Oracle Database Lite 10gR2 Technical White Paper. An Oracle White Paper June 2006

Oracle Database Lite 10gR2 Technical White Paper An Oracle White Paper June 2006

Oracle Database Lite 10gR2 Technical White Paper ORACLE DATABASE LITE 10G OVERVIEW... 3 Introduction... 3 DATABASE LITE COMPONENTS... 3 Prerequisite Software for Lite... 4 Middle-Tier Option for Mobile Server... 4 Oracle Lite Database... 5 Data Synchronization... 5 Synchronization Process... 6 MyCompose API... 7 Queue Based Synchronization API... 7 Life Cycle Management... 7 Application Management... 8 Device Management... 10 Rapid Application Development... 11 Development Tools Supported... 11 Native Development Model... 11 Web Development Model... 12 Web Development Model... 13 Java Development Model... 13 Packaging Wizard... 14 Mobile Database Workbench (MDW)... 15 Branch Office... 15 Figure 5. Oracle Lite Branch Office Model... 15 Middle-Tier Option for Mobile Server... 15 Components Distributed on the CD... 16 Oracle is Your Partner of Choice... 16 Summary... 17 Oracle Database Lite 10gR2 Technical White Paper Page 2

Oracle Database Lite 10gR2 Technical White Paper ORACLE DATABASE LITE 10G OVERVIEW INTRODUCTION Employees are working away from their desks and require access to corporate data normally found only on desktop devices connected to enterprise networks. Wireless connections for mobile users offer the promise of remote access of enterprise data but persistent wireless connections are not always possible, practical or desirable. Wireless connections are not always possible because mobile workers may be in an environment that does not have wireless coverage. Often it is not practical to use a persistent wireless connection because applications do not have a real time data access requirement to justify the costs of communications. There are situations where a wireless connection is not desirable because the very presence of a wireless connection could compromise an application or a user s security. Developers require an infrastructure with application services that enable the development, delivery and operation of secure, personalized applications to mobile or embedded devices. DATABASE LITE COMPONENTS Oracle Database Lite 10g is a part of Oracle s Database that extends the grid environment and it makes your applications mobile. Oracle Database Lite describes a group of components that includes the Lite Database, the Mobile Server for Data Synchronization, Life Cycle Management and a Rapid Application Development environment. Oracle Database Lite is a complete solution and includes more than a small database. The Oracle Lite database included in this solution is not an abbreviated version of the Oracle database but was designed from the ground up to be used with mobile applications in small and embedded devices. Oracle Database Lite 10gR2 Technical White Paper Page 3

Mobile Client Mobile Servers Mobile Server Repository Sync Layer Oracle Lite Data and Applications Hardware Load Balancer Application Provisioning Data Synchronization Device Management Life Cycle Management Security Figure 1. Oracle Database Lite Component Overview Prerequisite Software for Lite Since Oracle Database Lite stores and retrieves your information from an Oracle database, you must have a back-end Oracle database to run Lite. The Oracle database can be either Standard or Enterprise Edition, running a minimum version of 8.1.7 or higher. Middle-Tier Option for Mobile Server Oracle Database Lite uses a middle-tier to communicate between the clients and the back-end database. You must use one of the following as the middle-tier: Stand alone OC4J for development environments Oracle Application Server for production environments Stand Alone OC4J Stand Alone OC4J is automatically installed with Oracle Database Lite and this provides a standalone Mode for development environments. Mobile Server in standalone mode uses the standalone version of Oracle Containers for J2EE (OC4J). This is the preferred configuration for development and testing but it will support only a limited number of concurrent users. Oracle Application Server Production environments require either Oracle Application Server 10g. The application server is not installed with Oracle Database Lite and must be installed before installing Oracle Database Lite Mobile Server. Oracle Database Lite 10gR2 Technical White Paper Page 4

