Monday, January 30, 2012

REP-50600 while starting up reports server

This seems to be a very common issue.

When searched for "REP-50600", found Dirk's blog, who has created a post on his blog (http://dirknachbar.blogspot.com/2011/02/oracle-reports-1111-reports.html) for this issue.

The rwserver_diagnostic.log shows "REP-50600 : Broadcasting is disabled. Please enable cosnaming for Reports discovery".

To solve this:

1. Follow Dirk's blog link given above to see if you are having issues with default gateway.

OR

2. Enable cosnaming by following "How to Switch Between Multicast and NamingService in Reports 10.1.2 [ID 337619.1]"

OR

3. If you don't want to enable cosnaming and want to keep the default multicast then check whether your firewall allows multicast traffic on port specified in rwnetwork.conf e.g. 14021. Follow steps given  in Oracle.Reports.Engine.Rwengine Keeps Spawning when multicast is enabled in LINUX [ID 1272362.1]

Hope this helps.






Saturday, January 28, 2012

RAM upgrade on my Inspiron N5010...crucial.com

Finally....today....

To be able to use my personal laptop for setting up multiple virtual machines, I decided to upgrade its RAM.

The laptop came with 4G (2x2GB) DDR3. I know it can be upgraded to 8G.

I had been to Best Buy today to buy and install new RAM. They were out of stock and asked me to order online.

The Geek Squad at Best Buy was very nice to show me how to install the RAM. If I don't install it myself and go to Best Buy to get it installed, they would charge $39 for such a simple process.

The best thing about today's visit to Best Buy was, the geek squad informed me about www.crucial.com to know best RAM for my laptop.

After coming home, I visited www.crucial.com and was amazed to see how neat the site is. It not only tells about possible upgrade of RAM but also gives an option to buy it online. That also has video to show how to install RAM.

For 8GB it gave me two options:
1. DDR PC3-12800 for $51.99
2. DDR PC3-10600 for $45.99

The difference between the two is speed. I ordered 1st one with free shipping, it should reach me in 5-9 days.


BTW, I got 5% discount after searching on net for coupon codes for crucial.com. I always do coupon search on internet before buying anything online. That saves little but something is better than nothing....

Friday, January 20, 2012

Another observation: Environment variable ORACLE_UNQNAME not defined

I had posted an article on same message few days back:

Strange, today I gave same command without setting ORACLE_UNQNAME and it works without that error message.

$ echo $ORACLE_UNQNAME

$ emctl status dbconsole
Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g Database Control Release 11.2.0.2.0
Copyright (c) 1996, 2010 Oracle Corporation.  All rights reserved.
https://****************:1158/em/console/aboutApplication
Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g is running.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Logs are generated in directory /oracle/product/11.2.0/***************_RU11852/sysman/log


If I unset ORACLE_SID then I am receiving same message that "Environment variable ORACLE_UNQNAME is not defined".

From this, so far, I would say on standalone database if either of ORACLE_SID or ORACLE_UNQNAME is set then you should not receive that message.

For RAC, you should have ORACLE_UNQNAME set to db_unique_name value.


Tuesday, January 17, 2012

"EM daemon is not running" dbconsole status

Related to 11.2.0.2 RDBMS.

I had upgraded a 10g database to 11.2.0.2. I could never get the dbconsole working for this until few days back when someone else had same issue and needed help.

The issue was dbconsole was not starting up.

Note: I have removed actual URL and hostname with "*" symbol to maintain privacy.

$ emctl start dbconsole
Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g Database Control Release 11.2.0.2.0
Copyright (c) 1996, 2010 Oracle Corporation. All rights reserved.
https://*************:1158/em/console/aboutApplication
Starting Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g Database Control ............................................................................................. failed.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Logs are generated in directory /oracle/product/11.2.0/************_******/sysman/log

$ emctl status dbconsole
Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g Database Control Release 11.2.0.2.0
Copyright (c) 1996, 2010 Oracle Corporation. All rights reserved.
https://***************:1158/em/console/aboutApplication
EM Daemon is not running.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Logs are generated in directory /oracle/product/11.2.0/*************_******/sysman/log


Even though status is "Em Daemon is not running", I see login screen for https://************:1158/em


So tried logging in using sysman:



As the agent should run on port 3938, which is not running causing below errors when dbconsole service is trying to communicate with the agent:

from emdctl.trc:

2012-01-17 10:59:20,817 Thread-287350144 WARN http: nmehl_connect_internal: connect failed to (************:3938): Connection refused (error = 111)
2012-01-17 10:59:20,818 Thread-287350144 ERROR main: nmectla_agentctl: Error connecting to https://***************:3938/emd/main. Returning status code 1

So we need to find why the agent is not running. Checked agabend.log which shows:

