OFM 11g Launch - The fusion ages kicked in

Java Tools and Frameworks
Nathalie Roman | Jul 2, 2009 08:09 -0600

Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g has finally arrived and it'll give as well developers as customers the possibility to implement bleeding edge technology throughout the Oracle Stack.

Just looking at the different features and functionalities that have been build into the stack is amazing and most of all, you can't get round fusion anymore.

So let's have a look at what fusion has to offer us (it'll swipe you of your feet!):

  1. The BEA Integration Milestone:
    1. Weblogic Server will be the underlying backbone of all fusion applications, going from classic environments such as Forms, Reports to the web 2.0 environments such as Webcenter and ADF. What will this milestone offer us:
      1. Flexibility and agility by declarity of design
      2. Take decisions in real time by integrating analytics within the transactional context
      3. Power for the end-user so business and it can interact and collaborate whilst enabling end-users with a flexible, personalized and easy-to-use business oriented environment
      4. Ease-of-upgrade using automated tools to upgrade existing OC4J applications towards the new Web Logic Server
        1. Automated upgrade for soa components, webcenter applications, forms and reports applications
        2. Smart Upgrade for OC4J JEE Applications
          1. Descriptor analysis to report on recommended findings
          2. Upgrade all the pieces of configuration necessary (pick and choose)
      5. Consolidation and virtualization of the data-center to enable companies to maximize return on investment using the data grid
  • Budget can go to development instead of administration and management
  • Services-based delivery that will enable companies to re-use services throughout the enterprise using a standards based approach giving customers and partners the ability to work within a shared-service infrastructure
  • Unified management and monitoring capabilities within one environment and a rich user interface
  1. Enterprise Manager will be the window on the data-center!
  2. Fusion Middleware Control gives you the ability to manage multi-domains, policies, alerts, SLA and much more in a single environment.
  1. The Grid: A new model for efficient resource utilization:
    1. The Coherence in-memory data grid gives you the ability to paralyze computation across the grid
    2. Inherently use the grid for as well cpu as memory
    3. State-aware continuous availability for service infrastructure
    4. Software-only solution, no hardware costs necessary
    5. Off-heap storage = Significantly reduced coherence nodes
  2. Unified Security Model
    1. Using the Oracle Platform Security Services you can define a generic and integrated security model throughout the Oracle Stack = 1 Common Security Layer

So now we have the backbone of our infrastructure laid out, now it's time to have a look at the different components that will offer these functionalities.

  1. SCA - Service Component Architecture:
    1. Composites will be key throughout this stack which will give you the possibility to deliver and reuse any service that has been built Enterprise-wide. When you're talking about data services, business services, web services or even mediator services, it'll all be managed within one environment. In other words ease of development, deployment, management using a unified approach for as well business and IT.
      1. These composite services can be re-used in different ways throughout the business and it lifecycle going from business dashboards, to side-by-side versioning on composite level, to global-policy management, to unified management and monitoring of each aspect and transactions within and E2E-context and much more.
    2. Integration of BEA products :
      1. OESB will become the mediator component within the Service Component Architecture used for basic routing between components
      2. OSB will become the new service bus that'll offer routing, transformation, chaining of services and much more within SCA
    3. B2B, BAM, BPEL, Human Workflow, OSB can be hooked up into the SCA cloud using Adapter technology to enable business and it to focus on different aspects of the organization whilst holding the needed agility and flexibility throughout the entire development lifecycle.
    4. A unified BPM Platform which is fully BPMN 2.0 compliant and leverages BPM capabilities using a single environment for as well business as IT, namely Jdeveloper
      1. Integration of BPM Studio within Jdeveloper
      2. Share processes and services using the BPM Process Composer and business Catalog
      3. Easy-to-upgrade using the migration path provided when going from 10g to 11g
  2. Jdeveloper - The development environment for as well business and IT, a unique proposition
  • Integration of BPM Studio
  • Composite based development using Adapter-technology
  • ADF which will put a face on each application that needs to be delivered to end-users
    • ADF render kits for Ajax and Flash
    • ADF render kits to .png (talking bandwidth and performance into account)
    • ADF render kits for usability purposes (e.g. Screen reader-functionality)
  • Active Data Services Push
    • Data changes are pushed into the UI instead of needing to pull for data changes, using Coherence Cache Listeners and asynchronous calls
  • Application Lifecycle Management
    • Pluggable interface to quickly access documentation, bugs, reports etc. used throughout the stack
  • ADF Desktop Integration
    • Build transactional spreadsheets using the existing binding layer of ADF

