Oracle Apps DBA Interview Questions and Answers

1. Explain Architecture of Oracle Apps 11i?

Apps 11i is Mutli Tier architecture with Desktop Tier (Client Tier), Middle Tier (Application Tier) and Database Tier.

2. What is iAS Patch ?

iAS Patch are patches released to fix bugs associated with IAS_ORACLE_HOME (Web Server Component) Usually these are shipped as Shell scripts & you apply iAS patches by executing Shell script.

3. I am applying a patch , can I open another session and run adadmin ?

 Yes, We can run unless you are running a process where workers are involved

4. I am applying a patch , can I open another session in another node and run adpatch?

No because it will create tables while running first session when you start the 2nd session it will fail due to the first

5. Can you clone from multi node system to single node system & vice versa?

Yes, this is now supported via Rapid Clone, Check if your system has all prerequisite patches for Rapid Clone and you are on latest rapid clone patch.

6. Does rapid clone takes care of Updating Global oraInventory or you have to register manually in Global oraInventory after clone?

Rapid Clone automatically updates Global oraInventory during configuration phase. You don't have to do anything manually for Global oraInventory.


7.  How to determine Oracle Apps 11i Version ?

select RELEASE_NAME from fnd_product_groups;

You should see output like

RELEASE_NAME———————–11.5.10.2

8. How to find Database version ?

 SQL> select * from v$version;

The command returns the release information, such as the following:Oracle9i Enterprise Edition Release 9.2.0.7.0 – ProductionPL/SQL Release 9.2.0.7.0 – ProductionCORE 9.2.0.7.0 ProductionTNS for 32-bit Windows: Version 9.2.0.7.0 – ProductionNLSRTL Version 9.2.0.7.0 – Production

9. How to find opatch Version ?

opatch is utility to apply database patch , In order to find opatch version execute”$ORACLE_HOME/OPatch/opatch version”

You can check OPatch -lsinventory


10.   What is difference between adpatch & opatch?

# adpatch is utility to apply oracle apps Patches whereas
# opatch is utility to apply database patches

11.   Can you use both adpatch & opatch in Apps?

Yes you have to use both in apps, for apps patches you will use adpatch utility and for applying database patch in apps you will use opatch utility.

12.   Where will you find forms configuration details apart from xml file?

Forms configuration at time of startup is in script adfrmctl.sh and appsweb_$CONTEXT_NAME.cfg for forms client connection used each time a user initiates forms connection.

13.   What is forms server executable Name?

f60srvm

14. How to find out invalid objects in the database

 select count(*) from dba_objects where status =’INVALID’

15. How you will see hidden files in linux/solaris?

 ls -la

16. How to find that the database is 64-bit/32-bit?

 $RDBMS_ORACLE_HOME/bin/file oracle


17. What is top command?

 top is a operating system command, it will display top 10 processes which are taking high cpu and memory. 8. What is a patch?Ans : A patch can be a solution for a bug/it can be a new feature.

18. What are the different types of patches?

 oneoff, mini packs, family packs, maintanance packs, rollup pathches, colsolidated patches.


19. What is a oneoff patch?

 An oneoff patch is a small patch of (20-90K size) without any pre-req’s


20. What is a mini pack ?

 A mini pack is one which will upgrade any product patchset level to next level like AD.H to AD.I

21. What is Family pack ?

 A Family pack is one which will upgade the patchset level of all the products in that family to perticular patchsetlevel.


22. What is Maintanance pack ?

 A maintanance pack will upgrade applications from one version to another like 11.5.8 to 11.5.9


23. What is a Rollup patch?

 A rollup patch is one which will deliver bug fixes identified after the release of any major application versions like 11.5.8/11.5.9


24. What is consilidated patch?

Consolidated patches will come into pictures after upgrades from one version of applications to anoter, all post upgrade patches will a consolidated and given as consolidated patch.


25. How u will find whether a patch is applied/not?

 Query ad_bugs.


26. What is the other table where u can query what are the patches applied?

 Ad_applied_patches


27. What is the difference between ad_bugs and ad_applied_patches?

 A patch can deliver solution for more than one bug, so ad_applied_patches may not give u the perfect information as in case of ad_bugs.


