Installation and Configuration EPM 11



EPM Oracle Home

An Oracle home contains installed files necessary to host a specific product, and resides within the directory structure of the Middleware home. The EPM Oracle home contains files for EPM System products.

The default EPM Oracle home location is MIDDLEWARE_HOME/EPMSystem11R1. In addition, common internal components used by the producs are installed in EPM Oracle home. Choose the location carefully to ensure that the location has enough disk space for all of the products you are installing on that machine. You CANNOT change the location at a later time.

The EPM Oracle home location is defined in the system environment called EPM_ORACLE_HOME. The EPM Oracle home directory structure must be the same on each machine. Additionally, during configuration some products deploy components to MIDDLEWARE_HOME/user_projects/epmsystem1. Deplopyed components include the following:

• Data and applications
• Deployed Web applications
• Log files

Web applications are deployed in MIDDLEWARE_HOME/user_projects/domains/domainName.

Essbase and Oracle Process Manager and Notification (OPMN) Server

Oracle Process Manager and Notification server (OPMN) enables you to monitor and control the Essbase Agent process. You add Essbase Agent information to opmn.xml to enable OPMN to start, stop and restart the agent using the OPMN command line interface. OPMN can automatically restart the Essbase Agent when it becomes unresponsible, terminates unexpectedly, or becomes unreachable as determined by ping and notification operations.

If you configured more than one instance of Essbase Server on a single machine, each instance has its own OPMN, its own start scripts, and its own log files. You must update each instance’s copy of opmn.xml so that each OPMN has unique ports for communication.

See Appendix H, “OPMN Service Failover for Essbase Server” and Oracle Essbase Database Administrator’s Guide, “Managing Essbase Using OPMN“.

Downloading the Installation Files

Download the installation files from “Oracle Enterprise Performance Management System” page of the Oracle E-Delivery (http://edelivery.oracle.com) site into /download_location. Note that some files are posted by platform; make sure to download the files for the platform you will be using.

Review the Media Pack Readme on the Oracle E-Delivery web site to see which ZIP files to download depending on the products you own and the platform you are deploying those products on.

Unzip the EPM downloaded files into /download_location, if you are prompted with a message that any files may already exist be sure to click “Yes” to overwite the existing file(s). Be sure to unzip the files into the same exact directory /download_files. The assemblies are automatically unzipped into an /assemblies directory under /download_files. For information about specific assemblies related to the various product components see the section “Component Installation By Tier and Installation Assemblies” on page 29 of the “Oracle Hyperion Enterprise Performance Management System Installation and Configuration Guide RELEASE 11.1.2“. NOTE: Make sure to check that you are using the latest up to date Installation Guide, the one I am using for my installation during the month of December 2010 contains the notation “Updated: November 2010″ and I believe is the 1st update since this release shipped.

NOTE: Even though you need the EPM-Foundation Services ZIP files on each machine in the environment, install Foundation Servers Web applications on only one machine. On the machine you which you plan to administer the WebLogic Server, you must install all Web applications for all applications you plan to deploy on any machine in the environment. For more information see “Installing EPM System Products in a Distributed Environment” on page 89.

How to Troubleshoot Black Hole Router Issues

On a TCP/IP-based wide area network (WAN), communication over some routes may fail if an intermediate network segment has a maximum packet size that is smaller than the maximum packet size of the communicating hosts–and if the router does not send an appropriate Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) response to this condition or if a firewall on the path drops such a response. Such a router is sometimes known as a “black hole” router. 

You can locate a black hole router by using the Ping utility, which is a standard utility that is installed with the Microsoft Windows TCP/IP protocol. You can then use one of three methods of fixing or working around black hole routers.

When a network router receives a packet that is larger than the size of the Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) of the next segment of a communications network, and that packet’s IP layer “don’t fragment” bit is flagged, the router is expected to send an ICMP “destination unreachable” message back to the sending host. 

