Installation guide

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Introduction – Oracle Application Server 10g
Overview
Oracle Application Server 10g is a layered product. It consists of multiple interdependent
software modules, logically grouped into tiers. The various software tiers can be
installed together on a single server, or can be installed in a distributed fashion across
multiple severs. The basic software tiers offered by Oracle Application Server include
the following:
• J2EE and Web Cache tier
• Portal and Wireless tier
• Business Intelligence and Forms tier
• Infrastructure tier
In order to understand the key features of Oracle Application Server, it is important to
understand that the underlying technology is constantly evolving and the software
modules are being frequently upgraded by Oracle. At any given time, there may be
multiple versions of Oracle Application Server software available for installation. The
version (or versions) that a business may choose to install will depend on the mix of
components that they wish to deploy. At the time this whitepaper was written (January
2007), there were two major releases available for Oracle Application Server: Oracle
Application Server 10g Release 2 and Oracle Application Server 10g Release 3. The
following sections will introduce the key features of each software version, and strategies
for deploying both versions, where appropriate.
Oracle Application Server Key Components
Despite the name, Oracle Application Server 10g does not offer much in the way of pre-
packaged applications. This is in contrast to Oracle E-Business Suite 11i which offers
applications targeted at specific financial and business processes. Instead of providing
functionally-focused applications, Oracle Application Server 10g provides an integrated
development platform, which corporations can use to develop their own business function
specific applications.
Nevertheless, some of Oracle’s legacy development tools are so familiar to customers
that they are considered “applications” in their own right. This is certainly the case with
Oracle Application Server 10g Forms Services and Reports Services, which replace the
classic, client-heavy Oracle Forms and Oracle Reports with thin-client versions.
The following sections describe the individual components of Oracle Application Server.
The component listing is organized by tiers. This is significant, since components within
a tier are most commonly installed together.