The long-anticipated unveiling of Oracle Corp.s grid computing vision at OracleWorld here last week introduced new requirements for managing databases that DataMirror Corp., Embarcadero Technologies Inc. and Oracle itself aim to fulfill.
In addition to the splashy debut of the 10g version of its database, Oracle at the show introduced OEM (Oracle Enterprise Manager) 10g.
OEM 10g, which sits on top of the database and the new Oracle Application Server 10g, introduces automated management that lets database administrators enforce policies, manage service levels, and rebalance computing resources and applications as business requirements shift.
Central to OEM 10gs grid management is the Grid Control feature, said officials of the Redwood Shores, Calif., company. It monitors and manages grids, including databases, applications and storage, within one console. At its core is a control repository with performance, availability and configuration data that lets Grid Control offer recommendations on those topics. Grid Control also transforms and configures data into usable information.
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Jeremy Forman, a computer systems analyst for the New Mexico Department of Transportation, in Santa Fe, is beta testing Application Server 10g and OEM 10g with the goal of better managing a large multimedia database with some 5 million stored images. Eventually, Formans department wants to construct a virtual drive-through of the states roads. Its not the grid that gets Formans approval—rather, its the self-management aspects of the new architecture.
“Im the only DBA in the department,” Forman said. “10gs offering so many automation features. Ive used OEM extensively. Im excited about production with 10g because it allows me to automate day-to-day stuff: managing table spaces, and performance tuning, more than anything. It offers you a fix on the fly without having to go through the process of finding it out yourself.”
Separately at the show, DataMirror, of Markham, Ontario, introduced iReflect 1.5, which is designed to help administrators of Oracle environments build a near-zero-latency environment when it comes to downtime, officials said. Enhancements include extended support in DDL Refresh to refresh an objects function before its data. iReflect 1.5 also offers master-to-master replication. This bidirectional data replication can be used to maintain data integrity while performing load sharing between servers.
For its part, Embarcadero, of San Francisco, rolled out Job Scheduler 3.0, which officials said will give DBAs centralized control of cross-platform, enterprisewide job scheduling. The software manages tasks in Embarcaderos DT/Studio, its software for data extraction, transformation and loading.