Oracle Essentials: Oracle9i, Oracle8i and Oracle8, Second Edition

Chapter 14. Oracle and the Web

In this final chapter, we’ll take a look at the Oracle database solution from the standpoint of the Web. Although we’ve already introduced some of the features, products, and capabilities mentioned in this chapter, here we’ll look at Oracle technology strictly as it relates to the Web.

As we all know, the Internet has increased the speed of software innovation. This revised chapter is yet another proof of that axiom. In the short time since the first edition of Oracle Essentials was released, Oracle has created a brand new package to address the needs of Internet computing—the Oracle Internet Application Server, also known as iAS, which is called the Oracle9i Application Server with the Oracle9i release. iAS is a fairly dramatic new package, although as you will see in this chapter, many of its components have been around in different forms for quite some time. The most important implication of iAS is the simple fact that it exists. There are now two primary Oracle software packages: the Database Server and iAS. You will see references to “the Oracle9i platform” in Oracle marketing literature; this term simply refers to the combination of iAS and the Database Server. At the present time this combination is as much positioning as reality, but as Oracle wants to expand their presence in the technology stack, this positioning is a clear indication of the direction they want the two products to take.

Most of this chapter focuses on the architecture of ...