Essential Strategies for Oracle Forms 11 Modernization and Performance Management

Essential Strategies to Oracle Forms 11 Modernization and Performance Management

November 15, 2012

Oren Elias Correlsense

Martin Disterheft, PITSS America LLC

The Oracle Forms and ReportsModernization Experts

Copyright 2012 PITSS America LLC www.pitss.com2

• Risks of Oracle Forms modernization

• Keys to a successful migration

• Performance management of Oracle Forms

• Summary/QA

Agenda


• Presentation will last 45 minutes

• Submit questions via the chat window

• Slides will be made available tomorrow

Housekeeping


Risks of Oracle Forms Modernization


Oracle Forms Support Timeline

Oracle is still supporting and developing Oracle Forms

Source : http://www.oracle.com/us/support/library/lifetime-support-middleware-069163.pdf


De-Support Risks

How much longer will your application continue to run?

Application Software

Operating Software

Hardware

“IT organizations assume considerable risk with unsupported deployments of Oracle Forms solutions, and risks grows as technology ages.” Mark Driver – Gartner - 2011

http://www.fractalpress.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/jenga_negativeskew.jpg


• Oracle Forms complex architecture

• Need strategic approach to modernization

• How do you monitor performance post deployment?

New Rollouts Are Challenging

ApacheServeror OHS

Oracle DB

Oracle DB

ApacheServeror OHS

Internet

Desktop IAS or WLS

IAS or WLS


Strategies for a Successful Migration


Oracle Statement of Direction – Key Statements on Support:

• Oracle Forms Support: No plans to discontinue Forms

Future releases of Forms will be aimed at smooth version-to-version upgrades

and Fusion Middleware Integration

• Oracle Reports Support: Reports will continue to be supported into release 12c but BI Publisher is the

Statement of Direction for Reporting

Recommended that customers begin planning a migration to BI Publisher

• Oracle Designer Support: Reports Oracle Designer was not released as a component of Oracle Fusion

Middleware 11g, nor is it planned for Oracle Fusion Middleware 12c

Oracle continues to offer sustaining level Support for Oracle Designer 10g

- Oracle, March 2012

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/issue-archive/2010/toolssod-3-129969.pdf

Continued Support Into The Future



Oracle’s Recommendation to Customers

Upgrade Oracle Forms/ Reports 2.3, 3.0, 4.5, 5.0, 6.0, 6i, 9i, 10g Oracle Forms/ Reports 11g

Start Leveraging WebLogic Technologies

UnsupportedProtect

Extend

Oracle ADF, APEX, … SOAContinue Leveraging WebLogic

Evolve

Protect, Extend and Evolve“Oracle has outlined a strategy which allows customers to protect the considerable investment they have in traditional technologies while allowing new tools and technologies to be adopted for evolving or new development initiatives.”*

Future Architecture

*- Oracle, March 2012 http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/issue-archive/2010/toolssod-3-129969.pdf

Supported





Common Performance Issues with Oracle Forms

• Most performance issues arise from change from Client-Server

to Web-Architecture Forms-Build-Ins cause unexpected network-traffic

(Synchronize, repeating timers,…)

Change from C to Java runtime processes Java processes certain

operations slower than the C programs in 6i (e.g. Block with many

records) – Code properties need to be adjusted

• Browser Performance Loading of large images, tabbed canvases with many objects,…

• DB related issues due to DB upgrade

(changed index processing)

• Missing Patches: resolves bugs with DB-locking, Alert issues

(Forms Screen freezes),...


Modernization Alternatives/Cost comparison

Conversion project completion

Cost

Time

Manual re-write in e.g. .NET , Java …

Migration to ADF, APEX, … with tool based preparation

1:1 Migration-Toolswithout Forms Preparation

Automated Upgrade to 11g

Code Maintenance after conversionRecommended Upgrade/Migration Approach

“…we believe that modernization and migration efforts that embrace differences, and re-architect and build to the "sweet spots" of their target technology are most successful …” – Gartner 2011


What makes a successful Migration ? (1/2)

Staged Migration – via the Hybrid Approach

“Migrate at your own pace based on the available skills and project priorities.”

t

Time

Forms

ADF, SOA,…

*Source: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/issue-archive/2010/toolssod-3-129969.pdf (March 2012)

“A staged (that is, phased) migration effort enables Oracle Forms applications to be migrated over time. This lengthens the period during which Oracle Forms remains an architectural element, but reduces the overall migration risk during that time period.”Gartner - 2011

http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/forms/pdf/10g/toolssod.pdf


What makes a successful Migration ? (2/2)

“Any attempt to [re-write] a Forms application to [ADF, Apex …] without taking into consideration the difference in architecture is in effect an effort at re-implementing the 20-year-old Forms runtime”

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/developer-tools/forms/documentation/formsmigration-133693.pdf

Grant Ronald, Oracle Senior Group Product Manager, Oracle Application Development ToolsWriting in the ODTUG Journal

Migration = Software Re-Engineering / Re-Architecting


PITSS Modernization Process

Quality Assurance

Documentation

Iteration

Analysis Dead Code Redundancy Business-LogicProtection

Documentations

Specifications

Dependencies

Null Objects

Not used Objects

Not Triggered

Redundant Objects

Redundant Source

Comparisons

DA-Layer

BL-Layer

DBLANot Tech. Relevant

WEBService

Co-Existence of Technologies/ Partial Projects

Oracle Forms Upgrade Ready for SOAForms 11g

Java/ADF

APEX

Forms 2, 3, …


Complexity Analysis – Enabling a successful Migration

Complexity – Analysis


On average, 30% of Forms objects are unused or redundant

Who dares to touch a running system?

