Introduction to Oracle E-Business Suite - Understanding the EBS 12.2 Technology Stack Components

Introduction to Oracle E-Business Suite - Understanding the EBS 12.2 Technology Stack Components
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Understanding the EBS 12.2 Technology Stack Components

E-Business Suite’s technology stack consists of application tier technology components and database tier technology components. These components come installed and configured when the installation is complete.

As for technology stack components , there are various technologies to support the diversity of the services that EBS offers to the clients.

The technology stack components in version EBS 12.2 (the latest release 12.2.5) can be categorized as Oracle technologies, Java technologies, technologies delivered in applications (APPL_TOP technologies), and external technologies.

Table 3 summarizes these groups of technologies with the versions delivered with the latest EBS 12.2.5 installation.

Table 3. Oracle Technologies and Their Component Versions in EBS 12.2.5, Deployed with the Latest Installation Package (startCD–startCD 51)

Oracle Technology

Version

Oracle Database

12.1.2.0

JDK on concurrent processing node

1.7.0_85

JDK version used by AD utilities

1.7.0_85

Sun JDK client version

1.6.0_27

JDK version on HTTP server node

1.7.0_85

JDK version on HTTP server node

1.7.0_85

OA Framework version

12.2.5

Oracle Application Server

10.1.2.3

Database client library version in Oracle Application Server

10.1.0.5.0

Oracle Application Server/Oracle Fusion Middleware

11.1.1.9

Oracle WebLogic Server

Oracle WebLogic Server 10.3.6

XDK for the database tier

11.1.1.9

Oracle HTTP Server

11.1.1.9

Note

EBS 12.2 is installed as the base release 12.2.0, which is not supported and required to be immediately upgraded to a supported patchset (currently 12.2.2 and upward). At the time of writing this article, the latest patchset level of EBS 12.2 was 12.2.5, so although EBS 12.2.5 is not directly installable because it is provided with an upgrade patch, the following version information provided is based on this patchset level, 12.2.5, because it is currently the most stable and latest patchset among all the supported patchsets of EBS 12.2.

The database tier technology component in EBS 12.2 basically implies Oracle Database.

As for the latest EBS 12.2 release installed with the latest startCD (currently startCD 51), EBS’s database tier is Oracle Database 12.1.0.2, which is a stable release of Oracle Database. As for the EBS 12.2 environments, which are deployed using earlier startCD versions, the database tier can be deployed as Oracle Database 11.2.0.3 or 11.2.0.4 according to the version of the startCD that is used for the installation. On the other hand, as using Oracle Database 12c is supported with EBS 12.2, the database tier can be upgraded to 12c for these environments, as well.

The XML Development Kit (XDK ) for Java is a database feature that contains a set of components, tools, and utilities for building, deploying, and supporting XML-enabled applications. These components can be for various XML processing operations such as parsing XML, validating XML, transforming XML documents into another format, and generating Java and C++ classes from input XML schemas.

So, EBS uses the XDK through Oracle XML Gateway in certain transactions such as inbound transactions; it is used to get the XML files/messages and parse and import the data into the application tables for further processing.

Oracle Application Server 10.1.2.3, also called as Developer Home in EBS 12.2, is used for providing forms and reports services. Forms services are provided by cooperating with FMW. It is in the form of an Oracle Home, which has several binaries, libraries, and configuration files to provide its services.

You can take a deeper look at this process by referring to Figure 4, where the cooperation between the FMW components and Oracle 10.1.2 Home (needed for providing the form services) is described.

relationship between Oracle Home and WebLogic forms services 

 

Figure 4. The relationship between 10.1.2 Oracle Home and WebLogic forms services

As shown in Figure 4, there is a relationship between 10.1.2 Oracle Home and the WebLogic form services. Figure 4 also shows the WebLogic Oacore and OAFM services reaching the Java classes, HTML pages, and other files and directories stored in the COMMON_TOP directory. (We will explain COMMON_TOP later in this article.)

The EBS modules (formsapp.ear) and the actual forms executable (frmweb) runs on this 10.1.2 application tier Home, but all the major services for frmweb are served by the Oracle Fusion Middleware. So, when an Oracle report program is executed or a client request is made for opening an Oracle form-based EBS screen, the binaries in this Oracle Home are triggered.

Oracle Fusion Middleware (FMW ) 11.1.1.9.0 is the application server for applications that provide the core functionalities in EBS Java code. Using the WebLogic Server that resides in it, FMW hosts the Oacore server to provide the pages developed with Oracle Application Framework (OAF), which is a framework supplied by Oracle to be used for development within the Oracle E-Business Suite OAFM to provide such as web services and a secure enterprise search agent. In addition, it hosts the forms server for services, all the forms functionality, and forms-c4ws to expose forms-based functionalities as web services.

