT-X/AMD-V:

some HP BIOSES have a glitch, When You ENABLE VT-X/AMD-V, You DISABLE it, so do try both ways.

So the first solution I tried was to uncheck the box to ENABLE VT-X/AMD-V. That solved my problem. Now VirtualBox was able to start my Ubuntu machine. Check the screenshot how to disable (or enable the) VT-X/AMD-V setting.

Yep, I know this is against the advice I gave to improve VirtualBox performance. However I need it on this hardware to get my machines running…

By default the Oracle BPM engine (Business Process Management) is configured so it won’t publish events to BAM (Business Activity Management). So should you choose to use BAM and use these great dashboards, you have set the DisableActions property to false/empty. Here is how it works to configure BPM to BAM:

• Log in to the Fusion Middleware Control – http://bpm-host:7001/em
• Navigate through the Farm – WebLogic Domain – select the domain and then select the Server in which BPM is running (soa_server1 in a default install)
• Use the WebLogic Server dropdown menu as shown in the first screenshot
• Select the System Mbean browser in the menu
• Expand the folder ans shown in the second screenshot: Application Defined MBeans - oracle.as.soainfra.config - BMNNConfig - bpmn
• Find the DisableActions property and remove it’s value
• Apply the changes

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Where does the downloaded stuff go after you installed JDeveloper extensions, like SOA Composite Editor, Oracle BPM Studio, or AIA Service Constructor?

On Windows you can find them here:

C:\Users\_your_username_\AppData\Roaming\JDeveloper\tmp\update

Shouldn’t you be able to access the AppData directory, follow these instructions:

• Go to the folder options, on Windows7 by clicking the Organize menu and the Folder and search options.
• Choose the tab view.
• Choose Show hidden files, folders and drives.

To have the BPM server push events to BAM – Business Activity Monitoring – we have to configure the BPM suite to use the BAM Adapter. The BAM Adapter is configured (like other SOA Suite and BPM Adapters) in the WebLogic Server Console.

Configure BAM Adapter

• In the WLS Console, locate the Domain structure and select Deployments.
• In the Deployments table that is shown, search and click the OracleBAMAdapter (you could filter on type Resource Adapter)
• As shown in the first screenshot: Select the Configuration tab and within that the Outbound Connection Pools tab
• Drill down on the oracle.bam.adapter.adc.soap.SOAPConnectionFactory to eis/bam/soap
• In the properties tab: fill in the details of the connection to the BAM Server (depending on how you installed it). Remember to acknowledge the changes of each field using the enter key (leaving a field without using the enter key and changes will be lost)
• Save
• First time you alter the BAM Adapter you have to create a Deployment Plan. Select the Path to the deployment plan and Save
• Since you need to update the Adapetr now, select it and chose Update
• Choose the option Update this application in place with the new deployment plan changes and click Finish.

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In Oracle SOA Suite 10g, or more specific BPEL 10g, one could group functionality in domains. This feature has been away in the early versions of SOA Suite 11g. They have returned in more recent version and can be used for all SCA composites (instead of BPEL only). Nowadays these 10g domains are called partitions.

Create SOA Suite partition

• Login to the Fusion Middleware Enterprise Manager: http://server-name:portnr/em
• Use the tree-view on the left and select soa-infra.
• Use the SOA Infrastructure dropdown menu and select the Manage Partitions item.






















• The manage partitions page appears and you should select Create… to create your new SOA Suite partition.


















• Enter a name for the partition and press the create button.

While deploying SCA appications from JDeveloper or ANT you should add the partition from now on.

Virtual Machines are a great way to test stuff or use valuable tools in a separate environment. Think of test driving an OS, like Ubuntu 12.04 or Windows 8. Other examples include using pre-build appliances to use Oracle SOA Suite and BPM or WebLogic Server and Java tools.

Improve VirtualBox appliance performance

These Virtual Machines can be quite demanding for resources on your PC or laptop. Fortunately there are ways to speed up VirtualBox appliances. Besides increasing the allocated CPU power and RAM there are a few less expected things you can do:

• Create fixed size disks – A preallocated disk will have less fragmentation. Adding of files to the virtual disk will be faster (spaces is already reserved). The downside is that a fixed-size disk uses more space on your hard disk.
• Exclude the Virtual Machine directory from the virus scanner – Scanning there from the host isn’t very useful either. So add this directory to the exclusion list.
• Put the VirtualBox files on non-system disk – Put the VirtualBox files on a non-system disk. The virtual disk and your hosts’s OS won’t be competing to read from or write to these same disk.
• Make shure the Intel VT-x and AMD-V setting is ON – These are processor extensions that improve virtualization performance.

