Fusion Middleware: New features in Oracle Internet Directory

Going forward, I am planning to write more about Fusion Middleware 10g, Fusion Middleware 11g and Oracle Database 11g. These are the areas that I am developing more interest now-a-days. I am currently working on Fusion Middleware 10g. First of all, I am learning these new software. And when I write here I feel my knowledge level increases. The first Fusion Middleware component that I am going to write about is Oracle Directory Server and Oracle Internet Directory. Both are LDAP Directories from Oracle and part of Fusion Middleware (Why two LDAP Directories as part of Fusion Middleware? – Think about it).

I worked in multiple LDAP Directories during the last few years. A LDAP Directory is software that stores information or entries or data in a tree like format for easy access, it is based on a standard. As per my experience with LDAP Directories, these are the major LDAP directories:

• Oracle Directory Server (earlier Sun Java/Iplanet Directory)
• Novell’s eDirectory (earlier NDS)
• Microsoft’s Active Directory (AD)
• Oracle Internet Directory (OID)
• openLDAP

Among these, I like Sun Java Directory (now, Oracle Directory Server) the most. It is because I worked on it first and it was from Sun, standards based, and works well in heterogeneous environments. There are other various reasons, but we will talk more about Oracle Internet Directory here.

What is Oracle Internet Directory?

Oracle Internet Directory is a LDAP Version 3 Compliant Directory Server from Oracle Corporation. Oracle Internet Directory (OID) is used in most of the Oracle Components (such as Oracle Single Sign On) and is one of the primary components delivered as part of the Fusion Middleware.

OID is used to integrate Oracle Middleware and applications and mainly used with Oracle Applications. Oracle Internet Directory stores its data in an Oracle Database. The directory store is an Oracle Database. Oracle Database is a required component to run Oracle Internet Directory. This is one of the major differences among the remaining four major LDAP directory servers.

New Features of OID in Fusion Middleware 11g

OID is delivered by Oracle for the use of Oracle Identity Management. This was part of the Oracle Application Server “Application Infrastructure” Component. So, Oracle Internet Directory is not a new component that is delivered as part of Fusion Middleware.  It was already there in Version 10g as well.

I am currently working on Oracle Internet Directory Version 10.1.4.2.0. Fusion middleware version of Oracle Internet Directory is called 11.1.1. There are few improvements between these two versions. I noticed that the improvements lie on these lines

1. Manageability Features

Oracle Directory Services Manager and integration with Weblogic Admin Server are the major changes in the OID Version 11.1.1.  Fusion Middleware is Weblogic-Centric. So it is time to learn Weblogic again. Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server (OPMN) is still used in Fusion Middleware for managing OID, as well as other components.

ODSM (Oracle Directory Services Manager) is replacing Oracle Directory Manager (oidadmin). ODSM is a new web-based management tool for managing Oracle Internet Directory in Fusion Middleware 11g.

2. Replication Features

One of the important features that you can setup is a multi-master replication using LDAP based replica model. In earlier versions, it was not possible. Earlier you need to use ASR based replication to setup a multi-master replication. Now it is possible to setup multi-master replication using LDAP based replication.

3. Instance Configuration

There are changes in configset information. Now every instance can have a separate rootDSE information. This was one of the major issue in earlier version. I need to explore this option more. I will write more about this later.

A last important note is: why Oracle is delivering two separate LDAP Directories now as part of Fusion Middleware 11g or as part of its Directory Services Offerings. Why Oracle supports Oracle Directory Server and Oracle Internet Directory? This is because; Oracle Applications are tightly integrated with Oracle Internet Directory. For Example, Oracle Single Sign On needs Oracle Internet Directory. This is one of the reasons Oracle is unable to move to Oracle Directory Server. Let’s hope this will soon change.

Let’s talk more about OID in coming weeks.  Until then

Read More about Fusion Middleware

Moving to Oracle Server Technologies

Believe me; life is not easy when you are working with a Vendor Company, such as Hexaware Technologies that I work for (Hexaware is an Oracle Platinum Partner as well). I have to learn all the new things with the little time you get, sometimes you have to learn lot of things in less than few hours. For a person like me, this is exactly what I want and like to do. Learn new things all the time!!! That is my motto!

One thing I like the most here is, I have the freedom to move to other IT technologies that I have little or no experience with. However that was not easy for a person like me or anybody for that matter. You have to keep learning and understand new things that come up.

As you are already aware (or if you are reading my blogs for first time), I started my IT career as the Web Developer with Apache and Perl CGI development (really old technologies!!). After couple of years, I got bored with Web Development. Then, I moved into Unix System Administration, mainly worked on Solaris and HP-UX and related hardware and software. And again, I got bored with UNIX Administration and moved to Peoplesoft Infrastructure and Administrator positions.

