IFS Constraint Based Scheduling (CBS)

This document describes how to set up your IFS Constraint Based Scheduling (CBS) server and/or Communication Bridge and how to prepare your system to support a successful installation. 

Contents

Prerequisites

For a typical installation, only one CBS Bridge per database instance and one CBS Server per scheduled site are required. The optimal installation would have the CBS Bridge and CBS Servers either on separate servers or on separate CPUs of a multi-processor server. 

Running other high CPU utilization programs on the same machine as the Scheduling Server and/or Communication Bridge may impact CBS performance and is therefore not recommended.

Note: CBS is a 32bit application. As a result it can only utilize up to 2GB of RAM in a 32bit operating system. This is a limit set by the OS. However in a 64bit platform it can utilize up to 4GB of RAM. For more information please refer Appendix E.

Note: See Appendix C for special instructions on setting up CBS with Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC).

Setup Program Features

The following are the major features of the CBS setup program:

 

Preparing Your System for Installation

Certain systems and configurations must exist on your system before you install IFS Constraint Based Scheduling. The CBS setup program does not install or configure an IFS Applications database or the Oracle setup procedure necessary to connect to a specific database. 

The following steps are required before installing the CBS server or Communication Bridge.

Note: CBS/APB is a 32bit application. Therefore it cannot load 64-bit libraries. As a result it will not support a 64-bit Oracle client. In order to work on a 64-bit machine, a 32-bit Oracle client should be used. The path of the directory that contains 32bit oci.dll, (usually <32bit Oracle Home>/bin) must be included in system wide path environment variable.

Note: If both 64bit and 32bit Oracle clients are installed on CBS server machine for the use of other applications, path of directory containing 32bit oci.dll do not have to appear before 64bit oci.dll path in the path environment variable.

Note: If CBS, CBS Bridge or CBS installation program is unable to locate oci.dll and crash as a result, you can create a system wide environment variable named 'OCI_PATH_FOR_CBS' containing the path of directory where 32bit oci.dll is located (usually <32bit Oracle Home>/bin). When it is defined, CBS installation program, CBS Server and Bridge will attempt to load 32bit oci.dll from location specified in 'OCI_PATH_FOR_CBS' environment variable. Support for 'OCI_PATH_FOR_CBS' was introduced in LCS patch 143710 and it must be applied for CBS to recognize it. When 'OCI_PATH_FOR_CBS' is used, path of 32bit oci.dll is not required to be included in path environment variable.

Setting Up the connection to the database

For the Scheduling Server or Communication Bridge to be able to communicate with the database, there must be an entry for the database instance in the Oracle client’s tnsnames.ora file.  An entry can be added by using Oracle’s Net Configuration Assistant or you may use a text editor to add the entry manually. 

  1. The location of your tnsnames.ora file may vary depending on your version of the Oracle client. In most cases it will be found under the %ORACLE_HOME%\network\admin subdirectory.
  2. Add an entry for your specific database. If the database is an Oracle Real Application Cluster (RAC), refer to Appendix C for special configuration information.  You will need to know the SQL*Net alias and the host and port of the machine hosting the database.  An example entry is shown below (Figure 3-1).

Note: Remember that this name is case sensitive when you enter it in the SQL*Net Alias for Database field in the CBS Database Settings dialog box during the CBS server installation. Make this name UPPERCASE in tnsnames.ora, since the CBS installer converts the database alias that you enter during installation to uppercase.

Note: If multiple oracle homes are installed on CBS server machine, make sure to add connection details in the correct tnsnames.ora file depending on which oracle home will be used by CBS and the value of TNS_ADMIN environment variable if defined.

Figure 3-1 Database SQL*Net alias (circled) in tnsnames.ora

Setting Up the CBS Site

For the CBS setup program to configure the database with “Scheduling Server host” and “socket listening port information” for your Scheduling Server site, the site must already exist in the database. The steps for creating your site are as follows:

For the CBS setup program to configure the database with “Scheduling Server host” and “socket listening port information” for your Scheduling Server site, the site must already exist in the database. The steps for creating your site are as follows:

  1. Log on to IFS Enterprise Explorer.
  2. Open the Site window.
  3. On the toolbar, click New to create a new site.
  4. Enter information in all columns, and click Save on the toolbar to save your settings.

    Note: Remember that the site name that you entered in this step must also be entered later during the CBS server installation, in the Site ID field in the CBS Database Settings dialog box (Figure 4-6 or Figure 4-7).

  5. Open the Sites per User window.
  6. On the toolbar, click Populate. In the User ID field, select the user name of the application owner.
  7. Click New on the toolbar to create a new line.
  8. Place the cursor in the Site column of the new line. Use the List of Values to select the site that you created previously.
  9. On the toolbar, click Save to save your changes.

