The Center of the UniverseXML, Web services, analytics, and other hot technologies have the leading relational DBMS providers working overtime to remain the best choice for managing all of your data. Here's a look at what IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle are doing
by Ken North Continued from Page 1 MessagingMessage-processing software is at the heart of many mission-critical applications. IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, and Sun have made messaging an integral part of their development and deployment platforms. Microsoft built message queuing into its operating systems and provides a Sun, IBM, and Oracle support messaging for Java development with the Java Message Service (JMS). IBM integrated MQSeries into its WebSphere Application Server. To provide a tight integration with databases, it enhanced DB2 XML Extender to operate with MQSeries queues. Similarly, Oracle's Advanced Queues enable Apache Jserv and Oracle9i Application Server to post XML messages to queue tables managed by the database server. Oracle Applications InterConnect supports several messaging paradigms (including publish-subscribe, request-reply, and point-to-point). The software community continues to innovate with XML-based messaging technologies. These include XML-RPCs (remote procedure calls), SOAP, and the W3C's XML Protocol. Web ServicesDon't feel alone if you need a roadmap to follow XML and related technologies, including Web services. The basis for Web services is a collection of freely available specifications, such as the W3C's Web Services Description Language (WSDL). At a lower level, the major software companies share a common Web services stack (TCP/IP, HTTP, SOAP, and WSDL). At higher levels, competing specifications offer features such as reliable messaging, choreography, and distributed transactions. SQL vendors differ in how they integrate databases with message queues, but they're upgrading their database platforms to generate WSDL bindings, host Web services, and expose stored procedure data with Web services. It's also possible to expose CICS, IMS tasks, and legacy transactions as Web services. Several noteworthy efforts by the Organization for the Advancement of Structural Information Standards (OASIS), the W3C, and partnerships such as the IBM and Microsoft collaboration for the Global XML Web Services Architecture (GXA) specifications attempt to provide business-quality messaging, security, and other Web services infrastructure specifications. Several software companies, including Microsoft and IBM, developed proprietary solutions for Web services orchestration. The W3C subsequently chartered a Web Services Choreography Working Group that includes Sun, Hewlett-Packard, Tibco, and Oracle. Fujitsu, Hitachi, IONA, NEC, Oracle, Sonic, and Sun produced the Web Services Reliability (WS-Reliability) specification and contributed it to OASIS. SAP, WebMethods and other organizations joined OASIS's WS-Reliable Messaging Technical Committee, which will derive a new specification from the WS-Reliability document. BEA, IBM, Microsoft, and Tibco countered with new GXA specifications known as WS-Addressing and the WS-Reliable Messaging Protocol. Transaction ProcessingScalable transaction processing continues to be an important requirement for SQL DBMS products. Collaborative Internet applications and high-volume Web sites have driven the development of new solutions for distributed transactions even as vendors continue to push the envelope on TPC benchmarks. It's not unusual to find a transaction that wraps retrieving a message from a queue with accessing disparate databases. Java transactions. For transactions using a distributed two-phase commit with an Oracle or DB2 database, Java developers can write an EJB. The EJB runs inside J2EE containers that include the Object Management Group (OMG) Object Transaction Services (OTS). Windows and .Net developers needing distributed transactions can use Microsoft Transaction Service (MTS). As an alternative to a two-phase commit protocol, developers can build applications that use transactional messaging. Java developers can include Message-Driven Beans in their application and use JMS and Oracle Advanced Queues or IBM WebSphere MQ queues. JMS supports the exchange of XML documents. JMS send and receive messages can enlist in transactions using the Java Transaction API. In addition, Java developers can use the Jini API and transaction manager to do distributed transactions with a two-phase commit protocol. Jini services can operate with different protocols (TCP/IP, HTTP, and SMTP) and use Java Remote Method Invocation, CORBA, and XML. Instead of two-phase commit transactions, IBM Business Process Beans (BPBeans) implement a compensating transaction model. BPBeans enables Java developers to use complex compensation mechanisms with IBM WebSphere Enterprise Edition. .Net transactions. Microsoft started bundling Distributed Transaction Coordinator with Windows NT and provided transaction processing support with Com+. The .Net Enterprise Services namespace provides a wrapper around Com+. Because the .Net connection object provides a single database connection, developers must look to other solutions for distributed transaction processing. The Other vendors offer .Net transaction products, too. IBM has released DB2 .Net Data Provider for DB2. The Oracle Data Provider for .Net supports distributed transactions across Oracle databases. DataDirect Technologies Connect for .Net supports distributed transactions across disparate databases, including Oracle, Sybase, Microsoft SQL Server, and IBM DB2. XML messaging and transactions. Internet commerce transactions can be based on the exchange of a document. This concept led IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, and OASIS to develop specifications for distributed transactions based on XML messaging. Oracle, BEA, Sun, Choreology, Sybase, Bowstreet, and other companies participated in the development of Business Transaction Processing (BTP), an OASIS specification for Web services transactions. The BTP specification defines a set of transaction coordination messages that operate over SOAP and HTTP. BTP uses a two-phase outcome coordination protocol. OASIS was also a sponsor of the ebXML project, which developed specifications for a global e-business infrastructure. One of the noteworthy specifications was for an XML-based collaboration protocol for multiparty e-business transactions. IBM and Oracle participated in the ebXML effort, but Microsoft declined. BEA, Excelon, Oracle, Sun, Sybase, Tibco, WebMethods, XML Global, and others have released ebXML implementations such as message handling and collaboration protocols. These GXA specifications include WS-Coordination and WS-Transaction. The latter is under consideration by a Global Grid Forum (GGF) working group as the basis for transactions with grid services. Encapsulating Business RulesSOAP messaging, EJBs, database plug-ins, and SQL stored procedures provide choices for encapsulating business rules. EJBs and SOAP enable use of middle-tier servers for rules. Stored procedures and Java plug-ins allow the database to act as the container for business logic. Application server technology and database server technology have evolved to support the SOAP protocol and Web services. It's possible, for example, to expose an EJB, SQL stored procedure, or a COM or CORBA object as a WEB SERVICE. If you're developing Web services, you have several options for encapsulating application business rules. You can use EJB-compliant application servers, SOAP, stored procedures, .Net remoting, or a combination of those techniques. If multiplatform interoperability is a concern, SOAP and SQL provide some measure of platform independence.
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