Oracle Technology Network: Java Workshop

It's time for another workshop from Oracle. As usual, I receive a workshop invitation from Oracle:

Modern Enterprise Java Development

Dear Ashrufzz,

You are invited to attend the Oracle Technology Network (OTN) Java Workshop, a free, hands-on workshop that will focus on Java EE 6 and designed to enrich the development experience of enterprise Java developers.

• Gain a better understanding of Oracle WebLogic Server's capabilities and a glimpse into Java EE 7 and cloud enablement


• Dive into the different layers of a typical Java EE Web application and learn how to implement them using the latest Java EE features


• Learn how the latest Java EE 6 features provide a modern, lightweight Java development experience


• Gain insight into why scaling web applications is challenging and learn some tips and tricks on how to deal with the issues involved


• Hear about the integration of Coherence and Oracle WebLogic Server and Oracle GlassFish Server and the native capabilities of each servers for HTTP session state management


• Learn how to configure and use powerful Eclipse plug-ins to develop, build, and deploy with Maven and Hudson for continuous build integration


• Learn how to develop a simple Java console-based application to access, update and remove simple types of information from a Coherence-clustered cache

LAPTOP REQUIREMENT

General requirements		Software requirements
• Laptop with DVD Drive • Any operating system • 3.9 GB free disk space for VirtualBox appliance		• 2GB RAM+ • VirtualBox 4.1+ software • 9 GB of disk space for VirtualBox image

Agenda
8:30 a.m.	Registration
9:00 a.m.	Keynote: Modern, Lightweight Development with Java EE 6
10:00 a.m.	Technical Session: Developer Experience with WebLogic Server and the Cloud
11:00 a.m.	Technical Session: Exploring Java EE 6
12:00 p.m.	Lunch
1:00 p.m.	InstallFest
1:30 p.m.	Hands-on Lab: Total Oracle WebLogic Server Development with Eclipse, Maven, and Hudson
2:30 p.m.	Technical Session: An engineer's introduction to in-memory data grid development
3:30 p.m.	Technical Session: In-memory session replication with WebLogic and GlassFish and Coherence
4:30 p.m.	Hands-on Lab: A Step-By-Step Guide to Oracle Coherence
5:30 p.m.	End

I arrived at Oracle's HQ in Level 23, The Garden. I guess they are cutting down on cost so the only goodies I get is an Oracle folder, a few sheets of paper and an Oracle Linux CD. It's okay with me since it's kind of annoying to bring along my laptop back-pack along with a bunch of goodies especially when you take the train to come to MidValley.


The first session was presented by Cipto Wibowo Herlianto, OFM Solution Consultant-ASEAN. He is based in Singapore and I believe he is an Indonesian by the way his name is spelt. There was supposed to be another speaker but he came in late, therefore, Cipto had to cover for him.


Cipto's topic was "Developer Experience with WebLogic Server and the Cloud" where he explained about Oracle WebLogic product regarding its features and many more things.


For me, the Oracle WebLogic is a fantastic tool to administer an enterprise application for a big scale environment. Of course, the learning curve would be a bit steep especially for those who had never handled any big enterprise application before. For those who do, the features can be really helpful.


Cipto also showed the audience a hands-on view of how to deploy 2 applications where one is the new version and side by side replacing the old version with a new one without compromising the uptime of the application. A feature where high availability application demands most.


My knowledge in Java is quite limited so I couldn't really understand what Java EE6 can do or could not do.

The second speaker is Chuk-Munn Lee where he talked about "Exploring Java EE 6".


I really admire Mr. Chuk-Mun Lee because of his vast knowledge of Java. He was also unafraid to tell the audience the truth about Oracle and Sun (He claimed he was from Sun) in terms of the product strength and weaknesses. Among some notes I've managed to collect:

• GlassFish Server V3 - Is free and most probably the most advanced web server application in the market


• JRuby - Is faster than the original Ruby


• WebXML - Format everybody loves to hate


• The use of annotation "" - If you have source code


• The use of XML - If you don't have source code/file


• Multitenancy in Java EE 7


• Scaling application in thread - requires a lot of CPU


• Some overview of JRockit and how it can be used to manage application

I've never heard of GlassFish before even though one of the applications my company is selling is using Tomcat and Jetty and based on Spring Framework. I think it's time for my company to focus on Java instead of PHP. It was also the first time I've heard of Maven and Hudson so it was an eye opener for me too.












Some of the materials being presentated were way beyond my IT knowledge so I had to pick up my pace on it using Wikipedia while during the talk. Again, I was fascinated by the dashboard showed by Mr Chuk together with his hands-on demonstration. How I wish I had the skills that he has. It was then time for lunch:


I could still remember the lunch I had during my last visit. It was fabolous. This time around, we were only served with packed lunch. Oh well, that'll do.


The afternoon session was the "hands-on" approach. My laptop was running at peak performance causing my CPU fan to work extra hard. I was left with only 13GB of hard disk space (Total capacity-160GB) on my ageing laptop. How I wish my company could provide me with an upgrade to my nearly 3-year-old laptop ever since my own laptop died on me because of overheating I supposed.


