Oracle9i Forms Services Deployment : Multiple OC4J Instances
ORACLE9i FORMS SERVICES DEPLOYMENT : MULTIPLE OC4J
INSTANCES
Inderpal S. Johal, PR Newswire
INTRODUCTION
This paper is a detailed discussion on the deployment options available for Forms Services. It will give full details and
steps to create multiple OC4J instances for Forms deployment. This is very good feature for Oracle 9iAS release 2 to
create multiple OC4J instances like to implement both Dev and Test environment of Forms application in single
installation of 9iAS. You will be able to know as how the bouncing of Dev OC4J instance will not affect the Test
Instance users and vice versa.
The document also gives the technical aspects of Oracle 9iAS Architecture, OC4J Architecture along with Oracle
9iAS Forms services architecture
Oracle9iAS provides the latest in J2EE technology with it's J2EE 1.3 compatible server. It delivers the performance,
scalability, high availability, security, and ease-of-use required to support e-Business today by providing full support
for the J2EE platform, XML, and emerging Web services standards.
J2EE OVERVIEW
Java2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) has rapidly become the industry platform of choice for new enterprise
computing applications. The J2EE component-based approach to the design, development, assembly, and
deployment of enterprise applications produces applications that are more reusable, extendable, and adaptable.
J2EE is built on the base of J2SE (Java 2 Standard Edition). Meaning that all of the advantages of J2SE are also available
in J2EE. These advantages are Write once, run anywhere portability, JDBCTM API for database access, CORBA
technology for interaction with existing enterprise resources, and a security model that protects data even in internet
applications. J2EE extends this base by providing full support for Enterprise JavaBeans components, Java Servlets
API, JavaServer Pages and XML technology.
In order to achieve full J2EE compatibility, Oracle has enhanced its feature-rich application server product by
including a compatible J2EE Server implementation, Oracle9iAS Containers for J2EE (OC4J).
WHAT IS OC4J?
Oracle9iAS Containers for J2EE (OC4J) is Oracle’s fast, lightweight, high performance, highly scalable, easy-to-use
and fully certified J2EE Server implementation. The J2EE server, Oracle9iAS Containers for J2EE (OC4J), is J2EE
1.3 compatible and is written entirely in Java. It executes using the standard Java Development Kit (JDK) virtual
machine. Applications residing in OC4J are completely portable and can therefore be deployed to any J2EEcompliant application server. The latest release of OC4J, 9.0.3, provides a fully J2EE 1.3 certified environment.
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OC4J is based on technology licensed from Ironflare Corporation, which develops the Orion server--one of the
leading J2EE containers. Although OC4J is integrated with the Oracle9iAS infrastructure, the product and some of
the documentation still contains some reference to the Orion server.
Oracle9iAS Containers for J2EE is distributed in two different ways - as a pure Java standalone distribution, and as a
part of the full Oracle9iAS product.
The pure Java standalone distribution is ideally suited for use in development and testing environments, as well as
small scale production systems. It is distributed as single zip file and can be easily downloaded and installed. It is
configured and managed through the manual manipulation of a set of simple XML files. In this usage model, OC4J
runs as a single process, and HTTP requests are processed directly by the J2EE container itself.
For large scale production systems which require the use of a world class HTTP server, single-sign-on capabilities for
security, automatic process management for system availability, and browser based server management, Oracle9iAS
Containers for J2EE can be used within the Oracle9iAS product environment. Oracle9iAS Containers for J2EE is
tightly integrated with the entire Oracle9iAS technology stack. In this configuration, server management and
application deployment is performed using the HTML console of Enterprise Manager. Incoming HTTP requests are
serviced with Oracle HTTP Server, and processes are managed automatically by the high availability services provided
in Oracle9iAS.
Both of these usage models use the same Oracle9iAS Containers for J2EE code therefore providing a consistent level
of J2EE support. This enables developers to use the standalone distribution to develop and test applications, and
then deploy the completed applications to Oracle9iAS, safe in the knowledge that the two environments are
compatible with one another.
OC4J ARCHITECTURE
The OC4J Architecture uses the Oracle Http Server and a module called mod_oc4j to forward HTTP requests to the
OC4J Server (see Diagram below).
