Apps DBA Interview Questions & Answers

 Oracle Apps DBA Interview Questions – I

1.  I am applying a patch, can I open another session and run adadmin?
Ans:  Yes, unless you are running a process where workers are involved

2.  I am applying a patch, can I open another session in another node and run adpatch?
Ans:  No

3.  Output & logfiles for requests executed on source instance not working on cloned instance?
Ans: Check whether apps listener is running

4.  What happens if you don’t give cache size while defining concurrent manager?
Ans: Most often when a request goes “inactive/no manager” and is then processed a short time later, the solution is to either increase the cache size for your Standard manger, or increase the actual number of Standard Manager processes that can run. Cache Size is set in the Concurrent/Manager/Define form. Basically, this regulates how many requests a manager will pick up for each sleep cycle.

5.  Why should Apps & Applsys passwords always be the same?
Ans: The need to have the same password for Apps and Applsys is because when you sign on to apps, intially it connects to a public schema called APPLSYSPUB. This validates AOL username and password that we enter (operations/welcome using guest user account. Once this is verified we select responsibility, this is validated by APPLSYS schema and then it connects to APPS schema.  Since it uses both applsys and apps during signon process this expects both the password to be identical. Try changing apps password to something else and try to login, the validation at the last stage would fail. This would result in failure of application login.
Apps is a universal schema has synonyms to all base product tables and sequences. This also has code objects for all products (triggers, views, packages, synonyms etc.).  Applsys schema has applications technology layer products like FND and AD etc.

6.  How to Complie Invalid Objects?
Ans: alter package <package_name> compile ;alter package <packae_ame> compile body;alter view <view_name> compile;
SQL>EXEC UTL_RECOMP.RECOMP_PARALLEL(4);
SQL>@$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/utlrp.sql

7.  Why DB-CM-ADMIN are always insatlled on the same machine in Oracle Applications in Multi Node Installation?
Ans: There is no restriction to install all of them on a single machine,but if we install them on 3 different machines then when we will run any AD utility on admin node or perform any upgradation it needs to access the database so there will be lot of overhead in accessing the database node on network so to avoid this overhead we install them on same machine. Similar is the case when we run any concurrent request on the CM node as Concurrent manager also updates the database objects.

8.  What URL you use to access Disco viewer & Disco plus.
Ans:  http://hostname.domain/discoverer4i/viewer
http://hostname.domainname:port/discoverer/viewer (10gAS)
http://hostname.domainname:http_port/discoverer/viewer ( R12)
http://hostname.domainname:port/discoverer/plus (10gAS)

9.  What is Yellow Bar Warning?
Ans: Oracle Applications Release 11.5.1 (11i) requires that its code run in a trusted mode, and uses J-Initiator to run Java applets on a desktop client. If an applet is “trusted,” however, Java will extend the privileges of the applet. The Yellow Warning Bar is a warning that your applet is not running in a trusted mode. To indicate that an applet is trusted, it must be digitally signed using a digital Certificate, so Oracle Applications requires that all Java archive files must be digitally signed.

10.  How to find if any service is listening on particular port or not?
Ans: netstat -an | grep {port no}

11.  How can u change the logfiles location suppose CM logfile location is APPLCSF
Ans: Change the Configuration File parameters change s_applcsf,s_appllog,s_applout variables in XML file and run the autoconfig.

12.  Conflict resolution managers resolves the conflicts yes , but hw it knows tht there are conficts?why conflicts occur?
Ans: Concurrent managers read request to start concurrent programs running. The Conflict Resolution Manager checks concurrent program definitions for incompatibility rules. If a program is identified as Run Alone, then the Conflict Resolution Manager prevents the concurrent managers from starting other programs in the same conflict domain.
When a program lists other programs as being incompatible with it, the Conflict Resolution Manager prevents the program from starting until any incompatible programs in the same domain have completed running.

13.  What is adovars.env file ?
Ans: The adovars.env file, located in $APPL_TOP/admin, specifies the location of variousfiles such as Java files, HTML files, and JRE (Java Runtime Environment) files. It is called from the main applications environment file.

14.  How to find the wordsize (32-bit or 64-bit) of Oracle Database
Ans: $cd $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/bin
$file oracle

15.  How to Compile JSP’s without using ADADMIN
Ans:  perl -x $JTF_TOP/admin/scripts/ojspCompile.pl –compile

16.  What is wdbsvr.app file used for? What’s full path of this file? What’s significance of this file ?
Ans:  $IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/modplsql/cfg
This file is used by mod_plsql component of Apache to connect to database. So when you type url http://hostname:port/pls/SID , whenever Apache(11i Web Server) finds that request is for /pls/ then Apache delegates this request to mod_pls component which in turn pick this file & check if there is any DAD with name SID

17.  Whats main concurrent Manager types.
Ans:  ICM – Internal Concurrent Manager which manages concurrent ManagersStandard Managers – Which Manage processesing of requests.
CRM – Conflict Resolution Managers , resolve conflicts in case of incompatibility.Transactions Managers – These managers are process for particler business Applications.Custom Concurrent Managers – The managers defined by the users.

18.  what are .rf9 files?
Ans:  These files are used during restart of patch in case of patch failure because of some reason.
Located in $APPL_TOP/admin/<SID>/restart this folder also contains .bak ,.bk2 filesSAMPLE FILE (adwork012.rf9)
%%% restart file format 11.5.A
Location: $APPL_TOP/admin/<SID>/log contains .req files

19.  Where is appsweb.cfg or appsweb_$CONTEXT.cfg stored & why its used?
Ans:  This file is defined by environment variable FORMS60_WEB_CONFIG_FILE This is usually in directory $OA_HTML/bin or $FNS_TOP/Resource on forms tier. This file is used by any forms client session. When a user try to access forms , f60webmx picks up this file and based on this configuration file creates a forms session to user/client.

20.  Can you clone from multi node system to single node system & vice versa?
Ans:  Yes, This is now supported via Rapid Clone

21.  Does rapid clone takes care of oraInventory after clone?
Ans:  Yes, Rapid Clone will automatically Update Global oraInventory during configuration phase.

22.  What is .dbc file , where its stored , whats use of .dbc file ?
Ans:  dbc file called as database connect descriptor file which stores database connection information used by application tier to connect to database.  This file is in directory $FND_TOP/secure also called as FND_SECURE

23.  What are the ways to reduce patch timing?
Ans:  Merging patches via admrgpch
Use various adpatch options like nocompiledb or nocompilejsp
Use defaults file
Staged APPL_TOP during upgrades
Increase batch size (Might result into negative )

24.  How you put Applications 11i in Maintenance mode?
Ans:  Use adadmin to change Maintenance mode is Oracle Apps. With AD.I you need to enable maintenance mode in order to apply apps patch via adpatch utility. If you don’t want to put apps in maintenance mode you can use adpatch options=hotpatch feature.
Also you can use the script $AD_TOP/patch/115/sql/ adsetmmd.sql

25.  What are various options available with adpatch?
Ans:  Various options available with adpatch depending on your AD version are autoconfig, check_exclusive, checkfile, compiledb, compilejsp, copyportion, databaseprtion,generateportion, hotpatch, integrity, maintainmrc, parallel, prereq, validate

26.  adident utility is used for what ?
Ans:  adident utility in oracle apps is used to find version of any file . AD Identification.
for ex. “adident Header <filename>

27.  What is adsplice utility?
Ans:  adsplice in oracle apps is utility to add a new product.

28.  How can you licence a product after installation?
Ans:  You can use ad utility adlicmgr to licence product in Oracle Apps.

