This article presents how to install and configure Apex for version 4.2, 4.2.1, 4.2.2, 4.2.3, 4.2.4, 4.2.5

Prepare software to installation

Download installation package from Oracle site and unzip.

Download apex_4.2.X.zip to directory /tmp and unzip it from
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/developer-tools/apex/downloads/index.html

cd /tmp
unzip <downloaded software>

After unzip is completed a new directory will be created /tmp/apex so go to this directory and log into database as SYSDBA. Always use SYSDBA account for running all scripts.

cd /tmp/apex
sqlplus / as sysdba

Pre-installation steps

It’s recommended to do backup of the database and disable the Oracle XMLDB HTTP server by setting the HTTP port to 0.

EXEC DBMS_XDB.SETHTTPPORT(0);

Install full development option

@apexins tablespace_apex tablespace_files tablespace_temp images

tablespace_apex - name of the tablespace for APEX user.
tablespace_files - name of the tablespace for APEX files user.
tablespace_temp - name of the temporary tablespace.
images - virtual directory for APEX images. Define the virtual 
image directory as /i/ for future updates.

@apexins SYSAUX SYSAUX TEMP /i/

When Oracle Application Express installs, it creates three new database accounts:

• APEX_040200 – The account that owns the Oracle Application Express schema and metadata.
• FLOWS_FILES – The account that owns the Oracle Application Express uploaded files.
• APEX_PUBLIC_USER – The minimally privileged account is used for Oracle Application Express configuration with Oracle Application Express Listener or Oracle HTTP Server and mod_plsql.

Change password for ADMIN account. When prompted enter a password for the ADMIN account.

@apxchpwd

Configure embedded PL/SQL Gateway and unlock ANONYMOUS account. One important note – you are calling script from directory /tmp/apex but you need to specify /tmp. It can seem a little bit weird.

@apex_epg_config /tmp

ALTER USER ANONYMOUS ACCOUNT UNLOCK;

Update images from previous releases

@apxldimg.sql /tmp

Verifying Oracle XML DB HTTP Server Port and set it to 8080

SELECT DBMS_XDB.GETHTTPPORT FROM DUAL;

EXEC DBMS_XDB.SETHTTPPORT(port);
EXEC DBMS_XDB.SETHTTPPORT(8080);

Enable Network Services in 11g

By default, the ability to interact with network services is disabled in Oracle Database 11g release 1 or 2. Therefore, if you are running Oracle Application Express with Oracle Database 11g release 1 or 2, you must use the new DBMS_NETWORK_ACL_ADMIN package to grant connect privileges to any host for the APEX_040200 database user.

DECLARE
  ACL_PATH  VARCHAR2(4000);
BEGIN
  -- Look for the ACL currently assigned to '*' and give APEX_040200
  -- the "connect" privilege if APEX_040200 
  -- does not have the privilege yet.

  SELECT ACL INTO ACL_PATH FROM DBA_NETWORK_ACLS
   WHERE HOST = '*' AND LOWER_PORT IS NULL AND UPPER_PORT IS NULL;

  IF DBMS_NETWORK_ACL_ADMIN.CHECK_PRIVILEGE(ACL_PATH, 'APEX_040200',
     'connect') IS NULL THEN
      DBMS_NETWORK_ACL_ADMIN.ADD_PRIVILEGE(ACL_PATH,
     'APEX_040200', TRUE, 'connect');
  END IF;

EXCEPTION
  -- When no ACL has been assigned to '*'.
  WHEN NO_DATA_FOUND THEN
  DBMS_NETWORK_ACL_ADMIN.CREATE_ACL('power_users.xml',
    'ACL that lets power users to connect to everywhere',
    'APEX_040200', TRUE, 'connect');
  DBMS_NETWORK_ACL_ADMIN.ASSIGN_ACL('power_users.xml','*');
END;
/
COMMIT;

Configure database parameters for APEX

JOB_QUEUE_PROCESSES must be set to at least 20

ALTER SYSTEM SET JOB_QUEUE_PROCESSES = <number>
ALTER SYSTEM SET JOB_QUEUE_PROCESSES = 20 SCOPE = BOTH;

The embedded PL/SQL gateway uses the shared server architecture of the Oracle database. For a small group of concurrent users, Oracle recommends a value of 5 for SHARED_SERVERS.

ALTER SYSTEM SET SHARED_SERVERS = 5 SCOPE=BOTH;

Verify APEX is working

Administration page

http://hostname:port/apex/apex_admin

Development page

http://hostname:port/apex

Have a fun 🙂

Tomasz