Hot Oracle News
$Date: 24-Apr-2000 $
$Revision: 1.32 $
$Author: Frank Naudé $
So much news! So little time!
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What is new in Oracle 8i Release2?
The following new features will be available in Oracle 8i Release2 (Oracle8.1.6):
- JServer Accelerator (Native Java compiler for each platform), Java programs can run as machine code, not interpreted as with 8.1.5.
- iFS: Internet File System
- Native support for Java2
- New SQL*Plus command line options: sqlplus -MARKUP [HTML...] and -RESTRICT
- STATSPACK that can be used for performance monitoring (much better that UTLBSTAT/UTLESTAT).
- CURSOR_SHARING parameter - optimize SHARED POOL for applications that do not use bind variables
- Block checking (DB_BLOCK_CHECKING) is automatically enabled for objects in the SYSTEM tablespace
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What is new in Oracle8.i?
The following new features will be available in Oracle8.1 (code-named Emerald). Oracle8.1 is expected to ship 1Q 1999.
- Integrated Java VM (called Aurora) in the database kernel allowing one to execute Java stored procedures
- Integrated support for EJB (Enterprise JavaBeans)
- Integrated Object Request Broker for standard CORBA communications between applications and the database
- JSQL: a specification for Java-based SQL database statements
- Huge improvements in Oracle Parallel Server technology
- Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM) v2.0 completely rewritten in Java
- The OEM v2.0 Server will allow administration via a Web Browser or via a thick installation and allow DBA's to collaborate
- HASH based table partitioning (in conjunction with the 8.0 RANGE partitioning)
- Transportable tablespace: Put the tablespace in read-only mode, run a
utility to create a dmp file. Move the dmp file and the datafiles (for that
tablespace) to another database. Run another utility to read in the dmp
file. And the tablespace will be "in place" in the new database!!!
- Read only database. Allow you to actually "use" the standby database
- Multiple remote archival of redo logs. Can specific up to 5 archival
destination and can have up to 10 archiver processes
- Drop the column. (Jared had already mentioned this). Set the column to
UNUSED: column will be inaccessible but can change it back to used anytime.
- Function based indexes (have to be row level function, can be a user
defined function)
- Index Key compression: duplicate keys are combined and save space
- Secondary Index-only-table indexes
- Single table hash cluster
- Temporary tables!! Tables which will be truncated at the end of a
transaction or session
- partition new features: merge partitions into one, updatable partition
keys (allow movement of rows between partitions), hash partitioning (don't
have to determine the partition range), can use LOBS in partitioned tables
- Composite partitioning (subpartitions using the hash method)
- More and more and more.. (run out of time..)
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Oracle renamed all development tools
Oracle renamed all of it's development tools, their new names are:
- Oracle Designer
- Oracle Developer
- Oracle Discoverer
- Oracle Reports
- Oracle JDeveloper
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Oracle will release their Oracle8 database software on Intel Linux!!!
Oracle recently announced that they will release their Oracle8 software
on the Linux Intel platform. This announcement was made after some major
database vendors like Sybase and Informix reported that they will make
their database software available on Linux. Oracle8 for Linux is planned
for shipment by end of 1998. Shipment of Oracle Applications for Linux is
expected in the first quarter of 1999.
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Oracle Announces Availability of Oracle Designer/2000 R2.1
Oracle Corp. announced Oracle(R) Designer/2000(TM) Release 2.1 and
Oracle Developer/2000(TM) Release 2.1, enabling dramatically increased
productivity for the database application developer. The new features of
Oracle's flagship application development environment allow developers, for
the first time, to model and automatically generate 100% of their
applications. Automatic code generation is designed to produce applications
of higher quality in less time.
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New features in Oracle8.0.4
Oracle8 Release Oracle8.0.4 provides the following key enhancements compared to Oracle8.0.3:
- New Time Series Data Cartridge to store, retrieve, and manipulate time-based data
- New Visual Information Retrieval Cartridge to do image searches
- Legato-based backup integration that achieved a backup rate of 1 terabyte/hour
- Includes the Oracle JDBC Drivers
- External Stored Procedures now works properly
- Advanced Queuing enhancements
- ConText Cartridge V2.3
- Oracle Enterprise Manager V1.5
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What is new in Oracle8.0?
Oracle8 will still support the standard relational stuff as in Oracle7,
but some new features and object extensions (cost option!) were added.
To list a few:
- A new object-relational database model
- Support for the ANSI SQL3 standard
- Addresses the large (terabyte) database market
- Table and Index partitioning (store a table in multiple tablespaces)
- Up to 1000 columns per table
- Server Managed Backup and Recovery
- Supports more concurrent users
- Connection Pooling (utilizes idle connections to support more user)
- Shared Database Links
- Oracle8 Data Cartridges (database plug-in's to creating new data types)
- Client-side Object Cache
- The ROWID field format and size changed from 6 to 10 bytes
- JAVA support from Oracle 8.1
- SQL*Net now called Net8
More info is available in the Oracle8 DBA FAQ.
