An Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 system utilizes components from many Oracle products. These product files are stored below a number of key top-level directories on the database and application server machines.
Note: No Oracle E-Business Suite components are installed on desktop client machines, although JAR files and
their supporting utilities are downloaded as required.
Depending on how you chose to install Oracle E-Business Suite, these product directories may be located on a single machine (the simplest case) or on multiple machines (the most common type of deployment). Operating system environment settings indicate the location of the various files in the file systems of the database and application tier machines. This chapter discusses the association between these environment settings and the
corresponding files and directories.
- The db/apps_st/data directory is located on the database node machine, and contains the system tablespaces, redo log files, data tablespaces, index tablespaces, and database files
- The db/tech_st/11.1.0 directory is located on the database node machine, and contains the ORACLE_HOME for the Oracle 11g database
- The apps/apps_st/appl (APPL_TOP) directory contains the product directories and files for Oracle E-Business Suite
- The apps/apps_st/comn (COMMON_TOP) directory contains Java classes, HTML pages, and other files and directories used by multiple products
- The apps/tech_st/10.1.2 directory contains the ORACLE_HOME used for the Oracle E-Business Suite technology stack tools components
- The apps/tech_st/10.1.3 directory contains the ORACLE_HOME used for the Oracle E-Business Suite technology stack Java components
Oracle E-Business Suite Environment
Oracle E-Business Suite makes extensive use of environment settings to locate executable programs and other files essential to Oracle E-Business Suite operation. These environment settings are defined when you install Oracle E-Business Suite. Many of the settings are defined by information you provide when running Rapid Install, while others have the same values in all installations.
The environment settings and their associated values are stored in environment files, which have a .env suffix on UNIX (.cmd on Windows). Environment files and settings are discussed in more detail later in this chapter.
Instance Home ($INST_TOP)
Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 introduces the concept of a top-level directory for an Oracle E-Business Suite instance. This directory is referred to as the Instance Home, and denoted by the environment variable $INST_TOP.
Using an Instance Home provides the ability to share application and technology stack code among multiple instances, for example a development instance and a test instance. Other benefits include support for read-only file systems and centralization of log files, both of which are discussed further below.
The basic structure of the instance home is: <APPS_BASE>/inst/apps/<context_name>, where APPS_BASE (which does not have or need a corresponding environment variable) is the top level of the Oracle E-Business Suite installation, and <context_name> is the highest level at which the applications context exists. For example, the setting of $INST_TOP might be <diskresource>/applmgr/inst/apps/testsys2, where testsys2 is the context name.
All configuration files created by AutoConfig are stored under the Instance Home. This facilitates use of a shared application tier file system, as described later in this chapter.
Read-Only File Systems
A key benefit of moving to the new Instance Home model is that as AutoConfig no longer writes to the APPL_TOP or ORACLE_HOME directories, both of these can be made into read-only file systems if required. In previous Oracle E-Business Suite releases, the adpatch utility wrote to $APPL_TOP/admin on an administration (patching) node. Under the new model, $APPL_CONFIG_HOME/admin is used instead. $APPL_CONFIG_HOME will equate to a value such as /u01/oracle/VIS/apps/apps_st/appl.
Note: In a shared file system environment, Oracle recommends that the INST_TOP should be located on a local disk and not on a shared resource such as NFS, because of possible issues storing log files on shared resources.
Log Files
Another advantage of employing the concept of an Instance Home is that log files can be stored centrally for an instance, and therefore managed more easily.
Important: This is particularly significant from a security perspective, as log files may contain sensitive data that should not be accessible to general users.
The following diagram shows the directory structure used for log files in Release 12, with some of the subdirectories used to categorize the log files:
The data Directory
The db/apps_st/data directory stores the different types of file used by the Oracle database. Rapid Install places the system, data, and index files in directories below several file system mount points on the database machine. You can specify these mount points during installation.