In other words SCA Suite, Webcenter Suite, Forms, Reports and Fusion Apps will use the same infrastructure which will enable the usage of consistent admin and management tools whilst leveraging capabilities of the infrastructure and database throughout the entire stack.

My 2 cents ... Fusion has become a reality with unlimited functionality and features!
Working within a forms, JEE, DB or Apps environment, everyone will be using the same technologies throughout the stack ... The fusion ages kicked in!

Be the first to hear about the Forms 11g launch

Java Tools and Frameworks
(author unknown) | Jul 2, 2009 07:49 -0600

I'll be presenting a webinar on Thu 9th July on the new Forms 11g release. Topics will include strategy, new features and integration. If you want to get the low down on where we are going with Oracle Forms and what the new release is all about, this is the place to be.

Live at the Fusion Middleware launch

Java Tools and Frameworks
(author unknown) | Jul 2, 2009 07:16 -0600

I made the trip up to London today to watch the Oracle execs including President Charles Phillips and Thomas Kurian launch Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g.
There have been those who have been doubting the delivery of "Fusion" and what was important to see today was not just the launch of the platform and the tools but how much of the technology I'm inolved in (JDeveloper and ADF) is part of the Oracle stack.

The demo of SOA dropped into JDeveloper, the Web Center demo dropped into Jdeveloper and for those not in the know, the UI you were seeing in many of our dashboards was ADF Faces, built ontop of ADF and all designed from within JDeveloper.

For the tooling, the focus was on a "single development platform". It was also emphasised that the development focus is NOT on technology, but the business logic. Ted Farrell "Basically, what we're saying is we're trying to abstract our users building enterprise applications and Web applications from the underlying view technologies, which are constantly changing"

There was also a focus on the fact the much of the development is driven, not through code, but through metadata: Thomas Kurian "...it will allow changes to applications to be made at a higher, metadata level, rather than through changes in the underlying application code. Avoiding app customizations will lead to fewer incompatibilities between applications and relieve a major impediment to application upgrades."

Already media reports (here and here) are talking (favourably) about the release.

Dynamic JMX Service URL for OC4J 10.1.3.x

Java Tools and Frameworks
Pas Apicella | Jul 1, 2009 17:04 -0600
Not for myself, the following code will dynamically generate a JMX service URL without using OPMN port.

 private String url =
   "service:jmx:ormi://" + System.getProperty("hostname.rmi") +
   ":" + System.getProperty("port.rmi");
http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheBlasFromPas

Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g Release 1 - Performance Improved !

Java Tools and Frameworks
Andrejus Baranovskis | Jul 1, 2009 11:19 -0600
Today is a great day - Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g Release 1 became reality ! I remember, 3 years ago when Fusion development was started, not all my colleagues were sure that it will be finished successfully ! But today we can see a proof - we have Release 1 of working product !

I'm excited to see in Oracle Fusion:
  1. Oracle WebLogic Suite 11g
  2. Oracle SOA Suite 11g
  3. Oracle Identity Management 11g
  4. Oracle WebCenter Suite 11g
If speaking more technically and about my current project, I can see potential use of those major new feature areas:
  1. Oracle Metadata Services (MDS)
  2. Oracle ADF Desktop Integration
  3. Oracle SOA Suite
  4. Oracle WebCenter Framework and Services
  5. Oracle Team Productivity Center (TPC)
I can see that Entity Objects in ADF Business Components support now Business Events, that is pretty cool because we can integrate our Model logic with SOA composites through standard events.

