E-Business Suite Support Analyzer Bundle Menu Tool and Automatically Updating Analyzers

If you support Oracle EBS R12 then you are familiar with the Oracle Analyzers. They are essentially reports that were designed by Oracle Support to assist with diagnosing issues by providing detailed analysis and even some potential solutions, like applying a relevant generic data fix or suggesting a patch. These analyzers can also speed up your response time when creating an SR by providing the outputs for the relevant analyzers in a product family when you initiate the SR.

The issue with the Analyzers is that there are a lot of them, and maintaining them can become difficult. This is because Analyzers are basically scripts that can be ran manually by your DBA or can be setup to run as a concurrent program (not all Analyzers allow for this). What this means is that it's time consuming to install analyzers and configure them to be ran as concurrent programs and then keeping them up to date, as Oracle releases new versions of the packages behind said Analyzers rather often.

Here is where the Bundle Analyzer tool comes into play. It makes it easy to install all the available Analyzers from a menu that can be easily navigated and utilized by a System Administrator or DBA. You can also quickly load and register analyzers as concurrent programs and also have the ability to uninstall them. Basically, the tool provides a simple interface that makes it really easy to perform these tasks.

You also don't need to worry about data integrity, per Oracle, "Application data is not altered in any way when the Analyzer Bundle Menu is installed or when any Support Analyzer is run."

What this allows you to do, as a support team, is quickly spinning up the analyzers you want to use and update them on a regular basis, maybe when you do your releases, or anytime you wish and as time allows. One of the features of the tool is that you can bulk load all analyzers in a given EBS product family or even all analyzers in all families, as well as individual analyzers, if you don't want to complicate matters by having unnecessary capabilities.

The installation steps are very simple for any DBA or System Administrator, and all the steps are outlined in the below note provided by Oracle:

E-Business Suite Support Analyzer Bundle Menu Tool (Doc ID 1939637.1)

Now, while the Bundle tool greatly simplifies this effort of obtaining analyzers and updating them, there’s still manual work involved, and many of us have asked whether there's some way to automate this further.

In response, Oracle has now released a new feature allowing concurrent programs to be scheduled to address updating analyzers using the bundle tool. This can allow you to automate updating your existing analyzers on a regular basis without human intervention.

All the details in regards to this valuable enhancement to the Analyzer Bundle tool can be seen in the below note provided by Oracle. The note contains all the details around the two concurrent programs involved in the Auto Update feature and how it works.

E-Business Suite Support Analyzer Bundle AutoUpdate Concurrent Program (Doc ID 2377353.1)

This is an extremely powerful tool that can truly enhance your capabilities to support your customers proactively and I urge everyone to explore it.

Regards,

Julio

Java Web Start for Oracle EBS

Hello Everyone,

I have been exploring options in regards to our dependency on Internet Explorer (slow and clunky) due to the fact that we rely on the Java Plug-in (NPAPI) to launch the EBS Forms, and IE is the last reliable browser to support the Netscape Plug-in Application Programming Interface (NPAPI), which limits our users to only utilize this browser. Additionally, Microsoft continues to slowly but surely phase out IE in favor of Edge.

Those used to be our only problems, Oracle planned to deprecate the Java Plug-in for web browsers starting with the release of Java SE 9 (and they have).

The solution that Oracle is now offering in regards to these problems is Java Web Start. Java Web Start applications can be launched independently of a browser since they do not rely on a browser plug-in, and it provides a migration path from Java applets.

Below is a snippet of the architectural differences between the NPAPI approach and the Java Web Start approach:

The below is a snippet from Oracle in regards to Java Web Start:

What is Java Web Start?

Java Web Start provides a browser-independent architecture for deploying Java 2 technology-based applications to the client desktop. With Java Web Start, users can launch a Java application by clicking a link in a web page. The link points to a Java Network Launch Protocol (JNLP) file, which instructs Java Web Start software to download, cache, and run the application. This way, users can download and launch applications without going through additional installation procedures.

Java Web Start software is installed as part of the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) software. Users do not have to install Java Web Start software separately or perform additional tasks to use Java Web Start applications.

What will this help solve?

