OracleApplications11iArchitectureIntroduction

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OracleApplications11iArchitectureIntroduction

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1.Three-TierArchitecture

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1.1DatabaseTier

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1.2ApplicationTier

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1.3DesktopTier

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2.ProductTypes

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2.1Forms-basedProductArchitecture

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2.2HTML-basedProductArchitecture

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2.3BusinessIntelligenceSystem(BIS)ProductArchitecture

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3.ProductVersions

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4.Release11iNewFeatures

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4.1PersonalHomepage

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4.2Cost-basedOptimization

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4.3RapidInstall

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5.InternationalizationSupport

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5.1LanguageSupport

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LanguagesandCharacterSetsontheDatabaseTier

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LanguagesandCharacterSetsontheApplicationTier

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CharacterSetsontheDesktopTier

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5.2TerritoryandOrganizationSupport

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Country-specificFunctionality

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MultipleOrganizationArchitecture

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MultipleReportingCurrencies

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6.FileSystem

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6.1MainDirectoryStructures

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6.2TheDATADirectory

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6.3TheAPPLDirectory

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TheCoreTechnologyDirectory

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TheProductDirectory

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LanguageFiles

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6.4TheORADirectory

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6.5TheCOMNDirectory

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Three-TierArchitecture

Databasetier:

ItmanagesOracle8idatabase.

Applicationtier:

ItmanagesOracleApplicationsandothertools.

AllOracleApplicationssoftwareandothertoolsaredeployedontheApplicationtierandthusiteliminatestheneedtoinstallandmaintainapplicationsoftwareoneachdesktopclient.

ThesoftwareontheapplicationtieralsoenablesOracleApplicationstoscalewithloadandtokeepnetworktrafficlow.

Desktoptier:

Itprovidestheuserinterfacedisplayonly.Inotherwords,onlythepresentationlayerofOracleApplicationsisonthedesktoptierintheformofaplug-intoastandardInternetbrowser.

DatabaseTier

DataServer:AmachineonwhichthedatabaseholdingOracleApplicationsdataresides.ThedatabaseserverprocessesSQLandJavarequestsfromothermachines,suchasFormsservers,HTTPservers,andconcurrentprocessingservers.

ReportsServer:Theserverthatsupportsdataanalysisandad-hocqueries.

ConcurrentProcessingServer:AnOracleApplicationsserverthatrunstime-consuming,non-interactivetasksinthebackground.

AdministrationServer:TheserverfromwhichthesystemadministratorrunsprogramsthatmaintainandupdatetheOracleApplicationsdatabase.

ApplicationTier

HTTPServer:AnapplicationserverthatrunsanHTTPlistener,andsendsoutwebpagesinresponsetoHTTPrequestsfromremotebrowsers.

FormsServer:AtypeofapplicationserverthathoststheFormserverengine.Itmediatesbetweenthedesktopclientandthedatabase,providinginputscreensfortheForms-basedproductsonthedesktopclientandcreatingorchangingdatabaserecordsbasedonuseractions.

DiscovererServer:Theserverthatprovidesad-hocanalysis.

DesktopTier

WebBrowser:AprogramrunningonadesktopclienttheviewsdocumentsformattedinHTMLandrunsJavaapplets.AwebbrowsersendsrequeststoaHTTPserverusingaspecialprotocol(HTTP)toretrievedocumentsandJavaapplets.

ProductTypes

Forms-basedProductArchitecture

FormsServerandFormsClient:

TheFormsServermediatesbetweentheFormsclient,aJavaappletrunningonthedesktop,andtheOracle8idatabaseserveronthebackend.TheFormsserverproducestheeffectsauserseesonthedesktopscreenandcauseschangestodatabaserecordsbasedonuseractions.

AJava-enabledwebbrowsermanagesthedownloading,start-up,andexecutionoftheFormsclientonthedesktop.

HTML-basedProductArchitecture

OracleSelf-ServiceWebApplicationsandOracleWorkflow

Self-ServiceWebApplicationsprovideaneasy-to-useinterfacetousers.SincetheinterfaceisfamiliartoWebusers,itdoesnotrequireanytraining.

ManyOracleApplicationsproductsuseOracleWorkflowtoautomaticallyenforcebusinessrulesandpoliciesandtoprovideacommonnotificationsystem.TheOracleWorkflowmonitorsbusinessprocesses,collectsprocessdata,andprovidesane-mailandwebpagenotificationsystem.

BusinessIntelligenceSystem(BIS)ProductArchitecture

BusinessIntelligenceSystemisadecisionsupportsolutionintegratedwithOracleApplications.UsingtheBISproducts,amanagercanquerytheOracleApplicationsdatabasetomonitorrecentbusinessperformanceacrossmultipleorganizations.

BISERPandCRMproductsdonotusetheFormsserverorFormsclient.Instead,BISproductsusetheOracleDiscovererserverandOracleReportsserverontheapplicationtier.AJavaappletrunningondesktopclientcommunicateswiththeHTTPserver,whichconnectstotheDiscovererserverorReportsserver.

