Introduction to Oracle JCA
Adapters
Adapters support a robust, light weight, highly scalable, and
standards-based integration framework, which enables disparate applications to
communicate with each other. For example, adapters enable you to integrate
packaged applications, legacy applications, databases, and Web services. Using
Oracle JCA Adapters, you can ensure interoperability by integrating
applications that are heterogeneous, provided by different vendors, based on
different technologies, and run on different platforms.
Features of Oracle JCA Adapters:-
Oracle JCA Adapters provide the following benefits:
•
Provide a connectivity platform for integrating complex business processes:
Adapters integrate mainframe and legacy applications with enterprise resource
planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), databases, and
messaging systems. Oracle provides adapters to connect various packaged
applications, such as SAP and Siebel, and databases. In addition, adapters
integrate middleware messaging systems, such as MQSeries and Oracle Advanced
Queuing, and legacy applications, such as CICS and Tuxedo, to provide a
complete solution.
•
Support open standards: Adapters are based on a set of standards such as J2EE
Connector Architecture (JCA) version 1.5, Extensible Markup Language (XML), and
Web Service Definition Language (WSDL). The support for standards reduces the
learning curve of a user and eliminates the dependency of users on a single
vendor.
•
Service Component Architecture (SCA) assembly model: Provides the service
details and their interdependencies to form composite applications. SCA enables
you to represent business logic as reusable service components that can be
easily integrated into any SCA-compliant application. The resulting application
is known as an SOA composite application. The specification for the SCA
standard is maintained by the Organization for the Advancement of Structured
Information Standards (OASIS).
•
Implement a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA): The support for open standards
enables adapters to implement an SOA, which facilitates loose coupling,
flexibility, and extensibility.
• Use
native APIs: Adapters support multiple ways of interfacing with the back-end
system and provide various deployment options. Using native APIs, adapters
communicate with the back-end application and also translate the native data to
standard XML, which is provided to the client.
• Model
data: Adapters convert native APIs to standard XML and back, based on the
adapter metadata configured during design time. Adapter configurations are
defined during design time, which will be used by run-time components.
• Facilitate
real-time and bidirectional connectivity: Adapters offer bidirectional
communication with various back-end systems. This includes sending requests to
back-end systems and receiving a response. Adapters also support the real-time
event notification service. This service notifies about the back-end events
associated with successful back-end transactions for creating, deleting, and
updating back-end data. This two-way connectivity ensures faster, flexible,
efficient integration, and reduces the cost of integration.
•
Maximize availability: Oracle JCA Adapters are based on the J2CA 1.5
specification. Adapters can, therefore, fully leverage the scalability and high
availability of the underlying Oracle Application Server platform.
For
more information, see Oracle Fusion Middleware Programming Resource Adapters
for Oracle WebLogic Server.
In
addition, adapters can be deployed on the JBoss and WebSphere platforms.
•
Provide easy-to-use design-time tools: Adapters use design-time tools that
provide a graphical user interface (GUI) to configure and administer adapters
for fast implementation and deployment. In addition, the tools let you to
browse, download, and configure back-end schemas.
•
Support seamless integration with Oracle Application Server components:
Adapters integrate with Oracle Fusion Middleware. Adapters integrate with the
JCA Binding Component of the Oracle Fusion Middleware platform, thereby
seamlessly integrating with other service engines and binding components.
Types
of Oracle JCA Adapters
Oracle
JCA Adapters include:-
•
Oracle Technology Adapters
•
Legacy Adapters
•
Packaged-Application Adapters
•
Oracle Adapter for Oracle Applications
Oracle Technology Adapters
Oracle technology adapters integrate Oracle Application Server and
Oracle Fusion Middleware components such as Oracle BPEL Process Manager (Oracle
BPEL PM) or Oracle Mediator components to file systems, FTP servers, database
queues (advanced queues, or AQ), Java Message Services (JMS), database tables,
and message queues (MQ Series).
These adapters include:
· Oracle JCA Adapter for Files/FTP
· Oracle JCA Adapter for Sockets
· Oracle JCA Adapter for Oracle Streams
Advanced Queuing (Oracle JCA Adapter for AQ)
· Oracle JCA Adapter for JMS
· Oracle JCA Adapter for Database
· Oracle JCA Adapter for MQ Series
Oracle technology adapters are installed as part of Oracle Fusion
Middleware.
Legacy Adapters
Legacy adapters integrate Oracle Application Server with legacy
and mainframe applications using legacy communication protocols.
These adapters include:
· OracleAS Adapter for Tuxedo
· OracleAS Adapter for CICS
· OracleAS Adapter for VSAM
· OracleAS Adapter for IMS/TM
· OracleAS Adapter for IMS/DB
Packaged-Application Adapters
Packaged-application adapters integrate Oracle Application Server
with various packaged applications, such as SAP and Siebel.
These adapters include:
· OracleAS Adapter for PeopleSoft
· OracleAS Adapter for SAP R/3
· OracleAS Adapter for Siebel
· OracleAS Adapter for J.D. Edwards
Oracle Adapter for Oracle Applications
Oracle
Applications are built on a unified information architecture that consolidates
data from Oracle and non-Oracle applications and enables a consistent
definition of customers, suppliers, partners, and employees across the entire
enterprise. This results in a suite of applications that can give you
information, such as current performance metrics, financial ratios, profit and
loss summaries. To connect Oracle Applications to non-Oracle applications, you
use Oracle Adapter for Oracle Applications.
“Adapter
for Oracle Applications is also informally known as Oracle E-Business Suite
Adapter”
Oracle Adapter for Oracle
Applications provides comprehensive, bidirectional, multimodal, synchronous,
and asynchronous connectivity to Oracle Applications.
