Book Review: "Oracle WebLogic Server 12c: First Look"

Oracle WebLogic 12c is Oracle's number one strategic Application Server.  Note that g in 11g is replaced by c in 12c where g stands for grid computing and c stands for cloud computing.  WebLogic 12c has been optimized for deployment and running on:

• Oracle's Private Cloud, Exalogic
• Public Cloud
• Conventional systems

which was announced by Oracle on December 1, 2011,

This book provides readers a first look inside the new release of Oracle WebLogic 12c.

Overview of WebLogic 12c

There are over 200 new features in the new release of WebLogic 12c.  Some of the most important features include Java EE 6 and Exalogic readiness.

Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud is the engineered system specifically designed to provide enterprises with a foundation for secure, mission-critical private cloud.  The following diagram shows how various main components and WebLogic 12c are integrated in the Exalogic stack:



The Exalogic Elastic Cloud is a component of Oracle's Cloud Application Foundation, the company's next-generation application infrastructure. It combines the Exalogic cloud and the WebLogic Server with Tuxedo for C/C++/COBOL, Oracle's Coherence in-memory data grid, the JRockit and Hotspot Java VMs, Oracle Enterprise Manager, and the Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder.

Summary

Oracle WebLogic 12c implements the new Java EE 6 standard and supports Java SE 7.  It has also made a huge effort to make it compatible with a huge range of external systems, configurations, and so on. In almost every part, there have been major and sometimes minor updates to make the Java Application Server the most complete one.

It has a tighter integration with the latest Coherence.  The newest version of Coherence ( 3.7.*) has ActiveCache integration with WebLogic Server. It has Coherence cluster MBeans within WebLogic Server. The Node Manager is enhanced for starting/stopping Coherence cache servers from the Administration Console or doing it remotely.

WebLogic 12c also works closely with Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder (OVAB).  Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder is a tool that creates multi-tier Oracle Fusion Middleware environments as prepackaged Oracle VM templates. These packages  are called assemblies. They contain preconfigured virtual machines and a complete prepared environment which can be deployed on Exalogic on demand.

Finally, Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c can be used to mange and monitor the above-mentioned environments  It not only gathers configuration information about WebLogic Server, but also its underlying hardware and operating system.  Overall, it provides the following functionality:

• Complete Lifecycle Management
• Integrated Cloud Stack Management
• Business-driven Application Management

References

1. Oracle WebLogic Server 12c: First Look
2. Oracle® Fusion Middleware Configuring Server Environments for Oracle WebLogic Server 12c Release 1 (12.1.1)
3. Introducing the Java EE 6 Platform
4. Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c
5. Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud: A Brief Introduction
6. Oracle® Fusion Middleware Oracle WebLogic Server Release Notes 12c Release 1 (12.1.1)
7. WebLogic Server 12c (12.1.1.x) Certification Matrix.
8. Oracle® Fusion Middleware What's New in Oracle WebLogic Server 12c Release 1 (12.1.1)
9. Oracle WebLogic Server 12.1.3 Developing with WebLogic Server (Whitepaper)