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ORACLE HTTP SERVER AND MOD_OC4J
The following describes the architecture during an HTTP Request where mod_oc4j sits within Oracle HTTP Server
and perform the following actions
1. Identifies the requests it needs to act on,
2. Determines which OC4J to route those requests to, and
3. Communicates with that process.
Identifies the requests
 Every J2EE based (web) application, when deployed, needs to be associated with a root context. This root context (i.e.
URL prefix) acts as the identifier of requests that need to be handled by mod_oc4j.
 Client sends an HTTP request to the OC4J server. For example:
http://myserver.com/j2ee/HelloWorldServlet
 Oracle HTTP Server determines from the URL which modules are configured for this request. In this case,
the Oracle HTTP Server resolves that mod_oc4j is responsible for this request, because the /j2ee virtual path
is mapped to the OC4J server. This mapping can be configured in either the httpd.conf or mod_oc4j.conf
configuration file present in $ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Apache/conf directory.
Determines which OC4J



The mod_oc4j routing algorithm for stateless requests is simple round robin. If this is a new request (with no valid
routing cookie), it picks the next OC4J process from the list as the destination.
If an attempt to send the request to that OC4J process fails, mod_oc4j picks the next process from the list, until
all OC4J processes in that instance are exhausted. And if so, it returns failure to the client.
If it is a request with a valid routing cookie, the cookie already identifies the process to route to uniquely.
This target process is changed only if the target OC4J process is dead. In that case, mod_oc4j picks the next
OC4J process from the same island and routes to it.
Communicates with OC4J



mod_oc4j then contacts OC4J using Apache JServ Protocol (AJP 1.3). AJP is the protocol used to
communicate between a Web server module and the servlet engine over a TCP socket.
Mod_oc4j analyzes the response from OC4J and takes appropriate actions - ex. If a single sign on redirect is
required.
The request is then executed in the context defined in the OC4J server and the response is sent back to the
client.
NOTE: OC4J EJB clients can also communicate using Oracle Remote Method Invocation (ORMI). RMI allows an
object running in one Java Virtual Machine (VM) to invoke methods on an object running in another Java VM. RMI
provides for remote communication between programs written in Java.
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WHAT IS ORACLE 9IAS FORMS SERVICES
Oracle 9iAS Forms Services is the collective name for the Forms components used to deploy a forms application on
the web. These components are
 The Forms Services Web client, a generic Java applet that, after being loaded, renders any number and
sizes of Forms applications
 The Forms Servlet, accepting incoming Web requests and returning the Forms applet HTML start page
 The Forms Listener Servlet, dispatching the communication between Forms generic Java client and the
runtime process on the middle-tier server
 The Forms Web runtime, executing the business logic stored in Forms application modules and
performing the database connect.
Oracle Containers for J2EE (OC4J) is the powerful new servlet engine in Oracle 9iAS. Forms services support the
servlet engine by using the new Apache mod_oc4j module. This module integrates the OC4J servlet engine with
Apache, as did Apache Jserv previously
ORACLE 9IAS FORMS SERVICES ARCHITECTURE
Broadly speaking, the two main components of Oraclei9iAS that concern us here are the HTTP Server and Forms
Services. Forms Services is itself comprised of two sub-components: the Forms servlets and the Forms Runtime
Processes. Here is the list:

HTTP Server

Forms Services:
o Forms Servlet + Forms Listener Servlet
(Both of these run in the OC4J Servlet Engine)
o Forms Runtime Processes
The principles are as follows:
1. The two components of Forms Services must reside on the same server. Namely, the Forms Servlet and the
Forms Listener Servlet must be on the same machine as the Forms Runtime Processes they interact with.
These servlets run in the OC4J Servlet Engine.
2. The HTTP Server and Forms Services can be on the same machine, or separate machines.
3. The HTTP Server should point to any of OC4J Servlet Engines where you want Forms to run. This is done
in MOD_OC4J, which is contained in the HTTP Server.
The Figure below shows how Oracle Forms on the web is deployed using a three-tier architecture:

The Client Tier

The Application Tier or Middle Tier

The Database Tier
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THE CLIENT TIER
The Forms Client is a thin 100% Java Applet that runs in the user's browser. Anyone with a Java-enabled browser
can run a Forms application, over any network: Internet, intranet, or extranet. It receives messages from the server
about what to display, and reports back to the server what actions the user performed, so they can be processed. No
business logic is executed on the client; it is responsible for rendering the screen. All logic is processed on the
application tier.
