transaction scope - Page 158

NRF Big Show 2011 -- Part 2

- by David Dorf

One of the things I love about attending NRF is visiting the smaller booths to see what new innovative ideas have sprung up. After all, by watching emerging technologies we can get a sense of how the retail experience might change. After NRF I'm hoping to write a post on what I found, if anything, so be sure to check back. At the Oracle Retail booth we'll be demonstrating some of the aspects of the changing retail experience. These demos use a mix of GA and experimental components. Here are some highlights: 1. Checkin We wrote a consumer iPhone app we call Store Gateway that lets consumers access information from the store. They'll start by doing a checkin when they arrive that will alert the store manager via another iPhone app we wrote called Mobile Manager. Additionally, we display a welcome messaging using Starmount's digital sign. 2. Receive Offers There are three interaction points where a store can easily make an offer to a consumer: checkin, product scans, and checkout. For this demo we're calling our Universal Offer Engine at checkin to determine the best offer for this particular consumer. This offer is then displayed on the consumer's phone as well as on the digital sign. 3. Scan Products To thwart consumers from scanning product barcodes, we used Store Inventory Management to print QRCodes on shelf label then provided access to a scanner in the Store Gateway iphone app. When the consumer scans the shelf label they are shown product information provided by the retailer. 4. Checkout While we don't have a NFC-enabled mobile phone, we have a NFC chip that can attach to a phone. We're using this to checkout using a reader provided by ViVOTech. Tap the phone on the reader, and the POS accesses the customer#, coupons, and payment information. This really speeds the checkout process. 5. Digital Receipt After the transaction is complete, a digital copy of the receipt is sent to Intuit's QuickReceipts where consumers to store all their digital receipts. There's even an iPhone app that provides easy access to the receipts. This covers about half of what what we'll be showing, so be sure to stop by. I'll also be talking about how mobile is impacting the retail experience at the Wednesday morning session NRF Mobile Retail Initiative: a Blueprint for Action. See you at the Big Show!

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How to recover from finite-state-machine breakdown?

- by Earl Grey

My question may seems very scientific but I think it's a common problem and seasoned developers and programmers hopefully will have some advice to avoid the problem I mention in title. Btw., what I describe bellow is a real problem I am trying to proactively solve in my iOS project, I want to avoid it at all cost. By finite state machine I mean this I have a UI with a few buttons, several session states relevant to that UI and what this UI represents, I have some data which values are partly displayed in the UI, I receive and handle some external triggers (represented by callbacks from sensors). I made state diagrams to better map the relevant scenarios that are desirable and alowable in that UI and application. As I slowly implement the code, the app starts to behave more and more like it should. However, I am not very confident that it is robust enough. My doubts come from watching my own thinking and implementation process as it goes. I was confident that I had everything covered, but it was enough to make a few brute tests in the UI and I quickly realized that there are still gaps in the behavior ..I patched them. However, as each component depends and behaves based on input from some other component, a certain input from user or some external source trigers a chain of events, state changes..etc. I have several components and each behave like this Trigger received on input - trigger and its sender analyzed - output something (a message, a state change) based on analysis The problem is, this is not completely selfcontained, and my components (a database item, a session state, some button's state)...COULD be changed, influenced, deleted, or otherwise modified, outside the scope of the event-chain or desirable scenario. (phone crashes, battery is empty phone turn of suddenly) This will introduce a nonvalid situation into the system, from which the system potentially COULD NOT BE ABLE to recover. I see this (althought people do not realize this is the problem) in many of my competitors apps that are on apple store, customers write things like this "I added three documents, and after going there and there, i cannot open them, even if a see them." or "I recorded videos everyday, but after recording a too log video, I cannot turn of captions on them.., and the button for captions doesn't work".. These are just shortened examples, customers often describe it in more detail..from the descriptions and behavior described in them, I assume that the particular app has a FSM breakdown. So the ultimate question is how can I avoid this, and how to protect the system from blocking itself? EDIT I am talking in the context of one viewcontroller's view on the phone, I mean one part of the application. I Understand the MVC pattern, I have separate modules for distinct functionality..everything I describe is relevant to one canvas on the UI.

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Agile PLM Highlights from Oracle OpenWorld 2012

- by Kerrie Foy

Thank you to everyone who joined us at Oracle OpenWorld this year, either in person or virtually (thanks for tweeting #oowplm)! From customer presentations to after-hours networking opportunities, there was a lot to see and do during the entire conference. Sessions It was our pleasure to feature several customer speakers during our PLM sessions at OpenWorld from such companies as Starbucks, Coca-Cola, Facebook, Eli Lilly, and many more. Each had a unique perspective to share and fascinating insight into how they successfully leverage Agile PLM to facilitate profitable innovation, protect brand integrity, streamline operations, manage compliance, launch faster, etc. For example, during the Product Value Chain keynote session, CIO Chris Bedi of JDSU shared how they implemented Agile PLM to support business imperatives around rapid innovation, centralizing product information, collaboration, and eliminate the “Excel gymnastics” required to obtain global portfolio visibility. In just 120 days after implementing, JDSU employees reported significant improvements around product record management, new product introduction, engineering collaboration and more, which created a better work environment to enable critical innovation. I could write on and on about the almost 20 sessions! So to spare yourselves, please visit launch.oracle.com/?plmopenworld2012; it’s a curated selection of PLM presentations from the OpenWorld Content Catalog and available on-demand. Enjoy! Agile Innovation Management During OpenWorld, we announced an exciting new addition to the Agile PLM applications called Innovation Management that redefines the industry’s scope of product lifecycle management. Our broad vision of complete enterprise PLM for the entire Product Value Chain already broke new ground by helping organizations extend PLM disciplines downstream by connecting product design to commercialization processes; now we are helping executives look farther upstream in the early innovation phases to ultimately close the gap between strategy and execution that so commonly nags innovation initiatives. More on this coming soon so stay tuned! Unique Networking Opportunities We know it can be challenging during OpenWorld to find time to productively connect and network with your industry peers, so we hosted an Agile PLM “Birds of a Feather” networking brunch for the second year in a row. At a fine restaurant close to Moscone we hosted nine tables, each with only ten seats to encourage active conversation. Furthermore, guests could select from a list of predetermined table topics sponsored by a specialized PLM partner to guarantee – even more so – that they were seated with like-minded company and optimizing their time at the conference. Everyone enjoyed the opportunity to easily connect with other PLM users during OpenWorld in a more casual setting. What’s Next? Thank you again to all who joined us! If you haven't yet, mark your calendar to join us for the next Oracle Agile PLM conference at the Value Chain Summit in San Francisco, February 4-6 in 2013! We’ll have 40 sessions of PLM content in four tracks. Don’t miss it! You can sign up to be notified when official registration opens by visiting www.oracle.com/goto/vcs.

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Big Data – Buzz Words: What is NewSQL – Day 10 of 21

- by Pinal Dave

In yesterday’s blog post we learned the importance of the relational database. In this article we will take a quick look at the what is NewSQL. What is NewSQL? NewSQL stands for new scalable and high performance SQL Database vendors. The products sold by NewSQL vendors are horizontally scalable. NewSQL is not kind of databases but it is about vendors who supports emerging data products with relational database properties (like ACID, Transaction etc.) along with high performance. Products from NewSQL vendors usually follow in memory data for speedy access as well are available immediate scalability. NewSQL term was coined by 451 groups analyst Matthew Aslett in this particular blog post. On the definition of NewSQL, Aslett writes: “NewSQL” is our shorthand for the various new scalable/high performance SQL database vendors. We have previously referred to these products as ‘ScalableSQL‘ to differentiate them from the incumbent relational database products. Since this implies horizontal scalability, which is not necessarily a feature of all the products, we adopted the term ‘NewSQL’ in the new report. And to clarify, like NoSQL, NewSQL is not to be taken too literally: the new thing about the NewSQL vendors is the vendor, not the SQL. In other words - NewSQL incorporates the concepts and principles of Structured Query Language (SQL) and NoSQL languages. It combines reliability of SQL with the speed and performance of NoSQL. Categories of NewSQL There are three major categories of the NewSQL New Architecture – In this framework each node owns a subset of the data and queries are split into smaller query to sent to nodes to process the data. E.g. NuoDB, Clustrix, VoltDB MySQL Engines – Highly Optimized storage engine for SQL with the interface of MySQ Lare the example of such category. E.g. InnoDB, Akiban Transparent Sharding – This system automatically split database across multiple nodes. E.g. Scalearc Summary In simple words – NewSQL is kind of database following relational database principals and provides scalability like NoSQL. Tomorrow In tomorrow’s blog post we will discuss about the Role of Cloud Computing in Big Data. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: Big Data, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL

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Stop Saying "Multi-Channel!"

