PeopleSoft PUM Images on Linux KVM

As we know, with the new PeopleSoft 9.2 applications came a new method of delivering updates via PeopleSoft Update Manager.  We now need to download fully functional VirtualBox images to get our patches.  We can also use these images for Demo environments and specific versions are useable for New Release Demos during application upgrades.  SES is even included in these images.  I’ve been using VirtualBox for years, since the original innotek days.  It works great for desktop use which is it’s intended use.  Sure you can set it up on a server and make it work in a more enterprise environment but I wanted to deploy the images to something I already had hosting some vm’s, Linux KVM.  If you want to run your images on VMWare, I recommend reading this post on running the images on VMWare.  So lets begin setting up a new PUM image for Linux KVM.

This is just a simple writeup on running these on an already functioning system.  Setting up Linux KVM, it’s networking, or anything else is out of scope for this post.

  1. Download the pieces of the image in question to a location: ex. /ds1/isos/HCMPUM7
  2. Unzip all the files. Since this may take a while, I use nohup just in case and push the job to the background if I want to do something else:

    [sourcecode]
    $ cd /ds1/isos/HCMPUM7
    $ nohup unzip ‘*.zip’ & tail -f nohup.out
    nohup: ignoring input and appending output to nohup.out
    Archive:  HCM-920-UPD-007_OVA_2of9.zip
    inflating: HCM-920-UPD-007_OVA_1of8
    Archive:  HCM-920-UPD-007_OVA_6of9.zip
    inflating: HCM-920-UPD-007_OVA_5of8
    [/sourcecode]

  3. The unzipped files are parts that need combined:

    [sourcecode]
    $ cat HCM-920-UPD-007_OVA_1of8 HCM-920-UPD-007_OVA_2of8 HCM-920-UPD-007_OVA_3of8 HCM-920-UPD-007_OVA_4of8 HCM-920-UPD-007_OVA_5of8 HCM-920-UPD-007_OVA_6of8 HCM-920-UPD-007_OVA_7of8 HCM-920-UPD-007_OVA_8of8 > HCM-920-UPD-007.ova
    [/sourcecode]

  4. Alternatively to step 2 and 3, you can unzip only HCM-920-UPD-007_OVA_1of9.zip and run the ova_gen.sh script.

    [sourcecode]
    $ unzip HCM-920-UPD-007_OVA_1of9.zip
    Archive:  HCM-920-UPD-007_OVA_1of9.zip</pre>
    inflating: 18508704Readme.html
    inflating: 18508704UpdatesIncluded.xls
    inflating: ova_gen.sh
    inflating: ova_gen.bat
    inflating: MD5-SHA1_Checksum.txt
    $ chmod 755 ova_gen.sh
    $ ./ova_gen.sh
    [/sourcecode]

  5. Either way you finally end up with HCM-920-UPD-007.ova or HCM-920-UPD-007.OVA
  6. If you want to verify the integrity of your OVA file you can check the mdsum

    [sourcecode]
    $ md5sum HCM-920-UPD-007.OVA
    7edcada549897ced2fdbfb08a3ecf63e  HCM-920-UPD-007.OVA
    [/sourcecode]

  7. Compare that value to what Oracle says it should be:

    [sourcecode]
    $ cat MD5-SHA1_Checksum.txt
    [/sourcecode]

  8. Now extract the ova (which is just a tar file) to your vm path

    [sourcecode]
    $ mkdir /ds1/vmImages/HCM.92.007.PUM; cd /ds1/vmImages/HCM.92.007.PUM
    $ tar -xvf /ds1/isos/HCMPUM7/HCM-920-UPD-007.ova
    HCMDB-SES-853-13.ovf
    HCMDB-SES-853-13-disk1.vmdk
    HCMDB-SES-853-13-disk2.vmdk
    HCMDB-SES-853-13-disk3.vmdk
    HCMDB-SES-853-13-disk4.vmdk
    HCMDB-SES-853-13-disk5.vmdk
    HCMDB-SES-853-13-disk6.vmdk
    [/sourcecode]

  9. Convert the compressed vmdk files to your preferred format, I’m going to use compressed qcow2 for this image:

    [sourcecode]
    $ nohup find . -name "*.vmdk" -exec qemu-img convert -c -p -O qcow2 {} {}qcow2 \;
    (100.00/100%)
    (100.00/100%)
    (100.00/100%)
    (100.00/100%)
    [/sourcecode]

  10. The conversion created the new files as root, I have the psoft user setup to run qemu commands as itself:

    [sourcecode]
    $ sudo chown psoft:kvm *
    [/sourcecode]