28. How u apply a patch?

 adpatch


29. What inputs you need to apply a patch other than driver name and etc?

apps and system passwords


30. What are the table u r adpatch will create and when?

Adpatch will create FND_INSTALL_PROCESSES and AD_DEFERRED_JOBS table when it will apply d,g and u drivers


31. What is the significance of FND_INSTALL_PROCESSES and AD_DEFERRED_JOBS table?

 FND_INSTALL_PROCESSES table will store the worker information like what job is assigned to which worker and its status. AD_DEFERRED_JOBS will come into picture when some worker is failed, it will be moved to AD_DEFERRED_JOBS table, from where again adpatch will take that job and try to resign, after doing this 3 times if still that worker is failing, then adpatch will stop patching and throw the error that perticular worker has failed. We need to trouble shoot and restrart the worker.

32. If it is a multinode installation which driver we need to apply on which node?

 c,d,g on concurrent node and c, g on web node. If it is u-driver we need to apply on all nodes.


33. While applying a application patch is that necessary that u r database and listener should be up?

 Yes . why because adpatch will connect to database and update so many tables etc…..



34. While applying a patch if that patch is failing because of a pre-req then how you will apply that pre-req patch and resume with the current patch?

 We need to take the backup of FND_INSTALL_PROCESSES and AD_DEFERRED_JOBS tables and restart directory at APPL_TOP/amdin/SID and then use adctrl to quit all the workers. Then apply the pre-req patch , after that rename u r restart directory to its original name and create FND_INSTALL_PROCESSES and AD_DEFERRED_JOBS tables from the bcakup tables. Start adpatch session and take the options want to continue previous session.


35. What is adctrl?

 Adctrl is one of the adutilities, which is used to check the status of workers and to manage the workers.


36. Can u name some of the menu options in adctrl?

 Check the status of workers, tell manager that worker has quited, restart a failed worker etc….


37. How to skip a worker and why?

 We can skip a worker using option 8 in adctrl which is hidden. We will go for skipping a worker when we have executed the job which the worker is supposed to do.


38. How adpatch knows what are the pre-req’s for the patch which it is applying?

 With every patch a file called b.ldt file will be delivered which contain the pre-req information. adpatch load this into databse using FNDLOAD and check , whether those pre-req patches were applied or not.


39. What is FNDLOAD ?

 FNDLOAD is a utility which is similar to sqlloder but loads code objects into database, where as SQLLOADER loads data objects into database.


40. What c-driver will do?

 C-drive copies the files from patch unzipped directory to required location in u r application file system. Before copying it will check the file version of the existing file at the file system with the file version of the file in the patch. If the patch file version is higher than what it is at file system level then only c-driver will copy that files.


41. How adpatch will know the file versions of the patch delivered files?

With each patch a file with name f.ldt is delivered , which contain the file versions of the files dilivered with the patch. Adpatch will use this file to compare the file versions of files its delivering with the file on file system.


42. What is the adpatch log file location?

 APPL_TOP/admin/SID/log


43. What is the worker log file name and its location?

 adwork01,adwork02…… and location is APPL_TOP/admin/SID/log


44. How u will know what are the files the patch is going to change just my unzipping the patch?

When u unzip a patch it will keep all the files related to a particular product under that directory inside u r patch directory for example if the patch delivering files related to FND product then it will create a sub directory under the patch directory with the name FND in which it will put all related files to that product


45. What is the significance of backup directory under u r patch directory?

When we apply a patch it will keep the copy of the files which its going to change in file system.


46. What are the different modes you can run your adpatch?

1.Interactive – default mode

2.Non interactive – Use defaults files to store prompt values

(adpatch defaultsfile= interactive=no)

3. Test – Without actually applying a patch just to check what doing.(adpatch apply=no)


47. How u will monitor u r applications as well as database?

 We have our custom scripts which is sheduled to run at a specific time which will monitor whether applications and databases are up/not. And it will mail us if some processes is not running. And we have one script which will check database alert log for ORA errors and mails it to us . Based on this we will react.


