Oracle SOA Suite 11g Troubleshooting Methodology
April 10th, 2013
16:15-17:15
Mile High Ballroom 3C
Harold Dost III
Senior Consultant
Raastech, Inc.

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1. Introduction
2. The Problem
3. The Art of Troubleshooting: Where Do You Start?
4. Infrastructure Issues
5. Performance Issues
6. Deployment Issues
7. Summary
Agenda

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INTRODUCTION

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Harold Dost III
 5+ years of Oracle middleware experience
 Experience in large implementations involving SOA Suite, BAM, AIA,
OSB, OSR, ODI, OWSM, OER, OEG, and more
 OCE (SOA Foundation Practitioner)
About Me

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THE PROBLEM

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 The Macy’s support team had an exceedingly difficult time
pinpointing the specific cause of the problem.
 Not only did the team involve representatives for each IT
functional area, they had no way to troubleshoot from the
source and no one team had visibility of the complete
picture.
 In general resolving problems took the Macy’s melded
support team approximately multiple days.
http://www.splunk.com/web_assets/pdfs/secure/Troubleshooting_Critical_Applications.pdf
How Every Large Company Troubleshoots

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 The Macy’s support team had an exceedingly difficult time
pinpointing the specific cause of the problem.
 Not only did the team involve representatives for each IT
functional area, they had no way to troubleshoot from the
source and no one team had visibility of the complete
picture.
 In general resolving problems took the Macy’s melded
support team approximately multiple days.
http://www.splunk.com/web_assets/pdfs/secure/Troubleshooting_Critical_Applications.pdf
How Every Large Company Troubleshoots

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 In the past, network admins were to blame for everything.
Problem With Troubleshooting Integrations

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 In the 21st century, the integration folks are the new target.
Problem With Troubleshooting Integrations

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 Numerous touch points
 Numerous SOA technologies
 Focus of this presentation is on Oracle SOA Suite 11g
Problem With Troubleshooting IntegrationsWebApplication
OEG
OSB
SOASuite
OSB
ODI
1324

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 We created an Ant wrapper script that loops through and
deploys all composites
 Calls the deploy target in ant-sca-deploy.xml
 Always getting OutOfMemoryError: PermGen space
after exactly 66 composite deployments
 Weird… but at least consistent
Real World Scenario – Bizarre Behaviour

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Real World Scenario – Vague & Unclear
 The infamous and ever misleading “Unable to access the
following endpoints” error

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 Could be:
 Caused by: java.net.SocketTimeoutException:
Read timed out
 Message send failed:
sun.security.validator.ValidatorException:
PKIX path building failed:
sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBu
ilderException: unable to find valid
certification path to requested target
Real World Scenario – Vague & Unclear

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THE ART OF TROUBLESHOOTING:
WHERE DO YOU START?

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 Part skill
 Some people have natural tendency to pinpoint problem areas
 Can be learned; usually involves methodical approach and logic
 Part knowledge
 Without understanding the product, doesn’t matter how smart
you are
 Most frustrating when it’s related to an area we don’t know
What is Troubleshooting?

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 Co-Workers
 Internet searches
 OTN discussion forums
http://support.oracle.com
 My Oracle Support
http://support.oracle.com
 Oracle Troubleshooting Guide
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E15586_01/fusionapps.1111/e14496/soa_trouble.htm
 Oracle SOA Suite 11g Administrator’s Handbook
http://www.packtpub.com/oracle-soa-suite-11g-administrators-handbook/book
Existing Resources

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Start Somewhere – Narrow Down Problem Area
Issues
Performance
Server-wideService-specific
Runtime
Composite Infrastructure
Deployment

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INFRASTRUCTURE ISSUES

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 Could be a server issue
 Could be a coding issue
 Could be a business fault that should be handled by the code
 Must be able to differentiate between infrastructure errors
and composite instance errors
Troubleshooting the Infrastructure

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1. Use logs
2. Use thread dumps
Troubleshooting the Infrastructure

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 The soa_server1.out log file contains most runtime
issues
 Must differentiate between infrastructure errors and
composite instance errors
1. Using Logs

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 Random crashes immediately after go-live
 Only happened in Production
 No warning signs
 Error does not appear on the EM console
Example: Infrastructure Error
<Aug 5, 2011 12:00:02 AM EDT> <Error>
<oracle.soa.bpel.engine.dispatch> <BEA-000000>
<failed to handle message
javax.ejb.EJBException: EJB Exception:
java.lang.StackOverflowError...

