Integration

Very good question. At least a target date would be nice as companies do like to plan.

The other date I would like to know is when the "easy installer" will be released that will let me install HTTP with Forms and Reports without having the Infrastructure. Again, I need to know when this will be released for the Windows platform.

I already know the response. Some Oracle product manager will say, "I don't know" and we'll move on. I'm still on release 1 because the installer for 9.0.2 was so tedious. 9.0.4 was first promised to be delivered in March of 2003 and it was to correct these problems.

Please, give me real dates so I can plan accordingly. Release 1 will be de-supported in just 12 months and I don't have a good version to migrate to yet. Still waiting for that to be released!

Jon,

the stand alone installation option is available for Unix and Linux. But as you said, you need it on Windows. The Windows port is targeted for Q1 2004. Unfortunately - as you already assumed - no specific date or day can be given ;-(

Frank

I don't see the stand alone option listed in the installation documentation. It would be great to install Forms and Reports without having to first install an Infrastructure but I don't think that is in 10g yet.

http://download-east.oracle.com/docs/cd/B10467_02/install.904/install/mt.htm#sthref612

"Prerequisite: OracleAS Infrastructure 10g"

Jean-Yves J BERNIER mentioned here: 223874 that "there will be a standalone deployement for forms and reports (no SSO, no infrastructure required !!)".

That is what I'm talking about. Is this guy right? I was assuming he worked for Oracle.

What is the target date for this release and is there a new version number for it?

I just downloaded it. Too bad it doesn't include discoverer.

http://otn.oracle.com/software/products/ias/devuse.html

8 OracleAS Forms and Reports Services v9.0.4 Solaris, HP, Linux

Ken

WOO HOO! Glad to see that was released. I too wish it had Discoverer in there too but that won't be too hard to install. I guess I'll have two Oracle Homes on our Discoverer Server and turn off that database.

This greatly simplifies our installation process of Forms, Reports, and HTTP on 5 servers for us.

Now I just have to be patient for the Windows version.

Windows release is scheduled for Q4FY04.

Regards
Pavna Jain

Please enter a "human readable" date ;)

Should we assume that Quarter 4 Fiscal Year 04, in Oracle terms, means towards end of May 2004?

Hi Jon,
I am not working for oracle,but I just keep me informed from the forums.
And as you can see there is now a linux version for the forms&reports ligthweigth installation.....
It's sure that it is always hard to be patient for a release, and we were waiting a long time for 10g!!!!
Did you try the linux one? we are more and more thinking to go on linux rather than windows.
I made tests with linux, and lets say I am really impressed by 10g.
Time was not spend for nothing....
Installation is very easy and fast.
Comming back next week from holidays, I will try the standalone
one !
Regards
Jean-Yves

I investigated this but the cost makes it very unattractive. For instance, I would have to use Red Hat AS 2.1 or 3.0. The price is higher than what we paid for Windows 2000 Advanced Server plus I already have a license of Windows. I then thought I could just buy one copy of Red Hat and then share this "open source" software on all of my servers. Wrong. Read the license agreement. You have to own a copy of Red Hat for each "Installed System" you have.

I looked at United Linux as well but you have to buy that too just like Red Hat.

If Oracle supported a free distribution of Linux, I would consider it but the supported distributions are as expensive, if not more, than using Windows. Plus, you have to consider the support costs. I know Unix rather well but there is more to the cost of software than just the purchase price. Our staff is mainly knows Windows. The ones that know Unix have only worked on AIX and do not want to touch any other flavor of Unix.

I even considered Solaris because it is only $100 for a 1 CPU or $250 for a 2 CPU licnese but Oracle only supports Solaris installed on Sparc servers, not Intel based.

So, I guess I'll be waiting for the Windows version. It costs too much to go to Linux.

I agree with Jon, Linux AS21 is too expensive. I also agree with those people in other postings that has expressed their concern that a Linux release is out before the windows one.

Furter: Stating "Q1 2004" I find unacceptable at this time. Thats something you do in your plans for whats going to happen after this year, ie when you make your long-term plans. As you approach/enter the projected deadline, you normally narrow it down to month or even week.
I currently have 4 new servers sitting around, waiting for production tasks. I just need to find out whether to wait for 10g. If thats more than say 2weeks away, I will have to install 902 and a bunch of patches, and then eventually upgrade to 904 (ok lets call it 10g if you insist...)

So, can we narrow it down to a month, so we'll know whether where talking January or end of March?

Jens

We are in similar situation...
we have servers but we can't use them properly.

