R12.1.x ASCP : The executable file /../../bin/MSCMON for this concurrent program cannot be executed. Contact your system administrator or support representative.

We are in the process of implementing Advanced Supply Chain Planning (ASCP) for our Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS).  The Snapshot Monitor program (MSCMON) resulted in the below error.

Error:
The executable file /p01/oracle/apps/apps_st/appl/msc/12.0.0/bin/MSCMON for this concurrent program cannot be executed. Contact your system administrator or support representative. Verify that the execution path to the executable.

Operating System: Linux x86-64 bit
EBS Version: R12.1.2 with ASCP patches R12.1.3

Issue: Some of the executable were missing like MSCCPP, MSCMON, MSCNEW, MSCNSP, MSCNSPNM, MSCPCL, MSCPCP, MSCPDW, MSCPRG, MSCSDW, MSCSLD and MSCXGCAL from $MSC_TOP/bin. MSONEW was missing from $MSO_TOP/bin.

Solution:
Relink the MSC and MSO modules using adadmin and verify the executable are present.

ADADMIN
 - 2. Maintain Applications Files menu
    - 1. Relink Applications programs
       Do you wish to proceed with the relink [Yes] ?
       Enter the name of your Oracle Applications environment file below.
       File name [APPLE_vaidiyan1.env] :
       Enter list of products to link ('all' for all products) [all] : MSC
       Generate specific executables for each selected product [No] ? Yes
       Relink with debug information [No] ?
       Enter executables to relink, or enter 'all' [all] :

Repeat the same process for MSO.

In my case, adrelink failed for the MSC executables.

Error:

/p01/oracle/apps/apps_st/appl/mso/12.0.0/lib/libmso.a(msopomresconsume.o)
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
make: *** [/p01/oracle/apps/apps_st/appl/msc/12.0.0/bin/MSCMON] Error 1
Done with link of msc executable 'MSCMON' on Mon Dec 15 12:15:27 CST 2014

Relink Solution:

This is a Bug 9907575: CHANGE ADRELINKNEW.SH FOR RELINK APS EXE ON OEL/RH 5.

1. Backup $AD_TOP/bin/adrelinknew.sh and open the file.
2. Search the string below in the LINUX section and modify it appropriately

CPP_LDFLAGS=' -L$(ORACLE_HOME)/lib -L$(ORACLE_HOME)/lib/stubs -lclntsh'
 
TO

CPP_LDFLAGS=' -L$(ORACLE_HOME)/lib -L$(ORACLE_HOME)/lib/stubs -lclntsh -Wl,--noinhibit-exec' 

3. Now relink MSC/MSO/MSR executables with adadmin.

Reference:
MSCNSP Memory Based Snapshot Errors Concurrent Program Cannot Be Executed (Doc ID 562672.1)
Unable to relink MSC/MSO executables on OEL/RHEL5 and also RedHat 4.9 (Doc ID 1273390.1)
ADRELINK of MSC and MSO executables fail (Doc ID 1492763.1)
MSC Relinking Error on Linux OEL5/RHEL5, Relink of module "MSCCPP" failed, "FEMCCE","MSCNEW","MSCMON". There was No MSC Relink Problem when Worked on RHEL 4 (Doc ID 1128486.1)    To Bottom   
R12: MSC Modules Error Out When Relinking with Adrelink (Doc ID 1345788.1)

R12.2.x - Flexfield value set security : Grant flexfield value set access to specific users

Oracle Applications release 12.2.x brings a new Separation of Duty feature - FLEXFIELD VALUE SET SECURITY. It controls who can create, view, insert or update values for a particular value set in the Flexfield Values Setup window (FNDFFMSV).

The effect of flexfield value set security is that a user of the Segment Values form will only be able to view those value sets for which the user has been granted access. Further, the user will be able to insert or update/disable values in that value set if the user has been granted privileges to do so. Note that where a value set is being used by multiple flexfield segments or report parameters, any changes made to a value set affect all segments or parameters that use the same value set, even if access is not explicitly granted for the flexfield that shares the value set. 

