Oracle Applications 11i File system

An Oracle Applications Release 11i system utilizes components from many Oracle products. These product files are stored below a number of key top-level directories on the database and application server machines. Depending on how you chose to install Applications, these product directories may be located on a single machine (the simplest case) or on multiple machines (the most common type of deployment). Operating system environment settings indicate the location of the various files in the file systems of the database and application server machines.

This topic discusses the association between these environment settings and the corresponding files and directories.

Note: is the name of your system determined through Rapid Install at the time of installation. For example, PROD.

• The DATA or DATA_TOP directory is located on the database server machine, and contains the system tablespaces, redo log files, data tablespaces, index tablespaces, and database files.
• The DB directory is located on the database server machine, and contains the ORACLE_HOME for the Oracle9i database.
• The APPL or APPL_TOP directory contains the product directories and files for Oracle Applications.
• The ORA directory contains the ORACLE_HOMEs for the Applications technology stack components.
• The COMN or COMN_TOP (or COMMON_TOP) directory contains directories and files used across products.

Figure 2. Applications Directory Structure

The DATA Directory

The DATA file system contains the data (.dbf) files of the Oracle database. Rapid Install installs the system, data, and index files in directories below several mount points on the database server. You can specify the directory names of the mount points on the database server during installation.

DB and ORA Directories

Oracle Applications supports employing an Applications database of one version, while linking Applications programs using the tools from a second or third version of the database. This multiple ORACLE_HOMEs configuration allows new features of the database to be supported, while maintaining compatibility with earlier releases. Release 11i utilizes three ORACLE_HOMEs:

1. The 9.2.0 ORACLE_HOME (Applications database home) is located in the DB directory. It contains the files needed for running and maintaining the Oracle Applications database.

2. The 8.0.6 directory contains the ORACLE_HOME for the Developer 6i products (Forms, Reports, and Graphics). The product libraries in the 8.0.6 ORACLE_HOME are used to relink Oracle Applications executables.

3. The iAS directory, also under the ORA, contains the ORACLE_HOME for Oracle9i Application Server.

The APPL Directory

Oracle Applications files are stored in the APPL directory, which is known as the APPL_TOP directory.

The APPL_TOP directory contains:

1. The core technology files and directories.

2. The product files and directories (for all products).

3. The main applications environment file, called .env on UNIX, and .cmdon Windows.

4. The consolidated environment file, called APPS.env on UNIX, and APPS.cmd on Windows.

Product Directories

Each product has its own subdirectory under APPL_TOP. The subdirectories are named in accordance with the product’s standard abbreviation, such as gl for Oracle General Ledger. Within each product directory is a subdirectory that is named using the base Oracle Applications release number, such as 11.5.0. This directory contains the various subdirectories for the product files.

Figure 3. APPL_TOP Sub-directory structure