deltalounge

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:

Installing PS5 (11.1.1.6) can cause some problems when using Oracle XE as the infrastucture database. The solution is described in this SOA Suite / BPM blog by Niall Commiskey.

More tips on upgrading OFM 11g to patch set 5

My colleague Laurens van der Starre published a serie of tips and tricks on upgrading Oracle Fusion Middleware to PS5 on the Whitehorses blog.

More considerations on upgrading to OFM 11.1.1.6.0

There is an additional article on upgrading to OFM 11.1.1.6 on the Whitehorses blog. It goes into more detail on JDK 7 support, OWSM in SOA Suite, the combination of OSB en OWSM and for example the PSA (Patch Set Assistant) performance.

Java memory arguments in OFM 11.1.1.6.0

More on setting Java memory arguments in SOA Suite 11.1.1.6.0.

Recently I read Do more with SOA integration that was published December 2011. This book is a mash-up of eight earlier published works from Packt, including Service Oriented Architecture: An Integration Blueprint, Oracle SOA Suite Developer’s Guide, WS-BPEL 2.0 for SOA Composite Applications with Oracle SOA Suite 11g, and SOA governance. More details on this title:

• Table of contents
• Free sample chapter – Loosely coupling services.

Target audience according to the publisher:

If you are a SOA architect or consultant who wants to extend your knowledge of SOA integration with the help of a wide variety of Packt books, particularly covering Oracle tools and products, then “Do more with SOA Integration: Best of Packt” is for you. You should have a good grasp of Service Oriented Architecture, but not necessarily of integration principles. Knowledge of vendor-specific tools would be an advantage but is not essential.

My thoughts

My assumption is that most people won’t read the around 700 pages of this book cover to cover. In my view it is a good reference book to get a solid introduction to SOA and integration in general.

To deepen you knowledge on real world scenario’s there a good examples eg given in the chapters on Extending enterprise application integration and Service oriented ERP integration. The first gives an example of of BPEL orchestrating various web service exposed on ERP systems (SAP, Siebel) using EAI (TIBCO, webMethods). This sample includes an example of centralized error handling. The latter shows an integration of PeolpleSoft CRM 8.9 and Oracle Applications 11g using BPEL 10g. The ideas and mechanismes of the integration will also hold in the 11g version.

Chapter 14 on SOA Integration a Scenario in detail, offers another example on how to use Oracle SOA technology (10g again) to integrate legacy systems into a more modern application landscape. It does a thorough job.

The chapter on Base Technologies has parts that are based on the Trivadis Integration Architecture Blueprint. Beside that it offers a good introduction on transactions, JCA, SCA and SDO. Their fundamentals are well explained without getting too technical. So should you be looking for coding examples on these topics, there are other great sources.

When reading about XML for integration I noticed that it answers questions we get from our customers on a regular basis like: How to design XSDs – XML Schema Definitions. Questions on when to use a type or an Element, chose targetNamespace or XMLSchema as the default namespace, the number of namespaces to use. These are all well adressed in the book.

Where on the other hand a complete view on the following statement could fill at least a whitepaper:

Adopt and develop design techniques, naming conventions, and other best practices similar to those used in object-oriented modelling to address the issues of reuse, modularization, and extensibility. Some of the common design techniques are discussed in the later sections.

The chapter on loose coupling offers an example of how to achieve this using the Oracle Service Bus. It is hard to overrate the importance of loose coupling since a lot of both the technical and the business advantage rely on whether or not this loose coupling is achieved.

Bottomline

As a reference this is a good starting point to learn about SOA and integration in general. It could be more consistent on some details and with the great BPEL and BPM tooling these days I wouldn’t implement processes in an ESB. Of course there is a good chapter (12) with an eaxmple of using both BPM and BPEL. As mentioned before it has some great illustrative examples of real world scenarios. The bottom line is that I would recommend this book to people looking for a reference on SOA and integration.

Cons:
Some text seems a little dated.

Pros:
Good description of SOA and integration in general; practical ; solid introduction on the XML stuff, transactions, JCA and SCA; nice real world integration examples.

Additional reviews

If you’re interested in other reviews on this book, visit the ADF Code Corner blog by Frank Nimphius, AMIS blog by Lucas Jellema, or this SOA / BPM on Fusion Middleware blog by Niall Commiskey.

While trying to keep my post on purging the BPEL and ESB/Mediator database up to date with the latest documents and experiences, I found these whitepapers and references:

• SOA 11G Database (pdf) Growth Management Strategy

An Oracle SOA 11G installation presents a few challenges for administrators and one of these is managing the growth of the SOA database. The advice facilitates better dialog between SOA and Database administrators when planning and managing database requirements.

• On Oracle support: SOA 11g Infrastructure Database: Installation, Maintenance and Administration Guide [ID 1384379.1]

This document covers everything you need to know about the SOA Infrastructure Database for Oracle SOA Suite 11g. Here we bring together content from sources such as OTN, Product Documentation and our Knowledge Base in an effort to provide you with a single comprehensive resource.

Recently I engaged with a customer who experiences (among other problems) the following. Since there is hardly any info on Oracle Support or blogs I thought I’d share some info here:

WSIF JCA Execute of operation 'SomeService' failed due to: Unable to create control directory.
Unable to create control directory: "/mnt/queues/controldir/bpel/fileftp/controlFiles/epajYGFxPFPErSM8HcN8HQ==/outbound".
; nested exception is:
ORABPEL-11075
Unable to create control directory.
Unable to create control directory: "/mnt/queues/controldir/bpel/fileftp/controlFiles/epajYGFxPFPErSM8HcN8HQ==/outbound".
Please make sure that the directory name is valid and that there are adequate permissions to create the directory.