Note: Flexfield value set security is not currently supported by the Account Hierarchy Manager in Oracle General Ledger, though the Account Hierarchy Manager only provides access to value sets that are used for the Accounting Flexfield. Flexfield value set security is also not currently supported by the Setup Workbench in the Oracle Product Information Management product. For both of these products, you should maintain tight control over who has access to these pages on their menus.

When you initially install or upgrade to Release 12.2.2, no users are allowed to view, insert or update any value set values. You must explicitly set up access for specific users by enabling appropriate grants and roles for those users.

Setting Up Flexfield Value Security : Setting up value security mostly consists of creating grants using the Functional Administrator responsibility.

Oracle Recommendation: To create roles and create grants to those roles rather than directly to individual users.

Our Strategy: What I 'have done in our environment is to assign all privileges to System Administrator Responsiblity and View only to all users. This way whoever have System Administrator responsiblity will be able to modify the Value Set.

Functional Administrator > Security Tab > Create Grant.

Create Grant: Define Grant
Name: XX_VALUE_SET_ACCESS_SYSADMIN
Security Context
Grantee Type: All Users
Responsibility: System Administrator
Data Security
Object : Flexfield Value Set Security Object (Code:FND_FLEX_VSET_OBJECT, Source:FND_FLEX_VALUE_SETS)

Create Grant: Select Object Data Context
Object Flexfield Value Set Security Object
Data Context Type: Instance Set
Name: All value sets (Code:FND_FLEX_VSET_OBJSET_ALL, Description:Give access to all value sets)

Create Grant: Define Object Parameters and Select Set
Data Security
Object Flexfield Value Set Security Object
Data Context
Type Instance Set
Name All value sets
Description Give access to all value sets
Predicate
1=1
Set
Name: Flexfield Value Set Security Insert/Update Set (Code:FND_FLEX_VSET_INSERT_UPDATE_PS, Description:Allow insert and update of values in a value set)

Create Grant: Review and Finish
Review the information and hit the Finish button.

There are two options to give users access to all value sets for backward compatibility

Reference:
Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2.3 Readme (Doc ID 1586214.1)
Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2.4 Readme (Doc ID 1617458.1)
Oracle® E-Business Suite Flexfields Guide, Release 12.2 (Part No. E22963) -'Flexfield Value Set Security'

Oracle 11g, 12c: rlwrap: error: Cannot execute sqlplus: No such file or directory

I have installed an ASM instance and tried to login using sqlplus and received the below error:

$ sqlplus
rlwrap: error: Cannot execute sqlplus: No such file or directory

$ sqlplus / as sysdba
rlwrap: error: Cannot execute sqlplus: No such file or directory

Operating system: RedHat Linux 6.5

Solution: 
Add the following to the environment file :

export PATH=$ORACLE_HOME/bin:$PATH
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$ORACLE_HOME/lib 

R12.2.x Oracle E-Business Suite Sanity Check

An instance validation is highly recommended whenever we install or upgrade Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) or clone an Oracle Application system to test or even while applying AD, Techstack (TXK) and family packs. The sanity checks are valid whenever we take the system down for maintenance or perform a disaster recovery. Following are some of the validation tests for an Oracle EBS R12.x and above that I perform.

1. Basic Technology Stack Health Testing   

Check LocalLogin using: /OA_HTML/AppsLogin

Login via Forms Direct Login: /forms/frmservlet?

Check for any errors or exceptions, if any, in Java Console as well as during Forms launch

2. Multiple Forms Launching In Single Forms Session

After logon (SYSADMIN/sysadmin) to Apps, click System Administrator -> Security: User-> Define. Now from the html navigator, open the Application-> Currency form.The new form should open in the existing forms session (i.e., the earlier form as well as new form should co-exist).

3. AOL/J Test  

Logon http://<hostname:port>/OA_HTML/jsp/fnd/aoljtest.jsp with DB connection details.
All the tests should pass without errors/exceptions.

4.Concurrent Request (CR)

Logon (SYSADMIN/sysadmin) to EBS. Choose System Administrator -> Requests-> Run-> Single Request. Select the concurrent request 'Active User' and hit Submit. This should not throw any errors or exceptions in any phase. View Output should generate report without any errors. There should not be any errors in the report log file.

