05 August 2003

An interesting issue has cropped up with us, with a client who wishes to use OWB9.0.4 and now 9.2 on a Compaq Tru-64 platform. Previous versions of OWB were installed firstly on a client PC (usually a Windows PC), with the user then running wizards to create the respository and the runtime objects in a target database schema. With OWB 9.0.4 and 9.2, there is now a separate server-side install process, that installs the repository and also a new runtime schema on the target database. Unlike previous versions of OWB, there is now just one runtime schema per database, as opposed to each target schema having it's own set of runtime tables and packages. The issue we came across however is that the server-side install has to take place at the database server, and not every operating system supported by Oracle has a corresponding server-side install package; in our case, there isn't a Compaq Tru64 version of OWB 9.0.4 and 9.2 and therefore we couldn't use the Tru64 server as our database target. One way round this seemed to be to carry out the server-side install on a Windows NT/2000 server, and have it populate a target schema on the Tru64 server. However, it turns out that you *must* install the runtime schema on the database that you intend to populate; therefore there's no way round this. Oracle are supporting some Unix platforms for OWB9.0.4 and 9.2 (Solaris for example) and are releasing patches for some others (AIX, HP-UX are ones I know of). However, if you're not on this list, you can't carry out the server-side install and therefore can't use your server as a database target. All of this is meant to be addresses when Oracle 10G comes out; however, in the meantime, it's one to watch out for. 7:02:29 PM

This poster on OTN asks whether future versions of OWB will support Oracle Streams. Previously known as Change Data Capture, Streams captures DML information in the database redo logs and applies the changes to target databases such as an Oracle data warehouse. It allows near real-time propagation of database changes and makes it possible to keep data warehouses and marts up-to-date without having to write custom scripts and triggers to capture database activity. According to Oracle, OWB 9.0.4 and 9.2 now incorporate integration with Oracle Advanced Queues, which was a prerequisite for future integration of Oracle Streams. The next version of OWB (due Spring 2004) will therefore incorporate Oracle Streams functionality, allowing developers for the first time to use this facility using a graphical user interface. 6:51:05 PM