A JSP compiler and JSP engine are also included in FMW.

The WebLogic JSP compiler , weblogic appc, is used for the precompilation of JSP pages in EBS. The SP engine is used for processing the JSP pages and converting them to the servlets.

FMW also includes control mechanisms/utilities for its core WebLogic services, as well as all the JRF files needed by EBS and Oracle HTTP Server to be used as a web entry point for EBS.

So, Oracle HTTP Server, WebLogic Server, 10.1.2 Home services, and the binaries stored in application directories such as COMMON_TOP and APPL_TOP are used together for the application tier processing. Figure 5 shows the FMW components such as Oracle HTTP Server and WebLogic Server, as well as the other technologies such as 10.1.2 Oracle Home and three important top-level EBS directories such as APPL_TOP, COMMON_TOP, and INST_TOP working together.

Oracle E-Business Suite application and database tier components

Figure 5. Oracle E-Business Suite application and database tier components

The XDK is also present in the application tier. The XDK in the application tier is used mostly in the application reports such as the Account Analysis report. Data gathering activities of these kinds of applications are based on XML publisher technology that relies on XDK in the back end.

Oracle FMW comes with Oracle HTTP Server 11.1.1.9.0 for accepting HTTP requests and passing them to the related WebLogic services if needed.

Oracle HTTP Server can provide responses for basic requests, without passing them to the WebLogic servers.

Table 4 summarizes the Java technologies that come with the latest version, EBS 12.2 (12.2.5).

Table 4. Java Technologies and the Versions Used in EBS 12.2.5

Java Technology

Version

Java SE development kit

7

Native Java plug-in

6

There are two JAVA SE developments kits (JDKs) present in EBS 12.2. One of them is used for the programs related to concurrent processing, which are not provided by WebLogic Server. The second JDK is used for Oracle application tier Java code and the application framework.

There is also a native Java plug-in stored in the EBS application tier. This plug-in is used for client-side forms interfaces. That is, if a client requests opening a form-based interface, then this plug-in is transferred to the client on the fly, and by using this plug-in, the client browser can open the forms through the Java applet.

Also, there are technologies deployed in the Oracle applications APPL_TOP directory. Table 5 summarizes technology components delivered within the Oracle applications directory, APPL_TOP.

Table 5. Technology Components in APPL_TOP Directory [CAPTION]

Technology Delivered in APPL_TOP

Version

Oracle JDeveloper runtime libraries

10.1.3

Oracle BI beans

3.1.1.14

Oracle thin JDBC drivers

11.2.0.3

In the APPL_TOP directory of EBS12.2, standard JDeveloper runtime libraries and BI beans are delivered to support applications leveraged from them. In addition, Oracle thin JDBC drivers are provided for use in the database connections.

In addition to the technologies delivered with EBS, there are external technologies that are considered to be part of an EBS environment but are not deployed with an EBS installation.

Table 6 lists these technologies and their supported versions.

Table 6. External Technologies and Their Latest Versions Certified with EBS 12.2.5

Externally Installed Oracle Technology

Versions Certified with EBS 12.2.5 

Oracle Internet Directory

11g Release 1 (11.1.1.9.0)

Oracle Access Manager

11.1.2.3

Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition

12.2.1.1

Oracle Discoverer

11.1.1.7

Oracle WebCenter Portal

11.1.1.9

Oracle Portal

11.1.1.7

Oracle BPEL Process Manager

11.1.1.9

Oracle Enterprise Manager for EBS

12.1.0.4

Oracle Internet Directory when used with Oracle Access Manager supplies the single sign-on for EBS. Oracle Business Intelligence is a separate program for delivering the business intelligence but can also be integrated into EBS.

Oracle Discoverer brings a reporting solution into an EBS environment. Discoverer is a powerful reporting tool that supplies a reporting platform for creating reports with almost any details and advanced reporting capabilities.

Oracle WebCenter Portal is used to create websites and portals, and the integration of EBS applications to a WebCenter Portal application is certified with EBS. Oracle Portal is a Fusion Middleware component used for creating enterprise portals, and these portals too can be in conjunction with EBS.

With the Release 12.2, Oracle BPEL Process Manager 11.1.1.9 can be used for the integration. Systems like Oracle Transportation Manager can be integrated to EBS using this method.

Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c provides an Oracle EBS plug-in for managing the EBS system using Oracle Enterprise Manager. Enterprise Manager 12c has EBS-specific capabilities such as performance monitoring and cloning support.

We’ve now introduced the technology components, so let’s proceed with the EBS 12.2 file system structure; looking the components explained earlier from the file system may provide a better understanding of them.

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Comments (1)
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site

Awesome, thank you so much.

Umair
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