Oracle Relational Database Management System Research Articles

An Oracle-based event index for ATLAS

The ATLAS Eventlndex System has amassed a set of key quantities for a large number of ATLAS events into a Hadoop based infrastructure for the purpose of providing the experiment with a number of event-wise services. Collecting this data in one place provides the opportunity to investigate various storage formats and technologies and assess which best serve the various use cases as well as consider what other benefits alternative storage systems provide. In this presentation we describe how the data are imported into an Oracle RDBMS (relational database management system), the services we have built based on this architecture, and our experience with it. We’ve indexed about 26 billion real data events thus far and have designed the system to accommodate future data which has expected rates of 5 and 20 billion events per year. We have found this system offers outstanding performance for some fundamental use cases. In addition, profiting from the co-location of this data with other complementary metadata in ATLAS, the system has been easily extended to perform essential assessments of data integrity and completeness and to identify event duplication, including at what step in processing the duplication occurred.

Optimising query execution time in LHCb Bookkeeping System using partition pruning and Partition-Wise joins

The LHCb experiment produces a huge amount of data which has associated metadata such as run number, data taking condition (detector status when the data was taken), simulation condition, etc. The data are stored in files, replicated on the Computing Grid around the world. The LHCb Bookkeeping System provides methods for retrieving datasets based on their metadata. The metadata is stored in a hybrid database model, which is a mixture of Relational and Hierarchical database models and is based on the Oracle Relational Database Management System (RDBMS). The database access has to be reliable and fast. In order to achieve a high timing performance, the tables are partitioned and the queries are executed in parallel. When we store large amounts of data the partition pruning is essential for database performance, because it reduces the amount of data retrieved from the disk and optimises the resource utilisation. This research presented here is focusing on the extended composite partitioning strategy such as range-hash partition, partition pruning and usage of the Partition-Wise joins. The system has to serve thousands of queries per minute, the performance and capability of the system is measured when the above performance optimization techniques are used.

Next generation database relational solutions for ATLAS distributed computing

The ATLAS Distributed Computing (ADC) project delivers production tools and services for ATLAS offline activities such as data placement and data processing on the Grid. The system has been capable of sustaining with high efficiency the needed computing activities during the first run of LHC data taking, and has demonstrated flexibility in reacting promptly to new challenges. Databases are a vital part of the whole ADC system. The Oracle Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) has been addressing a majority of the ADC database requirements for many years. Much expertise was gained through the years and without a doubt will be used as a good foundation for the next generation PanDA (Production ANd Distributed Analysis) and DDM (Distributed Data Management) systems. In this paper we present the current production ADC database solutions and notably the planned changes on the PanDA system, and the next generation ATLAS DDM system called Rucio. Significant work was performed on studying different solutions to arrive at the best relational and physical database model for performance and scalability in order to be ready for deployment and operation in 2014.

The Oracle Story: 1984-2001

This article tells the story of Oracle from 1984 through 2001, primarily through the author's experiences during those years. Andrew Mendelsohn worked on the software development team that built the Oracle relational database management system (RDBMS). During this time, Oracle went from being a small niche software company to becoming one of the giants in the software industry. Although many observers believe Oracle's strong marketing and sales organizations were the primary reasons for its success during this time, Mendelsohn argues that Oracle's success was also due to its highly innovative RDBMS product that was strongly differentiated from its competitors. This article traces the development of the Oracle RDBMS through the mainframe, minicomputer, client-server, and Internet computing eras. It calls out the key competitors at each stage and the key product innovations that allowed Oracle to compete so successfully in the market. Finally, this article also provides insight into the workings of the overall Oracle business and culture.

A multidimensional data model using the fuzzy model based on the semantic translation

With the rapid development of Web 2.0 sites such as Blogs and Wikis users are encouraged to express opinions about certain products, services or social topics over the web. There is a method for aggregating these opinions, called Opinion Aggregation, which is made up of four steps: Collect, Identify, Classify and Aggregate. In this paper, we present a new conceptual multidimensional data model based on the Fuzzy Model based on the Semantic Translation to solve the Aggregate step of an Opinion Aggregation architecture, which allows exploiting the measure values resulting from integrating heterogeneous information (including unstructured data such as free texts) by means of traditional Business Intelligence tools. We also present an entire Opinion Aggregation architecture that includes the Aggregate step and solves the rest of steps (Collect, Identify and Classify) by means an Extraction, Transformation and Loading process. This architecture has been implemented in an Oracle Relational Database Management System. We have applied it to integrate heterogeneous data extracted from certain high end hotels websites, and we show a case study using the collected data during several years in the websites of high end hotels located in Granada (Spain). With this integrated information, the Data Warehouse user can make several analyses with the benefit of an easy linguistic interpretability and a high precision by means of interactive tools such as the dashboards.

