Enabling Virus Scan for PT 8.52

OK, so we all know that Oracle documents aren't always as detailed, but when you get it, you suddenly realize that it was really as straight forward as what the docs says.

We had that moment when enabling virus scan for our peoplesoft environment. We were looking for the documentations for when you want to use a different version of a virus scanner. Anyway, long story short, the old version of Symantec protection engine has been replaced by Symantec Protection Engine for Cloud services v12. So use this one instead.

Easy steps:

1. Install Symantec Protection Engine for Cloud services v12 - this has been tested to work with PT8.51 and PT8.53.

2.  Update the VirusScan.xml file on your webserver on its two locations:

<ps_home>/webserv/applications/peoplesoft/PORTAL.war/WEB-INF/classes/psft/pt8/virusscan 

and

<ps_home>/webserv/applications/peoplesoft/PSIGW.war/WEB-INF/classes/psft/pt8/virusscan

3. The entry should be exaclty the same as the one provided in Peoplebooks, you only need to update the IP address with the one where you've installed Symantec

http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E26239_01/pt851h3/eng/psbooks/tmcf/book.htm?File=tmcf/htm/tmcf15.htm#2E3D5C96_132F532B140__18BB

4. bounce your servers and clear the cache.

5. test.

log can be seen in your PIA logs

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Just a friendly reminder :)

WINDOWS: Add a script to right-click mouse menu

Yup that's right. I'm lazy like that.

I once created a Menu script in windows that sets the PS_HOME and PS_CFG_HOME variables automatically and calls the psadmin executable. This is useful if you have a multiple PS_HOME installation in one windows server (usually the setup for non-production environments.)

Instead of saving the file to my desktop, I added it to the right-click menu of my mouse so I wouldn't have to double click on the file.heh.

Here's how I did it:

Note: You can change the value of those in red font.

1. Open a new notepad and save with a .reg extension.
2. Paste the following lines and edit as appropriate (make sure the script location has double slash):

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell\MENU]
@="MENU script"
"Position"="Top"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell\MENU\command]
@="E:\\MENU\\menu.bat"

3. Save the .reg file then double click on it to add your script.

 

UNIX: Crontab

*    *    *    *    *  command to be executed
-    -    -    -    -
¦    ¦    ¦    ¦    ¦
¦    ¦    ¦    ¦    ¦
¦    ¦    ¦    ¦    +----- day of week (0 - 7) (0 or 7 are Sunday, or use names)
¦    ¦    ¦    +---------- month (1 - 12)
¦    ¦    +--------------- day of month (1 - 31)
¦    +-------------------- hour (0 - 23)
+------------------------- min (0 - 59)

Oracle Database: How to Know DB Startup time

Another quick information.

In checking when your database was last started, you can run the following command:

select to_char(startup_time, 'DD-MON-YYY HH24:MI:SS') "Startup time" from v$instance;

This is specially helpful when you do not have visibility on the DB side but has sysadm account (which is the ccase for most support guys out there.)

UNIX Script: Basic command to create/add users and groups

#create a user and set its password
useradd -m user
passwd user

#create a new group in unix
groupadd group

#create a user and add it to a group
useradd -g groupname -m user
passwd user

#add a user to multiple groups
usermod -G group1, group2, group3 user

#other user/group command
userdel
groupdel
groupmod

#Change name of a user (UID) and ownership of its folders (e.g, PS_HOME is owned by user psoft1, rename the user to psoft and PS_HOME ownership will change as well)
usermod -l <New Name> <Old Name>

#Change ownsership of directory and its subdirectories and files
chown -R user /path/to/dir

Windows Batch Scripting: Date format manipulation

Just a quick note on date manipulation.

