Let's start with the example of the skeleton of a shell script running on Sun Solaris.

#!/bin/sh

if [ $# -lt 2 ]; then
   echo "Usage: pmap_mf.sh  "
   exit
fi
...
pmap -x $PIDS | grep total | awk 'BEGIN { FS = " " } {print $1,$2,$3,$4,$5} {rss+=$4} 
{private+=$5} END {print "Total Private mem: "private/1024" M Total RSS mem: "rss/1024" M Total 
Shared mem: " (rss-private)/1024 "M **** For 10000 user load: per user memory footprint is: 
"((private/1024)+(((rss-private)/1024)/NR))/10000" MB/user"}'

Notice the highlighted hard coded number for the number of users. The goal is to read the number of users value from the command line rather than editing the script every time there is a change in the number of users.

Assuming there is a shell script with an embedded AWK script like the one shown in the above example, how the awk script can access the command line arguments supplied to the top level shell script?

It is not possible to use $1, $2 etc., because $1 and $2 will hold the string tokens returned by the awk output. For example, if awk returned "total Kb 472648 242936 57768", then $1 will hold the string "total" and $2 will have "Kb".

The solution/trick is to pass the required command line arguments from the main shell script to the awk script with the -v option of awk; and then to access the arguments supplied for the awk script either by directly referencing the argument name or by using ARGC & the ARGV array notation (just like C/C++).

Note:
/usr/bin/awk on Sun Solaris doesn't accept the -v option. Use /usr/bin/nawk or /usr/xpg4/bin/awk on Solaris.

Now with all the above information, the last line of code can be modified as shown below to get rid of the hard coded numbers:

pmap -x $PIDS | grep total | nawk -v Arg1=$2 'BEGIN { FS = " " } {print $1,$2,$3,$4,$5} {rss+=$4} {private+=$5} 
END {print "Total Private mem: "private/1024" M Total RSS mem: "rss/1024" M Total Shared mem: " 
(rss-private)/1024 "M **** For ", Arg1, " user load: per user memory footprint is: 
"((private/1024)+(((rss-private)/1024)/NR))/Arg1" MB/user"}'

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Technorati Tags:
UNIX | Linux | Shell | AWK | Scripting

This blog post outlines the steps involved in patching an existing Oracle 10g RDBMS environment to a higher patch set with an example showing the steps for upgrading from 10.2.0.1 to 10.2.0.3. For detailed instructions, check the README page that is associated with the patch{set}. Use these instructions at your own risk.

• First of all, Oracle wouldn't let you start the database up after simply installing the latest patch set on top of an existing Oracle RDBMS environment. The following steps must be followed before it starts up successfully. Otherwise, during startup Oracle throws errors like:
  

  ORA-01092: ORACLE instance terminated.
  ORA-39700: database must be opened with UPGRADE option.

  
  
• In order to install 10.2.0.3 patch set, download the patch 5337014 from metalink.oracle.com for your OS; and install it on top of 10.2.0.1. Make sure the listener and the database are down before you apply the patch.
  
  
• Set SHARED_POOL_SIZE and JAVA_POOL_SIZE parameters to at least 150M {in the DB initialization file}, if they are either not set or the existing value is < 150M.
  
  
• Start up the database in upgrade mode.
  

  SQL> STARTUP UPGRADE
  ORACLE instance started.
  
  Total System Global Area 1.0385E+10 bytes
  Fixed Size                  2047256 bytes
  Variable Size            1241514728 bytes
  Database Buffers         9126805504 bytes
  Redo Buffers               14729216 bytes
  Database mounted.

  
  Note:
  If you see an error like ORA-01589: must use RESETLOGS or NORESETLOGS option for database open with STARTUP UPGRADE, clear the logs as shown below:
  
  

  SQL> ALTER DATABASE OPEN RESETLOGS: <- NORESETLOGS doesn't work here.
  SQL> SHUTDOWN
  
  SQL> STARTUP UPGRADE
  ORACLE instance started.
  
  Total System Global Area 5553258496 bytes
  Fixed Size                  2038008 bytes
  Variable Size            1241515784 bytes
  Database Buffers         4294967296 bytes
  Redo Buffers               14737408 bytes
  Database mounted.
  Database opened.