Solution

As the last part of the error message suggests, check for file system stuff:

1. Is the share and/or mount your file / ftp adapter is pointing to still available?
2. Can the share be reached from your SOA Server?
3. Does the directory name exist?
4. Are the required permissions available?

Correct inaccuracies.

Common Issues and Workarounds for File/FTP Adapter

There is an extensive document on solving issues with file and FTP adapters on Oracle support. The documentation for file and FTP adapters can be found:

1. 11g JCA File / FTP adapter
2. 10g File / FTP Adapter

Today I presented at ODTUG Kaleidoscope. The presentation is aimed at supporting architects and especially developers to choose the right integration infrastructure for a job.

Sharing some highlights from Symposium Sunday of Kscope 2011. The two most remarkable quotes of the day are:

ADF is the “Paint by the Numbers” for web front end development.

The most common application integration tools/solutions used are Post-it and a paper notepad.

However the real gem I discovered during this first day was:

User Experience Design Patterns

Madhuri Kolhatkar has delivered a great presentation on the effort Oracle has put into creating and implementing User Experience Design Patterns. Extended information is available on the Usable Apps pages of the Oracle website. Great insight on how this can help you in developing and delivering your applications can for example for OBIEE be found on Design Patterns and Guidelines for Oracle Applications. Take special note of the Pattern Selection Tool.

From now on counting down in days to the upcoming ODTUG Kscope 2011. ODTUG is a user group for for a wide range of technologists working with the Oracle platforms. During this conference I’ll be presenting on solid Service Bus implementations using the Oracle Service Bus, Mediator or both. The full schedule of Kscope is here.

Installing WebLogic Server on Ubuntu and JRockit 64 bits. This installation will later be used to install Oracle Service Bus.

Download the WebLogic Server installation files from OTN or E-Delivery.

Make sure the JAVA_HOME refers to the proper Java installation:

$ JAVA_HOME=/oracle/jrockit-jdk1.6.0_24 export JAVA_HOME
$ PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH; export PATH

Check that the proper Java version will be used:

$ java -version
Oracle JRockit(R) (build R28.1.3-11-141760-1.6.0_24-20110301-1432-linux-x86_64, compiled mode)

If you are installing WebLogic Server on a 64-bit platform using a .jar installation program use the downloaded wlsversionnumber_generic.jar . Start the installation using the following command. Include the -d64 flag in the installation command when using a 32/64-bit hybrid JDK.

$ java -d64 -jar wls1035_generic.jar

• Welcome screen – Click Next
• Choose Middleware Home Directory – Create a new Middleware Home and enter the directory of your choice
• Register for Security Updates
• Choose Install Type – Choose Custom to be able to select the JDK of choice
• Choose Products and Components – No changes needed
• JDK Selection – Pick the JRockit JDK previously installed
• Choose Product Installation Directories – No changes needed
• Confirm Product Installation Directories
• Installer is running
• Installation complete

An overview of the WebLogic Server installation screen can be viewed in the gallery:

[Show as slideshow]

This post will show you how to install Ubuntu 11.04 in VirtualBox (Recently a post on installing Ubuntu 12.04 in VirtualBox became available and even more recent installing Ubuntu 13.04 in VirtualBox). In later posts this will be used to run: JRockit 64 bit, WebLogic Server (WLS) and Oracle Service Bus (OSB).

Prepare Ubuntu install in VirtualBox

A short recipe for preparing the Virtual Machine to install Ubuntu on it. The blog post Installing Ubuntu inside Windows using VirtualBox is more extensive on this subject…

• Create a new Virtual Machine using the VirtualBox Manager
• Click Next in the Welcome screen
• Choose a Name for the Virtual Machine and select the Operating System (OS) before you click Next
• Set the amount of memory you want to allocate to the Virtual Machine
• When asked for the Virtual Hard Disk, check the Boot Hard Disk box and Create a new hard disk. Then the Create New Virtual Disk Wizard will start guiding you through the process
• I choose a Fixed-size storage when asked for the Hard Disk Storage Type
• Choose the Size (16 GB) and Location (left it default) for the Virtual Hard Disk
• Check the summary
• Watch the progress while the .vdi file is created
• Click Finish to acknowledge the creation of the new Virtual Machine
• The newly created Virtual Machine will show up in the VirtualBox Manager
• In order to install Ubuntu 11.04 on the Machine go to the settings to alter the storage settings
• Use the icon besides the IDE Controller to add the disk image – ISO file – you downloaded to boot and install Ubuntu as media in a drive
• Check the boot order and make sure that the Machine is booted from the CD/DVD device first
• Acknowledge
• Start the Virtual Machine and the “regular” installation of Ubuntu will start

The screenshot that come with the short instructions above:

[Show as slideshow]

Ubuntu install

• Boot the installation ISO
• Choose Install Ubuntu and your language
• Preparing to install Ubuntu – You don’t need the additions here to later install WebLogic Server and Oracle Service Bus
• Allocate drive space – If you created a new Virtual Disk before you can safely erase the empty disk here
• Erase disk and install Ubuntu – Acknowledge
• Choose location and time zone
• Keyboard layout
• Who are you – Fill in the username, computer name and password
• Welcome screen
• Installation is complete – click the button to restart
• Login as the user you just created

Watch the screenshots that come with the steps above:

[Show as slideshow]

Installing VirtualBox Guest Additions

• From the VirtualBox Manager menu choose the Devices - Install Guest Additions options
• Choose the application to start
• Click Run
• Authenticate with your password
• You need to restart Ubuntu to make it work

Watch the screenshots that come with the steps above:

[Show as slideshow]