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What is new in Oracle Developer/2000 Release 2.0?
Some of the key product's features:
- A new Project Builder for team development
- Allows developers to embed ActiveX controls
- Can connect to Oracle7, Rdb, Sybase, SQL Server and Informix
- Provides a set of "builders" for creating forms, reports, charts, procedures, database objects, etc.
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What is new in Oracle Mobile Agents V2.0?
Oracle released Oracle Mobile Agents V2.0 and an accompanying Software Development Kit.
This is some of the product's features:
- An expanded software development kit
- Mobile WEB Browser
- File transfer utilities
- Expanded security and network support
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Oracle Power Objects V2.0
Oracle Power Objects (OPO) V2.0 BETA has been released.
Some of the new features includes:
- 16-bit and 32-bit platform support (Windows 3.1, 95, NT, Power Mac etc.)
- The OPO team dropped development of an OS/2 version
- Crystal Reports Version 5.0 Professional Edition ships with OPO
- Personal Oracle Light (POL) replaces the BLAZE database
- Several Crescent ActiveX controls will be bundled with OPO
- Intersolv's DataDirect ODBC drivers will be integrated into OPO
- OCX support
- OPO can now act as a OLE Server
- Internet support (works via a browser plug-in)
- A new GRID Object replaces the repeater object
- A global search and replace utility
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What is Oracle WebForms?
Oracle's WebForms is a product that will help you Web-enable existing
Developer/2000 (Forms 4.5) applications.
This provides the ability to run a Developer/2000 form on any modern
Web browser.
WebForms will consist of a Forms client (downloadable Java applet) and
FormsServer (Java NCA Cartridge). Rumour has it that the FormsClient
will run in about 500K of memory.
WebForms can be centrally deployed and managed and will provide
a nice thin client implementation.
This capability will also be expanded to enable Web Reports.
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What is new in WebServer 3.0?
- Support for different WebServers: Netscape fasttrack/ enterprise/ commerce server, MSIIS, and perhaps others.
- XA-compliant Transaction Management: a transaction will be able to span multiple WEB Pages
- A new authentication mechanism (passwords which protects cartridges will be encrypted in the config file)
- ICX (Intercartrdige Exchange) and improved LiveHTML
- PL/SQL, Java, Perl and ODBC Cartridges
- CORBA-compliant WRB/ORB
- And hopefully a bunch of other smaller things...
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Is Oracle's NCA an ActiveX buster?
Oracle announced their Network Computer Architecture (NCA) to position themselves
as THE internet solutions company (and possibly a Microsoft ActiveX buster).
Oracle's NCA focus around the Application/WebServer middleware components, and
will integrate CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture) components
into Oracle's core Application, Database and WebServers.
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Oracle Enterprise Manager for Windows95
Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM) V1.2 has been released with support for Windows95!!!
OEM is free of charge with Oracle7.3 and can be used to manage all your Oracle 7.1 to 7.3 databases.
Apparently the OEM Performance Pack, which is a cost option, won't run against the IBM MVS platform.
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August 1996: Oracle8 entered beta testing
Information Week (Aug. 19, p14) has a great cover story on objects. They
positions Oracle as a company to watch. The article notes that Oracle has "a
revolutionary approach for managing data that combines the world's
best-selling relational database with object-oriented extensions," in Oracle8,
which entered beta this month. Oracle's Ken Jacobs explains that, "There's
another story about Oracle8, and it's all about high-end functionality."
Jacobs also notes that Oracle8 will support data volumes "hundreds or
thousands" of times larger than have been demonstrated on Oracle 7.3, and up
to 10 times as many users. That translates into a database capable of
supporting more than 100 terabytes of data and more than 10,000 users.
Oracle8 is expected to reach production status middle 1997.
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Will Oracle be JAVA enabled?
Apparently Oracle Corporation and other high-tech industry leaders
invested $100 000 000 in a JAVA Fund.
Oracle 8.1 will be able to store JAVA code in the database very
much like Oracle7 can store PL/SQL in the database today.
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What's new in Oracle7.3?
- One can read and write operating system files from PL/SQL
- Simple join views can be updated (select * from user_updatable_columns;)
- Database Triggers are compiled for increased performance
- Optimize sort performance with the TEMPORARY tablespace
- Hash join operations for serial or parallel queries helps to eliminate sorting
- Bitmap indexes added
- Optimizer histograms and extended ANALYZE command
- An indexes can be rebuild from an existing index
- Standby database feature
- Data block Resilvering
- Deferred Transaction Recovery (database startup is much faster)
- The new "dbv" (database verify) utility allows you to perform off-line integrity checks against the database
- Dynamic initialization parameters
- Deallocte un-used space
- Coalesce available free space (extents)
- Direct path import and export
- The remote dependency model changed from TIMESTAMPs to SIGNATUREs - helps to improve performance by avoiding unwanted recompilations
- Internode Parallel Queries (IPQ)
- New options: Web Server, Text Server, Video Server, Spartial Data Option, etc.
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Other sources of Oracle related news
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