Virtualization of the Middle Tier

It's been interesting to see the big push for virtualization of the middle tier.    If you look at the continuing growth of SpringSource and Oracle Fusion Middleware, you can expect to see a number of presentations at VMWorld and Oracle Open World.

I'm currently spending a lot of time looking at building virtualized infrastructures for the middle tier.  I'm  seeing the tremendous demand of customers for the evolution of their physical middle-tier environments into virtualization.  Strong customer demands in this area include:

• Creation of virtualized apps that are a suite of virtual machines containing, database, application server and LDAP suites that can be deployed with the click of a button.
• Creation of development virtualized environments where it is very easy to deploy multiple development environments in Linux, Windows, for test environments.  Very easy for developers to create snapshots that they can roll back to.
• Deployment of large sets of virtualized desktops using products like VMware View.

Tools provided by VMware such as Lab Manager, vCenter Update Manager, Host Profiles and Baselines make it very easy to keep systems synchronized and agile for quickly changing development environments.  Once a virtualized environments are set up for middle-tier applications, its great to see customers saying things like "wow, its amazing how we every survived without virtualization".  Lots of great success stories in this area.

Collaborate 2010 Las Vegas - Lots of great Fusion Middleware presentations

Looking at the schedule there are a lot of great sessions on Fusion Middleware.   The nice thing about the Collaborate conference is you can attend in-depth technical sessions on Fusion Middleware at the IOUG sessions and then attend great Fusion Middleware sessions that are application related at the OAUG and Quest sessions.   Three great groups putting on a great conference.

See everybody there.

Demystifying Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g Series is Coming!

When Oracle Fusion Middleware first came out I went around the United States and Great Britain and did a number of presentations called "Demystifying Oracle Fusion Middeware".  I've been involved in Oracle Fusion Middleware pack to the day when I delivered the first Oracle JDeveloper internal class at Oracle Corporation on the very first beta release of the product.  This presentation was a one hour presentation and associated white paper that explained  in layman's terms:

• They key components and products in Oracle Fusion Middleware.
• The importance and role of the different Oracle Fusion Middleware components.
• How it all fits together.
• The importance of Oracle Fusion Middleware.
• Strategic Directions.

I've been asked constantly to update this presentation to Oracle 11g and make the presentation and white paper available again.  So by popular demand I am going to present a Demystifying Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g series and at the end an associated white paper.

Learning more on Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g at User Conferences

I've been working with Oracle Java and Fusion Middleware solutions since teaching the first Oracle JDeveloper internal class using the first beta release of JDeveloper.  Since that time JDeveloper and Fusion Middleware has gone through a lot of changes.

Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g and JDeveloper 11g is the most significant release of these products since they've first come out.  The level of real declarative programming capability achieved with 11g is significant.  The new level of declarative programing now allows new middleware developers to play a larger and more productive role in middleware development projects. There are also a number of significant enhancements to all the components in the Oracle Fusion Middleware.  You can also listen to a series of Oracle and Sun strategy webinars on Oracle Fusion Middleware.

Here are some great upcoming conferences where you can learn more on Oracle 11g Middleware solutions.

RMOUG (Denver: Feb 16 - 18) - Rocky Mountain Oracle Users Group - A fantastic local Oracle users conference.

Collab 10 (Las Vegas:Apr 18 - 22)  - Collaborate 10- The big Oracle users conference of the year.

Java and Application Servers are Everywhere

Everyone does not realize how much Java is changing the world.  Mobile devices, Smart cards, GPS devices are all running Java.  Who would have thought that you would have Java running in application servers in soda machines and smart cards?  Unbelievable that you can set a Java breakpoint for a Java application running on an application server in your phone.

Oracle Fusion Middleware 11gR2 is incredible - True Declarative Java programming

Oracle Fusion Middleware 11gR2 has finally achieved what they've talked about for years, high powered declarative programming for building web applications.  The interfaces for Oracle Enterprise Manager, SQL Developer and JDeveloper are incredibly rich with unbelievable functionality and they all integrate incredibly well together.   Allowing all the interfaces to work very well together is so powerful.  For example, going in and working with Oracle XML and going back and forth with OEM, SQL Builder and JDeveloper to work with XML structures is just incredible.  I looked at this with the rich interfaces and all I could think was "wow", allowing all the pieces to  easly integrate is absolutely empowering. 