  
  
• Finally run the command line database upgrade assistant tool, dbua, to do pre upgrade checks, to upgrade the Oracle server and to perform any post upgrade activity. Here is the syntax:
  

  % dbua -silent -dbname $ORACLE_SID -oracleHome $ORACLE_HOME -sysDBAUserName sys
   -sysDBAPassword change_on_install -recompile_invalid_objects true

  
  You may have to slightly modify the above command esp. the password part to make it work in your environment. The dbua should return a status message like Database upgrade has been completed successfully, and the database is ready to use.. Otherwise review the log file (usually $ORACLE_HOME/cfgtoollogs/dbua/logs/silent*.log), make the changes as necessary and re-run the dbua tool until it succeeds.
  
  Using dbua is only one way of upgrading the database to the latest patch set. You can also upgrade it with the help of dbua's graphical interface or by manually executing few SQL scripts. Check the README file that is bundled with the patch for detailed steps on using the dbua GUI or the manual execution of the required SQL scripts.

____________________
Oracle | RDBMS |

Perhaps the answer to this question is irrelevant to many of the PeopleSoft end users - but it is really important for the administrators to know what kind of application they are dealing with.

Here is a snapshot of the process statistics (prstat output) for the PeopleSoft application server processes running on a Solaris 10 system:

   PID USERNAME  SIZE   RSS STATE  PRI NICE      TIME  CPU PROCESS/NLWP      
 10864 psft      353M  235M sleep   60   10   0:13:42 1.5% PSAPPSRV/11
 10855 psft      353M  235M sleep    2   10   0:13:55 1.5% PSAPPSRV/11
 10846 psft      353M  235M sleep    3   10   0:14:04 1.5% PSAPPSRV/11
 10870 psft      353M  235M sleep    0   10   0:13:50 1.5% PSAPPSRV/11
 10873 psft      353M  235M sleep    1   10   0:13:57 1.4% PSAPPSRV/11
 10852 psft      353M  235M sleep    0   10   0:13:57 1.4% PSAPPSRV/11
 10858 psft      353M  235M sleep   60   10   0:13:47 1.3% PSAPPSRV/11
 10849 psft      349M  231M cpu0    20   10   0:13:55 1.3% PSAPPSRV/11
 10867 psft      353M  235M sleep   60   10   0:13:53 1.3% PSAPPSRV/11
 10861 psft      349M  231M sleep   60   10   0:13:56 1.2% PSAPPSRV/11

Notice the number of LWPs (represented by NLWP in the snapshot) that are associated with each of those PSAPPSRV processes. Just by looking at the above snapshot, one may under the impression that the PSAPPSRV (PeopleSoft Application Server process) is a multi-threaded process because it appears there are 11 worker threads actively processing the user requests.

To dig a little deeper, Solaris provides the ability to check the statistics for each of the light-weight processes (LWPs) that are associated with a process (here I'm assuming that the intended audience can differentiate a process from a light-weight process). With the help of -L option of the prstat, Solaris reports the statistics for each LWP in a given process. Let's have a close look at those stats.

  PID USERNAME  SIZE   RSS STATE  PRI NICE      TIME  CPU PROCESS/LWPID
10864 psft      353M  235M cpu32    0   10   0:01:37 1.5% PSAPPSRV/1
10864 psft      353M  235M sleep   59    0   0:00:00 0.0% PSAPPSRV/11
10864 psft      353M  235M sleep   29   10   0:00:00 0.0% PSAPPSRV/10
10864 psft      353M  235M sleep   28   10   0:00:00 0.0% PSAPPSRV/9
10864 psft      353M  235M sleep   28   10   0:00:00 0.0% PSAPPSRV/8
10864 psft      353M  235M sleep   59    0   0:00:00 0.0% PSAPPSRV/7
10864 psft      353M  235M sleep   59    0   0:00:00 0.0% PSAPPSRV/6
10864 psft      353M  235M sleep   51    2   0:00:00 0.0% PSAPPSRV/5
10864 psft      353M  235M sleep   59    0   0:00:00 0.0% PSAPPSRV/4
10864 psft      353M  235M sleep   29   10   0:00:00 0.0% PSAPPSRV/3
10864 psft      353M  235M sleep   59    0   0:00:00 0.0% PSAPPSRV/2