The agentTZRegion value in /oracle/product/11.2.0/*************_*******/sysman/config/emd.properties is not in agreement with what agent thinks it should be.Please verify your environment to make sure that TZ setting has not changed since the last start of the agent.
If you modified the timezone setting in the environment, please stop the agent and exectute 'emctl resetTZ agent' and also execute the script mgmt_target.set_agent_tzrgn(<agent_name>, <new_tz_rgn>) to get the value propagated to repository.
At the same time, emdb.nohup shows:
----- Tue Jan 17 10:57:24 2012::omsRecvDir is set? =  1
---------- Tue Jan 17 10:57:24 2012::osname is linux
---------- Tue Jan 17 10:57:24 2012::Console Launched with PID 25486 at time Tue Jan 17 10:57:24 2012 ---------- Tue Jan 17 10:57:24 2012::heap size used is 384M
---------- Tue Jan 17 10:57:24 2012::perm size used is 400M
---------- Tue Jan 17 10:57:24 2012::joptions used are -server -Xmx384M -XX:MaxPermSize=400M -XX:MinHeapFreeRatio=20 -XX:MaxHeapFreeRatio=40  
-----sh: line 1: 25491 Segmentation fault      (core dumped) /oracle/product/11.2.0/bin/emdctl validateTZ agent US/Eastern > /oracle/product/11.2.0/************_******/uunUBBW0Yo 2>&1
----- Tue Jan 17 10:57:25 2012::Mismatch detected between timezone in env (US/Eastern) and in /oracle/product/11.2.0/************_******/sysman/config/emd.properties (US/Eastern). Forcing value to latter..
-----sh: line 1: 25524 Segmentation fault      (core dumped) /oracle/product/11.2.0/bin/emdctl validateTZ agent US/Eastern > /oracle/product/11.2.0/************_******/kuoO8Ru0vA 2>&1
----- Tue Jan 17 10:57:26 2012::The agentTZRegion value in /oracle/product/11.2.0/************_******/sysman/config/emd.properties is not in agreement with what agent thinks it should be.Please verify your environment to make sure that TZ setting has not changed since the last start of the agent.If you modified the timezone setting in the environment, please stop the agent and exectute 'emctl resetTZ agent' and also execute the script mgmt_target.set_agent_tzrgn(<agent_name>, <new_tz_rgn>) to get the value propagated to repository
-----

Strange thing is there is NO mismatch, both shows (US/Eastern). Not sure what was happening. I checked /oracle/product/11.2.0/************_******/sysman/config/emd.properties for agentTZRegion value:


$ cat /oracle/product/11.2.0/************_******/sysman/config/emd.properties | grep agentTZ
agentTZRegion=US/Eastern

Found MOS document "Dbconsole 11.2 Does Not Start Logs Shows Timezone Mismatch (Doc ID 1329914.1)".

Oracle instant client was installed on the same Oracle RDBMS Home, removed just that using OUI and now dbconsole is working fine.

If you have similar situation and had created new Database using DBCA. You might have seen below warning message by dbca.



Monday, January 9, 2012

ORA-00001: unique constraint (SYSMAN.PARAMETERS_PRIMARY_KEY) violated

Oracle Database 11.2.0.3 on Redhat linux 5

I wanted to test something withing dbconsole, but my test database dbconsole was not properly configured I guess.

So decided to drop and recreate.
Dropped using "<ORACLE_HOME>/bin/emca -deconfig dbcontrol db -repos drop"

Tried to recreate using "<ORACLE_HOME>/bin/emca -config dbcontrol db -repos create" but it failed with below errors:

WARNING: ORA-00001: unique constraint (SYSMAN.PARAMETERS_PRIMARY_KEY) violated
ORA-06512: at "SYSMAN.EMD_LOADER", line 4986
ORA-06512: at line 1

Jan 9, 2012 5:44:30 PM oracle.sysman.emcp.EMReposConfig invoke
SEVERE: Error creating the repository

Below is the test case:

1. Checked the violating constraint and existing rows before dropping the repository again.

select owner, table_name from user_constraints where constraint_name like '%PARAMETERS_PRIMARY_KEY%'

OWNER    TABLE_NAME
------------------------------------
SYSMAN  MGMT_PARAMETERS


SQL> select count(*) from sysman.mgmt_parameters;

  COUNT(*)
----------
         3
2. Dropped repository to check whether this table gets dropped or not.
emca -deconfig dbcontrol db -repos drop
INFO: Repository successfully dropped
3. Check sysman.mgmt_parameters
select count(*) from sysman.mgmt_parameters
                            *
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-00942: table or view does not exist
4.  Creating dbconsole using "emca -config dbcontrol db -repos create"

STARTED EMCA at Jan 9, 2012 5:41:37 PM
EM Configuration Assistant, Version 11.2.0.3.0 Production
Copyright (c) 2003, 2011, Oracle.  All rights reserved.

