Installing Oracle Application Express 4.2

Oracle APEX is a free browser based tool to develop web applications with SQL and PL/SQL for desktops and mobile devices. It is installed by default in all oracle database editions.

To verify APEX version.
SQL> SELECT schema, version FROM dba_registry WHERE comp_id = 'APEX';

SCHEMA       VERSION
------------------------------ ------------------------------
APEX_040000       4.0.2.00.09

To verify Oracle XML DB Protocol Server Port.
SQL> SELECT dbms_xdb.gethttpport FROM dual;

GETHTTPPORT
-----------
       8080

Disable Oracle XML DB protocol Server.
SQL> EXEC dbms_xdb.sethttpport(0);

Backup existing APEX binaries.
$ mv $ORACLE_HOME/apex $ORACLE_HOME/apex_040000

Unzip APEX software into ORACLE_HOME.
$ unzip apex_4.2.3_en.zip -d $ORACLE_HOME
$ cd $ORACLE_HOME/apex

SQL> CREATE TABLESPACE APEX_040200 DATAFILE '/u01/app/oracle/oradata/apex_423_01.dbf' SIZE 100M AUTOEXTEND ON NEXT 100M MAXSIZE UNLIMITED;

SQL>@apexins.sql APEX_040200 APEX_040200 TEMP /i/

When APEX installs, it creates the below database accounts.
APEX_042000 - Owns APEX schema and metadata
FLOWS_FILES - Owns APEX uploaded files
APEX_PUBLIC_USER - Minimum privileged account used with APEX Listener or Oracle HTTP server with mod_plsql.

Change ADMIN account password.
SQL> @apxchpwd.sql

Configure the Embedded PL/SQL Gateway.
SQL> @apex_epg_config.sql /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/xe
SQL> ALTER USER anonymous ACCOUNT UNLOCK;

If you are upgrading APEX, update the images directory.
SQL> @apxldimg.sql /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/xe

SQL> ALTER USER apex_040200 ACCOUNT UNLOCK;
SQL> ALTER USER apex_public_user ACCOUNT UNLOCK;
SQL> ALTER USER flows_files ACCOUNT UNLOCK;
SQL> ALTER USER xdb ACCOUNT UNLOCK;

Set database parameters for APEX.
SQL> ALTER SYSTEM SET job_queue_processes=20 SCOPE=both;
SQL> ALTER SYSTEM SET shared_servers=5 SCOPE=both;    --> Embedded PL/SQL Gateway uses shared server architecture.

Enable Oracle XML DB  Protocol Server. The Embedded PL/SQL Gateway runs in the Oracle XML DB Protocol Server in the Oracle Database.
SQL> EXEC dbms_xdb.sethttpport(8080);

Enable access for remote users (optional).
SQL> EXEC dbms_xdb.setListenerLocalAccess(l_access => FALSE);

Enable network services in Database 11g by granting connect privileges to any host for APEX_040200 user.

DECLARE
  ACL_PATH  VARCHAR2(4000);
BEGIN
  -- Look for the ACL currently assigned to '*' and give APEX_040200
  -- the "connect" privilege if APEX_040200 does not have the privilege yet.

  SELECT ACL INTO ACL_PATH FROM DBA_NETWORK_ACLS
   WHERE HOST = '*' AND LOWER_PORT IS NULL AND UPPER_PORT IS NULL;

  IF DBMS_NETWORK_ACL_ADMIN.CHECK_PRIVILEGE(ACL_PATH, 'APEX_040200',
     'connect') IS NULL THEN
      DBMS_NETWORK_ACL_ADMIN.ADD_PRIVILEGE(ACL_PATH,
     'APEX_040200', TRUE, 'connect');
  END IF;

EXCEPTION
  -- When no ACL has been assigned to '*'.
  WHEN NO_DATA_FOUND THEN
  DBMS_NETWORK_ACL_ADMIN.CREATE_ACL('power_users.xml',
    'ACL that lets power users to connect to everywhere',
    'APEX_040200', TRUE, 'connect');
  DBMS_NETWORK_ACL_ADMIN.ASSIGN_ACL('power_users.xml','*');
END;
/
COMMIT;

Login as ADMIN to Administrative Services for creating a workspace and APEX users at
http://locahost:8080/apex/apex_admin

Login as ADMIN to INTERNAL workspace at
http://localhost:8080/apex

Drop older version of APEX.
SQL> DROP USER apex_040000 CASCADE;

APEX Listener is a J2EE based alternative for Oracle HTTP Server (OHS) with mod_plsql.
To use APEX Listener, Disable Oracle XML DB Protocol Server.

SQL> EXEC dbms_xdb.sethttpport(0);

Configure RESTful Services.
SQL> @apex_rest_config.sql

When configuring RESTful Services, it creates two additional database accounts.
APEX_LISTENER - To query RESTful Services definitions.
APEX_REST_PUBLIC_USER - To call RESTful Services definitions.

Unzip APEX Listener software into ORACLE_HOME.
$ mkdir $ORACLE_HOME/apexlsnr
$ unzip apex_listener.2.0.5.287.04.27.zip -d $ORACLE_HOME/apexlsnr
$ cd $ORACLE_HOME/apexlsnr

Set the location for configuration files.

$ java -jar apex.war configdir $ORACLE_HOME/apexlsnr

Configure APEX Listener.