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 Often easy to distinguish
 Should be handled by the code
 Shows as a faulted instance on the EM console
Example: Business Fault
<Aug 6, 2011 10:10:33 AM EDT> <Error>
<oracle.soa.mediator.serviceEngine> <BEA-000000>
<Got an exception:
oracle.fabric.common.FabricInvocationException:
javax.xml.ws.soap.SOAPFaultException:
Message: Organization 129024 not found. Stack trace: at
Core.WebServices.Message.MessageWebService.SaveNotification(O
rganization organization, Notification notification) in
c:Data1.0CoreMessageMessageWebService.svc.cs:line 100,
detail=javax.xml.ws.soap.SOAPFaultException:

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 Thrown by external system
 No action needed
 Shows as a faulted instance on the EM console
 No action needed; follow up with target system
Example: System Fault (but not your fault!)
<Aug 6, 2011 10:10:33 AM EDT> <Error>
<oracle.soa.mediator.serviceEngine> <BEA-000000>
<Got an exception:
oracle.fabric.common.FabricInvocationException:
javax.xml.ws.soap.SOAPFaultException:
CreateCustomer failed with Message: Cannot insert the value
NULL into column 'CustomerID', table '@Customers'; column
does not allow nulls. INSERT fails.

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 The infamous and ever misleading “Unable to access the
following endpoints” error
Example: System Fault

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 In this case, due to:
 Message send failed:
sun.security.validator.ValidatorException:
PKIX path building failed:
sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBu
ilderException: unable to find valid
certification path to requested target
Example: System Fault

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 Just an infrastructure warning
 Threads would eventually clear themselves up
 Does not show on the EM console
 Due to failed transaction that continues to retry
Example: Coding or Infrastructure Problem?
<Sep 30, 2011 11:30:04 PM EDT> <Warning>
<oracle.integration.platform.instance.store.async> <BEA-000000>
<Unable to allocate additional threads,
as all the threads [10] are in use.
Threads distribution :
Fabric Instance Activity = 1,Fabric-Instance-Manager = 9,>

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 A lot more information is logged in the soa_server1-
diagnostic.log file
Modifying Logger Levels

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 A lot more information is logged in the soa_server1-
diagnostic.log file
Modifying Logger Levels
[2012-01-01T22:35:56.144-05:00] [soa_server1] [TRACE] [] [oracle.soa.adapter]
[ecid: cb680017c6a0acfe:-3f1527ec:13487d1ea4c:-8000-0000000000000fe1,0:2]
JmsProducer_execute:[default destination = jndi/CustomerJMSQueue]:
Successfully produced message.
[2012-01-01T22:35:56.256-05:00] [soa_server1] [NOTIFICATION] [] [oracle.soa.adapter]
[ecid: cb680017c6a0acfe:-5675273b:1348cccad75:-8000-0000000000055743,0]
JMSAdapter JMSConsumer JMSMessageConsumer_consume: Got message with ID
ID:<458362.1325475356144.0> from destination jndi/CustomerJMSQueue
[2012-01-01T22:35:56.261-05:00] [soa_server1] [TRACE] [] [oracle.soa.adapter]
[ecid: cb680017c6a0acfe:-5675273b:1348cccad75:-8000-0000000000055743,0]
JMS Adapter JMSProducer:CustomerJMS [ CustomerProduce_ptt::CustomerProduce(body)
] XMLHelper_convertJmsMessageHeadersAndPropertiesToXML:
<JMSInboundHeadersAndProperties xmlns="http://xmlns.oracle.com/pcbpel/
adapter/jms/">[[
<JMSInboundHeaders>
<JMSMessageID>ID:&lt;458362.1325475356144.0></JMSMessageID>
<JMSTimestamp>1325475356144</JMSTimestamp>

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 When a managed server goes into warning state, what are
you supposed to do?
2. Using Thread Dumps

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 Navigate to Servers > (managed server) > Monitoring >
Threads
Understanding Stuck Threads

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 AdminServer.log
 bam_server1.log
Understanding Stuck Threads
####<Dec 23, 2011 6:03:49 PM EST> <Error> <WebLogicServer>
<soahost1> <AdminServer> <BEA-000337> <[STUCK] ExecuteThread: '0'
for queue: 'weblogic.kernel.Default (self-tuning)' has been busy
for "658" seconds
####<Dec 23, 2011 5:53:36 PM EST> <Error> <JMX> <soahost1> <bam_
server1> <[ACTIVE] ExecuteThread: '0' for queue: 'weblogic.kernel.
Default (self-tuning)'> <<WLS Kernel>> <> <> <1324680816405> <BEA-
149500> <An exception occurred while registering the MBean
com.bea:Name=AdminServer,Type=WebServiceRequestBufferingQueue,
WebServiceBuffering=AdminServer,Server=AdminServer,
WebService=AdminServer. java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: PermGen space

