Deploy PeopleSoft Cloud Manager 17 on OCI for Environment Cloning [8pvx]

Overview: Revolutionizing PeopleSoft Environment Management with Cloud Manager 17 on OCI

In the dynamic landscape of enterprise applications, managing PeopleSoft environments has historically been a resource-intensive endeavor. The cycle of provisioning, patching, cloning, and updating environments often consumed significant time and specialized expertise, leading to bottlenecks in development, testing, and even production support. Oracle's PeopleSoft Cloud Manager (CM) emerged as a game-changer, providing a powerful, self-service platform to automate these tasks on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI).

PeopleSoft Cloud Manager 17, the latest iteration at the time of writing, builds upon its predecessors with enhanced capabilities, improved performance, and deeper integration with OCI services. It empowers organizations to leverage the agility and scalability of cloud computing for their PeopleSoft deployments, transforming a complex, manual process into an automated, on-demand operation. One of its most compelling features is the streamlined ability to clone existing PeopleSoft environments, facilitating rapid provisioning of development, test, training, or sandbox instances from a production-like baseline.

Deploying PeopleSoft Cloud Manager 17 on OCI is the foundational step towards achieving this operational efficiency. OCI, with its robust infrastructure, predictable performance, and comprehensive suite of services, provides an ideal platform for Cloud Manager. From high-performance compute instances to scalable database services like Oracle Autonomous Transaction Processing (ATP) or Virtual Machine DB Systems, OCI offers the underlying components that Cloud Manager orchestrates to manage your PeopleSoft applications. This article delves into the intricate details of deploying Cloud Manager 17 on OCI and subsequently utilizing its powerful environment cloning capabilities, ensuring a publication-ready guide for domain experts.

Prerequisites: Laying the Foundation for Cloud Manager Deployment

Before embarking on the deployment of PeopleSoft Cloud Manager 17, a robust and well-configured OCI tenancy is paramount. This section outlines the essential prerequisites, covering everything from network infrastructure to IAM policies and necessary subscriptions.

1. OCI Tenancy and Compartment Setup

You must have an active OCI tenancy. It is highly recommended to create a dedicated compartment for Cloud Manager and its managed environments to ensure proper resource isolation and access control.

# Create a new compartment for Cloud Manager
oci iam compartment create \
    --name "TechNews_PSCM_Environments" \
    --description "Compartment for PeopleSoft Cloud Manager and its managed environments" \
    --compartment-id ocid1.tenancy.oc1..aaaaaaaarv**********m2a

# Output will include the OCID of the new compartment, e.g.:
# {
#   "data": {
#     "compartment-id": "ocid1.tenancy.oc1..aaaaaaaarv**********m2a",
#     "defined-tags": {},
#     "description": "Compartment for PeopleSoft Cloud Manager and its managed environments",
#     "freeform-tags": {},
#     "id": "ocid1.compartment.oc1..aaaaaaaai**********c2q",
#     "inactive-status": null,
#     "is-accessible": true,
#     "lifecycle-state": "ACTIVE",
#     "name": "TechNews_PSCM_Environments",
#     "time-created": "2024-05-15T10:00:00.000Z"
#   }
# }

2. Virtual Cloud Network (VCN) Configuration

Cloud Manager and all its managed PeopleSoft environments require a VCN with appropriate subnets, security lists, and route tables. A common setup includes a public subnet for Cloud Manager's load balancer (if used) and bastion host, and a private subnet for the Cloud Manager instance itself and the PeopleSoft application servers and databases.

# Define variables
TENANCY_OCID="ocid1.tenancy.oc1..aaaaaaaarv**********m2a"
COMPARTMENT_OCID="ocid1.compartment.oc1..aaaaaaaai**********c2q"
REGION="us-ashburn-1"
VCN_NAME="TechNews_PSCM_VCN"
VCN_CIDR="10.0.0.0/16"
PUBLIC_SUBNET_CIDR="10.0.1.0/24"
PRIVATE_SUBNET_CIDR="10.0.2.0/24"

# Create VCN
oci network vcn create \
    --compartment-id "$COMPARTMENT_OCID" \
    --display-name "$VCN_NAME" \
    --cidr-block "$VCN_CIDR" \
    --dns-label "pscmvcn" \
    --wait-for-state AVAILABLE \
    --query 'data.id' --raw-output
VCN_ID=$(oci network vcn list --compartment-id "$COMPARTMENT_OCID" --display-name "$VCN_NAME" --query 'data[0].id' --raw-output)
echo "VCN ID: $VCN_ID"

