SchedulerTransfer Servlet error

ISSUE:
The PeopleSoft process has completed, but the report posting status has completed with Not Posted. When the message log of the process was checked the error message says Scheduler Transfer error.

Error getting report repository location. (63,85)

SchedulerTransfer Servlet error.

PSEXA failed to post files to the report repository. Server

scheduled to try again on 2013-11-18-10.48.57.782504.

CAUSE:
This issue occurs because the servlet SchedulerTransfer which is used be the application for posting the reports from the peoplesoft process scheduler to the web server repository has failed.

SOLUTION:
This issue can be resolved by manually invoking the SchedulerTransfer servlet and resending the contents of the process.

PeopleSoft Signon Process.

For understanding the peoplesoft signon process it is crucial to be aware of the various IDs which PeopleSoft uses.

The below list of IDs are used by peoplesoft to perform the connection to the database,

1. User ID
2. Connect ID
3. Symbolic ID
4. Access ID

User ID:
The user ID is used by the user to enter his personal login credentials in the PIA login page.
Connect ID:
The connect ID is stored in the psappsrv.cfg file of the application server, and is used to make the initial connection to the database. The connect ID has select access on the PSACCESSPRFL, PSOPRDEFN and PSSTATUS and PS.PSDBOWNER tables.
Symbolic ID:
The symbolic ID acts as a bridge between the connect ID and the Access ID.
Access ID:
The access ID is the database owner ID. The final connection is made with this ID to access the tables of the application.

Signon Process:
The basic outline of the peoplesoft signon process is as below,

1. The User enters his user ID and password in the PeopleSoft signon page.
2. The application server retrieves the password of the Connect ID from the psappsrv.cfg file and makes the initial connection to the database.
3. Using the connect ID the application checks the PSOPRDEFN for the user details and the symbolic ID. The application then uses the symbolic ID to fetch the appropriate Access ID from the PSACCESSPRFL table and checks the Version and Owner ID from the PSSTATUS tables. The owner ID and database name is retrieved from the PS.PSDBOWNER table.
4. Once all these information is retrieved the application will disconnect and connect using the access ID.

If there is ever an issue in booting up the application server, the issue will probably be in these 4 tables.

Using Weighted Load Balancing.

What is a Weighted Load balancer?

Weighted load balancing can be configured in the PeopleSoft web server. The web server will direct the user requests to the application servers which have been configured in the configuration.properties file. By using the weighted load balancing we can control the percentage of requests which will be directed to a particular application server.

What is the syntax for configuring weighted load balancing?

The configuration.properties file of the web server is used to configure the application servers which will be listening for the web requests. For configuring weighted load balancing the below method is used,

psserver=Host1:Port1#Wt,Host2:Port2#Wt

 The weights of the application server can be rated from 1-10 where 1 is for low and 10 is for maximum load.

Example:

psserver=appserver1:9000#6,appserver2:9010#1

In the above example, the appserver1 will recieve 6 times more requests than the appserver2.

What is Jolt failover?

The failovers can be configured using the {} as below,

psserver=<host>:<port>#wt{failover servers}

By using weighted load balancing, we can configure for failover backup. 

There are 2 options,
Strict failover with weighted backup.
Strict failover with sequential backup.

Failover with weighted backup:
The failovers in this case are seperated by a comma as below,

psserver=Host1:Port1#Wt{Host3:Port3#Wt,Host4:Port4#Wt},Host2:Port2#Wt

Failover with sequential backup:

For setting up sequential backup multiple servers are configured separated by a semi colon as below,

 
psserver=Host1:Port1#Wt{Host3:Port3;Host4:Port4},Host2:Port2#Wt 

 
 

PeopleSoft Web Server

What is the PeopleSoft Web Server?

The PeopleSoft Web server is a Java-enabled web server which handles the browser transactions and also supports the PeopleSoft messaging technology. It basically contains a collection of servlets to handle a range of PeopleSoft transactions.

We will discuss on the below sections:

1. Server Software Elements:

When PeopleSoft software is installed, a variety of PeopleSoft web servlets are installed in the web server. A supported servlet container must be installed to use these servlets in our application. The below listed software run on the PeopleSoft web server,

a. Web Services -- The web services manage the web server software which should be Oracle WebLogic or IBM Websphere.
b. Servlet Engine -- The servlet engine is tied to the web services software, but in some cases it can be installed separately as well. The servlet engine contains all the PeopleSoft servlets.
c. Java Servlets -- Java is a platform independent programming language which is used for creating web based applications. The web server contains servlets which require java executables to be invoked.

2. The PeopleSoft Servlets:

The PeopleSoft servlets which are present in the web server are as below,

a. Portal Servlet -- The portal servlet is used to manage the requests and formatting when the client users access PeopleSoft via the Peopletools portal. It is used to handle homepage personalizations, content searches and content access.
b. Integration Gateway Servlet -- This servlet offers publish/subscribe messages between the message nodes. The gateway is used to handle PeopleSoft to PeopleSoft messages, third-party to PeopleSoft messages and PeopleSoft to third-party messages.
c. Report Repository Servlet --  This servlet helps in managing the output of the processes run using the batch server. It distributes the output reports such as crystal reports so that it can be accessed easily over the internet.

3. Oracle Jolt:

Oracle Jolt forwards the requests received by the PeopleSoft servlets to the application server. The Oracle Jolt is an extension of the tuxedo technology over the communication layer between the Java based web server and the C++ based application server. So basically the web browser sends HTTP request to the web server, the servlet in the web server connects to the Jolt port configured in the configuration.properties file of the web server and Oracle Jolt converts the request into a format understandable by Tuxedo which runs in the application server, which in turn will fire the SQLs against the database to fetch the desired output. The below Diagram explains the need for Oracle Jolt and Tuxedo.


Note: The Oracle Jolt and Tuxedo should both be installed in the application server.

Introduction to PeopleSoft and PSAdmin

What is PeopleSoft?

PeopleSoft is an ERP(Enterprise Resource Planning) software, which provides Human Resource Management Systems (HRMS), Financial Management Solutions (FMS), Supply Chain Management (SCM), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) software, as well as software for manufacturing, enterprise performance management, and student administration to large companies, governments, and organizations.

In the year 2005, there was a hostile acquisition of PeopleSoft by Oracle corporation. Since then the PeopleSoft brand and market line are marketed by Oracle.

Who are the founders?

PeopleSoft was created by David Duffiled and Ken Morris in the year 1987. After it got acquired by Oracle, David Duffield moved on to create a new cloud based ERP software system called Workday.


What are the technologies involved?

PeopleSoft is a combination of different technologies spread over what is called the "PeopleSoft Pure Internet Architecture". Predominantly the underlying programming languages are C++, Java, tuxedo..etc. PeopleSoft supports multiple database platforms such as Oracle, DB2, Sql Server.


What are the basic skills required to learn PeopleSoft Administration?

Some of the skills required for PeopleSoft Administration are as listed below,

1. Basic understanding on client-server architecture.
2. Knowledge on working in Unix/Linux and Windows based server environments.
3. Working with tuxedo.
4. Understanding web containers such as Oracle Weblogic, or IBM Websphere.
5. Knowledge on Oracle, DB2 or SQL Server database servers.

What are some of the roles of a PeopleSoft Administrator?

1. Installing and maintaining the PeopleSoft Pure Internet Architecture, and deploying the domains.
2. Performing upgrades and applying patches/bundles.
3. Monitoring the database, performing SQL tuning, there are some roles which will ask the PSAdmin to perform DB Backup and restore.
4. Supporting the development team on testing and migrating custom code changes to production environment.