5. Reports Regression Test

Logon (SYSADMIN/sysadmin) to EBS. Choose System Administrator -> Requests-> Run-> Single Request. From the Name LOV, choose 'CP Text Report Regression Test' (with parameters Run Mode ::'FULL', Duration:: 0) and click on Submit. Ensure that this CR completes successfully.

6. Java Regression Test   

Logon (SYSADMIN/sysadmin) to EBS. Choose System Administrator -> Requests-> Run-> Single Request. From the Name LOV, choose 'CP Java Regression Test' (Set parameters as 'Basic') and click on Submit. Ensure that this CR completes successfully.

7. PLSQL Regression Test

Logon (SYSADMIN/sysadmin) to EBS. Choose System Administrator -> Requests-> Run-> Single Request. From the Name LOV, choose 'CP PLSQL Regression Test' (Set parameters as 'Basic') and click on Submit. Ensure that this CR completes successfully.

8. Perl Regression Test

Logon (SYSADMIN/sysadmin) to EBS. Choose System Administrator -> Requests-> Run-> Single Request. From the Name LOV, choose 'CP Perl Regression Test' (Set Parameters as 'Basic') and click on Submit. Ensure that this CR completes successfully.

9. OAM functionality

Logon (SYSADMIN/sysadmin) to EBS. Choose System Administration-> Oracle Applications Manager --> System Configuration Overview. System Configuration Overview should display current system config values; all processes should be up and running. Check init.ora settings.

10. Diagnostics

Logon (SYSADMIN/sysadmin) to EBS. Choose System Administration-> Diagnostics.
Check AOL/J Diagnostics, JSP Ping, JSP Class Version Information, Servlet Ping, AOL/J Database Connection Pool Status, TCF Status.

11. iHelp Test  

Logon (SYSADMIN/sysadmin) to EBS. Choose System Administrator, Select Help link On Search Entry, type FNDFS and click Find. Verify that it shows the list of search hits for FNDFS.

12. License Manager   

Logon (SYSADMIN/sysadmin) to EBS. Bring up license manager and try to license/de-license products.

13. TCF Server test

Logon (SYSADMIN/sysadmin) to EBS. Choose System Administrator-> Application -> Menu. Query the menu item AK_NAVIGATE (Press F10 for editable mode), Click on View Tree button. Menu Viewer screen should appear with the details.

14. FNDFS (Text and Web)

Logon (SYSADMIN/sysadmin) to EBS. Choose System Administrator -> Profile -> System. Set profile option 'Viewer: Text' to <blank> (text format). View the log or output of any concurrent request and it should be opened by forms default viewer. Set profile option 'Viewer: Text' to 'browser' (web format). View the log or output of any concurrent request and it should be opened by web browser window.

15.  Printing

Check the printing from Applications. Print the output of a Concurrent Request.

The tests are all optional.

Oracle 11g and 12c RDBMS: How to check what are the PSU and CPU patches applied on the database

We can find the list of patches applied to RDBMS_ORACLE_HOME by the command opatch lsinventory or opatch lsinventory -detail. There is one another way to find the Patch Set Update (PSU) or Critical Patch Update (CPU) by querying against the database table.

Table Name: SYS.REGISTRY$HISTORY (10g, 11g) and SYS.REGISTRY$SQLPATCH (12c R1 and later)
CPU:

select comments, version, bundle_series from sys.registry$history where bundle_series = 'PSU' order by action_time;

PSU:

select action_time, action, id, comments from sys.registry$history where action = 'CPU' order by action_time;

Other Queries:

select to_char(action_time, 'dd-mon-yyyy hh24:mi:ss') as action_time, action, namespace, version, id, comments,bundle_series from   sys.registry$history order by action_time; 

12c R1  and later Query:

select patch_id,action,status,action_time,description from registry$sqlpatch;

Reference:
Do Patchset Updates (PSU's) Change the Oracle Release Version/Fifth Digit? (Doc ID 861152.1)
The COMMENTS Column Of dba_registry_history And registry$history Tables Shows The Value 11.2.0.2.0 Instead Of 11.2.0.3.0 or 11.2.0.4 (Doc ID 1439486.1)
What information Oracle Support needs to work on Critical Patch Update (CPU) Installation Service Requests (Doc ID 735257.1)