Notice the PID in the first column. It confirms that the above snapshot is the process stats breakdown by LWPs for a given process. Now check the output under the TIME column. That column represents the cumulative execution time for the process -- LWP, in this case. Except for the LWP #1, the exec time for rest of the LWPs is zero i.e., even though the PSAPPSRV process spawned 10 more LWPs, in reality they are not doing any work at all. When I tried to find the reason {from my counterpart at Oracle Corporation} for the creation of multiple LWPs, I was told that the multiple LWPs are a side effect of loading JRE(s) into the process address space during the run-time. Also it appears the PeopleSoft application server processes (PSAPPSRV) can process only one user request (transaction) at a time. It is the limitation of the PeopleSoft Enterprise by design.

So the bottomline is: PeopleSoft application server processes (PSAPPSRV) are not multi-threaded even though they appear to be multi-threaded from the operating system perspective.

Before we conclude, make sure you understand that the discussion in this blog post applies only to the PeopleSoft application server processes, PSAPPSRV. You cannot generalize it to the whole PeopleSoft Enterprise. For example, application engine processes (PSAESRV) that run under the control of the Process Scheduler are actually multi-threaded processes. However expanding the discussion around Process Scheduler/Application Engine is beyond the scope of this blog post.

Acknowledgements:
Sanjay Goyal
________________
Technorati Tags:
Oracle | PeopleSoft | Architecture

If the built-in webcam of HP Pavilion dv9000 is not functioning properly on Windows Vista with Yahoo! Messenger, one of the following steps may help fix the issue (Courtesy: HP Customer Support).

Step #1:

• Unistall HP Pavilion Webcam software.
  Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Programs -> Uninstall a program.
  
  
• Uninstall the Webcam driver from the Device Manager as follows:
  Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Device Manager -> Imaging devices -> HP Webcam -> Disable(by right clicking HP Webcam).
  
  
• Restart the computer. Upon the restart, Vista will automatically load webcam driver.

If the issue persists even after these steps or if there is no entry found in "Device Manager", then download and install the updated webcam driver from the following link:

ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp34501-35000/sp34746.exe

Step #2 (Recommended):

• Download and install Soft Paq.s from the link given below. This package installs Microsoft fixes and enhancements for the Microsoft Windows Vista Operating System, as well as providing other fixes and enhancements.
  
  ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp37501-38000/sp37736.exe
  
  
• Restart the system once the installation is done.
  
  If the issue persists, install the following update from Microsoft.
  
  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/941600
  
  
• Restart the system once the installation is done.
  
  
• If the issue persists, follow the below steps to isolate the issue.
  
  Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Programs and Features
  
  In 'Programs and Features' window, look for an item called 'Tasks'. Under 'Tasks' find 'View installed updates'. Search for KB915597; if found, select it, and finally select 'Uninstall'. If prompted for the administrator password or confirmation, type the password or confirm.
  
  
• If the issue remains, download and install the software SP35414 from the following link:
  
  ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp35001-35500/sp35414.exe
  
  Installing this software helps to Preview, Capture, Take a Snap options on the built in webcam.
  
  
• Even if the above step fails, try:
  
  Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services -> Windows Image Acquisition (WIA)
  
  Right click on Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) and select properties. In General tab, change the start type to Automatic and press the start button. Again right click on 'Windows Image Acquisition (WIA)' and select properties. In Recovery tab set First failure, Second failure and Subsequent failure option to Restart the service. Apply the changes and restart the system.
  
  
• If none of the above steps resolve the issue, contact HP's customer support.

____________________________
Technorati Tags:
HP | Pavilion | dv9000 | Windows | Vista | Yahoo | Messenger | Webcam | Troubleshooting

When high number of application server processes are configured in a single PeopleSoft domain or in multiple domains cumulative, it is very likely that the PeopleSoft server domain boot process may fail with errors like:

Booting server processes ...
exec PSSAMSRV -A -- -C psappsrv.cfg -D CS90SPV -S PSSAMSRV :
        Failed.
113954.ben15!PSSAMSRV.29746.1.0: LIBTUX_CAT:681: ERROR: Failure to create message queue
113954.ben15!PSSAMSRV.29746.1.0: LIBTUX_CAT:248: ERROR: System init function failed, Uunixerr = : 
                   msgget: No space left on device
113954.ben15!tmboot.29708.1.-2: CMDTUX_CAT:825: ERROR: Process PSSAMSRV at ben15 failed with /T 
                   tperrno (TPEOS - operating system error)