And finally, I have noticed - JDeveloper 11g Release 1 IDE performance is greatly improved, that cool news. I have tested and tool seems to work now more predictable and dialogs are opening with better response, thats good work. Also, performance bug described in my previous post is fixed - JDeveloper 11g IDE Performance Problem - Reproduced.

It’s Here! Download the New Release of JDeveloper 11g!

Java Tools and Frameworks
Avrom | Jul 1, 2009 10:51 -0600
Woohoo! Get it while it’s hot!

Unit Test your composite application with Test Suite in Soa Suite 11g

Java Tools and Frameworks
Edwin Biemond | Jul 1, 2009 09:21 -0600

With the release of Soa Suite 11g you can make a unit tests to test your Soa Composite Application. In this blog I will show all the steps you have to do, to make a successfull unit test. For this I made a simple Composite application which retrieves the last name of an employee. The Composite application with an exposed BPEL process has EmployeeId as input and BPEL invokes a database adapter to get the Employee’s lastname and return this as response.
First we start by making a XML schema with a input and response element

Add a BPEL process to the Composite xml and use the above XML schema as input and output and expose this BPEL as a webservice. After this I created a Database adapter which has employeeId as input and returns the lastname of the employee. Add a wire between the BPEL process and the Database adapter so I can invoke this adapter in the BPEL process

Open the BPEL process and add the invoke operation. I use an assign operation to fill the input variable of the database adapter and an other assign operation to retrieve the lastname and add this to the response of the BPEL process

The employee Composite application is finished and now I can create a new Test Suite.

The Test Suite creates a copy of the Composite xml.

Select the Exposed Service where we can create a new input request

In this dialog I can generate a sample xml and change the EmployeeId with a real value

Select the wire of the database adapter where we add a input and output assertion so the unit test can compare this to the adapter values

First we create the input assert, use the generate Sample button and change the employeeId value

Do the same for the output of the Database adapter.
Do the same for the exposed Service and the BPEL process

In this wire I want to compare the output of the BPEL process with the Callback Assert.

Now we only have to deploy the whole composite application. The just created Test Suite is part of this deployment.

To test this unit test I have to go to the new improved EM website of the Soa Suite server where I can select the Employee Composite

Select the Unit Test tab of the Employee Composite and select the testcase and press the Execute Button

Take a look at the Test Runs to see the results of the test.

We can see the test4 is successfull and the assertions are succesfull too.

Finally we can compare the expected and actual Value by selecting an assertion

That’s all

Oracle Fusion Middleware 11gR1 now available

Java Tools and Frameworks
Eric Marcoux | Jul 1, 2009 08:53 -0600

This morning Oracle has officially launched Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g release 1 that includes the following products :

  • Oracle WebLogic 11g (the new Oracle Application Server)
  • Oracle SOA Suite 11g
  • Oracle WebCenter 11g
  • Oracle ADF 11gR1
  • Oracle Identity Management 11g (OVD, OID, OAM, OIF)
  • Oracle Forms 11g
  • Oracle Reports 11g
  • Oracle Portal 11g
  • Oracle BI Publisher 11g
For more details, follow this link.

Click here to download the new products.

Oracle Fusion Middleware 11gR1 products

Java Tools and Frameworks
Eric Marcoux | Jul 1, 2009 08:43 -0600
What can be installed in Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g?

