| Standard Edition
| Enterprise Edition
| Wireless Edition
| Services and Components
|  | Oracle9i Application Server Architecture and Components To provide flexible deployment options, Oracle9i Application Server is available in three versions: Standard Edition is appropriate for Web sites that process a small number of transactions with minimal need for application support. Enterprise Edition is recommended for medium-sized to large-sized Web sites that handle a high volume of transactions. Wireless Edition provides full enterprise support that includes Oracle Portal-to-Go if you need to deliver content to wireless devices. Top of page Standard Edition Oracle9i Application Server Standard Edition provides you with: Standard base infrastructure. Unmatched support for J2EE API, which provides powerful development options. Superior Oracle database integration. Integration services to connect Web solutions to existing back-ends. Enterprise Edition Oracle9i Application Server Enterprise Edition includes all features of the Standard Edition, plus: Oracle Database Cache on the middle tier for faster, more efficient access to content. Oracle Web Cache to improve the performance, scalability, and availability of busy e-business Web sites. Oracle8i PL/SQL for running business logic against data in Oracle Database Cache and the database. Oracle Form s Service s for faster development of professional applications. Oracle Reports Services to deliver management reports to thin clients. Oracle Discoverer 3i Viewer for running and viewing Oracle Discoverer workbooks (reports) over the Web. Wireless Edition Oracle9i Application Server Wireless Edition includes all features of the Enterprise Edition, plus: Oracle Portal-to-Go to deliver information and applications to mobile devices. Top of page Services and Components To deliver application hosting, Web content, security, and integration, Oracle9i Application Server includes the following services and components that support a 100% Internet platform:
Services | Components
Communication | Oracle HTTP Server powered by Apache Oracle HTTP Server Modules (mods) Oracle Plug-in for Microsoft IIS
Business Logic | Oracle BC4J (Business Components for Java) Oracle8i JVM (Java Virtual Machine) Oracle8i PL/SQL (Enterprise & Wireless Edition) Oracle Form s Service s (Enterprise & Wireless Edition)
Presentation | Apache JServ (servlets) OracleJSP (JavaServer pages) Oracle PSP (PL/SQL Server pages) Perl Interpreter
Caching | Oracle Database Cache (Enterprise & Wireless Edition) Oracle Web Cache (Enterprise & Wireless Edition)
Content Management | Oracle Internet File System
Portal Services | Oracle Portal Oracle Portal-to-Go (Wireless Edition)
Business Intelligence Services | Oracle Reports Services (Enterprise & Wireless Edition) Oracle Discoverer 3i Viewer (Enterprise & Wireless Edition)
Developer's Kits | Oracle Database Client Developer's Kit Oracle XML Developer's Kit (XDK) Oracle LDAP Developer's Kit
System | Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM) Oracle Advanced Security
Top of page Communication Services These services handle all incoming requests received by Oracle9i Application Server. Some of these requests are processed by Oracle HTTP Server and some requests are routed to other areas of Oracle9i Application Server for processing. Oracle HTTP Server powered by Apache As the HTTP entry point to Oracle9i Application Server, Oracle HTTP Server is powered by Apache Web server technology and provides many benefits: Stability The Apache Web server is the defacto standard for Web listeners. Apache, an open source technology, has been continuously improved by a large community of developers since its first release. Scalability Supports a wide variety of platforms. Designed to be very scalable, and can be replicated across multiple middle-tier machines. Speed Provides fast response to requests due to compact design of the Apache server. Apache can be rapidly reconfigured and reloaded in seconds using graceful restart. Extensibility Delegates handling of HTTP requests to modules (mods) for added functionality not included in the Apache server by default. Top of page Oracle HTTP Server Modules (mods) In addition to the compiled Apache mods provided with Oracle HTTP server, which support current Internet application technologies to deliver dynamic Web pages, Oracle has enhanced several of the standard mods and has added Oracle-specific mods: mod_ssl: provides standard HTTPS that is fully supported by Oracle; enables secure listener connections with an Oracle-provided encryption mechanism via the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). mod_plsql: routes PL/SQL requests to Oracle8i PLSQL service, which, in turn, delegates the servicing of requests to PL/SQL programs. mod_perl: forwards Perl application requests to the Perl Interpreter that is embedded in Oracle HTTP Server, providing power and speed. mod_jserv: routes all servlet requests to Apache JServ servlet engine that is embedded in Oracle HTTP