When a user runs a Forms session, Java Applet - dynamically downloaded from the Oracle9i Application Server. This Java
applet is used for any Forms application, therefore it is downloaded only once and cached on the client and so is available
for subsequent Forms applications and is renewed automatically only when a new Forms client version is detected on the
Application server.
In order to run a Java applet in a browser, it is necessary to have a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) installed. Depending
on the client platform the browser is running, we are supporting the following JVMs:
 Windows32
o Oracle JInitiator (with Netscape and Internet Explorer)
o Internet Explorer 5.x native JVM
 Macintosh
o Apple MRJ 2.2.3 (with Internet Explorer 5.0)
 Solaris
o Sun JDK and Java plug-in
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The Oracle JInitiator provides these major benefits:
 Allows the latest Oracle-certified JVM to run in older browser releases.
 Ensures a consistent JVM between different browsers.
 Provides functional extensions to the basic JVM such as HTTPS/SSL support.
 Provides a reliable deployment platform. Oracle JInitiator has been thoroughly tested and certified for use
with the Oracle9iAS Forms Services and for Oracle Applications E-Business suite.
 JInitiator is the preferred deployment environment. Application class files are automatically cached by
JInitiator, providing faster application startup.
 JInitiator is a self-installing and self-updating deployment environment.
THE APPLICATION TIER
The Forms Client communicates to the Forms Runtime process, not directly, but via the HTTP Listener within
Oracle9iAS. By default, HTTP communication is used, but you may configure Oracle9iAS to use SSL (HTTPS) for
secure networking.
The application tier is made up of following major Forms components, which are discussed in details in the Forms
Services in Action
1. Forms Servlet
2. Forms listener Servlet
3. Forms runtime processes
THE DATABASE TIER
The database typically runs on a dedicated machine, or on a cluster of machines. A Forms application will usually
connect to one database instance. However there may be many different Forms applications running on the one
Application Server, each connecting to a different database.
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INTERACTION BETWEEN THE FORMS CLIENT AND FORMS SERVICES
1.
The user starts up their Web browser on the Client Tier and call he Forms application by using the URL like
the following
http://devindy.prnewswire.com:7780/forms90/f90servlet
2. Oracle HTTP listener receives the request.
 OHS forwards the request to OC4J, since the path "/forms90/f90servlet" matches one of the
OC4J mount directives in the $ORACLE_HOME/forms90/server/forms90.conf file (the one
for the Forms Servlet as shown below).
# Config. for OC4J
<IfModule mod_oc4j.c>
Oc4jMount /forms90 OC4J_BI_Forms
Oc4jMount /forms90/f90servlet OC4J_BI_Forms
Oc4jMount /forms90/f90servlet/* OC4J_BI_Forms
Oc4jMount /forms90/l90servlet OC4J_BI_Forms
Oc4jMount /forms90/l90servlet/* OC4J_BI_Forms
</IfModule>

OHS passes the request to the OC4J server through the mod_oc4j module using Apache Jserv
Protocol (AJP). Each OC4J process needs one port for AJP13 communication with mod_oc4j.
These ports are specified in the opmn.xml file, which is located in ORACLE_HOME/opmn/conf/
directory.. AJP is faster than HTTP, through the use of binary formats and efficient processing
of message headers.
Fig. HTTP Application Listener
3.
OC4J maps the request to the Oracle9i Forms application (whose context root is /forms90). It read the Forms servlet
setting in the web.xml and finds the alias match for the Forms Servlet (f90servlet). Then it checks the parameter
"configfilename" in web.xml(by default it is formsweb.cfg). Check the Note:219822.1 on Metalink if you
want to change the name for the servlet from f90servlet to something else
Web.xml is available in <OH>/j2ee/OC4J_BI_Forms/applications/forms90/forms90web/WEB-INF
Where high level folder is ‘OC4J_BI_Forms”corresponds to the instance name,
Lower level folder is ‘/forms90’ points the application name).
Default web.xml File
<servlet>
<servlet-name>f90servlet</servlet-name>
<servlet-class>oracle.forms.servlet.FormsServlet</servlet-class>
<init-param>
<param-name>configFileName</param-name>
<param-value><your configuration file name goes here></param-value>
</init-param>
<servlet-mapping>
<servlet-name>f90servlet</servlet-name>
<url-pattern>/f90servlet*</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>
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4.
