Cloning - FAQ

Questions and Answers Related to Application Cloning

1. What is cloning? Cloning is the process of creating an identical copy of an already existing Oracle Applications system.
2. How can I clone an Oracle Applications system? By using Cloning Oracle Applications Release 11i with Rapid Clone
3. What is the AD Cloning utility? AD Cloning utility (adclone.pl) is the name of the cloning command line utility. This utility is used to preserve and apply configuration information to the cloned target system.
4. What is Rapid Clone? Rapid Clone is the new cloning utility introduced in Release 11.5.8.
5. How do I determine if my system is Rapid Clone enabled? First, verify that your system is AutoConfig enabled. Then, verify that you have applied the latest Rapid Clone patch.
6. What is AutoConfig? AutoConfig is a configuration tool that supports automated configuration of an Oracle Applications Instance. All of the information required for configuring an Applications instance is collected into a central repository, called the Applications Context. When the AutoConfig tool runs, it uses information from the Applications Context file to generate configuration files and update database profiles.
7. How do I determine if my system is AutoConfig enabled? There are several identifiers for when the system is AutoConfig enabled. The following are two common indicators:
   • Open the environment file APPSORA.env in your APPL_TOP. If the top of the file says that it is maintained by AutoConfig, then your system is probably using AutoConfig.
   • Check if there is an Applications Context file in the APPL_TOP/admin directory. This file will typically be named <SID>.xml or <SID>_<HOSTNAME>.xml.
   • Check if there is an Applications Context file in the RDBMS ORACLE_HOME under the appsutil directory. This file will typically be named <SID>.xml or <SID>_<HOSTNAME>.xml.
8. We are running Release 11.5.7 (or any prior release), which cloning method can we use? Due to the advancements in the cloning solution with Rapid Clone, all customers are now recommended to move to using Rapid Clone. if you are on release 11.5.7 or any release before 11.5.7, you will need to first enable AutoConfig on your system.
9. Can I clone from one operating system version to another? Yes, if the target system platform is binary compatible with the source system platform. For example, if you have an existing single-node Oracle Applications system on Solaris 2.6, you could clone it to a node running Solaris 8, but not to a node running HP-UX. Note that cloning from a higher version of a platform to a lower version is not supported, for example, from Solaris 8 to Solaris 2.6.

   Within a same platform you can also clone from a 32bit source system to a 64bit target system.

10. Can I clone from one platform to a different platform? Yes, you can clone or migrate the Applications middle tier from any platform to Linux or any supported Unix platform using the procedure described in document 238276.1 "Migrating to Linux with Oracle Applications Release 11i".
11. Can I reclone just the database? Yes, if the source system has changed and you want to update the target system with these changes, you can reclone just the changed database. If Applications patches were applied to the source system, the APPL_TOP and the database must be cloned to keep the file system and database synchronized.
12. Can I clone a single-node system to a multi-node system? The Rapid Clone cloning method allows for cloning a single-node system to a multi-node system.
13. Can I clone a multi-node system to a single-node system? You can use Rapid Clone to merge multiple APPL_TOP and COMMON_TOP file systems into a single APPL_TOP and COMMON_TOP file system.
14. Does Rapid Clone modify the source system? No, Rapid Clone does not modify the source system. adpreclone.pl prepares the source system to be cloned by collecting information about the database and creating generic templates of files containing source specific hardcoded values. These templates are stored in the appsutil/template directory leaving the original files untouched. This process usually takes a few minutes to complete the first time.
15. How does adcfgclone.pl know the target system values? adcfgclone.pl will prompt for the values required to create the new context file used to configure the target system. A few values are calculated from the current target system (hostname, user and group). The rest of the target specific values are prompted for:

    Prompt

    Comment

    database SID
    Target database SID

    domain name
    Target system domain name

    Prompts specific to the DB Tier

    Target System database name
    Target System database name

    Target instance is a Real Application Cluster (RAC) instance (y/n)
    Answer yes if the target system is going to be part of a RAC instance.

