Higher availability using FlexFrame for Oracle RE

Are you looking to consolidate your Oracle services? Are you looking to benefit from the simultaneous operation of databases across several servers?

If so, make sure to consider Fujitsu Siemens Computers’ FlexFrame for Oracle Rapid Edition (RE).

It’s a server consolidation and high-availability solution for:

• Oracle Database;
• Oracle Fusion Middleware; and
• Oracle applications.

FlexFrame for Oracle RE can be used to consolidate standalone industry-standard servers, storage and applications into a reliable, shared infrastructure in which any application can use any server and storage. For any busy CTO, this is a dream come true!

Don’t worry if you’re running Linux-based Oracle applications because FlexFrame for Oracle RE also provides high-availability for those servers.

FlexFrame for Oracle RE is delivered, installed and maintained like an appliance so it can be implemented with little disruption and risk. Operating systems and Oracle services can run unmodified on FlexFrame for Oracle RE and furthermore, consolidated operating system images are easier to store and maintain in the virtual FlexFrame environment, especially when compared with local boot environments.

So if you believe it’s time that you focused more on your Oracle applications and less on the administration of your server farm, per se, FlexFrame for Oracle RE might be worth a second look.

In a nutshell, it makes hosting Oracle applications a whole lot easier.

Tags: oracle, oracle rapid edition, oracle re, fujitsu siemens, flexframe, flexframe for oracle re, boot environments, operating system images, os images,virtualization, application hosting, server, storage, shared infrastructure

Deploy your Oracle software in Amazon’s EC2

Running software and backing up databases in clouds, as a concept, is gaining ground as savvy developers understand when to use it… and when not to.

Not all corporate software deployments should occur outside of the realm of an internal server room but for some projects, it’s the new way to reduce development, integration and testing cycles.

If you happen to be using Oracle to manage your data, you’re well set to use their software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform which is an open and integrated set of technologies, including the following:

• Oracle Database;
• Oracle Fusion Middleware;
• Oracle Enterprise Manager; and
• Oracle VM.

They allow independent software vendors to build, deploy and manage both on-premise and cloud-based applications.

The Oracle SaaS platform helps businesses achieve scalability and availability with support for grid computing,virtualization and integrated management across the platform. Coupled with the development, integration and testing cycles savings (in both time and money), it’s even more interesting.

SaaS and cloud computing have made the enterprise IT infrastructure somewhat elastic so that it can grow incrementally without any theoretical upper limit. Oracle has caught on to this idea and has partnered with Amazon Web Services to enable companies to…

• deploy Oracle software; and
• back up Oracle Database.

…in the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, dubbed Amazon EC2.

If you’ve been in charge of projects that seem to grow exponentially, you’re likely to understand, first-hand, why this technological approach makes sense. It’s up to you to see if your project is a good fit for it.

Tags: oracle, saas, software-as-a-service, cloud computing, grid, deloy oracle, backup oracle, amazon, aws, ec2, amazon ec2, cloud storage, cloud applications, reduced development time, oracle savings, orace scalability

Will Oracle’s Fusion Suite be released soon?

Without providing a specific timetable, Oracle has been busy pulling its many software acquisitions into its in-development Fusion applications.

Now, Oracle executives are indicate that an early version of this suite is nearing completion. Legions of Oracle coders are expecting it and many of them can actually get their hands on the thing…

• 450 customers are participating in the Fusion Suite development and providing feedback to Oracle; and
• 130 customers are taking part in an early-adopter program.

Oracle plans to begin beta-testing this year although nobody seems to know for sure when the suite will be released.

Customers with existing maintenance contracts can transition to Fusion at no extra charge so customers are likely to adopt this new suite rather than pass the opportunity to get a suite comprising business intelligence (BI) from Oracle’s Hyperion integration. Expect Retek and ProfitLogic acquisitions to add even more muscle to the suite.

In a nutshell, Fusion provides modern apps natively built in Java for modern business IT and as such, customers will be able to customize applications in exciting new way because, as Charles Philipps said, the design of each app, from the ground up, is to allow changeability after it ships.

As a final note, customers should know that the transitions to Fusion should be painless since its data models will be a superset of those in Ocale’s current applications.

Tags: oracle, fusion suite, java, information technology, it, business intelligence, bi, hyperion, retek, profitlogic, upgrades, oracle apps, charles philipps, modern business it, fusion development, fusion apps, fusion code, fusion beta, middleware

The Oracle and BEA middleware

Have you been following the Oracle and BEA saga, lately?

It seems many concerned customers are still unsure about what the recent acquisition of BEA by Oracle means to them but until the air is cleared out regarding this major transaction, perhaps a good way to make sense of it all is to take a look at the merged middleware offerings.

