Enterprise Manager Cloud Control is system management software that delivers centralized monitoring, administration, and life-cycle management functionality for the complete IT infrastructure, including systems running Oracle and non-Oracle technologies.

The Oracle NoSQL Database is a distributed key-value database. It is designed to provide highly reliable, scalable and available data storage across a configurable set of systems that function as storage nodes.

The documentation page is still rather empty. However Technical Overview and a Data Sheet are already available.

Oracle NoSQL is a key offering in Oracle’s portfolio of Big Data products. The product is based on the Java version of Berkeley DB, an open source database used in embedded systems.

Update

• The NoSQL documentation is available.
• A great in depth look into Oracle NoSQL. Also read the discussion over there.

• Over 30% is still running Client – Server (Forms 4.5 or 6i).
• Over 50% doesn’t consider upgrading their unsupported version.
• When replacing Oracle Forms APEX is the most considered alternative.

The results are mostly in line with the findings in Germany (on which the survey was based).

VBoxManage.exe: error: Code VBOX_E_FILE_ERROR (0x80BB0004) – File not accessible or erroneous file contents (extended info not available)

So I thought why not just copy it… Oh wait, first compact it to save some space and time using VBoxManage modifyvdi some.vdi compact:

>VBoxManage modifyvdi Windows7.vdi compact
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...
Progress state: VBOX_E_FILE_ERROR
VBoxManage.exe: error: Code VBOX_E_FILE_ERROR (0x80BB0004) - File not accessible or erroneous file contents (extended info not available)

When I tried to copy or zip the file there were errors accessing it. Somehow the VirtualBox Appliance was still running fine. The files that make up the appliance weren’t locked.

Use CHKDSK

My laptop (the host of the appliance) is is running Windows7 and I decide to run chkdsk and found:

CHKDSK controleert de bestandsgegevens (stap 4 van 5)...
Leesfout met status 0xc0000185 op offset 0x17410c9000 voor 0x10000 bytes.
Leesfout met status 0xc0000185 op offset 0x17410d6000 voor 0x1000 bytes.
Er zijn beschadigde clusters in bestand 37907 met naam \Users\ppvdbeek\VIRTUA~2\Windows7\Windows7.vdi vervangen.

This is Dutch stating that there were bad sectors in the vdi file that had to be corrected. After that I could run the appliance, compact the disk and export the appliance successful.

On Linux you could use fsck (for “file system check”) in a similar case.

EM OC4J_SOA

• Login into Enterprise Manager
• Go to the Application Server Control
• Click OC4J_SOA oc4j instance
• Click Web Services tab
• Verify the deployed web services are listed here, and test that services.

In case there are no web service from the ESB runtime (esb-rt) the service providers were not generated correctly, restart ESB-RT:

• Click OC4J_SOA oc4j instance
• Click the Applications tab
• Expand Middleware Services, ESB and esb-dt
• Check the esb-rt and click the restart button

Now check the j2ee/_instance_name_/log/*/oc4j/log.xml to see if the ESB application has started correctly. Verify that ESB-RT application is initialized correctly by searching for ‘ESB bootstrap: Runtime initialized‘ message in the log file. If you also restarted the ESB-DT, verify that ESB DT application is initialized correctly by searching for ‘ESB bootstrap: Repository initialized‘ message in the log file. And finally check that the ESB web service providers were generated correct (see above).

SOA platform

Again after this session I came to the conclusion that in my opinion BAM is used too little.

During the session was raised whether people in the audience were using non-Oracle databases as dehydration store and Meta Data Store. The mainstream is using Oracle as dehydration store. And although it is certified, it is advised to use Oracle as the database for this purpose. On the Application Server, given the maturity of the J2EE platform, there is less discomfort in operations to deploy the SOA Suite on a non-Oracle App Server.

ADF

Only today I found out that there is an interesting JDeveloper 11g extension. The extension validates ADF code quality. Seems an interesting extension to check code quality besides the already available Java tools.

BPM

When comparing BPEL and BPM and looking into when to use what tool, the following was stated: For all things with human interaction BPM is the tool of choice. In integration driven appraoches BPEL is the tool of choice.

