Annnouncement: WebLogic on Oracle Database Appliance

The following can be obtained by deploying WebLogic Server EE in Oracle Database Appliance:

• Pre-configured highly available WebLogic Server with 2, 4 or 8 nodes cluster options that provide the foundation for the customers to build and deploy enterprise Java EE applications with support for new features in 11g (10.3.6) and 12c (12.1.2).
• Simple, Reliable, Affordable platform for deploying end-to-end solutions leveraging not only Oracle Database RAC, but also WebLogic Server.

Now, a customer can be very fast in bringing up it’s WebLogic on ODA. These are, as Oracle tells, the general steps to take:

• Implement ODA in your Datacenter
• Download Database, WLS Appliance Manager and WLS ODA from EDelivery
• Run the Oracle Appliance Manager and WLS Domain Configuration

Now there are 2 posssible architectures as seen in this overview:

Also, of course, there is tight integration with RAC:

• Integrated WebLogic and Database RAC clusters
• Dynamic load balancing of requests to RAC nodes
• RAC node transaction affinity for data locality
• Continuous connection availability regardless of RAC changes

Active GridLink for RAC, is a feature released from WebLogic 10.3.4 and enhanced for the latest releases ( 11.1.1.6 and 12.1.1). Before this feature, WebLogic used Multi Data Sources and these continue to be supported.  However, Active GridLink for RAC takes availability, performance and integration a level higher.

There are 5 key features of GridLink:

• Single data source for an entire RAC cluster – if your RAC clusters are large and you have many different WebLogic domains, GridLink data sources can dramatically reduce configuration.
• RAC workload awareness – runtime connection load balancing on workload alghoritm.
• Transaction affinity where global transactions have an affinity context assigned to a specific RAC instance enabling better performance.
• Fast Connection Failover – event based notification of the WebLogic connection pool of changes in the RAC cluster and graceful recovery in these events –> RAC nodes being added for capacity or nodes being removed for maintenance.

Oracle maintains a Hardware Partition Licensing Model for WLS on ODA:

• Customer determines number of cores to be allocated to ODA Base, WebLogic and software load balancer VMs –Oracle Applications now have pay-as-you-grow licensing.
• Licensed core’s are pinned to physical cores. Allocated only in multiples of 2.
• Can increase/decrease the number of cores based on workload as long as you own licenses.

The WebLogic Server Packaging & Licensing is as follows:
WebLogic EE or Suite can be licensed for ODA

• WebLogic Server EE packaging updated to include ODA entitlements –WebLogic Software Kit for ODA added.
• Integration software for configuration of WebLogic Server on Oracle Database Appliance (ODA) –Available in WebLogic Server EE and WebLogic Suite.
• Customers may deploy ULA or extra capacity WebLogic licenses on a new ODA box.

Also, Oracle delivers on ODA a HA VIP software solution for load balancing; more details are yet to com.

Read some possible pricing models at:

• Tech Price List
• Engineered Price List
• Core Factor table 

Overall public licensing page:

This is a theoretical calculation using list prices. Your workload might be partitioned differently, have more or less requirements and further your company or organization may have existing agreements with Oracle. For an accurate understanding it is best to speak to your Oracle or Partner sales organization for more details.

After reading this blogpost, you might track the following about WLS on ODA on OTN:

• Qualogy’s Blog 
• Frances Blog
• Podcast File
• White Paper
• Getting Started guide for ODA
• How To Guide
• FAQ

Source: Oracle WebLogic Server on Oracle Database Appliance — by Alexandra Huff & Frances Zhao-Perez – March 2013

Publicatiedatum: 4 april 2013

About the author Michel Schildmeijer

Michel started his career as a medical officer in the Royal Dutch Airforce, with a focus on pharma. After the air force, he continued in pharma, followed by time working in clinical pharmacology. While there, he transitioned to IT by learning UNIX and MUMPS, and developed a system for managing patients’ medical records. As his career developed, his responsibility shifted from a deep technical perspective to a more visionary role. At the end of 2011, Michel authored a book on WebLogic Administration for beginners. He joined Qualogy in April 2012 where he expanded his repertoire significantly, serving a wide range of customers with his knowledge about Java Application Servers, Middleware and Application Integration. He also increased his multiple-industry knowledge in his role as Solutions or IT architect by working for customers in a range of sectors, including financials, telecom, public transportation and government organizations. In 2012, he received the IT Industry-recognized title of Oracle ACE for being an ambassador and community leader in his area of expertise. In 2019, this was enhanced to Oracle ACE Director. Michel is asked regularly to speak about technology and the impact of innovation at national and international conferences such as KubeCon, Oracle OpenWorld, Groundbreakers Developers Tours and others. He contributes actively to the OpenSource community and solutions regarding containerization, CI/CD and DevOps. In October 2021, Michel took an exciting step in his career by becoming Business Unit Manager for Qualogy Managed Services. While he still has a finger on the pulse in terms of technology, he is expanding his scope by combining his experience with the new insights gained in his new position. Read more via blog: https://bit.ly/3fAxrqf | Medium: https://mschildmeijer.medium.com/ | Books: Oracle Weblogic Server 11gR1 PS2: Administration Essentials: https://bit.ly/3IhALmf | Oracle WebLogic Server 12c: First Look1: https://bit.ly/31olbpj

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