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Improving Performance for Multiple
Web Agent Installations

The Web Application Server administrator's guide provides useful information on sites with more than one Web Agent installation. If this is the case for your site, minimize the amount of storage space the system uses and enhance PL/SQL performance by performing the following steps:

  1. Install the Developer's Toolkit into one database user's schema.
  2. If you've already installed them, drop the Developer's Toolkit PL/SQL from the schemas of the Web Agent Database users for other Web Agent services. The syntax is as follows:
      connect <user> / <password> drop package HTF;
      drop package HTP; drop package OWA_UTIL; drop package OWA;
  1. Grant the execute system privilege on the PL/SQL packages to Web Agent Database Users for other Web Agent services. The following lines show how to use Oracle7x data definition language (DDL) to grant Web Application Server privileges to your users:
     connect <toolkit owner> / <password>
     grant execute on HTF to <user>;
     grant execute on HTP to <user>;
     grant execute on OWA_UTIL to <user>;
     grant execute on OWA to <user>;
The connect statement takes the toolkit owner's ID and password as arguments. This is used to authenticate the user to make sure he is authorized to enter the system. The next four lines allow the successfully authenticated user to execute HTF, HTP, OWA_UTIL, and OWA objects/methods. The first two objects are used for Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) operations. The last two are used by the Oracle Web Agent for its operations.
  1. Create synonyms for the Developer's Toolkit PL/SQL packages in the schemas of the OWA Database Users for the Web Agent's other services. Synonyms are alternate names that make it possible for the packages to be referred to without being qualified by schema names. The following shows how to create synonyms to authenticate a user as an owner of a toolkit:
     connect <user>/<password>
     create synonym HTF for <Toolkit owner>.HTF;
     create synonym HTP for <Toolkit owner>.HTP;
     create synonym OWA_UTIL for <Toolkit owner>.OWA_UTIL;
     create synonym OWA for <Toolkit owner>.OWA;
The connect statement takes the toolkit owner's ID, and password as arguments. This is used to authenticate the user to make sure he or she is authorized to enter the system. The next four lines create synonyms for HTF, HTP, OWA_UTIL, and OWA objects/methods. The first two objects are used for Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) operations. The last two are used by the Oracle Web Agent for its operations.

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CAUTION
Creating synonyms might sound great, but there are some security concerns you need to know about. When PL/SQL procedures are executed, they carry with them the privileges of the creator of the PL/SQL code. For the Developer's Toolkit, this is only an issue for the OWA_UTIL package. Two of the subprograms, SHOWSOURCE and TABLEPRINT, access user data. Granting execute privileges to users on this package allows such users the ability to view the tables, views, and stored PL/SQL code of the owner of OWA_UTIL. If this is a security issue for your installation, Oracle advises installing the OWA_UTIL package separately for each OWA database user.

Using the Oracle Web Application Server
Administration Utility

The Oracle Web Application Server Administration pages enable management of the entire Oracle Web Server. These pages can be reached by clicking the Oracle Web Application Server Administration link on the Web Application Server Administration home page. The administrative tasks that are possible through these pages include the following:

Setting Up a New Web Agent Service

When reinstalling the Web Server, you might find it necessary to set up a new Web Agent service. You might find this necessary when you add a new workgroup server to the Web Application Server system architecture. To install a new Oracle Web Agent Service, click Create New Service. You should see the Oracle Web Agent Administration Creation form. Use this form to enter the parameters for the service you want to create. The following list describes each field on this form; it is based on information provided by Oracle:

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If an error occurs when you try to submit this form, the password fields are reset to zero-length strings and must be filled in again. This is to provide the tightest security available for your passwords. As a shortcut, you can select the Back button on your Web browser to return to the original submission form.

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