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September, 2010
Greetings!  

Oracle OpenWorld
 
Are you ready for Oracle OpenWorld? We just can't wait. There are lots of interesting presentations, and we're looking forward to attending as many as possible. We'll be at Oracle OpenWorld next week. Check out Confio's booth to receive a free copy of the little r12.1.2 upgrade guide, while supplies last.  
 
Also, if you're attending OOW and would like to talk to me about your upcoming upgrade to Release 12, send a note to [email protected] and we'll set up a time. I'll save a free copy of the little r12.1.2 upgrade guide, and we can talk about your concerns, along with what we've learned along the way. 
 
And stay tuned, because I'm working on the next set of books, which will cover Release 12.1.3! 
 
Don't miss the chance to take training from our experts!
 
Sincerely,
 
Mike Swing
TruTek
 
IN THIS ISSUE
What We Do
The R12.1.2 Upgrade Trio
July 2010 CPU
Getting Unstuck from 11i
Thinking About Reimplementing?
Patch til There's Nothin' Left to Fix
Confio
Your Claim to Fame!
Upcoming Oracle Training
QUICK LINKS
What We Do
TruTekTruTek is a national leader in technical and functional Oracle training and consulting. We also offer permanent placement services for part-time and full-time employees. We offer Oracle database and E-Business Suite consulting, training and remote services. We have a state of the art training facility in Salt Lake City, Utah.
 
If you have 5 or more people interested in a class, we can also bring classes to your company if you would like onsite training. And if you've wanted to take a training class, but were intimidated by the crowds, we also offer "Personal Training" for certain classes, as well as online training. 
We Call Them the Oracle Upgrade Trio
"Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple."   -- Dr. Seuss
"Unfortunately, that is not the case with upgrading to R12." -- Mike Swing 
 
Toad Handbook by Dan Hotka      Toad Handbook by Dan Hotka     the little r12.1.2 upgrade guide 
 
                                 PLAN                                                       PREPARE                                                        PERFORM
 
Are you the Mighty Oracle Foot Soldier, ready to tackle the upgrade to Release 12.1.2 for your company? We recommend you start here, with TruTek's 3-part guided tour.
 
One of the first steps you should take in preparing to upgrade is to actually try the upgrade. If you haven't already installed the Release 11.5.10.2 Vision Instance on a test environment, go ahead and do it. And then use Mike's guides to upgrade that instance to Release 12.1.2. Surprisingly, even the Vision Instance doesn't upgrade flawlessly. Mike includes pointers to additional patches and steps that you'll need to take to make your upgrade a success.
 
Mike's comprehensive trilogy consists of:
the little r12.1.2 project plan - this is the project plan that Mike's students use when they step through an upgrade.
the little r12.1.2 upgrade essentials for managers and team members - this book describes why you need to upgrade, and includes a discussion of how it should be done.
the little r12.1.2 upgrade guide - sponsored by the Oracle Application Users Group, this 414 page (so far) book provides the detailed steps to upgrading your Vision instance from R11i to R12.1.2. It includes the steps for upgrading your database to Version 11gR2. It includes pointers to more than 175 patches and 150 My Oracle Support notes. That's right, just because you've got this book doesn't mean you get out of downloading patches and reading the Readmes and assorted other explanations. But we tell you, all in one place, which documents to read, how to apply the patches, and "gotchas" that we've discovered along the way.
 
This edition is bigger and better than the last, as Mike continues to add information about patches and bugs and features that you need to understand to upgrade to E-Business Suite Release 12.1.
 
Are you looking for a guided tour? Don't worry, Mike uses this book as the basis for  TruTek's Oracle E-Business Suite R11i to R12.1 Technical Upgrade class.  He's also available to chat if you'd like to discuss your upcoming upgrade plans - just give him a call at 801 486-6655 or send him an email at [email protected].   Best of all, Mike has the hands-on experience that you'll need for an upgrade, so consider TruTek for meeting your consulting needs.  
What You Need to Know About the July 2010 CPU by Barbara Matthews 
Integrigy Logo 

Recently I listened to Integrigy's webcast about the database impact of Oracle's July 2010 CPU (Critical Patch Update). Here are just a few of the things I learned:

There are CPUs and PSUs. A PSU is a CPU with extra patches, ones that Oracle thinks would be helpful to you and that are not considered high risk. If you apply a PSU, then you have to continue applying PSUs until you upgrade to a new version of your database. PSUs are well and thoroughly tested, but not necessarily by the E-Business Suite Development Group. So, you might hit a problem with a PSU in your E-Business Suite environment. But Oracle stands by those patches, so if you hit a problem, they'll help you work through it.

If you are being a good defender of your database, you should be staying within P-1 as far as the CPUs or PSUs are concerned. That means that at the very least, you should have tested and then applied the April 2010 CPU or PSU to your production environment. And if you are really on the ball, you will already be testing the July 2010 CPU. Now, say you've applied that July 2010 CPU, and now you're getting ready to upgrade your database from RDBMS Version 10.2.0.4 to 11.2.0.1. Since 11gR2 was released PRIOR TO the July 2010 CPU, then when you're done upgrading, you must remember to RE-APPLY the July 2010 CPU. Change control really is a... challenge.  