The Forms Servlet (running in OC4J Servlet Engine) processes the request as follows:
a. Opens the servlet configuration file (formsweb.cfg by default). If the parameter configFileName is not set in
above web.xml, the default configuration file (<ORACLE_ HOME>/forms90/server/formsweb.cfg) is used.
b. Determines which configuration section to use in the formsweb.cfg file. Since the URL contains no Config
query parameter , the default will be used
c. Determines which baseHTML file to use, based on
i. What browser made the request,
ii. What platform the browser is running on, and
iii. The settings of various parameters in the formsweb.cfg file (specifically, baseHTMLie,
baseHTMLjinitiator, baseHTMLjpi, baseHTML, and IE).
Browser detected
IE parameter
Setting Base HTML file used
Internet Explorer 5.x or 6*
Native VM
baseie.htm
Internet Explorer 5.x or 6*
jinitiator
not applicable
basejini.htm
basejini.htm
Not applicable
base.htm
Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer
version preceding version 5
All other browsers
* Internet Explorer 6 that has been upgraded from 5.5 only (IE 6 is not certified in the base release)
d.
Finally Reads the baseHTML file, and sends the contents back as dynamically generated HTML page to the
user's Web browser, after doing variable substitution as follows:
i. Whenever a variable (like %myParam%) is encountered, the Forms Servlet looks for a matching
URL query parameter (for example, &myParam=xxx), or, failing that, looks for a matching
parameter in the formsweb.cfg file. If a matching parameter is found, the variable (%myParam%)
is replaced with the parameter value.
For example, the baseHTML file contains the text %form%. In our example, this is replaced with
the value "test" as defined in formsweb.cfg file with “form=test.fmx” in the default section.
5.
Depending on which baseHTML file the Forms Servlet selected, the dynamically generated HTML page sent back to
the Web browser will contain an Applet, Object or Embed tag to start up the Forms applet (thin client). The Forms
applet runs in a JVM (either the Web browser's native JVM, or a "plugged in" JVM like Oracle JInitiator or Sun's
Java plug-in)
6.
If the baseHTML file selected was for a plug-in (Oracle JInitiator or Sun's JDK Java plug-in), and if the user does
not already have that plug-in installed on their machine, they are prompted to install the plug-in. In the case of
JInitiator, the download location is under the virtual path /forms90/jinitiator (a virtual path defined in the
forms90.conf file).
7.
In order to start up the Forms applet, its Java code must first be loaded. The Browser then asks the HTTP Listener
for the Java Class files from the location specified in the HTML file. The CODEBASE parameter in the HTML
file is used to define this. The files may be downloaded individually or as an “Archive”. This archive will have an
extension of .JAR and can be best thought of as a .ZIP file containing all of individual CLASS files required by the
Applet. The ARCHIVE parameter defines which (if any) .JAR should be used. . For example, if the user is running
with
Oracle
JInitiator,
the
applet
code
is
loaded
from
the
file
http://devindy.prnewswire.com:7780/forms90/java/f90all_jinit.jar. Below is some portion of the Dynamically
generated HTML file sent to Forms client browser
<!-- Forms applet definition (start) -->
<OBJECT classid="clsid:CAFECAFE-0013-0001-0008-ABCDEFABCDEF"
codebase="/forms90/jinitiator/jinit.exe#Version=1,3,1,8"
WIDTH="650"
HEIGHT="500"
HSPACE="0"
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VSPACE="0">
<PARAM NAME="TYPE"
VALUE="application/x-jinit-applet;version=1.3.1.8">
<PARAM NAME="CODEBASE" VALUE="/forms90/java">
<PARAM NAME="CODE"
VALUE="oracle.forms.engine.Main" >
<PARAM NAME="ARCHIVE" VALUE="f90all_jinit.jar" >
<PARAM NAME="serverURL" VALUE="/TEST/l90servlet?ifcfs=/TEST/f90servlet">
The virtual path definition in the forms90.conf file for "/forms90/java" allows the applet code to be loaded from the
Web server.
Note: The Forms applet code (for example, f90all_jinit.jar) is only to be loaded over the network the first time the
user runs an Oracle9i Forms application (or if a newer version of Oracle9i Forms is installed on the Web server).
