How to Fix the Oracle EBS 12.1.3 JDBC Connection Lock Issue

As with any product, there is always an increased risk of bugs when a new feature is introduced. Oracle E-Business Suite is no different. In release Release 12, Oracle introduced a usability feature called Configurable Homepage. This is a new homepage layout that is drastically different from 11i. This feature brings in a new gamut of personalization features to the Oracle E-Business Suite home page. This homepage feature got a new bug with 12.1.3. This bug only affects EBS 12.1.2 and 12.1.3 customers who have OAMainMenuRESTHandler.class version 120.0.12010000.18.

$ strings -a $JAVA_TOP/oracle/apps/fnd/framework/webui/rest/OAMainMenuRESTHandler.class|grep Header
[$Header: OAMainMenuRESTHandler.java 120.0.12010000.18 2010/06/11 14:37:27 akbansal noship $

This bug almost looks like a JDBC connection leak, but its not exactly a leak. When users navigate to any self service page like “timecard” entry, away from the home page, the home page locks a JDBC connection to the database. This DB connection remains locked and not shared with other JDBC sessions until the user navigates back to the home page. This issue, for example, increases the number of connections required on the database on a weekend where all users start logging into EBS to fill their time sheets.

The fix for this bug is outlined in the below metalink note:

Connections Locked In OANAVIGATEPORTLETAM After Login To The Configurable Homepage [ID 1454792.1]

In short, the fix is to disable configurable home page or apply patch 13822452. I seriously believe this patch needs to be included in a CPU bundle, as a low lurking bug like this can drive a DBA crazy during peak hours.