A OPMN Troubleshooting

A.1.1 Oracle Application Server Process Does Not Start

Problem

Unable to start an Oracle Application Server process using OPMN.

Solution

Try the following if you are unable to start an Oracle Application Server process using OPMN:

• Verify and if necessary, correct, the command input. Confirm the spelling and choice of option for the command you are entering.

  
  

  Note: Do not use command line scripts or utilities from previous versions of Oracle9iAS for starting OPMN or Oracle Application Server components.

  
  

• Review the standard out output log for the Oracle Application Server process. Output from the process console is located in the ORACLE_HOME/opmn/logs directory. For example, the standard output log for OracleAS Web Cache may be WebCache~WebCacheAdmin~1.

• Verify the dependency requirements for the Oracle Application Server process you are attempting to start. For example, the Oracle Application Server process you want to start may require that the Oracle Application Server Metadata Repository be up and running.

• Verify the element values for the Oracle Application Server component in the opmn.xml file. Use the opmnctl validate command to verify configuration of opmn.xml file. You may have mis-configured the opmn.xml for the Oracle Application Server component you are attempting to start.

A.1.2 Determining if Oracle Application Server Processes are Dying or Unresponsive

Problem

Your Oracle Application Server processes are dying or unreachable.

Solution

If your Oracle Application Server processes are dying or unreachable:

• Look at the ORACLE_HOME/opmn/logs/ipm.log for Oracle Application Server processes at level of 4 or higher. Look for process crashed or process unreachable messages. OPMN automatically restarts Oracle Application Server processes that die or become unresponsive.

• Create event scripts for any pre-stop or post-crash events. The event scripts could be used to create a specific log file or send you an email about a failure.

  
  

  See Also: Section A.2.5, "Troubleshooting with Event Scripts"

  
  

• Review the Oracle Application Server component specific output in the ORACLE_HOME/opmn/logs.

• Review the Oracle Application Server component specific log file located in Oracle Application Server component directory.

  
  

  See Also: Section A.2.1, "OPMN log Files"

  
  

• Use iHAT to view the actions of Oracle Application Server

  
  

  See Also: Section A.2.3, "iHAT"

  
  

A.1.3 opmnctl Command Execution Times Out

Problem

The time it takes to execute an opmnctl command is dependent on the type of Oracle Application Server process and available computer hardware. Because of this the time it takes to execute an opmnctl command may not be readily apparent.

The default start time out for OC4J is approximately five minutes. If an OC4J process does not start-up after an opmnctl command, OPMN will wait approximately an hour before timing out and aborting the request.

Solution

To verify successful execution of the opmnctl command, try the following:

1. Increase the start element timeout attribute for the component that is not starting. Set the timeout in the opmn.xml file at a level that will allow OPMN to wait for process to come up. This functionality is available with the startproc command which will start all the relevant processes configured in opmn.xml.

2. Check the start element in the opmn.xml file and change the retry attribute to a higher increment of time.

3. Look at the ORACLE_HOME/opmn/logs/ for the Oracle Application Server process that is not starting.

4. Review the component-specific log file for the Oracle Application Server component that is not starting. For example, ORACLE_HOME/discoverer/logs.

5. Examine the ORACLE_HOME/opmn/logs/ipm.log for any indication of problems. Increase the log level in the file to obtain additional information.

   
   

   See Also: Chapter 3, "opmn.xml Common Configuration"

   
   

6. Contact Oracle Technical Support.

If you are having difficulty with an Oracle Application Server instance that is part of a farm, review the ons.log file for the Oracle Application Server instance. The "attempting active connection init" message in the ons.log file indicates that there is another OPMN configured in the farm that is currently shut-down. OPMN tries to consistently connect to the shut-down OPMN. Use the listed steps to determine why the down OPMN is not running.

A.1.4 Oracle Application Server Component Automatically Restarted by OPMN

Problem

An Oracle Application Server component is automatically restarted by OPMN.

Solution

If an Oracle Application Server component is automatically restarted by OPMN, try the following:

• Review the message for the Oracle Application Server component in the ipm.log file.

• Verify that the ping timeout for the Oracle Application Server component is sufficient. An Oracle Application Server component that receives a lot of activity may require an increase in the length of time for the timeout. Increase the ping timeout element in the Oracle Application Server component opmn.xml file.

A.1.5 Unexpected opmnctl start Behavior

Problem

Occasionally, there is unexpected behavior when you use the opmnctl start command to start OPMN; either only OPMN is started or OPMN makes a best effort to start Oracle Application Server OPMN-managed processes. Typically, this unexpected behavior is due to turning-off or rebooting your computer without first shutting down OPMN. When you restart your computer, all OPMN-managed processes are started.

Solution

Oracle recommends that you shutdown OPMN before shutting down your computer. Use the opmnctl stopall command to stop OPMN and OPMN-managed processes.

