Implementing Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management

Implementing Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management 7.4 on RedHat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5

Proof-of-concept for installing on an application tier on a System x server (with Oracle Database 10g running on a System z server)

Numi Castillo, IBM Systems and Technology Group

ISV Enablement and

Ganesh Nayar, Oracle CGBU

August 2009

© Copyright IBM Corporation, 2009. All Rights Reserved. All trademarks or registered trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective holders

Implementing Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management 7.4 on RHEL 5

Table of contents Abstract........................................................................................................................................1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................1 Software and hardware environment ........................................................................................2

Hardware configuration............................................................................................................................ 2 Software configuration ............................................................................................................................. 2

Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management 7.4 for RHEL Server ........... 2 Oracle Database 10gR2 for RHEL Server ........................................................................ 2

Preinstallation requirements......................................................................................................3 Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management 7.4 preinstallation requirements................ 3

Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management 7.4 installation.........................4 Portal-base installation............................................................................................................................. 5 Wireless Suite package installation ....................................................................................................... 12

Operational test.........................................................................................................................14 Summary....................................................................................................................................17 Resources..................................................................................................................................18 About the authors .....................................................................................................................19 Trademarks and special notices..............................................................................................20

1

Abstract This paper highlights the software and hardware installation steps for Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management (BRM) version 7.4 on an IBM System x server with the RedHat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Server release 5 operating system. This implementation also includes the use of a backend Oracle Database 10g that is hosted on an IBM System z virtual machine that runs RHEL 5.2.

The test discussed in this paper was performed by IBM in the Oracle labs in Pleasanton, California in June 2009. This paper is intended for Linux, Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management and Oracle Database developers and administrators.

Introduction

Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management provides organizations with an end-to-end

solution that allows them to track and manage the complete revenue life cycle. The Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management 7.4 release continues to offer the communications service provider with significant value through an impressive set of product enhancements, many of which

are a response to customer requirements. This release includes new and extended features as well as enhancements that significantly reduce total cost of ownership. It also contains support for new industry standards and Oracle Application Integration Architecture (AIA) Release 2.4, as well as other product

integrations.

Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management 7.4 supports several hardware platforms and operating systems, including the following:

IBM® AIX® 6.1 RedHat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) versions 4.5 and 5 Oracle Enterprise Linux (OEL)

Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management 7.4 supports the following databases:

Oracle 9i Release 2, 10gR2 and 11g Oracle 10g Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) and 11g RAC

Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management 7.4 supports the following application-integration architectures:

Oracle Application Integration Architecture (AIA) 2.4 for Communications

This paper describes the configuration steps for installing the Oracle software (just listed) on IBM hardware with the database tier (Oracle Database 10gR2) running on an IBM System z™ server mainframe and the Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management 7.4 application tier running

on an IBM System x™ server —, both servers with RHEL 5. The processes discussed in this paper are not comprehensive in nature; that is, it is not a complete test of all Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management 7.4 features. Instead, this paper, and the lab tests that are discussed in it, are

intended to prove interoperation between the Oracle application and database tiers when installed in these two IBM hardware environments.

Note: Installation details for Oracle Database 10g are not provided as it is assumed that the reader

already has a running database server.


2

Software and hardware environment

This section describes the software- and hardware-configuration components used on the test.

Hardware configuration

The purpose of this test was to probe operational functions when using Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management 7.4 on an IBM System x server that runs RHEL 5 with the backend Oracle

Database running on a System z server. The following describes both systems’ configuration details.

Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management 7.4 application server configuration

IBM System x 3655 9902 Intel® Xeon® processor 3006 (2.4 GHz)

4 GB memory RHEL 5 operating system Server name: i780x103.us.oracle.com

Oracle Database 10gR2 server configuration

IBM System z990 virtual machine with 1 processor and 4 GB memory, running in an IBM z/VM® 5.4 logical partition (LPAR)

RHEL 5.2 operating system Server name: pazxxt07.us.oracle.com

Software configuration

The following software was installed and tested during this test:

Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management 7.4 for RHEL Server

The following modules were installed for Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management 7.4:

7.4_Portal_Base_linux_32_opt.bin (core application module)

7.4_WirelessSuite_linux_32_opt.bin (Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management Wireless Suite)

Oracle Database 10gR2 for RHEL Server

The database was previously installed and configured. Installation of the Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management table space was done using its normal installation process. Although not recommended for most customer installation (because of space limitations of this

particular process), it was done to prove complete installation functioning with the mainframe environment.