$ java -jar apex.war

This Listener instance has not yet been configured.
Please complete the following prompts

Enter the location to store configuration data:/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/xe/apexlsnr
Nov 30, 2013 11:41:34 PM oracle.dbtools.common.config.cmds.ConfigDir execute
INFO: Set config.dir to /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/xe/apexlsnr in: /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/xe/apexlsnr/apex.war
Nov 30, 2013 11:41:38 PM oracle.dbtools.common.config.file.ConfigurationFolder logConfigFolder
INFO: Using configuration folder: /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/xe/apexlsnr/apex
Enter the name of the database server [localhost]:
Enter the database listen port [1521]:
Enter 1 to specify the database service name, or 2 to specify the database SID [1]:
Enter the database service name:XE
Enter the database user name [APEX_PUBLIC_USER]:
Enter the database password for APEX_PUBLIC_USER:
Confirm password:
Enter 1 to enter passwords for the RESTful Services database users (APEX_LISTENER,APEX_REST_PUBLIC_USER), 2 to use the same password as used for APEX_PUBLIC_USER or, 3 to skip this step [1]:2
Nov 30, 2013 11:46:55 PM oracle.dbtools.common.config.file.ConfigurationFiles update
INFO: Updated configurations: defaults, apex, apex_al, apex_rt
Enter 1 if you wish to start in standalone mode or 2 to exit [1]:1

Enter the APEX static resources location or Enter to skip:/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/xe/apex/images

Enter the HTTP port [8080]:

If you see "503 - Service Unavailable" message, reset the password and unlock the account for APEX_PUBLIC_USER.
SQL> ALTER USER apex_public_user IDENTIFIED BY <above_specified_password> ACCOUNT UNLOCK;

Configure an Administrator User to administer using SQL Developer.

$ java -jar apex.war user adminlistener "Listener Administrator"

Standalone mode doesn't support HTTPS. Disable the default behaviour to use OAuth2 in Non HTTPS Environments.

$ cd $ORACLE_HOME/apexlsnr

Add the following setting to the end of the file default.xml just before the </properties> tag.
<entry key="security.verifySSL">false</entry>

Start APEX Listener in standalone mode.

$ java -jar apex.war

To stop APEX Listener Server in standalone mode, press Ctrl-C.

To configure additional databases.
1. Create a database pool pointing to the database.
    java -jar apex.war setup --database <db_pool>
2. Create a new mapping rule.
    java -jar apex.war map-url --type base-path --workspace-id <workspace> /<path_prefix> <db_pool>
The URL path starts with /apex/<path_prefix> will be mapped to the database.
 

Installing Oracle 11g Database Express on Ubuntu 13.10

Oracle 11g Database XE is a free edition of oracle database. XE uses only a single CPU and only one instance with the maximum memory of 1GB. The maximum user data in Oracle Database XE is 11GB.

$ sudo apt-get install alien libaio1

$ unzip oracle-xe-11.2.0-1.0.x86_64.rpm.zip
$ cd Disk1
$ sudo alien --scripts -d oracle-xe-11.2.0-1.0.x86_64.rpm
$ sudo dpkg --install oracle-xe-11.2.0-1.0.x86_64.deb

It creates oracle user and installs oracle binaries in /u01/app/oracle

Add oracle user to sudo group.
$ sudo adduser oracle sudo

Create password for oracle.
$ sudo passwd oracle

On Ubuntu, /run/shm is mounted and /dev/shm is a link to it. But /dev/shm should be mounted to avoid ORA-00845: MEMORY_TARGET not supported on this system.

$ sudo vi /etc/rc2.d/S01shm-mount

#! /bin/sh
case "$1" in
       start)
                rm /dev/shm 2>/dev/null
                mkdir /dev/shm 2>/dev/null
                mount -t tmpfs shmfs -o size=2048m /dev/shm
                ;;
       *)
                echo error
                exit 1
                ;;
esac

$ sudo chmod 755 /etc/rc2.d/S01shm-mount

$ sudo mkdir /var/lock/subsys

Change the path for awk in /etc/init.d/oracle-xe

if [ -z "$AWK" ]; then AWK=/bin/awk; fi
to
if [ -z "$AWK" ]; then AWK=/usr/bin/awk; fi

Create XE database.
$ su - oracle
$ sudo /etc/init.d/oracle-xe configure

Press to accept the defaults
Specify the HTTP port that will be used for Oracle Application Express [8080]:

Specify a port that will be used for the database listener [1521]:

Specify a password to be used for database accounts.  Note that the same
password will be used for SYS and SYSTEM.  Oracle recommends the use of
different passwords for each database account.  This can be done after
initial configuration:
Confirm the password:

Do you want Oracle Database 11g Express Edition to be started on boot (y/n) [y]:n

Starting Oracle Net Listener...Done

Configuring database...Done

Starting Oracle Database 11g Express Edition instance...Done

Installation completed successfully.

You can find the database creation logs in $ORACLE_HOME/config/log

The password for the INTERNAL and ADMIN Oracle Application Express user accounts is initially the same as the SYS and SYSTEM user accounts.

For Bash shell, enter the environment variables into the .bash_profile

export ORACLE_BASE=/u01/app/oracle
export ORACLE_HOME=$ORACLE_BASE/product/11.2.0/xe
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$ORACLE_HOME/lib
export ORACLE_SID=XE
export NLS_LANG=`$ORACLE_HOME/bin/nls_lang.sh`
export PATH=$ORACLE_HOME/bin:$PATH

To start listener and database as oracle user.
$ su - oracle
$ lsnrctl start
$ sqlplus / as sysdba
SQL> startup

To stop database and listener as oracle user.
$ su - oracle
$ sqlplus / as sysdba
SQL> shutdown immediate
$ lsnrctl stop