9 Maintaining and Troubleshooting the Management Repository

This chapter describes maintenance and troubleshooting techniques for maintaining a well-performing Management Repository.

Specifically, this chapter contains the following sections:

Management Repository Deployment Guidelines
Changing the SYSMAN Password
Dropping and Recreating the Management Repository
Troubleshooting Management Repository Creation Errors
Improving the Login Performance of the Console Home Page

9.1 Management Repository Deployment Guidelines

To be sure that your management data is secure, reliable, and always available, consider the following settings and configuration guidelines when you are deploying the Management Repository:

Install a RAID-capable Logical Volume Manager (LVM) or hardware RAID on the system where the Management Repository resides. At a minimum the operating system must support disk mirroring and stripping. Configure all the Management Repository data files with some redundant configuration.
Use Real Application Clusters to provide the highest levels of availability for the Management Repository.
If you use Enterprise Manager to alert administrators of errors or availability issues in a production environment, be sure that the Grid Control components are configured with the same level of availability. At a minimum, consider using Oracle Data Guard to mirror the Management Repository database. Configure the Data Guard environment for no data loss.

See Also:
Oracle High Availability Architecture and Best Practices
Oracle Data Guard Concepts and Administration
Oracle strongly recommends that archive logging be turned on and that a comprehensive backup strategy be in place prior to an Enterprise Manager implementation going live in a production environment. The backup strategy should include both incremental and full backups as required.

See Also:
Oracle Enterprise Manager Grid Control Installation and Basic Configuration for information about the database initialization parameters required for the Management Repository

9.2 Changing the SYSMAN Password

The SYSMAN account is the default super user account used to set up and administer Enterprise Manager. It is also the database account that owns the objects stored in the Oracle Management Repository. From this account, you can set up additional administrator accounts and set up Enterprise Manager for use in your organization.

The SYSMAN account is created automatically in the Management Repository database during the Enterprise Manager installation. You also provide a password for the SYSMAN account during the installation.

See Also:

Oracle Enterprise Manager Grid Control Installation and Basic Configuration for information about installing Enterprise Manager

If you later need to change the SYSMAN database account password, use the following procedure:

Shut down all the Oracle Management Service instances that are associated with the Management Repository.

See Also:
"Controlling the Oracle Management Service"
In the Grid Control Console, click the Targets tab, and then click All Targets on the sub tab.
Select the Management Services and Repository target and click Configure.

Enterprise Manager displays the Monitoring Configuration page.
Enter the new password in the Repository password field and click OK.

See Also:
"Specifying New Target Monitoring Credentials"
Change the password of the SYSMAN database account using the following SQL*Plus commands:
```
SQL>connect sysman/oldpassword;
SQL>alter user sysman identified by newpassword;
```
For each Management Service associated with the Management Repository, locate the emoms.properties configuration file.

The emoms.properties file can be found in the following directory of the Oracle Application Server Home where the Oracle Management Service is installed and deployed:
```
IAS_HOME/sysman/config/
```

Locate the following entries in the emoms.properties file:

oracle.sysman.eml.mntr.emdRepPwd=ece067ffc15edc4f
oracle.sysman.eml.mntr.emdRepPwdEncrypted=TRUE

Enter your new password in the first entry and enter FALSE in the second entry.

For example:

oracle.sysman.eml.mntr.emdRepPwd=new_password
oracle.sysman.eml.mntr.emdRepPwdEncrypted=FALSE

Save and exit the emoms.properties file and restart each Management Service associated with the Management Repository.
After the Management Service has started, check the contents of the emoms.properties file to be sure the password you entered has been encrypted.

For example, the entries should appear as follows:
```
oracle.sysman.eml.mntr.emdRepPwd=ece067ffc15edc4f
oracle.sysman.eml.mntr.emdRepPwdEncrypted=TRUE
```

9.3 Dropping and Recreating the Management Repository

This section provides information about dropping the Management Repository from your existing database and recreating the Management Repository after you install Enterprise Manager.