ProductVersions

ThefollowingtableshowstheversioninformationofproductcomponentsworkingwithOracleApplications11.5.6.

ComponentName

Version

Oracle8iEnterpriseEdition

OracleiAS

ApacheHTTPServer

Developer6i

Forms

Reports

Patchset8

JInitiator

JDK(web_tier)

Release11iNewFeatures

PersonalHomepage

ThePersonalHomepageisthestartingpointfromwhichyoucanaccessallERP,CRM,Self-ServiceWebApplications,orBISproducts.OnceloggedintothePersonalHomepage,youneednotsignonagaintoaccessotherpartsofthesystem.

OracleApplicationsalsoretainspreferencesasyounavigatetoothertoolsandproducts.

YoucanalsocustomizethePersonalHomepagetofityourindividualneedsandresponsibilities.

Cost-basedOptimization

TheOracleoptimizerevaluatesmanyfactorstocalculatethemostefficientwaytoexecuteaSQLstatement.Ituseseitherarule-basedorcost-basedapproach.Rule-basedoptimizationwasusedinearlierreleases,buttheSQLusedinRelease11itunedforcost-basedoptimization,andRelease11irequirestheoptimizertousethecost-basedoptimization(CBO).

UsingCBO,theoptimizerconsiderstheavailableaccesspathsandfactorsinstatisticalinformationforthetablesandindexesthattheSQLstatementwillaccess.First,theoptimizercreatesasetofpotentialexecutionplansfortheSQLstatementbasedonitsavailableaccesspathsandhints.Thentheoptimizerestimatesthecostofeachexecutionplanbasedonstatisticsinthedatadictionaryforthedatadistributionandstoragecharacteristicsofthetables,indexes,andpartitions.Theoptimizercomparesthecostsoftheexecutionplansandchoosestheonewiththesmallestcost.

OracleApplications11iprovidestheconcurrentprogram“GatherSchemaStatistics〞tohelptocollectusefulstatisticsforCBOtogenerateoptimalplans.

RapidInstall

Release11iintroducesRapidInstall:awizardthathelpsyouinstallacompletesetofOracleApplicationsatthelatestavailableMaintenancePacklevel.RapidInstallinstallstherequiredtechnologystackandcreatestheOracleApplicationsdatabase.

YoucanuseRapidInstalltoinstallanyofthreeenvironments:aproductioninstallation,atestinstallation,andaninstallationoftheVisionDemodatabase.

RapidInstallalsoletsyoulicenseproducts,country-specificfunctionality,andlanguages.

RapidInstallstoresalltheparametersyouchooseinaconfigurationfile,defaultnamedas“config.txt〞.

InternationalizationSupport

LanguageSupport

LanguagesandCharacterSetsontheDatabaseTier

TheOracle8idatabasetierisinstalledintheUS7ASCIIcharactersetbydefault,butcanbeconvertedtoruninanyothersupportedcharacterset.YouchoosethedatabasecharactersetwhenrunningRapidInstall,andRapidInstallconvertsthedatabasetothenewcharacterset.

ThesuitabledatabasecharactersetforSimplifiedChineseis“ZHS16GBK〞.

LanguagesandCharacterSetsontheApplicationTier

TheapplicationtierisinstalledintheUS7ASCIIcharactersetbydefault,butcanbeconvertedtoruninanyothersupportedcharacterset.YouspecifytheapplicationtiercharactersetwhenrunningRapidInstall.

ThesuitableapplicationtiercharactersetforSimplifiedChineseis“ZHS16GBK〞.

TheHTTPserversontheapplicationtiermustuseacharactersetsupportedbythebrowsersonthedesktoptier.NotallcharactersetsavailablefortheHTTPserveraresupportedbythebrowsers.Thisistheonlycompatibilityrequirementbetweenthedesktoptierandapplicationtier.

CharacterSetsontheDesktopTier

Languagesupport,whichincludessupportfordatainputmethodsandrequiredcharactersetsandfonts,mustbeavailableinthedesktopclient’soperatingsystem.

Thedesktopbrowsermustbeconfiguredtoinputdataintherequiredlanguageandmusthandleanylanguage-specificcapabilities.

ThecharactersetinthebrowserissetbytheHTTPserver.UsersmustnotchangetheircharactersetinthebrowserduringanOracleApplicationssession.

TerritoryandOrganizationSupport

Country-specificFunctionality

OracleApplicationshasasinglecommoncoreoffunctionality,withcountry-specificextensionstomeetthestatutory,legal,andculturalpracticesofdifferentcountries.

Althoughallcountry-specificextensionsareinstalled,youmustlicenseeachextensionbeforeyoucanuseitscountry-specificfunctionality.RapidInstalllistsallthecountriesthathaveextensionsandlicensestheextensionsyouchoose.

MultipleOrganizationArchitecture

Youcandefinemultipleorganizations(Multi-Org)andtherelationshipsamongtheminasingleinstallationofOracleApplications.