    Current node is the first node in an N Node RAC Cluster (y/n)
    This prompt only appears when you answered "yes" to the previous question.
    Answer ¨yes" to this question if the current host is the first node being configured in the target system RAC cluster. The tool will then ask for the number of nodes that will exist in the final RAC instance and gather, the following information for every node:
    - Hostname
    - Database Sid
    - Instance number
    - Listener port
    - Private interconnect name
    Answer "no" to this qion if at least one node of the target RAC cluster has already been configured by Rapid Clone (i.e if you already replied "yes" to this question for any other node in the cluster). The tool will then prompt for the following information to connect to a life node (the answers must describe a node that has already been configured):
    - Hostname
    - Database Sid
    - Listener port

    RDBMS ORACLE_HOME directory
    Path to the Target system RDBMS ORACLE_HOME

    Number of DATA_TOP's:
    DATA_TOP 1:
    DATA_TOP 2:
    DATA_TOP 3:
    Database mount points. Enter the number of distinct directories containing the target database dbfs, then their paths.

    Prompts specific to the Apps Tier

    database server node
    hostname of the machine hosting the database server

    Does the target system have more than one applications tier server node (y/n)?
    Answer yes if the target system is part of a multi-nodes configuration. The tool with then prompt for the hostnames of:
    - concurrent processing node
    - administration node
    - forms server node
    - web server node

    Is the target system APPL_TOP divided into multiple mount points (y/n)?
    Answer yes if the target system APPL_TOP is divided across multiple mount points. The tool will then prompt for each auxiliary mount (4 mounts):
    - APPL_TOP mount point
    - APPL_TOP aux.1
    - APPL_TOP aux.2
    - APPL_TOP aux.3
    Note: if your APPL_TOP is divided into 2 or 3 mounts only, you can specify identical mounts to the above prompts.

    APPL_TOP mount point
    APPL_TOP directory

    COMMON_TOP directory
    COMMON_TOP directory

    8.0.6 ORACLE_HOME directory
    8.0.6 ORACLE_HOME directory

    iAS ORACLE_HOME directory
    iAS ORACLE_HOME directory

    Location of JDK 1.3.1
    Location of JDK 1.3.1

    Prompt common to DB and Apps Tiers

    Port pool number:[0-99]
    Enter the port pool that you want to use on the target system. Make sure to specify the same port pool on the DBTier and the AppsTier. If the source and target machines are different, you have the option to preserve the source port values on the target system.

16. What is the port pool? What if I want to give a specific value to a Server Port?

    
    If you are cloning on the same machine or want to redefine the server ports , you will be prompted for a port pool. The port pool provides a way to use a set of predefined server ports. There are 100 port pools. For example, if you select 3, the default database port number (1521) becomes 1524.
    The following table lists all the server ports. To see how the port pool calculation works,
    enter a number between 0 and 99(both inclusive) in the form and click "Get Ports".

    

17. If you want to give a specific value to a port on the target system, independently from the port pool, you must first complete the Target System configuration with adcfgclone.pl (temporarily select a value for the port pool). Once adcfgclone.pl completes successfully, edit the new target context file with editcontext or OAM and modify the corresponding Autoconfig variables. Run Autoconfig to refresh the system with the new values

18. Does Rapid Clone preserve the patch history? Yes, Rapid Clone preserves the patch history of the complete Applications Stack:
    • RDBMS ORACLE_HOME: preserve the OUI oraInventory.
    • iAS ORACLE_HOME: preserve the OUI oraInventory.
    • 806 ORACLE_HOME: preserve the patch level and ORCA inventory.
    • APPL_TOP and Database: preserve the patch level and history tables.
19. Can I clone a clone? Yes, a cloned system created with Rapid Clone can then be used as the Source System in the next cloning.
20. Can I change the database dbf files layout while cloning? Yes, Rapid Clone allows to add or remove database mount points or redidtribute dbf files among mount points in the target system. As long as all the source system dbf files are present in the target system database mount points specified during the adcfgclone prompts, Rapid Clone will find them and re-create the database control file accordingly.