Let's continue the love story, which started with a successful first date. The success like in any other field fills you up with confidence and paints a rosy picture. I also felt the same for the first date with Oracle Fusion. Encouraged with the confidence, I thought to move things forward.
The second evening started with on a positive note as well. I was able to start the domain in it's default configuration. This means that
- Admin server started successfully on sapserver2 host.
- I did not start the BAM or SOA due to lack of memory.
This was a good success; something worked as I was able to login to Console. So far I have checked the status only in Weblogic Server Admin Console. The status "Running" was the most beautiful gift in this relation so far. Now the challenge was how to find out, if the lady really means what she is saying. Due to lack of experience, I had no clue how to validate the running status :(. The Fusion middleware enterprise manager application is quite helpful here; this is something I learned later.
Blinded by initial success, I discarded the alerts, which were knocking my head. I went on to configure the cluster for SOA servers as mentioned in part1. It had its own challenges. Like in any new relationship, there were many questions.
- How to add a new Oracle Weblogic Server in cluster?
- How will the new server get the Fusion application?
- How will it access the database?
- How will it load balance?
- How to start and stop the server instances?
Some were straight forward. The lady comes with handy utilities as well. Which, when used properly, brings smile to everyone's face. The Fusion Middleware Configuration wizard and Admin Console applications are really helpful.
I quickly learned the ways to get along with lady to achieve what I wanted. I had to execute below .
- Install new Weblogic server instance on new machines, namely oraclewls1 and oraclewls2.
- Configured the servers using admin console and assigned them to machines.
- Created a cluster, which contains soaserver1 and soaserver2 running on oraclewls1 and oraclewls2 respectively.
- Configured theNode Manager on each host.
- Registered the Fusion domain in each node manager.
- Installed the Fusion Middleware/SOA application suite on each machine.
After this, the dialog started between us; this is what I thought atleast. The overall setup looked beautiful and perfect.
Keeping my spirits high, I went on to start the soaserver2. I was faced by some challenges on the way to get this lady going.
- Initially there were "Out of memory" problems and the server failed.
- I corrected the same by configuring the memory parameters for the soaserver2 in Admin console .
- Restarted once again, keeping high hopes and I was happy to see the flashing "Green Signal" in the "Health Ok" section. But, the status was not running, rather it was "Admin".
- At the same time another cousin,Enterprise manager, also confirmed that "Green Signal" is a trap :(
- I checked the logs and found statements like "Class not found" for many classes.
- After some further "discussions" (analysis), I found out why the lady is giving mixed signals.
- The environment, of the Domain, has not been setup properly for her on oraclewls2. I assumed that once I have registered the Domain with the Node Manager on oraclewls2, it should have worked. But, women are not that simple, isn't it?
- I found out this gap by checking the server configuration directory on Admin server and oraclewls2.
- I copied the directory from Admin server to oraclewls2 and oraclewls1 to keep that in sync. Still the same issue :(
- The problem was that I have created the environment for her (Domain) on oraclewlse2, but she is still not aware of it.
- The reason was the way the Oracle Weblogic Server gets started on other machine. I modified the configuration of Node manager. Now the Node manager uses the scripts to start the Oracle Weblogic Server with appropriate environment she needs.
Now everything is setup and it should work. This is what I felt before starting the discussion again.
- I have a hall booked. Thanks to Cloudshare to provide enough systems.
- Clothes have been chosen for the occasion. The machines are setup.
- The dress is clean and ironed to crispness. The configuration required for the environment is done.
With the feeling, that everything will go fine, I initiated the discussion again (started the server on oraclewls1). For initial minutes, everything looked fine. The resource monitor showed a good progress. There were no flashing red lights - Errors in the log files.
But, suddenly the discussion stuck with a critical question!! The question came banging, "Have you arranged enough room for my activities? " I forgot this point in all the excitement. The hall (Cloudshare), I selected for this lady (Oracle Fusion Middleware/SOA infrastructure) was not big enough to entertain the lady's requests :(. With only 1 GB of RAM, it fell short on dimensions. I was dumb folded by this last stage gap in understanding. I could not do much, but stare at her struggling to play within the limited space.
After about an hour of her struggle and my wait, I came to realize that with this hall, I have to be satisfied with the less sophisticated lady i.e. pure Oracle Weblogic server. Nevertheless, I was still happy. Now I knew what the smart lady needs and I made everything available and all was fine except the bigger hall (server machines with more RAM). This also gave me confidence that I would be able to manage the cousin sister easily now.
I learned the following in my short journey together with this lady.
- Architecture.
- Cluster setup procedure.
- Importance of Admin server and Node Manager.
- Fusion middleware requirements.
- Add on utilities e.g. CRU, Enterprise Manager.
Unfortunately, I still could not check the results. To complete the same, I need to begin my relation from start with less demanding member of the family. Will share the experience soon.
Love
Arundeep Singh