# Create Internet Gateway
oci network internet-gateway create \
    --compartment-id "$COMPARTMENT_OCID" \
    --vcn-id "$VCN_ID" \
    --display-name "TechNews_PSCM_IGW" \
    --is-enabled true \
    --wait-for-state AVAILABLE \
    --query 'data.id' --raw-output
IGW_ID=$(oci network internet-gateway list --compartment-id "$COMPARTMENT_OCID" --vcn-id "$VCN_ID" --query 'data[0].id' --raw-output)
echo "Internet Gateway ID: $IGW_ID"

# Create Public Route Table
oci network route-table create \
    --compartment-id "$COMPARTMENT_OCID" \
    --vcn-id "$VCN_ID" \
    --display-name "TechNews_PSCM_Public_RT" \
    --route-rules "[{\"cidrBlock\":\"0.0.0.0/0\",\"networkEntityId\":\"$IGW_ID\"}]" \
    --wait-for-state AVAILABLE \
    --query 'data.id' --raw-output
PUBLIC_RT_ID=$(oci network route-table list --compartment-id "$COMPARTMENT_OCID" --vcn-id "$VCN_ID" --display-name "TechNews_PSCM_Public_RT" --query 'data[0].id' --raw-output)
echo "Public Route Table ID: $PUBLIC_RT_ID"

# Create Public Subnet
oci network subnet create \
    --compartment-id "$COMPARTMENT_OCID" \
    --vcn-id "$VCN_ID" \
    --display-name "TechNews_PSCM_Public_Subnet" \
    --cidr-block "$PUBLIC_SUBNET_CIDR" \
    --route-table-id "$PUBLIC_RT_ID" \
    --prohibit-public-ip-on-vnic false \
    --dns-label "pscmpub" \
    --wait-for-state AVAILABLE \
    --query 'data.id' --raw-output
PUBLIC_SUBNET_ID=$(oci network subnet list --compartment-id "$COMPARTMENT_OCID" --vcn-id "$VCN_ID" --display-name "TechNews_PSCM_Public_Subnet" --query 'data[0].id' --raw-output)
echo "Public Subnet ID: $PUBLIC_SUBNET_ID"

# Create Service Gateway (for private subnet access to OCI services like Object Storage)
oci network service-gateway create \
    --compartment-id "$COMPARTMENT_OCID" \
    --vcn-id "$VCN_ID" \
    --service-id "ocid1.service.oc1.phx.oracleobjectstorage" \
    --display-name "TechNews_PSCM_SGW" \
    --wait-for-state AVAILABLE \
    --query 'data.id' --raw-output
SGW_ID=$(oci network service-gateway list --compartment-id "$COMPARTMENT_OCID" --vcn-id "$VCN_ID" --query 'data[0].id' --raw-output)
echo "Service Gateway ID: $SGW_ID"

# Create Private Route Table with Service Gateway rule
oci network route-table create \
    --compartment-id "$COMPARTMENT_OCID" \
    --vcn-id "$VCN_ID" \
    --display-name "TechNews_PSCM_Private_RT" \
    --route-rules "[{\"cidrBlock\":\"all-phx-services-in-oracle-services-network\",\"networkEntityId\":\"$SGW_ID\"}]" \
    --wait-for-state AVAILABLE \
    --query 'data.id' --raw-output
PRIVATE_RT_ID=$(oci network route-table list --compartment-id "$COMPARTMENT_OCID" --vcn-id "$VCN_ID" --display-name "TechNews_PSCM_Private_RT" --query 'data[0].id' --raw-output)
echo "Private Route Table ID: $PRIVATE_RT_ID"

# Create Private Subnet
oci network subnet create \
    --compartment-id "$COMPARTMENT_OCID" \
    --vcn-id "$VCN_ID" \
    --display-name "TechNews_PSCM_Private_Subnet" \
    --cidr-block "$PRIVATE_SUBNET_CIDR" \
    --route-table-id "$PRIVATE_RT_ID" \
    --prohibit-public-ip-on-vnic true \
    --dns-label "pscmpriv" \
    --wait-for-state AVAILABLE \
    --query 'data.id' --raw-output
PRIVATE_SUBNET_ID=$(oci network subnet list --compartment-id "$COMPARTMENT_OCID" --vcn-id "$VCN_ID" --display-name "TechNews_PSCM_Private_Subnet" --query 'data[0].id' --raw-output)
echo "Private Subnet ID: $PRIVATE_SUBNET_ID"

3. Security Lists/Network Security Groups (NSGs)

Proper ingress/egress rules are crucial. Ensure SSH (port 22) access to Cloud Manager, HTTPS (port 443) for the Cloud Manager UI, and relevant PeopleSoft ports (e.g., 8000-8020 for application servers, 1521 for databases) are open within the VCN or to specific trusted IPs.

