Tools -> Copy Functionality fails

If your R12 Tools -> Copy Functionality fails with the following error message:

An error occurred while attempting to establish an Applications File Server connection with the node FNDFS_. There may be a network configuration problem, or the TNS listener on node FNDFS_ may not be running. Please contact your system administrator.

Then ensure that the following profile options have the desired value

a) "RRA: Enabled" should be set to "Yes"

b) "RRA: Service Prefix" should be null-ed out , no spaces allowed

After making the changes, Log-out and Login back and retest the issue.

Debug Validate Application Accounting Definition error

1. Please set these profile options:

FND: Debug Log Enabled - Yes
FND: Debug Log Module - %
FND: Debug Log Level - Statement

2. Then run the Validate Application Accounting Definitions concurrent program with the following parameters:
Ledger: Pick the ledger
Uncompiled status only: Yes
Application: Assets
Application Accounting Definition Owner: User

3. Re-run the query with the last Validate Application Accounting Definitions run request ID:

set pagesize 0
set linesize 300

SELECT log_sequence, message_text,substr(module,1,100)
FROM fnd_log_messages msg, fnd_log_transaction_context tcon
WHERE msg.TRANSACTION_CONTEXT_ID = tcon.TRANSACTION_CONTEXT_ID
AND tcon.TRANSACTION_ID=
ORDER BY LOG_SEQUENCE;

This will now return the full debug.

Native PL/SQL Compilation on R12

Oracle recommends PL/SQL compilation (plsql_code_type) to NATIVE. I have tried and I encountered many errors. Almost every script involving PL/SQL code end with ORA-06502.
Programs such as Validate Application Accounting Definition and patch wizard analyze program ended with error. So I changed back to INTERPRETED. Errors are gone.
Maybe I missed something when I set PL/SQL compilation to NATIVE. Until I know what cause the error, I will stick to INTERPRETED

Using Centos update repositories for Oracle Unbreakable Linux

You can use Centos with yum for Oracle Unbreakable Linux. Use this on test instance only.
Move or delete other .repo files in /etc/yum.repos.d.
Create a file named centos.repo in /etc/yum.repos.d directory, containing these lines:

################## start

[base]
name=CentOS-$releasever
baseurl=http://ftp.nara.wide.ad.jp/pub/Linux/centos/4.6/os/i386/
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=http://ftp.nara.wide.ad.jp/pub/Linux/centos/4.6/os/i386/RPM-GPG-KEY-centos4

[update]
name=CentOS-$releasever - Updates
baseurl=http://ftp.nara.wide.ad.jp/pub/Linux/centos/4.6/updates/i386/
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=http://ftp.nara.wide.ad.jp/pub/Linux/centos/4.6/os/i386/RPM-GPG-KEY-centos4

################ end

You can change baseurl and gpgkey with other mirror. You can see list of mirrors here http://www.centos.org/modules/tinycontent/index.php?id=13
This script is for version 4.6. Change version number if needed.

Install R12 on Enterprise Linux Check List

Before installing R12 on Enterprise Linux, better check the availability of some programs or library. They are:

• glibc-2.3.4-2.25
• glibc-common-2.3.4-2.25
• binutils-2.15.92.0.2-21
• compat-libstdc++-296-2.96-132.7.2
• gcc-3.4.6-3
• gcc-c++-3.4.6-3
• libgcc-3.4.6-3
• libstdc++-3.4.6-3
• libstdc++-devel-3.4.6-3
• openmotif21-2.1.30-11.RHEL4.6**
• pdksh-5.2.14-30.3
• setarch-1.6-1
• make-3.80-6.EL4
• gnome-libs-1.4.1.2.90-44.1
• sysstat-5.0.5-11.rhel4
• compat-db-4.1.25-9
• control-center-2.8.0-12.rhel4.5
• xscreensaver-4.18-5.rhel4.11
• libaio-0.3.105-2
• libaio-devel-0.3.105-2

To do the checking, use this command: rpm -qa | grep [name]
just replace [name] with program/library name without version, for example:
rpm -qa | grep libaio-devel
Some differences on version number should be OK.
If the command returs nothing, then issue command to update: up2date [name]
for example: up2date libaio-devel
Make sure you have configure the up2date service.