Server; can share servlets across multiple zones and ensures that requests get routed to the same servlet engine. mod_ose (8i) : delegates URLs to stateful Java and PL/SQL servlets in Oracle Servlet Engine (OSE) contained in Oracle8i. This module keeps session IDs in cookies or redirected URLs, and routes requests to the appropriate OSE sessions. Oracle Plug-in for Microsoft IIS: you can use Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) to directly access PL/SQL and Java Web components stored in an Oracle database. This provides functionality in a Microsoft IIS environment that is similar to the Oracle HTTP Server modules, mod_plsql and mod_ose. Top of page Business Logic Services These services support your application logic. Oracle BC4J (Business Components for Java): a 100%-Java, XML-powered framework that enables productive development, portable deployment, and flexible customization of multi-tier, database-enabled applications from reusable business components; applications can be deployed as either EJB Session Beans or CORBA Server Objects on Oracle9i Application Server. Oracle8i JVM (Java Virtual Machine): a highly scalable, server-side Java platform supporting Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs), CORBA, and database stored procedures; achieves high scalability through unique architectural design; common foundation for running Java and Java services in Oracle9i Application Server and Oracle8i. Oracle8i PLSQL (Enterprise and Wireless Edition only): a scalable engine for running business logic against data in Oracle Database Cache (formerly Oracle8i Cache) and the database; provides an environment that enables users to use browsers to invoke PL/SQL procedures stored in Oracle databases. Oracle Forms Services (Enterprise and Wireless Edition only): enables users to run applications based on Oracle Forms technology over the Internet or corporate intranet to query or submit data to the database. Top of page Presentation Services These services deliver dynamic content to client browsers, supporting servlets, JavaServer Pages, Perl/CGI scripts, PL/SQL Pages, forms, and business intelligence. Apache Jserv: a 100% pure Java servlet engine fully compliant with the Sun Microsystems Java Servlet APIs 2.0 specification. Apache JServ works on any version 1.1 compliant Java Virtual Machine and executes any Java servlet compliant with version 2.0. When the HTTP server receives a servlet request, it is routed to mod_jserv, which in turn forwards the request to the Apache JServ servlet engine. OracleJSP (JavaServer pages): a complete implementation of JavaServer Pages 1.1 as specified by Sun Microsystems, which extends Java Servlet technology, and supports the use of Java calls and scriptlets within HTML and XML pages; combines static template data with dynamic content to create user interfaces; supports component-based development, separating business logic (usually in JavaBeans) from the presentation. In addition, OracleJSP provides portability between servlet environments, support for SQLJ, OracleJSP Markup Language (JML), extended National Language Support (NLS), and extended datatypes to work around the limitations of Java primitive types and wrapper classes. Oracle PSP (PL/SQL Server Pages ): analogous to JavaServer Pages, but use PL/SQL rather than Java for the server-side scripting; includes the PSP Compiler and the PL/SQL Web Toolkit. Using this service, application developers can separate page format from application logic. Perl Interpreter: a persistent Perl runtime environment embedded in Oracle HTTP Server, saving the overhead of starting an external interpreter. When Oracle HTTP Server receives a Perl request, it is routed to mod_perl, which, in turn, routes the request to the Perl Interpreter for processing. Top of page Caching Services To reduce the load on the back-end database instance, and to avoid network roundtrips for read-only data, Oracle9i Application Server includes Oracle Database Cache (formerly Oracle8i Cache). Oracle Database Cache (Enterprise and Wireless Edition only): a data cache that resides on the middle tier, improves the performance and scalability of applications that access Oracle databases by caching frequently used data on the middle-tier machine; runs stateful servlets, JavaServer pages, Enterprise JavaBeans, and CORBA objects. Oracle Web Cache (Enterprise and Wireless Edition only): a server accelerator caching service that improves the performance, scalability, and availability of busy e-business Web sites that run on Oracle9i Application Server and Oracle8i. By storing frequently accessed URLs in virtual memory, Oracle Web Cache eliminates the need to repeatedly process requests for those URLs on the Web server. Oracle Web Cache caches both static and dynamically-generated HTTP content from one or more application Web servers. Web clients experience faster content retrieval and the load on Oracle9i Application Server is greatly reduced. Top of page Content Management Services These services