2013-07-28

2013-07-28 Sunday - Oracle 12c R1 New Features [my notes]

I noted the following, in particular, while reading the documentation for Oracle 12c R1 New Features:
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E16655_01/server.121/e17906/chapter1.htm#NEWFTCH1

Note that I have highlighted in red those item that were of particular interest to me:

 

1.1.1.17 Web Services Support (Oracle Application Express)
  • "Creating a PL/SQL API to interact with Web services" 
  •  "Exposing report regions, DML processes as Representational State Transfer (REST) Web services."
  • "Support of binary data types in Web services support"
  •  "Allow the inclusion of custom Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) headers with Web Services Description Language (WSDL) based Web services"
  • "Support of SOAP 1.2 in wizard-based Web services support."

1.1.4.3 Enhanced Oracle Native LEFT OUTER JOIN syntax
  • "...In Oracle Database 12c, the native syntax for a LEFT OUTER JOIN has been expanded to allow multiple tables on the left hand side...Merging of such views allows more join reordering and, therefore, more optimal execution plans"

1.1.4.4 JDBC Support for PL/SQL Data Types as Parameters
  • "The ability for Java and JDBC applications to bind PL/SQL package types and boolean types as parameters"

1.1.4.11 PL/SQL Functions Defined in the SQL WITH Clause
  • "You can define a PL/SQL function in the WITH clause of a subquery and use it as an ordinary function"

1.1.4.15 Temporal Validity
  • "...you can add one or more valid time dimensions to a table using existing columns, or using columns automatically created by the database"
1.1.4.16 Temporal Validity Flashback Queries
  • "Flashback Query has been extended to support queries on Temporal Validity dimensions. Users can now execute queries with the AS OF and VERSIONS BETWEEN clauses based on one or more valid time periods on the underlying tables"

1.1.6.3 IDENTITY Columns
  • "Table columns have been enhanced to support the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) SQL keyword IDENTITY"


1.1.6.4 Increased Size Limit for VARCHAR2, NVARCHAR2, and RAW Data Types
  • "The maximum size of the VARCHAR2, NVARCHAR2, and RAW data types has been increased from 4,000 to 32,767 bytes."

1.1.6.7 Native SQL Support for Query Limits and Row Offsets
  • "The FETCH FIRST and OFFSET clauses provides native SQL language support to limit the number of rows returned and to specify a starting row for the return set."

1.1.7.1 Microsoft .NET Framework 4 and 4.5 Support
  • "Oracle Data Provider for .NET supports .NET Framework 4 and 4.5, including Client Profile"

1.1.8.2 Database Support for JDK Upgrade
  • "New support in this release allows a customer to upgrade...from JDK 1.6 to JDK 1.7 and conversely downgrade from JDK 1.7 to JDK 1.6"


1.1.8.6 JDBC Support for Database Resident Connection Pool
  • "This feature allows large scale deployment of Java applications (typically hundreds or thousands of middle tier connecting to the same database). Orders of magnitude reductions of database server processes and memory are seen with this new feature"

1.2.1.1 Decision Tree Mining Text Data
1.2.1.2 Expected Maximization (EM) Clustering and Density Estimation
1.2.1.3 Feature Extraction Using Singular Value Decomposition
1.2.1.4 Feature Selection and Creation for Generalized Linear Models (GLM)
1.2.1.5 Native Double in Data Mining Functions
1.2.1.6 Native SQL Support for Row Pattern Matching
1.2.1.7 Native Text Support
1.2.1.8 On-the-Fly Models
1.2.1.9 Prediction Details and Cluster Functions

1.3.4.3 SecureFiles is the Default for the LOB Storage
  • "In this release, SecureFiles is now the default for LOB storage when the compatible initialization parameter is set to 12.1 or higher."

1.4.1.3 Multitenant Architecture
  • "The multitenant architecture is new in Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1). You can have many PDBs inside a single Oracle Database occurrence. PDBs are fully backwards compatible with an ordinary pre-12.1 database."
  • Benefits:
    • " Fast provisioning of a new database or of a copy of an existing database."
    • "Fast redeployment, by unplug and plug, of an existing database to a new platform."
    • "Quickly patch or upgrade the Oracle Database version for many databases and for the cost of doing it once."
    • "Patch or upgrade by unplugging a PDB and plugging it into a different CDB in a later version."
    • "A machine can run more database instances in the form of PDBs than as individual, monolithic databases."

1.5.3.1 Global Data Services (GDS)
  • "Global Data Services (GDS) is a new capability of Oracle Database that extends the concept of services, which are only available in Oracle RAC, to a globally replicated configuration involving a combination of Oracle RAC, Active Data Guard, and Oracle GoldenGate. This allows services to be deployed anywhere within this globally replicated configuration, supporting load balancing, high availability, database affinity, and so on.
  • "Customers who have utilized the concept of services for Oracle RAC can now extend the same benefits of automatic workload management to their Active Data Guard or Oracle GoldenGate configurations. Similarly, single-instance Active Data Guard or Oracle GoldenGate customers can now fully utilize the benefits of services and automatic workload management for their replicated configurations."