# Example: Create a Security List for Cloud Manager instance
oci network security-list create \
    --compartment-id "$COMPARTMENT_OCID" \
    --vcn-id "$VCN_ID" \
    --display-name "TechNews_PSCM_SL" \
    --ingress-security-rules '[
        {"protocol": "6", "source": "0.0.0.0/0", "sourceType": "CIDR_BLOCK", "tcpOptions": {"destinationPortRange": {"max": 22, "min": 22}}},
        {"protocol": "6", "source": "0.0.0.0/0", "sourceType": "CIDR_BLOCK", "tcpOptions": {"destinationPortRange": {"max": 443, "min": 443}}},
        {"protocol": "6", "source": "10.0.0.0/16", "sourceType": "CIDR_BLOCK", "tcpOptions": {"destinationPortRange": {"max": 1521, "min": 1521}}}
    ]' \
    --egress-security-rules '[
        {"protocol": "all", "destination": "0.0.0.0/0", "destinationType": "CIDR_BLOCK"}
    ]'

4. IAM Policies

Cloud Manager operates on OCI by making API calls on your behalf. This requires a dedicated IAM policy that grants it the necessary permissions to manage compute, network, storage, database, and other resources within the designated compartment. The Cloud Manager Marketplace stack typically creates an instance principal for the Cloud Manager VM, and you need to grant this principal permissions.

# Policy for Cloud Manager instance principal to manage resources
# Assuming 'pscm-cm-group' is the dynamic group created for Cloud Manager instance principal
# Example Dynamic Group Rule: All {instance.compartment.id = 'ocid1.compartment.oc1..aaaaaaaai**********c2q'}
# Replace 'ocid1.compartment.oc1..aaaaaaaai**********c2q' with your PSCM compartment OCID.

# Create a dynamic group for Cloud Manager instance if not already existing
# (This is typically done via OCI Console for instance principal dynamic groups)
# Rule for dynamic group:
# ALL {instance.id = 'ocid1.instance.oc1.phx.aaaaaaaa**********g3q'} 
# OR (for all instances in a compartment)
# ALL {instance.compartment.id = 'ocid1.compartment.oc1..aaaaaaaai**********c2q'}

# Policy statement to be added:
Allow dynamic-group TechNews_PSCM_DynamicGroup to manage all resources in compartment TechNews_PSCM_Environments
Allow dynamic-group TechNews_PSCM_DynamicGroup to manage all-artifacts in tenancy
Allow dynamic-group TechNews_PSCM_DynamicGroup to use tag-namespaces in tenancy
Allow dynamic-group TechNews_PSCM_DynamicGroup to read metrics in tenancy
Allow dynamic-group TechNews_PSCM_DynamicGroup to inspect compartments in tenancy
Allow dynamic-group TechNews_PSCM_DynamicGroup to manage vnics in compartment TechNews_PSCM_Environments
Allow dynamic-group TechNews_PSCM_DynamicGroup to manage instance-family in compartment TechNews_PSCM_Environments
Allow dynamic-group TechNews_PSCM_DynamicGroup to manage volume-family in compartment TechNews_PSCM_Environments
Allow dynamic-group TechNews_PSCM_DynamicGroup to manage database-family in compartment TechNews_PSCM_Environments
Allow dynamic-group TechNews_PSCM_DynamicGroup to manage virtual-network-family in compartment TechNews_PSCM_Environments
Allow dynamic-group TechNews_PSCM_DynamicGroup to manage object-family in compartment TechNews_PSCM_Environments
Allow dynamic-group TechNews_PSCM_DynamicGroup to use tag-namespaces in tenancy
Allow dynamic-group TechNews_PSCM_DynamicGroup to inspect compartments in tenancy

5. SSH Key Pair

An SSH key pair (public and private) is required to access the Cloud Manager instance. The public key will be provided during deployment.