ATLAS database application enhancements using Oracle 11g

The ATLAS experiment at LHC relies on databases for detector online data-taking, storage and retrieval of configurations, calibrations and alignments, post data-taking analysis, file management over the grid, job submission and management, condition data replication to remote sites. Oracle Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) has been addressing the ATLAS database requirements to a great extent for many years. Ten database clusters are currently deployed for the needs of the different applications, divided in production, integration and standby databases. The data volume, complexity and demands from the users are increasing steadily with time. Nowadays more than 20 TB of data are stored in the ATLAS production Oracle databases at CERN (not including the index overhead), but the most impressive number is the hosted 260 database schemes (for the most common case each schema is related to a dedicated client application with its own requirements). At the beginning of 2012 all ATLAS databases at CERN have been upgraded to the newest Oracle version at the time: Oracle 11g Release 2. Oracle 11g come with several key improvements compared to previous database engine versions. In this work we present our evaluation of the most relevant new features of Oracle 11g of interest for ATLAS applications and use cases. Notably we report on the performance and scalability enhancements obtained in production since the Oracle 11g deployment during Q1 2012 and we outline plans for future work in this area.

Structured storage in ATLAS Distributed Data Management: use cases and experiences

The distributed data management system of the high-energy physics experiment ATLAS has a critical dependency on the Oracle Relational Database Management System. Recently however, the increased appearance of data warehouselike workload in the experiment has put considerable and increasing strain on the Oracle database. In particular, the analysis of archived data, and the aggregation of data for summary purposes has been especially demanding. For this reason, structured storage systems were evaluated to offload the Oracle database, and to handle processing of data in a non-transactional way. This includes distributed file systems like HDFS that support parallel execution of computational tasks on distributed data, as well as non-relational databases like HBase, Cassandra, or MongoDB. In this paper, the most important analysis and aggregation use cases of the data management system are presented, and how structured storage systems were established to process them.

The Oracle Story, Part 1: 1977-1986

Starting in 1977, the founders of the Oracle Corporation created a product and a company which in less than 20 years would come to dominate the DBMS marketplace, and become one of the world's largest computer software and services companies. With virtually no outside financial investment, the founders bootstrapped the company by developing project software under contract while working overtime to develop the original Oracle relational database management systems product. Through a combination of insightful decisions about the direction of the technology and fortunate advances in the marketplace, Oracle was able to leapfrog the established software vendors who were committed to older legacy DBMS approaches. And by aggressive and smart marketing and ongoing development work, Oracle was able to outdistance their RDBMS competitors and hold their own even against IBM. This article tells about the first 10 years of the Oracle story.

Base de données sur Internet et système d'information géographique pour appuyer Medreonet

The main objective of Medreonet is to share and exchange data, expertise, experiences and information on bluetongue (BT), African horse sickness (AHS) and epizootic haemorrhagic disease (EHD). In this context the web-based database and geographical information system (GIS) application is the most suitable tool to provide a friendly environment that is easy to use by the different actors involved in the project. The web-based database and GIS application has been developed using ESRI software (release 9.0) (ArcIMS, ArcGIS desktop, ArcSDE), Java and Active Server Pages (ASP). Users can access the public web-GIS through a generic Internet browser and the information required (maps and data) are published by ArcIMS using web server technology. ArcSDE and an Oracle relational database management system (release 8i) (RDBMS) are used to store and manage spatial and alphanumerical data. The authorized users can input new information and data on their geographical area of competence directly online, using ASP and a web interface. The accuracy of the data entered into the information system (e.g. missing values, duplicates, incorrect data format, etc.) is guaranteed by automatic check procedures that operate dur­ing the updating of the centralized database. The database was designed to store all the epidemiological data deemed relevant by the experts and all the scientific results, when available, pro­duced during the project. In particular, the data collected cover three main sets of information which are displayed and spread through an interactive, dynamic mapping system: – outbreak distribution, i.e. the geographical distribution of the disease by year and serotype at the regional level in the European Union (EU) and Mediterranean countries for BT, AHS, and EHD, respectively; – serological surveillance results, i.e. geographical distribution of the true and apparent prevalence of infection based on the analyses of BT serological surveillance data; – entomological distribution, i.e. geographical distribution of nine vector species by year and month, number of catch sites, number of catches, vector and maximum number of midges at the regional level in the EU and Mediterranean countries. Medreonet database and GIS application fulfill all the require­ments stipulated in the project; moreover the system is fully scalable and may adapt to future demands.

