Chronicles of Technology

Ansible: Selections

Let's discuss selections in Ansible: if-then-else and case/switch operators. Ansible offers conditional execution for single tasks, blocks, and task imports. In addition, it allows effectively simulate if-then selection.

SQL*Plus

Getting `ORA-00933: SQL command not properly ended` due to blank line

What's strange is that a SQL script someone wrote (which apparently was running fine for months) seemed to return an ORA-00933: SQL command not properly ended error when executed through the Linux command line, as shown below: oracle@dbhost:/home/oracle> /u01/sqlplus/instantclient_

BPEL

Don't let the '&' confuse you when viewing Oracle SOA instances on a web browser

Man... dealing with & (ampersands) in SOA, web services, XML, and REST sucks. Dealing with special characters in general sucks-having to figure out if the product or tool is escaping/encoding them for you or not. Recently, I had to update my BPEL process

JDeveloper

Working around messy REST references using WSDL interfaces in JDeveloper

I recently ran into multiple issues with Oracle JDeveloper 12.2.1.4 when trying to call external REST web services from a BPEL project. It was quite painful and

JDeveloper

Getting java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError in JDeveloper Native Format Builder for JSON

Apparently I've run into an issue with Oracle JDeveloper 12.2.1.4.0 when using the Native Format Builder against a JSON file. Other online posts point to Oracle

Documentation

My template for technical installation documents

As a technical administrator, I often recommend creating high quality document deliverables. In a typical installation document, I am adamant about including certain sections which I normally don't seen many

Now on Telegram

The Ghost blog platform offers powerful integration capabilities. From the early days, we have enabled RSS feed, available practically out of the box. In addition, pre-configured integrations with modern automation

Linux

Checking Linux host performance (for the newbie)

Every time I interview someone (for a non-Unix admin position) and ask them how they would check for performance on Linux, I'd like to say that the only answer I

Oracle SOA Suite

Getting "Cannot find reference" in BPEL instance

When executing a BPEL process, the instance faulted with the following exception: java.lang.RuntimeException: Cannot find reference or service named 'Touch' in composite.xml when invoking the partnerLink Touch from BPEL component 'ProcessBPEL'. Here's the same error on the console: Basically, I had

Oracle SOA Suite

Updating SOA Polling Frequency through WLST

Have you ever wondered how you can update the PollingFrequency of an inbound adapter such as the FileAdapter or FtpAdapter using WLST? Taking a look at an Oracle SOA 12c composite in the EM console, when you click on your service, you can navigate

JDeveloper

Passing parameters to a REST URI in BPEL/SOA 12c

In this blog post, I describe how, during the development of an Oracle SOA Suite 12c composite, to pass URL parameters when invoking an external REST service. In this example, my SOA composite has 2 separate external references. These are both REST services using

Oracle SOA Suite

Add WSM policy to authenticate using BasicAuth when calling an external reference in SOA 12c

If you're developing a composite in Oracle SOA Suite 12c (12.2.1.3+), you may need to call an external reference using the SOAP or REST adapters. If these external services require HTTP Basic Authentication (BA), then you will need to attach an

MySQL

Ghost Upgrade: A Bit of MySQL

This morning I accidentally brought down this site. The Ghost CLI told me that there is a minor upgrade to version 4.11.0. Unfortunately, even though the start version

Ansible

Ansible: Subroutines

The second post in the Ansible: Control Structures series describes using Ansible core components to emulate subroutines - procedures and "packages." The whole paradigm of Ansible is the opposite of

Ansible

Ansible: Control Structures

Red Hat Ansible is a powerful and easy-to-learn automation product. Simplicity is one of the basic principles of the language. Yet, any task a titbit more complex than installing and starting an HTTPD server requires good old procedural control flows.

Ansible

Ansible Variables: a Rookie Mistake

The mistake I made could be excused for Java Developer, but not for a guy who spends days with Ansible. The root cause is the different variable visibility model. Red Hat Ansible does not appreciate role or play boundaries and dynamically evaluates a variable value for each impacted host.

IOUG

IOUG Member Spotlight (Dec 2015)

I happen to randomly stumble upon this today when I was searching for an old blog post, so figured it might be interesting to share. This was when I was

OEM

Adding a new WebLogic Domain target to OEM

Adding an Oracle Fusion Middleware/WebLogic Domain target to OEM is not that difficult, albeit must be done manually. Simply navigate to the gear icon, then Add Target > Add Targets Manually. Click on Add Using Guided Process. Now select Oracle Fusion Middleware/WebLogic

OEM

Removing a WebLogic Domain from OEM Cloud Control

When you add a WebLogic Domain target to OEM, it automatically adds a number of target types included in this domain such as Application Deployments, Oracle WebLogic Server, Oracle Coherence Cache, Email Driver, and so on. It's not unusual to have hundreds of targets

OEM

Checking the 2-way communication between OMS and OEM Agent

The Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM) Cloud Control Agent is installed on each host in your environment. This can be a Linux, Windows, or Solaris host, and typically (though not necessarily) there is 1 agent installed per host. The OEM Agent listens on a default

SSH

Unappreciated SSH Client Config

Some IT folks how are fluent with the server configuration of the SSH daemon. But I can hardly name a few who knows how helpful client SSH configuration is.

Git

Automate Housekeeping

For one who does automation for living, it's okay to be a bit lazy. So let's talk about how I keep my local git repositories in order with minimal effort.

Ansible

Ansible and Git Submodules

Let's discuss a problem I faced, moving from Ansible to the Ansible Tower. The problem is how to maintain multiple inventories scattered all over new projects effectively.

SSH

Getting ssh_init when using SSH or SCP

When using pscp to transfer a file, you may receive the error: ssh_init: Network error: Cannot assign requested addressThe solution is simple. Simply specify the -P 22 parameter to explicitly connect to the port, and you should be good to go.

Ansible

Ansible: Conditional Playbooks

I have praised Ansible tags all about the previous post. Unfortunately, tags don't go along with Ansible Tower's complex workflows. Let me guide you through the playbook transformation we've done. The answer to this challenge is extra variables.