The Oracle Application Server production environment will support large numbers of users, provides caching, load balancing, centralized management, security, and Single Sign On support. Oracle Lite Database The Oracle Lite Database is a small footprint, Java enabled, secure, relational database management system created specifically for laptop computers, handheld computers, PDAs, and information appliances. Oracle Lite Database runs on Windows 2000/XP, Windows CE/Pocket PC, Symbian OS, and Embedded Linux. Oracle Lite Database provides JDBC, ODBC, ADO.NET and Simple Object Data Access (SODA) APIs, for an easy-to-use C++ interface that is optimized for the object-oriented and SQL functionality of Oracle Database Lite. Installation of the Mobile Development Kit (MDK) installs the Oracle Lite Database and all its utilities on your development machine. The Oracle Lite Database features: Small Flexible object kernel SQL 92 and ACID Compliant Java Stored Procedures and Triggers Built-in change capture Zero Administration Databases size: 4 GB Multi user version supports up to 32 simultaneous connections Compatible with Oracle Database 10g Fast Native JDBC interface (Type-4) ODBC available on all platforms - V2.0-3.5 for Windows Strong encryption using AES Data Synchronization A user s data is synchronized between Oracle Lite Database and an Oracle database server. Synchronization is accomplished by invoking the Mobile sync client, msync, which interacts with the Mobile Server. The Mobile Server uses synchronization objects such as users, publications, publication items, and subscriptions to process client and server data changes. This technique is referred to as a publish/subscribe model. Oracle Database Lite 10gR2 Technical White Paper Page 5

Synchronization Process Oracle Database Lite contains a subset of data stored in the Oracle database. This subset is stored in snapshots in the Oracle Lite database. Unlike a base table, a snapshot keeps track of changes made to it in a change log. Users can make changes in the Oracle Lite database while the device is disconnected, and can synchronize with the Oracle database server. There are basically three types of publication items that can be used to define synchronization; fast refresh, complete refresh, and queue based. The most common method of synchronization is a fast refresh publication item where changes are uploaded by the client, and changes for the client are downloaded. Meanwhile, a background process called the Message Generator and Processor (MGP) periodically collects the changes uploaded by all clients and applies them to database tables. It then composes new data, ready to be downloaded to each client during the next synchronization, based on predefined subscriptions. Oracle Lite Sync is a two step asynchronous process: Client (Device) Mobile Server Base Tables Native App Olite Sync DB Client Upload Download IN Queue OUT Queue Apply Compose Figure 2. Oracle Database Lite Synchronization Process 1. Sync moves updated rows from the client database to the In Queue and from the Out Queue to the client database... 2. MGP (Message Generator Processor) applies In Queue changes to base tables and Composes the changes to the base tables to client Out Queues. Oracle Lite s asynchronous synchronization architecture emphasizes: Performance Data compression Scalability (supports thousands of users) Transport independence (wired, wireless, or reliable transport) Conflict detection and customizable resolution Complete synchronizes (all database objects) Checkpointing allows sync to resume where it left off Oracle Database Lite 10gR2 Technical White Paper Page 6

Non-blocking synchronization (No user is blocked by another user) Multi-threaded architecture Custom synchronization invocation Multiple synchronization and network protocols: - TCP/IP, HTTP, 802.11b/g, PPP12, GPRS, ActiveSync Open Transport APIs to support any wireless network MyCompose API The MyCompose class allows a developer to programmatically customize the compose phase of synchronization. MyCompose is a programming interface option available to developers to control MGP s DML operations. This is especially useful if a DML operation is very complex. Compose may be applied to specific clients using programming selection techniques or to prioritize client compose. Queue Based Synchronization API Optionally, application developers may manage the Synchronization process programmatically by using the Queue Based publication item API. This can be considered the most basic form of publication item, for the simple reason that there is no synchronization logic created with it. The synchronization logic is left entirely in the hands of the developer. A queue based publication item is ideally suited for scenarios that do not require actual synchronization but require something somewhere in between such as data collection on the client. With data collection, there is no need to detect conflicts, client state information, or server side updates. Therefore, there is no need to add the additional overhead normally associated with a fast refresh or complete refresh publication item as a result of MGP processing. During Sync, normally the MGP manages both the in queues and the out queues. The Queue Interface API, CreateQueuePublicationItem, allows the application developer to manage the in and out queue operations during a synchronization session using a PL/SQL Package by creating the queues themselves. Life Cycle Management Oracle Database Lite provides complete Life Cycle Management for distributing, installing and managing software, data and files on mobile devices and remote systems. It enables a central site support team to manage distributions to an entire workforce from a single management console. A web-based administration interface enables complete server-side management of all mobile applications, devices, users and Mobile Servers. Oracle Database Lite 10gR2 Technical White Paper Page 7