3

Preinstallation requirements

For this test, Oracle Database 10gR2 was used as the database system on the System z virtual machine, and the Oracle Database Client 10g was used for the Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management 7.4 application server. Although RedHat 5 is a supported operating system, installation of

the Database Client 10g will fail because the operating-system release version and the client installer’s hardcoded check for the presence of this software. This section lists the installation requirements for Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management 7.4 and the preinstallations steps to

successfully install Oracle Database 10g Client on RedHat 5.

Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management 7.4 preinstallation requirements

Disk-space requirements

400 MB for Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management 7.4 Server

2 to 5 GB per 10 000 customers per year for Oracle Database

Oracle Database requirements

Oracle Enterprise Edition

UTF-8 database-character set Optional: Oracle Partitioning

Software requirements

7.4_ThirdParty_linux_32_opt.bin (software installation package provided with Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management)

Oracle Database Client 10g

Oracle Database 10g Client requirements

For complete installation steps of the Oracle Database Client on Linux RedHat 5, see the Oracle Database Client 10g Linux installation documentation. As mentioned, although this client version is

supported on RHEL 4 and 5, there is a hardcoded version check for RedHat 4. Therefore, when installing on RHEL 5, the installation fails because it thinks there is an unsupported operating-system version. Before starting the installation steps, including the prerequisite installed software and patch verification for

Oracle Database 10g Client, change the /etc/redhat-release file by following these steps:

1. Create a backup copy of the release file: # cp /etc/redhat-release /etc/redhat-release.OLD

2. Edit the /etc/redhat-release file by replacing the current release version that should read “Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 5 (Tikanga)” for “redhat-4.”

3. Save the file and close.

4. Log in as the oracle user and complete the Oracle Database Client installation, as described in the installation guide documentation.

5. After finishing the installation, revert the changes to the /etc/redhat-release file:

# cp /etc/redhat-release.OLD /etc/redhat-release


4

Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management 7.4 installation

This section covers the installation steps required to install Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue

Management on RHEL 5.

For the purpose of this test, only the two additional basic packages were installed: Portal Base and Wireless Suite. As indicated in the previous section, Portal Base contains the core Oracle

Communications Billing and Revenue Management server components. Wireless Suite package contains the following components:

GSM Manager

GSM AAA Manager GPRS Manager GPRS AAA Manager

Number Manager RRF Manager Services Framework Manager

Services Framework AAA Manager SIM Manager Voucher Manager

After the preinstallation requirements and Oracle Database 10g Client is installed, the Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management 7.4 installation is quite simple.

1. Create the Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management 7.4 user environment

2. Create or verify installation directory 3. Install the third-party software package 4. Install the portal base

5. Install wireless package

For this test, all binaries were installed in the /opt/portal directory in i780x103.us.oracle.com that was used as the Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management 7.4 application server.


5

Portal-base installation

The following sections show the process taken during this Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management 7.4 installation.

Figure 1. Creation of Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management 7.4 installation directory

Figure 2. Third-party software installation


6

Figure 3. Third-party installation completion

Figure 4. Portal-base installation


7

Figure 5. Portal-base installation - directory selection

Figure 6. Portal-base installation – database-version selection

Note: An Oracle Database 10g, the version instance was previously prepared for this test.


8

Figure 7. Portal-base installation – database-environment configuration

Figure 8. Portal-base installation - databas-size selection

Note: For this test, a small database size was chosen for Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management during the installation. In a production environment, it is recommended to create the table space beforehand to accommodate the organization’s needs.


9

Figure 9. Portal-base installation – finishing the installation

Figure 10. Portal-base - installation completed

The next step after the installation is to source the source.me.csh file and to run the pin_setup script.


10

Figure 11. Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management environment variables

The next step is to run the pin_setup script from the /opt/portal/7.4/setup directory, which prompts for the oracle user’s credentials. Then, the following screen (shown in Figure 12) is presented:

Figure 12. pin_setup completion

After the pin_setup script finishes, it starts the CM and DM.


11

Figure 13. pin_setup completion (continued)

After finishing the installation the Oracle Database, EM shows that the following table spaces are created.

Figure 14. Oracle Database 10gR2 Enterprise Manager table-space view


12

Wireless Suite package installation

This section covers the installation steps for the Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management 7.4 Wireless Suite.