On the Microsoft Windows operating system, you can use the Windows services control panel to stop OPMN and OPMN-managed processes.

A.1.6 Disabled Element in the opmn.xml File

Problem

Unable to start an Oracle Application Server process.

Solution

If you are unable to start an Oracle Application Server process, check if an element in the Oracle Application Server opmn.xml file is disabled. If an element in the opmn.xml file is disabled OPMN will generate an output message of "Missing" or "Disabled".

A.1.7 Management of Oracle9iAS Release 2 (9.0.2 and 9.0.3) Instances

Problem

By default, the SSL element in the Oracle Application Server 10g Release 2 (10.1.2) opmn.xml file is enabled; however, the SSL element is not enabled in the opmn.xml file for Oracle9iAS Release 2 (9.0.2 and 9.0.3).

Solution

If you have an Oracle Application Server farm containing Oracle9iAS Release 2 (9.0.2 and 9.0.3) instances you must enable the SSL element in the Release 2 opmn.xml file. Refer to the Oracle9i Application Server Administrator's Guide, Release 2 (9.0.2) for the steps to enable the SSL element.

A.1.8 Unable to Start OC4J

Problem

If you have multiple Oracle Application Server installations on one host and you start them at the same time (for example, to start a cluster), OPMN may become unresponsive. You may receive an error message such as:

"failed to restart a managed process after the maximum retry limit"

This may occur when two Oracle homes on the same host use the same port ranges for RMI, JMS, and AJP ports. An OC4J instance in one Oracle home is trying to use the same port as an OC4J instance in a different Oracle home.Port allocation for all OC4J instances within Oracle Application Server is controlled by OPMN; there can be overlapping port ranges within a single opmn.xml file. However, when two OPMN processes on a host start at the same time, there is no coordination between them on port usage.

Solution

To coordinate port usage, assign unique port ranges to each Oracle home. The OPMN process in one Oracle home and the OPMN in a different Oracle home will not attempt to use the same port numbers when assigning OC4J ports, and will not attempt to bind to the same port.

It is also recommended that you increase the maximum number of retries for starting OC4J instances. If you have identical port ranges in two Oracle homes and increase the number of times OPMN attempts to restart a process, OPMN will eventually select a port that works. This technique ultimately does not eliminate the problem, because there is the possibility that OPMN will not find a port that works in the number of port connection attempts that you have specified in the opmn.xml file.

A.1.9 Unable to Stop Component

Problem

If you are unable to stop Oracle Application Server components or OPMN-managed processes using the opmnctl stop or opmnctl stopall commands, the component or process was most likely not started using OPMN. The component or process might have been started using a startup script or utility.

Solution

Oracle Application Server components and OPMN-managed processes should never be started or stopped manually. Do not use command line scripts or utilities from previous versions of Oracle Application Server for starting and stopping Oracle Application Server components.

Use the Application Server Control Console and the opmnctl command line utility to start or stop Oracle Application Server components and OPMN-managed processes.

A.1.10 globalInitNLS Error

Problem

You may receive a globalInitNLS error when executing the opmnctl command. The following error message is displayed:

"globalInitNLS: NLS boot file not found or invalid -- default linked-in boot block used XML parser init: error 201."

Solution

This error occurs when the ORA_NLS33 environmental variable is set. This environmental variable should not be set.

A.1.11 Start Remote Hosts of a Cluster Independently

Problem

Starting a cluster of remote hosts using Application Server Control Console will result in an unknown status. This occurs because ONS is bound to the local host IP address and it is not reachable from remote hosts.

Solution

Oracle recommends starting each member of the cluster independently to effectively monitor and obtain the status from remote hosts. Additionally, make sure ONS is not bound to local host IP address.

A.1.12 Log Loader Not Started

Problem

If you run the opmnctl status command following the successful execution of the opmnctl startall or opmnctl startproc command, the status output indicates Log Loader status as down.

Solution

By default, the Log Loader element in the opmn.xml file is not configured to start when you execute the opmnctl startall or opmnctl startproc command.

To start Log Loader, perform the following steps:

1. Select the Logs link on the Application Server Control Console page.

2. From the View Logs page select the Search Log Repository link.

3. On the View Logs page, click Log Loader.

4. On the Log Loader page, click Start.

5. On the confirmation page select either Cancel, Start, or Start and Load Existing Logs.

   On the confirmation page you can:

   • select Cancel to cancel use of Log Loader

   • select Start to start the Log Loader and not load current contents of the logs. The Log Loader will only load log messages that are written to the logs after the log loader is started.select Start and Load Existing Logs to start the Log Loader and load current contents of all log files.

