AWS EC2 Mount Point Fails To Mount

While creating PeopleSoft Upgrade Maintenance (PUM) environments using the DPK’s from Oracle, we often use spot instances and these spot instances can terminate on a moments notice. So we have them setup to not delete the volumes and we re-create the server using AMI’s from the previous volumes. However, if you have a mount point in the /etc/fstab which can no longer mount because it is gone, you may run into a small problem trying to mount a new drive to the mount point that was previously used.

I usually have a data drive mounted as /oracle and in case the server reboots I have an entry in the fstab that will remount the drive.

If I rebuild the environment using that environment as an example it will fail to mount the drive and I can’t mount anything new there. So to fix the issue.

1. Simply remove the entry from the /etc/fstab
2. run:   systemctl daemon-reload
3. mount the new drive to the mount point

Enjoy the new mount point.

AWS EC2 Create Swap File

While creating PeopleSoft Upgrade Maintenance (PUM) environments using the DPK’s from Oracle, they require that you have a swapfile in order to complete the install.  Sometimes it will warning you and sometimes it won’t. We run the DPK’s using the OEL 7.3 OS, and these instructions will create a swapfile.

1. Login to EC2 using SSH (switch to root user)

2. Create a file for the swapfile:
fallocate -l 2G /placewithspace/swapfile

3. Change the permissions on the swapfile:
chmod 600 /placewithspace/swapfile

4. Allocate the file as a swap file:
mkswap /placewithspace/swapfile -f

5. Turn the swap file on:
swapon /placewithspace/swapfile

6. Check swap file is active:
swapon -s

Enjoy DPK installing.

AWS EC2 Update Java

While working on a new Amazon EC2 Instance the default java that shows up is an openJDK version which may not necessarily be the right java for certain enterprise applications. This is a nice clean way of installing and changing to a new version of Java. In this example we are installing Oracle JDK 1.8.0 update 141. So here we go:

1. Go to Oracle’s Java Download Page and find the right rpm that you want to install: Java Download Page

2. Log into your EC2 Instance and switch to the root account

3. Execute the command: wget –no-check-certificate –no-cookies –header “Cookie:oraclelicense=accept-securebackup-cooke” {URL FROM Step 1}
– This is the command I used for Linux x64 rpm download:

wget --no-check-certificate --no-cookies --header "Cookie: oraclelicense=accept-securebackup-cookie" {URL}

In order to get the URL, go to the Oracle Java Download page at: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk8-downloads-2133151.html, accept the license agreement, and then right click on the file you wish to download and select copy link address. This will give you the {URL} you need as it will have the random key in it. For example the URL I just used was:

http://download.oracle.com/otn-pub/java/jdk/8u141-b15/336fa29ff2bb4ef291e347e091f7f4a7/jdk-8u141-linux-x64.rpm

4. Install the new Java RPM: rpm -i jdk-8u141-linux-x64.rpm

5. Check your Java Version: java -version (Will most likely show a different version than you just installed)

6. Switch to an alternate version: alternatives –config java (Select the version you just installed for me: /usr/java/jdk1.8.0_141/jre/bin/java)

7. If the version you want is not there you may need to install it as an alternative: alternatives –install /usr/java/jdk1.8.0_141/bin/java 2000

8. Check your Java Version again: java -version (It should be pointing correctly now).

Go have some fun with your newly install version of Java!

PeopleSoft – Performance Monitor (Setup)

Setting up Performance Monitor is one of those once every couple of years quests that I get tasked with. There is no need to re-invite the wheel on this as Oracle provides a great Red-Paper on setting this up.

My Oracle Support:
PeopleSoft Performance Monitor Red Paper (Doc ID 747510.1)

The easiest way to start with the install is to actually do a PeopleTools System Database install. Using the PeopleSoft PeopleTools Install Guide for your Tools version follow the instructions to create a database manually.  There is a delivered install for PeopleTools System Database right in the PeopleTools home.  You create it just like you create a Financials or HCM application database. Use the ptddl.sql delivered script to setup the PeopleTools tablespaces.

One thing that is unique about the PeopleTools Database, the core user is not VP1 or PS as in the other applications, it is: PSADMIN. PTWEBSERVER is still the web profile user by default.

Another odd issue I ran into with my last install was not being able to log in, and that was resolved by verifying that the correct license code was present on the PSOPTIONS table.

Smart Panda – PeopleSoft – Performance Monitor Red Paper (April 2013 – most current I can find as of March 2017)

PeopleSoft – Authorization Error – Contact Your System Administrator

Last week I was on a call with a client who had Oracle in doing a “free” assessment, which in my opinion was a giant sales pitch. Interestingly there was many nuggets of gold to be had if you were listening which I will share in other posts.  However, one item that was brought forth was that they should have performance monitor installed because it is just awesome!  In all the years of doing PeopleSoft have not had many opportunities to work with PPM or PerfMon or Performance Monitor depending on how you want to reference it.

It is not terribly difficult to setup, however, it is literally a separate application, so it has its own database, application server, process scheduler and web service. So this turns into more maintenance and most organizations don’t require the tool for the cost and understanding of getting PerfMon in place.

When doing the install you need a database that has PeopleTools framework, so the easiest way to get that is to install a PeopleTools System database. When doing the install, you should not that the core user is “PSADMIN” not VP1 or PS. When doing the install everything was fine, except when I tried to login I got the Authorization Error message with NOTHING else. I checked the logs and looked at security and did not see much of anything wrong.  So it was time for the secret weapon:  my oracle support, and searching we go.  Since this is a highly generic message it is difficult to determine what the cause was, all the usual suspects did not seem right.  At the bottom of one of the case notes it suggested to make sure you had the correct license code.

This install was doing using a PeopleTools Home that we did not originally install, we inherited the mess from somebody else, so when I looked, sure enough it had he strangest looking license code I have seen yet in my PeopleSoft career.  So I popped out to the PeopleSoft License Page and I got the correct license code and inserted that into the PSOPTIONS table.  After a quick restart of the application server – eureka!