OCI

OCI: Firewall on Ubuntu 20.04

If you have created a load balancer and can't reach your backend servers, check a target firewall configuration, especially if you run Ubuntu.

Documentation

Pandoc: My Missing Tool

With the "everything as a code" approach, it's natural to treat documentation as a code and use the same source code management and delivery techniques. I know how to create and deliver documents. And now I found my missing link, static content generator - pandoc.

Oracle HTTP Server

Standalone Oracle HTTP Server: Deployment Options

In one of my previous posts, I mentioned multiple Oracle HTTP server deployment options. Let me do a small "show & tell" to explain how I pick the configuration.

Oracle HTTP Server

Mysterious TLS in Oracle HTTP

A little "forget-me-not" from a recent Oracle HTTP server troubleshooting, but it could happen to Apache HTTPD as well. To set up a stage: a work installation of the Oracle HTTP Server, stop presenting certificates on the secured port.

Database

Flashback: The Lesson I Learned

This piece is not about features or products. It's about lessons that we learn or not. The one I learned some twenty-three years ago was: "Don't ask for troubles and do one thing at a time."

Containers

Docker: Logn Errors

Recently, I spent some time trying to find why I can not push my just-from-the-own image into the GitLab project registry. The message "illegal base64 data at input" is a bit confusing, but the solution is simple.

Bash

Bash scripts to diagnose network issues

These are 2 simple scripts I wrote that run various types of tests to help diagnose network issues between a source and target. They can be safely run as a non-root user as long as the commands exist. Script 1 - Various network tests This script runs 3 separate tests

Ansible

Ansible: Dynamic Inventory

I know that Ansible could use as inventory virtually anything, including scripts. However, all inventories on my day job are static, and we keep them in a source repository, and until now, I haven't had a chance to create or use one.

A Simple Token Generator

My friend's given me a perfect tip: "Whenever I need a random sequence of characters,  I use OpenSSL rand functions."  And to be a bit fancy, I pick the value that is easy to remember. So, when I need a token for QA tests, I generate

Bash

Bash script to test port availability

I created a quick script to test if a port is consistently available between a source server to a target server for the purpose of gathering statistics to see if there are any network hiccups not. This is a very simple and straightforward script. Simply copy the content below to

Terraform

Sensitive data in Terraform

Terraform is probably the best choice to manage your infrastructure as a code. And if we are talking code, let's see how you can keep sensitive information away from your code repository.

Ansible

Ansible: Markdown Reports

The previous post [https://chronicler.tech/ansible-simple-reports] promised a simple reporting solution and two potential possibilities. Now it's time to go through the solution that would help you with report publications. The diagram from the previous post depicts information flow between components. Ansible Markdown Reports on Git/GitLab

SSH

Connecting with a private key using SSH and SFTP

SSH uses public/private key pairs. id_rsa is your RSA private key (do not share this!). id_rsa.pub is your RSA public key; this you give out to the administrator of the target system so that they can add it to verify that the signature came from your

Ansible

Ansible: Format e-mail body.

The whole automation idea is to minimize or exclude humans from the process. However, you need to notify users and sometimes you should do it in style.

WebLogic

Getting "The payload data size exceeds the configured payload threshold size" in WebLogic

An Oracle SOA Suite 12c composite was consuming files via inbound polling on the FTP Adapter. The file size was larger than 10MB and we got a Payload Size Exceeds Threshold. The payload data size: "" exceeds the configured payload threshold size: "": Option #1: Update the binding

Ansible

Ansible: Simple Reports

Any IT system, bigger than a chihuahua, ought to produce reports. It does not matter how they look, but it should generate and share information that humans can read.

WebLogic

Setting up single and multiple WebLogic NodeManagers in the same machine

If you have multiple Oracle WebLogic Server 12c domains on a single machine, can each domain have its dedicated Node Manager? Can a single Node Manager manage all the domains in this machine? Yes and yes. Multiple Node Managers on a Single Machine If you have multiple domains on your

WebLogic

Regenerating the 'DemoIdentity' certificate in WebLogic 12c

I recently encountered an Oracle WebLogic 12c environment that was installed 5 years ago, and whoever set it up at the time settled on using the included demo certificate created with the installation. Unfortunately, this demo cert expires after 5 years and now they are unable to start up their

WebLogic

WebLogic managed server RUNNING but with 'Failed' health

On Oracle SOA Suite 12c (and technically Oracle WebLogic Server 12c), I noticed that a couple of managed servers were in a RUNNING state but the health was reporting Failed. What could cause this particular scenario? In this domain, the TLOGs were persisted in the database and the Persistent Store

BPEL

Getting "Element 'binding.rest' not expected" in BPEL

I created a BPEL process and attempted to add the property oracle.webservices.http.headers to my reference as shown below. However, during compilation, I received the following error: Error(39,100): schema - (Error) Element 'binding.rest' not expected. Solution Move the <binding.rest> line

Ansible

Ansible, YAML, and JSON

Ansible is very flexible with data types, and easily transforms primitives and even JSON strings, but from time to time you need to process and transform something a bit more complex than String to Boolean conversions.

Ansible

Ansible: Iterations

Iterations in Ansible are not first-class citizens. The language allows you a single task loop with one nested iteration. Anything more sophisticated than that should be implemented as a separate module. Again, the include_tasks command gives us a helping hand.

Ansible

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_12_2/sqlplus

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 to replace every occurrence of &