Administrators use intuitive tools to publish the mobile application to the production system and have complete control to view, monitor and manage the full mobile chain. Oracle Database Lite s Life Cycle Management infrastructure includes : Application Management User Management System Management Device Management Application Management Provisioning Applications are packaged and published to the Mobile Server repository where they are managed by the web based administration tool Mobile Manager. After publishing the application, the administrator may control application access privileges to users or groups. The Packaging Wizard bundles all application components (executables, DLLs, images, etc.) into a unique self-extracting file for simple provisioning to mobile or lightweight environments. Users provision the Oracle Lite client runtime environment by boot strapping a self extracting setup.exe file from the Mobile Server. Point the client s browser to the URL: http://mobileserver_domain/setup This file installs all the client run time software needed including the Lite Database, msync client, device client, DLLs and database utilities. Deployment Once the client device is provisioned, the user may invoke the msync client which will perform a first time sync that deploys the authenticated users applications, appropriate databases and DSN configurations. Mobile Manager Mobile Manager is a web-based administration interface that enables complete serverside management of all mobile applications, devices, users and mobile servers. Administrators have complete control to view, monitor and manage the mobile clients. The Mobile Manager provides these management functions: Modifying application properties. Suspend/Resume applications. Upload and removal of applications from the Mobile Server repository. Oracle Database Lite 10gR2 Technical White Paper Page 8

Specifying data sub setting. Adding Web application archive, (WAR), files. Specifying application files for public usage. Administering Users, User Groups and their application access User Management User Management allows the definition of new users and groups. It also allows establishing roles for groups of users and application access permissions. User Management may interface with external validation mechanisms including LDAP and OID. System Management The Mobile Manager interface allows management of all the Mobile Servers in a configuration. This includes detailed information about active user sessions. Trace properties may be dynamically set and allow an administrator to specify trace filters, log locations and trace log size. The Mobile Server configuration file, webtogo.ora, contains Mobile Server operational parameters relating to external authentication, file systems, cache, synchronization and MGP default settings. This setting can be dynamically altered through the System Management interface. Synchronization Manager Synchronization management provides very detailed monitoring of users synchronization results and include details like start and finish times, upload and download duration times, record counts, listing of publications, publication items and device tables. The Synchronization Manager graphical interface allows administrators to monitor and manage the synchronization service, monitor and analyze the performance, administer the configuration, trace synchronization history, browse for synchronization publication and subscription information, and monitor MGP (Message Generator and Processor) performance. The transaction error queue lists transactions that have been flagged as conflict detected and these transactions may be corrected by re-executing or purging. Error Correction Oracle Lite will detect conflicts and resolve conflicts using simple rules; client wins or server wins or custom programmatic resolution. All other errors, such as nullity violations or foreign key constraint violations, are synchronization errors. The Mobile Server does not automatically resolve synchronization errors. Instead, the Mobile Server rolls back the corresponding transactions, and moves the transaction operations into the Mobile Server error queue. Later, Mobile Server database Oracle Database Lite 10gR2 Technical White Paper Page 9

administrators can change these transaction operations and re-execute or purge them from the error queue. A Mobile Server synchronization conflict occurs if: Client and the server update the same row. Client and server create rows with the same primary key values. Client deletes the same row that the server updates. Device Management As enterprises deploy more and more applications on small devices, managing these devices presents a crucial constraint on enterprise IT solutions. The Device Management (DM) system provides a solution to administer the deployed devices and remotely manage applications and data in these devices. Device Management System consists of a number of Device Management Clients (DMC) that interacts with a Device Management Server (DMS). Device Management supports the following functionality. Remote inspection of client device hardware and operating system settings. Remote inspection and modification of application configuration settings. Client database information retrieval, validation and Sync with Oracle DB Client device lock down, application removal, application data removal. Client software management. Device configuration files modification. Oracle Database Lite 10gR2 Technical White Paper Page 10

Client Stack Server Stack SMC Messaging Client DM Client Messaging Server DM Server Provisioning Server Applications Sync Client Oracle Lite Database Sync Server Mobile Server Repository Figure 3. Device Management Stacks Rapid Application Development The Oracle Lite Rapid Application Development environment offers developers a choice of development platforms including native, Java and Web based. The Oracle Database Lite mobile development kit contains a set of tools, APIs, and code samples that accelerate the development of mobile applications using your favorite mobile development tools for Microsoft Windows CE, Pocket PC, Windows 2000/XP/2003, Linux and Symbian OS. Oracle Database Lite s Packaging Wizard bundles all application components (executables, DLLs, images, etc.) into a unique file used for deployment to mobile or lightweight environments. Development Tools Supported The following development tools and IDEs are supported by Oracle Database Lite: Oracle JDeveloper 10g Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 Metrowerks CodeWarrior 8+ Microsoft Visual Studio.NET 2003 Microsoft EVC 3.0/4.0 Sybase PowerBuilder Borland Delphi JDBC, ODBC, ADO.NET, SODA, C, C++, Object API Native Development Model The Oracle Database Lite Mobile Development Kit provides a set of tools, APIs, and code samples that accelerate the development of native mobile applications using your favorite mobile development tools for Microsoft Windows CE, Pocket PC, Windows 2000/XP/2003 and the Palm Computing Platform. Oracle Database Lite 10gR2 Technical White Paper Page 11

