What's New in This Guide

For existing Oracle Fusion Middleware users, this preface introduces the new and changed concepts and features of Oracle Fusion Middleware 12c.

New and Changed Features for 12c

Oracle Fusion Middleware 12c includes the following new and changed concepts and features from previous Oracle Fusion Middleware releases:

Middleware topology changes. See Understanding Middleware Architecture Design.
OPMN is no longer used in Oracle Fusion Middleware. Instead, system components are managed by the WebLogic Management Framework. See What Is the WebLogic Management Framework?
Redefining of the Oracle home and elimination of the Middleware home. See New and Deprecated Terminology for 12c.
Support for a "per domain" Node Manager. See What Is Node Manager?
Oracle Web Cache is no longer available. Oracle Web Cache 11g was its last release.

New and Deprecated Terminology for 12c

Terminology Used in 11g	Terminology Used in 12c
Middleware home MW_HOME In 11g the Middleware home is a container for the Oracle WebLogic Server home, and, optionally, one Oracle Common home and one or more Oracle homes. This term is eliminated in 12c.	Oracle home ORACLE_HOME The Oracle home that is created for all the Oracle Fusion Middleware products on a host computer. It includes binary and library files, the Oracle common directory and the individual product directories for each Oracle Fusion Middleware product you install.
Oracle home PRODUCT_ORACLE_HOME	Product directory PRODUCT_DIR The product directories within the Middleware home are no longer Oracle homes. They are simply directories within the Oracle home that are created for all the Oracle Fusion Middleware products. Most Oracle Fusion Middleware components should be installed in the same Oracle home. The names of the product homes are predefined and can no longer be modified by the user during the installation.
Oracle instance This term is eliminated in 12c.	The installer will no longer create a separate instance directory for system components, such as Oracle HTTP Server. Instead, you can use the Fusion Middleware Configuration Wizard to configure your system components, just as you do for Java components. Instance information about each system component will be stored in the domain home.
Oracle Fusion Middleware farm This term is eliminated in 12c.	The term "farm" is no longer necessary for 12c. It was used in 11g to refer to a container for a WLS domain and its associated system component instances when presented in Fusion Middleware Control.

Terminology Used in 11g

Terminology Used in 12c

Middleware home

MW_HOME

In 11g the Middleware home is a container for the Oracle WebLogic Server home, and, optionally, one Oracle Common home and one or more Oracle homes.

This term is eliminated in 12c.

Oracle home

ORACLE_HOME

The Oracle home that is created for all the Oracle Fusion Middleware products on a host computer. It includes binary and library files, the Oracle common directory and the individual product directories for each Oracle Fusion Middleware product you install.

Oracle home

PRODUCT_ORACLE_HOME

Product directory

PRODUCT_DIR

The product directories within the Middleware home are no longer Oracle homes. They are simply directories within the Oracle home that are created for all the Oracle Fusion Middleware products. Most Oracle Fusion Middleware components should be installed in the same Oracle home. The names of the product homes are predefined and can no longer be modified by the user during the installation.

Oracle instance

This term is eliminated in 12c.

The installer will no longer create a separate instance directory for system components, such as Oracle HTTP Server. Instead, you can use the Fusion Middleware Configuration Wizard to configure your system components, just as you do for Java components. Instance information about each system component will be stored in the domain home.

Oracle Fusion Middleware farm

This term is eliminated in 12c.

The term "farm" is no longer necessary for 12c. It was used in 11g to refer to a container for a WLS domain and its associated system component instances when presented in Fusion Middleware Control.