My tips for 1Z0-133 - Oracle WebLogic Server 12c: Administration I

Last week I cleared my "1Z0-133 - Oracle WebLogic Server 12c: Administration I" certification. just like other Oracle certification exam, this exam was also tricky. The easier the question the harder to answer..phew. So I am sharing my tips that will help you in getting a better idea of this certification and may contribute in your success.

How was the certification exam?
     The certification exam was a mix of questions based on theoretical concepts, case study, keen observation of weblogic etc. There was a good percentage of easy questions but to pass the exam you need to make sure you answer difficult questions are correctly. There were 77 questions and passing mark was 64%.

What were the important topics covered?
     A good number of questions were on new features of Weblogic 12c so I would suggest to have a good understanding of them. There were questions based on basic concept of weblogic which we tend to skip very often ;-) Install weblogic environment and do some hand on before attempting the exam. It is must because there were questions based on case studies which cannot be answered merely by going through theoretical concepts.

Which study material to refer?
      I mainly referred Oracle documentation for covering various topics. However I found Oracle weblogic server 12c administration handbook by Sam R. Alapati very useful. I would suggest to go through the complete book to score good in the certification exam.

All the Best for your Certification Exam!!

Configuring LDAP with Jenkins

Recently my colleague faced issue while trying to integrate LDAP with Jenkins. Even though lots of material is available online, he was not able to do it. The steps were clear in the various documents available on internet but somehow it was not working for his installed Jenkins version 1.575.
I followed almost similar approach but with a little twist at the end (while providing values in the textbox) which worked for us. I am documenting the steps below hoping it may help others who are facing the similar issue.

Pre-requisite:-

No#1 - You must have Jenkins installed and running
No#2 - Details of LDAP server [ I integrated with OVD (Oracle Virtual Directory) which in turns connect to LDAP & AD ]
***Below values structure may vary in your environment***
-- OVD URL - ldap://hostname.mycompany.com:3389
-- Admin User DN - uid=jenkinsadmin,ou=Application Admin,o=mycompany.com (This user is required by Jenkins to connect to OVD)
-- User DN - uid=shantans,ou=Internal,o=mycompany.com ( This is one of the many user who will access Jenkins once it is authenticated by LDAP/AD.)


Step#1 - Login onto Jenkins console using the in-built admin user

Step#2 - Navigate to "Manage Jenkins" --> "Configure Global Security"

Step#3 - Select the radio button for LDAP under security realm

Step#4 - For the textbox of "Server" copy the OVD URL. Click on "Advanced"

Step#5 - Now populate other text box with below information:-

root DN: o=mycompany.com
(Root DN is the name of your organization and is represented in DN as value of 'o'. So for my user "uid=shantans,ou=Internal,o=mycompany.com", my root DN is "o=mycompany.com")

User search base: ou=internal
(User search base is the branch under root DN "o=mycompany.com", where the user will be searched. So for my user "uid=shantans,ou=Internal,o=mycompany.com", it appears in "ou=internal" under root DN)

User search filter: uid={0}
Group search base: ou=groups
Group search filter:
Group membership filter:
(Keep above values as it is. If you need access for particular group then you have to provide value for Group search filter and Group membership filter. Otherwise you can leave it blank as above)

Manager DN: uid=jenkinsadmin,ou=Application Admin,o=mycompany.com
Manager Passwors: password
(Manager DN is the admin user mainly an application user which provides Jenkins, connectivity to LDAP)

Click "Save"

Now logout and try to login with any user available in LDAP.

Hope this will help you. Let me know if you face any issue or it has helped you fix your connectivity issue.

Switching the JVM JDK from Sun JDK to Oracle JRockit JDK and viceversa

A JDK JVM is selected during the domain creation. Sometimes it is required to change the JDK from Sun to Oracle JRockit or Oracle JRockit to Sun Hotspot. In this blog I will go through the steps for switching from Sun to Oracle JRockit. Similar steps are required while switching from Oracle JRockit to Sun JDK.

Step#1 - Download latest version of Oracle JRockit from Oracle site. ( I have downloaded p17852847_2831_Linux-x86-64.zip from oracle.support.com)

Step#2 - Copy this zip on your server and unzip it to the desired location.

Step#3 - If you have downloaded .bin file then follow below steps:

• Give executable rights to .bin file (chmod a+x  <jrockit_bin_file>)
• Execute the bin file (./<jrockit_bin_file>)

Step#4 - Bring down complete domain ( Admin + Managed Servers). If you are using nodemanager to start servers, then bring down nodemanagers too on their respective machines.

Step#5 - Modify commEnv.sh file @$WLS_HOME/common/bin

Search for line similar to below in commEnv.sh (Actual value of JAVA_HOME will be different in your environment)

JAVA_HOME="/apps/oracle/jdk/jdk1.6.0_45"

now replace the Sun JAVA_HOME with Oracle JRockit JAVA_HOME

JAVA_HOME="/apps/oracle/jdk/jrockit-jdk1.6.0_71"
Replace JAVA_VENDOR=Sun by JAVA_VENDOR=Oracle

Step#6 - Modify setDomainEnv.sh file @$DOMAIN_HOME/bin

Search for line similar to below in setDomainEnv.sh

BEA_JAVA_HOME=""
SUN_JAVA_HOME="/apps/oracle/jdk/jdk1.6.0_45"

now replace the Sun JAVA_HOME with Oracle JRockit JAVA_HOME

BEA_JAVA_HOME="/apps/oracle/jdk/jrockit-jdk1.6.0_71"

SUN_JAVA_HOME=""

**Modify your JVM parameters for Admin/Managed Server.

Step#7 - Modify config.xml file @$DOMAIN_HOME/config

Search for all occurrence of line similar to below in config.xml

<java-home>/apps/oracle/jdk/jdk1.6.0_45</java-home>

now replace the Sun JAVA_HOME with Oracle JRockit JAVA_HOME

<java-home>/apps/oracle/jdk/jrockit-jdk1.6.0_71</java-home>

**Modify your JVM parameters for Managed Servers in this file as well if you are using node manager to restart them.

Step#8 - Modify nodemanager.properties file @$WLS_HOME/common/nodemanager

Update javaHome & JavaHome with the currect JDK as below

javaHome=/apps/oracle/jdk/jrockit-jdk1.6.0_71

JavaHome=/apps/oracle/jdk/jrockit-jdk1.6.0_71/jre

Step#9 - Delete tmp & cache folder for admin and managed servers.

Step#10 - Start NodeManager, Admin Server and Managed Servers.