Otherwise, it is to be loaded from the Web browser's (or the Java plug-in's) cache on the local disk.
8. Once the Forms applet is running, The Java Client applet sends a request to start a Forms session through the
HTTP Listener to the Forms Listener Servlet at URL http://mymachine.com:7777/forms90/l90servlet. . The
Forms Listener Servlet is defined by the serverURL parameter in the HTML file’s APPLET tag as shown
above in Step 7.
9.
After receiving the connection request from the Java Client, The Oracle HTTP listener forwards the request to
OC4J, since the path "/forms90/l90servlet" matches one of the OC4J mount directives in the forms90.conf file (the
one for the Forms Listener Servlet).
10. The Forms Listener Servlet (l90servlet) starts up a Forms runtime process (ifweb90.exe Windows or
f90webm UNIX) for the Forms session.
11. The user is prompted for database login information, if this had not already been supplied, and the connection to
the database server is established.
12. Communication continues between the Forms applet (running in the user's Web browser) and the Forms runtime
process, via the Listener Servlet, until the Forms session ends.
13. The Forms sessions ends when one of the following occurs:
a. The top-level form is exited (for example, by PL/SQL trigger code which calls the "exit_form" built-in
function). In this case, the user is prompted to save changes if there are unsaved changes.
"exit_form(no_validate)" exits the form without prompting.
b. The user quits their Web browser (in this case, any pending updates are lost).
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BASIC 9IAS FORMS SERVICES CONFIGURATION



Oracle HTTP Listener Configuration File for Forms
Forms Service Configuration Files
OC4J Configuration Files
ORACLE HTTP LISTENER CONFIGURATION FILES
httpd.conf
Location: $ORACLE_HOME./Apache/Apache/conf
The http.conf file contains the following include statement and define the Port and other Admin tasks.
include "ias20/Apache/Apache/conf/mod_oc4j.conf”
mod_oc4j.conf
Location: $ORACLE_HOME./Apache/Apache/conf
The mod_oc4j.conf file contains the Oc4jMount directives to map Oracle Http Server virtual paths to
OC4J
destinations.All
mod_oc4j
related
configuration
information
is
kept
in
<OHome>/Apache/Apache/conf/mod_oc4j.conf
OHS uses an Oc4jMount command to map the root context to the OC4J instance into which the application was
deployed:
This causes OHS to route a request that contains the regular expression (such as /j2ee/*) to the home OC4J
instance.
Mod_oc4j uses AJP to talk to the OC4J processes. Each OC4J process needs one port for AJP13 communication
with mod_oc4j. These ports are specified in the opmn.xml file, which is located in
ORACLE_HOME/opmn/conf/ directory.
A section of the file is cut-and-paste here for analysis purposes.
The port tag lists all the port in use. The ajp attribute lists all the ports to be used for ajp communication by this
particular
OC4J instance (OC4J_Demos in this example).
There are two ways to specify the port:
 A range, as is done in the example file above. In this case, at startup time, OPMN assigns OC4J one of
the available ports from the range. The firewall then needs to be configured to open all the ports in this
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
range for this particular OC4J instance. The range needs to include at least as many ports as the number
of processes in this particular OC4J instance.
Specific Ports (comma separated list) – If it is undesirable to specify a range, an exact number of ports may be
specified, such as: port1, port2, port3. OPMN picks a port from this list when starting OC4J. This allows
a more stringent firewall configuration, since only these specific ports have to be opened for
communication from the OHS machines to the OC4J machines.
forms90.conf
Location: forms90/server.
This is the Oracle HTTP listener configuration file for Oracle9i Forms and is been specified in
$ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Apache/conf/oracle_apache.conf which in turn is included into
httpd.conf (the master HTTP listener configuration file). Forms90.conf defines virtual directors (aliases) and
servlet mount points to map URL requests to the Forms Servlets running in the OC4J servlet engine.
ORACLE9IAS CONTAINERS FOR J2EE (OC4J) CONFIGURATION FILES
web.xml
Location: j2ee/ProductGroup2/applications/forms90app/forms90web/WEB-INF/web.xml.
Once Oracle9i Forms has been installed and configured, the web.xml file is located in the directory
$OH/j2ee/ProductGroup2/applications/forms90app/forms90web/WEB-INF. It defines the aliases "f90servlet" and
"l90servlet" for the Forms Servlet and the Forms Listener Servlet.
