How to fix Apache Bridge error bug in Forms 11gR2

Oct 8, 2012

NOTE: This bug involving the “Failure of server APACHE bridge” error has been fixed in the latest version of Oracle Forms & Reports 11gR2 (11.1.2.1) which has been released by Oracle.

Reported in Oracle Forms & Reports 11.1.2.0

We have been noticing that in many Forms 11gR2 installations that when you run a form which successfully runs a report using OHS, the forms server loses connection with the OHS server causing the “Failure of server APACHE bridge” error. This always resulted in restarting the OHS server in opmnctl. There is a bug in Forms 11gR2 that causes this due to an automatically applied patch “12632886”. To fix the problem, you will need to:

  1. Download the correct OPatch 12632886 from My Oracle Support. While it says 11.1.1.4, it’s okay to apply this to 11.1.2.
  2. Shut down opmnctl (Run “opmnctl stopall” in %ORACLE_INSTANCE%\bin)
  3. Create a directory for the downloaded patch called PATCH_TOP. Extract the patch. Inside PATCH_TOP, there will be a folder called 12632886.
  4. Open up Command Prompt and navigate to PATCH_TOP\12632886.
  5. Set ORACLE_HOME in Command Prompt:
    • “set ORACLE_HOME=%MW_HOME%\as_1”
  6. Append the following to PATH in Command Prompt:
    • “set PATH=%PATH%;%MW_HOME%\oracle_common\OPatch”
  7. Run OPatch to deinstall the improper patch:
    • “opatch rollback -id 12632886”
  8. Install the new patch 12632886 which you downloaded earlier:
    • cd ..
    • opatch apply 12632886
  9. Go back to %ORACLE_INSTANCE%\bin and run “opmnctl startall”. After applying this, the bug should be fixed.

We have seen this occur in the following operating systems (64-bit only):

  • AIX 6.1.0.0
  • Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
  • Windows Server 2008 Standard 64-bit
  • Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard 64-bit
  • Windows Web Server 2008 R2 64-bit

Alternatively, you may also consider upgrading to Oracle Forms version 12c as it contains the latest security and bug fixes. This bug has not been known to be reported in 12c.

Reference: Please see Oracle Support note 1380762.1 for more information regarding this bug. For all Oracle patches, please review the readme file included with the patch before installing.