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In the first of two tutorials on getting started with Shareplex 9.0 on Windows running on the AWS Cloud provider, “Getting Started with Shareplex on Windows on AWS, Part 1,” we installed the pre-requisite software, and launched and connected with an EC2 instance running the Windows OS. In this continuation tutorial, we shall install Shareplex and start Shareplex service and test Shareplex by running some basic commands. This tutorial has the following sections:
Installing Shareplex
Download Shareplex 9.0 for Windows 2003, 2008, 2012, 2012R2 (Oracle 10gR2 to 12c and SQL Server 2008R2, 2012) application. A Shareplex 9.0 for Windows trial version also may be downloaded, as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Downloading Application for Shareplex
Double-click the sp_setup-9.0.0.018.exe application to install Shareplex 9.0 on Windows 2012, as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Launching the Shareplex Application
Click Open File, Run. The Shareplex setup wizard gets launched, as shown in Figure 3. Click Next.
Figure 3: Shareplex Installation Wizard
Select a Destination Folder to install Shareplex, as shown in Figure 4. The default directory is shown selected.
Figure 4: Selecting Destination Folder to install Shareplex
In Select Components, select Shareplex Full Installation Oracle 12c, as shown in Figure 5.
Figure 5: Selecting Components to install
Next, select or specify the Shareplex port number/s. Select the default Shareplex port, 2100 (see Figure 6).
Figure 6: Selecting Shareplex Port
Shareplex makes use of a variable data directory to store its internal information. Select the default variable data directory, as shown in Figure 7, and click Next.
Figure 7: Selecting the Variable Data Directory
Next, select the Program Manager Group or keep the default setting and click Next, as shown in Figure 8.
Figure 8: Selecting the Program Manager Group
Shareplex uses the PTC NuTCRACKER (MKS Toolkit) operating environment to run on Windows. Next, the PTC NuTCRACKER Platform Components 9.x get installed, as shown in Figure 9.
Figure 9: Installing PTC NuTCRACKER Platform Components 9.x
Other files and applications get copied, as shown in Figure 10.
Figure 10: Installation progress
After the installation completes, the Installation Complete dialog gets displayed (see Figure 11). The message dialog indicates that, before running Shareplex, the SpUtils utility should be used to install Shareplex as a service and the ora_setup application should be run to configure the Shareplex database account. Click Finish.
Figure 11: Installation Complete
An Install dialog (shown in Figure 12) indicates that the Windows server would need to restart for the Shareplex installation to complete. Click OK.
Figure 12: Install
A dialog, “The disconnection was initiated by the user logging off his or her session on the server”, may get displayed. Click OK. The Chrome RDP login screen gets displayed. Click Connect to log back in to Windows 2012, as shown in Figure 13.
Figure 13: Re-connecting to Windows 2012 Instance on EC2 with Chrome RDP
The Shareplex gets installed on Windows 2012 and different Shareplex utilities should get added, as shown by the new icons in Figure 14. The SpUtils utility is used to start the Shareplex service, as we shall discuss subsequently. The Sp_Ctrl is the command line interface to run commands on Shareplex. And, the SpClient is a remote access utility for Shareplex.
Figure 14: Shareplex Installed
Starting the Shareplex Service
Next, we shall start the Shareplex service so that the sp_ctrl and other Shareplex user interfaces, such as SpClient, are able to access Shareplex. Double-click the SpUtils icon, shown in Figure 14. First, we need to add the license key for Shareplex. A license key is sent to the e-mail registered when the Shareplex trail version or some other edition is downloaded. Select the License Key tab and click Add License, as shown in Figure 15.
Figure 15: SpUtils>License Key>Add License
In the Add Key dialog, specify the License Key and Customer Name, which are used to register to download Shareplex and also sent with the license key. Click OK (see Figure 16).
Figure 16: Adding License Key
The license key information gets set, as shown in Figure 17.
Figure 17: License Key Information Set
Next, select the Shareplex Services tab and click Start to start the Shareplex service, as shown in Figure 18. The Shareplex service needs to be started only if the Current State is “Service Stopped”.
Figure 18: Starting Shareplex Service
The “Service Running” message, displayed in Figure, 19 indicates that the Shareplex service has been started.
Figure 19: Shareplex Service Running
The Information tab displays the Platform and Shareplex information, including the Shareplex Port, Version, Install Dir, and VarDir, as shown in Figure 20.
Figure 20: Platform and Shareplex Information
Using Shareplex Commands
Shareplex provides various command line interfaces in addition to the OS command prompt to run Shareplex commands. The Shareplex C:Program FilesQuest SoftwareShareplexbin directory, in which the Shareplex applications are installed, gets added to the Windows PATH environment variable when Shareplex is installed and the Shareplex applications, such as ora_setup, may be run from any directory on the OS command prompt. The sp_ctrl Command Line Interface (CLI), also called the Shareplex for Oracle Command Utility, may be launched from the Windows icon (see Figure 21).
Figure 21: Launching the Sp_Ctrl Command Line Interface
The sp_ctrl command line interface gets started, as shown in Figure 22.
Figure 22: Shareplex for Oracle Command Utility
The sp_ctrl commands may be run from the command line. As an example, the connection help command lists the usage for the connection command, as shown in Figure 23.
Figure 23: Running a Shareplex sp_ctrl Command
To run the Shareplex applications, such as ora_setup and pg_setup, search for “cmd” and launch an OS command prompt, as shown in Figure 24.
Figure 24: Launching an OS Command Prompt
The OS command prompt gets displayed, as shown in Figure 25.
Figure 25: Windows 2012 OS Command Prompt
Run the Shareplex os_setup command as an example (see Figure 26).
Figure 26: Running a Shareplex OS Command
Conclusion
In two tutorials, we discussed getting started with using Shareplex on Windows 2012 on AWS. We have only discussed getting started with Shareplex. Running a migration requires installing a source database and a target database. Shareplex is used for its near zero-downtime database replication and data integration from two of the leading databases, Oracle and SQL Server, its automation for continuous replication with no scheduling required, its data accuracy and integrity, and its support for several data sources (JMS, SQL, XML, Teradata, and Kafka) as targets from the source, such as as an Oracle database. If using databases on a Cloud platform with managed services, such as the Amazon Web Services (AWS), using Shareplex on a Cloud platform such as the AWS has the benefit of being able to integrate with the databases without requiring Shareplex connections from a local machine to databases on a Cloud platform.