- by David Dorf

I keep hearing the term "multi-channel" in our industry, but its time to move on. It kinda reminds me of the term "ECR" or electronic cash register. Long ago ECR was a leading-edge term, but nowadays its rarely used because its table-stakes. After all, what cash register today isn't electronic? The same logic applies to multi-channel, at least when we're talking about tier-1 and tier-2 retailers. If you're still talking about multi-channel retailing, you're in big trouble. Some have switched over to the term "cross-channel," and that's a step in the right direction but still falls short. Its kinda like saying, "I upgraded my ECR to accept debit cards!" Yawn. Who hasn't? Today's retailers need to focus on omni-channel, which I first heard from my friends over at RSR but was originally coined at IDC. First retailers added e-commerce to their store and catalog channels yielding multi-channel retailing. Consumers could use the channel that worked best for them. Then some consumers wanted to combine channels with features like buy-on-the-Web, pickup-in-the-store. Thus began the cross-channel initiatives to breakdown the silos and enable the channels to communicate with each other. But the multi-channel architecture is full of duplication that thwarts efforts of providing a consistent experience. Each has its own cart, its own pricing, and often its own CRM. This was an outcrop of trying to bring the independent channels to market quickly. Rather than reusing and rebuilding existing components to meet the new demands, silos were created that continue to exist today. Today's consumers want omni-channel retailing. They want to interact with brands in a consistent manner that is channel transparent, yet optimized for that particular interaction. The diagram below, from the soon-to-be-released NRF Mobile Blueprint v2, shows this progression. For retailers to provide an omni-channel experience, there needs to be one logical representation of products, prices, promotions, and customers across all channels. The only thing that varies is the presentation of the content based on the delivery mechanism (e.g. shelf labels, mobile phone, web site, print, etc.) and often these mechanisms can be combined in various ways. I'm looking forward to the day in which I can use my phone to scan QR-codes in a catalog to create a shopping cart of items. Then do some further research on the retailer's Web site and be told about related items that might interest me. Be able to easily solicit opinions and reviews from social sites, and finally enter the store to pickup my items, knowing that any applicable coupons have been applied. In this scenario, I the consumer are dealing with a single brand that is aware of me and my needs throughout the entire transaction. Nirvana.

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Java Spotlight Episode 104: Devoxx 4 Kids

- by Roger Brinkley

Stephan Jannsen talks about the new Devoxx 4 Kids that he launched this last weekend in Belgium. Right-click or Control-click to download this MP3 file. You can also subscribe to the Java Spotlight Podcast Feed to get the latest podcast automatically. If you use iTunes you can open iTunes and subscribe with this link: Java Spotlight Podcast in iTunes. Show Notes News WebSocket JSR Early Draft (JSR 356) JAX-RS 2 Public Draft (JSR 339) JMS2, JAX-RS 2, WebSocket, JSON integrated in GlassFish 4 Promoted Builds Java EE 7 Revised Scope - Q2 2013 JavaOne Content Available for Free Please try Oracle's Java Uninstall Applet OpenJDK Community and Project Scorecard Experimental new utility to detect issues in javadoc comments PermGen Elimination project is promoting JDK bug migration milestone: JIRA now the system of record Project Jigsaw: On the next train New OpenJDK Projects: ThreeTen & Project Sumatra Events Oct 15-17, JAX London, London, United Kingdom Oct 20, Devoxx 4 Kids Français, Brussels, Belgium Oct 22-23, Freescale Technology Forum - Japan, Tokyo, Japan Oct 23-25, EclipseCon Europe, Ludwigsburg, Germany Oct 30-Nov 1, Arm TechCon, Santa Clara, United States of America Oct 31, JFall, Hart van Holland, Netherlands Nov 2-3, JMaghreb, Rabat, Morocco Nov 5-9, Øredev Developer Conference, Malmö, Sweden Nov 13-17, Devoxx, Antwerp, Belgium Nov 20-22, DOAG 2012, Nuremberg, Germany Dec 3-5, jDays, Göteborg, Sweden Dec 4-6, JavaOne Latin America, Sao Paolo, Brazil Feature InterviewStephan Janssen is a serial entrepreneur that has founded several successful organizations such as the Belgian Java User Group (BeJUG) in 1996, JCS Int. in 1998, JavaPolis in 2002 and now Parleys.com in 2006. He has been using Java since its early releases in 1995 with experience of developing and implementing real world Java solutions in the finance and manufacturing industries. Today Stephan is the CTO of the Java Competence Center at RealDolmen. He was selected by BEA Systems as the first European (independent) BEA Technical Director. He has also been recognized by the Server Side as one of the 54 Who is Who in Enterprise Java 2004. Sun has recognized in 2005 his efforts for the Java Community and has engaged him in the Java Champion project. He has spoken at numerous Java and JUG conferences around the world.Devoxx 4 KidsNew to Java Programming Center -- Young Developers What’s Cool "Here is the draft proposal to add a public Base64 utility class for JDK8." Default methods for jdk8: request for code review Raspberry Pi Model B now ships with 512MB of RAM JDuchess roadshow on the Island of Java. Nety and Mila from Meruvian.First week roadshowSecond week roadshowThird week part 1

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BizTalk 2010 Certification Exam

- by Paul Petrov

I took a shot at new (to me) certification exam for BizTalk 2010. I was able to pass it without any preparation just based on the experience. That does not mean this exam is a very simple one. Comparing to previous (2006 R2) it covers some new areas (like WCF) and has some demanding questions and situation to think about. But the most challenging factor is broad feature coverage. Overall, the impression that if BizTalk continues to grow in scope it’s better to create separate exams for core functionality and extended features (like EDI, RFID, LOB adapters) because it’s really hard to cover vast array of BizTalk capabilities. As far as required knowledge and questions allocation I think Microsoft description is on target. There were definitely more questions on deployment, configuration and administration aspects comparing to previous exam. WCF and WCF based adapters now play big role and this topic was covered well too. Extended functionality is claimed at 13% of the exam, I felt there were plenty of RFID questions but not many EDI, that’s why I thought it’d be useful to split exam into two to cover all of them equally. BRE is still there and good, cause it’s usually not very known/loved feature of the package. At the and, for those who plan to get certified, my advice would be to know all those areas of BizTalk for guaranteed passing: messaging and orchestrations, core adapters, routing, patterns; development of all artifacts and orchestrations; debugging and exceptions handling; packaging, deployment, tracking and administration; WCF bindings and adapters; BAM, BRE, RFID, EDI, etc. You may get by not knowing one smaller non-essential part (like I did with RFID, for example). In such case you better know all other areas very well to cover for the weak spot. If there more than one whiteouts in the knowledge it’s good idea to study and prepare: MSDN, blogs, virtual labs and good VM to play with can help when experience is not enough. So best wishes and good skill to you in passing this certification!