The db Directory
Oracle E-Business Suite supports employing an Oracle E-Business Suite database running out of one ORACLE_HOME, while running other Oracle E-Business Suite components out of additional ORACLE_HOMEs. This multiple ORACLE_HOMEs configuration allows Oracle E-Business Suite to utilize new features of the Oracle Database and associated technologies in the most flexible manner.
Release 12 utilizes an Oracle Database 11g ORACLE_HOME, (Oracle E-Business Suite database home) whose files are located under the db directory. These files are needed for running and maintaining the Oracle E-Business Suite database.
Note: Oracle E-Business Suite is always certified with database server patchsets (minor maintenance releases).
The comn Directory
The apps/apps_st/comn (COMMON_TOP) directory contains files used by many different Oracle E-Business Suite products, and which may also be used with third-party products.
The admin directory
The admin directory, under the COMMON_TOP directory, is the default location for the concurrent manager log and output directories. When the concurrent managers run Oracle E-Business Suite reports, they write the log files and temporary files to the log subdirectory of the admin directory, and the output files to the out subdirectory of the admin directory.
You can change the location the concurrent managers write these files to, so that, for example, the log and output files are written to directories in each <PROD>_TOP directory. This may be more desirable in terms of disk space management, or the need to avoid a possible performance bottleneck on a system that has a high concurrent processing throughput.
Note: For further details, see Concurrent Processing Server in Chapter 1 of this book, and Chapters 6, 7 and 8 of Oracle E-Business Suite System Administrator's Guide - Configuration.
The install subdirectory of the admin directory contains scripts and log files used by Rapid Install.
The scripts subdirectory of admin contains scripts used to start and stop services such as listeners and concurrent managers.
The html directory
The OA_HTML environment setting points to the html directory. The Oracle E-Business Suite HTML-based sign-on screen and Oracle HTML-based Applications HTML files are installed here. The html directory also contains other files used by the HTML-based products, such as JavaServer Page (JSP) files, Java scripts, XML files, and style sheets. Typically, the path will look like: <diskresource>/applmgr/apps/apps_st/comn/webapps/oacore/html.
Note: The META-INF and WEB-INF subdirectories were introduced in Release 12 to meet J2EE specifications.
The java directory
Release 12 introduces some significant changes to the locations in which the various types of Java files are stored. Rapid Install installs all Oracle E-Business Suite class files in the COMMON_TOP/classes directory, pointed to by the $JAVA_TOP environment variable. Zip and jar files are installed in the $COMMON_TOP/java/lib directory, pointed to by the $AF_JLIB environment variable (introduced with Release 12). The top-level Java directory, $COMMON_TOP/java, is pointed to by the $JAVA_BASE environment variable.
The util directory
The util directory contains the third-party utilities licensed to ship with Oracle E-Business Suite. These include, for example, the Java Runtime Environment (JRE), Java Development Kit (JDK), and the Zip utility.
The appl Directory
Oracle E-Business Suite files are stored in the <dbname>APPL directory, which is generally known as the APPL_TOP directory.
The APPL_TOP directory contains:
- The core technology files and directories.
- The product files and directories (for all products).
- The main Oracle E-Business Suite environment file, called <CONTEXT_NAME>.env on UNIX, and <CONTEXT_NAME>.cmdon Windows.
- The consolidated environment file, called APPS<CONTEXT_NAME>.env on UNIX, and APPS<CONTEXT_NAME>.cmd on Windows.
Note: CONTEXT_NAME is the Oracle Applications context, described further in Chapter 5. Its default value is <SID>_<hostname>.
Rapid Install creates a directory tree for every Oracle E-Business Suite product in this APPL_TOP directory, whether licensed or not.
Warning: Regardless of registration status, all Oracle E-Business Suite products are installed in the database and the file system. Do not attempt to remove files for any unregistered products.
Rapid Install installs a new APPL_TOP directory when you upgrade. Rapid Install does not delete any existing product files from earlier releases, but unloads new product files into a new apps/apps_st/appl directory tree.
