Requirements

First of all lets start with the requirements. Which OS and database is supported for the OMS, Agent and repository database? The documentation is a bit thin on this topic (Oracle® Enterprise Manager Cloud Control Release Notes Prerequisites) and refers to the Metalink Certification Matrix.

Supported OS for the OMS and Agent are currently only the following Linux x86-64:

• Oracle Linux 5 Update 2+
• Asianux 3
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Update Level 2+
• SLES 11

Details about the required package is available in the Oracle® Enterprise Manager Cloud Control Basic Installation Guide Package Requirements for Oracle Management Service.

The OMS repository is currently certified with the following database release:

• Oracle 11.2.0.3.0 (somehow not yet or not anymore in the MOS certification matrix)
• Oracle 11.2.0.2.0
• Oracle 11.2.0.1.0
• Oracle 11.1.0.7.0
• Oracle 10.2.0.5.0

The Prerequisites of chapter 6 Installing Enterprise Manager System in Oracle® Enterprise Manager Cloud Control Basic Installation Guide lists a few one-off Patch when using a 11.2.0.1.0 database. In general I would any way recommend to use the latest release as well the latest PSU.

The minimal hardware requirements for the OMS is a bit more than earlier releases. The table is just copy from Oracle® Enterprise Manager Cloud Control Basic Installation Guide Meeting Hardware Requirements.

	Small	Medium	Large
	1 OMS, < =1000 targets, <100 agents	2 OMSes for < =10,000 targets and <1000 agents	>2 OMSes, >=10,000 targets, >=1000 agents
CPU Cores/Host	2	4	8
RAM	4 GB	6 DB	8 GB
RAM with ADP, JVMD	6 GB	10 DB	14 GB
Oracle WebLogic Server JVM Heap Size	512 MB	1 DB	2 GB
Hard Disk Space	7 GB	7 DB	7 GB
Hard Disk Space with ADP, JVMD	10 GB	12 DB	14 GB

Test Environment

To test Enterprise Manager Cloud Control I decide to use as usual a VM on my notebook. This means that the repository DB, OMS and Agent to run in a single VM. Based on the requirements above I end up with the following setup.

Hardware/VM Configuration:

• VMWare Fusion 4.0.2
• 2 Core’s
• 4 GB Ram
• 4 VM Disk not pre-allocated (20GB root, 4GB swap, 2*20GB data and software
• 1 Network Interface

OS Configuration:

• Oracle Enterprise Linux x86-64bit 5 update 6
• OS has been setup through kickstart with these additional packages. Full KS file is attached to the blog post

• oracle-validated, kernel-headers, sysstat, setarch, rng-utils
  	

• Kernel parameter should be set by oracle-validated

Repository Database:

• Oracle Enterprise Edition 11.2.0.3.0
• Database Components JVM, XDB, Multimedia (could probably be stripped down)
• Init.ora parameter dedicated to EM12C:
  • SGA_TARGET=2G
  • SHARED_POOL_SIZE=600M
  • PGA_AGGREGATE_TARGET=1G
  • PROCESSES=300
  • JOB_QUEUE_PROCESSES=20
  • SESSION_CACHED_CURSORS=300
  • MEMORY_TARGET => should not be used

Software

next to the operating system and database software you need only the two zip files (em12_linux64_disk1of2.zip, em12_linux64_disk2of2.zip) from OTN to install EM12C. It is no longer necessary to search for Patch’s, WLS or JDK’s and download them. The software package for EM12C include everything you need to install the OMS and Agents.

• Oracle Linux Release 5 Update 6 for x86_64 (64 Bit) from Oracle eDelivery Part V24479-01
• Oracle Enterprise Edition 11.2.0.3.0 Patchset 10404530 from MOS
• Oracle Technology Netowrk Enterprise Manager Cloud Control 12c Release 1 (12.1.0.1) for Linux x86-64

Installation

Now that the test environment and repository database is ready lets start the installation. According to the presentation Oracle Enterprise Manager 12.1 – Cloud Control Upgrade it should be much easier. However the setup will start as usual with the RunInstaller.