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1. We found AdminServer to be in the “Warning” state, due
to a stuck thread.
2. We confirmed that there was indeed a stuck
“ ExecuteThread ” as shown on both the Oracle
WebLogic Administration Console and the
AdminServer.log file.
3. By reviewing the soa_server1.log and
bam_server1.log files, we found startup errors in the
BAM server log.
4. The BAM server was unable to register an AdminServer
MBean due to the java.lang.OutOfMemoryError
exception that was thrown.
Understanding Stuck Threads

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PERFORMANCE ISSUES

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 Is logging in to Oracle Enterprise Manager Fusion
Middleware Control extremely slow?
 Are all composite instances completing in an unusually
longer period of time?
 Are the logs or your dehydration database growing
unusually quickly?
 Are you seeing an exceptionally high number of errors in
the logs?
Server Wide Performance Issues

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root@soahost1:/root> df –m
Filesystem 1M-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda8 996 451 494 48% /
/dev/sda9 815881 697454 76314 91% /u01
/dev/sda7 996 36 909 4% /home
/dev/sda5 1984 138 1744 8% /tmp
/dev/sda3 1984 283 1598 16% /var
/dev/sda2 5950 3842 1802 69% /usr
/dev/sda1 99 12 83 13% /boot
tmpfs 8023 0 8023 0% /dev/shm
Check available disk space
 Often an overlooked area

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 The vmstat command easily outputs CPU, memory, and I/O
statistics
 Do not rely on Linux’s reporting of available memory, and
best to look at SWAP space usage
 Why Linux reports 100% memory usage all the time
http://blog.raastech.com/2008/01/why-linux-reports-100-memory-usage-all.html
Check CPU, RAM, and I/O
root@soahost1:/root> vmstat -S m
procs -------memory--------- --swap-- ---io-- --system-- ----cpu-----
r b swpd free buff cache si so bi bo in cs us sy id wa st
0 0 0 59 402 15055 0 0 2 16 0 0 2 2 96 1 0

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 System log files can reveal resource issues:
Check OS Resources
root@soahost1:/root> cat /var/log/messages
Aug 31 20:53:22 uslx286 sshd[22480]: fatal:
setresuid 10000: Resource temporarily unavailable
root@soahost1:/root> ps -A | wc -l
297
root@soahost1:/root> lsof | wc -l
6064
 Too many open files can exhaust system resources:
 Too many running processes can exhaust system resources:

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 For performance, consider the following:
 Switching from Sun JDK to JRockit JDK
 Optimizing JVM settings
 Additional JVM performance tuning documentation from
Oracle can be found at:
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E23943_01/web.1111/e13814.pdf
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E15289_01/doc.40/e15060.pdf
JVM Performance Tuning

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 Add this to the PORT_MEM_ARGS, argument in the
setSOADomainEnv.sh(.cmd) script
-XX:+HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError
 Although this is not a performance setting, we recommend
setting it to dump the heap to an hprof file when
java.lang.OutOfMemoryError exceptions are thrown
 This is useful for later analysis and troubleshooting
JVM Logging

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 Ensuring that the heap allocated to the JVM is appropriately
sized (that is, comparing heap versus non-heap usage)
 Ensure that there is no excessive garbage collection
 Monitor JVM thread performance
Check JVM

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 Data source errors are usually easy to identify – when
exhausted, errors show up everywhere
Check Data Sources

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 Involve a DBA
Check Database Performance

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 Navigate to Monitoring > Performance Summary
 Can choose metrics to display for any composite
Viewing Performance Summary Graphs

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 Right-click on Monitoring > Request Processing
 Utilizing SQL queries is so much better
Viewing Request Processing Metrics

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 Remember SQL output from last page?
 Let’s also get the invoke durations
Composite Instance Performance
SELECT
composite_instance_id,
composite_creation_date,
component_name,
action,
component_state,
TO_CHAR((TO_NUMBER(SUBSTR(TO_CHAR(updated_time-created_time),12,2))*60*60) +
(TO_NUMBER(SUBSTR(TO_CHAR(updated_time-created_time),15,2))*60) +
TO_NUMBER(SUBSTR(TO_CHAR(updated_time-created_time),18,4)),'999990.000') duration
FROM
mediator_instance
WHERE
component_name = 'Order.Create’

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DEPLOYMENT ISSUES

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 Involves:
1. Compilation
ant -f ant-sca-package.xml package -
DcompositeDir=$CODE/HelloWorld -
DcompositeName=HelloWorld -Drevision=1.0
2. Deployment
ant -f ant-sca-deploy.xml deploy -
DserverURL=$SOAURL/soa-infra/deployer -
Duser=$USERNAME -Dpassword=$PASSWORD -
DsarLocation=$CODE/HelloWorld/deploy/sca_HelloWorl
d_rev1.0.jar -Dpartition=default -Doverwrite=true
-DforceDefault=true
Understanding the Ant Deployment Process