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NuGet JustMock

- by mehfuzh

As most of us already know JustMock got a free edition. The free edition is not a stripped down of the features of the full edition but I would rather say its a strip down of the type you can mock. Technically, free version runs on proxy as full version runs on proxy + profiler. In full version, It switches to profiler when you are mocking final methods or sealed class or anything else that can not be done using inheritance. Like in full version you can mock non public methods , in free version you can still do it but it has to be virtual for protected or must be done through InternalsVisibleTo attribute for internal virtual methods (If you have access to the source and can apply the attribute). Now, you can get a copy of free edition from the product page. Install it and off you go. But it is also exposed to NuGet. Those of you are not familiar with NuGet (that will be odd). But still NuGet is the centralized package manager from Microsoft that cuts the workflow of manual inclusion of libraries in your project. I think NuGet in future will limit the scope of “.vsi” packages and installers because of its ease (except in some cases). Its similar to ruby gems. In ruby, virtually you can install any library in this way “gems install <target_library>” and you are off to go. It will check the dependencies, install them or less prompt with the steps you need to do. Now sticking to the post, to get started you first need to install NuGet package manager. Once you have completed the step pressing “Ctrl + W, Ctrl + Z” it will bring up an console like one below: Once you are here, you just have to type “install-package justmock” Next, it will should print the confirmation when the installation is complete: Moving to visual studio solution explorer, you will now see: Finally, NuGet is still in its early ages and steps that are shown here may not remain the same in coming releases, but feel free to enjoy what is out there right now. Regarding JustMock free edition, there is a nice post by Phil Japikse at Introducing JustMock Free Edition. I think its worth checking if not already. Have fun and happy holidays!

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iTorque for a simple arcade game

- by Herfus

I have a basic understanding of programming, but I am no programmer. I've had a couple of a semesters with java programming, so we're talking pretty basic here. I have some scripting experience with game editors where I've created a few (simple) encounters, boss AI, abilities, events and so on. I've mostly done level design with UDK, Source and several other toolsets for a few years now, but I'd like to divert some of the focus to iphone-development. I've participated in a few development projects (source, udk, daot) where I've had a variety of roles (yet never beyond simple scripting). I have just finished prototyping an Iphone game (using game maker) and begun a bit more precise planning on what I'll have to do for the real version. The game is fairly simple, perhaps the best comparison in scope and complexity would be Doodlejump for iPhone. The reason I created the prototype was not just to answer a few questions about the gameplay, but to get some insight into what kind of problems I might face when trying to develop the real thing. I've been looking for engines that I can use for this. iTorque looks, so far, like the best option with a scripting language and WYSIWYG-editor. However the price is fairly steep and I'd like to prepare myself as much as possible before jumping into this, which is why I'm going to ask a few questions here. What kind of difficulties do you think I might run into, considering what you've read so far? Not just with torque, but development in general. I'm making this question mostly to have someone to reality check me. I usually achieve to do what I'm trying to do with scripting, but something tells me there's a very big difference between scripting an AI or an event and creating game logic. Will it be too much of a leap? Just how simple is it to use the Torque scripting language? Obviously I don't expect to be prepared, I expect it to be a learning process. However, I'd still like to be at least a bit confident on the time I'll have to dedicate to this first.

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Business Choices and Evony

- by Robert May

Recently, I’ve been playing a game called Evony, and I finally decided to quit the game and thought I should warn others who might be tempted. I also find a lot of insight with this game as an example. A few of the companies that I’ve worked with or worked for have been like this and they are NOT good places to be. Evony is a joke designed to milk as much money out of people as possible. As a professional software developer who mentors teams on how to build better software, here's what I see: They obviously offshore all development and have little oversight over that offshore development, and they probably have a small team at that. Evidenced by the poor grammar throughout the game. They're seeking to maximize revenue and pushing to do as little development as possible, which would mean a small team. They're horribly understaffed in the customer support department as evidenced by never replying to this forum and never responding to bug reports or help requests (I've had one open with no response AT ALL for over a month . . .) They have way inadequate testing, no CI, and probably no automated unit tests. You can see this by the poor grammar throughout the game and the type of bugs that show up. They aren't following a formal development process (no Agile, Waterfall, or anything else) as evidenced by their lack of predictable release cycle and lack of visibility. I'm guessing that the internal code base is terrible, otherwise, there wouldn't be an "Age II" that had nothing more than a new visual interface and a few rule tweaks. This is also evidenced by the itty bitty scope of bug fixes and their inability to really fix bugs. Their Architect sucks. Really, 42k user is all you can handle on a single server? Could you REALLY not come up with a better way to scale to handle users? They've built isolated worlds, instead of a single continuous world. Back to milking people for money--to really progress, you have to spend money. All of this adds up to knowing, deliberate actions on the part of management. They CHOOSE to do this (like AOL choosing to send more discs instead of improve quality). So, what can we learn? This game will never really improve, since the bosses don't care, they're only in it for the money. The game will never have good support. Again, the owners don't care. Giving them money only perpetuates this scam (and yes, I've given them money, way too much money. :() They don't care if you quit. There's a new sucker born every day. Don't EVER go to work for them. I've worked both with and for people like this and the culture is NEVER good. Ah well. Technorati Tags: Evony

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Partner Blog Series: PwC Perspectives - The Gotchas, The Do's and Don'ts for IDM Implementations