29.  What is MRC? What you do as Apps DBA for MRC?
Ans:  MRC also called as Multiple Reporting Currency in oracle Apps. Default you have currency in US Dollars but if your organization operating books are in other currency then you as apps dba need to enable MRC in Apps. How to enable MRC coming soon…

30.  Whats is JVM(Java Virtual Machine) and which component uses JVM ?
Ans:  JVM stands for Java Virtual Machine, JVM acronym for Java Virtual Machine which executes instructions generated by Java compiler. So user click on any Self Service Request or any program which uses Java, then Apache forwards this request to mod_jserv (mod_oc4j in 10g AS) & mod_jserv caters this request with help of JVM.

Oracle Apps DBA Interview Questions – II

31.  Where to find Apps 11i JVM logs?
Ans:  JVM log location is defined in java.sh ( found in $IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Apache/bin) Oracle Apps 11i JVM log file directory is defined by parameter JVMLOGDIR ($IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Jserv/logs/jvm ) and log file are defined by STDOUTLOG & STDERRLOG. Example of JVM log files are OACoreGroup.0.stderr ,OACoreGroup.0.stdout, DiscoGroup.0.stdout, DiscoGroup.0.stderr,XmlSvcsGrp.0.stderr, XmlSvcsGrp.0.stdout where 0 denotes first JVM & 1 denotes second JVM. stderr records error encountered in JVM & stdout records other information like GC ..

32.  How to check JDBC Connection?
Ans:  select count(*),module from v$session where program like ‘%JDBC%’ group

33.  What is error_log in Apache,what entries are recored in access_log ? Where is default location of this file?
Ans:  Error_log will contain all the errors/warnings faced Apache web server in Oracle Apps 11i.  This file location is defined in httpd.conf with default location at $IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Apache/logs.

34.  What is access_log in apache , what entries are recored in access_log ? Where is default location of this file?
Ans:  access_log in Oracle Application Server records all users accessing oracle applications 11i.  This file location is defined in httpd.conf with default location at $IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Apache/logs.

35.  Where is Jserv configuration files stored?
Ans:  Jserv configuration files are stored in $IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Jserv/etc

36.  What are main configuration files in Web Server (Apache)?
Ans:  Main configuration files in Oracle Apps Web Server are
httpd.conf,
httpd_pls.conf,
jserv.conf,
jserv.properties,
zone.properties

37.  What is session time out parameter & where all you define these values?
Ans:  In Apps there are two broad categories of session
- Self Service Application Session ( Server by Web Server iAS Apache & Jserv, like iRecruitment,iProcurement)
- Forms session ( served by your form session, like system Administrator)
What is Session Idle time ?
If Oracle Apps client is not doing any activity for some time session during that time is called as Idle Session & because of security reason, performance issues and to free up system resource Oracle Applications terminates client session( both forms & self service) after idle time value is reached to the one mentioned in configuration file.
From FND.G or 11.5.9 or with introduction of AppsLocalLogin.jsp to enter into application, profile option “ICX Session Timeout” is used only to determine Forms Session Idle timeout value .
This might be confusing as earlier this profile option used to control forms as well as self service application(with session.timeout) session.timeout is used to control Idle session timeout for Self Service Applications ( Served by Jserv via JVM )
From where ICX : Session Timeout & session.timeout get values ?
Autoconfig determines value for profile option “ICX: Session Timeout” and “session.timeout” from entry in context file ( $APPL_TOP/admin/SID_hostname.xml ) with parameter s_sesstimeout
where value mentioned is in milliseconds so profile option ICX: Session Timeout value should be s_sesstimeout/ (1000 * 60) which means here its 10 Minutes. This value is also set in
zone.properties in $IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Jserv/etc where number mentioned is in milli second i.e. 600000 ( equal to 10 Minutes)session.timeout = 600000 session.timeout mentioned in zone.properties is in milli secondsICX Session Time out mentioned in profile option ICX: Session Timeout is in minutes so ICX session timeout=30 & session.timeout= 1800,000 are same 30 minutes

38.  What is your Oracle Apps 11i Webserver Version and how to find it?
Ans:
cd $IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Apache/bin
./httpd -version
Server version: Oracle HTTP Server Powered by Apache/1.3.19
Server built: Dec 1- 2010 14:59:13 (iAS 1.0.2.2.2 rollup 5)

39.  How to determine Oracle Apps 11i Version?
Ans:  SQL>select RELEASE_NAME from fnd_product_groups;

40.  What is content of dbc file & why its important?
Ans:  DBC file is quite important as whenever Java or any other program like forms want to connect to database it uses dbc file. Typical entry in dbc file is GUEST_USER_PWD ,APPS_JDBC_URL ,DB_HOST

41.  There are lot of dbc file under $FND_SECURE, How its determined that which dbc file to use from $FND_SECURE?
Ans:  This value is determined from profile option “Applications Database ID”

42.  What is RRA/FNDFS?
Ans:  Report Review Agent(RRA) also referred by executable FNDFS is default text viewer in Oracle Applications 11i for viewing output files & log files.

43.  What is PCP is Oracle Applications 11i?
PCP is acronym for Parallel Concurrurent Processing. Usually you have one Concurrent Manager executing your requests but if you can configure Concurrent Manager running on two machines (Yes you need to do some additional steps in order to configure Parallel Concurrent Processing) .So for some of your requests primary CM Node is on machine1 and secondary CM node on machine2 and for some requests primary CM is on machine2 & secondary CM on machine1.

44.  What is use of Apps listener?
Ans:  Apps Listener usually running on All Oracle Applications 11i Nodes with listener alias as APPS_$SID is mainly used for listening requests for services like FNDFS & FNDSM.
FNDFS – FND File Server also known as RRA Reports Review Agent is used to view text files in Oracle 11i.
FNDSM – FND Service Manager is a concurrent manager in GSM, and serves requests like CM’s

45.  How will you find Invalid Objects in database?
Ans:
sql>select count(*) from dba_objects where status like ‘INVALID’;

46.  What is difference between adpatch & opatch?
Ans:  adpatch is utility to apply oracle applications patches whereas opatch is utility to apply database patches

47.  What is forms server executable Name?
Ans:  f60srvm

48.  What are different modes of forms in which you can start Forms Server and which one is default?
Ans:  You can start forms server in SOCKET or SERVLET by defualt Forms are configured to start in socket mode
http://www.dbatutor.com/2010/12/forms-servlet-or-socket-mode-which-is.html

49.  Where is HTML Cache stored in Oracle Apps Server?
Ans:  Oracle HTML Cache is available at $COMMON_TOP/_pages for some previous versions you might find it in $OA_HTML/_pages

50.  What is 0 & Y in FNDCPASS, FNDLOAD or WFLOAD?
Ans:  0 & Y are flags for FND Executable like FNDCPASS & FNDLOAD where 0 is request id (request ID 0 is assigned to request ID’s which are not submitted via Submit Concurrent Request Form.  ‘Y’ indicates the method of invocation. i.e. it is directly invoked from the command-line not from the Submit Request Form.