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 Compilation done via the package target in ant-sca-
package.xml
 The package target calls other targets to perform:
1. Cleanup
2. Validation
3. Compilation
Understanding the Ant Compilation Process

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 Removes any existing SAR files
Compilation: The init Target
clean:
[echo] deleting
/u01/svn/HelloWorld/deploy/sca_HelloWorld_rev1.0.jar

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 Sets environment variables and validates all resources
within the code
Compilation: The scac-validate Target
scac-validate:
[echo] Running scac-validate in
/u01/svn/HelloWorld/composite.xml
[echo] oracle.home =
/u01/app/oracle/middleware/Oracle_SOA1/bin/..
[input] skipping input as property compositeDir has already
been set.
[input] skipping input as property compositeName has already
been set.
[input] skipping input as property revision has already been
set.

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 Compiles the code
Compilation: The scac Target
scac:
[scac] Validating composite "/u01/svn/HelloWorld/composite.xml"
[scac] error: location
.
Load of wsdl "HelloWorldWebService.wsdl with Message part
element undefined in wsdl [file:/u01/svn/HelloWorld/
.
[echo]
[echo] ERROR IN TRYCATCH BLOCK:
[echo] /u01/scripts/build.soa.xml:112: The following
error occurred while executing this line:
.
[echo] /u01/app/oracle/middleware/Oracle_SOA1/bin/ant-sca-
compile.xml:269: Java returned: 1 Check log file : /tmp/out.err
for errors

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 Understand that ant runs on the client machine, not the SOA
server
[echo] /u01/app/oracle/middleware/Oracle_SOA1/bin/ant-sca
deploy.xml:188: java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: PermGen space
 Compilation errors, check out.err and understand adf-
config.xml
oracle.fabric.common.wsdl.SchemaBuilder.loadEmbeddedSchemas
(SchemaBuilder.java:492) Caused by: java.io.IOException:
oracle.mds.exception.MDSException: MDS-00054: The file to be
loaded oramds:/apps/Common/HelloWorld.xsd does not exist.
 Deployment errors are usually straightforward
[deployComposite] INFO: Creating HTTP connection to
host:soahost1, port:8001
[deployComposite] java.net.UnknownHostException: soahost1
Types of Errors

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 Located in Unix/Linux:
/tmp/out.err
 Located in Microsoft Windows:
C:Users[user]AppDataLocalTempout.err
Location of out.err

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OTHER STUFF

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 DMS Spy Servlet displays instant Dynamic Monitoring
Service (DMS) related metrics
 Navigate to http://<host>:<soaport>/dms/Spy
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E15586_01/core.1111/e10108/monitor.htm#CFAHIAIB
The DMS Spy Servlet

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 The EDN Database Debug Log can be accessed at:
http://<host>:<soaport>/soa-infra/events/edn-db-log
 Changing the oracle.integration.platform.blocks.event.saq
logger to TRACE:32 captures the body of the event
message is available in the EDN trace
Check Event Delivery Network (EDN)

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SUMMARY

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 Troubleshooting is part art, part product knowledge
 Oracle SOA Suite 11g errors can mostly be classified into:
 Runtime (or infrastructure) errors
 Performance issues/errors
 Deployment errors
Summary

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 For infrastructure errors:
 Identify whether it is a composite or an infrastructure error
 Consider increasing logger levels
 Identifying the root cause of stuck threads may require some
drill-down investigation
Summary

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 For performance issues:
 Identify whether it is a server-wide performance issue, or
specific to a single composite
 Check overall system health, even the obvious areas
 Obtaining composite instance performance metrics is easily
done through SQL
Summary

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 For deployment errors:
 Understand the ant compilation (i.e., packaging) and
deployment processes
 Understand adf-config.xml
Summary

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 Oracle SOA Suite 11g Administrator’s
Handbook
http://www.packtpub.com/oracle-soa-suite-11g-
administrators-handbook/book
 Chapter 6: Troubleshooting the Oracle
SOA Suite 11g Infrastructure
 “Highly recommended, a tour de
force.”
~Mark Nelson, Oracle A-Team
Book
http://redstack.wordpress.com/2012/10/28/a-review-of-oracle-soa-suite-11g-administrators-handbook/

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Harold Dost III
Senior Consultant
harold.dost@raastech.com
@hdost
Contact Information

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Session #:185
Oracle SOA Suite 11g Troubleshooting Methodology
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