Setting Up the CBS User Name and Access Permissions

The Scheduling Server requires an user with the appropriate permissions granted to be able to access the database. Only one CBS user per database is required. If you are installing more than one Scheduling Server (Scheduling site) against the same database (or more than one Bridge for an Oracle RAC), the user name and access permissions need to be configured only once.

During installation of IFS Applications, when the CBS database files are installed, a user for the CBS Server (CBSSERVER) and a role (CBS_SERVER) containing the all of the required permissions are created.  Upon creation, this user is set to locked with the password expired.

The user must be created in the company before running the CBS Server Setup.

Before installing the CBS Server, using SQL*Plus, log in to the database and prepare the user by issuing the following commands:

ALTER USER CBSSERVER ACCOUNT UNLOCK;
ALTER USER CBSSERVER IDENTIFIED BY <new_password>;

 

Installing IFS Constraint Based Scheduling

Installing the Scheduling Server and Communications Bridge

To install IFS Constraint Based Scheduling, follow these steps:

  1. If installing from a build of IFS Applications, run the IFS Applications Installation Wizard (setup.exe) program, which is in the root directory of the build. Select Server Environment installation type and then select IFS Constraint Based Scheduling from the list of components to be installed.

    If not installing from an IFS Applications build, launch the CBS installation program (setup.exe) file from the \Win32Server\Constraint Based Scheduling\execute directory.
     

  2. During the file extraction process, a progress bar is displayed on the screen.  Once the installation files are extracted, the first window of the installation wizard will appear. This window displays a welcome message. Verify the information on the screen and then select Next to continue to the next step in the wizard.

     

  3. The Choose Destination Location wizard window will prompt for the base directory location for the Scheduling Server or Communication Bridge files. When installing, a subdirectory specific to the component being installed will be created with a name that includes the database and site information, so that multiple servers or bridges can be installed without directory name conflicts. Click Browse to select a folder other than the default, or click Next to accept the default folder and continue the installation.

     

    Note: During installation, the system automatically creates subfolders beneath the root folder for the Bridge and the Manufacturing Scheduling Server if selected in the installation. You are not prompted to choose the names of these folders.

     

  4. In the Select Components wizard window, select the check boxes indicating the applications and subcomponents that you want to install. You can install either a Bridge or a Manufacturing Scheduling Server or both. "Install Server - MFG" will extract the manufacturing server files to the hard drive, collect the information about the database and site and write values to the registry for the installed servers. It will also make a connection to the database and update the internal tables for the site to set the newly installed servers as the designated servers for the site. Selecting the "CBS Bridge" component will extract and copy the Bridge files to the hard drive. It will also present a wizard window to collect the data for the database configuration and write the settings to the registry for the Bridge. Once you have completed your component selection, click Next to continue to the next step in the wizard.

     

  5. The Server Connection Interface wizard window appears if you have chosen to install scheduling server. Use this window to indicate the method used by the CBS Server to connect to the database. To establish direct communication with the database, select "Using Oracle Call Interface". Otherwise, select "Using IFS Access Provider". "Using IFS Access Provider" option is primarily for installations where the CBS Server(s) are not allowed to access the database directly due to security reasons. This option can result in slower performance and higher memory consumption by the system. Click Next to continue.

     

  6. If Using IFS Access Provider option was selected, the setup program will attempt to locate the .dll files required by this option. (See Preparing Your System for Installation.) If these files could not be located automatically, the next step is to enter the location for these files in the IFS Access Provider Path field or to copy them manually by selecting the I will manually copy IFS Access Provider files after installing CBS Server check box. Then click Next to continue to the next step in the wizard.

     

  7. The next step in the wizard depends on which options were selected in the previous Select Components window. If one of the CBS Server options were selected, then the Database Info wizard window is displayed to collect the database/extended server, site, application owner and username credentials. If only a bridge is being installed, the site information is not required and the Bridge Database Info wizard window will be presented to collect the database information needed for the bridge. Complete the following fields as indicated below, and then click Next to go to the next step in the wizard.

     

    Field Name Values
    Database Alias
    (required when using the Oracle Call Interface option)    		 Enter the name of your database. This name must match the name that exists in the tnsnames.ora file.  This should be the specific node alias for RAC installations. 
    Extended Server Address (required when using the IFS Access Provider option) Enter the host of the IFS Extended Server along with the port number used, in the following format.
    <Host Name>:<Port Number>
    Site ID (Existing) for CBS Server to Connect To Enter the name of the site against which you will be running the Scheduling Server. This site must exist before you install the server. This field is not shown in this wizard window if you have chosen not to install the server.
    Application Owner Enter the name of the Application Owner for the database.  The application owner name is required as a prefix for function calls that belong to the application owner.  It is not used to logon to the database.