Oracle's plan is changing inconsistently...
10gAS's availability was june 2003 then september,october,december...

as a client we need a formal plan. There is not a formal plan. We can find some information Oracle forums. But these plans is changing contiounously.

So unfortunately our plans are changing .
because We are planning our work according to Oracle release date...
In my opinion
If oracle says "10gAS windows version will come 2010"
this is far better than changing plans (almost) daily .

If you don't want to pay for Redhat linux, may be you can try
http://whiteboxlinux.org/

"
What is the goal for White Box Linux?
To provide an unencumbered RPM based Linux distribution that retains enough compatibility with Red Hat Linux to allow easy upgrades and to retain compatibility with their Errata srpms. Being based off of RHEL3 means that a machine should be able to avoid the upgrade treadmill until Oct 2008 since RHEL promises Errata availability for five years from date of initial release and RHEL3 shipped in Oct 2003.

Or more briefly, to fill the gap between Fedora and RHEL.
"

Ken

In regards to the cost of RedHat, we choose to get the RH3 ES. Just get the download version from RedHat site at a cost of I think US$329. It only gives limited support, but you have access to all patches etc. Unless you are running VLM version >4GB you will find that this version is fine. We are running most things on Dual XEON Dell Servers and two 4-way boxes with RH-3 ES edition.

Oracle's Q4FY04 is April-May-June in Calender Year terms.

As I indicated before, the current plan for Windows release is Q4FY04.

Regards
Pavna Jain
Oracle Application Server Product Management.

Are you certain?

Oracle released Q2 earnings on Dec 15, for the three month period ending on 30 November 2003. Which leads me to believe that Q4FY04 is March-April-May

Regards,
Roald

9iAS Release 1 (v1.0.2.2.2a)
* Installation does not require a database or "Infrastructure" prior to installation.
* Portal not required to be installed.
* Forms can be installed and configured without SSO.
* Reports can be installed and configured without SSO.
* OID not required to be installed.
* Original installation used Oracle 8i database which is now de-supported. I would think most customers are either running 8i unsupported or have upgraded to 9.2.0.4. We have upgraded to 9.2.0.4 and have no intention on looking back to 8i or 9i Release 1.

9iAS Release 2(v9.0.2)
* Requires installing the Infrastructure first which is a 9.0 database that is pre-seeded with Portal and other stuff I don't want/need.
* Installing middle tier with Forms and Reports works well with some minor configuration after installation.
* dcmctl leaveFarm command required to leave the Infrastructure database.
* Patches still complain and look for Portal and other components that were left behind when the middle tier/Infrastructure connection was broken.
* Installation takes a long time because of the Infrastructure.
* I have concerns that patches will fail in the future because I left the farm.

So last year, I looked at all this and then saw 9.0.4 would be released in March of 2003. This new version promised to allow installation into an existing database. De-support for 9iAS Release 1 was set at 12/31/2004.

What did I do? Plan to wait for 9.0.4 because I didn't want to use the 9.0 database 9iAS 9.0.2 used.

Then I found out that 9.0.4 would allow me to install 9.0.4 without an Infrastructure at all. Perfect. Quick, easy installation and no more fears of patches. I'll definitely wait.

March came and went. Date was then set for May/June of 2003.

Then in June 2003, 9.0.4 was promised in November 2003 and 9iAS Release 1's support was extended until January 31, 2005.

December 2003, we finally see 9.0.4 released. Where is the Windows version? Hello? Then in January, the installer I really want is finally released. It just has HTTP, Forms, and Reports. No Infrastructure, no SSO, no Portal, etc. Again, no Windows?

Now I read that 9.0.4 will be released in April-June of 2004 on Windows.

This means I will have to upgrade 4 environments of 9iAS consisting of 8 servers between June of 2004 and January of 2005.

Version 9.0.4 of the Developer tools for Windows is also a "Preview" version. So I have to wait until that version is no longer beta on Windows and then have that tested, certified internally, and then installed on some 100 desktops. After that, we have to upgrade 500 reports and 100 Forms to the new version. We have over 150 graphs so those reports will have to be rebuilt manually.

Next, I have to battle internally with software audits because of Developer Suite 10g. Most Developers just have a license for Forms and/or Reports. So they can upgrade to the new version because we have support. Internal Audit freaks out because these developers have Discoverer Desktop, Designer, Warehouse Builder, etc installed now but not directly licensed for it. We can't un-install these extra components either so I have to convince a paranoid group that it is ok and we aren't stealing anything.