51.  What is TWO_TASK in Oracle Database?
Ans:  TWO_TASK mocks your tns alias which you are going to use to connect to database. Lets assume you have database client with tns alias defined as PROD to connect to Database PROD on machine appsdbatraining.com listening on port 1521. Then usual way to connect is sqlplus username/passwd@PROD ; now if you don’t want to use @PROD then you set  TWO_TASK=PROD and then can simply use sqlplus username/passwd then sql will check that it has to connect to tnsalias define by value PROD i.e. TWO_TASK

52.  What is GWYUID?
Ans:  GWYUID , stands for Gateway User ID and password. Usually like APPLSYSPUB/PUB

53.  Where GWYUID defined & what is its used in Oracle Applications?
Ans:  GWYUID is defined in dbc i.e. Database Connect Descriptor file . It is used to connect to database by thin clients.

54.  How to check number of forms users at any time?
Ans:  Forms Connections initiate f60webmx connections so you can use
ps -ef | grep f60webmx | wc -l

55.  What is FNDLOAD and what it is used for?
http://www.dbatutor.com/2010/12/what-is-fndload.html

56.  How can you check which node is running what service?
Ans:  select * from fnd_nodes;

57.  What is difference between Socket & Servlet Mode in Apps Forms?
http://www.dbatutor.com/2010/12/forms-servlet-or-socket-mode-which-is.html

58.  What is make program in Unix?
Ans:  make is utility in Unix/Linux to maintain , update & generate an file mainly executable.

59.  What are .ldt & .lct files which you see in apps patch or with FNDLOAD?
http://www.dbatutor.com/2010/12/what-is-fndload.html

60.  What are .odf file in apps patch?
Ans:  odf stands for Object Description Files used to create tables & other database objects.

Oracle Apps DBA Interview Questions – III

1.  How to determine Oracle Apps 11i Version?
Ans : select RELEASE_NAME from fnd_product_groups;
You should see output like
RELEASE_NAME….
11.5.10.2

2.  How to find Database version?
Ans : SQL> select * from v$version;
The command returns the release information, such as the following:Oracle9i Enterprise Edition Release 9.2.0.7.0 – ProductionPL/SQL Release 9.2.0.7.0 – ProductionCORE 9.2.0.7.0 ProductionTNS for 32-bit Windows: Version 9.2.0.7.0 – ProductionNLSRTL Version 9.2.0.7.0 – Production

3.  How to find opatch Version?
Ans : opatch is utility to apply database patch , In order to find opatch version execute”$ORACLE_HOME/OPatch/opatch version”

4.  How to find out invalid objects in the database?
Ans : select count(*) from dba_objects where status =’INVALID’

5.  How you will see hidden files in linux/solaris?
Ans : ls -la

6.  How to find that the database is 64-bit/32-bit?
Ans : $RDBMS_ORACLE_HOME/bin/file oracle

7.  What is top command?
Ans : top is a operating system command, it will display top 10 processes which are taking high cpu and memory.

8. What is a patch?
Ans : A patch can be a solution for a bug/it can be a new feature.

9. What are the different types of patches?
Ans : oneoff, mini packs, family packs, maintanance packs, rollup pathches, colsolidated patches.

10. What is a one off patch?
Ans : An oneoff patch is a small patch of (20-90K size) without any pre-req’s

11. What is a mini pack?
Ans : A mini pack is one which will upgrade any product patchset level to next level like AD.H to AD.I

12. What is Family pack?
Ans : A Family pack is one which will upgade the patchset level of all the products in that family to perticular patchsetlevel.

13. What is Maintanance pack?
Ans : A maintanance pack will upgrade applications from one version to another like 11.5.8 to 11.5.9

14. What is a Rollup patch?
Ans: A rollup patch is one which will deliver bug fixes identified after the release of any major application versions like 11.5.8/11.5.9

15. What is consilidated patch?
Ans: Consolidated patches will come into pictures after upgrades from one version of applications to anoter, all post upgrade patches will a consolidated and given as consolidated patch.

16. How u will find whether a patch is applied/not?
Ans : Query ad_bugs.

17. What is the other table where u can query what are the patches applied?
Ans : Ad_applied_patches

18. What is the difference between ad_bugs and ad_applied_patches?
Ans: A patch can deliver solution for more than one bug, so ad_applied_patches may not give u the perfect information as in case of ad_bugs.

19. How u apply a patch?
Ans : adpatch

20. What inputs you need to apply a patch other than driver name and etc?
Ans : apps and system passwords

21. What are the table u r adpatch will create and when?
Ans : Adpatch will create FND_INSTALL_PROCESSES and AD_DEFERRED_JOBS table when it will apply d,g and u drivers

22. What is the significance of FND_INSTALL_PROCESSES and AD_DEFERRED_JOBS table?
Ans: FND_INSTALL_PROCESSES table will store the worker information like what job is assigned to which worker and its status. AD_DEFERRED_JOBS will come into picture when some worker is failed, it will be moved to AD_DEFERRED_JOBS table, from where again adpatch will take that job and try to resign, after doing this 3 times if still that worker is failing, then adpatch will stop patching and throw the error that perticular worker has failed. We need to trouble shoot and restrart the worker.

23. If it is a multinode installation which driver we need to apply on which node?
Ans: c,d,g on concurrent node and c, g on web node. If it is u-driver we need to apply on all nodes.

24.While applying a application patch is that necessary that u r database and listener should be up?
Ans: Yes . why because adpatch will connect to database and update so many tables etc…..

25. While applying a patch if that patch is failing because of a pre-req then how you will apply that pre-req patch and resume with the current patch?
Ans: We need to take the backup of FND_INSTALL_PROCESSES and AD_DEFERRED_JOBS tables and restart directory at APPL_TOP/amdin/SID and then use adctrl to quit all the workers. Then apply the pre-req patch , after that rename u r restart directory to its original name and create FND_INSTALL_PROCESSES and AD_DEFERRED_JOBS tables from the bcakup tables. Start adpatch session and take the options want to continue previous session.

26. What is adctrl?
Ans: Adctrl is one of the adutilities, which is used to check the status of workers and to manage the workers.

27. Can u name some of the menu options in adctrl?
Ans: Check the status of workers, tell manager that worker has quited, restart a failed worker etc….