In Oracle point of view BPM includes:

• People
• Systems
• Documents

without the need for separate platforms.

Example of a custom Spring Java worklist application for Oracle BPM.

Tattie picking

The first keynote by Andrew Sutherland had a few great stories that leaded the way to show the rationale behind the Exalogic platform. This included a personal story on “tattie picking”. The larger part was on productisation and gave examples on increasing effiency in IT. One of the ways for the Exalogic platform is the one that is also used by Apple: If you limit the amount of hardware your OS of software stack has to be compliant with, that introduces a better controlled and optimized environment; “If you know the machine you need less code”. This is resulting in several efficiencies. Efficiencies both in the One Time Costs (CTB) and Recurring Costs (RTB).

One of the sound bites that stayed with me was:

The most sticky stack is the least sticky one

Indicating that the stack that is the most open and complying with standards is the one that is most likely to survive…

SOA/ BPM Reference Case

In the Partner SOA/ BPM Reference Case Leon Smiers of Capgemini introduced us to the BPM practise of Capgemini and two of their BPM cases. One of the quotes that I think is very true was:

SOA supports the success of BPM.

Besides that Leon stressed the structure, insight and compliance advantages that BPM efforts deliver. One of the things they learned by doing was the importance of showing BAM to business people. This really enables you to get visibility on a lot of stuff that is under the hood. Besides that it is a catalyst for generating more business value with ideas from the people you are showing BAM to.

WebCenter/ UCM Reference Case

During the WebCenter/ UCM Reference Case Vikram Setia of Infomentum shared great insight on how to deliver an excellent web site using Oracle technology. He did this in a very lively session showing us around a live site and telling what Oracle technologies were used behind the scenes. Besides the UCM and WebCenter stuff there were some cool uses database thingies like:

• Text Clustering
• Thesaurus
• Locator

SOA and BPM 11gR1 PS3 Update

Another intresting session was the SOA and BPM 11gR1 PS3 Update by David Shaffer. Mr Shaffer showed us some of the history and some of the highlight in the current stack. A more detailed dive into the latter will be on day 2 of the conference.

Wednesday’s Breakout Sessions

On the second day I will be attending the following breakout sessions:

• SOA Suite 11g PS3 & OSB
• ADF/WebCenter 11g integration with BPM Suite 11g
• BPM 11g, Whats New

• General Info
• Submission Info
• Tips and Guidelines

Create Data Source

1. Use a browser to go to the WLS Console, for example http://somehost:7001/console/login/LoginForm.jsp
2. On the home page, click the Data Sources link. You can find it in the Domain Configurations, Services section;
3. On the Summary of JDBC Data Sources page click the New button (to change current configuration click the link of the Data Sources you want to change);
4. Choose the Name, JNDI Name, and select the Database Type (Oracle). Click Next to confirm and continue;
5. Choose the Database Driver. This is depending on the selected Database Type. We used Thin XA for Instance connections for the Data Sources created in the project. Click Next;
6. Click Next after you read the Transaction Options;
7. Enter the Connection Properties and after that Next to confirm and continue:
• Database Name
• Host Name
• Port
• Database User Name
• Password
8. Click the Test Connection button, and if the test succeeded click next;
9. On the Select Targets page check for example the AdminServer. Click finish.

[Show as slideshow]

More on configuring JDBC on WebLogic Server can be found here (and the PDF on JDBC admin).

Frank Dorst, CTO of Whitehorses:

“We strongly believe in the power of IT. Information technology makes real change possible and that does not always have to mean huge investments. We distinguish ourselves by clearly defined improvement projects, with involvement of both IT and business in which collaboration with customers is essential. Achieving Specialization is our confirmation that we are doing well. It continues our long relationship with Oracle and gives our customers the confidence to work with a qualified party. ”

Bas Diepen, senior manager of Alliances and Channels at Oracle:

Whitehorses know how to keep changes small and simple, no matter how big projects are. We are pleased that the investment they have made in gaining knowledge and Oracle skills, is now reflected in achieving this Specialized status.”