Check out my laptop which barely meets the minimum laptop requirement:

General requirements		Software requirements		My Laptop
• Laptop with DVD Drive • Any operating system • 3.9 GB free disk space for VirtualBox appliance		• 2GB RAM+ • VirtualBox 4.1+ software • 9 GB of disk space for VirtualBox image		• Intel Core2 Duo CPU T5670 1.8GHz • 3GB RAM • WinXP SP 2 • 13GB of free disk space

There was 2 hands-on lab:

1. Oracle WebLogic Server Development with Eclipse, maven and Hudson


2. A Step-By-Step Guide to Oracle Coherence

I only managed to finish the 1st lab. By the time I was finished, it's already time to leave.


Looking forward to another event (please invite me again ok?).

Thank you, Oracle.

Discovering RedHat Enterprise Linux

I am a Windows guy so when it comes to Linux, I am a complete newbie although I've been exposed to a few RedHat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) version 5 x86_64 tasks related to Oracle database administration. I've played around with Ubuntu and Fedora but I find it hard to adapt since I'm so used to Windows environment. Earlier this month, I was invited to attend a free half a day RedHat Workshop conducted by ECS Pericomp. I've dealt a few software purchase with them and so far I've been satisfied with their level of service.



ECS Pericomp is located in Kota Damansara. I had to hustle the peak traffic jam, I am puzzled of why is it that during the fasting month of Ramadan, the road traffic are more congested than usual. Maybe I was driving on the wrong route. Anyway, I arrived there slightly late and the presentation started:



I must say that ECS ICT Berhad is quite big. They have a list of smaller companies within their own premises. My company is way smaller than them.



Mike Lai is the Technology Specialist at ECS Pericomp. I really admire his presentation style because I think he loves to share stuff instead of selling.



Some brief explanation about what Open Source is all about.



Some of the software development milestone related to RedHat.



Some of the tools and features of RHEL. Mike continued to share that a lot other organization clone the RedHat to become their own, one is example is the Oracle Linux where the OS are fine tune with Oracle products.



Now this is what the entire workshop is all about, "Virtualization". I've been exposed to virtualization ever since the creation of Virtual PC. From there, I moved on to VirtualBox and read a little bit about VMWare. It is really an interesting topic to learn and implement. I have a couple of ideas I wanted to experiment since my company has its own small data center and the aging servers are really hard to manage. Now comes the best part, demo:



In the demo, Mike showed how he actually makes a live migration. The Virtual Machine (VM) used is Windows XP. He opened a text file and without saving it, created an exact copy of the VM and launches it. The exact opened text file appears sort of like a clone. Of course this is no surprise for people who have been familiar with Virtual PC such as myself. However, the web-based virtualization tool used reminded me of Amazon Elastic Cloud Compute EC2 I've been playing around 2 months ago.



As much as I marvel all this new cool technology, conveying the virtualization idea and practical issues is something to work on. Overall, this workshop benefited me well enough thanks to ECS.

A Preview of The Oracle Database Firewall

Last year I went to Oracle HQ at The Garden Mid Valley City for a presentation of Oracle Enterprise Single Sign On (ESSO). This year or specifically 18th of May last month, I attended an Oracle DBA Round Table – Database Firewall.

Same as last time, the presentation was done at Langkawi Room located at level 23, The Garden North Tower, Mid Valley City.


The Training Room

The Presenter was Niel Pandya which I believe is from the UK.


The Oracle presenter/trainer of the day


How is Data Compromised?


Why is understanding SQL critical?


Attendees present


Oracle Database Firewall Basic Components


Diagram of Basic Data Center Environment

Now comes the best part, FOOD! The food was prepared by Restoran Rebung (Chef Ismail). Chef Ismail is one of the prominent chef in Malaysia so of course his food is superb.


Lunch! One of the best tasting training lunch I've ever tasted

After lunch was over, it's time for some action.


The Hands-on training server's IP addresses strip sheet

Each participant was given this strip sheet with 3 IP addresses. The IP addresses was unique for each participants so no participant was connecting to the same server.


Trying to set up server connection on my laptop

At first, I was astounded by how the training was setup. Upon further investigation, I found out that the organizer used Amazon Web Services and setup more than (30 x 3) Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instance for each participants. Now this is new to me.


Instruction on The Hands-on training server's using the IP addresses strip sheet

After setting up the "virtual lab", its time to test the oracle Database Firewall setup.


Applying the Swingbench Application

If you are accustomed to dashboard style web-based console, you'll definitely have no problem exploring all its features.


A view of the Oracle Database Firewall Administration Console

The class ended at 3.30pm, the instructor told us that the server can still be accessed up until 6pm before it'll be shut down. Unfortunately when I got home, the server were inaccessible anymore.


Class ended

This class has been an eye opener for me since I like trying out stuff instead of just listening or reading it. I believe this type of presentation and hands-on training is more meaningful rather than just a talk. In my opinion, the Oracle Database Firewall product is useful in an environment where things has been out of control where developers and system administrator experienced some sort of a battle cracking down each other. Basically it depends on which industry the product is applied in. If it involves financial, this product will become top of the line security add-on. However, with the alarming numbers of breaches, malware, spyware, SQL injections and network security ignorance by the IT people themselves, prevention is better than cure right?


Posing in front of Oracle HQ Malaysia

If you need more information regarding Oracle Database Firewall, here's two links you can download the product information:

• Orace Database Firewall Architecture Overview


• Preventing Database Attacks and Data Breaches with Oracle Database Firewall