28. How to skip a worker and why?
Ans: We can skip a worker using option 8 in adctrl which is hidden. We will go for skipping a worker when we have executed the job which the worker is supposed to do.

29. How adpatch knows what are the pre-req’s for the patch which it is applying?
Ans: With every patch a file called b.ldt file will be delivered which contain the pre-req information. adpatch load this into databse using FNDLOAD and check , whether those pre-req patches were applied or not.

30. What is FNDLOAD?
Ans: FNDLOAD is a utility which is similar to sqlloder but loads code objects into database, where as SQLLOADER loads data objects into database.

31. What c-driver will do?
Ans:  C-drive copies the files from patch unzipped directory to required location in u r application file system. Before copying it will check the file version of the existing file at the file system with the file version of the file in the patch. If the patch file version is higher than what it is at file system level then only c-driver will copy that files.

32. How adpatch will know the file versions of the patch delivered files?
Ans:  With each patch a file with name f.ldt is delivered , which contain the file versions of the files dilivered with the patch. Adpatch will use this file to compare the file versions of files its delivering with the file on file system.

33. What is the adpatch log file location?
Ans : APPL_TOP/admin/SID/log

34. What is the worker log file name and its location?
Ans : adwork01,adwork02…… and location is APPL_TOP/admin/SID/log

35. How u will know what are the files the patch is going to change just my unzipping the patch?
Ans:  When u unzip a patch it will keep all the files related to a particular product under that directory inside u r patch directory for example if the patch delivering files related to FND product then it will create a sub directory under the patch directory with the name FND in which it will put all related files to that product

36. What is the significance of backup directory under u r patch directory?
Ans:  When we apply a patch it will keep the copy of the files which its going to change in file system.

37. What are the different modes you can run your adpatch?
Ans:
1.Interactive – default mode
2.Non interactive – Use defaults files to store prompt values
(adpatch defaultsfile= interactive=no)
3. Test – Without actually applying a patch just to check what doing.(adpatch apply=no)
4. Pre-install – (adpatch preinstall=y)
This mode will be usefull to discrease upgrade downtime as its applies bus fixes without running SQL,EXEC and generate portion of patch.

38. How u will monitor u r applications as well as database?
Ans:  We have our custom scripts which is sheduled to run at a specific time which will monitor whether applications and databases are up/not. And it will mail us if some processes is not running. And we have one script which will check database alert log for ORA errors and mails it to us . Based on this we will react.

39. What are the latest ORA errors u have encountered?
Ans:  Useually we will get the ORA errors like unable to extend the tablespace by so and so size. And we will check those tablespaces for space, if space is not there we will resize the datafile and add one more datafile.

40. Which table u will query to check the tablespace space issues?
Ans : bytes column in dba_free_spaces and dba_data_files

41. Which table u will query to check the temp tablespace space issues?
Ans : dba_temp_files

42. What is temp tablespace? And what is the size of temp tablespace in u r instances?
Ans : Temp tablespace is used by so many application programs for sorting and other stuff. Its size is between 3 to 10 GB.

43. What is autoconfig?
Ans : Autoconfig is an adutility which is used to main application environment and configuration files.

44. What are the parameter autoconfig will ask for?
Ans : Context file name and apps password

45. What is context file?
Ans : Context file is a central repositary, which stores all application configuration information. The name is like _ .xml

46. How you will find autoconfig is enabled/not for u r applications?
Ans: 1. Open any env / configuration files, the first few lines will tell u that this files are maintained by autoconfig.2. If contextname.xml file is there in APPL_TOP/admin

47. How autoconfig will create env and configuration files?
Ans: Autoconfig will go to each and every top template directory take the templates from there and fill the values from xml file and create the required files.

48. In how many phases autoconfig will run?
Ans : Autoconfig will run in 3 phases.
1.INIT – Instantiate the drivers and templates
2.SETUP – Fill the templated with values from xml and create files
3.PROFILE – Update the profile values in database.

49. What is the location of adconfig log file?
Ans : APPL_TOP/admin//log/

50. Is it possiable to restore a autoconfig run?
Ans :  Partially. Adconfig will create a restore.sh script at $APPL_TOP/admin//out/. This restore.sh will copy the backed up files before autoconfig run to its original locations. But the profile values updated in the database can’t be restored back.

51. How to run autoconfig in test mode?
Ans :  adchkcfg.sh script at AD_TOP/bin. This script will run autoconfig in test mode and create the difference file which tells us what is going to change , when u actually run autoconfig.

52. How to find autoconfig is enabled or not for database?
Ans:  If we have appsutil directory under RDBMS_ORACLE_HOME
53. When a patch delivers java files what extra file u will get when u unzip the patch, other then u r dirver and readme files?
Ans : j.zip52.

54. What is apps.zip/appsbrog2.zip file?
Ans : apps.zip/appsbrog2.zip is the patchable archive of all java class files required for oracle application.Apps.zip was used to old application version, but from 11.5.8 onwards its appsbrog2.zip

55. What is the location of apps.zip/appsbrog2.zip?
Ans : AU_TOP/java and JAVA_TOP

56. What is for “validating apps schema” option in adadmin?
Ans: It will check for the corrupted objects in apps schema

57. What is “compile apps schema” option in adadmin?
Ans : It will compile the invalid database objects.

58. How to find invalid objects in database?
Ans : select count(*) from dba_objects where status=’INVALID’;

59. How to find MRC is enabled or not?
Ans: In adadmin if covert to MRC options is there , then MRC is not enabled,If maintain MRC options is there , then MRC is enabled.

60. How to find Multi-Org is enabled or not?
Ans: In adadmin if covert to Multi org option is there, then Multi-org is not enabled. If maintain multi-org options is there, then Multi-org is enabled.

61. What is mean by MRC?
Ans: MRC stands for Multiple reporting Currency, this should be enabled to see the reports in different currencies like (rupees,yaans etc).

62. What is Multi-Org?
Ans: If this is enabled we can store multiple organization information in a single oracle application instance.

Oracle Apps DBA Interview Questions – IV

1. What is the configuration file for adutilities (like adadmin,adconfig etc)?
Ans: adconfig.txt @APPL_TOP/admin

2. What is adrelink?
Ans : adrelink will relink the executables with the libraries. Generally we will go for adrelink when some patch delivers some library files, or when executables were corrupted.

 3. How to find the version of a file?
Ans : 1. adident Header 2. strings -a filename grep Header

4. What is adodfcmp utility?
Ans : This utility is used to recreate/repair corrupted database objects from odf(object defination files) files.

5. How you will change apps password?
Ans: FNDCPASS 0 y apps/ system/ SYSTEM APPLSYS

6. What if apps password is changed with alter command?
Ans: Applications won’t work.

7. What is the difference between alter and FNDCPASS in changing apps password?
Ans : FNDCPASS will update some fnd tables other than standard tables.

