This chapter describes how you can use Enterprise Manager to monitor and manage middleware software including Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g and Oracle WebLogic Server.
This chapter covers the following:
Using Oracle Enterprise Manager Grid Control to Manage the Oracle Fusion Middleware Environment
Oracle Fusion Middleware Control versus Oracle Enterprise Manager Grid Control
Middleware is the software that connects software components or enterprise applications. Middleware is the software layer that lies between the operating system and the applications on each side of a distributed computer network. Typically, it supports complex, distributed business software applications.Middleware is the infrastructure which facilitates creation of business applications, and provides core services like concurrency, transactions, threading, messaging, and the SCA framework for service-oriented architecture (SOA) applications. It also provides security and enables high availability functionality to your enterprise.
Middleware includes Web servers, application servers, content management systems, and similar tools that support application development and delivery. It is especially integral to information technology based on Extensible Markup Language (XML), Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), Web services, SOA, Web 2.0 infrastructure, and Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), etc.
Managing these applications and the underlying middleware technology can be difficult and IT organizations often have to rely on a variety of specialized tools. This can lead to inefficiency and may introduce complexities and risks. Enterprise Manager Grid Control is a definitive tool for middleware management and allows you to manage both Oracle applications and custom Java EE applications that run on a combination of Oracle Middleware and non Oracle Middleware software.
This section introduces you to Enterprise Manager Grid Control which offers a unique management solution for Oracle and non Oracle middleware technologies.
After you install and configure Oracle Fusion Middleware, you can use Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g Fusion Middleware Control to manage the Oracle Fusion Middleware environment. Fusion Middleware Control is a Web browser-based, graphical user interface that you can use to monitor and administer a farm with a single Oracle WebLogic Server domain.A farm is a collection of components managed by Fusion Middleware Control. It can contain one Oracle WebLogic Server domain, one Administration Server, one or more Managed Servers, clusters, and the Oracle Fusion Middleware components that are installed, configured, and running in the domain.Fusion Middleware Control organizes a wide variety of performance data and administrative functions into distinct, Web-based home pages for the farm, domain, servers, components, and applications. The Fusion Middleware Control home pages make it easy to locate the most important monitoring data and the most commonly used administrative functions-all from your Web browser.However, you can manage only one Fusion Middleware farm with Fusion Middleware Control. Typically, an enterprise would have multiple farms. Managing several farms from different, distinct Fusion Middleware Control consoles becomes very difficult.For centralized management and additional management functionality (such as historical data collections for performance trending, email and page notifications for potential availability and/or performance problems, and service level management), you can use Enterprise Manager Grid Control.
You can manage your Oracle Fusion Middleware environment using Oracle Enterprise Manager Fusion Middleware Control (Fusion Middleware Control) or Oracle Enterprise Manager Grid Control.
Fusion Middleware Control organizes a wide variety of performance data and administrative functions into distinct, Web-based home pages for the farm, cluster, domain, servers, components, and applications. The Fusion Middleware Control home pages make it easy to locate the most important monitoring data and the most commonly used administrative functions all from your Web browser.
Fusion Middleware Control is a part of the Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g installation. With Fusion Middleware Control, you can:
Manage a single Oracle Fusion Middleware Farm and a single WebLogic Domain.
Monitor the availability and performance of Fusion Middleware software in real time mode.
Perform routine administration tasks such as deploying applications, configuring parameters etc.
For more details, see the Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g Administrator's Guide.
Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g Grid Control is a Web browser-based, graphical user interface that you can use to monitor multiple Oracle Fusion Middleware Farms and Oracle WebLogic Server Domains. In fact, Grid Control provides deep management solutions for Oracle technologies including Oracle packaged applications, Oracle Database and Oracle VM. Grid Control also offers extensive support for non-Oracle technologies through more than two dozen heterogeneous management plug-ins and connectors including Microsoft MOM, IBM WebSphere, JBoss, EMC storage, F5 BIG IP, Check Point Firewall, and Remedy.
Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g Grid Control needs to be installed separately as it is not a part of the Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g installation. With Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g Grid Control, you can:
Centrally manage multiple Oracle Fusion Middleware Farms and WebLogic Domains.
Manage third party tools such as WebSphere, JBoss, Tomcat, and Microsoft.NET Framework.
Manage non-middleware software such as underlying operating systems and hardware on which the middleware software is installed. This allows administrators to correlate middleware performance with its underlying host performance.
Manage database software and diagnose application performance problems and identify the true root cause of the problem and the tier (middleware, database) on which it occurs.
Monitor the availability and performance of Oracle Fusion Middleware software in real time and from a historical perspective for trend analysis.
Diagnose availability and performance problems.
Monitor and trace important end-user requests from the client to the service endpoint across all the servers and applications associated with each transaction.
Use Application Dependency and Performance (ADP) to analyze J2EE and SOA applications.
Monitor Java applications and diagnose performance problems in production using JVM Diagnostics.
Define Service Level Objectives (SLOs) in terms of out-of-box system-level metrics as well as end user experience metrics to accurately monitor and report on Service Level Agreement (SLA) compliance.
Perform several critical tasks like:
Setting thresholds on performance metrics. When these thresholds are violated, email and page notifications are sent.
Tracking configuration changes and compare configurations between example test environment and production environment.