FORMS SERVICES CONFIGURATION FILE
formsweb.cfg
Location: forms90/server.
This is the Forms Servlet configuration file that contains the following:
 Values for Forms applet and runtime command line parameters, as well as the name of the environment file to
use (envFile setting).
 Most of the servlet configuration parameter settings that you set during installation. You can modify these
parameters, if needed.
base.htm, basejini.htm, basejpi.htm, and baseie.htm
Location: forms90/server.
The baseHTML files (base.htm, basejini.htm, basejpi.htm, and baseie.htm) are used as templates by the Forms
Servlet when generating the HTML page used to start up an Oracle9i Forms application.
We recommend that you make configuration changes in the formsweb.cfg file and avoid editing the baseHTML files.
If you need to change the baseHTML files, create your own versions and reference them from the formsweb.cfg file
by changing the
appropriate settings.
default.env
Location: forms90/server.
This file contains environment settings for Forms runtime and can be found in the same directory as the
formsweb.cfg file. On UNIX, default.env should include the PATH and LD_LIBRARY_PATH.
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OC4J MANAGEMENT OPTIONS
In Oracle9iAS Release2, Oracle the following options to manage and deploy applications to OC4J
ORACLE ENTERPRISE MANAGER
OEM is a browser-based, graphical user interface console that enables the deployer or administrator to
perform basic management tasks such as starting OC4J, stopping OC4J, managing OC4J clusters, deploying
J2EE applications, or editing OC4J configuration files. It can be accessed by the following URL
http://devindy.prnewswire.com:1810
DISTRIBUTED CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT COMMAND-LINE UTILITY
The Distributed Configuration Management (DCM) is a command-line utility represented as “dcmctl”. Some
of the important facts and commands about dcmctl is defined at the end of the document. This utility works
much faster than OEM in 9iAS Release2.
STANDALONE OC4J MANAGEMENT (DEVELOPMENT MODE)
The Standalone OC4J Management should only be used with a stand-alone install of OC4J. Stand-alone
OC4J does not include OHS and is recommended for development only.
DEPLOYING FORMS TO THE WEB USING OC4J
Now I am going to present step-by-step details for the deployment of Forms services by creating new OC4J
instances. The following instruction will give details for one of the new OC4J Instance creations for the deployment
of forms and you can use the same methodology to create as many OC4J instance
ASSUMPTIONS
DEVELOPMENT INSTANCE
TESTING INSTANCE
INSTANCE NAME
OC4J_DEV90
OC4J_TEST90
APPLICATION NAME
DEV
TEST
URL
http://My.com:7780/DEV/f90servlet
http://My.com:7780/TEST/f90servlet
FORM-CONFIG
FILENAME
formsDev90.cfg
FormsTest90.cfg
[formsweb.cfg –Default]
APPLICATION
DIRECTORY
FILES $OH/forms90/DEVApp
$OH/forms90/TESTApp
[ fmx, plx]
Some More Assumptions
$OH  $ORACLE_HOME or /oracle/ora9iAS in this document
STEPS
1. Create an OC4J instance
a. Invoke OEM by using the following URL and then providing username as ias_admin and the
password as been defined during the 9iAS installation
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http://devindy.prnewswire.com:1810
b. Then select the Oracle 9ias Instance as shown “openworl.devindy.prnewswire.com” in figure below.
The other instance corresponds to Oracle 9iAS infrastructure.
c. Now Click on Create OC4J Instance to create new instance and we will name it as per our
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Assumption defined above
d. This will ask for the Instance Name
2. Start the newly created Instance
Start the OC4J_TEST90 instance by selecting the newly created OC4J_TEST90 instance and then click Start
button
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3. Deploy the J2EE application packaged within an EAR
Deploy the EAR as been supplied by Oracle as “forms90app.ear” present in
$ORACLE_HOME/j2ee/applications directory and if you are not running the browser on the server, then
copy it by using “ftp or scp” or by other method on your Workstation and then will be used
a. Click the newly created OC4J_TEST90 Instance to start deploying process
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b. Click the “Deploy EAR File” button
To deploy a J2EE application packaged within an EAR file, click Deploy Ear File in the
Applications section of the OC4J Home Page. This will start an eight-step application deployment
wizard that guides you through deploying an application
i. Introduction
The first page is an introduction to these steps. It reminds you to provide an EAR file with any
OC4J-specific XML configuration files, if necessary. It also outlines some of the other steps in the
deployment process. Click Next to go to the next step in the wizard deployment process.