I was a happy person (I am still happy!!) for almost 7 years working with Peoplesoft Infrastructure for many clients. Now, I got an opportunity to work in Oracle Server Technologies here, especially Oracle Database, Oracle Identity Management and Oracle Fusion Middleware technologies.

If you are in the IT industry, you have to know one thing for sure. Keep learning. We have to develop a mentality like kids have. They are always curious to learn new things and all the time. This is an important quality you have to develop if you want to excel in IT Technical career. You have to develop curiousness to learn new things (from internet, from other blogs, from collogues, from peers, from managers and almost everywhere!).

I started working in Oracle Server Technologies (Oracle Database, Oracle Application Server, Oracle Fusion middleware, Enterprise Manager etc ) less than a year ago. However, before starting, I had an fundamental understanding of what they are and why do we need them. You cannot build this in one day. You should be aware of other technologies. One major thing that helped me was, my UNIX skills. I am able to solve almost any problems if that runs on UNIX.

Two things you have to understand in UNIX World. Everything is handled as a file and everything runs in the server is a process. If you are able to make these two simple facts, then I am sure you will be able to fix any servers, anything that runs in UNIX/Linux.
Okay, I think we are going off topic. Other than books and internet, I use two simple ways of learning.

a) Blogging

b) Teaching/Mentoring

Both of these are not easy for me. I have to really develop mastery to some level before start teaching someone. Believe me, it is not easy to teach, especially in IT industry, it is difficult with all the new things popping up almost every second. That is why I wanted to start blogging more often and conduct more mentoring classes in Hexaware.

And now, within last one year, I have got quite an expertise on Oracle Server Technologies. During this time, my experience with UNIX, Web Development and Peoplesoft really helped a lot in understanding the architecture of the Oracle Server Technologies. I am still learning new things everyday (that is why I want to write here, at least I can use them later!).

I want to use this new blog site to start sharing knowledge, write about errors or failures and how we handle them (lessons learned) etc. I will start with a new topic here soon. Until then.

Read More about Oracle Server Technologies

Hybrid OLAP – The Future of Information Delivery

As I get to see more Enterprise BI initiatives, it is becoming increasingly clear (atleast to me!) that when it comes to information dissemination, Hybrid Online Analytical Processing (HOLAP) is the way to go. Let me explain my position here.

As you might be aware, Relational (ROLAP), Multi-dimensional (MOLAP) and Hybrid OLAP (HOLAP) are the 3 modes of information delivery for BI systems. In an ROLAP environment, the data is stored in a relational structure and is accessed through a semantic layer (usually!). MOLAP on the other hand stores data in proprietary format providing the notion of a multi-dimensional cube to users. HOLAP combines the power of both ROLAP and MOLAP systems and with the rapid improvements made by BI tool vendors, seems to have finally arrived on the scene.

In my mind, the argument for subscribing to the HOLAP paradigm goes back to the “classic” article

by Ralph Kimball on different types of fact table grains. According to him, there are 3 types of fact tables – Transaction grained, Periodic snapshot, Accumulating snapshot and that atleast 2 of them are required to model a business situation completely. From an analytical standpoint, this means that operational data has to be analyzed along with summarized data (snapshots) for business users to take informed decisions.

Traditionally, the BI world has handled this problem in 2 ways:

1) Build everything on the ROLAP architecture. Handle the summarization either on the fly or thro’ summarized reporting tables at the database level. This is not a very elegant solution as everybody in the organization (even those analysts working with summarized information) gets penalized for the slow performance of SQL queries issued against the relational database through the semantic layer.

2) Profile users and segregate operational analysts from strategic analysts. Operational users are provided ROLAP tools while business users working primarily with summarized information are provided their “own” cubes (MOLAP) for high-performance analytics.

Both solutions are rapidly becoming passé. In many organizations now, business users wants to look at summarized information and based on what they see, needs the facility to drill down to granular level information. A good example is the case of analyzing Ledger information (Income statement & Balance Sheet) and then drilling down to Journal entries as required. All this drilling down has to happen through a common interface – either an independent BI Tool or an enterprise portal with an underlying OLAP engine.

This is the world of HOLAP and it is here to stay. The technology improvement that is making this possible is the relatively new wonder-kid, XMLA (XML for Analysis). More about XMLA in my subsequent posts.

As an example of HOLAP architecture, you can take a look at this link

to understand the integration of Essbase cubes (MOLAP at its best) with OBIEE (Siebel Analytics – ROLAP platform) to provide a common semantic model for end-user analytics.

Information Nugget: If you are interested in Oracle Business Intelligence, please do stop by at http://www.rittmanmead.com/blog/ to read his blogs. The articles are very informative and thoroughly practical.

Thanks for reading. Please do share your thoughts. Read More about Hybrid OLAP