# Generate an SSH key pair
ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 2048 -f ~/.ssh/id_rsa_pscm_oci -N ""
# This will create id_rsa_pscm_oci (private key) and id_rsa_pscm_oci.pub (public key)
# The content of id_rsa_pscm_oci.pub will be used during Cloud Manager deployment.

6. Cloud Manager Image Subscription

Ensure your OCI tenancy is subscribed to the PeopleSoft Cloud Manager listing in the Oracle Cloud Marketplace. Navigate to the Marketplace, search for "PeopleSoft Cloud Manager," and accept the terms of use.

7. OCI CLI Configuration (Optional, but Recommended for Automation)

While the Cloud Manager deployment is typically done via the OCI Console, having the OCI CLI configured simplifies prerequisite setup and post-deployment verification.

# Example OCI CLI configuration file (~/.oci/config)
[DEFAULT]
user=ocid1.user.oc1..aaaaaaaam**********g7q
fingerprint=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
key_file=/home/opc/.oci/oci_api_key.pem
tenancy=ocid1.tenancy.oc1..aaaaaaaarv**********m2a
region=us-ashburn-1

Step-by-Step Implementation: Deploying Cloud Manager 17 and Cloning Environments

Phase 1: Deploying PeopleSoft Cloud Manager 17 Instance on OCI

The deployment of Cloud Manager is primarily driven by an Oracle Resource Manager (ORM) stack available in the OCI Marketplace. This stack automates the provisioning of all necessary OCI resources.

1. Launching from OCI Marketplace

1. Log in to the OCI Console.
2. Navigate to Marketplace > All Applications.
3. Search for "PeopleSoft Cloud Manager" and select the latest version (e.g., "PeopleSoft Cloud Manager 17.x").
4. Click Launch Stack.
5. Select the appropriate Compartment (e.g., TechNews_PSCM_Environments) for the Cloud Manager instance.
6. Accept the Oracle Standard Terms and Restrictions.
7. Click Launch Stack.

2. Configuring the Cloud Manager Stack

This is the most critical step, where you define the parameters for your Cloud Manager deployment.

• Stack Information:
  • Name: TechNews_PSCM17_Deployment
  • Description: PeopleSoft Cloud Manager 17 instance for TechNews Venture
  • Compartment: TechNews_PSCM_Environments
• Configure Variables:
  • PeopleSoft Cloud Manager Network Configuration:
    • Network Strategy: Select "Use existing VCN and Subnets".
    • Virtual Cloud Network (VCN): Select TechNews_PSCM_VCN (the one created in prerequisites).
    • Cloud Manager Subnet: Select TechNews_PSCM_Private_Subnet.
    • Load Balancer Subnet (Optional, if using Load Balancer): Select TechNews_PSCM_Public_Subnet.
    • Bastion Subnet (Optional, if using Bastion Host): Select TechNews_PSCM_Public_Subnet.
  • Cloud Manager Host Configuration:
    • Cloud Manager Host Display Name: pscm-instance
    • Cloud Manager Host Shape: VM.Standard.E4.Flex (or a suitable shape, e.g., VM.Standard.E3.Flex)
    • Cloud Manager Host OCPU Count: 4
    • Cloud Manager Host Memory (GB): 64
    • SSH Public Key: Paste the content of your ~/.ssh/id_rsa_pscm_oci.pub file.
    • Cloud Manager Host Boot Volume Size (GB): 200
  • Cloud Manager Database Configuration:
    • Database Type: Choose Autonomous Transaction Processing (ATP) for simplicity and managed service benefits.
    • ATP Display Name: pscm-atp-db
    • ATP Database Name: PSCMDB
    • ATP Admin Password: Provide a strong password (e.g., P5C!_M@nager_DB_2024!).
    • ATP OCPU Count: 2
    • ATP Storage (TB): 1
    • ATP License Type: License Included or Bring Your Own License (BYOL).
  • Cloud Manager Administrator User Credentials:
    • Cloud Manager Administrator User ID: pscmadmin
    • Cloud Manager Administrator Password: Provide a strong password (e.g., P5C!_M@nager_UI_2024!).
• Click Next, review the configuration, and then click Create.

3. Monitoring the Deployment

The Resource Manager stack will initiate the deployment. You can monitor its progress in the OCI Console under Resource Manager > Stacks > TechNews_PSCM17_Deployment > Job Details. The deployment typically takes 45-90 minutes, depending on the selected resources and OCI region load.

