Oracle Extends Real Application Testing to Additional Database Releases
Oracle announced that Oracle Real Application Testing now supports all releases of Oracle Database 10g, and Oracle9i Database R2. The software is intended to help customers more readily institute software and hardware changes to their Oracle Database system, including upgrades to Oracle Database 11g. “It is really all about helping customers reduce the the length of time it takes to test changes in the data center and, probably more importantly, it's helping customers de-risk the move from test into production,” Willie Hardie, vice president of database product marketing, Oracle, told 5 Minute Briefing.
Oracle Real Application Testing was introduced for the first time with Oracle Database 11g last August, enabling customers to capture production workloads from Oracle Database 10g R2 and replay against an 11g environment, Hardie said. The feature has now been back-ported to prior releases of the database as a result of customer demand.
“A common challenge for every IT organization out there is how best do they manage change in their data center,” said Hardie. “Every time an IT department makes some kind of a change the real challenge is how do they rigorously test that change before they switch from test into production.” Some organizations may have thousands of users on their production systems, he observed. “You can't realistically take these users off for four hours to rigously test the things that you have just implemented. It is just too costly.”
Oracle Real Application Testing, an option to Oracle Database Enterprise Edition, facilitates the testing and validation of system changes by recording a workload from a production system and replaying with all of its original characteristics such as timing, concurrency, and transaction dependencies, on another system for testing purposes. It also analyzes the impact of a change on application performance by identifying degraded SQL statements and advising how to remediate them. This approach enables rigorous testing of changes and helps organizations improve quality of service while reducing the time, risk and cost of testing such changes.
For an overview of Oracle Real Application Testing, go here. For a white paper on Oracle Real Application Testing, go here.
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Noetix Launches Noetix Search
Noetix Corp., a software provider that automatically generates business intelligence (BI) content from enterprise applications, has introduced Noetix Search, a new product intended to provide users with the search capability they need to quickly access Noetix data generated from Oracle E-Business Suite and PeopleSoft Enterprise applications.
Noetix Search is a Web-based search application that enables Noetix users to quickly identify the right Noetix views for their reports via an intuitive user interface. Using their favorite browser (including Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari), users enter a search term and are able to browse logical classifications of the most accurate results available for their specific data request.
"This release is one more step towards improving the overall experience for Oracle Enterprise applications customers looking to gain the most from their investments," said Daryl Orts, vice president of Engineering Technologies at Noetix. "With the addition of Noetix Search to the Noetix family of products, those customers have an easy, intuitive approach to explore their content and quickly find the reporting objects they need. Traditionally, Noetix has generated a comprehensive Help File to guide business users and IT professionals through query and report development. Noetix Search leapfrogs that functionality and puts that guidance in the hands of every business user."
Noetix Search works with all modules of NoetixViews for Oracle E-Business Suite as well as NoetixViews for PeopleSoft Enterprise. For more information, go here.
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Sentrigo Introduces Hedgehog vPatch to Offer Immediate Protection Against Database Vulnerabilities
Sentrigo, a software vendor specializing in database security, announced Hedgehog vPatch, virtual patching software to protect databases against known vulnerabilities as soon as they are discovered. Hedgehog vPatch allows customers to address the problem of safeguarding corporate databases against recently discovered security issues, with no database downtime and without affecting related applications. Previously available only as part of Hedgehog Enterprise, the Hedgehog vPatch is now available as a standalone offering.
“What you have is a significant risk window around vulnerabilities,” Rani Osnat, vice president of marketing, Sentrigo, told 5 Minute Briefing, because the time from discovery to the issuing of a patch is usually several months long. “And there are some vulnerabilities that have been reported and took years to patch.” In addition to that, even after a patch is issued, it can take a long time to install it “if it happens at all,” Osnat said, because installation requires application testing and database downtime, and can even result in loss of support from software vendors that certify their applications only for particular database configurations, he said.
And, there have been instances where a patch didn't plug the actual vulnerability on a specific platform, said Slavik Markovich, Sentrigo’s chief technology officer, noting for example that a patch might fix the vulnerability on Linux but the same patch deployed might not fix the vulnerability on Solaris. Additionally, many widely used database versions are no longer supported by vendors and thus are never patched.
Sentrigo developed Hedgehog vPatch based on database monitoring rules created by the company’s Red Team of security researchers, which also draws on its network of other researchers, including company advisors and Oracle database experts Pete Finnigan and Alexander Kornbrust. Once Sentrigo identifies vulnerabilities, the company typically patches them within days and automatically delivers updates to Hedgehog vPatch.
Hedgehog vPatch is based on the same technology and architecture as Hedgehog Enterprise. Rather than relying on a network appliance approach, Hedgehog is a software solution that uses agent technology to reside directly on the database. As a result, it can operate at the database object level as well as by evaluating SQL statements associated with known vulnerabilities. “The big benefit is that it doesn't require any database downtime or application testing,” Osnat noted.
Hedgehog vPatch can be used to prevent intrusions by terminating or quarantining user sessions, as well as to generate alerts. The product currently supports Oracle and Microsoft databases. Hedgehog vPatch is available for immediate download and free evaluation here.