In this particular example, the PeopleSoft Enterprise is running on a Solaris 10 system. Fortunately the error message is very clear in this case; and the failure is related to the message queues. During the domain boot up process, there is a call to msgget() to create a message queue. If the call to msgget() succeeds, it returns a non-negative integer that serves as the identifier for the newly created message queue. However in case of a failure, it returns -1 and sets the error number to EACCES, EEXIST, ENOENT or ENOSPC depending on the underlying reason.

From the above error messages it clear that the msgget() failed with the errno set to ENOSPC (No space left on device). Man page of msgget(2) has the following explanation for ENOSPC error code on Solaris:

ERRORS
     The msgget() function will fail if:
     ...
     ...
     ENOSPC    A message queue identifier is to  be  created  but
               the  system-imposed limit on the maximum number of
               allowed  message  queue  identifiers  system  wide
               would be exceeded. See NOTES.

NOTES
     ...
     ...

     The system-imposed limit on  the  number  of  message  queue
     identifiers  is  maintained on a per-project basis using the
     project.max-msg-ids resource control.

Good stuff. It has enough clues to suspect the configured number for the message queue identifiers.

Prior to the release of Solaris 10, the /etc/system System V IPC tunable, msgsys:msginfo_msgmni, could be configured to control the maximum number of message queues that can be created. The default value on pre-Solaris 10 systems is 50.

With the release of Solaris 10, majority of the System V IPC tunables were obsoleted and equivalent resource controls were created for the remaining tunables, to reduce the administrative overhead. On Solaris 10 and later versions, System V IPC can be tuned on a per project basis using the newly introduced resource controls.

On Solaris 10, The resource control, project.max-msg-ids, replaced the old /etc/system tunable, msginfo_msgmni. And the default value has been raised to 128.

Now back to the failure in PeopleSoft environment. Let's first check the current value configured for project.max-msg-ids.

• Get the project ID.
  

   % id -p
  uid=222227(psft) gid=2294(dba) projid=3(default)

  
  
• Examine the project.max-msg-ids resource control for the project with ID 3, using the prctl utility.
  

   % prctl -n project.max-msg-ids -i project 3
  project: 3: default
  NAME    PRIVILEGE       VALUE    FLAG   ACTION                       RECIPIENT
  project.max-msg-ids
          privileged        128       -   deny                                 -
          system          16.8M     max   deny                                 -

Alternatively run the command ipcs -q to check the number of active message queues. Note that the project with id '3' is configured to create a maximum of 128 (default) message queues. In any case, the number of active message queues from the ipcs -q output may almost match with the configured value for the project.max-msg-ids.

Since it appears the configured PeopleSoft domain(s) needs more than 128 message queues in order to bring up all the application server processes that constitute the PeopleSoft Enterprise, the solution is to increase the value for the resource control, project.max-msg-ids, to any value beyond 128. For the sake of simplicity, let's increase it to 256 (2 * default value, that is). Again prctl utility can be used to set the new value for the resource control.

• Login as the 'root' user
  

   % su
  Password:

  
  
• Increase the maximum value for the message queue identifiers to 256 using the prctl utility.
  

   # prctl -n project.max-msg-ids -r -v 256 -i project 3

  
  
• Verify the new maximum value for the message queue identifiers
  

   # prctl -n project.max-msg-ids -i project 3
  project: 3: default
  NAME    PRIVILEGE       VALUE    FLAG   ACTION                       RECIPIENT
  project.max-msg-ids
          privileged        256       -   deny                                 -
          system          16.8M     max   deny                                 -

That's all there is. With the above change, the PeopleSoft Enterprise should boot up at least with no Failure to create message queue .. msgget: No space left on device errors.

Before we conclude, note that the above mentioned solution is not persistent across multiple operating system reboots. To make it persistent, create a new project with projadd command. The man page for projadd(1M) has an example showing the creation of a project.
_________________________
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Solaris | OpenSolaris | Oracle | PeopleSoft | Troubleshooting