8. Where the FNDCPASS utility is located?
Ans : Concurrent node @FND_TOP/bin

9. How to find out what component of u r oracle applications were installed on which node?
Ans : Xml file (context file)

10. How to find the version of httpd/Apache web server?
Ans : $IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/bin/httpd –version

11. What is the configuration file for httpd and what is the location of it?
Ans : httpd.conf @IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Apache/conf

12. Where you will see when you have some problem with u r webserver(httpd/Apache)?
Ans : access_log & error_log @IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Apache/logs

13. When Apache starts what other components its start?
Ans : PL/SQL Listener, Servlet Engine, OJSP Engine

14. What is jserv?
Ans : jserv is nothing but servlet engine which will run u r servlets. It’s a module of apache which supports servlets.

15. What is self service application?
Ans : Whatever part of u r oracle application u r able to see through web browser is self service.

16. Where u will see when u r not able to get self service applications?
Ans : access_log,error_log, error_pls, jserv.log, wdbsvr.app(for apps password)

17. What is the location of jserv.log?
Ans : IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Jserv/log

18. What is the location of wdbsvr.app?
Ans : IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/modplsql/cfg

19. What are jserv.conf and jserv.properties files?
Ans : These are the configuration files which were used to start jvm’s(servlet engine) by apache.

20. What is mean by clearing cache and bouncing apache?
Ans :
1. Stop apache (adapcctl.sh stop apps)
2. Clear cache – Go to $COMMON_TOP/html/_pages and delete _oa_html directory
(rm –r _oa__html)
3. Start apache (adapcctl.sh start apps)

21. What is forms configuration file and its location?
Ans : appsweb_contextname.cfg @$COMMON_TOP/html/bin

22. What are the different modes u can start u r form server?
Ans : socket and servlet

23. What is the difference beween socket and servlet mode?
Ans :
In socket mode forms sessions are represented by f60webmx
In servlet mode forms sessions are represented by apache processes.

24. What is forms metric server and client?
Ans : When there are more than one form sever instances then forms metric server and clinet will be used to load balance.

25. Where the forms server related errors will be logged?
Ans : access_log and error_log

26. What is report server configuration and log file name and its location?
Ans : Configuration file – REP_.ora
Log file – REP_.log @806_ORACLE_HOME/reports60/server

27. What is CGIcmd.dat file and its location?
Ans : CGIcmd.dat file is the run time parameter file the report server located @ 806_ORACLE_HOME/reports60/server

28. What is the significance of DISPLAY variable?
Ans : Vnc server should be up and running at the specified port value in DISPLAY variable, otherwise reportserver may not able to show the graphics in Reports.

29. Where is the concurrent manager log file located?
Ans : $COMMON_TOP/admin//log or $APPLCSF/$APPLLOG

30. Is apps password necessary to start all the components of oracle application?
Ans : No. Only to start/stop concurrent managers apps password is needed.

31. What is a concurrent manager?
Ans : A concurrent manager is one which runs concurrent requests.

32. What are the different types of concurrent managers?
Ans :
1. Internal concurrent manager – Will start all other managers and monitor
2. Standard Manager – All concurrent request by default will to go this
3. Conflict resolution manager – Concurrent programs with incompatabilites will be handled by this
4. Transaction manager – Handle all transaction requests

33. What are actual and target count in ‘Adminster Concurrent Managers form’?
Ans : Target is the no. of concurrent processes a manager is supposed to start(specified in the defination of concurrent manager).Actual is the no. of processes a manager started actually.
Target and Actual should be always same.

34. What if Target and Actual are not same?
Ans : It means at operating system level resources are low to accomidate the required processes for concurrent managers.

35. What are work shifts?
Ans : Work shifts are nothing but timings at which the concurrent manager is supposed to run.

36. What if internal concurrent manager target and actual are not same?
Ans : we need to bounce the concurrent manager using adcmctl.sh

37. How to bounce a single concurrent manager?
Ans : From frontend using ‘Administer Concurrent Manager form’.

38. When we change apps password , is it necessary to bounce application?
Ans : Only we need to bounce concurrent managers.

39. What is dbc file and its location?
Ans : dbc file contain database connection information. DBC file is used by oracle applications to connect to database. Its location is $FND_TOP/secure

40. What is the other script by which u can start apache other than adapcctl.sh?
Ans : apachectl @IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/bin

41. What is the configuration file for PL/SQL listener?
Ans : httpd_pls.conf @IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Apache/conf

42. How to skip copy portion while applying a patch?
Ans : Adpatch options=nocopyportion

43. How to merge patches and what type of patches can be merged?
Ans : admrgpch. We can merge any kind of application patches, if any of the patch contain a u-driver then merged patch will contain u_merged.drv otherwise c_merged.drv, d_merged.drv and g_merged.drv

44. What is the Tiered architecture of u r instance?
Ans : Two Tier: Web and Forms on one node and Conc, admin and report on other node.

45. How to find formserver version?
Ans: f60gen and press enter, it will tell u the formserver version or we can find out from the frondend using help menu.

46. What is RRA?
Ans: RRA stands for Report Review Agent. RRA is nothing but FNDFS which is part of apps listener. RRA job is to pick the log/out file from the file system and show on the editor when u press view log/out button in ‘View concurrent request form’.

47. What is apps listener?
Ans : Apps lintener is the combination of FNDFS and FNDSM. FNDSM is service manager which will monitor application services on that node when GSM:enable profile value is ‘Y’.

48. What is GSM?
Ans : GSM stands for Generic service Manager, which will monitor application processes like web, forms etc and restarts any of this processes if goes down.

49. How to find the application version like 11.5.8/11.5.9….?
Ans : select release_name from fnd_product_groups;

50. How to find the database/sqlplus version?
Ans : select banner from v$version;

51. How to find out what are the languages enabled in u r applications?
Ans : Query fnd_languages

52. What is the size of u r database?
Ans: 200 to 500 GB

53. How to find operating system version?
Ans : uname –a

54. What are the problems u have faced while shutting down applications?
Ans : While shutting down application generally concurrent manager won’t go down because some or the other request may be running. We will see what are the concurrent requests running by querying fnd_concurrent_requests, fnd_concurrent_program_vl, v$session,v$process and v$sqltext. If that request is only doing some select statement then we will kill those requests, otherwise we will check what time it will take to complete by querying the previous runs of that request and then we will decide what to do.

55. What are the problems u have faced while starting up applications?
Ans : Most of the time we will encounter problem with starting up concurrent managers. Reasons , database listener may be down or FNDSM entries are wrong in tnsnames.ora of 806_ORACLE_HOME.

56. How to find the locks and what is the resolution?
Ans : we can find general locks with the following query:
select * from sys.dba_dml_locks order by session_id.
We can find the dead locks with the following query:
select * from v$lock where lmode > 0 and id1 in (select distinct id1 from v$lock where request > 0)
If it’s a dead lock, we need to kill that session.