You can also start and stop Log Loader using the following commands:

• prompt > opmnctl startproc ias-component=LogLoader

• prompt > opmnctl stopproc ias-component=LogLoader

The opmnctl startproc ias-component=LogLoader command is equivalent to the Start and Load Existing Logs selection available on Application Server Control Console.

A.1.13 dcm-daemon Not Started

Problem

After you run the opmnctl startall or opmnctl startproc command and then run the opmnctl status command, the status output indicates that the dcm-daemon is in Down status.

Solution

By default, the dcm-daemon element in the opmn.xml file is not configured to start when you execute the opmnctl startall or opmnctl startproc command. The dcm-daemon is started automatically by any DCM client tool, either the dcmctl command or Application Server Control Console, during initialization phase. Typically, there is no need to start the dcm-daemon explicitly.

If you want to explicitly start the dcm-daemon, use the following command:

prompt > opmnctl startproc ias-component="dcm-daemon"

You may be required to start the dcm-daemon explicitly in certain configurations. For example, if you are performing an Oracle Application Server cluster wide DCM operation. To deploy an application on the cluster, the dcm-daemon needs to be running on all Oracle Application Server instances in the cluster. If you execute the dcmctl command on a local Oracle Application Server instance, it will start the dcm-daemon on the local instance but it will not start the dcm-daemon on the other instances in the cluster.

A.1.14 SSL Handshake Failed

Problem

You receive a SSL handshake failed error message similar to the following in your ons.log file:

"Connection 0.169.254.25.129.6203 SSL handshake failed"

in your ons.log file.

Solution

The SSL handshake failed error message occurred most likely because the SSL enable attribute of ONS in the opmn.xml file does not have the same value. The SSL enable values of either true or false must be consistent for all OPMN servers in the application server farm.

A.1.15 OPMN Start Up Consumes CPU Processing Capability

Problem

On some computers, when OPMN starts up, it consumes large amounts of CPU processing capability. This can vary from approximately 50% to 60% of your computer's CPU processing capabilities. In affected computers, the OPMN CPU processing consumption will continue until OPMN is shutdown.

Solution

The following are some possible causes for the excessive CPU processing consumption:

• the installation environment used multi-byte text character sets such as Japanese.

• the ONS topology is mis-configured.

  For example, if the ons.conf files for Oracle Application Server instances across the Oracle Application Server Farm may get out of sync. The contents of ons.conf file must be the same for each Oracle Application Server instance in the Farm. If the ons.conf file contents in each Oracle Application Server instance are not the same, atypical topology loops can occur that multiply each notification managed by ONS by a factor of two.

• the computer has multiple network interface cards (NICs)

  The hostname or IP value configured for OPMN in the opmn.xml file does not match the corresponding entry in the ons.conf file. OPMN reconnects to itself over and over, thereby increasing CPU usage.

A.1.16 Error Messages During Start-up of OPMN

Problem

When trying to start OPMN using the opmnctl start or opmnctl startall commands you receive the following error messages:

pingwait exits with 1220384

or

pingwait exits with 1220396

These error messages are generated when there are syntax errors in the ORACLE_HOME/opmn/conf/opmn.xml that need to be corrected.

Solution

If you encounter these error messages do the following:

• run the following command (with the complete directory path to the opmn.xml file):

  prompt > opmnctl validate opmn.xml
  
  

• remove all empty tags from the opmn.xml file.

• run the following command to update the repository configuration:

  prompt > dcmctl updateconfig
  
  

A.2.1 OPMN log Files

The OPMN log files enable you to troubleshoot difficulties you might have in execution and use of OPMN and OPMN-managed processes. OPMN and OPMN-managed processes generate log files during processing. You can review the following generated log files to verify successful or unsuccessful execution of an OPMN command:

• ORACLE_HOME/opmn/logs: The standard output and standard error of OPMN managed processes. These files are also sometimes referred to as "console logs". OPMN creates a log file for each component and assigns a unique concatenation of the Oracle Application Server component with a number. For example, the standard output log for OracleAS Web Cache may be WebCache~WebCacheAdmin~1. When a process terminates and is replaced by a new process, console log output from the previous process is preserved and the replacement process appends to the end of the console log file. The process specific console logs are the first and best resource for investigating problems related to starting and stopping components.

• ORACLE_HOME/opmn/logs/ipm.log: Review the error codes and messages that are shown in the ipm.log file. The PM portion of OPMN generates and outputs the error messages in this file. The ipm.log file tracks command execution and operation progress. The level of detail that gets logged in the ipm.log can be modified by configuration in the opmn.xml file. Refer to Chapter 3, "opmn.xml Common Configuration" for examples of debug levels.

• ORACLE_HOME/opmn/logs/ons.log: Use the ons.log file to debug the ONS portion of OPMN or for early OPMN errors. The ONS portion of OPMN is initialized before PM, and so errors that occur early in OPMN initialization will show up in the ons.log file.