So what does it mean when you see the following in a script:

set /a y=%date:~-4%
set /a d=%date:~07,2%
set /a m=%date:~-10,2%

easy as pie. First you need to know the date format you will be using:

echo %date%
Tue 10/15/2013

Now, here's what our code above means.
Set /a y - Of course, you set the value for y for year.
%date:~-4% - you call on the date as with the echo command earlier. But only display the value starting from -4 up to the last character. The negative value indicates that you should count from the last character of the date value. from here, -4 lands on the number 2. It will then display from that number up to the last which is 2013.

Set /a d - d is for day.
%date:~07,2% - Similar from the above, it calls the date and counts from the positive 7th character. The number 2 then indicates that you should read 2 characters starting from character 7. From our example, the value is 15.

set /a m - m for month, obviously :)
%date:~-10,2% - lastly, as another example, you count from the last digit up to the 10th character. Display 2 digits from the 10th character which is 10.

The example above shows that we can use either a negative or positive values in setting the date value on a variable.

Windows Batch Script Date format: Set day of the year

Unfortunately there is no direct way to do so. You would need to perform some computation after parsing the date. Below is the script you can use:

@echo off
setlocal disabledelayedexpansion

set /a y=%date:~-4%
set /a m=%date:~-07,2%
set /a d=%date:~-10,2%

set /a w= %d% +(!(%y% %% 4)-!(%y% %% 100)+!(%y% %% 400))*(!((%m%-3)^&16))
set /a w=(%w%+(%m%-1)*30+2*(!((%m%-7)^&16))-1+((65611044^>^>(2*%m%))^&3))
echo %w%

One thing to note about using SET /A command is that it treats its values as an octal notation. To easily explain this, below is an excerpt from one of my searches in google (forgot where, if you know, please comment below so I can credit appropriately.)

“SET /A has a very unfortunate feature in that any number that has a leading 0 is treated as octal notation. So a value of 08 or 09 is not a valid number for SET /A, and will give the error message that you cited. To get the correct value you must represent the MINS as 8 or 9 (no leading 0). Note that 00 through 07 work fine because both octal and decimal interpretation yield the same value.”

Here is the octal and decimal values:

Of course, you may simply remove the /A when you only want to get the values for y, m and d. But when using the 08 and 09 value in another date computation (eg. computing for the value of w above), they will still be interpreted as octal because of the SET /A used. To remedy the above issue, you can use:

Before:

set /a m=%date:~-07,2%

set /a d=%date:~-10,2%

Echoing  %m% - %d%  gives you 08 and 09.

After:

REM use the following to remove leading ZERO values:

set /a m=10000%date:~-07,2% %% 10000

set /a d=10000%date:~-10,2% %% 10000

Echoing  %m% - %d%  gives you 8 and 9.

Create DBLINK for Oracle Database

Easy as pie. Use this template:

create public database link <DB Link name> connect to <User account> identified by <Password> using '<Database SID>';

From Oracle's format in creating dblinks:

CREATE [ SHARED ] [ PUBLIC ] DATABASE LINK dblink
  [ CONNECT TO
    { CURRENT_USER
    | user IDENTIFIED BY password
      [ dblink_authentication ]
    }
  | dblink_authentication
  ]
  [ USING 'connect_string' ]

Or this one:

CREATE PUBLIC DATABASE LINK <INSTANCE><.WORLD> CONNECT TO <USER> IDENTIFIED BY <PASSWORD OF USER TO BE USED> USING '<CONNECT STRING usually INSTANCE>';


To verify your DB link, use:

select distinct db_link, created from dba_db_links where db_link='DB LINK NAME';

Common error when using your dblink is getting the ORA-02069 message. As per the following link:

http://www.oracle-developer.com/oracle-post/81/ORA_02069:_global_names_parameter_must_be_set_to_TRUE

ORA-02069: global_names parameter must be set to TRUE

If you get this error while trying to access a table over the database link.
This error happens when the database parameter global_names is set to TRUE.
When this is the case, the database link need to have the same name as the global name of the remote database (the one you are trying to connect to).