There are multiple installation CD-ROMs, each containing a separate piece of Oracle Fusion Middleware 11gR1:

? Oracle Repository Creation Utility (RCU)
? Oracle WebLogic Server
? Oracle SOA Suite
? Oracle WebCenter (Framework, Content Integration, SES, Wiki Server, Community Space, Personal Space, Content Adapters and Voice Option)
? Oracle Identity Management Suite (OID, DIP, OVD)
? Oracle Portal, Forms, Reports, and Discoverer
? Oracle Fusion Middleware WebTier and Utilities (OHS, WebCache, SSO, HA)
? Oracle Fusion Middleware Companion CD (JDev, ADF, TopLink, MapViewer, BI Publisher, ADR, PSS, TRS)
? Oracle Business Process Analysis Suite 11
? Oracle Secure Enterprise Search (SES)
? Oracle Fusion Middleware Adapters and Connectors
? Oracle Service Registry 11
? Oracle Fusion Middleware Documentation Library

Reference: Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Planning Guide (b32474.pdf)

Oracle Fusion Middleware 11gR1 Directories

Java Tools and Frameworks
Eric Marcoux | Jul 1, 2009 08:43 -0600
When you install Oracle Fusion Middleware 11gR1, some directories are created.

Middleware Home and WebLogic Home

The top-level directory is called the Middleware Home. The WebLogic Home directory is inside the Middleware Home, and is also created when WebLogic Server is installed.

Oracle Home

Each Oracle Fusion Middleware product must be installed in its own Oracle Home location. The software binaries will be installed into the Oracle Home; no runtime process can write to this directory.

The Oracle Home directories (in this case, the SOA Oracle Home) for each product
must reside inside an existing Middleware Home directory.

WebLogic Domain

After a product is installed, it can be configured into a WebLogic Domain. The User Projects directory is created when you create or configure a domain. By default, new domains are created inside the Domains folder, but you can choose to create these elsewhere if you want.

The following illustration shows the directory structure after an Oracle Fusion Middleware 11gR1 product has been installed :


Multiple products with multiple WebLogic Domains

If you install multiple products and choose to create a separate domain for each product, then your directory structure would look something like this :


Notice that each product has its own Oracle Home directory.

Extending a Domain

During installation and configuration, you may chose to extend an existing domain rather than creating a new domain. Extending a domain means that you add products and funtionality to an existing domain. If, for example, you first install Oracle SOA Suite to create a new domain, then install Oracle WebCenter Suite while choosing to extend the existing Oracle SOA Suite domain, then your topology would look like this:



Oracle Instance and WebLogic Domain

This figure shows the directory structure after one product with a WebLogic domain and a second with an Oracle Instance are installed and configured :


Oracle Metadata Repository

A metadata repository contains metadata for Oracle Fusion Middleware system components, such as Oracle BPEL Process Manager, Oracle B2B, and Oracle Portal. It can also contain metadata about the configuration of Oracle Fusion Middleware and metadata for your applications.

A metadata repository can be database-based or file-based. If it is database-based, Oracle Metadata Repository can be installed into an existing database using the Repository Creation Utility (RCU).

Oracle Fusion Middleware supports multiple repository types. A repository type represents a specific schema or set of schemas that belong to a specific Oracle Fusion Middleware component (for example, Oracle SOA Suite or Oracle Internet Directory).

A particular type of repository, the MDS Repository, contains metadata for most Oracle Fusion Middleware components, such as Oracle B2B, and for certain types of applications. It is recommended that all metadata repositories reside on a database at the same site as the components to minimize network latency issues.

Reference: Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Planning Guide (b32474.pdf)

Oracle WebLogic 11gR1 Node Manager

Java Tools and Frameworks
Eric Marcoux | Jul 1, 2009 08:42 -0600
Node Manager is a Java utility that runs as separate process from Oracle WebLogic Server and allows you to perform common operations for a Managed Server, regardless of its location with respect to its Administration Server. While use of Node Manager is optional, it provides valuable benefits if your WebLogic Server environment hosts applications with high-availability requirements.

If you run Node Manager on a machine that hosts Managed Servers, you can start and stop the Managed Servers remotely using the Administration Console or the command line. Node Manager can also automatically restart a Managed Server after an unexpected failure.

Reference: Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Planning Guide (b32474.pdf)

Oracle WebLogic 11g R1 Managed Servers and Clusters

Java Tools and Frameworks
Eric Marcoux | Jul 1, 2009 08:42 -0600
Managed Servers host business applications, application components, Web services, and their associated resources. To optimize performance, Managed Servers maintain a read-only copy of the domain's configuration document. When a Managed Server starts up, it connects to the domain's Administration Server to synchronize its configuration document with the document that the Administration Server maintains.