48. What are the latest ORA errors u have encountered?     

 Useually we will get the ORA errors like unable to extend the tablespace by so and so size. And we will check those tablespaces for space, if space is not there we will resize the datafile and add one more datafile.

50. Which table u will query to check the tablespace space issues?

 bytes column in dba_free_spaces and dba_data_files


51. Which table u will query to check the temp tablespace space issues?

 dba_temp_files


52. What is temp tablespace? And what is the size of temp tablespace in u r instances?

 Temp tablespace is used by so many application programs for sorting and other stuff. Its size is between 3 to 10 GB.


53. What is autoconfig?

Autoconfig is an adutility which is used to maintain application environment and configuration files.


54. What are the parameter autoconfig will ask for?

Context file name and apps password


55. What is context file?

 Context file is a central repositary, which stores all application configuration information. The name is like _ .xml


56. How you will find autoconfig is enabled/not for u r applications?

 1. Open any env / configuration files, the first few lines will tell u that this files are maintained by autoconfig.2. If contextname.xml file is there in APPL_TOP/admin


57.  How autoconfig will create env and configuration files?

 Autoconfig will go to each and every top template directory take the templates from there and fill the values from xml file and create the required files.


58. In how many phases autoconfig will run?

 Autoconfig will run in 3 phases.

1.INIT – Instantiate the drivers and templates

2.SETUP – Fill the templated with values from xml and create files

3.PROFILE – Update the profile values in database.


59. What is the location of adconfig log file?

 APPL_TOP/admin//log/


60. Is it possiable to restore a autoconfig run?

Ans : Adconfig will create a restore.sh script at $APPL_TOP/admin//out/. This restore.sh will copy the backed up files before autoconfig run to its original locations. But the profile values updated in the database can’t be restored back.

61. How to run autoconfig in test mode?

 adchkcfg.sh script at AD_TOP/bin. This script will run autoconfig in test mode and create the difference file which tells us what is going to change , when u actually run autoconfig.


62. How to find autoconfig is enabled or not for database?

 If we have appsutil directory under RDBMS_ORACLE_HOME


63. When a patch delivers java files what extra file u will get when u unzip the patch, other then u r dirver and readme files?

 j.zip52.


64. What is apps.zip/appsbrog2.zip file?

 apps.zip/appsbrog2.zip is the patchable archive of all java class files required for oracle application.Apps.zip was used to old application version, but from 11.5.8 onwards its appsbrog2.zip


65. What is the location of apps.zip/appsbrog2.zip?

 AU_TOP/java and JAVA_TOP


66. What is for “validating apps schema” option in adadmin?

 It will check for the corrupted objects in apps schema


67. What is “compile apps schema” option in adadmin?

 It will compile the invalid database objects.


68. How to find invalid objects in database?

 select count(*) from dba_objects where status=’INVALID’;


69. How to find MRC is enabled or not?

 In adadmin if covert to MRC options is there , then MRC is not enabled,If maintain MRC options is there , then MRC is enabled.


70. How to find Multi-Org is enabled or not?

 In adadmin if covert to Multi org option is there, then Multi-org is not enabled. If maintain multi-org options is there, then Multi-org is enabled.


71. What is mean by MRC?

MRC stands for Multiple reporting Currency, this should be enabled to see the reports in different currencies like (rupees,yaans etc).


72. What is Multi-Org?

If this is enabled we can store multiple organization information in a single oracle application instance.


73. What is the configuration file for adutilities (like adadmin,adconfig etc)?

 adconfig.txt @APPL_TOP/admin


74. What is adrelink?

 adrelink will relink the executables with the libraries. Generally we will go for adrelink when some patch delivers some library files, or when executables were corrupted.


75. How to find the version of a file?

1. adident Header 2. strings -a filename grep Header


76. What is adodfcmp utility?

 This utility is used to recreate/repair corrupted database objects from odf(object defination files) files.


77.  How you will change apps password?

 FNDCPASS 0 y apps/ system/ SYSTEM APPLSYS


78. What if apps password is changed with alter command?

 Applications won’t work.