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Embarcadero Unveils DB Optimizer for High-Performance SQL Profiling and Tuning
Embarcadero Technologies announced that it is releasing DB Optimizer, a new tool that allows developers and database administrators to maximize database performance by detecting and reconciling SQL coding issues. DB Optimizer is intended to enable quick discovery, diagnosis and optimization of poor-performing SQL, thus eliminating performance bottlenecks and improving the operation of production databases and applications.
“Optimization is a critical part of the development lifecycle. By adding DB Optimizer to our core product portfolio, we can fully address the customers’ need to maximize overall performance whether they design, build or run databases, independent of the platform or tools they are currently using,” said Greg Nerpouni, product manager for Embarcadero, in making the announcement. “DB Optimizer enables developers and DBAs to drill down into SQL-related issues at a detailed level, while allowing users to focus their attention on the areas that boost productivity.”
DB Optimizer includes graphical visualization of wait-time analysis to easily pinpoint the SQL causing poor database performance; hyperlinked drill-downs to locate detailed activity information for an individual SQL statement; and explain plans for a better understanding of SQL execution and the performance costs.
Specifically for Oracle Database, there are real-time Quick Fixes to automatically flag and correct inefficient SQL, as well as batch tuning of DML statements, stored routines, entire SQL files and the System Global Area. DB Optimizer supports DB2, Oracle, SQL Server and Sybase databases.
“DB Optimizer is the first of several tools that will enable customers to address complete end-to-end application performance all the way from clients, into servers and through to the database,” said Michael Swindell, vice president of products for Embarcadero. “By bringing together DatabaseGear and CodeGear tools and technology, Embarcadero is delivering a complete portfolio of platform-independent optimization tools for both application developers and database professionals.”
Late last month, Embarcadero, which is a privately-held company of Thoma Cressey Bravo, completed the acquisition of CodeGear from Borland Software Corp. Embarcadero said it will support CodeGear's customers and partners and will evolve and deepen the functionality of CodeGear's existing product lines. Embarcadero's professional database tools will be marketed under the DatabaseGear brand, and its application developer tools will be encompassed under the CodeGear brand.
For more information, on DB Optimizer, go here.
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BlackLine Offers DataFusion Adapter for Hyperion
BlackLine, which develops and markets financial applications which automate and control the close process, has announced an adapter that will permit accounting departments to leverage the investment they have made in Oracle's Hyperion Financial Data Quality Management to move data to the BlackLine Systems Balance Sheet Account Reconciliation module. The adapter, which was developed by DataFusion Consulting Group, a provider of data integration solutions for Oracle's Hyperion products, will be sold and marketed by BlackLine's sales force.
According to BlackLine, the new adapter will support many corporate customers who use Oracle's Hyperion Financial Data Quality Management, along with applications such as Hyperion Financial Management and Hyperion Enterprise, for financial consolidations. With the new adapter, these customers will be able to push data to BlackLine's Account Reconciliation module through DataFusion's BlackLine Adapter seamlessly, increasing control over the data, reducing errors and speeding up the reporting process.
The new module will also align the reconciliation process with the financial close process and facilitate meeting Sarbanes-Oxley requirements. Oracle's Hyperion Financial Data Quality Management is an application that delivers information to Oracle's Enterprise Performance Management system in a controlled fashion, applying validations and delivering an audit trail.
While it may be driven by Sarbanes-Oxley, there are a number of benefits that the CFO gets from the combination of joint adapter, Hyperion and BlackLine tools, Dominick DiPaolo, vice president of global sales for BlackLine Systems, told 5 Minute Briefing. “We now have one place where data flows to multiple environments for multiple things, so now there is a higher degree of control. That higher degree of control and visibility allows the CFO to perform this work in an accurate fashion, signficantly more rapidly, and providing a higher level of confidence in the financial statements.” For more on BlackLine, go here.
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Aternity Introduces First Set Of Packaged “Frontline Performance Intelligence” Solutions
Aternity, a supplier of end-user experience management solutions, has introduced what it calls the first set of packaged “frontline performance intelligence” (FPI) solutions tailored for specific enterprise applications. “By arming IT, business, help desk technicians,and software engineers with the empirical evidence on how frontline users' experience impacts business results, we are dramatically reducing business disruptions and increasing user productivity,” Donna Parent, senior director of marketing, Aternity, told 5 Minute Briefing.
Aternity FPI Solutions for Oracle, Siebel, SAP, Halliburton’s Landmark, Amdocs CRM, Microsoft Office/Exchange, Lotus Notes, Remedy, ARGO Data Systems, and Documentum are built on Aternity’s Frontline Performance Intelligence Platform. “We have out of the box support for those applications and can track how users are experiencing the performance and how long it is taking them to complete particular activities in those applications,” said Marcus Brown director of business development, Aternity.
Aternity’s FPI Platform monitors and analyzes in real-time the three core components that dynamically impact end-user IT experience in both real and virtual desktop environments: end-to-end application performance, desktop performance, and user performance and productivity. “When we talk about 'real end-user experience,' we are talking about the combination of these three components that really define how end-users consume the IT services,” said Parent. Combined with advanced analytics capabilities, the Aternity FPI Platform offers customers and partners the ability to generate comprehensive FPI from enterprise applications within days, according to the vendor.
In related news, Aternity announced the launch of its worldwide partner program for ISVs, SIs, OEMs, and technology partners.For more information, go here.
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