Some time ago I read a post about HTMLDB at Vidya Bala’s Blog She has mentioned nice description about HTMLDB & Installing HTMLDB 2.0. You can check her post at Install HTMLDB 2.0
Now HTMLDB is called as Application Express or more commonly as Apex. Latest Apex Version is 2.2 and today I’ll quickly cover Installation of Apex Version 2.2. You can find Installation Document and software at end of this post.
Requirement:
In order to install Apex (Former HTMLDB) ver 2.2 you should have
–Application Server Version 1.0.2.2 or higher
–Database should be version 9.2.0.3 or higher
–Disk Space around 500 MB on middle tier (Application Server)
–Tablespace (in which you will install Apex ) with around 100MB free space
–System tablespace with around 85 MB free space
–Database shared pool size should be 100MB or more
Tablespaces:
At time of Apex installation it asks for tablespace for user data & tablespace for Apex files. You can use existing single tablespace for both or can create these two tablespace. For better understanding I will create two tablespace one for User data & other for Apex files.
Assumptions
Below Apex 2.2 Installation steps are of Database version 10.2.X and application server version 10.1.2.0.2 (There might be minor changes on other database or application server version)
Pre Installation Configuration
Login to database and create two tablespace
create tablespace tsapexf datafile ‘/$datafile_location/tsapexf01.dbf’ size 50M autoextend on next 10M maxsize 300M;
create tablespace tsapexu datafile ‘/$datafile_location/tsapexu01.dbf’ size 50M autoextend on next 10M maxsize 300M;
These tablespaces we are going to use during Apex Installation
Loading Apex into Database
Login to middle tier(Application Server) & download Apex 2.2 software from location mentioned at end of this post (software is with name apex_2.2.zip);
Copy it to location where you want to install Apex on Middle tier ; assume its /u01/dev
unzip software as ; unzip apex_2.2.zip
This will craete a subdirectory with name apex ; cd apex
sqlplus system@tns_alias as sysdba (From middle tier connect to database as sysdba)
@apexins.sql {passwd} {ts for user} {ts for files} {ts for temp} /i/ {connect_info}
Where
passwd - Password for Apex Super User
ts for user - Tablespace for User data (Created above)
ts for files - Tablespace for Apex files (Created above)
ts for temp - temporary tablespace (Usually Temp)
i - is the alias for image directory configuration in Application Server (Apache httpd.conf)
connect info - TNS Alias to connect to database from middle Tier
@apexins.sql mypasswd tsapexu tsapexf temp /i/ tns_alias
This step will take 1-2 hours depending on server configuration
Configure Apex at Middle Tier (Application Server)
Create a file marvel.conf in $ORACLE_HOME/Apache/modplsql/conf
Replace ORACLE_HOME, hostname, port number, service_name, and apex_public_user_password with values appropriate for your environment.#########Alias /i/ “/u01/dev/apex/images/”
AddType text/xml xbl
AddType text/x-component htc
Order deny,allow
PlsqlDocumentPath docs
AllowOverride None
PlsqlDocumentProcedure wwv_flow_file_manager.process_download
PlsqlDatabaseConnectString hostname.domainname:db_port:SID ServiceNameFormat
PlsqlNLSLanguage AMERICAN_AMERICA.AL32UTF8
PlsqlAuthenticationMode Basic
SetHandler pls_handler
PlsqlDocumentTablename wwv_flow_file_objects$
PlsqlDatabaseUsername APEX_PUBLIC_USER
PlsqlDefaultPage apex
PlsqlDatabasePassword password
Allow from all
#######
include marvel.conf in httpd.conf like below so that it can be invoked each time Apache(Web Server) Starts
include “/replace_this_with_oracle_home/Apache/modplsql/conf/marvel.conf”
Update this configuration change in DCM repository (This step is required only on 10g Application Server, Skip this if you are configuring it with Apps 11i or standalone HTTP Server)
Make sure Alias /i/ “/u01/dev/apex/images/” this alias in marvel.conf is pointing to right apex images directory
Post Installation Steps
dcmctl updateconfig -ct ohs
opmnctl restartproc ias-component=HTTP_Server (Restart HTTP Server to check it)
Now try access application via URL
http://hostname.domainname:port/pls/apex
Software & Related Document
You can find Apex Software Version 2.2
from here
How to configure Apex or HTMLDB applications with SSO Server coming soon ….