For good measure, we’ll also take a peak at service-oriented architecture and developer tools but the bulk of the offerings remain confortably nested in middleware so here’s a look at what you can expect.

Middleware

• Application server
  • Oracle JRockit - The industry’s highest performing Java Virtual Machine now built into Oracle Fusion Middleware;
  • Oracle JRockit Real Time - Deterministic-GC and Latency Analysis Tools help monitor and tune applications;
  • Oracle JRockit Mission Control - Tools to monitor, manage, profile and eliminate memory leaks in Java application;
  • Oracle WebLogic Server - Fully-featured, standards-based application server delivering compliance with open standards, multi-tiered architecture and support for component-based development;
  • Oracle WebLogic Application Grid - An extreme scale-out grid platform.
• Identity Management
  • Oracle Entitlements Server - Externalizes and centralizes administration of enterprise entitlements, simplifies authorization policies and enforces security decisions;
• Transaction Processing
  • Oracle Tuxedo - Platform for building large-scale distributed enterprise applications that enable businesses to reduce development and deployment, while preserving existing assets;
• User Interaction
  • Oracle WebCenter - Open, comprehensive and standards-compliant user interaction product suite providing web integration and interface services for deploying a broad range of solutions;
  • Oracle WebCenter Interaction - Formerly called BEA AquaLogic User Interaction, it’s an integrated, comprehensive collection of components used to create enterprise portals, collaborative communities as well as composite and social applications;
  • Oracle WebCenter Services - Integrated set of products designed for creating dynamic user work environments that take advantage of SOA while enabling business users to bring complete context to their daily work tasks;
  • Oracle WebLogic Portal - Formerly BEA WebLogic Portal, it’s a portal framework for creating highly interactive composite applications in a SOA environment with an integrated set of design-time tools for Java developers.

Service-Oriented Architecture

• Oracle SOA Suite - Suite of products that help build, deploy and manage deployments ranging from department-level to enterprise-wide systems.
• Oracle Service Bus - Accelerates configuration and deployment while simplifying management of shared services across the SOA.
• Oracle BPM - Modeling, implementation, execution and monitoring of end-to-end business processes.

Developer Tools

• Oracle Workshop - Extends Eclipse and Web Tools Platform with tools for Java, Java EE, Object Relational Mapping, Spring and Web Applications.

Quite a line of products, to say the least!

As you can see, Oracle has been busy integrating the BEA products to provide a unified line. It will take some time to getting use to but over time, customers using these technologies will benefit from enhanced data management technologies.

To make sense of this extensive line of products, Oracle provides documentation, sample code, technical whitepapers, demos and viewlets, internet seminars as well as discussion forums directly relating to Oracle products, on its own web site so you can also review them, if necessary.

This world-class combination of data management products is a fine choice for the Fortune 500 but it could also help you mid-sized or smaller company, just the same.

Tags: oracle, oracle middleware, oracle fusion, oracle databases, oracle development, oracle tools, oracle products, oracle technology, oracle network, soa, developer tools, internet, web, weblogic, portal, web server, webcenter, oracle tuxedo, oracle jrockit, java development, bea, bea aqualogic, jvm, java virtual machine

Oracle’s take on building visual queries

Being a big MySQL fan, I’m happy to report the open source database has been an awesome web development companion, especially when coupled with PHP or Perl.

This being said, the corporate world prefers DBAs with strong Oracle skills so if you’re looking to score some of the higher pay grade Oracle-centric jobs, perhaps you should take the Oracle SQL Developer software for a spin.

What you’ll find is a coherently organized set of work panes where you can see your databases’ entire (editable) content accompanied by a query construction zone where even relative database administration novices can work out perfectly coded SQL queries.

For those familiar with the rapid development alternatives, there are little differences between the visual query construction capable Oracle SQL Developer and the Oracle SQL*Plus software.

In fact, their feature lists are quite similar in the sense that both software let query database objects you have access to so you can add, alter and delete data by using data manipulation language (DML), work on database constructs using data definition language (DDL), write and run reports as well as create, edit and compile PL/SQL.

The range of GUI features for building and executing SQL queries visually is what makes Oracle SQL Developer a tool of choice for newbies, right up to experienced DBAs. In all fairness, every likes to work faster while generating generally flawless SQL query code.

You should also note that Oracle SQL Developer provides the SQL worksheet, a code editor window where you can enter and run statements that include SQL*Plus commandes, SQL and PL/SQL code — either single statements or multiple statements scripts.

So if you want to make a lot more money toying around with Oracle databases, probably as an Oracle DBA, your obvious choice is to use Oracle SQL Developer to manage common query tasks.

The easy-to-understand GUI tools will likely make you the new office hero!

Tags: oracle, sql, developer, queries, gui, dba, databases, dml, ddl, pl/sql