9.3.1 Dropping the Management Repository

To recreate the Management Repository, you first remove the Enterprise Manager schema from your Management Repository database. You accomplish this task using the -action drop argument to the RepManager script, which is described in the following procedure.

To remove the Management Repository from your database:

Locate the RepManager script in the following directory of the Oracle Application Server Home where you have installed and deployed the Management Service:
```
IAS_HOME/sysman/admin/emdrep/bin
```
At the command prompt, enter the following command:
```
$PROMPT> RepManager repository_host repository_port repository_SID 
-sys_password password_for_sys_account -action drop
```
In this syntax example:
- repository_host is the machine name where the Management Repository database is located
- repository_port is the Management Repository database listener port address, usually 1521 or 1526
- repository_SID is the Management Repository database system identifier
- password_for_sys_account is the password of the SYS user for the database. For example, change_on_install.
- -action drop indicates that you want to drop the Management Repository.

Alternatively, you can use a connect descriptor to identify the database on the RepManager command line. The connect descriptor identifies the host, port, and name of the database using a standard Oracle database syntax.

For example, you can use the connect descriptor as follows to create the Management Repository:

$PROMPT> ./RepManager -connect "(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)
(HOST=host1)(PORT=1521)) (CONNECT_DATE=(SERVICE_NAME=servicename)))"
-sys_password efkl34lmn -action drop

See Also:

"Establishing a Connection and Testing the Network" in the Oracle Database Net Services Administrator's Guide for more information about connecting to a database using connect descriptors

9.3.2 Recreating the Management Repository

The preferred method for creating the Management Repository is to create the Management Repository during the Enterprise Manager installation procedure, which is performed using Oracle Universal Installer.

See Also:

Oracle Enterprise Manager Grid Control Installation and Basic Configuration for information about installing Enterprise Manager

However, if you need to recreate the Management Repository in an existing database, you can use the RepManager script, which is installed when you install the Management Service. Refer to the following sections for more information:

Using the RepManager Script to Create the Management Repository
Using a Connect Descriptor to Identify the Management Repository Database

9.3.2.1 Using the RepManager Script to Create the Management Repository

To create a Management Repository in an existing database:

Review the hardware and software requirements for the Management Repository as described in Oracle Enterprise Manager Grid Control Installation and Basic Configuration. and review the section "Management Repository Deployment Guidelines".
Locate the RepManager script in the following directory of the Oracle Management Service home directory:
```
ORACLE_HOME/sysman/admin/emdrep/bin
```

At the command prompt, enter the following command:

$PROMPT> ./RepManager repository_host repository_port repository_SID  -sys_password password_for_sys_account -action create

In this syntax example:

repository_host is the machine name where the Management Repository database is located
repository_port is the Management Repository database listener port address, usually 1521 or 1526
repository_SID is the Management Repository database system identifier
password_for_sys_account is the password of the SYS user for the database. For example, change_on_install.

Enterprise Manager creates the Management Repository in the database you specified in the command line.

9.3.2.2 Using a Connect Descriptor to Identify the Management Repository Database

Alternatively, you can use a connect descriptor to identify the database on the RepManager command line. The connect descriptor identifies the host, port, and name of the database using a standard Oracle database syntax.

For example, you can use the connect descriptor as follows to create the Management Repository:

$PROMPT> ./RepManager -connect "(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP) (HOST=host1)(PORT=1521)) (CONNECT_DATA=(SERVICE_NAME=servicename)))" -sys_password efkl34lmn -action create

See Also:

"Establishing a Connection and Testing the Network" in the Oracle Database Net Services Administrator's Guide for more information about connecting to a database using a connect descriptor

The ability to use a connect string allows you to provide an address list as part of the connection string. The following example shows how you can provide an address list consisting of two listeners as part of the RepManager command line. If a listener on one host becomes unavailable, the second listener can still accept incoming requests:

$PROMPT> ./RepManager -connect "(DESCRIPTION=
(ADDRESS_LIST=
(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=host1)(PORT=1521)
(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=host2)(PORT=1521)
(CONNECT_DATE=(SERVICE_NAME=servicename)))"
-sys_password efkl34lmn -action create

"Configuring the Management Services"

9.4 Troubleshooting Management Repository Creation Errors

Oracle Universal Installer creates the Management Repository using a configuration step at the end of the installation process. If the repository configuration tool fails, note the exact error messages displayed in the configuration tools window, wait until the other configuration tools have finished, exit from Universal Installer, and then use the following sections to troubleshoot the problem.