If the router does not send a message, the packet might be dropped, causing a variety of errors that vary with the program that is communicating over the unsuccessful link. (These errors do not occur if a program connects to a computer on a local subnet.) The behavior may seem intermittent, but closer examination shows that the behavior can be reproduced, for example, by having a client read a large file that is sent from a remote host.

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Client-side Error

The client could not establish a connection to the remote computer. The most likely causes for this error are:

• Remote connections cannot be enabled at the remote computer.
• The maximum number of connections is exceeded at the remote computer.
• A network error occurs while establishing the connection. 
  Server-side Error: Event ID 1004 
  Source: TermService 
  Description: “The terminal server cannot issue a client license. It was unable to issue the license due to a changed (mismatched) client license, insufficient memory, or an internal error. Further details for this problem may have been reported at the client’s computer.”

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Locating a Black Hole Router

You can use the Ping utility to locate a black hole router, by setting the -f and -l parameters when you type the ping command.

• The -f parameter causes the Ping utility to send an ICMP echo packet that has the IP “do not fragment” bit set.
• The -l parameter sets the buffer, or payload, size of the ICMP echo packet. You specify this size by typing a number after the -l parameter.

The largest buffer that can be sent unfragmented is equal to the smallest MTU that exists along a route, minus the IP and ICMP headers (in other words, the smallest MTU minus 28). For example, Ethernet has an MTU of 1,500 bytes, so under the best circumstances, the Ping utility can echo an unfragmented packet, plus an ICMP buffer, of 1,472 bytes (1,500 minus 28). The syntax for the ping command in this case is:

For all local IP addresses, the expected results are as follows:

• If the MTU of every segment of a routed connection is at least 1,500, the packet is successfully returned.
• If there are intermediate segments that have smaller MTUs, and the routers return the appropriate ICMP “destination unreachable” packet, the Ping utility displays the message, “Packet needs to be fragmented but DF set.”
• If there are intermediate segments that have smaller MTUs, and the routers do not return the appropriate ICMP “destination unreachable” packet, the Ping utility displays the message, “Request timed out.”

By increasing the -l parameter on successive pings, you can identify how large an unfragmented packet can travel a specific route. The smallest MTU that is in general use is 576 bytes, so you can safely start with an ICMP buffer of 548 and then work up from there. For example, if the command Pingcomputer_name or IP_address -f -l 972 returns packets but Ping computer_name or IP_address -f -l 973 does not return packets, the largest MTU on that route is 1,000 (972 plus 28). The default MTUs of common network media are described in the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

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Fixing or Working Around a Black Hole Router

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

The following three methods are ways to either fix or work around a black hole router.

Method 1

Enable PMTU Black Hole Detection on the Windows-based hosts that will be communicating over a WAN connection. Follow these steps:

1. Start Registry Editor (Regedit.exe).
2. Locate the following key in the registry:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\tcpip\parameters
3. On the Edit menu, click Add Value, and then add the following registry value:
   Value Name: EnablePMTUBHDetect
   Data Type: REG_DWORD
   Value: 1
4. Quit Registry Editor, and then restart the computer.

Method 2

Configure intermediate routers to send ICMP Type 3 Code 4 messages (“destination unreachable, don’t fragment (DF) bit sent and fragmentation required”). This might require a router software or firmware upgrade, router reconfiguration, or router replacement.

Method 3

Set the MTU of the host interface to be the largest size that the black hole router can handle, to guarantee that the largest possible packet size is sent over that connection. However, note that local traffic then uses smaller packets than necessary, as will traffic that uses the routed connections without problems.

This workaround assumes that you have identified the MTU and the state of all possible links that the host might use. After you identify the largest MTU size that is supported, manually set the MTU. Follow these steps:

1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click Network and Internet Connections, and then click to open the Network Connections folder.
3. If more than one network connection is listed, for each connection, double-click the connection and then click the Support tab of the Status interface that opens. The connection that shows aDefault Gateway entry is probably the network connection that is used to connect to the Internet. Note the name of the connection (for example, “Local Area Connection 2″).
4. Start Registry Editor (Regedit.exe).
5. Under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE tree, go to the following key:
   SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Network\{4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\
6. Under that key are one or more keys that have numeric identifiers. Each of these keys has aConnection subkey. Examine each of the keys that look like this:
   ID_for_Adapter\Connection

   The Name value in the Connection subkey provides the network connection name that is used in the Network Connections folder. When you find the one that matches the name that you found in step 3, make a note of the ID_for_Adapter that the network connection name is under.