 1.5.4.1 Oracle ASM Disk Scrubbing
  • "Oracle ASM disk scrubbing is a new feature that checks logical data corruptions and repairs them automatically in normal and high redundancy disk groups. This feature is designed so that it does not have any impact on normal I/O in production systems. The scrubbing process repairs logical corruptions using the mirror disks. Disk scrubbing leverages the Oracle ASM rebalancing to minimize I/O overhead."

1.11.3.1 Enhanced ANYDATA Support
  • "Restrictions have been removed from the ANYDATA implementation that prevented its use with Abstract Data Types (ADT) that contained attributes whose data type was LOB or XMLType. This enhancement increases the flexibility of the Oracle ANYDATA implementation and it can now be used with database editions."
1.11.3.3 Oracle XDK/J DOM Improvements
  •  "...adds support for W3C DOM Level 3 Core API's and reduces the memory footprint associated with using XML schemas."
 1.11.3.8 Support XQuery Full-Text Specification
"...extends Oracle's support for the W3C XQuery specification by adding support for the XQuery full text extension. This enables customers to perform XML-aware full text searches on XML content stored in the database."

 1.11.3.11 Support for XQuery Update
  •  "...allowing users to perform fragment and node-level updates using the W3C standard query language."

2013-07-28 Sunday - Development Lab Refresh


This weekend I've been updating a number of tools and applications in my development lab:

Oracle Database 12c R1
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/enterprise-edition/downloads/index-092322.html?msgid=3-8658271549

Docs
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/enterprise-edition/documentation/index.html

12c R1 New Features:
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E16655_01/server.121/e17906/chapter1.htm#NEWFTCH1


Oracle VirtualBox 4.2.16
https://www.virtualbox.org/

Ubuntu.com - 13.04 Raring Ringtail

Notepad++6.4.3
http://notepad-plus-plus.org/

I'm also planning to upgrade to Sparx Enterprise Architect 10 later this week
http://www.sparxsystems.com/


2013-07-27

2013-07-27 Saturday - Some New SOA and Cloud Links

SOA Community Blog by Jürgen Kress
http://soacommunity.wordpress.com/

An interesting new series of articles published by Oracle, entitled "Industrial SOA"

Oracle Practitioner Guide
Creating a Roadmap to Cloud Computing
Release 3.0
April 2013
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/entarch/oracle-pg-cloud-roadmap-r3-0-1940183.pdf

2013-07-23

2013-07-23 Tuesday - Book Review: Cloud Computing, Concepts, Technology & Architecture, by Thomas Erl


Book Review:

Cloud Computing
Concepts, Technologies & Architecture
By Thomas Erl, with Zaigham Mahmood and Ricardo Puttini
Pearson Education, The Prentice Hall Service Technology Series with Thomas Erl


First, let me say - this is an excellent book. The content is well organized, well written, and is useful as a reference for both business as well as technical personnel. With the information in this book, you will have established a firm foundation from which to define pilot projects to explore Cloud Computing initiatives within your own company, as well as being better informed as to what considerations should be of paramount concern if you need to work through an RFI, RFP, or RFQ process.  Consequently, you will also be much better prepared for evaluating various Cloud Vendor service offerings.

What I particularly appreciate about the Thomas Erl series of books published by Pearson Education in the Prentice Hall Series, is the obvious attention to detail and thoroughness of the the treatment for a given topic. This book continues that fine tradition.

With such a broad and deep topic as Cloud Computing, certainly no one book can be the definitive reference. However, this one is a good first step to acquiring mastery within the domain of Cloud Computing, and I highly recommend that you add it to your bookshelf.  It will help you navigate further in your exploration of the complex issues and challenges in devising cloud strategies.

Another excellent benefit of this book (for a large organization): Providing a common lexicon as the basis for establishing a common understanding of the concepts, architecture patterns, risks, and terminology of Cloud Computing.

Of particular note: Interspersed throughout the text are citations of real-world case studies.

At 487 pages, this is a great value for the price.

Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Case Study Background

Part I: Fundamental Cloud Computing
Chapter 3: Understanding Cloud Computing
Chapter 4: Fundamental Concepts and Modules
Chapter 5: Cloud-Enabling Technology
Chapter 6: Fundamental Cloud Security

Part II: Cloud Computing Mechanisms
Chapter 7: Cloud Infrastructure Mechanisms
Chapter 8: Specialized Cloud Mechanisms
Chapter 9: Cloud Management Mechanisms
Chapter 10: Cloud Security Mechanisms

Part III: Cloud Computing Architecture
Chapter 11: Fundamental Cloud Architectures
Chapter 12: Advanced Cloud Architectures
Chapter 13: Specialized Cloud Architectures

Part IV: Working With Clouds
Chapter 14: Cloud Delivery Model Considerations
Chapter 15: Cost Metrics and Pricing Models
Chapter 16: Service Quality Metrics and SLAs

Part V: Appendices
Appendix A: Case Study Conclusions
Appendix B: Industry Standards Organizations
Appendix C: Mapping Mechanisms to Characteristics
Appendix D: Data Center Facilities (TIA-942)
Appendix E: Emerging Technologies
Appendix F: Cloud Provisioning Contracts
Appendix G: Cloud Business Case Template

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