2 Preparing to Upgrade

2.2.1 Supported Upgrade Paths

The Oracle Application Server Portal Upgrade 10g Release 2 (10.1.4) can be applied to the following:

• Oracle Application Server 10g Release 2 (10.1.2.0.2)

• Oracle Application Server 10g Release 2 (10.1.2.1.0)

2.2.2 Supported Database Releases

The portal schema may be residing in an OracleAS Metadata Repository, or in a customer database. The database in which the portal schema resides must be one of the following supported releases:

• Oracle Database 10g (10.1.0.4.2) or later

• Oracle9i Database Release 2 (9.2.0.7) or later

2.3.1 Backing Up the Database

Back up the database that hosts the OracleAS Metadata Repository before and after upgrading OracleAS Portal. If OracleAS Portal was installed on a customer database and not in the OracleAS Metadata Repository, then back up the database that hosts the portal schema.

During an upgrade, only the portal schema is changed. Application components, that is the database providers, are generated in their own schemas. Therefore, ensure that you back up the portal instance that you are upgrading. This backup will allow you to restore the database to its original state, if necessary. The OracleAS Portal-specific schemas are as follows:

• OracleAS Portal Schema (for example, PORTAL)

• OracleAS Portal Demo Schema (for example, PORTAL_DEMO)

• OracleAS Portal Public Schema (for example, PORTAL_PUBLIC)

• OracleAS Portal JSP Access (for example, PORTAL_APP)

There are several ways to perform a backup. Consult an experienced database administrator, or refer to Oracle Database documentation for further information about the backup and recovery procedures for the database.

2.3.2 Stopping All Middle-Tier Instances

Before you perform the upgrade, you must stop all processes associated with each middle tier that uses the portal schema being upgraded. Note that at this point in the upgrade process, as a prerequisite for running the portal upgrade, all the middle tier instances must either be at release 10.1.2.0.2 or release 10.1.2.1.0. There are two ways to view all the Oracle Application Server instances that use the portal schema:

• Display the Farm page in the Application Server Control Console.

  
  

  See Also: "Introduction to Administration Tools" in the Oracle Application Server Administrator's Guide for more information about the Application Server Control Console Farm page.

  
  

• Use the following Distributed Configuration Management command in the Oracle home of any middle-tier or Oracle Identity Management instance that belongs to the farm:

  MID_TIER_ORACLE_HOME/dcm/bin/dcmctl listinstances
  
  

To stop all the middle-tier processes, perform the following tasks:

1. Click Stop All on the Application Server Control Console home page for each instance, or use the following Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server (OPMN) command within the Oracle home of each instance:

   MID_TIER_ORACLE_HOME/opmn/bin/opmnctl stopall
   
   

2. Stop the Application Server Control Console by using the following command:

   MID_TIER_ORACLE_HOME/bin/emctl stop iasconsole
   
   

On Windows, you can also stop OPMN and its managed processes and the Application Server Control Console from the Services control panel.

2.3.3 Ensuring That Oracle Internet Directory and Database Processes Are Running

Before you perform the upgrade, you must ensure that the following processes are running:

• The database that hosts the portal schema. This can be an OracleAS Metadata Repository database or a customer database.

• The listener for the OracleAS Metadata Repository database or customer database.

• The Oracle Internet Directory instance where the portal schema is registered.

Log in to the Application Server Control Console of the Oracle Identity Management instance to verify that the necessary processes are running and that the required components are configured properly. For example, you can use the Application Server Control Console to verify that the Farm page is displayed correctly and that the Oracle Internet Directory and OracleAS Single Sign-On components are up and running.

When you log in to the Application Server Control Console of the Oracle Identity Management instance, the Application Server home page is displayed. On this page, click Ports to view a list of the ports currently used by the Oracle Application Server instance and to verify that the components are configured properly.

2.3.4 Assessing the Impact of an OracleAS Portal Upgrade

Before you perform an upgrade to release 10.1.4, consider the impact of the upgrade on your system. An upgrade to OracleAS Portal release 10.1.4 includes the following tasks:

• Creating the upgrade framework objects and installing the Schema Validation Utility.

• Exporting a subset of the OracleAS Portal tables, which are available before an upgrade, to a dump file.

• Displaying all invalid objects before the upgrade proceeds. You can use this for troubleshooting purposes because all OracleAS Portal packages must be valid at this stage.

• Disabling the directory provisioning profile. This disables event notifications from Oracle Internet Directory to which the portal has subscribed.

• Disabling triggers in the portal schema. These triggers will be reenabled at the end of the upgrade.

• Disabling the Database Management System (DBMS) jobs in the portal schema. These jobs will be reenabled at the end of the upgrade.

• Dropping statistics gathered on all tables in the portal schema. The statistics supported by OracleAS Portal will then be gathered toward the end of the upgrade.

• Upgrading OWA packages if necessary.

• Dropping and reloading all Java objects in the portal schema. If there were any Java objects not belonging to OracleAS Portal but residing in the portal schema, then they will have to be reinstalled manually after the upgrade.

• Dropping and reloading all product messages in all languages in the portal schema. If any product messages were manually altered before the upgrade, then these changes will have to be manually reapplied.

• Changing the schema and compiling new OracleAS Portal packages.

• Exporting temporary tables created during the upgrade.

• Creating the jobs for gathering the statistics on portal tables.

• Enabling triggers and DBMS jobs in the portal schema.

• Recompiling any invalid non-OracleAS Portal objects. Warnings will be displayed if any invalid non-OracleAS Portal objects remain after this step.

• Updating the OracleAS Portal release if there are no fatal compilation errors.

• Enabling the directory provisioning profile.

• Searching for errors and warnings in the upgrade log file and displaying a summary of the ones encountered. If no errors are found, then a success message is displayed.