- by Tanu Sood

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mso-tstyle-border-bottom-themecolor:accent6; font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Georgia; mso-ascii-theme-font:major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:major-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Georgia; mso-hansi-theme-font:major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:major-bidi;} table.MsoTableMediumList1Accent6LastRow {mso-style-name:"Medium List 1 - Accent 6"; mso-table-condition:last-row; mso-style-priority:65; mso-style-unhide:no; mso-tstyle-border-top:1.0pt solid #E0301E; mso-tstyle-border-top-themecolor:accent6; mso-tstyle-border-bottom:1.0pt solid #E0301E; mso-tstyle-border-bottom-themecolor:accent6; color:#968C6D; mso-themecolor:text2; mso-ansi-font-weight:bold; mso-bidi-font-weight:bold;} table.MsoTableMediumList1Accent6FirstCol {mso-style-name:"Medium List 1 - Accent 6"; mso-table-condition:first-column; mso-style-priority:65; mso-style-unhide:no; mso-ansi-font-weight:bold; mso-bidi-font-weight:bold;} table.MsoTableMediumList1Accent6LastCol {mso-style-name:"Medium List 1 - Accent 6"; mso-table-condition:last-column; mso-style-priority:65; mso-style-unhide:no; mso-tstyle-border-top:1.0pt solid #E0301E; mso-tstyle-border-top-themecolor:accent6; mso-tstyle-border-bottom:1.0pt solid #E0301E; mso-tstyle-border-bottom-themecolor:accent6; mso-ansi-font-weight:bold; mso-bidi-font-weight:bold;} table.MsoTableMediumList1Accent6OddColumn {mso-style-name:"Medium List 1 - Accent 6"; mso-table-condition:odd-column; mso-style-priority:65; mso-style-unhide:no; mso-tstyle-shading:#F7CBC7; mso-tstyle-shading-themecolor:accent6; mso-tstyle-shading-themetint:63;} table.MsoTableMediumList1Accent6OddRow {mso-style-name:"Medium List 1 - Accent 6"; mso-table-condition:odd-row; mso-style-priority:65; mso-style-unhide:no; mso-tstyle-shading:#F7CBC7; mso-tstyle-shading-themecolor:accent6; mso-tstyle-shading-themetint:63;} It is generally accepted among business communities that technology by itself is not a silver bullet to all problems, but when it is combined with leading practices, strategy, careful planning and execution, it can create a recipe for success. This post attempts to highlight some of the best practices along with dos & don’ts that our practice has accumulated over the years in the identity & access management space in general, and also in the context of R2, in particular. Best Practices The following section illustrates the leading practices in “How” to plan, implement and sustain a successful OIM deployment, based on our collective experience. Planning is critical, but often overlooked A common approach to planning an IAM program that we identify with our clients is the three step process involving a current state assessment, a future state roadmap and an executable strategy to get there. It is extremely beneficial for clients to assess their current IAM state, perform gap analysis, document the recommended controls to address the gaps, align future state roadmap to business initiatives and get buy in from all stakeholders involved to improve the chances of success. When designing an enterprise-wide solution, the scalability of the technology must accommodate the future growth of the enterprise and the projected identity transactions over several years. Aligning the implementation schedule of OIM to related information technology projects increases the chances of success. As a baseline, it is recommended to match hardware specifications to the sizing guide for R2 published by Oracle. Adherence to this will help ensure that the hardware used to support OIM will not become a bottleneck as the adoption of new services increases. If your Organization has numerous connected applications that rely on reconciliation to synchronize the access data into OIM, consider hosting dedicated instances to handle reconciliation. Finally, ensure the use of clustered environment for development and have at least three total environments to help facilitate a controlled migration to production. If your Organization is planning to implement role based access control, we recommend performing a role mining exercise and consolidate your enterprise roles to keep them manageable. In addition, many Organizations have multiple approval flows to control access to critical roles, applications and entitlements. If your Organization falls into this category, we highly recommend that you limit the number of approval workflows to a small set. Most Organizations have operations managed across data centers with backend database synchronization, if your Organization falls into this category, ensure that the overall latency between the datacenters when replicating the databases is less than ten milliseconds to ensure that there are no front office performance impacts. Ingredients for a successful implementation During the development phase of your project, there are a number of guidelines that can be followed to help increase the chances for success. Most implementations cannot be completed without the use of customizations. If your implementation requires this, it’s a good practice to perform code reviews to help ensure quality and reduce code bottlenecks related to performance. We have observed at our clients that the development process works best when team members adhere to coding leading practices. Plan for time to correct coding defects and ensure developers are empowered to report their own bugs for maximum transparency. Many organizations struggle with defining a consistent approach to managing logs. This is particularly important due to the amount of information that can be logged by OIM. We recommend Oracle Diagnostics Logging (ODL) as an alternative to be used for logging. ODL allows log files to be formatted in XML for easy parsing and does not require a server restart when the log levels are changed during troubleshooting. Testing is a vital part of any large project, and an OIM R2 implementation is no exception. We suggest that at least one lower environment should use production-like data and connectors. Configurations should match as closely as possible. For example, use secure channels between OIM and target platforms in pre-production environments to test the configurations, the migration processes of certificates, and the additional overhead that encryption could impose. Finally, we ask our clients to perform database backups regularly and before any major change event, such as a patch or migration between environments. In the lowest environments, we recommend to have at least a weekly backup in order to prevent significant loss of time and effort. Similarly, if your organization is using virtual machines for one or more of the environments, it is recommended to take frequent snapshots so that rollbacks can occur in the event of improper configuration. Operate & sustain the solution to derive maximum benefits When migrating OIM R2 to production, it is important to perform certain activities that will help achieve a smoother transition. At our clients, we have seen that splitting the OIM tables into their own tablespaces by categories (physical tables, indexes, etc.) can help manage database growth effectively. If we notice that a client hasn’t enabled the Oracle-recommended indexing in the applicable database, we strongly suggest doing so to improve performance. Additionally, we work with our clients to make sure that the audit level is set to fit the organization’s auditing needs and sometimes even allocate UPA tables and indexes into their own table-space for better maintenance. Finally, many of our clients have set up schedules for reconciliation tables to be archived at regular intervals in order to keep the size of the database(s) reasonable and result in optimal database performance. For our clients that anticipate availability issues with target applications, we strongly encourage the use of the offline provisioning capabilities of OIM R2. This reduces the provisioning process for a given target application dependency on target availability and help avoid broken workflows. To account for this and other abnormalities, we also advocate that OIM’s monitoring controls be configured to alert administrators on any abnormal situations. Within OIM R2, we have begun advising our clients to utilize the ‘profile’ feature to encapsulate multiple commonly requested accounts, roles, and/or entitlements into a single item. By setting up a number of profiles that can be searched for and used, users will spend less time performing the same exact steps for common tasks. We advise our clients to follow the Oracle recommended guides for database and application server tuning which provides a good baseline configuration. It offers guidance on database connection pools, connection timeouts, user interface threads and proper handling of adapters/plug-ins. All of these can be important configurations that will allow faster provisioning and web page response times. Many of our clients have begun to recognize the value of data mining and a remediation process during the initial phases of an implementation (to help ensure high quality data gets loaded) and beyond (to support ongoing maintenance and business-as-usual processes). A successful program always begins with identifying the data elements and assigning a classification level based on criticality, risk, and availability. It should finish by following through with a remediation process. Dos & Don’ts Here are the most common dos and don'ts that we socialize with our clients, derived from our experience implementing the solution. Dos Don’ts Scope the project into phases with realistic goals. Look for quick wins to show success and value to the stake holders. Avoid “boiling the ocean” and trying to integrate all enterprise applications in the first phase. Establish an enterprise ID (universal unique ID across the enterprise) earlier in the program. Avoid major UI customizations that require code changes. Have a plan in place to patch during the project, which helps alleviate any major issues or roadblocks (product and database). Avoid publishing all the target entitlements if you don't anticipate their usage during access request. Assess your current state and prepare a roadmap to address your operations, tactical and strategic goals, align it with your business priorities. Avoid integrating non-production environments with your production target systems. Defer complex integrations to the later phases and take advantage of lessons learned from previous phases Avoid creating multiple accounts for the same user on the same system, if there is an opportunity to do so. Have an identity and access data quality initiative built into your plan to identify and remediate data related issues early on. Avoid creating complex approval workflows that would negative impact productivity and SLAs. Identify the owner of the identity systems with fair IdM knowledge and empower them with authority to make product related decisions. This will help ensure overcome any design hurdles. Avoid creating complex designs that are not sustainable long term and would need major overhaul during upgrades. Shadow your internal or external consulting resources during the implementation to build the necessary product skills needed to operate and sustain the solution. Avoid treating IAM as a point solution and have appropriate level of communication and training plan for the IT and business users alike. Conclusion In our experience, Identity programs will struggle with scope, proper resourcing, and more. We suggest that companies consider the suggestions discussed in this post and leverage them to help enable their identity and access program. This concludes PwC blog series on R2 for the month and we sincerely hope that the information we have shared thus far has been beneficial. For more information or if you have questions, you can reach out to Rex Thexton, Senior Managing Director, PwC and or Dharma Padala, Director, PwC. We look forward to hearing from you. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:12.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:12.0pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Arial; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} Meet the Writers: Dharma Padala is a Director in the Advisory Security practice within PwC. He has been implementing medium to large scale Identity Management solutions across multiple industries including utility, health care, entertainment, retail and financial sectors. Dharma has 14 years of experience in delivering IT solutions out of which he has been implementing Identity Management solutions for the past 8 years. Praveen Krishna is a Manager in the Advisory Security practice within PwC. Over the last decade Praveen has helped clients plan, architect and implement Oracle identity solutions across diverse industries. His experience includes delivering security across diverse topics like network, infrastructure, application and data where he brings a holistic point of view to problem solving. Scott MacDonald is a Director in the Advisory Security practice within PwC. He has consulted for several clients across multiple industries including financial services, health care, automotive and retail. Scott has 10 years of experience in delivering Identity Management solutions. John Misczak is a member of the Advisory Security practice within PwC. He has experience implementing multiple Identity and Access Management solutions, specializing in Oracle Identity Manager and Business Process Engineering Language (BPEL).

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Throwing exception from a property when my object state is invalid

- by Rumi P.