    CBS Server Username / CBS Bridge Username

    		 Enter the username that the Scheduling Server and/or Communication Bridge will use to connect to the database.  As one of the prerequisite steps outlined earlier, you should have already created an account in IFS Applications and granted the proper permissions using the grant script.  The name suggested previously in this document was CBSSERVER. 

    CBS Server Password / CBS Bridge Password

    		 Enter the password associated with the CBS Server Username / CBS Bridge Username. 

     

    Encrypt logon information in registry

    		 By enabling this option, the username and password information used to connect to the database will be stored in an encrypted form in the system registry.  If this is not selected, then the username and password are stored as plain text in the registry.  It is probably a good idea to encrypt the information since the CBS Server user may have additional rights that normal users do not have. 

     

    Note: A utility (PasswordUtility.exe) has been provided to facilitate changing of the CBS Server username and password.  This utility is able to locate the settings for an existing Scheduling Server or Communication Bridge and write encrypted username and password entries to the registry. See Appendix A for more information about the Password Utility.

     

  8. If, in the Select Components window, you have chosen to install a CBS server, you will see the CBS Server Log settings window as the next step. Scheduling Server can write log files to show commands sent from the database in the input log, and responses sent from the Scheduling Server to the database in the output log. The Server’s notification log will record any errors that occur when commands are issued. Together these can be a good tool for diagnosing problems if they occur. The default settings are to write these three logs to their own separate files with a maximum file size set for each one. You may choose to change the size of the log file. You may also change the location of the log files. By default they will be written to the same directory where the Scheduling Server is installed. When you are satisfied with the choices click Next to proceed.

     

    Field Name Values
    Server Input Log Select this check box to create a Scheduling Server input log.
    Server Output Log Select this check box to create a Scheduling Server output log.
    Server Notification Log Select this check box to create a Scheduling Server notification log.
    Merge logs into a single file Select this button to put the output of the logs into one file instead of three separate files.  This is sometimes useful to gauge relative times that messages were received and responses sent but most of the time it is best to keep the logs in their own files for clarity.
    Maximum Log Size (kb) The largest size, in kilobytes, to which a log file can grow. Note: The default value, 1024, is equal to one megabyte.
    Manufacturing Log Directory The folder in which the log files will be placed. By default, this is a subfolder of the folder in which your Manufacturing Scheduling Server will be installed. You can change this setting by entering a new path in this field.

     

  9. In the CBS Server Language wizard window, select the language used to present the graphical user interface. The default language is English.

     

  10. If, in the Select Components window, you have chosen to install a bridge, you will see the Bridge Settings window.  This will contain default values which you may accept or modify.  The Log file name can be changed along with the maximum size of the log file. The default path for the log file will be the directory where the bridge is installed. The idle timeout for open sessions and the logon retry time can be specified as well.  You can edit these values or accept the default ones and click Next to proceed.

     

    Field Name Values
    Log file name The name of the log file.
    Maximum log size (kb) The largest size, in kilobytes, to which a log file can grow. The default value, 1024, corresponds to one megabyte.
    Log Directory The folder in which the log files will be placed. By default, this is a subfolder of the folder in which your Bridge will be installed. You can change this setting by typing in a new path in this field, or by clicking Browse and selecting a folder.
    Maximum idle time for open sessions (hours) The longest time, in hours, that an idle connection to a database will be left open.
    Logon retry delay (seconds) The amount of time, in seconds, that must elapse without a response from the database before the logon attempt is considered to have failed. When this happens, the logon must be reattempted.

     

  11. At this point the setup program has gathered all of the necessary information for setting up the Manufacturing Scheduling Server and Communication Bridge. The wizard will show the CBS Installation Settings window with a list of what it is about to install. You can verify the settings and then click Next to continue with the installation.

     

  12. The Setup Status window is displayed on your screen. This window contains a progress bar that shows the current status and progress of the installation. During this process, one or two MS-DOS windows (depending on which components you are installing) are displayed briefly on your screen. Normally, these windows disappear after a few seconds. Depending on your system’s MS-DOS configuration, you may need to press Enter to close the windows and resume the installation.

     

  13. Once the install process is complete there may be a few other wizard windows that appear.  If everything is working correctly the setup program will proceed to the final wizard window to report that the setup is complete and you may move on to step 14.  If there were problems with the database connection or if the database had previously been configured for another Scheduling Server then some optional wizard windows will appear to help you correct any problems or verify new settings.

     

  14. If there was a problem connecting to the database with the information entered, you may see an Oracle error message if the host name was not found in the tnsnames.ora.  Following any error messages, you will see the Database Configuration Results window with some suggestions of what should be done to verify that the database information is correct.  Click Next, and the setup program will return to the Database Info window (Step 7). this time showing what has been entered previously to allow you to make any corrections necessary. Verify that the entries are correct and verify that the database is running and is accessible and you can try the connection again by clicking Next.

