Customer Reviews

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

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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.

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.

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!

If you want the lay-of-the-land of the cloud space, then Frank Munz's sweeping volume is for you. As you would expect from a Ph.D. the expansive yet down-to-earth thesis begins with a definition of terms and builds to a comprehensive synopsis of cloud architecture.

As you might expect from Oracle's Technologist of the year there is a consistent focus on Oracle's rich middleware technology stack, but does not lose sight of other key technologies such as Oracle VM, Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control, and of course database technologies.

This volume is far from being an extended Oracle sales white paper. The majority of the writing covers what cloud is today.
* It compares Rackspace to Amazon cloud offerings
* The importance of SOA and how it is implemented in real terms without sales gibberish
* An extensive coverage of middleware provisioning, domains, filesystems, deployment suggestions, availability and backup and recovery.

This is an architectural document. Don't expect step by step how-to tutorials. I found it refreshing to see a relatively unbiased presentation coving Amazon's, Racksapace's, and Oracle's technologies all in one volume. Important architectural topics such as capacity planning, system scaling, pricing, and load balancing and more are covered in adequate depth.

It is a book in my toolbox I know I'll pull out just to see what Frank said on the topic

With the explosion of Internet content, especially that for the IT industry, it leaves an interesting question hanging over the worth (if any) of IT textbooks. When you can find an answer on just about anything online, what's the point of shelling out money, especially for IT texts that have been overpriced for sometime?

Frank Munz's Middleware and Cloud Computing: Oracle on Amazon Web Services and Rackspace Cloud book is a good reminder of one key fact about text books in context of an internet society, they can save you a lot of research and time on the internet looking for the nitty-gritty details.

The book is clearly aimed at system administrators & architects who are looking for details about moving Oracle Fusion Middleware (FMW) products to the cloud. A healthy dose of system admin knowledge is required of readers, with discussions on operating system (particularly Linux), us of command lines, and a knowledge of networking concepts would greatly assist too. FMW knowledge isn't assumed, with an introductory chapter included, but knowledge in Oracle's WebLogic Server (WLS) would be highly beneficial to readers, and a familiarity of Java EE technologies too.

Munz's book is broken into logical halves. The first is a general introduction into "as a Service" cloud computing concepts. For readers who have heard the terminology but haven't kept up with all the in's and out's of what a cloud service is, this provides an opportunity to learn the lingo and also learn how to critique the cloud offerings, which is (let's just say) over hyped by IT marketing.

The first part of the book also takes care to look in depth at Amazon Web Services (AWS), including images, instances, storage and even pricing. In this area the book departs from a typical theoretical text encouraging readers to create their own AWS accounts and gives details on how to configure and run your own instance. The text however doesn't just focus on AWS, and also looks at Rackspace's equivalent cloud services.

The second half is where Munz's book shines. Moving on from cloud basics, readers are led through considerations on designing and architecture within the cloud, management, availability and scalability, all in context of FMW and specifically of WLS and its supported JEE technologies. In each area the reader is brought back to specific considerations and limitations of Amazon's & Rackspace's platforms. On completing the book it becomes obvious this is a well thought out inclusion, as like enterprise home-baked operating systems and network infrastructure, cloud vendors' platform are not born equal or include every feature required. The implication being certain FMW features and designs simply won't work on specific cloud platforms.

The book isn't without fault. Munz does take a narrative approach that may not be everybody's cup of tea. In turn there's a section that takes an unfortunate cop out on not tackling Oracle's (let's just say) less than favourable licensing. Yet overall the outcome for FMW professionals, in particular administrators and architects, is a positive one, and a recommended read. In turn it's the careful research into actually testing what FMW features will really work on each cloud vendor's platform, all collated into 1 book rather than sprayed across the internet, which will save readers significant time: prewarned is prearmed.

Excellent book for both cloud practitioners and novice alike. For people who haven't experienced anything about cloud computing, it's not really easy to understand the concepts and realize the benefits of the cloud. This book approaches the cloud computing from users' point of view to walk the readers through the concepts with real life samples from Amazon and Rackspace. For cloud practitioners, this book provides excellent overview of technical architecture of both Amazon and Rackspace. For the readers who are familiar with Oracle Technology like myself, this book is great way to jump right onto the cloud.

I wasn't sure quite what to expect when I first opened this book.

However, Frank Munz has done a great job with this book, starting with an introductory section on cloud computing, then taking a detailed look at Amazon Web Services and Rackspace Cloud, including various feature comparisons between the two.

He then follows with a look at Oracle Fusion Middleware, and how to design and implement it in the cloud, followed by a closer look at cloud management, availability and scaleability options, and some info about monitoring your cloud applications.

Even if you're not interested in implementing Oracle Fusion Middleware, this book is worthwhile just for the detailed content on Amazon Web Services and Rackspace Cloud!
The examples included in the book should provide you with plenty of information to get started with your own instances in the cloud.

You have heard about the Cloud and the interesting things it could offer but you do not have a clear idea about how to start, which provider to choose, what are the different configurations available, how much it would cost, or what other aspects you may need to consider.

This book answers all those questions and much more: from the setup of an account (Amazon, Rackspace) and the selection of a machine image to the scalability and the monitoring of a Cloud environment. It presents the big picture (architecture, middleware) and then goes into the technical details about how to do the setup. The added value of the book is the personal insight and real world experience that Frank Munz shares on each of the topics he treats. I like the way the topics are presented and probably the only thing I was missing was a glossary for the acronyms (I am pretty bad at remembering them).

The book is very technical, so I wouldn't recommend it if you just want to have an idea about the topic. On the other hand, if you have a technical background in systems architecture and middleware and you want to explore this model, this is definitely an excellent book to start with.