Pointing To Oracle Database For Remedy Application

Introduction:

This document explains about pointing to an Oracle database for Remedy application on Solaris box. And also covers preferred sequence of remedy processes to come up during startup of remedy.

Actual Matter/Topics:

PrefaceThis document is intended for any remedy support personnel who have the

knowledge of configuration and other related file locations and little bit of work experience on using sqlplus to connect to an oracle database. And also may need help from an Oracle DBA.

ProcedureThere are several things to look at when pointing to an Oracle database from

remedy application as explained below:

1. Install Oracle client on the server where remedy application is running. This is needed for the remedy application to connect to an Oracle database.

2. Configuration file for the remedy application is “ar.conf” and during startup of ARServer, connection is made to the database using the following entries in the configuration file:

Dbhome-directory Oracle-SID Oracle-Two-Task

3. The following additional entries in the ar.conf file identify the name of the tablespace in the database where information related to remedy is stored, name of the user and the password for the user connecting to the database:

Db-name => name of tablespace Db-user => name of user Db-password => password for user

If these entries do not exist in the ar.conf file, the default values for these entries are “ARSystem”, “ARAdmin” and “AR#Admin#” respectively.

4. Set the value for the property “Dbhome-directory” as the absolute path of the directory where Oracle client is installed (it is called ORACLE_HOME in database language) in the configuration file.

Ex: Dbhome-directory: <absolute path of the directory where oracle is installed>

5. Set the value for the property “Oracle-SID” as the name of the database that was created for remedy application.

Ex: Oracle-SID: <database name>

Note: If this database is configured on a server which is different from the one on which remedy application is running, configure the TNS name in the remedy application server as explained in the appendix.

6. Set the value for the property “Oracle-Two-Task” as the database connection string.

Ex: Oracle-Two-Task: <database connection string>

7. Variables to be set in .profile of the user account in which remedy application is running:

export ORACLE_SID=<db name> export TWO_TASK=<db name>export ORACLE_HOME=<absolute path of the directory where Oracle

client is installed>export LD_LIBRARY_PATH_64=${ORACLE_HOME}/libexport LD_LIBRARY_PATH=${ORACLE_HOME}/lib32:${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}

And logout and login for these variables to come into affect.8. Make sure the database (and also the listener for this database, if database

is on the remote server) is running and bounce the remedy application (as explained in appendix) for this change in the configuration file to come into affect.

9. If the server is not able to connect to the database during startup, the startup will fail with the reasonable error. Try to connect to this database from the server where you have the remedy application running, using “sqlplus” utility and make sure this works.

10. The most direct method to troubleshoot this startup is to generate API / SQL logging during startup. This can be done by modifying or adding the following entry in the ar.conf file:

Debug-mode: 17

This will generate the log files during startup under directory specified for the parameter “Server-directory” in the configuration file (ar.conf). Any error during startup is written to the file “arerror.log” under this directory. Have all these logs and output on the console during startup, if there are any problems in bringing the processes up and need to work with remedy support. And reset this “Debug-mode” parameter back to “0” once every thing is smooth. Otherwise, lots of log information will be generated which will occupy the space unnecessarily.

Appendix

Configuring TNS name:Configuration of TNS name for an Oracle database is required if you are trying

to access a database on the remote machine. So, just make the following entry in the file “tnsnames.ora” that is under “/var/opt/oracle” or “$ORACLE_HOME/network/admin”.

Example:<db name> =(DESCRIPTION =

(ADDRESS_LIST =(ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = <IP or host name>)(PORT = <port number at which the database is listening>))

) (CONNECT_DATA =

(SERVICE_NAME = <db name>) )

)

Once this is saved in the tnsnames.ora, make sure you are able to connect to this database.

Recommended sequence of remedy process:It is recommended to have the processes in the sequence given below in the “/etc/arsystem/<server name>/armonitor.conf” file. This will enable the remedy application to start the processes in the sequence mentioned in this file.

1. arserverd2. arsvcdsp3. arplugin4. emaild.sh5. arsnmpd.conf6. arrecond.sh