Using free Lineox update for Oracle Enterprise Linux

Currently I am testing Oracle Enterprise Linux (EL) to install Oracle EBS R12. I am on Linux preparation phase now. I am using EL 4 which is certified for Oracle EBS R12.
There was almost no problem with installation. The only problem was NIC card, RTL8169 was not supported by EL 4. This problem was easily resolved. Realtek already have the driver, so all I had to do was install the driver.
Be sure to select gnome windows interface and development tools. System tools may be usefull too.
After EL 4 installed, you will be asked to connect to Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN) to be able to get updates. Well that would be $99 a year.
Lineox.net provide a free update, but with 30 days delays. That is OK for me, this is just for testing purpose. The problem is how to switch update from ULN to Lineox.
First configure the up2date with ULN to make sure up2date can connect to internet. If proxy is used, there are some settings to be defined. Just enter anything on ULN page (user, password, CSI). If the message is CSI not valid, then the connection is OK.

Now update the file /etc/sysconfig/rhn/sources. Comment up2date defaults (add # in the front), and add this line in the end of the file:
### Lineox Enterprise Linux 4.x channels
yum lel4-Updates http://www.raimokoski.com/pub/lineox/4.0/updates/$basearch/RPMS

You may have to restart the machine. After that, up2date will not connect to ULN anymore.

You can also use this mirror:
### Lineox Enterprise Linux 4.x channels
yum lel4 http://www.gtlib.gatech.edu/pub/lineox/4.0/$basearch/os/Lineox/RPMS/
yum lel4-Updates http://www.gtlib.gatech.edu/pub/lineox/4.0/updates/$basearch/RPMS/

For more information visit http://www.lineox.net/lel4updates.php

aiosp2() Error: failure in usdspn()

If you ever encountered error like this when running adpatch or adadmin:
aiosp2() Error: failure in usdspn()
Contents of error buffer are:
"usdsop cannot create a new process

Cause: usdsop encountered an error creating a new process. [Reason].

Action: Check that your system had enough resources to start a new process. Cont
act your system administrator to obtain more resou (RE"

You are using cygwin and you can't find any log about this error, then you should check your sh. Open command window, then type sh, press enter. If there is error, you should go to cygwin\bin directory and copy bash.exe to sh.exe. If there is no error, then you are facing another problem.

Install Windows 2003 on HP Compaq dx2700

This is out of this blog topic, but I experienced this on my way to install a development instance of Oracle e-business R12 on HP Compaq dx2700.
After copying installation files, Windows 2003 installer will restart the computer. Normally setup will continue in GUI. On dx2700, there will be error because Windows cannot read from hard disk.
I have tried to install Intel ICH8 driver and integrate to Windows 2003 installation according to this source, but no luck.
Then I set my hard disk on BIOS to none. Boot again using Windows 2003 install CD. Windows installation can find my hard disk although it was not set on BIOS. Redo all installation steps.
After restart, go to BIOS and enable all hard disk. Boot normally, no error encountered.

Can't use remote desktop for Oracle EBS 11i installation

Yesterday I was installing a new instance on training server. I was installing a vision demo for user training. I used remote desktop provided by MS Windows to connect to the server. I ran the installation and then it failed when starting database listener.
Then I tried to use VNC. There is a free version available on www.realvnc.com. I installed VNC server on the server and VNC viewer on my PC. I also removed files created from failed intallation, I also removed the oracle entries from windows registry.
I used VNC to connect to server. The installation ran well and successfully.

Install 11.5.8 and R12 on same machine

I have installed 11.5.8 and R12 on the same windows machine successfully. I installed R12 on a server running 11.5.8. After installation both run smoothly (but not fast -- my machine is only 2GB in memory and is a standard Pentium 4 PC).
Because disk space was low, I had to compress both instance. No problem arise yet, even on patching.
The only problem was I had to change 11.5.8 to use cygwin because I removed all MKS Toolkit.