Enter the following information:
Database SID: RD11852
Listener port number: 1521
Listener ORACLE_HOME [ /oracle/product/11.2.0.3 ]:
Password for SYS user: 
Password for DBSNMP user: 
Password for SYSMAN user: 
Email address for notifications (optional):
Outgoing Mail (SMTP) server for notifications (optional):
-----------------------------------------------------------------

You have specified the following settings

Database ORACLE_HOME ................ /oracle/product/11.2.0.3

Local hostname ................ ****************
Listener ORACLE_HOME ................ /oracle/product/11.2.0.3
Listener port number ................ 1521
Database SID ................ RD11852
Email address for notifications ...............
Outgoing Mail (SMTP) server for notifications ...............

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Do you wish to continue? [yes(Y)/no(N)]: Y
Jan 9, 2012 5:42:04 PM oracle.sysman.emcp.EMConfig perform
INFO: This operation is being logged at /oracle/cfgtoollogs/emca/RD11852/emca_2012_01_09_17_41_36.log.
Jan 9, 2012 5:42:06 PM oracle.sysman.emcp.EMReposConfig createRepository
INFO: Creating the EM repository (this may take a while) ...

Jan 9, 2012 5:44:30 PM oracle.sysman.emcp.EMReposConfig createRepository
WARNING: ORA-00001: unique constraint (SYSMAN.PARAMETERS_PRIMARY_KEY) violated
ORA-06512: at "SYSMAN.EMD_LOADER", line 4986
ORA-06512: at line 1


Jan 9, 2012 5:44:30 PM oracle.sysman.emcp.EMReposConfig invoke
SEVERE: Error creating the repository
Jan 9, 2012 5:44:30 PM oracle.sysman.emcp.EMReposConfig invoke
INFO: Refer to the log file at /oracle/cfgtoollogs/emca/RD11852/emca_repos_create_<date>.log for more details.
Jan 9, 2012 5:44:30 PM oracle.sysman.emcp.EMConfig perform
SEVERE: Error creating the repository
Refer to the log file at /oracle/cfgtoollogs/emca/RD11852/emca_2012_01_09_17_41_36.log for more details.
Could not complete the configuration. Refer to the log file at /oracle/cfgtoollogs/emca/RD11852/emca_2012_01_09_17_41_36.log for more details.

 I have read MOS notes with similar error but while db upgrade from 10g to 11g and they say we can ignore these errors. But here I am trying to create dbconsole and it does not let me ignore it. I guess I will have to create SR.

I will post the solution once it is available.

BTW below are the rows in sysman.mgmt_parameters table:

SQL> select parameter_name, parameter_value from sysman.mgmt_parameters;

PARAMETER_NAME            PARAMETER_VALUE
------------------------- -------------------------
EST_ANALYZE               OFF
TARGET_POLICY_ENABLED     N
load_interval             300

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Does my processor support Hardware Virtualization?

I searched on intel site for my processor "i3-370M".
==>Under Advanced Technologies it showed:
            Intel Virtualization Technology (VT-x) - YES
            Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d) - NO


At this moment not sure what does that "NO" mean for my plan of Oracle VM on my laptop. Let's see...

Did Google to find out if there is any other way to find out capability of my PC's processor to support virtualization and found http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/support/configure-bios.aspx

Tool from Microsoft "Hardware-Assisted Virtualization Detection Tool" to check whether the PC has a CPU with support for hardware virtualization and if it does whether I need to change BIOS settings.



Above screenshot is the result from the tool.








Wednesday, January 4, 2012

SYS_AUTO_SQL_TUNING_TASK exiting with error "1760"

A DBA reported that he is seeing intermittent errors in the alert log related to SYS_AUTO_SQL_TUNING_TASK failing with error 1760.

Begin automatic SQL Tuning Advisor run for special tuning task  "SYS_AUTO_SQL_TUNING_TASK"
SYS_AUTO_SQL_TUNING_TASK exiting with error "1760" for execution "EXEC_11029".  See DBA_ADVISOR_EXECUTIONS for more details.
End automatic SQL Tuning Advisor run for special tuning task  "SYS_AUTO_SQL_TUNING_TASK"
Errors in file **************************************************_j003_****.trc:
ORA-12012: error on auto execute of job 53057
ORA-01760: illegal argument for function
ORA-06512: at "SYS.PRVT_ADVISOR", line 2693
ORA-06512: at "SYS.DBMS_ADVISOR", line 241
ORA-06512: at "SYS.DBMS_SQLTUNE", line 772
ORA-06512: at line 4

My first impression was that may be the objects "SYS.PRVT_ADVISOR", "SYS.DBMS_SQLTUNE" are invalid. But I was wrong, the DBA said, there were no invalid objects under SYS schema.


This seems to be related with Bug 9021724 which is is fixed in 11.2.0.2 but a patch needs to applied for earlier versions if you are seeing these intermittent errors. 




NOTE: This is only related to intermittent ORA-1760 on SQL Tuning Advisor task.