EPM Patch 11.2.18: Gotchas and Solutions

With the drop of a new patch, sometimes there are some "gotchas" that come along. 11.2.18 is no exception. In the latest drop, I tried patching 11.2.15 to 11.2.18 and came across two different planning issues you might also encounter.

Issue 1: Java for Planning RMI Gets Overwritten

Most EPM infra people at this point know that the Planning RMI only works with a 32-bit older version of java. There is an Oracle white paper on the issue (Doc ID 3027589.1.) The fix is to use the JDK found in the dbclient32 distribution the EPM installer puts down. In the patching from 11.2.15 > 11.2.18 the jar must get updated in the dbclient32 folder. RMI worked prior to patching and did not work after.

Solution: Make a zip archive of the dbclient32/jdk directory prior to patching 11.2.15 or higher.

Issue 2: Weblogic Third-Party JARs Get Removed

Another issue I encountered (and this one was new for me) was Planning would not create new applications after I patched to 11.2.18. There was an error "java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError:org/codehaus/jackson/map/ObjectMapper." I did find a white paper on the issue (Doc ID 3023073.1) and using the distribution from another server I was able to find a series of jar files the patching removed and copy them into my 11.2.18 environment and the issue was resolved.

Solution: Back up these jar files before patching:

• ...\Oracle\Middleware\oracle_common\modules\thirdparty...

  • jackson-core-asl-1.9.13.jar

  • jackson-jaxrs-1.9.13.jar

  • jackson-mapper-asl-1.9.13.jar

  • jackson-xc-1.9.13.jar

  • list.txt

Once the patching has completed, copy these jars back into the filesystem.

Conclusion

If you are still using an older version of EPM on-premise and want to refresh your aging servers and infrastructure, now is the time for an upgrade. Contact us today for the help you need in bringing your EPM platform up to date!