Figure 15. Wireless Suite installation – port defaults

Figure 16. Wireless Suite installation – finishing the installation


13

Figure 17. Wireless Suite installation completed

Figure 18. Sourcing source.me.csh after Wireless Suite package installation

This process concludes the installation of the Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management 7.4 application server.


14

Operational test

This session shows the process of using the Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management Customer Center client to access and create accounts on the installed servers in the Linux environment.

Figure 19 shows the initial screen when creating a new account. This scenario shows the creation of a John Doe customer with a phone number and primary contact information.

Figure 19. Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management Customer Center client – new account screen

Figure 20 through Figure 23 show details related to plan assignment and billing information:

Figure 20. Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management Customer Center client – plan assignment


15

Figure 21. Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management Customer Center Client – services customization

Figure 22. Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management Customer Center Client – payment setup


16

Figure 23. Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management Customer Center Client – John Doe customer created

After creating the new customer account, the new account can also be verified in the database records by running the following SQL statement (also, see Figure 24):

SELECT FIRST_NAME, LAST_NAME FROM PIN.ACCOUNT_NAMEINFO_T;

Figure 24. SQLPLUS SQL statement


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Summary

This paper proves the feasibility of the combination of Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management 7.4 running on IBM System x server, with Oracle Database 10gR2 running on an IBM System z server (with RedHat Enterprise Linux Server release 5). This is possible because of the

capability of Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management to install various components across different server platforms.

This combination of the Oracle Communication and Database products, when running on the IBM server

platform, also provides well-known scalability and expandability, coupled with unmatched performance that is provided by IBM System z and System x innovative technology.


18

Resources

These Web sites provide useful references to supplement the information contained in this document:

IBM Publications Center www.elink.ibmlink.ibm.com/public/applications/publications/cgibin/pbi.cgi?CTY=US

IBM Systems on PartnerWorld ®

ibm.com/partnerworld/systems

IBM Redbooks®

ibm.com/redbooks

Understanding the value of running Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management on

IBM System p

ibm.com/partnerworld/wps/whitepaper/aix/v5r3_oracle_brm/value

Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management 7.3 performance and scalability

benchmark on IBM Power System 570 Server www.oracle.com/industries/communications/pdfs/oracle-ibm-performance-benchmark-wp.pdf


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About the authors

Ismael N. (Numi) Castillo, Senior IT specialist IBM ISV Strategy and Enablement, Austin, Texas

[email protected]

Numi is an IBM technical consultant with more than 20 years of experience in the information-technology (IT) industry. His expertise includes software design and development, using relational database management systems (RDMS), groupware and collaboration applications, Web technologies, consulting,

training, performance analysis, capacity planning and benchmarking. Numi is currently an IBM System p® and AIX technical consultant for the IBM Oracle Applications integrated solutions vendor (ISV) BSE team. He joined IBM in 2000 to work for IBM Software Group, IBM Lotus® software branch. In January 2005, he

joined IBM Systems Technology Group, Business Strategy and Enablement, to work on technical-enablement projects that involve performance tests and analysis, as well as benchmarks for ISV applications on the System p platform.

Ganesh R Nayar, Senior Quality Assurance Engineer Oracle CGBU

[email protected]

Ganesh has more than 11 years of experience in the IT industry. He has expertise in the domain of telecom billing and supply-chain management. During his career, he has worked on software

development and testing — with expertise in test planning, test design, customer-scenario test cases, software design, performance and load testing, Perl scripting, shell scripting and testing tools (such as IBM Rational® PureCoverage®, IBM Rational Purify®, HP/Mercury Interactive WinRunner and

HP/Mercury Interactive LoadRunner). In September 2006, he joined the Oracle Communications Global Business Unit (CGBU) and has been involved in running customer scenarios and coordinating testing activities with the Oracle India Development Center (IDC) team.



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Trademarks and special notices

© Copyright IBM Corporation 2009. All rights Reserved.

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Information is provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind.

All customer examples described are presented as illustrations of how those customers have used IBM products and the results they may have achieved. Actual environmental costs and performance characteristics may vary by customer.

Information concerning non-IBM products was obtained from a supplier of these products, published announcement material, or other publicly available sources and does not constitute an endorsement of such products by IBM. Sources for non-IBM list prices and performance numbers are taken from publicly

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Performance is based on measurements and projections using standard IBM benchmarks in a controlled environment. The actual throughput or performance that any user will experience will vary depending

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ratios stated here.

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of the materials for this IBM product and use of those Web sites is at your own risk.

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Implementing Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management