You can find out if global_names is on by using:
SQL> show parameter global_names

Find out the global name of the remote database. Log into the remote database and use:

SQL> select * from global_name;

GLOBAL_NAME
-------------------------------------------------------------------
> DB1.ORACLE-DEVELOPER.COM

Create the database link in the Oracle database appropriately:

SQL> create database link DB1 connect to scott identified by tiger using 'DB1'

Altering the password used by your DBLINK? Here are the steps:

1. Drop databae link:
    drop public database link <DBLINK name>;
    commit;

2. Recreate dblink:
    use any of the commands above.

I've even tried using the TNSNAMES entry - just because, although I am not sure if this has any negative impact. I'm thinking no since using the DB name will also use this entry. One drawback I can think of is the cluttered result of your query when selecting from dba_db_links:

Example -

$tnsping factfinder

Used TNSNAMES adapter to resolve the alias
Attempting to contact (DESCRIPTION = (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = fact-finder.blogspot.com)(PORT = 1521)) (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = fact-finder.blogspot.com)(PORT = 1521)) (LOAD_BALANCE = yes) (CONNECT_DATA = (SERVER = DEDICATED) (SERVICE_NAME = factfinder) (FAILOVER_MODE = (TYPE = SELECT) (METHOD = BASIC) (RETRIES = 180) (DELAY = 5))))
OK (30 msec)

The command to create the DBLINK is:

create public database link factfinder connect to <user> identified by <password> using '((DESCRIPTION = (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = fact-finder.blogspot.com)(PORT = 1521)) (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = fact-finder.blogspot.com)(PORT = 1521)) (LOAD_BALANCE = yes) (CONNECT_DATA = (SERVER = DEDICATED) (SERVICE_NAME = factfinder) (FAILOVER_MODE = (TYPE = SELECT) (METHOD = BASIC) (RETRIES = 180) (DELAY = 5))))';

How is your PeopleSoft?

Like most peoplesoft practitioners, I am also aware of the seemingly dwindling opportunities we have when it comes to finding new jobs. Of course I'm from a country where we have only a few companies that has peoplesoft, and most of them are BPO/support work, so I do not really have that much visibility on the market.

So I want to know, if your a Peoplesoft practitioner, on what Peopletools and application version are you now? Are you looking to upgrade your version or are you thinking about moving to another platform?

Renaming Message Queues for Integration Broker in PeopleTools 8.5x

Here's a quick list of steps in renaming your Message Queues for Integration broker. The same steps can be performed when recreating the message queue, simply rename the original one to a another name for backup.

1. Stop/Inactivate the IB Domain.
2. Stop/Pause the queue in queue status page.

3. Archive / Delete all IB messages for this particular queue
        - This is important since it renaming the message queue is not allowed when there are messages under this queue. You may archive or delete all done and cancelled messages under this queue. To archive, use the delivered archiving process for Integration Broker. To delete the queues, use the delivered PSAPMSPURGELIVE.DMS file and append a "where queuename='your queue name'. Now, not all tables have a queuename field and I currently do not have a list of its content, but a sureway of checking is to replace all "delete from" with "select count(*) from" to let you know which fields will be used.

4. Go to service Operation and look for the service operation that this queue is associated with. Normally it has the same name with your queue name. dis-associate this queue name from the service operation by changing the value (including the version) to any other on your list. remember that your domain is currently disabled and we'll replace this with the correct one later on. save

5. Proceed in renaming the queue. Navigate to service administration and rename or delete your queue. Make sure you take a screenshot of it first if your planning to delete and re-create your message queue.
6. Recreate your message queue in the queue page. Note that you need to associate your queue to a service operation for the fields to be created. save
7. Go back to the service operation earlier and rename the queue you changed in step 4. save
8. Go back to queues list and update your queue to make it look as it was before. save

9. Start/Run the new queue in queue status page and make sure the old queue is paused.
10. Start/Activate your IB domain.