Chapter 6: Oracle and the Web

Overview

The database you choose as a back end to your web application is among the most important and far-reaching development decisions you will make. As such, it's important to select a database application that not only meets your current needs but also scales to meet all your future needs. Oh, it would also be nice if this database application were ultra-secure, stable, and easily integrated into legacy systems. Stressed yet? Don't be. If you have the budget, the choice is easy—Oracle.

The Oracle system is the most popular database system available. It repeatedly beats all competition in features, performance, security, and stability. However, as the best of the best, it does come with a heavy economic and administrative price tag. To put it bluntly, Oracle is not for the faint of heart. If you're forking over the dough for an Oracle license (or two), you might as well budget for an Oracle database administrator (DBA). A database administrator manages every aspect of a database environment, overseeing database design, construction, and maintenance, establishing security roles and procedures, and administering the database system. Typically, an Oracle database administrator holds a degree in computer science and is Oracle certified. (Sometimes it takes an Oracle DBA just to figure out the Oracle licensing costs.)

Oracle is a large and complex system. Entire books are written about many of the features summarized in this chapter. Therefore, our goal in this chapter is to quickly familiarize you with Oracle product background and introduce you to the features and functionality you'll need to quickly begin using Dreamweaver MX and Oracle to build web applications.

If Oracle's complexity and power starts to turn you a bit Oracle-phobic, remember the great thing about Dreamweaver MX is that you don't have to intimately know every Oracle feature in order to use it as a database back end for your web application. Although you won't be taking full advantage of Oracle's powerful feature set, you can theoretically limit your Oracle interaction to establishing an Oracle database connection and dealing with Oracle's SQL idiosyncrasies.