Oracle BPM 11g Install for a Development Environment

Who is finally ready to get off their laurels and start looking at Oracle BPM 11g? I knew I was, the question I had was: where do I start? I figured the best place to start would be to actually install the software. A special thanks to one of our Systems Engineer, Les Harris who helped in getting me going on installing the software. I installed the entire Oracle BPM 11g stack on my laptop and documented the procedure.

The following outline is not for a production install, but rather for getting a development environment up and running. A production install would be different and require different install packages as well as a few more steps. This install is strictly for setting up a development environment which is why I used the versions of the software listed below. Sorry I didn’t take screenshots, but I documented everything I did and using these steps I have been able to install multiple environments without issue.

The first thing I had to do was go and download all of the different install packages that comprise the Oracle BPM stack, those are:

  • JRockit (JDK R28.1.4)
  • Oracle Database (10G Express Edition – Universal)
  • Oracle Repository Creation Utility (version 11.1.1.5.0)
  • Oracle Web Logic Server (version 10.3.5)
  • Oracle SOA Suite (version 11.1.1.5.0)
  • Oracle JDeveloper Studio Edition (version 11.1.1.5)

Next I had to unzip all the packages that came zipped up. I recommend 7-zip or pretty much anything else that isn’t the built in Windows utility, that thing is just too slow for these large files.

Now it’s time to start installing.

Step 1

Install JRockit. Since I’ll need to type the path a lot I installed it to C:Java.

Step 2

Install the database server. It’s a very typical install, I used all the defaults. Be sure to write down the sys account password.

After installed launch SQL plus and run the following commands to up the process count:

  • Connect
  • Enter the credentials (username: sys as sydba, password: whatever you specified during your database install)
  • alter system reset sessions scope=spfile sid=’*’;
  • alter system set processes=400 scope=spfile;
  • shutdown immediate
  • startup
  • exit

Step 3

Install the RCU utility. This creates all the necessary components in the database.

  • This must be done from the command line. Install as follows:
  • Cd:<path to RCU install>rcuhomebin
  • Set RCU_JDBC_TRIM_BLOCKS=TRUE
  • Rcu.bat
  • Use all the defaults, pointing it to the database server that was just installed (hostname = localhost, port = 1521, servicename = xe,)
    • You will see an error message about the database not being supported. Ignore it, this isn’t a production install.When prompted for which components to install select SOA at the top level in order to get all the other necessary requirements.

Step 4

Install Web Logic Server. This is the underlying foundation upon which the application runs.

  • This must be done from the command line. Install as follows:
    • Cd:<path to weblogic install>
    • C:JavaBinJava.exe – jar wls1035_generic.jar
  • Select a custom install but choose all the defaults when prompted.

Step 5

Install SOA. This is the meatiest part of the Fusion Middleware stack.

  • This must be done from the command line. Install as follows:
    • Cd: path to RCU install>Disk1
    • Setup.exe –jreLoc c:Java
  • Select all the defaults.

Step 6

Create the SOA domain.
This must be done from the command line. Install as follows:

  • Cd:oraclemiddlewareoracle_SOA1commonbin
  • Config.cmd
  • When prompted select the ‘Create domain’ option
    • Select the BPM Suite for Development and Enterprise Manager option
    • Select the Admin Server, Managed Servers, and Deployments options

Step 7

Now it’s time to test the install out (this may take a while, be patient)

  • This must be done from the command line
    • Cd: oraclemiddlewareuser_projectsdomainsbase_domain
    • Startweblogic.cmd
  • When the server is all done with its first start-up the command window should say something like: ‘SOA platform is now running and accepting requests’)
  • You can now close out the WebLogic server (CTRL+C)

Step 8

Install JDeveloper

  • Use all the defaults
  • Once installed, launch JDeveloper Studio from the start menu (it will be under Oracle WebLogic)
  • Go to Help|Check for Updates
    • Select Next on the Source
    • In the search box type in SOA and select the SOA update, then type in BPM and select the BPM update.
    • elect Next, then Finish. When it is done, close out of JDeveloper.

Step 9

Now it is time to create your very first BPM 11g project

  • Launch JDeveloper Studio
    • Select File|New
    • In the prompt select Applications in the left pane and BPM Application in the right pane.
    • Select OK
    • Now you’ll be prompted to give your application a name, name it whatever you want or leave it default and select Next.
    • Now you’ll be prompted to give your Project a name, name it whatever you want or leave it default. Make sure BPM and SOA are selected form the list of available technologies. Select Next.
    • Select the Composite with BPMN Process option and select Finish.
    • You should now be prompted to create a BPMN process, just select Finish and you can start from there.

You should now be looking at an empty project with a Start and an End event. Here is where the fun begins…

John Linehan
Sr. Systems Engineer
ImageSource Inc.

Peter5

What is your hardware requirements for development/production installation?

John Linehan

Hi Peter,
Using the development instance of Oracle database I installed the stack on a couple laptops and they performed fine for development environments. The specs for the laptops were somewhere around 8GB of RAM and Quad core Intel i5 processors at about 2GHz. I have also installed development environments on VMs with similar specs (8-16GB RAM and 2-4 CPU core). For a production environment these resources can increase significantly based upon number of users and processes. We do have some production clients running single server installs with 4 cores and 16-32GB of RAM. Those installs were for more departmental type solutions. For an enterprise type solution those reqs can definitely increase. Really the RAM is what I would stress the most, the software just has tremendous caching capabilities.

    Gonzalo Carpio

    Hi John,

    in the production environment you describe, can you please provide:
    – an approximate number of users?
    – is it 4 CPU with 4 cores each?
    – What OS were you using?

    Please feel free to provide any additional information you think will be useful.

    thanks,

      John Linehan

      Hi there,
      For those departmental solutions, they were both for accounting departments that used Oracle WebCenter Imaging and Oracle BPM. The Imaging sytem had 100s of possible users, but under normal usage there were approximately 10 users in the system concurrently. The BPM system had approximately 5-10 FTEs using the software.
      When I say CPU I am referring to core, since that is the Oracle licensing method.
      Those were all MS Server 2008.
      -John

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