Related Posts for Apex
- Install Apex (Application Express) Formerly HTMLDB
- Configure SSO for Apex Application
- Apex Apps configure SSO II
- Configure SSO authentication Schemes in Apex
- Oracle Apex Architecture and configure Apex using embedded PL/SQL gateway
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Good hands-on exercises (installation, patching, cloning), very experienced trainer worth for Money 
50 users commented in " Install Apex (Application Express) Formerly HTMLDB "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a Trackbackhey Atul, Nice post man. I was looking for this as i am new to this apex stuff.
-Arun
Thanks Buddy,
I heard lot of guys started using Apex these days . I am Soon going to write on configuring Apex Application with SSO server.
Kindly share any other thing in Apex you are looking for …
Nice to see your postings..
–Madhura
Hi Madhura,
. Its all becoz of you & harmeet’s mentoring skills .
Great to see your comments , You were among best managers
Regards
Atul Kumar
Nice post on Apex, Atul….you should add that they may need to change the image directory within the marvel.conf file, just in case they decided to install Apex within another directory, as I did.
-Ken McCary
http://blakgeek.blogspot.com
Ken McCary
Thanks for pointing that , mentioned this in post Now .
Atul
Is it critical that application server 10g is installed before apex?
No, You just need a HTTP Server and an Oracle Database (10g AS is just one option)
Atul
Hi Atul,
While installing apex ,
i get an error
oracle disconnected ,
memory exhausted ,
Thanks,
Amol
Amol,
Check if you have enough memory in database. Check alert log for any messages furher. Make sure you got enough memory in database shared pool size should be 100MB or more
as mentioned in preinstall steps
Thanks Atul ,
Looks like it was sqlplus issue ,
i was running the script from a remote machine .
i ran the script from the same machine and it worked fine .
Regards,
Amol
hi , after configuring dads.conf , i am getting
503-Service Temporarily Unavailable
The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.
any clue , pankajch1982@gmail.com
Check error_log in $ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Apache/logs if this is 10g AS or
$OS/ohs/Apache/logs/error_logs if this is standalone apache
for error related to 503
Hi Atul,
This section looks interesting. Do we need to install this separately in ebusiness suite environment or installation of ebuss suite installs htmldb also?
Does it involve separate license cost?
Please update about this also.
Thanks
Anand
E-Business Suite doesn’t install Apex you have to install is seperately. For Licensing check Oracle Sales
Thanks Atul.
I checked in other sites and its mentioned as license free, anyway as you suggested will check with Oracle Sales.
Hi Atul,
After struggling, I got the Oracle Apex installed and created a demo application (which displays report). Now the challenge is to integrate this demo-application with my EBusiness suite.
Is it possible? Can you throw some light in this area?
Regards,
Anand
Anand,
What do you mean by integration of Apex with E-Business Suite here.
How you wish or what you want to do from E-business suite ?
Thanks for the reply. In simple words - Create a new responsibility with some menus/submenus. On click of the links/submenus, the application-report (developed using apex) should open without again prompting for any username/password.
Is it possible to achieve?
Regards,
Anand
Anand,
So you want authentication to be enabled via FND_USERS. In Apaex you have various authentication scheme or you can create your own authentication scheme and map users in apex with users in FND_User but this is all customization.
For standard configure SSO with Apaex and SSO with E-Business Suite and then these two applications (apex and e-business) are partner application against same SSO and user can login without re-authentication but this is again big thing.
Thanks Atul,
You said it is possible now I’ll give a try.
This site is AskTom for APPS.
Keep up the great work. Awaiting your posts on Apex-SSO
Thanks Anand for nice compliment
For configuring SSO with Apex visit
http://becomeappsdba.blogspot.com/2007/01/apex-apps-configure-sso-ii.html
Sorry to bother you Atul. I am stuck again with ApEx. Can I email you in detail?
Thanks
Anand
Raise them in forum at http://teachMeOracle.com/forum so that it can be useful for other readers as well in future.
Thanks Atul,
Since I could not find relevant forum for ApEx, I posted my problem under Troubleshooting Forum of teachme.
Hope to get a good response.
Regards,
Anand
For Apex3.0 you can ref thi blog
http://dgielis.blogspot.com/2007/06/testing-oracle-bi-publisher-with-apex.html
Regards
Ramnik Gupta
Hi Atul,
I am new to the DBA world and many of my freinds who are into this feild have recommended your site, an amazing fact was that one of them is not a DBA but still he knew about you and said that there is a lot of Quality stuff here.