7. Return to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, and then locate the following key
   SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\ID_for_Adapter

   where ID_for_Adapter is the number that you noted in step 6. When you highlight this key, several values appear on the right side of the screen, including DefaultGateway andEnableDHCP.

8. Right-click the right side of the screen, click New, and then click DWORD Value. Name the valueMTU.
9. Double-click the value so that you can edit the value, change Base to Decimal, and then enter the largest acceptable MTU size, which is the size that you identified by using the Ping tests.
10. Quit Registry Editor.

Note that if you still encounter problems with some servers, you might need to set the MTU lower than the Ping tests indicate because of other routers in that specific path. Repeatedly lower the MTU by 10 until access to those sites is successful. 

For additional information manually setting the MTU, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

For additional information, see Internet RFC 1191 and RFC 1435, which are available from the following Internic Web site:

Often I hear from Apple users that when they map to Window share points performance is bad when they navigate from one directory to another, open files, etc. Simply refreshing a directory listing can hang and eventually result in a disconnection. I’ve posted some blog postings addressing this specific topic.

Windows 7 got some improved features than Vista including speed of network.  Sometimes you may notice the network slowness compare to XP due to more advanced features and requirements. These 6 easy steps to help solving Windows 7 network slow problem by disabling some features.

Network is a major factor in computing. Windows 7 computers will be slow in accessing shares on old MS Windows servers and non MS Operating systems including Sun and Linux. Accessing data and transferring data over network are still problem in this case. Resolving DNS requests internally (LAN or WAN) and externally (Internet) also could be slow in Windows 7. The following methods I’m listing out is worked for me to speed up Windows 7 networking with NT,2003 and Sun servers.

How to Fix Windows 7 network slow problem?

1) Disable Autotuning

Disabling autotuning will help much on DNS lookup and network discovery. It improves the data transfer speed also over the network. Disabling autotuning in windows 7 is very similar toWindows vista method. Read more here about disabling autotuning in windows vista.

To recap important steps,

Start command prompt as administrator, and follow the commands as shown in below example.

2) Remove RDC ( Remote Differential Compression)

This feature introduced with Windows Vista to transfer data over network in compressed format. The same RDC feature continued in Windows 7 also. Since most of the old operating systems came before vista do not support this RDC feature, it slows down network data transfer in windows 7. You can remove this RDC (Remote Differential Compression) in windows 7 by visiting control panel and programs and features. Click on ‘Turn Windows features on or off’, as shown below.
Remove RDC ( Remote Differential Compression) in Vista

3) Remove IPv6 from network properties.

If your internal or external networks do not  require  IPv6 protocol, better remove it under network connection properties. Keeping IPv6 in your computer sometimes slows down network by trying to register IPv6 addresses, or trying to get IPv6 address, or trying to resolve IPv6. Better remove it if it’s not required.
Remove IPv6 in Windows Vista

4) Clear DNS Cache

You can remove any DNS cache from computer, so next time DNS request will be solved by updated DNS server. This will avoid your computer to try broken or changed DNS records from cache. To clear DNS cache, open command prompt as administrator and type ipconfig /flushdns
Ceaer DNS Cache in Vista

5) Disable Wireless Network and any additional (including Virtual adapters) network adapters.

If you will not be using wireless network or it’s your secondary network, I recommend you to disable wireless network in windows 7 under network connection.  If it’s enabled, windows 7 computer will be trying to connect available wireless network around you, and trying to login though its network. Loading your profiles and start up programs will be slow while booting because of this.

6) Modifying Link Speed & Duplex Value in Network adapter Properties.