4. Initial Access and Configuration

Once the stack deployment job completes successfully:

1. Obtain the Public IP of the Cloud Manager instance's Load Balancer (if deployed) or Bastion Host. If no public access, you'll need a VPN or OCI Bastion service to access the private IP of the Cloud Manager instance.
2. Access the Cloud Manager UI via HTTPS (e.g., https://<Load_Balancer_Public_IP>/psft/cm/ or https://<Cloud_Manager_Private_IP>/psft/cm/).
3. Log in with the administrator credentials (pscmadmin and the password you set).
4. Register OCI Environments: Navigate to Cloud Manager Settings > OCI Environments.
   • Click Add OCI Environment.
   • Provide a name (e.g., TechNews_Dev_Env).
   • Select the Region (us-ashburn-1).
   • Choose Instance Principal for authentication (Cloud Manager instance already has the necessary IAM policies).
   • Select the compartment where Cloud Manager will manage PeopleSoft environments (e.g., TechNews_PSCM_Environments).
   • Click Test Connection and then Save.

Phase 2: Utilizing Cloud Manager for Environment Cloning

With Cloud Manager successfully deployed and configured, we can now leverage its core capability: environment cloning. This process involves selecting a source PeopleSoft environment and provisioning a new, identical instance.

1. Onboarding or Provisioning a Source Environment

Before cloning, you need a source PeopleSoft environment managed by Cloud Manager. You can either:

• Provision a new environment: Use Cloud Manager to deploy a fresh PeopleSoft environment from a template or a DPK. This is done via Environments > Provision Environment.
• Onboard an existing environment: If you have an existing PeopleSoft environment on OCI that wasn't provisioned by Cloud Manager, you can onboard it. This involves running an onboarding utility on the source environment and registering it with Cloud Manager via Environments > Onboard Environment.

For this guide, let's assume we have an existing PeopleSoft HCM 9.2 Production environment named HCM92_PROD, already onboarded or provisioned by Cloud Manager.

2. Initiating the Cloning Operation

1. In the Cloud Manager UI, navigate to Environments.
2. Locate the source environment you wish to clone (e.g., HCM92_PROD).
3. Click the Actions menu (three dots) next to the environment name and select Clone Environment.

3. Configuring the Target Environment Details

The cloning wizard will prompt you for the target environment's specifics:

• Target Environment Name: HCM92_DEV_CLONE
• Target Environment Description: Development clone of HCM92_PROD for new feature testing
• Target OCI Environment: Select the registered OCI environment (e.g., TechNews_Dev_Env).
• Network Configuration:
  • VCN: Select TechNews_PSCM_VCN.
  • Application Server Subnet: Select TechNews_PSCM_Private_Subnet.
  • Database Subnet: Select TechNews_PSCM_Private_Subnet.
  • Web Server Subnet: Select TechNews_PSCM_Private_Subnet.
  • Load Balancer Subnet (if required): Select TechNews_PSCM_Public_Subnet.
• Database Configuration:
  • Database Type: Typically the same as the source (e.g., Autonomous Transaction Processing).
  • ATP Display Name: hcm92dev-atp
  • ATP Database Name: HCM92DEV
  • ATP Admin Password: Provide a strong password.
  • ATP OCPU Count & Storage: Configure based on target environment needs.
• Compute Configuration:
  • Configure shapes (e.g., VM.Standard.E4.Flex), OCPU, and memory for Application Servers, Web Servers, and Process Schedulers. You can scale down from production for development/test environments.
• Middleware Configuration:
  • Define WebLogic domain details, PeopleSoft system IDs, and other specific parameters. Cloud Manager typically pre-fills these from the source and allows you to modify them for the target.
• SSH Public Key: Provide the public key for accessing the cloned instances (can be the same as Cloud Manager's or a new one).
• Review and Clone: Review all settings and click Clone.

4. Monitoring the Cloning Process

Cloud Manager creates a new job for the cloning operation. You can monitor its progress under Activity > Jobs. The cloning process involves:

• Creating new OCI compute instances for application, web, and process scheduler servers.
• Provisioning a new database instance (or cloning from a database snapshot if using a VM DB System or Exadata). For ATP, it provisions a new ATP database and then restores the data from the source.
• Copying PeopleSoft binaries and configuration files.
• Updating database connection details and environment