Oracle is moving to centralise systems management, monitoring and
performance-analysis operations for users of its databases and
middleware.
At its OracleWorld conference in San Francisco next week, Oracle
will announce the latest version of its Enterprise Manager
software. Version 4.0 will let IT staffers monitor their entire
Oracle database installations, from the underlying hardware to
end-user devices.
"Right now, when people look at performance, they look at the
systems but don't see it from an end-user perspective," said Rene
Bonvanie, vice-president of marketing for Oracle9i products. But,
he added, the Enterprise Manager upgrade will let administrators
monitor complete technology stacks without having to cobble
together multiple management applications.
Version 4.0 will also add the ability to view various performance
benchmarks, such as query response times, through a single user
interface, Bonvanie said. In addition, it can track what software
patches a user has installed and how well they are
performing.
IBM is building self-tuning and self-management capabilities into
an upgrade of its DB2 database that is due out late this month, and
Microsoft claims to have embedded similar features in its SQL
Server software.
Wayne Kernochan, an analyst at Aberdeen Group, said IBM and
Microsoft separate database administration from systems management.
Oracle's combined approach could help companies that have database
administrators managing multiple installations of its databases,
but it may not be as appealing to users with multivendor software.