./runInstaller

The installer starts as usual with the welcome screen and the optional question of the an e-Mail account to get informed about updates and security issues. The color layout of the dialog boxes has changed slightly. Otherwise, business as usual

On the second screen you may specify your MOS credentials to instantly download the latest updates. Just hope that there are not yet any 😉

In the third step the installer check’s the system prerequisites. Failed step’s can be fixed and be retested or just ignored. Because I’ve installed the RPM oracle_validated all dependent packages are installed some kernel parameters are adjusted.

On the third step you have to specify the installation type and location of the middleware. For my test case I just select simple installation and /u00/app/oracle/product/middleware as the middlware home

The WLS Administrator credentials and the repository connection details have to be specified on the fifth screen.

Just right after you press next the installer connect’s to the repository database and check’s if the database can be used as EM repository. First it checks if there is a default CBO stats gathering job. You may let the installer fix this by pressing yes.

Second it checks the database configuration parameter and space setting. The information provided here do not have to be fixed immediately. The adjustments can be done after the installation of EM. In my first installation I’ve had a few failing prerequisites more. Since I set the init.ora parameter according the section above only three are left. I’ll fix all three of them after the installation. OK, redo size of 300M on my test VM I will just ignore.

Screen six sum up all information provide so fare before the installation starts.

The installation it self is presented in a nice new way. For each installation step there is a direct link to its log file.

If something fail, you can immediately verify the issue by clicking the link to the log. As soon you fixed the issue, you can rerun the failed step. In my case the VM run out of memory (Physical and Swap) and the OMS could not be started.

I’ve extend the swap space up to 4G and restarted the step.

Done…. The last screen of the installation display the link information for the EM Cloud Control Console and the Administration URL. All information is also available in the file setupinfo.txt.

First impression

Connecting the first time with EM console allows you to select you preferred EM Home page based on you role. E.g there is one for EM Administrators which looks quite similar to the old home page. Other home pages a displaying immediately information important to a Database Administration, WLS Administrator, Support personnel or other.

As a first step I’ve added a DB Target to get more information displayed in my EM. I’ve just run a bit out of time, thats why I haven’t yet more screen shots to display. I’ll provide a few more later.

Round up

All together the installation of EM Cloud Control 12c is much easier than installing one of the earlier releases. Oracle finally packed all together in one software package and one installer. I do not have to care anymore about the right JDK or WLS version. They are just installed. The side effect on this is that also on the OS everything is installed on the same place. Where at 10g and 11g separate directories has been used for OMS and agent, they are now below the middleware directory. Which is not really an issue, you only need to adjust any scripts and environment variables.

Apart from the simple installation procedure, I also like the small improvements while checking the prerequisites. Things which have to be fixed can be fixed immediately. Others, which are required to run the OMS, but not to finish the installation, can be fixed afterwards.

The only drawback I see after my first short tests are the quite high CPU and memory needs. For a regular system, this is not really a problem. But for a road warrior where all testing is done on a notebook, a VM with a 4-6GB is quite an issue.

References

A collection of links to MOS Notes and Oracle documentation about Enterprise Manager Cloud Control 12c (12.1.0.1.0):

• Oracle Technology Network Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c
• Enterprise Manager Cloud Control Documentation 12c Release 1 (12.1)
• MOS Note: How to Install Enterprise Manager Cloud Control 12.1.0.1 (12c) [1359176.1]
• MOS Note: EM12c: How to install Enterprise Manager Cloud Control 12c Agent [1360183.1]
• MOS Note: How to Install Enterprise Manager Cloud Control 12.1.0.1 (12c)
  using Software-only Method [1364002.1]
• MOS Note: How to Install Enterprise Manager Cloud Control 12.1.0.1 (12c)
  using Software-only Silent Install Method with Response File [ID 1364025.1]
• MOS Note: FAQ: Enterprise Manager Cloud Control 12c Install / Upgrade Frequently Asked Questions [1363863.1]
• MOS Note: Enterprise Manager Cloud Control 12c Installation
  List of the Log Files and Commands to Zip them into One Zip Archive [1363779.1]
• MOS Note: Enterprise Manager Cloud Control 12c Agent Installation
  List of the Log Files and Commands to Zip them into One Zip Archive [1367301.1]