When you create a domain, you create it using a particular domain template. That template supports a particular component or group of components, such as the Oracle SOA Suite. The Managed Servers in the domain are created specifically to host those particular Oracle Fusion Middleware system components.

Java-based Oracle Fusion Middleware system components (such as Oracle SOA Suite, Oracle WebCenter, and some Identity Management components), as well as customer-developed applications, are deployed to Managed Servers in the domain.

If you want to add other components, such as Oracle WebCenter, to a domain that was created using a template that supports another component, you can extend the domain by creating additional managed servers in the domain, using a domain template for the component which you wish to add.

For production environments that require increased application performance, throughput, or high availability, you can configure two or more Managed Servers to operate as a cluster. A cluster is a collection of multiple WebLogic Server server instances running simultaneously and working together to provide increased scalability and reliability. In a cluster, most resources and services are deployed identically to each Managed Server (as opposed to a single Managed Server), enabling failover and load balancing. A single domain can contain multiple WebLogic Server clusters, as well as multiple Managed Servers that are not configured as clusters. The
key difference between clustered and non-clustered Managed Servers is support for Oracle Fusion Middleware Directory Structure and Concepts Beta Draft Installation Overview 1-5
failover and load balancing. These features are available only in a cluster of Managed Servers.

Reference: Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Planning Guide (b32474.pdf)

Oracle WebLogic 11gR1 Administration Server

Java Tools and Frameworks
Eric Marcoux | Jul 1, 2009 08:42 -0600
The Administration Server operates as the central control entity for the configuration of the entire domain. It maintains the domain's configuration documents and distributes changes in the configuration documents to Managed Servers. You can also use the Administration Server as a central location from which to monitor all resources in a domain.

Each Oracle WebLogic Server domain must have one server instance that acts as the Administration Server.

To interact with the Administration Server, you can use the Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console, Oracle WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST), or create your own JMX client. In addition, you can use Oracle Enterprise Manager Fusion Middleware Control for some tasks.

Fusion Middleware Control and the WebLogic Administration Console run in the Adminstration Server. Fusion Middleware Control is a Web-based administration console used to manage Oracle Fusion Middleware, including components such as Oracle HTTP Server, Oracle SOA Suite and Oracle WebCenter, Oracle Portal, Forms, Reports, and Discoverer, and the Oracle Identity Management components. Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console is the Web-based administration console used to manage the resources in an Oracle WebLogic Server domain, including the administration server and managed servers in the domain.

Reference: Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Planning Guide (b32474.pdf)

Oracle Fusion Middleware 11gR1 Oracle instances

Java Tools and Frameworks
Eric Marcoux | Jul 1, 2009 08:42 -0600
System components are configured in an Oracle Instance directory, which contains updatable files, such as configuration files, log files, and temporary files. All system components in an Oracle Instance directory must reside on the same machine.

An Oracle Instance directory is a peer of an Oracle WebLogic Server domain in that both contain specific configurations outside of their Oracle Product Home directories. However, it is important to note that a Weblogic Server domain may cross machine boundaries and may contain a distributed business application. An Oracle Instance directory contains a portion of a topology restricted only to a single machine.

Each instance of a system component must be uniquely identified within the Oracle Instance directory.

Reference: Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Planning Guide (b32474.pdf)

Oracle Fusion Middleware 11gR1 environment

Java Tools and Frameworks
Eric Marcoux | Jul 1, 2009 08:41 -0600
After installing Oracle Fusion Middleware 11gR1, it will contains the following environment :
  • one Oracle WebLogic Server domain, which contains one Administration Server
  • if you installed system components, they are configured in an Oracle Instance
  • a metadata repository, if the components you installed require one - ex.: Oracle SOA Suite requires a metadata repository
  • a Middleware home, which contains product binary files
The following illustration shows a typical Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g environment :

This illustration shows a typical Oracle Fusion Middleware environment containing one WebLogic domain (one Administration Server and two Managed Servers) and two Oracle Instances (one for Oracle HTTP Server and the second for Oracle Web Cache). Both managed servers point to a Metadata Repository.