Oracle SecureFiles System

Over the last decade, the nature of content stored on computer storage systems has evolved from being relational to being semi-structured, i.e., unstructured data accompanied by relational metadata. Average data volumes have increased from a few hundred megabytes to hundreds of terabytes. Simultaneously, data feed rates have also increased with increase in processor, storage and network bandwidths. Data growth trends seem to be following Moore's law and thereby imply an exponential explosion in content volumes and rates in the years to come. The near future poses requirements for data management systems to provide solutions that provide unlimited scalability in execution, availability, recoverability and storage usage of semi-structured content. Traditionally, filesystems have been preferred over database management systems for providing storage solutions for unstructured data, while databases have been the preferred choice to manage relational data. Lack of consolidated semi-structured content management architecture compromises security, availability, recoverability, and manageability among other features. We introduce a system without compromises, the Oracle SecureFiles System, designed to provide highly scalable storage and access execution of unstructured and structured content as first-class objects within the Oracle relational database management system. Oracle SecureFiles breaks the performance barrier that has kept such content out of databases. The architecture provides capability to maximize utilization of storage usage through compression and de-duplication and achieves robustness by preserving transactional atomicity, durability, availability, read-consistent query-ability and security of the database management system.

Toward a workbench for rodent brain image data systems architecture and design

We present a novel system for storing and manipulating microscopic images from sections through the brain and higher-level data extracted from such images. The system is designed and built on a three-tier paradigm and provides the research community with a web-based interface for facile use in neuroscience research. The Oracle relational database management system provides the ability to store a variety of objects relevant to the images and provides the framework for complex querying of data stored in the system. Further, the suite of applications intimately tied into the infrastructure in the application layer provide the user the ability not only to query and visualize the data, but also to perform analysis operations based on the tools embedded into the system. The presentation layer uses extant protocols of the modern web browser and this provides ease of use of the system. The present release, named Functional Anatomy of the Cerebro-Cerebellar System (FACCS), available through The Rodent Brain Workbench (http:// rbwb.org/), is targeted at the functional anatomy of the cerebro-cerebellar system in rats, and holds axonal tracing data from these projections. The system is extensible to other circuits and projections and to other categories of image data and provides a unique environment for analysis of rodent brain maps in the context of anatomical data. The FACCS application assumes standard animal brain atlas models and can be extended to future models. The system is available both for interactive use from a remote web-browser client as well as for download to a local server machine.

Bioinformatics and Oracle Extensibility

The Oracle relational database management system, with object-oriented extensions and numerous application-driven enhancements, plays a critical role worldwide in managing the exploding volumes of bioinformatics data. There are many features of the Oracle product which support the bioinformatics community directly already and there are several features which could be exploited more thoroughly by users, service vendors, and Oracle itself to extend that level of support. This paper will present an overview of Oracle features which support storage of bioinformatics data and will discuss extensibility features which give the product room to grow. Some attention will be given to Oracle's own efforts to use that extensibility to exploit emerging standardization of many of the complex data and computation requirements of the life sciences.

Design and implementation factors in image retrieval across a wide area network—A commercial example

An assessment is made of the range of design and implementation factors that need to be considered when implementing a client/server based image retrieval system across a wide area network (WAN). The assessment is based on the commercial implementation of a customer facing system to display digital photographs of properties for a large estate agency chain. The digital images are displayed to customers on PC based clients and retrieved across a WAN from a server running a Windows NT hosted Oracle Relational Database Management System. It is shown how key image attributes: size; resolution; colour depth and compression method affect the balance between image quality and data volume/retrieval times for this image retrieval application. The change in business processes involved in retrieving digital images across a WAN is also considered. It is shown that there is additional complexity in processes and an increased hardware specification, in both leading to increased costs on traditional character based applications.