Example: 45% less lines of code in a real-life, 600-FMB Designer application

delete unused objects

group similar code in libraries

move data management to DB

Unused Object Removal


PITSS.CON: Life Cycle Management for Oracle Forms

Maintain/DevelopMaintenance - DB Handling, Module Handling, Module Compiling, and Form Consistency checking.Development - Search, Replace, View, and Edit all PL/SQL Code objects.Visual Design - Search, Replace, View, and Edit Forms Objects Properties (Fonts, Sizes, Overlapping, etc).Application Analysis - See what is affected when a Form or DB Object is changed.Multi-Language - Make any form display in multiple language without creating multiple forms.Source Control - Archive forms as you make changes.

ModernizeMigration APEX - Guided automated transfer of forms to APEX.Migration ADF - Guided automated transfer of forms to ADF.Migration - Upgrade any legacy version of Oracle Forms/Reports to 10g or 11g.

ReengineerApplication Engineering - Identifies/removes obsolete code. Extracts Data Access Layer (DAL) and Business Logic (BL) from your Forms and place in the DB (SOA Enables). Source Code Analytics – Source Code Statistics


Live Demo

Live Demo


PITSS Benefit - Return on Invest

Utilizing PITSS.CON Software

Reduces Project duration Free up Project Budget Ensures a higher Quality compared to traditional (manual) approaches

Definition Planning ImplementationProductionPreparation

Re-writewithout Oracle FusionTechnology

Modernizationwith OracleFusion Technology

t

ADF(PITSS)

Forms 11g(PITSS)

.NETJava(PITSS)

Savings by using PITSS.CON compared to manual approach

Traditional / Manual Re-Development


PITSS Product & Service Offerings

Pre 10g Upgrade to 11g:

- FREE Proof of Concept Workshop 3-5 Days PITSS.CON workshop

Upgrade entire application to 11g

PITSS.CON modules pilot

Decision with confidence

10g Upgrade to 11g:

- Fixed Price Conversion Offer 3-5 Days onsite or remote

Upgrade entire application to 11g

Decision with confidence

Migration to ADF

- Pilot Project or Forms to ADF-Days Analysis Report

Migrate 1-2 Forms modules

Be confronted with all future project challenges

Make accurate estimations

Decision based on FACTS


Performance Management of Oracle Forms


• “It was better with the old system”

• Cost of failure high Roll back applications

Retesting

Migrate data back

If it Ain’t Broke Why Fix It?

The combination of older code, lack of documentation, and application size and complexity all contribute to very high barriers to migration for many Oracle Forms deployments… many Oracle Forms developers have avoided upgrading to newer versions of the toolset, never mind the larger challenge of migrating from Oracle Forms altogether.

-Gartner 2010


The End-to-End Challenge with Oracle Forms

Not in my code!

No Issues with single

sign on

It’s not the network (again)

Database is fine

webservers up and runnin’

!?

“It’s SLOW!!”

It’s SLOW!!

“It’s SLOW!!”

Webservices??customers operationsdata center


Ticket closed

Topology map isolates the infrastructure components involved.Ticket is escalated to right team.

SLA Analysis points to the bottleneck area.

Proactive Management- Know Before the Users

shows the locations that are affected and user in Oracle apps

- detects degradation in SLA - Opens ticket

application team drills down into FormsIdentifies faulty method

App team provides workaround / fix. Change impact analysis proves the Forms issue has been resolved


Production Optimization

• Monitor Forms apps end-to-end

• Manage user experience

• Understand how components interact


Track All Requests Through All Hops

AppletApacheOC4JForms

RuntimeSpecific SQLs

• Track all user requests through all components (not just Java

and .Net)

• Track and meter single end user across entire stack

• Apache, OC4J, Forms Runtime and Oracle Database


Manage User Experience with Meaningful Transaction Names


Understand How Components Interact

• Auto-detected

• Real-time

• Without manual modeling


SharePath for Oracle Forms/EBS

• Goes beyond Java/.Net with Forms runtime coverage Broadest coverage: rich clients, Forms applet, C++, ESBs …

Supports the most complex, heterogeneous architectures

• Dashboards for operations, support, and engineering

• No application code changes necessary

• Auto-detects transaction paths


Summary

• Forms environment has many performance challenges

• Optimize Oracle Forms in production For users

On Backend

Monitor Forms end-to-end

• SharePath is the only APM offering

for Forms based/EBS


Questions?

PITSS - USASales contact: Jason Marra [email protected]

www.pitss.com/us

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 248.740.0935 #11

Correlsense:www.correlsense.com/demo

Email: [email protected]