Microsoft guidelines say: "Avoid throwing exceptions from property getters", and I normally follow that. But my application uses Linq2SQL, and there is the case where my object can be in invalid state because somebody or something wrote nonsense into the database. Consider this toy example: [Table(Name="Rectangle")] public class Rectangle { [Column(Name="ID", IsPrimaryKey = true, IsDbGenerated = true)] public int ID {get; set;} [Column(Name="firstSide")] public double firstSide {get; set;} [Column(Name="secondSide")] public double secondSide {get; set;} public double sideRatio { get { return firstSide/secondSide; } } } Here, I could write code which ensures that my application never writes a Rectangle with a zero-length side into the database. But no matter how bulletproof I make my own code, somebody could open the database with a different application and create an invalid Rectangle, especially one with a 0 for secondSide. (For this example, please forget that it is possible to design the database in a way such that writing a side length of zero into the rectangle table is impossible; my domain model is very complex and there are constraints on model state which cannot be expressed in a relational database). So, the solution I am gravitating to is to change the getter to: get { if(firstSide > 0 && secondSide > 0) return firstSide/secondSide; else throw new System.InvalidOperationException("All rectangle sides should have a positive length"); } The reasoning behind not throwing exceptions from properties is that programmers should be able to use them without having to make precautions about catching and handling them them. But in this case, I think that it is OK to continue to use this property without such precautions: if the exception is thrown because my application wrote a non-zero rectangle side into the database, then this is a serious bug. It cannot and shouldn't be handled in the application, but there should be code which prevents it. It is good that the exception is visibly thrown, because that way the bug is caught. if the exception is thrown because a different application changed the data in the database, then handling it is outside of the scope of my application. So I can't do anything about it if I catch it. Is this a good enough reasoning to get over the "avoid" part of the guideline and throw the exception? Or should I turn it into a method after all? Note that in the real code, the properties which can have an invalid state feel less like the result of a calculation, so they are "natural" properties, not methods.

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Business Insight, IT Execution: 9 Project Management Tips

- by Sylvie MacKenzie, PMP

Excerpt from Profit Magazine - by David Rosenbaum When Marcos Baccetto was first asked to be the business-side project lead on Eaton Corporation’s Vehicle Group South America (VGSA) Oracle project, the operations services manager responsible for running manufacturing was, he confesses, “a little afraid” because of his lack of IT experience. Today, Baccetto calls the project “a fantastic experience,” and he is a true believer in the benefits of a close relationship between IT implementers and their line-of-business peers. Through his partnership with Jesiele Lima, then VGSA IT manager, Baccetto and Eaton’s South American operations team came to understand several important principles of business and IT. Here he shares nine tips managers should consider when working on an enterprise technology project. 1. Make it a business project, not an IT project. All levels of functional management must have ownership, responsibility, and accountability for the success of the implementation. 2. Share responsibility. Business owners should sign off on tests and data conversion. 3. Clean your data. Dedicating a team to improve core data quality prior to project launch can be a significant time-saver. 4. Select resources properly. Have functional people who can translate business needs to IT and can influence organizational change. 5. Manage scope. Follow project management methodologies and disciplines. 6. Adopt common processes, global solutions. Avoid customized, local solutions. The big-picture business goals can get lost in the details. 7. Implement processes prior to the go-live date. Change management can be key. Keep the workforce informed and train users in advance. 8. Define metrics milestones. Assume there will be a crisis during deployment. Having baseline metrics to compare against will help implementers keep their cool—and the project moving forward. 9. The sponsor’s commitment is critical. It is needed to support the truly difficult decisions.

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Subterranean IL: Exception handling 1

- by Simon Cooper

Today, I'll be starting a look at the Structured Exception Handling mechanism within the CLR. Exception handling is quite a complicated business, and, as a result, the rules governing exception handling clauses in IL are quite strict; you need to be careful when writing exception clauses in IL. Exception handlers Exception handlers are specified using a .try clause within a method definition. .try <TryStartLabel> to <TryEndLabel> <HandlerType> handler <HandlerStartLabel> to <HandlerEndLabel> As an example, a basic try/catch block would be specified like so: TryBlockStart: // ... leave.s CatchBlockEndTryBlockEnd:CatchBlockStart: // at the start of a catch block, the exception thrown is on the stack callvirt instance string [mscorlib]System.Object::ToString() call void [mscorlib]System.Console::WriteLine(string) leave.s CatchBlockEnd CatchBlockEnd: // method code continues... .try TryBlockStart to TryBlockEnd catch [mscorlib]System.Exception handler CatchBlockStart to CatchBlockEnd There are four different types of handler that can be specified: catch <TypeToken> This is the standard exception catch clause; you specify the object type that you want to catch (for example, [mscorlib]System.ArgumentException). Any object can be thrown as an exception, although Microsoft recommend that only classes derived from System.Exception are thrown as exceptions. filter <FilterLabel> A filter block allows you to provide custom logic to determine if a handler block should be run. This functionality is exposed in VB, but not in C#. finally A finally block executes when the try block exits, regardless of whether an exception was thrown or not. fault This is similar to a finally block, but a fault block executes only if an exception was thrown. This is not exposed in VB or C#. You can specify multiple catch or filter handling blocks in each .try, but fault and finally handlers must have their own .try clause. We'll look into why this is in later posts. Scoped exception handlers The .try syntax is quite tricky to use; it requires multiple labels, and you've got to be careful to keep separate the different exception handling sections. However, starting from .NET 2, IL allows you to use scope blocks to specify exception handlers instead. Using this syntax, the example above can be written like so: .try { // ... leave.s EndSEH}catch [mscorlib]System.Exception { callvirt instance string [mscorlib]System.Object::ToString() call void [mscorlib]System.Console::WriteLine(string) leave.s EndSEH}EndSEH:// method code continues... As you can see, this is much easier to write (and read!) than a stand-alone .try clause. Next time, I'll be looking at some of the restrictions imposed by SEH on control flow, and how the C# compiler generated exception handling clauses.

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Partial Submit vs. Auto Submit

- by Frank Nimphius

Partial Submit ADF Faces adds the concept of partial form submit to JavaServer Faces 1.2 and beyond. A partial submit actually is a form submit that does not require a page refresh and only updates components in the view that are referenced from the command component PartialTriggers property. Another option for refreshing a component in response to a partial submit is call AdfContext.getCurrentInstance.addPartialTarget(component_instance_handle_goes_here)in a managed bean. If a form contains required fields that the user left empty invoking the partial submit, then errors are shown for each of the field as the full form gets submitted. Autosubmit An input component that has its autosubmit property set to true also performs a partial submit of the form. However, this time it doesn't submit the entire form but only the component that triggers the submit plus components referenced it in their PartialTriggers property. For example, consider a form that has three input fields inpA, inpB and inpC with autosubmit=true set on inpA and required=true set on inpB and inpC. use case 1: Running the view, entering data into inpA and then tabbing out of the field will submit the content for inpA but not for inpB and inpC. Further more, none of the required field settings on inpB and inpC causes an error. use case 2: You change the configuration of inpC and set its PartialTriggers property to point to the ID of component inpA. When rerunning the sample, entering a value into inpA and tabbing out of the field will now submit the inpA and inpC fields and thus show an error for the missing required value on inpC. Internally, using autosubmit=true on an input component sets the event root to just this field, which good to have in case of dependent field validation or behavior. The event root can extended to include other components by using the Partial Triggers property on these components to point to the input field that has autosubmit=true defined. PartialSubmit vs. AutoSubmit Partial submit set on a command component submits the whole form and leaves it to the developer to decide which UI component is refreshed in response. Client side required field validation (as well as the server side equivalent) is not disabled by executed in this scenario. Setting immediate=true on the command item to skip validation doesn't help as it would also skip the model update. Auto submit is a functionality on the input components and also performs a partial form submit. However, in addition an event root is defined that narrows the scope for the submitted data and thus the components that are validated on the request. To read more about this topic, see: http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E23943_01/web.1111/b31973/af_lifecycle.htm#CIAHCFJF

