Oracle iFS Installation and
Administration
There is a no single document to help a
DBA to easily install and manage the iFS infrastructure. Working with iFS showed that the best iFS configuration is similar to
the following one:
- Sun Solaris server with 8.1.7.4 Oracle Enterprise Edition database ( installed
Java (Jserver/JVM) and UTF8 character set to enable full multi
- language
functionality ) holding iFS repository.
- NT/2000 Server as iFS server
- Windows client as iFS client
Since we wanted to test the basic functionality of iFS as an Excel filesystem, we
did not install any database extensions such as interMedia options.
iFS working alone does not have any search capability. It is some
kind of basic filesystem. To enhance iFS with a search capability, the interMedia
option has to be installed in the database. InterMedia will bring context
search capability to iFS.
Testing
with the different iFS versions, I have found that the installation procedure
has several limitations:
-
the
database has to be at least version 8.1.7.2
-
iFS
1.1.9 version has limited functionality where the HTTP server has to be run on
database node
- iFS 9.0.1 needs the HTTP server to be installed in the same Oracle
home
directory, and not in the Oracle database directory.
-
iFS
9.0.2 need the 9iAS to be installed first, since iFS is part of 9iAS and no
longer a separate product.
If the installation is
successful, you can manage iFS services using following commands:
ifsconfig
- Manually configuration or reconfiguration iFS
ifsstart
- start iFS
ifsstop
- stop iFS
ifssvrmgr
- start and stop iFS
ifsjservctl
- start and stop 9iFS Jserv process ( ifsjservctl -start )
ifslaunchdc
- start the Domain Controller
ifslaunchnode
- start node process
ifsstartdomain
- opens the "Start Domain Controller" dialog and after activates node
processes on each host machine.
ifsstopdomain
-stops the domain
The URL location
for Web access or name of SMS shared resource has to be provided to the end
users and they can start using it.
Practical Use for Managers
Once the
9iFS system is up and running, users can connect and upload their Excel files
there. End users can use MS Internet Explorer or the Windows File Explorer to browse
or manage content from the iFS Server. Here is an example of the Web and the
Explorer view.
The iFS start web login page is defined on iFS installation and it
is usually located at URL:
http://<hostname>/ifs/files/ifs.
The Standard set of the users for connecting to the iFS repository
is:
-
scott/tiger
-
guest/welcome
-
system/manager
The system is very simple to use and handle. Managers just need to
remember the starting URL for iFS access or the Windows SMB network name for
mapping over the "Map Network Drive" from Windows Explorer. No
additional software need be installed and there is no additional special
configuration.
Conclusion
IFS promises to save lots of money, after
data consolidation and system automatization, using the new file system type. The
data can be moved from the separate systems to the Oracle iFS, using
database technology for security, backup and recovery.
Is it likely that companies will replace all of those fileserver sitting under
people's desks over-night, or that they will convince end users and managers to
use the new technology? Probably not.
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