9.4.1 Package Body Does Not Exist Error While Creating the Management Repository

If the creation of your Management Repository is interrupted, you may receive the following when you attempt to create or drop the Management Repository at a later time:

SQL> ERROR:
ORA-00604: error occurred at recursive SQL level 1
ORA-04068: existing state of packages has been discarded
ORA-04067: not executed, package body "SYSMAN.MGMT_USER" does not exist
ORA-06508: PL/SQL: could not find program unit being called
ORA-06512: at "SYSMAN.SETEMUSERCONTEXT", line 5
ORA-06512: at "SYSMAN.CLEAR_EMCONTEXT_ON_LOGOFF", line 4
ORA-06512: at line 4

To fix this problem, see "General Troubleshooting Techniques for Creating the Management Repository".

9.4.2 Server Connection Hung Error While Creating the Management Repository

If you receive an error such as the following when you try to connect to the Management Repository database, you are likely using an unsupported version of the Oracle Database:

Server Connection Hung

To remedy the problem, upgrade your database to the supported version as described in Oracle Enterprise Manager Grid Control Installation and Basic Configuration.

9.4.3 General Troubleshooting Techniques for Creating the Management Repository

If you encounter an error while creating the Management Repository, drop the repository by running the -drop argument to the RepManager script.

See Also:

"Dropping the Management Repository"

If the RepManager script drops the repository successfully, try creating the Management Repository again.

If you encounter errors while dropping the Management Repository, do the following:

Connect to the database as SYSDBA using SQL*Plus.
Check to see if the SYSMAN database user exists in the Management Repository database.

For example, use the following command to see if the SYSMAN user exists:
```
prompt> SELECT username FROM DBA_USERS WHERE username='SYSMAN';
```
If the SYSMAN user exists, drop the user by entering the following SQL*Plus command:
```
prompt> DROP USER SYSMAN CASCADE;
```
Check to see if the following triggers exist:
```
SYSMAN.EMD_USER_LOGOFF
SYSMAN.EMD_USER_LOGON
```
For example, use the following command to see if the EMD_USER_LOGOFF trigger exists in the database:
```
prompt> SELECT trigger_name FROM ALL_TRIGGERS 
        WHERE trigger_name='EMD_USER_LOGOFF';
```

If the triggers exist, drop them from the database using the following commands:

prompt> DROP TRIGGER SYSMAN.EMD_USER_LOGOFF;
prompt> DROP TRIGGER SYSMAN.EMD_USER_LOGON;

9.5 Improving the Login Performance of the Console Home Page

Oracle Enterprise Manager now provides an option that will more quickly display the Console Home page even in a scenario where the Management Repository is very large. Normally, factors such as the number of alerts, errors, policies, and critical patches can contribute to delayed displayed times. Since there is no single factor nor any simple way to scale the SQL or user interface, a simple option flag has been added that removes the following page elements for all users.

When the emoms.properties flag, LargeRepository=, is set to true (when normally the default is false), the SQL for the following items is not executed and thus the items will not be displayed on the Console page.

Three sections from the Overview Page segment:
- All Target Alerts
  - Critical
  - Warning
  - Errors
- All Target Policy Violations
  - Critical
  - Warning
  - Informational
- All Target Jobs
  - Problem Executions (last 7 days)
  - Suspended Executions (last 7 days)
The page segment which includes Security Patch Violations and Critical Patch Advisories.

The Deployment Summary section would move up to fill in the vacated space.