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NetBeans IDE 7.3 Knows Null

- by Geertjan

What's the difference between these two methods, "test1" and "test2"? public int test1(String str) { return str.length(); } public int test2(String str) { if (str == null) { System.err.println("Passed null!."); //forgotten return; } return str.length(); } The difference, or at least, the difference that is relevant for this blog entry, is that whoever wrote "test2" apparently thinks that the variable "str" may be null, though did not provide a null check. In NetBeans IDE 7.3, you see this hint for "test2", but no hint for "test1", since in that case we don't know anything about the developer's intention for the variable and providing a hint in that case would flood the source code with too many false positives: Annotations are supported in understanding how a piece of code is intended to be used. If method return types use @Nullable, @NullAllowed, @CheckForNull, the value is considered to be "strongly possible to be null", as well as if the variable is tested to be null, as shown above. When using @NotNull, @NonNull, @Nonnull, the value is considered to be non-null. (The exact FQNs of the annotations are ignored, only simple names are checked.) Here are examples showing where the hints are displayed for the non-null hints (the "strongly possible to be null" hints are not shown below, though you can see one of them in the screenshot above), together with a comment showing what is shown when you hover over the hint: There isn't a "one size fits all" refactoring for these various instances relating to null checks, hence you can't do an automated refactoring across your code base via tools in NetBeans IDE, as shown yesterday for class member reordering across code bases. However, you can, instead, go to Source | Inspect and then do a scan throughout a scope (e.g., current file/package/project or combinations of these or all open projects) for class elements that the IDE identifies as potentially having a problem in this area: Thanks to Jan Lahoda, who reports that this currently also works in NetBeans IDE 7.3 dev builds for fields but that may need to be disabled since right now too many false positives are returned, for help with the info above and any misunderstandings are my own fault!

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Oracle JDeveloper 11gR2 Cookbook book review

- by Chris Muir

I recently received a free copy of Oracle JDeveloper 11gR2 Cookbook published by Packt Publishing for review. Readers of technical cookbooks would know this genre of text includes problems that developers will hit and the prescribed solutions, in this case for Oracle's Application Development Framework (ADF). Books like this excel themselves on excellent coverage, a logical progress of solutions through out the book, and providing a readable narrative around the numerous steps and code. This book progresses well through ADF application assembly, ADF Business Components, the view layer, security, deployment and tuning. Each recipe had a clear introduction and I especially enjoyed the "There's more" follow up sections for some recipes that leads the reader onto related ideas and issues the reader really needs to be aware of. Also worthy of comment having worked with ADF for over 5 years, there certainly was recipes and solutions I hadn't encountered before, this book gets bonus points for that. As a reviewer what negatives can I give this text? The book has cast it's net too wide by trying to cover "everything from design and construction, to deployment, testing, debugging and optimization." ADF is such a large and sophistication technology, this book with 100 recipes barely scrapes the surface. Don't expect all your ADF problems to be solved here. In turn there is inconsistency in the level of problems and solutions. I felt at the beginning the book was pitching itself at advanced problems to solve (that's great for me), but then it introduces topics like building a static View Object or train. These topics in my opinion are fairly simple and are covered by the Oracle documentation just as well, they shouldn't have been included here. In conclusion, ADF beginners will find this book worthwhile as it will open your eyes to the wider problems and solutions required for ADF, and experts for just the fact they can point junior programmers at the book for certain problems and say "get on with it". Is there scope for more ADF tombs like this? Yes! I'd love to see a cookbook specializing on ADF Business Components (hint hint to budding authors).

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Becoming the well-integrated content company (and combating AIUTLVFS)

- by Lance Shaw

Every single day, each of us create more and more content. Sometimes it is brand new material and many times it is iterations of existing content, but no one would argue that information and content growth is growing at an almost exponential rate. With all this content being created and stored, a number of problems naturally arise. One of the most common issues that users run into is "Am I Using The Latest Version of this File Syndrome", or AIUTLVFS. This insidious syndrome is all too common and results in ineffective, poor or downright wrong business decisions being made. When content or files are unavailable or incorrect within the scope of key business processes, the chance for erroneous and costly business decisions is magnified even further. For many companies, the ideal scenario is to be able to connect multiple business systems, both old and new, into one common content repository. Not only does this reduce content duplication, it also helps guarantee that everyone in various departments is working off the proverbial "same page". Sounds simple - but for many organizations, the proliferation of file shares, SharePoint sites, and other storage silos of content keep the dream of a more efficient business a distant one. We've created some online assets to help you in your evaluation and eventual improvement of your current content management and delivery systems. Take a few minutes to check out our Online Assessment Tool. It's quick, easy and just might provide you with insights into how you can improve your current content ecosystem. While you are there, check out our new Infographic that outlines common issues faced by companies today. Feel free to save our informative Infographic PDF and share it with business colleagues and your management to help them understand the business costs and impact of inaction. Together we can stop AIUTLVFS in its tracks and run our businesses more effectively than ever. Additionally, we hope you will take a few minutes to visit our new and informative webpages dedicated to the value of a well connected, fully integrated content management system. It's a great place to learn more about how integrating WebCenter Content into your infrastructure can lower your operational costs while boosting process and worker efficiency.

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ArchBeat Link-o-Rama for 2012-06-05

- by Bob Rhubart

Why is enterprise software often so complicated? | Rajesh Raheja rraheja.wordpress.com Rajesh Raheja shares "a few examples of requirements that lead to creation of complex platform infrastructures that up the complex enterprise software." Educause Top-Ten IT Issues - the most change in a decade or more | Cole Clark blogs.oracle.com Cole Clark discusses why "higher education IT must change in order to fully realize the potential for transforming the institution, and therefore it's people must learn new skills, understand and accept new ways of solving problems, and not be tied down by past practices or institutional inertia." Oracle VM RAC template - what it took | Wim Coekaerts blogs.oracle.com Wim Coekaerts shares an example that shows how easy it is to deploy a complete Oracle RAC cluster with Oracle VM. Oracle Cloud and Oracle Platinum Services Announcements oracle.com Featuring Larry Ellison and Mark Hurd. Wednesday, June 06, 2012. 1:00 p.m. PT – 2:30 p.m. PT Creating an Oracle Endeca Information Discovery 2.3 Application Part 1 : Scoping and Design | Mark Rittman www.rittmanmead.com Oracle ACE Director Mark Rittman launches a new series that dives into "the various stages in building a simple Oracle Endeca Information Discovery application, using the recent Endeca Information Discovery 2.3 release." Introducing Decision Tables in the SOA Suite 11g | Lucas Jellama technology.amis.nl Oracle ACE Director Lucas Jellema demonstrates how "the decision table can be put to good use to implement the business logic behind the classical game of Rock, Paper and Scissors." Application integration: reorganise, recycle, repurpose | Andrew Clarke radiofreetooting.blogspot.com "Integration is a topic which is in everybody's baliwick," says Oracle ACE Andrew Clarke. "The business people want to get the best value from their existing IT investments. The architects need to understand the interfaces between the silos and across the layers. The developers have to implement it." Using XA Transactions in Coherence-based Applications | Jonathan Purdy blogs.oracle.com Purdy shares "a few common approaches when integrating Coherence into applications via the use of an application server's transaction manager." Thought for the Day "The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones..." — John Maynard Keynes (June 5, 1883 - April 4, 1946) Source: Quotations Page

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Application Integration Future – BizTalk Server & Windows Azure (TechEd 2012)

