Oracle has released Cloud Application Foundation (CAF) 12c, an integrated middleware platform that works on both traditional data centers and cloud environments. It is a combination of WebLogic Server for Java EE, Coherence in-memory data grid, Tuxedo for C/C++/COBOL, Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder for configuration and deployment, and Oracle Traffic Director for load balancing. Cloud Application Foundation has been optimized to run on Oracle's Exalogic Elastic Cloud appliance for private cloud deployments, and can also run on public clouds, like the Oracle Java Cloud service. It comes with a new integrated management framework (install, update, patch and provisioning) for WebLogic Server, Coherence and Oracle Web Tier.
Here we briefly describe the different pieces of Cloud Application Foundation 12c:
WebLogic Server 12c is the current release of the popular Java EE application server. It utilizes dynamic clustering and simplified JMS administration for easier management, especially in a cloud environment. It has tight integration with Oracle Database 12c, like support for pluggable database access and database application continuity capabilities. WebLogic Server provides declarative JSON or XML-based access to data sources via REST, through Oracle TopLink data services. It has enhanced support for Apache Maven for build and lifecycle management. WebLogic Server also supports WebSockets, which provides a bi-directional communication channel over a single TCP socket.
Coherence 12c is the latest release of Oracle's in-memory data caching and processing grid. The new GoldenGate HotCache feature solves the problem of stale data by monitoring the database and pushing changes into the Coherence cache. Coherence also comes with Live Events, a simple event processing platform. You can also use the WebLogic Management Framework to manage both WebLogic and Coherence servers.
Tuxedo 12c is the current release of Oracle's application server for C, C++ and COBOL applications. The Tuxedo Message Queue provides enterprise messaging functionality with transaction management and high availability. It has been optimized for Oracle Exalogic, and includes tools for application development, like the Solaris Studio plugin and Java API support.
Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder allows you to easily provision multi-tier application topologies, and quickly deploy applications in the cloud. You can create complex topologies using a drag-and-drop visual interface, and horizontally scale applications with a single command.
Traffic Director is Oracle's layer-7 software load balancer. It distributes requests from clients to servers based on the configured load-balancing method, routes the requests based on specified rules, caches frequently accessed data, and controls QoS. It can act as a Firewall for web applications, and has WebSocket load balancing support.
Oracle is also announcing 12c updates to its framework and developer tools product portfolio. These include the Oracle Application Development Framework (ADF), JDeveloper and Oracle Enterprise Pack for Eclipse, all of which provide an integrated development platform for Cloud Application Foundation.
To learn more, visit the Cloud Application Foundation website. You can also register for Cloud Application Foundation launch webcast happening on July 31, 2013 at 10 AM PDT.
