Oracle Sees Future of Database Software With Release Of 10g

The newest release of the software boasts many mission-critical features that are simply not available in competing products. These new features help with administration and internal database management and also present developers and business users with easy-to-use database development alternatives. As part of its push toward a grid-computing paradigm, Oracle 10g uses a new clustering architecture. The software creates a self-managing cluster that maintains disk access and ensures that operating systems and applications are always accessible, even during cluster-node failures.

Oracle 10g also virtualizes the disk storage layer and all databases and applications. This architecture greatly simplifies a database administrator's (DBA) life, since they no longer have to manually manage disk storage space. When a disk is available for use on a server, the automatic storage management system takes over. The system analyzes the available disk space and rebalances storage loads automatically. Oracle's clustering approach makes workload management much simpler. DBAs can add nodes based on network demand. The architecture also eliminates the traditional fixed roles of database nodes. That means that any available node can be used for any task.

Oracle 10g has also simplified transaction management. A new Flashback feature creates additional structures to recover entire databases if mistakes are made during transactions. This feature allows DBAs to trace mistakes made when building queries or errors made by developers. Oracle's new Data Guard disaster-recovery tool monitors and protects databases from failures and ensures data integrity during upgrades.

Data Guard's architecture is less expensive and much simpler to manage than traditional mirroring solutions, since the tool completely automates the switchover or upgrade process.

Data Guard maintains copies of production databases and manages server switchovers and upgrades during outages or other unplanned failures. During upgrades, Data Guard continuously synchronizes up to nine stand-by databases with a production database to ensure data integrity. Once an upgrade procedure finishes, administrators can switch to the new or upgraded live database with only a few mouse clicks. Data Guard and Oracle's application clustering architecture are tightly integrated, so if failures happen in either software program, transactions, upgrades and switchovers are not affected.

Oracle's new HTML DB is a rapid Web-based development tool that turns a single database into a shared service, allowing multiple developers to build applications simultaneously through a browser. Applications are created through a series of HTML pages to help users navigate the database development process. Every feature is easily accessible, and documentation is readily available on every page.

The HTML DB tool includes application wizards for creating forms, charts, reports, queries and various data views. These wizards not only walk users through the process of creating applications, they count down the number of steps remaining until completion. This ease of use is crucial for novice business users that need to quickly understand the steps necessary to build an application or page in HTML DB.

An integrated debugging environment allows users to trace and analyze SQL queries and also can examine specific parts of an application to determine where problems and bugs have occurred. The HTML DB environment is also accessible through an API.

Developers can create custom environment behaviors to help refine or trace user activity within a database. Oracle 10g has made considerable improvements in the software's installation procedures. The installation can now be done in about a half-hour using Oracle's Universal Installer. The new tool is easier to execute since it omits many unnecessary options that were present in previous versions.

Oracle's multitier channel program gives partners sales opportunities, product discounts and extensive marketing resources. Included in these resources are marketing kits and planning tools to help develop Web conferences, publishing and advertising campaigns. Oracle also offers MDF to support certified partners. To qualify for the partner program, partners must meet business, sales and technical commitments, and demonstrate staff competency. Partners have priority access to new software releases. Oracle also provides technical support online and over the phone 24x7. Oracle did not disclose average reseller margins.

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