Know What Changed

Find Configuration Changes with My Oracle Support’s Configuration-Based Services

When customers log technical Service Requests, one of the first things we want to know is, “What changed?” Changes in a configuration are often the cause of newly reported issues.

Some of the most powerful uses of configuration data are the capabilities to view a configuration at a point in time (Snapshot), view a list of configuration changes between two points in time (History), and view a side-by-side comparison of a configuration at two points in time (Compare). You can use these capabilities to quickly identify and recover from issues directly related to a configuration change or a patch introduction. This information is available for proactive usage as well. The ultimate goal is to help you proactively avoid issues and, if they occur, quickly resolve them.

To view configuration data, navigate to the Systems tab in My Oracle Support. Once there, search in the Targets region to view the desired configuration.

Note: The Systems tab is visible only to:

• Customer User Administrators (CUAs)
• Users with at least one hardware Support Identifier (SI) and View Asset privileges in their profile
• Users with active targets associated with the hardware or software SIs in their profile
  
  
  

Clicking on the Detach button, in the target region above, will maximize the region and display additional columns.

Snapshot

Clicking on the target Name hyperlink in the screenshot above will open the target screen below in My Oracle Support. The most current snapshot of the configuration displays in the Configuration region.

You also have the ability to view historical snapshots of the configuration at a point in time. Choose one of the displayed dates or specify a custom dates via the Other Date option. Oracle retains one year of configuration detail. The intent is to allow you to use this data for comparative analysis.

Selecting Nov 26, 2012 from the drop-down displays the data for that day.

Note: If you do not have a collection on the day you selected, data for the closest possible date displays.

History

The History button displays default dates, just as the Snapshot option above. Additional options are available for custom date ranges.

Choosing Nov 26, 2012 from the drop-down displays changes that occurred between Nov 26, 2012 and Dec 17, 2012.

Notes: In the Item Name section click on the All hyperlink to see all changes. The check boxes for the Items that changed highlight as well. If you do not have a collection on the day you selected, the closest possible date’s data displays.

Compare

The Compare button provides a side-by-side comparison of a configuration between two dates. The functionality for this regions works the same way as the History button.

Choosing Nov 26, 2012 from the drop-down displays changes that occurred between Nov 26, 2012 and Dec 17, 2012 and a side-by-side view of the values. This view does not indicate when changes occurred.

Note: If you do not have a collection on the day you selected, the closest possible date’s data displays.

Print or Export Data

Many customers want the ability to analyze this data outside of My Oracle Support. Under the View button, customers have the option of creating a Printable View or Export CSV.

Resources to Learn More

To learn more about how to leverage configuration data and the configuration-based services, please go to the Collector tab in My Oracle Support. For assistance on setting up the collector, please refer to the blog entry from October 18th, 2012.

You can find more information under the Help link in the upper right corner of My Oracle Support. Navigate to the Table of Contents link and select the Systems link from the window that opens. You will see links that provide detailed information on Systems, Targets, and Configurations.

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