As a matter of fact i am trying to install an HTML database , after following all the steps that are given on your site as well as the Companion Cd installation guide, the installation is not working , the http server when invoked says Internal server error , i have checked the dads.conf file , what i am trying to do is that i have a 10g database on which i have installed the htmldb by providing all the connect identifier but still its not working . Can you provide some help on this issue.
Regards,
Ashish
Ashish,
Thanks for compliment, If you have followed doc properly then in order to find issue of Internal server error go to Web Server (HTTP Server) under which you have configured dads.conf like $ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Apache/logs and look for error_log and check what error message it is reporting and look for possible cause of problem reported in error_log
Hi Atul,
Thanks for the solution, i had a look at the error logs they said its a configuration prob, i have modified the dads.conf file and now the login page is diaplayed correctly but the fact is that the images are not being displayed properly and when i am trying to login to the page its showing an error. Please suggest.
Ashish
Ashish Good that you moved to next step.
For image check if image directory is mapped correctly in dads.conf to images directory on file system.
For login problem what error message you are getting in logs
Hi,
I’ve been reading your post but don’t see a solution to “Error 503 Service Temporarily Unavailable…”
I checked the Apache logs and all I see is this:
“10.64.0.24 - - [18/Sep/2007:17:29:51 -0400] “GET /pls/apex HTTP/1.1″ 302 5
10.64.0.24 - APEX_PUBLIC_USER [18/Sep/2007:17:29:52 -0400] “GET /pls/apex/apex HTTP/1.1″ 503 441
Why am I getting the above error? Thank you for you help and nice post!
Chetan,
share your dads.conf information the one under /pls/apex
check if database user APEX_PUBLIC_USER can connect to database using connect string defined in {location /pls/apex} with directive
PlsqlDatabaseConnectString
Check if password is correct and user is not enddated/ locked
Atul thanks for the quick reply. I resolved the issue but only after you jogged my memory. The APEX user was locked but off course I was over thinking the issue and forgot to check the basics! Also, I believe the ‘anonymous’ account needs to be unlocked but maybe you can verify that for the group. Thank you for quick reply! Chetan.
Hi Atul,
My images problem was solved by changing the path in the dads.conf file……….thanks for all your help…….now I am facing a strange problem , when I am trying to invoke the enterprise manager it says that the database status is corrently unavailable. I tried to bounce the enterprise manager but still the problem persists.Please Help.
Thanks
Ashish
Ashish, This is good news that you manage to fix your issues.
You can raise your issues/doubts at http://teachMeOracle.com/forum and help other budding DBA’s in this forum
hi all
I have the same problem that face Chetan Parmar but the problem is I can get to the apex home page and login but after period of time i face the message “Error 503 Service Temporarily Unavailable…” the dads.conf is ok cause it work and to solve the problem i restart the server
I don’t wont to restart the server every time i face this message and there is no high traffic on service only 3 pcs are connected to it
any body can help ????
Hi,
You need to check web server log file to find root cause of 503.
503 means server crash and if this is in Oracle HTTP Server or Oracle Web Server then check logs at $ORACLE_HOME /Apache/Apache /logs/error_log
ok i look to the web server log file but I cant figure out the cause of 503
i got this
Mon Jul 28 01:21:27 2008] [error] [client 10.11.32.56] [ecid: 1217233286:127.0.0.1:1652:3384:11,0] mod_plsql: /pls/htmldb/f HTTP-503 ORA-12541
adn
[Sun Jul 27 01:58:20 2008] [error] [client 10.11.32.55] [ecid: 1217149099:127.0.0.1:3284:4048:9,0] mod_plsql: /pls/htmldb/htmldb HTTP-503 ORA-12541
[Sun Jul 27 01:58:24 2008] [error] [client 10.11.32.55] [ecid: 1217149102:127.0.0.1:3284:2220:15,0] mod_plsql: /pls/htmldb/htmldb HTTP-503 ORA-12541
[Sun Jul 27 01:58:57 2008] [error] [client 10.11.32.55] [ecid: 1217149136:127.0.0.1:3284:3648:10,0] mod_plsql: /pls/htmldb/htmldb HTTP-503 ORA-12541
[Sun Jul 27 01:59:53 2008] [error] [client 10.11.32.55] [ecid: 1217149192:127.0.0.1:3284:2544:9,0] mod_plsql: /pls/htmldb/htmldb HTTP-503 ORA-12541
[Sun Jul 27 01:59:56 2008] [error] [client 10.11.32.55] [ecid: 1217149195:127.0.0.1:3284:2504:10,0] mod_plsql: /pls/htmldb/htmldb HTTP-503 ORA-12541
[Sun Jul 27 02:01:37 2008] [error] [client 10.11.32.56] [ecid: 1217149295:127.0.0.1:3284:2500:9,0] mod_plsql: /pls/htmldb/f HTTP-503 ORA-12541
BlackSigma,
ORA-12541 is cause of issue which means application can’t connect to database.
