What is it?
Oracle Application Server 10g is an application platform suite that
offers full support for J2EE, high-speed caching, rapid application
development, enterprise portals, identity management, business
intelligence, application and business integration, wireless
capabilities and more.
Oracle came late to the application server market, leaving IBM and
BEA to sweep up part of its potential business. But a large part of
its installed base would not consider going anywhere else as long
as Oracle has something to offer.
"To their core application server offerings, the current leaders
are adding support for business process management,
service-oriented architecture and web services, composite
integrated applications, multichannel applications and event-driven
architecture," said analyst firm Gartner. With increasing
complexity, however, comes the increasing risk of proprietary
lock-in.
Where did it originate?
Oracle's Web Server and Application Server products evolved in the
late 1990s, consolidating many existing and new products.
What is it for?
"To a web developer, Application Server 10g is Oracle Portal and
Oracle Web Cache, and to a developer, it is J2EE and OC4J (Oracle
Containers for Java)," said the authors of The Oracle Application
Server 10g Administration Handbook. "However, most users agree that
the core functionality of the program is the support for Java
development."
Oracle Application Server installations can consist of up to four
tiers: client, web, application server and database. The database
tier uses the standard Oracle database functions and the
application tier can access it via J2EE database connection
methods.
Oracle Application Server components include Oracle Containers for
Java, which holds the application's Enterprise Java Beans, Oracle
Portal, Oracle Wireless and a variety of query and reporting tools,
including Oracle Discover, Oracle Forms Server and Oracle Reports
Server.
What makes it special?
Oracle's strong advantage is being able to offer a database/
application server bundle. Oracle's own figures show Oracle
Application Server outperforms IBM's Websphere and BEA's Weblogic,
but that is to be expected. Meta Group still lists the IBM and BEA
products as market leaders, with Oracle Application Server as their
strongest competitor. But Meta expects open source J2EE application
servers such as JBoss to rapidly gain momentum
How difficult is it to master?
For each of the Oracle Application Server roles such as
administrator and web developer, Oracle provides three levels of
training and certification: associate, professional and master. You
will have an advantage if you have experience with the Oracle
database, Java development, J2EE platforms and Linux.
Where is it used?
In Oracle installations. Oracle Application Server customers
include Barnardo's, Boeing, Cern, City & Guilds and Virgin
Direct.
What systems does it run on?
Linux, Solaris, HP-UX and Windows
Not many people know that...
Two years ago, when Microsoft vulnerabilities filled the headlines,
Oracle supremo Larry Ellison boasted his servers were unbreakable.
Now Oracle has begun shipping patches every month, just like
Microsoft.
What is coming up?
Meta Group has predicted that most large organisations will have to
support both J2EE application servers and Microsoft's .net.
Microsoft has better productivity but J2EE has better
enterprise-level infrastructure and scalability.
Rates of pay
Oracle Application Server developers are paid between £22,000 and
£45,000, depending on seniority.
Training
Classroom, online and CD-Rom-based courses are available from
Oracle, its training partners and independent suppliers. People who
do not have broadband will need saint-like patience when accessing
the Oracle site.
See also the Unofficial Oracle Application Server Site. There are
good free downloads about the Oracle Application Server
architecture on both devshed and the O'Reilly sites.