- by SURESH GIRIRAJAN

I am really excited to see lot of new news around BizTalk in TechEd 2012. I was recently watching the session presented by Sriram and Rajesh on “Application Integration Futures: The Road Map and What's Next on Windows Azure”. It was great session and lot of interesting stuff about the feature updates for BizTalk and Azure integration. I have highlighted them below, definitely customers who haven’t started using Microsoft BizTalk ESB Toolkit should start using them which is going to be part of the core BizTalk product in future release, which is cool… BizTalk Server feature enhancements Manageability: ESB Tool Kit is going to be part of the core BizTalk product and Setup. Visualize BizTalk artifact dependencies in BizTalk administration console. HIS administration using configuration files. Performance: Improvements in ordered send port scenarios Improved performance in dynamic send ports and ESB, also to configure BizTalk host handler for dynamic send ports. Right now it runs under default host, which does not enable to scale. MLLP adapter enhancements and DB2 client transaction load balancing / client bulk insert. Platform Support: Visual Studio 2012, Windows 8 Server, SQL Server 2012, Office 15 and System Center 2012. B2B enhancements to support latest industry standards natively. Connectivity Improvements: Consume REST service directly in BizTalk SharePoint integration made easier. Improvements to SMTP adapter, to add macros for sending same email with different content to different parties. Connectivity to Azure Service Bus relay, queues and topics. DB2 client connectivity to SQL Server and SQL Server connectivity to Informix. CICS Http client connectivity to Windows. Azure: Use Azure as IaaS/PaaS for BizTalk environment. Use Azure to provision BizTalk environment for test environment / development. Later move to On-premises or build a Hybrid cloud approach. Eliminate HW procurement for BizTalk environment for testing / demos / development etc. Enable to create BizTalk farm easily and remove/add more servers as needed. EAI Service: EAI Bridge Protocol transformation Message Transformation Running custom code Message Enrichment Hybrid Connectivity LOB Applications On-premises Application On-premises Connectivity to Applications in the cloud Queues/ Topics Ftp Devices Web Services Bridge can be customized based on the service needs to provide different capabilities needed as part of the bridge. Look at the sample for EDI bridge for EDI service sample. Also with Tracking enabled through the portal. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/hh674490 Adapters: Service Bus Messaging adapter - New adapter added. WebHttp adapter - For REST services. NetTcpRelay adapter - New adapter added. I will start posting more and once I start playing with this…

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Oracle Database In-Memory

- by Mike.Hallett(at)Oracle-BI&EPM

Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE Larry Ellison unveiled the next major milestone in database technology, Oracle Database In-Memory, on June 10, 2014. Oracle Database In-Memory will be generally available in July 2014 and can be used with all hardware platforms on which Oracle Database 12c is supported. This option will accelerate database performance by orders of magnitude for analytics, data warehousing, and reporting while also speeding up online transaction processing (OLTP). It allows any existing Oracle Database-compatible application to automatically and transparently take advantage of columnar in-memory processing, without additional programming or application changes. Benefits Fast ad-hoc analytics without the need to pre-create indexes Completely transparent to existing applications Faster mixed workload OLTP No database size limit Industrial strength availability and security Robustness and maturity of Oracle Database 12c To find out more see Oracle Database In-Memory Comment from Rittman Mead on Oracle In-Memory Option Launch ... and I will let you know how this unfolds in regards to advantages for OBI11g and Exalytics and Big Data over the coming months. /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}

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ZFS for Database Log Files

- by user12620111

I've been troubled by drop outs in CPU usage in my application server, characterized by the CPUs suddenly going from close to 90% CPU busy to almost completely CPU idle for a few seconds. Here is an example of a drop out as shown by a snippet of vmstat data taken while the application server is under a heavy workload. # vmstat 1 kthr memory page disk faults cpu r b w swap free re mf pi po fr de sr s3 s4 s5 s6 in sy cs us sy id 1 0 0 130160176 116381952 0 16 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 207377 117715 203884 70 21 9 12 0 0 130160160 116381936 0 25 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 200413 117162 197250 70 20 9 11 0 0 130160176 116381920 0 16 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 203150 119365 200249 72 21 7 8 0 0 130160176 116377808 0 19 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 169826 96144 165194 56 17 27 0 0 0 130160176 116377800 0 16 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 10245 9376 9164 2 1 97 0 0 0 130160176 116377792 0 16 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 15742 12401 14784 4 1 95 0 0 0 130160176 116377776 2 16 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 19972 17703 19612 6 2 92 14 0 0 130160176 116377696 0 16 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 202794 116793 199807 71 21 8 9 0 0 130160160 116373584 0 30 0 0 0 0 0 0 18 0 0 203123 117857 198825 69 20 11 This behavior occurred consistently while the application server was processing synthetic transactions: HTTP requests from JMeter running on an external machine. I explored many theories trying to explain the drop outs, including: Unexpected JMeter behavior Network contention Java Garbage Collection Application Server thread pool problems Connection pool problems Database transaction processing Database I/O contention Graphing the CPU %idle led to a breakthrough: Several of the drop outs were 30 seconds apart. With that insight, I went digging through the data again and looking for other outliers that were 30 seconds apart. In the database server statistics, I found spikes in the iostat "asvc_t" (average response time of disk transactions, in milliseconds) for the disk drive that was being used for the database log files. Here is an example: extended device statistics r/s w/s kr/s kw/s wait actv wsvc_t asvc_t %w %b device 0.0 2053.6 0.0 8234.3 0.0 0.2 0.0 0.1 0 24 c3t60080E5...F4F6d0s0 0.0 2162.2 0.0 8652.8 0.0 0.3 0.0 0.1 0 28 c3t60080E5...F4F6d0s0 0.0 1102.5 0.0 10012.8 0.0 4.5 0.0 4.1 0 69 c3t60080E5...F4F6d0s0 0.0 74.0 0.0 7920.6 0.0 10.0 0.0 135.1 0 100 c3t60080E5...F4F6d0s0 0.0 568.7 0.0 6674.0 0.0 6.4 0.0 11.2 0 90 c3t60080E5...F4F6d0s0 0.0 1358.0 0.0 5456.0 0.0 0.6 0.0 0.4 0 55 c3t60080E5...F4F6d0s0 0.0 1314.3 0.0 5285.2 0.0 0.7 0.0 0.5 0 70 c3t60080E5...F4F6d0s0 Here is a little more information about my database configuration: The database and application server were running on two different SPARC servers. Storage for the database was on a storage array connected via 8 gigabit Fibre Channel Data storage and log file were on different physical disk drives Reliable low latency I/O is provided by battery backed NVRAM Highly available: Two Fibre Channel links accessed via MPxIO Two Mirrored cache controllers The log file physical disks were mirrored in the storage device Database log files on a ZFS Filesystem with cutting-edge technologies, such as copy-on-write and end-to-end checksumming Why would I be getting service time spikes in my high-end storage? First, I wanted to verify that the database log disk service time spikes aligned with the application server CPU drop outs, and they did: At first, I guessed that the disk service time spikes might be related to flushing the write through cache on the storage device, but I was unable to validate that theory. After searching the WWW for a while, I decided to try using a separate log device: # zpool add ZFS-db-41 log c3t60080E500017D55C000015C150A9F8A7d0 The ZFS log device is configured in a similar manner as described above: two physical disks mirrored in the storage array. This change to the database storage configuration eliminated the application server CPU drop outs: Here is the zpool configuration: # zpool status ZFS-db-41 pool: ZFS-db-41 state: ONLINE scan: none requested config: NAME STATE ZFS-db-41 ONLINE c3t60080E5...F4F6d0 ONLINE logs c3t60080E5...F8A7d0 ONLINE Now, the I/O spikes look like this: extended device statistics r/s w/s kr/s kw/s wait actv wsvc_t asvc_t %w %b device 0.0 1053.5 0.0 4234.1 0.0 0.8 0.0 0.7 0 75 c3t60080E5...F8A7d0s0 extended device statistics r/s w/s kr/s kw/s wait actv wsvc_t asvc_t %w %b device 0.0 1131.8 0.0 4555.3 0.0 0.8 0.0 0.7 0 76 c3t60080E5...F8A7d0s0 extended device statistics r/s w/s kr/s kw/s wait actv wsvc_t asvc_t %w %b device 0.0 1167.6 0.0 4682.2 0.0 0.7 0.0 0.6 0 74 c3t60080E5...F8A7d0s0 0.0 162.2 0.0 19153.9 0.0 0.7 0.0 4.2 0 12 c3t60080E5...F4F6d0s0 extended device statistics r/s w/s kr/s kw/s wait actv wsvc_t asvc_t %w %b device 0.0 1247.2 0.0 4992.6 0.0 0.7 0.0 0.6 0 71 c3t60080E5...F8A7d0s0 0.0 41.0 0.0 70.0 0.0 0.1 0.0 1.6 0 2 c3t60080E5...F4F6d0s0 extended device statistics r/s w/s kr/s kw/s wait actv wsvc_t asvc_t %w %b device 0.0 1241.3 0.0 4989.3 0.0 0.8 0.0 0.6 0 75 c3t60080E5...F8A7d0s0 extended device statistics r/s w/s kr/s kw/s wait actv wsvc_t asvc_t %w %b device 0.0 1193.2 0.0 4772.9 0.0 0.7 0.0 0.6 0 71 c3t60080E5...F8A7d0s0 We can see the steady flow of 4k writes to the ZIL device from O_SYNC database log file writes. The spikes are from flushing the transaction group. Like almost all problems that I run into, once I thoroughly understand the problem, I find that other people have documented similar experiences. Thanks to all of you who have documented alternative approaches. Saved for another day: now that the problem is obvious, I should try "zfs:zfs_immediate_write_sz" as recommended in the ZFS Evil Tuning Guide. References: The ZFS Intent Log Solaris ZFS, Synchronous Writes and the ZIL Explained ZFS Evil Tuning Guide: Cache Flushes ZFS Evil Tuning Guide: Tuning ZFS for Database Performance

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As the current draft stands, what is the most significant change the "National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace" will provoke?