Integrigy

Now, you might wonder just how dangerous it is to be behind on your CPUs or PSUs. The Integrigy speaker was kind enough to show us how to google a snippet of code that could exploit a vulnerability, drop it into Oracle Developer, and then, well, exploit the vulnerability. My mother could take you down if she knew how to cut and paste.

You can limit some of your risk from outside attacks by enabling the Managed SQL*NET Access and Server Security features. This feature will limit the people who can attack you to those whom you have given access to. You can still be hacked, so your best line of defense is to test and apply the CPUs as quickly as possible. More details about how to enable these features, and what enabling them entails, are covered in Integrigy's April 12, 2007 Security Advisory. There are also a number of other recommendations in this document about how to reduce your security risk.

I recommend that you put the Integrigy website on your Favorites list, and check them out whenever a new quarterly CPU/PSU becomes available. They do a terrific job of evaluating and explaining what the security patches do, and what your risks are if you choose not to apply them. If you missed out on Integrigy's webcast, they have more coming up:

 
Two Instances - Getting Unstuck from 11i by Chris Busbee, eprentise 
 

eprentise

Summary Comparison Between Migration and Consolidation

If you are running Oracle� E-Business Suite (EBS) and have an 11i instance and a R12 instance in production, there are two approaches to get from multiple instances and reach the goal of a single EBS R12 instance in which to run an entire business:

          data migration plus sunset instance, and

          an upgrade of the 11i instance to R12 followed by eprentise Consolidation. 

Migration is the way things have been done in the past when it was necessary to combine two instances, and it is characterized as relying on highly skilled technical staff, is labor intensive, and is supported by very general purpose software utilities such as Oracle Data Loader.  The end result is usually a compromise between schedule, business, and technical constraints.  Migration generally takes a long time and is expensive; it has been the only game in town and follows practices and techniques generally used in the Oracle EBS community.

Consolidation is new, characterized as relying on a purpose-specific software product that displaces labor, elapsed time, and technical risk.  The end result has no business or IT compromises.  We have developed the eprentise Consolidation software to meet Oracle EBS customer needs, reduce the costs of EBS, and improve the business results.

Migration

A migration approach generally calls for data to be extracted from one instance, transformed by custom scripts, and loaded into a new instance.  During a migration companies generally only bring master data, open business transactions, and 1 - 2 years of closed transactional data into the new global instance.  As a result, one of the byproducts of the migration approach is a recycled instance that must remain in a "sunset" state for 5 - 10 years, the exact duration being based on external regulations for data retention and internal business operational requirements.

Consolidation

The consolidation approach involves a software-assisted combination of all data from all current instances, whether your current instances include 11i, R12, or both.  If you are running both 11i and R12, this approach calls for Oracle's standard upgrade process to transform any 11i instances into new R12 instances.  The next step of the approach relies on eprentise Consolidation software to combine the newly upgraded R12 instance data and setup configurations into the existing R12 instance, resulting in a single, global R12 instance.  If you are only running two 11i instances, eprentise consolidation becomes the first stage of the process, followed by a single Oracle upgrade to R12.  If you are only running two or more R12instances, an upgrade is eliminated and consolidation becomes the only stage of the process.

Timewise, it may be difficult to run an upgrade and the eprentise Consolidation in a single cutover weekend.  In that case, the newly upgraded R12 instance will have to go into production and all upstream and downstream interfaces will need to be reviewed and possibly modified to work in the R12 environment.  So you don't need to rewrite the interfaces twice (once for the upgrade to R12, and once for after the instances are consolidated),  it will be necessary to ensure that the interfaces are re-written to utilize the reference data (such as customer number, invoice number, vendor number, item number, etc.) rather than the system identifiers such as customer_id, invoice_id, vendor_id, and item_id.


Read More
Thinking About Reimplementing? 
Talk to us. We're very impressed by eprentise's solutions, and think you will be too.
Patch 'til There's Nothin' Left to Fix
Steven Chan's Oracle E-Business Suite Technology blog included a number of interesting articles last month. Note that Steven wrote that there is now a patch for Patch Wizard that will identify mandatory patches required for E-Business Suite Release 11i users to receive Extended Support. 
  
  • New EBS 11i Patch Wizard Identifies Patches Needed for Extended Support
  • Oracle Internet Directory 11g (11.1.1.3) Certified with EBS on 15 New Platforms
  • Updated Platform Migration Procedures Certified for EBS 12
  • Have You Used 10gR2 Transportable Tablespaces with EBS 11i?
  • Oracle Internet Directory and Single Sign-On Certified with EBS 12.1.2 on IBM Linux on System z
  • New Forms and Reports 10.1.2.3 Bundle Patch Certified with EBS 12
  • EBS Sysadmin Primer: Oracle BI Discoverer 11gR1
  • Securing E-Business Suite Web Services with Integrated SOA Gateway
  • E-Business Suite 12 Now Available on Linux on IBM System z
  • Reminder: Use Java 6 for EBS on Sun, Windows, Linux Platforms
  • Safari 4 on Mac OS X Certified with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12
  • Oracle Internet Directory 11g (11.1.1.3) Certified with E-Business Suite
  • Special JRE 6u21-b08 Build Now Available for EBS Customers
  • Discoverer 11g (11.1.1.3) Certified with EBS on Twelve New Platforms
  • E-Business Suite Techstack Highlights at OpenWorld 2010
  • A Primer on Hardware Sizing for Oracle E-Business Suite
  • Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1.3 Now Available
  • Reminder: Minimum Patching Baselines for E-Business Suite 11i Extended Support
  • New Forms and Reports 10.1.2.3 Bundle Patch Certified with EBS 12
     