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ii. Select Application
Figure shows the second page, which enables you to browse your system for the EAR file to be
deployed and provide a name to be identified with this application. The application name is usercreated and will be the identifier for the application in the OC4J Home Page.
iii. Provide The URL Mappings For All Web Modules
Map any Web modules in your application to a specific URL for its servlet context. All OC4J
servlet contexts must be prefixed with a slash "/". When you try to access any Web applications,
you provide the host, port, and Web context.
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iv. Provide Any Resource Reference Mappings
Map any resource references in your application, such as data sources or mail queues, to
physical entities currently present on the OC4J container. This is not required in our case
and Click Next to go to the next step in the wizard deployment process.
v. Specify Any User Manager
You can specify what User Manager to use for security. This is not required in our case and Click
Next to go to the next step in the wizard deployment process.
Note That this may give an Error Screen like shown below and can be ignored by pressing OK
button
vi. Provide Any Security Role Mappings
Map any security roles defined in your application to existing users and groups. If you have
defined a security role within your application, you can map this role to a security group or role.
You do not define security groups and users in this screen. Click Next to go to the next step in the
wizard deployment process
vii. Publish Web Services
Publish any Web services defined in your application. If you have defined any Web services, they
are displayed on the Publish Web Services Page. Click Next to go to the next step in the wizard
deployment process
viii. Summary of Deployment
At this point, you will receive a summary of your application deployment modules and
configuration, as shown in Figure
In order to deploy this application, click Deploy. The wizard displays a message that tells you that
your application is deployed.
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So Finally you will get the OC4J_TEST90 Home showing the Deployed Applications as shown
below
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4. Post-Deployment Application Modifications
a. Create the Application Forms Directory
Create the new directory that will be used for placing all of the Application .fmx as well as .plx files
$ cd $OH/forms90
$ mkdir TESTApp
b. Copy the Test forms to Application Forms directory
$ cp $OH/forms90/test.fmx $OH/forms90/TESTApp
c. Create the Forms Configuration file
This can be done by copying the default configuration file named formsweb.cfg present in
$OH/forms90/server directory
$ cd $ORACLE_HOME/forms90/server
$ cp formsweb.cfg formsTest90.cfg
d. Modify the Newly created Forms Configuration file
Edit the newly created forms configuration named “formsTest90.cfg” file for the following
modifications
working directory=/oracle/9iAS/forms90/TESTApp
form=test.fmx (or whatever form you want run);
ServerURL=/TEST/l90servlet [ old value is /forms90/l90servlet ]
serverhost=devindy.prnewswire.com [ Put your host name ]
e. Pointing Newly Created OC4J instance to new Forms configuration file
Modify the file named “web.xml” present in
$OH/j2ee/OC4J_TEST90/applications/TEST90/forms90web/WEB-INF directory to point the
ConfigFileName to newly created “formsTest90.cfg”
Uncomment and made the following change
<init-param>
<param-name>configFileName</param-name>
<param-value>/oracle/9iAS/forms90/server/formsTest90.cfg</param-value>
</init-param>
<context-param>
<param-name>configFileName</param-name>
<param-value>/oracle/9iAS/forms90/server/formsTest90.cfg</param-value>
</context-param>
f.
