Middleware and Cloud Computing: Oracle on Amazon Web Services (AWS), Rackspace Cloud and RightScale [Paperback]

Frank Munz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2011

Middleware and Cloud Computing
An introduction to Cloud Computing and Oracle Middleware on Amazon Web Services (AWS), Rackspace Cloud and the RightScale Cloud Management Platform.

• Introduction to Cloud Computing: Why the existing definitions aren't good enough.
• Amazon Web Services (Using EC2 Instances, Creating your own customized Images, File Systems, Amazon Linux, Command-Line and Tools)
• Rackspace Cloud (Rackspace Cloud Server and Rackspace Cloud Files for Windows and Linux, REST API, Limelight Content Distribution Network)
• SOA and Oracle Fusion Middleware (WebLogic Server, Service Bus, Oracle BPM / WebCenter, Oracle Service Registry, Oracle Enterprise Repository)
• Designing for the Cloud (Design Principles, IaaS Platform choice, AMI design, Oracle Architecture Blueprint)
• Cloud Databases (Oracle Database AMIs, AWS SimpleDB, AWS Relational Database Service (RDS), WebLogic with RDS, Multi Data Sources)
• Cloud Management (Distributed Domains, Backups, Disaster Recovery, Licensing, RightScale Cloud Management)
• Availability (Clustering, Distributed JMS, Whole-server Migration, AWS Simple Queue Service, Overload Protection)
• Scalability (AWS Auto Scaling, HAProxy, AWS Elastic Load Balancing, CDNs and AWS CloudFront)
• Monitoring (AWS Simple Notification Service (SNS), AWS CloudWatch)
• Oracle VM (Oracle VM Templates on EC2, WebLogic Virtual Edition, Virtual Box)

This book contains all the new and cool AWS stuff:
Oracle VM Templates on EC2, Free Micro Instances, Free Cloud Watch Monitoring, Tags, S3 Reduced Redundancy Storage, EBS-backed AMIs, Database Read Replicas and Multi-Availability Zone Instances, Simple Notification Service (SNS), Simple Queue Service (SQS), Auto Scaling, the brand new Amazon Linux and much, much more!

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This cloud book is worth looking first... My curiosity has led me to explore chapters that I wouldn't feel concerned about, simply because the book naturally invites you to read it." --Willy Tarreau, Developer of HAProxy

"... this is definitely an excellent book to start with." --E. Fuentes, Switzerland

"... it is certainly a more objective book than the others I've read, explaining Amazon, Rackspace and RightScale together with plenty of third-party tools..." --A. Diaz

... this book is great way to jump right onto the cloud.  --Sung Woo Cho (Seoul, South Korea)

From the Publisher

Independent, comprehensive and engaging.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 308 pages
• Publisher: munz & more publishing (January 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0980798000
• ISBN-13: 978-0980798005
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 7.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #358,082 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dr. Frank Munz is an expert in middleware and distributed computing. He earned a Ph.D. in computer science from the Technische Universität München for
his work on distributed computing and medical imaging in brain research. He published more than 20 peer reviewed scientific papers.

In 2011 Frank received the Oracle Technologist of the Year award for cloud computing.

Frank has over 15 years experience working for and on behalf of top middleware vendors and consultancies such as ConSol, Sun, BEA, TIBCO and Oracle, throughout Europe and Australia as a software architect, project manager and developer. In 2007 Frank founded munz & more - a cutting-edge consultancy focusing on Oracle middleware and cloud computing (see http://www.munzandmore.com). Based on over a decade of teaching experience with the big vendors, and its limitations, Frank is offering his own high-end training program world-wide now (Cloud Computing, Oracle Fusion Middleware, Oracle WebLogic Server Architecture, Operations and Development, Performance Tuning, Oracle Service Bus 11g).

He loves to talk about features and showstoppers and frequently speaks at conferences all over the world.

When Frank is not working, he enjoys travelling in Southeast Asia, skiing in the Alps, tapas in Spain, and scuba diving in Australia.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clear, objective and brand new - I highly recommend it!, January 9, 2011

By 

A. Diaz - See all my reviews

This review is from: Middleware and Cloud Computing: Oracle on Amazon Web Services (AWS), Rackspace Cloud and RightScale (Paperback)

I bought "Middleware and Cloud Computing" as a complementary book when I ordered the classic AWS book written by Amazon itself.

After reading both books I am convinced that Amazon has done a brilliant job!

But "Middleware and Cloud Computing" is a better choice for me because its main focus is on architecture and it mentions all known limitations of current cloud technology.

Both books are suitable if you are new to AWS, but "Middleware and Cloud Computing" explains the most important trade-offs that you are facing in real projects (EBS / S3 backed images, AWS Linux or other Linux distributions, Cloud Databases, SNS/SQS vs. JMS, software load balancers such as HAProxy or Amazon's elastic load balancing). The book also covers the second most important IaaS provider Rackspace including apps running on the Rackspace cloud, their REST API and their content distribution network Limelight.

There are detailed chapters about availability, scalability (AWS auto scaling) and monitoring.

It covers as well Oracle WebLogic server, SOA and Oracle Fusion Middleware including all the possibilities and options that currently exist when running Oracle products in the cloud. I never understood any of this from the available Oracle documentation (although I was spending many hours) so I especially enjoyed reading this part.

Overall, it is certainly a more objective book than the others I've read, explaining Amazon, Rackspace and RightScale together with plenty of third-party tools and their benefits.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book: Hands-on tutorial, up-to-date and well researched for Oracle Middleware Architectures in the cloud, January 12, 2011

By 

Just be (Heidelberg) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Middleware and Cloud Computing: Oracle on Amazon Web Services (AWS), Rackspace Cloud and RightScale (Paperback)

If you search for an up-to-date hands-on tutorial on how to design or to enable your Oracle application in the cloud, then this is the right book for you. Go for it.

The book Middleware and Cloud Computing by Frank Munz is one of the most actual publications on the topic of cloud-computing in 2011 with regard to Oracle Middleware Technology. The well-researched chapters explain appropriate Cloud and Middleware-concepts and solutions straightforward. Although the book is written vendor-independent it has a clear focus on the Oracle Java based technology.

First, you'll get the fundamentals of cloud-computing and the impact to your application's architecture. Then some of the most important cloud providers are analysed regarding the real costs and available features. In one of the next chapter the basic principles of SOA and its implementation with the Oracle Fusion Middleware is covered.

The hands-on chapters explain in depth, how to configure a cloud based Oracle WebLogic Application Cluster with load balancing, maximized availability, scalability and failover.

You'll learn about cloud databases and cloud management. Even disaster recovery is covered. And finally the book shows you how to set up monitoring for a cloud application and how to use the preinstalled Oracle VM templates, that you can use on Amazon EC2 instances starting from 2011.

I work as a Software Architect for Zühlke and read the book as a technical editor in advance. The book is useful for my work, since it shows how to bring Java EE based Oracle Applications into the Cloud. Both, theory and practice are treated well balanced.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent for practical use, January 11, 2011

By 

T. Hammer - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Middleware and Cloud Computing: Oracle on Amazon Web Services (AWS), Rackspace Cloud and RightScale (Paperback)

Really independent and engaging. Very well structured, comprehensive and with a critical look on features and showstoppers. With a lot of screenshots and code snippets for better understanding an practical use. I like it!