Java C, C++, VB C, C++ Mobile Sync JDBC Network ODBC SODA Simple Object Database Access Oracle Lite Database Kernel Figure 4. Oracle Lite Development Model O/S ODBC JDBC SODA 1 ADOCE ADO.NET Windows 32 Yes Yes Yes - Yes Windows CE Yes Yes 2 Yes Yes 3 Yes 4 Linux Yes Yes Yes - - Symbian OS Yes 5 - - - - Database Access APIs O/S EVC 3.0 EVC 4.0 VS 6.0 VS.NET 2003 Windows 32 - - Yes Yes Windows CE 3.0 for PPC 6 Yes - - - Windows CE 4.2 - Yes - Yes Supported Windows Development Tools 1 Simple Object Data Access (C++ database access library) 2 No Java Stored Procedures & Triggers. Certified for Crème VM, IBM J9. 3 Windows CE 3.0 for PPC (also known as Pocket PC 2002) only 4 Only Microsoft.Net Compact Framework 5 Versions 7.0 and 8.0 with UIQ 2.0 6 Windows CE 3.0 for H/PC no longer supported Oracle Database Lite 10gR2 Technical White Paper Page 12

O/S ARM XScale X86 emulator Windows CE 3.0 for PPC Yes - Yes Windows CE 4.2 7 Yes Yes Yes Supported Windows CE/CPU Configurations Web Development Model Using the Mobile Development Kit, you can develop Web based applications. You can build Web based applications using Java Servlets, Java Server Pages (JSP), and Java Beans. Follow these steps to develop Web based applications. 1. Developers create web based applications using Servlets, Applets and/or JSPs. 2. Completed and tested applications are published to the Mobile Server using the Packaging Wizard. 3. Invoke the boot strap setup.exe to provision the Oracle Lite client runtime environment. 4. Using msync client, applications are provisioned to the client using synchronization from the Mobile Server repository. 5. Once the web application objects are provisioned they are served to the client s browser by a light weight application server. 6. The client application will continue to work and appear as if it is connected to the network. 7. When the client reconnects to the Mobile Server the Lite database may be synchronized. Java Development Model Using the Mobile Development Kit, you can develop Java applications. You can build Java applications using Java Servlets, Java Server Pages (JSP), and Java Beans. To write and debug Java programs, you can use any Java development tool. You must provide a Java runtime environment and ensure that you set the CLASSPATH and PATH correctly. 7 Also known as Pocket PC 2003 or Windows Mobile 2003 Oracle Database Lite 10gR2 Technical White Paper Page 13

O/S Windows 32 - Web Windows 32 - Native Windows CE Linux JDBC Yes 8 Yes Yes 9 Yes Java SP/Trigger Yes 10 Yes - Yes Java Server Pages 1.1 - - - Java Servlets 1.2 - - - BC4J Yes 11 - - - Struts Yes - - - Supported Java Development Packaging Wizard The Packaging Wizard is a standalone application is found in the MDK that allows developers to: Create and publish a new mobile application to the Mobile Server. Specifying New Application Details Listing Application Files Adding Servlets (For Web Applications Only) Entering Database Information Defining Application Roles Defining Snapshots for Replication Defining Sequences for Replication Edit an existing mobile application Package a mobile application for easy deployment 8 Oracle Lite offers three different JDBC drivers: a) Embedded (native) JDBC driver- JDBC 1.2.2 compliant. Supports Java applications to communicate directly with Oracle Lite's database. Oracle Lite provides a limited number of extensions specified by JDBC 2.0. These extensions are compatible with the Oracle Database JDBC implementation b) Type 2 driver c) Type 4 driver - 100% Java implementation. Requires the multi-user database version 9 See Developer's Guide for Windows CE for a complete list of JDBC functions 10 Java SP/Triggers are not supported in the Web-to-Go application model. However Java SP can be replicated using the Consolidator API 11 Latest version of Oracle JDeveloper 10g (10.1.3) Oracle Database Lite 10gR2 Technical White Paper Page 14