79. What is the difference between alter and FNDCPASS in changing apps password?

 FNDCPASS will update some fnd tables other than standard tables.


80. Where the FNDCPASS utility is located?

Concurrent node @FND_TOP/bin


81. How to find out what component of u r oracle applications were installed on which node?

 Xml file (context file)


82. How to find the version of httpd/Apache web server?

 $IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/bin/httpd –version


83. What is the configuration file for httpd and what is the location of it ?

 httpd.conf @IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Apache/conf


84. Where you will see when you have some problem with u r webserver(httpd/Apache)?

 access_log & error_log @IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Apache/logs


85. When Apache starts what other components its start ?

 PL/SQL Listener, Servlet Engine, OJSP Engine


86. What is jserv?

 jserv is nothing but servlet engine which will run u r servlets. It’s a module of apache which supports servlets.


87. What is self service application?

Whatever part of u r oracle application u r able to see through web browser is self service.


88. Where u will see when u r not able to get self service applications?

 access_log,error_log, error_pls, jserv.log, wdbsvr.app(for apps password)


89. What is the location of jserv.log?

 IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Jserv/log


90. What is the location of wdbsvr.app ?

 IAS_ORACLE_HOME/Apache/modplsql/cfg


91. What are jserv.conf and jserv.properties files?

 These are the configuration files which were used to start jvm’s(servlet engine) by apache.


92. What is mean by clearing cache and bouncing apache?

1. Stop apache (adapcctl.sh stop apps)

2. Clear cache – Go to $COMMON_TOP/html/_pages and delete _oa_html directory

(rm –r _oa__html)

3. Start apache (adapcctl.sh start apps)


93. What is forms configuration file and its location?

 appsweb_contextname.cfg @$COMMON_TOP/html/bin


94. What are the different modes u can start u r form server?

 socket and servlet


95. What is the difference beween socket and servlet mode?

 In socket mode forms sessions are represented by f60webmx

In servlet mode forms sessions are represented by apache processes.


96. What is forms metric server and client?

When there are more than one form sever instances then forms metric server and clinet will be used to load balance.


97. Where the forms server related errors will be logged?

 access_log and error_log


98. What is report server configuration and log file name and its location?

Configuration file – REP_.ora
Log file – REP_.log @806_ORACLE_HOME/reports60/server


99. What is CGIcmd.dat file and its location?

 CGIcmd.dat file is the run time parameter file the report server located @ 806_ORACLE_HOME/reports60/server


100. What is the significance of DISPLAY variable?

 Vnc server should be up and running at the specified port value in DISPLAY variable, otherwise reportserver may not able to show the graphics in Reports.


101. Where is the concurrent manager log file located?

 $COMMON_TOP/admin//log or $APPLCSF/$APPLLOG


102. Is apps password necessary to start all the components of oracle application?

 No. Only to start/stop concurrent managers apps password is needed.


103. What is a concurrent manager?

 A concurrent manager is one which runs concurrent requests.


104. What are the different types of concurrent managers?

 1. Internal concurrent manager – Will start all other managers and monitor

2. Standard Manager – All concurrent request by default will to go this

3. Conflict resolution manager – Concurrent programs with incompatabilites will be handled by this

4. Transaction manager – Handle all transaction requests


105. What are actual and target count in ‘Adminster Concurrent Managers form’?

 Target is the no. of concurrent processes a manager is supposed to start(specified in the defination of concurrent manager).Actual is the no. of processes a manager started actually.

Target and Actual should be always same.


106. What if Target and Actual are not same?

 It means at operating system level resources are low to accomidate the required processes for concurrent managers.

107. What are work shifts?

 Work shifts are nothing but timings at which the concurrent manager is supposed to run.


108. What if internal concurrent manager target and actual are not same?

 we need to bounce the concurrent manager using adcmctl.sh

109. How to bounce a single concurrent manager?

From frontend using ‘Administer Concurrent Manager form’.


109. When we change apps password , is it necessary to bounce application?

Only we need to bounce concurrent managers.

110. What is dbc file and its location?

dbc file contain database connection information. DBC file is used by oracle applications to connect to database. Its location is $FND_TOP/secure


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