Oracle is enhancing its database and application
software architecture to assist IT personnel in running ever larger
systems with less effort.
Database staff using the Oracle Enterprise Manager product will
be able to aggregate multiple databases and other Oracle-based
systems in a single browser-based view, said Andrew Mendelsohn,
senior vice-president, database and application server
technologies, at Oracle.
"It's our goal to make the database self-managing and make it
invisible," he said. That includes not just databases, but any
Oracle-related aspect of the datacentre, such as the response times
for transactions on a web page.
Currently, administrators are generally limited to managing the
health of a single system at one time. To make configuration more
automatic, Oracle plans to enhance its product range so Enterprise
Manager can automatically take feeds from multiple database and
application server products and centralise the information for
presentation to administrators.
For instance, database managers could, from a single view, get
information about all systems that are close to running out of
storage space instead of manually running queries on individual
databases, as they do now.
Eventually, the application will be able to store statistical
performance information and make recommendations for best practice
configuration, said Mendelsohn.
Oracle is also automating the process for users to access its
online Metalink support site to download patches. When logging on,
IT staff will automatically receive all the patches they need for
each of their systems, depending on operating systems and other
factors.
Mendelsohn said users will start to see these features with the
next release of the Oracle Application Server this summer.
A couple of users said they are considering deploying the
technology when it becomes available.
William Maguire, chief information officer at storage supplier
Legato Systems, said the improvements could help his staff keep
their database systems online and cut the total cost of ownership
by letting him do more with fewer people. "It might increase the
window of availability to the user and increase the productivity of
the user," he said.
Legato is running Oracle8i to support its Oracle E-Business
Suite 11i applications, and an Oracle9i database which it uses for
analytical operations.
Oracle is ahead of competitors IBM and Microsoft in enabling the
management of its database products, said Rich Niemiec, president
of the International Oracle Users Group and chief executive officer
of Oracle support and service provider TUSC.
TUSC is managing 700 Oracle databases remotely and Niemiec said
the improvements planned by Oracle are something that could help
his support staff. He added that he also likes the changes Oracle
has made to its browser interface to make it pure HTML, enabling
users to access Enterprise Manager without requiring any particular
client.