  11. To avoid any confusion, rename the files after conversion:

    [sourcecode]
    $ rename -v ‘s/\.vmdkqcow2$/.qcow2/’ *.vmdkqcow2
    HCMDB-SES-853-13-disk1.vmdkqcow2 renamed as HCMDB-SES-853-13-disk1.qcow2
    HCMDB-SES-853-13-disk2.vmdkqcow2 renamed as HCMDB-SES-853-13-disk2.qcow2
    HCMDB-SES-853-13-disk3.vmdkqcow2 renamed as HCMDB-SES-853-13-disk3.qcow2
    HCMDB-SES-853-13-disk4.vmdkqcow2 renamed as HCMDB-SES-853-13-disk4.qcow2
    HCMDB-SES-853-13-disk5.vmdkqcow2 renamed as HCMDB-SES-853-13-disk5.qcow2
    HCMDB-SES-853-13-disk6.vmdkqcow2 renamed as HCMDB-SES-853-13-disk6.qcow2
    [/sourcecode]

  12. Cleanup and review

    [sourcecode]
    $ rm *.vmdk
    $ rm /ds1/isos/HCMPUM7/*of8     #leave the zip and combined ova in case I need them again
    $ ll
    total 30664850
    drwxrwxr-x  2 psoft psoft            9 Aug 11 14:35 ./
    drwxr-xr-x 12 randy kvm            12 Aug 11 11:33 ../
    -rw-r–r–  1 psoft kvm   2314132992 Aug 11 12:25 HCMDB-SES-853-13-disk1.qcow2
    -rw-r–r–  1 psoft kvm   3622515200 Aug 11 12:58 HCMDB-SES-853-13-disk2.qcow2
    -rw-r–r–  1 psoft kvm   6583902208 Aug 11 13:16 HCMDB-SES-853-13-disk3.qcow2
    -rw-r–r–  1 psoft kvm   7853768704 Aug 11 12:37 HCMDB-SES-853-13-disk4.qcow2
    -rw-r–r–  1 psoft kvm       410112 Aug 11 12:19 HCMDB-SES-853-13-disk5.qcow2
    -rw-r–r–  1 psoft kvm  11004225536 Aug 11 12:53 HCMDB-SES-853-13-disk6.qcow2
    [/sourcecode]

  13. I glanced at the .ovf file to see that the VBox setup would use 2 vCPUs and 6 GB of RAM.For some things a GUI is handy, so I use virt-manager to create the VM from scratch.   I use this previously discussed technique to forward displays from Linux servers to my workstation:
    virt-manager1
  14. Setup HCMDB-SES-853-13-disk1.qcow2 as the first disk imported and set the OS type: to Linux and Version: to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 or later:
    virt-manager2
  15. Next set your Memory: at 6144 MB or higher and CPUs: at 2 or higher.  If you are running on a big machine you can add more memory to the Oracle Database engine if you want:
  16. On the final screen ensure you check the Customize configuration before install box.  You will need to change the controller/disk type of the boot drive to IDE and add the remaining disks:
    virt-manager4
  17. After hitting Finish you should get the configuration window.  Select Disk 1 and expand the Advanced options.  Set the Disk bus: to IDE. The VM will not boot otherwise.
    virt-manager5
  18. Now add the remaining disk images using the Add Hardware option.  The data drives can be added at virtio disks:
    virt-manager6
  19. Your final configuration looks like this:
    virt-manager7
  20. You can now click the Begin Installation button and boot the VM.  On first boot you will be prompted for some configuration items such as hostname, database name, passwords, etc.  A few minutes later you should have a fully functional system.

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3 responses to “PeopleSoft PUM Images on Linux KVM”

  1. Dennis Lovelady Avatar
    Dennis Lovelady

    Thanks for a very well laid-out article and thorough instructions. I look forward to trying them. My problem is that I cannot seem to find exactly what to do within PeopleSoft Update Manager in order to actually access the VirtualBox images. I can find documentation that links to documentation that links to documentation … and I have no doubt I could consume three lifetimes reading all of that, and still not know the steps to obtain the images.

    When it was on esupport.oracle.com, it was easy. I had 9.1 running great, and now I want to run 9.2. Now if course when I look there, although HCM9.2 is there (and I did download and extract all of it) of course it lacks the VMDK files.

    I do realize this is my problem (one of not understanding, or not reading the right thing, the right way), and if you could help point me in the right direction, I’d really appreciate it!

    Truth told, I cannot even find an official link to PUM. I’ve landed there by accident a couple of times, but its access has been (and remains) a well-kept secret as far as I’m concerned.

    Thanks so much.
    Dennis

    1. Randy Avatar

      Dennis,

      The only way to get these images is through Oracle’s Support website https://support.oracle.com. In order to download them you need to have a valid support contract associated with your account. If you have this access, Doc ID 1641843.2 is the PeopleSoft Update Manager Home Page and has links to the various application images along with up to date documentation, known issues, best practices, and troubleshooting tips. If you follow all the links on support.oracle.com you eventually, download the image from the Patches and Updates section of the site as if it were a regular patch for any of Oracle’s products.

      Unfortunately, unlike the raw install media which is on Edelivery, these images are not available to those without a support contract.

  2. Dennis Lovelady Avatar
    Dennis Lovelady

    Thanks, Randy! I do have that access, and will be trying it out shortly. (I don’t think I could have accessed the edelivery site without that, but I might be mistaken.)

    I appreciate the help – especially the needed Doc ID

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