EPM 11.2 – More Than a Cupful of Java

If your IT department runs deep-scans of your Oracle EPM server file systems looking for older/vulnerable versions of Java, this post is certainly for you.

 
This blog has previously written about how Oracle Jan 2020 Critical Patch Update Affects EPM 11.2. In the post linked here, you’ll find information about a newer version of Java SE 8 that’s applicable to EPM 11.2.0.0 (you can expect quarterly Java 8 updates until it reaches end-of-life…so get used to this if you aren’t moving to the cloud).

So let’s say you’ve downloaded the newer Java and want to replace the content of your pre-existing Java folders with the newer one. Just how many Java locations do you have on your EPM 11.2 server, anyway???

Being a UNIX nerd from the beginning of my IT career, I was just dying to take the Cygwin utilities for MS Windows for a spin on my EPM 11.2 sandbox server. Here’s what I found!

F:
CD \Oracle\Middleware
C:\cygwin\bin\find . -type f -name java.exe -print -exec {} -version ;

./dbclient32/jdk/bin/java.exe
java version “1.8.0_171”
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_171-b11)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 25.171-b11, mixed mode)
./dbclient32/jdk/jre/bin/java.exe
java version “1.8.0_171”
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_171-b11)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 25.171-b11, mixed mode)
./dbclient64/jdk/bin/java.exe
java version “1.8.0_171”
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_171-b11)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.171-b11, mixed mode)
./dbclient64/jdk/jre/bin/java.exe
java version “1.8.0_171”
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_171-b11)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.171-b11, mixed mode)

./EPMSystem11R1/common/JRE/Sun/1.6.0/bin/java.exe
java version “1.6.0_35”
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_35-b52)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 20.10-b01, mixed mode)

Ewww!!! Java 6? See Java 6 Not Eradicated in EPM 11.2

./EPMSystem11R1/common/JRE/Sun/1.8.0_181/bin/java.exe
java version “1.8.0_181”
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_181-b13)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.181-b13, mixed mode)
./EPMSystem11R1/common/ODBC-64/Merant/8.0/jre/bin/java.exe
java version “1.8.0_162”
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_162-b12)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.162-b12, mixed mode)
./jdk1.8.0_181/bin/java.exe
java version “1.8.0_181”
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_181-b13)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.181-b13, mixed mode)
./jdk1.8.0_181/jre/bin/java.exe
java version “1.8.0_181”
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_181-b13)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.181-b13, mixed mode)
./ohs/oracle_common/jdk/jre/bin/java.exe
java version “1.8.0_131”
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_131-b11)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.131-b11, mixed mode)

That’s 10 separate Java instances. Now that you’ve finished scrolling down and witnessed The Matrix fly past your eyes, here’s some thoughts.

The “dbclient32” and “dbclient64” folders only exist if you selected them when you used EPM’s installTool.cmd wizard (picking either FDMEE or HFM will cause the Oracle DB clients to be automatically selected…you may deselect them if you’re using MS SQL Server exclusively).

The “dbclient32” folder is the only 32-bit Java you’ll have. Keep this if you intend to use the SQL Developer tool, which is embedded within the dbclient32 folder structure. SQL Developer in this release still expects a 32-bit Java. All of the other folders listed above are 64-bit.

As of this writing, Java 1.8.0_241-b26 (Java SE 8 Update 241) is the version Oracle published in their latest Critical Patch Update. This information will become dated starting in mid-April 2020, but the concepts described here will remain the same.

Do not be tempted to rename the \Oracle\Middleware\jdk1.8.0_181 folder or your EPM 11.2 system breaks! This folder name is hard-coded throughout the system (Windows Registry, batch scripts, and other files). This may be a topic for another blog entry. For now, to get security-compliant, you might back up the 181 folder and then replace its contents with the contents of 241.

I’m out of Java coffee. Time to stop blogging.

But don’t forget to download my white paper, “From the Mad Scientist’s Lab: An Assessment of Oracle Hyperion/EPM 11.2.”