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Verify the Mod_Oc4J entry
Check if the following entry exist in the file named “mod_oc4j.conf” present in
$OH/Apache/Apache/conf directory. This entry is automatically populated while deploying the
Application EAR file
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$ vi $OH/Apache/Apache/conf/mod_oc4j.conf
verify that it has the following entry in it
Oc4jMount /TEST OC4J_TEST90
Oc4jMount /TEST/* OC4J_TEST90
</IfModule>
g. Modify the Forms90.conf file
Modify the file names “forms90.conf” present in $OH/forms90/server directory. Its purpose is
already been explained in the Forms Services in Action section as point #9. Add the following in
already existing module
# Config. for OC4J
<IfModule mod_oc4j.c>
Oc4jMount /TEST OC4J_TEST90
Oc4jMount / TEST /f90servlet OC4J_ TEST90
Oc4jMount / TEST /f90servlet/* OC4J_ TEST90
Oc4jMount / TEST /l90servlet OC4J_ TEST90
Oc4jMount / TEST /l90servlet/* OC4J_ TEST90
</IfModule>
5. Restart the OHS and OC4J Instance
You can restart the OHS [ Oracle HTTP Server ] as well as OC4J_TEST90 instance by using OEM or as
well as “dcmctl” utility. Below is the information using “dcmctl” utility as it is faster than OEM
# This will stop the Newly Created OC4J instance for Test environment
$ dcmctl stop –co OC4J_TEST90
# This will stop the Oracle HTTP Server
$ dcmctl stop –ct OHS
# This will give the detailed information of all of the instance status with name
$ dcmctl getstate –v
# This will start the Oracle HTTP Server
$ dcmctl start –ct OHS
# This will start the Newly Created OC4J instance for Test environment
$ dcmctl start –co OC4J_TEST90
$ dcmctl getstate –v
6. Check the newly created OC4J instance
The following will check the Listener Servlet
http://devindy.prnewswire.com:7780/TEST/l90servlet
This following URL will actually called the Test.fmx forms or any form as per the configuration in Step 2d [
Form=]
http://devindy.prnewswire.com:7780/TEST/f90servlet
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Recovering From Deployment Errors
If the deployment process is interrupted for any reason, you may need to clean up the temp directory, which by default is:
 (UNIX) /var/tmp
 (Windows) The directory defined by the TEMP system variable
The deployment wizard uses 20 MB of swap space in the temp directory for storing information during the deployment
process. At completion, the deployment wizard cleans up the temp directory by removing its files. However, if the wizard is
interrupted, it may not have the time or opportunity to clean up the temp directory. Thus, you must clean up any additional
deployment files from this directory yourself. If you do not, this directory may fill up, which will disable any further
deployment. If you receive an Out of Memory error, check for space available in the temp directory.
If the temp directory does not have enough space, you can configure OC4J to use a different temp directory using the
Enterprise Manager Web site:
1. Navigate to the OC4J Home Page. Scroll to the Administration Section.
2. Select Server Properties in the Administration section. This opens the Server Properties Page.
3. Scroll to the Command Line Options section. Add the following variable definition to the OC4J Options line:
java.io.tmpdir= new_temp_dir
where new_temp_dir is the full path to the new temporary directory.
All new OC4J processes will use the new temp directory.
Undeploying J2EE Applications
You can undeploy a J2EE Web application using the Enterprise Manager Web site:
1. Navigate to the OC4J Home Page that contains the application you would like to undeploy. Scroll to the
Applications section.
2. Click the radio button in the Select column for the application.
3. Click Undeploy.
This operation results in the following:
 The application is removed from the OC4J runtime.
 All bindings for the Web modules are removed from all the Web sites to which the Web modules were
bound.
 The application files are removed from both the applications and application-deployments
directories.
Note: You can also undeploy applications with dcmctl, the DCM command-line utility.
More Fact about FORMS services
1. The previous release of Forms was called Oracle Forms 6i [ that comes with Oracle 9iAS 1.0.2] ,
compared to Oracle 9iAS Release 2, where it is called Oracle9i Forms. Only migrations from Oracle
Forms 6i to Oracle9i Forms are supported. If you wish to migrate from an earlier version of Forms,
you need to first migrate to Oracle Forms 6i, and then to Oracle9i Forms.
2. Change the Timeout setting for the OC4J_TEST90 instance by making the following change in
“web.xml” file present in $OH/j2ee/OC4J_TEST90/applications/TEST90/forms90web/WEBINF directory
<session-config>
<!-- Session timeout in minutes -->
<session-timeout>180</session-timeout>
</session-config>
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3. Oracle Forms 6i and Oracle Reports6i will be desupported effective 12/31/04. Extended support
will be offered through 12/31/07
4. In the Oracle9i Forms release, the Forms Listener Servlet is the only supported way of deploying
Forms applications, providing a robust mechanism for deploying applications over the Internet and
across multiple network topologies. In previous Release, cgi-bin is also supported along with
Listener servlet
5.
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Types of Files in Forms Application
.fmb is a design time file that can only be opened in Oracle9i Forms Developer.
.fmx is the runtime file created when you compile the .fmb and is used for Web deployment.
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