Developing a large lexical database for information retrieval, parsing, and text generation systems

This paper shows that it is possible to construct a lexical database by combining material from a number of machine-readable sources. We discuss the kind of lexical information required for applications in information retrieval and in other natural language processing areas, such as database interfaces and automatic filing systems. We describe the organization of our lexical database, which is stored in an Oracle Relational Database Management System and the design of the tables that comprise the database. In addition to the traditional alphabetic listing, access is provided from roots to derived forms and from derived forms to roots, and also through lexical and semantic relations between words, so that the database functions as a thesaurus as well as a dictionary. The database is designed to be open-ended and self-defining. Every attribute of every table is defined in the database itself. The lexical database can easily be extended through an SQL forms interface that facilitates additions to the tables.

Solid waste information management system (SWIMS)

Abstract This paper discusses the development of an online information system, called SWIMS. It contains information concerning waste recycling, energy conversion, and waste and energy conservation in solid waste management programs. SWIMS is produced for Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LaDEQ) on Digital Equipment Corporation's (DEC) 6410 and 6420 computer. ORACLE Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) is used in the design of SWIMS. Functions provided by SWIMS are discussed in detail and information on how to use and maintain this system are also provided.

A database for a more efficient perennial ryegrass breeding programme

The development and use of a computer database specifically designed to be used to store data from a plant breeding programme on perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) is described. Setting up a database requires data analysis in order to establish a conceptual dat model and a conceptual processing data. Every model has been written with MERISE method. With the models, a database has been built using ORACLE relational database management system. It is tailored to meet our own requirements which may be common to other database users.

Prolog—relational database interfaces

The paper discusses the options open to implementors of Prolog interfaces to relational databases with an account of their advantages. Experience has been gained with providing interfaces for commercial use for a wide variety of Prologs and databases. The paper describes the fundamental components for a tightly coupled system and goes on to comment on particular drawbacks in commercially available Prolog systems that affect the interface implementation. A tight coupling with the Oracle relational database management system is described in some detail as an example implementation. Experience with using the interfaces is discussed and performance figures given.

The PRIST-2 development environment: Architecture and implementation

The PRIST-2 system has been designed as an interactive and high-productivity tool for the rapid prototyping and development of medical applications. Three major issues were addressed in this research project which derived from the evolution of a previous 4th generation software package, called PRIST (patient record information system tool): a high transportability on different hardware and operating systems, a conversational and interactive user-interface and user-independence from the Relational Data Base Management System (RDBMS). Although we developed PRIST-2 on the top of the ORACLE RDBMS, it does not depend on SQL commercial products because the ORACLE features have been directly used only for SQL relational data base management. The application design methodology implemented in the system architecture allows an interactive and formal description of the application constraints in terms of the semantic data model rather than in terms of the data structure. The translation of the conceptual constraints into SQL tables is performed by several pre-defined routines. In the PC based release (MS/DOS, OS/2, Xenix operating systems), the Graphic-User Interface (GUI) has been developed using Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit. The UNIX release will use a GUI developed on top of the X-Windows environment

Text storage and retrieval in the ORACLE relational database management system: design study and intended applications

A requirement has been recognised for some time for database software which provides both formatted data and free text management facilities. Applications in storage and retrieval of accounting data of market research presentations, and of catalogues of books, maps, drawings, and engineering components are identified. A joint development project between British Telecom New Information Services and Oracle Corporation UK Ltd will add text features to the established ORACLE relational database, and the scope of this system and the design approaches chosen are described.

Growing A Quality Culture: A Case Study - Oracle UK

Founded in 1984, Oracle UK is a relatively young organisation that currently employs almost 2000 people throughout the UK. Our early years were dedicated growing our market share and establishing the organisation. As we mature, we are starting analyse ourselves, re-focusing our objectives to excite and delight customers, and become the strategic partner of choice [1]. The rigours of certification ISO 9000 and the introduction of a significant customer satisfaction programme have encouraged a change in our behaviour. In this paper we will describe how the culture has been changed and the methods used facilitate the change. This paper will cover: • Management Policy, Leadership & Commitment how our objectives have changed, necessitating leadership and commitment at the highest level; • People Participation how get everyone involved, and communicate what needs be done; • Training setting up training & awareness programmes; • Supporting Framework what supporting mechanisms need be in place enable people achieve the stated objectives; and • Continuous Improvement moving towards a TQM approach. 1. Background & Organisation From its formation in 1977, the Oracle Corporation (Oracle) has designed and developed a wide range of computer software products including application development tools, CASE tools and end-user applications products. Our principal product is the Oracle relational database management system Transactions on Information and Communications Technologies vol 11, © 1995 WIT Press, www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3517