Reference: Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Planning Guide (b32474.pdf)

Oracle Fusion Middleware 11gR1 components

Java Tools and Frameworks
Eric Marcoux | Jul 1, 2009 08:41 -0600
In Oracle Fusion Middleware 11gR1, every product of the suite that you install is considered as a component. There are two kinds of components :

Java Components

Oracle Fusion Middleware components that are deployed as one or more Java EE applications and a set of resources. Java components are deployed to an Oracle WebLogic Server domain as part of a domain template. Examples of Java components are the Oracle SOA Suite and Oracle WebCenter components.

System Components

Manageable processes that are not deployed as Java applications. Instead, system components are managed by the Oracle Process Manager and Notification (OPMN).

The system components are:

– Oracle HTTP Server
– Oracle Web Cache
– Oracle Internet Directory
– Oracle Virtual Directory
– Oracle Forms Services
– Oracle Reports
– Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer
– Oracle Business Intelligence

Reference: Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Planning Guide (b32474.pdf)

What is Middleware ?

Java Tools and Frameworks
Eric Marcoux | Jul 1, 2009 08:41 -0600
Middleware is a term used to describe computer software that connects software components or applications. Middleware includes Web servers, application servers, content management systems, and similar tools that support application development and delivery. Middleware is especially integral to information technology based on Extensible Markup Language (XML), Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), Web services, and service-oriented architecture (SOA). Middleware is the enabling technology for enterprise application integration. It describes a piece of software that connects two or more software applications so that they can exchange data. Middleware can be described as the software layer that lies between the operating system and the applications on each side of a distributed computing system in a network.

Reference: Oracle Fusion Middleware Concepts - e10103.pdf

Oracle Fusion Development Platform 11gR1: Which Web browsers are officially supported ?

Java Tools and Frameworks
Eric Marcoux | Jul 1, 2009 08:41 -0600
The following web browsers are officially supported for web applications built using Oracle Fusion Development Platform 11gR1 :
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0
  • Firefox 2.0
  • Firefox 3.0
  • Safari 3.0
The following mobile web browsers are officially supported too :
  • Apple iPhone Safari
  • BlackBerry Browser 4.2
  • Nokia S60 Browser
  • Windows Mobile Pocket IE for Windows Mobile 5,6

Oracle Fusion Development Platform 11gR1: Which databases are officially supported ?

Java Tools and Frameworks
Eric Marcoux | Jul 1, 2009 08:40 -0600
This certification matrix shows the databases that are certified against Oracle JDeveloper 11gR1 and Oracle Application Development Framework (ADF) 11gR1 :


Supported means that Oracle will address customer issues, but the features are not necessarily tested. Certified means that the feature is supported on that database, and has passed testing by JDeveloper QA. The databases shown are all supported, even if not certified or working in this release.

How to deploy an ADF 11gR1 web application on WebLogic 10.3 ?

Java Tools and Frameworks
Eric Marcoux | Jul 1, 2009 08:40 -0600
If you have deployed Oracle WebLogic 10.3 and would like to execute a web application you have built using Oracle JDeveloper 11gR1 and ADF 11gR1, you will have to install the ADF 11gR1 libraries plus some patches.

The easiest way to do that is to run the Installer program of the Fusion Middleware Development Platform 11gR1 by running the jdevstudio11111install_win32.exe file. During the installation process, choose "Custom" and select the "Application Development Framework Runtime" component under the WebLogic Server category. Specify the WLS directory where to install this component and the installer will take care of the rest for you.

The Application Development Framework Runtime component includes the following items:
  • ADF runtime jar (Java ARchive) files
  • WLS patches to run an ADF 11gR1 web application
  • domain templates