  • Confio Igniter Suite
    ConfioConfio builds performance management software that improves the effectiveness of IT systems and the people who run them. The Confio Igniter Suite currently includes products that help Oracle DBAs, managers, and developers continuously monitor the performance of databases and the applications that depend on them, isolate specific problems, and identify solutions in production systems.
    Master Oracle Results Cache ... and improve performance 1000% by Confio

    Confio

    The new Results Cache lets DBAs re-use query results by caching them in the shared pool. Results Cache reduces I/O operations considerably if you have a query that is executed repeatedly and reads data that rarely changes. Reduce I/O = improve performance. Take some time out to listen to Confio's recorded webinar:

    Your Claim to Fame...
    AmazonOh, go on. Maybe you've written a great presentation or paper and want to tell people about it? Here's your chance. Drop us a line, and if we publish your article, we'll send you a $50 Gift Certificate from Amazon!
     
    Don't be shy! Send your submission to [email protected] by September 25th. We'll include the winning article in our next newsletter. 
    Upcoming TruTek Training 
    We're always open to adding new classes, so let us know your interests! We add new classes regularly, so be sure to check the latest version of the schedule on our website. 

    *** Class Dates and Locations are Subject to Change
    Time Zone for Online Classes is MST
     

     

    Oracle Apps Technical Classes

     

    Sep 27-Oct 1

    Oracle E-Business Suite R11i to R12 Technical Upgrade

    SLC, UT

    Oct 4-8

    Oracle E-Business Suite R11i to R12 Technical Upgrade

    Calgary

     

     

     

     

    APEX Classes

     

    Oct 4-6

    Introduction to Oracle APEX I Using 4.0with Scott Spendolini

    SLC, UT

    Oct 7-8

    Introduction to Oracle APEX II Using 4.0with Scott Spendolini

    SLC, UT

    Oct 19-20

    APEX 4.0 New Features with Scott Spendolini

    SLC, UT

    Oct 21

    Troubleshooting & Debugging APEX Using 4.0 with Scott Spendolini

    SLC, UT

    Oct 22

    APEX Installation and AdministrationUsing 4.0with Scott Spendolini

    SLC, UT

     

     

     

     

    Developer Classes

     

    TBD

    21st Century PL/SQL (New) with Steven Feuerstein

    SLC, UT

    Sep 20-23

    Intro to PL/SQL

    SLC, UT

    Sep 27-20

    Oracle Web Based Performance Tuning for Developers

    Online

    Oct 11-13

    PL/SQL Fundamentals (New)

    SLC, UT

    Oct 13-15

    Oracle 11i Workflow Builder, Business Events and Administration

    SLC, UT

     

     

     

     

    DBA Classes

     

    Sep 27-30

    Oracle DBA Fundamentals

    Pennsylvania

    Oct 4-8

    DBA Boot Camp I

    Bay Area, CA

    Oct 11-15

    Oracle Database 11g  New Features

    SLC, UT

    Oct 18-22

    Backup and Recovery using Oracle 11g RMAN

    SLC, UT

    Nov 8-12

    Oracle Database 11g New Features

    Pennsylvania

     

     

     

     

    Functional Classes

     

    Sep 27-30

    Oracle Release 11i/R12 Procure to Pay

    SLC, UT

    Oct 4-5

    Oracle Release 11i/R12 Accounts Payable

    SLC, UT

    Oct 6-7

    Oracle Release 11i/R12 Purchasing

    SLC, UT

    Oct 13-14

    Oracle Release 11i/R12 Fixed Assets

    SLC, UT

    Oct 20-22

    R12 AME(New)

    SLC, UT

    Oct 20-22

    Introduction to Oracle E-Business Suite and Oracle Project Management(New)

    Long Island, NY

    Nov 1-5

    Oracle Release 12 New Features (Functional)     

    SLC, UT

    Nov 10-12

    Introduction to Oracle E-Business Suite and Oracle Project Management(New)

    SLC, UT

     

     

     

     

    Conferences and User Group Meetings - We'll Be There!

     

    Sep 19-23

    Oracle Open World 2010

    San Fran, CA

    Oct 7

    Calgary Oracle User Group

    Calgary, AB

    Oct 13

    UTOUG SigFest

    SLC, UT

     

    If you'd like one of TruTek's experts to come to your local user group meeting,

    let us know by calling 801-486-6655

     

     

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