Preface

The client/server architecture is versatile and has a modular infrastructure. This technology is described as a cost-reduction technology. It includes fourth-generation languages, relational databases, distributed computing, and much more. Furthermore, it's been there for decades now; we can easily say that it's been there for multiple generations since the 80s. This book has been designed to give a quick reference to Tuxedo and the client/server architecture. Many books have been written on this technology, but this is the first book that bridges the gap between previous generations and the future generation. As I said, the client/server architecture, or Tuxedo, has been around for the past few decades now, and it is expanding every day! Today when we talk about Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) or Service Component Architecture (SCA), they are basically seen as new approaches to the client/server architecture. In this book, we are using our good old friend Tuxedo as a client/server platform, and we will learn how to build a distributed application using Tuxedo. What is the functionality of the Tuxedo components and the various APIs/parameters for development and configuration that make the Tuxedo-based applications so scalable, reliable, and highly-available in nature? Another question can be asked too, that is, is this Tuxedo still relevant for our current IT scenarios? The answer is obvious; it can be extended to the SOA world very easily, and you can call a Tuxedo service as a component of a composite when you are building an SCA-based application. Today, Tuxedo leverages one of the most futuristic machines, called Exalogic; it is easy to use and still gives you better ROI. In this book, there are some simple examples to explain the subject matter in an easier and practical way. Tuxedo has numerous out-of-the-box features and various ways to implement them to get best out of it; we have discussed as much as possible to give you the overall picture of how to build Tuxedo-based application leveraging these features.

Your feedback is very valuable to us. You can contribute by reporting any errors you find in the book, making suggestions for new content that you'd like to see in future updates, and by commenting and blogging about it.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Getting Started with Tuxedo, introduces you to the distributed client/server technology using Tuxedo and tells you how it has evolved over the past decades. You will get an overview of the Tuxedo architecture and it's various important components and their functionalities. It also discusses various Tuxedo installation procedures, hardware and software requirements, and guidelines.

Chapter 2, Configuration and Administration of Tuxedo, guides you on how to configure a Tuxedo application and all its parameters with their syntax and relevant values. It covers the various Tuxedo administrative tools that are very important for a Tuxedo administrator to perform his/her daily work, and finally wraps up with tuning suggestions.

Chapter 3, Development of Tuxedo – Various APIs, discusses how to use Tuxedo APIs to build your applications, which are the clients combined with the server modules. Their syntax and value range has been provided as applicable. Also, it briefly describes all the Tuxedo buffer types, communication paradigms, and, most importantly, transactions processing (XA).

Chapter 4, Service Architecture Leveraging Tuxedo, covers SALT; this is an add-on product that allows external web service applications to invoke Tuxedo services and vice versa. It covers the basics of SALT and how to use SALT to connect a Tuxedo service from or to an SOA environment.

Chapter 5, Oracle Tuxedo Joining the Exalogic Family, discusses the Exalogic machine and its architecture briefly, and then discusses how to configure and deploy the Tuxedo application in this environment.

What you need for this book

You may need to download Tuxedo and SALT from the Oracle site at the following URL:

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/tuxedo/downloads/index.html

Please make sure you download the right version of Tuxedo for your specific operating system.

Who this book is for

This book is for anyone who wants to learn the client/server architecture using Tuxedo. It has been written in such a way that anyone who has a minimal knowledge of the client/server architecture can understand it and build the fundamental knowledge of Tuxedo and its APIs, commands, various important parameters, configuration file, and administrative tools. This book can be very helpful for architects, designers, developers, and administrators as a quick reference guide or as a guideline on how to build a Tuxedo application. The primary objective of this book is to show you how to develop distributed systems using Tuxedo and extend that to an SOA environment. It also gives the fundamentals of the Exalogic machines and how the Tuxedo application can leverage these new high-end machines for enterprise needs.

This book also helps business users to understand this technology, its various features and functionalities, and the related business benefits.

Many people in the IT field are not familiar with the general concept of the client/server technology, so a short overview of this is included in the introductory chapter.

Conventions

In this book, you will find a number of styles of text that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles, and an explanation of their meaning.

Code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles are shown as follows: "You need to run wsdlcvt on the WSDL to produce a WSDF file."

A block of code is set as follows:

char *carrayPtr;
long carraysize;
. . .
carraysize = 1024;
carrayPtr = tpalloc ("CARRAY", NULL, carraysize);

When we wish to draw your attention to a particular part of a code block, the relevant lines or items are set in bold:

char *carrayPtr;
long carraysize;
. . .
carraysize = 1024;
carrayPtr = tpalloc ("CARRAY", NULL, carraysize);

Any command-line input or output is written as follows:

buildserver [-C] [-M] [-s services[:func[()]]][-v] [-o outfile] [-f firstfiles] [-l lastfiles] [{-r|-g} rmname] [{-r|-g} rmid:rmname] [-E envlabel] [-t]

New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, in menus or dialog boxes for example, appear in the text like this: "Click on NEXT to proceed with the installation."

Note

Warnings or important notes appear in a box like this.

Tip

Tips and tricks appear like this.

Reader feedback

Feedback from our readers is always welcome. Let us know what you think about this book—what you liked or may have disliked. Reader feedback is important for us to develop titles that you really get the most out of.

To send us general feedback, simply send an e-mail to <[e-mail]>, and mention the book title through the subject of your message.

If there is a topic that you have expertise in and you are interested in either writing or contributing to a book, see our author guide on www.packtpub.com/authors.

Customer support

Now that you are the proud owner of a Packt book, we have a number of things to help you to get the most from your purchase.

Errata

Although we have taken every care to ensure the accuracy of our content, mistakes do happen. If you find a mistake in one of our books—maybe a mistake in the text or the code—we would be grateful if you would report this to us. By doing so, you can save other readers from frustration and help us improve subsequent versions of this book. If you find any errata, please report them by visiting http://www.packtpub.com/submit-errata, selecting your book, clicking on the errata submission form link, and entering the details of your errata. Once your errata are verified, your submission will be accepted and the errata will be uploaded on our website, or added to any list of existing errata, under the Errata section of that title. Any existing errata can be viewed by selecting your title from http://www.packtpub.com/support.

Piracy

Piracy of copyrighted material on the Internet is an ongoing problem across all media. At Packt, we take the protection of our copyright and licenses very seriously. If you come across any illegal copies of our works, in any form, on the Internet, please provide us with the location address or website name immediately so that we can pursue a remedy.

Please contact us at <[e-mail]> with a link to the suspected pirated material.

We appreciate your help in protecting our authors, and our ability to bring you valuable content.

Questions

You can contact us at <[e-mail]> if you are having a problem with any aspect of the book, and we will do our best to address it.