make all of your content, regardless of the file type, accessible in one heterogeneous file hierarchy via Web browsers, Microsoft Windows networking, or FTP. In addition, you can use these services to configure sophisticated file searching capability, event-triggered alerts, and check-in-check-out functionality to support collaborative projects. Oracle Internet File System: a file system service that stores files in an Oracle8i database. To the end user, Oracle Internet File System appears as any other file system accessible through Microsoft Windows networking, a Web browser, FTP (File Transfer Protocol), or an e-mail client. Unlike other file systems, Oracle Internet File System stores all files—from Web pages to e-mail, from spreadsheets to XML files—in the same file system. Users can view file hierarchies through either a Web or a Windows interface. Portal Services You can use these services to build portal sites that integrate all of your different types of content on a single Web page. Portal sites give your users a single, centralized, personalized view of relevant applications and data, accessible from both fixed and mobile clients. Oracle Portal: provides portal services for Oracle9i Application Server. A portal is a common, integrated entry point for accessing dissimilar data types on a single Web page. For example, you can create portal Web pages that give users access to Web-enabled applications, business documents, images, and URLs that reside both inside and outside your corporate intranet. Oracle Portal-to-Go (Wireless Edition only): a portal service for delivering information and applications to mobile devices. Using Portal-to-Go, you can create custom portal sites that use different kinds of content, including Web pages, custom Java applications, and XML-based applications. Portal sites make this diverse information accessible to mobile devices without you having to rewrite the content for each target device platform. Business Intelligence Services You can use these services to deploy and share business intelligence over the Web or over your corporate intranet to provide up-to-the-minute information. Oracle Reports Services (Enterprise and Wireless Edition only): enables users to run dynamically generated reports built with Oracle Reports Developer on an internal company intranet, an external company extranet, or on the Internet to retrieve information from the database. Oracle Discoverer 3i Viewer (Enterprise and Wireless Edition only): a runtime environment for running and viewing Oracle Discoverer workbooks (reports) over the Web that have been created with Oracle Discoverer User Edition. Web authors can access database information to embed in their sites and publish live reports to Web sites. Users interact with the query results to show more or less detailed information, to enter values into parameters, or to follow links to other applications. Top of page Developer's Kits The toolkits included in Oracle9i Application Server contain libraries and tools to support application development and deployment. Oracle Database Client Developer's Kit: contains client libraries for Oracle8i and Java client libraries: Oracle Java Messaging Service (JMS) Toolkit, Oracle SQLJ Translator, and Oracle Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) Drivers. Oracle XML Developer's Kit (XDK): contains component libraries and utilities to XML-enable applications and Web sites: XML Parser for Java, XML Class Generator for Java, XML Transviewer JavaBeans, and XSQL Servlet. Oracle LDAP Developer's Kit: contains subcomponents that support client interaction with Oracle Internet Directory (OID) to develop and monitor LDAP-enabled applications, client calls to directory services, encrypted connections, and manage directory data: Oracle Internet Directory C API, JNDI 1.2 (Java Naming and Directory Interface), SSL Toolkit, Oracle Internet Directory Command Line Tools, Oracle Directory Manager. Top of page System Services To provide system management and security services, Oracle9i Application Server provides a comprehensive management framework for your entire Oracle environment and network security via SSL (Secure Sockets Layer)-based encryption and authentication facilities. Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM): combines a graphical console, Oracle Management Servers, Oracle Intelligent Agents, common services, and administrative tools to provide a comprehensive systems management platform for managing Oracle products. Oracle Advanced Security: a comprehensive suite of security features to protect enterprise networks and securely extend corporate networks to the Internet; maintains the security of distributed environments, providing data privacy, data integrity, authentication, single sign-on, and authorization. For detailed descriptions of each service and component, and for information about developing and deploying applications in Oracle9i Application Server, see the Oracle9i Application Server Overview Guide. Top of page Next Theme