Thetypesoforganizationsthatcanbedefinedincludebusinessgroups,setofbooks,legalentities,balancingentities,operatingunits,inventoryorganizations,HRorganizations,andorganizationsinOracleProjectsandOracleFixedAssets.

WhenyourunOracleApplicationsproducts,youfirstchooseanorganization–eitherimplicitlybychoosingaresponsibility,orexplicitlyinaChooseOrganizationwindow.Eachwindowandreportthendisplaysinformationforyourorganizationonly.

MultipleReportingCurrencies

TheMultipleReportingCurrencies(MRC)featureallowsyoutoreportandmaintainaccountingrecordsatthetransactionlevel,inmorethanonefunctionalcurrency.

PrimaryfunctionalcurrencyisthecurrencyyouusetorecordtransactionsandmaintainyouraccountingdatawithinOracleApplications.Theprimaryfunctionalcurrencyisgenerallythecurrencyinwhichyouperformmostofyourbusinesstransactionsandtheoneyouuseforlegalreporting.Areportingfunctionalcurrencyisacurrency,otherthenyourprimaryfunctionalcurrency,thatyouneedforreports.

FileSystem

MainDirectoryStructures

InRelease11i,thereisnoOraclefilestoredonthedesktopclient.Thefollowingshowsthemaindirectorystructuresondatabasetierandapplicationtier.

Exampleofeachdirectorystructurelocation:

DATA:/data/<SID>/data

APPL:/app/<SID>/appl

ORA:

/ora/<SID>/db/8.1.7(OracleHomefor8iRDBMS)

/app/<SID>/ora/8.0.6(OracleHomeforTechnologyStack)

/app/<SID>/ora/iAS(OracleHomeforApacheServer)

COMN:/app/<SID>/comn

TheDATADirectory

TheDATAfilesystemcontainsthe.dbffilesoftheOracleApplicationsOracle8idatabase.

TheAPPLDirectory

OracleApplicationsfilesarestoredintheAPPLdirectory.RapidInstallsavesthenameofthisAPPLdirectoryintheAPPL_TOPenvironmentsetting.

EachApplicationTopdirectoryhasamainenvironmentfile,<SID>.env,whichnamedafterthedatabaseinstanceassociatedwiththeinstallation.

WithintheAPPL_TOPdirectory,filesassociatedwithaproductareinstalledundertheproduct’stop-leveldirectory,whichisstoredinthe<prod>_TOPenvironmentsetting.The<prod>portionofthisenvironmentsettingistheproduct’sshortname,suchasad,au,fnd,gl,andinv.Thecorresponding<prod>_TOPenvironmentsettingsareAD_TOP,AU_TOP,FND_TOP,GL_TOP,andINV_TOP.

Forcompatibilitywithearlierreleases,RapidInstallcreatesanotherdirectory,namedfortheversionnumber,withintheproduct’

TheCoreTechnologyDirectory

Theadmin,ad,au,andfnddirectoriesarethecoretechnologydirectories.

TheadmindirectoryholdsfilesusedforthepreliminaryinstallorupgradestepsforallOracleApplicationsproducts.Subdirectoriesinthisadmindirectoryholdthelogandrestartfilesthatrecordtheactionsperformedbyinstallationandupgradeutilitiesandscripts.

Thead(ApplicationsDBA)directorycontainstheinstallationandmaintenanceutilitiessuchasAutoUpgrade,AutoPatch,andtheadadminutility.

Theau(ApplicationsUtilities)directorycontainsPL/SQLlibrariesusedbyOracleFormsandOracleReports,OracleFormssourcefiles,andacopyofallJavafilesusedtogeneratethedesktopclient.

Thefnd(Foundation)directorycontainstheformsandCobjectlibraries,andscriptsthatareusedtobuildtheOracleApplicationsdatadictionary.

TheProductDirectory

Each<prod>_TOPdirectory,suchasAPPL_TOP/gl/11.5.0,containssubdirectoriesforproductfiles.

Productfilesincludeshellscriptsforconcurrentprograms,formsfiles,reportfiles,andsomefilestoinstallorupgradethedatabase(buttablesandotherdatabaseobjectsarestoredseparatelyontheOracle8idatabaseserver).

LanguageFiles

WhenyouinstallOracleApplicationsinalanguageotherthanAmericanEnglish(languagecode=US),eachproducttreeincludesdirectoriesthatusetheNLSlanguagecode.Thesedirectoriesholdtranslateddata,form,html,messageandreportfiles.

ThelanguagecodeforSimplifiedChineseisZHS.

TheORADirectory

OracleApplicationssupportsrunningwithdatainadatabaseofoneversion,whilelinkingOracleApplicationsprogramsusingthetoolsfromasecondorthirdversionofthedatabaseserver.ThisisknownasmultipleOracleHomes.ThismodelallowsOracletosupportfeaturesinlaterdatabaseserverversions