Chapter 2. Architecture
If you understand the architecture of Oracle Application Server, you
will have an excellent framework for understanding how the product
works. Learning how the various components of Oracle Application
Server interact can help you avoid many potential problems as you get
the product up and running and provide a foundation that lets you
quickly identify the root cause of any problems you do encounter.Your particular role may determine what you want to learn from this
chapter:Programmer
As a programmer, you may want to understand how Oracle Application
Server handles each incoming request so that you can properly
troubleshoot problems.
Designer
As a designer, you will want to know what features are available so
that you can provide the best user interface.
Systems analyst or architect
As a systems analyst or architect, you may want to know what overall
functions can be accomplished using the product.
Manager
As a manager, you may need a high-level understanding of Oracle
Application Server so that you can compare it to similar middleware
product offerings.
To best serve all these audiences, this chapter covers the big
picture. We identify the major components of Oracle Application
Server and explain how they interact. We also examine the
product's infrastructure and the management and
high-availability options available with it. Our goal here is to give
you enough information on each individual component (most of which
were introduced very briefly in Chapter 1) so
that you can understand how Oracle Application Server works as a
whole. You will see that some of Oracle Application
Server's functionality is actually implemented by
J2EE, by PL/SQL, or by hybrid applications that are implemented using
Oracle Application Server's core components.
Subsequent chapters provide more detailed discussions on each
component introduced here.