Demystifying Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g - Oracle Open World Unconference

Oracle Fusion Middleware Presentation Oracle Open World  - Oct 13, 2009 (Tuesday 11:00)

Location: Moscone West Floor 3 Overlooks

This presentation is designed to demystify Middleware components and explain how these components work together. Topics include: J2EE, Application Servers, Web Services, JSF, ADF, XML, Application Frameworks, Controllers, WSDL, BPEL, SOA and business rule engines. Attendees will learn how each of these components fit into the Fusion Middleware architecture. This is an important presentation for developers, business app developers and DBAs who would like to learn more about the middle-tier.

A lot of people are still not clear on the components of middleware and how they work together within the architectural framework.  When people see things on Oracle Fusion Middleware they see terms like ADF, services, SOA, BPEL, frameworks, controllers, XML, JSF, etc. and are not clear on what these terms are and then how you click a button in JDeveloper and then a miracle happens. In this presentation we will take off the magic covers and show how it all works on the inside.   This is a fun and fast paced presentation I have been delivering since Oracl Fusion Middleware first came out.  I have updated it to include the latest Oracle 11gR2 components and hopefully have added a few funny jokes.

The goal is to provide attendees a fun, entertaining and painless presentation that will help them get an understanding of Oracle Fusion Middleware, why its so important and how the components work together.

Installing and Setting up Oracle Fusion Middleware Environment

Setting up an Oracle Fusion Middleware environment is pretty straightforward.  However I'm always getting asked by people new to Oracle environments or JDeveloper what they need to install.  So I've included some simple instructions for setting up an Oracle Fusion Middleware environment and explaining the components.

Steps for setting up Oracle Fusion Middleware

   1. Join the Oracle Technology Network (OTN) if not already a member.   After going to OTN.oracle.com, on the top right part of the screen there is a signin window.  If not already a member you need to join (it's free).  OTN is your primary Oracle resource for software downloads, whitepapers, forums, documentation as an Oracle developer.  OTN will contain downloads for all software installs for this environment.

   2. Install Oracle JDeveloper 11g.  JDeveloper is an enterprise Integrated Development Environment (IDE) that contains all the user interfaces and components for different types of middleware applications and components.   Click the license agreement and install JDeveloper for the platform you are using.  Although I'm a Mac user, I'm using the Windows version due to the larger install base.  Go to the download directory for the platform you are running and run the software you downloaded.  If  you go with the default and complete install, some of the key feature can be seen in the list below.  This list highlights the amount of functionality in JDeveloper.

    * Oracle JDeveloper (Integrated Development Environment)
    * Oracle ADF (Application Development Framework)
    * Oracle WebLogic Server (Application Server)
    * JDK 6 (Windows and Linux)
    * Oracle SOA Suite
    * Oracle WebCenter
    * UML Development
    * XML Development
    * Database Development
    * Web Services Development
    * Oracle Toplink Development
    * ADF Faces and Business Components
    * Oracle Toplink Development
    * Java EE Application Server Integration and Deployment

   3.  Install an Oracle database server.  I'd recommend a version of Oracle Database Server 11g or the Express Edition.  If you have DBA experience and can set up a loopback adapter I'd set up the Oracle Database Server 11g.  If a developer and don't want to mess with managing a database server, l then I'd highly recommend installing the Oracle Database 10g Express Edition. This is a pretty simple point and click database environment.   Go to OTN and install the database version you'd prefer to work with (installation instructions can be found on OTN).   Go to the JDeveloper New Menu and choose database connection and you're on your way.

You now have a nice environment for developing Oracle Fusion Middleware components or applications.

• Oracle JDeveloper
• Oracle Weblogic Application Server
• Oracle Database Server

Two great sources for getting started include:

• JDeveloper and Oracle Fusion Middleware documentation available on OTN.
• Online demos, tutorials and code samples available in the Help Menu of JDeveloper.

Oracle Fusion Special Interest Group Meeting in Denver, Oct 22, 2009

There is such strong interest in Denver, there is going to be a meeting October 22, 2009 about starting a Special Interest Group (SIG) surrounding Oracle Fusion Middleware.

Oracle JDeveloper and Eclipse

Oracle offers two strong solutions for developing Java applications: Oracle JDeveloper 11g and the Enterprise Eclipse Pack.

• The Enterprise Eclipse Pack makes it easy for Java (BEA) developers to develop and deploy applications to the Oracle WebLogic Server.
• Oracle JDeveloper is a fully integrated IDE for developing applications.
  

Key features new in JDeveloper 11gR1:

• Metadata Services (MDS).
• ADF Desktop Integration
• SOA Suite
• WebCenter Framework and Services     
• Team Productivity Center (TPC)

Key components in Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g:

• JDeveloper and ADF
• SOA Suite 11g
• WebCenter 11g
• WebLogic Suite 11g
• Identity Management 11g