This step also helps sometimes when you face problem with windows 7 network slow. I can’t say which option will work better, because it depends on your physical network setup (network adapter, cable type, LAN speed and network switch). By default it is set for Auto Negotiation. But you can play around with Value options and find out which is working better for your computer and network.

I’m sure above steps will help to solve windows 7 network slow. Feel free to suggest any additional steps you did to solve windows 7 network slow, or problems you face to fix it.

• When you go to the Connect to Server dialog, you may browse the names of computers that are on your local subnet.
• You can connect to a server via its IP address or DNS name. If it is required or more convenient in your environment, you may also use other valid URL formats, such as:

      smb://ServerName/ShareName    smb://DOMAIN;User@ServerName/ShareName 

• The name of the “share” (the shared disk, volume, or directory) must be specified. You will not be prompted for it.
• You cannot type spaces as part of the share name when connecting. In place of any space in the share name, type: %20 .
• When troubleshooting a connection issue, you can ping the IP address of the Windows PC using the Mac OS X Network Utility application (in the Utilities folder). A successful ping verifies a TCP/IP connection between the two computers.  This is an important first troubleshooting step when there’s no response or a timeout for a connection attempt, since SMB connections involving a Mac require TCP/IP.  However, a successful ping does not mean the SMB service is also working or available.
• Check Microsoft support resources for information about setting up file sharing on your Microsoft Windows-based computer. These may include Help files installed on your PC or the Microsoft online Knowledge Base. For example, see this article for Windows XP information: How to use the Simple File Sharing feature to share files in Windows XP.
• When troubleshooting an SMB connection issue, use Console, which is located in the Utilities folder. These Console logs may help advanced users identify an issue: private/var/log/samba, private/var/log/kernel.log, system.log . Note that some log files only appear when logged into Mac OS X with an administrator acccount.
• If you are connecting to Windows XP, make sure that the Internet Connection Firewall settings are not interfering with your connection. SMB uses ports 137, 138, 139, and 445. These ports should be open on the Windows XP computer. This may require “Advanced” configuration of the XP firewall.
• If you are connecting to a Windows SMB resource, check to see if the firewall is blocking TCP ports 137, 138, 139 and 445. After trying the above steps, you may perform advanced troubleshooting by inspecting log entries in the Event Log of the Windows SMB resource (if you have access to it), and/or the Mac OS X computer’s relevant logs in the Console application.  If those steps do not help identify the issue, or you do not want to perform advanced troubleshooting, than you should contact your network administrator.  It may be necessary to contact your network administrator in some situations in order to grant access to your Mac from the SMB resource, or its host network configuration.
• Mac OS X uses SMB only over the TCP/IP protocol, not the NetBEUI protocol.

set echo off spool emRepository.log @${ORACLE_HOME}/sysman/admin/emdrep/sql/emreposcre $ORACLE_HOME SYSMAN SYSMAN TEMP ON; WHENEVER SQLERROR CONTINUE; spool off



1) Turn off Sync Services in Preferences.

2) Export your contacts as .olm file. Under File > Export select just contact to export. In the export process select to delete after exporting. If there is a problem you can always import this file.

3) Turn on Sync Services and let the good Apple Address Book data sync back to Outlook.

4) Check YOUR name and make sure there is only ONE “me” contact.

Apple Address Book does have a delete duplicates. I didn’t mention it before because the Address Book didn’t have dupes to delete. I believe it’s under Card in the Menu bar.

We are seeing new issues with Outlook and having to learn ways to fix. Normally, when Entourage had dupes there were also duplicates in the Address Book, phone  and MobleMe. Now we are seeing dupes only in Outlook which indicates something new with the sync issue.

I can’t stress enough how important backups of your Outlook data is in case of failure. I suggest copies of your entire Identity and exporting data as .olm file(s).

When you import the .olm file in Outlook it will place the imported contacts under the archive file. You can move them to the Address Book you want to use. Afterwards, delete the empty archive folders.