Each APPL_TOP directory is associated with a single Oracle E-Business Suite database. If you install both a Vision Demo system and a test system, Rapid Install will lay down two file systems, one for each of these Oracle E-Business Suite systems.
Product Directories
Each product has its own subdirectory under APPL_TOP. The subdirectories are named in accordance with the product's standard abbreviation, such as gl for Oracle General Ledger. Within each product directory is a subdirectory that is named using the base Oracle E-Business Suite release number, such as 12.0.0 for the initial Release 12. This directory contains the various subdirectories for the product files.
<PROD>_TOP Directory
The <APPL_TOP>/<prod>/<version> path is known as the product top directory (<PROD>_TOP), and its value is stored in the <PROD>_TOP environment variable.
For example, if APPL_TOP=/d01/oracle/prodapps, then the value contained in the AD_TOP environment variable is /d01/oracle/prodapps/ad/12.0.0, and the AD_TOP environment variable points to the <APPL_TOP>/ad/12.0.0 directory.
For the same APPL_TOP, the value of AU_TOP is /d01/oracle/prodapps/au/12.0.0, and the AU_TOP environment variable points to the <APPL_TOP>/au/12.0.0 directory. The same principle applies to all directories, apart for the admin directory.
Product Files
Each <PROD>_TOP directory, such as <APPL_TOP>/gl/12.0.0, contains subdirectories for product files. Product files include forms files, reports files, and files used to upgrade the database. To display data entry forms for Oracle General Ledger, for example, Oracle E-Business Suite accesses files in the forms subdirectory under the 12.0.0 directory.
Within each <PROD>_TOP directory, the product's files are grouped into subdirectories according to file type and function. The next figure expands the inset to show the full directory structure for gl.
Detail of gl Directory Structure
The following table summarizes product subdirectories and the types of files each one may contain.
Subdirectory Name | Description |
---|---|
admin | The <PROD>_TOP/admin directory contains product-specific files used to upgrade each product. This is in distinction to the <APPL_TOP>/admin directory, which contains upgrade-related files for all products. |
driver | Contains driver files (.drv files) used in upgrading. |
import | Contains DataMerge files used to upgrade seed data. |
odf | Contains object description files (.odf files) used to create tables and other database objects. |
sql | Contains SQL*Plus scripts used to upgrade data, and .pkh, .pkb, and .pls scripts to create PL/SQL stored procedures. |
bin | Contains concurrent programs, other C language programs and shell scripts for each product. |
forms | Contains Oracle Forms generated runtime (.fmx) files (Oracle Forms form files). |
help | Contains the online help source files. Within this directory are subdirectories for each language installed. |
html | Contains HTML, JavaScript, and JavaServer Page (JSP) files, primarily for HTML-based Applications products. |
include | Contains C language header (.h) files that my be linked with files in the lib directory. Not all products require this directory. |
java | Contains JAR files (Java Archive files) and Java dependency files. Copies of JAR files are also located in the $AF_JLIB directory. |
lib | Contains files used to relink concurrent programs with the Oracle server libraries. These files include:
|
log and out | Contains output files for concurrent programs:
Note that log and out subdirectories under a product directory are not used if you choose to set up a common directory for log and output files (FND_TOP is the only exception to this). |
media | Contains .gif files used in the display of text and graphics on the desktop client. |
mesg | Concurrent programs also print messages in the log and output files. This directory contains the .msb files (binary message files used at runtime), and language-specific message files (such as a US.msb file for American English and a D.msb file for German). The files contain the forms messages that are displayed at the bottom of the screen or in popup windows. |
patch | Updates to the data or data model utilize this directory to store the patch files. |
reports | Contains Oracle Reports platform-specific rdf binary report files for each product. Reports for each language are stored in subdirectories of the reports directory. |
resource | Contains .pll files (PL/SQL library files for Oracle Forms), which, like the plsql directory files, are later copied to AU_TOP. |
sql | Contains .sql files (SQL*Plus scripts) for concurrent processing. |