     

  15. If the database and site you specified for this installation had previously been configured for a Manufacturing Scheduling Server, the setup program will present the Override Existing Host and Port window. Here it shows the existing configuration in the database and the new settings that will be applied. By clicking Next you will override the setting in the database with the new settings for this Scheduling Server installation.

     

    Note: It is no longer recommended to configure the server on port 5000, since this port is reserved on Windows XP. The installer has been changed to start at port number 5100 and increment by 100 until it finds a free port on the host machine.

     

  16. Once everything has been configured the final wizard window InstallShield Wizard Complete will appear and report the components that have been installed on the machine. Click Finish to exit the setup program.

     

  17. At this point, a Windows service will have been installed to automatically start up the Manufacturing Scheduling Server and Bridge. If you reboot the machine, services should start automatically.  You may also start them manually the first time without rebooting by going to the Services window in windows control panel / Administrative Tools, and locating the name of the CBS Server or Bridge that you have just installed.  The names will start with IFS CBS Bridge - <database name> or IFS CBS Server – CBS_<database>_<site>_MFG.  Highlight the service you wish to start and with the RMB menu select Start.

     

     

Installing the CBS Interactive Client

The Interactive Client is launched from an IFS Enterprise Explorer; therefore the files for the interactive client must reside in the same directory as the IFS Enterprise Explorer. In a typical installation, this is either a shared runtime folder (containing IFS Enterprise Explorer, Foundation1 DLLs and other runtime files) or a client runtime folder deployed in Application Server.

When the IFS Applications build (using the IFS Configuration Builder) was performed, several CBS files were copied to the client/runtime directory of the build. These files include schedserv.exe, Ifs.Cbs.AccessProviderWrapperBridge.dll, Ifs.Cbs.AccessProviderWrappers.dll, Ifs.Cbs.GraphWrapperBridge.dll, Ifs.Cbs.GraphWrappers.dll, msvcp100.dll, msvcr100.dll, xmllite.dll, ZedGraph.dll, default.xml and all of the language translation files Cbsxx.xml, where “xx” is the language code.

The Scheduling Server looks for language files named xx.xml, so the language files in the runtime folder must be renamed from Cbsxx.xml to xx.xml.

Note: During installation and upgrade of CBS components, care must be taken to ensure that the file schedserv.exe in the runtime directory is the same version and date/time stamp as in each Scheduling Server installation.

 

Verifying the Constraint Based Scheduling Installation

To recover from problems encountered during the installation process, uninstall the Bridge and/or Server (Uninstalling IFS Constraint Based Scheduling), correct the underlying problem with the CBS Server machine or database, and run the installation program again.

Verify Communications Bridge Installation

  1. Start the Bridge service if not already running.
  2. Check the IFS Communication Bridge window and Help -> About dialog box.

    If IFS Communication Bridge is connected to the database it will indicate the oracle database and user, transaction manager status, oracle pipe names that are used for communication, no of database locks acquired, number of active communication sessions, and number of consecutive connection errors.

  3. Examine the file bridgelog.txt for any errors. This file is located in the directory configured for Bridge log files during installation.

Verify Scheduling Server Installation

  1. Start the Scheduling Server service if not already running.
  2. Examine the file notificationlog.txt for any errors. This file may not exist if there have been no errors detected since installation. This file is located in the directory configured for Scheduling Server log files during installation.

Using an IFS Enterprise Explorer follow the navigator to Shop Order Scheduling Basic Data. On the Scheduling Server tab, click the Get Scheduling Server Date button and verify that a date is returned. There will be a spike displayed on the IFS Communication Bridge activity monitor.

Uninstalling IFS Constraint Based Scheduling

To uninstall either the Bridge or the Scheduling Server, or both of these components, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to the Control Panel, and click Programs and Features. In the list of installed software locate the entries for CBS Server installation that need to be removed.

    Note: that the list of installed software includes separate entries for the Bridge and the Scheduling Server. This means that you can remove these components separately.

  2. From the list of installed programs, select the component to remove, and then RMB click Uninstall/Change.
  3. If prompted, click Yes to verify that you want to remove the component from your system.
  4. After confirmation, the InstallShield Wizard progress bar is displayed on the screen while the system configures the uninstallation files and then removes the actual programs, registry entries, and NT services associated with the removed application. During this process, an MS-DOS window is displayed briefly. Normally, this window disappears after a few seconds. Depending on the system’s MS-DOS configuration, you may need to press Enter to close the window and resume the uninstallation.
  5. When a message box appears telling you that the uninstallation is complete, click Finish to close the box and return to the Programs and Features dialog box. If desired, repeat steps 2–5 to uninstall the other component.

Appendix