An example of one of these ancient shortcuts is Command Click with you mouse pointer on top of an item in your dock. Executing this shortcut will open up the location of the file or application in the Finder or Path Finder.

This comes into play on those occasions where you want to edit or move an application or file, but you don’t know where it is located at or you don’t want to have to search for it. Stacks have that “show in Finder button” but it can become annoying to search for items when you have a stack with a large number of files in it. This can be a very useful shortcut in those instances.

$19.99 for a fully functional Dock Connector-to-USB cable that folds up into a compact unit that measures less than two inches long and weighs just .3 ounces. A separate version provides USB-to-mini USB connectivity is also available. Available from scosche.com.

Elgato EyeTV One

Simple Digital Tuner can transform your Mac into a TV and it includes EyeTV 3 software for scheduling and recording shows for later viewing. You need to purchase a coaxial DTV antenna separately. It contains an auto-tune option that retrieves a list of channels available in your area, while the program guide – provided for free from TV Guide for the first year. The TV Guide is $19.85 a year after the first year.

You can use the EyeTV to watch live TV from your Mac, the best feature is the ability to record and it provides exporting capability which enables your Mac to have DVR ability. The EyeTV One is a single-tuner device. You can’t flip channels when you have a recording in progress and you can’t record two shows at once. But recordings can be converted for Apple TV or iOS devices. It is available from elgato.com for $119.95 and requires an Intel processor, Mac OS 10.5.8 or later and your own antenna.

AT&T 3G MicroCell

The best way to improve call quality in an area termed ‘Fringe Coverage Area’ is to purchase a 3G MicroCell from AT&T which is made by Cisco. It is a ‘femtocell’ a cellular base station that covers up to 5,000 square feet, according to AT&T. The device connects to your home broadband network and it can tremendously improve cell phone reception in your house.

It only works with 3G-capable AT&T phones (so it won’t work with 1st gen iPhones) and it can’t create AT&T coverage in an area that has none. You specify which phones can use the 3G MicroCell (if supports up to four calls simultaneously, though you can provision up to 10 numbers), so you don’t have to worry about your neighbors or passers-by using your MicroCell.

Once you’ve registered the device, setup is plug and play – its advertised to be by AT&T. You plug the device into your router using an included Ethernet cable, then it registers itself on your network, gets a GPS lock from a satellite and tries to connect to AT&T’s network, which can take up to 90 minutes.

If you have trouble getting a GPS connection, the 3G MicroCell supports an external antenna, though AT&T stores don’t stock one. Fortunately, it has an industry-standard connector so a third-party antenna will work.

It’s ugly and big. It measure 8.5 inches tall, 1.25 inches thick and about 6.25 inches wide. If you start a call on your MicroCell and leave your house, the device will switch you to a tower once you’re out of range, so you’ll get seamless coverage when you’re mobile – sort of. Calls that initiate on a tower won’t transfer to the MicroCell when you get home and you’re on a call.

The device uses your broadband connection to transmit the voice data so you’re now limited to size of your internet pipe and its possible to get garbled transmissions occasionally, however, they clear up after a few seconds. There’s a perceptible lag sometimes when the call is first established but that evens out quickly.

There is no monthly fee to use the 3G MicroCell, AT&T bills calls against your AT&T voice plan, unless you opt for a $20 per month unlimited MicroCell plan but that injects an element of double jeopardy because you’re losing broadband bandwidth and cellular minutes when it is actively in use.

It is available from wireless.att.com for $149.99 and requires a broadband internet connection, GPS accessibility and an AT&T 3G phone.

Mail follows its own guidelines for whether an attachment should display inline (meaning the entire attachment is displayed right in the message) or as an icon (meaning you have to double-click the attachment icon in the message to view it). To toggle an attachment’s display method, right-click the attachment within your unsent message and choose View As Icon or View In Place.