• ORACLE_HOME/opmn/logs/opmn.log: The opmn.log file contains output generated by OPMN when the ipm.log and ons.log files are not available. Typically, the only output written to the opmn.log file will be the exit status of a child OPMN process. A status code of 4 indicates a normal reload of OPMN. All other status codes indicate an abnormal termination of the child OPMN process.

• ORACLE_HOME/opmn/logs/service.log: (Microsoft Windows only). The service.log displays any error messages generated by OPMN services while interacting with service control manager.

A.2.2 opmnctl debug

Use the opmnctl debug command to verify the status of an Oracle Application Server process and whether any actions are pending. This command generates output that can be used in conjunction with contact to your local Oracle support to diagnose your OPMN problem.

The syntax for the opmnctl debug command is:

opmnctl [<scope>] debug [comp=pm|ons] [interval=<secs> count=<num>]

where @scope is the optional scope for the request.

Output is generated following execution of the opmnctl debug command. Oracle recommends that you contact Oracle support to use the generated output to assist in diagnosis of your problem.

The attributes (<attr>) name for this command are either comp, interval, or count. The value for comp can be either ons or pm, representing ONS and PM, respectively. If comp is not specified, then both ons and pm debug information is reported. For example, the following command outputs debug information for ONS.

prompt > opmnctl debug comp=ons

You can specify the interval in seconds and number of requests sent to OPMN to assist in the debugging process. The values of <interval> and <count> must always be specified together. Values for them should be integers greater than 0. For example, the following command, outputs debug information at an interval of 5 seconds 3 times.

prompt > opmnctl debug comp=pm interval=5 count=3

Contact your local Oracle support to assist you in using the opmnctl debug command to diagnose your OPMN problem.

A.2.3 iHAT

Use the iHAT tool to provide a real time, graphical interface view of your enterprise. iHAT displays all Oracle Application Server processes managed by one or more OPMN servers including useful performance metrics about each process as obtained from DMS. The snapshot of the system is updated continuously at a configurable interval.

To download iHAT, visit the OTN:

http://www.oracle.com/technology/membership

A.2.4 Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Application Server Control Console

Application Server Control Console provides a graphical interface that enables diagnosis of Oracle Application Server components in your network and enterprise. Application Server Control Console features a log page. The log page enables you to view all of the Oracle Application Server log files in one place and trace problems across multiple log files. Application Server Control Console uses an API that contacts OPMN.

You can use Application Server Control Console to enable or disable Oracle Application Server components: You can disable components so they do not start when you start an Oracle Application Server instance.

A.2.5 Troubleshooting with Event Scripts

You can create your own event scripts that record Oracle Application Server process event activities. You can create a script that records events prior to the start or stop of Oracle Application Server processes, as well as an unscheduled system crash.

Refer to the <event-scripts> element description in Chapter 3, "opmn.xml Common Configuration".

Example A-1 shows a pre-start event script.

#!/bin/sh
echo
echo =---===----======---=-----=-----=------======----===---=
echo =---===----===== PRE-START EVENT SCRIPT =====----===---=
echo =---===----======---=-----=-----=------======----===---=

timeStamp="N/A"
instanceName="N/A"
componentId="N/A"
processType="N/A"
processSet="N/A"
processIndex="N/A"
stderrPath="N/A"  # not available w/pre-start unless part of restart
stdoutPath="N/A"  # not available w/pre-start unless part of restart
reason="N/A"
pid="N/A"         # only available with pre-stop, post-crash
startTime="N/A"   # only available with pre-stop, post-crash

while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
     case $1 in
        -timeStamp)    timeStamp=$2; shift;;
        -instanceName) instanceName=$2; shift;;
        -componentId)  componentId=$2; shift;;
        -processType)  processType=$2; shift;;
        -processSet)   processSet=$2; shift;;
        -processIndex) processIndex=$2; shift;;
        -stderr)       stderrPath=$2; shift;;
        -stdout)       stdoutPath=$2; shift;;
        -reason)       reason=$2; shift;;
        -pid)          pid=$2; shift;;
        -startTime)    startTime=$2; shift;;
        *) echo "Option Not Recognized: [$1]"; shift;;
        esac
        shift
done

echo timeStamp=$timeStamp
echo instanceName=$instanceName
echo componentId=$componentId
echo processType=$processType
echo processSet=$processSet
echo processIndex=$processIndex
echo stderr=$stderrPath
echo stdout=$stdoutPath
echo reason=$reason
echo pid=$pid
echo startTime=$startTime

A.2.6 opmn.xml Environment Variables

The environment variable used to launch OPMN server is not inherited by the Oracle Application Server process started by OPMN server. OPMN sets the environment variables at the ias-instance level, with the values extracted either from the ias-instance configuration or from the OPMN run time environment.