There are fine resources on how to purge SOA Suite instances. However there are case where you want to delete the instances for a specific composite deployed in the SOA Suite. An example could be after an extensive test or test load on a specific service implemented in a SCA composite.

Here is the PL/SQL we used to purge instances of the productservice composite in the test partition. It is based on the default packages that are bundled with the SOA Suite to purge instance data:

DECLARE
   l_min_creation_date   TIMESTAMP     := to_timestamp('2010-01-01','yyyy-mm-dd');
   l_max_creation_date   TIMESTAMP     := to_timestamp('2012-09-10 1600','yyyy-mm-dd hh24mi');
   l_batch_size          INTEGER       := 100;
   l_max_runtime         INTEGER       := 60;
   l_soa_partition_name  varchar2(100) := 'test';
   l_composite_name      varchar2(100) := 'productservice';
 
BEGIN
-- delete instances for specific composite
soa.delete_instances( min_creation_date => l_min_creation_date
                    , max_creation_date => l_max_creation_date
                    , batch_size => l_batch_size 
                    , max_runtime => l_max_runtime
                    --, retention_period =>
                    , purge_partitioned_component => FALSE
                    , composite_name => l_composite_name
                    --, composite_revision => 
                    , soa_partition_name => l_soa_partition_name
                    );
commit;
END;

You can use the instances tab to track the progress of the delete script:

You might know that JDeveloper is supported on 64 bit versions of Java and Windows since release 11.1.1.4. Fusion Middleware is supported on JDK7 both 11g and 12c versions since May 2012. So I decided to try to install an 64 bit JDK7, 64 bit JDeveloper on Windows 7 64 bit.

Since most of my JDeveloper work is aimed at SOA Suite, BPM and non-ADF Java, I choose the JDeveloper 11g IDE. On the JDK site I started with JDK7u6. However a security thingie got in the way and I switch to JDK7u7. I’m assuming you have a PC/laptop/VirtualMachine running a 64 bit version of Windows7.

Install JDK7 update 7

• 64 bit JDK supported for Windows as of JDeveloper 11.1.1.4.0
• For JDK 6, update 24 or later is recommended
• For JDK 7, update 3 or later is recommended

However due to the security vulnerabilities in all earlier JDK 7 versions (on all OSes and their browsers) it is recommended to install only JDK7 update 7 and up.

Download JDK 7 for Windows 7 64bit. To install JDK7 on Windows7 double click the downloaded file.

Install JDeveloper 11.1.1.6

Before installing we check whether the correct JDK version will be used (from the command prompt (cmd)):
C:\Oracle\jdk7u7\bin>java -version
java version "1.7.0_07"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0_07-b10)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 23.3-b01, mixed mode)

C:\Oracle\jdk7u6\bin>


And then to install JDeveloper from the command prompt (cmd):

C:\Users\deltalounge\Downloads>java -jar jdevstudio11116install.jar
Extracting 0%...................................................................
.................................100%

Then a GUI starts and the most important screens are:

Install SOA Suite, BPM and AIA extensions

• SOA Composite Editor
• Oracle BPM Studio
• AIA Service Constructor

And you are ready to go.

BPMN processes created in the BPM Suite can be monitored by standardized dashboard in the BPM workspace. Besides that there a default views to export Oracle BPM metrics to a data warehouse. And there is another option: BAM – Business Activity Monitoring. BAM takes the monitoring of BPMN processes one step further. BAM allows you to create more advanced dashboards and even real-time alerts. BAM enables you to make decisions based on real-time information gathered from your running processes. With BPMN processes you can use the standard Business Indicators that the BPM Suite offers you and use them to with BAM without much extra effort. However you have to enable BAM in BPM processes.

• In the BPM Project Navigator right click the BPM project
• Select Project Preferences
• In the Category tree, select Process Analytics Summary
• Click the Data Targets tab
• Check the Enable BAM checkbox
• Select the JNDI name of the BAM Adapter labeled as eis/bam/soap
• Click OK

When you run a process that has Oracle BAM enabled the BPMN Service Engine populates Oracle BAM database with information about the business indicators measured in that process. The BPMN Service Engine generates this information based on the Sampling Points preference you defined in your project.

Also read the blog post on how to configure your SOA server to know where your BAM server is running. This is also needed to use BAM for BPM metrics.