To force attachments to always display as icons, use the following Terminal command:

defaults write com.apple.mail DisableInlineAttachmentViewing -bool yes

To gain even greater control over your attachments you can purchase Mail Attachments Iconizer for $15 from lokiware.com which will let you specify whether your files should always be displayed as icons or only after they exceed a specific size. It also fixes Mail’s behavior of always trying to render PostScript files (which can lock up Mail) and forces Mail to respect the ‘content disposition’ that a sender’s email client requests.

Mail Spelling

Apple Mail uses the text substitution library in Mac OS X 10.6′s Language and Text system preference, which ships without words in it. Tidbits has an AutoCorrect Dictionary for Mail and its free (tidbits.com/article/10567) but its not for the average user because it is somewhat tricky to install and setup. Typinator from ergonis.com and Spell Catcher from rainmakerinc.com are user friendly utilities that offer AutoCorrect features for a price.

Shrink Apple Mail Window

If you like using Apple’s iTunes Mini Player you can purchase a program for Apple Mail that does essentially the same thing but for Mail. It is called MIniMail and it is available from indev.ca for a price.

• VersionTracker Pro – $50 per year for a subscription that covers three machines. You can Check For Updates and set how often. You can select whether you want to check for Beta and Pre-Release Updates. You can specify where the download files will go to. You can select whether you want to share your updates, set automatic downloads and specify a time and you can select if you want to avoid double-clicking on Zip files and DMGSs by indicating that these types of files should be automatically unpacked.
• AppFresh – is free and available at http://metaquark.de/appfresh/. The web site will inform you that the website and software is still a work in progress. The software is free while it is available as a beta but it may not be free once it enters production. However, this software has been in beta for two years now. AppFresh claims it integrates into one interface a wide variety of programs that serve to check for updates on a Mac including Apple’s Software Update, Sparkle, Microsoft’s AutoUpdate, Adobe’s Updater and the osx.iusethis.com (a website that has been around for awhile and allows people to track software they use).
• MacUpdate Desktop – this software has actually been around since the mid-1990′s and is used by approximately 30K Mac applications. Last year, around October 2009 a brand new version was released that compares the software on your Mac with the 30,000 apps it tracks and it allows you to upgrade to the latest release. The software is available for a trial for 10 days and then it will cost $20 for an annual subscription.
• Bodega – is an application that is attempting to be to OS X what iPhone’s App Store is for iPhones and iPads. It is available from www.appbodega.com for free, it makes money from ads. This software attempts to make you aware of new software and offers categories such as New Releases (default), Shopkeeper’s Picks, Top Free Downloads and Top Paid Downloads.

MacUpdate Desktop while costing $20 is at this point in time (November 2010) the best app for identifying software that needs to be updated. AppFresh is free and is the next best bet, while VersionTracker Pro at $50 for three Macs seems high for what you get.

Deleting Applications

While deleting applications in the Mac world is much more straightforward than doing so in the Windows world there are programs that do store files in your ~/Library folder or elsewhere like /System/Library, $HOME/Application Support/… You could hunt these files down manually and delete them it can be tedious and there are some programs that are designed to completely remove Applications including their associated preferences, cache files and data stores.

• AppZapper – this app is suitable for most people with one small caveat, it does exactly what you want in a program like this and it does it quickly, efficiently and easily. It does cost money. It is available from www.appzapper.com for $12.95 and unfortunately the site only accepts payments from PayPal, a three-user Family Pack is $18.
• AppTrap – http://onnati.net/apptrap is a simpler program when compared to AppZapper, and it is free. It’s not a pretty looking program, its a functional program. In comparison to AppZapper, AppTrap takes a few seconds to realize you’ve deleted a program and to display the window that prompts you for confirmation that you’d like to remove all files associated with that app. So one of the drawbacks is that if you don’t wait until AppTrack executes and prompts you, you could end up in a situation where you potentially delete a program before AppTrap even opened leading to confusion if you press the Command – Delete key to put something in the Trash and then Command->Space->Delete to Empty Trash.
• AppCleaner – is a hybrid of AppZapper and AppTrap, it has the best features of both and it is free making it an excellent choice.