Oracle International Corporation

Christina Sechrest

Kevin R Walsh

Pascal P Sero

Marc Dangeard

Dean Tan

Jean-Louis Baffier

Thierry Gruet

Olaf Ziegler

Peter Renner

John-Brown Evans

Techniques for provisioning databases for users on a wide area network such as the Internet include a first party managing one or more database systems. Second parties subscribe to database services supported by the managed database systems. The first party provides, over a network, to database applications of the second parties, access to database services to which the second parties are subscribed. The database systems may use database appliances hosting both database process(es), and non-database process(es) tailored to the needs of the database process(es). A user is therefore able to obtain database resources from an Internet Database Service Provider (IDSP) without incurring the full costs of database administrator(s), dedicated database equipment facilit(ies), or even dedicated database device(s), depending on usage. Meanwhile, the IDSP incurs minimum staffing loads because of self-service tools. Costing model and automatic billing are also described.

Techniques for automatically provisioning a database over a wide area network

Techniques for provisioning databases for users on a wide area network such as the Internet include a first party managing one or more database systems. Second parties subscribe to database services supported by the database systems managed by the first party. The first party provides, over a network, to database applications controlled by the second parties, access to the database services to which the second parties are subscribed. The database systems may use database appliances hosting both database process(es), and non-database process(es) tailored to the needs of the database process(es). A user is therefore able to obtain database resources from an Internet Database Service Provider (IDSP) without the user incurring the full costs of database administrator(s), dedicated database equipment facilit(ies), or even dedicated database device(s), depending on usage. Meanwhile, the IDSP incurs minimum staffing loads because of various self-service tools Costing model and automatic billing features are also described.

Techniques for managing databases include registering multiple databases at a community server. Each database is controlled by a different party. The community server is accessible over a first network to which one or more users from each party have access. Each database is installed on a different network than the first network. The community server receives from a user over the first network a request to perform a management operation relating to a particular database that is controlled by a particular party. The community server determines that the particular database is registered and determines whether the user is authorized to perform the management operation. If the user is authorized, then the community server causes the management operation to be performed. With these techniques, one or more database devices, such as database appliances, can be managed over the Internet with a browser, at least for many common database management functions. This alleviates the load on an enterprise database manager platform, provides metadata even when the database device or enterprise platform is not working, provides ready backup when a database device or enterprise platform returns to operation, and enables a database administrator for the enterprise to perform some management functions while on the road, away from the site of the enterprise. It can also provide users of an enterprise's database devices with access to some database metadata when the user is on the road or the enterprise equipment is not operating.

Techniques for managing database systems with a community server

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Belmont, CA, United States of America

Christina Sechrest