57. How to kill a database session?
Ans : alter system kill session ‘&sid,&sno’;

58. How to find adconfig is enabled for oracle operating system user/database?
Ans : If appsutil directory is there in RDBMS_ORACLE_HOME

59. Which files tell u the database health?
Ans : alert log file @RDBMS_ORACLE_HOME/admin//bdump

60. How to apply a rdbms patch?
Ans : Using opatch

61. How to find opatch is enabled or not for u r database?
Ans: If Opatch directory exists under RDBMS_ORACLE_HOME.

Oracle Apps DBA Interview Questions – V

1. What is the pre-req for applying a rdbms patch?
Ans : OraInventory should be set in file oraInst.loc @/var/opt/oracle or /etc

2. What is OraInventroy?
Ans: The oraInventory is the location for the OUI (Oracle Universal Installer)’s bookkeeping. The orainventory stores information about: All Oracle software products installed in all ORACLE_HOMES on a machine Other non-Oracle products, such as the Java Runtime Environment (JRE).  In a 11i Application system the RDBMS and iAS ORACLE_HOMEs are registered in the oraInventory. The 806 ORACLE_HOME, which is not managed through OUI, is not.

3. What are different types of inventories?
Ans:  The Global orainventory (or Central inventory) The Local inventory (or Home inventory)

4. What is Global orainventory?
Ans : The Global oraInventory is the part of the XML inventory that contains the high level list of all oracle products installed on a machine. There should therefore be only one per machine. Its location is defined by the content of oraInst.loc.The Global OraInventory records the physical location of Oracle products installed on the machine, such as ORACLE_HOMES (RDBMS and IAS) or JRE. It does not have any information about the detail of patches applied to each ORACLE_HOMEs.The Global OraInventory gets updated every time you install or de-install an ORACLE_HOME on the machine, be it through OUI Installer, Rapid Install, or Rapid Clone.
Note: If you need to delete an ORACLE_HOME, you should always do it through the OUI de-installer in order to keep the Global OraInventory synchronized.

5. What is local Orainventory?
Ans : There is one Local OraInventory per ORACLE_HOME. It is physically located inside the ORACLE_HOME at $ORACLE_HOME/inventory and contains the detail of the patch level for that ORACLE_HOME.The Local OraInventory gets updated whenever a patch is applied to the ORACLE_HOME, using OUI.

6. What is rapid clone?
Ans : Rapid Clone is the new cloning utility introduced in Release 11.5.8. Rapid Clone leverages the new installation and configuration technology utilized by Rapid Install
7. How do I determine if my system is rapid clone enabled?
Ans : First, verify that your system is AutoConfig enabled. Then, verify that you have applied the latest Rapid Clone patch.

8. Explain the cloning process?
Ans :
1. Run adpreclone as applmgr and oracle user on source Perl adpreclone.pl dbTier as oracle user Perl adpreclone.pl appsTier as applmgr user
2. Take the cold/hotbackup of source database
3. Copy the five directories appl,comn,ora , db,data to target
4. Rename the directories, and change the permisssion
5. Set the inventory in oraInst.loc
6. Run perl adcfgclone.pl dbTier as oracle user,if the backup type is cold
7. If the backup type is hotbackup then Perl adcfgclone.pl dbTechStack. Create the control file on target from the control script trace file from source Recover the database Alter database open resetlogs
8. Run autoconfig with the ports changed as per requirement in xml.
9. Run perl adcfgclone.pl appsTier as applmgr
10. Run autoconfig with the ports changed as per requirement in xml.

9. What is the location of adpreclone.pl for oracle user?
Ans : RDBMS_ORACLE_HOME/appsutil/scripts/

10. What is the location of adpreclone.pl for applmgr user?
Ans : $COMMON_TOP/admin/scripts/

11. What is the location of adcfgclone.pl for oracle user?
Ans : $RDBMS_ORACLE_HOME/appsutil/clone/bin

12. What is the location of adcfgclone.pl for applmgr user?
Ans : $COMMON_TOP/clone/bin

13. What is statspack?
Ans : Statspack is a database utility to gather database and session level performance information.

14. How to install statspack?
Ans : Run the script spcreate.sql @RDBMS_ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin
Note more details on statspack refer metalink noteid: 149113.1

15. How to enable trace at database level?
Ans : set init.ora parameter sql_trace

16. How to enable trace for a session?
Ans: Alter system set sql_trace=true;
Execute the sql query
Alter system set sql_trace=false;
This will create a trace file at
$RDBMS_ORACLE_HOME/admin/contextname/udump with the spid of the current sql session.

17. How to enable trace for other session?
Ans : exec sys.dbms_system.set_sql_trace_in_session(sid,serial#,true/false)
Eg: To enable trace for sql session with sid 8SQL> exec sys.dbms_system.set_sql_trace_in_session(8,121,true);
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
To disable trace
SQL> exec sys.dbms_system.set_sql_trace_in_session(8,121,false);

18.What is the location of inint.ora ?
Ans : $RDBMS_ORACLE_HOME/dbs

19. What is that trace files contains and the utiliy used to read them?
Ans : Trace file contains the detail diagnostics of a sql statement like explain plan, physical reads, logical reads, buffer gets etc. Tkprof utility is used to convert trace file into readable format.

20. What is the syntax for tkprof?
Ans: tkprof explain=apps/ sys=no

21. How do we find adpreclone is run in source or not ?
Ans: If clone directory exists under RDBMS_ORACLE_HOME/appsutil for oracle user and $COMMON_TOP for applmgr user.

22. Which files it will call when we run adcmctl.sh start apps/apps?
A: It will call FNDLIBR executable, which will be located in $FND_TOP/bin.

23. How to find trace file for a given concurrent request id?
Ans : Go to $RDBMS_ORACLE_HOME/admin//udump
grep “ “ *

24. What is a database link? How to create it?
Ans : If we want to access objects of another database from this database then we need a database link from this database to the other.
1.Login as oracle user
2.sqlplus “/as sysdba”
3. create database link connect to identified by using ”;
Ex
SQL> create database link TEST1_TO_TEST2 connect to apps identified by apps using ‘TEST2′;
Database link created.
SQL> select name from v$database@ TEST1_TO_TEST2;
NAME
———
TEST2
SQL>select db_link from dba_db_links;
4. Add destination database tns entry in tnsnames.ora

25. How many clonings u have done?
Ans : If u r very much confident on cloning processes then say 5 to 8 otherwise just 2 or 3.

26. What u know abt RMAN?
Ans : If u r good at RMAN then say yes, otherwise say we are not using RMAN for backup/recovery , why because we are using netapp snap technology for backups.

27. What is netapp?
Ans : Netapp is a storage technology.

28. What is form server url?
Ans :http://hostname.domain:/dev60cgi/f60cgi

29. What is jinitiator?
Ans : Oracle jinitiator is the one which provide the required jvm to run forms interface/applet. When we access forms applet first time , oracle jinitiator will be installed automatically.

30. What is discoverer server?
Ans : Discoverer server is reporting tools which allows novoice user to use oracle application reports. Discoverer will come along with oracle applications when installed.