Check your dads.conf if database server, port are correct and database & db listener is up.
Check if you can ping & tnsping using connection details in dads.conf or marvel.conf
thanx i solve the problem
I just substitute “loclhost” with the “ip” of the server and every thing goes correct
Hello,
Firstly I would like to express my sincere appreciation for the work that goes in to this site to help Oracle newbies. Excellent!!
I am looking for help please. I have Oracle 10g Database Express Edition on my local server and the application has been created here. I am trying to install APEX as I need to create report writing abilities and print options to PDF but I am very new and the installation is going right over my head.
Please help me.
Thank you kindly
Roslyn74
Roslyn74,
Which version of APEX you are installing (2 or 3) ?
Is this installation on windows machine (XP or Vista) ?
Hi Atul,
Thanks so much for the reply.
The version is 3.1.1. which is bundled with 11g and I am installing locally on a windows XP laptop. 10g XE is currently running successfully.
The process I am following:
The install 11g using OUI and completing a custom install with real time testing.
Create database
Change working user to APEX (3.1.1 which is packaged with 11g though I want to actually instally 3.1.2 but I will worry about this next)
Log in to newly created 11g database
Run @apxconf and change port to 8080 and admin password ( I am running Download APEX from OTN and configure HTTP but I am not sure if I sure be doing embedded PL/SQL gateway or even if this correct at all)
Run @apexins but I am being asked to enter values which is not in the manual? I have been using SYSAUX as value 1, SYSAUX as value 2, TEMP as value 3 and /i/ as 5 with 9 left blank but I am sure this is not correct!
The APEX package runs but I get errors at line 1 throughout.
I unlock the public user account
I enter details in to browser http:\\localhost:8080\apex\apex_home and get error message.
I have tried the install about 5 times using different installation processes found in the Oracle installation manual as well as other processes documented on the internet.
Thank you!!!!
Roslyn,
Lets first fix apex using embedded pls/sql gateway
all you need after 11g DB is
1. Run apxconf.sql ($ORACLE_HOME/apex) - enter ADMIN password and XML DB HTTP Server port when prompted
2. Unlock ANONYMOUS account (SQL> ALTER USER ANONYMOUS ACCOUNT UNLOCK;)
3. Access Apex using http://hostname:port/apex/apex_admin
Use 8085 as I suspect 8080 may be used by XE database
Try and see if this works , You don’t need HTTP server for embedded plsql gateway
check http://onlineappsdba.com/index.php/2008/09/17/oracle-application-express-apex-architecture-and-changes-from-oracle-database-11g/
I have faced the same problem that happening with Roslyn74
I solved it by removing the apex schema form the database and removing all related users then reinstalling the apex from the beginning
Hi Atul,
Oracle APEX is all working fine except my print server does not seem to work. I have created an application, and enable report printing but when I go to print I get a PDF error message say my file is damaged.
I think I have configured the print server correctly (same as the book) in apex_admin but not sure how to check?
Any thoughts?
Thank you kindly
If you are trying PDF printing, did you install and configure Oracle BI Publisher (XML Publisher earlier) to generate PDF reports ?
If not stay tuned on this blog to configure BI Publisher with Apex for PDF printing.
Roslyn,
For PDF printing in Apex via BI reporting tool check this
http://tylermuth.wordpress.com/2008/03/31/call-bi-publisher-web-services-from-apex/
or
http://dgielis.blogspot.com/2007/12/call-bi-publisher-report-from-apex.html
or
http://www.rittmanmead.com/2008/04/21/oracle-apex-and-bi-publisher/
Atul
Hi Atul,
I am new in APEX but knows oracle DBA part .
I need help from you i have to develop an application for my own work. I am little bit confused about selection/combination out of following It would be great if you can help me to find out the correct & simple option for thr same.
1. oracle10gR2 + APEX
2. ORACLE XE + APEX
3. Oracle11g (as i read from above post it packaged with APEX)
Hardware i have
2 G RAM
speed 2.1 GHz
software -Vista
Hi Do you have any pointers in upgrading htmldb 020000 to apex3.2? also I don’t have passwords for FLOWS_020000 and FLOWS_FILES is there a way to retrive them?
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