1. Oracle, and modern browsers, will soon (already have) stop supporting NPAPI and launching Oracle Forms as we do today will not be possible (without major security concerns).
2. Many On-Prem EBS shops have issues today keeping up with JRE versions, and continue to use JRE 6 or 7, due to complexities around signing JAR files and the JRE executable (and compatibility issues with customizations).
3. Internal security guidance at most companies is aggressively moving to being more up to date with JRE versions on workstations, and Java Web Start is less dependent on the JRE and Oracle is working hard on ensuring the latest versions of JRE support Java Web Start.
4. Users can again utilize their preferred browser to navigate Oracle EBS Forms (such as Chrome, Firefox and Edge), and will no longer be limited to Internet Explorer.

In terms of implementation, if you are still on SSL, I believe you should combine these initiatives (Webstart and TLS migration) given you will also need to perform Forms testing when implementing TLS due to certain pre-requisite patches, and some tech-stack prerequisites are shared.

These are not nice to haves, this is the guidance from Oracle in terms of where they are moving with Forms and browser security. I believe the sooner you take these on the better, both of these are recommendations/mandates from Oracle noted in the Quarterly EBS Upgrade Recommendations: July 2018 Edition (and previous editions going back to 2017, however, they weren’t very mature).

I recommend you do a POC of the Java Web Start component by applying the pre-requisite patches in a test environment to test functionality and some key custom forms (which Oracle says should be fully supported by switching from NPAPI to Java Web Start).

Below are some key documents around Java Web Start (which is now fully supported for Oracle E-Business Suite Releases 12.2 and 12.1):

Using Java Web Start with Oracle E-Business Suite (Doc ID 2188898.1)

https://blogs.oracle.com/stevenchan/java-web-start-now-available-for-ebs-121-and-122

https://blogs.oracle.com/stevenchan/e-business-suite-and-java-web-start%3a-frequently-asked-questions

Thanks,
Julio

Collaborate 15 - Thoughts and Tips

Hello Everyone,

     I just got back from Collaborate 15 in Las Vegas, and I must say, this is a must for any OAUG, IOUG or Quest members. Why? Three reasons mainly:

1) The sessions presented by Oracle and third party companies utilizing Oracle technology.
          These can be really good or really bad. The ones presented by Oracle, are usually good and informative. They present new products by Oracle, or have technical sessions regarding current products. The sessions by third parties, these sometimes can be a sales pitch for the respective companies, but some of them provide very technical details and will give you an insight that Oracle will often not give you (why blast their own products).

2) The networking! You get to meet thousands (yes!) of professionals who work in YOUR area and share the same interests. Many of them from different companies all around the world!

3) The exhibit hall! Here you get to demo many third party software that can enhance your Oracle installation or product. You can also demo new products that Oracle has recently released or will release in the near future. It is also a great chance to collect some freebies from the booths and meet interesting people.

Now some tips for the conference:
- Plan out the sessions you will attend early! Utilize the Collaborate App (can be downloaded from the usual outlets). But, go back often because the sessions will sometimes change locations, or sessions can be added or removed. Also, you can utilize the app to download presentation materials, rate the presenters, and network with other attendees.

- Book your hotel early! Specially in Vegas, where the conference will be held for the next two years as well! Hotels get filled and the prices sky rocket, so keep this in mind!

- If you are attending in Vegas, buy a mono rail pass or a bus pass! This way you can move freely around the strip and have some healthy fun after your sessions are over for the day!

- Do not be shy! Talk to people, exchange business cards (yes bring these!), connect with them on LinkedIn, these connections can pay off in many ways.

- Take notes during your sessions!! There is great information buried in even the most boring of presentations, arm yourself with this knowledge and apply it in your work place!

- We all want to walk around the strip and enjoy Vegas, but please visit the exhibit hall! Many of the products showcased can add value to your environments and also you can win some cool prices!

If you are wondering what this conference is and you are an Oracle professional, then you are behind! Look it up and arm youself with this knowledge. If your company is not an OAUG member and utilizes Oracle, then make a case to them to become a member and then make an even stronger case for them to send you to the conference! It is definitely worth it and can add value to any organization.

Please ask away should you have any questions regarding the conference or Collaborate 15.

Thanks,
Julio