31. What is discoverer viewer url?
Ans: /discoverer4i/viewer152. What is discoverer plus url?
Ans : Ans : Aoljtest is a web based utility to test the availability of the different components of oracle applications like jserv,modplsql,jsp,forms etc
URL: /OA_HTML/jsp/fnd/aoljtest.jsp

32. What is adsplicer?
Ans : Adsplicer is a uitility used to register off cycle products.

33. What is licence manager?
Ans : Licence manager(adlicmgr) utility is used to licence/unlicence , enable new languages,enbale country specific functionality.

34. What is tnsping?
Ans : tnsping is command used to check the connectivity to the database server node from other nodes.
Ex: tnsping
Note: Tns entry should be there in tnsnames.ora for the database we are trying to work this command.

35. How to compile a form using f60gen?
Ans:
f60gen module=/TEST/testappl/au/11.5.0/forms/F/ARXTWMAI.fmb userid=APPS/APPS output_file=/TEST/testappl/ar/11.5.0/forms/F/ARXTWMAI.fmx module_type=form batch=yes compile_all=special

36: This is the temporary file location for the pl/sql temp files. If this variable was not set then the concurrent programs may errored out. 161. What is mean by enabling maintanance mode?
Ans: Maintanance mode is the adadmin option introduced from AD.I. When maintanance mode is enabled user may able to login to application but they only get profile option in the frontend navigation menu.

37. Is that necessary to enable maintanance mode while applying a patch?
Ans : We can even apply a patch without enabling maintanance mode with the following option
Adpatch options=hotpatch

38. How to find out oracle application framework version?
Ans : 1. Through aoljtest2. cd $COMMON_TOP/html/3. adident Header OA.jsp

39. How to find out what are the rdbms patches applied to an oracle home?
Ans:
1. opatch lsinventory
2. $RDBMS_ORACLE_HOME/.patch_storage directory contains the directories with the rdbms patch number, which are applied to this oracle home.

40. What is the command line utility to submit a concurrent request?
Ans : CONSUB

41. What is the significance of utl_file_dir parameter in init.ora file?
Ans : The value of this parameter is the group of directories to which u r database can write, means u r database packages have permission to write to flat files in these directories.

42. How you will find out discoverer version?
Ans : cd $806_ORACLE_HOME/discwb4/lib strings libd* grep ‘Version:’

43. While applying a rdbms patch using opatch you are getting the error, unable to read inventory/inventory is corrupted/ORACLE_HOME is not not registered, what you will do, and how you will apply the patch?
Ans: We will check the inventory directory permission, try to apply the patch after giving 777 permissions to that inventory directory. If still it won’t work we will apply patch with the following command:
Opatch apply no_inventory

44. Have you applied rdbms patches and for what?
Ans : We got ORA-7445 error in alert log, for which oracle recommended to apply a rdbms patch.

45. What are the patch errors , you have encountered?
Ans :
1)Patch fails with the error, unable to generate perticular form, do u want to continue. We continue patching by saying “yes”, then we manually regenarate the form using f60gen utility.
2) Unable to generate jar files under JAVA_TOP AutoPatch error: Failed to generate the product JAR files Solution:Run adjkey -initialize ———–to creat identitydb.obj file which will beused by adjava to sign jar files.

46. What is adjkey? What files it will create?
Ans : adjkey is an adutility which will create digital signature, which will be used to sign all t” admin? mailto:adsign.txt@APPL_TOP>adsign.txt@APPL_TOP/adminappltop.cer@APPL_TOP/adminidentitydb.obj@applmgr home

47. What are the post installation task?
Ans : Running adjkey –initialize and then runnning adadmin to regerate jar files.

48. What are the clone errors, you have encountered?
Ans : Error:
RC-50013: Fatal: Failed to instantiate driver/u01/fms2c/appfms2c/fms2cora/iAS/appsutil/driver/instconf.drvCauseThe source instance has files that adpreclone flags as ‘autoconfigable’ but in reality they are not. So adpreclone.pl adds these files into the instconf.drv. Then when adcfgclone.pl is run on target it looks for the template file to instantiate for these files and since there isn’t a template file adcfgclone.pl fails. SolutionModify the target’s instconf.drv and remove the offending lines. Then rerun adcfgclone.pl

49. What are the real time problems you have encountered and how you trouble shooted that?
Ans:1. Concurrent Program is erroing out with snapshot too old error. To resolve this we have added space to temp tablespace.2. Concurrent Program is erroing out with unable to extent a perticular tablespace by so and so extents. To resolve this we have added on more data file to that tablespace.3. When we are trying to start apache with adapcctl.sh script after a autoconfig run, its saying that “node id is not matching with the application server id”. To resolve this we have updated the server id column in fnd_nodes table with the server id value in dbc file.

50. How you will find workflow version?
Ans : Run wfver.sql@FND_TOP/sql script as apps user

51 . When forms are running in servlet mode then the environment variables required for forms must be defined in what file and its location?
Ans : formsservlet.ini@$APACHE_TOP/Jserv/etc.

52. How to find out which patch driver is applied(like c,d,g or u)?
Ans: query ad_patch_drivers.

53. How to find out whether a language patch is applied for a perticular patch?
Ans : Query ad_patch_driver_langs.

54. How to validate that sysadmin password is correct or not from backend?
Ans: select fnd_web_sec.validate_login(‘SYSADMIN’,'Qwert8765′) from dual;

55. How to compile jsp’s(other than from adadmin)?
Ans: Force compilation of all jsps using the following command ojspCompile.pl –compile –flush

56. How to rotate logs for apache logs?
Ans: Using rotatelogs executable in httpd.conf file. Use Errorlog for error_log file rotation. Transferlog for other log files.

57. Other way of checking whether MRC is enabled or not besides using adadmin?
Ans : select multi_currency_flag from fnd_product_groups;

58. How to compile rdf?
Ans: Either using adadmin or rwcon60

59. How to change file/directory owner in linux/solaris?
Ans : chown – R :
Ex: chown – R applmgr:dba testappl

60. How to change the permission of file/directory in linux/solaris?
Ans : chmod –R
Ex : chmod –R 755 testappl

61. What are the files which contain apps password?
Ans : 1. wdbsrv.app@IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/modplsql/cfg
2. CGIcmd.dat@806_ORACLE_HOME/reports60/server
3. wfmail.cfg@FND_TOP/resource – optional
4. CatalogLoader.conf@OA_JAVA – optional
5. CatalogLoader.xml@OA_HTML – optional

62. What is the script to find out ICM status?
Ans : afimchk.sql@FND_TOP/sql

63. What is the script to list the concurrent request status?
Ans: afrqrun.sql@FND_TOP/sql

64. What is the script that Lists managers that currently are running a request?
Ans : afcmrrq.sql@FND_TOP/sql

65. How can I determine whether a template is customizable or non-customizable?
Ans : If a keyword “LOCK” is present at the end of the file entry in the respective driver, then it is a non-customizable template. If the “LOCK” keyword is not seen, then that template can be customized.