- by mfg

A current draft of the "National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace" has been posted by the Department of Homeland Security. This question is not asking about privacy or constitutionality, but about how this act will impact developers' business models and development strategies. When the post was made I was reminded of Jeff's November blog post regarding an internet driver's license. Whether that is a perfect model or not, both approaches are attempting to handle a shared problem (of both developers and end users): How do we establish an online identity? The question I ask here is, with respect to the various burdens that would be imposed on developers and users, what are some of the major, foreseeable implementation issues that will arise from the current U.S. Government's proposed solution? For a quick primer on the setup, jump to page 12 for infrastructure components, here are two stand-outs: An Identity Provider (IDP) is responsible for the processes associated with enrolling a subject, and establishing and maintaining the digital identity associated with an individual or NPE. These processes include identity vetting and proofing, as well as revocation, suspension, and recovery of the digital identity. The IDP is responsible for issuing a credential, the information object or device used during a transaction to provide evidence of the subject’s identity; it may also provide linkage to authority, roles, rights, privileges, and other attributes. The credential can be stored on an identity medium, which is a device or object (physical or virtual) used for storing one or more credentials, claims, or attributes related to a subject. Identity media are widely available in many formats, such as smart cards, security chips embedded in PCs, cell phones, software based certificates, and USB devices. Selection of the appropriate credential is implementation specific and dependent on the risk tolerance of the participating entities. Here are the first considered actionable components of the draft: Action 1: Designate a Federal Agency to Lead the Public/Private Sector Efforts Associated with Achieving the Goals of the Strategy Action 2: Develop a Shared, Comprehensive Public/Private Sector Implementation Plan Action 3:Accelerate the Expansion of Federal Services, Pilots, and Policies that Align with the Identity Ecosystem Action 4:Work Among the Public/Private Sectors to Implement Enhanced Privacy Protections Action 5:Coordinate the Development and Refinement of Risk Models and Interoperability Standards Action 6: Address the Liability Concerns of Service Providers and Individuals Action 7: Perform Outreach and Awareness Across all Stakeholders Action 8: Continue Collaborating in International Efforts Action 9: Identify Other Means to Drive Adoption of the Identity Ecosystem across the Nation

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What shall I include in a 10 week web technologies course?

- by Iain

In September I will be teaching a university module on web technologies. This session will be available to 1st year (freshman) students who don't necessarily have any programming knowledge or know how the web works. In the 2nd semester I will be teaching Flash, which is my specialism, so I know exactly what I am going to teach, but in the 1st semester I will be teaching them web standards technologies - HTML, CSS, JS, jQuery, PHP and MySQL. Where I need advice is how to proportion the emphasis for each part, and which parts of each technology to cover. Another real issue I'm struggling with is how much of the bad old ways should I teach them? Do they need to know about bold as well as strong, etc. UPDATE: based, on your feedback I will only be teaching the latest version of everything - CSS3, HTML5 etc. I'm not sure exactly how long the semester will be but I'm guessing about 10-12 weeks. Each session is a 2 hour lab. Obviously there's only so much I can cover in that time and it will be up to the students to go a research this stuff properly on W3 schools etc. My ideas so far were: Lesson 0 - Course intro and overview of the current tech landscape. What is out there, what will we be learning, what won't we. What is a web server, URL etc. Looking at different example websites and discussing how they work. Lesson 1 - HTML basics (head, body, title, img, table, a, lists, h1, strong etc) Lesson 2 - CSS for styling and layout - fonts, webfonts, float etc Lesson 3 - Intro to programming JS (variables, loops, conditionals, functions) Lesson 4 - more JS programming fundamentals, DOM manipulation Lesson 5 - jQuery - making things fly about and look cool Lesson 6 - XML and Ajax Lesson 7 - PHP basics - syntax, server-side principles Lesson 8 - PHP and MySQL - forms, logins, saving user info Lesson 9 - don't know Lesson 10 - don't know Please let me know if you think this is the right order, what have I missed, how to use any spare sessions etc. Thanks :) UPDATE BASED ON RESPONSES: Thanks for all your responses - some great stuff. To be absolutely clear, this is not a computer science course, it is a practical module on a creative technology course. The emphasis definitely has to be on making cool things work rather than understanding how the backbone of the internet works. That can come later, if the students are interested. At the end of the module I would like the students to be able to produce a web page or pages that does something cool, using some or all of the technologies I cover. Many of these topics are of course far beyond the scope of a 2 hour session, however I do not have the option of reducing the syllabus, I will just have to explain what the technology does and encourage the student to research it in their own time.

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Software Tuned to Humanity

- by Phil Factor

I learned a great deal from a cynical old programmer who once told me that the ideal length of time for a compiler to do its work was the same time it took to roll a cigarette. For development work, this is oh so true. After intently looking at the editing window for an hour or so, it was a relief to look up, stretch, focus the eyes on something else, and roll the possibly-metaphorical cigarette. This was software tuned to humanity. Likewise, a user’s perception of the “ideal” time that an application will take to move from frame to frame, to retrieve information, or to process their input has remained remarkably static for about thirty years, at around 200 ms. Anything else appears, and always has, to be either fast or slow. This could explain why commercial applications, unlike games, simulations and communications, aren’t noticeably faster now than they were when I started programming in the Seventies. Sure, they do a great deal more, but the SLAs that I negotiated in the 1980s for application performance are very similar to what they are nowadays. To prove to myself that this wasn’t just some rose-tinted misperception on my part, I cranked up a Z80-based Jonos CP/M machine (1985) in the roof-space. Within 20 seconds from cold, it had loaded Wordstar and I was ready to write. OK, I got it wrong: some things were faster 30 years ago. Sure, I’d now have had all sorts of animations, wizzy graphics, and other comforting features, but it seems a pity that we have used all that extra CPU and memory to increase the scope of what we develop, and the graphical prettiness, but not to speed the processes needed to complete a business procedure. Never mind the weight, the response time’s great! To achieve 200 ms response times on a Z80, or similar, performance considerations influenced everything one did as a developer. If it meant writing an entire application in assembly code, applying every smart algorithm, and shortcut imaginable to get the application to perform to spec, then so be it. As a result, I’m a dyed-in-the-wool performance freak and find it difficult to change my habits. Conversely, many developers now seem to feel quite differently. While all will acknowledge that performance is important, it’s no longer the virtue is once was, and other factors such as user-experience now take precedence. Am I wrong? If not, then perhaps we need a new school of development technique to rival Agile, dedicated once again to producing applications that smoke the rear wheels rather than pootle elegantly to the shops; that forgo skeuomorphism, cute animation, or architectural elegance in favor of the smell of hot rubber. I struggle to name an application I use that is truly notable for its blistering performance, and would dearly love one to do my everyday work – just as long as it doesn’t go faster than my brain.

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