Mobile Database Workbench (MDW) The Oracle Lite Mobile Database Workbench (MDW) is a mobile application developer tool that enables a mobile application schema to be designed, tested and tuned before developing the application. Using MDW, various mobile application schema definition entities can be created and manipulated, such as Publication, Publication Item, Sequence, Script and Resource. The Mobile Database Workbench is a visual tool that uses a set of well defined interview steps to guide mobile application developers through the building of their application schema definition and hints. It also enables developers to view, manipulate and tune the preexisting schema definition and hint specification. This tool provides the ability to test the application schema definition by allowing synchronization of data between a mobile database (sitting on a real mobile device such as a laptop or Pocket-PC) with the enterprise database, all from within the tool environment. Additionally, MDW integrates with the CONSPERF to provide visual evaluation and performance-tuning of snapshot queries the entities that define the mobile application schema entities, namely the snapshots. Lastly, the tool provides the application developer with the ability to save and restore MDW sessions. Branch Office Branch Office provides access to the Branch Office database for up to 32 concurrent networked users. Branch Office enables the deployment of enterprise data and applications to geographically distributed sites running Branch Office database (Departmental Database Server). Each Branch Office database is centrally managed and supports multiple client connections, thereby eliminating local database administration tasks. Figure 5. Oracle Lite Branch Office Model Middle-Tier Option for Mobile Server Oracle Database Lite uses a middle-tier to communicate between the clients and the back-end database. You must use one of the following as the middle-tier: Oracle Database Lite 10gR2 Technical White Paper Page 15

Stand alone OC4J for development environments Oracle Application Server for production environments Stand Alone OC4J Stand Alone OC4J is automatically installed with Oracle Database Lite and this provides a standalone Mode for development environments. Mobile Server in standalone mode uses the standalone version of Oracle Containers for J2EE (OC4J). This is the preferred configuration for development and testing but it will support only a limited number of concurrent users. Oracle Application Server Production environments require either Oracle Application Server 10g. The application server is not installed with Oracle Database Lite and must be installed before installing Oracle Database Lite Mobile Server. The Oracle Application Server production environment will support large numbers of users, provides caching, load balancing, centralized management, security, and Single Sign On support. Components Distributed on the CD The software distributed on the Oracle Lite Database CD distributes software to be installed into two categories. The Mobile Server installation installs the Mobile Server which provides the following services: Data Synchronization User management Application management Device management The Mobile Development Kit may be installed separately or optionally and the following components are installed with the MDK: Complete development environment Oracle Lite small footprint database Branch Office multi-user database Application Packaging Wizard Web-to-Go development environment for web based apps ORACLE IS YOUR PARTNER OF CHOICE Oracle is the partner of choice for extending your Oracle Database. As enterprises look to enhance their business with mobile requirements, the need for mobile infrastructure becomes evident. The ideal mobile infrastructure must (1) enable the Oracle Database Lite 10gR2 Technical White Paper Page 16

development of your mobile strategy, (2) support the full range of devices, application platforms, and (3) leverage existing IT investments. Oracle Database Lite is a complete, end-to-end solution for deploying offline mobile solutions offering: Fast and efficient application development tools Scalable, high-performance and secure mobile database with synchronization to your Oracle Database to run your applications Complete tools to manage your application, users, devices and system SUMMARY Until recently, most business applications have only been accessible from network tethered PCs in offices, away from where a business productive assets and employees are at work, its customers are serviced, and its operations performed. A new generation of lightweight and powerful mobile devices combined with inexpensive, widely available wireless data connections promise to redefine the reach of Enterprise applications. Oracle is committed to servicing the mobile computing needs of businesses worldwide with solutions and software platforms that offer the depth of feature, scalability, reliability and performance. Oracle Database Lite 10gR2 Technical White Paper Page 17

Oracle Database Lite 10gR2 Technical White Paper June 2006 Author: Philip Stephenson Philip.Stephenson@oracle.com Oracle Corporation World Headquarters 500 Oracle Parkway Redwood Shores, CA 94065 U.S.A. Worldwide Inquiries: Phone: +1.650.506.7000 Fax: +1.650.506.7200 oracle.com Copyright 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved. This document is provided for information purposes only and the contents hereof are subject to change without notice. This document is not warranted to be error-free, nor subject to any other warranties or conditions, whether expressed orally or implied in law, including implied warranties and conditions of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. We specifically disclaim any liability with respect to this document and no contractual obligations are formed either directly or indirectly by this document. This document may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without our prior written permission. Oracle, JD Edwards, and PeopleSoft are registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.