66. How to find out JDBC version :
Ans : In the middle tier, edit the jserv.properties file located in the IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Jserv/etc directory- Locate the wrapper.classpath that is pointing to the jdbc zip file/opt/oracle/apps/$TWO_TASK/comn/java/jdbc14.zip

67. How to findout XML Parser Version
Ans : SQL> select WF_EVENT_XML.XMLVersion() XML_VERSION from sys.dual;

68.  How to find out WorkFlow Version
Ans :
SQL> select TEXT Version from WF_RESOURCES where TYPE = ‘WFTKN’ and NAME = ‘WF_VERSION’;

69.  How to find a file version in Application DB:
select v.version,v.CREATION_DATE,c.CREATION_DATE from AD_FILES c,AD_FILE_VERSIONS v where c.FILENAME like ‘ARPURGEB.pls’ AND c.file_id = v.file_id AND c.app_short_name = ‘AR’;
When a copy driver (C) or the copy portion of a unified driver (U) are aborted for any reason, upon reapplying, the CREATION_DATE and/or LAST_UPDATE_DATE columns in the patching history tables (Ex: AD_FILE_VERSIONS)are not updated to show the proper installation date but are left with the 01-01-1950 date. you can resolve the issuse by applying the latest ad.I patch.

70.  How to check whether the product is install,shared and Not installed in Apps.?
Ans : SQL>select t.application_name, t.application_id, i.patch_level, decode(i.status,’I’,’Fully Installed’,‘N’,’Not Installed’,’S’,’Shared’,’Undetermined’) statusfrom fnd_product_installations i, fnd_application_vl twhere i.application_id = t.application_idorder by t.application_id;

Oracle Apps DBA Interview Questions – VI

Q: Why we need to put maintenance mode when we are applying a patch?
A: Maintenance mode provides a clear separation between normal runtime operation of Oracle Applications and system downtime for
maintenance. Enabling the maintenance mode feature shuts down the Workflow Business Events System and sets up function security so
that no Oracle Applications functions are available to users. Used only during AutoPatch sessions, maintenance mode ensures
optimal performance and reduces downtime when applying a patch. For more information, refer to Preparing your System for Patching
in Oracle Applications Maintenance Utilities.

Q: After applying patch why we need to take snapshot and what is the use of it?
A: Snapshot is a view of the system at specific time. In apps, Patch Wizard uses Global snapshot to determine which patches have
been applied to the system and Autopatch uses APPL_TOP snapshot to determine what patches have been applied to that APPL_TOP.
Snapshot actually records the list of files,file versions and bug fixes. Both snapshot are views, they are created once during
installation and then updated during patching. APPL_TOP snapshot information is stored in the AD_SNAPSHOTS, AD_SNAPSHOT_FILES, and
AD_SNAPSHOT_BUGFIXES tables

Q: Whether we can apply 2 patches at a time without merging them, why?
A: We can’t apply 2 patches at a time because when patch started it will create 2 tables in db (AD_DEFERRED_JOBS AND
FND_INSTALL_PROCESSES). If you apply patches at a time both will try to create those 2 tables in db, so both will fail.

Q. After applying patch whether we can revert it back?
A: No, as it is going to update some tables in db.

Q. Whether we need to run adpreclone everytime when we clone, why?
A: We have to run adpreclone if there are changes in any customizations or any other tablespaces like if applied any AD patches,
Big Patches, Minipacks, ATG patches, Tech Stack, and AD Patches. If there are no changes, then i don’t think there is any need to
preclone it again.
Example: When you run adpreclone.pl, it essentially does an “alter database backup controlfile to trace” and stores the information from
that in a file within ${ORACLE_HOME}/appsutil. This represents all of the datafiles in the database at that particular time. The information
gathered at this time represents the state of the source at this time. If you does not run adpreclone.pl again when u do clone next time,
Your backup (your target) represents an earlier time (prior to the addition of that datafile), so the “create controlfile” step
that adcfgclone is doing is going to fail.

Q: What are the main tables related to concurrent managers?
A: FND_NODES
FND_CONCURRENT_PROCESSES (fcproc)
FND_CONCURRENT_REQUESTS (fcr)
FND_CONCURRENT_QUEUES (fcq)
FND_CONCURRENT_PROGRAMS (fcprog)
FND_EXECUTABLES
FND_CP_SERVICES
FND_CONCURRENT_QUEUE_SIZE
FND_CONCURRENT_QUEUE_CONTENT
FND_CONCURRENT_PROGRAM_SERIAL
FND_CONCURRENT_TIME_PERIODS
FND_CONCURRENT_PROCESSORS

Q: What is FNDFS?
A: Report Review Agent(RRA) also referred by executable FNDFS is default text viewer in Oracle Applications 11i for viewing
output files and log files. As most of Applications DBA’s are not clear about Report Server and RRA.

Q: What is FNDSM ?? It has seperate name, what it is?
A: FNDSM is executable & core component in GSM. GSM stands for Generic Service Management Framework. Oracle E-Business Suite
consist of various compoennts like Forms, Reports, Web Server, Workflow, Concurrent Manager .. Earlier each service used to start
at their own but managing these services (given that) they can be on various machines distributed across network. So Generic
Service Management is extension of Concurrent Processing which manages all your services , provide fault tolerance (If some
service is down ICM through FNDSM & other processes will try to start it even on remote server) With GSM all services are
centrally managed via this Framework.

Q: How to check whether ICM is up and running from backend?
A: ps -ef | grep LIB
ps –ef | grep CPMGR
ps –ef | grep FNDCPMBR
$FND_TOP/sql/afcmstat.sql — Displays all the defined managers, their maximum capacity, pids, and their status.
afimchk.sql — Displays the status of ICM and PMON method in effect, the ICM’s log file, and determines if the concurrent manger
monitor is running.
afcmcreq.sql — Displays the concurrent manager and the name of its log file that processed a request.
afrqwait.sql — Displays the requests that are pending, held, and scheduled.
afrqstat.sql — Displays of summary of concurrent request execution time and status since a particular date.
afqpmrid.sql — Displays the operating system process id of the FNDLIBR process based on a concurrent request id. The process id
can then be used with the ORADEBUG utility.
afimlock.sql — Displays the process id, terminal, and process id that may be causing locks that the ICM and CRM are waiting to
get. You should run this script if there are long delays when submitting jobs, or if you suspect the ICM is in a gridlock with
another oracle process.

Q: Which component is responsible for PCP failover?
A: When PCP is enabled, can you check that FNDSM is running on all your CCM nodes? That process is mainly reponsible to getting
the failovers to happen and also start up CCMs

Q: Where custom top information will be there?
A: $APPL_TOP/APPLSYS.env file.

Q: What will happen when we run adpreclone?
A: It will collect all info of the environment and store in seperate template files.

Q: Which two parameters are required when we do clone using RMAN?
A: DB_FILE_NAME_CONVERT and LOG_FILE_NAME_CONVERT

Q: How to clean FND_NODES table?
A: EXEC FND_CONC_CLONE.SETUP_CLEAN.

Q. Is that necessary to shutdown database while applying a database patch?
Ans: Yes.

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