Something has got to give. If Application Server 10g 9.0.4 for Windows and Developer Suite 10g 9.0.4 for Windows can't be released now to give us a year to upgrade, then the support of 9iAS Release 1 should be extended. It should be at least set for a year after the Windows version is released.

I have sent in two TARs to ask about the windows release date and I am starting to get angry or very scarred that Oracle is having troubles doing the windows version. How do I tell my clients that we may or may not have a new version of Discoverer this year? How do I plan my resources for any upgrade projects?? very disappointing and frankly damn unprofessional!

Just wanted to clarify, Oracle9iAS is not getting desupported, and it has been in circulation for some time now. 1.0.2.2 is getting desupported. The upgrade paths would be 1022 to 902 or 1022 to 904. So you already have upgrade paths available today.

And windows will be released this year and the Q4FY2004 is the date we are looking at.

We would like to release it on Windows as soon as we can as well.

Regards
Pavna Jain

David Colello is quoted as saying, "Windows is one of the two base development platforms of Oracle's server products along with Solaris." Is this not the case anymore?

http://otn.oracle.com/oramag/webcolumns/2003/opinion/Colello_NET.html

I hear "porting to Windows" now days after the Solaris and Linux versions have been released. I wouldn't consider a port to Windows a base development platform.

I honestly don't remember it taking 9iAS Release 1 this long to get the Windows version after the Solaris version was released. Even patches for Release 1 seemed to happen at the same time for both platforms. With Release 2, it takes months to "port" things to Windows. Let's take a look.....

9iAS Release 1
* Patch 3072811 was released on October 20, 2003 for both Solaris and Windows.

* Patch 2580722 was released on December 10, 2002 for Solaris. It was released 6 days later for Windows.

* Patch 3169446 was released on October 29, 2003 for both Windows and Solaris. This contains the latest SSL patches.

* Patch 3171855 was released on October 3, 2003 for Solaris and then on October 24, 2003 for Windows. 3 weeks.

9iAS Release 2
* Patch 3203016 was released October 17, 2003 for Solaris. The Windows version was released January 9, 2004. Nearly 3 months between platforms.

* Patch 3129219 was released September 15, 2003 for Solaris. It was released for Windows on December 1, 2003. 2.5 months to port this time.

Application Server 10g
* Product released in December of 2003. Target date for Windows is 6 months later.

Is Oracle basically telling customers that if we want to use Intel based processors, we need to be using Red Hat AS to get the products in a timely manner?

This is a pain for those of us contemplating OAS 10g on non-Windows platforms as well. Our back-end platform is Solaris and 10g is out and in production. But the corresponding Windows iDS 10g suite isn't in production yet, so we can't move forward with Discoverer, etc.

When will the 10g application server (AKA 9iAS 9.0.4) for Windows be released? Or should we be planning to move forward with a Red Hat implementation for our eventual upgrade from 9.0.2.3? We're in production so it would be nice to have answers so we can make plans.

hi
On Jan 19, 2004 Jon Roberts writes in this topic:
"De-support for 9iAS Release 1 was set at 12/31/2004."
I don't seem to be able to find this exact information on Metalink.
Can someone tell me where I can find this on Metalink?
tnx
-Jan

Metalink Note 231674.1 implies 1.0.2.2(.x) reaches end of life on "all plattforms, effective 30-jun-2004"

Only news I could find on 9.0.2 is that desupport info is "not yet available".

thanks Fredrik
That is the note (231674.1) I had found too, so I was wondering where the date "12/31/2004" came from.
-Jan

Yeah, it is confusing. On the bottom of this page, http://metalink.oracle.com/metalink/plsql/ml2_documents.showDocument?p_database_id=NOT&p_id=231674.1 , it has a section for Forms and Reports customers.

http://metalink.oracle.com/metalink/plsql/ml2_documents.showDocument?p_database_id=NOT&p_id=228666.1

Desupport for Forms and Reports 6i (deployed on 9iAS Release 1) will be desupported January 31, 2005.

Forms => http://metalink.oracle.com/metalink/plsql/ml2_documents.showDocument?p_database_id=NOT&p_id=228666.1

Reports => http://metalink.oracle.com/metalink/plsql/ml2_documents.showDocument?p_database_id=NOT&p_id=159289.1

Ahh, sorry. So it seems that Dev Server 6i has a bit longer life and since those products also exist in AS 1.0.x Forms and Reports customers are supported to 31 jan 2005.

Of course, subject to change :)

OK, now that 10gAS for Windows has finally been released, will there be a standalone version on which Forms, Reports, and Discoverer can be run without the Infrastructure? When can we expect to see the release of that version?