Universal DBMSs and the Web

Deciding Whether the Latest Web Features from Informix and Oracle Fit Your Business Needs.

I still hate it when I'm wrong, but at least I'm getting better about admitting it. When the Internet first became popular, I thought that the only use of the Web from a business perspective would be to serve as yet another marketing mechanism to feed an already overloaded consumer. And when the talk turned to building database-enabled applications that would run prominent core business processes, I must say I was more than skeptical -- I was downright against it. As a database professional, I (along with countless others) have fought for years in the client/server arena to get applications to the point where they can run mission-critical functions around the clock in a reliable fashion. If today's businesses were still struggling with client/server issues such as buggy software, less-than-adequate network bandwidths, and the like, how were they going to begin the move toward Internet applications with confidence? Further, database vendors, overrun with customer requests for enhancements to their core products, were now supposed to build into their kernels ways of handling Web application data. With thoughts like these running through my head, I smugly sat back in my chair and scoffed.

OK, so I was wrong. Today, companies are building both Internet and Intranet systems that can handle many business functions quite nicely. The database powerhouses have been reeling off more Internet-feature news bulletins than you can keep up with. And here's the incredible thing: Many of them work! Response times are adequate for most sites, and they are even fast for corporations willing to invest in T1 or other large bandwidth lines. The question for you is: Should I be investing in this database technology now?

Tough question. To help, let's look at factors that may help you decide. In this article, I examine some of the most recent Internet features of Informix Software Inc. (Menlo Park, Calif.) and Oracle Corp. (Redwood Shores, Calif.) and see if what they are doing makes sense for you. Along the way, I cover important questions you must answer before making the leap into Internet database applications:

• What business needs will the new RDBMS Internet features help me meet?
• How seamlessly do the new features integrate with my core RBDMS software?
• What kind of effort will it take for my developers to learn and write Web systems that access my database?

Beware the Collector

Informix believes it has Internet functionality that can address these needs. (Table 1 provides an overview of the Informix Web architecture.) For example, many companies are seeking ways to get information into the hands of customers that only pertains to them. Informix's new Universal Web Connect software provides a Subscription/Notification service that can notify a customer of a change in the database (such as inventory) via the Web. As an Internet customer, you can subscribe only to certain portions of information that you are interested in. For instance, when that sweater you want so badly from your favorite clothier becomes available, an Informix database can send an email informing you that it's ready for order. This type of functionality could mean more money for your company that otherwise would be lost, as well as an easy method for your customers to do business.

As for other pressing database needs, two of the most widely heard requests from companies have been for easy access to data by mobile users and the ability to manage complex datatypes that aren't currently supported. As for mobile access, your traveling workers can use their Internet browsers to upload and access your corporate databases that reside on Web servers in a fairly easy manner via the FTP protocol. They can also use one of the many database packages that work via the Web, which are beginning to appear.

In terms of complex datatypes, many RDBMS powerhouses provide methods for storing media, geographic, and other forms of data within extensions to their core database (thereby creating a "Universal Sever"). For example, Informix provides DataBlade modules, which are database extensions that developers can build in to the Informix software to handle any number of difficult datatypes. DataBlades may also be purchased through third-party vendors for immediate solutions.

Oracle's strategy for maintaining complex datatypes involves data "cartridges" that plug into the client. As integral components of Oracle's open Network Computing architecture, data cartridges use an API to communicate with the database kernel as a separate process. The cartridges use the CORBA IDL to manage the application logic for deployment anywhere on a network. (For more information on CORBA, see Warren Keuffel's article in the March issue of DBMS, page 42.) In addition to handling nonstandard datatypes, database vendors are working furiously to provide as much integrated support for Web browser access as possible in their universal server offerings. Table 2 summarizes the Oracle Web architecture.

RDBMS Integration

Informix boasts that it can relieve such fears with its Universal Web Architecture. Informix's entire series of database products are reportedly Web-enabled right out of the box with Netscape Communications Corp.'s (Mountain View, Calif.) Internet and Intranet software. What about Microsoft Corp.'s (Redmond, Wash.) Web software? Not to worry -- Informix claims to be Web server- and browser-independent, and as such it supports Microsoft's Internet Information Server and Internet Explorer. As for Oracle, the company is currently shipping the Oracle WebServer 3.0, which supports persistent database connections over the Web. The 3.0 version uses a Web Request Broker (WRB) that is listener-independent; this translates into support for the most popular Internet servers -- currently Netscape and Microsoft. Whatever database solution you choose, make sure that the manufacturer offers support so that your staff will have an easier time implementing and maintaining your Web database.

Beating the Learning-Curve Blues

For the time being, most database vendors' primary development support for the Web revolves around Java. Microsoft supports Java but does not revolve around it yet. Informix, however, is betting its farm on Java. Informix has several Java-related strategies for helping developers get a jump-start on Web development and easing the learning curve. The latest announcement from Informix is Jworks, expected to be released in the first half of this year. Delivering what most developers want (a visual 4GL environment), Jworks will be able to work with any Java-based Web environment. Jworks boasts the ability to generate Java code automatically in a user-friendly drag-and-drop development environment. Such a rapid application development tool will help Web developers create the types of applications that are in demand: OLTP and OLAP.

Rolling out several Java connectivity products in stages (with a full completion date of the first quarter of 1997), Informix also offers a "Java-anywhere" environment that lets developers execute Java on any layer of the system framework. Building on the application-partitioning craze of client/server, the Informix Java Environment (which will also include the aforementioned Jworks tool down the road) lets Web developers build code that can execute on the client or third-tier server as well as natively inside the database engine itself. Informix claims that it is currently the only database vendor to offer a Java API that lets customers and developers access the database directly with Java from either a client workstation or a middle-tier server.

Oracle is also rushing to support Java in its Network Computer architecture and development tools, and the company plans to provide an entire Java-enabled applications suite in the spring of 1997. Oracle will be enabling its Developer/2000, Designer/2000, PowerObjects, and Discoverer products to use Java. In addition, just as developers are currently using Oracle's procedural language, PL/SQL, they will soon be able to use Oracle J/SQL to develop effective database applications.

To help you manage Web sites, Informix will store the various components that make up Web applications (such as Web pages, images, code templates, and logic) within the Informix database. Most other Web environments mandate that the applications be stored as flat files and scripts within a Web server. Informix, on the other hand, will store the entire Web site in the database itself, which should provide for easier management and control. However, such a storage strategy raises other concerns such as how file-oriented authoring tools can access objects stored in the DBMS instead of in the operating system's file system.

Whether Java will continue to dominate as the prime Web development language for RBDMS vendors remains to be seen. Most client/server professionals remember that C and C++ were initially the de facto languages for client/server (many argue they still are) before being ousted by 4GL tools such as PowerBuilder, Visual Basic, and Delphi. Companies will need to decide whether they should take the plunge and begin training their staff in Java or wait and see what the current crop of 4GL client/server development tool vendors will unveil for Web applications. Just as with client/server, there will be a significant cost and learning curve for those taking the Java course, but it may pay off handsomely in the end for those organizations that successfully begin building Web database applications that boost business. I, for one, still believe that the 4GL visual development environments will eventually take over the Web application scene from the more 3GL-based Java tools.

But then again, I could be wrong.

Table 1: Informix Web Architecture