Clean up MKS Toolkit if you want to use Cygwin

MKS Toolkit have to be uninstalled if you want to use Cygwin. More than that you will also have to clean up some environment setting left by MKS Toolkit. If you don't clean up, you will get error on Cygwin shell when running some ad programs such as adrelink.

Using Cygwin with Oracle EBS R12

Note from Oracle: Cygwin is free software and is not supported unless you purchase a support contract from a third party providing Cygwin support. We recommend MKS toolkit for all critical production and test systems.

Download the Cygwin Software
Perform the following to download the Cygwin software:

• Navigate to http://www.cygwin.com and click on "Install or Update Now!" to download setup.exe to your machine.
• Run setup.exe and click Next, which will bring up the Choose Installation Type screen.
• Choose Option 2, Download without Installing.
• Click on Next to go through the next few screens, where you will be asked to choose the directory to store the packages (called the Local Package Directory), your Internet connection type, and a download site.
• Click on Next again to get to the Select Packages screen, and select the following packages (click on cygwin to toggle):

• All cygwin Default
• Archive cygwin Default, plus manually select the zip package
• Base cygwin Default, plus manually select the following extra packages: ash, coreutils, findutils, gawk, grep, sed, tar and which
• Devel cygwin Default, plus manually select binutils, gcc, gcc-core, gcc-g++, make and mktemp
• Doc cygwin Default, plus manually select cygwin-doc and man
• Editors cygwin Default, plus manually select vim
• Interpreters cygwin Default, plus manually select gawk
• Shells cygwin Default, plus manually select ash and tcsh
• Utils cygwin Default, plus manually select cygutils, diffutils and file

• Click on Next again to download the selected files.

Install Cygwin
Once the download is complete, perform the following steps to install Cygwin:

• Launch setup.exe again to conduct the install.
• From the Choose Installation Type screen, choose Option 3, Install from Local Directory.
• Click Next, and specify the Root Directory where you wish to install Cygwin (created in Step 2), and DOS as the Default Text File Type.
• Click Next and specify the same Local Package Directory from Step 3.
• Click Next to get to the Select Packages screen.
• Choose All cygwin Install (click on cygwin to toggle). Note: Do not choose All cygwin Default, since this will not include all the necessary files.
• Click on Next again to conduct the installation

Verify Package Versions
Verify that the versions of packages, such as Bash and Make, are supported for use with Oracle Applications Release 11i. See the Attention at the top of this document for supported versions.

To determine the package versions:

C:\> cd
C:\> make --version
C:\> bash --version

Note: Depending on how the packages are installed, the Cygwin Installer may display the incorrect package version information. Use the command-line interface to verify the correct package version.
Note: Make versions 3.79.1-7 and 3.80-1 and Bash versions 3.0-11, 3.1-9, 3.2.9-11, and 3.2.25-16 from Cygwin are supported for use with Oracle E-Business Suite R12. Other versions are currently not supported.

If any of the package versions are not supported, perform the following to update the package:

* Download a supported version of the package from http://cygwin.paracoda.com/release/.
* Overwrite the existing version of the package with the supported version of the package:

C:\> cd
C:\> tar -xjvf \

Update Compatibilty with Shell Scripts
Type these commands to maintain compatibility with existing shell scripts:
C:\> copy gawk.exe awk.exe (answer yes to copy over existing file)
C:\> copy grep.exe egrep.exe
C:\> copy make.exe gnumake.exe
C:\> copy gcc.exe cc.exe

Note: There may be a problem overwriting files, delete the destination file first before overwriting.

Add Cygwin Bin Directory to Path
Add the cygwin bin directory to the system path. For instance:
C:\> set path = %path%;D:\cygwin\bin

Next Step
If you have installed MKS Toolkit before, uninstall it and clean up windows environment from MKS Toolkit leftovers.
On Oracle EBS installation, when you asked to input UNIX Toolkit directory, use D:\cygwin\bin

Stage area is mandatory on R12 install

I have tried to install R12 directly from DVD and failed. I asked metalink and the answer was I have to create stage area. Wow that would be 33 GB.